CruzinScotty

So, this is my 12th cruise overall, starting in 1974 with my parents and middle brother. We went on the Costa Flavia, going to Nassau and Freeport. Anyone remember the tiny ships of that era? It was a whopping 15,465 tons – that’s 1/7th the weight of the Liberty! It held 1100 passengers. Think about it; if you made a ship 7 times the weight and tried to add 7 times the people…. Well, a max capacity of 2974 doesn’t seem quite so crowded, now does it? :)

Anyways, I love reading trip reports; and I enjoy writing them as well. You’ll see LOTS of pictures of the Liberty and the Ports of call: Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Thomas and St. Martin/St. Maarten. I already mentioned: LOTS of FOOD PORN.

I also like to show a different side of things by taking pictures from unusual angles. I like to “stop to smell the roses”. There will be pics of the beauty of the ports that you might have missed.

I also like to give helpful hints to new cruisers that may be following along.

I love, love, LOVE participation on the thread. If you were on this cruise; please join in and share your experiences as well. IE, in the 2012 report; I attended an Illusionist show. There were 3 people on stage. TWO of the three were on Cruise Critic and posted about their experience at that show and throughout the trip. What a small world, it was a blast.

I do have one request though if you were on the actual cruise. You WILL see me posting something that has the wrong time (if you catch it) or you may know something “new/different/exciting” is coming up. I'm going in chronological order and I took very detailed notes. Please share your comments/experiences when I get there. There are a lot of twists and turns for me to share; lets live and re-live them together. :) There’s a reference to something already posted in another short Liberty report. If you’ve seen that – that is the type of thing I’d like to wait and discuss from my perspective first; then hear everyone else’s comments.

I’m still sorting thru pictures and also back at work. I do have a little more info to share before it’s picture time; please bear with me. It’s been 2 years since I moved photos to photo-bucket so I could post them there; gotta get past that learning curve again. ;)

Suggested reading material in the mean time: why the 2012 trip posted above – of course. :D

Oh yes, before I forget; one thing I’m NOT going to post is the Fun Times. With the variation in the Liberty’s cruise lengths and destinations; I don’t think it will be as helpful as the ships that always do alternating 7 day Eastern/Western Itineraries. Even though I know there’s at least one 8 day Eastern coming up soon, right thistoo? (Plus, I don’t have a scanner at the moment.)

I also like to leave an occasional cliff-hanger. So without further ado:

Coming up: The Trip that almost wasn’t. :eek:

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Boarding the Liberty for the 8-day Eastern on the day after Thanksgiving. Can't wait for a preview!

This review should be right up your alley! Hope this helps make the time before your trip pass more quickly.

Awesome! Looking forward to reading your review. We are sailing on the Liberty this Friday! Cant wait!

I see you're close to the port. We should get onto the ship here for a little taste before you get on her for real. ;)

Thanks!! Subscribing....we have sailed the liberty omce and would love to sail her again!!

This was my third trip on the Liberty. I'm so sad she's moving to San Juan so soon. I really love her (and her 2.0 upgrades). :(

I read part of this thread awhile back; but I haven't read it all. I apologize if this is duplicate info.

This is for a ship that has Guy's and Fish and Chips. If you like Guy's Burgers, but not the thicker fries: go to the Fish and Chips and order "chips only" and then get your burger. (Or, if there's two of you - have each go to one place and meet at the table. :) )

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dixie24

So excited to see new pics of the American Table/Feast food and menus. Can't wait for your review!

From what I can tell, and you will see here; there are updates to the menu from the last time I saw it. Others may have posted info that I haven't seen. We'll see when we get there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KPfromCT

Yay!!!! Cannot wait for the rest!:D

Thanks for doing this!!!!:D:D

You're welcome. I may not post a thanks to everyone for the positive feedback; but please know I DO appreciate it! I have learned a lot here. I don't post a lot and this is my way of "giving back".

