Review: Liberty Western Caribbean, 11/30/13

[kpott77]

My boyfriend (38) and I (36) were on the 11/30 7-night Western Caribbean sailing on the Liberty. Ports of Call were Cozumel, Belize, Roatan and Grand Cayman. This was the third cruise for each of us, although our first together. It was my 2nd time on Carnival and his first. We’ve previously also sailed on Celebrity (me), NCL and Holland America (him).

 

I’m not much of a writer and didn’t take many photos. But I really enjoyed reading other reviews prior to my vacation and feel I should contribute something. So here are my notes on our recent cruise. Please feel free to ask any questions and I’ll do my best to answer them!

 

Pre-cruise

We flew into FLL via Southwest on Friday. We stayed at the Hilton Ft. Lauderdale Marina that night. The hotel was fine for what we paid (under $100). The room was clean & comfy. The wait for the elevator was pretty awful, as only one was in working condition. Saturday morning the lobby was an absolute ZOO. I believe they offer free transportation to the cruise port in FLL, so perhaps people were gathering for that? I’m not a claustrophobic person, but I couldn’t stand to be in there. Location was good as there was a water taxi stop at the hotel. We utilized the water taxi Friday night and had a wonderful time exploring the Las Olas area & enjoying the spectacular homes along the intercoastal waterway.

 

We used MJS Transportation to get to POM on Saturday morning. I was told hotel pickups would begin at 11am. At 10:40am they called my cell and said they were downstairs. It probably took us over 10 minutes to get to the ground level thanks to the elevator situation. We had one more hotel pickup & then we were off. The driver gave a nice little tour on the way to the port. We arrived at POM a little before noon. Cost was $13/pp (one-way).

 

We also used MJS to get to FLL after the cruise. I called after we’d made it through security & they were there to pick us up within 2 minutes. Unfortunately, they had to wait until the van was full before going to FLL. It was probably another 30-45 minutes before we left POM. Our flight wasn’t until noon, so it wasn’t an issue for me since we would have several hours waiting at the airport. But I’d have been annoyed if I was on an earlier flight.

 

FTTF

We purchased FTTF and in my opinion it was money well spent. When we dropped our luggage off outside the terminal, the porter immediately noticed the FTTF logo on our luggage tags and had us put our bags in a different spot. Any time there was a line during the check-in process we got to bypass it & have the ‘ropes’ opened for us. By 12:15 we were on the ship and 5 minutes later we were in our room. It still probably took about 1.5 hours for our luggage to show up, but I know that was waaay faster than other staterooms near us.

 

Our itinerary included two tender ports. They had reserved tables right next to guest services for Platinums/FTTF. Once the tender arrived, they escorted us down to floor zero & we boarded the tender. Once again, well worth the $50!

 

We were given Zone 1 for disembark & we were off the ship and through customs at 7:25am.

 

Stateroom

We were in room 6236, which is a forward balcony room. The room was a nice size & the bed was surprisingly comfortable. If you have booked this room, or one in the vicinity: bring ear plugs or a white noise app. The room was directly above the main showroom Venetian Palace and you will hear (and sometimes feel) the productions. We spoke with another couple that had a room on Deck 2 under the showroom and they heard the entertainers practicing at 3am. Luckily we were prepared with ear plugs and white noise, so we didn’t hear any of that. Other than the noise, I really liked the location. We could easily take the stairs to get to the Promenade/Lido/Dining room.

 

Ship

We both though the ship décor was nicely understated. There were lots of elevators and we rarely had to wait more than 30 seconds. It took us a couple days to figure out that the best way to navigate to anywhere on Deck 3 or 4 was by going to the Promenade deck & finding the staircase/elevators right by our destination. Otherwise you’ll have to cut through the main dining rooms. We aren’t big sunbathers, so we didn’t spend much time on the Lido deck. Spent a little time in Serenity, which isn’t that serene as you can hear the Lido activities. This is why we get a balcony room. It’s nice & relaxing. :)

[kpott77]

Dining

We had Any Time Dining, which we really enjoyed. The only night we had a wait was the first elegant night. We probably waited about 10 minutes. Another night our waiter’s section was full. We were given the choice of sitting immediately in another section, or waiting. We really enjoyed our head waiter, Ketut. I though the food came out pretty quickly after ordering. Food in the MDR was generally hit or miss. We found that the appetizers were typically our favorite parts of the meal. DB ordered the Indian vegetarian plate on the final night & we were both bummed that we hadn’t discovered that earlier. It was one of the best things we tasted in the MDR. WCMC ranged anywhere from almost totally runny to totally cooked through. But that didn’t stop me from ordering it several nights…with two ice creams of course! :D

 

We went to the steakhouse one night & were both very happy with the experience. In fact, we enjoyed it so much that we planned to book again. Stopped at the hostess stand on the way out to make another reservation & she wasn’t there. We decided to just call later & make a reservation. Well, of course we never got around to calling, which is a shame. I highly recommend trying the steakhouse. It’s a great value at just $35/person. And I finally got a steak that was properly seasoned and cooked medium-rare. DB ordered the cheesecake dessert and was completely embarrassed at how big it was. He actually shouted ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ when he saw it coming towards our table. That got a chuckle out of the other diners.

