Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas Teen Review

[Turbotw]

Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas Teen Review
February 16-23, 2008

Background Info:

Hello, I am Tyler Wright. I am 17 years old, a senior in high school, and live in Atlanta, Georgia. I have been on five cruises—four with Royal Caribbean International and one with Carnival Cruise Lines. This was my first time on a Freedom of the Seas class ship, and the purpose of this article is to give an unbiased insight on what it is like to be a teen cruiser aboard Liberty of the Seas. I cruised with my immediate family—parents and brother (16 years old and sophomore).

Embarkation and Departure:

We drove from Atlanta to Miami which was about a 9 to 10 hour journey and stayed at the Holiday Inn in Miami. I personally recommend this hotel to anyone who drives because they allow free parking of your car in the hotel parking lot while you are aboard your cruise! The hotel has a free shuttle to the Port of Miami and they do a good job at handling the luggage for you. If you choose to, you can also arrange for the hotel to pick you up after your cruise but it is almost as economical to just wave a taxi down (it cost our family $40 for a ride back to the hotel). Arriving at our ship around 10:30am, the porters were excellent at handling the luggage, and we immediately walked into the terminal where we went through the initial security screening and sat in the lobby and waited until 11:00am to start the official boarding process. The staff at the terminal were particularly nice, considering my father left his credit card with the check-in attendant and they flagged us down as we were getting our picture made for our sea-pass card to give it back. We were on the ship by noon and exploring and eating in the Windjammer café.

The Ship Itself:

I will talk about specifics features later, but the fact that the ship was so clean enticed me to create a section of its own. The ship, still in its inaugural season, is in TIP-TOP condition. Everything is freshly painted, a good aroma fills all of the corridors, and everything looks just like it does in commercials or online.

Our Stateroom:

Our family purchased two adjoined Royal Promenade rooms that opened in the middle by a door. The staterooms each had a decent sized closet and about 6 drawers. Our stateroom attendant kept everything nice and tidy for us, including the cool towel animals every evening. The view of the promenade was EXCELLENT. We were on deck 8, the highest floor of the promenade, and the location was PERFECT. You could easily walk to deck 11 to go to the pool or walk to deck 5 to go to the promenade. We were positioned on forward and starboard so we were right above the Sorrento’s Pizzeria which made for some great pizza and snacks. The flat panel TV in the room was great, there weren’t too many channels but they had ESPN and some movie channels, and all of the big UEFA champions league soccer matches were played in the bars on those nights! I have absolutely no complaints about the staterooms except the fact that the beds were so comfortable and the room was so spacey that it was way too hard to leave!!

Dining Experience:

Our family is big on the whole dining experience. The parents order wine every night and we have a great time with our waiter. The service in the Liberty dining room was SUPERB. We were in the Michelangelo dining room which is on deck 4 the middle floor. The food service was exactly on pace it needed to be and they kept my brother and I loaded with fresh soda and bread every night. My brother and I purchased the coca-cola package so we could enjoy some great Shirley Temples (Sprite with cherry) and Roy Rogers (cherry coke). Some of the menus and dinners were the same as on the Mariner of the seas and others were new. They had great fish selections and some tasty steak and chicken. Desert was excellent as well. The food was top of the line, and the service that went along with it was even better. Every night we were more than satisfied!

The Pools and H20 zone:

These were the main attraction for the day and they were a lot of fun. There were many activities including dancing, sexy legs contest, volleyball, and relay races. Also the Caribbean band played some awesome music throughout the day. The H20 zone is a little kiddy for teens, but there are water guns in the middle of it and it is always fun to spray some young ones running around or the unsuspecting adult! Most people just laughed and others ran quickly when they realized what was happening! The solarium has some amazing hot tubs that hang out over the edge of the ship. There is slanted glass that sticks out at about a 45 degree angle towards the sea, so it is really fun to stand up right outside of the hot tub and lean on the glass and just stare down at the water! You will see what I mean when you ride the ship!

