Carnival Liberty 02/25-03/10 Back To Back - MissKIA finally gets to Cruise - x2!!

[gelo7]

Enjoying your review.

[StingRaysfan]

YAY! Can't wait to read more... :) Good review and I'm glad you figured out to add the img link for the pictures. They are much easier to see that way! :)

 

I want to go back to Coz (and I'm sure I will) just for Nachi Cocum, but Paradise Beach looks very nice! :)

[MissKIA]

Yay, it worked!! :D

 

After we left the beach we did some shopping at the cruise centre. I didn't really plan on doing a lot of shopping. I have enough junk from these types of places laying around in closets and such and I don't need any more! I decided to was going to buy a fridge magnet from each place we visited and other than that I would only buy something I really wanted or loved. Plus I despise haggling. I'm just not good at it. I have no idea how much these things are worth and I don't want to be insulting to the vendor, but I also don't want to get ripped off. I prefer just to go into a store, see what I want to buy, look at the price and decide if I'm willing to pay that or not. I know some people love haggling, but it's just not for me.

 

We got back to the ship fairly early. We were in port until 5 that day and we got back around 3. The guys were pretty disappointed that they didn't catch any fish. They only even got one bite but then lost it. This was something my husband had always wanted to do so he was a little disappointed, but they said it was still a good experience and they had fun so that's what really matters!

 

Apparently there were a lot of pier runners today but we missed out since our balcony was facing the wrong way. BIL and SIL watched it all and they couldn't believe how people just sauntered up without a care in the world while everyone was yelling at them and the security guards gave them a piece of their minds. They said it was great entertainment. We watched it on the tv but it wasn't the same.

 

For dinner tonight I had the french onion soup (really good), the short ribs with fried rice and the warm fig and dater cinnamon cake. The Short Ribs were good but I didn't really like the rice very much. I can't quite put my finger on what it was, but there was something different in it I didn't care for. The cake was good, but I would have preferred more of a cinnamon or spice taste to it. It was a little bland, but still good.

 

After dinner BIL's Mom wanted to try out the piano bar to see what it was all about. She didn't end up liking it too much. She thought it would be more older songs that she would know but she ended up not knowing much of what was sung. (I think she would have had a better time on HAL or one of the more "mature" demographic ships. Not that she didn't enjoy herself, but a lot of what Carnival offers wasn't really her cup of tea.) I on the other hand thought it was fun! I loved the songs he did and had a great time. He had this thing where every time someone would peak in or stand by the door way he would stop and say " look who's here!" and everyone would turn and say "holy &%@$! Come on in!" I already knew this was going to happen of course, because I had read about it in another review so I let everyone else go in ahead of me. It was hilarious! They looked so confused. haha Most people had fun with it, but I think it did scare a few people off. I would have liked to have spent more time there but this was the only time we went there in two weeks. I guess it's just one of those things where you have to be with the right group of people and I wasn't unfortunately.

[silvercrikhix]

Great start, MissKia! Looking forward to more! :D

[MissKIA]

YAY! Can't wait to read more... :) Good review and I'm glad you figured out to add the img link for the pictures. They are much easier to see that way! :)

 

I want to go back to Coz (and I'm sure I will) just for Nachi Cocum, but Paradise Beach looks very nice! :)

 

Thanks!

 

I would love to go to Nachi if we ever make it back there (which I'm sure we will!) Paradise beach was very nice though. I forgot to add that there was no admission fee to go there. We just had to pay $2 for a wrist band for the loungers and then pay for our drinks and food.

 

I'm so mad at myself for not taking more pictures the first few days, but I got much better at it as the week went on. You will see!

[amcjeep4life]

Thanks for writing a great review! We will be cruising with a fairly large group, I think there's 19 or so of us now, in October, and it;'s great to read what everyone else has done. Doing a great job, keep it up!

 

I buy a fridge magnet from each port too. It's nice to see them every single day, and my nephew will often come over and pull one off, and ask me to tell him about the place, which brings back all those great memories! Looking forward to adding a few new ones!

[crewsweeper]

MissKIA, enjoying your review. Picture posting from photobucket can be frustrating. I have to re-read the instructions every time.

 

 

Nice start! I like your conversational writing style. We are on a B2B on Liberty in 16 (YES! Sixteen!!) days. Can you tell me about the changeover day?

 

jj, please get off the ship as quickly as you can, so I can get on:D Enjoy your B2B.

[Anung Un Rama]

While we were eating our burgers I noticed a few tables away a couple of people I knew! Okay, I didn't really "know" them, but I recognized them from a previous review and they were on our roll call. It was Chris (Anung Un Rama) and Cassandra (ardnassac79). It was kind of bizarre seeing someone and recognizing them from Cruise Critic. :o I decided to go introduce myself. I felt a little silly but what the hell. LOL They were very nice people and it was nice to meet them in person.

 

 

I can confirm the accuracy of this statement :p And it was weird for us to be recognized as well :o

 

Liking the review so far. It's cool to hear someone else's view of the same cruise and looking forward to the 2nd half of the B2B.

