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Liberty of the Seas Review - 12/04 - 12/11

marti315

By marti315,
in Royal Caribbean International

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marti315

marti315

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Brief overview of party: 4 adults, 2 children, diamond RCL cruisers. All adults on Deluxe beverage package.

 

Embarkation: Let me start by saying that Sunday 12/04 was a rainy, dreary day in Galveston TX. Yes the weather was not optimal but the port & area around the ships in Galveston needs a MAJOR overhaul. I arrived at the port at 10:15 am, had plans to drop off the luggage and wife at the terminal and go park the car. 45 minutes had passed waiting in completely stopped traffic, not even into the luggage drop off area yet. I decided I was going to bite the bullet and just get drenched so we just parked the car and hauled all our luggage 1/2 mile over to the port (why no shuttle??, because they were stuck in traffic too).

 

Got over to the ship around 12:10 and this is where things got better. Royal has done an amazing job getting people through security, checked in and on the boat. From the time I arrived at the actual building, it was under 10 minutes until i was on the boat.

 

Entertainment for the week: Saw every show except the Liberty singers and dancers headliner show. Encore the Ice show was amazing, I commented that this ice cast was much better than the Allure cast in May. The first two comedians were blehhhhhhhh, some funny parts but really tried WAYYYY to hard and let some jokes go on too long. The comedian/headliner i enjoyed the most came on Day 6 and did impressions, played piano and sang other artists and was pretty darn funny. Day 7 was Saturday night Fever and that was an amazing show. Great sets, fun adult themes and all around an enjoyable 82 minutes.

 

Non Production Shows: Pool band was very good and played for a few hours each afternoon. Singer / Piano player in the Schooner bar was engaging but didnt have much of a singing voice. Boleros usually had a group playing and everyone seemed to be enjoying them.

 

Now for "lack of entertainment" report: As has been mentioned the Pub had no entertainment at all this week. One night they had some Karaoke but that was it. Pretty disappointed they decided to chop the pub singer out.

 

DINING: MDR 4 Evenings, MDR 3 Lunches, MDR 5 Breakfasts, Windjammer 4 - 5 times and specialty dining 3 nights. First the MDR food was pretty basic for those of us who have been on RCL lately. Nothing wow anymore, just edible food prepared in massive quantities. I was surprised to hear that our MDR waiter recommended the CLASSIC strip steak 3 out of the 4 nights we were there. One night we tried it and it was a pretty lousy under half inch thick piece of shoe leather. Not much to write home about as it relates to MDR food, it isnt "inedible" as some people put it, but it lacks creativity would be my opinion.

 

Ate at Chops night one, everything was spot on at Chops, enjoyable meal, everything cooked well, no complaints at all there except I overate.

 

Ate at Giovannis night two and had an amazing meal. Tried the new strip loin they replaced the Filet with and was pretty impressed. The sides were also very good, all in all a very good meal. Here is where things took a turn as it relates to Giovannis.

 

At the end of our meal at Giovannis the manager of the establishment came to our table to ask about the meal, make small talk and offer us a "secret" menu if we came back again. He said he would get us things like "Filet Mignon, Lasagna, Eggplant Parm, Veal Parm". It sounded good so we decided to book another night. When i booked the 2nd night at Giovannis the hostess lady asked me how many Filets, i said 4 please (we had a party of 4). I asked for 2 lasagna sides and 2 eggplant parm sides. She typed it all in and we were good to go or so we thought.

 

Arrived at Giovannis the last night and the waiter came to took our order, we said we had already ordered when we booked the 2nd night. The waiter came back and said "Oh we can only give you 1 filet mignon for the table". we were all looking at each other like "ummmmm, split 1 filet among 4 adults, how tacky". I said no, i ordered 4 filets so the waiter went and got the same manager who gave us this special and he also said he could only do one filet. I wasn't happy with this so he got on his phone and made a call, he came back with an offer of two filets for a table of 4. I said No again and i brought up "the RCL surveys come out tomorrow, this is a bad way to end a cruise". His response was "Dont threaten me with a survey". He then got back on his phone and said OK you all get filets, what temperature would you like them. Anyways that ordeal made for an uncomfortable few minutes but seriously splitting a filet 4 ways was very tacky, i wonder if they were going to chop it in small pieces for us too. :) Food again was amazing and we left on a high note.

