Currently on Liberty May 6 to 16

[billsgal]

Swiss2619

 

We just got offSerenade and the ships excursion went to kaokao beach, part of Orient Beach, but not the nude part. kaokao(not sure of the spelling) is a topless optional beach, but very few were topless. They have a nice beach, with chairs and umbrellas and a great restaurant. We went there on our own, but met up with people who were on the ships excursion. We may have saved a few bucks by going on our own, but we could stay longer than the ones on the ship tour. We plan on going back next time in St.Maarten.

[BrooklynGirl2]

Thank you for checking in and offering to answer questions. Can you tell us what nights are the two formal nights? Is Portofino the Specialty Restaurant? And when is "Italian Night" (do they still have it?).

 

Thanks for any information.

[Clarea]

Thank you for checking in and offering to answer questions. Can you tell us what nights are the two formal nights? Is Portofino the Specialty Restaurant? And when is "Italian Night" (do they still have it?).

 

Thanks for any information.

Liberty has Portofino and Chops as specialty restaurants.

Edited May 10, 2015 by clarea

[Anubi]

Liberty has Portofino and Chops as specialty restaurants.

 

I thought I read somewhere that Portofino on Liberty was going to be changed to Giovanni? :confused:

 

[Clarea]

I thought I read somewhere that Portofino on Liberty was going to be changed to Giovanni? :confused:

 

Probably, as part of the next dry dock.

[DaisyL]

I'd love to know the crew's vibe as well. You read so many things and onsite intel would be great

 

 

Our group tends to stay in the kids area of the deck because of the 6 yo we have in our group. We also have a 12 yo but the other 13 are adults. We all have a drink package and frequent the bar there and they are fantastic, friendly and willing to suggest drinks. We have a good time with them and of course they know our group now.

 

There's one bartender/waitress in Olive or Twist that we call smiley because our mission is to get her to smile. They're very busy up there so we certainly can understand the pressure.

 

Had to go to guest relations several times and they are friendly and helpful each time. Our room steward is fantastic and the waitstaff friendly. We have had several errors with entrees but no big deal and they have corrected. The bar waitress knows and loves us... Our group are heavy drinkers so she accommodates us. The waitstaff in Windjammer are hard workers and efficient at clearing tables for the crowds... And boy, are there crowds!

[swiss2619]

Swiss2619

 

We just got offSerenade and the ships excursion went to kaokao beach, part of Orient Beach, but not the nude part. kaokao(not sure of the spelling) is a topless optional beach, but very few were topless. They have a nice beach, with chairs and umbrellas and a great restaurant. We went there on our own, but met up with people who were on the ships excursion. We may have saved a few bucks by going on our own, but we could stay longer than the ones on the ship tour. We plan on going back next time in St.Maarten.

 

Thanks so much for your reply. I was hoping it was Kakao. That is our favorite place b/c of the restaurant there. YUM! Plus it is right next to Waikiki which is also great. I SO appreciate your reply. I'm going to book the excursion right now. We have gone there on our own in the past and had big problems returning to the ship late in the day due to traffic congestion. Now, we take ship tours while there. Thanks again! Swiss

[DaisyL]

Thank you for checking in and offering to answer questions. Can you tell us what nights are the two formal nights? Is Portofino the Specialty Restaurant? And when is "Italian Night" (do they still have it?).

 

 

 

Thanks for any information.

 

 

I can't answer that because we are 10 night we have 3 formal nights which we didn't know ahead of time... bummer. Ours are day 2, a sea day, day 5, a sea day and day 9 a sea day. Italian night was last night, Bermuda day for us, day 4.

 

We think the food in the dining room is very good. On par with our other RCI cruises.

 

We prefer the food on NCL and CCL a in the buffet though. We think the quality is better and choices are better on the other lines. There's only one line for made to order eggs, which is very long. The cold cuts are all shriveled up, looks like fake food. The other lines offer a variety of sandwiches and cheese pieces at lunch. The pizza in sorrentos and in the buffet is ok. Cookies are good but the other desserts in the buffet are awful. The self serve ice cream is wet or watery not creamy more like a frozen swirled ice.

 

The drinks are good but strong. If you like it weaker, just ask. My husband loves the variety of beers in the English pub.

 

Any specific questions just ask.

[proposal]

How does you 6yo like the kids club? do you find it is entertaining enough for her?

[DaisyL]

We saw In the Air, Headliner show and it was aerial acts, some live singing but mostly recorded music. We also saw tribute singer to Elton John music in the main theater.

