GregD

Just now, WAAAYTOOO said:

Don't you secretly hate those people who are going the opposite direction to you ?  I know it's wrong....

yup.....

 

Have a great cruise. Sailing on her next year also in the ATS, so this will help me prepare.

Have a great cruise! I’m working on getting caught up with all the other live blogs That are out there. It was herd enough to keep caught up with mine, let alone everyone else! Thankfully I have many hours of waiting at the airport to do so. 

See ya later Liberty!

We are headed to the airport. Our wallets a little lighter, waistbands a little tighter, and our hearts full of wonderful memories of a great time with family and new friends we met on board.

We were walked off the ship by Francis. Slight delay in getting our luggage, but we are on our shuttle to the airport waiting to depart. Time from walking off to on the shuttle 25 minutes, snot bad at all.

Currently sitting in the schooner bar with the rest of the suite guests ready for departure. Post cruise blues have set in ship wide. All week walking along the hallways people would greet each other with cheerful greetings, this morning all you get is a terse nod

We are back where we started

Current situation.....sad day 

After dinner we dropped the kids off at adventure ocean, and we started the arduous chore of packing. Since we have the transfer, we have luggage tags #1. Conveniently our departure time lines up with the suite departure time, so in the morning we will meet Francis to be escorted off the ship. The gangways are still down, so it will be deck 1 for departure.

with most of the packing done we headed off to the farewell show. In the cruise compass, it was described as a comedy show. Turns out it was a variety show, with a comedy act stuck in the middle. The comic was Dean Austin and he was very funny.

After the show we hit the silent dance party. If you have not done this, you should, it’s a great time. They hand out radio headphones with two channels. Each channel has different music playing on them, so you get groups of people singing along and dancing to different songs which results in fun people watching. This is one of Lydia’s favorite events.

Johnny gave it the college try, but soon realized all the cool kids were sitting and watching, so he came and sat on my lap. Of course I wasn’t about to let an opportunity to make him do something slip by, so when the YMCA came on, he of course was made to do the motions.

These two kept at it, and weren’t impressed by us cool kids.

Shortly later, Johnny had no more room in his fun bucket, and that he was tired and ready for bed. We let the ladies continue with their fun, and we headed back to the stateroom. About two minutes after his head hit the pillow, he was out.

Our last meal in the MDR and I finally got a halfway decent sunset. 

This evenings menu.

Appetizers that we chose were the Asian Style pork tacos, and an iceberg wedge salad. 

Entreés were the lamb Chops, Steak Diane and the Garlic Tiger Shrimps ( which of course, I didn’t get pictures of)

For dessert, we got the Tres Leches and the Cherries Jubilee 

Sadly our dinner came to a close, and we said our parting words to our Waiter Bryan from the Philippines and his assistant Raju from India. Raju will be departing with us for a return trip home before continuing on with RC on Oasis. Both received well deserved extra tips from us and we wish them well.

2 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I loved the AllAccess Tour.  Do they still take you to the trash and recycling area, food storage and engine room ?

We went to the engine control room, not the actual engine room. As cool as that would be, it’s probably a little loud in there and I can’t imagine the liability they would be taking on with that. 
We didn’t get to the recycling area either. I heard that we were supposed to go there. I wonder if it was a goof that we missed it. We did make it to the food storage area. Since it’s the last day, it’s mostly empty. When we sail star class on Oasis, I want to try to see if the genie can get us a tour on an earlier day so we can see all the provisions actually on the ship, and not in passengers stomachs.

Just now, SnickerTail said:

Oh, hey, I would only have to do laundry twice a week. Not counting towels. 

My thoughts exactly 

Just now, Ampurp85 said:

I love following your blog as we are doing Liberty for Halloween 2020, then our first Oasis class Halloween 2021. You have provided so much information and pictures that when I get on I will feel like a pro. How were the manatees..... I love them so much, they are so friendly.

Thanks for following along! I’m glad I’ve been able to provide so much info for you. So we were in the Manatee pen all of 5 minutes. The trainer justs walks up and down the platform with a head of lettuce that the manatee is eating so you get to pet them briefly. Their skin is pretty soft and has lots of ridges on it. It’s really unique. I have a hard time comparing it something. Their faces are really cute with all the whiskers on them as well. 
Have a great time on the Halloween cruises. I hope they decorate the ships for you. I’m sure the cruise director Cory will have lots of fun things planned!

And now folks, we are now caught up! Its now Saturday afternoon. We have received the dreaded luggage tags and departure information. The seas are much calmer now and we are moving at about 20kts towards Galveston. We should be tied up around 6:30am. Earlier in the cruise Johnny mentioned that he wanted to see the bridge. We had talked to Francis about this, and apparently due to "security reasons" this is no longer a suite perk (we got a tour on Anthem) so he signed us up for the all access tour that cost $. Oh well, its something that the geek side of me enjoys so why not.

We met this morning in the MDR for the first part of the tour, where one of the managers discussed how many meals are prepared etc. On average 125, 000 meals are prepared weekly. We toured the galley, and saw all the different areas where food is prepared.

