Back from our first cruise - Liberty (Western Med)

[The Shutterbug]

Well we are back to rainy and cold 'Norn Iron' as we say in Northern Ireland, but the sun is coming out just as President Obama arrives in Belfast today!

 

What an amazing week we had onboard Liberty of the Seas!:D

 

So glad I found this forum in advance and picked up a lot of tips - Thank you!, we had a fantastic time on Liberty and would definitely return to an RCI ship. So much so that I have been on their site this morning LOL

 

We went to the Meet & Mingle which was good craic and got to meet other CC members, best of all I won a raffle! :D

 

So if anyone has any questions about Liberty or Western Med ports just give me a shout :)

[Kelv_2013]

I'm glad you had such a fantastic time. We are set to sail on the LOTS in just under six weeks and not a day passes without us talking about it. I know there are plenty of questions I could ask. I use a wheelchair and so am always a little apprehensive, but we've planned it as well as we can and so we shall look forward to plenty of surprises when we board at Barcelona.

 

That said,please feel free to tell us about the highlights or whether you have any particular tips or recommendations.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Sumisid]

Just returned from the same cruise! :D

We had a blast! DH and I were travelling with another couple and we had a fantastic time.

Shutterbug, how are you? It was nice meeting you at the M&M!

 

We booked another cruise while on board: Western Caribbean on Allure.

 

Our highlights were the food and the service. The staff-members were so great and the food was even more yummy than on Oasis last year. We have not had one bad meal! I not even once set foot into the Windjammer during our Oasis-Cruise, I did on this one and was quite surprised. Most of the food there was better than I expected.

 

I liked the one-mile-walk for the "Make-A-Wish-Foundation"! Fantastic to see that also the officers participated!

 

The Solarium was nice, but the one on Oasis was a lot nicer. So many people with small children did not know that it was supposed to be an adults-only-area. And it was not their fault, there were no signs except by the pool and the whirl-pools.

 

I would go on Liberty again anytime! :)

[Deebs2]

Did you go to cinque Terre on la Spezia day?? Will you tell me how you spent your day?

 

In Rome, what time were you actually off the ship?

 

Are there other options for breakfast besides MDR, room service and windjammer..if you ate in MDR for breakfast...how slow was it?

 

If you have your navigators...can you tell me times when Florider for bodyboarding was available?

 

I have so many questions. Glad you had a great trip. We sail on 7/14 but head to Barcelona and Mallorca on 7/1. Can't wait!!

[Sisley]

We're embarking on July 1st. Can't wait! :D It'll be our first RCI cruise and first cruise on the Med.

 

I can't help but ask, were the ladies wearing long gowns or short cocktail dresses on this particular cruise?!? :p

 

I'm curious, the reservations for two of our shows (Ice show and Saturday Night Fever) were cancelled, did this happen to you too? If so, did you have trouble finding seats? How early did you have to get there? (15 min, 30 min?)

 

Any 3D movies onboard? From the cruise compass I was able to find, there is only one movie a day (around 2 or 3 pm) each day. Is that right? My kids really enjoyed going to the 3D movie theather on the Disney Fantasy. It was actually the highlight of their cruise... Any new Dreamworks releases on TV?

 

Thanks! :)

[Broch]

Thank you very much for posting, and for your offer of help. I will be on Liberty with my family next month and I would be obliged if you could tell me at what what time are the shows. other than the Air show, Ice show and Saturday Night Fever, and what the acts were on your sailing

 

If you still have the daily Compasses would it be possible to post them here. Many thanks.

[drarill]

Welcome back!! Glad you enjoyed the cruise!!:):)

[BeeBerry]

Thank you very much for posting, and for your offer of help. I will be on Liberty with my family next month and I would be obliged if you could tell me at what what time are the shows. other than the Air show, Ice show and Saturday Night Fever, and what the acts were on your sailing

 

If you still have the daily Compasses would it be possible to post them here. Many thanks.

 

Hi Ally

 

We are also on the Liberty this summer and I found this document linked elsewhere for the show-times:

 

http://media.royalcaribbean.com/content/royal/en_US/pdf/showtimes_LB.pdf

[Keith1010]

Welcome home.

