10 Day Carnival Liberty & Carnival Splendor Adventure

I love reading other people's cruise reviews while waiting for my next cruise to begin. It makes the time between cruises go by a little quicker. I have written three cruise reviews prior to this which you can read by clicking the links below:

Sensation

Sunshine

Sunshine Part II.

A couple disclaimers, I LOVE cruising and always have a good time. But I like to be honest in my review. Everything is not perfect on a cruise and I do intend to include the bad with the good. Just because I complain, does not mean I did not have a great time.

Also, I may not hit on everything that interests you as a cruiser. I would say from reading many reviews that my cruise style is different from the norm, and that is okay. Please feel free to ask questions though about something I do not cover and I will do my best to answer anything that you would like to know about.

About Me:

I am 29 years old and am lucky enough to live in Florida so taking cruises is more affordable and easier to do than for many people. This will be my 10th and 11th cruise overall and 8th and 9th with Carnival.

My first trip was on the Carnival Liberty 4/27 for a three day cruise to the Bahamas. Following that was a seven day cruise on 4/30 on the Carnival Splendor to the Western Caribbean. Not exactly a side-to-side since I will be driving to another port in between. What is that then, a top-to-bottom? Did I just invent a new cruise term? Lets just call it a side-to-side unless top-to-bottom catches on in the cruising world.

So how did I get here? This is certainly a unique itinerary since most people would at least have booked two ships in the same port. Let's start from the beginning (always a great place to start I find :p)

The first cruise I booked was the Splendor. I received my first Premier invite from the Ocean's Player's Club back in October. The dates did not really work out (as I knew they wouldn't) because my normal cruise partner, M, had a land trip planned with her family to Costa Rica in May and there would be no way for her to swing a cruise in during that time frame. I would need to use one of my free cruise vouchers from the casino to book during this time since it would just be me. It was still nice to be invited though.

Fast forward to November. Things were changing in the casino department and not for the better. Free cruises were becoming a thing of the past, being replaced by discounted cruises except for very high rollers, which I am not. I thought it over for a few weeks, and decided this might be my only chance to afford a cruise by myself during this time, and who knows what else will change, this might be my only chance to book a premiere cruise, before I no longer qualify for that either.

I looked through the available cruises to choose from, and honestly only one thing was important. Price. I booked the cheapest cruise available which ended up being a 7 day Western Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Splendor. I cruised this same ship, on this same itinerary in January 2016, but again price was the only deciding factor.

In keeping with price, I booked the cheapest room available, a 1A far forward on Deck 1. I will admit, I was a little worried about that especially since I have no idea what to expect being so close to the anchor. I have read some horror stories, I am hoping it is not that bad but I have a feeling it will be.

The poor cabin choice aside, I am very excited for this trip. It will be my first solo trip which I have been wanting to give a try. I love cruising with M, but I want to try something different. Solo could end up being totally boring, but I love the idea of complete freedom to do what I want when I want. It will also be my first time on a Premiere. I have heard a lot of great things about these and am looking forward to getting the VIP treatment from the casino. I will highlight my experiences so that others who are thinking about doing one, or will be doing their first one soon, will know what to expect. It is not my intention to boast.

Then there is the ship. Even though I did not pick this cruise for the ship, the fact that it is on the Splendor is a bonus. I have a bit of a soft spot for the Splendor. I think its history is fascinating. It was originally built for Costa as the sister to the Costa Concordia (yes, that Concordia). It was transferred to Carnival and became the only ship in Carnival's fleet to belong to the Concordia Class (itself a modified Conquest class).

Upon its christening, the champagne bottle failed to break, which in seaman's superstition is very bad luck. Silly superstition though, right. Smoke On The Water. Long read, but what a great story teller John Heald is.

It is a unique ship, with a troubled past. The fire is the biggest story, but it has had a few other minor problems including its recent propulsion issues that led to some itinerary changes. I love a ship with a story and the Splendor has quite a story. It is also very brightly decorated, it is so tacky that it becomes absolutely gorgeous IMHO. Others will just say tacky, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I love how bold it is.

