Galveston Steve

We took the maiden voyage for Liberty of the Seas from Galveston on Nov 13th, a special 9-night cruise. It was a great ship and here are a few observations from the largest cruise ship ever to sail from Texas: Embarkation We arrived by car at 9:30 am and dropped our luggage at the pier. When we returned to check in at 9:45, we walked right in to the terminal, breezed through security, and had a very short wait to check in. We waited in the new temporary tent, a 10,000 square foot air conditioned waiting area with nice restrooms. This tent is temporary while they finish construction on the new terminal expansion (see photos in the post above). Boarding commenced at 11:00 am starting with Pinnacle Crown and Anchor members, then working their way down to Diamond Plus, Diamond, etc. Walking up the passenger loading bridge to the ship, we had a great view of the terminal construction (see photos in the above post) Ship Impressions Liberty is a beautiful, very large ship. She is in excellent condition, even with a full dry dock refurbishment coming in January. It will be interesting to see her after the refurbishment. As with most ships, we observed a lot of routine maintenance, painting, and cleaning during our voyage. RCI really takes care of their ship assets. We also observed that a contract crew had begun installing the stack scrubber during our cruise. The work did not seem to be interfering with any ship activities as it was being done forward of the rock climbing wall and above the Adventure Ocean area. The new scrubber will remove sulfur dioxide particulate from the exhaust to improve the environment. Promenade Stateroom We had booked an interior Promenade Stateroom because we got a great price, and we liked that there would be a window overlooking the Promenade to make the cabin feel more open. We had been in much larger Junior Suites on our most recent three cruises. Although we knew the interior stateroom would be small, my wife was shocked at the lack of space. Moral of the story: once you taste a larger stateroom, you can't go down in size! By the end of the cruise we were accustomed to the smaller cabin and I was happy we had saved the money. Our main complaint on the stateroom was the lack of storage space compared to the Junior Suite. Maybe they will address this during the refurbishment. We heard almost no noise from the Promenade during our cruise. During the Dreamworks parade we could hear the music a little bit. We opted to watch the other events from the Promenade itself instead of from the cabin. This gave my wife a better view of the "macho men" during the Village People songs on 70's night. Dining When traveling as a couple, without other friends and family, my wife and I have gravitated away from the Main Dining Room. It gives us more flexibility to "go with the flow" depending on the events of the day. We did My Time Dining but only two evenings. The service was good and the food was good as well. We ate at Chops for my birthday and really enjoyed it. We also tried Portofino since we had never done that one before and may never get the opportunity again. On this cruise we actually liked the food in Portofino a little better. I think Chops could have done a better job of searing the steak to give it a nice crust, but maybe we have been watching too many cooking shows. RCI says to allow at least 2 hours for specialty restaurant dining. Our waiters seemed to be overloaded with too many tables and no assistant waiter. Our service was slow because of the staffing level in the restaurant and kitchen, not because our waiter lacked any skill or motivation. We also tried Johnny Rockets twice for lunch. This is a fun alternative for lunch or a snack. Love their burgers and fries! You really can't go wrong in the Windjammer. This buffet has so many amazing choices that we ended up here for most dinners on Liberty. I am amazed at the consistently high quality of food in the Windjammer across all the ships we have been on. We brought two bottles of wine on board. We brought them to the specialty restaurants where the waiter took care of opening and pouring it for us. No problem. Entertainment As usual, the Liberty of the Seas Orchestra was fantastic! They opened the Welcome Aboard Show with Maynard Ferguson's Gonna Fly Now. This included several trumpet solos by the music director, and that blew me away! Each of the musicians in the orchestra took several turns at solos throughout the cruise and they were all great. There was also a "Cirque-Style" show with singing, dancing, and flying artists that was amazing. We really enjoyed this. The musical Saturday Night Fever was good, but not great, in my opinion. Dining and entertainment are all very subjective and depends on your own likes, dislikes, and opinions. There were also several amazing guitarists on board. They did some solo shows in various venues that drew a large following of fans. Shore Excursions Falmouth: We did the Falmouth Food Tour, which we arranged separate from RCI based on a recommendation elsewhere on these message boards. This was well worth the time and a safe and fun way to see Falmouth on foot without feeling "out of place" in a developing country. Our two knowledgeable guides provided a history lesson along with the local cuisine, and they seemed to know everybody in town. Grand Cayman: we like walking around George Town, so we stopped at a coffee shop to catch up on the internet and pay my American Express bill. Then we went to a favorite restaurant, Guy Harvey's Restaurant, and ended the afternoon with some shopping. Routan: we were going to stay on the ship here, but we ended up missing this port because of a medical emergency that had us returning to Grand Cayman to save someone's life. We had a nice day at sea instead. Costa Maya: we did a Mayan Ruins tour through RCI. There isn't much to do in Costa Maya except shopping in the port area or arrange an excursion or beach visit. The Ruins tour was pretty good with air conditioned busses and an excellent guide. It's an hour ride to the closest Ruins, and another tour was two hours. I'm glad we went to the nearest one because the bus ride was boring with not much to see. Cozumel: I guess this was our food tour cruise, and we did the Cozumel Food Tour which we also arranged separate from RCI based on a friend's recommendation. They have a couple options for tours or cooking classes. Highly recommended! We visited several family-owned restaurants, a bakery, the market, and the chocolate factory. Food, drinks, and dedicated taxi transportation were included. Other We took Matt's advice and booked a NextCruise onboard (balcony on Liberty in 2017)! We had to pay only a $100 deposit, but received $100 onboard credit for our current cruise plus $300 onboard credit for the NextCruise. I was happy to take the extra $400 just for booking onboard! Will definitely do that every time from now on! Several big NFL Football games were shown on the big screen by the pool. Thursday night, all day Sunday, and Monday Night Football were all on the big screen which made a fun way to watch the games. Disembarkation We did the self-assist disembarkation and rolled our own luggage off. We met at the appointed location and they started disembarkation at 7:30 am. It was an easy walk to the terminal where we walked right to an open Customs and Immigration officer. By 7:40 am we were outside and headed home.

