My Personal Liberty Review

[twinmommy08]

We sailed 1/28/13

 

About us: Married 30 somethings with twin 4 year olds. We live in Ohio. We are “Diamond” and this was our 17th cruise overall. I think 12th with Royal… I lost count. The twins’ 6th cruise total. We typically cruise 3-4 times a year, depending on schedules. This was our first time on Liberty. We don’t drink, we don’t socialize much, and we like our balcony J

Purpose: To provide an accurate review from my point a view with minimal bias.

Back story: Husband broke his foot on Friday before we left. Spent time in the ER and had a boot fitting. He was given the ok to travel. Ironically, this was the FIRST time ever we didn’t buy trip insurance… I have severe allergies and have asthma.

Our plans were to fly non-stop from CMH to FLL on Sunday, January 27th at 3 pm. I had the unfortunate luck on Hotwire and got stuck with a Super8 in Dania Beach. (See review on sister site) On Saturday evening, about 6 pm, I received an email from AirTran saying our flight had been cancelled and we were booked on the 6 am flight with a connection in Atlanta for the next morning (ie: 12 hours from then). This was due to a pending ice storm. Considering we live an hour from the airport, we decided to book an airport hotel and do a park in fly. After flying through the house, helping my mobility challenged husband pack (!) and getting the kids in the car; we took the drive to Columbus and checked in. Uneventful stay. We were up very early for our flight and had an obnoxiously long layover in Atlanta. *Bias: I loathe Atlanta

We arrived in FLL about 1 pm. We called the hotel and they picked us up and checked us in. I spent the next 18 hours in hell. *Bias- the hotel is a dump and no non-smoking anything to be found (ie: Asthma)

At 10 am on Monday morning, the shuttle dropped us off at the Liberty terminal. We walked in, checked in, and headed upstairs and sat with the priority boarding group. * We tried to get pier assistance for my husband. The agent told us it was over an hour wait as they were understaffed. We just dealt with it and took the walk slow for him. He managed. The check in took 10 mins or so. Very easy. There were a lot of people waiting downstairs in the general boarding. The agent came on many times and told people to be patient, etc. We boarded about noon that day. We were one of the first ones in the Windjammer and had lunch. *Bias: Eh, it was alright. After we ate we headed down to deck 10 to our cabin. It was 1 pm but the doors were still closed. An attendant was there and opened them about 10 mins later. We had a JS booked mid-ship.

This was our first encounter with our room steward. She was not pleasant and honestly quite rude. She told us our room won’t be ready for another hour because she was not prepared for today and running behind. I told her we needed in now and it didn’t bother me it wasn’t ready. My husband needed to rest and the twins really needed a nap. She snapped at me said fine and walked away… We went in and the room was perfect. Not sure what the fuss was about. However, we did not have any of our “Diamond” benefits in our room. Thinking this is what she meant, I left a note on the mirror for her when she came back at dinner.

We rested until Muster and did our part to be counted.

We went back to the room and got cleaned up for dinner as the ship was sailing off. We took turns with the kids on the balcony while the other showered. It was a bit windy and cool. The kids love to sit on the balcony and watch. By this time it was main seating dinner time. We left for deck 3 and sat at our table for four. We waited… and waited… and waited until the table next to us had their appetizers. I got up and found the head waiter and asked if we can be served. It was nearly 6:30 by then. Our waiter came over and asked what we wanted and we looked at him and said a menu would be nice first… he didn’t say anything and walked away. The person with the bread came by and we asked if we could get drinks first. It just seemed so weird. Everything was so out of place. Figuring it was the first night, we just went with the flow. Dinner took nearly 2 hours and the kids were bored out of their minds, but still very well behaved. * Bias, honestly they are good kids. We were complimented several times. Dinner wasn’t very good. Our food was cold and the beef tasted off. The kids enjoyed their meal though. We left disappointed and hungry. The only thing open at this point is the places on deck 5 so we had a slice of pizza and called it a night. The kids were exhausted!

Notes: Our Diamond stuff never arrived. No robes, no gift, nothing. We didn’t even get our coupon books.

