Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

My First Carnival Cruise (review) Liberty 4/23

Rottweiler Puppy

Recommended Posts

CanWeGoYet?

CanWeGoYet?

Posted
Posted
People on this site are always saying that Carnival reads these things (you especially see it on the booze smuggling threads). So, if that is the case and Carnival does read it, you'd think they'd do something about the coffee situation. SO many people complain about how bad the coffee is, and I totally agree.

 

There's room for improvement, especially with the lido coffee. But have you tried the coffee on other cruise lines? Carnival's coffee is heavenly compared to what I drank on Celebrity.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Jules215

Jules215

Posted
Posted

My partner and I were on this same sailing and I can concur on everything the OP said, at least in regards to the ship experience.

 

The only flaw in our trip was that we had some "relationship" issues going on at the time...However, those are now resolved and we've just booked the Liberty again last minute for next week, to try and get it "right" this time. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 9 months later...
crusinpsychRN

crusinpsychRN

Posted
Posted

I only read through page 2 so far but had to post. What a fun review to read! The screen name got my interest right off and then the trashing of the room fit and I began to worry...not for long...then I cracked up! Love your style, keep it going!:D (I almost said keep it up but knew you'd have a comment to that!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
vegadog2

vegadog2

Posted
Posted
May as well do some excursions.

 

Warning, long and possibly boring.

 

First stop was Cozumel. I love being on the front deck when coming into port so I was out there bright and early. Always nice to see it fresh. It certainly has grown since the last time I was there in the 80's. Back then we anchored and tendered. This time there were two docks close together and there was a little fake Mexico on the end of the pier. Don't get me wrong. Fake Mexico in the real Mexico is better than not being there eat all, it was just too "not Mexican" More like something at Epcot. OK maybe something more like an outdoor mall. Still nice to have at the end of the pier to do some quick browsing and shopping in a very safe area. (not that Cozumel is all that bad, safer than Miami to me).

 

Disembarking - 4 (fast)

Naturally you have to make it through the gauntlet of goofy characters that try to get your pic with. We take them just in case as its not like you have to buy them. One was a tall pirate with a little skeleton puppet on strings. Well it was the cute short Ukrainian photographer as the puppet.

 

It was cool though because you know, when anyone thinks of Mexico, the first thing that comes to mind is 9 foot tall zombie pirates playing with skeleton marionettes.

 

We did a little looking around in the mall before taking a cab to the Divers Memorial about 4 blocks up the road. That is where we were to meet our dealer, er I mean tour guide. We booked a non ship tour through CozumelDuneBuggyTours.com. Island marketing sells the tours also but we went straight to them. Many good reviews, included tons of food and drink. 5 hours or longer depending on the group.

 

Now I was kind of nervous after reading about that preacher driving into a couple folks and going to jail. Now he was admittedly negligent, but I was still a little nervous. I figured since we were part of a tour, we may be a little safer. Hopefully the tour company already sent in their pay off, I mean kick back to the local police. (sorry, thats Mexico business as usual).

 

We met Omar, our tour guide and we were the only people booked on his tour that day. Cool, private tour. no worries about other groups holding things up, or speeding up stops we may like. He said that the day is ours to spend as long as we wanted wherever we went. He was a great guy and very friendly. Now since we were the only group going, he had some family in another dune buggy go with us but they were just along for the ride. No decisions on where the tour went. They had their own buggy as well.

 

The dune buggies were cool looking but a little scary. No seat-belts, no doors, and if you wanted to adjust the seat, you just scootched it. Little nervous at this point but I can drive a stick so I figured it shouldn't be that bad. So far the traffic in Cozumel didn't seem to bad, no worse then some parts of Miami.

 

Main problem with the buggies is the pedals were close together. Or I have sasquatch feet. It was fairly hard to get on one pedal at a time at first but after fiddling around I was able to safely use them.

 

Well here we were in our Dune Buggy driving around Cozumel with our tour guide Omar.

m7corl.jpg

 

Was pretty fun. We passed up these dorks though. What a couple of losers.

1115vlv.jpg

 

First stop on our drive around the Island was a nice little snorkel trip. It was a nice area and no one else was there. After driving over the dead iguana, I parked the buggy on the side and made a mental note as to where it was. That way if I saw it missing later, I would politely say no thanks to lunch.

 

The water was beautiful. Flat as a pancake and oh so blue. Now my girlfriend and myself go snorkeling a couple times a month here at home but we wanted better and Cozumel definitely has better. What a nice time. We were in for about 45 minutes and leisurely floated around enjoying ourselves immensely. We brought our own masks and snorkels but did use their fins.

 

Our guide Omar using his Aquaman powers to send a school of fish after me. Or maybe it was the sand dollar turd he threw by me they were after. I never knew sand dollars even had turds, let alone butts. (note the elusive sand dollar turd floating right towards me)

2j5m7p0.jpg

Camera was the Fuji that was recommended in another thread. Nice camera for $99.

 

Another pic of some fish. I kept diving down to get a better picture and before I knew it, I was pretty deep and nearly out of breath. Got the pic though. Sorry the colors aren't so great I had the flash off and I was about 20 feet under.

27xqqzp.jpg

 

We then headed to a little town in the middle of the island. Thats my favorite stuff to do right there. Get in there and see the real Island. It was great. Roosters running around the streets and little shops with very little hassle. We had to use the restroom which was part of someones house and had to pay. It was 50 cents a person and they had a 7 year old security guard there to make sure you paid.

