Thoughts on my recent Liberty Cruise 12-17

[larkz]

My overall impression is that nothing significant has changed about Carnival on the three cruises I've taken in recent years, 2009, 2010, 2011. The food quality is generally good, and sometimes great. The staff is friendly and hardworking (which helps make up for the shortcomings of the Service Desk). The various shows and performances range from fair to excellent. The day to day ship experience is wonderful. And it's still the best vacation value, particularly for anyone who knows how to manage money. This time I bought two future cruise certificates.

 

The cruise went to the Western Caribbean, with stops in Cozumel, Belize, Roatan, and Cayman.

 

I did take a Carnival excursion to Maya Key Private Island (Roatan), which was a reasonable price for the range of activities available. This island has something for everyone in the family -- a nice beach, snorkeling, interesting native animals with tours, interesting trails with places for kids and parents to explore, replicas of ruins, an interpretive center, and a nice lunch. I spent most of the day poking around the wild areas, looking for creepy crawlie critters to photograph. My impression is that most of the people on this excursion had a great time, and while I prefer to do my own thing rather than buy excursions through Carnival, this turned out to be a good choice.

 

Belize was fun as well. I took a short cab ride to the Belize City Municipal Airport, flew Tropic Air to the nearby island town, San Pedro on Amberbris Caye, and was treated to a private tour of a lesser known ruins site. The guide, Jan Brown, was extremely knowledgeable and passionate about the ruins, known as the Marco Gonzalez Mayan Site. I'm considering a full vacation on the island, which is a friendly, peaceful place with tons of activities, including some the the best snorkeling, scuba, and water activities in the Caribbean.

 

Cozumel was okay. My Cayman plans to rent a car (at a half-witted local Avis agency) fell through when they screwed around with me on the reservation, so I offered them a rich selection of my favorite profanities, then headed to the beach and spent the afternoon kayaking.

 

Interestingly, in Cozumel two people missed the ship. This is one of my favorite ports to watch for pier runners. I was able to zoom in tight with my video camera and see the ship's crew handing over the missing passengers' documents to the port workers. They inspected wallets, counted money and documented contents, filled out several forms, and then the ship prepared to leave. At the same port, a woman apparently decided to leave the ship. She had all of her luggage. After an extended conversation with Carnival officers, she signed several documents, and remained at the port when the ship sailed away. I'm not sure whether she was associated with the missing passengers, or whether she had executed the Carnival 100 percent satisfaction guarantee to leave the ship at the first port, or what else might have happened.

 

The Blue Iguana Cantina was heaven to me. I enjoyed many burritos on this trip, both breakfast and lunch, and would have been happy if that was the sole food venue on the ship. I found the Lido buffet to be just fine, and was very happy with the selection and quality of food. I don't pretend to be a food critic, but my sketicism continues to grow about reviews of how terrible Carnival food has become. Particularly coming from a country full of people who are killing themselves with poor dietary habits, and a country where fast food restaurants are among the richest and most successful corporations. The dots just do not seem to connect. I found plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, and lots of healthy options. In the MDR, I lucked out with great table mates and diligent wait staff. They all received extra tips, as did the room steward.

 

My biggest complaints were the poor Internet service -- which borders on consumer fraud, in my opinion -- and the poorly maintained self-service laundry facilities. In every laundry room, machines were out of order. In one laundry a washer loaded with clothes filled up with water and then simply stopped. When the guest called the service desk, she was told there was nothing they could do, and they wouldn't even send someone to help her. They left her on her own, to drag a bunch of wet laundry out of the machine and find another (in short supply). The washer continued to have this problem, along with a dryer that took money and then jammed. I finally attached my own "out of order" signs on the machines (with clear packing tape that I used to wrap my luggage tags). The signs were removed, twice, and both machines continued to have the problems throughtout the cruise. As for the Internet service, there is no excuse for such an abysmal connection (satellite connections may not be as rapid as land lines, but my impression is that Carnival is deliberately throttling down the performance in order to charge for more minutes).

 

Notwithstanding my complaints, it was a great vacation and I'm setting my sights on the next two.

[allener58]

I'm glad you had a good trip. I think carnival is a great bang for your buck. No complaints ever with the food or the staff. I've never used the internet but can't believe Carnival would deliberately slow the speeds down just to screw people.

What documents did the crew hand over to the port workers and how did they get them?

[StingRaysfan]

Hey Larkz

We were on our balcony after Cozumel too. I was under the impression that the woman that left the ship was maybe somehow related to the guy they took away in the ambulance earlier. Loved cheering for those last two people and also saw them counting the money and that two people didn't make it to the ship.

 

LOVE the sound of your Belize excursion.. I was in Belize while in High School for a week in 97 and a week in 98... and we went to San Pedro. I remember thinking it was Paradise... then I remember thinking I made the place up a few years ago. I guess I was wrong!

