Give me Liberty annnd an $18 DX Package? I'll Take it! Liberty of the Seas Feb 16-23 Western Caribbean

[Lovetocruise2002 10,755]

Yikes, that is a long wait to get home....

[WAAAYTOOO 11,546]

Yippee !  So glad you were ahead of the wave and could get your flights changed before the surge.  Flying is not for the faint of heart these days.  You must be clever and proactive and it looks like you guys were both.  Safe trip.

[GregD 1,574]

Post cruise thoughts, observations, etc etc.

We had a great time on this cruise. Liberty is a great ship there is plenty to do, and the crew that we dealt with are outstanding. My earlier observations about how quickly hallways are cleared continued throughout the week.  I don't know if the crew was better, or the passengers were more conscientious than on Navigator, but unlike navigator, I never saw piles of dishes, and glasses everywhere, room service trays did not linger etc. I even saw a couple crew members wet vacuuming and squeegeeing the deck in the splash away bay area. I'm not sure what supervisor they pissed off to get assigned that task, talk about an effort in futility! 

Comparing Liberty to Anthem and Navigator, I do say we really liked the Music Hall on Anthem so we are happy that came to Oasis for our next few cruises coming up. I really liked El Loco Fresh on Navigator, so I hope for future guests Liberty get that venue. 

Funny story about paying attention to your bills. Heather purchased some lanyards for herself and the kids, and somehow the cashier charged Heather an 88K tip! Yup, you read that right 88 thousand dollar tip. When looking at the receipt, it looks like there was some sort of glitch, and the system took Heather's account number and placed it in the tip area. We thankfully saw that quickly and guest services quickly took care of that.

Lets talk about food. The food on Liberty was better than that on Navigator, but not quite as good as Anthem IMO. I find this interesting since with menus being standardized across the fleet there should be little variation. Speaking of little variation. I witnessed a family discussing the food with a waiter just outside the MDR. They apparently were on a B2B. The waiter asked them why they had not come to the MDR for the second week, and was very concerned that they weren't there, and that somehow his service was the cause of their absence. They assured him that his service wasn't the case, and that they chose to eat elsewhere due to the lack of variety in the MDR. He advised them to talk about this in the post cruise survey, which I also did. While I like the food, I would like to see a better rotation in the menu choices. (I know this is a huge undertaking, but one could hope)

I would do this same itinerary again if given the opportunity. In all of the ports, I saw multiple different excursions that I would like to do, so I guess I do have to come back. I would also not hesitate to use the Air2Sea program again. Everything has worked out well. Could I have done transfers to the airport cheaper and maybe not have had this long of down time here waiting for our flights, probably, but again this has had a semblance of

So that is appealing. 

Well those are my thoughts for now. We should be boarding in about 20 minutes, so time to do all the last minute potty breaks etc. Thank you everyone for reading and following along. All of your comments and reactions were truly appreciated. Now my 256 day long dry dock starts, so time to live vicariously through all of you guys!

[WAAAYTOOO 11,546]

I can just TELL that Heather is a very generous lady.  The fact that she tipped the lanyard guy $88K doesn’t surprise me AT ALL.

She probably just did that so that you would insist on being the one to go and fetch lunch from now on.  She’s smart, too !

[GregD 1,574]

We have a new pilot....they let anyone pilot a cruise ship, plane, you name it these days!

[Lovetocruise2002 10,755]

@emsff02 Thanks for taking the time to blog!  Safe travels back home!

[Vangrizz 47]

Indeed, thanks so much for taking the time to keep us entertained. It's been a really fun read.

And since Royal deducted the $88K tip, I think we know where the budget for the next cruise is coming from. Royal Suite anyone?

 

[Guy Gadwa 127]

Thanks for taking us along on your journey.  Enjoyed!!

[JennyJenny 199]

On 2/22/2020 at 5:19 PM, SnickerTail said:

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

I WANT THE FOLDING MACHINE!!!!!!

That's what always takes the longest time.

Is there a "put it away machine" too?

[JLMoran 6,785]

Thanks for the great live blog, @emsff02! Enjoyed following along. Hope you had a safe flight home and that everyone is settled back in to their non-ship routines.

[jcackler 24]

Thanks for sharing - enjoyed following along!

[Johnstewarth 10]

So enjoyed your blog, and appreciate the effort that went into posting it! My family is sailing on Rhapsody Thanksgiving week, and Roatan is one of our ports. My daughter (8) would be over-the-moon to hold one of those adorable sloths. I've read that there are risks to humans getting too close to sloths. Am I correct in assuming that the sloths at the sanctuary you visited have been "tamed" and are not dangerous?

[GregD 1,574]

13 hours ago, Johnstewarth said:

So enjoyed your blog, and appreciate the effort that went into posting it! My family is sailing on Rhapsody Thanksgiving week, and Roatan is one of our ports. My daughter (8) would be over-the-moon to hold one of those adorable sloths. I've read that there are risks to humans getting too close to sloths. Am I correct in assuming that the sloths at the sanctuary you visited have been "tamed" and are not dangerous?

