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Liberty 9/1/2019 - 8 years on land is too long!


melmar02

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We're staying at the Homewood Suites in Clear Lake. The have a free breakfast which is ok. Eggs, sausage, hash browns, pastries - the typical frozen and heated by the hotel kind of fare. We've stayed in nicer hotels, but it's fine for three days, and we get our two bedrooms with separate living room. There was an issue adding on last night's reservation - DH called and the same type of room was available, but maybe not the same room. The receptionist couldn't figure out how to add the one day and keep us in the same room. He called late and it was the over night desk clerk. We just wound up booking a separate reservation for the extra day online and figured we could take care of it when we got here. When we checked in, the front desk said it shouldn't be a problem for us to stay in the same room, but we do have to get our cards reactivated today. Should just take a minute, and then we're heading to the Children's Museum in Houston. Here are some pictures of the hotel room, DH is taking a nap in the master, so no photo there - it has a king size bed, TV, and another closet. The layout feels a little off. The room with the double beds has an en suite bathroom and the second bathroom is accessible by the living area. Usually the master has the en suite. Not a big deal, we just thought it was a little odd.

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I went to visit Eliana in the Suites Lounge this morning. She said that all of the welcome emails had been sent to people boarding on Sunday.  I recommend looking in both your spam inbox and your trash.  For reasons which I have never been able to explain, some emails coming to me from Royal Caribbean go directly to my trash can.

I also gave you bad intel.  Eliana WILL be here next week. She is not going home yet. So she will be your Suites Concierge after all. 

For those of you who may have wondered where they hold the sushi-making classes on LIB (since there is no Izumi on this ship) it is Giovanni’s. They have 2 classes tomorrow in the afternoon.  

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On ‎8‎/‎27‎/‎2019 at 3:31 PM, WAAAYTOOO said:

Today is COZ and as is our normal preference when we visit COZ, we stayed on the ship.  We have the UDP and decided to check out the ever-questionable policy on dining at Johnny Rocket, using the package.  The restaurant opened for business today (port day) at 1PM. We arrived shortly after 1:00 to find that the UDP on LIB covers all food as well as sodas. It does not (as we fully expected) cover the shakes...but they did give us BOGO shakes from our D+ coupon.  So we were able stuff our gullets to near the breaking point for $-0- with a total bill of $5.90 for 2 shakes.

We often forget about JR as a lunch option, which on port days, is extremely limited.  So remember that if you have the UDP and want a “specialty” lunch dining option on a port day, JR might be a good option - at least, on LIB.  I realize that different ships have different rules regarding JR.

Thanks for the reconnaissance!

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2 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I went to visit Eliana in the Suites Lounge this morning. She said that all of the welcome emails had been sent to people boarding on Sunday.  I recommend looking in both your spam inbox and your trash.  For reasons which I have never been able to explain, some emails coming to me from Royal Caribbean go directly to my trash can.

I also gave you bad intel.  Eliana WILL be here next week. She is not going home yet. So she will be your Suites Concierge after all. 

For those of you who may have wondered where they hold the sushi-making classes on LIB (since there is no Izumi on this ship) it is Giovanni’s. They have 2 classes tomorrow in the afternoon.  

I checked both spam and trash, and I have nothing. Thanks for looking, we'll just make our request once onboard. 

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Update on Liberty's skunky water. Last year the taste of the water was so bad we could not drink it.  Luckily we had the DBP so we just ordered bottled water.  This year the water is markedly better but still a bit skunky. We do not have the DBP this time so we’re lucky it’s at least drinkable.  It seems as though the later into the cruise we get the worst it tastes - kinda like they are getting towards the “bottom of the barrel”.  Interestingly, that’s the opposite of what happened last year.  The water started out rank and eventually got tolerable, last year,  but this year it’s getting worse as time passes.

Maybe others aren’t bothered by the taste and smell but it really bothers me.  Dan says it’s just “Texas water”. Can’t say that I’ve ever noticed Texas water being a problem in the past.  Oh well....

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We had a fun time at the Children's Museum. It's geared for 3-12 year olds, and it wasn't too crowded since school is back in session. They had an interactive secret agent mission add on which was $7 each. The kids ran all around the museum looking for stations to complete a mission. Without this, I think my almost 11 year old would have become bored after an hour or so of just the exhibits. It was worth the $14 for the kids to play since we got free admission. Thete was a hands on exhibit showing how locks work (prepping them for a Panama Canal cruise one day) and a bike that powered different objects (I thought of the blender bikes). There was also a 3 story play structure that reminds me of the potato chip thing on O class ships. After the museum, DD and I dropped off the boys at the hotel and got a mani/pedi at Vanity Nails. It had great reviews on Google and was just a block or so from where we're staying. 

