LIVE From Liberty Pre-Inaugural - May 7 - 9

[ChristieNJ]

Christie I'm really not much of a reviewer. Although I can answer any questions that I'm aware of. I was having too much fun to bother taking notes. I wish every cruise had free drinks. :D

 

None of us would remember very much now would we?? ;)

It's ok, I'm reading your other thread, I didn't see it until now. I posted a question over there about Micky Dolenz.

[Host Karen]

Sorry I didn't post before now but our internet connection went down yesterday morning and I don't know that it ever came back up. Plus, we were REALLY busy. :)

 

Here's my review of my first Freedom class ship: Wow. Wow. Wow. Liberty of the Seas is a stunner. She's huge, she's gigantic, she's awesome. I was very impressed and did not expect to be. I think we may have to sail her one of these days.

 

I'm really, really, really exhausted so I'll have to finish this tomorrow but I thought I'd at least get a start on our experience. We drove to the pier, which took about 70 minutes, and arrived around 10:15. We followed the signs that took us past Liberty, way down to the other end of the port area, back around, past the terminal and back to Liberty where we parked the car. I was expecting a parking deck (don't know why), but all the parking is out in the open directly across from the ship. If you have any concerns about your paint (I know there had been reports of paint overspray), we didn't experience that, but did see several huge seagulls walking around on the hoods of cars. I think next time we might put on a car cover just to be safe.

 

Once we got our luggage out of the car, we promptly got on a bus and were driven back to the terminal that we had just passed. Went right up to a counter and received our SeaPass cards, turned the corner and had our photos taken, and sat down to wait for boarding. When we checked in we were handed a boarding number for the bus, and our number was called around 11:20. We hopped back on the bus and were onboard Liberty about 7 minutes later. Grabbed an elevator and went up to our cabin, which was 7240 -- a D1 balcony (I assume they are using the D1 designation but I haven't looked at the deckplans since we returned).

 

As Merion Mom noted, the balcony was a good size, with plenty of room for the two chairs and small side table plus room to move around. For those who have sailed in D1s on Radiance class ships (my only point of reference since our Adventure cabin was a JS), the layout is much the same although the sofa looks much bigger. The closet now has shelves rather than drawers, and I prefer the drawers. Since the shelves are within the closet, I would imagine that a week or two worth of clothes would block access to the shelves and be a bit of an annoyance. The safe was standard size and you entered a 4-digit code to lock it. The desk area has plenty of drawer space and there is a hair dryer already hooked up in the top right hand drawer. The flat screen tv is nice, but it sounds like a telephone ringing when it turns on and shuts off. Several times I turned toward the phone as DH was shutting it off!

 

The bathroom is also standard D1 with a shampoo/conditioner dispenser in the shower, which has doors rather than a curtain. Unfortunately, our shower was missing a piece during installation and after my first shower, I opened the doors to find 1-1/2 inches of water in the bathroom, leaving my slippers and the bathmat saturated. With any luck, this will be fixed by the time the ship reaches Miami. The open shelves by the mirror in the bathroom have been replaced with shelves behind a door, which I thought was also an improvement. No outlet for anything except a shaver, which is standard.

 

More later....

 

Karen

[Host Kewlguy]

Sorry I didn't post before now but our internet connection went down yesterday morning and I don't know that it ever came back up. Plus, we were REALLY busy. :)

 

Here's my review of my first Freedom class ship: Wow. Wow. Wow. Liberty of the Seas is a stunner. She's huge, she's gigantic, she's awesome. I was very impressed and did not expect to be. I think we may have to sail her one of these days.

 

I'm really, really, really exhausted so I'll have to finish this tomorrow but I thought I'd at least get a start on our experience. We drove to the pier, which took about 70 minutes, and arrived around 10:15. We followed the signs that took us past Liberty, way down to the other end of the port area, back around, past the terminal and back to Liberty where we parked the car. I was expecting a parking deck (don't know why), but all the parking is out in the open directly across from the ship. If you have any concerns about your paint (I know there had been reports of paint overspray), we didn't experience that, but did see several huge seagulls walking around on the hoods of cars. I think next time we might put on a car cover just to be safe.

 

Once we got our luggage out of the car, we promptly got on a bus and were driven back to the terminal that we had just passed. Went right up to a counter and received our SeaPass cards, turned the corner and had our photos taken, and sat down to wait for boarding. When we checked in we were handed a boarding number for the bus, and our number was called around 11:20. We hopped back on the bus and were onboard Liberty about 7 minutes later. Grabbed an elevator and went up to our cabin, which was 7240 -- a D1 balcony (I assume they are using the D1 designation but I haven't looked at the deckplans since we returned).

