Really Super-Long Liberty 8-day Western Review with Pictures!

[jimbug]

Just wanted to say "thanks" to everyone for the kind comments about my review. I'll pick up where I left off later this afternoon or evening.

[Seadragon813]

I've really enjoyed reading your review. Thanks so much for posting. Can't wait to read the rest!

[crosj]

I will be taking this cruise on April 12 and am so looking forward to it!!!! Thanks for a great review...

[anjoliza]

I will be taking this cruise on April 12 and am so looking forward to it!!!! Thanks for a great review...

 

Hey crosj - we have a great roll call going for that cruise - feel free to check it out and join our group!!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=546317

[Papasaurus]

Jimbug,

This review is great. We are going on our first cruise in October. This has been the best review of the Liberty we have read so far. Continue until you finally arrive home. Don't worry about other people complaining about how much space you are using. They simply don't have to read it. After all we do have freedom of choice.;)

[memecakes]

Wow! I found this post just as I was going to sign off last night...well I stayed up for an hour reading and looking at your pics. Wonderful info!!! Thanks so much. I will be going on this trip 5/10 and now you have me so excited I will probably lose sleep again tonight!!:)

[tinetine]

Thanks for a great review, I enjoy reading it everyday. We are going on the Liberty, April 6, and are getting excited. Cant wait to read more of your review!!!

[emmysmommy]

Jimbug: What a wonderful review! Thanks for taking the time to give such a detailed review - which is always appreciated for those who are looking forward to their sailings.

 

I loved your photos of Panama - they truly captured the rawness and beauty of that place.

[poptart]

There is a seperate section for reviews. Why do people post them here? just curious, I always go to the review section when I want to read reviews! It seems foolish to take up so much space here!

 

so we can see the pictures and ask questions. You have no feed back in the review forum.

 

Now you get your panties out of a wad and enjoy the read.

[StrangeBrew]

bump

[Donna n Francis]

Jimbug,

 

Really enjoying your review.......Eddie Capone was my CD on my 1st, 2nd and 3rd (Holiday, Celebration and Jubilee) cruises back in the late 1980's. It's great that he is still around and I would really enjoy seeing him again. Maybe he will be on the Liberty next April 2009. :D He was really funny and I remember that on both the Celebration and Jubilee he had his Mum and Dad on with him. His Dad always carried his Mum's handbag and he was always pointing this out to everyone.

 

Now....back to your review:D

[SeaDays]

Wow!

 

Sometimes reviews with this much detail can be tedious, but yours has allowed us to re-live your cruise as if we traveled with you and your family.

 

Thanks for taking the time to do this.

[ToOtLeFrOg]

I so love this review~ can't wait for the next installment!!! I'm going on Liberty on April 26th and this is great stuff!!! Thanx for taking the time to go into such great detail~its like a good book you can't put down :)

[jimbug]

Thanks everyone...sorry I didn't get to much more tonight. I will write another installment in a little while, then it's off to bed. :)

[jimbug]

Panama, continued:

We re-boarded the ship in Colon and were serenaded by a group of young adult Panamanian dancers. Of course, one of the dancers had a large tip jar out, trying to catch every passenger’s eye as they made their way up the gangway into the ship. I know this sounds goofy and cheap, but I don’t like being “guilted” into tipping for something I didn’t ask for. (Yes, we tipped.) They weren’t that good, and it was clear they were not enthusiastic about their “job.” (Not that I would be, either, but anyway…)

 

We were all extremely tired after our long day in Panama, and we contemplated for a split second just doing dinner in the buffet, but we decided we might as well go see Alexandra and Eaton again in the dining room. Plus, the food was been right on all week, and I wanted some more of the delicious warm chocolate melting cake! That cake was variable all week—always good, but the consistency was sometimes more like chocolate soup than it was cake-like. Oh, and I don’t remember what night we had it, but if you see the Caribbean chocolate cake on the dessert menu—order it. In fact, order two. It was pretty comparable to one of the desserts we had at Harry’s, and I would have eaten one every night if they would have let me. :)

 

If I recall correctly, I think Heidi and I hit the casino bar and then the piano bar for another night with Chris and Vince. Before we did, though, Mom and I went up to the spa to see what was on special for the next two sea days. They advertised a formal night special for the next day, and it was $89 for a spa sampler package that included a formal up-do for your hair. It was actually a great deal, so we wanted to sign up. The receptionist informed us that they were already all booked up…it seemed unlikely, though, because the special was advertised for the first time in that evening’s Capers, which of course don’t get delivered until dinnertime. We had early seating and went to reserve it directly after dinner. Hmm…oh well. We found a different package that was a little bit more expensive, but involved a massage and a facial, so perhaps it turned out for the best anyhow.

