Liberty Feb 5-13 Trip Journal with Pictures

[Newbcruiser1]

We flew into FLL a day before our cruise, but we took our time on embarkation day because we heard about the previous Eastern Caribbean cruises having delayed embarkation due to extra screening after Western Caribbean cruises to Belize.

 

Embarkation:

To be honest, I lost track of time, but I think we arrived at the Port of Miami around 12:45 or so. There was a LOT of luggage waiting on the curb, however no line ups to get into the terminal. We left our luggage with a porter, along with a couple cases of 8-packs of mini coke bottles (we drink caffeine free diet coke which isn’t offered onboard) which we put into double plastic bags, tied, with a luggage tag on each. We figured we’d take our chances, and if it was confiscated, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Keep reading for the outcome on that!

 

We faced some delays boarding. First was immediately upon entering the terminal - they were not allowing people to go up the escalator to the security line because it was too crowded. Once we got up the escalator, we waited in a somewhat fast moving line to go through security.

 

 

Once we reached the front of the line, we were informed that they were holding the line due to crowds in the next area. We waited here for about 20 minutes. Once security re-opened, we waited in the next room to check in for another 20 minutes or so, and soon we had our sea-passes in hand, had our pictures taken on the way to the gangway, and we were onboard around 2:30 or so. It was a longer process than our previous cruises, however it was probably better since we arrived later after boarding had already started.

 

 

 

[Newbcruiser1]

Can someone tell me how to post pictures in the middle of the text? (the actual pictures, not the thumbnails). I'm using their Facebook URL's in photo properties. Is there a code?

[Newbcruiser1]

Anyone? I don't want to post the whole thing with little thumbnails! :)

[CruiseKeeper]

Try just a copy/paste of a full size pic.

[Newbcruiser1]

Thanks! I found the answer on another Cruise Critic thread! Now we're in business! :)

 

I'm sorry if this takes me forever to post... It's taking Facebook forever to upload so it might take me a few days.

[Newbcruiser1]

Day 1: Depart Miami

 

 

Once onboard, we headed to our room (6374), a D1 balcony room with the bed near the balcony (however the bed faced backwards), to drop off our carry-on, and to our surprise, our luggage had already arrived, minus the cases of coke. We quickly unpacked and were pleasantly surprised at the amount of storage space, even with 3 adults in the room. We even had some unused drawers and cupboards.

 

 

 

 

We then headed to the Windjammer for some lunch. The honey stung chicken was better than I remember previously. I also had pizza, a small turkey sandwich, and some Greek salad.

 

 

It was pretty crowded in there, which would become a trend for the rest of the cruise. I think they need more seating for the number of people onboard. I’m well aware that we could have gone to Sorrento’s or Café Promenade to avoid the crowds, but I wanted that honey-stung chicken.

 

The Muster Drill was supposed to take place at 4:30, however at 4:00 we were informed that everyone was onboard, so they were going to move it up to 4:15. Not having to wear your lifejackets now is a big improvement and it made the process a lot more painless. By 4:45 we were heading up to the helipad for sail away. This was a great place to stand for a beautiful view.

 

 

We then went up to deck 11 to check out the pool party with the Dreamworks characters. They made use of the new big screen over the main pool and used it to show live footage of the dancing and the passengers. It was great!

 

[Newbcruiser1]

 

We saw these interesting hats at the sailaway party... and no, they weren't part of the show! ;)

 

 

Bye Bye Miami!

 

 

We returned to our room to get ready for dinner, and soon after, we heard our knock at the door. It was a crew member delivering our coke which had inadvertently made its way to a higher deck. So it wasn’t confiscated after all! And boy did it come in handy throughout the cruise! We were glad we brought it.

 

 

The Welcome Aboard show was at 7:45 tonight, followed by dinner. We had 8:30 seating with a group of friends on deck 3 in the main dining room. Our waiter Joel from Haiti, and assistant waiter Michael from the Philipines were pretty good and tried very hard. I had the Vidalia onion tart which was excellent as usual, followed by the prime rib which wasn’t anything special.