With my soft spot for this unique ship, I was so saddened by the news that she was being transferred to another cruise line. I was already determined to book another cruise on this ship before she moved to California, but now that she would eventually be leaving Carnival completely, the need to book this cruise again became even greater. This Premier trip would satisfy the urge, back to The Pink Ship I go!

Fast forward a couple more months. It is the end of February and I have just gotten off the Sunshine. I earned a reduced cruise voucher from the Casino (in lieu of the free voucher I no longer qualify for) to be taken on select sailings up to 15 days in length (not really any 15 day cruises make this list, soft bookings only). At the same time I received a Pack and Play offer from the Casino for select 3-5 day cruises. There are some great cruises to choose from, but I don't book any because I want to see what I can use my other offer on first.

That was a mistake, the good ones were gone almost immediately and it took forever to hear back from the casino department with my exact booking code so my PVP could see which cruises were available to me. I still checked it periodically but I did not have a lot of options, as the cruises only went through August, and June was blacked out at work for me, and I had a cruise in April and now in July with my most recent offer (both on Splendor :D). I really was just looking for a quick weekend getaway out of Jacksonville or Pt. Canaveral as that would be all I had time for.

Nothing was really showing up, then I checked one more time on the last day of the offer and I saw it. A three day cruise out of Pt. Canaveral on the Liberty. Making it even more exciting, the dates lined up so that the day I disembarked from the Liberty, I would drive down to Miami to start my next 7 day cruise. It was fate and I did not hesitate to book it! I was now all set for a 10 day side-to-side adventure!

I went ahead and booked it for two people, as my good friend and frequent cruise buddy M thought there may be a chance that she could go on the 3 day, but she was not certain so I left the second name TBA for the time being with hopes I could just cancel later without there being a name change penalty since TBA is not a real name.

As it got closer to time to sail, M was unable to make it on the Bahamas trip with me. I made a call to carnival and it was super easy to change it from two people to just one person. I was not clear on the conditions and was worried there may be a fee of some sort. No fee and of course they refunded the port charges for the second person.

I figured since I would be traveling alone now, this would be a great time to try out the Cheers! package so I purchased that from the fun shops online. It is $49.95 pp per day if you purchase it ahead of time. In addition to the alcohol, you can also get your soda, water, coffees, energy drinks basically anything you can drink you can put on your Cheers! I am not a real big drinker, so those extra items you can get really sealed the deal for me in deciding to make the purchase. All adults in a room must purchase, so I don't get it when I sail with M, and am not really sure if I can get my money's worth on a full week cruise anyway. As I said I am not a big drinker and can't see myself sustaining drinking for a full week. This three day would be a nice test.

I will be doing both cruises in one review since it is all one trip.

Embarkation:

Just like it always does, time stands still the days leading up to the cruise. Finally though the day had arrived. I left pretty early for the port leaving just a little before 8. It only takes two hours to drive from my house to Port Canaveral, but I wanted to be early and drive slow enough to avoid another ticket. I made it Country Inn & Suites around 10 where I would be parking my car. The folks here are super friendly, but they could never work for Carnival. I have used them three times now in four months and they do not recognize me! :P

The last two times I have sailed from here were on the Sunshine. She was docked at a different spot than the Liberty. I took the picture without really paying attention. You can't really see the whale tail unless you look really hard because she was not docked where I expected her to be. Can you spot it?

We left the hotel pretty promptly and that put me at the port before my check in time. I did not have FTTF this time and my check-in was at 11. I was going to do the right thing and wait, but I noticed nobody on the shuttle with me was being directed into the priority line and I knew 11 was the earliest check-in so I would not be the only one turned away so I went for it. They did not check the time on my boarding pass. Everything was running smoothly, and I think if they were not, they would have been more dilligent about checking your time, but for now it seems you can get in early at Port Canaveral, don't depend on that though as it could change at any time, especially if word gets out and everybody starts disreguarding check-in time.

