REVIEW: Carnival Liberty - Western Caribbean - 4/5/14 thru 4/12/14

[pghsteelerfan]

Another one of the Toucans (he was in a different cage):

 

More very colorful birds (parrots???):

 

Just as we finished the tour, there was a small field behind the cages where the animals are kept and there were deer and fawns laying down under a tree so we got pictures of them too.

At the end of the tour, our guide pointed out another gift shop that is run by his sister. We looked around and she had some nice wood carvings, bowls, plates, and even cups, but that’s not really what I was looking for. There were no refrigerator magnets at either of the gift shops. We went back out to meet up with Kayla in the parking lot but I stopped and got pictures of the bull and the cow first. It was about 10:45AM now, so we were itching to get to the beach and as quickly as possible. We wanted to be back at the ship at 1:30PM, so we’re now going to have under two hours of beach time.

[pghsteelerfan]

We got back into the van and were now on our way to the beach. On the way there, we got a little more of a tour where Kayla pointed out things to us and told us about them. We were finally nearing a beach, West End Beach, and we drove along the road down there.

West End Beach:

This picture from West End Beach is blurry...I took it from the moving vehicle:

We didn’t see any others who appeared to be tourists and there weren’t any people on the beaches. We did notice the water was very rough and where there was beach, there wasn’t much. Kayla went to pull into a parking area and told us that this was the beach that the locals go to. Well, after the announcement by our caption the previous evening followed by the letter that was delivered to our cabin, we just didn’t want to get out there. I know West End Beach isn’t the area that was mentioned but we felt more comfortable sticking to a beach with other tourists around. We asked her if we could go to West Bay Beach (Tabyana Beach) where we could get loungers. We left West End Beach and made our way back up this road to a mountain top. This is where Kayla stopped at the overlook for us to get pictures. There was also a large, colorful, ocean themed sign for “Luna Beach Resort”, so I got pictures of that too. Kayla used our cameras to get pictures of both of us together. These are the only ones I have this trip. I tried to get “selfies” with “Old Reliable” but they didn’t come out. I need more practice.

DH and I at the overlook:

The scenic overlook:

The colorful, ocean themed "Luna Beach Resort" sign:

[pghsteelerfan]

After getting pictures we got back in Kayla’s van and were heading back down the mountain to the beach. There was another spot with road construction where we ended up having to stop and wait until they let traffic coming from the other direction through, kind of like they do here with construction on bridges and two lane roads. We finally get moving again and finally reached the beach.

The parking is back off the beach, so we had to walk about 100 yards. Kayla took us to the Bananarama Resort. They charge $10.00 and you have a choice of a lounger or a drink. We decided to go with loungers. We were given wrist bands and escorted to the beach where the loungers were. It was about 11:45PM, so we had an hour and a half before we’d need to leave. Kayla waited up with some other drivers at the tables at the Bananarama. The water here was also very rough and there was just enough beach, in most areas, for loungers and space for people to walk by. There would be no snorkeling today either and I didn’t see anyone in at that point. As soon as we started getting situated, the venders were fast upon us, asking us if we’d like a massage or if we’d like to buy this or that. We simply told them “no thank you”. It was shaded where our loungers were but because the water was coming up that high, there was no space to pull the loungers into the sun. The wind was also very strong and coming directly from the west. Kayla told us the water was rough today because of the strong west winds. Unlike the water in Cozumel, this water still appeared to be a pretty blue/green color. There was a lot of sea weed though. They had several of the water trampolines at various spots, but none were in the water today. It was actually kind of chilly and I wanted to get out into the sun. Vendors kept stopping by but we just politely said “no thank you”. I left my shorts and tank top on over my swimsuit and took a walk down the beach toward the right. It was warmer in the sun and I was hoping to at least get some color on my arms and legs. I used the SPF 15 and that seems to work very well for me and at this point. When I got back about 15 minutes later, I tried sitting in the lounger. DH was content to sit there and listen to his I-Pod but I didn’t bring mine. I like going for beach walks and getting pictures. I had my crocs under the lounger and the water came up and almost got one of them. Yeah, I had to get up and chase it but I got it back. I decided to get my camera and take a walk down to the other end toward the left. There was what looked like a smaller cliff and a rock formation out on the water. On the way down, I was passing vendors and some of them would ask if I wanted to buy this or that, if I wanted a massage, if I wanted my hair braided. I can’t tell you how many times I said “no thank you” that day. The vendors seemed more focused on those sitting in loungers than those of us walking the beach. They also didn’t seem to be as aggressive as the vendors we experienced in Cozumel but there were just so many of them. There were some that had tables set up with jewelry and other things but I didn’t really stop to look.

