Liberty of the Seas 8/11 through 8/18 - very long...sorry! :)

[nrh322]

Liberty of the Seas 8/11 through 8/18

By no means did we manage to do or even see everything on the ship, so I’m going to limit my review to the things we actually did get to experience. I also want to make a brief mention about our experience coming and going through Miami International and our pre-cruise hotel stay because that might benefit someone else’s planning.

I was traveling with my husband and my two sons (14 and 12). We’d all built up the fun we were going to have on this trip to a level that was probably almost impossible to fulfill. We were hit with some disappointments and frustrations early on that challenged us to keep our good attitudes.

Flying into Miami from Houston on Friday afternoon with 6 pieces of checked luggage, we managed to claim only 5 pieces. The representative from Continental said that they’d held my youngest son’s luggage for “security reasons.” I was just glad that we’d flown in a day early and had some time to shop for him if it didn’t show up. The representative swore that it would be at our hotel that evening.

We took a taxi from MIA to the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay. It had gotten excellent reviews on Trip Advisor. I will be writing my own good review for the hotel there shortly. They didn’t give us any grief at check in about having our kids in a double and us in a king. I’d been a little worried that they’d make a big deal about not having an adult in one of the rooms, but they ignored it. Our rooms were a little small, but they were clean and had lovely linens and comfy beds. Both of the rooms had a nice view, but the boys really scored with a view of the cruise ships. We ate dinner at the hotel’s restaurant. I can’t remember what it was called, but it had a nice view of their marina and the food was passable hotel food. I had a good salad and my husband enjoyed his burger. Any time he can get one that’s not burnt to a crisp, he’s happy. My older son had pasta and thought it was good. I can’t remember what my younger son ate, but he would have complained – loudly – if it had been bad.

I called the customer service number about the missing bag after dinner. The representative I spoke with there knew nothing about a “security check”… He said the bag had been sent to Denver by mistake… then back to Houston…and that it should be back at our hotel in Miami by 2 a.m. or so!! I called down to the valets and requested that they phone my room if our missing suitcase showed up… no matter what the time. My phone rang at about 3 a.m. Our missing suitcase was safe and sound. It would have been a very stressful morning of shopping to replace all those clothes if it hadn’t showed. My younger son didn’t want to run around naked for a week… and he certainly didn’t want to miss getting dressed up for formal night! J

We grabbed another taxi from the hotel to the port. I’m so glad that we took a cab instead of having a transfer. There must have been a hundred people or more waiting to pile into busses to go to the port waiting in the hotel lobby. We were able to walk right out and get in a taxi. The taxi ride was a little scary though. The driver never spoke the entire time. Creepy!

We arrived at the cruise ship terminal at about 11:30 a.m. We breezed through security… in spite of me being the only one of the four of us with a passport and mine being expired! Nobody ever asked to see the notarized letter of permission from my ex-husband allowing the kids to travel. Nobody asked to see my divorce decree that proved I had custody of the kids. Nobody asked to see my marriage certificate to my husband (that links my name change). I was glad I had all this stuff, but I’d be curious to know how many other people bring it and don’t need it.

We waited in the terminal for about 30 minutes… then they allowed us to get on the ship. Our cabins would not be ready until 1 p.m. Since all we had was a little, tiny map, it was going to take us about that long to find the cabins anyway! We wandered around… in awe of the sheer immensity of our surroundings. The only thing I can compare the Liberty to is if anybody has ever been in some of the nicer casino/hotels in Vegas…like Mandalay Bay… or the BELLAGIO…. Now imagine if they could FLOAT!!! There you go… now you’ve got an idea of what being on this ship is like. Genesis Class?!?!? That’s going to defy all the laws of physics as I understand them!

Once we got our bearings, we found the dining room and confirmed that we had a table for just the four of us. Our table was in the Michelangelo dining room…second seating…#458. Table #458 is not in a primo location. It is right near the entrance of the dining room. It is a “see and be seen” location. I seriously considered asking to change it, but I was so glad to have the four-top, I decided not to bother. I ended up being glad we didn’t. Our waitress (Orisha) and her assistant (Maria) were some of the brightest points on our cruise. I cried when I told them goodbye.

There is something about being on the water that causes me to lose my sense of time. I’m not going to even try to “day by day” the rest of this review… please bear with me. If I’m boring or confusing you, by all means… stop reading! J

Dining:

We ate breakfast in the main dining room several times. We stopped because we did not enjoy being seated with other guests and having to make small talk. There was one morning in particular that I found completely odd. We were seated with a couple about our age with two toddlers. The husband and wife sat separated by one of their children. The wife engaged us in conversation throughout breakfast. The husband engaged a woman at the other end of the table in conversation throughout breakfast. Not once…did the husband and wife speak to each other. Not once…was I able to speak to my husband without being interrupted. It was sad and mildly offensive. It was the last time we ate breakfast in the dining room. Lunches were much the same.