[ardnassac79]

 

While we were eating our burgers I noticed a few tables away a couple of people I knew! Okay, I didn't really "know" them, but I recognized them from a previous review and they were on our roll call. It was Chris (Anung Un Rama) and Cassandra (ardnassac79). It was kind of bizarre seeing someone and recognizing them from Cruise Critic. :o I decided to go introduce myself. I felt a little silly but what the hell. LOL They were very nice people and it was nice to meet them in person.

 

Hi MissKIA! It was great meeting you and your husband, and I'm still jealous of your B2B! I could have easily spent another week on the Liberty! Looking forward to the rest of your review :)

[ibcnusoon]

Cute review!!! We already sailed the Liberty this past November, but I'm enjoying your review and was pleasantly surprised that I get to hear all about the back-to-back!!!

[MissKIA]

While we were in the piano bar, we noticed the Victoria Lounge where the comedy shows are held, clearing out. We decided to go see if we could get a table in there. We quickly found a table (this would be the ONLY time in two weeks we would accomplish this!) and ordered drinks. I ordered a double crown and coke in a tall glass. I don't really like my drinks super strong which is why I ordered it in a tall glass. It's just cheaper than ordering two separate drinks so that makes sense, right? As soon as he set my drink down in front of me I knew I was in trouble. I wish I would have taken a picture of it, it looked like a light beer. It was more like a glass of rye with 2 shots of coke instead of the other way around. I know some people would love this and I'm sure the bartender thought he/she was doing a good thing but :eek:. It was horrible. LOL I ordered a can of coke on the side and every time I took a sip I would add more coke to it. Eventually I added the WHOLE CAN and it was still stronger than I would have liked. Holy Moly! :o

 

Anyway, enough about my drink, the comedians were Allyn Ball and Mark Simmons. We had seen them both in the welcome aboard show on the first day and they were both really good! I wasn't crying-laughing or anything, but I enjoyed it. Definitely R rated though! (which I have no problem with, but I could see how some wouldn't like it)

 

The next day was Belize. I was not really excited at all about going here. I didn't know what to do, nothing that I saw in the excursions interested me much or at least enough to spend $100 plus on. My husband isn't a swimmer so he's not interested in snorkeling although I did get him to do it once in Xcaret but it's not really his thing. I prefer to keep my feet on the ground so ziplining is out. Not really interested in the ruins or cave tubing. Well they might be okay, but I didn't want to spend that much money on something I just "wouldn't mind" doing. I'm really not cheap at all, but with 8 port days, doing excursions every day would cost a fortune so I wanted to save them for things we really wanted to do.

 

We ended up just getting off and shopping around a little bit.

 

 

This was taken with my Blackberry, so it's not the best, but hey, it's a picture! Apparently it was a little cloudy that day. I don't recall that, but the picture says it was, so I guess it was!

 

I did get some prescription strength cortizone cream from the pharmacy there though which was a life saver! Every time I go on vacation I break out in a rash on my hands and ankles. I think it's from the sun, it tends to come out whenever I have longer than usual sun exposure. I had brought some cortizone with me and it was working okay, but wasn't getting rid of it by any means. This stuff I got in Belize was awesome! It was completely cleared up in a couple of days. If any of you have ever had an itchy rash you know how it can can drive you absolutely insane so I was very happy with my purchase!! Oh I also bought my daughter a "Coach" wallet. I remembered her saying she needed a new wallet right before we left so it was a practical gift. :D

[MissKIA]

After our thrilling day in Belize we were hungry so we went to the lido to fine some lunch. I hadn't tried to mongolian grill yet which I was really looking forward to. We have a restaurant here like this and it's one of my favourites I love stir frys so this was a no brainer. It was AWESOME! I had chicken, veggies and noodles with the Barbeque Thai sauce. YUMM-Y!

 

There wasn't too much going on around the ship after this since most people were still in Belize or on excursions so we went back to the room to call the kids. They have changed the phone rates to $1.99 per minute which I think is pretty reasonable, especially considering they used to charge $6.99 or something crazy like that only a few months ago. I actually called home quite a bit, it worked out well.

 

We also checked out the dinner menu on the tv for that night. Tonight was bitter and blanc night! This was probably the single dish I was looking forward to trying out of any of the items I had seen on the menus. I was definitly going to save room for this! So we get to the MDR and the waiter hands me the menu. Ummm excuse me? This isn't the menu on the tv today! :eek: *sigh* I guess I can wait a little longer. I had the mushroom soup for my starter and so did everyone else at the table I think. It was very good. For my entree I just had the grilled chicken breast. When I told Donavan what I wanted he said " really? All of this yummy stuff and you want that?" LOL It was good. Nothing exciting really. Just a chicken breast with a little bit of seasoning. I happen to like grilled chicken though, I would take that any day over fried chicken! :p At least 3 or 4 people at our table ordered the turkey. It looked horrible. I don't know what kind of turkeys they are using for this meal, but I've never had a Thanksgiving meal that looked like that! :eek: Yuck! To be fair, I never tried it, but no one who ordered it liked it, or finished it. I tried the WCMC for dessert again today and I liked it a lot more than the first time. This one was much firmer. It still wasn't fabulous to me, but it was good.

