la2kw

Plus cruises now cater from the lowest denominator to the highest - from tattooed drunks to tuxedoed executives - you cannot please everyone - the "shorts at dinner" crowd should go on Carnival - it's more their scene and style -

Don't forget the drunk executives and tuxedoed tattooed.:rolleyes:

We booked a cruise on Liberty for fall next year and are really looking forward to it, but now I'm reading more of the reviews and am wondering what to expect. We've only cruised Disney Dream before but the Disney prices are just too high for our family to be able to cruise every 18-24 months even with the 10% discount from onboard booking (which, now you have to cruise within 18 months to retain) so we opted to try RCCL and are canceling our current Disney reservation.

 

There seems to be some consistency in the reviews for Liberty in particular when looking at the last 2 years:

-- Customer Service: Particularly the staff being rude or not necessarily engaged in their job?

 

-- Food: Mediocre at best? Is the Windjammer food really that bad or is it what you'd expect for an included buffet?

 

-- Dining: Very long wait times or food not being delivered at all?

 

-- Liquor being removed from bags so they couldn't take it on board? Is there a limit? Is it strictly wine?

 

At any rate, we had only a few minor complaints regarding our cruise on Disney and it was our first. I don't think we are really picky and maybe these reviews are more the exception. The food on Disney wasn't necessarily outstanding unless you went to Palo or Remy, which we did one night (Palo). The service, we felt, was incredible for the most part. Dinner was slow one night but it wasn't bad. As far as bringing alcohol aboard, I only brought a small bottle of bourbon to keep in the room.

 

Perhaps I'm over analyzing. I know more people are apt to leave reviews when they are frustrated... Is that probably the case? Any experiences along these lines?

We are doing our first Royal Caribbean cruise next month. We have done a few Carnival cruises after we a number of Disney cruises. We were hesitant at first after having such good experiences on Disney. However, we ended up enjoying our Carnival cruises just as much and probably more since they cost less than half of what Disney wanted. Disney is a great experience, but it's not worth what they are charging now. Plus there are way too many bratty kids on those ships and parents who don't control them. I expect we will enjoy Royal as much as Carnival, though I do like the look of the Royal ships much better than Carnival.

I live in Maryland and after the no smoking was imposed by omaley I know 5 bar owners that had so many patrons that chose to hang out at there houses or back yard partys that they decided that the loss in money

wasn't worth keeping the bar open. loss of tax money, workers income tax and 9% booze tax.

But he made part of it up by having the cruise lines charge tax on everything while youre in Maryland waters (check your receipts)

Now the buildings sit empty and are becoming in disrepair. omaley has been great for Maryland

Loss of jobs, loss of tax money, higher taxes, the worst roads in the country and $15.00 a day parking at the cruise terminal. I just found out Royal Caribbean has now stopped smoking on there balconeys this will by my last cruise

Usually the opposite has happened. Business actually picks up when the no smoking policies start. If you look around anywhere that allows smoking, the majority of people aren't smoking.

FWIW, I book Royal Caribbean because of the new smoking policies. I wish more cruiselines would follow suit.

We've sailed twice from LA and there just is not enough interest to make us want to fly back to LA to cruise. The Mexican ports have gained a bad reputation for violence and the Jones Act prevents California coast cruises. Unfortunately, for you west coasters the majority of the US population lives east of the Mississippi and Florida and the Gulf Coast are more attractive cruise ports for the lines. If it was just RCCL it would be one thing but, that's not the case. During the summer months a lot of the cruise ships go to Europe and the Med. During the winter months the ships go, in part, to the southern hemisphere. Then there is the whole Asian market development scheme. There are a lot of factors working against you.

There are California coastal cruises. They just need to stop in Ensenada once. Princess does them regularly.

I feel your pain. I just got off that old Carnival ship. It was a fun cruise, but man that ship was ugly and old.