The Windjammer was a nightmare. I think that RCCL would better serve their clientele if they made it a 24/7 venue. The limited hours cause too much of a traffic jam. I found it nightmarish and there were days that I chose to skip a meal instead of braving the queues.

We had several lunches at Sorrentos. The pizza by the slice is pretty decent. You can custom order a whole fresh pie and that is much better. We managed to show up there at off times and nearly always had the whole place to ourselves.

We did not bother with Johnny Rockets. We’ve eaten at a land based one near our home and didn’t think that it was worth $3.95. I doubt we would have eaten there if it had been free.

We had originally planned to go to Chops and Portofinos… however, after meeting our wait staff in the main dining room, we blew it off. We eat out at very nice restaurants all the time at home, so we don’t feel like we missed out on anything. Orisha and Maria in the main dining room were fabulous servers and missing a meal with them would have been a loss.

DINNERS… Our table afforded us a very of all the comings and goings into the Michelangelo dining room. We dressed according to “suggested” standards. A very large portion of the other people we saw did NOT. We saw jeans, shorts, tank tops, flip-flops (the cheap rubber kind), baseball hats, denim OVERALLS, an adult woman wearing pajama bottoms and a bikini top!!... and so on. A lot of this was on formal night… including the bikini top lady. There were many people that were dressed appropriately, but we weren’t in the majority. I’m not a member of the fashion police by any means, but even my children were astounded.

The food was adequate and none of us ever left hungry. I can’t think of anything that was outstanding, but nothing was awful (with the exception of the French onion soup and the hard as a rock pork chop). My younger son was sad that they didn’t serve the escargot in shell. I was disappointed that the bread at our seating (2nd) was usually cold and leaning towards stale. It seemed obvious that they prepared it ahead of time for the first seating and we got the leftovers.

We don’t drink alcohol. (It’s not that we’re teetotalers… it’s just not our thing.) We did purchase four coke cards and they were worth every dime. I couldn’t even count how many Shirley Temples my kids would go through at dinner and DH and I were pounding down the diet Cokes.

STATEROOMS… We had balcony cabin #7688 and our kids had the inside #7689 directly across the hall from us. We were on the “Library” deck. We all made use of the library. I like the honor system for checking out books and they had a fair selection of my drug of choice (travel guides).

Our cabins had adequate storage. We ended up with extra hangers, so I was glad I hadn’t packed any. I’ve heard a lot of people rave about the new beds and linens. I was looking forward to being really comfortable. Personally, I was NOT impressed. The linens were okay. The pillows are hard and lumpy. I thought the duvet was very heavy for the Caribbean. I asked our cabin steward (Charles) repeatedly for an extra, light blanket… to no avail. The beds were better than the ones on the Island Princess, but not by much. I guess I’m spoiled from having a Tempurpedic at home. We did ask for and receive (late on the second day) bath robes… which is nice because the bath towels are smallish. I’ve seen better toiletries supplied in roadside motels. I realize that they are trying to be “green”… but that bar soap is ridiculous.

The towel animals were cute. I especially loved the little man… I’d never seen that one before. I wanted to go to the class where they teach you how to make them, but it overlapped with watching my younger son in the “Teen Rock Wall Speed Climb Competition”… I had to pick a priority. Towel animals lost… my son won the gold metal! J

The only thing that happened in our cabin that really frustrated me (besides not getting the blanket) was disembarkation morning. We had everything packed and ready to go sitting on our couch at 6:30 a.m. We didn’t need to be out of our room until 7. We ran down to the WJ to grab some coffee and when we came back up to our room, our bed had been stripped and the door was wide open with Charles nowhere in site. All of our most important luggage…my purse, travel documents, medication, camera, etc. was sitting out in plain view of any passer by. I think that it should have been obvious that we weren’t quite done with our room yet and the door should have been shut. Maybe he wasn’t happy with the EXTRA money we gave him in addition to the suggested gratuities?? Maybe it was just total irresponsibility. I don’t know. It made me mad though.

ENTERTAINMENT…. Did I mention we all used the library? J We’re a pretty low key family. I can’t help anybody with bars or casinos. They were really smokey and it was hard to even walk nearby. I wouldn’t have minded dropping a quarter or two in a slot machine, but I couldn’t hold my breath long enough to do it. We saw both comedians…. Rodney Johnson and the magic guy. Rodney Johnson was fantastic. If he comes to our hometown, we’re there. My DH had the pleasure of playing a bunch of games of 3 on 3 basketball with him too. He said he’s a great player and an even better trash talker. The magic guy they had on the last night was pretty funny, but I wouldn’t pay to go see him again.

