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Royal Caribbean International

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Liberty of the Seas

Navigator of the Seas

Voyager of the Seas

Rhapsody of the Seas

Mariner of the Seas

Vision of the Seas

Allure of the Seas

Enchantment of the Seas

Adventure of the Seas

Grandeur of the Seas

Radiance of the Seas

Independence of the Seas

Harmony of the Seas

Great cruise, but ship is aging!

Tallinn

We decided to go on an easy cruise out of Galveston and thought this would be a great ship to try.  We have cruised numerous times before on Royal and other companies.  Boarding went well  due to us purchasing The Key which gave us priority.  Well worth it.  Our cabin was very clean but tired looking.  Quite large.  We ended up with a window cabin on deck 2 because we booked so late but it worked out ok.  We  found the ship kind of boring for us.  Not much to do except trivia, trivia, trivia.  Had a few bingos but they are now very expensive.  We thought $80 for one set of cards with only 3 games seemed excessive.  Ice show was ok but the skaters fell a lot.  Also the band One to One was awful.  Playing ok I guess but they can't sing.   Felt like a high school band.  We went to see a soul singer in the main theatre one night and he was good.  We found everything fairly mediocre and not what Royal used to do.  The food was just ok.  In the buffet area the breakfast was ok but we went for dinner once and it was awful.  We went to the main dining room and the food again was not good.  Most things were overcooked and dry.  If you like your meat well done then it will be ok.  The salmon was so dry I couldn't eat it.  We went to Chops Grille and it was good.  The food was good.  The service from all the staff was very good.  Nice people.  If you like to just sit in the sun or swim then you would  like it.  For us that was not what we liked to do.  Ports were same as we had seen before and Grand Cayman was the best.  So sorry but I would never recommend this cruise to anyone.

Disappointing

We had the great pleasure of taking the July 31, 2022 cruise on the Liberty of the Seas to the Western Caribbean.  As a little background, this was our thirteenth cruise with Royal Caribbean and our fourteenth cruise overall.  Along for the cruise this time were myself, a fifty-something management consultant, my lovely wife, and our 22 year old son.  We were also cruising with nine other people spread across four families.  Some had cruised a few times before, while others where new to cruising.

We all flew into Houston Hobby airport the day before the cruise and spent the night at the La Quinta Inn by the airport.  it was nice, clean and relatively inexpensive, and highly recommend it.  On the day of the cruise, we decided to Uber to the Port of Galveston instead of using a shuttle.  In looking at the Uber prices others had posted, it was pretty much a wash, so we went with the flexibility of using Uber.  It only took about five minutes for the three Uber cars to arrive and had no problems getting to the Port.

The cruise terminal Royal currently uses at Galveston is old and dated, but they are building a new one that should be open later in 2022.  The check-in process was pretty chaotic, and unlike other ports we have sailed from, they do not have separate lines for Diamond and Diamond Plus passengers.  It took about 15 minutes to move through security, and another 10 minutes at check-in.  Hopefully they will do away with the Covid protocols soon, as that took up most of the time.  Note that the cell service in the terminal is not very good, and it was taking a while for people to bring-up their Covid test results on the building.

Once on the ship, everything was great.  She is getting a little older, but the only really noticeable thing we saw was the screen on the Pool Deck was not working.  Other things were well maintained, if getting a little dated.

We booked Promenade View rooms for ourselves, and enjoyed them.  We aren't sit on the balcony types of people but do like to have a view of something so these rooms work out great.  The room was extremely clean and everything worked, except for the speaker to hear the announcements.  We almost never saw our cabin attendant, but he always kept the room in great condition, and left a few towel animals for us.  It would have been nice to see him more to pass on some small requests, but we just left a note, he usually took care of things for us.  One nice thing about the cabins on the ship is that the walls are metal, so my wife brings magnetic hooks and holders along.  This gives us more places to hang things to dry and they work great for holding hats and other clothing items.

We ate all of our breakfasts in the Windjammer and all of our dinners in the Main Dining Room.  The breakfast food in the windjammer was very good, and it seems they have expanded their offerings from when we sailed a few years ago.  One change they made was on how they served omelettes. On prior cruises, you could order an omelette and wait right there for the chef to prepare it.   Now they give you a number and tell you to sit down and they will deliver it to you.  This is great if you already have a seat, but if you do not have one already, they have to wonder around until they can find  you.

Our dinners in the Main Dining Room were wonderful.  Our waiters Franky and Deepak went out of their way to bring us whatever requested.  In my case, they always brought along an off-menu curry dish, while my wife requested the savory bites that they no longer produce ever day.  Many people have said the food has gone down hill in the Main Dining room, and maybe it has over the last 25 years, but it is still wonderful, and you can always find something that you will like. 