 

Day 2: At sea

We slept in late and missed the dream works breakfast. We headed to the windjammer and it was a zoo. We must have been with the masses that slept in and wanted breakfast at 9 am. Typical fare- I liked the pre made omelets and pastries. We dropped the kids off at adventure ocean and made our way to the casino. We had a nice time and came out $60 ahead. We only play the slots. We picked the kids up and had lunch at Johnny Rockets. Everything was good but the service. The waiter didn’t want to be bothered or felt rushed. We didn’t get any personal service. We started to feel the service issue was going to be a problem, our first service issue on any Royal ship. After lunch we played in the H20 zone until dinner time.

Hoping for a better experience, we went back to the dining room. The wait wasn’t nearly as slow, however, the waiter was terrible. He wouldn’t look us in the eye or talk to us really. He just took our order and brought food. He didn’t provide any personal service or would engage in communication. He seemed miserable. I had a very good dish of pasta and husband had duck. It was fine. We took the kids to the adventure drop off during dinner and it worked out fine. However, the waiter was honestly confused when I told him the children was doing “My Family Time Dining” and needed their meals within 40 mins. He had to bring the head waiter over for me to explain. The head waiter knew what I was talking about and instructed the waiter to bring the kids’ meals now. Now I was starting to think we had a new server. When asked how long he had been with the company he said 15 years. This was disappointing to hear.

After dinner we tried the show. I believe it was the three tenures. We left after 10 mins. It’s just not our style but many people seemed engaged.

We headed back to the casino but couldn’t stay long. A lot of smokers were there that night and I have troubles breathing around smoke.

We walked around for a bit. This was our first encounter with the ScotiaBank employees. They must have been on a scavenger hunt because we… err... they kept running into us. No matter the floor, no matter the area, there they were. Loud and screaming while wearing their bright colored bandanas. They even tried to get into Adventure Ocean while we were picking up the kids. The staff had to repeatedly tell them they weren’t allowed access. One guy even pressed the button to open the door (you know, the security button to the little kids can’t get out?). They were in the elevators knocking people down, they were running through the ship like crazies. I am not the only one… several people complained. We were so annoyed we just went back to our room.

Note: Stopped at C&A on the ship to get our coupon books. Mentioned we didn’t get our stuff and was told it would be there that evening. We never did get our “stuff”. Let it go after that. Tonight was formal night. Lots of opportunities for pictures

 

Day 3: Labadee

We left our room early, but the “make up room” card in the door and went to the dining room for breakfast. Again, the service was terrible. There was a self service and our waiter must not have heard our order, or forgot, because we never got our order. After 20 mins of waiting for our food and drinks, we left without eating and went up to the windjammer. Note the table next to us was served but the two tables behind us (with the same waiter) were not served. We all left together, pretty irritated I might add. After finally eating, we left the ship for the beach. We ended up at Columbus Cove and swam for a bit. About noon is when it started getting very busy. We were the only ship in port but it seemed so crowed. We left Columbus and to lunch. It was almost 1130 at this time. We ate quickly *Bias: it was terrible, hot dogs and burnt hamburgers. We went to watch the zip liners for a while and headed back to the ship. Our “make up room” was still in the door, our room not cleaned, and no steward to be found. No carts in the hall way or anything to make you think someone was still working. There were several cards in the doors down the hall from us. I can only assume they had the same steward. My husband called down to the desk and told them we needed our room cleaned. They told us to call housekeeping. He did, no one answered. He called back to guest services and was told fresh towels would be sent up (we wanted to shower) and our room would be made up at dinner. This has never happened on the numerous ships we have sailed on with Royal. It left a bad taste in our mouth. Our towels did arrive though. Not from our room steward but someone else. Maybe she was sick or something? I don’t know, but we were never told.

We showered and slept past dinner time. We had the windjammer for dinner and it was ok. Not much variety that interested us but I’m sure others would say it was plenty.

We tried the magic show but left early. Again, not our thing. Went back to the casino for the evening.

