Liberty – Eastern Caribbean - May 26th – 3 Generations

[CruzinScotty]

I enjoyed your review as well as the photos. It REALLY makes me want to take another one next year. My compliments for taking such detailed notes. I think my brain was just on vegitation mode all week trying to take it all in. My daughter also had me busy with excursions. For those of you who were considering the following two, the Power Cat Snorkel in St. Thomas was a lot of fun, but there wasn't a lot of sea life to see. If you're considering the SNUBA in Grand Turk, be aware, they break you down into 2 groups. 1/2 of your time out there is SNUBA while the other group can snorkel. Eventually you switch. It was still a good time, but a bit misleading I thought.

 

By the way, I noticed you didn't mention the "Legends" show on the last night? Did you get a chance to see it, or was it that GP (Garth), I (Elton), and the rest of the group so bad that you were just being polite?? Ha ha ha.

 

I missed your other note. Great info on the excursions, I love hearing what other people did!

 

Usually I take a note pad and just write bits and pieces of an outline. Then, when I'd get home; I couldn't read my writing 1/2 the time. This is the first time I took my laptop, solely for typing "legible" notes.

 

As far as the "Legends" show: we just finished lunch on Friday. You'll have to wait and see if I was there or not... :)

Edited June 15, 2012 by CruzinScotty

[CruzinScotty]

It was time to start packing a little at a time. Then, I wandered the ship for a bit.

 

Hint: if you don't have a balcony and are looking for some REALLY quiet outside space – try Lobby Deck 3.

 

A few of us decided to meet at the Love and Marriage show which is always fun.

 

The show has 3 couples, starting with the newly-est married. Married on the ship embarkation day – as close as you can get. Then, they look for the couple married the longest – 54 years. Lastly, once they have the oldest, they shoot for the middle – a couple married 25 years. The husband in that group didn’t look to thrilled to be up there. LOL

 

But, before the show started, when I arrived, they were already doing a trivia contest. You started with everyone standing answering A or B questions. Last person standing wins the infamous “ship on a stick”. Much to my surprise, DB was the winner! I should have known – he is quite the trivia buff. He informed me later that while others were golfing and hot tubbing this morning, he was winning his first “ship on a stick” – I was watching him win his 2nd. Show-off. :p

 

Afterwards, I hit the steam room and sauna one last time. And just a bit more packing. It was a lot less painful to do it in stages this time. :)

 

There was another Veteran’s Meet in the Piano Bar. DB went with Pop this time since I had gone the first time. The Piano Bar is conveniently located next to the Alchemy Bar where SIL and I met with Corina. She did come up with a special drink – just for us. :D FANTABULOUS! We would have had another if there had been time. I even took part of mine to dinner. I know it had pineapple infused rum, pineapple juice, banana essence and one other item I don’t remember.

 

Time to head to dinner. I had the mango cream soup, frog legs (got DS to order some for the first time!), and the crab cake. The crab cake was very good; it had lots of crab and also apple. Tonight was also the repeat of prime rib; I enjoyed it immensely.

 

Oops, time for more music with Maria-an dancing on the counter tops! Then, our final desserts are served. WCMC and the Grand Marnier Souffle were the main attractions.

 

After dinner, we had goodbye photos with our great wait-staff:

I sure hope I wasn't talked about at the other tables because I wore a new "Old San Juan" t-shirt to dinner. Hey - I was wearing what I intended to wear off the ship the next day. :p

[CruzinScotty]

Time to finish the packing and to put the luggage outside the room. Then a few of us made it to another comedy show. Joe Bronzi does a great job with improv.

 

After the comedy show, there was this great show called “Legends” that was going to start. If you’ve been following, you know there are some fellow CC members who participated during this show.

 

I noticed you didn't mention the "Legends" show on the last night? Did you get a chance to see it, or was it that GP (Garth), I (Elton), and the rest of the group so bad that you were just being polite?? Ha ha ha.

 

I wish I had known you were part of the show; because sadly…..I missed it…. :eek:

 

My last night tradition on a cruise is to finish the evening with some pizza and ice cream. We only did the one comedy show tonight before heading to the Lido. Dinner was so filling; I just had ice cream – to fill in the nooks and crannies. ;)

 

Back to the room for our final towel creation:

 

 

Tomorrow is an early day, so I typed up my daily notes this evening. Then some last minute time on the balcony and to bed at 11:15.

 

Next – It’s not quite over yet.

[CruzinScotty]

I was awake early today. Out on the balcony one last morning at 5:30 and could see land. I expected us to be closer, almost into the causeway since the captain had announced that we were supposed to dock at 6am. But, that’s when the pilot boat arrived. I’m not sure what threw us a little behind. We were definitely traveling slower most of Friday which indicated to me we were ahead of or at least on time.

