anybody just off liberty

[c5chaps]

Anyone Just off the 2/6 -2/13 Liberty sailing would be interested in hearing how this cruise went, any reviews?

[magictam]

Have you seen this one yet? It came in last nite and is pretty good.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1143720

[sprockie]

We just got off that sailing, although I haven't posted a review, I will give you a run down of our experience. We have only sailed HAL previously 5 times pre-children. This was our first time on Carnival.

We enjoyed this cruise, as did the kids.

We left our hotel - Best Western Inn on the Bay and Marina in North Bay Village at noon. Excellent hotel by the way, with a $30.00 option per room to take their shuttle to the pier. Small grocery and liquor stores nearby, good restaurants etc. Embarkation was seamless, was getting busy by then, but was on the ship by say 130pm. We went directly to our room, which was ready and got our luggage by about 3pm. Our room was great - family oceanview on Spa deck - floor to ceiling window we enjoyed a lot.

Service throughout the ship was excellent. Dining room staff were so great and made our "family" dining experience really positive.

We were really disappointed about missing Half Moon Cay due to high winds. That was a major reason we booked this itinerary. It's the nicest beach I have ever been and perfect for kids. But, safety of the passengers is first, and we moved on.

St. Thomas we took a cab to Magan's Bay beach - lovely day and back on the ship by 3.

San Juan, stayed on the ship and enjoyed the mostly empty ship and activities.

Grand Turk - cab to Governor's beach - too rough for the children but simply beautiful. Went back to Margaritaville and enjoyed the pool and the waves by the pier were less intense. Another excellent day.

Meals were excellent, we thought everything we had was excellent. Both kids ate from the adult menu in the dining room all week and there was always something that pleased them.

They enjoyed the kids club a lot. Counsellors were great and both kids (3 and 8) were well entertained. I wish they had more structured activities for the young ones in the morning, but things seem to only get exciting for them from 2pm on into the wee hours.

My only real complaint the whole time was the volume of music by the lido pool and the lack of deck chairs/chair hogging. The music from the excellent band was very good, but so loud I couldn't hear my kids talk to me and people had to lean into each other to hear the other. I didn't like the videos playing on the big screen and the constant "loud" environment by that pool. I sound like a bit of a crab, but if I was 25 and on the ship with a bunch of other couples, the environment on the lido would have been ideal. Being 40somethings with young kids, I wasn't that keen.

I spoke to the "book another cruise" people on the last day and they told us to feel free to use the aft pool anytime - with the children - as long as they weren't loud and obnoxious. I don't know how many dirty looks I would get from other passengers from doing that, but I think I would have taken them up on that offer earlier in the week had I known it was okay.

The Hypnotist show was absolutely hilarious, we busted a gut. The Rock show was also excellent and enjoyed by all. Most other shows were too late for us to take in because we were up at 5:30 or 6am every day.

Overall, we were pleased with the cruise.