The only production show we saw was “In the Air”…I know that everyone said to get tickets to the ice skating show, but we missed our chance to wait in line so we didn’t get to see it. “In the Air” was one of the worst shows I’ve ever seen. I’m sorry if you thought it was great. I thought it was horrible… funny in spots, but horrible. I can’t believe that those dancers get to do that show week in and week out and they can’t synchronize – AT ALL! (Don’t bash me for not knowing what I’m talking about. My Mother is a professional choreographer. I KNOW DANCE! It was BAD!) Maybe we were the only people in the audience that thought the “Mermaids in Drag” were hysterical… because we were cracking up and nobody else was. Does anybody know if that was supposed to be a joke? Surely it was! I don’t know if the other show was better. We didn’t bother finding out.

No amount of arm twisting could get my kids to participate in any of the 12 – 14 year old Adventure Ocean activities. Nearly everything that was planned for them was “cheesy”… The couple of things that they did want to participate in didn’t happen. They showed up to “Casino Night” in hopes of whipping some booty playing Texas hold’em. Nobody else showed up… not even counselors. The night that was supposed to be 12 – 14 year olds ONLY on the flow rider ended up being 12 – 17 year olds instead. The 15 to 17 year olds took over the show and ruined it for the younger kids. IMHO this age group gets the **** end of the stick. My older son (14) ended up spending most of his time in the gym (nobody ever questioned his age – bash away for me breaking the “rule”)… my younger son spent most of his time on the rockwall and the flowrider.

I thought that the hours for the flowrider and the rockwall were a little sparse. The lines on the flowrider were ridiculous and many people cut in line over and over again. The rockwall wasn’t nearly as bad. The staff for these activities is great overall. Tell Allison from Texas that we say “Hey!”

Ports… I’m a retired scuba diving instructor, so the only place on this itinerary that I’d not been to was Labadee. My family had not been to any of these ports. My DH has had some revelations post cruise: a: It’s HOT in the Caribbean in the summer! b: The ports that we love (in our opinion) are more suited to land based vacations. I have an “I told you so!” that I can live off of for DECADES!! LOL!

Labadee… (RCCL’s Disney)… What have they done to this lovely island?? The first thing I noticed when we pulling in was the tremendous amount of sand and silt our ship was kicking up. I knew, immediately, that the reefs were going to be in bad shape. We were dumb enough to lug our snorkeling gear off the ship anyway. We picked up our mandatory snorkeling vests at the “snorkeling shack,” and hit the water. It was WORSE than I’d feared… a wasteland. I saw tons of trash… including used feminine hygiene products. Ewww! There were a few sickly sea fans, some turtle grass, and the most people phobic puffers I’ve ever encountered. They must be tortured day in and day out. It was devastating. Royal Caribbean should be ashamed. We stayed for about an hour and couldn’t stand it anymore… bailed out and went back to the ship.

Montego Bay… We’d originally booked a kayaking trip on the Great River online. We wanted to go to Mayfield Falls, but the online booking engine wouldn’t let us book the kids. It was saying the tour was for 16 and up. When I emailed customer service they said it was because they served alcohol on the tour to ages 21 and up (go figure?). At any rate, we went to the Explorations Desk once we were on board and asked – AGAIN. They said that there was no reason the kids couldn’t go to Mayfield, so we cancelled the kayaking tour (we’re still having issues getting our refunds) and booked the falls instead.

This was my favorite excursion. (My DH and kids liked some of the other ones more, but this was my favorite.) It was a little difficult to find our guide in the terminal. Once we did, we got on our bus and headed off to the falls. It was an adventurous drive on a very, very, very, scary mountainous road. There were no guard rails, iffy pavement, and places where two cars didn’t have room to pass side by side.

The falls were beautiful and clean. There were a couple of little shops at the beginning. The climb was a bit harder than Dunn’s, but our guide knew where to go and was very helpful. There were only about a dozen people in our group. Compare that to Dunn’s!! There were places to “cliff” jump and an underwater “cave” to swim through. They took digital pictures of us and sold us the whole lot on a disc for $20. This was a fantastic tour and I’ll return the next time we’re in Mobay.