Flow Rider:

This is the marketing of the ship and it is for a reason. The flow rider is AWESOME. It works like this: the first day your parents sign a waiver form and you get a white bracelet to wear the entire week. With that bracelet, you can sign in each day (w/o a parent) and get the colored wristband of the day to ride the flow rider as much as you want. The flow rider opens up at 8:15am each morning with surfing and then switches to boogie boarding later on. I highly recommend everyone to try the flow rider. This is where I spent most of my time during the day! A LOT of adults were able to surf and boogie board, even my parents who seem like the clumsiest people ever! There are stands around the flow rider so waiting in line and watching is almost as fun as doing it yourself! Ladies be advised, you might want to put a t-shirt on right before your ride because I saw a couple boobies and some full-moons for bikinis that were a little too loose! Haha! A lot of teens were around this area during the day, and at some times they opened the flow rider just for teens! During those times all of the crazy kids tried to do tricks and everyone had A LOT of fun!

Sports Deck:

There were some great events including a teen dodge ball tournament and a 3v3 basketball tournament. Everything was pretty well organized, and the teen directors seemed to have good control of the crowd! The minigolf was fun and the rock wall is much bigger than the mariner class ships! They also opened up the court for soccer and volleyball at specific times!

Fuel:

Fuel was the place to party on Liberty for teens. There were A LOT of people inside the club dancing and having a GREAT time! The only bad thing was they shut it down at 1 am every night due to the ship curfew, however, most people just went to other peoples room to continue the party or hung out in the hot tubs. Towards the later half of the cruise, fuel was not as packed as the groups started forming among friends on the ship. Fortunately, clicks weren’t too big of a deal on this cruise, as everybody just wanted to have a good time! Teen night in the catacombs (DAY 6) was possibly the best night of clubbing as it was PACKED out and everyone was dancing. They played great music and kept the party going until 1am of course! It was possible to sneak in for some of the people who weren’t quite 15 or were 18, but only on some nights. You just had to get someone to open the other door when security wasn’t looking!

The Dreaded Curfew (and ways to avoid it):

The ships security was on complete lock after 1am for everyone under 18, but there were plenty of ways to avoid it. You could go down and eat some pizza or get a sandwich in the promenade, and when the security officers came around just argue and say you are finishing your pizza and they will go away. Another good line that worked was that “we were all just chilling in a stateroom, following the code, and we got hungry so we had to come to get something to eat.� That worked everytime. They monitored the pool deck, but when they came up to you, you could just be like, “yes sir I am leaving,� and just stay out. So you will be able to have a good time in that early hours of the morning if you choose, just don’t do it in the promenade or library, that’s where a lot of guards are. The best place is by the flow rider or on the top decks by the pool!

Entertainment:

The shows were a big hit and the ice show was very catchy. There was a lot of action going on in the Casino and trivia lovers were having a lot of fun playing in many trivia challenges! Fun stuff was happening all around the ship, at every time of the day. The cruise compass has everything you need!

Gym / Spa:

The gym has some nice machines, treadmills, and ellipticals. It also has a good set of dumbbells. The boxing ring can only be used if you pay for a lesson, unfortunately. The spa is set up excellently, I got a massage for the first time and loved it, plus the lady that did it for me was hott! First class spa, no doubt. The sauna and steam room are top of the line as well.

I will probably be adding more to this later, but feel free to ask me specific questions if you have them!

[Zach17]

ahh man thats so tite dude!!! im going on her june 14th man u got me so frekin pumped man u have no idea man!!!!

[Enchantment 04]

sounds like you had a fantastic time...... thanks for posting all of that I cant wait to get on the Liberty in june!!

[Djcarolina]

Excellent Review Ty! Sounds awesome. BTW The Chapel is also another great place to go after hours cuz if your quiet, they'll never check. I was pissed cuz they were enforcing curfew on the Mariner at christmas and on the Sovereign last weekend and even tho nobody bothers me, my friends get busted and we have to divise a plan b! Rock on.

[j-unit]

Sounds like you had a great time! Did you find the sheer amount of teens intemadating? how cliquey were they?

[Turbotw]

Hey, they weren't too "clicky" at all.... everyone was basically hanging out with everyone. Of course groups would go off and do stuff but you could do whatever you wanted and people didn't care!

and zach!!! I might be going on liberty June 14 as well!! How sick would that be???

[Djcarolina]

Lol and my mom is up for it being the big summer cruise as well...now THAT would be freakin insane.

[c_m_alex]

Originally Posted by j-unit

Did you find the sheer amount of teens intemadating?

my mom told me that were were about 700 teens on board our sailing. how crazy is that!?!?

[Glider]

Awesome review! Thanks for writing

[Ainsley]

awesome review. sounds like you had the best time ever =]

[isabella_sofia]

so if your not 15-17 you couldnt get into the dancce club at night?!