 

Keith

[Broch]

Hi Ally

 

We are also on the Liberty this summer and I found this document linked elsewhere for the show-times:

 

http://media.royalcaribbean.com/content/royal/en_US/pdf/showtimes_LB.pdf

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. However these are the shows that can be reserved. There are usually nightly Headliner shows as well. We have just returned from a back to back 14 nights on Splendour of the Seas where we saw a few good entertainers especially Viva Voce who appeared on Liberty last year. If they are on this year I would highly recommend going to see them

[nlcentralchmps03]

Thanks for reporting back to us! It seems like it is so difficult to find information on this cruise.

 

What was the passenger make up like?

 

Did you embark in Barcelona? If so, how was the embarkation process? How did you get to and from the port/airport?

 

What did you do in Toulon, if anything?

 

Thanks again! :)

[The Shutterbug]

I'm glad you had such a fantastic time. We are set to sail on the LOTS in just under six weeks and not a day passes without us talking about it. I know there are plenty of questions I could ask. I use a wheelchair and so am always a little apprehensive, but we've planned it as well as we can and so we shall look forward to plenty of surprises when we board at Barcelona.

 

That said,please feel free to tell us about the highlights or whether you have any particular tips or recommendations.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

Ok, I am going to reply to each post and hopefully I can help :)

 

We had a fantastic time, back to work today and it was awful, spent lunch time looking at cruises for next year LOL

 

Anyhows...there were quite a few wheelchair users on board Liberty as well as people with walking aids. I never seen anyone struggle, most areas seemed accessible and I only seen one person with a walking aid assisted at one stage getting down steps in the Platinum theatre. There were always plenty of staff around if you would need help though.

 

Embarking at Barcelona would not be a problem at all, the terminal is very modern and staff helping at every turn.

 

 

Tips... just take it easy and enjoy everything! I actually relaxed for once in my life and had an amazing week. We stayed on board at Toulon & VilleFranche, we have previously been to Cote d'Azur on holiday. Making use of the ships facilities when most passengers were off was the best!

We did take the tender boat across from VilleFranche, just to get a good photo of the ship!

 

Ice Show and Saturday Night Fever are must sees, we were impressed with both. We went to the music quiz in Schooner Bar most nights... our account was mostly Schooner bar by the end of the week ;) LOL

 

Hope this helps a bit, anything else just give me a shout :D

[The Shutterbug]

Just returned from the same cruise! :D

We had a blast! DH and I were travelling with another couple and we had a fantastic time.

Shutterbug, how are you? It was nice meeting you at the M&M!

 

We booked another cruise while on board: Western Caribbean on Allure.

 

Our highlights were the food and the service. The staff-members were so great and the food was even more yummy than on Oasis last year. We have not had one bad meal! I not even once set foot into the Windjammer during our Oasis-Cruise, I did on this one and was quite surprised. Most of the food there was better than I expected.

 

I liked the one-mile-walk for the "Make-A-Wish-Foundation"! Fantastic to see that also the officers participated!

 

The Solarium was nice, but the one on Oasis was a lot nicer. So many people with small children did not know that it was supposed to be an adults-only-area. And it was not their fault, there were no signs except by the pool and the whirl-pools.

 

I would go on Liberty again anytime! :)

 

<wave>! Was lovely to meet you! the M&M was good fun. I wasn't up in time for the walk :( or else I would have done that... next time!

 

We spent most days in the Solarium, except on sea day, we couldn't get beds there so went up to deck 12 and my lovely pale celtic complexion got fried lol

 

Jealous you have booked another cruise! We are looking at next year (fingers crossed!)

 

Food - we ate in the Wind jammer, never made it to the MDR, windjammer was perfectly fine, lots of choice, never waited for a table. Not crowed around the food either. We ate in Johnny Rockets one evening, was lovely if you like burgers etc.

Sorrentos and Cafe Promenade had many visits ;) yum yum!

 

Take Care Sumisid x

[The Shutterbug]

Did you go to cinque Terre on la Spezia day?? Will you tell me how you spent your day?

 

In Rome, what time were you actually off the ship?

 

Are there other options for breakfast besides MDR, room service and windjammer..if you ate in MDR for breakfast...how slow was it?

 

If you have your navigators...can you tell me times when Florider for bodyboarding was available?

