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Liberty Of The Seas 6/23/07

hzr

By hzr,
in Royal Caribbean International

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hzr

hzr

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Just got back, brief comments. Everything open, ship looked great, staff friendly, Noro-free( I think), only glitch at the port getting off(customs issue). More tommorrow(tired).

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cheshire999

cheshire999

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Just got back, brief comments. Everything open, ship looked great, staff friendly, Noro-free( I think), only glitch at the port getting off(customs issue). More tommorrow(tired).

 

 

I can't wait for your review!!

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hzr

hzr

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I will do my best in sharing my experiences on L.O.S. 6/23/07 cruise. Review would be best left to someone more experienced than my wife and I are. This was our second cruise, the first was on the Norway in 1992. I am writing these comments in the hopes that others may gleen some useful information, my wife and I found this website to be full of very useful information. We ended up recieving some discounts be reading previous posts about price reductions leading up to our cruise. We arrived early to the port and we were on board by 11:30 a.m. The check in process was easy and efficient, we were given priority boarding cards(suite guests,I guess) and waited in a large room until we were called. We had a carry on bag full of change of clothes and cleaning supplies(a little norotic) went to our state room (1370-1372) and proceeded to spray Lysol on every doorknob, railing,phone,remote,light-switch we could find.Because we had connecting rooms we asked that the door between us be unlocked and to our surprise the balcony door also was unlocked and slid open which made for a very expansive balcony. My guess is that if you book enough rooms together you canopen the balcony sliders and have a huge party deck. We decided before our trip to book J.S and it was well worth the extra cost, we had our children as well as my mother traveling with us and never felt confined in our cabins. The bathroom was spacious and well cleaned, the closet was ample and served as a changing room(great idea). One of the best tips was to bring a cheap plastic shoe holder which we hung on the closet door, it held some toiletries other odds and ends as well as a couple of shoes. Our steward Robert was excellent and fulfilled every request given, he was very courteous and had our cabin thoroughly cleaned every morning in record time. We were very happy with the location we had because we were only one floor below the pool deck and very close to Windjammers. A short walk to the elevators got us down to our dining room. We had other family members stay on the eigth deck in an owners suite overlooking the rear of the boat. Very spacious but didn't seem to have a lot of privacy on the deck, also the loooong march to the pool or spa from there made it a bit inconvenient everytime they left there cabin. We decided to use 25 mile family radios to keep in touch with our kids, they worked fine for most of the ship. Others in our group rented Dect phones which also worked very nice, you could pick up any house phone and reach them in seconds. Our only regret at this point was that we missed the M&M party we signed up for, we at first thought that we had been forgottten and didn't receive an invitation but sure enough on the last night we were packing we found the invites under a pile of papers in our stateroom. Dinner was also a good experience, since we had sixteen total in our party we would rotate tables and tablemates every night. Our waiters were corteous and efficient, the head waiter was always present and made sure the service was up to snuff, which it was. The food was plentiful and tasty. Breakfast in the dining room seemed better than eating at Windjammers, no surprise because buffet style isn't the same as table service. We usually had lunch at Windjammers which worked out fine for such a large group. We even tried Johnny Rockets which was a nice change of pace. The fries and onion rings were great! Sprinkles on the pool deck (soft-serve ice-cream) is a great idea, the first two days they had people serving the ice-cream for you, noro still being a big concern, but by the third or fourth day you were able to serve your own, which I did at least twice a day. The only things that bothered me about the cruise was the insessant hounding by the staff pushing alcoholic beverages, I know they are trying to make a living but I had to tell one guy, NO, seven times. He just wouldn't give up. On of the people in our party just wanted to order a soft drink and had to listen to the bartender three times that he should be ordering a beer instead, we just got up and walked away and got our soft drinks elswhere. The other irritant were the photgraphers, when making our first stop we had to weave past a sea of them in the port. I would kindly decline and yet they would ask my kids to stand togehther for just one picture, against my wishes. I know RCCL is trying to turn a profit but I wish they would charge an extra one time fee for booze and pictures and quit hounding everyone on board to spend, spend, spend. Which we did when I checked our bill on the end of the cruise. Sorry but I just had to get that off my chest, that being said we had a tremendous week of fun in the sun, some must do things. A visit to Portofino's would be a great idea, no kids for us, and it was well worth the price. The food and service were a bit above the norm, we left the place in a semi-comatose state after dessert. The Flowriders was a gas for just about everyone in our party. A spa treatment would also be a great idea, if you work out a trip to the fitness center is a must. It is a state of the art facilty which is well kept with great steam and sauna facilities. Just remember to wipe down equipment before each use( still noro sensitive). As far as we know nobody got sick, but i'm sure there were a few cases reported. We were a little aprehensive after reading a few posts about the staff being cranky and unresponsive to peoples needs but were greatly relieved to see them attend to their tasks with enthusiasm and charm. Only other hangup was in the disembarkation process because of a computer glitch in the port. One staff member told me that the computers crashed three different times. We waited in the On Air studio lounge for an hour and a half and I finally decided to talk to a staff member and she told me to go to the font gangway with our entire group and were let-off immediately, don't know what was going on but there was still a long line of people waiting to get off on the rear gangway. We left the ship at about 10:30, our original time was 8:15-9:00 a.m. It wasn't RCCL's fault but they stopped announcing which colors could leave after a while. No big deal and had plenty of time to arrive at the airport. Sorry about the long comments, I hope this helps.