I finally made it down to that end of the beach. It was about a 20 minute walk to get there. The water was so strong it was breaking over the rock formation. I was trying to get some pictures of that. I got pictures of the cliff and the beach there itself. It was a very pretty beach, we were just there on the wrong day. I talked to a few other people while down there. One of the guys was on Liberty with us and to ladies I was talking to were on RCI’s Navigator of the Seas. The one said that she normally cruises with Carnival and prefers Carnival, but this was a “gals” cruise and the majority of the gals going preferred RCI. She said it was nice but it wasn’t Carnival. I think she told me that she had been on Carnival Magic recently and really enjoyed it. A snorkeling excursion showed up while I was down there and I was wondering what, if anything, they’d be able to see. The water was a little calmer right in that protected spot. After getting pictures of that area, I checked my watch…12:40PM. I headed back, taking a quick detour out on a nice, wooden pier that went out into the water for some more pictures. When I was done there, I went right back to the lounger. It was right about 1:00PM, the time we wanted to leave. Kayla was up at the edge of the beach to see if we were ready or if we’d like more time. DH said he was getting cold and I knew I would, so we told her we were ready. I never got in the water there, but later on I did see some people in. I did wade in down at that other end, if that counts. I guess if we’d have been smart, we’d have taken the drinks instead of the loungers and just walked the beach with the drinks instead.

I'll let the pictures do the "talking" for a while. These are all of West Bay (Tabyana) Beach:

[pghsteelerfan]

 

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

 

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

 

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

 

 

These are from the wooden walkway/pier:

 

 

Our loungers were to the right of the blue and yellow water trampoline, in the shade:

 

[pghsteelerfan]

 

 

 

 

Why couldn't the water crash into this rock like this when I was down there???

 

[pghsteelerfan]

 

Another zoomed view of the water crashing into the rocks:

 

 

 

 

The view from our loungers:

[pghsteelerfan]

We left with Kayla and walked back to her van for the ride back. I saw in other reviews where there was an overlook where we’d be able to see Liberty and Kayla said she’d stop for us. It was at the top of a mountain and we could see a lot from there. There is also a lighthouse or observation tower that we decided to climb so that we could see Carnival Liberty since some of the trees kept it from view from the parking lot. We went to climb up in side and were told that there was a charge. I can't remember what it was, but I'm thinking it was $2.00 per person. We were told it's a maintenance fee. There was a painting crew painting that day, but they were on a break. We wanted the pictures so we just paid it and went to the top. We could definitely see Liberty but it was so hazy we could barely see her. We got pictures anyway. We took a few minutes to get other pictures from the top. It was very pretty from up there.

The lighthouse or tower we climbed to get pictures.

Zoomed in view of Carnival Liberty:

Both ships are visible in this picture. RCI's Navigator of the Seas (one on left) and Carnival Liberty:

Edited May 22, 2014 by pghsteelerfan

[pghsteelerfan]

More pics from the lighthouse/observation tower:

 

 

After we finished getting the pictures we wanted, we got back into the van. I asked Kayla if there was another stop where we could get pictures of Liberty that was closer. She said there was one spot she’d stop at. On the way back, we went right through Coxen Hole on the main road that runs right along the beach and got some nice views of RCI Navigator of the Seas. I wasn’t able to get pictures because I was on the wrong side of the van. I don’t think DH got any either. Kayla pointed out schools, a grocery store and various shops right along that main road in Coxen Hole. Once we got out of the town, it was pretty much the same type of scenery and pretty soon we were passing the airport again. Just past the airport, there was an area with views of Carnival Liberty, so Kayla pulled over there and I got out and got a couple of pictures. It was the area of road that runs behind the sunken ship in Mahogany Bay. I couldn’t really get a picture of the while ship from there since there was the sunken ship, other boats and trees in the way.

Carnival Liberty from where we stopped at the side of the road for pictures:

I was hoping to have time to walk down to the beach right at Mahogany Bay (flying chairs were also an option) and get pictures of that area and also of the ship, but we would not have time since it was 1:40PM and we weren’t even back at the cruise center yet. I got back in the van and we continued back to the cruise center. Kayla said she could drop us off right in the parking lot there. We got out and Kayla came over to give me a hug and we thanked her for her tour and for our day in Roatan and we tipped her and said our goodbyes. I’m kicking myself now, but I never did get a picture with Kayla.

