*LIVE REVIEW* Solo --- Liberty of the Seas, 5 day -- April 22, 2024

[Cherful59]

11 minutes ago, rrraydon said:

Yes it is…and it’s a beautiful day here on Liberty! 💜 

You will have to let me know what you think of LOS.  She is one of my favorites.  The crew aboard all RCCL ships are wonderful, but Liberty’s were just special.  42 days until I get on Freedom with family, so I will live vicariously thru you to help me hang on. Enjoy!

[rrraydon]

I’m currently up on the pool deck waiting for my drink. It’s rainy and windy up here. There’s not as many people up here as there usually is on the first day as a result. Taking the elevator up from my room on deck 6 I noticed the promenade is packed. I’ll wait until later to go to the coffee shop and get the 2 coffee cards I purchased. 
 

Back to boarding… they were very strict with exact timing of letting us board the ship in the proper order. Checking in was a breeze. I was scheduled to arrive at noon but my plane landed at 8a. So I grabbed an Uber for $15 and got to the terminal at about 8:45. There were others who were on my plane who were rolling up also. We got in line about 9:15 and at 10 they let us in to checkin. We sat in the waiting area until after they boarded those needing assistance, The Key folks, pinnacles and suite guests. At exactly 11a they started boarding the rest of us. 
 

I stopped by my muster station to get checked off and went straight to the bar for my first D+ drink. Then I went up to the WJ and had a great lunch. Although it was packed, everything flowed rather nicely. 

Edited April 22 by rrraydon

[rrraydon]

This was in my stateroom when I walked in at 1p. They don’t play around with that either, 1p on the dot you could get in the doors to the cabins. 

[rrraydon]

Last night I fell asleep at 9:30p and woke up at midnight, I had been up ever since. I was super tired and the second I got in to my room I took a nap…until 5p! 😂 

 

So I got dressed and came up here to rain and wind…freezing! I’m going to have to head back down after the drink and get a sweater. 
 

I'm early seating and could have made it to the MDR but I’m not too hungry right now. 
 

I just purchased the internet for the week and after my D+ discount it was $50. 
 

Gonna get back to drinking this LIT….

[rrraydon]

Grabbed a sweater and now I’m off to check out the ship. 
 

I booked a GTL balcony and was lucky enough to get an unobstructed, midship on deck 6. I’m liking my cabin and where it’s situated. 😊 

[rrraydon]

Also I’m a door decorator…

[HBE4]

On 4/20/2024 at 8:47 PM, rrraydon said:

I neglected to mention, although I've sailed on quite a few RC ships (D+), I've never sailed on Liberty. For those who have, feel free to give me some insight! 😁

 

Thank you for doing this review. Liberty is a sentimental favorite of mine as she was my first ever cruise back in 2008 and sailed her 5 or 6 times with 2018 being the most recent. Six years later, I'm eager to see how she is holding up.

 

When I first sailed her, she was the biggest & newest ship in Royal's fleet as Oasis-class was still a year away & I think Indy had started sailing (OK, so technically LOS was the 2nd newest and if I want to be real technical, I should refer to her with the LB initials 🙂).  Anyways, I guess by today's standard she is considered mid-sized which is consider to be the perfect size. Big enough to have enough bell-n-whistles to not get bored but small enough to do everything in a week and not be overwhelmed with too many events happening simultaneously. 

 

If you've sailed other Freedom- or Voyager-class ships, then you probably know everything there is to know as I don't think there is anything super unique about Liberty other than the Broadway show & slightly different selection of water slides. The "Perfect Storm" slides are okay, a little too slow for me, but I really enjoyed the Tidal Wave. It's quick but you do get the feeling your raft is going to fly off the ship into the open sea. In reality, it doesn't even come close.

 

Other than that, don't miss the Ice Show which is usually pretty good. One feature I like about this class of ship and smaller, it the outdoor promenade deck the wraps around the entire ship. A nice, shaded quiet space to escape the crowds and get as close to the water as possible for the cruise ship sensation. Plus, looking at the wake in the moonlight is really cool too!

 

EDIT:  Apologies I had meant to post this earlier, before you got on board but apparently was distracted by shiny objects or a squirrel.😉

Edited April 23 by HBE4

[rrraydon]

1 hour ago, HBE4 said:

 

Thank you for doing this review. Liberty is a sentimental favorite of mine as she was my first ever cruise back in 2008 and sailed her 5 or 6 times with 2018 being the most recent. Six years later, I'm eager to see how she is holding up.

