Liberty cruise report | 032016-032716 | Falmouth, George Town, Cozumel

[M_BA]

Panoramic sunset, 032016 @ 1944

 

This will be my first, though probably not last, cruise report. My wife and I decided in January 2016 to head out of Galveston on a cruise. I watched pricing for two weeks and finally booked a D2 Superior balcony for $924 (C&A) and $999 for the two of us. Our room was 9356. The week we chose was the week after most school children in Oklahoma and Texas have spring break. There were some college students on board with family, but not a lot.

 

We left Saturday morning from Broken Arrow, OK and headed South towards Galveston. The weather was beautiful, in the upper 50's. We arrived in Spring, TX just after 4:00 PM. I had booked a 'newly renovated' Motel 6 room just off I-45. It was anything but renovated! The conditions were quite run-down, with many rooms boarded up and/or padlocked. Management made us sign a 'TV release' form and return it within 30 minutes of arrival. The form stated that the TV and remote worked and we would be billed the full price of the TV if anything happened to either. That was a first in a motel!

 

We got settled in and then headed to a hole in the wall Mexican restaurant called Arco's. We met friends who live nearby to have dinner and catch up. The restaurant was quaint and the food very good!

 

Dinner with our friends; Matt and Han.

 

Sunday morning, we got up and headed to Waffle House for breakfast. We had a great breakfast and then headed South on I-45 a little before 9:00 AM. A little after 10:00 AM we were approaching the piers.

 

 

I booked parking online the previous week at Lighthouse Parking. They offer reasonably priced uncovered and covered parking. They also offer both park and ride, and park and walk. They are about two blocks South of the pier on 29th St. We chose covered and the park and ride option. I booked online and was able to use a $10 off coupon.

 

We boarded the shuttle and took the three minute ride past pier 1 to the RCCL pier 2.

 

 

I found a porter, and dropped off all our luggage, except for our carry-ons. He was cordial and dressed nice in khakis and a loud Hawaiian shirt. We then entered the terminal.

 

At 10:30 AM, there was no line to check-in, with 30+ RCCL reservation agents available. Check-in took five minutes and we were off to the 'wait' tent. As we walked to the tent, there was chaos at immigration for non-US nationals. More on that later...

 

Within the tent, we were seated according to our C&A tier (for us, Platinum). We were given our Boarding Day Cruise Compass.

 

 

 

 

Cruise Compass, Boarding Day Edition:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9DWThq8FEXDNngzUmRCVmNEQUE

 

Cruise photos album:

https://goo.gl/photos/JbxsFMUBaLugUT8u7

Edited April 18, 2016 by M_BA
Cruise Compass PDF link.

[mirp]

Yeah :). Pictures are visible.

[jandbmom]

Sounds great so far, I am looking forward to your review as we will be on the Liberty in June. Thank you for taking the time to write it!

[M_BA]

Boarding began once all previous weeks' passengers disembarked, about 11:05 AM. Pinnacle and Suites boarded first, followed by Diamond +, Diamond and Emerald. We headed up the gangway about 11:20 AM. Let the festivities begin!

 

While not new to cruising, this was my first RCCL cruise in ten years. My past cruises were on Vision class ships out of Galveston and Explorer out of Miami. Obviously, a lot has changed - both in regards to the ships and the demographics.

 

Once through the ship security, we were immediately - within two meters onto deck 5, greeted by the beverage sales hosts. I purchased the Premium beverage package for about $58/day and my wife chose the basic soda package for about $11/day.

 

We headed up to deck 11 and began to explore its layout. My first impress was WOW! A lot has changed on RCCL from the 2001-2006 period! We found a table and seat in the familiar Solarium. I went and grabbed a Heineken and my wife headed to the Windjammer as I watched our bags.

 

She returned a bit later with a laden plate of tantalizing food.

 

I was a day late and dollar short getting a good picture of Lisa's plate:

 

I then crossed through the pools to the back of the ship and the Windjammer. Outside the Windjammer, tables were set up for beverage packages and the three specialty restaurants. As we entered, everyone received a squirt of hand sanitizer. Oh how i wish Liberty, had traditional wash stations instead!