Shrimp Cocktail anyone?

Jonny was impressed at the stacks of covers

Bakery operations where 50,000 rolls are baked a day

This is the main hot line. Each dining room has its own dedicated line. All food for the windjammer is made in the deck 3 galley. The specialty restaurants have their own galleys.

Meals and portions are tracked as they go out so they know what is moving.

Following the galley, we headed below to tour the provisioning area. 

We met with the manager who spoke about how the provisioning happens. Since about 2007, RC has been keeping track of their provisions and what meals are ordered. The provision manager orders the supplies 3 weeks ahead of time. He knows based on historical trends what to order more of and when. All of the loading of the 496,000lbs of provisions happens in 5 hours on turn around day. Currently since we are at the end of the cruise, the ship is nearly empty.

You can see some of the remaining fruit being gathered up by crew members.

Normally, these stacked metal pallets are full of supplies

 

All of the galleys and food storage areas are completely encased in stainless steel. These are washed down completely every day. The provision manager is actually looking forward to Sunday because he hopes he gets inspected by the health department. Apparently enchantment just was. He feels that with the inspection and the anticipated good marks, he uses that as a tool to show the crew why they go through all the trouble of the extensive cleaning that they do. 

Next up was the laundry area. We couldn't see all of it for some reason, I couldn't hear what he said very well. I did catch that their main washers have a 9 ton capacity. I should get one of those for my house, that will make laundry much easier.  

Here is a folding machine

Pressing shop

All along "I95" the main passageway down the middle of the ship. You can see the weeks recycling all bundled up ready to be offloaded.

Crew mess

We hit the engine control room where the mechanical parts of the ship is controlled. 

More elaborate deck plans

Close up shots of the propulsion systems and stabilizers

Next stop the bridge.

The crew gets some more detailed maps of the ship, obviously

Emergency plans

Finally the bridge. 

Here are the controls on the port side wing. These mirror those on the center, and starboard side.

These guys have a great view

Someone was a little excited to drive the ship. We apologize to our shipmates who suddenly felt the ship turn hard......

After the tour we got a sheet of fun facts about the ship that I will post later. I'm off for some more advantures!

 

 

 

6 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I hope from your glimpse of HM, you realize how awesome Oasis class is!  I miss our Star Loft...

I cannot wait to sail Oasis Class! I have a feeling it will be hard to go back to other ships after. 

Friday night is formal night #2, which is also lobstah night! We didn't get all fancy, just part way fancy. 

The menu for the evening

Appetizers, we are Italian, so of course we got the caprese

Dinner was surf and turf

Final lobster tail count was 7 between Julie and I. Heather doesn't like lobster.

Following dinner, the kids went to adventure ocean, and we took in the comedy show. It was pretty funny. This evening, we were passing through a cold front so the ship was rocking and rolling. We were also pretty tired from three busy days. Once the comedy show was over we all hit the sack.

Thursday morning we found ourselves docked next to Harmony of the Seas. This is my first time seeing an Oasis class ship up close, and they are MASSIVE. I'll be on Oasis next year so I will soon get to experience them first hand. While everyone was getting ready for the day, I did a coffee run and snagged a few pictures. Here you see the famed "gated community" that is a favorite of many user here.

@Lovetocruise2002 will recognize these shots..

I tried to get an Aricelli sighting, but alas, she was off doing what genies do!

Once on the dock, that canyon feel between the two ships is really neat.

We met up with our fellow excursioners, and were whisked away to Chakanaab for our dolphin experience. We had a great time with the dolphins. We got plenty of interaction time. There were kisses, and cuddles and petting the dolphins. We got to do the dorsal tail pull, and the experience where the dolphins push your feet and you end up standing up. Lydia being light and a cheerleader did really well with this, and was completely out of the water! Unfortunately we don't have pictures from that. They don't allow your own cameras because they want you to buy their package. For us, as a group of 5 would have been $275 for the pictures, no thanks. Following the dolphin encounter, we got a brief encounter with a manatee as well.  Lunch and drinks were included in this excursion as well, which was pretty tasty.

After lunch, we did some snorkeling and beaching etc. It was a very fun day over all. 

These were the dolphins that we met, 

This is an overview of the area the dolphins are in. They all remain in the middle area which is quite large. There are smaller pens on either side where they do some of the interactions. If you are doing the dorsal tow etc, your experience will be in the large middle area. Helpful hints, wear water shoes if you have them. The platforms you stand on are metal grates, and if you are barefoot, they aren't that comfortable. 

With our day done there, we headed back to the port. We browsed the shops, tasted some tequila, bought some t-shirts and souvenirs. No matter what side you fall on the political spectrum, this shirt is funny...

Soon enough it was time to say goodbye to Cozumel.

Evening activities included some cocktails and then we went and saw Saturday Night Fever. The show was excellent. The singing and dancing was very good. They have a pair of Latin dancers on board that are AMAZING. The male dancer can do some amazing things with his partner. There have been so many death defying flips and tosses that leave you amazed. Dancing is not my preferred form of entertainment, but even I can appreciate skills, and the hard work that goes into achieving that level that they have!