Princess, HAL, and Carnival are all starting to do Mexican Riviera again. I recently read an article about how Cabo, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta are all cooperating to upgrade facilities and attract cruises again. http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=5864

We love the Mexican Riviera cruises and are looking to sail one again next year.

If teachers were given a discount because they can only travel during school breaks, wouldn't the same apply to any family with a school age child who can also only travel during school breaks?

 

I'm not sure I see the reason why teachers should be given a special discount :confused:

Many teachers have school aged children too. Would we get a double discount then? :p

There are businesses that offer teacher discounts, I take advantage of them whenever they are offered. The OP's question is not as outrageous as some folks seem to think, judging from the responses.

I'm always amazed at the passive hostility that often erupts on threads like this. There are state discounts, repeat traveler discounts, AAA discounts, single traveler discounts, Costco discounts, etc, etc. As someone already mentioned, teachers are just a target group that could also be offered a discount. For some reason, when a teacher discount is mentioned, it becomes a debate. Plus everyone suddenly has a teacher in their family, especially those that think teachers don't deserve any discounts!

I book through Costco and get pretty good deals through them, but I wouldn't hesitate to take any other discounts I qualified for- including a teacher discount.

Sorry, but aren't there enough spaces on the ship that are kid friendly without having to bring them into one of the few spaces that are adult only? When my kids were young, I kept them out of the adult areas. If they were with me, I stayed out. That's part of being a parent. :confused:

This is my biggest beef with DCL, the idea that even though a space is designated adult only, my kid is different and the rules don't apply. It is rampant on those ships. That's the biggest reason I stopped cruising DCL. I am hoping RCCL is different.

Thank you all for this information. I have allergies to gluten, milk, soy, apples, garlic, and peppers. I am considering the Allure for our next cruise, but wasn't sure what to expect. We have cruised DCL and CCL and they handle things very well with my allergies. It's good to know that RC is similar in that respect. It gets frustrating at times trying to find something to eat, especially since I don't eat out very often unless we're on vacation and then I try to limit it to once a day. That doesn't work on a cruise, lol.

wondering if your itinerary will be the same as ours....

Catalina on first day, Ensenada 2nd day and then a sea day? When was cruise elegant night? Do you remember when the Chef's Table was offered? We leave tomorrow.

Ours was Catalina, Sea Day, Ensenada.

Yes, it's adjacent to the casino.

From the chimes tower on the hill. Our ship, the casino, the chimes tower, and harbor.

It was nice and early with very few crowds. We walked to the Casino, up the hill to the chimes tower, and around town. We had some very good Mexican food at Catalina Cantina on the beachfront. We don't do excursions very often, cause we like to do our own thing. We had a great day in Avalon.

Zane Grey was one of my favorite authors when I was growing up. His house in Avalon is now an Inn.

Next morning, we pulled into Avalon as I was doing my 55 laps on the track.

After working out, showering, and breakfast, we grabbed a tender to Avalon. This was such an easy process, no lines, no tickets, no pushing, no shoving. Again, just a slow trickle off the ship.

You tender to the green pier.

A few more shots of the cruise terminal in Long Beach from up on deck.

That long bridge from the terminal dome to the ship.

So after lunch, we went to our room and unpacked. Then went to the gym to work out, since we left so early from home and hadn't had a chance to yet.

We noticed that there was no huge morning crush to get on this ship. All of our other cruises had been a madhouse getting on with huge crowds. On this cruise, people just trickled on slowly and continuously throughout the morning and up until last boarding call. It was quite interesting to see the difference between this and our Florida cruises.

Finally, it was time for muster and then sail away. It was the most low key sail-away I have ever been on. Calm and relaxing way to start the trip. We stayed on deck for sail away and then headed down to get ready for dinner. As mentioned before, it was our only dinner in the dining room.

As it got dark, the Centrum took on a whole new faux-neon glow! :eek:

The Destiny Lounge was the main theater. I was impressed with the size and openness of the place. For a small ship, it was rather nice. The talent on this ship was very good. I was impressed with the quality of singing and dancing, and I do not like shows very much at all, but I am a music fan.