I had the Deluxe drink package and in my case it was well worth it.  I like to try new drinks on board, and if I receive one that I don't like, I will get another one.  The drink service was incredibly wonderful on almost every bar on the ship.  The one exception was in Vintages where it seemed that it always took a long time to receive your drink.  I'm not sure if this was due to being short staffed or a new bartender, but we didn't let it spoil our time.  The bartenders at the Pool Bar, on the other hand, were exceptional.  Mel, Leo, Kelvin and Mackenzie always took great care of us. It seems they may have cut back on the number of beer offerings they offer, but they still had seven or eight to choose from.

The entertainment was good, but not great on this cruise.  We saw a comedian the first night, a gentlemen who had been around quite a while playing in places like Las Vegas and Atlantic City.  He was funny, but you really had to be over the age of 40 to understand many of his references.  The ice show was entertaining, but it seems many of the skaters where new to the show and were missing their marks or falling.  I could understand if we had rough seas, but this was the calmest cruise I had ever been on.  We also saw Saturday Night Fever.  The music and dancing were amazing, as where the sets, but they had consistent problems with the actors' microphones.  They were really muffled at times, and had some serious feedback at other times.  

Some of the college kids in our group spent a great deal of time in the dance club and said that the DJ seemed to play the same songs over and over again.  They had fun they said, but would have liked to hear a wider range of music.  The rock band that played in the Star Lounge in the evenings was very good, as was the pub singer.  We spent a fair amount of time in both places.

The cruise directing staff was great, as were the activities.  We never did see Cruise Director Katie around the ship at all, but did see her Activities Director Kat all over the boat.  Kat and her staff were great and made all of the activities very fun.  We only had one really large complaint for our cruise and that was Royal has stopped holding the Quest game show.  The Quest has always been the highlight of our cruise, and we were extremely disappointed it was not there.  They said that they were not holding it because of Covid concerns, but this excuse really didn't hold water as they held many other inside events that brought a large number of people together.  I hope they bring this event back soon, as it something not to miss.

We had three stops on the cruise.  The first stop was in Cozumel.  We had done most of the activities in the past on the Island, so we hopped into a cab and went downtown for some lunch and shopping.  We found Dick's Dive, a restaurant and bar just off of the main plaza down town, and it was spectacular.  The food was amazing as where the drinks and our sever J was the best around.  Stop there when you're in town, you won't regret it.  

Our second stop was in Grand Cayman.  We did a Stingray City tour with Captain Marvin, and was wonderful.  The staff was able to get us on an earlier tour than we had booked, which allowed us more time after the tour to look around.  

Our third stop was in Falmouth.  Some of our group went to a beach resort for the day, while another group just went into town.  Some people are leery about going outside the Port gates in Falmouth, but we have never had a problem.  The town has worked extremely hard to ensure that cruise ship visitors are well looked after when they come into town.  We found a wonderful guide by the name of Reggae at the exit to the Port and took us around town.  We had the best jerk chicken and Red Stripe at Pepper's Jerk Center.  While the food was great, be sure to ask for the prices before you order something.  We ended up paying more than $35 per person for four plates of jerk chicken and 10 Red Stripes (2 per person).  Reggae also took us to the oldest bar in Falmouth, where the owner gave us (not sold us) several shots of the local rum.  

Overall, it was an incredibly good time.  Everyone in our group found something to do all over the ship when they were looking for something to do.  One negative was that Royal is still requiring their staff to wear face masks, even when working outside. This made it really difficult to hear some of the staff because of the mask, and all missed the smiles.  Hopefully Royal will move with the times and let masks be optional for their staff in the near future.

Group Fun On the Liberty of the Seas

We chose Royal Caribbean for this cruise because we were traveling with family members ranging in age from two to 68 years old.  We knew that the numerous activities offered aboard the Liberty of the Seas ship would appeal to the younger crowd.  

   The ship ported out of Galveston, Texas, and we spent a couple of days at a bed & breakfast near Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier and ate delicious food at a restaurant called Fish Tales.  Located nearby were also a Chick-fil-A and a Wendy’s.  We spent hours on the beach enjoying the surf and playing in the sand under the shade of the pier.  The cruise ship port was only a few minutes’ drive away.

   RC’s Liberty of the Seas ship is due for refurbishing and it shows in the chipped paint and slightly musty odor of the cabin carpets, furniture, and drapes.  The bed pillows initially smelled of sweaty armpits and the cabin steward replaced them upon request.

