UkuleleCruiser

Liberty of the Seas 12/26/16 -- Anyone know who the cruise director will be?

Just for the record, there are two cruise ship berths in Galveston. Although there are five ships sailing from Galveston (including Disney Wonder here over the holidays), their schedules are such that no more than two ships are in port on any given day. 

OK, maybe I just WANT there to be three berths!

In your stateroom you will be provided a list of the shipboard offers. 

 

Sailor_to_Cruiser was kind enough to provide a pdf of one of these sheets in a recent post. That was for Oasis, but your's will be much the same if not identical.

 

To use the benefits you just need to provide your SeaPass card to the appropriate crew member. You'll get one set of offers for each person in the stateroom (i.e. two of each for a couple).

 

My advice is to use the ones that interest you as early as is convenient (i.e. don't "save them for later") ... the end of the cruise comes quickly.

 

Also, if you've lost track of what you've used on what card, crew members can generally look up what's available to you.

Awesome! Thanks!

We just noticed there are benefits to our Crown and Anchor Gold level that we can take advantage of on our upcoming cruise. Namely:

1) Special breakfast before Debarcation

2) Priority Embarcation

3) Special offers on the ship

 

Will we be provided information on this with our packet of stuff when we get on the ship? Do we have to inquire about them separately?

 

What sort of special shipboard offers might I be looking at?

 

Thanks for your feedback as the excitement builds -- 34 more days!

No worries. Besides, no tradesies! Lol.

 

I'm up to date in my models, until I break one that is.

No! Don't break anything! :-)

I'm willing to buy and ship models.

Going on...

Anthem, Dec 9th

Navigator, Feb 2017

Radiance, Sept 2017

Wait a minute: My mouth went too fast! I don't have an adventure. Yet! :-)

I'm willing to buy and ship models.

Going on...

Anthem, Dec 9th

Navigator, Feb 2017

Radiance, Sept 2017

I see you have been on Adventure -- I could trade you an Adventure for a Navigator, if that is something you want.

I will be in touch my friend! cash will probably work :)

 

I'm not going till may though.

No worries. All my money belongs to Liberty of the Seas right now, anyway!

Everyone has had common sense answers, so this will be a little repeat I guess. You can carry on whatever you can carry, basically. I always carry on anything that is either too important that I can't risk it going missing, like medication, or too fragile for me to risk being manhandled in to the rooms, like my ukulele. Also, anything you might need that first day. Gonna hang by the pool? Maybe a swimsuit or sunscreen. 

perfect guys! I cant help with those 2 i'm afraid, but going on rhapsody in may for anyone interested.

I need a Rhapsody! Let's chat. If I have something you'd like in trade, let me know. Otherwise cash usually works.

This is my current collection. It includes:

Princess Cruises Grand Princess

Holland America ms Eurodam

Celebrity Millennium

Celebrity Solstice

Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas

Royal Caribbean Voyager of the Seas

Royal Caribbean Radiance of the Seas

 

I have not sailed on any of these ships, so if you have and want the memento, make me an offer.

I prefer to trade for ships I have been on:

Navigator of the Seas

Carnival Conquest

Rhapsody of the Seas

 

Let me know! 

Matt, 

 

This is from the Chop's description. They actually list a menu, but it looks like the "something extra" is still... well, extra! I absolutely have no problem paying more for dry aged steak or lobster, but in looking at the $75 price tag per person it looks like it's JUST the Chop's experience, plus a glass of champagne. 

 

I tried calling customer service. They didn't know, and I didn't have time to wait on hold. If an answer doesn't appear here, I'll call back and see what I can find out.

 

It looks to me like it's just an upcharge because it's a "holiday date" and there isn't much different about the experience. I already have chops and chefs table booked. Not sure I need to spend this much money to duplicate those experiences on New Years Eve.

 

Interested in your take -- Maybe there's a whole bunch extra that I'm missing!

So, this Culinary celebration appeared as an option for our 12/26/16 sailing on Liberty. Has anyone had experience with these? They are charging quite a bit more, and it's not clear exactly how it's different from a regular Chops or Giovani's visit. Yes, you get champagne ( a glass), but do the "something extra" items come included? Why exactly is this worth more? I'm interested, and am a big fan of Chef's Table, but not sure how this is different...