Now a word about the track. I was usually up there around 6:30-7 am and we were pulling into port around that time. There's also an observation area at the front of the ship. To get there, you need to walk on the track a bit. No problem if you are aware of your surroundings and the fact that there are people using the track for it's intended purpose, to run or walk for fitness. If you see people running towards you, it's polite to move to the side of the track, or even onto the walking area next to the track. Its not polite to stand in the middle of the track taking pictures while people are running towards you. It's also not polite to stand with your group stretching across the length of the track so that no one can get by you. I'm 6'3" and 210 pounds. I'm not invisible. Don't pretend that you don't see me and don't try to play chicken with me, lol. Most people were very respectful and aware, but there were a few that were just jerks and clueless. :confused:

Elevator lobby. We never used any of the elevators and just used the stairs. Good way to burn off extra calories.

This is the mini gold and track. 11 laps equals one mile. I run 5 miles, so that's 55 laps. I got dizzy going round and round so many times, lol. A longer track would have been nice, but I hate running on treadmills, so this was at least better than a treadmill.

The track loops around the mini golf and the skylight.

Classroom. They offered spin and yoga classes among other things.

Sauna.

Steam

These are all from the men's side. I have no idea what the women's side looks like, but I assume the same. Both locker rooms exit to the main exercise room.

Good size gym. We spent a lot of time here and I also used the running track.

Men's locker room area.

Hall towards restroom, showers, steam, sauna, and gym.

Piano Bar. Strange yellow and purple beach ball theme and oddly placed in the Centrum.

It was nice to get so much sunshine in the Centrum.

Pride dining room.

We had anytime dining and this is where we ate only one meal the first night on board. The service was so slow. It took 40 minutes to get any food at our table. I have food allergies and they seemed to struggle with what to do with me. Usually they bring me gluten free bread right away when they bring the bread basket. Nothing was brought for me when they brought the bread basket and the servers were no where to be seen for lengths of time. Finally after 40 minutes I got a salad with dressing I didn't ask for. Then I got a shrimp cocktail, or at least that's what it was supposed to be. I have never had mushy shrimp before, it was disgusting. Finally about 90 minutes after sitting down, we got our entrees. They were fine. On the Breeze and the Liberty they were so great dealing with me and my allergies. I didn't have a lot of confidence in this dining room team, and was concerned that they would not be able to keep my food safe. So that and the fact that I don't like spending 3 hours at dinner made us decide to just have the other three dinners at the buffet. I was able to get salad, fruit, baked potatoes, rice, and a carved meat each night for dinner which suited me fine and was safe for my allergies. There may have been some cross contamination, but I didn't have any issues. Now cruise food really isn't that great anyway, but when you add really slow service and poor quality on top of that it can be a bit frustrating. The buffet worked out much better for us this trip. If it had been a longer cruise I would have worked harder to fix the dining room issue. We were planning on eating meals in Catalina and Ensenada and knew that we wouldn't be that hungry at dinner anyway.

Another issue was the length of time it took to serve dinner. See the line in this pic? That was every night. It stretched from the dining room entrance back to the elevators every night.

I don't know if this is a problem just on this ship or what. But they need to do something about it. Perhaps speed up service. It's not like that food is being cooked to order, it shouldn't take so long. Perhaps take fewer ATD slots. I don't know, but there's a problem there that I haven't seen on the other two Carnival ships I've been on. I also noticed the buffet got busier and busier each night as the cruise progressed. Perhaps that's the whole point to push diners to the cheaper option? I heard lots of complaints about the dining room as well. I know Carnival can do better that that.

Library.

Casino. We didn't spend much time here since we go to Vegas a few times a year being about 3.5 hours away. They did have one of my favorite slots here so I played it occasionally.

Another club.

Dream Bar