steverk

I've traveled a couple Vision class ships but never on grandeur. So take this with some skepticism! 

All Vision class ships have elevators and are less crowded.  Therefore they work well with wheelchairs, but get an accessible room.

The park cafe is located in the solarium, which is fully enclosed. The food is pretty basic. Sandwiches and such.

I've never visited izumi so I can't comment on that. 

I have a passport book and card. The book stays locked in the safe. The card goes with me on excursions.

I'm not sure the card is enough to get me home, but I'm sure it would make it easier to deal with the US consulate (and it is definitely better than nothing)

We just had this happen in January and did not receive double points.  I've asked my travel agent to look in to it, but haven't heard of any progress on it.

26 minutes ago, SpeedNoodles said:

https://www.sciencealert.com/this-chart-shows-how-the-wuhan-virus-compares-to-other-recent-outbreaks

Thank you for sharing. That chart does put things in perspective.

I understand the ill passengers did not have Coronavirus and everyone has been released from the ship

https://www.usatoday.com/videos/travel/news/2020/01/30/coronavirus-update-italian-cruise-ship-quarantine-lifted/2859529001/

It's my understanding that two way radios are considered contraband and will not be allowed on board.

I've used them before without issues (although they didn't work well with all of the metal around), but that was more than 10 years ago. I'm pretty sure the policy changed after we used them.

I always enjoyed the water slides and ice shows on Liberty.

As far as a hotel, I'd suggest staying in Kemah.  Texas City is an industrial town without much nearby.

Kemah is located on the bay, has amusements, restaurants, is near NASA, and is just a fun place to use as a home base.  There is a Holiday Inn and a Boardwalk Hotel. Both appear nice and are well located. The ride to the port is longer than Texas City, but still very manageable.

14 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

I have been up and down this blog as well as other sites trying to get as much information as possible. It seems like the Liberty is not a popular ship...or maybe the itinerary is less than ideal.

Welcome aboard! I'm sure you'll enjoy Liberty as it is a great ship with tons to do. In fact, it's my favorite ship in the fleet.  Also, Cruise Critic has repeatedly ranked it as one of the 4 best Royal Caribbean ships for several years running.

The downsides of the ship are related to sailing out of Galveston, rather than the ship itself (although it is going in for a major drydock and "amplification" in early 2021, so it may show more wear and tear than normal).

One downside of sailing out of Galveston is the great distance from the port to the Caribbean.  This means sea days at both the beginning and ending of your cruise.

The other issue is the distance to the airport.  If you drive in, it is no problem. If you fly, then it is a 45 minute (if you fly to Houston William P Hobby airport) or 90 minute (if you fly in to George Bush Intercontinental Airport) ride to the port.  There's no public transportation from the airport to Galveston so you'll either need to hire a taxi, UBER, or Lyft or purchase transfers from the cruise line.

I hope this answers your questions.

Have a terrific cruise!

Back to the original point of this post.  We don't have any new info on the ship itself.

Do we know where it will be based?  I've heard that the Florida ports are resisting LNG fuel. Any thoughts on how that might affect deployment?

I just sailed on Rhapsody using a printed seapass card and everything, including pictures uploaded.  We still checked in, but they didn't take a picture.

It was fairly painless, but I didn't think we saved any time.

22 hours ago, twangster said:

I was on a Carnival ship once that couldn’t leave Galveston.  It happens in Galveston in the winter sometimes.  Not a lot you can do about Mother Nature.  

That's one good thing about fog...It keeps Carny from running down the tall ship Elissa while it's tied to the pier! 

Thank you @JLMoran for setting up this discussion page. It prompted me to call Flights by Celebrity and I'm favorably impressed!

They set me up with flights for my upcoming New Zealand/Australia cruise. 

The airfare was less than I was seeing on Travelocity and fully refundable!  They even got me direct flights in and out of Houston!

I'm astounded! What a deal!

Liberty didn't have one when I was on it a year ago.

Thanks to both KristiZ and ChessE4!  I'm planning a trip in November and will make it a point to use local currency.

Does anyone have experience in non-Caribbean ports, such as Australia or New Zealand?

I booked connecting rooms at the nextcruise desk.

Have you tried travelocity? I find that they have a better website. 

Other than that,  I'd say call or use a travel agent. 

I'm on rhapsody right now and it's been pretty rough. I've been out in bigger seas, but that was on a bigger boat too.

I'd suggest bringing ginger pills with you. You can find them in the vitamin isle at Walmart.  They're cheap and my daughter swears by them.

I'm on rhapsody and we were supposed to dock at Costa maya yesterday. There was room for us, being much smaller than allure, but cancelled anyway. 

Captain said rhapsody can't overcome a crosswind of more than 25 mph when docking. Wind was 30 so they had to skip.

We got close enough that I could see liberty and a Holland America ship had the two big births tied up. 

It's been a rough and windy 2 days back to Tampa. 

I'm on Rhapsody of the seas, which is Vision class, right now. I really enjoy the more personal service and slower pace of this class ship. However, if you're looking for a more active vacation, I'd stick with the bigger ships. There's just more for the kids to do. 

I just stopped by next cruise and can confirm that jewel will be in Galveston December 2020 for a few months at least. They even gave me a price on January 2, 2021 9 day sailing.  I asked about March and they had it laid out but not finalized. 

I'm sure they do, but I wouldn't expect them to announce them in advance 

What ship are you sailing? Customs in Galveston can be very slow, especially if you're on a larger ship like Liberty. On the other hand I've sailed Vision of the seas and made it through very quickly. 

I frequently go to Galveston on Sunday and never had a traffic problem on a Sunday morning.  

However they're doing extensive road construction on i45 between Texas City and NASA 1.

I'd plan on 1.5 hours to get off  the ship and 1.5 hours travel time just to be safe. Therefore,  12:45 is doable but it depends on the ship arriving on time. 

I'm pretty sure oasis doesn't allow access to the helipad. 

Sorry! 

1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

DTW 

Well alrighty then!  In that case, flying Southwest in to Hobby makes the most sense!

Enjoy your cruise! Liberty is a great ship.

I live in Houston and have sailed Liberty twice.  It's my favorite ship.

Since you're coming from DFW, why don't you just drive to the port? It sounds a lot simpler than flying.

As far as hotels, have you considered the Boardwalk Hotel in Kemah? It's an interesting location with amusements, restaurants, shopping and a midway with a simple 30 minute drive to Galveston.  Just take S.H. 146 south until you're on the Galveston causeway.