 

As Merion Mom noted, the balcony was a good size, with plenty of room for the two chairs and small side table plus room to move around. For those who have sailed in D1s on Radiance class ships (my only point of reference since our Adventure cabin was a JS), the layout is much the same although the sofa looks much bigger. The closet now has shelves rather than drawers, and I prefer the drawers. Since the shelves are within the closet, I would imagine that a week or two worth of clothes would block access to the shelves and be a bit of an annoyance. The safe was standard size and you entered a 4-digit code to lock it. The desk area has plenty of drawer space and there is a hair dryer already hooked up in the top right hand drawer. The flat screen tv is nice, but it sounds like a telephone ringing when it turns on and shuts off. Several times I turned toward the phone as DH was shutting it off!

 

The bathroom is also standard D1 with a shampoo/conditioner dispenser in the shower, which has doors rather than a curtain. Unfortunately, our shower was missing a piece during installation and after my first shower, I opened the doors to find 1-1/2 inches of water in the bathroom, leaving my slippers and the bathmat saturated. With any luck, this will be fixed by the time the ship reaches Miami. The open shelves by the mirror in the bathroom have been replaced with shelves behind a door, which I thought was also an improvement. No outlet for anything except a shaver, which is standard.

 

More later....

 

Karen

 

Hi Karen. It was pleasure meeting you. We didn't even realize you were only three staterooms away from us. Actually our stateroom category was D2. I just checked the deck plans.

[Nliedel]

Reviews and thoughts on food, please. What were you served the second night? Was the Cod encased in pesto? My husband ate mine a year and a half ago and I'm still grumbling about it. I want more! :D

[Cruising89143]

Karen, enjoying the review thus far.

 

To anyone in the know, when entering the dining room do you have to sit with who they place you with or can you ask for a table for just your party?????

[Host Kewlguy]

Reviews and thoughts on food, please. What were you served the second night? Was the Cod encased in pesto? My husband ate mine a year and a half ago and I'm still grumbling about it. I want more! :D

 

I'm thinking because of the open seating they were a bit "off" in the dining room IMHO. My filet of beef was under cooked even though I asked for well done. My Grand Mariner Soufflé was practically hollow. My fiancee wasn't given a desert menu last night. But hey, the cruise was free. :D

 

Fiancee had tiger shrimp on night one and Salmon on night two.

[Host Kewlguy]

Karen, enjoying the review thus far.

 

To anyone in the know, when entering the dining room do you have to sit with who they place you with or can you ask for a table for just your party?????

 

You can request a table for two. First thing they ask when you enter the dining room is how many in your party.

[Nliedel]

I'm thinking because of the open seating they were a bit "off" in the dining room IMHO. My filet of beef was under cooked even though I asked for well done. My Grand Mariner Soufflé was practically hollow. My fiancee wasn't given a desert menu last night. But hey, the cruise was free. :D

 

Fiancee had tiger shrimp on night one and Salmon on night two.

 

What do you mean, "no dessert?" :eek: It's not possible!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I eat my meat heated with a lighter, so underdone is ducky.

[Host Kewlguy]

What do you mean, "no dessert?" :eek: It's not possible!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I eat my meat heated with a lighter, so underdone is ducky.

 

They served desert. Just forgot to give her a desert menu. She just looked at mine. ;)

[Nliedel]

They served desert. Just forgot to give her a desert menu. She just looked at mine. ;)

 

Probably meant she should have had one of each. :D

 

No calories on a cruise ship. Really.:cool:

[tuckerstravel]

Well I have been posting in the meet and mingle thread, since I didn't realize this thread was here!

 

I thought the food was particularly excellent. I had the Chicken Marsala on night 1 and warm chocolate cake for dessert. The filet of beef on night 2. My beef was great and tender. Strawberry cheesecake for dessert. The service was pretty slow on night 2, but I think it had to do with the open seating.

Lunch we had in the dining room on day 2 and it was superb! I had chicken/avocado fajitas.

I was surprised how many tables for 2 were in the dining room. That should be great for some loners who want to be alone.

I was in an ocean view on Deck 3 (3320) it was very nice and the bedding was comfy! It was a good location being close to the dining room and elevators.

Internet service was pretty bad as everyone has noted and I also used the internet up in the "Zone" but it was even worse than the internet lounge.

I loved being able to get "free" specialty coffees. I think I had 2 cappuccinos and one iced latte--wonderful.

I never made it for pizza or Johnny Rockets but I really wanted too, one can only eat so much.

[Merion_Mom]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH.

 

My head.