 

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19 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

We just booked a Townhouse Suites for my cousin’s out of town wedding. It was the 2 separate bedrooms and bathrooms that got my attention. It looks good in your pics. I am assuming they are all pretty standard. 

Probably - after being here a couple days, we see it's age a little bit more. Breakfast was pretty much the same this morning, so DH wants to venture out to eat before we head the rest of the way to Galveston in the morning. I still say I would stay here again, but it wouldn't be my first choice and we'll probably get adjoining rooms at the Hilton down the road in February instead. 

Space Center was fun, but it got busy quick since it's Saturday. We toured mission control which has been restored for the 50th anniversary of the first moon walk. We plan to come back in February when we sail on Enchantment, and it shouldn't be as crowded since it will be the middle of the week. We're going to hit the hotel pool this afternoon, and repack our carry on bags for the morning. With the dog issue right before we left, I feel like I ran out of time and just threw in the the last items wherever they fit in whatever bag they fit!

 

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The chocolate bar was great. Vacation has officially started! 

I'm going to turn off my phone for a few days. We may get a day of internet half way through, but I'll post the review and lots of photos when we're back.

Thanks for all the help (especially @WAAAYTOOO for trying to get our suite email straightened out)!

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4 hours ago, melmar02 said:

Eating lunch at the Windjammer. Plate 1 is seafood paella and salad. Dessert to come!

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Holy... is that a crawdad in the paella?? I don't think I've ever seen that before! Guess they pull in some Louisiana Bayou style for the ships out of Galveston.

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On 9/1/2019 at 4:08 PM, JLMoran said:

Holy... is that a crawdad in the paella?? I don't think I've ever seen that before! Guess they pull in some Louisiana Bayou style for the ships out of Galveston.

Yes- my kids wanted to name him! ?

We got the internet today so I'll give a quick update. We explored the ship a little and registered for Adventure Ocean  after we ate.  We changed for dinner And my bag still had not arrived by then. Turns out my curling iron has an exceptionally long cord and looks like an extension cord. When they ran it through the scanner in front of me the guy at the monitor was pretty sure it was just the curling iron,  so I guess there's lot of room for interpretation. ?‍♀️

Here are some photos of our room. The kids' room has the standard shower 

 

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We're back and I have pictures uploaded to my computer. I'll be sorting through them and posting over the next few days. Here's the rest of our cabin and balcony. The master bath was the same as a Jr. Suite bathroom. We loved the space and separation of the living room, and two full bathrooms made getting ready for dinner pretty quick. The balcony was amazing, my kids even had room to practice their tae kwon do forms out there. It would have easily fit two more loungers. The view wasn't too shabby either. 

We really enjoyed this room. We have the same category booked for our February sailing on Enchantment, and we booked the exact same cabin while onboard for Liberty again in November, 2020.

 

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Day 1 - after lunch in the Windjamer we registered for Adventure Ocean, explored the ship a little, and wound up in the Star Lounge to wait for the rooms to open. We were only there about 15 minutes. The day one menu was waiting for us in our cabin when we arrived.

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We dropped off our carry on bags, put on our swim suits, and headed to the pool. We stayed mostly at Splashaway Bay, and visited the main pools as well. Both areas had lots of people, but I wouldn't call it crowded. The vacation had officially begun!

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We went back to the room around 3pm to change into dry clothes for Muster. 3 of our 4 bags had arrived by this time - mine was missing. After Muster, we went topside for sail away. We saw several jelly fish and birds, but no dolphins.

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With a 5:45 MTD reservation, we went back to the room about 5:00pm to get ready for dinner. I still had no bag, so I knew I would be visiting deck one before the night was out. Not a problem, but is was no fun drying my hair with the dryer provided in the room. After dinner we went back to the room and crashed. We planned on getting back out, but everyone was just too tired.

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Oh ,I almost forgot, my son and I went to deck one after dinner to get my bag. They had the bag marked as possibly having an extension cord in it, which I didn't have in there of course. I told them that they were more than welcome to open it up. They ran it through the x-ray machine again, and it must have been someone else looking at the bag while I was there because he said, "that's not an extension cord, it's just a long cord on the curling iron." So I guess the images are pretty subjective. We were down there all of 2 minutes and most of that was waiting on an elevator to pick us up. 