 

WindJammer food was pretty bad all week. There was one semi bright spot, they had large beef ribs for lunch one day and they were pretty decent. 1 Curry dish total all week, it just looked like a Lubys type buffet, i was disappointed. Even though the food to me wasnt very good people were still filling plates like they were feeding a village so they must have liked it. If you enjoy salad, you will only see Iceberg at the Windjammer buffet.

 

Service: Overall opinion of the service on the ship was that a good deal of these people dont want to be there. Our stateroom attendant did the very bare minimum, never wiping our bathroom counters, or wiping down anything. Our MDR waiter was unexcited at best, most bar staff looked miserable. With that being said i did find some amazing staff at the R bar , Squeeze Bar and the Pub. Patrick and Danna at the pub were fantastic all week, they really tried to make our vacation better and they did just that. They got a hefty tip from me at the end of the week for giving that "royal" service.

 

The cruise compass was wrong on most days. One day it said it would be 18 degrees Celsius (which is around 64 degrees F) when it was actually 86 degrees F. Another day they had the QUEST listed at 10:15 pm but it actually happened the day before. Other times they had fitness classes listed that were never even scheduled to begin with. Attention to detail here is needed, otherwise don't waste the paper.

 

Pool and Slides: For some odd reason there was NOBODY on the pool deck all week. i would say over 50% of the chairs were ALWAYS available. The new slides on liberty are super fun, they are fast, and its neat to be able to race the person next to you. The kids zone is also a lot of fun, i enjoyed sitting there just to hear the water splashing all day.

 

Cleanliness: There is some bad and good in this category. The bad first: The MDR chairs had stains all over them. The table cloths had very visible stains all over them. The napkins were worn down and had stains on them as well.

 

Common areas were being cleaned quite often, whether it be wiping of handrails, shampooing carpets, wiping walls. I found this ship to be pretty clean and well kept except for the dining room.

 

My Complaints: Come on RCL, you cant keep taking up more and more space in an already crammed Promenade to sell stuff. They literally leave like 3 feet to walk around all these tables full of stuff for sale. As we all know the Liberty has a more narrow promenade than the Oasis class and they just put too much junk in it.

 

Stop with the pestering for specialty restaurants, especially when I am eating breakfast INSIDE THE MDR. A sabor guy was walking around asking people who were eating if they wanted to try Sabor. This same guy asked me at least 4 times throughout the week. Sabor on a ship sailing out of Texas was probably not the best idea because it was empty every night.

 

Wines by the glass included in the drink package are dwindling. I took pictures of every single bar menu and you can get very few wines now for under 12.00 a glass.

 

Disembarkation: Amazing Job RCL & Immigration. From the time I started walking off the ship until i was outside the terminal it was no more than 10 minutes. Kudos here, i was impressed with this process.

 

Other Observations: They stopped selling the drink packages on the end of day 2 of a 7 day cruise. This is new, usually its end of day 3. They started selling 10 drink punch cards on Day 5 for 67.00 + tip. They had many b1g1 free drink specials throughout the cruise and some days they had 1.00 mimosas in the casino from 12 - 1 pm. Captain was great in that he told us important info that would affect our trip such as "tonight at 6 pm we will be experiencing gale force winds, it will get bad etc...".

 

Will I be back on RCL? Absolutely, I booked 1 more on the ship and have 3 others previously booked. Product & Service has taken a very visible hit in certain places but I travel for a living for work, what hasn't taken a hit?

 

If anyone has any specific questions feel free to ask, I tried to think of everything pertinent to the week but im sure others have specific things they might want to know about.

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travelin_nat

travelin_nat

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We have the same complaint about the harassment for specialty dining on our recent Enchantment cruise. We told them we already had a Chops reservation (which we did) and they wanted information to "verify" it as if they were doing us a favor. But they approached us several times in the MDR and elsewhere around the ship. Enough already!!

Edited by travelin_nat
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wolfganghowell

wolfganghowell

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We were on the week before you. I agree with many of your comments however, we had a great suite attendant and didn't see any problems with other staff. Also - Sabor is now our favorite specialty. Don't write it off as typical Tex Mex - the food is outstanding.

 

Royal has really let it's Galveston client base down by not getting Derek Lewis back in the pub asap.

