Carnival liberty review - 9/25 - 10/3 2009 w/pics

[mosweet]

So this will be my first review, and I hope you all like it. :D

 

First off we had a group of 26 people. 20 of us flew in to Miami 2 days early.

my way to the airport started off terrible. First I get a flat tire on my way to the bank, then, I go to my mom's house to park my car there. Shower, and change clothes and wait for my boyfriend to pick me up. He finally gets there around 7p and we have 930p flight. We leave and go to his aunt's house to catch a ride with them to the airport. Needless to say, they didn't even have the bags outside to load the van. Now, around 8p we finally get in the van and head towards the Long Beach airport.

We arrive at the airport at 845p and rush into the airport to get checked in and just made it before they cut off the check-in...whew. :eek: Thank goodness Long beach is a small airport. We get to the gate and they are already boarding the flight.

[mosweet]

Here we are all happy on the plane

[mosweet]

As we're sitting there chit chatting laughing and having a good time, the pilot comes on and says, sorry we're having a little delay we just need to get some paperwork straight and we'll be on our way. Ok, back to talking and laughing.

20 mins go by and we still have not pushed back...hmm :rolleyes:. The flight attendant comes on and says, "Sorry folks but this aircraft has to have an inspection and we have to get off the plane. This may take up to 1hr 1/2, you can choose to leave your stuff onboard or take it off."

OMG, we can't believe this. So we get off the plane and head back in the terminal and of course the snack stands are closed already.

So we waited in the terminal and chit chatted some more. Only 20mins later we were back boarding the plane..woohoo!

[mosweet]

Finally, we arrive in Ft Lauderdale and hour late. I had arranged for Ace Tours to pick us up and take us to Miami.

We load up the 2 vans and head towards Miami. We may a stop at Alamo in Miami to drop off a couple of people to pick up the 2 15 pax vans we rented to get around town. The the rest of us were off to the Courtyard Oceanfront!

Sorry, no pictures of the van and hotel it was 630a when we arrived and I didn't feel like pulling out the camera...lol.

 

We get checked into the hotel and since I had an oceanfront room my room was not ready yet. They guys arrive at the hotel with the vans and off to The Diner we go!

[mosweet]

After we finish eating it's back to the hotel to get some much needed rest. (of course by this time our room was ready). snoozzeeee

 

We get up later that day and head down to the Tiki Bar and find some of the group hanging out

 

 

Later that evening we need to make a run to Walmart to pick up a few things. So we load in the vans and head to Wal-mart but the 24hr one was way far away about 24miles from the hotel. That's ok, we got to see some more of the city.

[mosweet]

After being in Wal-mart for about an hour...one of the other members of the group is arriving at the airport at 10p. So we split up and some head back to the hotel and the rest of us go to the airport.

We pick up my cousin at the airport and then off to grab something to eat. We stop at the Denny's near the airport and grab a bite to eat, then head back to the hotel.

It had been a very long day and it was around midnight when we got back to the hotel so we called it a night.....

 

I will finish up some more tomorrow...I'm tired and my eyes are going crazy

[peachhead11]

You must have been exhausted after all that. I'm on the Liberty on the 24th so am anxious to hear the rest of your review.

 

Sue

[relaxin1]

.... in your review. Keep it coming. My group is on the Liberty in June 2010. It's been a few years since I've sailed out of Miami and I know alot of things have changed, so I am very interested in your review and any tips you may have.

 

Thanks!

[relaxin1]

Finally, we arrive in Ft Lauderdale and hour late. I had arranged for Ace Tours to pick us up and take us to Miami.

We load up the 2 vans and head towards Miami. We may a stop at Alamo in Miami to drop off a couple of people to pick up the 2 15 pax vans we rented to get around town. The the rest of us were off to the Courtyard Oceanfront!

Sorry, no pictures of the van and hotel it was 630a when we arrived and I didn't feel like pulling out the camera...lol.

 

We get checked into the hotel and since I had an oceanfront room my room was not ready yet. They guys arrive at the hotel with the vans and off to The Diner we go!

 

 

Where is The Diner located? Is this the 11th Street Diner?

[whendoweleave?]

Keep it coming! :)

[taxiang]

I'm in. Great start!

