Party of three on LIBERTY with the ScottD Family ... (to Bermuda 7/18 from NJ -that part didn't rhyme)

8 hours ago, oufpat said:

We just finished this cruise July 4, there were 10 of us ranging in age from 14-74 and we all LOVED it! Yes, it's older ship, but the staff was fantastic. Enjoy your cruise!!

Awesome! Yeah the ship seems to get a lot of love, even being a little older, so we are excited!! My kid did just find out that there was no Bionic bar on this ship, which he got upset about, but he'll get over it- now we know who actually likes those things!  (besides the fact that he isn't allowed to order from bionic bar without me swiping anyway!) 

8 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

here are water ice chains here (we even have a Rita’s) but it’s Italian Ice (which I heard up north of course but always called it water ice). My MIL (who moved here when we did but wasn’t thinking) went to get some with my wife yesterday & started asking for water ice… my wife told me the teenager at the counter was super confused.

My FIL is from Philly but moved to the burbs of Charlotte and he said even years later, he still calls it water ice and asks for Jimmies on his ice cream and always gets a look. We used to bring him TastyKakes when we visited, but now he can even get them down there, so I'm not the hero anymore!! 

6 hours ago, CravingaCruise said:

Looking forward to your blog!  We haven’t done Bermuda yet either!  I grew up with the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle and all the missing planes and  ships.  Little did I know (cue the Alfred Hitchcock Twilight Zone music) that every sailing we’ve ever done has sailed right through what is considered the Bermuda Triangle.

On 7/2/2024 at 9:26 PM, SweetPea said:

Yeah, my kid was a little weary at first when we told him "Bermuda", so I showed him where the actual Bermuda triangle was and that we've basically sailed through it every time he has cruised, so I think he's a little more relaxed about it.  We didn't tell him that our glass bottom boat ride is actually called "the Bermuda triangle cruise" lol

11 hours ago, ScottD said:

 

Yeah, my kid was a little weary at first when we told him "Bermuda", so I showed him where the actual Bermuda triangle was and that we've basically sailed through it every time he has cruised, so I think he's a little more relaxed about it.  

We're doing Bermuda next year and had to do the same.

One week countdown begins. Also, made a few changes to the plans! Originally had purchased some arcade credit and a massage for the wife with our OBC. Well, after talking, I spilled the beans on the massage ( I wanted to make sure I got the right one and a good time)  and she actually decided that as much as she appreciated the thought, she agreed she'd rather wait for the massage until our child-free cruise on Princess and hasn't loved the reviews on dealing with the spa staff on Royal, so I went on and canceled that and the arcade credit, because I remember the boy struggling to use the $50 on the last one, so I'll just pay as we go on that one.  SO I decided, since most of the remaining OBC would just go toward her getting her lattes, wines and occasional marg to end the night... I'd just dump the whole OBC right into the deluxe package for her.  I'm a bit of a number counter, so I know the whole damn cruise I'd be doing the math in my head "ok, two more of those and that will bring us to the end of our OBC" or "oh...you didn't like that drink... well that sucks that it cost us 15 bucks of the OBC" lol, it'll end up driving both of us nuts. SO now she can get all the coffee drinks, wines and try any goofy frozen drink and grab all of the N\A drinks for the port and cabin that  she wants without a damn worry.  It really is worth it sometimes to just not have to think about the bill at the end. It cost me $13 out of pocket, so I call that a win for everyone!   SO now we have 1 of each package between the three of us, lol. 

Exciting plans for your Bermuda cruise on Liberty! Sounds like you've got everything sorted, from room upgrades to onboard activities. Have an amazing time—looking forward to hearing about your adventures!

1 hour ago, ScottD said:

It really is worth it sometimes to just not have to think about the bill at the end.

Totally agree. Yes, any beverage package is a math problem most people should use as a starting point... but if you determine the cost will be anything close to breakeven... the intrinsic benefits you mention will likely make it worth it to most people.

On 7/11/2024 at 7:55 AM, OCSC Mike said:

Totally agree. Yes, any beverage package is a math problem most people should use as a starting point... but if you determine the cost will be anything close to breakeven... the intrinsic benefits you mention will likely make it worth it to most people.

I'm with both of you. For me, i don't want to sign after every drink, especially when Batman and i don't drink at the same place. Our first cruise on Mariner was in 2008. This was before the age of drink packages and Royal, for whatever insane reason, wouldn't let us keep open a tab. Disney, Holland America, no problem.  Royal, no way. All the servers looked scared when we asked and said they'd get in trouble. We were good for it, but at the end of the night, I'd have a dozen receipts in my pocket ... which i got sick of and left on the bar out of spite after a while. I hated that cruise. Not for that alone. That was just one small part. But it added to the overall annoyance.

okay okay okay HOLD THE PHONE, @ScottD

I JUST PUT TOGETHER THAT YOU WILL BE ON THE SAME CRUISE AS MY BOSS!!!!!!

two delightful friends and worlds crossing over !!!!!!

THIS IS SO GREAT!!!!

(….also where is my mind??)

2 hours ago, asquared17 said:

okay okay okay HOLD THE PHONE, @ScottD

I JUST PUT TOGETHER THAT YOU WILL BE ON THE SAME CRUISE AS MY BOSS!!!!!!

two delightful friends and worlds crossing over !!!!!!

THIS IS SO GREAT!!!!

(….also where is my mind??)

That song lives rent free in my mind and I accept it like it gave me 6mth deposit.

13 hours ago, asquared17 said:

okay okay okay HOLD THE PHONE, @ScottD

I JUST PUT TOGETHER THAT YOU WILL BE ON THE SAME CRUISE AS MY BOSS!!!!!!

two delightful friends and worlds crossing over !!!!!!

THIS IS SO GREAT!!!!

(….also where is my mind??)

Oh wow, that's funny. Tell them to ignore any shenanigans from the guy with the giant red beard, you don't know him!    Hope they have a great time...I know I'm amped up for it!! 

Only two days left and the packing so far has just been the toiletries and little stuff all being put in the proper bag. SOME clothes have been moved to on top of the suitcase, maybe they'll find their way in tonight, maybe not.    

The wife and kid are NOT morning people (as opposed to me who works at 3am and on days off, sleeping in is 7am.)  So when I told them if they really want to be there for check in time of 1030, and be one of the first people on, we need to leave by like 8-they don't love that.   That, of course, includes a stop at Wawa for her Iced Latte, my Sugar free red bull and the boys Donut and Icee...it's traditional "start of vacation breakfast", don't judge!!!  It SHOULD be about a 90 minute drive, but I also haven't really considered the fact that we'll be on the NJ Turnpike at rush hour on a weekday, sooooo we'll see how that goes. 

2 hours ago, ScottD said:

Only two days left and the packing so far has just been the toiletries and little stuff all being put in the proper bag. SOME clothes have been moved to on top of the suitcase, maybe they'll find their way in tonight, maybe not. 

Sounds like you’re right on schedule to me.

2 hours ago, ScottD said:

That, of course, includes a stop at Wawa for her Iced Latte, my Sugar free red bull and the boys Donut and Icee...it's traditional "start of vacation breakfast", don't judge!!!

Love it. Potential new slogan…

Wawa, serving sugar & caffeine for all ages and drink preferences!

Getting closer now! Looking forward to following along. 

Also, Manco & Manco is the best pizza on the boardwalk. Change my mind.

4 hours ago, Mrs. Regular said:

Getting closer now! Looking forward to following along. 

Also, Manco & Manco is the best pizza on the boardwalk. Change my mind.

I'm more of a Sam's guy...but Manco's does the job,too...plus they sell Mancos at the Phillies stadium. 

21 hours ago, ScottD said:

I'm more of a Sam's guy...but Manco's does the job,too...plus they sell Mancos at the Phillies stadium. 

Just had a Mancos pie at CBP on Sunday.  It was...not good.  I'm with you on Sam's, Mancos has been in a slow decline ever since the Macks left, even the OC product isn't what it used to be. Yes, now I'd like you all to get off my lawn. 

Nothing at cbp is ever as good as the actual place..once Aramark gets its grubby hands on the product, it automatically goes down in quality. 

Big change of plans...boss told me yesterday to take today off so o can start vacation early,so was able to stay up past 8pm last night and we did all of the packing...then I threw a real curveball and found a pretty cheap room at the Crown Plaza Newark, so now we're heading up tonight so we can just shoot up the highway in the morning and be at the port, rather than deal with rush hour Philly/ NJ traffic tomorrow morning on the NJTP. 

Oh..I'm at CVS right now picking up the prescriptions for the week and see what's on the clearance shelf! @asquared17 @OCSC Mike

cup clip!!!!!!

2 hours ago, ScottD said:

Nothing at cbp is ever as good as the actual place..once Aramark gets its grubby hands on the product, it automatically goes down in quality. 

Amen to that.

2 hours ago, ScottD said:

Big change of plans...boss told me yesterday to take today off so o can start vacation early,so was able to stay up past 8pm last night and we did all of the packing...then I threw a real curveball and found a pretty cheap room at the Crown Plaza Newark, so now we're heading up tonight so we can just shoot up the highway in the morning and be at the port, rather than deal with rush hour Philly/ NJ traffic tomorrow morning on the NJTP. 

Wow!  Sounds like your boss rocks! Good plan on your part.  Godspeed!

4 hours ago, ScottD said:

Big change of plans...boss told me yesterday to take today off so o can start vacation early,so was able to stay up past 8pm last night and we did all of the packing...then I threw a real curveball and found a pretty cheap room at the Crown Plaza Newark, so now we're heading up tonight so we can just shoot up the highway in the morning and be at the port, rather than deal with rush hour Philly/ NJ traffic tomorrow morning on the NJTP. 

 

That's awesome, definitely will make cruise day a bit less stressful! A bit off topic, but did you see that NCL just announced that they'll be doing cruises out of Philadelphia in 2026? I wonder if RC or any other cruise lines are considering Philly as a home port

2 hours ago, skywalk640 said:

That's awesome, definitely will make cruise day a bit less stressful! A bit off topic, but did you see that NCL just announced that they'll be doing cruises out of Philadelphia in 2026? I wonder if RC or any other cruise lines are considering Philly as a home port

Yes! Its kind of crazy, they really had this under wraps because I WORK for company that operates the port..at another port right across the river and heard nothing about this. I'm definitely excited,Royal did cruises from here back in the 90s so maybe they'll return!

Chilling at the hotel...directly in front of EWR, little view of the skyline in the distance. Really nice room, especially for the price. About to go check out some outlet mall down the street and hopefully find some dinner, the hotel restaurant isn't exactly calling our name. 

concrete jungle where dreams are mADE OF

that skyline never gets old.

(i mean the newark industrial view is… its own thing )

glad you guys are settling in for the night and hope food is in your VERY near future. 

i’m trying not to melt down that my boss STILL isn’t fully packed yet and i keep reminding myself that they’re not flying in the morning and it will all be fine  

Well the mall trip was perfectly timed because somehow i busted the zipper on my favorite shorts...so a trip to Gap and nice new pair of khaki shorts later,I'm back in business. We ended up just doing Ruby Tuesday across the street from the mall... we sit down, and someone walks up to our table and says "is your name Scott?" My wife is like umm...who the hell do you know in Elizabeth NJ,lol. Turns out it was a couple from the FB group of our sailing and her wife recognized me from my profile pic. My son now thinks I'm Facebook famous and my wife just thinks I'm crazy. 

Watched a great lightning show from our room over the city to end the night-bed time! I'll probably check back in from Sorrentos after we board tomorrow! 

were you at the Jersey Gardens Mall? we ended up at a Ruby Tuesday there last year and also bought last minute clothes lol

ITS CRUISE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

It Cruise Day!!!!!

I love that there is a thing call "Facebook famous" 

Happy cruise day! Will try to follow along since we’re in chill mode now.

Based on the people in my FB groups, I’d much rather be noticed by a forum reader, lol, but it’s funny when that stuff happens.

Looking forward to seeing how you like Giovanni’s. Remember, it’s not south Philly but you got a good deal and if you don’t like something just order more!

waiting for proof that @ScottD has made it safely aboard

8 hours ago, Robert M said:

were you at the Jersey Gardens Mall? we ended up at a Ruby Tuesday there last year and also bought last minute clothes lol

Ha..yes, that's exactly where we were.

48 minutes ago, asquared17 said:

waiting for proof that @ScottD has made it safely aboard

We are aboard! Got to the port, dropped the bags and family off by 1010. Parked about a mile away (ok..not quite,but way down past the employee parking tent). By the time I got back to the port and we all walked right in. We had 1030, and they were shouting out times and pointing to lines, not sure if they actually enforced an 1130 walking in the 1030, but the attempt was there. Got through check in and seated in the waiting area just after 1030. Then we waited. They didn't open the gate to get on the ship until just after 11, but once they opened it and started calling us up by row,we were on in no time.  Got our Sorrentos while I watched the vids,walked outside to our muster which was right outside Sabor on deck 4.  

We grabbed a few drinks got some basic lunch at WJ, and hit the pool deck. We don't do much pool action, so this was probably the most time we'll spend there..me and the wife got into one of the little outer pools, I guess the port/starboard  pools. It was SO warm..it felt great, the tween didn't wanna get wet so he stayed in a chair and played on his damn phone. 

So here we are, almost 3 and hoping we get bags soon...I had some dry clothes in the carryon, wifey forgot so she's sitting here damp and miserable, lol.  I did just take a walk to find our MDR table...it was an 8 top. I asked the crew if we were seated with others, he didn't answer me but just took my card,  wrote a new table number on it and said "now just you three" lol...works for me.  Just had our cooler bag dropped off...it's just the 6 bottle of "True" spring water..no ice, so I'm hoping our actual room attendant shows up soon and gets us some ice. 

I'll check back in around Dinner...here's some proof we made it.

yayyyyy you’re aboard!!!!!

Yaaaay its cruise time, was your son's hair that long last time? Either way he has some enviable curls 

15 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

Yaaaay its cruise time, was your son's hair that long last time? Either way he has some enviable curls 

He hasn't cut it since last time,lol.. we cut it,like TWO years ago, the place cut way too much  off and he hasn't trusted anyone ever since .  He loves the curls and we keep trying to tell him to trim it just a little, but we aren't forcing him to, just hoping he will eventually, lol. 

We are sharing 2 log ins, the boy is pretty much always on one, and the wife was having a good time chatting and sending pics with her sister to convince her into coming Next time, so I never bothered getting back on...SOOO it's day 2. Clocks went ahead overnight so I thought I slept in, but not really.  After sailaway we came back to the room and finally met our Room attendant, he seemed a bit flustered so we asked for ice whenever he could and left him go do his rounds.  We have late dinner, it's pretty late but so far I think it's better than that 5pm we had last time.  We got a crab cake, and the 'ole Caesar salad as apps then she got the Fried chicken, prime rib for me and the only thing besides pizza the kid will eat almost all week...NY strip. Oh and i asked for an extra NY strip which they did bring.  I really enjoyed the prime rib and steak. Wife liked the chicken, even though i ended up finishing for her and the kid will eat any steak as long as he has ketchup and fries, lol. We were going to hit the ice show after, but made a decision during dinner that we'd all go see the Welcome show for the first time ever, which was a comedian-he was ok, but we could tell he was struggling to keep it PG and plugged his adult show later in the week every time he heard crickets after a joke.  The kid passed out in the room shortly after the show, I lost 40 bucks in the casino wayyyy faster than it takes for me to earn it, then we ended the night at Schooner bar watching a very large group of very drunk adults sing (more like scream) over the singer. Was a fun day 1...everyone's still asleep as I sit in the room waiting for our room service donuts and muffins so we don't fill up for Gios lunch today. Really nothing planned today other than the lunch, a Facebook planned slot pull and maybe some water slides if it's not insane. Sorry...my recaps are just loud if rambling off what I can remember since I'm not doing it "live" but I'll definitely try to up my game a little today here's some dinner pics and other stuff

cruisecompass (1) (1).pdf day1/2 cruise compass 

never apologize for your liveblog!! everyone has their own style which is what makes it so wonderful

First time on Liberty, have read a lot of reviews and most of them are positive with some mentions of wear and tear. I haven't noticed much, the public areas look great, ship is clean and service has been good. The room could use a little update, A LOT less storage than Oasis, and the tv is a bit wonky, the picture on some channels is a little blurry (I can't scan the QR code for the compass on the activities channel bevause it's JUST distorted enough) and it flickers when we move it...oh and the bathroom light takes some work, it takes two-three flicks of the switch for it to come on. But overall,  it's a nice ship with some beatiful areas...the dining room and promenade areas are both really nice.

Oh..and it's 10am and my 9-930 scheduled breakfast hasn't shown up so I guess I'm going up for some pastries at WJ to bring back down while these two get up

Welcome aboard is my least favorite of the dinners, but at least the chicken looks done. 

I also tried a welcome aboard on a smaller ship and it was not good. I think it is hard for comedians to do family friendly.......unless that is their actual routine.

On 7/1/2024 at 10:52 AM, ScottD said:

Same. We really want to do Symphony next year but my wife is really adamant about different cruises, and we did that exact cruise last year (and Coco cay twice last year). I think I'm starting to sway her that the ship is worth the repeat ports. Besides, from everything I've read...I'm pretty sure we are going to want to repeat the trip to Bermuda down the line,as well

Do you think you will repeat Bermudan NCL once it start sailing out of Philly.  I’m thinking about it.

1 hour ago, Gilley said:

Do you think you will repeat Bermudan NCL once it start sailing out of Philly.  I’m thinking about it.

Absolutely! We decided we were going to try different lines over the next few years and NCL was next, so this definitely makes it easy! I really hope this becomes a thing and Royal returns to philly. 

1 hour ago, Ampurp85 said:

Welcome aboard is my least favorite of the dinners, but at least the chicken looks done. 

I also tried a welcome aboard on a smaller ship and it was not good. I think it is hard for comedians to do family friendly.......unless that is their actual routine.

Yeah, the guy was absolutely struggling..to keep it clean. I also didn't know the Welcome show was a whole damn variety show,  Orchestra for 10 minutes, dude from the production shows belting out a few Sinatra songs, CD making some jokes, THEN the comedian. 

Oh...and breakfast came while I was gone, so I came back with almost exactly what was already in the room. I also ate a small breakfast for myself while I was up there, then ate some of the doubles in the room before cutting myself off knowing we have lunch soon. Turns out they tell you to move your clock up overnight... but room service was still running on the original times, so that's why they came almost exactly an hour late!

Here's my ham and cheese omelet with some sides from WJ

2 hours ago, ScottD said:

I can't scan the QR code for the compass

Try this link…

https://minio.rccl.com/compass/cruisecompass.pdf

Kind of a boring day...did lunch at Giovannis then just kind of relaxed for a bit, hit the hot tub for a few then dinner. We just came back from a juggling show which was actually really good, guy was funny and has performed at all kinds of big events and TV shows. Definitely better than we expected. Took it easy today and probably an early night before a full day in Bermuda. I'll dump some lunch pics for ya...it was amazing, the filet was perfect..thr chicken was good and desserts were awesome 

That burrata and pesto appetizer is one of my favorite things to eat. Glad you are having a good time so far!

12 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

Try this link…

https://minio.rccl.com/compass/cruisecompass.pdf

 

That's what I've been using.. even though they gave the show schedule with the correct days but wrong days of the week,lol