Back from Liberty Ship : Long Run and Gun Review

[JackieH]

Enjoying your review. We will be on the Liberty the last week of August, always fun to read about other peoples adventures :)

[ck53]

I wish you went on a 14 day cruise, your review is so fun that I don't want it to end! Great job!

[oncruisecontrol]

Very nice review. Love your humor and use of metaphors.......and paragraphs.

[Jeafl]

Are you going to tell us about your last day?? I hope??? :)

[Casey9]

Loving the review! We are also booked for the horseback ride on HMC. How wet do you get when the horses go swimming in the water? Are you completely submersed up to the waist? thighs?

 

Also, how did you get so much on board credit? Our cruise is booked, so no opportunity for us to get an early saver discount unfortunately.

 

I wasn't sure if you saw my previous post of questions.

 

And I have one more - I thought that the formal nights were Monday and Friday, the days at sea, but they were Monday and Thursday instead?

 

Thank you!!

[pcrum]

St. Thomas……….

I sidestepped the person in front of me at the gangway so I could avoid getting my picture taken with the fake pirate. Bless the fine folks who treasure these pictures as fond memories, but for me there is nothing I am less likely to buy then a picture of DW and me on a gangway with a fake pirate.

 

Couldn't agree more. I cannot believe how many of these photos they actually sell!

[pcrum]

Very nice review. Love your humor and use of metaphors.......and paragraphs.

 

Right!! I wish more reviews would use paragraphs. Makes it so much easier and more enjoyable to read!

[elcuchio24]

I wish you went on a 14 day cruise, your review is so fun that I don't want it to end! Great job!

 

That makes two of us!:)

[elcuchio24]

I wasn't sure if you saw my previous post of questions.

 

And I have one more - I thought that the formal nights were Monday and Friday, the days at sea, but they were Monday and Thursday instead?

 

Thank you!!

 

Yes, the elegant nights were off since the first day is on Half Moon Cay, instead of at sea. The menus also were a little different than the ones I saw posted on CC. Some new stuff, like that Basa, that I'd never seen before.

[elcuchio24]

Last Day at Sea……..

It’s always a weary wake up on that last day, we took our time falling out of bed and had another great breakfast on the balcony. We headed for the Lido for some tan/slide time but where waylaid at the gift shop with signs promising ‘discounts deeper than the sea…..’ They weren’t fathoms deep, but deep enough, so we picked up some t-shirts and trinkets and another bottle of Bombay Sapphire. Afterwards I scooted down to Guest Services to see what our current S&S account balance was. I waited for the verdict, teeth clenched and eyes closed, but was happy to learn we still had about $100 credit! Love Early Saver!

The Lido was understandably busy with everyone catching one last day of rays. We headed up to deck 10 aft where it was quiet and there were plenty of chairs, DW tanned as I proceeded to break the land/sea/slide speed barrier one more time. We had a few beers and another good lunch in Emiles before heading back to the room for the depressing afternoon packing session. I dumped everything in the old Samsuunite and watched it bulge at the already thread bare seams. The swan song, death march, last journey of the Samsuunite was about to begin. We both decided before dinner to go ahead and try out the Sushi Bar, as this would be our last shot at it, and I had heard good things about it all week.

We enjoyed the dregs of our bottle of Bon Voyage Beefeater on the balcony one more time. This bottle was great, not just for the convenience of having it in the room, but also for the untold G&T’s I DIDN’T have to buy at the bar. Once again, BV came through. We headed down to listen to some music and watch some dancing at the atrium lounge and have a last round of Mojitos (not allot of good Mojitos back in Maine). We sat down at 6:30pm, prime time, but dinner tonight was not busy at all. Probably the combination of too much sun, too many DOD’s, and last day blues. We had a last, great dinner in the MDR. I had Crab cake/ shrimp cocktail x2/ BBQ Ribs/ Prime Rib/ Grand Marnier Soufflé. DW had Lobster Bisque/ Caesar/ Flat Iron Steak/ Cappuccino Pie. The food was great but the highlight tonight was both deserts which were fabulous.