 

Also, there was Eddie Capone’s R-rated comedy show at midnight on this night, but it wasn’t printed in the Capers. We just happened to hear Steve Knisley’s announcement that it was going on that night. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it, but I’m sure it would have been great!

 

Friday, March 20 – At Sea Again

Mom and I had our spa appointments at 9:15. She woke me up at what we thought was about 8:30, and I got ready quickly and we headed up one deck to the spa. We were behind a couple of elderly ladies who were checking in for their appointments. When the spa receptionist asked them how she could help them, one of them replied, “We have an appointment at 8:00.” My mom and I both looked at each other like “oh, those silly old ladies—don’t they know they’re over an hour late?”…until we realized we were the ones who were an hour early. Oops. The previous evening’s Capers had told us to set our clocks back, but Mom didn’t realize that it meant the next night, not the night we received the Capers! Ha! Well, we had an hour to kill, so we decided to go to the buffet and have some breakfast. It was here I encountered one of the friendliest employees on the ship—I cannot for the life of me remember his name, but he was a “Chef Trainee” working in the made-to-order omelet bar. He was from India, and his name started with a “B”…he was so pleasant and made great conversation with all of us waiting for our omelets that he was cooking. I’m sure that “B” will make a great Carnival chef, and I hope that he gets commended for his great service and attitude. I did write this on one of the comment cards, so I hope they are able to figure out who he is and recognize him accordingly. I had a delicious ham, cheese, and pepper omelet and half a toasted bagel. I could get used to this—I’m not much of a breakfast eater at home, but it’s really because I’m too lazy to get up early enough to cook anything in the morning. If I had this kind of selection every day, I’d probably eat a lot more balanced meals!

 

After enjoying a leisurely breakfast, we went back to the cabin for a little while until it was time to head up to the spa. I mentioned before that I had a massage with Rose May, but I don’t think I touched on the spa itself very much. The services and therapists were all great, but I have a couple of minor complaints about the facilities themselves. For one, just the décor and atmosphere up there did *not* lead to the feeling of luxurious relaxation, if you ask me. If you’ve ever been on a Princess Grand-class or a Holland America Vista-class ship and have visited their spas, you’ll know what I’m talking about. On those types of ships, the décor and colors used are very calming and surreal. There are beautiful plants, and the treatment rooms all have floor-to-ceiling windows so you can see the ocean while you are getting pampered. While you wait for your therapist to meet you, they send you to the thermal suite or a posh waiting room. Spa Carnival on the Liberty was quite different from the cruise ship spa experience I was expecting. The décor was very dark and Vegas-y, with the neon-lighted signs above the doors (similar to the rest of the ship, which is fine, just not appropriate for a spa). While waiting for your therapist, you have to wait in the outer section of the locker room, where there are only a couple of bland couches, and your great “view” is of the bathroom stalls and the cleaning supply cart. The treatment rooms themselves are nice, but are “inside cabins” in that they have no windows or natural light at all. Also, I haven’t looked on the deck plans, but whatever is directly above the spa treatment rooms is very loud early in the morning. During both of my treatments that week, someone was banging something on the floor above us, and it was quite distracting.

 

Oh, and a few notes about the fitness center – it is sort of confusing to get to, because you have to enter through the locker rooms (males and females enter separately), and signage is not that obvious. The equipment in the gym is great – it is pretty much the same stuff we have in the brand-new gym I go to at home, and the only thing missing were the top-of-the-line Precor elliptical trainers that I am used to, but the Lifestride ones they had were okay. The weight machines are also really nice, and it seemed like there were plenty of machines to go around. Of course, I was never there during the peak morning rush, but I went at varying other times of the day, and I never had to wait to use anything. There were only two tiny unfortunate things about the gym – one, the ceilings were very low and I got a closed-in feeling up there, and two, it seemed like every time I went to work out, they were having some sort of fitness or detox seminar there. They didn’t close the gym during the seminars or anything, it was just kind of weird huffing and puffing and working out while there were 20 other people in the room who were supposed to be listening to the seminar, but you know were secretly looking at all the suckers working out. :)

 