 

After dinner SIL and BIL weren't feeling well so they went to bed early. I think we just went to the casino for a bit and then went to bed early too. We were really looking forward to tomorrow. Roatan and Mahogany Bay!

[mrbug708]

Good stuff!

[reeree313]

Wow...a B2B on the Liberty sounds amazing...I'm really enjoying your review...more please :)

[MissKIA]

So today was Roatan, one of the ports I was most looking forward to. When I woke up, I immediately looked out the balcony window to make sure we made it, since I had heard so much about ships not being able to dock here in the past. We were docked!!! BUT it was absolutely POURING. :( Luckily, we didn't have any excursions or anything so we didn't have to rush of the ship. We decided to try breakfast in the MDR today. It was so much better than the buffet.

 

After breakfast the rain had died down a lot so we figured we would get off the ship and hope they rain would stay away for the rest of the day. When SIL saw the flying chairs to the beach she just had to try them. She thought they looked like so much fun! I was a little apprehensive since I like to keep my feet on the ground, but she really wanted to do it, so we bought day passes. I think they were about $12 each. Right after we bought our wrist bands the skies opened up again and it started pouring again. Lucky for us there was a Fat Tuesdays right there so we quickly grabbed a table under cover before it filled up. This cat grabbed the table next to us.

 

 

We figured we'd better order something or risk losing our table (and shelter). At first I just ordered a bottle of water, but quickly changed my mind. If we're going to be stuck in here with no sunshine all day we might as well make the best of it!

 

 

It was pretty fun there actually. They had good music playing and we drank and chair danced for probably about an hour before the rain finally let up a bit. We thought now would be a good time to make an attempt at the flying chairs so we headed over and hopped on. I was pretty brave, but I had to keep my mind off the fact that those things are help up by this little tiny rod. I don't see how it works, but it does some how.

 

 

 

As soon as we hit the beach the sun came out and stayed for the rest of the day. It ended up being a beautiful day after all!

 

[MissKIA]

I loved it here! The beach was beautiful and the whole area was lush and full of trees and flowers. This was probably my favourite place we went during the whole 2 weeks. It was just beautiful.

 

There were quite a few more people on the beach already than I thought there would be considering all the rain, but it wasn't crowded really. We easily found 4 loungers together.

 

 

 

While we were in the water, there was a Carnival employee dressed in a tux in the water, with a tray and fake champagne taking pictures with people. I thought it was hilarious. We didn't buy pictures though cause they didn't turn out very good, but I wish Richard would have snapped some pics of him from his lounger. (he doesn't go in the water - ever :rolleyes:) You can see him in the background here though.

 

 

There was this woman sitting in front of us who was trying to sell her crap to people on the beach. Not a local or anything - a passenger. She kept striking up conversations with people and would ask them what they did for a living and small talk like that, and as soon as they would ask what she did she would go into this long spiel about how she is on the ship networking and how she can change your life with these miracle drinks she has. John Heald would have loved it. She explained that she is allowed to do this since they asked her what she does for a living so that makes it okay for her to try to sell to them. Needless to say I stayed as FAR AWAY FROM HER AS POSSIBLE. What nerve! People go on vacation to get away from that crap!

 

After ordering refill on our attitubes, we took the flying chairs back to the shopping area.

 

 

We were all feeling pretty good by now! We did a little shopping and then went back to the ship. There was already a huge line on the dock.

 

 

It moved pretty fast, but of course there was some guy trying to lead his family in front of everyone. The guy behind us stopped him and asked him what made him think he was so special that he and his family didn't have to wait like the rest of us. This guy was a total douche bag and got all up in the other guys face trying to start a flight with him for questioning his rudeness. This was all in front of his young kids. Yeah nice example DAD!

[Payd]

Looking forward to more of your B2B review!!

[lymah]

...this woman sitting in front of us who was trying to sell her crap to people on the beach....

...but of course there was some guy trying to lead his family in front of everyone...

I love how you tell us many details people leave out.:p

Great review!

[mrbug708]

Bump!

[cruisinreunion]

Thanks for review so far..would love to read about the rest of your trip too!

[meatloafsfan]

I loved your pictures of Roatan. I really enjoyed my day there - beautiful beach, nice water, very relaxing.

 

Still loving your review.

[MissKIA]

Sorry I haven't posted much, I had a super busy weekend and I'm still trying to get caught up at work. I should have some free time today though so I will get some more done shortly!

[Cruzin 1025]

Sorry I haven't posted much, I had a super busy weekend and I'm still trying to get caught up at work. I should have some free time today though so I will get some more done shortly!

 

Looking forward to it! Especially week two since we'll be on that itinerary in September. :cool:

[tiggerttfn61]

Very nice review! Can't wait to read the rest of it.

[LibraByTheSea]

Where did you go??? I want more!!!! :(