It had been several years since our last siblings cruise and since we had to defer a Greek Isles cruise Spring of 2021, this Royal Caribbean sailing fit the bill.
Ship
I enjoyed this class of ship the first time I sailed Liberty of the Seas and still do. It’s the perfect size. Of course sailing with just 40% of capacity and a double crown and anchor points promotion made it nice too. 🙂
Again I enjoyed the multiple guides for wayfinding onboard. There are the labeled ship signs.
There are directories by the elevators.
This electronic finder was another option.
The ship was as beautiful as ever and I loved walking the promenade when it was this empty.
There are touches of whimsy if you look for it. These two traveling bears are still onboard.
This dog was very quiet.
Cabin
Last time I was on Liberty of the Seas we had an promenade interior cabin. This time I really enjoyed having a balcony cabin and a new one at that.
Cabin 1830 was quite roomy and contemporary.
Here’s the view from the other end of the cabin. Notice the space between the couch and the nightstand.
The balcony was narrower than others on the ship but I would take that tradeoff for a roomier cabin.
Food
We ate every meal in the main dining room and it was really my only disappointment. I feel the service, menu options and food quality have decreased since than the last Empress of the Seas sailing in March 2020.
Before now I would say Royal Caribbean main dining room was better than Carnival. I wouldn’t say that after this experience and my recent Carnival sailings. Our waiter wasn’t the best either. He rushed us and made fun of my sister once for her order. We also didn’t appreciate the serving team’s push for us to rate them high on the post cruise surveys.
The menu options and food quality weren’t their fault though. I hope the company re-evaluates their offerings once the pandemic is fully behind us.
Ports
This itinerary hit three ports I really like. We had wonderful time in the two we got off at and that’s all you can ask.
The home port is a bit of a hassle with the distance from the Houston airports requiring more expensive transfers than other ports. It also can really only hit Western Caribbean ports due to being so far west. These reasons along with the crazy Texas alcohol law are reasons to avoid this port if flying in from other states.
Protocols
Covid-19 health protocols are changing constantly as the crisis evolves and there are even differences between cruise lines. This time we had to wear face masks in certain venues but the ship has vaccinated passengers only venues which allowed us to enjoy them without the masks.
Of course we had to have negative covid tests two days before embarkation and be fully vaccinated. Royal Caribbean is also restricting capacity more than Carnival. One consequence of that is that the Windjammer wasn’t open for dinner at all. This led to a lot of the main dining room chaos with one dining room level closed also.
Summary
All in all we had wonderful vacation and I wouldn’t hesitate to sail Royal Caribbean and this class of ship again. It just won’t be in Galveston anytime soon.
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