shady

Going to attempt to share my thoughts on recent, June 4, 7-Night Western Caribbean sailing of Liberty of the Seas out of Galveston, TX…
Ports are Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Falmouth
Party of 3… Mom and Dad in 40’s and daughter who is 10.
We’ve sailed 5 times before with last two being Freedom of the Seas out of Port Canaveral.
We sailed out of Galveston once before in 2006 on Princess.
 
We arrived in Houston Area on Friday evening from Hill Country stop for Nephew’s High School Graduation.   We spent Friday and Saturday evening at Marriott SpringHill Suites NASA/Webster.  We paid $143.75 a night by the time all taxes and fees were added.   Buffett breakfast was included.  We enjoyed this hotel very much and immediately booked it again for December pre-cruise stay.  It is located right off I-45 and has excellent retail nearby for last minute shopping.  The main reason we picked this location was its proximity to Space Center Houston- our Saturday activity.
 
Having been to Kennedy Space Center in Florida after our last cruise in March 2016, it was nice to book-end our USA Space experience with a trip to the Johnson Space Center in Houston.  We ended up purchasing an annual membership for $129 since we will be returning in December 2017 to view the Apollo 11 command module that landed on the moon as it briefly goes on tour outside of the Smithsonian.   We did both red and blue tram tours and saw most of the movies.   Only regret was not purchasing the audio tour at the beginning.   The audio tour covers items on the tram tours as well.   I had thought it was only for main exhibit building.  Lesson learned for repeat visit…  I had pre-arranged tour tickets for both tram and Space Shuttle/Boeing 747 exhibits but neither of these were necessary as lines were minimal/non-existent.   Good balance of interactive exhibits for the kiddos and tech stuff for the Space Geeks…
 
Sunday morning it was overcast with mild drizzles as we left the hotel.   As we got closer to Galveston the rain increased dramatically with frequent thunder and lightning.  We could see it moving slowly on the radar and hoped it would pass by the time we reached terminal.   It didn’t…  We had arranged for parking at EZ Cruise parking ($54 for the week) opting for the no shuttle option to save $20.   Original plan was to drop wife, daughter, and luggage at Terminal and for me to park car.   Well, the weather changed that plan as it took over 2 hours to reach Terminal from Harborside Drive.   Literally, it took 2 hrs to travel less than 1 mile due to traffic congestion/weather/flooding.   I saw the parking lot on the right at 28th Street and knew I had to get to 22nd Street to turn into the Terminal. I asked the family if we could carry luggage and we all agreed to tough it out on foot carrying 6 suitcases and assorted small bags (my wife swears she learned her lesson on this trip to pack lighter…).
 
Security checkpoint was divided into two categories- Emerald +/Suites and those below those levels…  Being Gold, we walked back and forth in the switchbacks for 40+ minutes for our turn with the metal detectors and x-ray machines.   Once that was completed we reached the Royal Caribbean check-in desks.   Surprisingly the shortest line was at the ‘no prior cruise experience’ line.   Gold was longest with the Suites and Upper-level Crown and Anchor line moving right along…
 
At 3pm we were finally onboard and in our stateroom after a brief stop for Pizza at Sorrento’s.  (We had been ½ mile from the ship since 10:30am…) We had an interior stateroom on Deck 7.  We were surprised by the installation of 4 extra staterooms in what used to be a large library.   Our room, 7449, used to be at a deadend and now had a short hall with 4 additional rooms on it.   This change happened after we booked our cruise and has not yet happened on the sister ships.   We love this location as it is only a few stair climbs up or down to major areas.  Avoiding the elevators is always a plus… We had hoped to do Flowrider that afternoon but it was not open.   The rain and Thunderstorms had passed by this point.   Looking at the Cruise Compass, the Flowrider was never listed as scheduled to be open on Sunday… (Late April 2017 Cruise Compass for same sailing showed it as being open…)  I did read a report several weeks ago about one of the pumps going out on it, so perhaps they were doing repairs that day.  
 
They did have a massive crane next to the ship that day and were installing new communication equipment (the white balls) above the main pool.   They had portions of Deck 11/12 closed all week as they welded and did electrical work.   This was annoying as it routed traffic through smoking area on 11.  Towel Station was moved to Solarium as well...
 