 

The first impression entering the Windjammer was the large bar. Perfect, bloody Mary's only meters away from breakfast! :D

 

I'm never had issues with the Windjammer food, as my expectations were of a moderately priced restaurant serving food to the masses. What I didn't expect was specialty themed foods before entering the backside. We had both Italian and Mexican food available. I perused through, and filled my plate with ribs, pasta, meatloaf and veggies. The food was good, and the temperature was warm, or cold, as appropriate. I was definitely not going to lose weight over the next week! LOL

 

 

After lunch, my wife went to go get a diet Coke. Unfortunately, the cordial bartenders require a SeaPass card for transactions.

 

SeaPass: 1

Wife: 0

 

It took a whole hour for my better half to lose her SeaPass card. She double-tracked and we were never able to locate it. So, off we headed to deck 5 and Guest Relations. The line was about 20 deep, not too bad. Almost immediately we were approached by RCCL personnel to see if they could assist us while in line. This I appreciated, as many will stand in line for a simple question or request. In our case, we had to make it to the desk to obtain a new SeaPass card. Once at the desk, it took two minutes to have a new card issued and the old card deactivated. I also requested info on any room upgrades, if available. I was put on a list, but informed the ship was at capacity.

 

We then headed back up deck 9, as it was 1:00 PM. The fire doors were open and we proceeded to 9356. I had requested a mattress topper and it was indeed in place.

 

Mar 14

to me

 

Hello,

 

Thank you for contacting us with this information. We have gone ahead and made the appropriate notations in the reservation. We will place a mattress topper on embarkation day.

 

Best regards,

Access Staff

Tracy

 

The request to special_needs@rccl.com was responded to in four days.

 

We unloaded our carry-on luggage and placed our garment bag clothing in the closet. Our cabin attendant dropped by and introduced herself. There was a lot of noise outside our cabin. The forklifts were doing the hurry-up dance, with hundreds of pallets.

 

 

 

I tried to hoist a pallet of Heineken up to our balcony, but my 10lb fishing line was no match. LOL

 

The luggage never seemed to end! Folks, this a 7 night cruise, not a 90 nights Viking world cruise!

[Clarea]

Yeah :). Pictures are visible.

Same here.

[M_BA]

Yeah :). Pictures are visible.

 

Victory! I ended up having to download the pictures from Google, re-size them, and then upload/host them on a domain we own. Not nearly as quick, but at least it works this time!

[M_BA]

Sounds great so far, I am looking forward to your review as we will be on the Liberty in June. Thank you for taking the time to write it!

 

Thank you, I'll try to be thorough without boring everyone to death. Let me know if you have specific questions about Liberty of the Seas, or the ports.

[M_BA]

Same here.

 

Just goes to show & prove you can teach an old horse new tricks!

[OKCcruiser8]

Looking forward to hearing about your cruise. You actually brought me out of lurkdom.

 

We are looking to book a cruise in June for next spring on Liberty doing the Cozumel, Georgetown, Falmouth route. I've cruised with Royal Caribbean twice out of Galveston (Mariner, Navigator) & have done both routes.

 

Also, I can see all your pictures now. :D

[M_BA]

On our bed was the ship's version of daily mail, our Cruise Compass! Just like a USPS mailbox, the Compass continues to grow in size with 'junk' inserts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One must not miss the 'daily offers', limited time only, while supplies last!

 

 

 

 

 

Day 1 Compass download:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9DWThq8FEXDX25WbVFOOFB3UUE

[M_BA]

Looking forward to hearing about your cruise. You actually brought me out of lurkdom.

 

We are looking to book a cruise in June for next spring on Liberty doing the Cozumel, Georgetown, Falmouth route. I've cruised with Royal Caribbean twice out of Galveston (Mariner, Navigator) & have done both routes.

 

Also, I can see all your pictures now. :D

 

Welcome back from the darkness! We really like being able to drive from OK to Galveston. All our luggage arrives with us and we save a lot of $$$ not having to pay for airfare.

 

I think today's recurring theme is "I can see your pictures!"

[M_BA]

The 'weekly' planner is good to hang onto. It gives you daily highlights and room to add to it.

