LONG review of Carnival Liberty Sailing on August 28, 2010-lots of photos!!

[trvlqueen]

We're boarding Liberty for the Eastern route in 26 days (woohoo!). This is making me want to do the western loop on her again! Great review and I'm loving the pics.:)

[pjtulsa]

So What was the Big Group on your sailing???

[3redheads]

So What was the Big Group on your sailing???

 

I don't think there was a big group on our sailing. I saw tshirts with "Family Reunion", "Couples Retreat" and "Girl's Cruise", but I don't think they were big groups.

 

Thanks to all of you for the comments. I will work on the photos (resizing) and post some more tomorrow!

[boaterette]

I am enjoying your review. Thank you for posting and I am looking forward to the rest.

[colsbom]

Loving your review, thank you for taking time to write it.

 

We'll be on the same itinerary in January, I am so looking forward to seeing the rays.

[Love-to-ride]

Great review and pictures, love the picture with your mom and the sting ray..:)

[Cathy p]

Come on sweetie, we want more. I love those pics. Yep the one with mom is priceless.

[RnBluvher]

I think this was a pasta dish:

 

 

This was actually the Veal Parm, it was good, but I have had better.

[JackieH]

Thanks for doing a review, I am so bad at them. I was on the same cruise with my family, me and my husband and 3 kids, 16,11, and 6. Im wondering if your daughter was in the club with my son? LOL...How old is she?

 

Honestly, I didnt find anybody too rude, except in the giftshop on the last day with those sales LOL...At the ports, we talked with so many friendly people from the ship.

 

We cruised on the Carnival Valor 4 yrs ago, and the service was BAD...we said we would never cruise Carnival again..but we did :);)

I am happy to say the service on the Liberty was EXCELLENT!

[3redheads]

I think this was a pasta dish:

 

 

 

This was actually the Veal Parm, it was good, but I have had better.

 

You're right! I took so many photos of food that I can't remember what is what. Thank you!

 

 

 

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GRAND CAYMAN CONTINUED...

 

After our tour, we went shopping and heard a DJ talking about contests and lots of laughing. We went upstairs to eat lunch at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. What a great time, but definitely for an adult crowd.

 

 

There is a DJ and a dance floor in the middle of the restaurant. They had several contests and I have not laughed so hard in my life!

 

The DJ called for 15 couples. The contest was to pop 3 balloons the fastest. The couple had to do it 3 ways:

 

-face each other and pop the balloon

-sit on the other's lap and pop the balloon

-pop the balloon from behind as one person leans over

 

The couple that won did it in 7 seconds.

 

They had dancing, tequila shots and gave out prizes. Here's the Best Booty Shake contest:

 

 

 

 

 

 

THURSDAY, JAMAICA

 

We wanted to do an excursion that didn't involve Dunns River Falls and read about the Blue Hole, a mineral spring in the mountains.

 

Based on the reviews from cruisecritic and tripadvisor, we booked through Peat Taylor for $25 per person!

 

It's been a few years since we traveled to Jamaica and we we've always had good excursions. It seems the port has streamlined the excursion process. When you get off of the ship you are not inundated with vendors or people trying to get you to book their excursion.

 

It is an organized process. You are directed to different areas and the companies stay outside of a gate. They brought us to Peat Taylor's son. Since we were only doing the Blue Hole, they passed us off to someone they contract with. His name was Melvin.

 

After a long and bumpy ride up the mountain, we were taken through some woods to the Blue Hole. Only problem was...the water was brown! Apparently, it rained the night before and the water was muddy.

 

Pictures I found online of Blue Hole:

 

 

Our "Blue Hole":

 

 

We were a group of 5 females and there were no other tourists. Omar, the man in charge of tourists couldn't have been any nicer. The girls loved him. He was very apologetic that the water wasn't blue.

 

Here he is helping with the rope swing:

 

 

 

 

We didn't spend as much time there as the girls wanted. My mom and friend starting feeling uncomfortable. By the time we left, there were about 8 men there. They were drinking and smoking. We got in our taxi and went back to do some shopping.

 

We went back and shopped in the Taj Mahal shopping center. Be sure to bargain and haggle with the employees. You really can get the price down. We got a Bob Marley bag for $10. The starting price was $35.

 

We decided to go to the Hard Rock Cafe. My daughter loves Bob Marley and his music and enjoyed seeing the memorabilia.