Wife and daughter each had a drink package- Wife had refreshment package and Daughter had soda package… We had gotten cups in our room and went looking for the Freestyle machines we had used on Freedom of the Seas on our prior cruises.   They were nowhere to be found and a crew member confirmed our worries that there were none onboard.   He said they had been scheduled for several years now but not installed yet… Not having the Freestyle Machines was a major drawback for us.   The low-cal/diet options, as well as all the drink varieties, were great to have.  The self-service aspect was missed as well.   In the mornings say before 11am, the only ‘bar’ on lower half of ship to get drinks is Café Promenade.   Wasn’t cool to wait behind 10 people ordering coffee to use our simple packages…  (Casino Bar might have been open as well but I am not going to walk into smoke filled room…)  Even during afternoon and evening hours, the barstaff always seemed to wait on customers ordering alcohol before getting to us for a simple Diet Coke or Ginger Ale order…  I don’t want to start a rumor, but it might be that bottled Powerade is included in drink package on ships without Freestyle Machine.   Purchased a couple and they never showed up in our Folio…
 
The muster drill was moved back almost an hour due to boarding delays.   Can’t remember exactly when we left port but it was later due to above mentioned construction and boarding delays
 
Dinner that evening was in the MDR at 5:30 Deck 5.   We had an assigned 4-top at the inner railing overlooking the chandelier.  It was a little too close to the front entrance for my taste, but being a private table I could live with the extra foot traffic.   Shorts were abundant.   (I confess to wearing them as well that evening due to luggage not being delivered yet...)
 
We skipped the ‘welcome aboard’ show in the main theatre in favor of playing some board/card games we had brought with us.  Olive or Twist was a popular spot for several gamers… (Card Room on Deck 10 was discovered later in the week…)
 
End of Day one…
Days 2 -7 and photos/videos to come…

If you only go into town, which is very doable from the ship, you are definitely missing a big part of the island.  It's a very beautiful place.

I bought the refreshment package, mainly for the unlimited soda. That was of course before I went to the Dr. and found out I have type 2 diabetes. So, I gave up soda cold turkey, 10 weeks ago.
I kept the package though, because
1) I'm a big latte drinker so I can see myself drinking at least 3-4 a day. Just skim milk, now.
2) I also enjoy a good spicy virgin Mary, before breakfast, and sometimes a virgin cocktail with dinner.
3) I'm also drinking a lot of water all day now. Bottled water is included in the refreshment package. 
When I  added all these together, did some math, and with the fact that I got the package on sale for only $18.50 a day, plus gratuities. It still made sense, at least for me,  to keep the package, even if some of the beverages offered, I'm no longer partaking in.

Hah! And speaking of things to do on board, look what @Matt just posted! First Time Cruiser's Guide to Royal Caribbean's Onboard Activities

Hi jqueen, welcome to our group!
I'm a fellow first-time cruiser, not departing on our first trip until the end of March next year. I can definitely provide some advice based on my own experience picking our first cruise, as I agree that it's pretty overwhelming!
The main advice I would give is to not try and figure this out on your own. i did it with my family and it caused far too much stress! It's my biggest "If I had it to do over again" bit of advice: Find a travel agent who specializes in cruising, and work with him/her to work through figuring out a good ship for your familiy that works with the time frame you'd like to go. The travel agents know the ships, usually know multiple cruise lines, and will work with you to narrow it down with a lot less stress. I didn't find Heather until after we had settled on this cruise and was just working with her for booking it, but then leveraged her a lot to pick a second cruise that we also booked for later in 2018.
I can highly recommend my travel agent, Heather. If you'd like her contact information, I can private message you the details. Full disclosure -- Heather is an agent for MEI Travel, which is a sponsor of this site. But she's very good, quick to respond to both emails and voice mails. Also, importantly in your situation, I think, she's fine with taking time on the phone to talk about ships, itineraries, cabin options, etc.