 

We don't care for the piano player in Schooner Bar, David Curtis. Love the Shine Band which plays country dance music in Olive or Twist, and variety at the pool. One of the singers played a tribute to Stevie Nicks in olive or twist but the venue was too small and people were packed in shoulder to shoulder.

[DaisyL]

How does you 6yo like the kids club? do you find it is entertaining enough for her?

 

 

Our niece loves it! She's been cruising since 10 months old. There's not too many children on this cruise but she still enjoys going to the club. Last night was the pirates parade ... so cute, face painted and a dance routine.

 

The kids pool is fantastic and the pictures don't do it justice. Old and young love it! Two hot tubs there, and a larger deeper pool besides the different swim and play area for younger kids.

[Bushido]

Our group tends to stay in the kids area of the deck because of the 6 yo we have in our group. We also have a 12 yo but the other 13 are adults. We all have a drink package and frequent the bar there and they are fantastic, friendly and willing to suggest drinks. We have a good time with them and of course they know our group now.

 

There's one bartender/waitress in Olive or Twist that we call smiley because our mission is to get her to smile. They're very busy up there so we certainly can understand the pressure.

 

Had to go to guest relations several times and they are friendly and helpful each time. Our room steward is fantastic and the waitstaff friendly. We have had several errors with entrees but no big deal and they have corrected. The bar waitress knows and loves us... Our group are heavy drinkers so she accommodates us. The waitstaff in Windjammer are hard workers and efficient at clearing tables for the crowds... And boy, are there crowds!

 

DaisyL thank you so much for answering during your trip. I hope you are having the best time with family and friends.

 

If it is not to much trouble could you expand on your Windjammer experience? I know you said the lines are long but could you provide a little more insight into the food being served for B/L/D? If not I understand as I want you to have as much fun as possible and this question might be too much to ask. Thanking you in advance!!!

[DaisyL]

DaisyL thank you so much for answering during your trip. I hope you are having the best time with family and friends.

 

 

 

If it is not to much trouble could you expand on your Windjammer experience? I know you said the lines are long but could you provide a little more insight into the food being served for B/L/D? If not I understand as I want you to have as much fun as possible and this question might be too much to ask. Thanking you in advance!!!

 

 

The line for made to order eggs is long. There's prepared scrambled eggs, several types of potatoes, bacon sausage, turkey sausage. Hot and cold cereals, muesli, fruits, orange, Apple juices, yogurt. Pancakes, waffles, frenchtoast, croissants, Danish. All the typical breakfast dishes, no salmon slices, no eggs Benedict, and no other made to order stations.

 

For lunch, salad and add ons, usually a potato and macaroni salad, French fries, hamburgers in a tray, hot dogs on the roller, cooked sauerkraut. There's pizza, pastas, a few sauces, mashed potatoes and gravy. Cooked chicken, fish and beef dishes with sides, that change daily. We realized if we go late, about 2 pm, less crowds but check the Compass because the hours change daily.

 

We have not gone for dinner, but we walked through one day and they had a nice selection of sushi and a few Asian dishes. They also offered some of the items that were on the dining room menu, like fried calamari and the same fish dish. Also had 2 hard ice cream favors and sauces, toppings for sundaes.

 

Thank you everyone... We're having a ball. BTW, my brother came in second in the belly flop contest.

[DaniDanielle]

How was checking in at the port? Did they take your pictures at the same time as checkin? When we went on Quantum we had uploaded our pictures from home and they had people with tablets checking us in. After that we went through security.

 

Thanks

[Bushido]

The line for made to order eggs is long. There's prepared scrambled eggs, several types of potatoes, bacon sausage, turkey sausage. Hot and cold cereals, muesli, fruits, orange, Apple juices, yogurt. Pancakes, waffles, frenchtoast, croissants, Danish. All the typical breakfast dishes, no salmon slices, no eggs Benedict, and no other made to order stations.

 

For lunch, salad and add ons, usually a potato and macaroni salad, French fries, hamburgers in a tray, hot dogs on the roller, cooked sauerkraut. There's pizza, pastas, a few sauces, mashed potatoes and gravy. Cooked chicken, fish and beef dishes with sides, that change daily. We realized if we go late, about 2 pm, less crowds but check the Compass because the hours change daily.

 

We have not gone for dinner, but we walked through one day and they had a nice selection of sushi and a few Asian dishes. They also offered some of the items that were on the dining room menu, like fried calamari and the same fish dish. Also had 2 hard ice cream favors and sauces, toppings for sundaes.

 

Thank you everyone... We're having a ball. BTW, my brother came in second in the belly flop contest.

 

Awesome insights DaisyL…Thank you so much again! Glad you are having a great time!

