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Liberty of the Seas **LIVE** Transatlantic Review - 7th to 20th April 2013

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ticktoneer

ticktoneer

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Day 11 - 18 April 2013 – Cadiz, Spain

 

Ship arrived - 9.00am

Gangway opened - 9.30am

All aboard - 5.30pm

 

I can’t believe it . . . . . . . . . . . . another morning we’ve actually made it to breakfast at the Windjammer (I LOVE the Oatmeal).

 

There were Regent and Crystal ships in port with us on this day.

 

We left the ship and walked into Cadiz at 11.00am. The ship docks nearly in the central plaza of the Town Centre – ha ha ha – it’s great. Cadiz was a lovely town with many lovely shops, markets, gardens and plaza’s. Next time we visit I’d love to take a red hop on hop off tour bus around to see more things and hear more about the history.

 

We were very naughty in Cadiz (please forgive me !). A really rude and ignorant person stopped and asked for directions to the cathedral by saying “cathedral, directions now” when we didn’t respond straight away she said “did you hear me – now”. Of course she got directions, but to the totally wrong end of town !!!!!!!

 

We returned to the ship around 3pm and had a late lunch in the Windjammer. What a nice day !

 

Until 6pm we just sat on the Promenade people watching and chatting with some friends we had made.

 

After a quick shave, shower and spruce up we went to the Diamond lounge at 7pm for drinks before dinner. We decided not to go to the show as it was ‘Backbeat Beatles’. We’ve seen them before and neither of us likes Beatles music.

 

Dinner at 8.30pm in the MDR was great. It was lobster night – hooray ! Even though this has been a 12 night cruise the menus have been different every day. I assumed that they would start the rotation again after the 7th night.

 

We were in a dilemma about what to do later this evening. Dancing with the Stripes (a cast dancer and officer dancing together in a competition) was planned for 10.45pm, but also a special evening in the Olive & Twist had been planned by the Beverage Manager for ‘Friends of Dorothy’ (i.e. gay men/women and their guests for those who have wondered for years what ‘Friends of Dorothy’ means). This was at 10.30pm and was in a private party area with free champagne and rum punch.

 

Well . . . . . . . . . . knowing me a little bit after this series of reviews I’ll let you guess which event won over (answer at the bottom)

 

We finished off the night at Catacombs and got to bed at 5.30am after having a snack in Café Promenade. I was sooooooooo tired. I’m too old at 41 for these late nights.

 

More review tomorrow (last day – boo hoo hoo)

 

Some of the entertainment and things to do on this Cadiz port day

 

Fab abs class

Water aerobics

Daily trivia

Music trivia

Nintendo Wii

Shuffleboard

Adult Soccer competition

Wine tasting

 

Evening event – Friends of Dorothy won ! (free alcohol and partying !)

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Magicat

Magicat

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Hi, I asked Rich Edwards about the return TA and he said there are some changes to schedules after September so they aren't sure of rotation dates yet. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to ask him!

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crafty sue

crafty sue

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Day 11 - 18 April 2013 – Cadiz, Spain

 

Ship arrived - 9.00am

Gangway opened - 9.30am

All aboard - 5.30pm

 

I can’t believe it . . . . . . . . . . . . another morning we’ve actually made it to breakfast at the Windjammer (I LOVE the Oatmeal).

 

There were Regent and Crystal ships in port with us on this day.

 

We left the ship and walked into Cadiz at 11.00am. The ship docks nearly in the central plaza of the Town Centre – ha ha ha – it’s great. Cadiz was a lovely town with many lovely shops, markets, gardens and plaza’s. Next time we visit I’d love to take a red hop on hop off tour bus around to see more things and hear more about the history.

 

We were very naughty in Cadiz (please forgive me !). A really rude and ignorant person stopped and asked for directions to the cathedral by saying “cathedral, directions now” when we didn’t respond straight away she said “did you hear me – now”. Of course she got directions, but to the totally wrong end of town !!!!!!!

 

We returned to the ship around 3pm and had a late lunch in the Windjammer. What a nice day !

 

Until 6pm we just sat on the Promenade people watching and chatting with some friends we had made.