Notes: We ordered room service for the first time about 9 pm. The food was outstanding. The best meal so far on the ship. We went to the diamond room and had a soda. No one in there but us at the time. We never went back… didn’t see a need as we are typically the youngest ones there (no offense!) and we don’t have anything in common with other diamond members. Tonight was the welcome back party with Platinum + members. Not sure what happened but we didn’t make it

 

Day 4: Falmouth

We had no plans but decided we wanted to go to the beach again. We ended up taking the Red Stripe Beach tour. After a huge mass confusion with other travelers on the tour bus, we drove into a gated area with bumpy roads. The area looked empty but it goes all the way back to the beach. The beach itself is very small but pretty. There were two ships in today, us and the Celebrity Solstice. The beach wasn’t as crowed as it could be, just not enough space for chairs and swimming. The shade is hard to come by. The chairs are $5 each and the floats are $10 each. It was very windy so the floats wouldn’t be used. They have a bar and a cooler with food. Hotdogs were $6, Hamburgers were $8. Patties were $4. Red Stripe was $5 each, a bucket of 6 was $23. Mixed drinks were $8 each… maybe 6 oz cup. We had a great time but did not buy their food. We went back to the ship about 2:30 and walked in on our room steward… just starting our room. Seriously I am so annoyed at this point. We left the room at 7 that morning and had our sign up. She told us to come back in an hour. I told her just to give us towels and she can finish at dinner. We were covered in sand and honestly I think we gave her plenty of time. She was very irritated and told us “no, I have to finish now or I can’t rest for the afternoon”. I asked her to let us shower and change, at least, and we will leave. She agreed and we left our room 20 mins later. We gave her over an hour and came back to change for dinner. She was gone by that time. I decided to go down to guest services while she was finishing and complain… the first time EVER on Royal. I was so set back from the response from the hotel staff. They told me “typical” cruisers are gone “all day” and allow the staff plenty of time to do their duties. So basically they were telling me I wasn’t gone long enough. I think 7 hours is plenty.. considering we had to be back on the ship at 4. By the time I got back to my room it was nearly 3 pm.

We ate the windjammer again, same stuff the night before, and walked the ship a bit.

 

Notes: By now, we have agreed that the service on this ship in particular is the worst we have ever encountered on a RCI ship. It seems like everyone has an attitude and very rude.

 

Day 5: At Sea

Not much happened this day. We generally slept and relaxed… of course packed. We have been so set back with the service we have received we didn’t participate in any ship activities. It was very cool so we didn’t get to the pool. Towards evening the weather turned and we had 50 mph winds.

Notes: We had a late dinner in Windjammer. Only one side was open and everything was pretty much gone at 7:30 pm. It was a huge disappointment. It almost seems they ran out of food for dinner?

 

Disembark

We woke at 5:30. Changed and went to windjammer one last time. Breakfast was plentiful so confused by last night’s dinner options. Had a very light breakfast as no one was hungry and went back to the room. It was 6:30 at this time so we grabbed our bags and headed down to deck 3 to studio B for self-disembark. We were one of the first sets there. We waited about 30 mins and started to get off the ship.

Huge Note: People do not do “self-disembark” if you have no idea what it means. We had a group of elderly women (75+), one with an arm in a sling, trying to carry off two pieces of luggage, per person, down two flights of stairs. It was a disaster.

The walk from the ship to the terminal is very long. We had two security people but the wait wasn’t very long. I don’t even think the guy looked at our passports. He just waved us by after we gave him the declare form. As soon as we got out we were tracked down by the “shuttle guy”. He told us he could get us to the airport now for $11. I know better, I asked him how much total and he said $11 per person and he pointed to the bus. Note: Never take the shuttle to the airport. I said no thanks and stood in the taxi line. As the line began to build, another person walked over and said the taxi’s would be delayed due to the numerous ships in port (I counted 6 but could have been more). He said he could take you “now” for $11. Pretty slick… people fell for it and started to walk away. No less than 2 mins later the taxi’s started showing up. $20 later (including tip) we were at the airport. A while later I talked with some ladies in the Chili’s who fell for the bait and switch. They said their group of 6 waited on the shuttle for 30 mins for it to fill as they watch the taxis come and go. Since they already paid, they had to wait. Again, never take the shuttle.