You guys crack me up, but I'm definitely going to see if I can find some Love Boat episodes online. It's been too long... or has it?

Took Matt's advice and booked a NextCruise onboard: January 29, 2017 - Liberty of the Seas!

Thanks for the great observations Jerel. Your thoughts on the Promenade room are interesting. We just got back from being on Liberty (same class) and had similar observations: not enough storage, and those shelves next to the mirror are virtually worthless. I didn't measure them, but 1.5" sounds about right! Also, I loved having the small bench seat in front of the window. It added a nice little seating area. I agree the window wasn't very functional because we were on Deck 8 and the actual Promenade was on Deck 5, so you had to get very near the window and look down to see anything. It did make the stateroom seem much less confined though, and we were not bothered by Promenade noise at all.

Here are some photos from Liberty of the Seas maiden voyage from Galveston on Nov 13, 2015. Check-in was very quick with no crowd when we arrived around 10 am. Inside the new temporary tent, used as a waiting area for Crown and Anchor members. Boarding began at 11 am on this day. View of the construction of the terminal expansion from the passenger loading bridge. Terminal expansion construction as viewed from the ship, with the 10,000 square foot temporary tent in the background. Royal Promenade with a large Texas flag.

This may be helpful... I just noticed it on Royal Caribbean's FAQ page located here: http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/faq/details.do?pagename=frequently_asked_questions&pnav=5&pnav=2&faqType=faq&faqSubjectId=336&faqSubjectName=Food+%26+Beverage&faqId=3233 Q: Are children allowed to dine in our Specialty Restaurants? A: Children younger than 13 must be accompanied by an adult. Plus, kids ages 6-12 now dine at our specialty restaurants for only $8, and kids 5 and under eat free! Little sailors get their very own menu – a round-up of kid-friendly favorites from the "grownups" menu.