 

 

I always like to peruse through the Officer's and Crew sheet:

 

 

 

There was also a Zika notice:

 

http://www.hickmans.us/liberty_032016/Zika_Liberty_032016.jpg

 

& there was the usual 'junk' mail:

 

 

Compass Planner:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9DWThq8FEXDeUV2QUE2SmVPLUE

[OKCcruiser8]

Welcome back from the darkness! We really like being able to drive from OK to Galveston. All our luggage arrives with us and we save a lot of $$$ not having to pay for airfare.

 

I think today's recurring theme is "I can see your pictures!"

 

We really like that, too. It's nice to not have to worry about how many bags you bring or what size all your bottles & containers are. And we always put the savings of cost towards a nicer cabin.

[M_BA]

The Freedom Day Spa on ship is aggressively marketed. At some point, we took a tour. They offered to solve any problems we had, for only $200-300/hr!

 

I noticed that every other person we were introduced to in the Spa was referred to Dr. I didn't ask what I was thinking, "Dr. of what?"

 

We were given more sheets with 'hurry, limited time' specials. Of those below, I don't recall which were in our Compass and which were handed to us. I escaped the Spa with my SeaPass none the lighter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Freedom Day Spa brochures:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9DWThq8FEXDSFFxTS1qdFMzeGc

[M_BA]

After looking through the Compass, we headed out to explore the ship. We first headed back down to deck 5 and the Royal Promenade.

 

There, bigger than Texas itself, was a Texas flag. Every cruise I've ever taken out of Galveston has had a large Texas flag flying somewhere.

 

 

The 'feel' of the ship was new. After all, Liberty just left dry dock earlier this year. The ship didn't feel its age. Kudos to RCCL for the 'freshen up' and added amenities. After being tempted by cupcakes and pizza, we headed outside on deck 5.

 

Our ship was taking on fuel before departure:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[M_BA]

Sorry, my previous Zika image was done incorrect. Here it is:

 

[M_BA]

Back on decks 11 and 12, we took in all the outdoor activities. One big change over the past decade, in terms of cruising demographics, is the emphasis on kids' activities. Having multiple locales for newborns, toddlers, tweens, teenagers, and adults is beneficial for all.

 

Baby Splash Zone:

 

 

Splashaway Bay:

 

 

Sport Pool:

 

 

 

Whirlpools & Main Pool:

[wolfganghowell]

yay new thread with pics. Keep em coming! :) Looks like you had a gorgeous sailaway day!

[ukintheus]

Love the pics. :)

[M_BA]

yay new thread with pics. Keep em coming! :) Looks like you had a gorgeous sailaway day!

 

It was a nice departure, just a bit overcast. The winds were gusting to 45+ mph. It was a bad hair day for those who weren't bald!

[M_BA]

One of the dry dock additions is a new miniature golf course at the front of the ship, on deck 12 IIRC. It was moved from the back of the ship and is now larger in size. However, it is windy up front!

 

 

The back of the ship has a basketball court, rock climbing wall, dual slides and the ever popular FlowRider.

 

 

 

FlowRider video:

 

Note: I have a lot more pictures of FlowRider, along with several videos that I'll post in later updates.

 

There's this albatross, too...I mean the Tidal Wave! RCCL lists it as opening June, 2016 on the Liberty main page. We'll see...

 

Edited April 18, 2016 by M_BA
YouTube video

[wolfganghowell]

Pardon the correction but Tidal Wave is slated for June 2016, not 2017! :)

[M_BA]

Pardon the correction but Tidal Wave is slated for June 2016, not 2017! :)

 

That would be a typing error on my part, thanks for the notice! I've corrected my original post.

[BLAMBKY]

I see beautiful, glorious pictures!!!! Thanks for the time that you out into your review!

Edited April 18, 2016 by BLAMBKY

[BLAMBKY]

Pardon the correction but Tidal Wave is slated for June 2016, not 2017! :)

 

:eek: June is when WE will be on there. I was sure hoping that it was up & running with plenty of time to get the kinks worked out before it was our turn. :D Does that mean I am a little bit of a chicken?