Please talk up the Liberty!

[CruizCuz]

Ok, so I had some available time and thought "why not book a short cruise?"  I believe ANY cruise is better than NO cruise.  I was on the Liberty this past October and had a wonderful time.  However, one of my traveling peeps said the Liberty was her least favorite.  I realize that everyone has differing opinions.  I started reading all the reviews since I cruised the Liberty in October and they are ALL BAD.  Seriously.  I'm thinking to myself what the heck has happened?!  Now, I don't want to cancel or change as I will have a good time regardless (I hope).  But if you have sailed on the Liberty since I did in October, and have had a good time or want to post something positive, I would really appreciate it.  I truly respect and appreciate all the honest comments and reviews.  But once I am "locked" in, I want to read the good stuff.  LOL!  Help me please......

[shlbil]

We were on the Liberty in December and had a great trip. Had great service all around. The shows were so so, but I think they are so so on all the ships. We enjoyed the comedy club and piano bar and spent most evenings between the two. 

 

[Joebucks]

I've been on the Liberty twice now. Including a month and a half ago. The worst thing I could say is that the first time, the Punchliner had long lines. Other than that, I had a fantastic vacation each time. 

 

Out of the options we had for the most recent one, I chose the Liberty specifically over the similar Fantasy class. I love that the Liberty has fridges, big screen on Lido (and dive in movies), more food options, bigger Serenity, etc.

[tandemcruzr]

This past Feb, we sailed the Liberty on a 4 day/3 day/4 day B2B2B. Had the same MDR Wait Staff who were outstanding. Went to the Steakhouse on the first night of the 3 day and it was the best Steakhouse experience we've had in a long time (45 cruises). Our Head Waiter's last night was the last day of our second 4 day cruise. Wife has continued texting him while he is at home. He returned to the Sensation out of Miami recently.

[NauticalNeophyte]

We were on the Liberty last month and LOVED it. It was only the second cruise for the adults, and the first for the kids,  it everyone enjoyed it.  I was too lazy to write a review when we returned, but I’ll shoot through some highs and lows.  

 

The Good:

1.The ship was incredibly clean and in good shape. The buffet was well attended, the waiters cleaned the tables quickly, and staff constantly cleaned public areas. 

2. Cookie was an awesome cruise director.  I don’t know if he’ll still be there, but he was awesome.  I get why people have their preferences now.

3. The crew just seemed happy, and they were very friendly.  

4. Guest services staff was very helpful. 

5. The first comedian, Mr. Bertrand I believe was hilarious.

6. DJ Tropic was pretty good. 

7.We enjoyed Nassau and Freeport.

8. Bed were comfortable (as long as you added the featherbed to the sofa bed).

9. The bar staff were all fast and friendly.

10. MDR entrees were pretty good. All the cuts of meat were very tender. 

11. Seafood Shack and the deli were delicious.

12. Venice Trio was fantastic.

13. The Punchliner was probably one of the best alcoholic drinks I ever had. And man did it pack a wallop.  

14. Karaoke was hilarious. The ship had a really good fun squad.

15. Our funs squad member who led the GOT trivia was English, and it sounded so authentic hearing her say the names.  It didn’t matter to most people, but I appreciated it. 

16.  The sail away party was on and poppin’!  There were a lot of fun people on my sailing.  

17.  The mega deck party was really fun.

18. The kids enjoyed Club O2. Michael the counselor was very friendly, and the area had a nice set up. 

 

The Bad:

1. The Russian guy on deck 5 taking pics was a rude butthole, but it didn’t ruin my vacation. 

2. The comedian Michale Macy was racist, offensive and just not funny.  Carnival

got a long email about him. 

3.  The sofa bed was too firm without the featherbed, but I didn’t find it until day 3. 

4. The lunch buffet was mediocre to me, but there were plenty of tasty options elsewhere. 

5. The pizza wasn’t as good as last year on the Triumph when they baked on order, but that may be all ships. It was still good though.

6. There was another band in the atrium that was just ok. Lead singer wasn’t that great. 

7. The smoke from the casino was awful.  You really couldn’t enjoy the seating on deck 5 outside the casino for all the smoke wafting out.  

 

No opinion:

1. Didn’t see any shows except the port show of whatever it’s called. Cookie made that very entertaining.  No Playlist productions.

2. Didn’t try the steakhouse, but I heard a couple people say the steak was good but not the sides.  Or maybe the sides were good but not the steak.  

3. Didn’t play in the casino, but the staff I encountered were friendly.

4. Didn’t use the spa, Alchemy, or the piano bar.  

 

We met a lot of nice people from all over the country and world. The kids made great friends.  I’m not sailing Liberty next year because I want a different itinerary, but it was a nice ship and a good time.  Granted, I went in with the mindset that I was going to enjoy myself.  Cookie told us we worked hard and paid for that vacation, so we should enjoy and we did just that!

 

THE TL:DR version of all this is it was clean, fun, had great food and nice people.  Stop reading CC reviews, or at least take them with a grain of salt.  Most of them are negative, but that can’t be everyone’s experience or the ships would be empty.

 

ETA: the kids were very satisfied with room service.

Edited June 13, 2019 by NauticalNeophyte

[PhillyFan33579]

4 minutes ago, NauticalNeophyte said:

The comedian Michale Macy was racist, offensive and just not funny.  Carnival

 

What didn’t you like about him?  I have been on 28 cruises on Carnival and spend a lot of time every cruise attending comedy shows. Michael Macy is one of the best comedians on Carnival in my opinion. A group of eight of us were on Liberty last month and we went to the majority of his shows. We only went to one of the other comedian’s shows, because none of us thought he was very funny. I realize everyone has different senses of humor, but surprised by your comment about him. 