 

I too lived off the burritos at the Cantina. I want one right now... they were soooo heaven.

[StingRaysfan]

BTW... BEST HOT SAUCE AT THE CANTINA!!! I'm ordering some...

 

http://www.hotsauce.com/Iguana-Smoky-Jalapeno-Chipotle-Pepper-Sauce-p/1103sc.htm

[larkz]

I'm glad you had a good trip. I think carnival is a great bang for your buck. No complaints ever with the food or the staff. I've never used the internet but can't believe Carnival would deliberately slow the speeds down just to screw people.

What documents did the crew hand over to the port workers and how did they get them?

 

Considering how badly their website works, you may be right about whether the poor ship Internet quality is intentional. I do quite a lot of website development, and know my way around Internet technologies, so they appear to be short on tech know-how. Then again, it is lucrative for them not to improve the service. I don't necessarily think it would be a stated corporate policy to screw passengers, but we've seen enough companies harmed by rogue department heads who scheme and scam in order to show great numbers.

 

As for the passengers who missed the boat...

 

Carnival, on their site and forums, advises people to leave their passports in the cabin safe. I suspect that when passengers appear to have missed the ship and don't respond to announcements calling on them to contact guest services, Carnival sends officers to the room to check for documents in the safe. As I watched (through the wonder of 35 times zoom) they handed over a large wallet, some money, an envelope, and several other items.

[larkz]

Hey Larkz

We were on our balcony after Cozumel too. I was under the impression that the woman that left the ship was maybe somehow related to the guy they took away in the ambulance earlier. Loved cheering for those last two people and also saw them counting the money and that two people didn't make it to the ship.

 

LOVE the sound of your Belize excursion.. I was in Belize while in High School for a week in 97 and a week in 98... and we went to San Pedro. I remember thinking it was Paradise... then I remember thinking I made the place up a few years ago. I guess I was wrong!

 

I too lived off the burritos at the Cantina. I want one right now... they were soooo heaven.

 

Okay, I missed the ambulance scene, but that sounds like a good guess.

 

You were not dreaming about San Pedro. God, I love that place. Just the right mix of fun tourist stuff and real people, and it's very safe.

 

About the hot sauce -- yikes! I love TexMex, Mexican, and Central American food but I'm a wimp when it comes to hot spices. I go for mild.

[FlaMilkman]

How did you arrange your trip to San Pedro? Was it done ahead of the trip or did you simply "wing it?" How many of you were there and what was the total cost?

 

We sail two weeks from today and are still trying to figure out what we want to do while in Belize.

 

Thanks!

[StingRaysfan]

Okay, I missed the ambulance scene, but that sounds like a good guess.

 

You were not dreaming about San Pedro. God, I love that place. Just the right mix of fun tourist stuff and real people, and it's very safe.

 

About the hot sauce -- yikes! I love TexMex, Mexican, and Central American food but I'm a wimp when it comes to hot spices. I go for mild.

 

:) Thats how I remember San Pedro, small, clean, and tropical! I'm so checking it out after I write this...

 

That hot sauce I posted really isn't hot at all. It's more "smoky" and I used it with every burrito (even breakfast) after I found it the first day! My mouth never burned at all... throughout the week they went through quite a few bottles of at least that sauce because it was nearly always a new bottle or the bottom of the existing bottle. I just ordered 3 bottles of it after I wrote you last time. :) If you're on the Liberty or another 2.0 ship again, check it out!

[bills blasters]

Can you tell me what floor the bad washing machine was on. We will be there for a back to back in 2 weeks, and will have to do laundry a couple times. We are on deck 7. Hope that if that was the bad laundry room that they have it fixed by then.

claudia

[larkz]

How did you arrange your trip to San Pedro? Was it done ahead of the trip or did you simply "wing it?" How many of you were there and what was the total cost?

 

We sail two weeks from today and are still trying to figure out what we want to do while in Belize.

 

Thanks!

 

I was solo on this trip, as well as the one I took last year.

 

You can fly with Tropic Air, which is definitely the best tiny airline I've ever flown with. You can also use Maya Air. Both fly prop planes out of many Caribbean locations. Look up the keywords "tropic air san pedro" on YouTube and I think you'll find several flight videos. On San Pedro the airport is very nice with a large well-maintained saltwater aquarium. Look for Tropic Air dot com online.

 

Both airlines fly throughout the day, hourly, each way between Belize City Municipal Airport and San Pedro, Ambergris Island. I believe the round trip price was about $65 per person. You can book flights online, but you have to make a good estimate about how long it will take to tender in and grab a cab ($5 to airport). The drive to the airport is about 10 minutes or less.

 

This is the city airport, NOT the international airport -- which is farther away but also flies to San Pedro. I took a chance pre-booking online an early flight which allowed me about 90 minutes from the moment tendering began to the time at which I had to be at the airport. Belize is Central Time (and I don't think they observe Daylight Savings Time during summer), so keep that in mind when comparing to ship time. I set up the return flight to allow me more than an hour before the last tenders to the ship.

