Review: Liberty West Carrib 11-21/11-28

[5-to-cruise]

Who could resist a picture like this? A double tail!

 

Dinner time. 6:00 seating in the Golden dinning room. Table 101. The rest of our family is sitting behind us at table 105.

 

The view out the window from our table.

 

Our waiters are Nyoman and Eric.

 

I had a shrimp cocktail and ribs.

 

One of the kids had a fruit plate and flat iron steak. After reading other comments here I made sure all flat iron steaks were ordered med.

 

 

Krista (13) ordered the fruit off the adult menu and pizza off the kids menu. Nicky ordered 2 appetizers off the adult menu... fruit cocktail and chicken strips. Alex ordered off the adult menu. No issues were given for any order placed.

[5-to-cruise]

We tried to go to the kids orientation but it was over by the time dinner was done. :( We picked up the packets and filled out the paper work. I had registered them online but I would be the only one able to sign them in and out unless we filled out the papers allowing Sherry to do so as well. I didn't allow them to sign in and out as with the ship being so big I didn't want them to get lost. Also, while they are mostly well behaved when supervised they can get wild when set free. I didn't want them to become some of 'those kids' that run around the ship.

 

Sherry took the boys to a dance party while I took Krista to the Circle C signup. Before the dance party Sherry stopped on deck 5 at one of the photo booths and had the boys dress up and take pictures. These turned out to be some of the best pictures they have ever taken.

 

The Circle C signup had quite a line in it with people filling out paper work. I had preregistered Krista online so all we needed to do was have them check her name and then put a sticker on her card showing they had her paper work done.

 

Krista and cousin Austin went to the arcade while I talked with the family for a while. Then off to bed.

 

Review:

 

I found the process of getting on the ship to be fairly smooth and painless. The people we had contact with were nice and things moved along.

 

All the food ordered was good. Alex liked his flat iron steak a lot. My shrimp cocktail was small but tasty. The ribs were good. The DoD was good but not much effect... just a little bit. I had a 2nd on the sail away and didn't feel that one much either.

 

And now for the one major problem of the cruise...

 

It turns out our rooms are right above one of the lounges on 5. They started playing music fairly early and kept playing until 1ish (per Sherry... I fell asleep). There are NO fans the room or bathroom so no noise to drown it out. I had put the bow camera on the tv already so we could see the day start and ended up turning the music up on it a little bit. With care you could get the two sounds to cancel out into a mash of sound that I could fall asleep too. Sherry wasn't so lucky. :( So much for not getting those fans.

 

Likes:

 

1. First DoD of the trip. The cruise started right then.

 

2. First 'free' meal. It pained me to get off the ship and have to start paying for food again. (and now at home I have to make food for myself. So barbaric!).

 

3. The sail away. Very fun.

 

4. Sherry's ear seems to be better. At least no pain.

 

Dislikes:

 

1. Music in the room from the lounge downstairs. :(

 

2. Small shrimp cocktails. Though I could have ordered two.

 

3. Missing the kids orientation due to dinner. I'd seen others post about this problem too. Seems like they need to fix this. Maybe have 2 orientations for early and late dinners like they do the shows.

 

 

 

Wow, these reviews are some work! I'll work on day 2 though I have to go to work again tomorrow. Back to reality. Good news there is that I'll have access to a photocopier and I'll try to get the Capers up.

 

rv

[happylady]

Thanks for the review. Looks like your group had a great time!

[patattack]

What kind of camera are you using? Nice pictures.

 

Pat

[Payd]

Great review so far - can't wait to read the rest!

[5-to-cruise]

What kind of camera are you using? Nice pictures.

 

Pat

 

Its a Canon Powershot A650 IS.

[5-to-cruise]

Trying to get a decent copy of the first day's capers up.

 

http://www.wideopenwest.com/~rvalle/2009cruise/day1capers.pdf

 

Ok, that seems to work the best. I ended up doing 2 pages twice trying to get the tear off flap in there and looks like I missed part of the flap on the 2nd one. If anyone really wants to see that flap I can try again.

______

 

Things I thought of that I had missed.

 

Sherry said the boys had a good time at the Kids Center disco event.

 

Money-wise each kid brought $100 of their own money to spend. They were going to break it up as $25 on each island and $25 on the ship. This seemed to work out very well as the 'stuff' they wanted to buy wasn't too expensive.

 

We came with $500 for the ship, $400 for Cozumel, $400 for Cayman and $450 for Jamacia. Plus various amounts for gas, food, hotels on the drive down and some extra just in case.

 

rv

[bw0706]

Keep it coming! We leave for Miami in 2 days!

[5-to-cruise]

Keep it coming! We leave for Miami in 2 days!

 

 

Have fun! I was hoping to get another day up today but I can't gain access to my pictures at work. Grrrrr! Hopfully tonight I'll get it going.