Okay, back to my spa treatment. I waited in the “waiting room” for the therapist, when Sarah from Ireland came to get me. I had attended one of Sarah’s facial seminars earlier in the week, and she is really sweet. She turned 21 on this day of the cruise, and her coworkers had decorated her treatment room in style! The seminar I had gone to earlier was advertised as “Facial and Beauty Bar – Free Makeovers for All Who Attend.” Now I have been to enough of these to know that they are just sales pitches for the Elemis and La Therapie spa products, but I have never seen them advertised so blatantly wrong. Sarah gave a 20-minute speech (which was actually a bit informative) about our skin and why it is important to use certain types of products, etc. They picked one lady from the audience and performed a quick facial on her. Then, the “free makeovers” for everyone else was simply Sarah and her assistant passing around a tray of lip glosses for everyone to try. Then, they came around with a blusher brush full of Sunglow bronzer and lightly dusted everyone’s hands and faces. I’m not really complaining, because I sort of expected it, and you can’t complain about something free, but really? They can advertise that as a makeover? Ehh, anyway. I am getting sidetracked again…back to my spa treatment with Sarah again, for real this time.

 

Sarah escorted me to the treatment room, where she proceeded to give me a shortened version of her speech about skin she had given at the facial seminar. I didn’t mind, and I didn’t stop her because I’d already heard it. She really is nice, and she is good at her job. I just wish Steiner would revamp their spa practices a bit. She started out with the massage, which was heavenly, then she continued on to the facial. It felt soooo good after a week in the sun, and I actually fell asleep by the time she was finished. Sarah had asked me what kind of skin care products I was currently using, and I told her I use Lancome. She told me they were great products, and I shouldn’t switch. She didn’t even try to sell me a single thing from their skincare line after the treatment, which I really appreciated. I also appreciated her honesty that Lancome was a “good” product line to use—I am used to having aestheticians tell me that whatever line they are peddling is the only good one out there!

 

After my spa treatment, I didn’t want to do much else besides relax, so I put on my swimsuit and headed out to the open decks to find the rest of my family and get some sun. Well, the seas were still churning like crazy, and the wind was still strong, so that meant that the top two open decks were closed yet again. This was probably the worst of all the days in trying to find a deck chair, so some of my family members and I just rotated out using the couple of chairs we had scavenged. Soon enough, it was time to eat again, so my mom, Tara, Granny, and I decided to check out the Silver Olympian’s lunch menu again. The food was all delicious, and the service was outstanding, as usual. I just really enjoy the dining room experience for breakfast and lunch more than I do the buffet. Maybe it’s the lack of hustle and bustle, or the opportunity to try unique menu items, but hey, whatever it is, it’s working.

 

After digesting our lunch, Tara and I decided we would go to the gym to try and get in another workout. Well, the seas were still so crazy that neither one of us could last longer than 10 or 15 minutes on the treadmills or ellipticals. The two different motions, from the ship in the waves and the moving equipment, made us both really dizzy and nauseous, so we had to go back to the cabin. Blah! I am actually participating in a research study on wellness that requires me to work out at least 3 times a week for 30 minutes each time. I didn’t quite make my goal that week, but I did at least make it to the gym 3 times. That’s 3 more times than I have made it on any of my previous cruises…haha.

 

We headed back to our cabin and turned on the in-cabin movie, Becoming Jane. I had actually watched it in the plane on the way to Fort Lauderdale, but Tara wanted to see it, so we watched it again. It’s not bad…you definitely have to be a Jane Austen fan to even understand part of it, I would say. Between watching the movie and napping, the next thing we knew, the afternoon was gone and it was time to get ready for our second formal night.

 

We all put on our best jeans and headed down to the dining room (just kidding…we actually did put on formal wear again). :) We didn’t take any more professional pictures this time, which is probably for the best, because we all spent a fortune buying a lot of our dining room and formal portraits over the whole week. After dinner, we headed to the show in the theater, which was Christopher Alan Graves’ “Singin’ with the Big Band.” Graves is a pretty good performer, but my mom and I both admitted that “big band” brings to mind Glenn Miller and Count Basie…not the tribute to Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. that he performed. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great singer and has wonderful stage presence…it just wasn’t what we thought it was going to be.