We decided to skip the Legends Show (thank goodness) and headed around the lounges to have a few more drinks and relax with some great music and dancing. Around 10pm we finally headed back to the room. Ah ha! The one glimmer of happiness on the last day, our gift shop booze had arrived! I made sure the bottles where the correct ones and packed them away in the guts of Old Samsunnite. We had an afternoon flight out of MIA, so since we would be in no rush the next morning we left our luggage outside the door to pickup at the customs carousel. We spent some time looking up at the stars on the balcony and enjoy the sounds of the ocean for one more evening.

[elcuchio24]

Thanks for a great review, can I ask how much was the horse riding and do you have to have experience of riding?

 

Sorry to replay late to you, I've been trying to get the rest of this thing writen!

 

The horseback riding 79pp, you DON'T need any experince for sure. Probably half the folks we had on our trip had never rode before. If you never have done this before I would say this would be a GREAT first excursion!

[elcuchio24]

Loving the review! We are also booked for the horseback ride on HMC. How wet do you get when the horses go swimming in the water? Are you completely submersed up to the waist? thighs?

 

Also, how did you get so much on board credit? Our cruise is booked, so no opportunity for us to get an early saver discount unfortunately.

 

Sorry for the long wait on reply Casey9--

 

You get pretty wet, the horses go so deep they are not touching the bottom and you get pretty well splashed. Your legs/thighs are totally submerged and the rest of you gets pretty wet so don't bring anything you don't want to get wet. Great trip though.

 

We booked Early Saver and our stateroom catagory fell a couple hundred bucks through various promotions the week before we sailed, we made 3 claims for OBC and they all got approved, leaving us with a big chunk of OBC, which was about the best thing ever!:)

[elcuchio24]

I am a Mainer also. Have lived there for all of my 42 years. The only time I have ever had lobster was on my 6 Carnival Cruises. And they weren't even from Maine? So that means I have NEVER had a real lobster!

 

Thats aweful! Give it another month and softshell chicks will be about 2.50 a pound, can't beat that deal right? And they can't ship them because they're too fragile, so you can only get them in Maine.

[elcuchio24]

Right!! I wish more reviews would use paragraphs. Makes it so much easier and more enjoyable to read!

 

Eye agree, cuts down on the eye bleeding as well :)

[elcuchio24]

Debarkation……

We woke up around 7am, opened the drapes and low and behold, we were back in Miami. They were already unloading luggage, but since we were in no rush we showered and relaxed in the room for a while before loading up our carryon and doing the customs paperwork and room sweep. I ventured out into the corridor to retrieve our final S&S statement out of the little mail box by our stateroom door. A few doors down I saw one man leaning against the wall, staring at his statement and shaking his head. He looked like he just ran over a puppy. I looked up the hall and could overhear two gentlemen talking as they looked at their respective statements “I really didn’t realize how much those drinks were, I just ordered them without looking. Oh man, they really add up don’t they?” “Yes, its just too easy to hand them that card. Oh man………..oooh man.” I retreated from the bad vibes in the hall and let the two guys figure out how to go about getting a second mortgage. We perused our Folio statement and found it to be accurate and appreciated the $60 dollar check attached that represented the credit left on our account for the Early Saver OBC! We headed up the Lido for breakfast around 9am, I had to show DW were everything was since all previous breakfasts she had seen had been brought back to the room by me. It was crowded near the pools, but of course by Fish & Chips there was hardly a soul. We had a leisurely breakfast and enjoyed out last bittersweet time one the Liberty.

We strolled though the ship and made our way down to deck 0 for debarkation. After a short bottleneck wait around the stairs we finally made it off the ship and quickly down to the baggage carousel. Since the carousels were broken up by zone, we quickly found our bags and headed to the customs line which was non existent. After a 30 second wait we got our passports checked, the customs guard said “what kind of alcohol you bringing back?” “Bombay sapphire and GlenFiddich.” A big smile “Oww! GlenFiddich, I should confiscate that bottle!” A big laugh and we were out on the street to figure out a way to get to the airport.