 

My aching head.

 

What a blast we had last night!

 

I had four appetizers instead of a main course: two soups, shrimp cocktail, caesar salad. Then I had a frou-frou coffee for dessert.

 

Mark, our waiter, was fabulous. He scoured the ship and found a can of Caffeine Free Diet Coke, and he made sure that they made my Mocha whatever with decaf, too.

 

Debbie and I were happy to be seated with "others", and were at tables for 8 both nights. These were all good tablemates.

 

Last night, it was a particularly rolicky group, and we continued the fun later.

 

Micky Dolenz, of The Monkees, was the headliner. I was very impressed that they brought him in for our dinky little 2-day pre-inaugural. He was very good. Anyone want to guess how old he is? I'll put the answer at the end. His sister, Coco, is part of the act. She sings well, too, and they did some great harmonizing together.

 

Ken Rush was very good, of course, but he didn't have a lot to do.

 

I know that I'm out of order, but tough.

 

In the morning, I went to the TAs meeting in the Platinum Theatre, "Common Ground". I found it fascinating. After the VP, Lisa Bauer, made her presentation, the bigwigs answered questions, and there were lots of them. The woman who "answered" the questions about C & A, and qualifications and levels and amenities didn't give any answers at all. She was SLICK.

 

IN GIANT LETTERS ON THE SCREEN IT SAID:

 

Next Cruise does NOT expire. Ever. No expiration date. Period.

 

You can now use the NextCruise deposit that you have made if you later book into a GROUP.

 

TAs are being given more points and such to reward their groups.

 

Want to know how they made sure that all the TAs would attend the session?

 

They closed every bar in the ship except the bar in the Platinum Theatre. hee hee hee hee :D

 

Every time you turned around, there were waiters with trays of drinks.

 

Am I crazy, or is Liberty (and maybe Freedom, which I have not seen) the only ship with a full bar in the Windjammer?

 

Speaking of bars..............

 

There are a lot of them on the Liberty. They are all staffed by very nice bartenders. These bartenders apparently have not been trained in spotting those who have already been over-served. :p OH MY ACHING HEAD. :rolleyes:

 

I may be the only one on this board who had never experienced Matt Yee.

 

OMG.

 

Words fail me.

 

Fun, fun, fun.

 

Pub Trivia - I would have won if I had showed up before they started. Unfortunately, I came in at question 6, so I just kibitzed with a group.

 

Did I mention that all the booze was free?

 

Visited the hot tub last night around 2. The staff is SO nice. There was no one else up on the pool deck. (cold and windy) We needed towels. A guy walking by got us towels - he could have told us to stuff it, but he didn't. I love Royal Caribbean. :D

 

Even so soon, we saw people touching up the paint. Window-washers were busy.

 

JR's may have been closed when kewlguy walked by, but they were HOPPING on Tuesday when I saw it. They were giving out buzzers, or beepers, or whatever those things are, and telling people it was an hour wait. A waiter walked by with a plate of double or triple decker cheeseburgers. I'm salivating just remembering the sight. And, OH, the smell of those french fries and onion rings!

 

Despite the chilly weather, there was a line at the flowrider, and not everyone who wanted to try it was able to.

 

I briefly met Ricardo, the concierge, and he let me look into the Diamond Lounge. (just off the Viking Crown Lounge). Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. Head and shoulders above the Concierge Lounge. I'd rather be up there ANY day. Huge, spacious, all windows, full wet bar, double size cappuccino machine, just magnificent.

 

We missed the "Royal Champions" reception on the first night, because we were on deck for sailaway. This was a party thrown by RCCL for us internet cheerleaders. Apparently, everyone got a fantastic goodie bag..........but not me. :( I tried to get one yesterday, but was unsuccessful.

 

Booked 3 Next Cruise options, for just $100 each.

 

Ran into two of my favorite buddies from my infamous Sovereign cruises. Good times!

 

Must get food.........must re-hydrate.............must find Motrin..............shoot, must go pick up cat!

 

TTFN.

 

(answer: 62)

[Host Kewlguy]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH.

 

My head.

 

My aching head.

 

What a blast we had last night!

 

I had four appetizers instead of a main course: two soups, shrimp cocktail, caesar salad. Then I had a frou-frou coffee for dessert.

 

Mark, our waiter, was fabulous. He scoured the ship and found a can of Caffeine Free Diet Coke, and he made sure that they made my Mocha whatever with decaf, too.

 

Debbie and I were happy to be seated with "others", and were at tables for 8 both nights. These were all good tablemates.

 

Last night, it was a particularly rolicky group, and we continued the fun later.