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On 8/23/2019 at 7:55 PM, melmar02 said:

Pulled out some of our luggage since we bought a new big piece today. I'm trying to decide if my daughter can squeeze all her stuff in her carry on size or if I need to let her borrow my old, big hard side. I just realized we have no medium sized bags. ? For 11 days now, I'm pretty sure my son will have to use a normal carry on size instead of his little Star Wars bag.

 

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Love that R2D2 suitcase. My son who is 7 will love it. Where do you get it from?

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Day 2, at sea - We woke up around 3am to the sounds of banging hangers in the closet. We were in a storm, and the ship was really rocking. I take a 1/2 a dramamine every morning on a cruise, but this morning I took a whole. DH and the kids wound up taking some before breakfast as well. Everyone felt fine then, so we headed to the Windjammer for breakfast then dropped the kids off at Adventure Ocean. The rain stopped mid-morning.

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DH and I took a much needed nap until the Suite Reception which was held in Olive or Twist. We both got bloody marys which were "loaded" with bacon and shrimp. They began bringing out food, and I started to take pictures but got too hungry to capture more than the first bite. In addition to these little salmon and cream cheese sandwiches there was beef wellington, sushi, beef wrapped asparagus, bacon wrapped jalapeno chicken, mini fruit kabobs, chocolate covered strawberries, and assorted one bite mini dessert items (I'm sure I left out an item or two as well). The sushi was just ok, but everything else was wonderful. After the reception we picked up the kids and headed to the Windjammer for lunch... DH and I didn't eat much after the spread we just had.

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They had one of the big cakes in the Windjammer at lunch, and the kids each wanted a slice. DD got hers and went back to the table while I helped my son. The slice they gave him was huge and had one of the meringues and a piece of white chocolate on it. We got back to the table and saw that my daughter's slice was even bigger than his and had a whole brownie on it - we could have split her piece among the four of us! None of it went to waste (ok, maybe it went to my waist)! ?

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We spent the afternoon at Splashaway Bay burning off the sugar from the cake. I may have added some back into my system with a lava flow or two though. 

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We went back to the room and got ready for our first formal night dinner. Last night I had the wild mushroom soup, the prime rib, and the hazelnut chocolate cake. Tonight was the carpaccio, duck and creme brulee. It was all really good!

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We came back to the room to change and met Trumpet and Hops... the beginnings of our towel animal zoo. We tried to get in to see In the Air tonight, and arrived about 20 minutes before the show started. The entire theater was already packed including the gold card section. There was another show at 10:15, but that was just going to be too late for the kids. DD was NOT happy. ? We decided to call it a night.

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Day 3, at Sea - We woke up to a much prettier sunrise today!

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We decided to check out the Suite Lounge, and the kids were very happy to find chocolate glazed donuts. DH was happy to find the espresso machine. Then we headed to the Windjammer for our real breakfast. 

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We explored a little more before dropping the kids off at Adventure Ocean. From the helipad, seas were pretty calm.

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We tried our luck in the casino and found we didn't really have any this trip, so we picked up the kids and went to lunch at Johnny Rockets. Milk shakes were included with the beverage package, but floats were not. They were $3.50 or $3.75 I think. DD spilled her float when she was about 3/4 of the way through drinking it. They replaced the float for free and took off one of our meals too which I thought was above and beyond. It's not like the ship was rocking and it slid off the table or anything, the glass slipped out of her hand. As a side note - hand sanitizer gets really slippery on your hands when they get wet, like from condensation on a glass. Thankfully we brought travel size detergent and washed her outfit in the sink. 

When we got back to the room after lunch, a plate of treats was waiting for us.

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We only stayed in the room a little while because we wanted to see the ice show. We got there about 30 minutes ahead of time and were able to get a seat, but it filled up pretty fast once we sat down. Overall the show was good, there were a few falls and an entire routine where the female skater looked nervous before every single lift - maybe she just learned the routine? At the end of that number she was so excited! The kids thoroughly enjoyed the show, and a routine at the end was very funny. After the ice show we went back to the pool for a little bit then got ready for dinner. Here's the dinner menu for day 3, but we decided to eat in the Windjammer because no one was really hungry after the burgers at lunch. 