   After the isolation of the past two years of the pandemic, encountering hordes of noisy, active people crowded into public areas of the ship was a bit of a shock and took some getting used to.  However, the high energy level soon turned into a lively party vibe after a little adjustment on our part.  The entire staff was cheerful, fun, friendly, and extremely dedicated to their jobs.  Their work ethic was incredible, especially in the main dining room.  Our waiters at our nightly dinner table (Table 301) in the Deck 3 dining room memorized our names and preferences and were fiercely determined to provide the very best meal experience possible. They even performed magic tricks, to the delight of the children.

   Our first port of call was Cozumel, and the process of reboarding after going ashore became a nightmare because of incompetence on the part of Mexican Customs.  Many passengers were stranded in long lines shortly before the ship was due to leave, causing some panic. 

   Things went well at the next port of Grand Cayman; however, the tourists needed to reach it by sailing a short distance by tender.  The rocky tender ride proved a little challenging for one seasick-prone family member.  The island is beautiful, though, and a land-sea excursion involving an underwater fish-viewing “submarine” and a bus tour was very interesting.  The bus stopped at an area named “Hell,” so named because of the jagged, sinister-looking rock formations. 

   Falmouth, Jamaica was our third port, and my husband and I booked an independent driver through the port authority for a private tour … only $25 per person for a one-hour tour of the area.  Our Jamaican driver was an affable man named Errol, and he provided some commentary and answered questions as we drove all around the town.  We felt safe because our trip was logged and registered.  It was fascinating to see the townsfolk, their homes and businesses, the lovely foliage and the gorgeous ocean.  After our tour we stopped at the Margaritaville restaurant for lunch, but we left after wait staff ignored us.

   Back on the ship for two at-sea days, we were relaxed and enjoyed eating at Johnny Rockets, taking our toddler to the play center, and watching an excellent Platinum Theater performance of “Saturday Night Fever.”  The ice show on Day 5 featured outstanding skaters in an exciting show.  In the evening we would listen to the rock sounds of the talented band in the Star Lounge.

   This cruise is ideal for vacationers seeking lively action, loud music, and lots of activity, but we would not recommend it for those looking for relaxation only.

Fun Family Cruise

RCCL used to be my favorite cruise line.  I have over 30 cruises, including RCCL, CCL, NCL, and DIS.  I couldn't wait to get back on a RCCL ship after years of cruise cancellations due to the pandemic.  I did two CCL cruises this year, in Feb and Mar.  But I kept telling people how much better RCCL was.  Well....not anymore.  CCL is way better now, IMHO.

What was worse since my last RCCL cruise in 2019:

1) No priority boarding for Platinum and above loyalty members.

2) The pool deck movie screen was inoperative and has been for about a year, with no plans to repair it until the next dry dock.

3) The buffet has drastically reduced their hours!  Presumably to a) save money on food and employee costs, and b) force guests to go to one of the specialty ($) restaurants when hungry outside of buffet hours.  The buffet was not open after 2100!!!  The only free food after 2100 was light snacks at Cafe Promenade or lousy pizza at Sorentos.

4) I was very much looking forward to riding the Tidal Wave, but was told I could not ride unless I had a riding partner.  Seriously?!?!?  You don't have a singles line for guests to pair up???

5) As a Platinum member, I used to get free drinks at several Top Tier events...now just one event.

6) The Drink of the Day used to come in souvenir glass tumblers for just $10...I used to collect these and had several at one time.  Now, the Drink of the Day comes in a smaller plastic tumbler, not even a souvenir tumbler, just a normal 8 oz plastic cup.  

7) The drinks used to give full shots.  Now, with smaller tumblers, they use half-shots...same price.

8) The on-board entertainment was poor, in comparison with CCL.

9) I reserved My Time Dining, as I had since they first offered this.  However, now the "My Time" is only available after 1900, even though the MDR is open at 1700.  Excuse me, but HOW is that "My Time"???  I ended up switching to 1700 dining, which was not at all what I wanted.  CCL has true "My Time" dining!

10) Disembarking was a pain, with no priority for Loyalty members.

My next two cruises (July and March) are, unfortunately, with RCCL.  I am now very much looking forward to my next CCL cruise in July 2023.

RCCL Has Gone Downhill

My wife and I cruised on Adventure of the Seas 6 weeks earlier and had one of the best cruises ever! Liberty of the Seas was our 30th cruise, and one of the worst ever! The only safety protocols we saw were the staff wearing masks.  The public restrooms were dirty, they stopped serving people in the Windjammer, and as a result, you had to touch all of the utensils and like most buffets, people are touching EVERYTHING! It was a nearly full ship and there was no distancing at all and people were packed in everywhere. As a result of these things, three of four of us came back and tested positive for Covid-19!!  

