B2B Liberty Review Oct.6 & 13th, 2012 Picture Heavy !

[LynnAnne]

Love your review, could you tell me the name of the excurtion you took in St Thomas too over to Trunk Ba

[Ykgorbie]

Love your review, could you tell me the name of the excursion you took in St Thomas too over to Trunk Ba

 

Yes, we took the "St. John Trunk Bay Beach and Snorkel Trails" excursion. It was 4 hours long and was $ 69.99. (we booked onboard the ship). My only complaint was that it wasn't longer. We only had 1-1/2 hrs at Trunk Bay.

[Crazy4Koko]

Yes, we took the "St. John Trunk Bay Beach and Snorkel Trails" excursion. It was 4 hours long and was $ 69.99. (we booked onboard the ship). My only complaint was that it wasn't longer. We only had 1-1/2 hrs at Trunk Bay.

 

that always seems to be the biggest complaint with Carnival excursions..they leave you with too much time to try and spend money at the port shops.

[samzgirl84]

Hello, Fellow Canuck!!!! We'll be sailing on the Liberty in Jan 2013. Am really enjoying your review!

[Ykgorbie]

Hello, Fellow Canuck!!!! We'll be sailing on the Liberty in Jan 2013. Am really enjoying your review!

 

Why hello to you my fellow Canuck ! You're going to love the Liberty with the 2.0 upgrades - enjoy !

[lds26]

Why hello to you my fellow Canuck ! You're going to love the Liberty with the 2.0 upgrades - enjoy !

 

 

We are on her in 3 weeks!!!!! I would have loved to have done a B2B same but in reverse to you but one day I will .... this just wasnt my year. Besides I am taking a new person on a cruise and if he didnt like it then we were stuck another full week. This way we have decided to staying in Miami 3 days pre and 3 days post cruise to acclimate ourselves from our harsh cold.

 

Oh I had to share this review with my cousin, she lives in Yellowknife too. I have yet to visit her but one day I plan to come to your beautiful countryside. Summer that is not in winter when its cold and dark all the time.

[Ykgorbie]

We are on her in 3 weeks!!!!! I would have loved to have done a B2B same but in reverse to you but one day I will .... this just wasnt my year. Besides I am taking a new person on a cruise and if he didnt like it then we were stuck another full week. This way we have decided to staying in Miami 3 days pre and 3 days post cruise to acclimate ourselves from our harsh cold.

 

Oh I had to share this review with my cousin, she lives in Yellowknife too. I have yet to visit her but one day I plan to come to your beautiful countryside. Summer that is not in winter when its cold and dark all the time.

 

A cousin in Yk !? Do I maybe know her ?? Last name?

Have a GREAT cruise !!

[wrigley80]

Nice Review...thanks for sharing your pictures with us

[Ykgorbie]

Sorry for the delay in finishing this. Now that I have shared my pictures with everybody, I wanted to give a summary of various aspects of the cruise.

 

FOOD:

 

Since we did our first cruise in 2007, we have noticed a difference in the food, as I'm sure everyone has. No more midnight galla buffets, fewer options on the Lido, smaller menu in the MDR, but, having said that, we still feel that if you can't find something you like to eat on the ship, you have a problem. :p

 

No more of this:

 

The service was both good and bad; on the first cruise, we had long, long waits for food in the MDR (early seating). Turns out our head waiter was on his last week before his turn-around and besides being totally disorganized, I really don't think he cared much about his job that week. The rest of the waitstaff working under him were great and service did improve immensely after DH mentioned our problem to the maitre'd. (and we did tip our head waiter on the last night for his improved service). One the second cruise, we had fantastic service from start to finish, including in the Lido area where we had staff come up to us once or twice to ask if our food was ok.

 

 

We ate at the Diamond's Steakhouse (we always eat at least one meal in the specialty steakhouse) and for $35, it was over the top, as always. I highly recommend trying it if you haven't. Go there hungry and I promise you that you will not be disappointed.

 

 

Didn't order room service at all this trip, so can't comment on that. I did notice that the waiters with the trays of piping hot Jamaican pastries were missing from the casino. We had that on our B2B on the Freeedom late at night in the casino, but nothing on the Liberty.

DH and our friends loved the Guy's Burger place and although everyone was tempted to try the "Bacon" burger (one patty is made entirely from bacon), I guess common sense prevailed, lol. This was my first cruise having to eat gluten free and I had some difficulty later at night if I wanted to have a snack as there are not many late night options for me.

 

 

SHOWS/ENTERTAINMENT:

 

We went to one show called "The Edge" which was very well done. This guy has been on Letterman before and if I told you he "juggled", well, that would be correct, but he's not just any juggler. Well worth checking out.

 

Also went to another show hosted by Karl with a K (we liked him as a cruise director) and it was hte Legends Show for the finalists in the competition to see who could "be" Elton John, Dianna Ross, Brittany Spears, etc. Not a bad show, it moved along at a good pace.