 

Micky Dolenz, of The Monkees, was the headliner. I was very impressed that they brought him in for our dinky little 2-day pre-inaugural. He was very good. Anyone want to guess how old he is? I'll put the answer at the end. His sister, Coco, is part of the act. She sings well, too, and they did some great harmonizing together.

 

Ken Rush was very good, of course, but he didn't have a lot to do.

 

I know that I'm out of order, but tough.

 

In the morning, I went to the TAs meeting in the Platinum Theatre, "Common Ground". I found it fascinating. After the VP, Lisa Bauer, made her presentation, the bigwigs answered questions, and there were lots of them. The woman who "answered" the questions about C & A, and qualifications and levels and amenities didn't give any answers at all. She was SLICK.

 

IN GIANT LETTERS ON THE SCREEN IT SAID:

 

Next Cruise does NOT expire. Ever. No expiration date. Period.

 

You can now use the NextCruise deposit that you have made if you later book into a GROUP.

 

TAs are being given more points and such to reward their groups.

 

Want to know how they made sure that all the TAs would attend the session?

 

They closed every bar in the ship except the bar in the Platinum Theatre. hee hee hee hee :D

 

Every time you turned around, there were waiters with trays of drinks.

 

Am I crazy, or is Liberty (and maybe Freedom, which I have not seen) the only ship with a full bar in the Windjammer?

 

Speaking of bars..............

 

There are a lot of them on the Liberty. They are all staffed by very nice bartenders. These bartenders apparently have not been trained in spotting those who have already been over-served. :p OH MY ACHING HEAD. :rolleyes:

 

I may be the only one on this board who had never experienced Matt Yee.

 

OMG.

 

Words fail me.

 

Fun, fun, fun.

 

Pub Trivia - I would have won if I had showed up before they started. Unfortunately, I came in at question 6, so I just kibitzed with a group.

 

Did I mention that all the booze was free?

 

Visited the hot tub last night around 2. The staff is SO nice. There was no one else up on the pool deck. (cold and windy) We needed towels. A guy walking by got us towels - he could have told us to stuff it, but he didn't. I love Royal Caribbean. :D

 

Even so soon, we saw people touching up the paint. Window-washers were busy.

 

JR's may have been closed when kewlguy walked by, but they were HOPPING on Tuesday when I saw it. They were giving out buzzers, or beepers, or whatever those things are, and telling people it was an hour wait. A waiter walked by with a plate of double or triple decker cheeseburgers. I'm salivating just remembering the sight. And, OH, the smell of those french fries and onion rings!

 

Despite the chilly weather, there was a line at the flowrider, and not everyone who wanted to try it was able to.

 

I briefly met Ricardo, the concierge, and he let me look into the Diamond Lounge. (just off the Viking Crown Lounge). Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. Head and shoulders above the Concierge Lounge. I'd rather be up there ANY day. Huge, spacious, all windows, full wet bar, double size cappuccino machine, just magnificent.

 

We missed the "Royal Champions" reception on the first night, because we were on deck for sailaway. This was a party thrown by RCCL for us internet cheerleaders. Apparently, everyone got a fantastic goodie bag..........but not me. :( I tried to get one yesterday, but was unsuccessful.

 

Booked 3 Next Cruise options, for just $100 each.

 

Ran into two of my favorite buddies from my infamous Sovereign cruises. Good times!

 

Must get food.........must re-hydrate.............must find Motrin..............shoot, must go pick up cat!

 

TTFN.

 

(answer: 62)

 

Ok, so I'm guessing you had a good time Carol?

[Merion_Mom]

Ok, so I'm guessing you had a good time Carol?

 

Thank the lord, Debbie drove home. I slept. (hard to get a good night's sleep between 3:30 and 6 :rolleyes: ).

 

Then I had to go straight into school and teach five classes! oooooooooooooooo :o

 

It was so wonderful meeting you and Mrs. Kewlguy-to-be. :D

 

Had a great chat with the mods, while eating that free Ben and Jerry's.

 

Oh, I couldn't get a picture of the prices - there weren't any! The signboard just listed the ice creams, since they weren't charging us.

 

Great photos - I just finished editing them, and will upload to webshots shortly.

[nanfromatlanta]

Reviews and thoughts on food, please. What were you served the second night? Was the Cod encased in pesto? My husband ate mine a year and a half ago and I'm still grumbling about it. I want more! :D

 

Don't remember seeing cod on the second night's menu. I had the filet of beef, ordered meduim, and it was perfect. Others at the table had the salmon with some sort of sauce on the side. Those who had it said that it was delish. Someone also raved about the roast duck. The shrimp cocktail, escargot, Caesar salad, & oxtail soup were also good.