Grand Cayman…We did the Stingray City (2 stop) snorkeling tour… This is the tour that tought me that I have to be VERY careful with RCCL’s wording on their tour descriptions. First off, Stingray City and the Stingray Sandbar are two different places. We picked this tour because it specifically said “STINGRAY CITY”… not “sandbar”…I did not want to go to the sandbar. The sandbar is the place that most tourists are familiar with. It is where you stand in about 4 ft of water and play with the stingrays. It is crowded and crazy. The original “stingray city” is in about 12 – 15 ft. of water. You can’t stand up there. It can get crowded, but is usually not nearly as bad because you have to know how to swim. I was pretty irked that we weren’t taken to the place that our tour said we were going. I also thought that the “2 stop snorkeling” in the description was a little misleading. I guess it was wishful thinking, but I thought that it meant that we were going to be making two stops to snorkel in addition to our stop with the rays. In spite of my frustrations though, my family had a blast. They were able to see some healthier reef structure (compared to Labadee), play with the rays, a nurse shark, and a moray. I’ve been to Cayman about a dozen times on land based trips. This was the first and last time I’ll go there on a cruise. Thankfully, my DH enjoyed it enough to want to go back with me and stay for a week or so. J

Cozumel… I boogered up our shore excursion here really bad. We should have stuck with our original plan and taken a dive trip. After a week on the ship, I have no doubt MY kids would have been fine on the boat. Feel free to disagree if you wish. We all have a right to our own opinions. At any rate, I let other people’s opinions get the best of my better judgment and we booked a dolphin swim. The Chankanaab swim was full, so we had to take the ferry to Playa. I MISSED THE FINE PRINT when I was booking that must have said something to the effect of “you don’t get to go to the good part of Xel-Ha and have fun and snorkel… you have to go to the sucky part of Xel-Ha and stand around looking at old rocks and be eaten alive by mosquitos… then instead of getting to swim with the dolphins at Xel-Ha, we’re going to cart you off to some hotel to swim in a dirty pond with them and a bunch of poo! Oh, and by the way, when you’re really tired and a little sick from the gross lunch we feed you, we aren’t going to let you catch a ferry back. You HAVE to go SHOPPING whether you want to or not and wait for the absolute last ferry so you can RUN back to the ship as it’s pulling up the lines!” Oh yeah… I missed that stuff in the explanation. Fun tour… Not! Did I mention it was expensive too? What a waste of a day.

Other things that I noticed about the ship and life in general…

While we loved having the same wait staff every night, we did not enjoy having to brave the throngs of people all showing up at the dining room at the same time. We never waited any longer for a table on Princess than we did on the Liberty… just to get to our assigned table.

The prices that they charge for pictures are ridiculous. I’d much rather be able to get a discount on the pictures than a free souvenir album. We did end up having to buy the cruise DVD because we were on it! My younger son was a spider monkey on the rock wall so they filmed him quite a bit and then caught a shot of all of us waving like big dorks. J

I thought the shops on board were really lacking. I can only compare this cruise to the one other we’ve been on… Island Princess – Alaska – 2005. It was a much smaller ship, but the shops had a much nicer selection. RCCL seems to be all about the logo merchandise. Princess had a really nice selection of original Alaskan art objects and local souvenirs in addition to the normal t-shirts and stuff. I was happy to be able to find Clarins products though. I’d forgotten my moisturizer at home.

Speaking of art… We stopped by the art auction. HAHAHAHAHAHA! I still can’t believe that there were actually people there… BUYING… that stuff. OMG! The prices were so out of line it was unbelievable. Please, if you love art, buy it for yourself. Pay what you can AFFORD. Do not let some smarmy cruise auctioneer hand you a glass of cheap champagne in hopes of convincing you to get a second mortgage to buy that stuff as an “investment”… You will NEVER get your money back. That is, unless, you can find someone equally gullible.

The elevators were a joke. We stayed away from them unless we were going UP five or more flights. Stairs are good. I guess that’s why we didn’t gain weight.

My husband got a nice haircut at the barbershop. I had a decent spa service – although the gal used something on my eyes that caused them to peel for several days afterwards. I was able to get a list of ingredients from Steiner after the fact so I know what to avoid in the future.

The staff, overall, was pretty polite if not ecstatic to be there. Our waitstaff and the staff at the rockwall and flowrider were highpoints. Our cabin steward was average (the last day ticked me off though). I was very unimpressed with the staff at Explorations with the exception of one of the dive instructors from Canada. He was very helpful. Hopefully, he got our refund situation (for the cancelled excursions) straightened out. We should know in the next week or so. I found the cruise director to be mildly annoying. If I’d heard one more “bing bong” by the end of the week I would have liked to have smacked him.

There are some extraordinarily rude passengers. I don’t want to start a war, but in my experience the majority of them did not seem to be American. I know must Europeans consider us to be rude. I would guess that it is some sort of cultural difference that makes us all clash. I’d be curious to know what it is if anyone has ever figured it out. I was shocked at the number of times I was literally SHOVED and ELBOWED.