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After dinner, we introduced the kids to shuffleboard. Tonight was a comedic juggler, and he was really good. A couple of jokes were just a little too old for the kids, but he was very funny and interacted with the audience a lot. We came back to the room for the evening and met Shelly.

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44 minutes ago, melmar02 said:

We came back to the room for the evening and met Shelly.

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Wow, your stateroom attendant is so skilled! On our 7 night on Freedom we only got 3 animals, one of which was a string ray (1 square on top of 1 twisted tail) which felt like a cop out, hahaha. These are so impressive! I hope he or she can re-collect the eyes for recycling post-cruise. 

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59 minutes ago, DDaley said:

Wow, your stateroom attendant is so skilled! On our 7 night on Freedom we only got 3 animals, one of which was a string ray (1 square on top of 1 twisted tail) which felt like a cop out, hahaha. These are so impressive! I hope he or she can re-collect the eyes for recycling post-cruise. 

Wilbort, our stateroom attendant was amazing. He was like a ninja sneaking in to tidy the room while we were at breakfast each morning, and in total we had 12 towel animals. I'm not sure if this is because we were in a room with 2 bedrooms, or if he just played it up for the kids, but it was awesome!

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Sorry for the delay in posting - we got back and life started right back up again!

Day 4, Roatan 

This morning's sunrise was accompanied by a bit of land on the port side of the ship. We decided to go to Chops for breakfast this morning instead of the Windjammer, a suite benefit we had yet to try out. I think DH was afraid of missing out on the buffet selection, but we all found plenty to eat. DS and I shared an order of french toast on top of our eggs, and it was delicious.

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Today we were taking the only excursion we booked through Royal. The Cruise Planner offered one time for the excursion which was 8:50; however, when we boarded and looked at our actual tickets the start time was 10:00am. We made sure to pick up a couple boxes of cereal from the suite lounge for the kids because we initially thought we would be back on board in time for a late lunch. Since we stuffed ourselves at Chops, no one was hungry until we made it back to the ship anyway so it all worked out.

Our group met on the dock right in front of the ship. We were early, so we had time to get our pictures made and listen to the musicians.

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As we were waiting in line, we kept thinking more and more people would show up, but there were only 17 of us on the tour including 5 kids. My son was the smallest and was handed the sign to lead us all to the bus. My husband had this job for the America's Cup excursion in St. Maarten on our first cruise... he got the job because he's 6'4" and hard to miss though. 

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We took a short ride (20 minutes) through town to catch a boat next to Daniel Johnson's. We sailed over to Big French Key (took 5 minutes, maybe) and after walking past a rescue tiger enclosure, we were outfitted with our snorkel gear which was all in good repair. They had a giant locker for our whole group to use while snorkeling. We then went back to the dock to head out to Lobster City which was just a minute or two away... we didn't see a single lobster. There were several coral heads with mostly small fish and a small drop off. Our guide found a conch and brought it up for everyone to get a better look. The snorkeling was OK, not spectacular, but the kids really enjoyed their first open water experience. Once the snorkeling was over, we sailed back to BFK and had about an hour and a half at their beach. The beach was protected and very calm, and they had a restaurant if you wanted to purchase food or drinks. We didn't but others in our group said the quesadillas were ok but the nachos were not good at all. 

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We then got back on the bus and headed to Iguana Hideaway where we were surrounded by iguanas. You could go into an enclosure with the young iguanas, and the kids got to hold one. Then the guides gave us all branches to feed the big iguanas, and our group was rushed - they knew when it was feeding time! At the back of the Iguana Hideaway, there was a small dock that was enclosed and full of tarpon which we got to feed as well.

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We got back on the bus and headed back to the ship. Our guide had the driver stop by a fruit stand and bought a bag of rambutans for us all to try. By the time we got back on the ship, it was close to 3pm, so we headed to Sorrentos and Cafe Promenade to pick up a couple things for lunch and ate on our balcony. Oddly, this was our only visit to either of these spots the whole week!

Dinner tonight was the goat cheese and tomato tart (which needed more goat cheese on it), the lamb shank (so good!), and the pavlova. We went to 90's name that tune in the Schooner Bar after dinner, and I found my new favorite drink - the Habanero Grapefruit Daiquiri! The kids were silly tired by then, so we called it a night.

