Royal Caribbean Blog

Liberty of the Seas is one of three Freedom Class cruise ships in Royal Caribbean's fleet, and offers some incredible amenities and activities onboard. Here are five really fun things to enjoy while aboard Liberty of the Seas.

5. Sabor

What can we say, we really like Sabor Modern Mexican on Royal Caribbean's shjps and if you happen to go on a Liberty of the Seas cruise, a visit to this specialty restaurant is a must do.

Sabor distinguishes itself by offering excellent quality Mexican food.  This is not a run-of-the-mill forgetful Mexican food. Rather, you get creative dishes made from fresh ingredients.

By far, the freshly made guacaomole is the star of Sabor. Sure, we cannot get enough ahi tuna tacos, Chicken-Stuffed Jalapeños or those wonderful margaritas, but the guacamole is just so good that it alone is worth the visit.

4. Splashaway Bay Aqua Park

Liberty of the Seas is one of the few Royal Caribbean ships to offer its guests the cruise line's newest take on aquatic adventure park.  In fact, Liberty of the Seas was the first ship in the fleet to recieve Splashaway Bay.

So what makes Splashaway Bay so cool? This fun spot is full of waterlides, water cannons, waterfalls and more.  It is the kind of place kids will never want to leave. The gigantic drench bucket and a multi-platform jungle-gym mean not only will the kids get (and stay) drenched while playing there, they are going to have a great time doing it.

What makes Splashaway Bay special is the fact it is the latest and greatest water play area option in Royal Caribbean's fleet.  Including some of the fun things to do included later on in this blog post, it makes Liberty of the Seas one of the best ships if you are cruising with kids.

3. Panoramic staterooms

If you think staterooms on a cruise ship are the same from ship to ship, then you need to see the panoramic oceanview staterooms on Liberty of the Seas.

A few years ago Royal Caribbean began adding staterooms that have floor-to-ceiling glass windows that provide a spectacular view.  Granted, these rooms lack a balcony, but having such an unobstructed view at your disposal is such a treat.

Ranging in size from 191 to 215 square feet, the panoramic oceanview staterooms on Liberty of the Seas offer lots of space and a view you never tire of seeing.

2. Saturday Night Fever

Select Royal Caribbean ships offer Broadway shows for their guests to enjoy, including Liberty of the Seas. Since 2011, Liberty of the Seas has been offering guests the opportunity to see Saturday Night Fever onboard, and the show is included with their cruise fare.

The musical depicts Tony, an ambitious Brooklyn teen who spends his Saturday nights disco dancing. It is a nostalgic look back to the 1970s with plenty of classic music to enjoy.

1. Waterslides

No sailing aboard Liberty of the Seas is complete without a few rides down its amazing "Perfect Storm" waterslides. 

Liberty of the Seas features the first Boomerang style waterslide at sea, named Tidal Wave.  The hair-raising slide features a steep drop that propels riders up a near vertical wall for a moment of weightlessness and into free fall.

There are also two racer slides, Cyclone and Typhoon, which promise even more thrills, as guests shoot down each slide for a wet and wild finish.

Your favorite

What is your favorite thing about Liberty of the Seas?  Is it on our list or do you have something you think is worth the cruise fare alone? Tell us about in this blog post's comments!

Episode 194 of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available, all about Private Journeys shore excursion.

What is this about?

In this episode, Matt and Christie discuss Royal Caribbean's relatively new option for guests that want a completely customizable shore excursion with all the benefits of booking through Royal Caribbean.

It feels like there are certain ports where either no existing excursions stand out as perfect choices, or there is too much compromise with what is available.  Enter, Private Journeys, which allows guests to work with Royal Caribbean to come up with the perfect private tour just for them.

We talk about who Private Journeys is a good fit for, share our recent experiences trying it out and review the experience from start to finish.

Listen right now, or subscribe via iTunes, RSS, or Stitcher!

Thanks for listening! Please rate and review the podcast on iTunes and leave your comments below!

Royal Caribbean guests in the market for an unlimited alcohol package and internet access will want to take notice of a new option Royal Caribbean has added.

The Deluxe Drink Package and Voom One Device offers guests the deluxe beverage unlimited alcohol package and a one-device Voom plan in one combo.

The cost of this package is listed at $54 per guest, per day. Compared to buying the two options separately, there are potential savings to the guest.

Here is an example for what each would individually cost for a 7-night cruise on Harmony of the Seas.

This "Sip and Stream" combo package has appeared in the past but has also disappeared quite quickly.  If you are interested in it, our advice is to book it immediately.  Keep in mind that Cruise Planner purchases are able to be canceled prior to the start of the cruise.

Royal Caribbean has opened up a new floating bar for guests to enjoy at its private destination in Haiti, known as Labadee.

The new floating bar is located at Adrenaline Beach, and is surrounded by water. Guests simply walk through the ocean to the bar, climb up and order and enjoy a drink. Royal Caribbean Blog reader Sebastian Söderström shared these photos, from his recent cruise stop on Independence of the Seas.

