vettecruiser1

Okay I'm going to admit I think I found were everyone is going with no shorts. They have 2 different things printed. Under the dining room section they do list shorts are only permissible during breakfast and lunch. Then they also list the suggested attire for the night at the top.

One of the flaps in the compass goes into detail a little more detail about suggested attire for Formal, smart casual, Caribbean casual and casual. In that flap is were it states Casual attire can consist of shorts.

Like I said I was on the cruise I was on 2 days were formal and 5 days were casual, this was the July 17th cruise. We had no Caribbean casual and smart casual was only listed for Chops and Chefs table. It was even stated in one of the cooking demo by the chefs that if you like to dress in what you want please come to Gios or sabor on formal night. "we don't care how you look" was the comment.

I also want to say that I have seen on every ship we have sailed a sign at the MDR that swim suits , tanks, workout cloths and shorts are not allowed at dinner. I can tell you this sign was not present at all on Deck 5 anywhere.

I have dressed up for 15 years on cruises and I would say I like the Formal dinners but Casual is the way. It is so much easier to pack and prepare for both me and the wife. Also, 2nd formal is way more less formal then 1st night. I think it has to do with the sunburns.

I have the compass for every night and I'm looking right at them. They have formal, smart casual and casual. Two nights are listed as formal and five nights are listed as casual. Smart casual is listed only for chef's table and chops. Then under casual it list what is acceptable and it clearly says shorts are acceptable. So sorry you are wrong. Guidelines have changed for the liberty, I can not speak for any other ship.

They might want to get off. The course changed has them only porting in Coz and Nassau with the rest being sea days. That would be a 5 out of seven days not getting off the ship.

Based on two weeks ago. There are 2 formal nights and the rest are casual. It list shorts are acceptable for casual. Only thing not allowed in main dining room are tank top and swim shorts. Gone are the days of enforcement. Relax you are on a cruise.

Same here, left ship at 7:30 and in car at park and cruise before or around 8:00. They are reconstructing the old terminal to help with disembark and customs. They said is should be done around November.

What I find interesting is that the email "ticket to adventure". Once you click the link and explore the solarium, it states 1 tranquil swimming pool, 2 serene whirlpools and 4 canter levered whirlpools. Seems like the marketing department did not actually see the finished product.

I haven't seen it but I assume it closely follows the original story line.

 

What is so dark about it?

 

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Committing suicide.

Suicide

Just got off the ship. They now have 3 levels of attire which is printed each day in the compass. Formal, smart casual and casual. Casual list shorts as acceptable. Every night that was not formal list casual as suggested dinner wear. The only time smart casual was used was at the chef's table and chops. Things have changed but in the 20 years I have been cruising and this is one. The only thing it stats now is no tank tops or bathing attire in main dinning room.

Check it out

Thank you for your review and the pictures too! I think getting there early is key! Were the owners there and were you able to talk to them?

The owners did not come out to the island on our day. We did see and talk to them on the mainland. Their oldest son is getting ready to go to college to study about animals so they were busy dealing with that. They have hired a General manager for the island and he will come around and try to talk to every guest to see what their experience is and see what thoughts you have on improvements. This is were I got the information about the credit card machine.

They do have another new toy for the island it is a water jet boots. This thing is intense. For $120 you can rent it with instructions for 1 hour. This is not $120 per person but for the hour. After 30 minutes my legs were spent, so my son and wife spent the rest of the time on it. It is intense and a lot of fun. I also love how your whole family can divide up the time. When we looked at doing at the beach it was the same price but per person.

Lion/jag cub

Here is some photos

Ok just got back. We were there Thursday. Larry did not hand out tickets for our trip. We were the only ship and when we checked in the lady working counter said they were expecting about 175 for the day. Larry put us in a private car with Marvin and he zoomed passed the 3 busses to get us ahead of that wave. Marvin said they were expecting to do at least two more wave of busses before everyone got there. Once we paid they do now have these business card like tickets with numbers that are for drinks and food. So here is our experience. 175 was a lot better then the 500 we had last time. Most people seem to hang out in the lagoon as that is where we started the day until it got more busy. Then we headed to the area by the pizza bar which only had about a dozen people there.