 

We attended brunch in the MDR on both sea days. Food was decent. It was nice to have a leisurely brunch and the basket of muffins/croissants/Danish/etc was a nice touch. We actually took the leftovers back to the room & enjoyed them for breakfast on the following days.

 

We actually never ate breakfast at the buffet. We either got room service, or breakfast burritos/huevos rancheros from the Blue Iguana. We ordered room service every morning so we could get a pot of coffee, which we’d refill at Emile’s when it was empty. They were always early; anywhere from 15-30 minutes. One morning we were still sound asleep when they showed up & since we had ear plugs and white noise running, didn’t hear them knock, so they ended up calling our phone. We were both confused as to what was making that noise. Ha! Ordered room service once for dinner and it arrived about 15 minutes later. No complaints there!

 

I actually never had a Guy’s burger, although DB tried it once. He thought it was just OK. However, we both really enjoyed the Blue Iguana. We’re big fans of spicy food, and their habanero salsa did not disappoint. Yum! Proceed with caution!

 

I tried the Mongolian Grill once on Cozumel day when the line was short. It was good, but nothing I’d wait in that long line for. Perhaps it’s because we have lots of Mongolian Grill restaurants around town with way more options, but I didn’t think it was anything special. Also tried the buffet that day (only time we ate at the buffet). It was typical buffet food. Not bad, but not great either.

[kpott77]

Ports

 

Cozumel:

This was the only port where we didn’t pre-book an excursion. We flipped through Carnival’s excursion list on the first sea day and decided to book the Clear Kayak and Snorkel excursion through the ship. Booked it through the TV in our room. Very convenient. Arrived in Cozumel and met our excursion guide who had bad news. The water was too choppy that morning & the kayak portion had been canceled. If we decided to proceed with the excursion, we’d be credited $20/each and would have a longer snorkel. Everyone agreed to those terms, so our guide hailed a couple taxis and we were off. They took us to Playa Uvas. We had to rent lockers, which I believe were $4 with an additional $5 deposit. The excursion included transportation, snorkel gear, fresh fruit, one non-alcoholic drink and one alcoholic drink per person. We had a guided snorkel tour along the reef, and we were pleasantly surprised with the snorkeling. Afterwards we had time to relax at Playa Uvas. We ordered a $13 shrimp ceviche, which was money well spent. Very generous serving of tasty ceviche. I think the excursion lasted about 3 or 3.5 hours. We went back to the port and boarded the ship to grab a bite to eat. Then got back off the ship and did a little souvenir shopping.

 

Belize:

We booked cavetubing through cave tubing dot BZ. We were on the first tender. I think we waited until the 2nd tender arrived, which filled up our van & we were off. I was happy we’d booked an excursion, as Belize City does not look like a place you’d want to explore on your own. Our guides did a good job of talking about Belize on the approx. 45 minute drive to the cavetubing site. We then changed and set off on what was about an hour hike. I could have sworn their website said we did not have to carry our tubes, but that was not the case. The guides did carry one woman’s tube throughout the hike. I know they said no flip flops on their website, but a few in our group missed that and had to rent water shoes. I was very happy to have my Keens, as the terrain was a little rough in a few areas. The hike was nice & they educated us on a lot of the plants along the way. Several in our group ate termites (I abstained) and the guide went tarantula noodling and pulled a tarantula out from under a rock. Once again I abstained while others in our group let the tarantula crawl on their arms. No thank you!! Once we reached the river there was a bit of a line to get in the water. We finally reached the water & hopped in our tubes. They hooked the 8 of us up via carabineer and we were off. The caves were really cool & I thought it was nice and relaxing. After the float we were fed a tasty lunch of chicken, rice and beans and coleslaw. There was also a jug of rum punch & that boarded the van with us for the ride back to the ship. We enjoyed the excursion & would recommend.

 

Roatan:

We booked a private tour with Victor Bodden for this day. After making the little trek outside the confines of Carnival’s pier, we met up with the Bodden representative. He found our assigned driver Sam and we were off in his air conditioned taxi. Thank goodness for that AC as it was hot and humid there! He first took us on a tour of the poorer East end. We then hit a couple outdoor markets for some shopping. Then it was off to the West End. By this time we were famished and asked Sam to recommend a non-crowded restaurant with fresh seafood. He made a call to The Lobster Pot and confirmed that they had fresh fish in that day and that they were open and serving lunch (it was only about 10:30am on the island at this time). We grabbed a table on the beach under the shade of some trees and settled in for a relaxing ‘island time’ meal. We asked Sam to join us & paid for his meager chicken sandwich lunch.  We ordered conch fritters for an appetizer. I got garlic shrimp island style and DB ordered the fresh catch fish sandwich, which I believe was red snapper. Everything was fresh and tasty. We’d planned to go snorkeling after lunch, but we got so relaxed that we decided to skip getting in the water that day. Sam then took us to West Bay Beach so we could check it out, then we headed back to the ship. I’d love to spend more time in Roatan. It seems like my kind of island. Not commercialized and very laid back. I urge you to go outside the confines of Carnival’s Mahogany Bay and explore this gem of an island.

