Fizzlewicket's First Cruise on Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas 6/4 – 6/13/2015

Yep, another review for this cruise, but maybe I can provide a different take on this review. Please bear with me since it’s my first time using Photobucket and YouTube.

A little background first, this was the first cruise for my wife, Tanya (42) and I, Sean (45). The thing I remember that peaked my interest in cruising was Gambee’s amazing review of the Allure of the Seas several years back. I had originally booked the Oasis of the Seas a few years back since the Allure was cruising through Europe at the time, but I changed my cruise to the Liberty after looking at several options to coincide with my wife’s college graduation in June and of course it was going to every port I was interested in. Well, things did not turn out as perfect as we wanted education wise so we made this our 22nd anniversary present with an Oasis cruise in Jan 2016 for her real graduation gift.

I wanted to do something different for this cruise review as I had really enjoyed talking pictures every day of this cruise. Every day I got up early and found new ways to present the new photos with cleaner layouts, better compositions and wonderful symmetries. I am thinking more of a guided tour of the ship and ports with lots of pictures and a healthy sprinkling reflections, ponderings and musings with each place we visit.

Now enough of that and on with the tour ….

Let us begin at the port of Bayonne, NJ. It was only about an hour and a half drive from home and the port was very easy to get to. From the time we parked our car to the time we walked into the ship could not been more than 45 minutes. It was simple, easy and everyone was very helpful during the process. The anticipation boarding the ship was comparable to being in line at your all-time favorite Disneyland ride and the nearer you were to the riding it, the more excited you became.

We entered the ship deck 4 at the Boleros bar area. I was amazed at the glass sculptures that lined the walls that greeted us as we entered. Ah, Boleros. This is where Tanya always wanted to go to get her Margaritas and where we would relax at night to the Latin sounds of the band, Marakas. This was my wife’s favorite bar. And maybe based on these pictures, you can understand why.

(I decided throughout the cruise I would take very small videos to offer people a small sense of the sights and sounds of cruising. It may trigger fond memories to those whom have cruised and may excite those who are brand new to cruising. I will sprinkle them throughout the review and hope you enjoy them.)

The band Marakas with live music at the Boleros Bar.

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All perspectives welcome, can't get enough. looking forward to seeing more of this ship as I will probably sail on her one day.

We're thinking about Liberty next year instead of Osais( it will be in Galveston ) won't have to fly. We've already been on Allure. Looking forward to reading your review.

looking forward to it!

If we turn to our left of Boleros you will find one of the entrances to the Main Dining Room.

In front of the Main Dining Room entrance is a touch screen at allows you to preview the lunch and dinner menus for that day (of course, the dinner menu does not show up until after lunch is over). I found these great for determining where we wanted a MDR night or a Windjammer night.

Shall we go inside and take a look?

Well, I can't wait to share my experience with everyone.

This certainly is a time for firsts. First cruise, first review, first time using photobucket and YouTube.

Now back on topic ... The Main Dining Room.

All these pictures were taken by a Iphone 6 by the way with nothing added.

I discovered the wonders of panoramics too during this cruise and here is one of the MDR.

Looking forward to more. I'll be on Liberty in 3 months!

Let’s take an early break from our tour and sit down a minute on one of these dining room chairs and discuss and admire the food the dining room has to offer. Here are some samples.

First we have tasty Horseradish Crusted Filet of Atlantic Salmon

Here we have a wonderful Crab Cake with a delicious Basil Aioli.

And then, Smoked Duck Breast (which I was not a big fan of, but I wanted to try things I have never tried before).

Braised Beef Duo which was a very tender short rib and with medium beef shoulder in red wine-beer sauce with Carolina yellow stone grits. Sooooo good.

Jaffa Cake which was good ….

But Tanya ordered the Rum Baba which was a yeast cake softened by a sweet rum sauce and topped with vanilla ice cream. Holy frijoles! That was the best dessert of the whole cruise!

Here is a funny story.

