Just back from Liberty - Quick Review

Went on Liberty of the Seas 2 years ago with group of 8 adults. Just got back yesterday and this time took the teenager kids. Kids have all been on Carnival previously (3 times) and we were excited for them to see what Royal was like. (We've been on Royal two other times).

Here is my quick review of our experience (your experience will most likely vary):

Liberty is 11 years old but does not look like it. The ship is very clean, well maintained and functional. This is one reason why we agreed to sail the Liberty again. Prices on the Liberty are also on the less expensive side compared to other Royal ships.

First off, Galveston is not an easy port to get to - far, have to take an Uber or various rental cars. Enterprise is the only rental car agency in Galveston and they will charge you $100 drop fee for a one-way rental. We ended up, with our group of 6, combining rental cars and Uber/Lyft for much much less than a shuttle would have been.

John Blair and his wife are the Cruise Director / Co-Director. He was ok as the CD, we've experienced better. We do compare them as the best cruise we've taken as a family, was partially so good because of the CD. The kids still remember who he was, what he did, what he said etc. The bar was set high and John didn't quite reach it. That said, again, he was OK and average.

The staff - ALL of them that we encountered all seemed happy to be there. They seemed to enjoy their jobs and went out of their way to do anything that would make our trip even better. Especially in the dining room. We had My-Time Dining which was new, as we've always preferred a set time to dine, usually the early seating, and I was a little worried how the My-Time would work, and how long we'd have to wait each night. And if we would like having a different waiter each night.

Turns out, you can make a set reservation with the same waiter, same table and same time each night in the My-Time dining room! It worked perfectly! And super flexible - there were several nights where we pushed back our time and all we had to do was call and it was no problem!

The showtimes were weird - sometimes early show was 6:15 and late was 8:45 and sometimes those times moved later. You couldn't eat at the early sitting time (5:30) and then go right to the show - there was a lot of down time. We ended up going to the early show, and then pushing back the dinner to right after the show started. Other times, the shows started at different times so it was not consistent.

Food - We ate all dinners in MDR. Food was really good, but very repetitious. Out of 7-8 items for starters, entree and dessert, only about 3 of them changed each night. We didn't go hungry though!! Johnny Rockets is now $9.95 and there are NO signs anywhere and nothing on the menu about the charge. The soft serve ice cream on the pool deck has limited hours and was closed more than it was open. I remember this from the last time on this ship also. Only "free" food options are the Pizza and small sandwiches/salads along the Promenade. This is where Carnival shines - they have so many "free" food options, and they are all fantastic!

Waterslides - The slides were added about a year and half ago, and look fantastic! The Perfect Storm slide is super fun and we went on it a lot. The other "tube" slides look fun, but don't bother. Both of them are extremely slow - so slow each one of us got stuck and had to push ourselves out. They simply don't work. They are either not steep enough, or don't have enough water in them.

Flowrider - always a fun thing! Only complaint was the hours it was open - in port, it was usually closed until late afternoon. Staff again, very helpful and friendly.

Tendering - wow - this was horrible last time we were on this ship and it's even worse now. Completely unorganized, slow, inefficient, and did I mention slow?? You can go ahead of time and get "tickets" but they are not checked very well. If you don't have a tour scheduled from Royal, you simply don't get off until later. And you are then late for your (independently booked) tour. Our tour group leader we booked with, even commented on this. Tendering BACK to the ship is even worse. There are two doors accepting guests back on the ship where you walk through security. Two tenders leave around the same time and one goes to each door. However, the second tender sits there, waiting, not letting anyone off, until the first tender is empty and had off loaded everyone. This takes about 15 minutes. When the tender operator and Royal staff were asked why only one tender would unload people at a time, the answer given was so they could get an "accurate count" - what does that even mean? Everyone gets their cards scanned - the computer knows how many people got on/off. There was a guy, with a clicker, counting everyone coming back on the ship. And then he wrote that number down on a paper. He then radioed to another guy, at the other door, the number of people he counted. ??????? Frustrating to be certain!!

Overall, how can you go wrong on a cruise? We all had a great trip and enjoyed it all. On the way home, we asked the kids what they thought of Royal and if they'd like to go on Royal again? They said maybe if it was one of the newer (and super expensive) ships, but overall they preferred Carnival, mainly because of the past CD we had and all the "free" food options. They also felt like there were more activities for them to do, which is strange, because they spent a lot of time at the flowrider!

Did you notice an drink cards for sale, and if so, what day of the cruise?

Thanks for the honest, well-balanced review!

Sailing at the end of September, so I really appreciate the newer comments/reviews!

Thanks for the quick and to the point review. We are on Liberty in a little over 3 weeks.

Thank you for your review.

Keith

Did you have any issues with fog? I'm so worried about my April 15th cruise.

Did you have any issues with fog? I'm so worried about my April 15th cruise.

As I stated in Gulf Coast Departures, fog occurs less than is thought: 17 days in 2017, 16 in 2016; occurring most in January, February and March when warm air is over cooler Gulf waters.

Fog is more prevalent on the mainland than Galveston.

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Did you have any issues with fog? I'm so worried about my April 15th cruise.