 

It was a little overcast this morning which didn’t allow for great pics. Here’s a few of the “best of the worst”. LOL:

 

 

 

We had to turn around in the basin. The sun was came out a little more for a better exposure. Here's where the Miami Heat play:

 

 

 

So now we've come full circle:

 

We had received a nice letter from Carnival on embarkation day stating that the ship would dock one spot down when we came back. For those in the parking garages, they would have shuttle buses to transport people. I sure hope that doesn’t put a damper on the end our wonderful week!

 

Hint: If you decide to do a trip report; emoticons are not necessarily your friend! When I tried posting at the beginning, I kept getting an error message that my post was too big - only 6 "images" allowed. I figured the size of my photos was the culprit. As long as I only did 3 pics; everything was fine. I just realized those little emoticons were the culprit. Go back and count them now: 5 large pictures and one emoticon make for the allowed 6 images. :eek:

 

If I had only known, I wouldn't have had so many individual posts. LOL

[AuntJ0718]

UM CHECKERSMIDWEST.....I LIVE in Marceline...i am the Blacksheep of the KC Crew. I work at Walsworth (like most do in Marceline)

 

You are NOT the blacksheep....you just have goats. hahahaha

[Lejardin]

I have enjoyed every bit of your review. Thanks for sharing :)

[AuntJ0718]

So, let's talk about Warm Chocolate Melting Cake – one of my favorite things!

 

Has anyone noticed that it seems to come out different each night? I’ve come up with my own scale for them. The way I see it: though they are in individual ramekins, they are cooked in mass production. So, it’s still similar to a large cake in the oven.

 

To me, the comparison is like a steak – well done, rare or medium. The ones on the outer part of the baking tray are “well done” - almost or completely cooked in the middle. The ones baking in very center of the oven are “rare”. While quite delicious, these are a little too gooey, even for this chocoholic. I can only eat ½ of a “rare WCMC”.

 

I find the ones cooking around the middle of the baking tray the, “medium” ones, to be perfect – just gooey enough in the middle. The only problem is that unlike a steak - you don’t get to order how “done” it will be on any given night. LOL

 

I had 5 WCMC this trip – one rare, and two each of the medium and well.

 

What do y’all think about my theory? And, how do you like your WCMC?

 

Absolutely perfect description of WCMC. I prefer mine to be "well" which didn't happen often enough for me! But it is still an awesome choice!

[CruzinScotty]

Today I hoped the MDR would be the less crowded breakfast. There were more people than usual; but I still would not call it “busy”. One last chance at the raspberry pastry, baked apple, corned beef hash, and the bagel/cream cheese/smoked salmon.

 

We then said our good-byes to DB/SIL since our debarkation numbers were not close to each other. We headed back to the cabins to freshen up before we were supposed to be out by 8:30.

 

We took this picture before breakfast. I sure hope it’s not where we go get the luggage. ;)

 

After breakfast it didn’t take long for it to look like this:

 

Oh yeah, they gotta feed the lucky dogs that got to follow us!

 

Next: Debarkation - the slow, the ugly and the excellent!

[CruzinScotty]

I had selected our breakfast time after reading the debarkation letter we received on Friday. If all went well, when we finished in the cabins after breakfast, they should have been calling our number, “8”. Well, the late arrival kept things 30 minutes behind. They were only calling 4 and 5.

 

So, we headed to the Lido for a bit. After calling 6 and 7; there was a delay. They came on a few times to say things were clogged up in Customs – better to wait on the comfort of the ship. We made our way to the Lobby – where they told you NOT to go. Oops. But, I will say people were pretty good – it was not overly crowded. Plus, we were the VERY next number waiting to be called. I did overheard people from numbers 15 and 22 already waiting there.

 

Yay! Finally our number is called and it’s time to weave our way off the ship. By this time, they were running a full hour behind the posted debarkation times. DB left later, it didn’t sound like they were catching up much. I wonder if the effected embarkation for the next sailing?

 

We have done self-debarkation the last several times, so this was almost a new process for us – finding the luggage. The last time we did this – there were huge piles of luggage by number that you had to sort thru. Now, obviously, they have the conveyor belts. But……..

 

The signage and directions for the luggage was lacking a bit. There were 3 numbers for the carousels. We went into the middle one. We waited and waited and waited – couldn’t find a single piece of our luggage. When we started seeing pieces for the 2nd time, we knew something was wrong. Finally we realized we were in the wrong location.

 

Hint: if doing regular debarkation – LOOK at the debarkation numbers posted in each carousel to see where your luggage will be! LOL

 

In Carnival’s defense: I just checked the Debarkation page. It does say, “Proceed to the baggage claim areas of the cruise terminal. Your luggage will be grouped by Zone number for easy location”.