So, you see, I like music. I set up a “Cruise 2014” play list on my I-pod that I listened to. With many posts, I’ll be “setting the mood” for you as we go on the re-telling or as I’ll call it, "our virtual cruise”.

I have a question. I’ve tried to understand the copyright infringement thread and I don’t think I’ve got it. Am I allowed to post a link to a You - Tube video? It’s not cruise related info, just a music video. I ONLY plan on doing this once for a particular reason. If you don’t know other songs I list, feel free to look them up. I just want to know if I can post from You – Tube at all?

If you’re looking for a short, concise trip report, this may not be the place for you.

If you like LONG reports with LOTS of pics and LOTS of FOOD PORN; then you’re in the right place!

If you’re looking specifically for the newest American Table/Feast Menus and pictures; but don’t want to follow the entire thread: when we get to MDR Day One here; I’ll be starting a “Dueling Trip Report”. That one will just have that info and pics. You’ll be able to find it under the title, “American Table/Feast Menu’s and Pictures: 8 Day Eastern Liberty, Sept 13-21, 2014” (If you’re sticking around here; that info will be in both threads - you don’t have to go back and forth.)

Soooooooooooo, In 2012, we started doing family reunion cruises. I posted a “3 Generations” report after our 1st trip in May of that year on a 7 day Eastern Liberty cruise. Last year, we were on the Dream for a 7 day Western in June. I was finishing up a project at work that had me on the job 60+ hours a week for 10 weeks. That cruise really was a “chillax” cruise for me and my wife. There weren’t many photos and not enough to report. Seven days of “I ate, slept, visited with family and relaxed on my balcony” – does not a trip report make. :)

If you’re interested in re-living the 2012 cruise (either to see if you like the flow of my report, or because it will take a while to get this one finished), here is the link: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1647594

We had 9 people on the 2012 cruise, 13 joined us last year and the same 13 are booked this year as well.

Be back soon.

Depending on the photographer and the backdrop; your group may be too large for it to come out. Our picture came out great; but it's really JUST the 13 of us - no room for a backdrop.

The best place for a LARGE group is the "grand staircase" in the Atrium. I've got a GREAT one from there. We did ours just after dinner on the first Formal Night. We happened to be in that dining room, we had ATD which put us right there. We did this on the Dream, and also did 11 on the staircase on the Liberty the year before.

Good luck and hope you pic comes out great!

Thanks for the responses.

I'll have the the e-mail address in case it's needed. I had forgotten about the e-mail survey that I've used in the past.

I was on the Liberty last week and had several crew members that gave exceedingly excellent service. Where can I send an e-mail so it will get to the their appropriate supervisors?

...I agree. Food is very subjective. But, I absolutely love Five Guy's and feel that Guy's Burgers are so much better. It's always our first stop on the ship!

I agree about food being subjective.

For me, I think the reasons Guy's beats Five Guys is because I'm on vacation and the salt in the ocean air just has something that adds to the burger experience. :)

For those that prefer skinny fries and must have them with their burger (and you have a Fish and Chips on your ship); last week I saw a woman who was getting "just chips" from the Fish and Chips and then heading to Guy's for her burger. For me, I had seafood with my prefered skinny fries one day and Guy's on another.

I'm REALLY enjoying your trip report. You have a wonderful writing style.

I echo others in what a great gesture you made to include Elijah on the trip.

I'm sure you're quite busy now that college is back in and football season is starting. (Sorry Tarheel fan, Clemson is my team. :D)

I hope it's not too long before you're able to post the rest of the trip.

I'm on the Liberty 8 day Eastern next month. I'm glad to hear the chilled soups and creme brulee are back on the menu. I'm curious to see what is served in the MDR on the 8th night as I've only seen new menus posted for the 7 day cruises.

Just got off the Liberty today after an 8 day Southern Caribbean. Food in the MDR was great. No reason for my wife and I to do the buffet or steakhouse.

 

Different cold soups nightly.