The floating bar is located underneath the zip line, which should provide for some fun views as guests enjoy a beverage at the bar.

Royal Caribbean added a floating bar to its other private destination, CocoCay in the Bahamas, last summer and has become quite popular with guests.

Do you want to try this bar on your next cruise stop in Labadee? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!

Diving into interactive tutorials created exclusively for Royal Caribbean, families sailing on Harmony of the Seas tap their creativity to sketch one-of-a-kind memories with one of YouTube’s most popular kids’ channels, Muffalo Potato. Whether a beginner or a budding Picasso, guests learn how to draw simply by using letters and numbers while guided by the series’ stars John and Muffalo.

Guests can earn up to $300 to spend onboard their cruises, with Royal Caribbean's Royal Refund sale.

On top of the cruise line's every third night free promotion, Royal Caribbean is now offering bonus onboard credit on cruises booked between April 18, 2017 7:00AM EST to April 22, 2017 6:59AM EST on cruises that depart on or after May. 17, 2017 (excluding China departures).

Every Third Night Free

This offer also incudes the 1, 2, Free promotion

• 3-5 Night Sailing – 1 Free Night
• 6-8 Night Sailing – 2 Free Nights
• 9-11 Night Sailing – 3 Free Nights
• 12-14 Night Sailing – 4 Free Nights
• 15-17 Night Sailing – 5 Free Nights
• 18-20 Night Sailing – 6 Free Nights
• 21-23 Night Sailing – 7 Free Nights
• 24 Night Sailing – 8 Free Nights

Onboard Credit

Bonus onboard credit is determined by sailing length and stateroom category booked:

• 5 Nights or less
  • Interior/Oceanview: $50 OBC per stateroom,
  • Balcony: $75 OBC per stateroom
  • Suite: $100 OBC per stateroom
• 6 Nights or more
  • Interior/Oceanview: $75 OBC per stateroom
  • Balcony: $200 OBC per stateroom
  • Suite: $300 OBC per stateroom

1-2-Free is combinable with adjoining OBC, Crown & Anchor discounts, NextCruise offers and Shareholder Benefits. OBC is not combinable with Crown & Anchor discounts or Shareholder Benefits. 1-2-Free and OBC are not combinable with any other offer or promotion, including but not limited to, restricted rates (for example, Seniors, Residents, and Military), Standard Group, Interline, Travel Agent, Travel Agent Friends and Family, Weekly Sales Events, and Net Rates.

Offer available to residents of the United States and Canada. 

Chops Grille has been a popular stalwart of Royal Caribbean's specialty dining choices, and Royal Caribbean has recently begun offering a lunch option too.

For years, Royal Caribbean only had Chops Grille open for dinner.  Recently, Royal Caribbean has begun offering a lunch option for guests to book.

RoyalCaribbeanBlog reader Angie La Malfa Muma shared photos from her Chops Grille lunch on Harmony of the Seas. 

The Chops Grille lunch menu is smaller than the Chops Grille dinner menu, yet retains much of the Chops Grille "experience."

There are also two dessert options, boysenberry cheesecake and chocolate mudpie.

There is a $19 cover charge for adults and $10 cover charge for kids for lunch. 

Do you want to try Chops Grille for lunch? Let us know in the comments!

The island of Aruba is well known for its perfect weather and even prettier beaches. For many Royal Caribbean guests, visiting Aruba might be a one-time opportunity, and for those that want to see some of the cultural and natural highlights of the island, while cruising in an over-the-top fun bus, then the Kukoo Kunuku Palm Beach Tour might be just right for you.

While in Aruba on port stop onboard Navigator of the Seas, we tried out this colorful tour of Aruba to see what it is like to explore Aruba while singing at the top of your lungs.

Description

Kukoo Kunuku is a local tour company that provides bus tours of Aruba that visit some of the island's best known spots. While bus tours tend to be very similar experiences (pile in, go to a spot, pile out, take photos and pile back in, repeat), the folks at Kukoo Kunuku wanted to really change it up.  They took old school buses, painted them all sorts of colors, plastered a ton of funny sayings and metaphors all over the bus, added maracas and blast classic sing-along songs to enjoy as you explore Aruba.

Guests climb aboard the bus (there were three in our tour), and are quickly indoctrinated into the Kukoo Kunuku culture of singing, being loud, and trying to "scare" any bicyclist or person on the street you pass by with hoot and hollering.  The tour is as much about the experience onboard the bus as it is the places you visit.

The Kukoo Kunuku tour visits three spots, but begins with a general tour of Aruba that includes back story of the island and many opportunities to see what life is like in Aruba. 

The first stop is at Alto Vista Chapel, which is a small Catholic chapel that stands on the hills above the north shore of the sea.  It is a beautiful spot that provides some lovely views all around.

Back in the bus, the next stop is the California Lighthouse. The lighthouse was named for a ship that wrecked nearby Aruba in the 19th century.  Guests may not climb to the top of the lighthouse, but like the chapel, the spot provides an excellent vantage point of the surroundings.

