A Disney fan family sails the Liberty of the Seas

[inevitablyaustin]

Love the quick review! Thanks for pointing out the differences between the Liberty and DCL. I have a few friends working on the Liberty and the ship is a favorite of mine, but I've been thinking about going on DCL next time so it's good to a see a review like this.

 

[sweetlovin]

I haven't booked Royal yet, not because I don't want to try it, but more because I cannot book 5 people online. I have to make that phone call, so I find that irritating and never bother. I saw you answered Dreadpiraterose's question about the smoke, but I had a question as well. Smoking bothers me and my kids immensely, but how bad to any person can be different. After making the cupcakes, could you smell the smoke on your clothes or in your hair?

 

[kathleendsm]

I haven't booked Royal yet, not because I don't want to try it, but more because I cannot book 5 people online. I have to make that phone call, so I find that irritating and never bother. I saw you answered Dreadpiraterose's question about the smoke, but I had a question as well. Smoking bothers me and my kids immensely, but how bad to any person can be different. After making the cupcakes, could you smell the smoke on your clothes or in your hair?

Good question. No, I couldn't smell any smoke on my clothes or hair after the cupcake class, or after sitting in the hot tub and smelling smoke in the pool area, or even after walking through the casino the one or two times I was rushing somewhere. Everyone is different so if you are extremely sensitive you might, but for me it was more like a whiff in the air that annoyed me, but didn't bother my asthma or anything like that. I hope that helps!

 

[DnA2010]

I haven't booked Royal yet, not because I don't want to try it, but more because I cannot book 5 people online. I have to make that phone call, so I find that irritating and never bother. I saw you answered Dreadpiraterose's question about the smoke, but I had a question as well. Smoking bothers me and my kids immensely, but how bad to any person can be different. After making the cupcakes, could you smell the smoke on your clothes or in your hair?

I was on Freedom and and am sensitive to smoke- we did go through the casino a couple of times and never smelled smoke on ourselves. re booking- I'd get a quote from Dreams Unlimited as they do Royal as well as Disney and then you get obc!

 

[msjprincess]

I haven't booked Royal yet, not because I don't want to try it, but more because I cannot book 5 people online. I have to make that phone call, so I find that irritating and never bother. I saw you answered Dreadpiraterose's question about the smoke, but I had a question as well. Smoking bothers me and my kids immensely, but how bad to any person can be different. After making the cupcakes, could you smell the smoke on your clothes or in your hair?

It is a pain in the neck. I wish they would allow bookings for 5 online. But when I have called it's been pretty painless and easy. But I always look at the deck plans and have an idea on which cabins I'm interested in beforehand.


As far as smoke. I could smell it while near the stairs in the promenade but it didn't stay with me. And I couldn't really smell it anywhere else on the promenade. I spent a lot of time in th eSchooner Bar which is right near the entrance to the casino and I didn't notice the smell.

 

[sweetlovin]

I was on Freedom and and am sensitive to smoke- we did go through the casino a couple of times and never smelled smoke on ourselves. re booking- I'd get a quote from Dreams Unlimited as they do Royal as well as Disney and then you get obc!

The problem for me using Dreams Unlimited is United Airlines gives 7 miles per dollar and sometimes, 14 miles per dollar without a cap. (Usually they will say up to 35k miles or up to 70k miles, but every so often they come out with the no cap 14 miles per dollar) I just booked my family to Asia using the miles we have gotten from booking cruises with them. Also, United gives a free stopover. One year, we flew to Asia for a month, flew through Europe, got a free stopover in Germany for two weeks, before flying back to the states. I'm sure the OBC is great, but I remember United telling me I could spend $65,462 on the flight to Asia with the stop in Europe or I could use the 325,000 miles and pay $275 for taxes. (I don't remember exact taxes but it was in that ballpark)

I'll have to take the time to research the ships and call one of these days.

 

[muse7mom]

Thank you for posting all of this info. We've done two DCL and will sail Liberty in July. I'm looking for any and all info I can get.

Laundry facilities? Available? Easy to use?

Any tips or tricks you can provide will be very appreciated!

 

[cel_disney]

Thank you for posting all of this info. We've done two DCL and will sail Liberty in July. I'm looking for any and all info I can get.

Laundry facilities? Available? Easy to use?

Any tips or tricks you can provide will be very appreciated!

No laundry facility on RCCL ships. Mid week they offer a 'bag o laundry' service for 25-30$. You can't wash 'real clothes', but you can do socks/underwear/tshirts/Jammie's etc. There are tips on cruise critic how to re-enforce the bags so that you can really fit a lot in the bags to get your money's worth!

This is one of the biggest differences between RCCL and DCL from a packing perspective. It wasn't a problem for us - we were able to pack enough and had plenty of items that could have been worn again and some clothes that even came home unused. We were a family of 4 in one room and managed to keep it all clean/straight.

 

[ldo]

I did the laundry bag on RCCL in Europe and put in 2 mens polo shirts + 2 womens tees, plus UndW, socks, etc. I got about a small washer load into the bag. RCCL and NCL do not have washers, DCL and Princess do.

 

[ukintheus]

Thanks for the review, I found it really helpful. We have booked to sail on the Liberty next year and it's good to know what to expect coming from many cruises with the mouse. I'm looking forward to trying something different!

 

[DISGRL13]

The class was fun, though not too exciting. My daughter is 11 so we did the adult one. We got two cupcakes, a small one and a large one. We cut a piece off the small one and layered it onto the large one, and built a dog out of it. It was a good lesson in how to use the piping bag, but I'd say half of the cupcakes fell over face first and got ruined. I wish she'd had us set up the little scaffold system that she had us do after they fell.

You had to sign a paper saying that you'd eat it within 4 hours. Truthfully, we forgot about them and ended up tossing them the next day since they had sat out for a while. That buttercream frosting mostly tasted like butter!

Here's a shot of mine just before it fell over.View attachment 158802

Super cute!! Is there a charge for the cupcake class? Do you have to sign up in advance? Thanks!

 

[MomoMama]

Thank you for this info. Kids club and smoking issues are what holding us back from booking the Liberty. But it's good to know you had a great vacation despite those issues!

Do you remember seeing Puss? Wen love him and would love to see him.

Smoking gives me headaches...we are debating if we should go on bigger Royal ships (more areas to escape from the smokes?) or try Celebrity (smoke-free casinos, thus all indoor spaces are smoke-free?). But the price, the ease of traveling from Galveston, and stop to Roatan are very tempting!

 

[kathleendsm]

Super cute!! Is there a charge for the cupcake class? Do you have to sign up in advance? Thanks!

We signed up on embarkation day and there was plenty of availability. If I recall they didn't have room for walk ups during our class, not sure if they did for the others.

Thank you for this info. Kids club and smoking issues are what holding us back from booking the Liberty. But it's good to know you had a great vacation despite those issues!

Do you remember seeing Puss? Wen love him and would love to see him.

Smoking gives me headaches...we are debating if we should go on bigger Royal ships (more areas to escape from the smokes?) or try Celebrity (smoke-free casinos, thus all indoor spaces are smoke-free?). But the price, the ease of traveling from Galveston, and stop to Roatan are very tempting!

We saw Puss from a distance but didn't do any of the character meet and greets. I think he was in the sail away show too which was very cute.

You may do fine with the smoking as long as you're aware of what areas they allow it. It was generally nothing more than a brief nuisance, though of course I'm sure it depends on how crowded the ship is and how many smokers there are. Cruising out of Galveston is definitely convenient!