Liberty of the Seas Thanksgiving

[ATXTrey]

Took a trip with Family over Thanksgiving, Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Jamaica

Here are some thoughts 

Overall, trip was great, i would recommend showing up to board ship either right before 11am or after 2pm, as the time around noon-1pm seemed like rush hour. we parked at EZ Cruise Parking(409-939-0648) a few blocks away from terminal, can walk to ship for $70 per week or take shuttle for $90, and I thought it was reasonable and safe. We had a balcony, would recommend, was great to sit out and relax on the balcony. Once we left galveston, the weather was great, and we even slept with the sliding door open a few nights, was relaxing and nice to have a view. The windjammer was nice, and i enjoyed the fact you could go in anytime and take the food to your room, no need for the $8 room service. I did this several times for the family for breakfast when they slept in, they enjoyed that. When on board or leaving on an excursion, there is a set up on 11th floor or on the bottom exit floor when leaving ship for you to get towels using your SeaPass. You have to return your towels or they will charge you $25? We did this every time, however I did receive one $25 charge when we received the final bill. I dialed 0 from our room, and the guest relations person did not argue and took the charge off our bill immediately, so just watch out and review your final bill. We had 2 formal nights, and some really dressed up. We attended 1, and just visited windjammer for the 2nd. There are areas on the ship where you will feel vibrations, in staterooms and around, if you get a little dizzy from ship vibrations, I would recommend you take some medicine for this. My son and I were fine, but at times the vibrations bothered my wife, at places around the ship  and in  our stateroom. The kids club is nice, lots of activities for kids, and the daily compass will have a list of daily activities for your kids. I am a drinker, and would recommend 100%  the drink package if you enjoy booze. Most cocktails were $8-12 and up, so depending on your drink, 4-5 drinks per day will pay for your package. The weather in Cozumel, Cayman, and Jamaica was pleasant to warm, good time of year to go. I cannot imagine how hot these stops are during summer, so plan accordingly. I found Cozumel and Jamaica has great value, as you received much for your Dollar in town and on excusions. Cayman was nice also, just a bit more expensive, with a $1Cayman Dollar= $1.25-1.3 US$, 

We did the Snorkel Starfish and Bay in Cozumel, Segway and Beach in Cayman, and Dunns Falls and VIP Bamboo Beach in Jamaica. The Cozumel snorkel trip was great, awesome views, but it is a bit strenuous on old folks. We had 2 stops, and most over 50 could only take stop1, and stayed on the boat for stop 2. The Cayman Segway and Beach was great as well, pretty easy to learn, just wished half on the segway tour was not on the main street, with traffic and bumps. The beach part of the segway was great, and spending time on the beach afterwards nice. Jamaica Dunns falls is fun for the family, beautiful and everyone will like it. Afterwards, eating Lobster and booze on the beach is perfect, and i would recommend the VIP package, as they do pamper you

When leaving the ship, i would recommend the self departure, taking your luggage yourself from 8-8:45am, otherwise, you have to check your luggage outside of your stateroom and wait for your time to depart the ship and wait in a designated area until called, then retrieve your luggage near Customs an the outside terminal. You will have longer lines and wait, and may not fully exit the ship until after 10am. We arrived at Galveston early, around 7am, so we took our luggage ourselves, and easily went thru leaving the ship, hardly waiting at all when self departing. Even at US Custom leaving the terminal, we only had to wait on 8-10 people in front of us. We left our stateroom around 7:45am, and  were in our car driving away around 8:10am. The entire process from leaving stateroom to exiting Customs took only about 20 minutes. Highly recommend self departure 

 

Some negatives

The internet was terrible, hard to long onto at times, slow, and unreliable. They definitely need to fix this. I had to work a few days on the ship, and the internet was beyond frustrating. Another negative for me was the lack of a sports bar or room to watch a few football games during thanksgiving week. Everyone was trying to stream games, and maybe that led to the poor internet, but I had to watch a few games in their   "sports bar " while having to sit thru some art auctions, and it sucked. Anything streamed was poor to non watchable.  Even though every bartender and guest relation person will tell you they cannot change TV channels, they really can if they call the broadcast person on ship, as i found out(ext 8966 haha). They did show a few football games not listed on the regular guide on channel 32,  so that was nice  

Anyway, any questions feel free to ask

 

Happy Cruising

[Jimbo Bobs]

I was also on this ship and will add- there were lots of kids on the ship. If I have learned anything it is the kids use phone apps that really hog data. Because they communicate through streaming apps its like everyone loading videos at the same time. I heard conflicting reports but it was more than 1200 kids and less than 1700... 

That said- I was able to use my VOIP phone app and make call any time of the day or night. I did pull out my laptop a few times and sat in the bar on deck 14. The internet was good, I was even able to remote access my server with no real delay. I can not speak to the football games, as I do not watch TV... but I sure saw a lot of people streaming TV games and shows on the ship. 

I departed in group 5 as I am a Diamond member so I can only speak to that departure time. We were in line about 5 minutes to get to our bags. We did grab a porter to take our bags to the uber drivers car. The whole departure was about 15 minutes tops. 

Prior to the Cruise, as were were by far in the minority and flew into Texas to take the Cruise, we stayed at the Hotel Galvez. Great old hotel with shuttle service every 30 minutes tot he ship starting at like 9:30am. 

 

[Matt]

Thanks for sharing your report!