I ordered an ice tea, sprite and an order of the onion rings, or so I thought. My bill was $27! She gave us two orders, which we thought she split. Each order was $9.50 and consisted of 4 onion slices. I'm sure it was a misunderstanding, but be sure to repeat your order if you go there.

 

Many people don't like visiting Jamaica but it is a beautiful area. You have to be polite but firm with the people if they follow you or are persistent.

 

My best excursion in jamaica was a few years back. We did river tubing and booked it independently.

[3redheads]

Thanks for doing a review, I am so bad at them. I was on the same cruise with my family, me and my husband and 3 kids, 16,11, and 6. Im wondering if your daughter was in the club with my son? LOL...How old is she?

 

Honestly, I didnt find anybody too rude, except in the giftshop on the last day with those sales LOL...At the ports, we talked with so many friendly people from the ship.

 

We cruised on the Carnival Valor 4 yrs ago, and the service was BAD...we said we would never cruise Carnival again..but we did :);)

I am happy to say the service on the Liberty was EXCELLENT!

 

I'm sure they know each other. My daughter is 17. She was the only redhead. Glad you had a great time!

 

I'll be back in a bit with my overview of the cruise.

 

I'll cover my thoughts on:

 

Debarkation

Main dining room

Lido Buffet

Cruise Director

Activities

Staff

Stateroom

Layout of ship

Pools

Casino

Kid's Club

Fellow Passengers

Shopping onboard

Shows/Talent

Price

Specialty Dining

 

Plus, I have to share why someone had security outside their door 24/7 and the fight in the disco!

[JackieH]

I'm sure they know each other. My daughter is 17. She was the only redhead. Glad you had a great time!

 

I'll be back in a bit with my overview of the cruise.

 

I'll cover my thoughts on:

 

Debarkation

Main dining room

Lido Buffet

Cruise Director

Activities

Staff

Stateroom

Layout of ship

Pools

Casino

Kid's Club

Fellow Passengers

Shopping onboard

Shows/Talent

Price

Specialty Dining

 

Plus, I have to share why someone had security outside their door 24/7 and the fight in the disco!

 

I did hear about the fight at the disco. I mean I dont know what happened, but my son told me about it;). I do not know about the security outside somebodys door..U will have to fill me in;)

 

We were on Deck 1(Riveria). We have never stayed that low, and you know what.. It was no problem. It was extremely quiet, EXCEPT after midnight each night we could hear the drunks come by and talk loudly. We were three doors from the elevator, so it seemed they would stand in front of our door and continue chatting...It would wake me up each time..but luckily my 6 yr old slept through it all!

[j603]

I can't wait until Feb. for my trip aboard the Liberty. We are in an 1-A catagory on the Main deck and my son is hoping for bunk beds for us. LOL. Can't wait to see more of your review.

[Melismass]

I can't wait until Feb. for my trip aboard the Liberty. We are in an 1-A catagory on the Main deck and my son is hoping for bunk beds for us. LOL. Can't wait to see more of your review.

 

I will be on the Liberty in February too! What date are you sailing? We are so excited! We are a group of 10 ages 5-65. How are you passing the time? I have some pointers if you're interested!

[floridagirl2773]

Your review is adding such excitement and anticipation for our Thanksgiving cruise on the Liberty! Thank you!

[Lalaithem]

Getting more and more excited for October 2011! Glad to hear the staff is great on the Liberty!

 

Keep it coming!

[BDMom]

Thanks for the review. I think you said you have sailed on Freedom of the Seas. We sailed her in May. We now have a cruise booked on Liberty in March. While we liked FOS, it was so big and we felt like we couldn't fit it all in. Picked the Liberty for sailing, itinerary etc. Can you make a brief comparion for me. We thought the staff on FOS to be average to good, food average to good, ship excellent, cabin size too small. Thought we would try something different as we are not loyal to one cruise line. Thanks

[Jimmy Geegitz]

Sailed Liberty Last year and it was great no problems whatsoever!

[3redheads]

Getting more and more excited for October 2011! Glad to hear the staff is great on the Liberty!

 

Keep it coming!

 

You will have a fabulous time!