 

In our defense:

 

1. Carnival – please BOLD or underline that 2nd sentence! LOL That is a VERY useful piece of information that is easily missed and not announced overhead during debarkation. (DB/SIL said later they also went to the wrong carousel.)

 

2. Though we were in the wrong carousel, there WERE a few pieces of luggage with our debarkation number on it! I bet those people had a heck of a time finding their luggage…..

 

3. Each carousel area is quite large. There are four columns in each room (holding up the roof). On each column were placards that could have been used to list the debarkation areas. Only one of four was used – of course it was nowhere near where we were.

 

Once we got to the correct carousel, we found all 10 pieces of luggage in less than 5 minutes!

 

Hint: If you have a lot of luggage – use a porter!

 

I got this hint from CC and it really paid off! We could have all handled the luggage we had – I was clear with the gang before we left that we must be able to do so. But, I grabbed a porter and he loaded all the luggage for us. He then whisked us thru the hallway and before we could take a breath; we were thru customs.

 

Next: Good bye Miami

Edited June 16, 2012 by CruzinScotty

[FlaGrl4Evr]

Thank you for the wonderful review.

We are going on the Liberty next April. The waiting is the hardest part but reading great reviews makes the time pass quicker.

 

:)

 

 

 

.

[CruzinScotty]

So, how’s this transport thing going to work? I had already spoken to Pa. If this didn’t look good, we would huff it down to our cars and come back for the gang. Plan B was not needed. The porter knew exactly where our waiting bus was. Luggage quickly loaded, people quickly loaded – we were at our cars in 10 minutes. Carnival really stepped up for this part of the process! On the bus, Ma looked at me and said, “Is it OK to be sad now”. LOL Yes, I guess it is.

 

We headed out of Miami back to Pop’s house. We were able to spend more quality time with each part of our family; making a slow three day trip back home. A nice way to delay the post-cruise let down.

 

Now it’s time to share some final thoughts.

 

I left a few “improvement opportunities” in my Carnival e-survey. These included:

 

Better signage during debarkation

 

I can’t remember the exact issue, but one evening no one would answer the Housekeeping phone number and a room steward was not readily available in the hallway.

 

The temperature in the cabin fridges was bad; in a hotel, you’d have it replaced.

 

The serving sizes becoming smaller over time is not in itself a huge problem. However, when you have to add Shrimp to the Lobster entrée and a Beef rib to the Filet Mignon entrée – then the serving sizes for those items have gotten too small! :eek:

 

The wait staff is spread too thin. If you’re still with me, you’ll remember I’ve already mentioned dinners taking almost 2 hours and the overall service during breakfast is definitely not what is was in the past; nor what you would consider acceptable at a restaurant on a land vacation.

 

Having said all of the above; did any of it ruin our cruise? Nope.

 

Hint: Be realistic in your expectations and your reviews. If you’re 100% negative with your review (either here or with Carnival) – do you really think you will make any effect towards positive change?

 

Now it’s time to accentuate the positive!

 

If you can’t tell - we had a FANTASTIC cruise! Thanks for tagging along while I got to re-lived the trip. And thanks to everyone for the nice comments! :)

 

Hint: writing a trip report (long or short, pictures or not) is a another GREAT way to get yourself out of the post-cruise blues. ;)

 

There was a lot for us to LOVE about this trip:

 

We reconnected with family

 

We LOVED all of the ports

 

We LOVED the Liberty

 

We loved unpacking once and letting the ship take us to new adventurous places

 

We loved food being available 24/7

 

We loved all the things about cruising that we’ve always loved!

 

They say when you see a good movie or play that you should have the feeling when you come out that it was the BEST movie/play you have seen. In retrospect, it may not be “the” best – but you should feel that way immediately afterwards.

 

Let me finish by saying that our trip was so good – we’re starting to make plans for next year! We were missing some family on this trip; there will be more of us on board next time! Beware....;)

Edited June 17, 2012 by CruzinScotty

[GuitarPlayer]

Some of the people in our group of 18 also went to the wrong carousel to get luggage. I got them back on track, but I agree, it wasn't made "OBVIOUSLY" clear. I just happened to see the numbers out front of each carousel area and put 2 and 2 together on my own. I guess once people catch on it won't be as big of a deal, but that may have led to the delay getting off the ship.

 

We had an early flight, so we were in group 2. Once off the ship and we all found our luggage, it wasn't very long through customs.

 

I do have a question about the porters...did they take you *past* the line of folks waiting (with luggage) for customs, or did you still have to wait in that line? Might be worth the $1/bag to bypass that line. That is where we spent the majority of time during debarkation.

 

Great review...I liked re-living it as well, through your review.

 

GP

[CruzinScotty]

I guessing it depends on the porter and/or maybe how much luggage they are handling at one time? He had most of our carry-on luggage as well - at least 15 pieces. How he got it all on that one cart, I'll never know.