Check-in was a breeze but then it became a waiting game. Sunshine began boarding at 11, but the Liberty did not begin until about 11:45. Once they started boarding it was pretty quick and I was on my way. I did not want to walk through the sea of people, so I walked up to deck 5, walked to the back of the ship, and took the elevator from there up to Lido for some lunch.

For lunch I went to the BBQ place up on deck 10. I had been here once before on the Conquest on one of the first sailings after it converted. The food here is good as long as you are not from someplace known for amazing BBQ. Remember you are on a cruise, not a BBQ championship. It is good and it hits the spot, it has done its job.

The view outside from the Panaroama deck.

Not much of a view. This is an area that Miami really shines.

After lunch, it was time to play the waiting game again as the rooms would not be ready until 1:30. M does not like to be this early because you can't do anything until after you have sailed away. My reasoning is it is more fun to do nothing on a ship, than do nothing not on a ship. I would like to amend that to doing nothing on a ship, once you don't have to lug around your carryon (in my case a box fan) To avoid carrying it, I just hung out on Deck 4 in the Cabinet, a nice quiet out of the way spot.

I had no sense of time and just enjoyed a few drinks while waiting. There were constant announcements welcoming us aboard and that our rooms would be ready around 1:30. Then there were no announcements. I got up and checked the time, it was almost 2. I took my stuff to check on the room, it was ready. I am not sure why there was no announcement but finally I could move into my new home away from home.

I loved being one deck up from Lido. The convenience turned it into me eating most meals in my cabin :)

Once I was settled in, I went down to Lido for second lunch. I had been craving the taco salad from the Blue Iguana since I first saw it on one of John Heald's vidoes. So far it had not been offered on the cruises I had been on, but today I would have my chance.

Honestly, it was not that good. I think a lot of the flavor must come from the burritos themselves because this was pretty bland. At least now I know and its one less thing to long for in-between cruises.

Soon it was time for the Muster drill. They do scan your room keys now so I think that makes it quicker. I do believe these could be a little smoother, but I am not sure Carnival can do much to make them better at this point. It will never be pleasant to stand outside shoulder to shoulder in the Florida heat.

Sail away party on Lido deck.

Sail away pics from Pt. Canaveral.

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Victory Casino I and II.

The jealous people waiving goodbye.

If you book 9199 don't expect privacy on your balcony. It looks like this is 9199 on the deck plans, which is a captains suite.

Great start to your review on two ships that we love! I guess if these are top to bottom cruises, we must be doing a bottom to top in October. We are doing a B2B on the Magic from Port Canaveral, then getting off and driving up to Jacksonville to board the Elation the same day. :D

Nothing but ocean in front of us now!

Sail away is not much to look at, and not even a Disney ship in port this time for me to ohh and ahh at. At least I have the Miami sail away to look forward to. (this is called foreshadowing:))

The family friendly pool at the back of the ship.

Only one member of the family seems to actually be inside able to enjoy it though - doesn't it? Mom and Dad look like they want to join, but are annoyed by all the kids. Either that or annoyed by the weird guy taking photos of them at the pool. Sorry.

And the family friendly hot tub.

It is my understanding that since my cruise, Carnival has reinforced the adults only area. I have read accounts of this on Conquest and Splendor, so most likely this is true also for the Liberty.

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Thanks, glad you're enjoying!

Great start to your review on two ships that we love! I guess if these are top to bottom cruises, we must be doing a bottom to top in October. We are doing a B2B on the Magic from Port Canaveral, then getting off and driving up to Jacksonville to board the Elation the same day. :D

That sounds awesome! Logistically B2B or S2S would be a better idea in the future, but I would not rule out doing something like this again, but with better planning. There were some issues.

I live very close to JaxPort and would love to sail the Elation someday. Timing and price always seem to sway me to other options, but one day I would love to sail out of Jacksonville.