Hi Liberty...I see you!!! Pictures I got right after entering the cruise center:

We made our way back to the cruise center at Mahogany Bay and we only had about 45 minutes until we had to be back onboard. I still needed a refrigerator magnet so we wanted to see if we could find something here. We started off by going to the shops on the right as we entered the cruise center shopping area since they appeared to have locally made items for sale. When we walked in, it was packed. I am lugging around a beach bag, the snorkel fins that don’t fit in the beach bag and wearing the towel over my shoulders, so I’m pretty loaded down. We took a quick walk through that area but the aisles were very narrow and it was just too crowded to get up to the shelves and displays to look and see what they had. I’m not the type of person who will go and squeeze or force my way in because I think it’s rude. On top of that, it was uncomfortably hot in there with not much ventilation and it was kind of dark. I would have spent more time and waited to look for a refrigerator magnet anyway, but I was also lugging all that stuff around and I noticed some breakable items on some of the shelves. Add that to trying to squeeze around everyone else and my beach bag, which has a shoulder strap, was getting bumped and knocked around by others (unintentionally), so I needed to get out of there before I broke something.

DH was already outside, too crowded for him, and I told him I was moving on to the next set of shops. We went to a typical souvenir type store and they had refrigerator magnets, unfortunately all were breakable. We’re having issues with one of our younger cats confusing our refrigerator magnets with kitty toys. That started less than a week before this cruise. I came downstairs one morning and there was my nice, ceramic iguana from St. Thomas on the floor with his tail broken off and into three separate pieces, one of which was being batted across the floor then chased by one of the younger cats. We’re also missing a foot on that one. The turtle I got in Barbados last year, also broken. Two more were also knocked down but fortunately only the magnet was knocked out. I was able to fix those two and the turtle, but I’m still missing the foot and the main piece of tail from my St. Thomas iguana, so I can’t really fix him until I have all the pieces. Because of that, I’m looking to avoid breakable refrigerator magnets but that was all this shop had. I was hoping for something wood carved or made of some type of metal. I found those last year at two ports on our Valor cruise. No luck. We took a quick look at the T-shirts and didn’t see anything we liked, so we moved on but at this point we were rushing around since we wanted to get back on Liberty before the huge lines started. We decided to take a walk through the Duty Free store, no luck there either so we just decided to head back.

[pghsteelerfan]

I stopped for pictures of the “Mahogany Bay” sign on the way and once we were closer to Liberty, I got pictures of the ship, but couldn’t fit all of her into the picture.

After I got the pictures we went down to get in the back of the line, a very long line. This was going to take a while. DH is hungry and I was thirsty. After we were waiting for what seemed forever (probably about 10 minutes), we started getting closer to the front. That’s when the crew opened another gangway and it happened to be right near where we were. We followed another couple and got in line there and basically walked right up. We actually got to swipe our Sail & Sign cards ourselves to “ding” ourselves back in. Right after that was a security table that we put our belongings though. This was an area of the ship that I’ve never seen before since we had never used a gangway in this section. It actually looked like one of those “crew only” areas with the open, metal stairs. I would have gotten pictures but all cameras were in the beach bag at this point and there were many others coming in behind us that I didn’t want to hold up. I can’t remember if we took the stairs here or if there was an elevator. Either way, we were on the ship and went right back to our cabin. I chugged a couple of glasses of water from the sink. I was going to have a drink once upstairs, a nice cold beer, and I didn’t need to be chugging that. Now if there were a good ole’ beer drinking contest like they had on our honeymoon cruise in 1992, I think I’d have done it. It was actually a gal that one that one, not a guy. But they no longer have that one, at least to my knowledge. After dropping our stuff off in the cabin, we went straight up to Lido Deck 9.

