We boarded on Royal Caribbeans' Liberty of the Seas, a 2007 Freedom Class cruise ship which has 15 decks and can accommodate around 3,600 passengers and 1,300 crew members.
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| Liberty of the Seas docked in Cozumel, Mexico 2008 |
This wasn't our first time on this ship.. we traveled on it in 2008 on a Caribbean cruise with Matthew's family.
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| May 2008 |
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| This year.. same port hole too! |
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| Emily age 8; Hannah age 5 |
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| In the same exact chair: Emily age 13; Hannah age 10 |
So the ship wasn't new to us (and neither for my brother and Hilda since they went to the Caribbean on the same ship also last year) but it was new for Cheryl's family and my parents whom had never cruised before.
Our itinerary was as follows:
Board in Barcelona
Day 1: Provence, France
Day 2: Nice (French Riviera), France
Day 3: La Spezia (Florence), Italy
Day 4: Rome, Italy
Day 5: Naples, Italy
Day 6: At Sea
Day 7: Back to Barcelona
I'll dive into all those ports and excursions in future posts but this is to give you a feel of our accommodations... but I must say that the waters of the Mediterranean were so calm that my mother said she didn't believe that the ship was moving until I walked her out to the deck and showed her the sea view and waves! So smooth... this cruise was!!
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| Our interior stateroom (before the kids beds were set up) |
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| After the kids beds were set up. |
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| Bathroom |
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| My parents interior stateroom with a promenade view into the interior middle section of the ship (at least they had a window!) |
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| A towel creation to welcome you back to your stateroom |
So what's to do on the ship? Let me show you...
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| Swimming of course.. the girls loved it the last time when they were younger but as they got older they weren't into it as much... at least Emily wasn't. |
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| Eating pool side.. the Windjammer Buffet was on the same deck so we could grab as much food as we wanted (Hannah took advantage of that amenity) |
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| All that swimming and eating resulted in sleeping pool side |
The 'older' folk took on some more physical and active activities other than laying out at the pool (which I did)... I also learned that teenagers do not want to splash around in the pool no more!
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| Basketball (my brother getting ready to shoot) |
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| Ping-Pong (my mom played against Kyle!) |
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| Volleyball (Kyle getting ready to spike that ball!) |
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| Rock Climbing (doesn't it look like Kyle was casually walking up exerting minimal energy?) |
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| Video Games ( my brother and Kyle) |
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| Arcade (Matthew & Kyle) |
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| An arcade player redeeming her prizes! |
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| Karaoke |
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| Group Karaoke |
And Dining.. can't go on a cruise and not eat!
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| My parents.. my dad says he's wearing the same tie he got married in over 50 years ago! |
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| Mandy and Kyle with their 'hip' dad |
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| Us |
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| My brother, Park and Hilda |
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| My favorite dish of the cruise.. roast duck! |
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| My favorite dessert of the cruise... ice cream sundae from Johnny Rockets! |
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| This was my end of the evening stop every night before I
retired to my cabin: a cup of hot water, a slice of their special of the
day pizza and a tiramisu dessert cup; Emily would get chocolate chip
cookies and Hannah would get up to 4 slices of pepperoni pizza
(depending on how hungry she was after dinner). These shops and restaurants were all along the promenade. You can see the windows from the staterooms above. |
Now for those who want to show the world that they have not aged...you can go flow riding! It's basically simulated surfing ... but harder, my brother says, since he's surfed before!
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| This was Matthew's second time on the flow rider (he did it before on the last cruise) but first time on this type of board. He used a boogy board last time which was easier he says. |
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| This was my brother's first time... |
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| ...and Don's... |
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| ..and Kyle's. |
But oh.. the pain!
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| WIPE... |
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| ...OUT! |
No worries.. He was okay after the lesson. See... they are invincible! Especially Mr. Don!!
Portrait time... as on any cruise they take a zillion pictures of you so you can buy them and spend more money! We took the opportunity to take a whole family one and one with just the four of us. I mean when is the next time we get all dressed up for this right?
They are not cheap though! $20 a pop so make it be a good one!!
SOME FOREIGN TRAVEL TIPS:
FIRST..In Europe, there is the VAT (Value Added Tax) which is added on to your bill when you purchase something. (Basically it's another way the government can get more of your monies). Non-European citizens are eligible to receive a refund of this tax from places that say "Tax Free Shopping" such as on a cruise ship. Sounds good? NOPE.. it's not as easy as it sounds. There are restrictions.. your purchases must be at least totaling 90 euros (or $120) purchased from one store in one day! If it's less than that amount from one store, then it is not refundable.
I purchased cruise portraits totaling to $150. This VAT Tax was 21% of the total!! That is a huge chunk of money ($33) that I definitely wanted back! BUT.. you have to do a few things..
- Go to the store you purchased everything from to receive a stamped form indicating the total amount (in euros)
- As you get to Customs (in the airport) and the Customs Agent stamps your passport, you MUST show him your receipts with VAT stamped form AND items that you had purchased. He will stamp your VAT form.
- After exiting Customs with your custom-stamped VAT form, you must go to any Global Refund office located in the airport you are departing at. There you must show them your passport, receipts and VAT custom-stamped form and they will refund you the money.
Don't do what I did. Unfortunately no one told me about the Customs stamp until I was at the Global Refund office. I (along with many angry people in front of me) was told that I needed the Customs stamp before she could process my refund. Now there is NO way you can go back to the Customs. It is a one-way exit. Once you go through there is no going back. ARGH!! Of course, there are no signs and no one telling you all of this. So learn from my mistake!!
SECOND... I rarely get jetlag traveling abroad but coming back home.. my mind and body is off for at least two weeks! It takes me a long time to readjust to our time zone. But not anymore!
I bought these miracle pills at REI and they WORK!! You take a few during the flight going there and the flight coming back. I have to say other than my body waking me up at 9am and needing to sleep at 9pm for the first two-three days I was back, that was the extent of my jetlag. Before I would wake up at 2am and sleep until 2pm and that was with a nap too! No naps this time around and no grogginess. So try it if you have bad jetlag traveling.
NEXT UP: My Namesake's Home