I think the other reason people like the lagoon compared to the pizza beach/mermaid or the King Neptune area is once you wade in the water the ground is not soft but kinda rocky and pebbly compared to the soft sand. We did not care as both area had swim up bars and great service.

Animal update simba is still not back nor is a couple of the sweet monkeys. They did have rosita, Rico and Robert the monkey which came out to play. They do have a jag on the mainland cage that is pregnant with 2 cubs. Also the lion has been moved to his even bigger area and the lions old area is where the have a lion/jag mix cub. At first they said he was just a jag cub but finally the guy who takes care of him admitted that nope in fact it was a mix. I will try to attach a picture of him. Any way for $25 you can get in his cage and he will lick you like a dog and cuddle. Very sweet animal, much like simba. Also the lion lives his nose scratched.

With Marvin getting us there before the busses we beat the line and it seems like now they have 5 girls taking money, they said when people pay credit the machine slows down the process.

One last observation is when getting off the ship in coxen hole before you get outside there were a couple of booths that had signs for little French key and frenchies. I think what they were selling was just the transportation, then you could just pay as a walk up guest. Also big French key continues to grow on the other side of the lagoon, they now have water inflatables and other stuff. Since there was no carnival ship in port that area was dead LFK people were playing on there stuff and the BFK did not care. People would wade, kayak and paddle board over and no one said anything.

Has the new terminal opened?

Yes, you go thru security. Then down a long hallway to the new terminal. Check in and go upstairs to wait to be called on to the ship. They are now redesigning the old terminal for disembarking. It is suppose to be done in the next couple of months.

That is the $15 breakfast in Chops. The perk for Suites and Pinnacles is a very small menu of things like stuffed French toast or a chiorizo omelet plus the usual suspects. Last time I was on Liberty we also got fresh squeezed OJ without needing a package or paying for it. I will say we never once saw anyone come in to get the steak and egg breakfast as a surcharge.

The $15 breakfast was not being offered last week. When asked about it, they seemed to think it was not making them enough money, plus it was taking seats away from the gold card breakfast. Now this may have only been a 1 week thing, but like I said earlier Chops was not used at all for breakfast.

We got there about the same time, last Sunday and as we were going up stairs they made the call for Diamond and emerald so we just go to keep on walking to the skywalk. Here is were the issue was because it happened on the person right in front of us. The computer the guys scans you card once you get on the ship crashed and we stood there for at least 30 minutes waiting for the I.T. officer to come over and try to fix them. I felt bad for the people in the glass skyway because just standing on the deck I was melting. They called and told the port agents not let anyone else come up until they got it fixed. Finally they got 1 terminal working and we got through.

I just wanted to give you an insight on what happened since we witnessed the whole thing. Also if you have Plat and about CA status you can go thru the short security line. It saved us some serious time since the other line was snaking pretty good. I believe I heard that we had over 3000 1st time cruisers on this run.

So was Giovanni's gold card for lunch? like chops was, with lunch on sea days?

Yes the gold card sign was in front of Giovanni's the entire week.

Was on the Liberty the week of the 17th. All 4 Ice shows were during the day. 2 on Monday, 2 on Saturday. Also, Saturday night fever was on the last day at 6:00 and 9:00. Also the drink card price was raised to $75 plus 18% grat. for a total of $88.50, it was available starting on day 5. It is still a good deal as long as you are drink the $12 drinks.

they were not using Chops for anything, except they did have Chops open on Sea days for lunch for $5 less then dinner.

Just off today on Liberty. They moved gold card breakfast to Giovanni's and did not offer the $15 breakfast. They did offer 1 day a $30 lunch in main dinning room that had a selection of champagnes and a molecular style menu. This was there 1st week to try and not sure if they will keep it up since not many showed up. They informed people to allow 2-3 hours to go thru the lunch. I think foodies will like it, but as I watched from a top deck I can tell the servings were really small but I think that is the molecular style.

Just off Liberty this morning. They know about the bed bugs. We requested egg crate toppers. They seem to be the source of the bugs, since we did not get any at first and without asking why was told due to them being the source of a bed bug issue they were having. I guess they got some delivered by corporate at first stop because they showed up on our bed after first port. Knowing what the said about bugs I pulled the sheet too look for the spots and it appeared our toppers were brand new. Guest services even informed us that by our November cruise most likely all toppers would no longer be allowed on the ship since they seem to be a very easy for them to spread, since they pull them from rooms and store them together we're I guess the bugs could then infest the whole lot every week. Hopefully they think about better mattresses because without the topper it was pretty hard.