My goal to help me achieve the most out of my Cheers! package was to frequent the Alchemy bar. I wanted to try everything on the menu. Like I said I am not a big drinker, and their menu is extensive so I did not try even half of their menu. But I did sample many new drinks for me and have taken some photos along the way.

But first I was feeling hungry again after second lunch, so I stopped at the taste bar.

File this under "why do I keep trying this". The meat is always weird and chewey and not a good representation of the steakhouse at all. Blaw.

While in line someone said "excuse me" I looked up and saw a familair face (but can't remember who they are) who said "hey aren't you from (town where I am from)" Apparantly we went to school together. Small world. I saw someone else I knew around the ship as well. There was a doctor's office (or maybe dentist) back home who was sending their employee's on this cruise and that is possibly why I recognized some people, but man what a small world. Also, why can't I have a job that sends me on a cruise?

Next stop was Alchemy. I started at the top of the menu and ordered a martini seduction.

It was very yummy.

Next I got the French Kiss AKA "How manly am I right now".

Back in the room my free water and Gold VIFP pin had arrived. No drink coupon on cruises shorter than 5 days, but no biggie since I had Cheers! anyways.

I also had my towel animal and next days Fun Times.

Sadly I do not have the Fun Times for the first two days. For some reason my steward thought they were trash. Even though I threw away every piece of spam that was distributed with the Fun Times, for some reason he must have thought I could not be bothered to throw these away myself and he would need to do it for me. I am sure he did not do it on purpose, but I just can't understand why he did it - as I said I did not amass a pile of papers laying around. Lesson learned, and I now pack these away as I am done with them.

I booked this cruise last minute and by the time I booked, YTD was no longer an option. I was put on a wait list and could have probably spoken to the Maître' D onboard. But in my experience, they can't make a switch the first night, the second night I would be skipping the MDR(formal night) so it would only be one night it would benefit me, so I opted instead to just eat in the Lido.

Menu in the MDR - taken on my cruise on the Sunshine as it is the same

Lido menu.

As you can see the menus are nearly identical. The experience, not even close to the same. I was only mildly bummed that I would be eating in Lido instead of the MDR. But now, I was disappointed that they did not have more openings for YTD. It does really change the overall dining experience to eat on Lido. If this had been my only chance to cruise, I think this would have impacted my whole trip. As I am fortunate enough to cruise often, I took it in stride and did not let it bother me too much. There is enough seating in the dining rooms to accommodate everyone (3,782 if each seat is used twice. source: beyondships.com), and Carnival should look to improve this so that everyone can have the seating time they desire. I would rather wait because too many people with flex dining are trying to go at once, than to just simply not have a seat because I don't wait to eat with a group of strangers.

After dinner I went for another drink. This time I got the Deal Closer which I forgot to take a picture of but it is a chocolate based drink. It was very tasty and I took it with me to watch Game Show Mania in the main theatre. I was worried it would be like Hasbro which I don't find very entertaining. It was still rigged but in a funny way and was more a Jeopardy style show than live action board games. It was very entertaining and some of the guest responses were hilarious.

After the show I got my next drink. They were starting to kick in so I stopped going in order and got an old favorite, the Cucumber Sunrise.

The bartender Yulia joked that I went from dessert to a salad. She was great fun all week.

The rest of the night was spent enjoying the music and playing in the casino. I only spent a little bit of time in the casino because I did not want to have to tighten my budget on the next cruise since it was a premeire cruise. I left tonight up $50, I consider that a win :)

I was going to eat at the Seafood Shack for a little late night snack. They close at 10 but at 9:45 they had already closed up shop. Bummer. I never did make it back there. I have eaten there before on the Conquest and do not mind paying for it, but did not think it is worth the upcharge. So thank you for saving me some money. Instead I went to the deli.

Bar Bill With Cheers!: $65.17

Bar Bill W/O Cheers!: $77.86

I did not make out like a bandit, but I did get my money's worth on Day 1. I tried to stay up later but soon after 11, I was out like a light. A great first day on my 10 day adventure!