 

He kept walking, we litereally had to keep up with him. I hate people that cut in line; I was truly just keeping up with my stuff. :o

 

So, in our case, we did bypass the line.

 

When DB/SIL boarded later, they said there were porters in the regular line with everyone else. That's why I'm thinking the amount of luggage we had made a difference.

Edited June 19, 2012 by CruzinScotty

[CruzinScotty]

I see my Photobucket bandwidth has been exceeded. I'll post again in a few days when the pics are up for anyone interested in looking.

[Lejardin]

thanks I've been following your review...very nicely done!!

[Hndful1]

Thanks again for the review. It was a pleasure re-living it all. I am an advocate that a vacation is what you make of it and you shouldn't let a couple of minor things spoil your time. This being said... I'm going back! Still keeping my fingers crossed for late Spring, but we'll see.

[MrFunInTheSun]

Great review. Thank you for Sharing.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. Please excuse typographical errors.

[mj]

Here's the Funnel - before the "Whale Tail" was born:

Do you think my Pop has aged well?

 

One of the first photos I posted was of the Promenade. Here's it is on the Carnivale:

Don't ya just love the old wooden lounge chairs? Also note - before the day of TV's in the room - there was a "Cinema" on board. And, look how massive the Gift Shop looks like it might have been. NOT.

 

Charlotte Amalie - St. Thomas: do you think the city has grown much since way back when?

 

Magen's Bay - do you think the view has changed a lot?

Of note: can you make out the "Fun Ship" logo at the top of my t-shirt? And......what I couldn't find this trip, that I could find in 2008 and in 1978 - a t-shirt with the name of the ship. :D

 

Thanks for indulging in my memories. ;)

 

 

Next: Low expectations = lots of fun!

 

 

 

Thanks for taking us down memory lane with these pictures. Thanks for sharing.

[funinthesun1964]

oh boy...loved those old photos. You rocked the outfit, no doubt.

 

I liked the ship on the side decks - you could go in form that side? I saw Boutique, Spa Services, Gift Shop? Could you go in from that side and then exit into the interior the ship? Did you have fun on that trip? Did you bring your own games from home like Monopoly, Trouble, Clue, Payday, etc. Were Atari systems out yet to play Pong? Did they have the kids clubs? Would love to see the capers from back then too.

 

Thank you....interesting.

[CruzinScotty]

oh boy...loved those old photos. You rocked the outfit, no doubt.

 

I liked the ship on the side decks - you could go in form that side? I saw Boutique, Spa Services, Gift Shop? Could you go in from that side and then exit into the interior the ship? Did you have fun on that trip? Did you bring your own games from home like Monopoly, Trouble, Clue, Payday, etc. Were Atari systems out yet to play Pong? Did they have the kids clubs? Would love to see the capers from back then too.

 

Thank you....interesting.

 

Thanks for bringing this thread back to life. :)

 

The Carnivale, like other ships of that era; had not yet discovered the "open concept" idea used in ships and homes alike now-a-days. So, yes, you went into each area separately.

 

We didn't do any board games, etc. on this trip. We did go to the Cinema. I can't believe you jogged my memory. I actually remember the name of the movie, "Papillon", starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. It was a prison break movie.

 

This movie was 5 years old at the time. So, the complaints today about showing old movies - don't really hold up compared to the olden days. LOL. I will say though - if I forget on my current trip report; please remind me to list the movies of the week. I didn't watch any of them; but walked thru the Lido one night when one was playing. I found it to be a rather odd choice; but it is a current movie from this year.

 

I had a BLAST on this trip. It was a month before my 17th birthday. Way back before the internet. So, there was just pamplets to look at. This was a 7 day trip out of Miami going to San Juan, St. Thomas and St. Maarten.

 

My parents played a little trick on me. There was a listing in the pamphlet that specifically said that "kids under 17 are free". For MONTHS, they didn't tell me they had booked me on the trip. It was a "parents only trip". :eek:

 

I think they let me know I was going about 6 weeks ahead of time.

 

This was in the days of 3 meals a day in the MDR. If you didn't eat then - you DID go hungry. Although, this was also the day of the Midnight Buffets. They use to let you walk thru the line first, just to take picture of the presentation and the ice sculptures. Then, like the Comedy Club shows of today - you had to exit and wait until it was midnight before they would let you eat.

 

We were at a table that had a few other teenagers that I spent time with. They corrupted me. :eek: This was back before sign/sail cards. You paid cash for things on the ship and left your tips in cash as well. Sailing the open seas, the international wait staff didn't card you. I had my first alcoholic drink (a Slow Gin Fizz) on that trip. I was coerced into going to get that drink with them. ;) My parents never knew. :)

 

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Edited September 25, 2014 by CruzinScotty