Review of our Spring Break '12 Cruise on Carnival Liberty

[boaterette]

And another one bites the dust. Reviews that is. It was nice what you did write. Thanks.

[cruisinsly]

Hey Stacy! We booked the Liberty again for this December! Hope all is well!

 

Hey there! All is good. I am working now, so life has been a little crazy. lol I have been looking for a cruise to go on, but I just dont know when I will be able to get time off. Will have to do something soon since Carnival still has my deposit. Wish we could join you in December.

[Luv2SeaU]

The Carnival photogs got pics of our landing approach;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And pics after landing;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pics of the Photogs getting pics;

 

 

 

We had to stop by the equipment shack for our cabana keys;

 

 

Hi Paul, love the review. Could you please tell me a little bit about the cabana rental. Is it with a company, is it on the beach, what is included in it besides free skiing? Thanks, we will be on the liberty for the third time this aug 11 and would like to do something similar.

[PaulMedik]

Hi Paul, love the review. Could you please tell me a little bit about the cabana rental. Is it with a company, is it on the beach, what is included in it besides free skiing? Thanks, we will be on the liberty for the third time this aug 11 and would like to do something similar.

 

 

Luv2SeaU,

 

The cabana rental is thru Carnival. In the past you had to wait until you were on board to book, but now you can book online @ Carnival.com and pay in advance. Includes 'magic chair' ride, AC & electric cabana, hammock, beach lounge chairs (Large Double), beach floats (2), butler service from the bar / restaurant. The butler will deliver drinks and food to your cabana and you do have to pay for the food & drinks. I'm not sure if they take S&S cards for food / beverages since we paid with ca$h.

 

I'm sorry for the late reply; if you plan to book I would suggest checking the website NOW.

[PaulMedik]

We had a full day of activities @ Roatan and enjoyed a relaxing sailaway on our balcony;

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our evening meal on Lido;

 

 

Karen's choices were perhaps a little healthier than mine;

 

 

Our dinner was interrupted by a good friend parting for the night;

 

 

Even though the glass was a little streaked from the salt spray, it was still a lovely sight if not the most picture friendly;

 

Edited July 28, 2012 by PaulMedik

[PaulMedik]

Sunset tour of Lido and her new lights;

 

 

 

 

 

The restaurant I'm most looking forward to on Breeze;

 

 

 

Britt isn't used to posing on furniture in restaurant areas;

 

 

Karen and Britt checking out the maps of Florida;

 

 

 

This Guy sure knows how to cook and prepare a burger;

 

Edited July 28, 2012 by PaulMedik

[PaulMedik]

A towel animimal and next days Fun Times (Or whatever they're called now) was waiting in our room;

 

 

 

 

Karen and I visited the casino and enjoyed an hour or so of BlackJack, ice cream on the balcony, and then we had a very relaxing night of sleep. The combo of hot sun, rigorous activity, relaxing rain, and a few libations along the way certainly wore us out.

 

The next day was a short day in Grand Cayman so we were all up and @ breakfast as we pulled into Georgetown Harbor;

 

 

 

As we were eating Carnival Conquest steamed by and appeared to be heading in to dock instead of anchor;

 

 

 

Compared to where we dropped anchor, Conquest was considerably closer; close enough that you can imagine a pier would reach out to her.....

 

 

 

 

NCL Pearl was alongside also;

 

 

 

The tender lines were long so we stopped by the pursor's desk and brought an escort with us;

 

Edited July 28, 2012 by PaulMedik

[PaulMedik]

The packed halls were easily navigated by following our pursor who cleared a path for us;

 

 

 

Exif of the pic in the lobby and the pic below where we're seated on the tender shows the pics were taken seven minutes apart. Not too bad from the lobby to the tender during peak times. Sans escort we'd have been waiting for at least the tender after the one we rode and maybe even the one after that.;

 

 

 

I always enjoy the aft wake from a tender with our ship in the background;

 

 

 

 

Another wake shot;

 

 

 

As we past by Conquest the shoreline certainly looked close enough for them to build a pier;

 

 

 

 

[PaulMedik]

When our tender came alongside the pier you can see Conquest out in front of us; definately close enough for them to build a pier;

 

 

 

 

The tenders arriving simultaneously from many ships makes for a sea of people arriving in waves;

 

 

 

The Carnival Photogs were set up a little different this time, but just look how close Conquest is;

 

 

 

 

 

 

We hailed a taxi for a ride to Seven Mile Beach and it turned out we had used him before. He also rented us chairs;

 

[PaulMedik]

You have to admire a man prepared to make money whenever and however he can;

 

 

 

It's nice having three boys along to drag chairs etc;

 

 

 

Young girls had a lemonade stand set up and were plying their libations up and down the beach. I forget the charity they were working for, but they certainly put a lot of effort into it;

 

 

Paradise Beach toys? No, not exactly; the guy wants 60$ for an hour or two per child and they aren't as heavy duty as PB toys;

 

 

 

Our boys of course had to try out the ice berg;

 

 

 

Your's truly going snorkeling. Karen and I each have new snorkel gear that we've been practicing with in the Kanawha River this summer and especially over the past three weeks that we've been on vacation. Next year's cruise will involve a LOT of snorkeling and we wanna be ready;

 

 

 

In case anyone's wondering, the Kanawha River SUCKS for snorkeling, but it does make a convenient place for practicing.