We were bummed to miss the Meet and Mingle. We received the invite two days after it happened. I hope everyone that made it had a nice time.

Last but not least… The dreaded Noro Virus. There was a mention of hand washing every day in the Compass. To my knowledge, nobody got sick. We did see the remnants of an “accident” near the basketball court. A little girl walked by and said it was “poopy”… it was mostly gone by the time we arrived. They steam cleaned it and sprayed it down with some sort of sanitizer. The ONLY place I saw Purel wipes was at the sign in for the Flowrider. Things that make me go… HMMMM?

Henry is alive and well on the Liberty! J

Please feel free to ask any questions about whatever I might have forgotten…

Best wishes and happy cruising.

[nrh322]

I just realized that I finished that whole dang thing up without making mention of our departure. All I can say is I will NEVER, EVER in a zillion years fly out of Miami International on a Saturday afternoon again. What a mess!!! We could have driven halfway home (to TEXAS) in less time than it took to wait through the check in line! And PEOPLE... STOP CUTTING!!! GRRRR!

[Tasha999]

I just realized that I finished that whole dang thing up without making mention of our departure. All I can say is I will NEVER, EVER in a zillion years fly out of Miami International on a Saturday afternoon again. What a mess!!! We could have driven halfway home (to TEXAS) in less time than it took to wait through the check in line! And PEOPLE... STOP CUTTING!!! GRRRR!

 

We were on that same cruise and flew Miami to Newark. It was a nightmare! We flew into Fort Lauderdale and took the custom air with the ship. They couldn't get us a non-stop to Newark from FLL, so we flew home Miami. I'm with you, never again.

 

Tasha

[raina*faith]

Yikes! I'm flying into Miami on a Saturday do you think it's usually that bad?

p.s. thanks for the review!

[tkbrayslc]

And we were absolutely appalled at the bad behavior on board. I think that captain must have just said "Let the passengers do whatever they want". And they did. The 100 or so 15 year old girls that did their "coming out" thing-WOW! Maybe they need some manners lessons during that process. And then I actually saw some kid using a skateboard down the promonade! :confused: WTH! And I agree with you on the european vs american behavior. I just wanted to shake someone at one point and say "Walk on the right side of the stairs and wait until people get OFF the elevator before you try to get ON!"

 

I was so glad to get off that boat! And I found the same things you did. Lines were long, people were pushy, elevators were slow. We missed several meals as well because the WJ was nuts and we were tired of pizza and the limited room service options. And excursions were just...well...kinda crummy. And I felt nicked and dimed on the boat. Out setsailpass account balance was almost twice the cost of our tickets. :eek:

 

Oh and you are right the "In the air" was too aweful. We got up and left-I have a degree in Theatre and Voice and I just couldn't sit through it.

 

:( Wish we hadn't wasted our money.

[nrh322]

Yikes! I'm flying into Miami on a Saturday do you think it's usually that bad?

 

p.s. thanks for the review!

 

 

According to the gate agent I asked when we finally got to the front of the line... the definitive answer is, "YES!" It is always that bad on Saturdays due to the cruise ship traffic coming through the airport. For some reason they don't give them any extra staff. Be sure to give yourself extra time. We were really glad we flew in on Friday.

[tkbrayslc]

I also wanted to comment on some of the other things that made our experience less that relaxing. We usually have a massage and are use to the push of products at the end. But this time it was SOOOOOO bad. I repeated told her thanks but no thanks but she wouldn't stop. And I'm trying to get out the door and she is standing blocking it and finally said "But I already wrote up the TICKET!" I said "But I never said I wanted anything" and then I heard my DH in the hall and said "Is that my DH?" And called out his name-geez I felt like I was being rescued. I complained to the spa manager and his comment was "Well, just don't tip her. You Americans always feel like you have to tip. THAT is how you complain is by not tipping!" :eek: :mad:

And the art auction. I second everything the OP said. We went in just for "something to do" and were pounced on immediately (we wear nice jewlery and they were on the lookout). "Anthony" should have been selling used cars rather than art. He pushed and pushed. My DH who is friendly was making nice with "Yes, I like Dali" and before I knew it we had 3 Dali's sitting in front of us and Anthony was making a whopping deal for us of only $45K. :eek: Are you kidding me? Then when we walked away he turned to another passanger and said "Can you believe that? He walked away from an $11K Dali! Must be too rich for their blood!" :eek: He didn't know us-how dare he:mad:

 

Oh and the kids in the adult pool! Lots and lots of them at various times throughout the cruise. I don't mind if they behave but these were not. And despite our complaints the staff wouldn't do anything (Except one bartender on the last sea-day).

