One of the best vacations of my life

Item: Liberty of the Seas
Rating: 4.6
Author: ADeeva

Liberty of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

ADeeva

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 47

Overall rating:

4.6 out of 5

7 Night Western Caribbean (Galveston Roundtrip)

Sail date: September 02, 2018

Ship: Liberty of the Seas

Cabin type: Oceanview

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

One of the best vacations I ever had. The only downfalls were the drink packages and the added daily gratuities. Gratuities should be my choice...not something that is automatically charged on top of the cost of the cruise. The drink packages are way over priced and almost non-affordable for most people. It forces people to want to find ways to sneak alcohol on the cruise. I really liked the Wifi option. I thought it was reasonable and worth the added expense. I loved this ship and felt that there were always things to do and see. I was a little disappointed that some of the poolside activities that were advertised in the compass did not take place. There wasn't a bon voyage event, or any poolside parties (dance related) events, and none of the events that were supposed to take place like a parade by the cruise director took place. I was disappointed in that. I liked the comforts of RC, but it falls second to Carnival in that regard because Carnival has more party related events and the cruise director is more hands on with the guests.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

It went smoothly, but was kind of a long process...but it was raining hard and that may have slowed things down.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

I loved the drinks and at least tasted the drink of the day, everyday. The Windjammer has a decent selection, but I was disappointed that a cruise ship did not have better seafood options in the MDR.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

There was a good mixture of activities and I LOVED the Belly flop and Cannon ball competitions. I also loved watching people on the Flow rider. The attendants there were very good teachers and seemed to take pride in instructing people. I also liked the live bands that were pool side. They were very good. My only criticism was that the cruise director was not more "hands on" at the activities. We only really saw him during the evening activities.

Entertainment

5 out of 5

The stage shows were amazing and so were the game shows. The band at the pool was very good too.

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

All of the bar staff was amazing. Very friendly and excellent servers. The staff in the MDR were hit or miss. We were on "My Time Dining" which I preferred, but that meant that we had different servers according to the areas we were in. One server...I think his name was Kadeck (or something like that) was AMAZING...the rest barely paid attention to us and were slow.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

The ship was beautiful and very clean. I loved it and was very impressed.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

With all that you hear about small cabin sizes, I though our cabin was bigger than I was expecting. Our attendant, Ronald Rodriguez was very friendly and attentive.

Ship tip

Pay attention to the Compass. It really helps you plan your day. I was expecting the cruise director to be a little bit more available in telling us things daily, but did not feel I got that service as expected, so the compass was my cruise director instead.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Cozumel, Mexico

5 out of 5

We did an excursion through a company not associated with RC, and it took us on a jeep ride to a private beach which included lunch. We got an awesome view of the coastline and went to the organic tequila tour. Great excursion.

Thumbs Up 15

George Town, Grand Cayman

5 out of 5

We went on a Stingray excursion and it was awesome and we purchased pictures of this once in a lifetime experience. Loved it.

Thumbs Up 15

Falmouth, Jamaica

5 out of 5

We did the Dunn's river falls and again...awesome once in a lifetime experience that we thoroughly enjoyed.

Thumbs Up 4

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

9 Comments

graham123 6 years ago

Thx

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

Sloford1 6 years ago

I went on carnival and water cheaper (42$ per 12 liters bottles water compared to 4$ a case of 16oz on carnival big difference -WiFi cheaper gratuities I prepaid and the drink packages was cheaper maybe depends on when you go but We are going rc this time cause I heard good was better and I ther things but we shall see if this is true cause my third will be the best out of the two

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

wzermeno 6 years ago

My biggest complaint with the drink packages that I don't drink and they still want me to buy one if my wife gets one.

Thumbs Up 1

Flag

TXatsea 6 years ago

You seem to compare to Carnival, yet Carnival drink package is more expensive than Royal, and they also have daily gratuity. I am curious why these things surprised you. I agree with you about the CD for the most part, but for me this is one reason I choose RC over Carnival, I don’t want someone always playing the cheerleader, I like a more laid back cruise. Glad you had a great time otherwise.

Thumbs Up 2

Flag

emelgee 6 years ago

No you are correct. We always pre pay our tips.

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

MizzMizera 6 years ago

I was under the impression that you could have all gratuities added to your total payoff price and have that all taken care of before cruising. That’s what we did for our upcoming cruise and then it’s my choice to tip extra after that. Am I wrong?

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

IkeDeb 6 years ago

Fantastic, good for you

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

PsychoAndBarb 6 years ago

Also on the drink packages...You have to monitor your cruise planner for many months before your cruise to get it on sale. We usually get deluxe booze package for $41 - $45 per day...Totally affordable and a great deal for us.

Thumbs Up 3

Flag

mark71mark 6 years ago

Regarding gratuities on RC, you can always go to the Front Desk and have them all completely removed, up until two days before disembarkation, I believe. They will provide you with tip envelopes, if you wish, to tip people in person. Celebrity, HAL, and Princess (and possibly others) are the same way.

Thumbs Up 2

Flag

Other reviews of this sailing

Lots of $$ needed once you were onboard

Wonderful first cruise experience!

Didn’t seem bad. The guy directing traffic had an attitude