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My Way Too Windy Review of Liberty of the Seas - May 14th, 2017

mbarnes27
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toxicfairy

toxicfairy

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Oh my gosh we are going on the Sept 27th cruise on LOS and every new review just gets me more and more excited! Love the way you wrote this. I really do think it is all a matter of how you go into a cruise . If you expect 5 star quality in everything and perfection in everything you'll surely be disappointed. If you go in with an it's a vacation lets make the best of what ever happens attitude you'll have an awesome time. Some crew are going to be tired or even fighting a cold or just plain missing thier families maybe they just got bad news from home ( they don't get to go home on the weekend) so if they are moody ya can't take it personal. And let's face it if dinnner wasn't my idea of great I certainly won't go hungry on a cruise ship!! But your review was great love the attitude And the wording!! Now just 2 and a half months until I can write my own!!

 

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BillOh Holiday Sharing Rare

BillOh

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Final Day:

 

 

Promenade that was suddenly eerily quiet and had gone from a beautiful innovation in ship design to a sort of green mile as we marched toward the electric chairs in the Platinum Theater that would bring about the end to our vacation.

 

 

 

That was a funny, original thought.

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mbarnes27

mbarnes27

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Nice, thanks for posting! I grew up in Edmond and am enjoying the Oklahoma connection and reading your review. We sail on Liberty in September and are looking forward to it. One quick question, as you go. What time did you dock back in Galveston? On time?

 

Sorry for missing this. We docked on time. I think it was around 8am, possibly earlier. Breakfast was closed by 8:30 in the Windjammer and people started getting off before that even.

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CruiseCheapsk8

CruiseCheapsk8

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Sorry for missing this. We docked on time. I think it was around 8am, possibly earlier. Breakfast was closed by 8:30 in the Windjammer and people started getting off before that even.

 

No worries at all! Thank you for your response, that is helpful.

 

 

I really enjoyed your review! Well done! I thought you did a great job and it flowed well, and was funny, which definitely helps. Glad you guys made it back! And yea, norovirus is no joke, that sucks that you had it on the drive back, that must have been rough!

 

Thanks again for your excellent review! We are taking our three girls on Liberty in early September and are really looking forward to it!

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Mrsfrz

Mrsfrz

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Thanks for the great review. We are planning to go toward the end of the year and are going back and forth over what class of cabin to get. We got spoiled having a balcony on our last cruise, but the insides are so much cheaper that we thought we might try it this time. I noticed you had a Promenade room. After having been on this ship, what are your thoughts on which type room and which deck to be on? We are also trying to decide which itinerary to choose as they alternate each week.

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jas283a

jas283a

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Thanks for the review. Going same itinerary in less than a month. This made me excited. Also using Victor Bodden, going to look up Black Hat, as Cozumel isn't planned (doing ruins in Costa Maya).

 

 

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mbarnes27

mbarnes27

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Great review! Thanks for sharing. We leave on Liberty on Sunday and I can't wait! I will have to look into Maya Chan.

 

Have a great time! One of my best friends is sailing on this for his first cruise as well.

 

Maya Chan booked up a couple months ago for this sailing but there are other beaches like it. My in-laws went with Barefoot Beach and enjoyed it. It's not a private beach but it costs less and you get food and drink. If you're really looking for a beach excursion that might be worth looking into.

 

Honestly, after coming back for a couple hours at the end of the day and exploring the dock area, you could very easily enjoy that area if you're just looking for relaxing. They have a HUGE saltwater pool that walks up to the bar at I believe Señor Frogs and we enjoyed just floating around on inner tubes and soaking in it.

 

If I return to Costa Maya and consider doing something other than Maya Chan I might look into a fishing charter because that area was historically a fishing village and I bet it's excellent. I spoke with someone who did scuba at Costa Maya as well and he said it was really good. From the beach I could see water breaking way out so I'm guessing there are reef formations out there.

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mbarnes27

mbarnes27

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Great review. We are on the LOS in July. I have a promenade cabin and was wondering about the noise. Does the noise travel into the room? We are on deck 8, hoping it's not too loud.

