We're cruise warriors (this was our 20th cruise, and 9th on Royal). We chose this five day cruise to Bermuda because of its itinerary and departure port, not for the ship. We came prepared to encounter lines (the ship was sold out) and had low expectations for the food, given the previous reviews.
Embarkation: what a chaotic mess. Cape Liberty is not set up well at all to manage the arrival of 4,100 passengers in four or so hours. We arrived at the cruiseport ‘pillar’ at 11:40 am (our check in window was 11:30 – 12 noon) . . . . and didn’t even get to the pier to drop off luggage until 12:20. There weren’t nearly enough porters to direct folks off-loading and explain that they’ll tag your luggage a second time with a RFID-enabled tag (that ‘should’ stay on your luggage for disembarkation) or how to proceed upon check in.
When we parked the car and got to the front of the pier building at 12:35, there was no clear procedure for how to find a check-in agent . . . . people were just coming at all directions and glomming onto the first staffer they saw. Similarly, in the reception hall, it was not clear where you went for what and why. (We never figured out where to get the RFID bracelets). Oh, and your room keys? Waiting for you at your cabin door. (I’d plan on heading to your room at 1 pm just to secure those.) We did manage to get onboard just as access to rooms was being made available.
Nice interior touches and layout, although if you’re big of stature, you’re probably not going to be fond of how close they cut access to one side of the queen bed by the dresser. I think a smaller flat screen TV/dresser would have made more sense. Said TV is mounted flush to the wall, so no watching it from the close side of the bed. There was one side chair and a second chair by the vanity – useful, but not appropriate for extensive tv-watching for two. Not an issue for us, as we don’t spend much time inside the cabin, but something to consider. Don’t even try to put anymore than two people in this room.
This cabin is on one of those ‘hallways off of hallways’ areas that also, it turned out, was directly under Adventure Ocean, and right beside a working area for the housekeeping crew . . . . which might explain the occasional but increasing outside noise we noticed at odd times. Nothing that kept us from having a good time, but something to note if you’re a light sleeper.
The highly touted ‘virtual balcony’ was really cool . . . except it wasn’t on at night, and the sound didn’t work at all. We were disappointed, because we were looking forward to having the sound of the waves whooshing around us as we fell asleep.
One of our favorite places to visit. Something for everyone, and very easy to navigate on your own.
We've had better and worse embarkation/disembarkation experiences, but it was very chaotic on both ends.