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TimTunison

TimTunison

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I, too, sailed Liberty on the June 23rd voyage. Here are my thoughts...and I'll try not to be too repetitive from what others have posted.

 

First...about me. I'm 32...cruised with my wife and our two children, a 4-year-old boy and 19-month old baby girl. This was our 7th cruise with RCCL...we've never cruised on any other cruise line. Our previous cruises have been on Grandeur, Majesty, Rhapsody, Radiance, Voyager, and Empress. Imagine going from the Empress last summer (which we enjoyed as well) to the Liberty this summer!! On to my random thoughts.

 

1. The ship is absolutely amazing...especially for families. I'm not sure I could sail anything but Freedom class now.

 

2. I'm addicted to the Flowrider. It quickly become my new obsession. And it cost RCCL some money. I usually play bingo in the afternoon. Not this cruise. My afternoons were full of flowriding. And flowriding, my friends, is free. You have to try it.

 

3. The H20 Zone is awesome. My son was in heaven. It is truly an amazing feature. A note about swim diapers...we followed the rules when it came to our daughter. No swim diapers in the pool...even in the H20 Zone. Lots of people were breaking the rules (RCCL did have pool monitors who kicked a lot of babies out of the pools). I chose to bend, rather than break, the rule. I happily carried my baby girl around in the sprinkler area. She got plenty wet on her head, arms and legs. But her bum stayed dry. As I understood it, RCCL was developing a pool for swim diapers on the Freedom class ships...but for some reason reversed course. I think RCCL needs to come up with a solution. Three days at sea with no pool for the baby is rough. I brought a bucket on board...and filled it with pool water. My daughter enjoyed playing with it on the pool deck.

 

4. Pick a room in the back of the ship. EVERYTHING, is in the back of the ship. Okay...the gym and theatre are in the front...but everything else is in the back.

 

5. The food was good all around. Remember...we've only sailed RCCL...so I can't compare the food to other cruise lines. My only complaint--the tomatoes were nasty. I'd avoid the caprese salad unless you see nice tomatoes in the Windjammer. What you see there...is the same you will see in the dining room.

 

6. Labadee is still my favorite place on Earth. What a great beach. We didn't get to ride the zip line...but it sure looked fun.

 

7. St. Maarten is an awesome port. We were the only ship in port that day...unlike my last visit there...when we shared the stores and beach with six other ships!!! The beach that sits in front of the town square is just fine--there's no need to travel to the "nude" beach on the other side of the island. That is, unless you are looking for that kind of entertainment. I got my fill during our pre-cruise stay in South Beach (we stayed at the Courtyard South Beach...a great hotel just a couple blocks from the beach).

 

8. San Juan is San Juan. Not too much to do there. We walked through one of the forts. The kids seemed to like that.

 

9. No sign of the Noro Virus. :eek: If it was alive and well on board, RCCL did a great job of keeping it hidden. I appreciated the hand wipes at all of the dining areas. I wish they did that year round on all ships. It made me feel so much better after reading the horror stories posted on this site. Wash your hands people!

 

10. We stayed in room 1704...deck ten aft balcony. We had an adjoining room with my wife's parents (JR suite 1706). It was a great set up...as we could put the kids to sleep and go out while Gma and Gpa were in the next room (with the door open, of course). One note about this setup...the balconies of these two rooms are separated by a metal wall...not glass. You cannot turn these two rooms into one big balcony. No big deal. The rooms...and balconies were huge.