[NauticalNeophyte]

24 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

What didn’t you like about him?

For starters, every time he’d talk to someone in the audience, he’d end up saying “I talked to you the other night didn’t I?”  He basically was telling the same jokes about the same people.  Hut that was the leas t of our concerns.  

 

I just don’t think it’s funny to make fun of people’s religions, ethnicities, disabilities, etc. He actually told jokes mocking cruisers from Turkey by imitating what speaking Turkish sounded like to him(just making a lit of utterances and sounds).  That’s not funny, it’s offensive.  He jokes about a disabled cruiser on another sailing with one leg,  he kept referring to the Hispanic cruisers as thieves, he called one girl who slipped her shoes off a hillbilly, joking that she should be home watching the trailer, and he tried to pacify the black cruisers with some Obama jokes, but it was probably just because he took a quick count of who was in the room.  He also made jokes about Hispanic immigrants and the wall where I see nothing funny about children in cages.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not some snowflake who takes things too seriously. I grew up on “In Living Color” so I know anyone can get it.  But it’s how you say things.  The entire routine was negative stereotypes and racist tropes,  and it was more mean spirited than funny. There were some laughs but when it was over everyone immediately got up and left. I didn’t see that with the other comic or in the shows last year.  

 

He did make a few  funny jokes about uppity Royal Caribbean and their rock climbing walls though.  Had he kept that type of snarky but harmless tone, it would have been a much better show.  

Edited June 13, 2019 by NauticalNeophyte

[hotsauce126]

I liked the Liberty, but in my mind its the true definition of an average Carnival ship. Not the best, not the worst, right in the middle. Also, people's reviews regarding whether they liked or disliked specific crew members are kind of irrelevant since the crew changes ship so often

[CruizCuz]

3 hours ago, NauticalNeophyte said:

HE TL:DR version of all this is it was clean, fun, had great food and nice people.  Stop reading CC reviews, or at least take them with a grain of salt.  Most of them are negative, but that can’t be everyone’s experience or the ships would be empty.

Thank you for your in depth and honest review.  I truly appreciated it.  I love reading the reviews on CC, but they have started to become a bit negative IMHO.  While I want truthfulness, I also appreciate hearing the good as well.  NO cruise could be all that bad.  LOL!  So I will remain excited to cruise again on the Liberty and your review has helped me tremendously with that anticipation!  Thank you again!

[NauticalNeophyte]

You’re very welcome.  Well I certainly hope it lives up to my hype.  We had smooth seas, clean cabins, good food, and I was with my family.  How can that be a bad vacation?

[CruizCuz]

14 hours ago, NauticalNeophyte said:

You’re very welcome.  Well I certainly hope it lives up to my hype.  We had smooth seas, clean cabins, good food, and I was with my family.  How can that be a bad vacation?

I totally agree!  I have definitely seldom had the "perfect" cruise, but always had a great time!

[ProgRockCruiser]

My wife and I took two cruises on Liberty in late-2017 and early-2018, one three day and one four day.  We really enjoyed the ship both times!  The crew is what makes it special for us, and 95% of the time they were fantastic!  (For example, occasionally you get a grumpy or "cold" bartender, so you just move on to another server).

 

You will get variation in every aspect of a cruise due to different crew/staff (and maybe they are just having an off day, which for a comedian or piano player can seem devastatingly awful, yet the day before they were awesome).  But the ship itself had all the amenities we could ask for.

 

We've grown used to 7 day or longer cruises, so we won't be sailing on her for a while.  But I wouldn't turn my nose up at a weekend cruise if I needed a quick break...

Edited June 14, 2019 by ProgRockCruiser
I thought Liberty had moved ports, but no...

[CruizCuz]

28 minutes ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

My wife and I took two cruises on Liberty in late-2017 and early-2018, one three day and one four day.  We really enjoyed the ship both times!  The crew is what makes it special for us, and 95% of the time they were fantastic!  (For example, occasionally you get a grumpy or "cold" bartender, so you just move on to another server).

 

You will get variation in every aspect of a cruise due to different crew/staff (and maybe they are just having an off day, which for a comedian or piano player can seem devastatingly awful, yet the day before they were awesome).  But the ship itself had all the amenities we could ask for.

 

We've grown used to 7 day or longer cruises, so we won't be sailing on her for a while.  But I wouldn't turn my nose up at a weekend cruise if I needed a quick break...

I used to do nothing but 7 day cruises.  THEN we had family issues with aging, ailing parents and special needs children.  Now the best we can do is get away for a quickie 3 or 4 day cruise (which is better than NO cruise!) I truly appreciate your perspective about cruise staff as that has also been mine.  I have had some of the most grumpy and non helpful staff on the larger ships.  I don't know why, but for some reason the best service has been on the shorter cruises.  I am really getting excited about our upcoming August/Liberty cruise now!

[elcuchio24]

Its been probably 6 years since we sailed Liberty, but we sailed her twice within two years because we like it so much.

[CruizCuz]

20 hours ago, elcuchio24 said:

Its been probably 6 years since we sailed Liberty, but we sailed her twice within two years because we like it so much.

What in particular did you like?  What would you suggest I avoid?  I am beginning to realize that the Comedy Club will be overly crowded and we might skip that.  Anything else?