Liberty – Eastern Caribbean - May 26th – 3 Generations

[CruzinScotty]

This is cruise #10 for me and #7 for DW. It is also our 2nd time on the Liberty, the last being a Western in July 2008.

 

We hadn’t seen our parents for almost two years; they all live in Florida. We decided that instead of visiting each family for a few days, we would broach the idea of going on a cruise. If no one wanted to go, we had extra vacation time to visit afterwards. Silly thought – 10 seconds in to each phone conversation, the question wasn’t “where”; it was simply “when”. This was a good thing because DW and I had picked the itinerary before speaking with anyone else. ;) My brother and his DW were able to join us as well. So, our 3 generations are:

 

Myself and DW – early 50’s

DS – indoor loving, school hating, typical teenager (by today’s standards :o )

Pop and W’ma – my father and his better half - in their 80’s

Ma and Pa – DW’s parents – in their 70’s

DB and SIL – my brother and sister-in-law – also in their 50’s

 

I became the main organizer. I don’t want to say planner, because I tried to be clear with everyone that there’s no way 9 people are going to want to do the same thing – 7 days in a row. DW and I chose this itinerary because we’ve done the western Caribbean the last two trips, and I’ve been promising DW for almost 30 years that I’d take her to St. Thomas. It’s about time I fulfilled my promise. :D I had strayed from CC because I had no trips planned. I had no idea about the Liberty 2.0 upgrades until after we had already booked.

 

I tried to make everyone's expectations clear – you don’t have to stick with the pack. No hard feelings if you don’t want to do something, or if you want to do something on your own. But, at the same time – we weren’t planning a lot of the physical activities we had done in the past. This trip is about visiting and re-connecting with family. I did lots of research on CC. I wanted to have options available. But, we did not make any shore excursions ahead of time. This was to be a more relaxed and go-with-the-flow type of trip.

 

 

Friday, May 25th

We had a very uneventful trip from SC to Southern Florida. We stayed close to my Dad’s house. We checked in with all the parents to make sure everyone was ready to go in the morning. We stayed at a Marriott Courtyard which had a nice hot tub that I relaxed in during the evening. Before bed, we caught a show on Comedy Central. For those of you familiar, it was a show with “Peanut” and his friend – as he calls him - “Je-fa-fa Dun-HAM”. If you’re not familiar; it was ventriloquist, Jeff Dunham. He’s a big favorite in our household and a fun way to end our long travel day.

 

 

Coming next – the trip really starts

[CruzinScotty]

We had a wake up call for 6:30. We let the sun wake us up the rest of the week, which was a much nicer way to start the day. :) We met all the grandparents at Pop/W’ma’s house at the appointed time. The trip to POM was uneventful.

 

I printed instructions to the port since 4 years ago, I missed the turn off and we ended up on the wrong side of the Causeway. :eek: Beautiful view – but we didn’t want a repeat of that. Luggage drop off was easy, the parking garage was not. I usually have to drive around twice to get to the parking garage. This time, it was 3 times….. If they ever get construction done at POM, maybe it will be better. But, the 1st parking sign is for a regular lot that is always full. I have no idea where the 2nd parking sign takes you – but it wasn’t a parking lot. LOL Finally, into the lot and time to start boarding around 11:05.

 

The security line was way longer than 4 years ago (10:30 arrival), but the line kept moving; and at least we started the process in air-conditioning.

 

Helpful Hint: remove all metal objects before going thru the metal detector! My I-pod was in a different pocket than normal and caught me several times before I realized. My Dad is a vet and his WWII baseball cap had some metal pins in it. That one took awhile to figure out…. Speaking of which; while waiting in line for our sign/sail cards, something very nice happened. A woman noticed my Dad’s cap and asked him about his service. She had an uncle (I believe) who fought in Europe, while my Dad was in the Pacific.