Yes, I suppose you could say the sloths have been tamed. That being said, they are still wild animals and can be unpredictable, so as long as you are nice to them, they will be nice back. I think some of the "risks" refer to the long claws that they have that can be sharp, so just be mindful of them.

[GregD 1,574]

Funny story to add here, because its one of those situations where all you can do is just laugh.  So of course, we had that LOOOOOONNG travel day home. We arrived back to Albany at around midnight. We collected our luggage and headed to the car only to discover that something got left on and of course..................we had a dead battery......The three of us adults just looked at each other and laughed. The kids thought we lost our minds. Thankfully, a phone call later to the fleet company (Heather has a fleet car for work that we get to use for personal use as well) a tow company is dispatched and we eventually made it home. Now I'm wishing for those ship laundry machines as I slowly make my way through that mountain.

[GregD 1,574]

Some stats that we learned about the ship for all those facts nerds out there like me

The ship makes its own fresh water at a rate of 712,800 gallons a day. 65,000 lbs of ice cubes are made a day

125,000 meals are made in a week. 60,000 apps, 84,000 mains, 90,000 desserts, 69,000 steaks

Consumed in an average week, 13,000 lbs of beef, 8,000 lbs of chicken, 5,000 lbs of pork, 1,400 lbs of lobster (15,000 lobster tails) 11,000 lbs of seafood, 2,500 lbs of salmon, 90,000 dozen eggs, 25,000 lbs of flour, 4,300 lbs of sugar, 1,500 lbs of coffee, 64,000 lbs of fresh fruits, 65,000 lbs of fresh vegetables, 600 lbs of fresh berries, 18,000 lbs of potatoes, 8,000 gallons of ice cream, 8,000 gallons of milk, 5,800 lbs of fresh cheese, 10,700 bottles of beer, 8,500 cans of beer, 11,500 cans of soda, 2,900 bottles of wine, 200 bottles of whiskey, 18,000 slices of pizza.

The ship itself is made of 3,700,000 sq/ft of steel plate with 350,000 individual pieces of steel used in the hull. There are 1,013 MILES of welded seams, 111,000 gallons of paint, 2,200 miles of electric wires/cables, 100 miles of piping, 62,430 sq/ft of windows, 139,920 gallons of fresh water in the pools.

At 154,000 gross tons, Liberty is equal in displacement to the total of Royal Caribbean's first FOUR ships put together.

I just love facts like these. I cant wait to find out these numbers when I sail on Oasis.

 

[Dogmom 22]

31 minutes ago, emsff02 said:

Funny story to add here, because its one of those situations where all you can do is just laugh.  So of course, we had that LOOOOOONNG travel day home. We arrived back to Albany at around midnight. We collected our luggage and headed to the car only to discover that something got left on and of course..................we had a dead battery......The three of us adults just looked at each other and laughed. The kids thought we lost our minds. Thankfully, a phone call later to the fleet company (Heather has a fleet car for work that we get to use for personal use as well) a tow company is dispatched and we eventually made it home. Now I'm wishing for those ship laundry machines as I slowly make my way through that mountain.

I left our car running at Port Canaveral when we cruised on Oasis. We found out about 30 minutes after departure so there was nothing we could do but my husband did panic. RC quickly escorted us to a specialty restaurant and said they would take care of it. By the time we were done with dinner they had made phone calls and got the local sheriff to oversee a locksmith unlock, turn off and re lock the car. All at no charge! We tipped everyone involved and made a donation to the sheriffs department. Not my best moment but like you said, I could only laugh.

[WAAAYTOOO 11,546]

1 hour ago, emsff02 said:

Funny story to add here, because its one of those situations where all you can do is just laugh.  So of course, we had that LOOOOOONNG travel day home. We arrived back to Albany at around midnight. We collected our luggage and headed to the car only to discover that something got left on and of course..................we had a dead battery......The three of us adults just looked at each other and laughed. The kids thought we lost our minds. Thankfully, a phone call later to the fleet company (Heather has a fleet car for work that we get to use for personal use as well) a tow company is dispatched and we eventually made it home. Now I'm wishing for those ship laundry machines as I slowly make my way through that mountain.

What a gut kikka !  I guess it was the perfect way to end an already stressful travel day.  UGH

[WAAAYTOOO 11,546]

34 minutes ago, Dogmom said:

I left our car running at Port Canaveral when we cruised on Oasis. We found out about 30 minutes after departure so there was nothing we could do but my husband did panic. RC quickly escorted us to a specialty restaurant and said they would take care of it. By the time we were done with dinner they had made phone calls and got the local sheriff to oversee a locksmith unlock, turn off and re lock the car. All at no charge! We tipped everyone involved and made a donation to the sheriffs department. Not my best moment but like you said, I could only laugh.

How did you even remember that it was on ?  I wouldn't have even though of it.