[nrh322]

And we were absolutely appalled at the bad behavior on board. I think that captain must have just said "Let the passengers do whatever they want". And they did. The 100 or so 15 year old girls that did their "coming out" thing-WOW! Maybe they need some manners lessons during that process. And then I actually saw some kid using a skateboard down the promonade! :confused: WTH! And I agree with you on the european vs american behavior. I just wanted to shake someone at one point and say "Walk on the right side of the stairs and wait until people get OFF the elevator before you try to get ON!"

 

I was so glad to get off that boat! And I found the same things you did. Lines were long, people were pushy, elevators were slow. We missed several meals as well because the WJ was nuts and we were tired of pizza and the limited room service options. And excursions were just...well...kinda crummy. And I felt nicked and dimed on the boat. Out setsailpass account balance was almost twice the cost of our tickets. :eek:

 

Oh and you are right the "In the air" was too aweful. We got up and left-I have a degree in Theatre and Voice and I just couldn't sit through it.

 

:( Wish we hadn't wasted our money.

 

I wonder if the kid you saw skateboarding in the promenade was the same kid that I saw CLIMB from the Johnny Rockets deck up to the Flowrider bleachers and back down again. (Yes- I got security involved before he killed himself.) It was a kid that was probably about 14 or so but looked a little younger due to being a little small. He had long brown hair and was ALWAYS wearing a black hat with flat brim. Was that him? Rotten little trouble maker! I wonder what his parents were doing?

[tkbrayslc]

DH and I had a wonderful time being alone. Our waiters and cabin steward were wonderful. Our room was beautiful. The movies in the room were great and mostly newer.

 

And the $42 bottomless cup of Dt Coke mixed with a late night ham and cheese croissant from the promonade cafe--can't be beat! :D

 

Oh-but it was too bad that someone stole DH's Video Ipod out of his luggqage between the porters at the pier and us retrieving our "lost" bag in guest service. :(

[EggDropErin]

Thank you for the wonderfully detailed review.

[tkbrayslc]

I think that might have been him. Frankly I was so appalled I sorta blocked him out. And since he rolled right BY security and they didn't move from where they were leaned against a pole, I figured it wouldn't do me any good to complain! :rolleyes:

[takeavacation]

WOW -- I hope that the both of you have had better cruises previously! I also hope that your bad experiences were isolated to this sailing -- since I'll be on the Liberty in 2 weeks!

 

Best wishes for better sailings in the future!

[nrh322]

Hi everyone...

 

For some reason, it seems that the couple of negative comments that I made seem to be outweighing the many positive ones.

 

FWIW... All in all, we did have a good time.

 

Was this our best vacation ever? No

 

Did we enjoy this as much as our Princess cruise? No

 

Are there things that RCCL could do better? Yes

 

Are there a lot of things that they do GREAT? YES!

 

In hindsight, I think we just picked the wrong ship and the wrong itinerary... for us. That doesn't mean that there is anything majorly, inherently WRONG with the ship or the itinerary. It just was wrong for us. There are a ton of fun things to do on the ship. They are just mostly thing that we don't think are fun. We aren't party animals. We don't drink. We don't do conga lines. We don't smoke. We don't gamble. We don't like cheesy caberet shows. We don't push and shove and we don't like being around people that do.

 

Our idea of a good vacation is a quiet spot in the shade... good snorkeling and scuba diving... cool breezes... great food... beautiful, cheap local arts and crafts...a great book... a comfortable bed...and being on our own schedule instead of someone else's.

 

We loved our Alaska cruise. I've loved every trip I've ever been on to the Caribbean with the exception of this one. I don't think I will ever take another Caribbean cruise again. It's just not our thing. That doesn't mean it's a bad thing... or a not fun thing... it's just not our thing. :)

 

We will definitely cruise again. Most likely on a smaller ship... We're thinking Patagonia...

 

Ciao!

[nrh322]

WOW -- I hope that the both of you have had better cruises previously! I also hope that your bad experiences were isolated to this sailing -- since I'll be on the Liberty in 2 weeks!

 

Best wishes for better sailings in the future!

 

 

I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time. Like I said, we weren't particularly well suited (in hindsight) to this ship or itinerary. We still had a great time. It is what you make of it. One thing I can say is that the ship does handle the crowds well... If you want to find a quiet place, you can, if you look hard enough. Our balcony and the library were always fantastic refuges! :D

[FunCruiser56]

Thanks for the review. I do have one question, did the ship stay on Eastern time or did you change to Central? Just trying to get the planning done for GC for a tour and knowing if the time changes will be so helpful.

 

Thanks!