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George C

George C

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Really hate that there was no entertainment in pub, loved last cruise on Liberty with Derek Lewis playing. WE are currently booked for April so I most likely will not change , but will eat most of the dinners in Specialty. We did get a great deal on a GS so we get the extra perks and great breakfast, also like the suite lounge.

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marti315

marti315

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I have to ask about the beds - did you find them to be "hard as a rock" as some others have reported?

 

I didnt find it hard as a rock at all, in fact when we got to the room they had already put on a foam topper. I hadn't asked for a foam topper but it made the bed quite enjoyable for the week.

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sellwingri

sellwingri

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We were on this cruise as well. Overall it was great....after all, I was on a cruise which is always enjoyable. We ate in the MDR every night. Our service was great. Too bad the food wasn't. Ice show was amazing!!!!!!! Quest was great, as usual.

 

I spend a lot of time playing cards in the casino. Dealers weren't as friendly as other RCI ships. Minimums were $10 so playing one hand of 3 card poker cost $25 ($5 for 6 card bonus) or $35 if you want to bet your hand. There were a lot of complaints so they lowered the minimum to $5 on one Ultimate Texas Holdem table.

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pspercy

pspercy

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Also on this sailing.

 

Bed fine, had the requested topper.

 

MDR food has declined in quality, "striploin" not good. Waiters still great but very rushed.

Chops was bad, service fine but the 12oz strip was thin, undersized, dry and tasteless.

 

Tendering in Grand Cayman very slow, don't know why.

 

Too much crap on Promenade.

One first was a PA announcement, audible in cabin, for Bingo - at 9pm!

 

Ship is very well kept, crew friendly, overall we enjoyed it but likely a smaller ship next time.

 

Embarkation and disembarkation super fast, especially the latter. Wow!

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essgee_ca

essgee_ca

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I have read many reviews and live reports about Liberty and have heard several people write about the slides. However, no one has said if there is a weight restriction on the slides. Also, are there mostly kids using the slides? Are there many adults? I'll be 50 at the time of our sailing, but I'm still a kid at heart and would love to try the slides. They look so fun.

Thanks in advance for your response.

essgee

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marti315

marti315

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I have read many reviews and live reports about Liberty and have heard several people write about the slides. However, no one has said if there is a weight restriction on the slides. Also, are there mostly kids using the slides? Are there many adults? I'll be 50 at the time of our sailing, but I'm still a kid at heart and would love to try the slides. They look so fun.

Thanks in advance for your response.

essgee

On the two racing slides the weight limit was 300 and 48 inches tall, no age max. On the tidal wave the weight limit was 280 and total between both people (two must ride at a time) is 425. The kiddie slides in the kids zone have a weight limit of 300 but they didn't allow adults to go on them. Probably to keep kids safe at the bottom.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

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widallas

widallas

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I didnt find it hard as a rock at all, in fact when we got to the room they had already put on a foam topper. I hadn't asked for a foam topper but it made the bed quite enjoyable for the week.

 

I have to say on our recent cruise I had requested a bed topper for my husband (who has had hip surgery) but it somehow ended up in the kids cabin....they slept like babies, and we didn't really sleep much at all the first few nights. The mattresses are pretty bad....

 

Thanks for the great review!!! I have to agree that some of the crew were just not happy...it was a weird vibe.

Edited by widallas
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travelin_nat

travelin_nat

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And yet we spent two weeks on the Liberty in October and had no issues with the bed. Different strokes....

 

 

 

Seems to be the common theme. We found the beds on Enchantment to be too firm. We tried using the inflatable mattress people have been raving about and found that was less comfortable, not more comfortable. The most comfortable bed we had was on Freedom five years ago and nothing has come close since.

 

I will say we often have the same issue in hotels - it's not isolated to RCI cruise ships. It's impossible to get something everyone will love.

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marti315

marti315

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Are the waterslides open on port days if so times?

Yes definitely. I remember then being open from like 12 noon till 6 on port days. That's the days I rode them most , literally walked up AnD down 10 times in a row with no wait. Got pretty dizzy though.

 

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marti315

marti315

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We are leaving december 26th what was first day at sea like and last day like?we have always been in summer time love being by the pool!

Honestly the day we left Galveston was about as bad as Texas gets in winter. 50 degrees, rainy and windy. The first full sea day was a 100% change. Low 80s and beautiful. Doesn't take much to get into some nice Caribbean weather.

 

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