 

11. The sea was like glass. Very little movement on the ship. And I'm one of those people who gets ticked at people who say "you'll never feel the ship move." Yeah right. :cool:

 

12. My son went to Adventure Ocean three times and loved it. The staff seemed great. Very friendly. My wife took our daughter to the Aqua Tots program several times. They had a great time. And RCCL gave them a "cruise music for kids" CD on the last day.

 

13. We flew direct from BWI to Ft. Lauderdale. Had a car service take us to the hotel in South Beach...and from the cruise ship back to the airport. No problems at all. Don't fret about flying into Ft. Lauderdale vs. Miami.

 

14. We used our "free cruise for two" points from the RCCL Visa (which turned into a credit of $2,500). Fortunely, we did this before the credit card company up'd the number of points you need.

 

I love the Liberty of the Seas. :D I'm trying to convince my wife to take a SPRING BREAK 2008 voyage. Wish me luck. ;)

 

If you have specific questions that I didn't answer, e-mail me at ttunison@hearst.com. I'll write you back. (No, I did not bring back all of the compasses.)

 

Well done, Royal Caribbean. We will be back...hopefully sooner than later!

 

Tim

Baltimore, MD

 

Liberty of the Seas (June 23, 2007)

Empress of the Seas (August 5, 2006)

Voyager of the Seas (June 18, 2004)

Radiance of the Seas (December 28, 2002)

Rhapsody of the Seas (March 30, 2002)

Majesty of the Seas (June 22, 2001)

Grandeur of the Seas (April 15, 2001)

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TimTunison

TimTunison

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Gloria Estefan was a guest on the ship during the 6/23 voyage (she did not perform). She was on the dance floor with her daughter during the 80's dance party. The staff noticed. Suddenly, "Conga" was blaring over the speakers. She looked mortified...but quickly jumped in the conga line...and played along. Yes, my friends...we conga'd with Gloria Estefan while her song played. Very cool. She seemed like a nice lady...I was glad to see, for the most part, people left her alone.

 

Also...on the last night...we didn't make it to the "Get Out There" store in time. It had closed an hour before. I wanted to buy a pair of shorts I'd seen earlier in the week. I asked a ship employee about it. He said, "hold on a second." He went and found the store manager who REOPENED the store to let me in to buy my shorts. AN HOUR AFTER THEY CLOSED! Now that's service!

 

Tim

Baltimore, MD

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dickens56

dickens56

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My husband and I were also on the Liberty June23rd. It is a beautiful ship, but built for family cruising. We found the pool area smaller because of the large area for H20 for kids. We had a hard time finding chairs by the pool. People were going out early on putting towels on them to save. We found out some were doing it in the pool area and the Solarium at the same time. The would go back and forth. Something really needs to be done about that. The food is the same menu as the other ships. We were on the Navigator last September and it was the same menu. We did eat in Chops this time and I recommend it highly. We had the filet mignon and it was the best I have had. We also didn't hear anything about anyone getting the Noro on this cruise. They had you wipe your hands in all the food areas. The only place we notice them not doing it was Johnny Rockets. I have a feeling that all these big ships are going to be in the caribbean eventually. There will not be any smaller ones. My husband and I like the Voyager class ships. We booked the Mariner when it comes to Los Angeles in 2009. We also got stuck in the mess getting off the ship. We had just got to the front of the line getting off the ship when the customs computer shut down nationwide. We had to wait about 30 minutes, but after the came back on it went fast. Boy, is Miami airport a mess. The baggage check in was very odd. You had your luggage weighed and tagged. Then you had to take it to another area and give it to security. My husband and I are in our 60's and this was our 9th cruise with RCCL. Summertime isn't the time for people our age to cruise on these large ships. Kids are running up and down the halls and stairs. They are bumping into you. I was constantly telling kids to quit stopping the revolving glass door our to the pool area. There would be adults in it and they thought it was funny to stop it and trap you in it. The flowrider was great and had wonderful places to watch. I also thought the shows after dinner were better on this ship. They definitely need to change the questions at the Love and Marriage and Quest shows. People know what to bring to the Quest shows because they are the same. If you want a cruise for your family, you will love this ship. There seemed to be alot for kid to do. We stayed in room on the hump. The balcony was small, but we did notice that you could slide the divider back if you new someone in the next cabin. We also liked Labadee. My husband and I hadn't been there in years. They have really outdone themselves the way they have fixed it up. If you are sailing on her this summer with your family, you will have a great time.

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tjrbbill34

tjrbbill34

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We just returned from the liberty ~ 12 family members went.

