Carnival Liberty: Two years later (Including FunTimes and such)

[APDMOM]

The staff members of the water taxi were extremely helpful to all. If you have someone with mobility needs in your group, they are on hand to assist. They even played better 'fun' music on the water taxi than the Carnival Liberty DJ's! They sell beer for $2 and water bottles for $1.

 

Pictures from the water taxi:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

I walked around in Philipsburg, stopping by Cariloha, and purchasing some Caribbean shirts for DS and DH at the local markets. I had a nice stroll along the white sandy beaches, and enjoyed the beautiful sunny weather. You can't go wrong with Philipsburg. There is shopping for the shoppers in the group, beach lounges for the sun worshippers, and plenty of water sports (Jet ski's and such) for the adventurists - all in one stop.

 

Great deals are available at these markets. I met some very nice local ladies:

 

Beautiful scenes of Philipsburg:

 

 

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

Are you hooked onto St. Maarten yet? Here are a few more, just in case you need more convincing...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

Too soon it was time to return to the ship, but we had some fun planned for the evening...

 

 

DH and I decided that it was time for an education in martini's. We have had only one kind of martini in our lives - the Appletini. So, we decided to share in the Martini tasting at Alchemy bar. We tried the following:

Forty is the new twenty (Second favorite)

Spicy chipotle pineapple martini

Curative peach cosmopolitan (Favorite)

Radical cure (Did not like it - too radical)

 

Apparently, our taste buds are great, because we got an A+ in identifying the drinks correctly. (I think everyone gets an A+, but I can pretend I finally excel at something ;)). Tamara was our 'chemist', and she was fun:

 

 

 

Our reward for correctly identifying all four drinks - a little martini charm to put around a martini glass:

 

[APDMOM]

The evening fun continued, as we finally had some music to our liking: A Kenny Chesney concert on the big screen, under the almost full moon...

 

 

As you can see in this picture, the screen needs some serious maintenance, but most of the time it is not this distracting:

 

With "It's a kiss, It's summertime, Sweet summertime!" in the head, it was time to call it a night...

 

[cransom2011]

St. Martin was our least favorite stop, but each their own. Thanks for posting all the photos!

 

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[AmberTeka]

St. Martin was our least favorite stop, but each their own. Thanks for posting all the photos!

 

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The Mall of the West Indies, French Side of St. Martins.......is one of the few places I like to shop. It might have a new name now. It is the place where you pay a dollar to the attendant to use a clean, pleasant smelling restroom. Very French. they have (or had) a Kiosk set up with French perfumes, lotions, soaps. NOT the ones you buy here in Dept. Stores, etc. The ones they sell in France. Big bars of soap that last forever and smell like.. spiced roses. I like to buy them for stocking stuffers for Christmas. And also...I love the cologne. It is not expensive, and they all smell so good. The entire little shop, if you like bath powders, perfumes, soaps.. little trinkets.................is enchanting. Or it is to me.

Edited June 22, 2014 by AmberTeka

[cransom2011]

When we were dropped off on the French side about 80% of the shops were closed. Maybe this is why I didn't enjoy myself. Tortola was my favorite of all the islands, but I could always use an excuse to take another cruise to see if I change my mind about St. Martin. Lol

 

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[mamawg]

I want to try the Martini tasting in September on the Liberty. It sounds like such a good time. Is the 4 for $17 tasting done everyday or only once or twice during a cruise?

[APDMOM]

I want to try the Martini tasting in September on the Liberty. It sounds like such a good time. Is the 4 for $17 tasting done everyday or only once or twice during a cruise?

 

It is a lot of fun! On our 8-day cruise it was offered on embarkation day (Saturday), day 4 (Tuesday) and day 6 (Thursday). It was just under $20 with the gratuity. DH and I shared. :)

[APDMOM]

Trying to wrap this up tonight... Here is a copy of the martini tasting form, for those interested:

 

[APDMOM]

June 13: Sea day

 

I awoke to a beautiful sunrise/moonset:

 

 

 

We enjoyed most mornings at the Blue Iguana Cantina. We loved the huevos rancheros - with or without the 'huevos'... The Arepas were out of this world good! Wish I could have this recipe.