Is it still if you are self carrying. You go to the top level of the mdr or theater as your waiting area. Last year if you got their early they placed your luggage to hold your place in line so you could sit in the theater until it was time to disembark. I think I remember them letting people clear the ship about 7:30.

The "lines" that people are referring to is once you get to Frenchy 44's.

 

You sign up for which package you want prior to going and secure your place there. Once you get off the ship, you meet them outside the gate where you are instructed to. They put everyone in the vans and take them to Frency 44's (which is a restaurant across from LFK and the owner's own). THIS is where people are talking about a line. You go to the outside restaurant area that's right on the dock and there's a sign in desk. That's where you will show your reservation and pay your balance. Then you get on the boat (barge) to be taken directly across from there to the island.

 

I mean it's a restaurant located on the water at a dock...so with anything "boat" related no matter where you go, you'll wait on it to get filled before going over. They have SEVERAL, so no worries if you don't get one, there's one behind it. Same with coming back...they are running them all day and you are welcome to leave at any time. :)

 

I can guarantee that anyone on any tour or excursion that they are there with other people and they wait in lines everywhere they go. I'm not sure why people are complaining about waiting in a line here at the dock to pay. It's no different than anywhere else. Just like when you book an excursion with the cruise line, you are not a one man private tour...you wait for the group that booked with you, you go together and so on. If you shop, you stand in a line to check out. You stand in line to get back on the ship. But for some reason to stand in line at the dock to pay for this place and get on the boat to go over, people have an issue with. :confused: I just don't understand it. LOL :p

 

I think you'll be fine. And if it's not something you enjoy, then you'll know next time. For the most part, those that go have a wonderful time and go back time and time again. It's just a very laid back and peaceful place that is surrounded in beauty. If you decide to go, I hope you have fun. :)

I can only give my experience with 3 ships and will be there again on the 21st of july since there is only 1 ship.

Got off the Navigator when we docked. Found the LFK people and they had 3 large shuttle waiting, each shuttle was holding 50 or so people and they waited until all 3 were filled to leave. Around 45 minutes, instead of leaving as they fill. Then we take the 20-25 minute drive to Frenchies. A Carnival ship and Princess ship was also in port at the same time. When we arrived the line was up the walkway probably 100 deep, out into the parking lot about half way in the dirt. When we unloaded our 3 buses of about 150 people the line was almost to the end of the parking lot, we were in the middle. It took another 45 minutes to an hour to get paid(this is the bottle neck). To help with you confusion it is not fun to stand in 90 degree weather, 95% humidity with no shade with a 6 year old child. I know now to be sure we have bottles of water just in case this happens again. So to get off ship and onto island was over 2 hours it was about 11:00. Once on the island it was full and all loungers were being used. Yes of course there is space in the water and on the beach, but they did not have enough loungers or crew. I even asked the wife of the owner and she is the one that gave me the 500 number and stated they were turning away the walk-ups.

Say what you want about lines, but time is limited. The boats were not the issue it was them only have 3 people taking money at the dock. I'm just giving my experience of what happens when 3 mega ships are in port. I will always check the cruisett site to check how many ships will be in this port to determine if we go back.

It was a very nice place and the husband and wife were very neat people and they too were very open about how crowded it was that day and they were overwhelmed. Like I said I'm going back in 2 weeks and my family is excited because we could the see the potential if it was not so crowded and did not have so much wasted time at the dock.

By the way it was your original review that hooked me on this place and your pictures are correct about its beauty and we are also based on you photos stopping by Blue Kay when in Costa Maya.

I am extremely disappointed to find that the cream of mushroom soup is gone. That is my favorite dish for the whole cruise. Also noticed no more Fisherman's Plate (lobster tail). The lobster tail was not particularly impressive but at least it was there. Seems to be gone, now. Didn't see any rack of lamb but at least the lamb shank is still here. The DH's favorite.

It's on page or number 6 menu(broiled lobster tail). It appears that is the menu for formal night.