 

After a quick shave, shower and spruce up we went to the Diamond lounge at 7pm for drinks before dinner. We decided not to go to the show as it was ‘Backbeat Beatles’. We’ve seen them before and neither of us likes Beatles music.

 

Dinner at 8.30pm in the MDR was great. It was lobster night – hooray ! Even though this has been a 12 night cruise the menus have been different every day. I assumed that they would start the rotation again after the 7th night.

 

We were in a dilemma about what to do later this evening. Dancing with the Stripes (a cast dancer and officer dancing together in a competition) was planned for 10.45pm, but also a special evening in the Olive & Twist had been planned by the Beverage Manager for ‘Friends of Dorothy’ (i.e. gay men/women and their guests for those who have wondered for years what ‘Friends of Dorothy’ means). This was at 10.30pm and was in a private party area with free champagne and rum punch.

 

Well . . . . . . . . . . knowing me a little bit after this series of reviews I’ll let you guess which event won over (answer at the bottom)

 

We finished off the night at Catacombs and got to bed at 5.30am after having a snack in Café Promenade. I was sooooooooo tired. I’m too old at 41 for these late nights.

 

More review tomorrow (last day – boo hoo hoo)

 

Some of the entertainment and things to do on this Cadiz port day

 

Fab abs class

Water aerobics

Daily trivia

Music trivia

Nintendo Wii

Shuffleboard

Adult Soccer competition

Wine tasting

 

Evening event – Friends of Dorothy won ! (free alcohol and partying !)

 

 

We loved Cadiz too when we were there last year On Oceana - made the mistake of booking ships tour "Tapas and Spanish Dancing" - were were driven in a coach with guide around the town 4 times ! - you know how small Cadiz is ! only went past the building 3 times what used to be the Cigar Factory ! and stopped at a tree to look at it cos it was really old and then stopped at the sea to see that the tides goes out then comes back in again ! I kid you not ! - then taken to a tapas bar which was brilliant but could have walked to it from the ship in 10 min - I too want to go back and do Cadiz again... Looking forward to the rest of your review

 

regards

 

sue

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ticktoneer

ticktoneer

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Day 12 - 19 April 2013 – At Sea

 

If you’ve read my review from Day 11 you will realise we got in at 5.30am! This means you aren’t going to get much of a review for today I’m afraid as we were like lethargic zombies all day – ha ha ha !

 

We got up at 12 noon as we heard the Captains announcement. Today was 20 degrees Celsius / 68 degrees Fahrenheit with 1ft seas and for the last 3 days our speed had been 17.4 knots.

 

We went to the Windjammer for lunch as we were hungry and really thirsty and de-hydrated from the evening before. It was sad thinking this was our last lunch in the Windjammer on this particular cruise.

 

After lunch we went to settle our on-board account so far as we had set it up as a cash account. We also put our credit card on file as there was a small balance outstanding. The guest services officer advised us that if there were any problems with the account or credit card authorisation they would let us know no later than this evening before dinner (you need to keep this in mind when you read my final morning disembarkation review).

 

At 2.30pm we were feeling really sluggish and tired so we went to bed “just for an hour” and woke up at 5.30pm – blimey!!!!!!!! (told you it wouldn’t be much of a review today – ha ha ha).

 

5.30pm to 6.00pm – We packed our luggage. (It was more like ‘threw everything in’). We put these outside with our disembarkation tags on ready to be collected by 11pm.

 

We showered, shaved and dressed ready to go and meet some friends we had made in the Diamond lounge at 7pm. It was great having a final very relaxing evening with very calm seas and the fantastic bartenders and servers in the Diamond lounge (in The Sphinx).

 

We had our final dinner in the MDR – our waiter Reynauld and Assistant Waiter Raj had both been excellent for the whole cruise. The final dinner was a good menu. We had scallops, French onion soup, lamb shank, roast turkey, key lime pie and apple pie.

 

After dinner we wandered around the ship saying goodbye to people we’d met and swapping contact details with some of them. We were exhausted by 11pm so we went off to bed again……..

 

More review tomorrow of disembarkation day

 

Some of the entertainment and things to do on this sea day

 

Fit ball class

Boxing class

Yoga

Napkin Artistry

Ice Carving demo

Win A Cruise Bingo

Ice Skating

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ticktoneer

ticktoneer

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Day 13 - 20 April 2013 – Disembarkation (Boo Hoo Hoo !!!!)