 

Ending Notes:

- We had the worst balcony neighbors. The one on the right smoked and left their lights on all night and the ones on the left had two teenage boys who threw (yes threw) their beer bottles overboard frequently. We told on them but I don’t think anything was done. The one on the left must be a D1 as we were the last JS on that side gong aft.

- Adventure Ocean was wonderful, as always. The staff was great and the activities were the same but the kids didn’t care. The room on this ship is much nicer than previous ships we’ve sailed.

- We took our WOW cards home with us. Not a single person Wow’d us. So sad.

- The ports were wonderful. We had a great time at both and the weather was perfect.

- The ship was very clean and in great shape. Someone is doing their job!

- The CD, Leo… very bland. I mean he tried but nothing like my favorite, Drew.

- I think we might have been the minority (American’s) on this cruise. Nothing wrong with that, but the Europeans were very numerous which we haven’t encountered in a while. The last time we felt like this was in 08’ and that was on Voyager in Europe!

- The ScotiaBank people were loud and obnoxious. Their private parties weren’t so private. You can hear them all over the ship. To me, it felt like I was on “their” cruise. Again, my comments are in general nature and not meant to offend anyone.

- I had a terrible time with my allergies. I lost my voice the 2nd day in but felt fine otherwise. The smoking really triggered my asthma as well. Never had this problem before. Not sure if the weather or me.

In conclusion, we have decided to try Disney next. Not because we were disappointed by Liberty, because we have two small children and feel it would be a better fit for our family. The majority of the ship activities are geared towards the older crowd, or to the young and drinking crowd. We fall in the middle and don’t think this ship met our needs. It’s hard to have balance but we had been happy up to this point. I guess we are too old but too young for Royal now.

[poodog]

Very good review, thanks

[ronandcarla]

I sure hope you didn't tip anyone on this cruise, for I know we wouldn't have. As you can see by our signature page we have been on plenty of cruises, basically our daughter every President's Week and/or Easter was raised on these cruises and every one of them has been wonderful, but knowing how I can be, when things are going fine we over tip, but on the other hand when they are not I have no problem leaving nothing.

 

Thank You for the report and I hope we never encounter anything even close to your story.

 

Ron and Carla M

[ticktoneer]

Great review thanks. If I'd have been you I'd have demanded a face to face meeting with the Guest Services Manager and Hotel Director. That's what we did last year with problems similar to yours.

 

I also agree with the tipping comments from post 3.

 

I noticed you like Drew - he's our favourite as well.

 

Hope you enjoy your next cruise on Disney. Disney Cruise Line is awesome.

[twinmommy08]

Great review thanks. If I'd have been you I'd have demanded a face to face meeting with the Guest Services Manager and Hotel Director. That's what we did last year with problems similar to yours.

 

I also agree with the tipping comments from post 3.

 

I noticed you like Drew - he's our favourite as well.

 

Hope you enjoy your next cruise on Disney. Disney Cruise Line is awesome.

 

 

I really hate to complain but in hind sight, I agree with you. I should have but not sure if it would have mattered any. We were already shot down once when we complained about the steward.

 

To be quite honest, we didn't tip. I don't pre tip for this reason. Others can flame all they want but I feel a tip is deserved when going above and beyond your job requirements. Some feel a tip is part of their salary and feel obligated to tip when not warranted. I on the other hand only tip when the service was more than what was expected beyond the typical job description of the service I am receiving. Note we have always tipped in some fashion on previous cruises. This was the first time we didn't tip at all and I feel it was justified.

[lorimay]

We were on the Liberty a few weeks ago and I feel the same way you do that the service has gone downhill from our last cruise. I don't know if it's this ship or what, but we encountered very few crew who actually went out of their way to do anything but the bare minimum. Our room steward was great, our assistant waiter was great, and the guy at the excursions desk was great too. All earned WOW cards from us. Who ever heard of a ship where housekeeping doesn't answer the phone? Our shower backed up and we couldn't even get extra towels without disturbing our room steward on his time off. Or maintenance not fixing our toilet until the next morning - I had to sleep in my clothes in case I needed to go to the bathroom in the night because I refused to use the unflushed toilet. Our whole section was out and they took almost 12 hours to fix it. We got charged for two towels because they put an inexperienced crew member on the check in computer on the LAST NIGHT of the cruise and she didn't know how to check in towels for both our cabins. The list goes on. Nothing major, but just not up to par. We have been loyal customers but may go elsewhere next cruise.