 

After the show, we decided to hit up the grand gala buffet at midnight. I have never, ever, not once been to a midnight buffet on any of my cruises, so I was kind of excited about checking it out. I did realize in advance, though, that the point of the gala buffets were not about the taste or quality of the food, but more about the food art and the elaborate displays. Go with that knowledge in mind, and you might just be pleasantly surprised. There was a long line about 10 minutes before it started, but it moved quickly once they opened it up for serving. There were some extremely strange food combinations, and I left everything on the “regular” food part of the buffet alone, except for the “Potatoes William,” which turned out to be deep-fried mashed potato nuggets. Interesting…and kind of good. You couldn’t have kept me away from the dessert table, though, no way…they had some AMAZING looking cakes and pastries and fruit. I settled on a slice of chocolate cake and a slice of white forest cake. Both were truly melt-in-your-mouth amazing, and the taste of the white forest cake, in particular, certainly matched or exceeded its elaborate display. While we were enjoying our midnight buffet goodies, we noticed Eton, our assistant waiter from the dining room clearing tables. He came over to say hi, and we had a little chat about his work schedule. I was shocked that he had to work so late at night after working two sittings in the regular dining room. He told us that he comes to work at 1:00 p.m. each day, and works until 2:30 or 3:00 a.m. I’m amazed—these people work so hard, day in and day out, yet they still keep a smile on their face. Heck, I complain if I have to stay even an hour late, and I love my job!

 

We called it a night after the buffet, even though I was tempted to stop by and do some more piano sing-along with Vince. I’m getting too old for this late-night party-owl stuff. :)

[inanotherlife]

Jimbug, I love all the detail to your review! It's been very enjoyable for me. It's not the typical review of the food was good/bad the room was good/bad...etc. This is really great! Thanks so much for doing this! :)

[jimbug]

Oh, I also wanted to add a quick note about cell phone usage on the ship. There are towers on the ship, and my uncle said his phone worked the whole week - you will just be charged international roaming through your cell phone provider if you use it.

[tls630]

So JimBug cut to the chase here and tell us did you enjoy your cruise or not??WoW!!:D

[jimbug]

So JimBug cut to the chase here and tell us did you enjoy your cruise or not??WoW!!:D

 

Haha, of course I did. I will definitely be able to finish the whole story either tonight or tomorrow. Getting back in the swing of things with work and house stuff has kept me from writing, but I promise to finish this weekend!

 

As you can see from my signature below, I'm already planning my next Carnival cruise. It will *probably* be on the Splendor over Thanksgiving, but our second choice is the Miracle 8-night eastern next January.

[vanislandcruisers]

jimbug

 

Great job on your review...enjoying every word

[JPNROB]

Great review Jimbug. Very detailed. Has the mini-golf been installed yet?

[jimbug]

Yes, mini golf HAS been installed. You can get the putters and balls from the desk on lido deck that has pool towels, etc. Rest of review will continue in a moment. :)

 

(Which, by the way, reminds me to say that if you are flying and your bags miss the plane and have to spend a night outside at O'Hare, your jewelry and MP3 player will go missing. More on that later.)

[anjoliza]

(Which, by the way, reminds me to say that if you are flying and your bags miss the plane and have to spend a night outside at O'Hare, your jewelry and MP3 player will go missing. More on that later.)

 

uh oh - doesn't sound like this story has the happiest of endings:eek:

[jimbug]

Saturday, March 22 – Our Last Day At Sea:

Mom and I got up at a relatively early time, and went down to the Silver Olympian to enjoy one more sit-down dining room breakfast. This time I had the French toast (with the yummy chicken sausage on the side), and it was to die for! I immediately regretted not discovering that French toast earlier in the cruise!

 

Finally, we were back in calmer seas, which meant that the upper open decks were once again open. Some of our gang went up to our favorite spot on Deck 12 and were able to easily secure some chairs and a nice spot away from the crowds. I kept meaning to go out one more time to work on my tan, but it seems like I kept getting distracted the whole day! First, we had some last-minute souvenir shopping to do in the shops onboard, then we had to fill out our comment card/survey thingies, and before we knew it, it was time for lunch. :-)

 

Mom, Granny, and I hit up the Silver Olympian again and had bacon cheeseburgers for lunch. I knew that soon enough, I’d be back to sandwiches or Lean Cuisines for lunch every day, and I was going to relish every bit of these last “gourmet” meals!

 

After lunch, we did go out on deck for a little while and basically just wasted the afternoon away. I definitely did not want this cruise to be over!!