The cold soups weren't on the original change. I've got family members traveling with me next month that will be VERY glad to hear they are back. :)

Well, I guess I look at it a bit differently. On the Liberty now, and she is an awesome ship, with all the bells and whistles mentioned above, and she is perfect for the longer itineraries to more distant ports. But for the Nassau / Half Moon Cay run I prefer the smaller, more intimate Fantasy Class ships. I would rather be tendering to and sharing HMC with only 2,500 other passengers, then say the nearly 4,000 passengers that the Conquest Class (or Larger) bring. JMHO. :)

This was my thought. For the money we have saved I booked my parents and my brother FTTF (I'm Platinum) and booked a cabanna at HMC and still have money left over. I have just decided to stay with Fascination and use my money on other perks for the trip. Thanks for everyone's feedback and help. I wish my parents could do a nicer - bigger ship but for a 5 day to Bahamas only a 6 hour drive and the price range exactly where we needed it, I think the Fascination is the way to go. Thanks again!!

By the time I got to the botom of the thread, I see you've made your decision. I'm going on the Liberty for the 3rd time next month. But, in your situation; I'd have stuck with the Fascination as well. I agree with Jamman54 and you saved money to spend wisely elsewhere. In addition, for me; I'd rather have 2 sea days instead of 1 sea day and Freeport.

I have been reading a ton of boards and read recently that the porters drop the bags off at the bus and the only lonely bus driver loads the bags onto the bus, making it a slow process. When asked by a guest to one of the long shore men why they do not help, he was told "not my job"....:eek:

I thought the porters in Miami could be an issue, but there they loaded the luggage onto the bus.

Hmmm. I will be using a porter. They don't get tipped until they're done. If they don't put the luggage on the bus, part of the tip will just to go the driver instead. ;) But, I don't like that it slows the process down.

Thanks for the head's up.

Thanks so much for posting.

I'm not on your cruise, but the Sunshine and Liberty are in port on my Sept 13th departure on the Liberty. I knew we'd leave from Terminal 10 and return to Terminal 6.

Two years ago, also on the Liberty, we returned to a different terminal in Miami. They had the bus transfer system. I was hesitant about it; but it really worked out great.

I was hoping they had the same set-up at Port Canaveral; I'm glad to see they do and it appears to be working as well.

Thanks for the info. I know Charleston wouldn't get the Vista. It wouldn't be a good fit, too big.

I'd love any larger ship in Charleston that has more balconies. But, until the cruise terminal/embarkation/debarkation issues some have are resolved, I don't think Carnival will be able to justify bringing in a larger ship.

This thread is not about which ship to take. It's about the condition and future of the two fine vessels.

I live in South Carolina and follow all Fantasy threads, though I've not had the pleasure of cruising on her yet. Maybe soon. ;)

I've heard rumors the Fantasy is for sale. How much is rumor and how much is fact? I know the Fantasy is the oldest ship in the fleet. If Carnival is ready to sell a ship, it makes sense to sell the oldest one.

If it sells, does that mean Carnival wants to move out of Charleston? I don't think so. Business is good, prices are often higher than other Fantasy-class ships. I believe it's the only Fantasy-class ship that still does 7 days cruises (8-10 a year). I see people compare Carnival pulling out of Charleston similar to what happened in Mobile. But, it seems the prices in Mobile were constantly being reduced to fill the ship whereas that doesn't seem to be the case with the Fantasy.

Is it possible that Carnival has realized it's maxed out on the number of ports that are profitable for it; including Charleston as a home port? Could it be they are planning ahead so that when the Vista is done they reposition another ship (probaby in the Fantasy class) to Charleston to make room for the Vista?

I tend to see comments about the Fantasy being old and out-dated, showing her wear, etc.

So, the Fantasy was built in 1990, the Ecstacy is the next oldeset at 1991. What condition is the Ecstacy in? Is it the same? It's only one year newer.