[sunseeker551]

I'm shocked by your experience on the Liberty. We're doing B2Bs on her in 3 weeks and your review has me more than a little worried. As I was reading, I kept thinking "what will we do if that's the way we feel after the first 5 days, knowing we have to repeat it all (in the same cabin) for another 5 days?". We've only cruised on the Oasis and Allure with Royal and we were very impressed with the service on both ships. I swear our cabin steward on the Allure in November had a hidden camera pointed at our door LOL...the minute we left the room he was in there cleaning it. We'd leave the room for a half hour, come back & it was spotless. We saw him in the hall all the time, he knew us by name and was so kind & helpful. I thought that was the norm with Royal, not the exception. Now I'm starting to wonder. We thought we'd try a smaller ship this time around for something different. I hope we don't regret it.

 

Sorry you had such a bad experience but thanks for posting. Between your report and posts about the disembarking nightmares, I'm getting very nervous.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[Mac303]

We were also on this cruise ,

embarkation was a total mess, as you walked into the building you were guided into the appropriate line according to your C&A level, that portion was smooth.

 

Once you were issued you setsail card, you were then pointed in the direction of another line that turned out to be a merger of all of the people who had completed check in.

From that point it was a mess, if you can picture, everyone who has checked in now all merging in the middle of the building into one line to get on the ship, but at the merger point there was no port/RCL employees present to help make it a smooth transition into the one line.

Of course a few people not realizing that it was a merger got upset that people were getting in front of them. Add in the fact that the air conditioning wasn't working in the building made for an uncomfortable experience in line.

 

On Board,

The room attendant and the dining room staff we encountered were friendly, and ready to help.

 

What seemed off was the overall service, the reminders of reservations at Chops, or other venues never appeared in the room, the windjammer personnel just gave you a feeling of the let me do only what I have to. The computers, in the online area and the diamond lounge would not connect to any of the RCL sites the whole week, I personally told the front desk twice, the response was "we will notify the IT dept." ended up using paid minutes to research a cruise to book in December.

 

Note: Loyalty desk was busy the whole week, we were able to purchase two future cruise certificates, but with the amount of people waiting to see him, wasn't about to hold them up while we looked into a December cruise we hadn't done prior research on, hence why the computers not connecting to RCL.com was an issue.

 

We used the luggage valet program for departure that was great. Made for a less stressful time exiting the ship.

 

Overall good cruise, and only 62 days till the next one.

[alfaeric]

Great review thanks. If I'd have been you I'd have demanded a face to face meeting with the Guest Services Manager and Hotel Director. That's what we did last year with problems similar to yours.

 

I also agree with the tipping comments from post 3.

 

I noticed you like Drew - he's our favourite as well.

 

Hope you enjoy your next cruise on Disney. Disney Cruise Line is awesome.

 

Tips are one thing, but I do hope you took advantage of the comment card. I've been posting about using it a lot- but that's based on how many times you are asked to fill it out.

 

Not giving someone money doesn't seem to last as long as a bad review (as we've been told about before). Comment, comment, comment. especially if desk services don't do anything.

 

Outside of sending an e-mail to Adam, it's the best way that corporate knows what happens.

[Happy2cruise]

We were on the Liberty a few weeks ago and I feel the same way you do that the service has gone downhill from our last cruise. I don't know if it's this ship or what, but we encountered very few crew who actually went out of their way to do anything but the bare minimum. Our room steward was great, our assistant waiter was great, and the guy at the excursions desk was great too. All earned WOW cards from us. Who ever heard of a ship where housekeeping doesn't answer the phone? Our shower backed up and we couldn't even get extra towels without disturbing our room steward on his time off. Or maintenance not fixing our toilet until the next morning - I had to sleep in my clothes in case I needed to go to the bathroom in the night because I refused to use the unflushed toilet. Our whole section was out and they took almost 12 hours to fix it. We got charged for two towels because they put an inexperienced crew member on the check in computer on the LAST NIGHT of the cruise and she didn't know how to check in towels for both our cabins. The list goes on. Nothing major, but just not up to par. We have been loyal customers but may go elsewhere next cruise.

