Back From Liberty 10/13/07 Cruise

[travelwitch23]

HI all, don't know abt posting pics yet, if I do they will be on snapfish.com and I will post a link.

 

First I have to say that I am so happy to be alive today even with a *Beep* absessed tooth:(

 

This cruise was life-changing really. The absolute best thing about the cruise was the pax on this cruise. THey were amazing, outstanding, interesting and interested in getting to know others. All ages, all sizes, all colors.

 

More in a min, gotta walk dog

 

kim

[travelwitch23]

Embarkation was an extremely quick affair and for the first time in eleven cruises I arrived onboard sweatfree!!! WOW that was really quick onboard at 11:50 with inst. to not go to room till 1:30.

 

The buffet lunch was not great, typical fare for starters (not carnival's strong point) but got some food in so alcohol could follow.

 

Just bit the bullet and ordered a bucket of bud light for sailaway and preceded to room. The room was fine, as expected, but the balc was the minutest I have ever had in my life. Teenyweeny balcony. Not:D

 

Got a bottle of cheapagne delivered and promptly gave it away. :eek:

 

kim

[travelwitch23]

The crew. What an awesome bunch! This board told me to expect some of them.....elena from the lobby bar was even more fantastic than ... whatever somebody said. add in luminata and tommy and santiago and wonderful entertainment (the best on the entire ship:D the duo summer breeze)

 

whatta cruz! my room steward laurence was the best ever of all time.

 

next. the entertainment. couldn't ask for anything more from the new cruise director karl with a k (promoted from asst cr dir) and did a fantastic job, one of the best cds i have ever gotten to sail with; totally exceeding expectations

[travelwitch23]

food in the dining room was pretty good and as expected for ccl; food in the buffet and grill was just plain monotonous and totally unexpected.:mad:

 

The same foods were served day after day on the buffet; some nondescript salad bar items, a grilled or broiled salmon dish, some overcooked veggies and some bleeping healthy desert. at the grill outside, hamburgers, hot dogs, and deep fried boneless chicken thighs were available. some lukewarm bland mild cheese sauce and some homemade but overcooked nacho chips were avail. also. these items were really lacking unless you were lucky enuf to get them fresh which did happen once in a while;)

 

the pizza and calzone were amazing thank god:D

 

more tomorrow (pain meds kicking in)

kim

[blackmudsal]

I have never posted before, but feel that I must tell you what a great group you all were to sail with. This was my 5th and best cruise with Carnival. I must say that it is the first time I could go out on deck pretty much any time of day, find a deck chair by the pool, enjoy the sun for a while, and then pack up my things and go. Every other time there have been towels and other belongings on every chair. It was fun to meet so many fun and pleasant people. My husband and I had a blast. Hope to sail with you all again some time.

[vtjean]

Curious, what room were you in?

[travelwitch23]

Right back at ya mudsail:D

 

VT Jean - I was in 9226. Believe me I have cruised in standard size balconys and oversized ones but this one had barely enough "stand room" for me and my husb. The two chairs took up over half the balc. It did not significantly affect my cruise. Ok on to the review.

 

This was my 11th cruise overall and my 7th cruise with Carnival. I cruise with my husb of 27 yrs and sometimes with my mom. This time it was my husb and I and six friends. This was the second cruise for most of them.

 

OK so now I have covered the best parts of the cruise in order:

 

1. Passengers

2. Crew

3. Entertainment

 

Now for other things:

 

The Dining Room. We had the pleasure of dining with our friends at a table for 8 with riyadh (call him eddie) and nellie as our servers. They were spot on the best wait staff ; intuitive; never had to tell them anything more than once. They knew everyone's quirks and catered to them beautifully. The Maitre D, from South Africa, so pleasant every night. The dancing after dinner was a real treat. The food was exactly what I expected - some very good and some average but overall edible.

Desserts were the highlight. I ate breakfast in the DR most mornings and the service and food were excellent. I didn't get to do lunch in the DR as it was only offered two days and I was busy doing something else ;0 at the time.

 

More in a minute

[travelwitch23]

The entertainment including the three production shows was awesome. I missed Marcus Anthony who is one of my favs, too tired to make it to the show:( Music Society plays in one of the lounges, great bar band:D

Piano Guy Brad Alexander 8 out of 10. Brad sincerely tries to entertain and is a decent singer but he is outshone by the other entertainment on this ship. The piano bar had a sprinkling of people most nights. Keep on trucking Brad - I like your attitude.:)

 

The ports were quite awesome. San Juan, Antigua and Nassau were sea days for me as I cruise to relax and work on my scrapbooks and photos. I like to see some ports also but can't take too many port days in a row. We did the Godfrey tour in St. Thomas with our whole group. It was great as usual. THanks Godfrey you are the best! The highlight of our trip was the trek to the baths, virgin gorda. We were really hurting that day when we started out but are so glad we made the effort to go. It was like going to another planet things looked so out of the ordinary. The most beautiful place I have ever seen.

 

Debarkation was quite quick, off the ship at 747am doing self debark. Home at 1015am.

 

Any specific questions bring it!

 

kim

[jode]

Embarkation was an extremely quick affair and for the first time in eleven cruises I arrived onboard sweatfree!!! WOW that was really quick onboard at 11:50 with inst. to not go to room till 1:30.

 

The buffet lunch was not great, typical fare for starters (not carnival's strong point) but got some food in so alcohol could follow.

 

Just bit the bullet and ordered a bucket of bud light for sailaway and preceded to room. The room was fine, as expected, but the balc was the minutest I have ever had in my life. Teenyweeny balcony. Not:D

 

Got a bottle of cheapagne delivered and promptly gave it away. :eek:

 

kim

 

about the teeny tiny balcony. We were on the Liberty 9/1 and although we loved the ship and cruise generally we were disappointed in the balcony. We were on the Spirit a couple of years ago and thought that balancy was definitely larger than this one. If it wasn't for loving the sound of the water so much at night I am not sure it was worth the extra $ this cruise for the small balcony. But we are hooked on balconys so it is built into our budget.

 

We too thought Summer Breeze were awesome ! Their music even got DH who is not fond of dancing to go on the floor and dance.

[kaleighsgram]

We, too, were on this cruise. Our last ship was the Noordam(HAL) and we both agree the Liberty's balcony was terribly small. It was actually difficult at times to get around someone in a chair to get back into the room. The Noordam's seemed to be twice the size, a real pleasure to sit and enjoy the view.

Loved this cruise.

[Planner48]

I can't comment on the balcony as we had an ocean view on deck 2. I thought that was quite awesome as we watched the water go past our window. I can't agree with you on the food on at Emile's. We thought it was awesome. Each day there was a different theme at Taste of Nations. The Deli was delicious each day. The Chinese station had different dishes each day that were awesome. The desert table was fantastic. There is no way you couldn't find good food on this cruise. I agree, Karl with a K was great, full of energy and kept things very fun. Lawrence the assistant was also great. We thought this was the best cruise ever. We saw all of the shows and thought they were fantastic. Laurencio (Larry) and Tiwa in the dining room were the best. The maitre'd was never around our table so I don't have naything to say about him.