 

Grand Cayman:

This ended up being our favorite excursion. We booked the Stingray and Snorkel tour with Stingray Sailing. I cannot recommend this tour enough. They take a maximum of 25 people on their catamaran. We totally lucked out and only had 6 in our group. Chip (the captain and owner) and Kevin were fantastic guides. First they took us to the reef and we spent about 30 minutes snorkeling. Fantastic snorkeling here! Then we motored over to the sandbar with the stingrays. There were some BIG boats with hoards of people on them, which I’m assuming were the excursions booked through the ships. Our tiny party of 8 pulled up and immediately the stingrays started swarming. I was totally freaked out at first, but eventually got comfortable and started touching and feeding the rays. Chip and Kevin had names for most of the rays and could tell you what behaviors to expect from each of them. They brought out a huge bucket of shrimp to feed the rays. People from other groups kept trying to sneak over to join us as we were surrounded by the rays. We probably spent about 30 minutes in the water & then it was time to sail back to land. They cut up some fresh fruit & had a cooler full of bottled water. They also had beer available for purchase. I have nothing but high praise for Chip, Kevin and Stingray Sailing. If you plan to visit the stingrays in Grand Cayman, you won’t be sorry for booking this excursion.

[kpott77]

Entertainment

I enjoyed our cruise director Josh “Big Sexy.” One of our favorite shows was the Love and Marriage show. Very entertaining. We attended several adult comedy shows and they ranged from kinda funny to tears running down the face funny. Definitely get to the comedy shows early, as it’s a rather small room and it fills up fast. We only attended a couple big production shows. The Frank Sinatra/Sammy Davis Jr. tribute and the Rock & Roll show. The vocalist for the former was quite good. The dancers and vocalists for the latter were pretty sorry in my opinion. We also attended the hypnotist show, which was very entertaining.

What to Bring

I read lots of posts on Cruise Critic prior to our vacation regarding what to pack. Here are my list of out-of-the-ordinary things to include:

A water bottle – The water cups on Lido are tiny. I was very happy to have my own bottle to fill up & carry around the ship.

Power Strip – We brought a Belkin travel surge protector & it was perfect.

Ear plugs or White Noise phone app – The location of our stateroom warranted these. But even if we’d been in a different area, we would have dealt with balcony doors slamming.

Cold medication – I made a first aid kit full of almost every medication except cold medication (wishful thinking). Of course I caught a cold halfway through the trip (thanks random kid running through the hallway that sneezed all over me) and had one option from the ship’s gift store that was expensive and not overly effective.

 

Well, that’s about it for my review. We both enjoyed the Liberty and had a nice vacation. It was a good mix of activity and relaxation. It’s now back to reality & a cold, snowy winter. Definitely wondering why our next vacation in February is to go snow skiing and not back to the Caribbean!! I'll do my best to answer any questions.

 

Cheers,

Kathryn

[kcwingwalker]

Thanks for sharing your review:)

[soccersharon]

Thanks for posting :) We love the Liberty and really enjoyed this itin as well.

 

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[michelle1836]

thanks for posting. we did this same cruise this past summer and loved it!

[mjmiller]

Great review! Love that it was concise, yet detailed enough to get your point across. Thanks!

[Sarahsmomi]

Thanks for the review :)

 

I have a question about the cave tubing tour. I am on the same tour in January and although I did see they recommended water shoes, I was planning on wearing my nike sandals. They are comfortable andI don't mind if they get wet.

After reading your review, it has left me wondering if it is really necessary to have water shoes? If so, why?

Our entire group was actually planning on sandals :eek::rolleyes:

[kpott77]

Thanks for the review :)

 

I have a question about the cave tubing tour. I am on the same tour in January and although I did see they recommended water shoes, I was planning on wearing my nike sandals. They are comfortable andI don't mind if they get wet.

After reading your review, it has left me wondering if it is really necessary to have water shoes? If so, why?

Our entire group was actually planning on sandals :eek::rolleyes:

 

They don't really need to be water shoes. Just something that straps onto your feet as you have to walk through the river at the very beginning of the hike and has decent traction since there were some areas with wet rocks.

[Sarahsmomi]

Perfect! Thank you for the info :)

[boaterette]

Loved your review. Thanks for posting.