 

The onion tart:

 

 

Later in the evening we went to check out the karaoke event which nobody attended, so we went to the Viking Crown Lounge (Olive or Twist) to see the band, “Suave”, who were great. We also checked out the Catacombs, the disco, and there was some good dancing in there.

 

Here are some pictures from our exploring today:

 

Sorrento's and Cafe Promenade weren't busy:

[Newbcruiser1]

 

The cupcakes at the new Cupcake Cupboard looked delicious:

 

 

Onboard resident penguins:

 

 

The Royal Promenade:

 

 

Solarium Pool:

 

H2O Zone:

 

[tissot1]

Thanks so much for the amazing pictures & sneek peak info.

[Palmetto Pilot]

Thanks for the post! I'm looking forward to my trip! First time on the Liberty, and I have not sailed out of Miami in years!!

[Newbcruiser1]

For anyone wondering what the D1 room looks like with the sofabed opened, here it is! We still had enough room to move around the room. The sofabed was huge and could easily sleep 2. It wasn't the most comfortable despite the room steward putting 2 duvet's down for me to sleep on, but I still slept okay despite waking up with a numb arm a couple times! :)

 

[sailingawaysoon]

I hate when I catch these reviews in the beginning, then it keeps me hanging on for what seems like FOREVER. Looks and sounds great so far. Love the pics and the new changes on the ship!

[Lottycruiser]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write about your Liberty cruise and what great pictures , we will be on Liberty in april with two grandchildren so was good to see the pics of the dreamworks characters and the write up was very informative , thank you so much and looking forward to reading more . pleased you got your cans of coke in the end :D

[Newbcruiser1]

Day 2: At Sea

 

 

We woke up early and headed to the Windjammer for breakfast around 8:45. It was very busy at this time. Breakfast was excellent, and tends to be my favourite meal of the day. They had everything you could hope for, including waffles, French toast, an egg station, various kinds of potatoes/hash browns, bacon, sausage, cereal, breads, yogurt, donuts, etc. There was even miso soup with rice and the fix-ins on the Jade side.

 

After breakfast we went to the Solarium to find that many chairs had been reserved by chair hogs. We managed to find 3 together though, and sat there until the early afternoon. I had been craving the salad bar in the MDR for a few weeks so that’s what I had, and it was good, as usual.

 

Lunch is served on deck 3 of the dining room on sea days, however here is the view from deck 5 - beautiful!

 

 

I then spent the afternoon wandering around the ship, watching the various activities and exploring:

 

 

I watched the Flow Rider trying to decide if I should try it... I decided against it, however I got brave on the last day. Stay tuned for more on that! :)

 

 

 

There were 2 “Encore” ice shows today, one at 1:30 and one at 3:30. No tickets needed, and entrance was on a first-come basis. We arrived to find a huge line at 2:50. Around 3, they opened the doors and there were plenty of seats for everyone. The skaters were great despite a few falls, however I found the style of the show and the plot pretty cheesy and think they could have done better in this area.

 

After the ice show we headed up to the Windjammer for some bread pudding with vanilla sauce (delicious, as always), and I wandered around the ship a little more.

 

There were Superbowl parties in Studio B and at the main pool with the game shown on the big screen at the main pool, along with some small buffet set-ups in these areas. I’m not a football fan, so I didn’t attend either location, however here was the beginning just as I was leaving the pool:

 

 

[Palmetto Pilot]

Do you recall if there were any special for Chops or Portofinos on the first night

[Cruzface]

We leave on Friday!!! Hurry up!!!!:D:D:D:p

[Newbcruiser1]

Another beautiful sunset:

 

 

The headliner show tonight was Finis Henderson, doing comedy and vocal impressions, and we attended the 7pm show in the Platinum Theatre:

 

 

 

The menu in the MDR tonight wasn’t very appealing, and formal night was pushed forward to tomorrow due to the Superbowl. I had the tomato and foccacia salad served family style, as well as the chicken soup with wontons, mushrooms, and bok-choy, and the salmon on the alternative menu. The soup was good, although very strong and salty. I wasn’t a fan of the salmon - I believe it was wild pacific salmon, not the Atlantic salmon that I’m used to. I ate half of it and opted to order 2 desserts. The apple pie a-la-mode was excellent, as was the sugar-free fruit pillow.