 

Thanks for the review. I think you said you have sailed on Freedom of the Seas. We sailed her in May. We now have a cruise booked on Liberty in March. While we liked FOS, it was so big and we felt like we couldn't fit it all in. Picked the Liberty for sailing, itinerary etc. Can you make a brief comparion for me. We thought the staff on FOS to be average to good, food average to good, ship excellent, cabin size too small. Thought we would try something different as we are not loyal to one cruise line. Thanks

 

We sailed FOS two years ago and the ship was fabulous. Food-average, but love the Windjammer. Cabin size definitely goes to Carnival. The one thing I prefer with RCCL is the open floorplan. It doesn't feel as closed in.

 

Sailed Liberty Last year and it was great no problems whatsoever!

 

I think it's a crap shoot with any cruise ship/line. The Liberty decor is nice, not gaudy at all. I had some wonderful employee interactions. My issue was with the passengers.

 

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DEBARKATION

 

We did self assist debarkation and it was a breeze! We kept our luggage until the morning and left when they called "Self Assist-Deck 8" We were leaving the ship around 815. Customs was a breeze. Our flight was at 133 from FLL. Called SAS Transportation for return transportation and we were at FLL by 900.

 

MAIN DINING ROOM

We did the My Time Dining and never had to wait for a table. We either went at 545 or after 630. Interestingly enough, we requested the same wait staff and table and got it. If you get a chance, ask for Yuni, Eddie and Andhi. They were fabulous, especially Yuni!! Table 218.

 

Yuni is from Indonesia and what a beautiful and charming woman. She and her husband work on Liberty. They have a 3 year old boy at home, being taken care of by Yuni's mom. I cannot imagine being separated from my child for 7 months at a time. Here is Yuni and Andhi:

 

 

Now on to Joseph, the Super Charged Maitre De. When we first met him, we didn't know how to take him. He is energetic and over the top, but very entertaining. He's been on Liberty for years, but announced on the last night that he was transferring to Imagination.

 

Take a look at his dancing, outfit and hip movement in the video I took:

 

 

He is a character I won't soon forget!

 

 

About the food in the MDR-it was good! Much better than the food we had on Legend.

 

My new favorite dessert, sorry Warm Chocolate Melting Cake:

 

Creme Brulee (they only serve it the first night, so make sure you get some):

 

[3redheads]

Lido Buffet

 

Lots of options. Deli Station, Fish and Chips and your regular buffet style foods. The only food option for late at night is hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza and ice cream. This is all available near the Adult's Pool.

 

Love the option of ice tea, lemonade and hot chocolate.

 

Favorite foods from buffet: fish and chips, fried calamari, pastrami sandwich on rye and the croissants.

 

Fried calamari, with shrimp etc:

 

 

Desserts were a big disappointment in the buffet. There were many times when we chose a dessert only to find out the cupcakes were stale as well as some pastries. The best desserts were in the MDR.

 

 

Cruise Director

 

One good thing about this cruise was I didn't hear non-stop announcements from the cruise director! Our CD was Kyle Post. Unfortunately, I didn't have any interaction with him, but sure did appreciate not hearing those announcements 24/7:D .

 

Activities

They had the usual activities-Hairy Chest Contest (always a favorite), ice carving, bingo, Trivia, Liar's Club, Karaoke etc.

 

I found that with 3 sea days, I got a little bored.

 

Staff

 

For the most part, the staff was outstanding! These people are overworked and underpaid and have to deal with some rude passengers.

 

We loved our stateroom attendant, Hartrand:

 

 

Stateroom

 

Carnival staterooms have the best layout of all the ships I've been on. We had 3 women in our room and rarely did it feel crowded. The bedding is out of this world! I really think I'm going to try and purchase the pillows this time.

[3redheads]

Layout of ship

 

This is the area that Carnival loses out to RCCL. The layout is confusing, or maybe it's just me. It took us 3 days to figure out how to find several areas.

By the time I figured it all out, my cruise was over. :(

 

I would love to see more open spaces, windows and higher ceilings in the public areas.

 

Also, I know on the RCCL ships I've sailed, the windows on the pool deck opened, giving you a nice breeze. This is not the case on Liberty (can't remember on the Legend). If you stayed in the sun on the pool deck, you baked! Better option is to sunbathe on the 10th deck. There is a shower head in the corner to cool you off!

 

Elevators-no problems at all with the elevators!

 

Pools

 

We didn't get in the pools, but they are salt water. I found 3 pools, but there may have been more. Never noticed the roof being retracted on the adult pool.