 

 

Since we still had 2 drink coupons to use, we decided to enjoy them during brunch. The service was the slowest we ever experienced on a Carnival cruise. It took about 20 minutes before we even saw our waiter and got water. Once again, I perceived this as a management issue. I really suspect they have cut staffing in the dining rooms. This is the impression we got during brunch, when compared with previous cruises.

 

We decided just to order the free drinks, a soup for me, huevos rancheros for DH, and chocolate cake. The order took a while, but they brought everything together, like requested. The soup was great. The huevos rancheros was not near as good as the ones at the Blue Iguana. The chocolate cake was great.

 

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

Since we had to wait so long to order, I got some pictures of the menus:

 

 

 

 

The chair hogs were out in masses :D

 

[APDMOM]

We spent the day playing mini golf and participating in some trivia. The pool was just too busy and loud to enjoy a relaxing time, so we used our balcony and deck 3 for quiet areas.

 

 

At night, I attended the Wonderful World show. Aside for a couple of tasteless costume choices (not appropriate for children), the show was musically excellent. This is probably the first time I found the two lead singers both to be truly talented and well matched in duos. Although the African dances were way too dainty (The Zulu war dances looked more like the dance of the sugar plum fairy :D ), it was overall an enjoyable show.

 

With that, it is time to say good night:

 

 

[APDMOM]

June 15: Sea day

 

This day was spent much like yesterday. Here is huevos rancheros without the eggs:

 

 

Our favorite morning hangout:

 

We attended the Towel Animal Theater in the morning. It was entertaining - the same show we saw two years ago, but still enjoyable. I have some pics from two years ago. This time, no photography was allowed. During the show two years ago, they only said no 'flash' photography was allowed, so I took these back then without a flash:

 

 

 

The past guest party was very crowded, but we never had trouble flagging down a waiter. As always, we enjoyed cheeringfor our past ships! The party was typical of most other past guest parties we have attended. Interestingly, our favorite ever past guest party was on Fascination. Seems the small ships know how to do it best. We did the "Macarena" during the party:

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

Well, our bags were packed, but we were not ready to go...

 

"You're leaving our Funship"

 

 

Houston, our very capable waiter...future Maitre' D

 

 

Time to say our last good night for this cruise:

 

If you would like to see many pictures of Liberty, click on this link of our cruise 2 years ago:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1652398

 

Coming up: A summary of our experience and the difference 2 years make. It was a very different Liberty we sailed this time... Still enjoyable, but the jury is out on Carnival (for us).

[APDMOM]

Thank you for following along on this review!

 

I like journaling our experiences with pictures - for personal reference in future too. I hope some of these tips have been helpful to many.

 

What follows is my personal opinion, based upon my age (probably getting too old for Carnival) and background:

 

The Pros for us:

We really LOVE Blue Iguana Cantina breakfast

The mini golf is much fun - an the courses on Carnival are better/easier than on Royal.

Carnival serves a great variety of hot teas, 24 hours a day.

Debarkation at ports was handled very well - we only had to be in line about 15 minutes one of the days.

24 hour ice cream! :D

 

The Cons for us:

DJ's - where did all the great live entertainment go? Where did classic rock, island music and country go? Why do they play so much hip hop? (See? I told you I must be getting old)

Smoking on balconies - I felt we lost a lot of time I would have spent on the balconies due to the smoking. I understand there need to be places for smokers too. However, when I pay for the balcony I really would like to smell the fresh ocean air. This is the main reason we will be cruising Royal Caribbean from now on. Even the promenade was much more smokey than it was on the previous cruise. I am not sure what the difference was, but it is what it is.

Brunch service - there is no excuse for waiting so long for just a glass of water. The understaffing was very obvious.