[Zach17]

Originally Posted by Turbotw

Hey, they weren't too "clicky" at all.... everyone was basically hanging out with everyone. Of course groups would go off and do stuff but you could do whatever you wanted and people didn't care!

and zach!!! I might be going on liberty June 14 as well!! How sick would that be???

ahhhh DUDE were gonna be partyin our @$$es off dude!!!!! ahhhh mmmmaaaaannn tthhaattss tite as hell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! dude myspace me or sumim ahh man were gonna do so much crap if u go haha

[Turbotw]

Zach do you have facebook?? I don't have a myspace!

Zach, if you, me, and DJ go on the liberty at the same time we will basically have the best time EVER, we will RUN the club! haha dang I can only imagine all of the crazy stuff!

[pead]

im trying to convince my rents 2 take me on that sailing lol

[Zach17]

ya dude http://hs.facebook.com/home.php?# thats it. van you say pppaaarrrtttyyy??? haha man i can allready hear get low come on!!! haha man this is gonna be awsome!!!!! and when we hit up the crypt teen night, ooo man its gonna be on hahaha

[Turbotw]

It's actually called the Catacombs on Liberty, haha. That link didn't work, try mine.

http://hs.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1123740078

[Enchantment 04]

helllllllll no it wouldnt be a true party without me there 8)

[Zach17]

ite dude i sent u a thing man!!!! dude this is gonna be on cruise we have


TYLER

the one and only "DJ CAROLINA"

and the crazy dude ZACH

man were gonna be actin a foo haha

[jersey_girl_at_heart]

you guys are all going on the liberty at the same time??

woaaah can't wait to here about this cruise haha.
you guys will have so many stories to tell us!

[Djcarolina]

Originally Posted by Zach17

ite dude i sent u a thing man!!!! dude this is gonna be on cruise we have


TYLER

the one and only "DJ CAROLINA"

and the crazy dude ZACH

man were gonna be actin a foo haha

U don't even know. I'm not trying to brag, but word gets around the fleet about me. The teen director on the Sovereign, who I had never met before, already knew a buttload about me. I'm close to becoming a Royal Caribbean legend, and I think that Liberty cruise could do that for me.

[Turbotw]

It definitely could, just don't get too hot, cause then the ocean might just ICE you over!

#1 DJ in my opinion!!

[Djcarolina]

No, see the key to being someone everyone likes and can relate to is having an excellent sense of when to be confident and when to be humble. When ur dancing with someone, or devoting interest to them, thats not the time to be cocky and talk about urself. On the other hand, when ur walking into a room of new people, thats not the time to be sitting quietly, while other people start the cliqu-ing process. Its all about "The Game".

[j-unit]

Originally Posted by Djcarolina

Its all about "The Game".

I think thats a good way to put it. once you learn what to say and how to act on a cruise it becomes easy. EX: at first i always act goofey until i meet a good crew of ppl than i slowly become more like myself. Also i've learned to identify the people (like djcarlolina) who will be the popular fun ones and quickly become friends with them

[Kristina99]

Originally Posted by Turbotw

#1 DJ in my opinion!!

suck up =P

[Soccer_Fanatic]

ugh you were lucky. Being my first cruise i natuarally thought it was amazing, but the clicks on our boat were extremely in effect. The curfew was very strict and there were even fights being discussed between guys. I was ripped from a girl i was dancing with to go "fight". The kid said i was dancing to dirty ..... it was awkward but i just told him i was blind and i was holding on to her while she danced. He laughed which i geuss was a good thing but the clicks were too obviousy. I just wish more kids got along and chilled cuz our club Fuel was dead most of the time except for the first 2 nights and the last 2 ...... even though the clicks suckedd and threats were made ..... it was the best and only cruise ive ever gone on.

-Rock

facebook me ---> Rocco Mazzaferro

[Zach17]

soccer fanatic, haha dude sounds like a bunch of MAJOR COCKBLOCKERS

[Turbotw]

Of course I'm sucking up to DJ, he's going to be famous one day!

And I am in effect working "my game" 8)

[Zach17]

dude turbo! i saw ur pics of liberty of the seas on ur facebook and man im sooooooo pumped now!!! man that thing was awsome!

[Turbotw]

haha! Thanks bud, as you can see from the pics I was having an AMAZING time!!

[KTS1193]

mhm sure looks like you did!