[scsagh]

Enjoying your review. Had to post so that I am subscribed and can follow along as each day is posted.

 

This is the first time I clicked and followed thru on a review with a video clip. It worked great. Thanks!

[LoveTravel23]

Sorry for all of our tolls!! Liking the beginning of the review & can't wait to see what you did in each port of call. I love the Liberty so glad you enjoyed it!

[SMSACE6]

I am really enjoying your review! I cruised on the Liberty, same itinerary, in October. We also stayed at the Holiday in PoM. My pictures from the hotel room window were not half as nice as yours, but I remember the wonderful sight of those two Carnival funnels! Looking forward to reading more, and seeing more of your photos.:)

[Life without whine]

We got on the Florida Turnpike. Ok... Florida drivers are crazy! No matter how little space I left between me and the car in front of me cars would slam themselves into it at 80 mph. This was space I'd hesitate to try and parallel park into. It didn't happen once but over and over again. I close enough to notice that all the cars had Florida plates.

 

 

Dislikes

 

1. Lots of tolls in Florida on that Turnpike. About $20 worth.

 

2. Those crazy drivers.

 

I live in Florida & can definitely feel your pain - drivers here truly don't see anyone else on the road - kinda like all those bicycles in Hong Kong - you just better get out of their way unless you are bigger or faster than they are!

 

We are also on the 6th floor but over club O2 - hoping they shut down a little earlier. Do you think ear plugs would have been enough?

 

It was great to see your kids so happy - mine are at the miserable teen age :( that I am hoping will be set aside when it comes time to cruise!

 

Loving your review & anxiously awaiting more ... great pictures - thanks for taking the time - only a couple more weeks to go and it will be our turn!

[5-to-cruise]

Awake at 6:00 AM. That 'turn the tv on to see the sun' thing worked a little too well.

 

Breakfast in Silver dinning room. We where given a seat at the back right by the windows. Nice view.

 

Good... 2 eggs, panakes, bacon. Sat with Sherry's family.

 

Explored the ship a bit.

 

 

BTW, when you are looking at the Liberty webcam of the Lido deck I'm pretty sure this is where it is coming from... to the right of the slide as you are standing facing the slide and TV.

[5-to-cruise]

Then the kids changed into swimming gear again and went swimming, sliding and hot tubbing (is that a word? :) ).

 

I didn't notice anyone screaming like a little girl. :)

 

 

[Cruisefriends]

What a great review so far. We are not sailing until March 2011 on Liberty...but this story is cool.

[5-to-cruise]

Off in the distance we could see Cuba. It was there for a long time.
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Lunch in the buffet. Fish and chips for me with the bouillabaisse soup. Very good. Headed off to the CC meet and greet.
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I got a DoD in a monkey head. Wohoo!
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Kids did the scavanger hunt while I sat and talked to the CC people. Very nice folks. Krista made a friend with one of the girls and went swimming with them after the Greet broke up.

Boys went off to the Kids Club for an hour to do spin art and "penny boat's" where you make a boat out of alluminum and then see how many pennies it will hold. They both had fun and enjoyed it.

Time to do homework and get ready for the first formal night.

Krista made plans to go shopping with her new friend after dinner. This posed a problem as I didn't want to give her my card and her's didn't have money on it. We went to the Pursers desk (though its called something else...) and we were able to put a limit of $25 on the card.

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[5-to-cruise]

Got to dinner a bit late... 6:15. ordered a shrimp cocktail, greek salad and shrimp and lobster.
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Kids got the Strawberry biske soup, chicken, flat iron steak and Sherry got the flat iron steak too. All was good except for the greek salad. It wasn't what I expected... there was no lettace or green leafs in there at all. It was all chopped up veggie stuff. I handed it off to Liz (brother's girl friend) who is our resident vegitarion and she liked it.
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Both my brother and I were able to get 2nd plates of the lobster and shimp (Same price!). Very good.

Bit of shopping after dinner. Just looked around. Boys found things they might want to buy later. Krista ened up buying a purse for $10. Sigh... turning into such a girl. Errr, young lady.
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I went up and watched some Sunday night football on the large screen TV. Outside. In very warm weather. While eating ice cream. Bliss....
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Off to bed.
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Likes:

1. Sitting in the warm sun while its 40 back in Chicago.

2. Lobster and shrimp dinner. And getting 2!

3. Seeing family dressed up.

4. Large screen football outside with icecream. I'm a simple person...

Dislikes:

1. I made a 'rule' that we would take the stairs everywhere unless we were carrying luggage or, my wife added, someone was in high heels. I'm a bit embassied by how much my legs hurt from all the stairs! It didn't stop me from taking the stairs though.

2. Music in rooms...

Review:

No major complaints. The music at night is annoying but I'm not sure what they can do about it and never made an official complaint. Next time (if there is a next time...) I'll have to make sure we get a room one level up from '5' or whereever all the lounges are. Or 2 levels down if we're going to try and save money.