Service was awful throughout the ship. We left bars on three different occasions when after 15 minutes or so, nobody came to see if we wanted a drink. Two of these were not even at busy times at all. Our waiters in the dining room has to be reminded every day that one of our friends had a drink package and wanted a Diet Coke. Every day the waiter would also ask for his room number.  We had to constantly ask for refills on water, Diet Coke, tea, etc.  In the Windjammer on Adventure, we never had to get coffee or juice. We would barely sit down and someone was there to ask what they could bring us and we would barely put our fork down after the last bite and they were cleaning our plates away. On Liberty, they almost never cleared anything away until we left. We got the feeling everywhere that they were understaffed and service was reflecting that.

Very disappointing

With 31 cruises under my belt on all the major cruise lines including Cunard I choose this  RCCL cruise out of Galveston because of the ports close location to Fort Worth, TX.  This was my 8th RCCL cruise.  My husband and I are avid dancers and cruise used to offer many opportunities to dance, The dance floors on board ships have been either slowly disappearing and being replaced by wine bars,  Karioke events, badly selected prerecorded music by people who either don't understand American culture and or play music for one generation instead of the multiple generations aboard the ship, Play one Elvis song but not three in a row. I'm sorry to say employees from South America or the Philipines may not be the best people to select music for a cruise especially  this one with 65% of the passengers over 50.  The first formal ni8ght when husbands were dressed in their best jackets the band in the Star Lounge took over 75% of a small dance floor to make a demo/marketing  video of their musical abilities , inviting people  to dance on the tiny dance floor, and playing about 1 minute of various type songs. This band should have done this on their own time during the day when the lounge  was not in use not on my vacation time. The Spanish band in the Belero Lounge was good however the played many many ethnic songs each the same beat and did not take requests and seemed to speak absolutely no English. The upstairs Club had a DJ who also did not play requests, never talked to the crowd, maybe had a language barrier and again should have read to room on a May cruise there were the average  cruisers were 50 plus  years old  in the Club. Instead of mixing it up he played only to the 30 somethings and below. If the idea is to have some type of music for everyone in all these bar /dance locations so people will stay and purchase drinks, thus making money for the RCCL. RCCL is missing a great opportunity to make more money as people don't stay in a bar when every song is from the same generation or the same speed.   Little things make cruising a unique experience sadly these details were not there. No more chocolates on the bed each night, and you must request a printed copy of the daily Compass of activities,. No more robes in the closet, maybe they can be requested. No more small bottles of shampoo and conditioner , instead a dispenser in the shower with one product marker shampoo/shower gel.   Also no more  body lotion/moisturizer.  The room was well taken care of each day, with the two extra towels I requested,  Towel animals were made, which are always fun. so I give the housekeeping staff a full 5 Stars.   The dining room was staff was great every night=5 Stars. The food presentations was great although some foods were bland. Waiters were quick to offer replacement dishes.  Bar waiters often hard to find on board. many nights only one was in the Star  lounge. All in all I give this cruise a 3.5 out of 5 stars. Cruising has changed since my husband and I started back 30 cruises ago and once they stop doing something it never returns. if you're 40 and under with kids you will enjoy the cruise. This is not the best couples/ romantic/ fun cruise.

Seven day relaxing but lacked small details which makes cruising unique.

Royal Caribbean has been our go to cruise line for a long time. (We just turned Emerald).

We were ready to get out on the ocean once again because we disconnect and really relax. It is a great vacation until illness hits.   As we boarded on April 24, Sunday we were fine for that day as well as April 25. On the 26th we went up to Windjammer for late lunch and within an hour Tom started to get sick. . All thru the nt. of the 26 he was very sick with Gastrointestinal Illness. Went to Doctor on ship 27th in the AM. They said it was food poisoning as his test was negative for the Norovirus. An IV was given due to dehydration, plus meds. He was placed in isolation. They say 1 day, but we are talking the 26,27,28,29= 4 days, also count 1 addl. day of no ability to appreciate vacation due to weakness and inability to move about. It should also be counted.  They said room service and laundry services would be taken care of however both appeared on bill. 

Who has Food Poisoning and recovers in 1 Day? Why was Customer Service not caring ? Why did I have to clean room and place all items I collected into a hazmat bag? We were left to deal with everything ourselves in addition to being treated like he had the plague. Royal did not care about us or the fact that the food poisoning came from the ship.  