 

When I first sailed her, she was the biggest & newest ship in Royal's fleet as Oasis-class was still a year away & I think Indy had started sailing (OK, so technically LOS was the 2nd newest and if I want to be real technical, I should refer to her with the LB initials 🙂).  Anyways, I guess by today's standard she is considered mid-sized which is consider to be the perfect size. Big enough to have enough bell-n-whistles to not get bored but small enough to do everything in a week and not be overwhelmed with too many events happening simultaneously. 

 

If you've sailed other Freedom- or Voyager-class ships, then you probably know everything there is to know as I don't think there is anything super unique about Liberty other than the Broadway show & slightly different selection of water slides. The "Perfect Storm" slides are okay, a little too slow for me, but I really enjoyed the Tidal Wave. It's quick but you do get the feeling your raft is going to fly off the ship into the open sea. In reality, it doesn't even come close.

 

Other than that, don't miss the Ice Show which is usually pretty good. One feature I like about this class of ship and smaller, it the outdoor promenade deck the wraps around the entire ship. A nice, shaded quiet space to escape the crowds and get as close to the water as possible for the cruise ship sensation. Plus, looking at the wake in the moonlight is really cool too!

 

EDIT:  Apologies I had meant to post this earlier, before you got on board but apparently was distracted by shiny objects or a squirrel.😉

Funny, as I walked through the ship I felt like I was familiar with her…I suspect it’s because of other voyager class ships. Yes, she is an older vessel and shows a little age ( like myself) but she’s a beauty! 

[rrraydon]

I went to the casino after throwing on a sweater. The casino on this ship is large, lots of slots…which is where I prefer to throw all of money away! 😂 I’m down a bit. But hey, the week is still young! 😂 

I’m going to head up on deck ( in my mind I just refer to it as the lido) and see what’s happening. The ice show is at 10:15 and I love a good ice show! I figure after the ice show I’ll see what kind of sandwiches they have at the cafe promenade…worst case, later, I’ll order room service since it’s 9:30p already. I’m a night time kinda girl so I’ll be up very late!

 

But, just so I don’t miss out on the day time activities, I put a continental breakfast order on my door for 7:30am. 

Edited April 23 by rrraydon

[rrraydon]

Forgot to mention…while strolling the promenade earlier I stopped at the cafe to get the 2 coffee cards I ordered. They only had me down as ordering 1 card (they’re cheaper if you purchase online prior to sailing, $31). So calls had to be made and what not but we got it settled. Anyways, he informed me the rules of the coffee card have changed. Used to be you could get refreshers and frapps with the card, they just took off 2 punches for those instead of the one punch. Not anymore. With the cards you can no longer get those at all, nor can you use them for macchiatos or cappuccinos. Well what the heck is the use in buying them then?????

Edited April 23 by rrraydon

[rrraydon]

I see my room attendant was here at some point (my bed wasn’t made up or anything) because these were put in my bathroom. 

[rrraydon]

I’m not complaining about the bed. To be honest, all I need is ice daily. I actually prefer 2x per day. Other than that I really do not need my room cleaned. I bring my own cleaner wipes and make up my own bed. 

[rrraydon]

Dinner tonight is Sorrentos…as we all know, taste is subjective. This is my 45th cruise. In all of my cruises RC has rated last in pizza. I haven’t gotten pizza on an RC cruise in years because their pizza is so bad. Nothing has changed, their pizza is still rock bottom. 
 

I sailed on MSC  Magnifica last month for the first time, their pizza is off the charts. Sooooo good! Carnival is second to MSC. It’s killing me to eat this…

Edited April 23 by rrraydon

[rrraydon]

Back to the casino…I hit for quite a few hundred. I went to guest services and put it all on my account. I’m now up some for more gambling. 😁 

[rrraydon]

Look at this little carrot cake cutie..

[rrraydon]

For those who are not normally up at 1:30am: the only place open other than cafe promenade and the pizza joint is the casino. 

Edited April 23 by rrraydon

[rrraydon]

Many people on here complain about smokers out on their balcony…100% worse for me than a smoker out on their balcony are those who leave there balcony lights on…  and there are MANY who do this. It always cracks me up the complaints on here about balcony smokers. Smoking lasts about 5 min, your lights are on ALL night long!!!  You are by far worse than a smoker, yet you have the audacity to come on here and complain about smokers. These people are the number one people who come on here and complain about the smokers, I just know it. Both of my neighbors have their lights on. This infuriates me. I can’t even enjoy the moon and the stars due to the 2 **** bags beside me and they’ll be the first ones on “the book” and on here complaining about the 5 min smokers.   😡 

Edited April 23 by rrraydon

[Sunshine3601]

8 hours ago, rrraydon said:

Forgot to mention…while strolling the promenade earlier I stopped at the cafe to get the 2 coffee cards I ordered. They only had me down as ordering 1 card (they’re cheaper if you purchase online prior to sailing, $31). So calls had to be made and what not but we got it settled. Anyways, he informed me the rules of the coffee card have changed. Used to be you could get refreshers and frapps with the card, they just took off 2 punches for those instead of the one punch. Not anymore. With the cards you can no longer get those at all, nor can you use them for macchiatos or cappuccinos. Well what the heck is the use in buying them then?????