 

I'm sure if you listen hard for it you will hear it but it was barely a quiet rumble for us. The parades and activities at night weren't bad at all. I've used Promenade cabins both times I've sailed and love them. If I had a bunch of extra money burning a hole in my pocket I might spring for a balcony but if you don't need a balcony I think a Promenade is worth it if it's around $100 more than an inside. At night I would open the dark curtains and just have the sheer curtains closed so it could let some light in. It helped me when I woke up because the Promenade changes lighting with the time of day so you could have an idea of what time it was.

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mbarnes27

mbarnes27

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Thanks for the great review. We are planning to go toward the end of the year and are going back and forth over what class of cabin to get. We got spoiled having a balcony on our last cruise, but the insides are so much cheaper that we thought we might try it this time. I noticed you had a Promenade room. After having been on this ship, what are your thoughts on which type room and which deck to be on? We are also trying to decide which itinerary to choose as they alternate each week.

 

Great question. I think cabins are such a subjective thing so I'll just share my thoughts on it and understand that others will completely disagree with me. Also keep in mind when taking my opinion under consideration, I've only been on 2 sailings and both were in Promenade cabins so I have never experienced an inside or a balcony. I will say that my parents have done an inside and after doing the Promenade cabin this time with us they are definitely big fans, especially since the Promenade cabins can typically be had for maybe an extra $100-$150 total from what I've seen.

 

I don't spend a lot of time in my cabin and even if I had a balcony I don't think that would change honestly. I choose Royal Caribbean first and foremost because on a cruise with this kind of itinerary you are spending more hours in total on the ship than on land and I'm fascinated by the ship design of Royal's ships (at least Voyager class and above). If I sailed on another line I very well might consider the additional cost to have a balcony because I might not be as interested in spending time exploring the rest of the ship and a balcony affords you the opportunity to enjoy solitude and a quiet view of the sea all day. I've considered sailings on Carnival before but a balcony would cost me as much as a Promenade on Royal so if that's the decision I just go with Royal. Some people love Carnival ships and it's a matter of preference again. For me I like the sports areas on Royal better and the Promenade design is beautiful to me.

 

If comparing an inside to a Promenade, for me it all comes down to price honestly. There are advantages to a Promenade over an inside with no window but the dollar value of those benefits is a personal decision as well. For me I put the number at basically $150. If it cost $200 more for a Promenade I would probably just do an inside because I know that I could do a lot with that extra money in port or even just on the ship. Truth be told, I haven't found myself sitting in the bay window looking out a lot. While waiting for my wife to get ready I enjoyed having that option and took advantage of it often but that's about it. The main benefit to me is that I have a connection to the time of day and what's going on through a major area of the ship. The room also is a little bigger than an inside and I think that makes a difference. It was easy for me to sit over by the bay windows and stay out of my wife's way while she was getting ready. I'm not sure it would have been as easy with the inside layout.

 

So basically, I'd look at the cost difference between classes of cabins and then consider what you might do with that extra money that you wouldn't do if you didn't have it. If you save $200, could you maybe go scuba diving? Would you go if you didn't have that extra money? If the experience/stuff you could get with that extra money sounds more appealing than the benefits I listed, I'd go with the inside. In my experience the extra $100 won't get me something that seems more appealing but again that's personal taste. Some people might buy that tanzanite jewelry they couldn't justify the expense of so maybe walking away with a nice necklace wouldn't be such a bad prize for the sacrifice of having a window.

 

As far as deck, we were on 7 this time and I really liked it. We take the stairs so it matters a little to us but if you take elevators I don't know that it would matter to me at all honestly. But taking the stairs, it was only down 2 decks to get to the Promenade for my coffee at Cafe Promenade or late night pizza at Sorrentos and our dining room level, down 3 decks to deck 4 where you can play shuffle board or just sit in a chair and enjoy the sounds of the waves crashing against the ship, or up 4 decks to the pool deck/Windjammer so it was an nice middle ground. That said, if I went with an inside I would probably just go with something at deck 4, 5, or 11 if at all possible because it would put me on either end of the spectrum of decks I like to explore. Being central to those ends like we were on deck 7 meant that going anywhere required stairs so a visit to the Promenade was 2 down and then 6 up to the pool deck. I would have preferred to just be on deck 5 if I didn't care to have a Promenade view because I could have just walked down the hall to get my coffee and enjoy time on the Promenade without doing any stairs.