 

 

 

I returned to the room to find our first towel animal, a swan, relaxed for a bit, and then headed to the late night adult comedy show at 11:30, featuring comedian Rodney Johnson. He was excellent and kept us laughing.

 

[Newbcruiser1]

Here are some more random shots from around the ship today:

 

The wayfinding touchscreens:

 

The Library:

 

Looking down in the Centrum:

 

[Newbcruiser1]

I don't recall seeing any specials for Chops or Portofino's on the first night... I know Portofino's had their Mystery Dinner that night though, with a fee of about $50 per person.

[Newbcruiser1]

Day 3: At Sea

 

We woke up somewhat early again, around 8am and headed to the MDR for breakfast. They had a menu featuring all of the basics, as well as a buffet set-up with similar items. We opted to order off the menu (otherwise we might as well have gone to the Windjammer). The service was great and the food was good too. I had the smoked salmon plate which came with a bagel.

 

 

At 10am they had a “behind the scenes” type of show with Mike, the cruise director in the Palace theatre. They had all kinds of interesting facts about the Liberty, as well as pictures of crew areas, etc. It was very interesting. The craziest fact is that it costs $2.2 million to fuel the ship, and it’s done every 2 weeks! With these costs, I’m surprised they haven’t yet reinstated the fuel surcharge. Lets cross our fingers that they don’t! They also brought out some of the Dreamworks characters at the end.

 

 

Unfortunately chairs were hard to come by anywhere on deck 11 today. I ended up sitting on deck 12, baking in the sun and blowing in the wind for a while, and then managed to find a single chair near the main pool around lunch time. This became a trend on sea days... it was impossible to find a pool chair after 9am, however many of them cleared out at lunch time. I stayed there for a while, took a swim, and watched the sexiest man contest.

 

 

We then headed to the Windjammer for a late lunch. I had pizza and fries today. We headed up to watch the Flowrider for a while during the stand-up surfing. The people on it were great! You could tell that many of them had been on it before, although there were still some wipeouts!

 

 

 

[Newbcruiser1]

I also checked out the rock wall:

We headed back to the Windjammer around 4:15 for some bread pudding...

We then headed back to the room to watch the sunset on the balcony and get ready for formal night (pushed back one night as mentioned above, due to the Superbowl).

 

 

It wasn't until now that I realized that when we looked straight down at the water from our balcony, we could see a walkway on deck 4:

 

[foxesden1]

Thank you so much the the review! The the format. :)

[volley1974]

It looks like you have all the pictures of the compasses, any chance you can email them to me if I give you my email address?

Thanks,

Lynn

[Newbcruiser1]

After a wardrobe malfunction (I was dressed in my gorgeous new dress I bought for the cruise when I realized they had left 2 security tags on the sides, so I had to change), we headed downstairs. We saw all kinds of outfits tonight including men in suits and tuxes and ladies in cocktail dresses and gowns, as well as people in shorts and t-shirts, although we didn’t see any of the more casually dressed people in the MDR… they must have gone to the buffet or elsewhere. Tonight’s show was Up in the Air featuring aerial acts, etc. It was good. I caught a bit of family karaoke at On Air, then it was off to dinner, where I had shrimp cocktail, the filet of beef, and the chocolate soufflé for dinner. Everything was excellent tonight.

 

 

 

After dinner was the 70’s party in the Royal Promenade. I opted to watch from the 6th floor between the forward elevators as the Promenade was jam-packed with people. It did look like a lot of fun though. Then it was off to bed with another towel friend awaiting!

 

 

 

[Newbcruiser1]

It looks like you have all the pictures of the compasses, any chance you can email them to me if I give you my email address?

Thanks,

Lynn

 

Hi Lynn,

I only have pictures of the front page of each one (I have the actual cruise compasses but no scanner). I'll be posting each front page here though. If you still want me to e-mail the front pages, I can do that.