I'm curious if the talk about the Fantasy is truly the condition of the ship or just because it's the oldest in the fleet and the rumor of it's sale? Or...... are the issues some people have with the port of Charleston effecting their judgement?

Thoughts?

Great info! Subscribing.

For the next revision: The Liberty is now sailing from Port Canaveral.

I really enjoyed it. There are some excellent pics in this review:http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2055159

Thanks for posting your review, particularly the menus and food pictures. I was concerned about the changes, but now not so much.

The main thing the rest of my family will miss are the chilled soups. I liked a few of them, but there's plenty to choose from.

As mentioned above, the shrimp cocktail is back on the menu as a daily item. Another previous complaint was that the ribs were on formal night. They have been moved to a different night. Those changes show they do listen, sometimes it just takes awhile. ;)

Otherwise, I see some new things to try that will take the place of a few others I might have missed. Variety is the spice of life.

I had heard the dessert choices were much more limited, but that didn't seem to be what I saw on the menus. And, I had heard the Creme Brulee was totally gone, but I see it on Formal Night.

Bring it on - September on the Liberty can't get here fast enough. :D

I guess a policy is a policy, but if it's immediate family it should be changed in my opinion.

I agree with your concept, but think the policy is right. Last year, my family had 4 rooms with a total of 11 people. We had 4 FTTF. If we only had one FTTF for a cabin of 2 - should the other 9 immediate family members really be allowed to join in for free? I don't, but people will always try to push the limits if you let them.

Billy,

Thanks for the great review!

I've been quite busy with work since our vacation; I'm just catching up on your report. We were on the same cruise as you. It's been fun re-living the trip. GREAT photos! I also love hearing other perspectives, especially when there were 4500 of them from that same week.

It's funny, my in-laws had a "spot" on deck 11 as well. We must have passed each other many times on the ship. They like to be outside, but not in the sun. Their "spot" was 20-30 feet down from your "spot" in the shade.

What itinerary are you doing next year on the Freedom? We were looking at the 8 day Eastern on the Dream for next year. With the repositioning, both the Sunshine and the Liberty will be doing the same itinerary a week apart. Sunshine is newer, but more expensive. Decisions, decisions. :)

I see my Photobucket bandwidth has been exceeded. I'll post again in a few days when the pics are up for anyone interested in looking.

I guessing it depends on the porter and/or maybe how much luggage they are handling at one time? He had most of our carry-on luggage as well - at least 15 pieces. How he got it all on that one cart, I'll never know.

He kept walking, we litereally had to keep up with him. I hate people that cut in line; I was truly just keeping up with my stuff. :o

So, in our case, we did bypass the line.

When DB/SIL boarded later, they said there were porters in the regular line with everyone else. That's why I'm thinking the amount of luggage we had made a difference.

So, how’s this transport thing going to work? I had already spoken to Pa. If this didn’t look good, we would huff it down to our cars and come back for the gang. Plan B was not needed. The porter knew exactly where our waiting bus was. Luggage quickly loaded, people quickly loaded – we were at our cars in 10 minutes. Carnival really stepped up for this part of the process! On the bus, Ma looked at me and said, “Is it OK to be sad now”. LOL Yes, I guess it is.

We headed out of Miami back to Pop’s house. We were able to spend more quality time with each part of our family; making a slow three day trip back home. A nice way to delay the post-cruise let down.

Now it’s time to share some final thoughts.

I left a few “improvement opportunities” in my Carnival e-survey. These included:

Better signage during debarkation

I can’t remember the exact issue, but one evening no one would answer the Housekeeping phone number and a room steward was not readily available in the hallway.

The temperature in the cabin fridges was bad; in a hotel, you’d have it replaced.

The serving sizes becoming smaller over time is not in itself a huge problem. However, when you have to add Shrimp to the Lobster entrée and a Beef rib to the Filet Mignon entrée – then the serving sizes for those items have gotten too small! :eek:

The wait staff is spread too thin. If you’re still with me, you’ll remember I’ve already mentioned dinners taking almost 2 hours and the overall service during breakfast is definitely not what is was in the past; nor what you would consider acceptable at a restaurant on a land vacation.