 

We went to our last dinner with Alexandra and Eton, and delivered their extra tips and Easter candy, which Alex very much appreciated—I think we learned that she is a definite chocoholic!! After dinner, we decided we had better get to packing. I gave myself an hour, and just barely made it. At 8:45, I was to meet Heidi down on the promenade so we could listen to Chris on the guitar for awhile and watch Tara and Cody play each other in chess. The rest of our gang ended up down there eventually, but they all left us again to go to the 10:30 show. Tara and I stayed behind because we were having too much fun just people-watching and enjoying the music. It was on this night (much too late in the cruise!) that I discovered the most awesome bartender in the Casino bar (right across from the promenade stage/lounge area). I don’t recall her name, but she poured the BEST martinis (heavy on the vodka!) and she was super-nice. She was Eastern European and had chin-length dark hair, so if you guys run into her, definitely order a drink—she will hook you up! After a few too many martinis for me and a bit too much sugar for Tara (from her banana smoothies), we became Chris’s biggest fans. In fact, we were pretty much the only people left down there, save for the few passers-by in the casino, so he handed us his music list, and we got to pick his music for about the last hour of his set. We really had a good time, and Chris was awesome. I just wish we had discovered all these great things much earlier in the trip!!

 

Anyway, we finally called it a night around midnight and headed back to our cabins. Our whole group opted to do the self-assist luggage/debarkation program for the next morning, and we were starting to wonder whether or not we had made a good choice.

 

Sunday, March 23 – Easter and Debarkation:

I had never participated in the self-assist debarkation option before, and I wasn’t exactly sure how it would work. The reason we chose to do this was because we had early car rental reservations and we wanted to be sure we could get off the ship, through customs, to the airport to pick up our cars, and in Dania Beach by 10:30 for our Easter brunch reservations.

 

It turns out we had nothing to fear, and I’d definitely do self-assist again, except maybe not with an elderly person or someone who needs a little extra time and assistance. When Steve Knisely made the self-debark call around 7:30 a.m., we first headed for the elevators. Admittedly, we did have quite a bit of luggage, but we could all manage it. The kids and I were loaded down like pack mules because we were managing Granny’s luggage as well, and we REALLY wanted to get on an elevator. However, it wasn’t meant to be, as every elevator that came up to the 10th floor was already full. So, most of us started the trek down the stairs (with ALL of our luggage) to Deck 0 to disembark. Mom stayed behind with Granny to catch an elevator, which they finally did. By the time we got to Deck 2 on the stairs, traffic was backed up. We spent maybe another 20 minutes slowly progressing our way down the last two flights of stairs and through the debarkation area. Once we were off the ship, we literally just breezed through Customs in the terminal…they barely even glanced at our paperwork or passports, and we were on our way.

 

Before I continue with the chronological-type review, I want to stop here and say a couple of things about the end of the cruise. First, we didn’t notice *any* types of religious services for Easter. I didn’t expect that they would have something the morning of debarkation, but we were sort of hoping for a church service the night before or even on Good Friday, but there were none. I guess it just depends on if they have any clergy members sailing that week, and if they come forth to volunteer their services. We were a little disappointed, because I think it is the first time in my entire life I haven’t attended church on Easter. Also, I was really, really sad to say good-bye to the Liberty that morning. I felt like I had forged some new friendships with some of the crew, and had just enjoyed myself so much that I didn’t want to leave, not at all! Usually by the time the end of a cruise rolls around, I’m finally ready to go and not too sad about it, but not this time…I guess that just goes to show how much more FUN we had this time!

 

Anyway, it was somewhat of a madhouse outside the cruise terminal, with everyone looking for buses, shuttles, taxis, and other forms of transportation. We split our group into two taxis and headed to the Fort Lauderdale airport’s rental car facility. According to our “interesting” taxi driver, he was not supposed to drop us off curbside at the car rental facility, but instead at the airport terminal across the street. We were supposed to either walk across on the sky bridge or take the rental car shuttle over. Well, we asked him if he could just try to drop us off (since we had Granny, who by this point in the trip, was a little beyond walking a long distance), and fortunately for us, he was willing to fuss with the security guards and he let us off curbside.

 

We had a pre-paid car rental through National that I had reserved through Priceline about a month prior. I don’t know if it’s because it was Easter or what, but the car rental rates were absolutely astronomical that weekend. I even have some pretty good corporate discount codes to use for car rentals, but even those weren’t coming through. A compact car was running $140-$150/day that weekend, which was just insane. So, I tried my luck with Priceline and got a full-size through National for $65, tax and fees included. Although still quite high, it was at least do-able. When I checked in at National’s self-service kiosk, they gave me the option to upgrade to an SUV for an additional $10. I figured oh, what the heck…we probably need the space, so I went ahead with the upsell. The one thing I really like about National (and I think Alamo is the same way) is that you get to pick your own vehicle from whatever ones are there on the lot. I ended up choosing a Toyota Highlander, but could have chosen from about 8 different SUVs on their lot that day.