This popped up in my Google feed yesterday: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/05/sponsor-content-royal-caribbean-gives-thrill-seekers-a-shot-at-winning-the-world/. @Matt shared information about the contest on the blog in March: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2017/03/27/royal-caribbean-holding-contest-find-world-trekking-instagram-stars. I didn't know about this contest until yesterday (I must have missed that post!) But if you knew about it and checked #AdventureSquad on social media, you probably saw contest entries from many thrill seekers who shared their adventures. Royal Caribbean recently announced the finalists in the contest's five categories. The finalists will compete next week on Harmony of the Seas. They will participate in more heart-pounding, white knuckle activities onboard and in port. They will also be posting to Royal Caribbean's social media channels during the cruise. The winners will receive more cruises to have more adventures. What a great prize! Best of luck to the finalists!

This popped up in my Google feed yesterday: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/05/sponsor-content-royal-caribbean-gives-thrill-seekers-a-shot-at-winning-the-world/. @Matt shared information about the contest on the blog in March: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2017/03/27/royal-caribbean-holding-contest-find-world-trekking-instagram-stars. I didn't know about this contest until yesterday (I must have missed that post!) But if you knew about it and checked #AdventureSquad on social media, you probably saw contest entries from many thrill seekers who shared their adventures. Royal Caribbean recently announced the finalists in the contest's five categories. The finalists will compete next week on Harmony of the Seas. They will participate in more heart-pounding, white knuckle activities onboard and in port. They will also be posting to Royal Caribbean's social media channels during the cruise. The winners will receive more cruises to have more adventures. What a great prize! Best of luck to the finalists!

Welcome aboard, Katie and mom! And thanks to your Mom for taking on the challenge of being a teacher for all those years!

Hi everyone!
My name is Katie. I live near Allentown (about an hour north of Philadelphia), Pennsylvania.
My mom and I will be cruising for the very first time August 20th on Liberty of the Seas! We'll be celebrating her retirement after 35 years of teaching of Spanish and other culture and language classes! As usual, I've been doing most of the planning for our trip and periodically forwarding Mom relevant royalcaribbbeanblog.com posts.   I decided early on in our planning that, as part of the celebration, we should look at cruises that would take us to Spanish speaking countries; Liberty of the Seas is scheduled to stop in Honduras and Mexico. We'll be cruising while Mom's soon-to-be former colleagues and students are beginning the school year. This is the first year Mom can travel in late August and we are taking advantage of it, lol.
Hopefully this will be the first of many cruises for us. But I have to be realistic. Since it is a celebration, it may be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for Mom and me. I want to savor the whole experience. One of my relatives told me recently that there will be so many activities that we probably won't get to do everything onboard. She was right. Over the next 99 days and even on the cruise itself, we will be choosing certain activities to suit us. I wouldn't want to do it all. I can't wait to find out what we'll get to do, though!

Thanks for the warm welcome, @WAAAYTOOO, @tiny260, and @Matt!

Hi everyone!
My name is Katie. I live near Allentown (about an hour north of Philadelphia), Pennsylvania.
My mom and I will be cruising for the very first time August 20th on Liberty of the Seas! We'll be celebrating her retirement after 35 years of teaching of Spanish and other culture and language classes! As usual, I've been doing most of the planning for our trip and periodically forwarding Mom relevant royalcaribbbeanblog.com posts.   I decided early on in our planning that, as part of the celebration, we should look at cruises that would take us to Spanish speaking countries; Liberty of the Seas is scheduled to stop in Honduras and Mexico. We'll be cruising while Mom's soon-to-be former colleagues and students are beginning the school year. This is the first year Mom can travel in late August and we are taking advantage of it, lol.
Hopefully this will be the first of many cruises for us. But I have to be realistic. Since it is a celebration, it may be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for Mom and me. I want to savor the whole experience. One of my relatives told me recently that there will be so many activities that we probably won't get to do everything onboard. She was right. Over the next 99 days and even on the cruise itself, we will be choosing certain activities to suit us. I wouldn't want to do it all. I can't wait to find out what we'll get to do, though!

Here is that excel document
 
liberty-map.xlsx

The first one you find that meets the following criteria.
1) Is in your budget
2) Is in the time range that you can travel
3) Has a voyage that lasts for as many nights as you want to travel.
4) Name ends with "of the Seas"
5) Floats.