 

(Only 4 weeks until the next one on Indy though to Norway – hooray !!!)

 

We had number 7 luggage tags which were a 7am disembark but as we weren’t flying until 3.40pm we were advised we could get off the ship any time up to 9.30am and our luggage would just be waiting for us.

 

We got up at 8am after a great night’s sleep to find a beautiful day in Barcelona. The temperature was 22 degrees Celsius or 72 degrees Fahrenheit with totally blue skies.

 

After taking breakfast in the Windjammer (and having my last horrible orange water – ha ha ha) we had a last walk around the ship and at 9.15am joined the line to disembark. When I got to security I didn’t hear the ‘bing’ I wanted to hear I heard “you have a message”. Oh my – what now ???

 

We were advised to walk to the fwd gangway as we could be assisted there. When we arrived there we were advised we couldn’t be assisted as the computer had been unplugged and that we needed to go up to the guest services desk on deck 5.

 

We made our way up there after being stopped and reprimanded several times by crew who didn’t listen to us regarding why we were wanting to get back onto the ship. Aaaggghhhhhhh !!!

 

At guest services we were advised that our credit card hadn’t authorised. When we asked why we hadn’t been advised until now the officer became very nasty and defensive and didn’t listen at all to what we were asking. We were quite shocked by her manner. She asked if we wanted them to call our credit card company for us and before we said yes or no she had started dialling them.

 

I sorted out the credit card issue while my buddy sorted out the room account with the assistant guest services manager who had now taken over our matter. We asked him why we hadn’t been advised about our card in the way we were told we would be on day 12. He said they had forgotten to let us know. He then proceeded to ask if we had cash as they were on a tight deadline and we were holding up the ship.

 

This was the first time I had been wound up on the cruise and if he had of been nearer I think I’d have thrown the telephone at him !! They forget to let us know so we could sort the problem out, but we were holding up the ship !!! Nice one RCI.

 

Phew ! Glad this review let me get that off my chest !

 

One of the only negative issues I would comment on with Liberty was the guest services staff. The Spanish speaking female GS officers (I’m not being sexist it was just the female members of staff) would never answer a question you asked them. They would always cut you off in mid question and answer what they thought your question was going to be. This led to even more confusion as they were usually wrong and you then tried to explain again and would then be cut off again – it was like a merry go round – ha ha ha. We did actually have a conversation with the assistant guest services manager (same one as above) earlier in the week and he did agree with us that this is a problem that happens a lot with the Spanish speaking female GS staff, lots of guests complain about this and that it has been identified as a training issue.

 

None of the above on the last day spoilt the cruise in any way and we disembarked at 10.15am.

 

It had been a WONDERFUL cruise. One of the best I had been on with RCI. Liberty of the Seas is a great ship, well run and very friendly and accommodating.

 

Freedom of the Seas has always been my favourite ship, but I now have a joint favourite in Liberty of the Seas.

 

When we had left the ship we took the port bus to the bottom of Las Ramblas for 2.60 Euro each. We walked to the top of Las Ramblas and took the Aerobus for 5.90 Euro each making a journey cost of 17 Euro and journey/walking time of 1hr 30 mins in total. It was great doing it this way as we had plenty of time and a taxi to the airport would have cost us 50 Euro.

 

We flew Ryanair to East Midlands airport which was smooth with no hitches. The cost of this was £40 ($58) each including taxes and luggage costs.

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OperaJoe

OperaJoe

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Hi Ticktoneer,

 

Many thanks for your reviews. We were on this very same TA, and it's great to relive the experience now that we've arrived home. We also enjoyed it very much. The ship is beautiful and the sea relatively calm, much calmer than our last TA in May 2012 on the Caribbean Princess on the north Atlantic route.

 

I do have a couple of questions -

 

We were never told what happened to the medical emergency in Ponta Delgada. Somebody said it was a case of appendicitis and the patient wasn't doing well and the Captain decided to make this extra stop. Supposedly it cost an additional $35,000 US in fuel. Have you heard anything about this? I wish the ship would make an announcement as many passengers were curious (and a little worried) about the sick passenger. I know there are probably privacy issues, but some general announcement would have been nice...