 

Back to Security: The carry-on bag with the laptop and power strip was unquestioned. The one with the carry-on drinks was. I purposely brought blue Gatorade as opposed to another color figuring it didn’t look like any other drink someone would try to smuggle; but he looked at that more closely than the couple of loose bottles of water. DB/SIL had traveled to POM on their own. Security tried to take their power strip. After some discussion and calling over another person; it was allowed with the guy covering for himself saying, “they just changed that”. Riiiight…..

 

We saw DB/SIL as we entered the Sign/Sail card line. They were ready to board. We said we’d catch up on the boat, but didn’t specify a location. I purposely wore my 4 year old Carnival Liberty shirt on boarding day. Someone noticed and asked me how the ship was. It was her first Carnival cruise, I told her the ship was great. She’d cruised HAL, RCCL and NCL – I hoped she enjoyed this trip.

 

They called for general boarding by the time we had our Sign/Sail cards. After the line for photos and the final line on the ship to board; we finally entered the lobby at 12:15. This was a few minutes longer than last time; but no waiting to board after the Sign/Sail line, so I consider it a wash. We hate the crowds on embarkation day; but that’s part of the process. The Lobby was more crowded than I remembered. We quickly made our way to the Lido, which was also quite busy. So busy that we later found out we literally walked by the table DB/SIL had for us and none of us saw each other.

 

The 7 of us headed up to the Fish and Chips area because that’s usually not overly crowded until later in the cruise when others find out about this area. I had the Fish and Chips and fried oysters, especially since there was no line at all. It was Italian Day on the buffet. I remember the Lemon tart and Mango Mouse were the best dessert choices today.

 

It was now 1:30, time to head to the room and rest a bit. DB/SIL had booked a balcony guarantee and ended up on the Lido Deck, forward starboard. The rest of us had booked starboard balcony rooms, aft on Deck 7. Our 3 rooms were within 7 of each other. I wondered if we would have a lot of noise since our room was the one you would see right off the Elevator/Stair landing. We only heard people twice for a few seconds each time. Both were the night of the Mexican Fiesta. It wasn’t long enough to keep us wake.

 

Next, we showed the parents how to use the safe and called to have housekeeping unlock the fridges. We had all brought drinks. We all had trouble getting items removed from the fridge. We were the only successful ones, and only because I explained that I had a teenager that would be in the room alone at times and there would NOT be any alcohol in the room.

 

We caught up with DB/SIL and walked with everyone so they could start learning their way around the ship. We're not great photographers, and have been on the ship before. So some of our pics may be a little different. And, pay no attention that these pics are dated the 2nd day of the cruise.;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[PhinsAndGills]

Thanks for sharing! We are on this cruise in a couple months so enjoying your ship tips!

[DEERINH2O]

Excited to read more.

 

Thanks

Kathy

[gsxr_moe]

I was on the same cruise.... and I was waiting for someone to post a review..... :) Can't wait to read it..

[crewsweeper]

Great start!! But you parked in POM?!:eek: We did too but were able to take advantage of their handicap parking policy. I agree that it can be confusing once you come out of the garage and try to get out of the port or to another lot. Took us 3 tries to find the exit:D just following the signs. But surprised the garage associated with the Liberty was full unless the Liberty pulled at 10:30AM and the ship's boarding not delayed. Must have pulled into a different berth than the one she departed from.

[CruzinScotty]

I was on the same cruise.... and I was waiting for someone to post a review..... :) Can't wait to read it..

 

Feel free to chime in with your thoughts as well, especially for events you may have attended differently. One of the things I love most about these reports is hearing a different perspective.

 

But surprised the garage associated with the Liberty was full unless the Liberty pulled at 10:30AM and the ship's boarding not delayed. Must have pulled into a different berth than the one she departed from.