 

Tony, sorry to hear that your Grand Marnier soufle' was not up to par. The food Gods must have been looking down on me, because mine was perfect.

[Host Kewlguy]

Thank the lord, Debbie drove home. I slept. (hard to get a good night's sleep between 3:30 and 6 :rolleyes: ).

 

Then I had to go straight into school and teach five classes! oooooooooooooooo :o

 

It was so wonderful meeting you and Mrs. Kewlguy-to-be. :D

 

Had a great chat with the mods, while eating that free Ben and Jerry's.

 

Oh, I couldn't get a picture of the prices - there weren't any! The signboard just listed the ice creams, since they weren't charging us.

 

Great photos - I just finished editing them, and will upload to webshots shortly.

 

I'm envious you got to see the Diamond Lounge. We weren't so lucky. :(

It was great finally meeting you as well as the Cruise Critic family. :)

[nanfromatlanta]

Thank the lord, Debbie drove home. I slept. (hard to get a good night's sleep between 3:30 and 6 :rolleyes: ).

 

Then I had to go straight into school and teach five classes! oooooooooooooooo :o

 

It was so wonderful meeting you and Mrs. Kewlguy-to-be. :D

 

Had a great chat with the mods, while eating that free Ben and Jerry's.

 

Oh, I couldn't get a picture of the prices - there weren't any! The signboard just listed the ice creams, since they weren't charging us.

 

Great photos - I just finished editing them, and will upload to webshots shortly.

 

Carol, glad to hear that you got home safely. Is Debbie now hooked on cruising?

 

I also got very little sleep last night. Sal called my cabin @ 6:30 AM this morning. He had already done his morning walk, and wanted me to join him for breakfast. I finally made it there at 8:00... heehee

[jillybabes]

Carol: Sounds like you had a wonderful time...Can't wait to see the pictures:p ! Later, Jill:cool:

[Host Kewlguy]

Don't remember seeing cod on the second night's menu. I had the filet of beef, ordered meduim, and it was perfect. Others at the table had the salmon with some sort of sauce on the side. Those who had it said that it was delish. Someone also raved about the roast duck. The shrimp cocktail, escargot, Caesar salad, & oxtail soup were also good.

 

Tony, sorry to hear that your Grand Marnier soufle' was not up to par. The food Gods must have been looking down on me, because mine was perfect.

 

Well, it's the lucky of the draw I guess. We weren't that hungry anyway when dinner time rolled around. An open bar all day and night can have that affect on you. It was a pleasure meeting you and Sean also. We will stay in touch for sure.

[Vale]

For Marion Mom. I did read your previous post, but you mentioned: You know how your invitation says "Ocean view cabin, sorry, no upgrades available"? I asked this nice lady, are cabins being assigned now, in the order we are checking in, or were they pre-assigned? She said, they are pre-assigned, your SeaPass cards are all printed out and ready to go.

 

Well on our invitation it doesn't specify anything about any cabin nor does it even mention cabin, that's why I posted.

[Cruising89143]

Sounds like everyone had a great time. Thanks for all of the reviews. All I can say is two more days of work and then MIAMI on Saturday!!!!!:)

[Nliedel]

Oh wow, Carol FABU report. Mickey Dolenz? REALLY? A childhood crush of mine. Wonder if he'll be on it next week? Or better yet, Peter Tork! YUM! Then there's my all time love, the God of Skinny, David Cassidy.

 

Sounds like you had a ball. Sounds like you didn't sleep.

 

What do you mean, they closed the bars??? :eek:

 

Thank you for making me even more excited!!!

[nanfromatlanta]

Sounds like you had a ball. Sounds like you didn't sleep.

 

Sleep? You sleep when you get home!!!! :-)

[LauraS]

Ok, so I'm guessing you had a good time Carol?

 

Oh, I'd say she did, remember when she...

 

Oh.

 

That's Right!

 

What HAPPENS on Liberty, STAYS on Liberty.

 

 

Darn, almost forgot

 

Laura

[LauraS]

I'm envious you got to see the Diamond Lounge. We weren't so lucky. :(

It was great finally meeting you as well as the Cruise Critic family. :)

 

I've got some photos of the Diamond Club in my Webshots album here:

 

 

http://travel.webshots.com/album/558986120xJWwhw

 

Now listen.....I'm not the greatest photographer, as you'll see. No comments from the peanut gallery. I tried, really I did...I followed Host Anne around and took all the same shots she did....also, I don't know how to flip 'em around on Webshots, so get ready to flip your heads....

 

Laura