 

Bev

[Frankiesmom]

and that is why I will not sail on anything larger than the Voyager class;actually the Enchantment was the perfect size and Disney's ships are the super perfect size! To each his own...I can't stand crowds:rolleyes:

[DrivesLikeMario]

While I agree with many of your observations about the poorly dressed passengers in the dining room, the hours being way too short for the Windjammer and FlowRider, some rude people pushing their way around & out of control kids, I don't know how we got so lucky to have such an easy time at MIA.

 

We did the Express Disembarkation and walked off the ship (not boat) at 6:15a.m. We took a taxi van (with our 2 teen sons) to the airport, tagged our luggage (we had already printed out our boarding passes while on the ship), went through security and were out by the gate by 7:45 a.m. to wait for 3 hours for our flight. I guess we were just lucky because it all went really smoothly.

 

And, we bought an original, signed, Howie Long jersey at the art auction. We've never bought anything before, but we had been pricing them for awhile, so we knew what was a reasonable price. It ended up being a little less than the price at home.

 

This is a great ship & everyone should try it once. We learned that we prefer smaller ships, but this cruise wasn't for us - it was for our sons who chose it above all the other options we gave them. They were happy with it, so that's all that matters. :)

[Frankiesmom]

Amen Lady Jag!;)

[nrh322]

Thanks for the review. I do have one question, did the ship stay on Eastern time or did you change to Central? Just trying to get the planning done for GC for a tour and knowing if the time changes will be so helpful.

 

Thanks!

 

I know the time changed a couple of times. I'm not sure from what to what. I just kept my watch on and changed it to match whatever was on the ship's television channel. I'm sorry I can't be more help. Maybe someone more time zone savvy can explain it better! :o

 

Bev

 

While I agree with many of your observations about the poorly dressed passengers in the dining room, the hours being way too short for the Windjammer and FlowRider, some rude people pushing their way around & out of control kids, I don't know how we got so lucky to have such an easy time at MIA.

 

We did the Express Disembarkation and walked off the ship (not boat) at 6:15a.m. We took a taxi van (with our 2 teen sons) to the airport, tagged our luggage (we had already printed out our boarding passes while on the ship), went through security and were out by the gate by 7:45 a.m. to wait for 3 hours for our flight. I guess we were just lucky because it all went really smoothly.

 

And, we bought an original, signed, Howie Long jersey at the art auction. We've never bought anything before, but we had been pricing them for awhile, so we knew what was a reasonable price. It ended up being a little less than the price at home.

 

This is a great ship & everyone should try it once. We learned that we prefer smaller ships, but this cruise wasn't for us - it was for our sons who chose it above all the other options we gave them. They were happy with it, so that's all that matters. :)

 

I'm glad your kids had a great time. I hope you did as well. Like I've said before, I'm not trying to bash the ship or the itinerary. It's a beautiful boat and I LOVE the Caribbean. I just didn't enjoy this particular vacation as much as I expected to... partly due to really high expectations.

 

Our next trip... a land based dive trip to Honduras.

 

Our next cruise... South America to see the penguins. :)

[Daghis]

And the art auction. I second everything the OP said. We went in just for "something to do" and were pounced on immediately (we wear nice jewlery and they were on the lookout). "Anthony" should have been selling used cars rather than art.

I have to agree also. I think that Anthony, Paul, and Richard do a terrible disservice to Park West. Their tag-team operation really feels like a used car business.

 

We've cruised four times in the past with Park West auctions, and I think we've probably purchased at least one item each time. We've enjoyed what we've purchased, but more relevant to this discussion, we've enjoyed our time at the auctions and felt that the Park West employee was not only cordial, but quite friendly and willing to help. Often, if an item hadn't sold at the auction, and one inquired about it later, the buyer would be able to purchase it at the starting bid price.

 

Here, when we even just inquired about what the starting price would be on a piece, we were told that we'd have to wait for the auction to find out. When we said that we had another activity at that time, we were quickly brushed off and told that we shouldn't even be asking if we couldn't attend. We were very disappointed with their attitudes.

[nrh322]

I have to agree also. I think that Anthony, Paul, and Richard do a terrible disservice to Park West. Their tag-team operation really feels like a used car business.

 

We've cruised four times in the past with Park West auctions, and I think we've probably purchased at least one item each time. We've enjoyed what we've purchased, but more relevant to this discussion, we've enjoyed our time at the auctions and felt that the Park West employee was not only cordial, but quite friendly and willing to help. Often, if an item hadn't sold at the auction, and one inquired about it later, the buyer would be able to purchase it at the starting bid price.

 

Here, when we even just inquired about what the starting price would be on a piece, we were told that we'd have to wait for the auction to find out. When we said that we had another activity at that time, we were quickly brushed off and told that we shouldn't even be asking if we couldn't attend. We were very disappointed with their attitudes.