 

There was a parking lot, but not a garage directly in front of the Liberty. It was full, couldn't even find how to get into it. We parked in the next garage down, I believe "D". This is exactly as it was 4 years ago. And there will be more on the parking at the end. ;)

[CruzinScotty]

As we toured, I was all excited to show everyone the Hot and Cool Disco. When we arrived, I realized that during the 2.0 – they must have painted the large hand and feet. It’s more sleek now than tacky, I guess. But, it doesn’t have the same WOW factor to me. Here is Hot/Cool from 2008:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, the hands/feet are black fading to silver. I didn’t look nearly as impressive to me; I didn’t think to take a photo to compare. It was dark in the room, but even so - it was hard to tell the difference between the hand and feet now. I looked on the Carnival website. There’s an icon for Hot/Cool – but no photo (old or new). Anyone got a photo of the new Hot/Cool Disco they would like to share to compare???

[navybaby1113]

Looking forward to the rest of your review!

[CruzinScotty]

So, next it’s time for the Muster Drill. This was very well organized. There were no late comers on our trip causing a delay in this necessary process. Afterwards, we met our room steward, Ketut, from Indonesia. He was wonderful; always calling us by name and keeping our room tidy and the ice bucket full.

 

It was time to meet the gang on Deck 10, portside for Sail away. We found a few loungers in the shade and enough space on the rail. This was nice as it was quite warm and those wanting to stay out of the sun had shade. For some reason, we left over an hour late. We watched the traffic. It wasn’t moving – just like us. ;) I know it’s a holiday weekend; but there must be an accident.

 

For us, the captain did come over the speaker. I missed part of what he said, but it sounded like someone was “deboarding”. Anyone else on board hear more of an explanation? When we left, the Valor was running even further behind us. We never saw them leave. I LOVE leaving POM. It’s just such a beautiful port.

 

 

DS, me and Pa

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can’t tell from this picture; but inspite of the traffic leaving Miami Beach, South Beach was still VERY crowded

 

 

 

Coming next: Dinner and a show

Edited June 7, 2012 by CruzinScotty

[CruzinScotty]

With the laid-back attitude of this trip, we decided to try Anytime Dining so we would not have to be at dinner at a specific time every night. We ended up picking a time each night for those eating downstairs, but it was our time, not the ship’s time ;)

 

I will say that the service was a little slow, as some have noted with Anytime Dining. For us, I want to lay some of the blame on the fact we were a large table. I did see a few groups come in when we did and leave before us. However, 1st seating is 6:15 and 2nd seating is 8:15. Most of our dinners took close to 2 hours. Even the 12 top tables during 1st seating have to finish in less time than we did.

 

Anytime Dining is on Deck 3, Golden Olympian Dining Room – enter from the Main Lobby. We were seated with Maria-an from The Phillipines as our head waiter and Tamas from Hungary as the assistant waiter. Suarmeka from Indonesia helped a lot as well. He seemed to show up more around dessert time. Sometimes cleaning dishes away, and others giving us the dessert menu. Anyways, in spite of the slow service, the attitude and friendliness of this group made up for all of it. We requested to sit in the same area every night that I ate dinner in the MDR.

 

Where we were seated, ½ the group had a view of the ocean; the other ½ could see a reflection of the ocean – very nice. I mention this because we saw a rare event. Sunsets are beautiful; but too many times, there are clouds in the horizon which block the view of the true, actual sunset. Tonight, we were able to witness a GEORGOUS sunset with not a cloud in sight. There's a name for the instant when you see a sunset; but none of us could think of it. Anyone know?

 

We did feel the boat moving slightly. True or not, we quickly decided that we were going thru the Gulf Stream. Made sense to us because it only lasted a short while.

 

At our table, the tropical fruit salad, sweet and sour shrimp and warm chocolate melting cake were the favorites of the evening. But also ordered were the spring rolls, salad, beef/barley soup, salmon appetizer, flat iron steak, tilapia, fried chicken, and crème brulee. ½ of us had two desserts :D

 

Ma with her Melting cake and crème brulee (exactly what I had - both wonderful!)

 

Breakfast plans were made, and some retired to bed. The rest of us walked the Promenade for a bit and looked at the casino.

