Liberty of Seas Review w/Infant

[rockon391]

So here is another review of my week on the Liberty along with the pre-cruise experience.

 

I am a platinum Royal Caribbean member so I have been on a cruise or two with Royal in the past. This was my first cruise with my 11 month old son which was exciting.

 

Pre-Cruise:

 

I started researching some cruises at the end of February. I was looking for a ship with as many amenities as possible since I knew I would be mainly utilizing the ship for any/all fun. I quickly found the Liberty which I thought would be a perfect option since it was just out of dry dock with a bunch of new slides! I thought this looked awesome so I just about immediately booked the trip. I paid for the entire trip at booking due to the fact the cruise was less than however many days for full payment to be due.

 

The following week I cruised thru the online info and found the cruise planner. This was a new feature that looked really cool to plan for activities on board. I then booked two spa activities for my wife and the breakfast with dreamworks for the three of us. The following week...which was still about a month from departure my wife let me know that she would rather cancel the spa activities because she would rather do something else on board. So I proceeded to cancel the spa activities and was notified by Royal that I would be receiving a refund on my card for these. Easy enough I thought.

 

I also booked my time dining for every night at 615pm since the early dining was not an option.

 

A week before embarkation I noticed that my "mytime" dining selections were changed from my time to 600-800pm. Thought that was strange so I called Royal and they confirmed the change and stated I could still go at 615pm.

 

Soooo...because my pre cruise experiences bled onto my onboard...I am going to address these issues here.

 

On day 2 on ship I noticed some charges on my account from the Spa...which I thought was strange! Well apparently the cruise planner does not communicate with the ships because the ship had no idea we canceled our spa activities. I had to literally pull up my e-mail stating I made the cancellation for guest services to refund the money to me---which was insanely frustrating. Royal's infrastructures is officially horrible! This process was like pulling teeth! They continued to claim she was a no show and insisted the charges were valid.

 

Not only that...but the same features such as the slides like tidal wave were not open...and it was never open. False advertising is one thing that I completely dislike as well. Again...apparently the ships and Royal "corporate'" do not communicate on any level.

 

So based on these experiences I have concluded that Royal's infrastructure needs a complete overhaul. The cruise planner does not communicate to the cruise ships. The cruise ships to not communicate with the company.

 

Now on board:

 

Dreamwork characters and events are great if you have kids! Everywhere I looked there was either an event with characters or some that were available for photos. This was great and made them much more accessible than I could have imagined. My 11 month old loved each and every one.

 

Port days - I do not usually stay on the ship but for this trip I did. I was extremely disappointed when I noticed that many of the amenities are closed on port days. No slides, no flowrider, no rock climbing wall...these should all be open all days!

 

My Time Dining - More like ***** you dining. While the staff attempted to provide great service as always my time dining clearly does not work. One night we waited for over 25 minutes to see a waiter or get a menu. They clearly attempt to squeeze the my time dining people in wherever when the wait staff clearly already have more than enough tables to serve.

 

Entertainment - Shows seemed to be great as always. I was disappointed that there were not more comedy shows...but other than that entertainment was great.

 

Splashaway Bay - This was a great feature for kids...and the infant area was great for my infant. The large water slide for the older kids was better than both the adult slides...no joke. It was faster hands down. The only problem I had with this area was the abrasive texture on the ground and on the structure. By the third day my 11 month olds toes were literally bleeding. I felt really bad the next day for dali our room attendant who found blood all over our sheets from my sons toes.

 

All the newly renovated areas were really well done and made the other areas of the ship feel very dated and old. Our bathroom sink faucet was cracked. 2 of the 4 bedroom pillowcases were yellow. Two of the towels I used throughout the week literally had holes in the towels. The towels on the pool deck are all stained and look very old and it's really annoying you have to check them out with your cards - who would steal them??? Moulding is missing throughout the ship. Carpet tiles were torn or missing altogether. The MDR chairs are falling apart. Simply...they need to put more time/money into this ship.

 

Food - Dinner in the MDR was usually very good when it finally came. Breakfast in the MDR was horrible. The buffet was good. Taco area each day was awesome at lunch.

 

Nursery - Royal states that the care provider ratio is 3 to 1. Again...this is not the case. We quickly found out the care ratio is 4 to 1. We never left our infant there for this reason.

 

After quickly re-reading my review I noticed it is quite negative. While we did have a good time...I can confidently say we will not be returning to the Liberty for the reasons above.

[Clarea]

Thanks for the report, and I agree about the lack of communication between shoreside and ship at times.

[JaniceB]

Thanks for your review and I am going to bring any email confirmations with me.

[wolfganghowell]

Thanks for your review. Sorry to hear about the letdowns. Also agree shore to ship communication can be pretty pathetic. I always bring email confirmations and check them. We have a Bof A onboard credit so I'll be bringing that. In the past, I have brought emails showing specialty dining and drink packages were purchased. Better safe than sorry.

[Let'sGo!]

I'm sorry to hear everything was not perfect on your cruise. We too have experienced some of the "right hand not talking to the left hand" communication issues you point out on previous cruises, so I'm not sure this is an isolated Liberty of the Seas issue.

 

We leave in about 3 weeks for our Liberty cruise. It will be our first time on this ship as well. I will be sure to print out any communications I've had regarding my cruise, just so I have back up!

 

Ann

[OSUZorba]

The 3 to 1 ratio in the nursery is the Florida requirement that RCL follows. I wonder if in Texas it is 4 to 1 and they follow that when sailing out of Texas. I know in Oklahoma the DHS is only 4 to 1.

[cincicruisers]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review.

[nomoreknothead]

The 3 to 1 ratio in the nursery is the Florida requirement that RCL follows. I wonder if in Texas it is 4 to 1 and they follow that when sailing out of Texas. I know in Oklahoma the DHS is only 4 to 1.

 

Texas Infant to Teacher ratio is 4:1 just like OK!

[fdthird]

Wow...sorry the ship and staff were so disappointing. Probably best that this is your last Royal cruise. Good luck on your next cruise.

[aggieteacher10]

Do you have any tips for those traveling with infants? My son will be 12 months when we cruise. What is important to bring? How did he do with food? How was the pack n play/sleeping situation?

[rockon391]

My son would not sleep in the pack n play. He ended up sleeping in our bed.

 

Food: Bring some baby food and supplement utilizing the ship food. There is plenty of food on the ship that your son will be able to eat at 12 months old. We ended up bringing too much of everything Lol. But it was the first time traveling with our son.

 

If possible bring water shoes for your young one...even if they are not walking. My son tore his toes up in the baby splash zone from crawling.

 

We also purchased baby ear phones on Amazon before the trip--and they were awesome. Right about showtime every night at 830 we gave him a bottle and he passed out with the ear phones on during each show.

 

Other than that...can't really think of anything else special to note.