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We had moved the towel animals to cabinet in the living room and added post it notes with their names dubbing the collection The Allen Zoo. The elephant was beheaded in the process, and we fixed it the best we could. Wilbort fixed him up properly and left us three more towel animals - one waiting for us when we got in from port, and two after dinner. Here's Caramel the gorilla, Fido the dog, and "The Zookeeper". 

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Day 5, Costa Maya

We woke up and decided we wanted to take advantage of the suite breakfast in Chops for the rest of the cruise. DS still wanted the buffet, so after DH, DD, and I ordered, I took him out to fix a plate and brought it back to our quiet corner in Chops.  We decided not to get off the ship at all today, and after breakfast we had a shuffleboard tournament at our son's request - DD won by a mile. After shuffleboard, we went to the room to plan the rest of our day. We purchased internet for the day, and let the kids out of their electronic detox for a little bit then headed up to play mini golf. Parts of the course were 'squishy'. You would step up to putt and the turf would sink a little beneath you, but otherwise it seemed in good repair. There was absolutely no breeze though, and it was really humid/hot up there. While fun, we were all done by the 9th hole; we probably would have been much more comfortable out there on a sea day. Next up was the Windjammer for lunch, and judging by how busy it was, it seems like a lot of people didn't get off the ship today.

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After lunch, DH took a nap, DD played on the tablet (she was going through some serious video game withdrawal!), and DS and I went up to Splashaway Bay for the afternoon. Then it was back to the room to get ready for dinner. I had the garlic soup, the roasted beef strip loin (I think... maybe it was the pork loin. Good but not memorable), and the grand marnier souffle.

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Tonight was date night, and we dropped the kids off at Adventure Ocean... but we couldn't really decide what to do. The casino wasn't calling us, and we didn't care about seeing Saturday Night Fever. We went to Vintages to try the Oberon Cab Sav, and it was very good. We then went to Olive or Twist for ballroom dancing which was a bust. The few people that were up there were playing cards. There was one other couple that was there for dancing, and we both left in the middle of the first song - the atmosphere was just off with recorded music and the lights all the way up. Off to the Schooner Bar for what was listed as "Piano Bar Sing-A-Long" in the Cruise Compass. Alas, there was no singing-a-long. There were four single women sitting in front of the piano, two other couples,  and a few people coming and going at the bar. We were thinking we would hear Piano Man, Sweet Caroline, and the like. Instead we were treated to a good rendition of Santana's Smooth and a couple of ballads... nothing you would really sing along to. It was disappointing as far as what we thought would be an upbeat fun time, but it good people watching though. By this time, it was getting late for the kids. We decided to just pick them up and get them to bed because tomorrow was their big beach day. Poor DD was asleep on the couch in Adventure Ocean when I picked her up. ?

Tonight we met Flap the bird and Opal the opossum. At least we think it was an opossum? 

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Our menagerie was starting to take over.

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We woke up to another beautiful sunrise on our way to Cozumel.

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And we docked next to Allure who was rerouted due to Hurricane Dorian. She made ship #7 in port today.

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We went to breakfast again in Chops (with a plate from the Windjammer for DS), and left the ship around 9:30am to catch a cab to Paradise Beach where we learned some important lessons for next time. After a quick ride, we were at the check-in stand with a Caribbean Cooler in hand. They had my reservation in their system, but couldn't find record of my deposit. Fortunately, I brought my payment confirmation email and PayPay receipt with me. The lady at check-in called her manager, and it turns out they have been having PayPal issues. Lesson #1 - bring your paperwork! Glad we did. We paid our balance and were brought to our four loungers by the ocean. We had two umbrellas and were about 4 rows back from the water.

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The area in front of the inflatables is relatively sandy, but as you get further to the left, towards the pier, it becomes pretty rocky with sea urchins. DD wasn't wearing her water shoes, started out in the wrong spot, and quickly decided that she didn't want to swim in the ocean much today after slipping on the rocks. Lesson #2 - water shoes are your friend. We played on the inflatables a bit, and decided DS would be more comfortable going out to the far inflatables with a life jacket. No, problem because we have the AI, right? Not exactly. They want an ID to leave as a deposit. I got my passport (because we're #bringitwithyou people) out of the locker and went to get the life jacket. But... they use a binder with baseball card size page protectors to hold the IDs. Because my passport wouldn't fit in the driver's licence size slot, they wouldn't take it. I could have left a $20 deposit instead, but DS really just wanted to get back in the water at this point. Without the driver's license (or maybe a passport card), or cash deposit, we also couldn't use the kayaks, snorkeling equipment, etc. It wasn't a problem this time because the kids were happy with the close inflatables and the pool, but next time they'll probably want to try all the 'other stuff' too. Lesson #3 - bring a driver's license/passport card. 