We had just eaten our meal at the Main Dining Room and were very satisfied. As we left I suggested we simply check the Windjammer and just see if they made Chicken Curry every night since we had eaten at there the night before and Tanya was extremely happy to have that. We as we walked around the Windjammer on our scouting mission, there it was; Chicken Curry, Rice and Naan bread. As I turned back to her, she has already grabbed a bowl and was bee lining to the curry. Hmmmm …. I guess it would have been rude not to join her. So I also grabbed a plate and proceeded to load up on Turkish Kofte (meatballs) and other Mediterranean delights. As I sat down, I noticed she already had her dessert plate. On the plate, there was something that looked like a cakey round donut with white frosting in the center. Hmmm, that looked really familiar …. What! Are you kidding me? Is that? It was! Rum Baba! I do not think I had even put my rear end on the chair before I turn right around and nearly sprinted to the dessert bar. And there they were … three Rum Babas. I really needed a happy dance at this point because that is how I was feeling. And there was vanilla ice cream too. Double score! Do not worry; I only took one, but what a delicious one it was.

Excited to read this from a first timers perspective!

Yay!!! A report to read to help pass the time until we are on the Liberty in a month! So looking forward to your pictures and report!

What a fantastic start......keep it coming please :D

On the second sea day, Tanya was very sea sick and spent much of the morning sleeping it off. So I decided to go try the main dining room for lunch.

I was seated with a wonderful group of folks and we had some terrific conversation. I could not decide on either the Tuscan Chicken Wraps or the Tandoori Lamb Kebabs, so I ordered them both. Good thing too since the portions were kind of small. Both dishes were very good. After checking on Tanya after lunch, she seemed to be feeling better, so I took her to the Main Dining Room for lunch and where she also enjoyed the wraps and kebabs.

Tuscan Chicken Wraps

Tandoori Lamb Kebabs

Looking forward to reading about your experience on Liberty. We sail in Sept.

Thanks for all the positive feed back so far. This is actually very fun. :D

I'm beyond excited about your photo/video review!!

We are taking our first RCCL Liberty cruise next month and I feel so unprepared.

Your review is going to help more then you know...thanks for taking the time to do this. :)

As we head back the other direction, we find the Photo Gallery and Shop.

And past that, the Royal Casino.

Check out his cool looking claw game filled with stacks of bills.

Here is a funny story.

 

We had just eaten our meal at the Main Dining Room and were very satisfied. As we left I suggested we simply check the Windjammer and just see if they made Chicken Curry every night since we had eaten at there the night before and Tanya was extremely happy to have that. We as we walked around the Windjammer on our scouting mission, there it was; Chicken Curry, Rice and Naan bread. As I turned back to her, she has already grabbed a bowl and was bee lining to the curry. Hmmmm …. I guess it would have been rude not to join her. So I also grabbed a plate and proceeded to load up on Turkish Kofte (meatballs) and other Mediterranean delights. As I sat down, I noticed she already had her dessert plate. On the plate, there was something that looked like a cakey round donut with white frosting in the center. Hmmm, that looked really familiar …. What! Are you kidding me? Is that? It was! Rum Baba! I do not think I had even put my rear end on the chair before I turn right around and nearly sprinted to the dessert bar. And there they were … three Rum Babas. I really needed a happy dance at this point because that is how I was feeling. And there was vanilla ice cream too. Double score! Do not worry; I only took one, but what a delicious one it was.

It's not too often that a story that starts with "Here is a funny story" actually makes me laugh out loud -- but this one did! I can totally see my husband and me doing this on our Liberty cruise later this summer.

Count me among those enjoying this as well. We will be on Liberty in February!

I love your format. We will be on the Liberty in October.

Continuing on Deck 4, as we pass through the casino, on the left, we arrive at the Catacombs dance club. Not the best use of space, but this is only one man’s opinion.

It's not too often that a story that starts with "Here is a funny story" actually makes me laugh out loud -- but this one did! I can totally see my husband and me doing this on our Liberty cruise later this summer.

Just wait until I get talking about the shows and entertainment. :D

Glad you didn't find the MDR food to be deplorable or unfit for human consumption, as some people seem to. :D I'm enjoying the pictures, but have booked Liberty out of Galveston for next March, so some of it may look different coming out of her dry-dock in January.

Again, thanks for all the encouragement! And sorry if I don't reply a lot, but I am posting my rear end off. I have over 400 pics (still going through to pick out the best for you all) and I have 9 pages of prewritten commentary ... and I am just getting started. :cool:

This review .... may take awhile. :p