The final stop, and bulk of your time in the excursion, is a stop at Palm Beach. 

Palm Beach is one of the two most popular beaches in Aruba (along with Eagle Beach) and the excursion includes the use of a complimentary beach chair. There is food and drink service provided at the beach for an additional fee.

The tour concludes with a fun trip back to the port area, with a good look at the beaches along the way.

Comments

Kukoo Kunuku is one of those excursions you have to experience for yourself to truly understand what it offers.  It is more than a typical bus tour, and the fact we were traveling with many friends in a large group made for an even better time onboard.  The tour's approach to encouraging everyone to sing along to classic rock songs set the tone a very fun day.

The driver of each bus serves as your guide, and will talk about various sights you will see along the way.  The tour takes you through the interior of Aruba to begin with, and then concludes with a ride down the coast on the way back.

The tour culminates with a beach stop at one part of Palm Beach.  Unfortunately during our visit, the beach was quite packed by the time we arrived. Personally, I prefer a spot on the beach with shade (my days of seeking a bronzed look are well past me), and there just was nothing to be found.  There were umbrellas for rent, but they were sold out. We ended up sitting at a picnic table underneath a few trees and that served the purpose just fine (plus I had great bar service).  I definitely would have preferred either a less crowded part of the beach, or a beach with more shade options.  All that being said, we ended up having a nice time once we got settled in.

I was skeptical about the zany nature of the tour, but by the end of the 4 hour excursion, I was wanting more.  From singing along to great songs to speeding around traffic circles multiple times, the tour ended up being a lot of fun.

Ultimately, what sets Kukoo Kunuku apart from other tours is the fun you have onboard the bus.  From the moment you sit down, you will notice this is not your typical tour.  Groups, families and anyone who kind of knows a few people on the tour will really enjoy this opportunity to explore Aruba while having a great time. The low cost of the tour (just $34 per adult) made getting a taste of Aruba just what we needed.

Cost: $34.00 per adult or $19.00 per child. Infants are free.

Happy Easter! Whether you are celebrating the beautiful Spring holiday with a luxurious meal, or hunting for eggs hidden by the Easter Bunny, I hope that you are having a relaxing Sunday.

Have you ever been to Kennedy Space Center near Port Canaveral, Florida? It is the preeminent attraction near the port, and a monument to some incredible moments in human history.  We visited Kennedy Space Center for the first time on a recent cruise visit.

Royal Caribbean offers a few shore excursions that tour Kennedy Space Center, and we shared our experience at the center, including seeing one of the space shuttles.

Royal Caribbean News

• A tropical cyclone caused Voyager of the Seas to change itineraries.
• Royal Caribbean UK launched new fly-cruise packages.
• A new video showcasing the Hideaway Heist on Harmony of the Seas.
• Answers to 10 common questions about the unlimited drink package.
• Our guide to Anthem of the Seas for first time cruiser's.
• We shared our readers' favorite Royal Caribbean photos.

On This Week in Royal Caribbean History

Two years ago this week, Royal Caribbean announced it was doing away with the last-minute cruise discounts on cruises more than two to four nights in length.

Royal Caribbean Chairman Richard Fain called the long-held practice “disruptive” to loyal customers and travel agents during a conference call on first-quarter earnings.

In the time since, Royal Caribbean tweaked the policy a couple of times, but retains the program to this day.

Royal Caribbean Around the Internet

Cruise Habit looks at what documents or authorization one needs to cruise to Cuba.

Adventures with Beci shares a tip for what to do if your favorite shore excursion is sold out.

CruiseBe has 9 facts you might not know about Oasis of the Seas.

EatSleepCruise shared a photo tour of a Central Park View Stateroom on Harmony of the Seas.

Traveling with Mom has the ultimate guide to cruising with a family on Allure of the Seas.

Are you ready for a virtual escape to a Royal Caribbean cruise? Every Friday we share our readers' favorite Royal Caribbean cruise photos in a showcase of why we love going on Royal Caribbean.

We begin this week with a photo by Tina Moore in Puerto Rico, while sailing on Freedom of the Seas.

Here is a lovely shot of the beach in CocoCay by Justin.  He took this photo after taking the first tender to the island, and shots like this are worth getting up early!

Keith Davis sent in this photo of the sunrise, just as Freedom of the Seas was arriving in Labadee.  This is such a beautiful photo!

Our next photo is from Anthem of the Seas, with Gigi the giraffe "admiring" the sunset.  Marjolaine took this photo, and there are never enough sunset photos to go around!

Richard Weiss shared this photo of a friendly wave from an officer on Freedom of the Seas, as Harmony of the Seas passed by in St. Martin.  

One of our favorite photographers, Dave Rimington, sent in this photo of Navigator of the Seas in Bonaire.  Love the colors.

Our final photo this week is from Henry H, and it is of Explorer of the Seas sailing away from Cartagena, Spain.

Thank you to everyone who's photos were featured this week, and if you want to share your best Royal Caribbean cruise photos, you can send them in via this form. Have a great weekend!