 

There was a band that played later in the evening in the casino. I don't think any of them could speak a word of English, but you'd never know that by their singing performances. They were great and played a good variety of songs mainly from the 50's to the 80's.

 

We also checked out one of the late comedy shows and it was pretty good too. As well, we took part in a couple of the trivia contests, didn't win anything, but it was organized and a fun way to pass an hour or so.

 

Really missed the live band on the Lido. Sure hope Carnival brings that back at some point.

 

 

DRINKS:

 

We found drink service to be great everywhere, MDR included, where, in the past, we have always had to wait for service and sometimes had none. My DH and I both got our Drinks On Us Card in the casino on the first cruise (read: too much gambling, lol) and were totally blown away when we were given the same card on the first day of the second cruise !! Not expecting that and it, of course, saved us a lot of $$. My one bitch would be that nowhere on Carnival (including Bon Voyage) do they sell a gluten free vodka. My problem, I know....

 

 

EMBARKATION/DISEMBARKATION:

 

Smooth and easy-peasy. I checked my emails on my ipad the morning of embarkation and had the "urgent" message from Carnival asking everyone to show up after 1:30 to board. Well, we didn't wait and showed up between 11:30 and noon and were onboard in no time at all. There was NO seating in the Miami terminal we were embarking from, but lineups were short and moved along quickly.

As we were doing a back-to-back, we received a letter in our cabin on the final evening of the 1st cruise instructing us to meet in the main lobby bar at 11:00am :D. We thought that meant sleeping in, but of course, the announcements with disembarkation instructions began around 7am. There were maybe around 30 of us back-to-backers in total in the main atrium area by 11am and we were handed our new Sail and Sign cards and escorted off the ship, downstairs to the customs guy and promptly led (as a group) back onboard. SO nice to have the ship to ourselves for an hour or so ! When we actually had to get off of the ship after 14 glorious days aboard, it was smooth as well. Our flight (international) wasn't until 2:45 and we waited until around 10am before we left the ship. :(

 

 

ROOM STEWARD:

 

We were lucky this time to have a great steward, Dedy. He was exceptional, we tipped him well throughout the cruise(s). Big change from the steward we had on our last B2B on the Freedom. He was never around and when he was, he was on his cell phone.

I did laundry once myself and once used the $15 a bag (wash, dry and fold). According to the instructions in the room, if you have it in your room before 9 or 10am (?) the laundry is supposed to be back that night. It wasn't there until the next evening, but I have never had it delivered back to the room on the same day. No biggie. I am an expert at over packing and probably had enough clothes to never have to do laundry, lol.

 

 

FUNTIMES:

 

I have most all of them from both the Western and Eastern itineraries if anyone would like to see them.

 

ANY QUESTIONS ? I would be happy to answer any other questions you may have !

 

Take care all - hope you enjoyed my little review and my pictures. The Liberty is a great ship - for all of you about to cruise on her, enjoy !!!

[BettyPC]

thanks for all your hard work on this! Very enjoyable reading.

[cruisinsly]

Great review and pictures. We will be on the Liberty in May!

[cruisegal58]

Thank you for the nice review and so many pics! I would like a copy of the funtimes for the western sailing, smoothsailin58@yahoo.com I have never sailed a B2B, one of these days...

Thanks,

Cindy:)

[Ykgorbie]

Thank you for the nice review and so many pics! I would like a copy of the funtimes for the western sailing, smoothsailin58@yahoo.com I have never sailed a B2B, one of these days...

Thanks,

Cindy:)

 

I have lent it to a co-worker, but will get it back from him, scan it and email it to you within the next week ! My email address will appear as

mecricksavard@......

[sag1804]

Great review so far. I love all the pics. We loved the Liberty & that was before the 2.0 upgrades. :)

 

 

 

A special hello to PA carolina girl. It has been a long time!

[dewats784]

We are sailing the Liberty in January to the Eastern Caribbean. We are going to do the St Johns Trunk Bay excursion and I was wondering if you had your own snorkel equipment or if your DH rented it at Trunk Bay? If so how much was the rental? I have read the reviews and know you have to rent chairs and that there is no snacks provided on this excursion. The pictures look absolutely wonderful. Can't wait to be there!

 

Thanks!

[Ykgorbie]

We are sailing the Liberty in January to the Eastern Caribbean. We are going to do the St Johns Trunk Bay excursion and I was wondering if you had your own snorkel equipment or if your DH rented it at Trunk Bay? If so how much was the rental? I have read the reviews and know you have to rent chairs and that there is no snacks provided on this excursion. The pictures look absolutely wonderful. Can't wait to be there!

 

Thanks!

 

My husband rented the equipment (vest, fins, mask and snorkel) and I'm sorry, I can't remember how much it was, but he said it was good equipment compared to some he'd used on excursions. Yes, we rented two chairs, I think the rental may have only been $5 per chair but they wanted a hefty deposit ($50) and the chairs weren't that great anyway. Something I could buy for $7 at Walmart.

There is a cook shack very close to the beach (hamburgers, fries, hot dogs, etc).

Enjoy - St. John is a gorgeous island !!!