 

We were on the Liberty a few weeks ago also. It was our 25th cruise but first on RC. The service was not all that good and we found the staff not very friendly. My turnoff point was checking out our bathroom to find a wad of hair in the shower!! While we always enjoy a cruise no matter what, I doubt we will do another RC.

[floridacruisegirl]

We were on the Liberty a few weeks ago and I feel the same way you do that the service has gone downhill from our last cruise. I don't know if it's this ship or what, but we encountered very few crew who actually went out of their way to do anything but the bare minimum. Our room steward was great, our assistant waiter was great, and the guy at the excursions desk was great too. All earned WOW cards from us. Who ever heard of a ship where housekeeping doesn't answer the phone? Our shower backed up and we couldn't even get extra towels without disturbing our room steward on his time off. Or maintenance not fixing our toilet until the next morning - I had to sleep in my clothes in case I needed to go to the bathroom in the night because I refused to use the unflushed toilet. Our whole section was out and they took almost 12 hours to fix it. We got charged for two towels because they put an inexperienced crew member on the check in computer on the LAST NIGHT of the cruise and she didn't know how to check in towels for both our cabins. The list goes on. Nothing major, but just not up to par. We have been loyal customers but may go elsewhere next cruise.

 

My husband and I just disembarked from the Liberty of the Seas this morning (sail date: February 21-25, 2013) and we feel the same way regarding service. I realize the crew works very hard, long hours. Perhaps that is why the only crew member who wow'd us was our cabin steward and our waiter at Portofino. All other crew we encountered seemed "indifferent" and unhappy to be there. Very rarely did we encounter a crew member who smiled at us or said hello to us. It was a bit disappointing, as one of the best parts of cruising is meeting happy crew who enjoy their job and genuinely welcome us onboard. The word "indifferent" best describes most of the crew we encountered. (Side note: of course we still tipped over the recommended amount - for all the hard work the crew did - but, it doesn't mean that we thought everyone was very friendly).

[Stags14]

I get a feeling that all their top tier staff are on the Allure and Oasis. We are hopefully going to be able to take a vacation this year and are seriously starting to consider an all-inclusive island get away.

 

Cruising is getting VERY expensive and the service seems to be going downhill.

[pittnh]

We were on the Liberty a few weeks ago also. It was our 25th cruise but first on RC. The service was not all that good and we found the staff not very friendly. My turnoff point was checking out our bathroom to find a wad of hair in the shower!! While we always enjoy a cruise no matter what, I doubt we will do another RC.

 

 

The thing I notice in many of these reviews/threads is that the people with much cruise experience seem to complain the most about level of service. I also experienced this when talking to people in the dining room, etc. Perhaps you are all becoming jaded or expect too much pampering for the price paid (caviar tastes on a fast food budget...). Me coming at it from a limited perspective (only 3 total cruises) I found nothing wrong with staff/service.

[Stags14]

The thing I notice in many of these reviews/threads is that the people with much cruise experience seem to complain the most about level of service. I also experienced this when talking to people in the dining room, etc. Perhaps you are all becoming jaded or expect too much pampering for the price paid (caviar tastes on a fast food budget...). Me coming at it from a limited perspective (only 3 total cruises) I found nothing wrong with staff/service.

 

No, it's because people who have been going on these vacations for a while know what it was like 5 years ago compared to know and see it declining.

[Cshgrand]

While our Christmas cruise on Enchantment the service was generally very good, we also found the dining room experience to be lacking.

Food was average but service was not the greatest. Bread served with main, waiting long time for drink service and feeling rushed etc.

Hoped this was a one off because of the holiday crowd aboard. Guess we will find out on liberty in April.

[Cruisin' Again 86]

Could Not Agree More !!!

 

Liberty has gone down all around and it is so sad. Glad to hear of others that share my beliefs that it was a bad experience !