 

Also would you happen to know why we left Fort Lauderdale two hours late? Was it because of RCCL-booked passengers arriving late? I assume these passengers are guaranteed by the cruise line that they would not 'miss the boat'.

 

While we truly enjoyed the cruise, we were disappointed that we received no notification from Guest Services about the Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle. As a result we missed it. Went to Guest Services to complain. They apologized, and as far as they were concerned, case closed. It was too bad, as we were looking forward to the gathering. The same applied to the Top Tier events - we are Platinum and didn't receive the invitations. Our stateroom attendant claimed he never received the invites to deliver to us. Needless to say, we weren't too impressed by the Loyalty Ambassador on this ship.

 

Anyway, these little blemishes didn't affect our enjoyment of the TA. We met some really nice people whom we hope to keep in touch with in the future.

 

Thanks again for your nice report.

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crafty sue

crafty sue

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What a GREAT review ! - I am just a few weeks off our Liberty Med Cruise and you have made it even more exciting - well what would I expect anything less from someone from my Neck of the woods - Go East yorkshire !

 

Thanks so much

 

Sue

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Love2Cruiseam74

Love2Cruiseam74

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Sorry the last 3 reviews were late :-)

 

Great review.... I heard that lots of people got sick with flu or cold like symptoms did you noticed that? Also that there is not a good Medical department system as far as you have to pay out of pocket and very expensive unless you have gastrointestinal issues....

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MADflyer

MADflyer

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Great review.... I heard that lots of people got sick with flu or cold like symptoms did you noticed that? Also that there is not a good Medical department system as far as you have to pay out of pocket and very expensive unless you have gastrointestinal issues....

 

I was on the sailing as well. I did not notice many sick passengers at all. I did notice some though, but only through overhearing conversations with the very attentive cabin steward in my section. This was the cleanest I had ever saw a ship heading to Europe as they had 2 major inspections on the sailing. They enforced the use of hand sanitizer very dilligently and encouraged the washing of hands in every captains tv or live broadcast.

 

I only heard a couple of positive comments in passing or breakfast about the medical care and think everyone was so pleased with their handling of the medical emergency.

 

I think most people understand that a medical incident while traveling will incurr out of pocket cost and insurance normally only re-imburses expenses. I do not beleive the united states has medical aggreements with other countries as most other countries of the world do. Seniors can add a type F plan I think, but it only re-emburses as well. Americans always have to pay everywhere I have been.

 

One thing i liked actually was that sick staff where not forced to work. I was trying to tip the spa receptionist at the end and when i asked someone who knew me finally told me quietly that she was ill. I, of course did not ask further and just added get well to the note. This actually impressed me as it showed they took this issue very seriously.

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Love2Cruiseam74

Love2Cruiseam74

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I was on the sailing as well. I did not notice many sick passengers at all. I did notice some though, but only through overhearing conversations with the very attentive cabin steward in my section. This was the cleanest I had ever saw a ship heading to Europe as they had 2 major inspections on the sailing. They enforced the use of hand sanitizer very dilligently and encouraged the washing of hands in every captains tv or live broadcast.

 

I only heard a couple of positive comments in passing or breakfast about the medical care and think everyone was so pleased with their handling of the medical emergency.

 

I think most people understand that a medical incident while traveling will incurr out of pocket cost and insurance normally only re-imburses expenses. I do not beleive the united states has medical aggreements with other countries as most other countries of the world do. Seniors can add a type F plan I think, but it only re-emburses as well. Americans always have to pay everywhere I have been.

 

One thing i liked actually was that sick staff where not forced to work. I was trying to tip the spa receptionist at the end and when i asked someone who knew me finally told me quietly that she was ill. I, of course did not ask further and just added get well to the note. This actually impressed me as it showed they took this issue very seriously.

 

Thank you for your response....yes My parents took their first cruise on that trip and my poor mom got a terrible cold...she said people around her were coughing and sneezing and she thinks she might gotten from it but they agree with you on the o ther.... I am going to look into travel insurance and I also heard that is a good idea to bring antibiotics and meds just in case. Thank you all for great inputs. Thanks to this website I was able to "follow" their trip somehow...:))

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