 

We learned that May3 is the big holiday there as it celebrates the first Mass in Mexico. We went into the tiny little church but they were doing construction on the inside so no good pics. Right next to the church was an old Mayan temple. Pile of rocks basically, but still cool to see.

 

While my girlfriend was browsing the little shop I saw a guy with an obese Iguana walking around. I have seen pics of this. He puts it on your head, you take a pic, and give him a buck. I know they are cool if you are not used to them but back home, they are pests. They eat all the flowers you try and plant and they get pretty pissed off when you try to get them off the back porch. If this dude ambushes my girlfriend and puts it on her head, I wil never hear the end of it. When she came out of the shop, I steered her away from where Iguana-man was waiting and went back to the buggies.

 

We drove around the Island on a scary 2 lane road next to the beach. Normally it wouldn't be too scary but since the steering sucked, the wind was insane, we had absolutely no seat belts and the roll cage was cosmetic, Rolling off the road would have been very bad.

 

We drove by a few different bars and beach places. All looked fun and inviting but we kept on driving and exploring, finally stopping here. 1zlq615.jpg

 

Omar made fresh salsa and guacamole while serving us nice grilled chicken. We were here for a little bit as a storm blew over up the road. We never got wet. Very nice stop and I even hopped in the ocean for a little while. Tons of food since we were the only ones on the tour and plenty to drink. There was beer and I was continually reminded of that. I don't drink much. A 6pack can sit in my refrigerator for months and I often end up tossing it out for being old. I did want a beer though, but only after the tour.

 

Omar asked if we wanted to drive around some more then head back. He said the view was the same, or we could stop at a Tequila joint and learn how tequila was made. We don't drink tequila, I think its nasty but it would be a cool tour so we said yes.

 

34ya9no.jpg

 

Nice place. Normally its $14 to get in but since Omar has the hooks ups. It was only a buck. Oh btw Omar definitely knows everyone, including the cops. Pretty much everyone on the Island knows him it seems. Thats good as I think he might have an upper hand if he had an accident and the cops showed up.

 

We learned how them make tequila and how to find the good stuff. Then came to taste testing. Now I don't know the DUI rules in Mexico but no one seems to care. I actually had to refuse samples after a bit. You can definite leave there with a buzz if you have a good tour guide. It was amazing at how many different tequilas there are. We ended up buying 2 small bottles. 1 cream and 1 coffee. Went in as tequila haters, came out as tequila snobs.

 

Well thats pretty much it. We went back to town parked the buggy thanked and tipped Omar and went our way. Before I got to far Omar reminded me that we still had water, juice and beer in the dune buggies cooler. That was cool he could have not said anything but he remembered my goal was to have at least one beer in Mexico. I drank it up and headed back to port.

 

Getting back on the ship was easy and of course we had to turn in our booze. No big deal. We still haven't opened the bottles yet here at home. Showered , ate and went back to the little mall and shopped for one of my girlfriends daughters. She is 19 and hard to buy for. Naturally we didn't find anything. Man will those guys cut bargains the hour before the ship leaves. If you ever go there, don't shop until the last hour.

 

Thats it for my first excursion review on my awesome Carnival Liberty cruise. Thanks for tuning in.

 

Oh yeah the ratings

Overall tour excursion - 4

Service - 5

food - 4

Dune Buggies 2.5 -3 due to the condition.

Embarkation at the port -4

 

Would we do it again?

No. Once was enough but very glad we did it.

 

Would I recomend it?

Yes but its definitely not for everyone. The Dune Buggies have no doors. You hop in Dukes of Hazzard style and no safety equipment. I would not recommend for the elderly, disabled and groups with children. Driving around is slow and the other drivers are no worse then downtown Miami. Actually once you are away from the port, its pretty nice and open.

 

Will try and do Grand Cayman review next.

 

 

 

Love the underwater pics.I have to run to work.I'll be back later to enjoy more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
PhinsAndGills

PhinsAndGills

Posted
Posted

Awesome helpful review! Thanks for sharing. My husband is a scotch drinker ( can't get him to come over to the Jack-and-Jim side) and I'm a strawberry eater so we might get the same "waiting in the room" deal that you had. I'll let you know if the strawberries arrive on time or if I, too, had to flip out, down the bottle of scotch, and flush towel (ROTF @ that part of your review! Well played...)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
MarkRosenthal

MarkRosenthal

Posted
Posted

Thank you, one of the most enjoyable reviews I have ever read. Nothing beats walking the ship late at night or very early in the morning when things are so quiet and just look out to nowhere. Great reading, hope we meet up on some cruise someday.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Spring1onu

Spring1onu

Posted
Posted

 

......I just tossed in the stuff about being pissed and drunk in hopes of causing one or two particular members to pop a vein and pass out in shock. The missing strawberries were in our room within the hour.

 

 

 

.....Its amazing that Betty Crocker never cashed in on that side effect of childhood cooking mistakes. Really cant say mistake because its warm gooey chocolaty goodness. One was enough for the cruise however. My girlfriend asked what it tasted like. The only word that came out of my mouth was “Diabetes”.....

 

First let me say I love your review! Glad you had a good time and in some ways the cruise exceeded your expectations - that's always a good thing. Very fairly written :-)

 

Love your sense of humor. I am cracking up from the above quotes. They made me LOL!! There were definitely others but I didn't want to quote all of it, lol. Thanks for sharing your POV.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...