 

Annoying aren't they? There were actually a few pieces I was interested in, but I was so put off by the sales tactics that we walked without even bothering to check numbers or tag them to have them brought up for bid. I did find the items selling to be extraordinarily out of line. I would NEVER accept an "in house" appraisal as proof of value. It's asking for trouble. At least the earlier poster that bought the signed jersey had done some prior research. I just feel sorry for the people that fall for the pressure tactics. I'm sure that many do.

 

Daghis,

 

I hope that you're having a grand time. For as much time as you're about online, it seems that you might be a fellow vacation laze-about like us. Have you found the crowds and such as stressful as we did or were we just being whiny?

 

Best wishes and happy cruising...

NRH

[Daghis]

I hope that you're having a grand time. For as much time as you're about online, it seems that you might be a fellow vacation laze-about like us. Have you found the crowds and such as stressful as we did or were we just being whiny?

I do pretty much live online. It is sort of part of my job. :)

 

No, I didn't really have any problems with the crowds in general. I found that the lines at the Flowrider were manageable, and I was certainly willing to stand in line for 30 minutes for my sixty seconds of glory (including one barrel roll on my last boogie-board attempt, although the subsequent dismount was a bit spectacular). I'd loved to have waited less, but I was okay with it the way it was.

 

I did have a small bit of trouble navigating through the people, especially in places like Windjammer. Most people do look out for others while they're trying to negotiate the various food stations so it does usually work just fine, but some do get focused on where they're going that they'll inadvertently cut you off while you're carrying your hot bowl of miso soup (yummy for breakfast!).

[DrivesLikeMario]

nhr322 - Yes, we had a great time! It was a very relaxing cruise! It's just that we prefer a little smaller ship. I appreciate your review and the pros AND the cons you experienced. It's good to hear both the good AND the bad! ;)

 

Daghis - I'm sorry to hear that they wouldn't give you the starting bid on pieces you were interested in. They did for us and even gave us a much lower price than the starting bid. We made a deal before it went up before the actual auction.

Maybe we were just lucky; I don't know. We did think they were a little 'over the top' and a bit stressed out, but not having been to many auctions and never having bought anything before, we didn't really know if that was 'normal'. :confused:

[AMommyof2]

DH, two kids and I were on the Liberty of the Seas in July. We were on the East bound Caribbean, and we found it to be our best cruise yet. Yes, it did have some low points, but mostly we enjoyed it. We, too, are not much for large crowds and long lines. Luckily, the only really awful line we experienced was on the last night, my DH stood in line for over an hour and half waiting for his turn on the FlowRider. Not so much because there was a lot of people, but the guy working it would give some people 3 or 4 chances to ride before moving on to the next person. This "perk" was not given to my husband I might add. Only the young guys (late teens and early 20's).

 

We had decided after our last cruise that RCCL sponsored excursions are not worth what we were paying for them, so this year we only got the Aqua Park in Labadee. Our other 2 ports, we set out on our own and had a much better time. DH rented a car in St. Maarten, and we circumnavigated the entire island. Wow, was that an adventure. I doubt we'll go back to purchasing the ships excursions.

 

We had requested private dining for 4, and were pleased that we got it. We, too, were right inside the front door, but were pleased with the table, as we had a nice view of the entire dining room. The OP is correct about the many different views of "appropriate dress" in the dining room. We had some doozies on our cruise, too. We would wait until a couple minutes after 6:00 to go into the dining room, and never waited in line. Beginning on day 2 there was someone at every food venue handing out the hand wipes. Don't know if there was a norovirus outbreak or not.

 

Our biggest gripe would have to be disembarkation. What a joke. According to the color chart, we should have been off the ship between 8:00 and 8:15. At 8:45, there was no mention of our color. Since we had a driver waiting outside to take us to the airport, we finally just got in line and got off the ship. Obviously, the guy we got stuck with in customs was new, because he couldn't seem to find our passport info in the computer. Someone else had to help him. Once we finally got to the luggage holding area, our bags were all scattered about. It took 3 of us searching about 20 minutes or more to find them.

 

Other than that, our only other gripe would be the lack of communication. We had a very high spanish speaking population on our cruise. Because so few of the staff was fluent in spanish, it made dealing with some of the guests difficult, so those of us in line behind them would have to wait even longer to get whatever service we needed. Well, that and some of the parents allowing their teenage children to cut in line in the WindJammer, often pushing my young children out of the way. My 3 year old DS got knocked over by them a couple of times. He was OK, though, so no harm done.

 

Overall, it was a great cruise, and I would recommend it.