Once we were up there, DH stops for ice tea and asked if I wanted water. I told him I just had water and would get beer. He told me he was hungry and wanted a Guy Burger. We went over to get a table by Guy’s Burgers and DH told me “you go first” and I told him I was thirsty and not really hungry. When I’m hot like that, throw in humidity, I’m one of those who thinks it’s “too hot to eat”. Both my parents are the same way. Not DH. The man could probably even eat in an oven. Someone next to us told us if we’re going to get a burger now, do it – there will be a huge line in less than ten minutes. DH kept telling me “you go first”. I let him know again that I’m not hungry and told him to go. He goes right up and gets his plate with a burger and fries then goes over to the area with the condiments. Did I mention that DH is “slow motion person”? Well, he is. Nothing wrong with him, he’s just very, very, very pokey. It took him almost five minutes to get his toppings and condiments. I’m thirsty, really thirsty and am waiting, and waiting…. The line for Guy Burgers was backed up almost to the doors that lead back inside. DH finally comes back to the table and told me to go get a burger. I let him know I wasn’t hungry and I didn’t want a burger and that right now I was just thirsty. Without saying a thing, he got up and got in line and got me a burger. So now, I’ve got this burger in front of me and I’m not hungry at all. All I could do was give him the old “eye roll” and he said “what?” I told him “I’m not hungry right now, that’s what.” He said “well, you should have told me.” My reply “I did” and then I gave him another eye roll. When we finished, he asked what I wanted to do. First things first, I need something cold to drink. We went and got in line at the “Red Frog rum bar” and I ordered a Coors Lights (nice and cold this time) and he got one of the rum drinks.

Since we had our drinks, I told DH I was going up to Panorama Deck 10 to get pictures of the Mahogany Bay area from the ship before we sailed away. We started on the starboard side and got pictures of the sunken ship and of the views over toward Coxen Hole. We were able to see the top of RCI Navigator of the Seas and got some pictures. We were using the zoom on our cameras to see if we could spot the tower that we stopped at and climbed for the pictures of the ship. We think we saw it, but it was pretty far away, so we couldn’t tell if that was it or not.

Views toward Coxen Hole and RCI Navigator of the Seas:

[pghsteelerfan]

More views from the right (starboard) side of the ship:

 

 

We thought this might be the lighthouse/observation tower but I don't think it is:

 

 

Can only see the top of RCI's Navigator of the Seas from here:

 

[pghsteelerfan]

More from Panorama Deck 10, right (starboard) side:

 

Time to move to the other side of the ship for pictures of the Mahogany Bay beach area:

 

Back toward the cruise center:

 

 

The water right next to where Liberty is docked:

 

[gambee]

Just stopped to say that I am loving your review, I am so busy that I rarely have time to read many reviews. But you managed to get me hooked early in the review. One thing that I noticed is that you seem to know your ships very well, and I am very impressed at your ability to recall so many aspects of the cruise. I work fully on visual memory to write my reviews.

 

Thank you for your time and effort, can't wait for the rest.

[pghsteelerfan]

Just stopped to say that I am loving your review, I am so busy that I rarely have time to read many reviews. But you managed to get me hooked early in the review. One thing that I noticed is that you seem to know your ships very well, and I am very impressed at your ability to recall so many aspects of the cruise. I work fully on visual memory to write my reviews.

 

Thank you for your time and effort, can't wait for the rest.

 

Thank you so much! We don't get to cruise as often as we like, but we love it and are definitely hooked.

 

I've been hooked on your review of Carnival Breeze and try to catch up with yours every day because I am really enjoying it. The Breeze looks like a beautiful ship and we actually saw her come into Miami the morning we got off Liberty. When I finish this, I'm planning on reading your other reviews because I actually feel like I'm there with you. I really love your pictures and you include so many of things or places around the ship that I don't even think to take pictures of. So thank you for your time and effort and I'm looking forward to the rest of your Breeze review and reading your other reviews.

 

Thank you again for following along.

[pghsteelerfan]

We went over to the other side and got pictures looking back toward the cruise center and also of the beach area at Mahogany Bay. The water was very calm here and it looked like there were plenty of loungers. It looked like we could have had a really nice, several hour beach day here and we also would have been able to get into the water to snorkel and cool off. We were happy that we were able to see more of Roatan than just the cruise center though. It was very pretty. They were getting ready for sail away and we didn’t notice any pier runners.

