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LIVE from Liberty 9/1/07!!!

hawkfish

By hawkfish,
in Royal Caribbean International

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hawkfish

hawkfish

Posted
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Here we go! She's in port, and we are getting our stuff together to head over around 11am. Right now, we are waiting on breakfast while we pull together everything we want in our carry-on bags.

 

I got up early today to get a photo of LOS when she first got into port - she is BEAUTIFUL, all lit up first thing in the morning.

 

I HIGHLY recommend the Intercontinental Miami. I was a little leary after some of the reports I read on TripAdvisor, but have found none of the negative aspects that were reported - in fact, all have been exactly the opposite. The hotel is directly harborside, and with a harborview room you have a panoramic view including downtown, Bayside, the port and Miami Beach. There is also a great little cafe on site - the Blue Water Cafe, which is poolside. It is a little on the expensive side, but perfectly in line with hotel prices. We had delicious sandwiches, generous fruity drinks and fantastic view of the harbor. The cafe situated between two tall buildings so there is a nice breeze to provide relief from the heat.

 

I will try to keep this live all week, and answer the questions that others raised during the week. Let me know if you have any others.

 

Off to have breakfast, and finish packing up!

 

:D :D :D :D :D

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Micknmin

Micknmin

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Have a great trip! If you get a chance, keep us posted during your trip, but if you don't, you can tell us all about it when you get back. Enjoy your time on the Liberty...eight more months until I finally get to sail on her...I can hardly wait!

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Judi Kozar

Judi Kozar

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Bon Voyage, have a great trip.

 

Isn't that area beautiful.....we stayed at the Holiday Inn there in March 06. We had a beautiful room across from the Bayside Market. Early the day of arrival we walked across the street and had Cuban sandwichs....yum....then we stayed by the pool all evening.

 

Morning we had breakfast in house, it was good. packed and traveled across the bridge to port.

 

Forgot to mention that we got up at 5am to see our ship come in....not many people get to see "their ship come in"!! You are right....a great site w/all the lites etc.!!!

 

Have a good week!

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hawkfish

hawkfish

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Forgot to say that we also did a lovely harbor cruise last night out of Bayside Marketplace. We took the Pink Lady, which is one of the Island Queen boats. It was $20pp, and they made a loop around Government Island in a little over an hour. Cash bar on board, with lots of music. Just a nice night to be out on the water, and a great way to kick off our week!

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amjdcm

amjdcm

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We live in Miami and are going on the Liberty on her 12-15-07 sailing. After we do our errands we are going to park across from her next to the Children's museum and dream a little. We take a bottle of wine and flat bread and sit across from her and people watch. It fill a little of our Saturday afternoon. so if you look towards the museum and see a tan colored Jeep Compass, it is my wife and I wishing we were their.

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hawkfish

hawkfish

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Hey, everyone! We are here and having a great time!!!! The ship is gorgeous and in mint condition!

 

(sorry - I think there's going to be a lot of exclamation marks in this one - we're just having that great of a time!)

 

We left the Intercontinental hotel room at 11:40 am, and walked across the gangplank at 12:01 pm - could not have asked for a smoother boarding.

 

Everyone immediately headed to WJ, of course, but we took the time to get reservations at Portofino and Chops. We are doing Monday and Tuesday nights because the other nights in the DR seem to be more enticing.

 

We also had hot stone massages after the sailaway - $20 off because it was the first day. I have to say that I will probably always get a massage on embarkation day now - it really relaxes you and sets the tone for the week.

 

We have signed up for some cool/unique things throughout the week. This afternoon is a wine blending seminar taught by a vintner from Sonoma. It's $25pp but you actually get to practice blending and then of course get to drink what you have made.

 

On Friday, we are doing the Liberty Code. It's some kind of group game involving scavenger hunts and puzzles to solve - sort of like a murder mystery. It's $47pp, but culminates in a 4-course luncheon at Portofino, with some kind of prize package.

 

We have heard that the ship is full, but it sure doesn't feel like it. Many people went to bed early last night, and it seemed that we had the ship to ourselves almost. The Solarium is full today, but I think it will clear out once people start to head up for lunch. But they are sticking people in odd places for dinner because the ship is so crowded - we are seated on the landing between decks 4 and 5, which is kind of funny. Except for our poor waiters who have to run up and down the stairs all night. :(

 

GO TO YOUR M&M!!! When we arrived, we had professionally printed cards in our rooms that had a name badge for the M&M, a raffle ticket, and a coupon for a free gift. We all received these nifty little notepad/pen folio on lanyard things - very nice little gifts for everyone. Plus the standard yummy treats.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions - I will find out what I can.

 

BTW - the internet is MUCH faster here than on the AOS!!! :)

 

Thanks to everyone who showed up to wave us off - sail away was much fun - a real party with drinks, music and these cool cardboard fans that say 'We're on vacation!!! Woo-hoo!!'

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Dan in UK

Dan in UK

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Hey, everyone! We are here and having a great time!!!! The ship is gorgeous and in mint condition!

 

(sorry - I think there's going to be a lot of exclamation marks in this one - we're just having that great of a time!)

 

We left the Intercontinental hotel room at 11:40 am, and walked across the gangplank at 12:01 pm - could not have asked for a smoother boarding.

