Liberty of the Seas: Galveston Embarkation

Embarkation day for the Liberty of the Seas is finally here and all six of us are excited. After enjoing the complimentary breakfast, we met in the lobby by 9:45 am as I’d made 10 am transportation reservations.

We met a couple on our sailing that were waiting for the shuttle to take them back to the airport where they would then take the Royal Caribbean transportation. I had booked transportation with Lady Bird Limousine. Susan is the owner and our driver and she arrived 10 minutes early. We loaded into her big SUV (only challenge was the luggage loading) for the drive to Galveston port.

When we got there she gave us a tour of some of the historical buildings and homes in the city. I’d love to explore the city in the future.

Check-in and Boarding

When Susan dropped us off, we found a porter right away and walked into the terminal. The security line took about 5-10 minutes and we only waited a moment for a check in agent. She said the rest of our group could go in the Gold check in line which we appreciated. The agent gave me my wifi code and a card noting our on-board credit.

We got our cards and mine had the beverage package sticker. We took embarkation photos and then went up to the waiting area.

Our gold status got us a gold z card; the last group of golds. They called emerald, then platinum while we waited (I guess diamond and above had already been called) then went through four groups of gold and then us.

Getting onboard was easy!

Afternoon

I loved the elevator reminders about which day it is; so easy to lose track on vacation!

We found our way to the windjammer for lunch. That place was packed! Steve found us a table for six in the back seating area and we all proceeded to get food. I had the carving station roast beef with mashed potatoes, vegetables and Cuban chicken.

The desserts were pretty good and quite a selection. I ended up with the wonderful coconut cookies and chocolate cupcake. The burgers were not a hit with Y and A but she got something else too. (Later one we figured they accidentally got the veggie burger).

After lunch we started exploring the promenade when they announced rooms were available (about 1:20 pm). We walked to the forward end and took the elevators up to our cabins on the eight deck.

We picked up a pina colada along the way to the cabin.

Distilled water and an extension cord for my CPAP machine was waiting there along with our gold card benefits sheet, the compass and a soda cup for me.

After checking it out we went to the schooner bar for a drink with everyone.

The limited cocktail menu until out of Texas waters is annoying and I don’t understand the purpose but we made do. Afterwards we returned to the room and gathered our bags from the hallway to start unpacking.

JoAnn, our room stewardess, came by and introduced herself. She told us her hours and I mentioned we were early risers and would like our room taken care of earlier than later; she said just put out the make up room sign. I let her know we were traveling with the cabins on either side; our “kids”.

It was time to go to the muster so we headed up and had our cards scanned. The Captain announced there was a diving operation in progress so we couldn’t depart until 6 pm although the gangway will be up at 4 pm.

After muster while I finished unpacking, Steve went exploring. I went and got a drink and went back to the room to meet him and watched the end of a movie. When he got back we put the bags under the b ed and setup the plug for the cpap.

Evening

It wasn’t long until it was time to head to the dining room for our 5:30 pm seating. We are assigned to the Botticelli dining room (deck 5). Steve and I had found our table’s location earlier in the day and were very pleased. It’s next to the railing off to the side so there’s no traffic going by us. The only thing better would be by the window.

Our waiter, Krisna, introduced himself right away. He explained the menu to us and also introduced his assistant, Jing. She was busy getting us water, bread and asking our drink orders.

The menu tonight is Mojo which had some good choices.

We ordered and our food came very quickly. The dining room was not full on our level and in fact other than us our servers only had two others to serve.

Our choices included the eggplant and artichoke tart.

Smoked fish rillette (I didn’t like it but J and A2 sure did!).

Caesar salad (at least one person ordered every night).

Other starters were escargot and shrimp cocktails (I’ll get pictures in future dinners).

For mains, Steve had the prime rib,

J and A had salmon,

Y had pork chop,

A2 had seafood pasta (I didn’t get pic) and I had the chicken breast.

Everyone but J was happy with their entree. Steve was very happy to have good prime rib after his last Carnival cruise experience (which drove us to change from our booking on Carnival to this one).

For dessert, most of us got the carrot cake;

Steve and I added ice cream while Y had the cheesecake.

I was disappointed in the pistachio ice cream (was expecting the real thing).

At some point during our meal the ship left Galveston (after 6 pm). We were delayed due to a diving operation.

Our entire group.

We then went to the 7:15 welcome aboard show. The live band was good, the aerialists were fantastic! And the comedian was very funny. Great show.

Steve and I ordered drinks in the showroom and then after went to the Viking lounge which was dead. We ended up at the hoof and claw pub for live music. Unfortunately they were still on the limited drink menu because of Texas laws so we couldn’t get our first choice.

We picked up a piece of pizza at Sorrentos before ending our day.