 

I can't be much help on itinerary because I've only done basically this same one both times. The only difference was that instead of doing Costa Maya, we did Belize on the first one. Neither of those did a ton for me honestly but I think they're both ports that require either spending some considerable cash to go out on an excursion or just a different idea of fun than I have. That said I enjoyed both enough that I wouldn't shy away from returning.

 

I really like Cozumel for the variety of things to do. We rented scooters the first time and at $40 for 2 people all day it was a great bargain and let us see the eastern coastline where not many end up going. This time we hired Crescencio and did a lap around the island again. I'm an introvert and don't really care if there's a lot going on. Give me a quiet beach with few people and I'm really happy. On the eastern coastline you can feel like you almost have the island entirely to yourself in a lot of places. I love that.

 

Roatan is my favorite though. It's just a beautiful place to spend a day to me and I think Victor Bodden tours does a good job of showing you that.

 

I think regardless of which cabin you choose and which itinerary you decide on, you can have an incredible time if you go in with the right mindset and look for the best in everything. Will there be some imperfect moments? No doubt, but those are so few and far between I think.

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mbarnes27

mbarnes27

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Oh my gosh we are going on the Sept 27th cruise on LOS and every new review just gets me more and more excited! Love the way you wrote this. I really do think it is all a matter of how you go into a cruise . If you expect 5 star quality in everything and perfection in everything you'll surely be disappointed. If you go in with an it's a vacation lets make the best of what ever happens attitude you'll have an awesome time. Some crew are going to be tired or even fighting a cold or just plain missing thier families maybe they just got bad news from home ( they don't get to go home on the weekend) so if they are moody ya can't take it personal. And let's face it if dinnner wasn't my idea of great I certainly won't go hungry on a cruise ship!! But your review was great love the attitude And the wording!! Now just 2 and a half months until I can write my own!!

 

Sent from my SM-J700T1 using Forums mobile app

 

Absolutely. I think because you have so many elements lumped together into one price it's easy to forget that what you're actually getting at that price is a pretty crazy value.

 

I spent $1,500 on a Promenade room for 2 people. 7 days at a hotel on the waterfront would easily run me over $200/night which would make up that cost by itself. Then even if I went cheap and had McDonalds for breakfast every day (let's say $12 for 2 people), Wendy's for lunch (let's go real cheap with the 4 for $4 so $8 for 2 people) and then let's get "fancy" with Golden Corral (I mean we're on vacation so let's live a little! Call it $12/person so $24 total). That comes out to $44 on food per day times 7 gives us a food budget of mostly uninspired greasy food at $308.

 

Not everyone will use the water park type attractions, rock wall, mini golf, or even go to the shows so I always think of them as icing on the cake. But everyone is going to eat meals and need a place to sleep on any vacation.

 

So with my very conservative $200/night waterfront hotel room and $44/day food budget my trip comes out to $1,708. My cabin on the ship was $1,500 and then gratuities were $190 for 2 people so I basically broke even but got all that delicious icing on the top of the cake at literally no cost to me. I loved almost all the shows and would have expected to pay at least $20 a ticket for all of them and more for some. I don't know of a lot of $200/night hotels on the water that feature live music all over the place and activities either. And that food I would have got for $44/day was far exceeded by the offerings that I got on the ship. If my vacation budget had been $150/day for food maybe I'd be more disappointed but that's not how I travel on land so I don't hold the ship to a higher standard even though it far exceeds my land standard personally.

 

Can't wait to read your review!

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Clarea

Clarea

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Thank you for your excellent review. I am on LOS in February 2018 and just booked Maya Chan. Still trying to figure out Roatan and Cozumel.... I have been on Mariner, Freedom and Oasis but not Liberty...

Cozumel: Nachi Cocom.

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Clarea

Clarea

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I have been to cozumel a few times. Last cruise we went to Mr Sanchos. I have heard good reviews of Nachi Cocum

I've read that Mr. Sanchos has a more lively crowd, so that may appeal to some than the more sedate atmosphere at Nachi.

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