[GregD 1,574]

51 minutes ago, Dogmom said:

I left our car running at Port Canaveral when we cruised on Oasis. We found out about 30 minutes after departure so there was nothing we could do but my husband did panic. RC quickly escorted us to a specialty restaurant and said they would take care of it. By the time we were done with dinner they had made phone calls and got the local sheriff to oversee a locksmith unlock, turn off and re lock the car. All at no charge! We tipped everyone involved and made a donation to the sheriffs department. Not my best moment but like you said, I could only laugh.

Now that is funny. Like @WAAAYTOOO said, how did you know, and what did they do with your keys? Or is that how you knew when you suddenly did the why aren’t my keys in my pocket dance.

[WAAAYTOOO 11,546]

35 minutes ago, emsff02 said:

Or is that how you knew when you suddenly did the why aren’t my keys in my pocket dance.

This just happened to me recently.  I am having surgery TOMORROW (replacing my much-beleaguered left knee...none-too-soon, I might add) !!!!!  ...and when I went to the hospital to have my pre-op interview, I, as is my long-time habit, looked for my keys before I left the nurse's office, so that I would have them in my hand and NOT be searching the bottomless abyss that is my pocketbook, when I was ready to get in the car.  Nothing...nada...nope.  No keys.  Anywhere.  I pawed, unzipped and finally, panicked.  The nurse became alarmed.  She said, "let me look.  Sometimes it takes a second pair of eyes....".  Then I saw...the valet parking ticket that had been given to me when I pulled up to the parking valet....and I realized that my keys were at the valet station.  I felt like such a crotchety, forgetful, manic old lady...oh wait....

...which reminds me of ANOTHER funny story ("I'll be here all week, folks"...).  A couple of days ago when the Corona Virus first exploded, Dan and I were discussing it and I said, completely straight-faced, "oh, don't worry...it is only killing the old people".  I thought Dan was going to roll off the bed, he was laughing so hard.  The really sad part is that I didn't get why he was laughing at first.  Then it occurred to me....

[twangster 25,611]

18 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

This just happened to me recently.  I am having surgery TOMORROW (replacing my much-beleaguered left knee...none-too-soon, I might add) !!!!!  ...and when I went to the hospital to have my pre-op interview, I, as is my long-time habit, looked for my keys before I left the nurse's office, so that I would have them in my hand and NOT be searching the bottomless abyss that is my pocketbook, when I was ready to get in the car.  Nothing...nada...nope.  No keys.  Anywhere.  I pawed, unzipped and finally, panicked.  The nurse became alarmed.  She said, "let me look.  Sometimes it takes a second pair of eyes....".  Then I saw...the valet parking ticket that had been given to me when I pulled up to the parking valet....and I realized that my keys were at the valet station.  I felt like such a crotchety, forgetful, manic old lady...oh wait....

...which reminds me of ANOTHER funny story ("I'll be here all week, folks"...).  A couple of days ago when the Corona Virus first exploded, Dan and I were discussing it and I said, completely straight-faced, "oh, don't worry...it is only killing the old people".  I thought Dan was going to roll off the bed, he was laughing so hard.  The really sad part is that I didn't get why he was laughing at first.  Then it occurred to me....

Good luck with your surgery.  Have a friend who needs two new knees.  Getting old(er) sucks.  

[Sweety 1,398]

24 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

This just happened to me recently.  I am having surgery TOMORROW (replacing my much-beleaguered left knee...none-too-soon, I might add) !!!!!  ...and when I went to the hospital to have my pre-op interview, I, as is my long-time habit, looked for my keys before I left the nurse's office, so that I would have them in my hand and NOT be searching the bottomless abyss that is my pocketbook, when I was ready to get in the car.  Nothing...nada...nope.  No keys.  Anywhere.  I pawed, unzipped and finally, panicked.  The nurse became alarmed.  She said, "let me look.  Sometimes it takes a second pair of eyes....".  Then I saw...the valet parking ticket that had been given to me when I pulled up to the parking valet....and I realized that my keys were at the valet station.  I felt like such a crotchety, forgetful, manic old lady...oh wait....

...which reminds me of ANOTHER funny story ("I'll be here all week, folks"...).  A couple of days ago when the Corona Virus first exploded, Dan and I were discussing it and I said, completely straight-faced, "oh, don't worry...it is only killing the old people".  I thought Dan was going to roll off the bed, he was laughing so hard.  The really sad part is that I didn't get why he was laughing at first.  Then it occurred to me....

You are in my prayers.

[WAAAYTOOO 11,546]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

Good luck with your surgery.  Have a friend who needs two new knees.  Getting old(er) sucks.  

Thanks, T.  Of course, Dan is out of town (he did kiss my knee "goodbye" this morning before he left though !!)...so my daughter is coming to take me to the hospital and bring me home.  It's an outpatient procedure so I won't even be spending the night.  I'm sure I could use both knees as well...but the right one doesn't hurt - yet.

[WAAAYTOOO 11,546]

1 hour ago, Sweety said:

You are in my prayers.

Thanks, Sweety !!  I'm sure they will be well received.

[Baked Alaska 1,256]

@WAAAYTOOOPraying for a speedy recovery for you and a steady hand for your surgeon(s)!