Disappointing Family Cruise: Not fun for Kids or those with Special Dietary Needs

Liberty of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

Avburns

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 21

Overall rating:

2.7 out of 5

7 Night Western Caribbean (Galveston Roundtrip)

Sail date: June 02, 2019

Ship: Liberty of the Seas

Cabin type: Oceanview

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

Attn: Families traveling with KIDS or SPECIAL DIETARY NEEDS Royal Caribbean LIBERTY OF THE SEAS was a LARGE DISAPPOINTMENT to our family this Summer 2019. I read numerous reviews that had praised this ship for many things and saw nothing close to them on our vacation. We are a family of 4 (2 Adults and 2 children age 5,7) the minute we walked into our ocean view stateroom it was clear this boat is VERY OUTDATED. The light fixtures and décor were something I would expect to see in a low rate motel. We then noticed the SINGLE KING sized bed for our FAMILY OF FOUR. Quickly we realized there were Bunk BEDS that lowered OVER our bed. This was NOT what we had asked for. There was also a label in plane view stating NO CHILDREN UNDER AGE 6 can sleep in the bunks! How did we end up in a room with a 5 year old that can't even use the bed!? I spoke with guest services and after many visits to the desk I was told the ship was completely booked and there was NOTHING THEY COULD DO. This made for a VERY DISAPPOINTING first day of vacation. To add to our HORRIBLE experience I pre registered to notify the ship of my GLUTEN ALLERGY and WAS STARVING by the end of the second day. I spoke with guest services and they were kind enough to put me in touch with kitchen staff. I spoke to the Manager of the Windjammer (Albert) and he did what he could to accommodate my needs during the day. The only issue with this was I had to PRE ORDER ALL MY MEALS A DAY AHEAD. The was no spur of the moment I am hungry and could grab a quick snack (unless fruit or veggies). Also the Pizza Place located in the Promenade took 15-20min to make a GF pizza. My family would be done eating by time I even had 1 slice. The MAIN DINING room experience was probably the HIGHLIGHT of our experience. I pre ordered my dinners nightly and they also made me two desserts so I could save one in my room for later (side note the fridge in our room stated the MINIMUM TEMP was 55 degrees!) so there was no keeping things "cold". The ship was FULL of places you had to PAY EXTRA to dine at. The desserts that were free and available were something you would see served in a school cafeteria. The Kids center was less then exciting and my children had little to no interest in attending. Both were placed in Aquanauts (we requested they stay together) and daily activities were not stimulating enough to keep their interest. We had to bribe them to even attend the program at least once a day so that we would have time to ourselves. When the children were with us (which was a majority of the time) there was NOTHING TO DO especially on SEAS DAYS. Not that we had intended on watching much TV but lets just say our favorite show to watch was Dougie Howser (it was 7 channels of the 80's on repeat). Most of the Planned activities were again at an EXTRA COST. These consisted of bingo, wine tasting, and fine art auctions. The ENTERTAINMENT was NON EXSISTANT. The next best thing to do was spend time at the pool. This was another LARGE DISAPOINTMENT there were so many people in the pool you couldn’t even swim. I took Numerous photos of both the FAMILY and ADULT pools FULL of people. The stated number of maximum occupants was 18 and there was more then double that in every pool. They were most likely so busy due to the fact there was NO ENTERTAINMENT. My previous cruising experience one various ships were leaps and bounds beyond this ship. Our last vacation out of Galveston was on a Carnival ship. So we thought investing an ADDITIONAL 1,000 TO ROYAL CARRIBEAN would be a top of the line experience and we were SADLY MISTAKEN. I DO NOT recommend ever taking a FAMILY VACATION on the LIBERTY OF THE SEAS. We couldn’t wait to get off the ship and our kids were happy it was over. Customer services lines on the ship were also ALWAYS BUSY and I am not surprised. I hope you find this review helpful and take it seriously if you are looking at going on a cruise. This is a CRUISE PEOPLE GO ON AND NEVER WANT TO CRUISE AGAIN, but we know this is not a true "cruise experience".