 

Everyone immediately headed to WJ, of course, but we took the time to get reservations at Portofino and Chops. We are doing Monday and Tuesday nights because the other nights in the DR seem to be more enticing.

 

We also had hot stone massages after the sailaway - $20 off because it was the first day. I have to say that I will probably always get a massage on embarkation day now - it really relaxes you and sets the tone for the week.

 

We have signed up for some cool/unique things throughout the week. This afternoon is a wine blending seminar taught by a vintner from Sonoma. It's $25pp but you actually get to practice blending and then of course get to drink what you have made.

 

On Friday, we are doing the Liberty Code. It's some kind of group game involving scavenger hunts and puzzles to solve - sort of like a murder mystery. It's $47pp, but culminates in a 4-course luncheon at Portofino, with some kind of prize package.

 

We have heard that the ship is full, but it sure doesn't feel like it. Many people went to bed early last night, and it seemed that we had the ship to ourselves almost. The Solarium is full today, but I think it will clear out once people start to head up for lunch. But they are sticking people in odd places for dinner because the ship is so crowded - we are seated on the landing between decks 4 and 5, which is kind of funny. Except for our poor waiters who have to run up and down the stairs all night. :(

 

GO TO YOUR M&M!!! When we arrived, we had professionally printed cards in our rooms that had a name badge for the M&M, a raffle ticket, and a coupon for a free gift. We all received these nifty little notepad/pen folio on lanyard things - very nice little gifts for everyone. Plus the standard yummy treats.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions - I will find out what I can.

 

BTW - the internet is MUCH faster here than on the AOS!!! :)

 

Thanks to everyone who showed up to wave us off - sail away was much fun - a real party with drinks, music and these cool cardboard fans that say 'We're on vacation!!! Woo-hoo!!'

 

Hawkfish

 

Glad to hear that you are settling into the holiday mode :) at the sailaway party are the drinks free?!!

 

We are sailing on LOS for halloween so have a few weeks to go but really looking forward to it.

 

Look forward to hearing more from you - oh and by the way what is the weather like?

 

Many thanks

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GranysT

GranysT

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Hawkfish, Keep the live report coming. I'm looking at a sailing on Liberty in April, so please "tell us everything" about her. What type of cabin are you in? I was on the Mariner a couple of years ago, and loved her,so I can only imagine how awesome the Liberty must be. What ports will you visit?

 

Have a great cruise. Hope you get fantastic weather. :D:

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hawkfish

hawkfish

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Right now I am using the Wi-Fi in the room, and it is working great! I've got 5 bars of signal strength.

 

Hee-hee! I just moved out the balcony, and I've still got great connectivity. I wonder whether it has anything to do with our room location? We are 9344 - 9th deck, hump cabin.

 

Right now, I am sitting out here enjoying the breeze while they make announcements about the afternoon activities. Just a little slice of heaven!

 

It's 82 degrees today as we sail to east of the Bahamas. The relative wind is 27 mph - makes for a lovely breeze on the side of the ship. There's the slightest bit of rocking, nothing major.

 

CD is Ken Rush, and he's fantastic! He's been away on vacation for several weeks, and I've heard several staff members say how happy they are that he is back. Very much a people person - after the Soca-licious parade last night, he walked right by us so I told him how much I loved the parade, and he stopped to talk to us for several minutes. He's the one who have me the details re: the Liberty possibly replacing the Mariner.

 

Speaking of, you must catch the parades! I'm not usually one for these types of shows, but this parade last night at 11:15pm was astounding! Unbelievable things happen - people are flying everywhere, and there's acrobatics - just go, you will be amazed!

 

The sail-away drinks were not free - same as always - $5.95 for the drink of the day. Today's is the Help Me Rhonda - I have no idea what that consists of. :)

 

We just had lunch in the WJ - food is typical buffet food - not bad, but nothing to write home about. Still, if you go away hungry, it is your own fault. They were handing out hand sanitizing wipes at the door, and there are constant reminders about washing your hands. No reports of anything. I just get the sense that they are really trying to prevent anything from happening. When we arrived yesterday, I did notice a bleach smell in many of the public areas. Not overwhelming, but there was no question that they had just cleaned the place.

 

After lunch, we started to notice how crowded it is. Just in the usual places around the pools. Tonight is the first formal night, so the pools will probably clear out in a couple of hours. Until then, we are off to play pub trivia and learn about wine blending. I also need to search a bit to refresh my French memory a bit - we have a couple who speak very little English at our table, so I am trying to help them out a bit (our assistant waiter is not particularly helpful - kind of the opposite, actually). They are very patient with my 20-years removed high school French, but then again, I made sure that they got their wine last night, so maybe that's all it takes to make a Frenchman happy. ;)

 

I'll post more later - can't get over how easy this is!

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CaptChris

CaptChris

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He's the one who have me the details re: the Liberty possibly replacing the Mariner.QUOTE]

I would think the CD would be a pretty reliable source for this information. I am really hoping the Liberty does makes the switch to Port Canaveral. I am hoping to go on a Freedom class cruise in the fall of 2009.

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CaptChris

CaptChris

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He's the one who have me the details re: the Liberty possibly replacing the Mariner.

 

I would think the CD would be a pretty reliable source for this information. I am really hoping the Liberty does makes the switch to Port Canaveral. I am hoping to go on a Freedom class cruise in the fall of 2009.

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