[mosweet]

Yes, it's the 11th St Diner. It's on 11th and Washington.

 

Where is The Diner located? Is this the 11th Street Diner?

[mosweet]

Thanks, glad you are enjoying the review. Miami is a really easy port to go in/out of. Let me know if you have any specifics you'd like me to answer. :D

 

.... in your review. Keep it coming. My group is on the Liberty in June 2010. It's been a few years since I've sailed out of Miami and I know alot of things have changed, so I am very interested in your review and any tips you may have.

 

Thanks!

[mosweet]

We wake up to a beautiful day in Miami. Today is our day to head over to Costco and pick up our liquor to stash in our luggage.

 

Here's the picture I took from our balcony room at the hotel and this is some of the group as we're waiting outside the hotel for everyone to come downstairs.

[mosweet]

We pile up in the vans and head over to Costco. Everyone buys all the liquor they need for the cruise. We grab a bite to eat at Costco, then some of us decided to go back to the hotel while the rest of us made a stop at the bank.

 

After leaving the bank we decide to find Target and then the mall and hang out and do a little shopping before heading back to the hotel.

We get back to the hotel and catch up with the rest of the group and decide we were going to go hang out on South Beach and hit up the 2 for 1 drinks.

[mosweet]

We get down to South Beach around 9p and it's packed. We drive down Ocean Blvd a few times and find the place we went to last year that had the great 2 for 1 specials.

 

We find the place! I think the name of it is Sea Cafe Rest. By the 2 for 1 specials are only $25 ;). So make sure you check them out if you go down there.

Here we are waiting on the 2 for 1's...

[mosweet]

The 2 for 1 drinks arrive! :D Look at how much they give you, and just think you still have 1 more to drinik after this.

WOW!

[mosweet]

So thank goodness my boyfriend was a desginated driver cause this is how most of them looked after the 2 for 1's...lol

 

After all of this, it's time to head back to the hotel and get ready for boarding the ship tomorrow. As you can tell some of us needed the rest..lol

[mosweet]

We wake up around 9a get dressed, pack up all are things, put our luggage tags on and call up the rest of the group so we can head to the ship!

 

Can you believe we had one van that only carried luggage and the other van carried the rest of the group. Plus we had someone that rented a car and had 4 more people in there.

Here's the picture we snapped on the way back to Alamo to drop off the vans and catch the free shuttle. Also, a picture when we arrived at Alamo with all the luggage piled in the van.

[mosweet]

As we wait on the shuttle to arrive we are talking and laughing. It was such a coincedence that one of my friends and me decided to both were are 4 rings Laker t-shirts on the same day...true laker fans :D

 

 

 

The shuttle arrives, and of course our group takes the entire bus with all of our luggage and 24 people. Here we are on the Alamo shuttle and on our way to the ship!

[scgamecock]

Hey Mosweet! Looks like your group had a great time. Enjoying the review. Keep it coming!

[mosweet]

Finally, at the port! Since this was my first time as a Platinum member I wanted to take full advantage of the VIP service. :D

I made sure all of my group was in line and off we went through VIP...WOOHOO! The first part of security went great. We head up to the VIP room and it was packed! Standing room only :eek:.

It was crazy, we had to wait just as long as my group waited in the regular line. Carnival really needed more people in there to help. By the time we finally got out of there most of my group was already waiting for us.

So we all go up together and take that first photo of the cruise! :D (When I get the picture i will post it). And off we go to board the ship.

 

We get on board around 1:30p and head up to our rooms to drop off our stuff. We did a little suprise for the couple in our group who had gotten married 4 days before, and all pitched in to get their room decorated. they were very suprised and loved it.

[mosweet]

Thanks...yes we did! Too bad I won't see you guys on the next cruise but of course I'll pop in on your Roll Call. :)

 

Hey Mosweet! Looks like your group had a great time. Enjoying the review. Keep it coming!

[mosweet]

After dropping our things off at the room we head up to the lido to grab a bite to eat. Since we've never had this before we check out the burrito bar. Great place to eat! While having our lunch we hear the annoucement for the muster drill.

 

We head back to the room and well, let's just say I have not been to a muster drill in 2 years...oops.

[relaxin1]

Yes, it's the 11th St Diner. It's on 11th and Washington.

 

Thanks!