When I used to buy these cards it was nice you could use the card on another sailing if you didn't finish it.   Can you still do that?

[rrraydon]

54 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

When I used to buy these cards it was nice you could use the card on another sailing if you didn't finish it.   Can you still do that?

I did tell him the reason I had purchased 2 cards was I was planning to use one for my next sailing and he didn’t mention not being able to do that. 🤞 

[rrraydon]

Room service arrived right on time this morning…yum!

[rrraydon]

Yesterday morning, when I got in line at the port for checkin, there was a young couple in front of me who were very excited to be going on their first cruise. The young lady mentioned how worried she was about sea sickness. I told her she’d be fine not to worry about it, she’d never even feel the ship moving. Well that was a lie! She’s been a rocking and rolling in this wind all night long and still is this morning. That girl is probably not saying nice things about me. 😆 

Edited April 23 by rrraydon

[LuCruise]

9 hours ago, rrraydon said:

Forgot to mention…while strolling the promenade earlier I stopped at the cafe to get the 2 coffee cards I ordered. They only had me down as ordering 1 card (they’re cheaper if you purchase online prior to sailing, $31). So calls had to be made and what not but we got it settled. Anyways, he informed me the rules of the coffee card have changed. Used to be you could get refreshers and frapps with the card, they just took off 2 punches for those instead of the one punch. Not anymore. With the cards you can no longer get those at all, nor can you use them for macchiatos or cappuccinos. Well what the heck is the use in buying them then?????

What?  We've used the coffee card a few times (If memory is right, including on Liberty).  The only restriction we had was not allowing Frappuccino's, but everything else was allowed. That's ridiculous if not for macchiatos or cappuccinos.  Things like iced coffee were 2 punches and anything over a small was also 2 but otherwise allowed.

[Crazy planning mom]

On 4/20/2024 at 10:47 PM, rrraydon said:

A couple of things I've already booked for this sailing:

 

1) Avocado Fiesta Guacamole Class scheduled for day 2 at 11:15am in Sabor the Mexican restaurant. This class includes lunch and a margarita. I purchased the ticket on sale and with gratuities it's about $35.

 

2) I also purchased (on sale for about $20)  the Hideaway adults only day pass for Coco Cay. This will be my 2nd time at Hideaway and although it's nice, I think it's only worth it if it's on sale and if it's in the colder months when the heated pool is needed. Otherwise, I don't think it's worth the extra money when there is another pool area that is free, free beaches and free food that tastes great already available. CoCo Cay is one of our stops next month when I'm on X and I did not purchase Hideaway for that one because I think the water will be nice at the Lagoon pool and at S. Beach where I plan to snorkel. 

While enjoying drinks and fun in the sun in Hideaway, I'm also going to be meeting up with my TA whom I found here on CC! He will be cruising next week as well and will also be porting in CoCo Cay the same day we on LOS are there. Although we've swapped many emails for my bookings, we've not had the pleasure of meeting. I'm looking forward to meeting the man behind the famous name here on CC! 😉😁

 

I contemplated booking the tropical drinks class, but it's $50 and I think I'm ok with mixing drinks at home (😝) and I'm ok with my 5 D+ drinks and my casino drinks for being Prime.

 

If you've done the quac class before, what's your opinion of the class?  (especially if the class was on LOS)

We did the Avocado Guacamole Class a few years ago on Harmony and enjoyed it.

[rrraydon]

6 minutes ago, Crazy planning mom said:

We did the Avocado Guacamole Class a few years ago on Harmony and enjoyed it.

Great! I’m scheduled today at 11:15a. It should be fun. 🤩 

[rrraydon]

12 minutes ago, LuCruise said:

What?  We've used the coffee card a few times (If memory is right, including on Liberty).  The only restriction we had was not allowing Frappuccino's, but everything else was allowed. That's ridiculous if not for macchiatos or cappuccinos.  Things like iced coffee were 2 punches and anything over a small was also 2 but otherwise allowed.

I’m going to order a small cappuccino later and see what happens. Sometimes when they do changes some of the employees get confused as to what the changes really are. I’m thinking there’s no way they would take macchiatos and cappuccino off, that would be ridiculous.