Carnival Liberty, 09/19/09: A pictorial review.

[DarthGrady]

Day 1: Miami, Fl.

Most of the first day has been covered by the above. We mostly explored the ship and hung out in the room as we were both pretty tired. We did go up on deck for awhile to watch sail away from one of the forward observation decks. Carnival added two large suites on Lido deck right above the bridge which eliminated access to the bridge wings. That is where I usually like to spend sail away, but life goes on. The upshot of this is that the observation deck above those new suites (Panorama Deck) is now very large, since they had to add onto it to make the suite’s roofs.

We selected “My Time Dining” for this cruise, but ended up eating a snack at Emil’s and then ordering room service. After getting some rest I went up to the aft pool for our Cruise Critic group meet and greet. It was well attended and I got to meet lots of nice folks that I had been talking to for months on our roll call.

 

Some pics as we were leaving port:

 

Miami Beach

 

USCG boat

 

 

RCI and Celebrity buildings

 

Miami

 

Carnival's old cruise terminal

[DarthGrady]

You're right, it does look a lot better on The Liberty. I can't remember if the Valor was like this or The Glory. You have done a great job at keeping your pictures organized. I am a photographer & don't think I could have done this well over a several day span.

 

Thanks! I am an amateur at best, but I do love snapping lots of photos.

 

I kind of go with the machine gun photography method, take enough shots an you'll eventually hit somehting worth while.:D

[DarthGrady]

Sports areas:

 

 

 

 

 

Climb This!

 

Stairs to the "adults only" sunning area

[DarthGrady]

Interior areas:

 

Venetian Palace

 

 

Library

 

 

Golden Olympian Dining Room

 

[DarthGrady]

The larger Silver Olympian Dining Room

 

 

 

"The Cabinet" cigar lounge

 

[DarthGrady]

"The Stage" jazz bar

 

 

Elevator lobby:

 

 

Water Wars

 

Lido, looking aft

[DarthGrady]

Day 2: Half Moon Cay, Bahamas

After a late wake up we decided to skip breakfast and head for the island. The line for tender boarding was very long, backed up several decks from the bottom. I took advantage of one of my Concierge Club perks, priority tender boarding. The fellow at the Platinum guest counter seemed confused at first, saying we would need to go to the Victoria Lounge and get tickets. I think he simultaneously remembered what to do, because he then said to follow him and he would escort us. He took us down to the gangway and had one of the other crewmen put us into the line. This is a very nice perk for ports like Half Moon Cay when so many people are trying to leave the ship at once. I was very grateful for it, and found it to be yet another reason that I will continue to cruise with Carnival.

I simply cannot express how much I liked Half Moon Cay. My previous experience with private islands was limited to Royal Caribbean’s Coco Cay. Everything that I liked about that island was present on Half Moon Cay. The clean atmosphere, provided lunch and lack of pushy junk hawking natives were the main points. But I put Half Moon a little beyond Coco Cay for one reason, the beach. Coco Cay’s beach was very nice, but Half Moon did not have all the sea grass on the bottom. At Half Moon the entire swimming area has white sand beach and smooth sandy bottom. This combined with the crystal clear water make it like a very, very large swimming pool. We spent the day on the beach and swimming after meeting up with the folks we met on Cruise Critic. After the tender ride back to the ship and hit the hot tubs following a couple of trips down the water slide.

We went to the main dining room for dinner, using our “anytime dining” option and heading there at a very-early-for-us 6 PM. They were able to provide us with a two seat table and we had a very nice dinner. The only noticeable difference between anytime and regular dining was that there was already a basket of bread on the table. The food on Liberty is very good, on par with the food we have had on other Carnival ships. The seaside theater movie for this day was 007: Quantum of Solace which I really wanted to see. However, it was showing at 6PM which is still pretty hot and sunny so we decided to skip it.

In the evening we headed to the piano bar and stayed for an hour or so. Duane the Piano Man is very good and kept the crowd constantly going. He had a good mixture of new, old, fast, slow, and many different genres. Afterward we saw the Rotten Brothers Human Side Show (think comedy mixed with side show stunts). It was their R rated material; the show was silly but also pretty funny.