Ship Tour:

I love reviews that give a tour of the ship. They give me an idea of what I will be seeing and if it is a ship I have been on, it gives me a chance to relive my trip visually instead of just mentally. With that in mind, I am going to detour from the review for a bit to post a tour of the ship. My pictures are not the greatest and I ran into some challenges including what seemed like the whole ship staying on in Nassau when I took the photos but I hope you will all enjoy the tour of the Carnival Liberty.

We'll start on Deck 1. This is a passenger deck and there is not much down here except staterooms.

Deck 2 is also a passenger deck.

We next move up to deck 3. All the way forward is the Venetian Palace which is the main show lounge on the ship. It spans decks 3, 4, and 5 fwd. The doors were closed and a rehearsal was going on when I was doing my tour. I took some pictures later, but none really came out.

Also located on this deck is the Shore Excursions Desk.

There is a Fun Hub off to the side if you need to use the internet. You can browse some sites for free, like Carnival.com and John Heald's blog.

The main lobby area. This is also where you board the ship at.

Looking up.

There are some doors off to the side that lead to an outdoor promenade area that is excellent for taking in views and listening to the sounds of the oceans. Usually very few people around also.

Back inside and around the corner we have the Guest Services desk.

Another wonderful outside area just off to the side over here as well.

Right before you reach the MDR there are two small rooms off to each side.

The Persian Room. This is labeled as a "card room" but I am not sure I ever saw it being used for anything.

Opposite it, was the Satin Room which is the Art Gallery.

Next was the Golden Olympian which is one of two MDRs. It is two levels with the bottom level for YTD and the top level being used for traditional dining.

This is where things seem to get tricky. You cannot get from Deck 3 Mid to Deck 3 Aft. First you must go up a deck and then back down, or vice versa. This is because the Galley is located here and so you must use another deck. Strange setup, and sort of a pain, but I think this gets blown way out of proportion, it is really not that hard to figure out after the first day. Ok, off my soapbox now :).

Having gone up a deck, I am now on the back of Deck 4 looking down to the lower level of the other MDR, the Silver Olympian. Both levels are for traditional dining.

I did not manage to get any pictures inside because the doors were closed during my tour and I never made it back there when they were open.

Moving from back to front now, next we come to The Cabinet. I believe this used to be a cigar bar. This is a very quiet out of the way place during the day. There is music and drinks during the evening.

Stairs leading up to the Promenade deck.

Tapestry Conference Room. I have seen crew training going on here before, but not sure what this would ever be used for for guests.

Down the quiet hallway that I never see anyone in any time I travel through this deck.

Then we are at the upper level of the Golden Olympian dining room.

Passing through the dining room, you have Circle "C" which is the club for 12-14 year olds.

Next, you come to the area where they display the photos that they take of you around the ship. When they are open they will be displayed on those big empty boards.

Stairs and elevator areas, just so you get a feel for the interior design.

The library.

Then finally, all the way forward is the next level of the show theatre.

Thanks for the great review! We're sailing on Liberty 2 months from today and are hoping to sail on Splendor soon. Looking forward to the rest of your review. :)

Thanks for the great review! We're sailing on Liberty 2 months from today and are hoping to sail on Splendor soon. Looking forward to the rest of your review. :)

Thank you for your kind words! Glad you are enjoying it. You will love the Liberty, she is a great ship. Don't wait too long to book the Splendor, she is leaving the fleet in 2019. Another wonderful ship. Back with more soon :D

Moving up to deck 5, the Promenade deck. This is the deck where most of the inside action is.

Of course all the way forward is the top level of the theatre. Then we move on to the shops. They were all closed since we were in port.

I spotted two shirts that I own. Sadly most of my wardrobe at this point consists of cruise and island themed apparel.

The hours the shops are open.

There is a kiosk located along the way good for viewing your balance and depositing money with usually shorter lines than guest services, but still sometimes long.

Very gorgeous decorations through this area. Absolutely mesmerizing.

Cherry on Top candy store.

Looking down to the lobby.

Skybox Sports Bar