Usually, in March the wind starts blowing so hard that fog doesn’t have a chance. No real problems after that.

I agree with you about the CD. She seems a lot more visible than him and we saw the Activities Manager and team running most of the activities. How was the pool band? JRs is definitely off our list - we would often go for a quick late lunch/early dinner but not for $20! Thanks for the review.

And Momma - you shouldn't have fog in April. don't worry!

We were on the Liberty 2/25 sailing. The drink cards went on sale Wed I believe - 10 drinks for $79.

We were on this cruise too as the second part of a b2b. I agree with your comments about CD but his neil diamond show was very good. talk about 2 different cruises, first week we were the young people at 64 it seemed. the second week large amount of families due to school vacations,which in texas each district picks different weeks. and the spring breakers. seemed will behaved but numbered 900 to 1500. counts from diamond lounge. this week over 2000.

Waterslides - The slides were added about a year and half ago, and look fantastic! The Perfect Storm slide is super fun and we went on it a lot. The other "tube" slides look fun, but don't bother. Both of them are extremely slow - so slow each one of us got stuck and had to push ourselves out. They simply don't work. They are either not steep enough, or don't have enough water in them.

Sorry the tube slides didn't work for y'all. You can't ride them like a normal slide by sitting up though. You have to lay down on your back and put weight on your heels and shoulders and lift up your back end. The material on your bathing suite will slow you down.

Thanks for your review. Liberty was the first ship DH and I ever sailed on for her inaugural. We’re looking forward to going back and bringing DD (8) with us. She is used to Celebrity and our last cruise was MSC Divina, all of which we have all enjoyed. We’re hoping she’ll enjoy this ship, as well.

Good review. :)

The wife went to CDs Neil Diamond show and loved it too! We didn't know it was considered Sping Break when we booked. Actually, the booking is a long story - date was changed 3 times...originally booked on MSC Seaside for May and eventually ended up with this. After reading all the reviews about Seaside, SO glad we canceled it! My kids spring break isn't until April, and we were surprised to see so many younger kids. Last time we sailed Liberty, it was in February and I think the average age was 60+ and so many 70 and over!

We tried all different ways on the slides - sitting up, heals only, etc.....All 7 of us had problems in the slides ha ha!!

No fog issues at all!

Over all though, was a great cruise! How can you go wrong with any cruise, right?

Did you notice an drink cards for sale, and if so, what day of the cruise?

Sailed the week before this review drink cards were available on day 4

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Sailed the week before this review drink cards were available on day 4

 

 

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So? How do the drink cards work? $79.00 for ten drinks.... means $7.90 per drink. Isn't that more than you would be charged if priced individually? Is gratuity included?

Bigger question tho is............... can they be shared (by adults of course) or are they per person?

TIA

Sailed the week before this review drink cards were available on day 4

Thanks!

The drink cards are for any drink so it wouldn’t be a good deal if you just ordered say rum and coke. If you get fancy drinks or drink of the day, it’s a savings. They can be shared with anyone not just the person that purchased the card

Other than basic drinks as noted above, or beers, most drinks are at least $9.95 + tip which is the cost of drink of the day. Many are over $12. The drink card price does NOT include the 18% gratuity.

We tried all different ways on the slides - sitting up, heals only, etc.....All 7 of us had problems in the slides ha ha!!

Oh well at least y'all tried. I guess I have been doing slides for about 40 years and know the little tricks to going fast. The only parts of me that are making contact with the slide is one heel (I cross my legs) and my shoulders. But it is easier said then done like when someone tells me how easy it is to standup on the flowrider and I can only stay up for about 5 seconds. haha

Thanks again for the review. Cheers.

We'll be back on LOTS in May. Sailed her in 2016, and I don't recall the beds being bad. However, on another thread, there are numerous reports of mattresses being like concrete now since they've been replaced. How was yours? We are strongly considering bringing our own mattress topper (Klymit Static) since I've also read that if you ask for a mattress topper on board, all you get is an extra duvet - egg crate toppers are no longer available. Thanks for the fair and honest review! I get exhausted reading reviews where passengers only complain. Come on - you're on a CRUISE! Thanks again!

We'll be back on LOTS in May. Sailed her in 2016, and I don't recall the beds being bad. However, on another thread, there are numerous reports of mattresses being like concrete now since they've been replaced. How was yours? We are strongly considering bringing our own mattress topper (Klymit Static) since I've also read that if you ask for a mattress topper on board, all you get is an extra duvet - egg crate toppers are no longer available. Thanks for the fair and honest review! I get exhausted reading reviews where passengers only complain. Come on - you're on a CRUISE! Thanks again!

Bring your Klymit. If the bed is tolerable you don’t have to use it. Ever since last summer (2016) when they removed the foam pads, the beds for me have been just tolerable to torture. I always bring my Klymits.

We didn’t notice that the beds were hard a few months ago in January. So they were already changed by then? Interesting.

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We didn’t notice that the beds were hard a few months ago in January. So they were already changed by then? Interesting.

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Not sure when the mattresses were changed. That's just what I've read on recent reviews.