 

I have so many questions. Glad you had a great trip. We sail on 7/14 but head to Barcelona and Mallorca on 7/1. Can't wait!!

 

Hi!

We went to Pisa on La Spezia day, we done the ships morning tour, we were not impressed with the guide, he was rather rude tbh! but at least we got the obligatory holding up the tower photo ;)

 

Rome, we used the 'cruise train' so went off ship around 8.45am. Rome was a long hot day. 35 degrees in the Colosseum! Would definitely return to Rome for a city break.

 

Breakfast we ate in Windjammer (always got a table and no queues) or Room Service (bear in mind Room service bring you lots even if you only tick 1 on the card) it was always on time (within 1/2 hr slots). You can grab coffee/tea and pastries in Cafe Promenade for breakfast too.

 

The ship was full but we never experienced long queues and only had a short wait on the lifts at busy times like just before all aboard etc. We did use the stairs a lot... to work off all the food! LOL

 

I do have the daily Compasses but my SIL borrowed them! I will get them back next week and scan them and post up then.

 

We have been to Mallorca (Palma Nova) It is beautiful. We spent 5 days in Barcelona before our cruise, that was our 3rd visit to Barcelona, so any questions fire away!

[The Shutterbug]

We're embarking on July 1st. Can't wait! :D It'll be our first RCI cruise and first cruise on the Med.

 

I can't help but ask, were the ladies wearing long gowns or short cocktail dresses on this particular cruise?!? :p

 

I'm curious, the reservations for two of our shows (Ice show and Saturday Night Fever) were cancelled, did this happen to you too? If so, did you have trouble finding seats? How early did you have to get there? (15 min, 30 min?)

 

Any 3D movies onboard? From the cruise compass I was able to find, there is only one movie a day (around 2 or 3 pm) each day. Is that right? My kids really enjoyed going to the 3D movie theather on the Disney Fantasy. It was actually the highlight of their cruise... Any new Dreamworks releases on TV?

 

Thanks! :)

 

Hi!

 

There was a mix of dresses on the formal nights. But what we did notice was it was maybe 50/50 formal and casual. I am total tomboy so we did not bother with the formal nights or MDR. There were plenty of folk in shorts and tshirts at night in the windjammer. I found the cruise very relaxed, this was something I was anxious about in advance.

 

I would go about 30 mins before the show to get a 'good' seat. We never had a problem getting a seat. You can pre book the ice show on board but we just turned up and got seated once the tickets were seated. No pre booking for the Platinum theatre. Infact we went to the 7.30pm show of Saturday Night Fever and the theatre was only about 70% full.

 

TBH I never noticed the films during the day, but saying that we weren't looking for them. I did notice The Hobbit showing in Spanish in 3D. When I get the Compasses back I will check for you.

 

There were movies on the big screen by the pool too at night. Plenty of Dreamworks characters about each day and on the Royal Promenade at night for photo opps.

 

HTH :D

[The Shutterbug]

Thank you very much for posting, and for your offer of help. I will be on Liberty with my family next month and I would be obliged if you could tell me at what what time are the shows. other than the Air show, Ice show and Saturday Night Fever, and what the acts were on your sailing

 

If you still have the daily Compasses would it be possible to post them here. Many thanks.

 

Hi!

 

I will check for sure when I get the Compasses back. But from memory the Ice Show varied across the week from 7.15, 9pm, 10pm approx. Saturday Night Fever was 7.30pm, 8pm, 9pm if I remember right!

 

I never seen the Air Show, they were only doing a full technical run through one afternoon.

 

Those were the only shows as such, but there was plenty of entertainment across the ship each day/night. You will never be stuck for something to do or see.

 

HTH for now :D

[The Shutterbug]

Welcome back!! Glad you enjoyed the cruise!!:):)

 

Thank you :D It definitely surpassed any expectations we had :D

[The Shutterbug]

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. However these are the shows that can be reserved. There are usually nightly Headliner shows as well. We have just returned from a back to back 14 nights on Splendour of the Seas where we saw a few good entertainers especially Viva Voce who appeared on Liberty last year. If they are on this year I would highly recommend going to see them

 

If I remember right Viva Voce were to appear one evening (I think it was them :confused:)but Sat Night Fever was back on instead. There were technical issues which caused SNF to be cancelled a few nights, but there were other entertainment put on across the ship.