Pools - I really got spoiled with Royal Caribbean's larger pools. Since we did the past 2 cruises on Royal, we suddenly noticed how small the pools are on Carnival. Also, children can only use the two midship pools on the ship, which are right by the large screen. On our cruise, they played PG-13 movies at the pool during the day. Where are young children supposed to swim when this goes on?

[APDMOM]

Finally, the renovations:

 

While we were on the ship, they were doing some renovations that I would consider major and an inconvenience - such as not having water twice on the cruise, and using a loud sander to sand the old paint off posts. It left paint chips and paint dust on the chairs. I really think these should be done during a dry dock. Is Carnival doing this to avoid loss of revenue? One can only wonder... One hot tub never worked during the cruise. At least three areas at a time were closed off for renovations:

 

 

 

 

After renovations:

 

So, all in all we had a great cruise - based on our personal choices and checks of attitude. However, for the first time I do not think we got the value for the money we spent. Lesson learned. :) As I said, I think I am getting too old for Carnival ;)

[Danacat222]

Thanks for sharing your experience, I will be back on Liberty in October. My favorite spot was the aft pool, no TV and no kids in the pool.

 

I can say I did not have the best cruise on Liberty last year, in hindsight I was just too exhausted to enjoy it. This time will be a do-over. My biggest fear is that smoke situation for balcony users. This will be my first balcony, first for my Mom, too, who will be my guest on this cruise. We generally like to be out and about a lot, but out of 7 days we are going to be visiting only 2 of three ports and we are looking for some relaxation out on the balcony. I am usually pretty frugal and book insides or 4Ks, I like and enjoy the darkness and coolness of an inside, so if paying so much more for a balcony ends up being met with dealing with smoke, i'll be very upset.

 

By the way, my Mom is 73 and loves Carnival. On Legend, her 1st Carnival Cruise, she was having a blast with the kids and DJ (it was during Spring Break), she said she had so much fun she could not see herself not cruising with Carnival again.

Edited June 22, 2014 by Danacat222

[LuckyZ]

Thanks for a great review.

We were also this cruise and was our 14th cruise (10th on Carnival). We had a great time.

 

But if I were to express some pet peeves,

1. Casino was way to smokey. Would have spent more time gambling but couldn't stand the smoke (seemed worse than usual).

2. The sports bar did NOT show any world cup soccer games

3. Past guest party was way too crowded and didnt feel special (we agree though that it wasn't hard getting a drink)

 

However Kudos for,

1. Chefs table and Steakhouse were excellent. And we thought the dining room food was good,

2. The itinerary was excellent (1st time to Tortola). Kuralu catamaran on Tortola and Bernards in St Maarten were great excursions

3. The room and wait staff are always so friendly and hard working

4. Getting on the ship was quick. FTTF would have been a waste of money

5. Enjoyed the Trivia

6. The weather was fantastic

7. Deck 3 was definitely my happy place

8. The band called Music Boardwalk that played outside of the casino was energetic and entertaining

Edited June 22, 2014 by LuckyZ

[Juardis]

Thanks for the detailed review. I'm sure it helped a lot of folks who are getting ready to sail.

 

We were on the May 31 Liberty sailing, the week just before you, that went to the Western Caribbean. I agree there was too much smoke in the Promenade area. We also loved the band called Music Boardwalk. I also miss the live band by the pool but did enjoy the Serenity area that had some shade. We had a blast overall, as did the two other couples with us.

[babyclaytonmom]

Thank you for following along on this review!

 

I like journaling our experiences with pictures - for personal reference in future too. I hope some of these tips have been helpful to many.

 

What follows is my personal opinion, based upon my age (probably getting too old for Carnival) and background:

 

The Pros for us:

We really LOVE Blue Iguana Cantina breakfast

The mini golf is much fun - an the courses on Carnival are better/easier than on Royal.

Carnival serves a great variety of hot teas, 24 hours a day.

Debarkation at ports was handled very well - we only had to be in line about 15 minutes one of the days.