[proposal]

Are they good in the Dining Room about food for the little one? I assume she doesn't always want what the adults are having that night... is there a children menu with some decent selections?

[Clarea]

Are they good in the Dining Room about food for the little one? I assume she doesn't always want what the adults are having that night... is there a children menu with some decent selections?

Kids menu in MDR:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=45620154#post45620154

Edited May 10, 2015 by clarea

[Russ Lomas]

Our niece loves it! She's been cruising since 10 months old. There's not too many children on this cruise but she still enjoys going to the club. Last night was the pirates parade ... so cute, face painted and a dance routine.

 

The kids pool is fantastic and the pictures don't do it justice. Old and young love it! Two hot tubs there, and a larger deeper pool besides the different swim and play area for younger kids.

 

Glad you are enjoying your vacation. I have friends on the Liberty with you this sailing whom I have been trying to convince to take an RCCL cruise for years. This is their first RCCL trip. I too heard from him that there are very few kids on the ship this time. He has three of them on the ship with him. He is in his mid-40s (which he tells me is one of the younger people on this sailing). You will probably see him doing standup on the flowrider and he has his own flowboard. I hope both your family and his enjoys the final 6 days of your cruise.

[DaisyL]

Are they good in the Dining Room about food for the little one? I assume she doesn't always want what the adults are having that night... is there a children menu with some decent selections?

 

 

They seem to have the typical children's type menu, burger, chicken fingers, pasta, pizza, etc. but they will bring whatever you want. One night they had shrimp cocktail and the little one ordered that. They also have fresh fruit cup every night.

[DaisyL]

Glad you are enjoying your vacation. I have friends on the Liberty with you this sailing whom I have been trying to convince to take an RCCL cruise for years. This is their first RCCL trip. I too heard from him that there are very few kids on the ship this time. He has three of them on the ship with him. He is in his mid-40s (which he tells me is one of the younger people on this sailing). You will probably see him doing standup on the flowrider and he has his own flowboard. I hope both your family and his enjoys the final 6 days of your cruise.

 

 

Thank you... We'll look for him. DH and I are in our late 50s but the rest of the group I in their 40s and 30s and 20s. If they saw the belly flop contest yesterday my youngest brother came in second to win the silver medal. Lots of fun!

[DaisyL]

How was checking in at the port? Did they take your pictures at the same time as checkin? When we went on Quantum we had uploaded our pictures from home and they had people with tablets checking us in. After that we went through security.

 

Thanks

 

 

They did not use the same checkin procedure as the quantum. You wait on one line, then they have you go to the next available counter. They take care of everything there, sickness form, passports, sea pass, picture, credit card even putting the sticker on your card if you prepaid for a drink package. After that, right onto the ship after they scan your card. The picture did not come out well for a few people the just retook it at the point where they scan your card.

[DaisyL]

Liberty's internet was slow for us this past March. Not quite as bad as the old dialup internet, but not much better either.

 

 

I'm finding the Internet very quick certainly much quicker than the old system. Notes and posts are sending immediately. I needed to download cruise critic and my direct mail server on my iPad and they took a long time. I wanted to bypass chrome or safari, etc.

[DaniDanielle]

Thank you:o

[marci22]

After that, right onto the ship after they scan your card.

 

I wonder if that was because the ship was empty after repositioning from Florida. When passengers are still departing, they need to store people in the waiting room until the process is finished.

[dpostman]

I can't answer that because we are 10 night we have 3 formal nights which we didn't know ahead of time... bummer. Ours are day 2, a sea day, day 5, a sea day and day 9 a sea day. Italian night was last night, Bermuda day for us, day 4.

 

We think the food in the dining room is very good. On par with our other RCI cruises.

 

We prefer the food on NCL and CCL a in the buffet though. We think the quality is better and choices are better on the other lines. There's only one line for made to order eggs, which is very long. The cold cuts are all shriveled up, looks like fake food. The other lines offer a variety of sandwiches and cheese pieces at lunch. The pizza in sorrentos and in the buffet is ok. Cookies are good but the other desserts in the buffet are awful. The self serve ice cream is wet or watery not creamy more like a frozen swirled ice.

 

The drinks are good but strong. If you like it weaker, just ask. My husband loves the variety of beers in the English pub.

 

Any specific questions just ask.

 

If you go back to the Pub, Please say Hi to Juxhin from Albania (Said: Eugene) for me (Dennis, on the Easter April 2nd Cruise). He makes excellent drinks and was our go to bartender during our Cruise.

We've missed the Liberty ever since our cruise.

 

Also makes great Old Fashionneds and G & T.

 

Thanks

 

dp

Edited May 11, 2015 by dpostman