 

I watched a bit of the Family Trivia, then went back to the room to find a little walrus waiting for me:

 

A few of us made it to the Welcome Aboard Show. It’s a typical show for those that cruise often. But for those that don’t; it’s a good chance to see what type of entertainment there is. In addition, you get to meet the Cruise Director: Karl with a K. I saw in a few recent Liberty reviews that he must have been on vacation recently. I’m glad he was back. I’ve never seen a cruise director make a cruise worse; but a good one like Karl (with a K ;) ); surely can enhance the trip.

 

A few more headed to bed and the last few headed to the Lido to watch a bit of Men In Black on the jumbotron. DS was the only one to make it till the end before coming to bed. In the meantime, I began my evening and morning ritual – time on the balcony. The water looked like glass and I could see the moon peaking thru some clouds. A beautiful end to a great day. Bedtime was a little after midnight.

[CruzinScotty]

A quick note: I’ll start each day with the day/date/location for the ease of following the report. During the trip, I had a couple of questions asking the day or date. I told everyone we're on “island time”. Keeping track of the day/date might mean we would think too hard about how little time was left (cuz we ALL know it goes by way too fast). So, for us on the ship, it was simply “Half Moon Cay Day” :D

 

I awoke to the sun and was out on the balcony at 6:45. Quick – grab the camera for this:

 

 

Ahhhh, paradise! I really loved my time on the balcony. Time to read the Fun Times, take notes from the day before for the trip report, and listen to my I-pod. DW would always join me for some quiet time.

 

Breakfast plans today were to meet outside the Silver Olympian Dining room at 8:30. Anyone missing at 8:35 would be assumed to be doing breakfast on their own. Today, we had 7 of 9.

 

One nice thing about having dinner in the Golden Dining Room is seeing the Silver one for breakfast! There are a lot more windows in the back; we had a great view of HMC as we ate.

 

Having been on Carnival several times, I know the breakfast menu pretty well on the Lido and in the MDR. I tend to go for things in each area that are not offered, or are better in one location. I ordered the baked apple, bagel w/cream cheese and smoked salmon and corned beef. Blueberry and banana pancakes and many varieties of eggs were the typical breakfast fare at our table today.

 

Next: Listen to the Cruise Director!

[CruzinScotty]

Karl with a K said it, and we didn’t listen. He said, “Get to the tender area early for HMC. People will sleep in and eat late, the lines early are good and heavy later”. Well, since San Juan and debarkation in Miami are early days; we didn’t want another one. So we hoped people would listen to Karl – because we didn't. ;)

 

Anyways, as crowded as the Venetian was; we were called to our tender 30 minutes after we arrived. Not horrible. I remember in the past where you were supposed to get tender tickets, but everyone just jammed into the stairwells and waited in line – ticket or not. Now, you can’t get to the tender unless you’ve gotten your tender pass. With all of the talk of the downslide of Carnival and cruising in general; this process is a HUGE improvement over the past, IMHO.

 

The weather this morning is overcast. YEAH!!! There’s a method to my madness. :) For our 3 generation family, clouds mean less direct sun and less direct heat. We weren’t sure who would come ashore here; 7 of made the trek.

 

 

I told ya I liked to take pictures from a little different angle:

 

We're here!

 

Next: Finding seats on a crowded beach.

Edited June 7, 2012 by CruzinScotty

[green eyed lady]

I am loving this review! We're on Liberty next month - can't wait! Any idea how long Karl with a K will be on there? He was the assistant CD on our Miracle cruise years ago when Miracle was brand new :D We loved him!!!

[welshcorgie]

Great review! Can't wait to read more.

[hayesktrm]

We leave in 30 days! It's great to read reviews to help me get through those 30 long days!

[LynnAnne]

Love to see picks of HMC!! I booked a early stingray excurtion at HMC just so DH and I will get on the tender early. Love the stingrays in Grand Caymen so want to check this one out also.