 

Casino

 

One of my favorite places. I set a dollar limit on what I could spend/donate to Carnival, then I quit.

 

Of interest is a game that is similar to Blackjack. The minimum was only $5, so it was in my budget. It's called Fun 21 Blackjack. Here's some info from the brochure:

 

-All 21's paid immediately

-Player's 21 beats dealer's 21

-surrender option

-8 deck shoe

-dealer hits on soft 17

-no queens in the deck

-Fun pairs-separate bet-if you get pair Kings, for instance, you're paid 50:1

very few people made fun pair bets

 

Other type of Blackjack-Face Up Blackjack

 

-both of dealer's cards are dealt faceup

-blackjack is paid even money, no 3 to 2

-push goes to the dealer

 

I met some wonderful people at the blackjack tables! The dealers were, for the most part, very pleasant and personable. My favorite person was the pit boss. Never got his name, but he looked like poker pro Antonio Esfandiari.

 

Poker

 

Only one table and there's no dealer! The table is a PokerPro table. It's a combination of real life poker and internet poker. You are not dealt real cards, they show up on a screen and when you place your cupped hand on the screen, they appear.

 

I wanted to play in the poker tournament, but they only had one tournament on Friday and the buy in was $150. On the Legend, you could play in the tournament earlier in the week for a buy in of $25 or $50.

 

Slots

 

My mom won $400 and $100! I didn't win anything.

 

Kid's Club

 

The girls were in the 15-17 year old H20 club. They met lots of people and had a whole crew. They really enjoyed meeting new people.

 

Fellow Passengers

 

Guest Services told me this cruise was sold out. There were a lot of kids on the cruise, but they didn't bother me at all. It was the adults who were rude. People seemed short tempered, in a hurry and just plain obnoxious.

 

They would push you out of the way, rush in to the elevators before you exited. Not to say all were rude, but it just seemed people were stressed out.

 

We met many nice people, but you tend to remember the overall impression of your fellow passengers.

 

Shopping onboard

 

Not a lot of options. The shops got really crazy when they announced sales that started at a certain time. They had a watch sale the last day at 3pm. You couldn't even get in to the shops. People were pushing others out of the way, carrying 5+ boxes of watches. Total mayhem! I had no interest in joining that craziness!

[tjjbcolombe]

Great review!!! We are leaving in 31 days on Liberty!!! CAN'T WAIT! me, Hubby and our two teen boys .. 17, 15.. looks great to me !! Glad you had fun!!

[3redheads]

Shows/Talent

There was some great talent on this ship!

 

There was a show in the Venetian Palace on Sunday which was fabulous! They sang from different eras and different types of music. The male and female lead had fabulous voices! Also, they had some beautiful sets. I can't find the FunTimes for Sunday or else I could post the name of the show. Here are some shots:

 

 

 

 

Also, there were two singers in the lobby. A man and a woman. I never got there names, but they were fabulous!!!

 

 

Price

 

You couldn't beat the price we paid for an 8C room-$1697 for 3 people! It was one of the reasons we booked this ship. Carnival continues to offer the best prices.

 

Specialty Dining

 

My best specialty dining experience on any ship. Well worth the $30 and not to be missed.

 

Security Situation

We boarded Saturday and noticed on Saturday night that there was a security guard in a chair in front of a room a few doors down from us. There was a security guard there for over 24 hours. Our first thought was that someone was sick and being quarantined. Found out later that it was a domestic situation and the person was taken off the ship at Cozumel.

 

The fight in the disco resulted in 5 people being removed from the ship. The casino dealers were talking about it. Apparently, it was bad!

 

OVERALL

 

We really enjoyed our Girl's Cruise and had a blast! I love to cruise, but would like to try new ports and maybe new ships. Would love to do a cruise through the Panama Canal, cruise Alaska or the Mediterranean.

 

My favorite itinerary so far has been the Southern out of PR.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks for taking the time to read my review.

[Cathy p]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a fantastic review. I can't wait until Jan when we get on her. Your pictures are great as well.

[3redheads]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a fantastic review. I can't wait until Jan when we get on her. Your pictures are great as well.

 

Thank you, my fellow Virginian :o

 

Forget to mention that one of the casino dealers told me that 2 weeks ago, a woman who had never played Caribbean Stud-Progressive put $16 down and won $62,000, the progressive jackpot! Can you imagine?