[PaulMedik]

There were fish all over the place and I had my camera with me, but for some reason when there's a lot of fish I spend my time watching instead of taking pics. Here's a lonely fish that happened by when I remembered to take a picture;

 

 

 

 

Karen is a much better snorkeler now. Now she makes sure there's no hair in her mask, but not so much then;

 

 

Some of us obviously don't need much practice, but it kinda looks like he mask isn't sealed real well;

 

 

The bars along Seven Mile Beach are always lively and ALWAYS have great drinks;

 

 

 

A frozen Margarita cools off the heat no matter how hot it gets;

 

 

 

[PaulMedik]

While we were at the beach I attempted to rent jet skis; they wanted $500 for half an hour for three jet skis AND $3k deposit. I had wasted my time talking them down from $250 each and then after the paperwork was done they brought up the $3k deposit. They REALLY want credit cards instead of ca$h which isn't an option. They agreed to hold a CC in lieu of a deposit, but it was too suspicious since they turned down $500 cash deposit. I do carry CC with me, but I don't use them for anything other than emergencies and jet ski rental does't qualify.

 

Karen negotiaged a reasonable price of $50 for an hour of play on the water toys for the boys and they did get their money's worth out of them. The snorkeling was so so, the drinks were perfect and the chair were comfy. The area of Seven Mile Beach we visited was a public area, but was less crowded than other areas we'd been to in the past.

 

The weather on down the beach was clear;

 

 

Back toward Georgetown it was looking rather ominous;

 

 

 

Our driver arrived right on time at the appointed hour to get us back to the ship with some shopping time prior. On the way back to the pier I snapped a pic of our ship anchored in the harbor;

 

 

 

And just out of sight in the previous pic is Conquest. As you can see in this pic, there were no optical illusions in the earlier pics; it is close enough in that a reasonably long dock would be just fine;

 

 

 

If they'd build the dock then passengers from each ship could spend at least four more hours ashore $pending money on excursions etc instead of the cruise lines spending those same four hours getting everyone ashore and back via tender. Granted the tender operators would suffer, but they could retrain their crews and redeploy their vessels on excursions to recoup lost revenue.

 

 

Yours truely greeting a native;

 

 

 

 

Karen was all shopped out in no time;

 

[PaulMedik]

As we made our way out to the tender it began to rain;

 

 

 

 

 

Luckily the line was moving quickly and the rain was more like a cool mist;

 

 

 

Even though it started pouring during our return tender ride, I still like the pic of our ship;

 

 

 

 

 

The rainbow was forming before we were back on board the ship;

 

[PaulMedik]

When we returned to our room we found chocolate covered strawberries waiting for us;

 

 

 

And a freshly laundered bag of clean clothes that we had sent out the night before;

 

 

 

What do you crave after a hot day in the sun and nothing to eat? Guy's Burgers of course;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rainbow was quite a bit larger by the time we finished eating;

 

 

 

 

The rainbow made for a beautiful sailaway from Grand Cayman;

 

[PaulMedik]

 

 

The water on either side of our wake was just as calm as could be;

 

 

 

 

 

The farther we went, the higher the rainbow appeared;

 

 

 

Eventually it looked like the rainbow was following us. I zoomed in and sure enough it was following our wake;

 

[PaulMedik]

The rainbow followed us and Bryson swears it caught up and was on our deck. I don't know, but I did win the BlackJack tournament that evening;

 

 

 

While not exactly a pot of gold, I certainly did bring back quite a few chips along with a solid gold plastic ship, T Shirt, and some coupons for my victory.

 

 

 

We also discovered a towel howler monkey hanging in our room;

 

 

 

Our next day was a Fun Day @ Sea and began with a hearty breakfast;

 

 

 

We found MaMa out on the aft Panorama deck enjoying the sun;

 

 

 

We invited her (MaMa) down to our deck, but she opted to stay on Panorama so we spent the morning baking on our own deck;

 

[PaulMedik]

We really enjoyed our deck / balcony and should have requested a bar waiter to stop by;

 

 

 

Karen enjoying her libation;

 

 

 

Shortly thereafter she was perhaps dreaming of her next libation?

 

 

 

While we spent the day relaxing in the sun, the ship's crew was busy laundering our clothes;

 

 

 

 

Spencer absorbed in Star Wars;

 

 

 

Bryson studying hard;

 

[navybaby1113]

Glad to see more of your review!

[PaulMedik]

Glad to see more of your review!