 

I can't remember other shows, oh except a latin one, will get the proper name from the compass later in the week for you.

[The Shutterbug]

Thanks for reporting back to us! It seems like it is so difficult to find information on this cruise.

 

What was the passenger make up like?

 

Did you embark in Barcelona? If so, how was the embarkation process? How did you get to and from the port/airport?

 

What did you do in Toulon, if anything?

 

Thanks again! :)

 

Hi!

The passenger mix was well a real mix! Ages, nationalities, families, couples, singles etc. Was fab hearing such a mix of languages around the ship.

 

We did embark at Barcelona, we stayed 5 days in Barcelona prior to cruise so we just got a taxi to the port, it was around €15 from Placa de Catalunya and easy to grab a taxi. We had independent flights so grabbed a taxi when getting off the ship, was about €35.

 

At Toulon we lazed around the pool! :D

 

HTH :D

[Deebs2]

What were your highlights in Barcelona?

How much time did you spend at Park Guell?

How much time at La Sagrada Familia?

 

I've pre purchased la Sagrada familia tickets... Would you recommend buying Picasso museum, Casa Battlo and Pedera before hand?

 

Any excellent restaurants??

[The Shutterbug]

Something I forgot to mention we had originally booked an inside stateroom and changed to a GOV. We got allocated an end of forward/midship connecting stateroom. The stateroom was larger than we both imagined it would be, it was spotless, we had no noise from connecting cabin or from the corridor. I think Studio B lower level was facing our door. You could hear the drone of the engines if you strained enough but nothing to annoy you. Only thing was we had to use the Aft lifts then walk a good bit along to the room... at least it helped work off the food ;)

 

Luckily we were not above any of the Gangways on deck 1! I think the beeping noise when you 'ding' your seapass card would be extremely annoying if you were in a cabin above.

[The Shutterbug]

What were your highlights in Barcelona?

How much time did you spend at Park Guell?

How much time at La Sagrada Familia?

 

I've pre purchased la Sagrada familia tickets... Would you recommend buying Picasso museum, Casa Battlo and Pedera before hand?

 

Any excellent restaurants??

 

I just love Barca! We stayed in an apartment so ate there at night (saving € for the cruise ;) )

 

We didn't get to Park Guell, but it is definitely on the next time list. Sagrada Familia, we spent a few hours here, This was our 3rd time to see it but it has changed so much over the years for us. We pre booked tickets and tower entrance too. If it is your first visit, at least 2 hours min you will spend.

 

Definitely pre book anything and everything in Barcelona! The queues can be pretty crazy in the summer months. Check out La Pedera at night tour, expensive but no crowds. Casa Batllo, we bypassed a huge queue with our pre booked tickets, spent about 1.5 hrs there, was pretty bunged inside. Haven't been to Picasso museum.

 

We went to Palau de la Musica Catalana - stunning! Def check the tours out.

Nou Camp (again lol) we love football, Aquarium. Also check out Runner Bean Tours (am I allowed to mention that? :confused:) Free tours (donation at end) We loved our Old City tour.

 

We took it easy around Barcelona this time, took time to walk around and people watch from Cafes etc. As like any big city just be careful with your bags, money etc and you will be perfectly fine. Avoid the restaurants etc on La Ramblas!

 

My friend is not long back from Barcelona too and she loved the cable car up to Montjuic.

 

Same if you are going to Rome, pre book for St Peter's/Vatican and Colosseum! We bypassed queues that were easily a few hours long :eek:

 

HTH Anything else just shout :D

[Broch]

If I remember right Viva Voce were to appear one evening (I think it was them :confused:)but Sat Night Fever was back on instead. There were technical issues which caused SNF to be cancelled a few nights, but there were other entertainment put on across the ship.

 

I can't remember other shows, oh except a latin one, will get the proper name from the compass later in the week for you.

 

Thank you again for your feedback. You have been busy answering all questions

[The Shutterbug]

Thank you again for your feedback. You have been busy answering all questions

 

No bother :) I'm busy researching for next year already LOL

[Sisley]

Thank you! :)