24 hour ice cream! :D

 

The Cons for us:

DJ's - where did all the great live entertainment go? Where did classic rock, island music and country go? Why do they play so much hip hop? (See? I told you I must be getting old)

Smoking on balconies - I felt we lost a lot of time I would have spent on the balconies due to the smoking. I understand there need to be places for smokers too. However, when I pay for the balcony I really would like to smell the fresh ocean air. This is the main reason we will be cruising Royal Caribbean from now on. Even the promenade was much more smokey than it was on the previous cruise. I am not sure what the difference was, but it is what it is.

Brunch service - there is no excuse for waiting so long for just a glass of water. The understaffing was very obvious.

Pools - I really got spoiled with Royal Caribbean's larger pools. Since we did the past 2 cruises on Royal, we suddenly noticed how small the pools are on Carnival. Also, children can only use the two midship pools on the ship, which are right by the large screen. On our cruise, they played PG-13 movies at the pool during the day. Where are young children supposed to swim when this goes on?

 

Thanks so much for this review, its great! Can I ask which port took 15 min. to get off and if you typically left pretty soon after docking? Curious because we have a couple private tours set in July and dont want to be delayed.

[APDMOM]

Thanks so much for this review, its great! Can I ask which port took 15 min. to get off and if you typically left pretty soon after docking? Curious because we have a couple private tours set in July and dont want to be delayed.

 

It was in Tortola, because I tried to leave early for a tour. I lined up just after the ship was cleared, so the line was not moving yet. Once it started moving, it was really fast. They had 4 exit lines, and the crowd thinned out very quickly. It was not a problem at all. :) Enjoy your cruise!

[APDMOM]

Thanks for sharing your experience, I will be back on Liberty in October. My favorite spot was the aft pool, no TV and no kids in the pool.

 

I can say I did not have the best cruise on Liberty last year, in hindsight I was just too exhausted to enjoy it. This time will be a do-over. My biggest fear is that smoke situation for balcony users. This will be my first balcony, first for my Mom, too, who will be my guest on this cruise. We generally like to be out and about a lot, but out of 7 days we are going to be visiting only 2 of three ports and we are looking for some relaxation out on the balcony. I am usually pretty frugal and book insides or 4Ks, I like and enjoy the darkness and coolness of an inside, so if paying so much more for a balcony ends up being met with dealing with smoke, i'll be very upset.

 

By the way, my Mom is 73 and loves Carnival. On Legend, her 1st Carnival Cruise, she was having a blast with the kids and DJ (it was during Spring Break), she said she had so much fun she could not see herself not cruising with Carnival again.

 

I hope the smoke is not a problem for you. I am extra sensitive to it, as the smoke triggered my choke reflex. I don't know why it was so bad this time, but I coughed a lot around any smoke. Even the diesel fumes from the excursion truck got to me. I think most people are not quite so sensitive to it, so hopefully it will be minor for you.

[APDMOM]

Thanks for a great review.

We were also this cruise and was our 14th cruise (10th on Carnival). We had a great time.

 

But if I were to express some pet peeves,

1. Casino was way to smokey. Would have spent more time gambling but couldn't stand the smoke (seemed worse than usual).

2. The sports bar did NOT show any world cup soccer games

3. Past guest party was way too crowded and didnt feel special (we agree though that it wasn't hard getting a drink)

 

However Kudos for,

1. Chefs table and Steakhouse were excellent. And we thought the dining room food was good,

2. The itinerary was excellent (1st time to Tortola). Kuralu catamaran on Tortola and Bernards in St Maarten were great excursions

3. The room and wait staff are always so friendly and hard working

4. Getting on the ship was quick. FTTF would have been a waste of money

5. Enjoyed the Trivia

6. The weather was fantastic

7. Deck 3 was definitely my happy place

8. The band called Music Boardwalk that played outside of the casino was energetic and entertaining

 

Thank you for sharing your experience too, LuckyZ! I agree that we had the best weather! :) Enjoy planning your future adventures.