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We decided to order lunch. There is no sit down restaurant at Paradise Beach. Your waiter brings your food to you at your lounger, or you can also order from their taco truck. I had the volcano nachos, DH had the chicken quesadillas, DS had a cheese pizza, and DD had popcorn shrimp, coconut shrimp, and a cheeseburger. There was a quick rain shower while we were waiting for our food, and we were mostly protected by the umbrellas. We were wet anyway, right? It stopped by the time our food was brought to us, but we did see a couple waiters bringing food out in the rain. They carried huge umbrellas in addition to the trays of food keeping it all dry. There was nothing gourmet about our meals, but it was what we expected from a beach front restaurant. Everything was tasty and came to us hot. Even with 7 ships in port, it seemed like only half the chairs were full. The pool was pretty full when we left, but never felt too crowded. This was a good beach day, and we would certainly come back keeping in mind the lessons we learned. Time to head back to the ship to get ready for formal night.

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After having the Vidalia Onion Tart, Lobster, and Baked Alaska, we went back to the room and met a creation the kids dubbed Old Grandpa and Tarzan who was sporting a pair of DS's swim trunks.

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We walked around a bit after dinner, and the wanna be @twangster in me took a shot of Splashaway Bay at night. I have a long way to go! DS shed a few tears tonight because tomorrow would be our last day. ?

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Day 7 - at sea

Alas, we have sadly come to our last day at sea. Chops again for breakfast, then we stopped by the suite lounge. One of the suite perks not listed anywhere is that a person from the Next Cruise office is there every evening. We asked Eliana, the Suite Concierge, if he would be there tonight, and she said no and that the last night it was all hands on deck in the promenade office, but she could make us an appointment for him to come up to the suite lounge. This sounded perfect - back to the room to make sure what we wanted to book! We'll be going on Liberty again in November 2020 in the same cabin, but the Grand Cayman, Jamaica, Cozumel itinerary. I could get used to having two cruises booked at a time!

We had a short bridge tour at 10 which was also put together by Eliana and was lead by the Loyalty Ambassador. Its amazing how small all the equipment is and how little there seems to be. It seems like there should be a lot more instruments to steer a ship this size! After the quick tour we were able to ask the first officer questions. It was interesting, and just the right length for the kids - I'm not sure they would have done well on the longer All Access tour.

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We went back to the room to grab a cruise compass and found Bingo the bat. We explained to the kids that he was probably going to be the last one, and that the zoo may disappear while we were at dinner tonight since tomorrow Wilbort was going to be very busy trying to get all his rooms ready for his new guests. Insert sad sigh here.

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Off to lunch in the Windjammer where a farewell cake was waiting. 

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DH and DD spent the afternoon napping and playing on the tablet, DS and I went up to pool one last time. He really wanted to go on the big slides, but he was JUST under the 48" requirement. I was expecting a lot of disappointment, but I think since we had told he we were planning on booking another on Liberty, he was OK with it. It was really windy on the Splashaway Bay side of the pool, and being the last day, it was packed. Time to get ready for dinner. The French Onion Soup, Rack of Lamb, and Cherries Jubilee were calling me!

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After dinner, we packed a little and then decided to all go out dancing for a little bit. The star lounge had a band that started at 8, so the kids weren't too tired... yet. We lasted almost all the first set, and then it was time to get the kids to bed and finish packing - DD was falling asleep on the couch of the Star Lounge. We were welcomed by one last towel animal, a lobster...or is it a squid?... named Squishy.

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The final collection

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Debarkation Day

The Suite Lounge is closed the morning of debarkation, so DH had to go to make his own coffee this morning. *Gasp* Reality started to set in. Chops was open for breakfast, and after, we went back to the room to pack the last bit into our backpacks. We said good bye to our animal friends and made our way to Vintages which was the suite departure lounge. There was an announcement about a delay in departure, but it was only 15 minutes or so. Eliana led our group down the casino stairs and out a side door of the casino to debark. We picked up a porter and were on a shuttle within 15 minutes of leaving Vintages. A quick stop at Buccees to fill up and grab snacks, and the kids were out less than 30 minutes later - the mark of any successful family vacation!

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