I agree, that will be just fine. I've dropped down to a dress shirt, no tie, and khaki's. Sometimes I throw on a sport coat if I'm traveling with folks who want to dress up. You will see men in a variety of dress, from casual to suit and tie. No need to buy special clothing for formal night unless you just want to.

The large temporary tent is installed at the Port of Galveston and being readied for passengers at Terminal 2. The tent is connected by a connecting tent to the main terminal and is surrounded by a security fence. No word yet when it will open to passengers but it looks certain to be ready for Liberty's arrival on Nov 13.

Doc, this is a parking garage for day use and does not offer cruise parking (I checked into it on my cruise last year). They have just built a new parking garage adjacent to it but it's not open yet and I don't believe they will offer cruise parking either. The elevated walkway is interesting and was refurbished about a year ago but it doesn't make much sense since it doesn't directly connect to cruise parking. By the way the elevated walkway leads to the terminal used by Carnival. The RCCL terminal is to the west of that. You will be happy with Park N Cruise. I have used them a couple times. Friendly folks, the only indoor option I know of, and the best location to just walk across the street to the ship. Having a prepaid reservation is the way to go.

Wow, I didn't know they did mid-cruise surveys on longer cruises. That's great!

On Brilliance last month we had a lot of mobility-impaired passengers (Canada/New England during the school year draws an older crowd). There were several wheelchair-bound passengers at our muster station and I recall they were already there when we arrived (indicating they followed DocLC's advice to get to the muster station early) and were attended to by their families. The link that FloatMe posted above leads also to a rather detailed Guest Special Needs Form that should help Royal Caribbean prepare for your needs.

Thank you for sharing this experience because I think it's normal for Royal Caribbean to address issues quickly to make your vacation great. I have to say that we have experienced both excellent and disappointing service, especially in the main dining room on our sailings. The biggest mistake that we and others make is not making our expectations known (in a courteous manner or course). On Brilliance recently we had slow MDR service the first two days and I'm not certain whether it was a waiter issue or an issue with the system of feeding so many people at once. We were traveling with family and friends and none of us wanted to complain. The third night we ate in Chops and the head of food and beverage stopped by our table to check on our Chops meal, which was excellent. He then asked about our MDR service and he could see the sour look on my face. I explained our MDR experience and he apologized and promised to fix the issue (based on our Chops reservation he could identify our table and wait staff in the MDR). The next night our waiter personally apologized for the slow service. The head waiter (who hadn't checked on us the 2nd night) came by and apologized and was very attentive the rest of the cruise. Even the MDR supervisor pulled me aside as I passed by his station and wanted to make sure that our experience had improved. The entire team had stepped up to make our MDR experience great for the rest of the cruise. I truly believe Royal Caribbean wants you to have a great experience. They can't help you if they don't know about your issue. Speaking politely to your head waiter or other supervisor will normally get things resolved quickly. Then again it's really special when you have a head waiter like you experienced, someone who anticpates your needs and goes the extra mile to deliver the Wow thar RCCL promises.

Matt makes a strong argument when he uses cold, hard facts.

Matt is correct, on Brilliance last month the only short term option besides the unlimited option was a 24 hour pass for $40. Yes, $40. Also, you don't have to sign up at the internet cafe. You just connect to the ship's wifi on your device and then a page pops up that gives you the purchase options. It's not cheap, but it's very convenient.

Well, I guess I'm hanging out with the right crowd. Like Jerel, we are fortunate enough to have a daily cruise ship view. In our case it's the entrance to Galveston Bay where we watch the ships sailing in and out of Galveston and Houston. My wife and I use the Marine Traffic app to track our "fleet". Like the rest of you, knowing all the nerdy details about our ship before we sail is a must!

Interesting thesis that starting with slides on Liberty is to take a shot at Carnival... CCL has three ships based in Galveston year-round and RCCL is putting the larger Liberty here (with slides) to replace Navigator. It's definitely getting interesting here in Galveston.