All in All it was a great trip - being first time cruisers we were all a little nervous about this trip after reading some of the previous reviews but were very happy with most everything.

No Noro ~ that we noticed

Food ~ we ate at the specialty ones four times because we pefered the atomsphere and service and food ~ Chops in particular. Main dining was good. Windjamer was good. Johnny rockets was fun.

Service ~ great, everyone was extremely friendly and helpful.

Rooms ~ very nice we all had balconys with two of them being jr suites and they were all next to each other so we were able to open the doors to the balconys to have one long one which was great for morning coffee and drinks while we were getting ready.

Everyone in our group tried something the shipped offered so if you have any questions I will try and answer.

At times we did feel crowed on the ship. Especially pool time...everyone does get out early to reserve their spots and chairs by the pool are hard to come by but we found space on the second level.

The immirgration computers we down so getting off the ship took some time and of course you had some people that were just annoying but that is to be expected with all those people standing around.

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StaceyMom

StaceyMom

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:p :p We too were on the LOS 6/23/07 with our three kids and my brother in law/ sister in law with two kids. The ship is Noro free or they are hiding it well. I saw no signs of illness. my other random thoughts:

 

Embarkation- SMooth. We were on the ship by 12:30

 

Activities: the Flowrider is awesome! Get there early or expect to wait. All the other activities are great. the H20 is wonderful. The kids loved it. The pool areas likewise get crowded so find a seat early. The kids played putt putt golf about 10 times a day. they loved it.

 

Windjammer: food was adequate. Lots of choices. You will find plenty to eat but the dining room food is better at all meals including breakfast and lunch.

 

Dining room: We were put at a table for 8 with 9 of us. It worked because of the kids but it was tight. The waitress was wonderful. The first night she seemed frazzled and made several mistakes but she caught on by the second night and was reallt lovely. The head waiter came to our table every night. Not necessary, but he was doing his job. The food was good. We were never hungry for sure.

 

Shows: Don't miss the ice show. the best show of the week. The production shows were ok. RCCL has spent a ton of money on costumes and production value but the singers were just ok and the script was lame. We enjoyed the comedians. Cruise director James is ok nothing to write home about.

 

Bingo: We are the Bingo family. We never missed a game. My 7 year old won once so that was the highlight of the trip. Your bingo king Chris is lots of fun.

 

Rooms: Rooms are pretty much the same as the Mariner. The balconies seemed bigger though. Our room steward was very efficient but not overly friendly. Our room was clean and we got our towel animals so we were happy.

 

Ship: the ship is beautiful!!!! The promenade is breathtaking and the kids had pizza there about three times a day. The shops are nice too. One big complaint, The elevators. They need to fix this. You can wait for 5 minutes for an elevator and then it is full. Very annoying. they definitely need more elevators for the amounts of people.

 

Debarkation: Problem with the customs computers. We got off the ship at 11. We were supposed to be off by 9:45. It felt long but it was fine. However, even with the delay you couldn't get a glass of water. I had to beg for a cup for my daughter to take medication. Ridiculous.

 

I would recommend the ship for families. We had a blast. It was neat seeing Gloria Estefan on the ship( she was a guest). she is just as pretty in person. If anyone has any questions email me at StaceySch@aol.com and I will answer you.

 

Stacey

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StaceyMom

StaceyMom

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I would say all the shows are appropriate for children. My kids went to all of them and there was nothing objectionable. The fairy tale show the kids liked a lot. You do not have to worry about the shows offending.

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love2sale

love2sale

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Great review, just makes me that more excited and counting down the days. We will have Paula Deen on our sailing October 6th, 2007 which I have signed up through her website. So, we will get to do what she is doing.. How exciting!!! Thanks again for the excitment!!!

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TimTunison

TimTunison

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Wow, great thread! Thanks for all the reviews. Tim - what hotel did you stay in at South Beach? We are on LOS for spring break 2008, flying into FLL and thinking about where to stay before....

 

We stayed at the Courtyard South Beach, 1530 Washington Avenue. Great rooftop pool...only a few blocks from awesome South Beach. Only a 10 minute ride to the terminal. I highly recommend it. Lots of food within walking distance.

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StaceyMom

StaceyMom

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I've asked this a couple of times in other threads but never got a response. At which pier are the Liberty and Freedom docking in San Juan?

 

 

It is docked at Old San Juan. I personally did not care for San Juan. you get there so late so you are pretty forced to stay around the port. We saw the fort and shopped. not much else to do that I saw.

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