More pictures of Mahogany Bay from the left (port) side of Liberty from Panorama Deck 10:

When I took this pic, I was checking for pier runners - didn't see any today:

[pghsteelerfan]

More pictures before sailing away from Mahogany Bay:

 

 

The beach at Mahogany Bay:

 

I was trying to get pictures of the "flying chairs" - they are barely visible suspended from the cables above the walkway:

 

Still no pier runners:

 

It really looked nice here, this definitely might be an option if we get back to Roatan:

[pghsteelerfan]

We stayed up on Panorama Deck 10 while we sailed out and got more pictures. By this time the music was on and there was a large crowd of teenagers gathered down on one end of the pool who were dancing. Several others were up watching as we sailed away from Rotan. DH said he thought he could see the mainland of Honduras. There was definitely land but I don’t know if it was the mainland or not, but probably was. We could barely see it but we did see land. We walked around to the back of Liberty to get more pictures of Roatan as we sailed out. The water looked really pretty here and we were able to very clearly see a small reef. The water was different shades of green and blue around it. As we got further out into the water, we were able to see RCI Navigator of the Seas and we got more pictures of her. Pretty soon we saw the pilot boat heading away. As we leaving, we headed east along Roatan’s southern coast. For some reason, I thought we’d head west and once past Roatan’s western end, head north. After looking at the map, I see why we went the eastern route. Grand Cayman is north east of Roatan, so it was actually the shortest distance.

Getting ready to sail away:

 

The party was getting started at the Tivoli Pool (mid-ship pool):

 

As Carnival Liberty pulled away from the pier and out to sea, we had better views of RCI Navigator of the Seas, docked in Coxen Hole:

 

More views from the right (starboard) side of Carnival Liberty as we sailed out of Mahogany Bay:

 

 

Edited May 23, 2014 by pghsteelerfan

[pghsteelerfan]

More pictures as we sailed away from Roatan:

RCI Navigator of the Seas:

 

 

 

I think this was a smaller coral reef, right next to where Liberty was docked:

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

More sail away pictures

I loved the different colors of the water here:

 

We can see the whole ship now:

 

 

 

There goes the pilot boat:

 

This is when we could see land, barely, on the horizon...mainland of Honduras?:

[pghsteelerfan]

More sailing away from Roatan

This looks like another island:

 

 

Goodbye Mahogany Bay, Isla Roatan - hope to see you again soon!

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

More sailing away from Roatan

 

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

Once we got out and the views were same old, same old, we decided to go back down to the Red Frog run bar and there were actually seats available, so we took a seat. It was very busy since there was still time before dinner, even for those who had early seating. There were only two bartenders working. Both are very good and fast, but with that many people, we really thought they’d have at least one more bartender. When it was our turn to get waited on, I decided I wanted a drink in one of the small, blue parrot ceramic mugs and ordered it with “Rum Jumper” (on the actual bar menu, it’s listed as “Rum runner Jumper" with a line through the middle of the word “runner”. It was really good. I forget what DH had but it was one of the rum drinks.

 

The couple sitting next to us, at the end of the bar, and we both noticed one guy standing at the end of the bar was waiting and had been waiting for a while. He had been there even before we were but we all assumed he’d already been waited on. One of the other two asked him what the heck he ordered that was taking so long and he said he hadn’t even been waited on yet. We felt so bad since he had been there before all of us were. When the bartender came around again, we all pointed to him and told her "He's next" and told her he'd been waiting. She apologized to him and told him she hadn’t seen him and he was very gracious about it, letting her know that he could see they were busy and it would be hard to keep track out of all the people in line. When he got his drink, finally, he raised it up to toast, and had a huge smile on his face. We all cheered and toasted him. Those of us at that end of the bar started talking with each other and we told him to come around and stand right by us so he’d be seen.

 

 

We must have been there talking for at least an hour since it was almost 5:00PM. Right around that time, I looked up and out the window and could see that we were passing an island. Not a flat island but mountainous and similar to Roatan. We knew it was not Roatan since Roatan would have been on the other side of the ship, if we hadn’t gone past it yet (we hadn’t noticed). This was definitely another island. DH, the guy who waited forever to get waited on, and I all went up to Panorama Deck 10 to get pictures of this island. It kind of reminded me of a Southern Caribbean cruise because there are many islands that you pass on that itinerary, although mostly at night. This one was mountainous though, like most of the islands in the Southern Caribbean. None of us knew which island we were passing and I looked it up once we got home. It’s called “Isla de Guanaja”. I know Roatan is considered as one of Honduras’ “Bay Islands”, so I’m taking a guess that Isla de Guanaja is too. After getting pictures of the “other island”, as we called it then, we ran into another guy we met a few days before while up on the Panorama Deck, so he joined us in conversation. We probably stayed up there for another hour and by this time, we’d had a couple of drinks. We all agreed that it was time to head back and start getting ready for dinner.

 

The other island we passed and noticed about two hours after sailing away from Roatan, Isla de Guanaja:

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 23, 2014 by pghsteelerfan

[pghsteelerfan]

More pics of Isla de Guanaja: