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Liberty of the Seas - In depth review of our Mediterranean Cruise!!


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Our long awaited trip has finally arrived!!! I knew that once I got home, I would forget a LOT of things since this was such a port intensive cruise. So I brought my trusty journal and made myself write about the days events each night before bed. I am SOOOO glad I did! As I am reading back thru my notes, I keep saying to myself “oh yeah, I forgot about that”. So my first piece of advice – keep a journal!!



 

About us: DH is 53 and I am 52. This was my 6th cruise, but first with RCCL and my DH’s 5th cruise (also his first with RCCL). Traveling with us is my Mom (69), my Aunt (63), my sister (50) and my niece (31).

 

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

 

I was able to get off work early and met Greg at home. We loaded up the car, gave some last minute instructions to my daughter who is house/dog sitting, gave the dogs a few hugs and kisses and off we went!! We were on the road by 4:15 and arrived in Nashville at 7:30.

 

After checking into our hotel, the Hotel Preston, we headed out to dinner and some last minute shopping. Got back to the hotel, rearranged our suitcases (yes, we bought that much.. haha) and were in bed by 11. Big day tomorrow!!!

 

 

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Edited by chasinraynbowz
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Wednesday, October 12, 2011

The BIG DAY is finally here. No need for alarm clocks or wake up calls this morning! I was up by 6am, had my shower and coffee and was watching TV while DH slept.. lol. Got him up and showered and headed out the door by 9. My sister called and said she had left her coffee creamer and I-Pod charger at home and asked if there was anyway for me to buy them. Luckily there was a Kmart across the highway, so we headed there first and bought her one before heading to the Radisson where my car was going to be parked during our trip. (We got a great deal – 11 days of parking, a suite when we returned and breakfast the next morning for under $150. Oh, and a cheese, fruit and cracker tray. More on that later!) We arrived at the Radisson, signed my car in and took the shuttle to the airport.

Our flight to JFK was smooth and uneventful. We had a 5 hour layover, so we walked around, took pictures, got dinner and then waited for my sister and niece to arrive. My Mom and Aunt arrived shortly thereafter and they all went and got a bite to eat while Greg and I waited at the gate.

We boarded our flight to Barcelona at 830pm and were in the air by 9pm. Surprisingly, they fed us dinner (at 930pm). It was pretty decent too!!

 

 

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Our LITTLE plane from Nashville to JFK.

 

 

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DH on plane to JFK

 

 

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Thursday, October 13, 2011

Woke up on the plane (well, since we didn’t sleep much we were pretty much awake). AA served a very minimal breakfast which consisted of a croissant, juice and coffee. We landed in Barcelona around 11am (30 minutes late). After going thru immigration and then getting our luggage, we found our driver from Barcelona Day Tours. We loaded up the van and headed to our hotel, the Hotel Fira Palace.

I signed us all up to be “preferred” members (at no cost) which allowed us early check in. We were able to go to our rooms immediately. The rooms were nice, very clean and we found a free bottle of wine waiting for us!!

 

NOTE: Two of the rooms had very thick pads on the beds which made them very comfortable to sleep on. My sister’s room didn’t. She didn’t realize until the last day that we had pads on our bed and could not understand why we were all sleeping so good and she wasn’t. If you stay at this hotel, be sure to ask for a mattress pad if you don’t have one. It makes all the difference in the world.

We all got settled in our rooms and both Greg and I took a quick shower and changed clothes. We headed downstairs to the piano bar for lunch. They have the BEST ham and cheese sandwich I have ever had! My mom and sister tried the tuna and raved about it too!! After lunch my sister went to bed, then my niece, my aunt and my hubby! LOL, that left Mom and I. So we headed to the little market about a block away and bought sodas and water. We headed to our rooms and ended up napping for 2 hours.

I called and woke up my mom and aunt and they came to our room to visit until about 9pm when we all decided we were hungry. We ordered room service (Greg and I shared a burger) and then went to bed for the night.

 

 

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Edited by chasinraynbowz
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10/14/11 - Barcelona

After going to sleep the night before around 10pm, we got up at 8am when my sister came knocking at our door.. haha. We woke up our mom and aunt and then ordered coffee. We all showered and dressed and headed out for day at around 10am.

We walked to Placa Espanya (2 blocks away). For 23 Euro each, we got a one day pass for the Hop On Hop Off bus. We took the orange line to Placa Padrera and found a Starbucks and a sandwich. Then got on the green line and headed to Sagrada Familia first.

 

 

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Placa d'Espanya

 

 

 

 

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Magic Fountain during the day

 

 

 

 

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After Park Guell, we headed back to the bus and went to Placa Catalonya and Los Ramblas for dinner and shopping. They have wonderful restaurants and streets vendors and we enjoyed our time there. I didn’t take any pictures here. After shopping, we got back on the orange line, finished our city tour and got off the bus at the Magic Fountains. We were just in time to see the show! We finally got back to our hotel around 8pm.

After resting a bit, Greg and I headed down to the Piano Bar and shared a tuna sandwich (the ham and cheese is MUCH better). Greg had a beer and I tried their cava. YUM! Mom joined us and then everyone else joined too. We got back to our room around 10pm and got repacked for our cruise tomorrow!!!!

 

 

More tour pictures

 

 

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10/15/2011

No need for alarms or wake up calls today either!! I was up at 5am and could not go back to sleep. This will be the last day I won’t need a wake up call.. lol.

Went down for breakfast with everyone. A very interesting breakfast. We all took a walk and then headed back to our rooms to finish packing and getting downstairs to await our driver (Barcelona Day Tours again). He showed up right on time, at 11am.

We got to the port at 11:20. We unloaded the van, paid our tip, showed our passports, filled out the illness form and then headed to the desk for check in. Since everyone else was on the 9th floor in suites and Greg and I were on the 3rd floor, we separated at this point. We stopped and bought a few sodas and were on board at the Café Promenade by 11:40 having our first sandwich. I asked for a roast beef, but that is something they never had on this cruise, not when I was there anyway.

20 mins from the time we got to the port till the time we were having a sandwich. Not bad at all!!!

 

 

 

 

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Woo hooo... there she is!!!

 

 

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We toured the ship and took lots of pictures and then headed to the Windjammer to get a little more to eat (we were making up for the interesting breakfast we didn’t eat… lol). We also ran into Melissa and Bob (some CC friends)….. Hello Melissa!! Hello Bob!! At 1pm we headed to our cabin and met our steward, Ubi. I asked Ubi for ice and asked him to keep it every day and he did a great job!

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My favorite place!!! They have a loyalty program here. If you buy 6 cupcakes, you get your 7th for free!! Greg and I each got one for 3 nights and I got my free one on our final day!! Red Velvet... yummmmmyyy!!!

 

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Edited by chasinraynbowz
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Safety drill took place at 4:15pm. They scan your card to make sure everyone is there.

 

NOTE: Please get there on time folks. It’s not fair to anyone who got there on time to have to wait for you. After the Safety drill was over, Greg and I headed to the back of the ship to get a couple of drinks and watch sail away! At 530pm we headed up to Olive or Twist to meet some of the folks from our CC roll call.

 

At 630, we headed to the Michelangelo dining room (we were the first of our group there) and met the staff. I remember I had prime rib that night and it was delicious. Greg had a steak and it was dry. Our food for the entire week was hit or miss. We really didn’t care for it for the most part. It was edible, but it was nothing to rave about.

NOTE: My aunt and niece each ordered a glass of wine (different types that are sold by the glass on the wine menu). They wanted to try them out before getting a bottle. They were each sold a full bottle. Our waiter, he didn’t argue, but he tried to explain why they needed the bottle and they explained why they didn’t. He took the bills back, had them credited and they were each brought a glass of wine. So beware. Make sure the staff understands you only want a glass… if that is what you want, not the entire bottle.[/font]

 

After dinner, Greg and I played in the casino a bit and then headed to bed for an early tour the next morning.

 

 

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Me at sailaway

 

 

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DH at sailaway

 

 

Edited by chasinraynbowz
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This review will take me a few days. Its almost all typed out, but the pictures are taking forever. I will do a bit more tonight and then some each night.

 

The pictures look like HD because they are so clear, so they are probably very large files.

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