Once back on board, we got changed and ready for dinner. We went up to the suite lounge for some pre-dinner snacks.

Tonight’s menu.

Appetizers consisted of the Goat cheese and Tomato Tart, and the coconut shrimp.

Entreés were the braised lamb shank and the pappardelle Caronara.

nothing exciting for dessert.

@Ampurp85, what a sad story. I can completely understand your hatred towards Monkeys.

Thursday morning found us anchored waasaaaayyyyyy out in Belize. This is to protect the fragile reef system. Here is a photo to give you an idea how far out you anchor.

it’s a good 10-15 minute tender ride. The small cruise liner off the bow of Liberty was the Cosat Luminosa. Today on the agenda was the Jungle Trek and cave tubing at Jaguar Paw. One off the tender we were loaded onto busses and away we went. The ride to the site was a good 90 minutes. Our guide was great and kept us entertained and educated throughout the trip. A couple fun facts. Belize only recently became an independent country. Though independent, they are still part of the British Comonwealth. Queen Elizabeth is on their money. Because of ther history under British rule, English is their official language and all of their signage is in English, and school is taught in English. 
 

We traveled through sparsely populated areas to get to the site, but there was still easy to see the difference between the haves and have nots. Our guide told us that there is no welfare problems, so the people of Belize have a work hard for what you got mentality. 
 

We eventually made it to the location of the tour. We were split into smaller groups of 8, provided tubes, life jackets and helmets with lights. We then proceeded on our jungle trek. For this, the walk was quite easy. It’s a wide, mostly flat gravel path. For this excursion, shoes that you are willing to get wet are required. They do rent water shoes at the site if you forgot to bring some. The walk takes about 20 minutes, the guides point things out on the way about the different flora in the area. We didn’t not see any wildlife. During the bus ride we were advised of all the things in the jungle that could kill you from snakes to jaguars with all the usual jokes about running faster that then slowest person, or protecting the guide since they knew how to get you back to the ship. 
 

Once we reached the mouth of the cave, the rafts were lashed together and away we went. We were told that the water temperature is “shockingly refreshing” with plenty of shrinkage jokes thrown in. Being from Upstate NY, we found the water temperature just shy of warm. I am happy to report there was no shrinkage. 
 

The cave system is large and very open. Claustrophobic people should have no problems with this excursion. Inside there are plenty of formations, and there are talks of the history of the Mayans use and beliefs surrounding the caves. After about 30 minutes in the caves you emerge right where you started your trek. After returning your gear you are treated to lunch, which was very good! There is chicken, rice and bean and slaw.

 

I had the best beer from Belize while there. (Full disclosure, it’s the only beer brewed in Belize so....)

The nice thing is the prices at the site for beverages and snacks etc were reasonable. The beer was $6 a bottle. A couple cans of Pringle’s for the kids were $5.

soon after lunch, we boarded our busses back to the port. This ride was much quieter. As our guide said, after a fiesta, everyone wants a siesta. That siesta was quite welcome. Soon enough we rode our tenders back to the ship.

 

There was a little bit of wandering around after dinner. Johnny and I ended up seeing the parade of room attendants on the promenade. They all were carrying towel animals. One was given to him, which made his day.

later, we headed to Studio B to catch the ice show Encore, An Ice Spectacular. This was a “review” of musing through the years, from Broadway Musicals to modern pop and rock. I though it was interesting, it started off with Phantom of The Opera, which they must not have a full license for, because they changed the lyrics for the show. 
 

The skating and the choreography was very good. There were plenty of spins, triples, flips, lifts etc. I did feel bad, one skater was having an off night, and just could not land his jumps. The show still was very enjoyable.

Love and Marriage came later. Always entertaining. 

The evening was topped though by accidentally twinning with the cruise director, Cory.

Wednesday evening was Caribbean night, so we all got dudded up in our finest Caribbean wear and headed to dinner. (Sorry about the rotated pictures. For what ever reason, when on the mobile site, if you choose a smaller size, the pictures rotate. We are going through some rough weather right now, and Voom seems spotty and slow) 

The menu:

Appetizers included escargot, burrata, and the crab cakes.

Entreé choices included the ahi spiced tuna, and  the roasted beef strip loin.

We all chose the Grand Marnier Soufflé. (Favorite dessert of the week so far)

11 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

 I hate monkeys though....they knew what they did. 

What did the monkeys do?

1 hour ago, Scatmanjack said:

Did LotS ever get Coke Freestyle machines?  Been rumored as 'coming soon' for 5+ years...

Coming soon

Back on the ship, we went to check out the water slides. Lydia and I tried out the perfect storm slides. She was too light to do the other one. I’m wondering if there is an issue with all the water pumps back there. The flowrider has been out of commission all week. With the slides, they were not fast at all. I actually had to push myself out the bottom of them. They were almost painful when you went over each joint in to tube. Oh well,  those off the list of completed activities. One trip each in each color of the slides then we spent the rest of the afternoon soaking in the hot tubs and drinking rum punches.