Did a detailed spreadsheet comparing buying drinks individually versus the package, and gave RCCL the benefit in the spreadsheet of not including the 18% gratuity per day.  So, if the wife and I bring on 2 bottles of wine, and we drink about 3 drinks per day (6 total, 3 per person), we came out about $100 ahead buying our own drinks. I used a $10 price per drink as an estimate -- House wine is about 8 bucks a glass, as i recall. It all has to do with how much you drink to determine if it's a good value for you.

I concur on the quality of rccl bedding on Jewel. They were as good as any Marriott I've been in, and slept like a baby. (Slept for two hours, woke up crying with wet pants ;) jk)

That's usually my experience, too!

OK, aside from Chefs Table and a few LaFite Wine Tastings, there are a few culinary activities onboard that the wife and I are either doing or strongly leaning towards. Please rate and debate the following:

Martini Mixology -- R Bar

Pasta Class -- Giovani's

Champagne Brunch and Galley Tour

 

 

and......GO!

Try a Yeti or one of the cheaper wanna be Yetti's at walmart, I think they are called Bubba.  Guy I work with uses one all the time, coffee stays hot all day (and I mean all day) and he says cold drinks will last for several hours.

I like the Yeti cup, and I have seen the knock-offs at Walmart. But I am trying to do this cruise without spending a lot of money before hand. (I have A LOT of travel mugs at home!)

Since everyone has paid their cruise in full before departure, what would RCL do with a $300 check I mail them three weeks before departure....apply to my account or would they return the money to me?  I would like to create my own credit to ease the pain upon disembarking!

I was sending checks to RCCL, and once the actual cruise was paid for, they returned the checks to me uncashed. In fact, because it was set up as an auto-pay with my bank, we had two or three checks returned before we got it stopped at the bank.

It is causing no problems.  It has moved away from the main passenger terminals.  The other Carnival ships and Liberty of the Seas can do their normal business

Thanks. Good to know.

I always bring a travel mug with me on cruises, and have never regretted it. This year, I am considering my choices:

 

1) inexpensive travel mug from Starbucks. These actually only cost $1.00, and I use a hotsleeve I have for another ceramic cup. (Not bringing the ceramic) This hods 16 ounces. Disadvantage: It doesn't keep the coffee hot that long. Advantage: It is an actual cup which I could use for ice water or other beverages on board. here's an article about it: https://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2013/10/14/trash-talking-starbucks

 

2) I have a Stanley travel mug that resembles a Stanley thermos. It also holds about 16 ounces. Advantage: Keeps coffee hot a good long time. Disadvantage: you can only really use it as a travel mug type drink container, so putting cold drinks with ice makes it difficult to access the ice. http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/store/jump/productDetail/68928?searchid=7SPFGPLA&feedid=googlenonbrand&product_id=68928-GRN&adpos=1o3&creative=60642850578&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=CLnajLOhn9ACFYaGaQodeyYG-w

 

What travel mugs do you guys bring? And what do you think?

Pool deck and waterslides:

 

This area was great on Liberty. I found them to be not crowded at all most times during the cruise. The solarium is beautiful although I went right by it on embarkation day not realizing it was an open area. Chalk that up to being used to the one on Oasis and Quantum class. Bar service was exceptional, especially at the Solarium Bar. The pool in the Solarium was almost a perfect temperature.... not the "ice cube" effect that you feel at some pools when you first step in.

 

Watersldies were fun! The green one was definitely the faster of the two, maybe just a bit too fast! I did not try the tidal wave.... just seeing it made feel a little intimidated trying it. Staff in this area were very sociable and helpful.

 

Next up: Bars and entertainment 

The slides scare me.

You're correct in that a drink over $12 will cost you only the difference.  This is the same as it was under the old Ultimate package.

 

Bottles of wine are a bit different, as you'll get a 40% discount on bottles of wine under $100 and 20% off bottles above $100.

Good point. Forgot about the bottle discount.

Now that Royal has eliminated the different drink packages and there is only the one. I see it includes any drink up to $12. So if a drink or glass of wine costs more than $12, do I just have to pay the difference or is it just not included in the package?

Yes: You pay the difference, plus an 18% tip.

I've been thinking about this idea: Instead of buying a drink package, we buy individual wine bottles. Wine starts out at about $33 each. And RCCL allows you to bring on two bottles. So if we go through a bottle a night with dinner, we'd buy an additional 5 bottles for $165. What do you think? Alcohol package for two for $165.

I've been thinking about purchasing individual bottles of wine to have with dinner. Didn't get as far as looking at the slippers.