Live Review on Liberty w/ Pre & Post Cruise Adventures w/ a Toddler

[cj_one2000]

I've been bad on posting and behind. Partly because I've been lazy and partly because internet on my phone doesn't work or connect well in my stateroom. I have to post in a public space to get speed and connectivity.

 

Our second port was Belize City and we did the river tubing adventure through Cavetubing.bz and 23 people out of our group went. Super fun for a group of all ages ranging from 1-year-olds to my grandparents in their mid 80s. Cool enough weather we weren't melting but also not freezing. The river water temps were nice and we saw monkeys, local birds, fish, fruit trees and flowers.

 

Our last port day was Cozumel and our little family of 5 chose Playa Mia. Our teen boys had a fun time in the water with the large floating toys. Our daughter loved the beach area and the water park for kids. The food was barely edible so opting for buffet was a mistake. Oh well. Drinks were open bar but selection wasn't great. Again, oh well.

 

[trajan]

Great tr! Ty and tag!

[moopetguy]

Our last port day was Cozumel and our little family of 5 chose Playa Mia. Our teen boys had a fun time in the water with the large floating toys. Our daughter loved the beach area and the water park for kids. The food was barely edible so opting for buffet was a mistake. Oh well. Drinks were open bar but selection wasn't great. Again, oh well.

 

Thanks for posting your experience at Playa Mia. My family has chosen Playa Mia as well but with no food/drink package included, just transportation and admission via RCI (we were lucky to have a sale through the Cruise Planner, cheaper than booking direct). I'm glad to hear that your daughter loved the beach and Buccaneers' Bay. That makes me more confident that my daughter will love it too :)

[cj_one2000]

Our toddler at Playa Mia

 

Leaving Cozumel [emoji924]

 

https://vimeo.com/192335861

[cj_one2000]

Great tr! Ty and tag!

 

 

I think that was supposed to be something nice! [emoji51] thanks for following!

[cj_one2000]

 

Off to Galveston! We had dinner in the main dining room as usual. Our toddler got fruit, fries and a milkshake almost every night. Our table pretty much looked like this every night too [emoji23]

 

 

We got our oldest son to baby sit so we could watch the comedy show featuring a Steve Smith. He wasn't as good as the first adult comedy show but still fun. Our crew of 12 that made it to the show got third row back from the stage and we're the ones from Alaska that made it into his routine.

 

After the show we visited the general store to look at scotch and almost got sucked into a sale. Hubby was thinking about Johnny Walker Blue but the sales guy tried selling us a 60 year old bottle of Johnny special edition for $900. He had a 100 year old bottle for $3,400. Holy moly!! We ended up not buying anything but it was interesting to meet the sales guy that spoke 5 languages other than his native Serbian.

 

I didn't see a full price list of liquor but they had a lot of deals if you bought two bottles. If you bought 4 bottles of high end liquor you got 10% off and a special gift like crystal glasses or a special ice maker or something.

 

 

[cj_one2000]

Quest was a ton of fun too. For those of you who haven't played, I won't tell too much but here's a clue:

 

 

After Quest the Hubby and I were so tired, but we made a pit stop for cookies before heading to bed. Those coconut ranger cookies are so good!

 

Our last sea day it was quite windy and by 1:30 it was overcast and raining. We had a special family gathering in the suite lounge. Anis our concierge reserved it for us since the Olive or Twist lounge had an improv class and was busy.

 

By 2:30 the wind was blowing really hard on the pool deck. The pool attendants were removing chairs and they got discouraged when the wind almost took them away with the chairs! [emoji15]

 

 

After leaving the suite lounge, we headed to Sorrentos for a pizza snack and for the last character meet and greet. But it was the hippo again from the Madagascar movie so my daughter just watched from our seats in Sorrentos.

 

 

She wasn't crazy about the pizza (didn't like the cheese) but she loved the pepperoni and the crust.

 

 

It was starting to clear up later in the afternoon so two of our kids went out on the deck and we let them blow bubbles.

 

[cj_one2000]

We had our last dinner in the main dining room and they did a performance that included some familiar songs to us Americans. Some of our family went to Saturday Night Fever but since the Hubby and I had seen it twice on other sailings and we had a cranky toddler, we opted to go back to our room and pack up.

 

We got pretty much all our stuff packed and out in the hallway by 10:30. The ship was rocking pretty hard last night, it was causing the hangars in our closet to bang against each other and the sides of the closets do we had to take the hangars off the racks and put them on the floors of the closets so we could get some sleep.

 

We got up and to breakfast at 7:45. Last plate of bacon for the toddler!

 

 

We finished and met up with our group and suite people to disembark with our concierge Anis. We got off the ship and made it through customs by 9:30 and got on our charter bus and left the terminal at 10. Bye bye Liberty!

 

We just got to the airport to made it in just 70 minutes. What a fun cruise! We're in Houston until tomorrow afternoon then back to cold Alaska.

[cj_one2000]

Buba Feathers band still on the ship? who is playing in star lounge. thank you

 

 

I didn't do much nightlife. I'll have to check the cruise compasses later and see who was playing live music besides the major headliner entertainment.

[cj_one2000]

May I ask who is the cruise director this week?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

 

It was John Blair and his wife Katrina.