[shipshape3]

I'm getting excited! Great pics!

[CruzinScotty]

Thanks for the positive feedback. I've been out enjoying my last vacation day before heading back to work tomorrow. Until then, I'll post what I can. :)

[ahwahoo2006]

Thanks for the positive feedback. I've been out enjoying my last vacation day before heading back to work tomorrow. Until then, I'll post what I can. :)

 

I was on this sailing as well. The delay was due to them trying to find the luggage of a guest that couldn't sail - we saw an ambulance on the pier right before departure, so that might have had something to do with it.

 

Enjoying the review so far!

[CruzinScotty]

I couldn’t believe our luck in finding lounge chairs. In the very first section we found two of them. A couple was just settling in, and then – there were another two empty chairs. The couple was kind enough to move down, so, we had 4 chairs in a row for 7 people. No chair hogs here. :D Just enough space to store stuff for those swimming, but sitting room for those just taking in the beautiful scenery.

 

So, I’ve seen everyone's beautiful pictures, and now I have proof that “I” myself have been there!

 

 

 

I must tell you something you can’t tell from the photos. I admit I’m from the south. But, for the Southern Bahamas in late May – that water was a lot colder than I expected! It did warm up some after a few minutes.

 

We didn’t linger too long in the water. Next, we stopped at the t-shirt hut where we found something we liked. We’re not much on souveners. I collect shot glasses, but didn’t see anything special.

 

Though the BBQ sounded tempting, we decided to head back to the ship. There was a tender unloading, it was nice to beat the crowds back to the ship. Out time on HMC was short; but this trip was about making memories with our family. That we did.

 

Next -The best of both worlds

[Freckles01]

Love your review so far! We'll be on this cruise in a month and can't wait.

 

I can tell you why South Beach traffic was so bad and not moving on your embarkation day. Memorial weekend is Urban Beach Weekend over there and it's a mess. Due to a lot of violence last year (a shootout with police) this year major roads were shut down, more police were brought in to deal with the crowds, etc.

 

Looking forward to more of your review!

[CruzinScotty]

I was on this sailing as well. The delay was due to them trying to find the luggage of a guest that couldn't sail - we saw an ambulance on the pier right before departure, so that might have had something to do with it.

 

Enjoying the review so far!

 

Thanks for the answer. Hope you had as much fun as we did.

[CruzinScotty]

I can tell you why South Beach traffic was so bad and not moving on your embarkation day. Memorial weekend is Urban Beach Weekend over there and it's a mess. Due to a lot of violence last year (a shootout with police) this year major roads were shut down, more police were brought in to deal with the crowds, etc.

 

Sorry to hear this is the answer; but I figured whatever was holding up traffic was probably not something good. Thanks.

[CruzinScotty]

This is my 10th cruise. I’ve never not gotten off at a port. Getting back to the boat early today helped to create the best of both worlds – get a taste of the island, AND enjoy a less crowded ship. We gathered for lunch in Emile’s – it’s Caribbean Day. In two Liberty cruises, I decided to try my first deli sandwich. Yes! Absolutely no line. I had the corned beef on rye – it was wonderful.

 

I must comment now about the desserts in general on the ship. Most things that had cake in them were very dry. I understand they are feeding 3000 people and have to cut the servings ahead of time. I’m just keeping it real. After many of us trying several items, we were all in agreement on this issue. Any cake-type desserts you do see me post furthermore will be ones that were good to me. :)

 

Anyways, the winning dessert on the buffet today was the Raspberry Napolean. It was great!

 

Time to head to the back of the ship for some time in the hot tub. Various family members stopped by to visit for a bit, but DW and myself were the only ones in the hot tub.

 

In the port hot tub, DW is chatting with some new friends:

 

 

Who doesn't love a pic of the whale tail:

 

We also got a picture of this excursion:

 

The lack of crowds this afternoon: priceless!

 

Coming next: reasons to skip the MDR

Edited June 7, 2012 by CruzinScotty