The overall experience  - the way this was handled, the food that we were able to eat was NOT as good as what we have experienced before on Royal or any of the other cruise lines and the cost of everything on the ship has driven us to find other alternatives even though we are Emerald status with Royal. We are sailing away from Royal Caribbean !!

How a 7 day cruise turned into a 2 day cruise plus the day you get off.

This was our 3rd or 4th time on Liberty of the Seas since it began sailing out of Galveston.  We may have been the first vaccinated guests who were not required to wear masks indoors.  We felt very safe. There are hand sanitizing stations everywhere.  But beware, everyone serves themselves in the Windjammer, so everyone’s hands are touching the serving utensils.  We just sanitized again after filling our plates.

There are many, many great things about this ship, but I will just mention a few cons for those who may be considering sailing soon.  First thing I noticed on the pool deck:  The huge outdoor LED screen was covered and unusable.  A crew member told me it hasn’t worked for 5 months (unconfirmed). This was disappointing, as there were no movies under the stars or music videos.  The Tidal Wave water experience was closed all week.  Some parts of the children's waterpark are closed part of the day, I assume to give the lifeguards a break.  All pools have lifeguards, hence restricted hours.

Bring your own shampoo and conditioner.  There is a single dispenser in the shower labeled “Shampoo & Body Wash.” Who knows what it actually is!  I asked for shampoo from my cabin steward and he kindly gave me tubes of real shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion.  No lotion provided in the bathrooms any more.

Liberty of the Seas is in dire need of major updating!  No USB ports in cabins and only 2 outlets to plug in phones, IPads, etc.  Compared to newer ships, cabin TVs are tiny.  We saw the bottoms of a few of the theater seats fallen on the ground.

Overall, I think you will have a great experience on Liberty of the Seas.  The staff is top notch and eager to please.  Very few cruise lines are serving complimentary lobster tails on the last formal night, but Royal Caribbean and Celebrity still do.  Our table of 4 put away a total of 22 tails.

Since 2020 we have missed several schedule cruises due to COVID-19. This is our 43rd cruise and wedding anniversary.  Coming from Galveston we hit the normal islands on our 7 day voyage - Rootan, Costa Maya and Cozumel.

The severity of the pandemic is low in the Houston Texas area so we ready to cruise but still skeptical.  To our suprize, all RCL employees wore mask.  Although, very few passengers wore them.  This did not present a problem because the ship was not full.  

We have been on the Liberty of the Seas seven times.  We saw that the pandemic had also taken a toll on 1) average experience of RCL employees (this did not cause many inconveniences), 2) ship upkeep (the ship is pass due on being refurbished, pictures of the wear & tear taken), 3) understandably food items/selection were smaller yet well enjoyable and 4) the crew to passenger ratio was even less than two years ago.

Over all it was a nice trip we are glad we went.  After the hit we've all faced, including the cruise industry, we look forward to the new norm.  With food and gas prices increasing we and the cruise lines are both having to make adjustments...meaning it will cost more and fewer people may have the means to cruise.  We hope not, with the RCL experience you still getting the most bang out of your buck.  twz

Cruising while the Pandemic Levels are Down

This was the fastest check in ever.  We decided to slurge on the key program.  You are easily in and out. Quite impressed.  Everyone was great wearing masks.  The crew were double masked.  Lots of hand sanitizer everywhere.  Elevators were limited to 5 people or same parties only.  Most people were very polite.   Things are quite different after the pandemic.  This ship was ast 42 % capacity!  It feels nice that having long lines, waiting, or crowding.

The service was not notch, from check in, to room attendants, hostess, servers, and bartenders.  I'm not sure that it was us being so happy  to be cruising, or them so grateful to be working.

It seemed that a couple of shows were cancelled due to COVID cases among the performers.  We were able to find other entertainment at the pool bars, schooner piano bar, or just people watching.  They had two great comedians on two different nights.  The Gaucho performer was top notch.  We really enjoyed hearing Felicia at the Schooner Piano Bar.  We had the best bartenders.

We had a junior suite.  It had lots of space, storage, walk in bathroom with a tub.  It is time for them to renovate the rooms and decor.

We opted for the unlimited specialty dining.  Chops and Giovanni were wonderful!  I did get tired of the same menu each night.  I wish they could offer more choices.

The key gave us an early lunch on check in day, and a farewell breakfast on the last day.  I enjoyed the extra perks.

I just don't care for the buffet.

Overall, we had a great time!

This is our 4th time cruising on Liberty!

It's feels great cruising again! 

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