[cj_one2000]

CJ, if you are passing by the shops at some point this week, would you mind snapping a picture of the price list at the general store? I am hoping to find out what deals on liqueurs and spirits are being offered. Thank you very much! :)

 

 

I didn't see a price list but I snapped a couple shots of scotch right before the sales guy went into his schpeel on the high end scotch. Photos are a few posts back. The real deals are buying multiple bottles. If we bought 4 bottles of Johnny Walker Blue and we got an additional 10% off it brought down the price per bottle to $139. A typical stateside bottle of Johnny Walker Blue label ranges $180-$210 depending on area of country and type of store. So there's the savings.

[moopetguy]

I didn't see a price list but I snapped a couple shots of scotch right before the sales guy went into his schpeel on the high end scotch. Photos are a few posts back. The real deals are buying multiple bottles. If we bought 4 bottles of Johnny Walker Blue and we got an additional 10% off it brought down the price per bottle to $139. A typical stateside bottle of Johnny Walker Blue label ranges $180-$210 depending on area of country and type of store. So there's the savings.

 

Thank you for this information and for all of the pictures! Safe travels back home. We've had a sharp drop in temperature where I live in the past 24 hours -- yesterday morning it was around 55F and today it's 32 F. Had some flurries last night and had to scrape the car windows this morning. Brrr...

[cj_one2000]

Thank you for this information and for all of the pictures! Safe travels back home. We've had a sharp drop in temperature where I live in the past 24 hours -- yesterday morning it was around 55F and today it's 32 F. Had some flurries last night and had to scrape the car windows this morning. Brrr...

 

 

Get ready for heat. Roatan was hot! [emoji16]

[cincicruisers]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review for us.

[cj_one2000]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review for us.

 

 

You're welcome! I'll do a separate review based on our experience as suite guests.

[sellwingri]

You're welcome! I'll do a separate review based on our experience as suite guests.

 

We're in a Grand Suite in 2 weeks so this would be great. Did you get priority tender tickets?

[fdthird]

She is adorable and I hope she had a good cruise! Safe home!!

[cj_one2000]

We're in a Grand Suite in 2 weeks so this would be great. Did you get priority tender tickets?

 

 

Yes, we did! It worked out great. Anis the concierge made it so easy too. The tender takes 30-45 minutes to load, ride and unload. Our tender met at 9:00 and we were on shore by 9:30.

[cj_one2000]

She is adorable and I hope she had a good cruise! Safe home!!

 

 

Thank you! We all had a great time and my worries pre cruise traveling with a toddler didn't come true. She had a blast, and was a great eater all week and just loved all the fresh fruit and the Sprinkles frozen yogurt. Only thing that surprised me was that she didn't like the milk that was served on board. I have no clue why she didn't like it. Never figured out why. Oh well. She had a great time regardless.

[cj_one2000]

We got our rental car, stopped by a Sonic (this is a treat since we don't have the franchise in Alaska) and then checked into our rooms at the Holiday Inn at IAH. This is an older hotel with the a/c on full blast. The rooms are large but there is a musty smell that maybe a serious renovation could fix. Free parking and breakfast, will find out by tomorrow morning if it's a good deal.

 

After all our bags were in the rooms and everyone had about an hour to relax, we headed to the Woodlands Mall to look around. The boys bought new iPhone cases and then we drove down to the Waterway district and dined at a Japanese restaurant. The waterway area was nice!

 

 

Edited November 21, 2016 by cj_one2000

[LeesSummitCruiser1]

Be careful, my Diamond 12 year old has a goal of pinnacle before 18. She cruises with friends so she has more cruises than her parents. Royal does not know how to handle kids that have a higher rank than their parents. I have loved your trip. We are going on LOS in March.

[cj_one2000]

Be careful, my Diamond 12 year old has a goal of pinnacle before 18. She cruises with friends so she has more cruises than her parents. Royal does not know how to handle kids that have a higher rank than their parents. I have loved your trip. We are going on LOS in March.

 

 

That's incredible! I need friends like that! [emoji16][emoji106] Who are your friends? Can they adopt me? [emoji51] that's very interesting if the kids have higher loyalty status than mom & dad. When they turn 18 they should keep all those points they earned. You would think anyway. And mom & dad would get perks until the kid turns 18. Like the reverse with adults with higher C&A status.

[cj_one2000]

Slept in this morning until 8am, this doesn't happen often with a toddler folks! [emoji6] packed everything up and had breakfast at a Waffle House, another food franchise we don't have in Alaska. Stopped at a Kroger for a few items for the trip home and now at the airport to return the rental car and get checked in for our flight. Houston was fun and the whole cruise experience out of Galveston with 20 other family members was a great way to spend a small part of our winter [emoji16][emoji106]

 

I'll post a separate and more detailed review on being suite guests on Liberty and how that worked for a family of five with teens and a toddler.

[Amy1118]

Slept in this morning until 8am, this doesn't happen often with a toddler folks! [emoji6] packed everything up and had breakfast at a Waffle House, another food franchise we don't have in Alaska. Stopped at a Kroger for a few items for the trip home and now at the airport to return the rental car and get checked in for our flight. Houston was fun and the whole cruise experience out of Galveston with 20 other family members was a great way to spend a small part of our winter [emoji16][emoji106]

 

I'll post a separate and more detailed review on being suite guests on Liberty and how that worked for a family of five with teens and a toddler.

 

Thanks so much for bringing us along with you. I'm boarding the ship this Sunday and can't wait. Would you post a link here to your suite review if you start a new thread? I don't want to miss it!

 

Safe travels today.

[SenatorsFan]

I enjoyed your review very much so thanks for posting. :) Your little girl is adorable and I can tell she and her brothers had fun. Safe travels home.

Heather