Review: Liberty 2/19/11 w/PICS

[pcgold]

We were on the same cruise.

 

Not once did we see the Dreamworks characters. We were not looking for them though (our kids are too old). In other words, they're not "in your face". We just did our own thing.

 

Balcony doors do open up to join - but you have to get your attendant to do it for you.

 

Good experience, but won't be cruising any time soon - in the future, but not for a while. We all agreed we preferred All inclusives to cruising. Way too many people huddled together.

 

Nice to see the pics. I see you snapped one of me getting off the boat in Labadee. ;)

[MrZoey]

Those pics are great and we absolutely cannot wait! Do you happen to know if it's possible to open up balconies between 2 cabins? We are in a JS and our kids are in a D1 next to us. The cabins are not adjoining but I was led to believe that the balconies could join which is just as good.

 

What a bummer about the MUTS. Princess did that really really well. Great movies around 9 pm and the pool chairs were rearranged as movie loungers with blankets and a popcorn machine. It was awesome. I really want to see Secretariat too but definitely NOT at 1 am!!

 

We were able to open the dividers on Liberty in early February....it is up to the captain on each ship, we have never had a problem and always get a cabin next to our friends....the "bigger balconies" are great. You can't open the dividers on the aft cabins though, on any ship. Have fun!

GO GREEN! :D

[Clubber]

We were on the same cruise.

 

Good experience, but won't be cruising any time soon - in the future, but not for a while. We all agreed we preferred All inclusives to cruising. Way too many people huddled together.

 

Nice to see the pics. I see you snapped one of me getting off the boat in Labadee. ;)

 

You probably should not go during the winter break for the Eastern schools. That was my ninth cruise and by far the most amount of people I've ever seen on the decksr. Lots of young families with lots of kids. Three sea days didn't help. A more port intensive itinerary would have cleared the decks.

 

These pics are great and several of my friends and myself are in them.

[WM219]

Those pics are great and we absolutely cannot wait! Do you happen to know if it's possible to open up balconies between 2 cabins? We are in a JS and our kids are in a D1 next to us. The cabins are not adjoining but I was led to believe that the balconies could join which is just as good.

 

Hi SpartyOn,

 

It's definitely up to the captain, but we've been able to open our balcony dividers on each of our Liberty sailings. We just ask our stateroom attendant when he comes around and they're always open when we return from the muster drill. We've never wanted connecting staterooms, but the connected balcony is a great compromise. There are normally 10-12 of us in our family so we have coffee together in the mornings and sit on the balcony while we wait on everyone for dinner instead of standing around in the hall. I'm attaching a couple of pics from Liberty. (First is 2 JS + 1 D1, the second is 3 D1 + 2 D2) You'll enjoy Liberty, she's a great ship with a great crew. We're planning to sail her again in November when she returns from Europe.

[Cruzface]

We were on the same cruise. Nice to see the pics. I see you snapped one of me getting off the boat in Labadee. ;)

 

There may be more of you. Stay tuned.

[SpartyOn813]

Hi SpartyOn,

 

It's definitely up to the captain, but we've been able to open our balcony dividers on each of our Liberty sailings. We just ask our stateroom attendant when he comes around and they're always open when we return from the muster drill. We've never wanted connecting staterooms, but the connected balcony is a great compromise. There are normally 10-12 of us in our family so we have coffee together in the mornings and sit on the balcony while we wait on everyone for dinner instead of standing around in the hall. I'm attaching a couple of pics from Liberty. (First is 2 JS + 1 D1, the second is 3 D1 + 2 D2) You'll enjoy Liberty, she's a great ship with a great crew. We're planning to sail her again in November when she returns from Europe.

 

That is FANTASTIC!!! I really appreciate the photos! That way we can stay "connected" to the kids without having the actual connecting staterooms.

[Cruzface]

I love all of your pics. . . Keep them coming, and thanks for posting your review.

 

 

Radio

;);)

 

 

.

 

Thanks Radio. I have put your 5/22 LIVE review in my iPhone so I don't forget...:D

[Cruzface]

Since I am at work and can't post pics, here is a link to the Cruise Compasses for the 8 day LOS Eastern. Not my week, but it seems to be the same.

 

[Cruzface]

Got out of work a little early. So on with the review...

 

 

Dancin’ In the Street (the 70’s Dance Party) was interesting. The singer looked like a chubby Nick Lachey…I’m just sayin’

It was just a little crowded for this event::rolleyes:

White Hot Dance Party was fun, but how can people eat again at 11:30 p.m.!!!!

Calypso Band: I didn’t think they played enough. They should have played for every sail away from a port. In St. Maarten, a Princess ship was next to us and they had a great band that was rockin! People from LOS started to gather at the rail and the singer stopped to say “hey why don’t you come on over!” At that point I wanted to. Don’t get me wrong, when they played they were very good. I just wanted more.

[Cruzface]

Almost forgot that the chubby Nick Lachey guy was also the Jazz Band singer in Olive or Twist (Viking Crown) on the last night. That was pretty good.

