Back from the Liberty of the Seas. Any questions?

[Lady Jag]

We had a fantastic time with incredibly perfect weather!! :thumb We couldn't ask for anything more. The ship was beautiful, the crew were upbeat, happy and anxious to please and the ship felt very, very smooth in the ocean.

We stayed one night pre-cruise with a AAA Disc. at the Hyatt Miami and despite the fact that they were hosting Mr./Ms. Universe, they treated us like gold. It was a great start to a super vacation.

I have only two minor complaints with RCI:

1. They need to enforce the "no shorts" rule in the dining room
2. They need to enforce a curfew for kids that are left to roam the ship until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning.

I have never seen so many parents that had no idea where their kids were or what they were doing. =eek The kids were running up & down the hallways, out on the balconies yelling, & in the hallways arguing at 2:15 in the morning on a regular basis. I wish RCI would do what Princess does and have a Youth Security force on sailings with large numbers of under 18's.

We didn't have a drop of Norovirus on our sailing and the crew seemed to be totally recovered from their additional work load a few weeks prior to our cruise.

If you are on the Eastern itinerary and get the chance, go to the Viking Crown Lounge as the ship pulls into San Juan. It's one terrific view!

Our cabin stewardess was one of the very best we've ever had and even though the dining room service or food wasn't the best, we managed not to starve. :lol

If you have any questions, I'll try to answer them.

 

[Gayle V]

Hi Lady Jag, Interesting to hear about this. I'm wondering if this business of uncontrolled kids, and the shorts in the dinning room are problems throughout the fleet. I will be very disappointed if that the case on our Enchantment cruise in November.

About the kids, what is wrong with those parents. Lord only knows what might happen.

But as for the dining room issue, I too wish they'd either enforce their rules. OR do away with them entirely. If they want to be "All Casual, All The Time", so be it. But they should say so. Eliminate the rules and guidelines and be done with it. I would have no objection to sailing on such a ship. However I do object to going through all the effort to pack dressy clothing, and to wear heels and hose, only to sit down to dinner with someone dressed for a game of temmis or for walking their dog.

 

[Lady Jag]

I totally agree, Gayle. :thumb

On all our RCI cruises, we've seen a lot of shorts in the dining room. The only one that we didn't see that was a Pacific NW cruise in October where the average age of the passengers was 70. That's one good thing about cruising with an older clientele - and, they don't run up & down the hallways at 2am. :lol

 

[Travel itis]

We're booked on the Liberty in 1/09 with our 3 kids. We might end up with a mini family reunion, too. Our kids will be 17, 14, and 10. We booked this because of the H2O Zone and Flowrider, but I'd read that the ship has long lines at every turn and doesn't handle the crowds as well as Voyager class ships. And someone on other boards said the pool area reminded her of a football field. I'd like to hear any other comments you might have about this ship and am glad you posted.

Did you experience worse crowds on the Liberty than on other ships?

Was the food comparable with other RCL ships? We weren't excited about the food on the Rhapsody, although we found plenty good enough to eat. The only worse ship for food was the Sun, but if you eat at the alternative restaurants, it's very, very good.

 

[Lady Jag]

I didn't find that at all, Travel itis!! In fact, we were all commenting that the only crowds we saw was when a show got out at the same time that most people were leaving the dining room. It was crowded in the Promenade for about 15 mins. at the most.

We found the best way to get on the FlowRider is to go on a port day and to go early during that session. They seem to have more surfing sessions than boogie boarding sessions, which is what my son prefers. The crew members were very helpful and encouraging. The parents have to fill out a liability form before the first ride (same for the rock wall).

We definitely did not experience worse crowds on the Liberty than on the Adventure of the Seas. In fact, I could easily see the Belly Flop Contest during a sea day whereas on other ships I could not even get close to seeing it.

We always found lounge chairs, even on the sea days, but it is good to get to them by 10:30 for the better locations.

I didn't think the food was comparable to other RCI ships. I've heard the Rhapsody's food was pretty bad & that the cabins are in pretty bad shape. We had much better food and service on other RCI ships. We're not too picky about food and we didn't go expecting too much considering the size of the ship, but somehow, we managed not to starve. :grin

The food in the Promenade Cafe, Sorrento's Pizza, Seattle's Best were all terrific, as was the service. Ben & Jerry's & Johnny Rocket's were also very good. If you want to avoid crowds at JR's, go during a port day around 7:15pm. We were usually the only ones in the whole place.

 

[Travel itis]

Thanks! I'm sure my kids will frequent Sorrento's and Sprinkles, and we'll have to do JR once.

Even if a ship has relatively bad food, there is such a variety that you can find something decent. I hope the food situation improves on Liberty, but it may just be a matter of getting more experience under their belts. Having to feed larger crowds can be a detriment to quality, though. My ex was trained at the Culinary Institute of America, and he wasn't impressed with cruise food until he saw the galley during dinner. The executive chef invited him back for a private tour.

 

[Lady Jag]

Uh-oh...if he's been trained at the CIA ( :lol that sounds like the other CIA), then he'll be disappointed. Just make sure he goes with an open mind. I'm sure RCI is trying, there's just so much you can do with mass feedings. :lol

 

[Travel itis]

Exactly! Mass feeding does effect quality, but after seeing it and hearing the statistics, he was very impressed. Thankfully, I won't be cruising with him, since he's my ex.

The confusion over the CIAcan be pretty funny. I was giving a delivery guy directions, and he was astonished that the location of the CIA was such common knowledge. He thought he was going to some covert location, and I told him, "everyone knows where it is". You should've seen the shocked look on his face. lol!

 

[adamommy]

Are the pools salt or fresh water?

 

[Lady Jag]

:lol Travel itis! LOL :lol

adamommy - I believe they are all salt. You can tell when you get out of them because there's little flakes of salt all over your body when you dry off. Our fresh water pool at home doesn't do that. =dunno