 

 

I made it to the last day on board. All I have left is the rest of that day, disembarkation, post cruise in Miami and the the flight home. Practically done! :D

[AryMay]

I made it to the last day on board. All I have left is the rest of that day, disembarkation, post cruise in Miami and the the flight home. Practically done! :D

 

Wow...you have been busy today! So glad to see the remainder of your review...always fun to read one of your reports!

[Pellaz]

Hooray! Just when I thought we might never see the end, voila! More awesome pics and comments!

 

Regarding no pier at Grand Cayman, I have to wonder if it's due to environmental/oceanic concerns. There is clearly a need for a two-ship pier and even then, the tender operators aren't all out of their jobs because tenders would still be needed when more than two ships are in port, which is fairly often at GC.

 

If a pier could be built without damaging the ecosystem there, the Big Three cruise lines (plus maybe Disney) should just pool their resources and build it. We will come. :)

[PaulMedik]

Wow...you have been busy today! So glad to see the remainder of your review...always fun to read one of your reports!

 

 

AryMay,

 

Yes I was busy and thank you. I will get this one done for sure.

 

Hooray! Just when I thought we might never see the end, voila! More awesome pics and comments!

 

Regarding no pier at Grand Cayman, I have to wonder if it's due to environmental/oceanic concerns. There is clearly a need for a two-ship pier and even then, the tender operators aren't all out of their jobs because tenders would still be needed when more than two ships are in port, which is fairly often at GC.

 

If a pier could be built without damaging the ecosystem there, the Big Three cruise lines (plus maybe Disney) should just pool their resources and build it. We will come. :)

 

 

Pellaz,

 

Thank you.

 

From what I've read in news reports and blogs over the years about the GC pier, the plans are being drawn up by one company, then are to be handed over to another company, then construction is to be by several companies. Governance is to be by a to be formed GC Port authority. Incidentally, all of the 'companies' are owned by the same individual who also oversees the 'Port Authority.'

 

In my opinion; It seems he benefits from cruise passengers enough now and owns enough now that he doesn't wish to assist other businesses nor cruise passengers by providing a safer and more economical means of island access. Naturally he employes the claim of protecting the marine environment, but obviously the marine environment in that area has been trampled heavily already and is not a tourist attraction nor an environment that can be salvaged. I say build it.

[crusinpsychRN]

I'm only on page 2 so far but have to say Im so excited about a Paul Medic review!

 

When I first saw the pictures of the porter the first thing I thought of was 150 and then you mentioned him!

 

Great pics!

 

Put your next cruise in the sig so I can book a cruise you'll be on. That'd be fun!

[PaulMedik]

I spent most of our final day @ sea taking pictures. Ship pictures, ship in the distance pictures, sunset pictures, sunset pictures with infrared filter, and pictures of the wake left by our ship as she sailed between Cuba and Haiti heading for Miami. Karen spent the day working on her tan as did Mama. The boys spent the day eating, roaming the ship, eating, and then eating some more.

 

Everyone but me eating the final dinner in the main dining room;

 

 

 

Our fine steward Ketut AKA King Tut greeting his supervisor in the hallway. You can tell by the green exit signs on the ceiling that I'm quite a way down the hall with at least a couple of stairways between us. (Love how the lens zooms in to the subjects and wish I could always get it to do that) You can also see that luggage is out for pickup along the walls;

 

 

 

 

King Tut;

 

 

 

 

 

I mentioned earlier that I took some infrared IR filter shots of the sunset. This pic is one of many IR shots I took and I guess depicts what some people see a few times on their cruises, but so far I've not had that many DODs on a cruise;

 

 

 

IR sunset shot (For whatever reason I have several IR filters....I'm thinking I need to toss them because I don't really enjoy the results, but some do. Granted this isn't their best purpose);

 

 

Personally I prefer this non filtered shot of the sunset;

 

[PaulMedik]

I'm only on page 2 so far but have to say Im so excited about a Paul Medic review!

 

When I first saw the pictures of the porter the first thing I thought of was 150 and then you mentioned him!

 

Great pics!

 

Put your next cruise in the sig so I can book a cruise you'll be on. That'd be fun!

 

 

CrusinpsychRN,

 

Thank you.

 

Carnival Breeze March 30 2013. Eight days from Miami to Grand Turk, Dominican Republic, Aruba, & Curacao. Bookings are going VERY fast for this one. Faster and earlier than I've ever seen a ship book even a new ship and we've sailed on several of them when new.

 

 

*****************************************************

 

 

 

Sometimes the prettiest sights at sea don't involve the sea. This pic of they sky caught my eye;

 

 

 

Sunset;

 

 

 

Sunset with the sun a little lower on the horizon (I took every pic in between too and they're on Fotki if anyone is interested);

 

 

 

Zoomed in pic of the sunset (I really should disable date display on these, but I have so many that it helps to remember when so I'll know where);

 

 

 

The sun almost on the horizon;

 

 

 

This pic of the same sunset I obviously can't take credit for; Britt got this shot;