Food everywhere was good. The lobster tail's were not huge but 2 plus the 2 servings of shrimp were pleanty. Sevice good was good. Ship is clean and crew are activly cleaning it as we go.

There were no open chairs anywhere near the pool so I just sat on one of the wooden benches right next to the pool so I could keep an eye on the boys as they swam. (I did accidently take a chair from someone when they had gotten up for a moment. They pointed out it was their chair and I appologised and moved.)

The line for the slide became very long. Took the kids 15 min or so to go though it and when they went back a 2nd time they said it was too long. It seemed to take a while for them to send people down. Maybe because they were explaining the rules to each person. It might have helped to have a 2nd person at the bottom signalling to the person at the top when a slider hit the bottom and they could send the next one down. I've seen this at water parks.

[Cruisefriends]

I am going to go back and read the room number you were in...but if you would like..what were they? We are also on 6...the floor above Lido.

[5-to-cruise]

[quote name='Cruisefriends']I am going to go back and read the room number you were in...but if you would like..what were they? We are also on 6...the floor above Lido.[/QUOTE]

We were in 6444 and 6446. Near the back of the ship.

[5-to-cruise]

BTW, thanks for all the words of encouragement. Each one makes me smile and helps to keep me going. Currently uploading 65 pictures of Cozumel.

I was finally able to use the underwater case.

[5-to-cruise]

[quote name='Life without whine']We are also on the 6th floor but over club O2 - hoping they shut down a little earlier. Do you think ear plugs would have been enough?

It was great to see your kids so happy - mine are at the miserable teen age :( that I am hoping will be set aside when it comes time to cruise!

Loving your review & anxiously awaiting more ... great pictures - thanks for taking the time - only a couple more weeks to go and it will be our turn![/QUOTE]

Have fun!

I hear you about the teen years... I'm not looking forward to them. Hopefully it won't be that bad. Thats possible right? Right!?

I know they played music in Club O2 but I'm not sure how loud or how late.

Earplugs... Sherry had some because of the ear pain she had on the drive down. I'm not sure if she tried them. I'll have to ask her. I honestly had forgotten about them. I suspect it would help a lot though you might still feel the 'boom, boom' of the bass a bit.

[5-to-cruise]

Capers for Sunday.
[URL]http://www.wideopenwest.com/~rvalle/2009cruise/day2capers.pdf[/URL]

Camp Carnival for 2-5 year olds
[URL]http://www.wideopenwest.com/~rvalle/2009cruise/cc2-5.pdf[/URL]

Camp Carnival for 9-11 year olds
[URL]http://www.wideopenwest.com/~rvalle/2009cruise/cc9-11.pdf[/URL]

Circle C
[URL]http://www.wideopenwest.com/~rvalle/2009cruise/circlec.pdf[/URL]

Sorry, looks like I neglected to grab one for the 6-8 year olds. :(

[5-to-cruise]

(Ok... first day in a port. LOTs of pictures. BTW, someone up thread asked for pictures of the Liberty. This was the first real chance I had to take some and I took a lot hoping to get some decent ones and I'm including those here. If the person looking for that picture (or anyone else really) sees one they like and wants a bigger version of it post your email address and I'll send you the full sized verson.)

A bit of a funny story. I had bought that waterproof camera case. The instructions and people that had posted messages here about such things said you should test it before putting your nice camera into it and sticking it under water. Yep, great idea. I'm going to take mine to the gym and put it into the swimming pool to make sure it doesn't leak.

And time passes and its the day before we're going to leave. Well, I can at least fill up the bathtub and check it that way. And we packup up the car, go to bed and still no testing.

So, here I am the day we're going ashore in Cozumel and I know I'm going to use the case. In desperation I fill up the little sink in our room and stick the case in it. Its so shallow the whole case won't even go in so I'm splashing water onto the top of it with my hand. The tissues remaind dry after my rigorous testing so it should be ok... right?

_____________________________________________

Up @ 7:00 and out to watch last bit of docking and to see Cozumel.
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As we are looking around we can see another ship behind us. Its the Carnival Freedom moving in to dock right next to us!
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Their bridge. I sure hope someone on there is driving and not looking out the window.
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[5-to-cruise]

The crew hot tubs we all read about in Cruising Confidential
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Down to Emiles for breakfast.

Packed up for a day on Cozumel and off the ship at 9:00ish (all times in ship time. Cozumel on Central time so -1 hour from ship).
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Walked around the pier shops. Kids bought a few things and saw a few more they wanted to buy but we talked them into waiting.

After getting to the end of the shops we walked back to the starting point to look for the taxis only to find out they are at the end of the shops where we came from.

If you pardon my bad drawing it goes something like this. Think of it like a big amusment park ride where they dump you into the giftshop on the way out and you have to walk though it to get somewhere else.

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Some sights in the shop area:
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