 

Sports and Recreation: H2O Zone was fantastic. Our boys are too old for it, but it was great to see all the little ones in there. It really helped keep them out of the main pool most of the time. The water was so cold all week that the pools were only crowded on the last sea day.

This is a current pool. Pretty strong accoring to my 13 yr old. Good way to tire out the kids;)

[Cruzface]

Main pool: Never really seemed crowded except for the last sea day. Everyone is out trying to to wring the last bit of fun out of their vacation:( The “No Jumping or Diving Rule” not enforced.

 

Yes there was chair hogging, but we never had trouble getting a couple loungers. We did get up and out before 9 a.m. most days.

 

Usually we had to go to the upper level where the jogging track (more on that later) is to find a place, but no biggie.

 

 

Loved the Pool Deck at sunset. First, I'm a big sunset guy. Second, all the early seating people and the WJs are gone. It's like you have the place to yourself. Almost...

 

 

Last sea day::eek:

 

 

 

[Cruzface]

Solarium: Talk about cold water!!! :eek:Yikes! But when it was 90 outside, it was very refreshing.

Hot tubs: not a frequent guest because we have one at home but the cantilevered spas are very cool. DW and DS did get rashes from the hot tubs, but they have sensitive skin.

[Cruzface]

Basketball: our kids spent probably 10 hours a day on that court. Made friends, played soccer(!), just loved it. We have been informed that they will not cruise without a full court basketball court again. Weeelllll excuuuuuse meeeeeee!!!!!!:D

Yup. B-Ball at night. One night they played until 1:30 a.m. We kept checking them and the crew was playing with them so they said it was OK. Love this pic.:

Mini golf: looked cool, never played. Not sure if the kids did either.

[Cruzface]

Flowrider: Beyond cool. The kids loved it. Nobody did stand up, but boogie-boarding is cool enough. There are tricks the instructors try to teach you. Getting to your knees, no hands, roll over etc.

As the lines get longer later in the cruise, they split it so 2 can go at a time.

[Cruzface]

Rock Wall: we had done that before on Grandeur so we didn’t feel the need to do it again.

Jogging Track: BAD BAD BAD design. Why would you put a jogging track through an area where most people are going to lounge and congregate? I am serious shocked that more people were not hurt by joggers or vice versa. Well, can’t change it now…

Spa: Didn’t use the spa, but used the steam room every day. All I can say is nice. It was great to use the big shower in the gym locker room, go in the steam room and get all the toxins out that I had put in the night before…

GYM: Didn’t work out;), but the boxing ring is a huge waste of space,

We did pass by and saw these guys…

[Cruzface]

Service: Excellent. Cabin steward (Joel) and Waiter (Onder) were probably the best we have had on any cruise. All of the staff were very friendly and smiling. Only saw one incident between two employees by the towel kiosk when we were at Labadee arguing over where the cart of towels was supposed to go. Got pretty ugly, but they seemed to be stressed because at Labadee there is a huge demand for towels. We kind of slept in and by the time we got to the towel station, no towels. :eek: No problem. I went to the gym/spa and snagged 4 towels. Done.

Cabin steward was great with the towel animals every night:

Onder was great:

[Cruzface]

Food: WJ for breakfast was excellent. Great variety, omlette and egg station was efficiently run with good quality. Staff was very helpful in assisting people in finding tables. Only complaint was that after day one the OJ and Apple Juice was not cold. So they started to add ice which just watered it down. No biggie.

WJ for lunch was also great. However, all I can say is PORK!!!! I have never seen so many different pork dishes every day! I think someone in RCI has a friend in the pork business. I didn't mind, I like pork. If you don't you're in trouble. The flavored waters were a nice surprise.

MDR: OK. We do not cruise for the food. We were on Grandeur a few years go and thought the food was significantly worse than Carnival. Stayed with Carnival for a few more years, but RCI's ships are significantly better than Carnival's. So we went for it hoping that Grandeur was a fluke. Nope.

SALT SALT and more SALT! And I like salt, but it was too much for me. I would say maybe three main dishes the entire eight days were good (lamb shank, lamb osso bucco and probably the best lobster tail I have had on a cruise). Other than that the food was poor to inedible. The sirloin steak on the last night literally left a bad taste in our mouths.

As I mentioned the MDR service was great. One of the kids in our party (not mine;)) ordered grilled cheese without crust every night. Our waiter brought it and a plate of chocolate chip cookies (real ones, not sugar free) as well! While this may not seem like a big deal, our kids made friends with another kid who wanted grilled cheese in the MDR and his waiter said he couldn't do it.

Our waiter would bring us whatever we wanted, it was just that after we tried what we ordered, we kinda lost our appetites. I am not kidding, if we cruise RCI again we will just hit the WJ. It can't be worse and it will give us more time to enjoy the ship which is the best part of an RCI cruise.

That being said, we did not go hungry. Loved the little sandwiches in Cafe Promenade:

The pizza in Sorrentos was better than average. Good variety. Loved the horizo pizza and the Italian pepper pizza. Even had the antipasta with bread and it was very good.

Never tried the specialty restaurants, JR's, Ben & Jerry's or the Cupcake factory, but it looked like they did pretty good business.

