Mini-Review..Liberty 20Mar10

[thrltr]

First of all let me thank all of you here on CC. I have no idea what it was like to take a cruise before the net and CC came along but it could not have been this easy. I am going to graze over the obvious and give more info on the things that I could not find much info on.

Flight down was fine….they had to de-ice the plane before we left. We flew down the day of the cruise to save a few bucks and I will go the day before from now on just to start the vacation on a casual note and not have to worry about transportation. S and S transport to Miami from FLL. They were right there and we only waited about 15 minutes for another flight to arrive. They made one stop in downtown Miami before taking us to the pier. I think it was 15 bucks apiece….I would use them again.

Getting on the ship sucked….the worst of my three cruises…very slow and tight lobby….I understand it but that does not mean I have to like it.

Inside cabin was fine…Cabin steward was awesome…we didn’t see her but she took care of everything for us and that’s the way I like it.

Went to fish n chips first…how shall I say….OVERATED….didn’t finish so I went down to the Mongolian grill and stood in line for 20 minutes…it was ok…never tried the burrito bar but the DW said it was good. I did however like the deli sandwiches and by the end of the week we were eating dinner at the buffet instead of the dinning room and I am not a buffet fan. Servers were fine in dinning room food just wasn’t worth the effort.

We went to the steakhouse on Sunday night the second night of the cruise. I had a rib eye that they said was a special and it was not on the menu. This was the best steak I have ever eaten. This includes stops here in Chicago at the chop house…Morton’s…Gibson’s and all of the other so called big name steak houses. The only steak I have had that might have been better was at Craft steak in Vegas. It was that damn good I wanted to lick the plate afterwards. Dw loved her filet. We went back again later in the week….Worth the 30 bucks….worth 60 for me.

Ports……Took cab to Secret Harbor on St. Thomas. On prior trip we took ferry to St.John and went to cinnamon bay…loved that but next time I will stay on St. Thomas and go to secret harbor. Quiet….only a few people there…clean…good snorkeling…and less stress trying to get over to St. John and back..I can’t recommend secret harbor enough. I was worried because on our day there were 8 ships in including the oasis so I didn’t want to go to coki or Megan’s.

Half moon cay…was ok but for some reason I wasn’t crazy about it. I mean it was clean and the water was blue but for some reason it left me wanting more.

Grand Turk…Jacks Shack. We walked down the beach until we got to the dive flag. We were the first there from the ship and Jack was pouring us his favorite local rum before we could sit down. Food was decent and we got lounge chairs and sat around and did nothing for hours. I loved it. We used cash so I don’t know about cards at Jacks. It was a really good time. The younger people seemed to have a good time at Margaretville but for us (40’sish) the laid back good times at Jacks fit the bill. Very few people on this end of the beach. I also think Grand Turk may be the clearest water I have ever seen it was awesome.

San Juan…got drunk at Senior Frogs…after taking pics at the fort….nice little port but nothing to report really.

Well I think that’s about it..Some small things….There are more than 10 poker players on the cruise can we get another table please..

The ship was spotless!!!!!

Production show was horrible and comedy not very funny…for me the entertainment was lacking on this cruise…..and this was supposed to be a fun ship.

I never felt the movement of the ship. I had a patch on for the first day but took it off that night and never used the ones that I had with me.

Roll call meet and greet was awesome and our open bar party was even better. It was great to walk around the ship and run into people that you knew. If you have a chance to meet with the six pack(You may because they cruise a lot) tell them Brad and Shaun said hello they are the friendliest people I have ever met.

Oh one other thing…I hate to tender…I do not stand in line well and the entire tender process left a bad taste in my mouth.

Past guest party was just fine by me….plenty of drinks and apps. I couldn’t finish one and they were back with more. They were pre made drinks but there were plenty.

Overall good cruise…Awesome people and great ports…but I think I want to try another line just to compare….so far I have been on Carnival and RCCL..and the DW has been on those and Disney..Maybe we will try the NCL Epic.

Ok this will be the last thing. On the final sea day we were up and on deck in chairs at 8 am. We watched chairs on the other side that were saved by chair hogs that were never sat in. We finally went inside around 3 pm and an entire row of saved chairs had never been sat in. That is just wrong.

[ItsAllAboutTheSass]

What were the prices at Jack's like? We will be in GT in Oct, and I am Margaritaville'd out. Been there 5 times.

[thrltr]

Lounge chairs were 5 for the day but there is seating in the patio area for free. Drinks were around 5 and I had an order of jerk chicken for six i think. Go to thhe Grand Turk thread and find the post about the rum tasting...send jack and his wife an email and you get free rum shotw the whole time that you are there....they are not selfish with the pour and love to have you there.

[CanWeGoYet?]

Nice review Brad, fun cruise but over too quick. We went to the nautical museum on grand turk, I hope to go there again because that was my favorite port. I'll have to check out Jack's shack next time. Say hi to Shaun from me.

[Litewait]

We will cruising the Liberty in August. Myself and a family frien with our 3 kids, 22,18 & 16. We are going to do a tour in the am but havent decided between Jacks & Margaritaville. We have never been to a Margaritaville, this is only our 2nd Caribbean cruise all the rest are West coast. I'm thinking the kids will have more fun there. Your thoughts?? After a down day at HMC I'm thinking more activity for them.

 

Also, wanted to go to St John but think it's just to much work to get there with 5 of us.. So have to come up with something there to..

[IMDORY]

Ok this will be the last thing. On the final sea day we were up and on deck in chairs at 8 am. We watched chairs on the other side that were saved by chair hogs that were never sat in. We finally went inside around 3 pm and an entire row of saved chairs had never been sat in. That is just wrong.

 

TELL me about it! We just got off the Liberty last week. One day on an overcast and a little bit of sputtering rain day we found 1 chair down by the pool. My husband sat there and I sat by the side of the pool with our son. We were there for about 2 hours and there were a bunch of chairs saved that no one ever sat in. Finally one of them opened up and I took it. I then said to my husband that the chair next to me had been saved for over two hours...we planned on staying about another 1/2 hour and I didn't think anyone would notice if he sat there for a 1/2 hour. WELL the minute we looked at the chair this woman came running telling me it was her chair and then she got her 80 year old father and told him he had to sit there and she asked us how long we thought we'd be there b/c she'd like me to use her hat to save MY chair for her when we leave!!! WHAT??? Really, if you aren't going to use the chair-why even bother? Because you can? What's the point of that?

[pokergirl34]

We will be on the same cruise as Litewait in August. In st Thomas we'll be on an islan tour that has 2 hrs at the beach. Hope Secret Harbor is an option for us! Great quick review! I'm also hoping to find a beach in Grand Turk with a lot of conch shells. Did you see any near Jack's Shack?