Having said all of the above; did any of it ruin our cruise? Nope.

Hint: Be realistic in your expectations and your reviews. If you’re 100% negative with your review (either here or with Carnival) – do you really think you will make any effect towards positive change?

Now it’s time to accentuate the positive!

If you can’t tell - we had a FANTASTIC cruise! Thanks for tagging along while I got to re-lived the trip. And thanks to everyone for the nice comments! :)

Hint: writing a trip report (long or short, pictures or not) is a another GREAT way to get yourself out of the post-cruise blues. ;)

There was a lot for us to LOVE about this trip:

We reconnected with family

We LOVED all of the ports

We LOVED the Liberty

We loved unpacking once and letting the ship take us to new adventurous places

We loved food being available 24/7

We loved all the things about cruising that we’ve always loved!

They say when you see a good movie or play that you should have the feeling when you come out that it was the BEST movie/play you have seen. In retrospect, it may not be “the” best – but you should feel that way immediately afterwards.

Let me finish by saying that our trip was so good – we’re starting to make plans for next year! We were missing some family on this trip; there will be more of us on board next time! Beware....;)

I had selected our breakfast time after reading the debarkation letter we received on Friday. If all went well, when we finished in the cabins after breakfast, they should have been calling our number, “8”. Well, the late arrival kept things 30 minutes behind. They were only calling 4 and 5.

So, we headed to the Lido for a bit. After calling 6 and 7; there was a delay. They came on a few times to say things were clogged up in Customs – better to wait on the comfort of the ship. We made our way to the Lobby – where they told you NOT to go. Oops. But, I will say people were pretty good – it was not overly crowded. Plus, we were the VERY next number waiting to be called. I did overheard people from numbers 15 and 22 already waiting there.

Yay! Finally our number is called and it’s time to weave our way off the ship. By this time, they were running a full hour behind the posted debarkation times. DB left later, it didn’t sound like they were catching up much. I wonder if the effected embarkation for the next sailing?

We have done self-debarkation the last several times, so this was almost a new process for us – finding the luggage. The last time we did this – there were huge piles of luggage by number that you had to sort thru. Now, obviously, they have the conveyor belts. But……..

The signage and directions for the luggage was lacking a bit. There were 3 numbers for the carousels. We went into the middle one. We waited and waited and waited – couldn’t find a single piece of our luggage. When we started seeing pieces for the 2nd time, we knew something was wrong. Finally we realized we were in the wrong location.

Hint: if doing regular debarkation – LOOK at the debarkation numbers posted in each carousel to see where your luggage will be! LOL

In Carnival’s defense: I just checked the Debarkation page. It does say, “Proceed to the baggage claim areas of the cruise terminal. Your luggage will be grouped by Zone number for easy location”.

In our defense:

1. Carnival – please BOLD or underline that 2nd sentence! LOL That is a VERY useful piece of information that is easily missed and not announced overhead during debarkation. (DB/SIL said later they also went to the wrong carousel.)

2. Though we were in the wrong carousel, there WERE a few pieces of luggage with our debarkation number on it! I bet those people had a heck of a time finding their luggage…..

3. Each carousel area is quite large. There are four columns in each room (holding up the roof). On each column were placards that could have been used to list the debarkation areas. Only one of four was used – of course it was nowhere near where we were.

Once we got to the correct carousel, we found all 10 pieces of luggage in less than 5 minutes!

Hint: If you have a lot of luggage – use a porter!

I got this hint from CC and it really paid off! We could have all handled the luggage we had – I was clear with the gang before we left that we must be able to do so. But, I grabbed a porter and he loaded all the luggage for us. He then whisked us thru the hallway and before we could take a breath; we were thru customs.

Next: Good bye Miami