The kids were disappointed that the Sprinkles frozen yogurt machines were only open for about 4 hours a day. Probably a good thing.

 

I don't take food pictures but here is a picture of JR's:

 

 

Ben & Jerry's:

 

[Cruzface]

On a happier note, I will be reviewing the ports tomorrow...

[Cruzface]

St. Thomas: We love to watch the ship come in to St. Thomas. After two days at sea, it seemed even better. We got up at 8:00 a.m. and went to the helipad (deck 4 outside and all the way forward).

 

 

We followed the Carnival Liberty into port. Hmmm wonder if we could have dinner on her? JK

 

 

 

Love this Marriott:

 

 

The Explorer of the Seas is already there:

 

 

Uh oh looks like we will be parallel parking. I am always amazed at how they can do this with such a huge ship:

 

[Cruzface]

It was very windy and in the 80s at St. Thomas. Now we knew why the ride down was a little rocky. And yes even on a ship as big as LOS, we felt it.

 

We decided to go to Sapphire beach because we had been to Magen's Bay last year. It's a good thing we did because we heard from other cruisers that Magen's Bay was packed.

 

 

 

As I said it was windy and a little cloudy, but wh cares we are at the beach in February! I'm not sure what island this is in the distance, but we all loved the views at Sapphire. Maybe my new favorite beach.

 

 

View of beach from the jetty:

 

 

Love this pic:

 

 

 

This little guy strolled right past us on the beach:

 

[Cruzface]

Stayed at the beach for a while. Swam, napped, strolled. Ahhhh... Went back to the ship at about 2:30 for lunch. By the way, it was $10 per person each way to get to Sapphire and the beach is free. Lounge chairs are $5 each. If you're not a beach person, there is a cable lift right at the pier that takes you up to the highest spot on the island where you can have a drink and enjoy the view. There is also Senor Frogs at the pier.

 

I didn't realize Senor Frogs had a pool and beach volleyball right at the pier:

 

 

Someone told us Bill Gates keeps his yacht in St. Thomas. I wonder if one these are his:

 

 

 

 

 

This pirate ship cruise looks like fun. Oh well maybe next time:

 

[Cruzface]

As nice as it is coming into St. Thomas, it is beautiful as you leave.

 

The next day we woke up in St. Maarten. We were really looking forward to this island because we had never been there. It was a much nicer day.

 

 

For $6 per person you can take a water taxi to Philipsburg (shopping) and the beach (which is free). Friends of ours did this and had a blast. If we go back to St. Maarten, that is what we will do as well (more on that later):

 

 

 

Instead, we went to Orient beach. $6 per person each way. Taxi driver told us beach was free and there were facilities there. Keep in mind if you have kids, Orient has a nude beach on the extreme right side of the beach (facing the water). But topless women were everywhere. As we walked down the beach to find a place one walked right past us. Not sure if the kids noticed. Beautiful beach though:

 

 

 

[Cruzface]

Now, we are not cheap people. We know that most of the people working the beaches live in poverty and therefore we usually over tip. We were told by the taxi driver that the beach and facilities were free. I realize that lounge chairs are extra, that's the deal everywhere. We usually don't get a lounge chair because we don't stay all day and we are in the water most of the time.

 

After the long drive to the beach, DW of course needed to use the bathroom. She walked up and down the beach and every place required you to buy a lounge chair to use the bathroom. Are they kidding me? What a joke. But you have no choice so for $10 we got 2 chairs and an umbrella, which we will not use. Whatever. If you gotta go, ya gotta go. DW tried to go to the bathroom in the area where we purchased the chairs and there was a woman at the bathroom door who asked her for a ticket. Ticket? What are you talking about? She says it's 50 cents to use the bathroom. NFW. So I go back to the guy who we paid for the chairs. I tell him we want our money back. It was as if I insulted his mother. Another guy comes over and tries to explain that the bathroom is not included in the chair fee. OK, so give me my money back since the only reason I paid you was to use the bathroom. Then the two guys start arguing. Once again, give me my money back and we will go to the next area and give it them to use their bathroom. Finally, the guy we originally purchased the chairs from took DW to the bathroom and gave her a ticket. The other guy was not happy about this and kept trying to explain the system to us. Followed us to the chairs. He wouldn't let up. I realize that it's only 50 cents but now I'm pissed. I wouldn't pay him a penny out of principle.

 

As this is going on, it does not escape me that we are on a beautiful beach in the caribbean arguing over 50 cents to pee.:eek: Eventually, the guy just leaves and I am sure cursed us out. Well, I guess we are ugly Americans after all.

 

Therefore, next time we go to St. Maarten, we will take the water taxi to Philipsburg.

[bobmacliberty]

Keep in mind if you have kids, Orient has a nude beach on the extreme right side of the beach (facing the water). But topless women were everywhere. As we walked down the beach to find a place one walked right past us. Not sure if the kids noticed.

Really?? 15 and 13 year old boys?? Really??? :D

[Cruzface]

It really is a beautiful place.

 

 

That's the Ruby Princess next to LOS:

 

 

Snapped this from the taxi:

 

 

Previously mentioned band on the Ruby Princess:

 

 

Told you I like sunsets: