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

I was holding off on starting this because we have quite a busy next few weeks here on the 'ole live blog, with the group sailing now,  @Lovetocruise2002, @CravingaCruiseAND @OCSC Mike all sailing currently, before or during my cruise.  BUT I'm bored at work on a Sunday and figured I'll at least get the thread started, so here's a little rundown on the family and the plans: 

It'll be the 3 of us, Me (46), Wife (45) and  Son (12).  We sailed Oasis twice last year and dropped the deposit for this one at NC on the last night of our October cruise. Went home and picked this one out about a week later. We really wanted to do another one from NJ since it's SO much easier for us coming from Philly. We decided on Bermuda because we hadn't done that yet, and even though the kid thinks we are going on a small ship (all he knows is Oasis), we wanted to try another class ship again and don't think this is TOO much of a step down, and certainly not "Small".

We originally planned on this being a budget cruise because we had the MSC cruise in September and that requires getting to Miami, etc...so this was gonna be a quick little cruise just to squeeze in, BUT we ended up pushing MSC back to December. We had booked Interior gty, but quickly upgraded one step up to OV gty..then added lunch on day 2 at Giovannis...then added a refreshment pkg...then a soda pkg...then  a cooler with the water bottles....then 1 wifi device....just threw in a $40 arcade credit.... so much for the low budget cruise, lol. BUT we did just get the RC credit card and used that to pay off the msc cruise, then turned around and cashed in the points for the $300 OBC (which I already used some for that arcade credit). We got another $50 coming from the TA and $50 more AND a 2nd, free-wifi device courtesy of the online RC Travel advisor courses I took a few months back.  So that should hold us over for the wife's occasional margarita or glass of wine in the evening and whatever the kid ends up buying in the shop. 

We did get RU offers of the Panoramic OV and a few others, plus an OV balcony. I threw a few minimum bids in, but once we got our room number last week, I'm oddly excited about the location. YES- it's deck 2 way FWD but I THINK (most plans show this, but the app does not), we are right between an entrance to the theater and the studio B\Ice rink. So that will make going from dinner to the shows and from the gangway each day in Bermuda to our room really convenient. 

Our kid hated Ocean adventure both times on Oasis, he signed himself out after about 10 minutes both times and refused to go back because they grouped the kids 6-12 together and he felt like he was in day care. REALLLLLY hoping he at least tries the teen club on Liberty since he gets to hang with the older kids now. If not, that room will once again come in handy when going from the family friendly show at the theater right to the Crazy quest in Studio B- drop him off and keep walking, lol.   

I'll keep this updated if the RU come through or anything else interesting happens pre-cruise. Sorry about the rambling, like I said- bored at work! 

huzzah! a new cruise!!!

9 minutes ago, ScottD said:

the kid thinks we are going on a small ship (all he knows is Oasis)

That was my nieces when we described Indy to them a couple years ago. They've also only done Oasis class. "What do you mean there's no Central Park? What do you mean there's no Boardwalk? WHAT DO YOU GUYS DO???"

9 minutes ago, ScottD said:

We did get RU offers of the Panoramic OV

This was the one RU was actually tried to win back on Indy. You know we're perfectly fine with our caves but this room looked cool to us. Hope you have better luck.

I'm doing liberty in April for my brother's birthday. It's the last one of the freedom class I need for my bingo card.

I do know it doesn't have freestyle, so hopefully your son/you/our wife likes coke and sprite.

19 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

I'm doing liberty in April for my brother's birthday. It's the last one of the freedom class I need for my bingo card.

I do know it doesn't have freestyle, so hopefully your son/you/our wife likes coke and sprite.

Yeah..he'll be good with the occasional coke or sprite (or Shirley temple)

Looking forward to your blog.

can't wait to read your blog. I didn't do one last July when we were on Liberty, so I'm excited to read your thoughts on her and your experiences.

Excited for this as it is a bucket list cruise for me. 

Looking forward to the blog. Scheduled to be on Liberty at the end of September and it will be the biggest RC ship we'll have been on after 4 other cruises with RC. Driving to the port instead of having to worry about flight shenanigans is a gamechanger and has me wishing that RC had more varied itineraries out of Bayonne.

25 minutes ago, skywalk640 said:

Looking forward to the blog. Scheduled to be on Liberty at the end of September and it will be the biggest RC ship we'll have been on after 4 other cruises with RC. Driving to the port instead of having to worry about flight shenanigans is a gamechanger and has me wishing that RC had more varied itineraries out of Bayonne.

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

I have been to Bermuda three times. I have always found interesting things to do. I learn from other’s adventures. I am sure I will do another Bermuda as well as another Canada/New England cruise.

Bermuda

Enough said!

My fave!!!!! I'm so excited for you to experience your first time there. It's really amazing, and you're going at an amazing time!  What could be better?!

Is there anywhere to see theme nights ahead of time for this cruise?  TIA!

13 hours ago, SweetPea said:

Bermuda

Enough said!

My fave!!!!! I'm so excited for you to experience your first time there. It's really amazing, and you're going at an amazing time!  What could be better?!

I'm really excited. I keep thinking I have a plan then reading more on the island and just keep finding stuff we want to do. I think I have it loosely mapped out to do a few things without over doing it. We have a glass bottom boat booked for the 2nd morning, that's the only concrete plan we have to work around. 

17 minutes ago, mw7997 said:

Is there anywhere to see theme nights ahead of time for this cruise?  TIA!

Nothing on the app yet, but you can go up to the Cruise Compass link on top of this page and find the one from June 1.... it's the exact same itinerary and I'd assume all themes\activities will basically be the same. 

28 minutes ago, ScottD said:

I'm really excited. I keep thinking I have a plan then reading more on the island and just keep finding stuff we want to do. I think I have it loosely mapped out to do a few things without over doing it. We have a glass bottom boat booked for the 2nd morning, that's the only concrete plan we have to work around. 

That's the great part about Bermuda. There is an excursion hut right off the ship. We like going there and seeing what they have that day and booking there, especially on Royal where we don't have shorex benefits. Once we did that and got to chatting with one of the kids who worked the excursion and he offered us paddle boarding the next morning. I'll let you guess whether we took him up on his offer, but my point is that since you're there for overnights, that is an option as well.

11 minutes ago, SweetPea said:

We like going there and seeing what they have that day and booking there

Not planning in advance!?! Who does that?

Some of us are even planning how to do a better job of using vouchers.

1 hour ago, OCSC Mike said:

Some of us are even planning how to do a better job of using vouchers.

I feel like i need to Mr Miyagi half you kids here on optimization of voucher usage

Seriously, when my drinks are unlimited, i do much better than when challenging myself to use them all, so i do get, but 6 isn't a whole lot with coffee and water. And you're at 5. Sadness, Mike. Pure sadness  

6 hours ago, SweetPea said:

6 isn't a whole lot with coffee and water. And you're at 5. Sadness, Mike. Pure sadness  

Hey, give me SOME credit. I'm already ashamed of my shortfall last cruise but let's get the facts straight...

1. I have 8-9 per day b/c my wife doesn't really drink.... not 5.

2. I have at least 2 double cappuccinos each morning but those come from the CL machine... not vouchers.

3. WATER??? I used some leftover vouchers for cans of Truly but I'm not using them for water. Our D+ bottled water is only used for taking meds/vitamins and we may not even use up all 6 bottles.

My wife and I live off the flavored water from the machines. She keeps a big red metal water bottle filled (it's been in some of my cup clip pics) and I usually have some in the cabin cooler. I recently stumbled across an unused water bottle that my MIL gave my wife that I may even bring next cruise b/c it's not huge and doesn't weigh 20 lbs. like a Stanley. Will also be useful for the heat of CocoCay in July.

Glad we got that out of the way. Back to planning... so far double-fisting Mississippi Moonlights from Mason Jar is up for consideration b/c they're so good and not strong.

25 minutes ago, SweetPea said:

I feel like i need to Mr Miyagi half you kids here on optimization of voucher usage

Seriously, when my drinks are unlimited, i do much better than when challenging myself to use them all, so i do get, but 6 isn't a whole lot with coffee and water. And you're at 5. Sadness, Mike. Pure sadness  

I'm not high enough up the ladder for vouchers yet...but let's just say if I was, and it was 3 years ago, I would've easily blown through mine and my wife's vouchers. But that's exactly why I don't drink at all any more, lol. When the time comes,  I'll still use em up,I'm sure...it'll just be on sugar free red bulls and San Pelegrino bottles! 

2 minutes ago, ScottD said:

sugar free red bulls

Those were a consideration (possibly with vodka in my case) but every time my wife is like "I'll stay up late tonight"... it never happens, lol. I may force myself to go see the night one midnight balloon drop solo... just to say I've seen it before I'm in dry dock for a while.

I'm not a big energy drink guy unless I'm trying to stay up late or running on very little sleep. The 4 espresso shots every morning are usually good enough as far as my caffeine intake goes.

2 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

Those were a consideration (possibly with vodka in my case) but every time my wife is like "I'll stay up late tonight"... it never happens, lol. I may force myself to go see the night one midnight balloon drop solo... just to say I've seen it before I'm in dry dock for a while.

I'm not a big energy drink guy unless I'm trying to stay up late or running on very little sleep. The 4 espresso shots every morning are usually good enough as far as my caffeine intake goes.

I don't do coffee or any kind of coffee drink, so those little 6oz red bulls are my coffee in the morning, then again after dinner if I plan on trying to get an extra few hours in. 

8 hours ago, SweetPea said:

There is an excursion hut right off the ship.

The little hut is the Island Tour Centre https://www.islandtourcentre.com/.  I have been using them for years when I want to go snorkeling or other water activities.  I have also used  BDA Water Sports https://bdawatersports.com/ for jet ski tours.  Also you might want to do an Island tour the first day since this is your first visit.  There are plenty of guides/taxi at the dock.  They won't nickel & dime or scam you like in the Caribbean.  They are extremely proud to show off their home.  I've been going to Bermuda since I was a teenager.  My Dads company had an office down there and we have spent many summers there while Dad worked. I still try to get there at least once or twice a year. 

6 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

Glad we got that out of the way. Back to planning... so far double-fisting Mississippi Moonlights from Mason Jar is up for consideration b/c they're so good and not strong.

Ok, ok, i get it. You're covered for the non-alkie drinks. You may consider this sacrilege, but .... would you consider drinking your desserts? That's what we do. It's very rare we eat sugar (aside from carbs), but drinking them? Nothing like a chocolate or espresso martini for dessert. 

6 hours ago, ScottD said:

I'm not high enough up the ladder for vouchers yet...but let's just say if I was, and it was 3 years ago, I would've easily blown through mine and my wife's vouchers. But that's exactly why I don't drink at all any more, lol. When the time comes,  I'll still use em up,I'm sure...it'll just be on sugar free red bulls and San Pelegrino bottles! 

Ha! I applaud you for not drinking anymore. I'm sure our attitudes would change if we had offspring. But, both our parents aren't exactly prizes at their ages so genetics aren't on our side and we can both handle our liquor, no problem. So honestly, cirrhosis in another 20 years isn't exactly the end of the world for us.  Kidding. Not really. 

And @MaryS, yes! Thank you! I couldn't remember the name of the hut, but that place is the bomb! So many times we've gone there without a clue and just told them what we like to do. 

@ScottD, you are going to LOVE Bermuda!!

P.S. I'm as uncoordinated as they come, but I'm an ace on the segway and we did both the tour of the dockyard and there is one at St Georges. So fun. Also, please look up Harbor Nights on Front Street in Hamilton to see if that will happening when you're there. Also fun!

Norwegian runs a complimentary ferry to St. Georges. Not sure if Royal does too.

37 minutes ago, SweetPea said:

would you consider drinking your desserts?

Only if they come after my actual desserts. Joking aside, I don’t eat a ton of dessert items (besides the Giovanni’s Kitchen ones I just discovered). I mean, I still order dessert in the MDR or try stuff in WJ but that makes up a very small % of my daily food intake.

In any case, I’m not adult enough to order martinis, lol. I have mudslides if I want to drink dessert (one of the few drinks my wife will occasionally have b/c it’s basically a milkshake).

We were actually going to have martinis one night last month. I figured she could try chocolate & the Schooner Bar on Wonder (probably other ships too) has some fancy Ketel One espresso martini machine but we never did. I’ll make sure we do this time just for you.

Do it, Mike! Martinis can be the perfect dessert because they're not all shaken, not stirred!

5 hours ago, SweetPea said:

P.S. I'm as uncoordinated as they come, but I'm an ace on the segway and we did both the tour of the dockyard and there is one at St Georges. So fun. Also, please look up Harbor Nights on Front Street in Hamilton to see if that will happening when you're there. Also fun!

Norwegian runs a complimentary ferry to St. Georges. Not sure if Royal does too.

6 hours ago, MaryS said:

The little hut is the Island Tour Centre https://www.islandtourcentre.com/.  I have been using them for years when I want to go snorkeling or other water activities.  I have also used  BDA Water Sports https://bdawatersports.com/ for jet ski tours.  Also you might want to do an Island tour the first day since this is your first visit.  There are plenty of guides/taxi at the dock.  They won't nickel & dime or scam you like in the Caribbean.  They are extremely proud to show off their home.  I've been going to Bermuda since I was a teenager.  My Dads company had an office down there and we have spent many summers there while Dad worked. I still try to get there at least once or twice a year. 

Yes- that's basically our plan- hit up that little tour center and see if anything else jumps out at us, otherwise- just shooting across to Hamilton and going from there. Apparently there is no ferry to St George on the summer weekends (except the NCL shuttle) so we are probably going from Hamilton on a city bus to the Cave area, but probably not actually doing the caves- we have caves in PA and I don't visit them, I sure ain't traveling to another country to see some! 

Activities populated on the app overnight. THANK GOODNESS. If I had to explain to one more Facebooker that it would be there soon, and if they really wanted to know that they could look at the current 5 day sailing and it will be almost identical..now it's "but there's no menu for MDR" so here I am again telling them the same damn thing! 

Have a great time... we'll be following along!

21 hours ago, ScottD said:

we have caves in PA and I don't visit them, I sure ain't traveling to another country to see some! 

This speaks to me! We also passed on the caves (we're in NJ but my high school mascot is literally the Stateliner as we're on the border of PA. For those of you who don't know what a Stateliner is, we've apparently decided it's a Bobcat. Named Suzy Stateliner. Seriously.)

There will be a stand when you come off the ship where you can buy bus and ferry passes. In all my times taking the Norwegian sponsored ferry to St. George's, i don't recall them ever asking for my Norwegian key card. Live on the edge! (And then lmk how that goes ).

4 hours ago, SweetPea said:

This speaks to me! We also passed on the caves (we're in NJ but my high school mascot is literally the Stateliner as we're on the border of PA. For those of you who don't know what a Stateliner is, we've apparently decided it's a Bobcat. Named Suzy Stateliner. Seriously.)

 

There will be a stand when you come off the ship where you can buy bus and ferry passes. In all my times taking the Norwegian sponsored ferry to St. George's, i don't recall them ever asking for my Norwegian key card. Live on the edge! (And then lmk how that goes ).

OOOHHH....I like the way you think! I may very well give that a shot!!  I actually just canceled my excursion reservation with Viator and booked it directly with the Bermuda tour center right there on the pier. It was actually cheaper, plus the website says they really appreciate direct booking since the 3rd parties take a cut, so I felt like I was helping a local business a little by going right through them. Luckily they still had a few spots open for the exact same excursion and time. 

Oh, I googled Stateliner and the picture of a bobcat with a hat comes up....then a bunch of pics of busses. lol. 

My wife has been talking about getting a massage on one of the upcoming cruises, but not wanting to spend the money.  I just booked her one for Day 2 as a surprise, I won't tell her until we get to the room. I mean, it was basically free since it was all OBC, but she's literally brought it up the past two cruises and mentioned it a few times recently. I think the big thing, besides price, is all of the stuff we see about them being pushy with upsells...but if someone can stand their ground and give a firm "no"...it's her!  She's a take no shit kind of person, where I'm usually the nice, sometimes a little TOO nice guy.  We work well as parents like that, too- she's the bad cop, I'm the good cop 

People have been posting about getting the royal up bids accepted, a few from the same category I'm in, so I guess my super minimal bid didn't do the job. I actually had bids in 3 categories but knocked them all off except the panoramic OV, which like I said I still only lowballed the bid, so I didn't really expect to get it. 

Finally about to drag the suitcase into the bedroom...it still has summer clothes from the October cruise in it, anything that was in there for my kid is basically going to the donation bin since he decided to grow almost 2 inches since then AND  1.5 shoe sizes bigger, so the water shoes still in there are useless, as well. I guess I should throw whatever else is in there through the wash just to freshen it up, I think the only thing that was worn on the cruise and put back in were our "Caribbean night" button down shirts which are now as wrinkled as my fingers after an hour in the pool.  I do need to check the dates on the other stuff in the pockets like the liquid IV and various sunblocks and motion sickness meds.  We live in a tiny South Philadelphia row home, so storage is tight- leaving all of the cruise essentials right in the main suitcase is just the easiest way to store and and keep track of where the hell it is! 

6 minutes ago, ScottD said:

row home

I’m wondering what % of people reading this even know that term. It’s very Philly AFAIK. I still remember using the term “development” here to describe our neighbood/community & a Floridian looked at me like I had 3 heads. They’re “subdivisions” here.

Maybe you’ll get lucky with the panoramic but I’m sure you’re prepared to have a great time in the cabin you booked. So many examples of new cruisers on FB, including the bid amounts I’ve seen people share. Someone “won” a RU from a balcony to JS on mine but the amount they bid was so high that I’m not sure “win” is the right term for it.

6 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

I’m wondering what % of people reading this even know that term. It’s very Philly AFAIK. I still remember using the term “development” here to describe our neighbood/community & a Floridian looked at me like I had 3 heads. They’re “subdivisions” here.

Maybe you’ll get lucky with the panoramic but I’m sure you’re prepared to have a great time in the cabin you booked. So many examples of new cruisers on FB, including the bid amounts I’ve seen people share. Someone “won” a RU from a balcony to JS on mine but the amount they bid was so high that I’m not sure “win” is the right term for it.

Never even thought of it being a regional term, I hear development and I think of a bunch of houses that look the same  but have driveways and cul-de-sacs, lol. 

And yeah, I'm fine either way. That's why I didn't go crazy with the bid. I also have a thing that I NEED to know my cabin when I board, so if it's still pending or submitted the night before the cruise, I'll cancel it. I haven't actually lost a bid yet because I do this every time! 

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!!

27 minutes ago, ScottD said:

Never even thought of it being a regional term, I hear development and I think of a bunch of houses that look the same  but have driveways and cul-de-sacs, lol. 

It’s super regional; that’s why I mentioned it. You really learn how many Philly-isms there are when you move to another part of the country, lol.

There 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.

And yes, that’s exactly what I meant by development & what much of my area here is… but they call them subdivisions. Someone told me a development to them is like taking a plot of land & constructing new buildings (stores, offices, whatever)… which I guess makes sense using the dictionary definition.

7 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

I’m wondering what % of people reading this even know that term. It’s very Philly AFAIK. I still remember using the term “development” here to describe our neighbood/community & a Floridian looked at me like I had 3 heads. They’re “subdivisions” here.

 

If you ever have a few minutes of idle time, go down the rabbit hole that is Levittown developments. 

https://ushistoryscene.com/article/levittown/

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:

I'm as uncoordinated as they come, but I'm an ace on the segway

Ha!  I wouldn’t dare do a Segway!  If I tried that I think my hubby would arrange an ambulance to follow me to ensure I’m tended to quickly when I bite it!  Heading into my current cruise I wasn’t sure if I’d be walking without a boot on my foot because I broke my toe a couple of weeks ago tripping over a cord…and it wasn’t even voucher related!!