After a full day of listening to him, I really began wishing that Butch the Cruise Director was not allowed to speak on the intercom. He is a good and energetic CD, but when he gets started talking it doesn’t stop for what seems like five or ten minutes. He drones on and on about everything that is happening around the ship. This information is already given in the Carnival Capers daily newsletter, so the announcements are mostly unnecessary. I understand that they have to do this, but I wish he would keep it as brief as possible. Other Cruise Directors we have had were not nearly as long winded, keeping their announcements fairly concise.

 

From the tender:

 

 

 

 

Parasailing

 

[DarthGrady]

 

 

At the tender dock

 

 

 

 

The island's tram

[DarthGrady]

The best beach I have ever been to

 

 

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

Returning to the ship

 

 

 

Back on board:

 

Tender boats

 

Horseback riding in the surf

 

[LoveTravel23]

Already your cruise came up?!? I'm glad & enjoying your review. Planning on going on the LI next year if I can't get the Dream or Freedom.

[DarthGrady]

Already your cruise came up?!? I'm glad & enjoying your review. Planning on going on the LI next year if I can't get the Dream or Freedom.

 

Came and went. :(

 

Have fun next year, I'm sure either ship will be great.

[DarthGrady]

Day 3: At Sea

The morning of day 3 started out much as day 2 did, with Butch gabbing over the intercom at 10 AM like a teenage girl on a telephone. Now had this been reserved only for the open decks and public areas I would have been fine. But it gets blasted throughout the halls and subsequently resonates into the cabins. So everyone on the ship gets a wake up call, whether they want one or not. I debated with myself briefly about going on a covert raid and stealing his P.A. microphone and throwing it into the ocean. I decided not to only because I determined that he would likely just find another one and that I would probably be locked up or set adrift in on a small wooden raft.

Later in the day we had our Cruise Critic group meet and greet. We all decided to pay extra and have an open bar party in one of the lounges. We all had a great time and the Carnival staff did a wonderful job bringing the drinks out to us. We spent the rest of the day hanging around the pool and having a great sea day.

After dinner, I went to the Ault Comedy show featuring Phat Kat. After that we spent some time in the Piano Bar, but it was fairly empty so it wasn’t a late night.

 

[Crusin Karen]

OUTSTANDING pictures and love your review. ALWAYS wanted to go to Coco Cay. Don't think it will happen, so enjoying seeing it thru your eyes! :cool: Can't wait to read more! ;)

[Payd]

Love all the pictures, especially of the beach at Half Moon Cay!!

[DarthGrady]

Love all the pictures, especially of the beach at Half Moon Cay!!

 

OUTSTANDING pictures and love your review. ALWAYS wanted to go to Coco Cay. Don't think it will happen, so enjoying seeing it thru your eyes! :cool: Can't wait to read more! ;)

 

Thanks, glad you all like them.

 

Thats all for today, I will be back on tomorrow or Tuesday with the next few days of it.

[Luanne21]

Loving your review.

[Perfect Stranger]

Beautiful pictures!

 

Looking forward to the rest!

[I Luv Crusin]

Grady,

do you have the capers? Is there an "adult" deck? I thought they got rid of them. Besides waves hitting the bow did you also here the anchor chain?

 

It also looked like there was access to the bow? How do you get up there?

 

thanks!

 

We are going on the Liberty on 10/31!

[NutsAboutGolf]

Wow, great pix! I'm going on the ship in less than two weeks! I booked an interior but wouldn't mind bunk beds with a window as it would $80 off the fare. I looked at the deck plan on carnival.com. It appears to have 12 1As with windows and 7 1As without. Just curious if you got to pick your room or did the fun saver?

[5-to-cruise]

Thanks! I am an amateur at best, but I do love snapping lots of photos.

 

I kind of go with the machine gun photography method, take enough shots an you'll eventually hit somehting worth while.:D

 

Thanks for the review and pictures!

 

I took a photography class oh so long ago (with black and white film that we had to devlop ourselves!). I remember the teacher saying you could expect about 1 in 10 pictures being 'good'.

 

rv

[jimbo5544]

Very nice review and pic. We have been on the Liberty three times, all pre drydock. See some changes in your pics. Very nice.

[OZjones12]

Great review and PICS!!! Thanks!

[toothy26]

What is Water Wars?

[justcrzn]

Which dining room was used for the anytime dining? I take it the other was for the 6:15 & 8:15 sittings?

Thanks

Brent:)