has asked me to rate Royal Caribbean and we have. is not asking us our opinion of booking through them and how that went. We will never book through them again. We discovered there is no financial or security advantage in using for booking cruises. We bought the cruise and the insurance. When we discovered my daughter was having complications with her pregnancy, we were told we were SOL and could not get the cruise moved to a different date without losing most of the value, and the insurance wouldn't pay much. would not help us at all. This cruise was expensive for what we got already and the insurance was worthless and would not help us. Never again. I do not like the way applies and overall rating to my survey without giving me the option of changing it to better reflect my weighing the various aspects mentioned.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
It was fine, although the parking expense and process in Galveston were awful
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
1 out of 5
In general, this was the worst cruise ship food I have had, compared to several other cruise lines and ships over many years. The Chef's Table ($$$) was fantastic, and the Chops Grille was nice, but the main dining room food and the buffet food were not so great (always cold and not tasty), the room service food was worse, I could not get hot tea served and steeped with breakfast before everyone had finished their breakfast, and the other dining venues (not specialty at all) charged for most of their food, including the ice cream shop and the burger shop. The cruise was already expensive and they charged for almost everything on top of that. They charged for things that should have been included and are included by other cruise lines.
Onboard Activities
1 out of 5
I didn't use the active outdoor amenities. We played a lot of trivia games and enjoyed those. We wanted to go to shows, but we had 8p dining and the shows were scheduled for 8p and after - way too late for me. The guitarist and pianist were good. The library literally had zero books in it. The Promenade Deck had shops everywhere and it felt like a shopping mall and not a nice cruise ship. One activity we went to was not happening on time at all and we found out later they had it at a different time so we missed it. Too many activities conflicted. The fitness center was actually nice and large, but relatively few people use it and they charge for anything other than using the machines alone. The spa is ridiculously expensive so I didn't us that. The paper daily schedule was hard to read with activities separated into three categories.
Entertainment
2 out of 5
The musicians were good. We missed the shows because they were all too late. I think that the timing of all the evening entertainment was not conducive to enjoying it at all. I heard the ice skating show was OK.
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
Some were excellent - particularly the sommelier. Everyone was nice, but there was no attention to detail that I have experience on literally every other ship. The stateroom towels were changed out very often, but the bathroom sink wasn't wiped down well at all. Room service was timely, but cold and not tasty. Dining room staff were nice and oftered to change food that wasn't hot or wasn't tasty, but they forgot some things, didn't remember to use my middle name as requested, didn't bring the hot tea in time, etc.
Ship Quality
2 out of 5
The Liberty is a very old, tacky, worn-out ship. I was under-impressed with cleanliness on the entire ship.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
I really liked the size of the cabin and of the balcony - a bit bigger than some other ships. The layout was comfortable. The bathroom was as big or maybe a big bigger than other ships. There was more shelving available in this room than on other ships I have been on. The carpet was a bit outdated.
Ship tip
Take things to do. Be prepared to pay for everything. The drink and wifi package were horrifically expensive and the wifi wasn't good. The app doesn't work well if you don't pay for the wifi.
We did the stingray and starfish excursion and really enjoyed that. Taking the tender eats up a lot of time. I wish we had longer in all the ports. I did like arriving mid-morning and departing after the other ships had departed - it was nice that it wasn't quite so crowded that way, in town in the afternoon.
We climbed Dunn's River Falls near Ocho Rios. Getting off the bus, waiting, walking a bit, taking a bus an hour away was irritating, particularly since we were rushed through our climb of the falls - that is very irritating. I love the falls and have climbed them three times and was rushed more this time than ever before due to the wait in Falmouth to go on this excursion. There was a lot of wasted time in the transportation. That means we were rushed at the falls, had zero time in Ocho Rios and zero time in Falmouth before having to rush back to the ship. Really irritating. I wish we had more time in all the ports. Falmouth is so far away from any of the available excursions and the time is not adequate.
Thanks for the review. We never purchase anything extra above the basic cruise fare and gratuities and have a great time. There are plenty of free food and drink options onboard.
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