You guys have made this an addictive hobby…. Liberty…. 3 Apr 2016…. Post-Refurbishment

Have a great time Marc! I like the overnight in Bermuda idea. I hope to experience that some day.

I guess I got carried away after returning from my cruise and catching up on the blog posts. It looks like the clock has reset, so I'm back in business!

A couple comments on our experience on Brilliance last week. This was our first cruise as Platinum Crown & Anchor members so I was interested to see what happened. I am glad to report that at least at the Platinum level we were certainly recognized. At Boston, they immediately flagged us to the shorter Platinum & Up check-in line, and made sure we were seated in the proper waiting area. Once onboard, we had a sheet with the Platinum Seapass offers shown as soon as we got to our stateroom, along with the CAS robes. On Day 3, our Platinum pins were presented by placing them nicely on our bed. We were invited to both the Welcome Back event and the Top Tier event, both of which were well done on Brilliance. The Top Tier event had plenty of great appetizers, free drinks for 90 minutes, a band, and the welcome speeches. Overall I felt very appreciated by Royal Caribbean, even as a lowly Platinum member. One other story to relate: After the Welcome Back event, we were with our friends who were in a Grand Suite (we were in a Jr. Suite). Our friends invited us to the Concierge Club. We were hesitant but they insisted that based on their experience there would be no questions, so we entered with them just to see what it is like. After a few minutes, the Suite Concierge came over and checked first with our friends to see if everything was alright with their stateroom and made sure everything was going well. She checked her list and noted that they had an issue with their bed which she immediately followed up on. Then she turned to my wife and I and asked if everything was ok and if we wanted a refill on our wine. We explained that we were in a Jr. Suite and had brought our wine up from the Welcome Back event, and were just there to socialize with our Suite friends. The Concierge immediately welcomed us and said she was glad we were there. She offered to refill our wine again and again I declined, noting that we were not in a real suite. She was very gracious and would not take no for an answer, motioned to one of the waiters and had him bring two complimentary glasses of wine for us. Again, I felt very appreciated by Royal Caribbean and pleased that she was so welcoming in a situation that could have been uncomfortable for us. Well done, Brilliance of the Seas, for making us feel special!

Thanks WAAAYTOOO and DocLC! That's great info and it sounds like it will be a good port stop. I'll have to wait a while to give you a Like: "You have reached your quota of positive votes for the day"

WAAAYTOOO, I would love your thoughts on Costa Maya, why you like it, how comfortable you feel walking in town, excursions you enjoy, etc. We will be there next month on Liberty's inaugural cruise from Galveston, but I think that is just a one-time opportunity. I'm thinking a Mayan Ruins tour would be the thing to do there but am looking for opinions.

I think this is a common first impression, and one that I had until I moved here (Galveston). I would be happy to provide suggestions for things to do when spending a day or two pre- or post-cruise in Galveston: there are many live music venues, a martini bar, gumbo bar, rooftop bar, cigar bar, juice bar, outdoor German beer garden bar, many excellent dining options, local coffee shops, ice cream shops, museums, live theater, shopping, art galleries (come on an Art Walk weekend!), tours of beautifully restored 1800's mansions, golf, a micro-brewery, Moody Gardens adventure resort, Historic Pleasure Pier amusement park over the Gulf, tour the 1877 tall ship Elissa... You will certainly experience better beaches on your cruise, so don't come here for the beach! Let me know what you are looking for and I would be glad to make suggestions. One great resource is www.galveston.com

Hey Jerel, we were in Halifax last week on Brilliance and really enjoyed the city. Too bad it was a bit rainy, but we enjoyed walking to the Citadel and just seeing some of the city. I was amazed at all of the construction going on downtown, and the cruise terminal was very nice.

Will be sailing on Liberty on her inaugural cruise from Galveston in November…. 9 days on board and a 3-mile drive to the port for me ;) I agree with jticarruthers: two good options either way.