 

Last year on my first trip to the island, I simply hiked around doing photography, and then rented a kayak for a couple hours. I also ate a delicious meal at a small local restaurant. Many tours are available from local vendors, as well as kayak, boat, scuba, and watersport rentals. If you do your research online, you can plan out the whole thing ahead of time. Golf carts, bikes, and walking are preferred methods of travel in the little town of San Pedro. You can find an interesting golf cart tour of San Pedro on YouTube. Likewise, lots of photos can be found by simply doing an image search in Google. The local tourism websites have maps and tons of helpful information.

 

While Belize has some shifty areas that tourists should be cautious of visiting, San Pedro is a safe and very friendly place.

 

With this excursion particularly, I made sure to have a back up plan for getting to the next port should I miss the ship. I carried my Passport, and had funds readily available, as well as printouts of alternate travel options. Between buses, boats, and planes, you can always find your way between Caribbean ports.

[IGGY63]

The Internet is VIA satellite and they state it is not fast. Don't expect high speed at 75 cents a minute.

 

 

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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=45.351252,-79.128856

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[larkz]

Can you tell me what floor the bad washing machine was on. We will be there for a back to back in 2 weeks, and will have to do laundry a couple times. We are on deck 7. Hope that if that was the bad laundry room that they have it fixed by then.

claudia

 

The unmarked bad washer was the first one as you entered the laundry room on Deck 1 (where my cabin was). Chances are it will still be out of order and unmarked by the time you cruise.

 

I did use the laundry on deck 7 because every deck below that had machines out of order or in use. And since I don't use elevators, it was a heck of a workout making back and forth trips! At any rate, I think the laundry on that deck was in pretty good shape.

 

Machines are $3 and quarters can be picked up in the casino or at the guest services desk (this is one of the skills that people at the guest service desk are actually equipped with...giving change!)

[larkz]

The Internet is VIA satellite and they state it is not fast. Don't expect high speed at 75 cents a minute.

 

 

---

I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=45.351252,-79.128856

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I'd settle for 26k like early modems if the connection didn't break every three minutes, and then take five more minutes to reconnect as the timer continued billing. At times, even the computers in Carnival's Internet room couldn't find connections (not even within the local host). Anyone with a small mobile satellite could blast the junk connection offered by Carnival.

 

It is natural to expect that the signal latency (delay due to signal having to travel to the satellite and then back to earth) will be an issue, and if you visit a complex website with badly optimized pages (lots of pictures, scripts, and other components resulting in lots of back and forth calls to get pieces of a page), then it really lags. But a clean lean Google landing page should not take two or three minutes to just to display. There is no excuse for it.

[Oakman]

Thanks so much for the recent review of your Liberty trip. I really enjoyed it, as it seemed well balanced and thought out.

I too, agree with your assesment of the food on board Carnival. So many are quick to criticize and complain, when a majority of our nation faces major health issues to to improper nutrition. I have very strict nutritional guidelines I follow (a vegan diet),and was able to rid myself of all medicine I previously took-high blood pressure,cholesterol, and high triglicerides. This was my choice.

I thought cruising would be a challange, and actually Carnival does one of the better jobs of offering selections that fit the bill. I have never be unable to find a selection of healthy choices.

Looking forward to our 25th Anniversary cruise on the Liberty in May!!

[JR989]

The unmarked bad washer was the first one as you entered the laundry room on Deck 1 (where my cabin was). Chances are it will still be out of order and unmarked by the time you cruise.

 

I did use the laundry on deck 7 because every deck below that had machines out of order or in use. And since I don't use elevators, it was a heck of a workout making back and forth trips! At any rate, I think the laundry on that deck was in pretty good shape.

 

Machines are $3 and quarters can be picked up in the casino or at the guest services desk (this is one of the skills that people at the guest service desk are actually equipped with...giving change!)

 

Apparently they can give change, but not put stamps on postcards. I paid for them, but when they got to the recipients all of them did not have a stamp on them.

 

Sent from my LG-VS700 using Tapatalk

[gelo7]

Thanks for sharing.

[larkz]

Thanks so much for the recent review of your Liberty trip. I really enjoyed it, as it seemed well balanced and thought out.

I too, agree with your assesment of the food on board Carnival. So many are quick to criticize and complain, when a majority of our nation faces major health issues to to improper nutrition. I have very strict nutritional guidelines I follow (a vegan diet),and was able to rid myself of all medicine I previously took-high blood pressure,cholesterol, and high triglicerides. This was my choice.

I thought cruising would be a challange, and actually Carnival does one of the better jobs of offering selections that fit the bill. I have never be unable to find a selection of healthy choices.

Looking forward to our 25th Anniversary cruise on the Liberty in May!!

 

It is interesting that many of the food quality debates here completely neglect the question of health and nutrition.