Normally I will just buy a port transfer from the Guest Service desk on the ship and be done with it. But I had forgotten to do this until the afternoon of the last sea day, at which point the Guest Services desk was an unpleasant place to be. If you need Guest Services for any reason, try to get it done before the last day. The line was 20 people deep, backed up to the elevators, and the passengers in line were verging on mutiny. The last thing I felt like doing my last night on the ship was wait in that line, so we just decided to wing it.

We walked towards the taxi lane and were immediately barraged by taxi van managers asking if we needed rides to the airport. I stopped to talk with one guy who said “10 bucks a piece, leaves right away, if anyone asks tell them you bought the transfer online a week ago.” Shady….just the way I like it! We loaded up and the shuttle headed out immediately, from ship to shuttle was less than 15 minutes. We checked in at the airport, went though security, and relaxed while waiting for our flight. It was an uneventful trip home, we arrived back in Portland around 1030pm, were amazed to see that Samsunnite had indeed made it in one piece, and grabbed a shuttle back to the Hotel to pick up our vehicle.

All and all, this was a great trip and a great cruise. We think cruising is still the best value for fun vacation around and Carnival really came through for us. The Liberty was an awesome ship I would recommend to anyone. We really loved the Anytime dining, this invention by Carnival has cemented them as our first choice when booking a cruise. As we flew home we were already planning our next sailing. Hope this review helps anyone booked or thinking of booking on this ship. If you have any questions please feel free to reach out anytime. Happy cruising!

[Scootch]

Great review, thank you. As others have said, "love your sense of humor.'

 

We sail out on Liberty on 7/31; heading into Miami a day prior. We were supposed to go in March but my husband was deployed to Haiti....So anxious to get on the ship!!!

[w8ing2cruz]

Fabulous review - thanks so much for taking the time to share your journey with us! If you have any spare time pictures would be absolutely awesome :D

[elcuchio24]

Great review, thank you. As others have said, "love your sense of humor.'

 

We sail out on Liberty on 7/31; heading into Miami a day prior. We were supposed to go in March but my husband was deployed to Haiti....So anxious to get on the ship!!!

 

Thanks Scootch. Ya, going a day early cuts down on so much worrying about flights, etc. Just lets you enjoy the trip more and a nice day in Miami before you sail. Have a great time!

[mississauga]

Great review! Thanks for sharing.:)

 

For future reference, the taxi fare from the port to the airport is a flat rate of $24.:)

[elcuchio24]

Great review! Thanks for sharing.:)

 

For future reference, the taxi fare from the port to the airport is a flat rate of $24.:)

 

Ya, we decided to take one of the vans just because it was a little cheaper, $10pp (of course if you're more than a couple it would end up being more expensive). I believe the transfers from the ship in the buses were like $15pp, so if you want to do your own thing you can probably save a little $.

[kyrisong1]

I wasn't sure if you saw my previous post of questions.

 

And I have one more - I thought that the formal nights were Monday and Friday, the days at sea, but they were Monday and Thursday instead?

 

Thank you!!

nevermind :-)

[kyrisong1]

Ya, we decided to take one of the vans just because it was a little cheaper, $10pp (of course if you're more than a couple it would end up being more expensive). I believe the transfers from the ship in the buses were like $15pp, so if you want to do your own thing you can probably save a little $.

But where are the pictures??????????????:confused:

[dodger501]

Couldn't agree more. I cannot believe how many of these photos they actually sell!

 

DW didn't think we'd buy our picture so she cut up for it.

I bought it - surprise!

 

[pokergirl34]

I'm so excited for our turn on this trip!!!! We fly out in 99 days :). Woo hoo double digits!!

 

Thanks for the awesome review!

[elcuchio24]

But where are the pictures??????????????:confused:

 

Ya, this cruise was wierd with the formal nights, since the first sea day wasn't until monday and the otehr sea day was the last day.

 

I will get some pics up, I promise!:)