 

The rest of our gang (minus Heidi, since she had an early flight and was already on her way back to Houston) rented a gigantic Ford Excursion through Royal. Although the price was really low ($80) and the vehicle was brand-new and really nice, it seriously took almost an hour for them to get checked in and to get their vehicle. Once we both had our cars, we headed the few miles away to Dania Beach in search of our restaurant for brunch, Beach Watch.

 

I had researched Easter brunch options in Fort Lauderdale quite extensively, and we debated back and forth for quite awhile on which place to go with. Our first choice was the Renaissance Hotel in Plantation, but we ended up nixing that because it was highly likely we would be under-dressed for the occasion there. Next up was Trina Restaurant at the Atlantic Hotel, but I talked myself out of that because they only had breakfast food on the buffet, no lunch/brunch/dessert options. We ended up at Beach Watch (http://www.beach-watch.com) despite the “warnings” from some Fort Lauderdale locals over on the CruiseCritic Florida departures board. I decided to take a go at it based on location and menu, and it turned out to be a good move.

 

Beach Watch is located on the pier at Dania Beach, and is somewhat new. Their all-you-can-eat brunch (with mimosas included) was $22/pp, and was more than worth it. They had the BEST pancakes I have ever eaten, but they also had a ton of other things, like made-to-order omelets, carving board meats, all sorts of eggs, French toast, breakfast meats, etc., plus several lunch or dinner-type meat dishes. There was also a huge salad bar and dessert area. Everything was just delicious, and it was a great “last meal” for us all to share together before our vacation was officially over. After we ate, we went outside to watch the surfers and the pelicans for awhile, and watched a rainstorm move in just south of us. Little did we know that those rain clouds would bode bad news for us later…

 

Anyway, by the time we finished our brunch, we decided we might as well just go ahead and return the rentals and check in for our flights. I dropped Mom and Granny off curbside with their bags at American Airlines, with plans to meet up with them in the terminal after I had returned the car and checked in for my own flights with US Airways.

 

I returned the car and checked in for my flights with no hassle. In fact, the US Airways employee who checked me in was quite possibly the friendliest, most helpful airline agent I have ever dealt with! My US Airways flight was supposed to leave out of Concourse F, but I headed over to security to get in Concourse E so I could wait awhile with Mom and Granny before our flights. We had over 2 hours to wait at that point. When I got up to the TSA agent, she looked at my boarding pass and wouldn’t let me in. She said I *had* to go through Concourse F since that’s where my flight left from. I tried to explain to her that my mother and grandmother were waiting in there, and we both had later flights and wanted to wait together, but she wasn’t having it. I was so upset—I didn’t get a chance to tell Mom or Granny good-bye and give them a hug, and here was this stupid TSA lady who wouldn’t let me on their concourse. I really have to complain about Fort Lauderdale’s airport set-up here. Who ever heard of not being able to go between concourses in an airport once you were past security?? Even at a huge airport like DFW or Chicago O’Hare, you can go wherever you want once you have cleared security. Grrrr….anyway, I had to go wait by myself in the US Airways concourse and fume about the stupid regulations.

 

We boarded my flight to Charlotte on time, and I had high hopes for making my tight connection there. We even pushed back on time, and started to taxi out to the runway, when the captain came on to let us know we were just going to park the aircraft for about 30-45 minutes because of bad weather. Well, there goes my connection. I only had about 45 minutes to make it in the first place (not my choice—United cancelled my original flights), so there it went. Well, that original 45 minute wait turned into another 45 minute wait, because by the time the storm blew through, we were number 25 for takeoff. Everywhere we could see, there was a never-ending line of planes waiting to depart. I guess I should just be thankful that we weren’t trying to get TO a cruise that day…the captain told us that they had diverted all incoming traffic to other airports to try to get the backlogged departures in the air.

 

We did finally take off from FLL at an opportune time…we flew right over the Liberty as she was making her way out to sea again. I said a silent “good-bye” to all of my new friends on the ship, and watched the sailaway for as long as I could from the air. We finally landed in Charlotte, 2 hours later than scheduled, and my fellow passengers decided that they were all more important than the next person and started a free-for-all trying to debark the plane and grab overhead carry-ons before we had even parked at the gate. For goodness sakes’, people!! Anyway, the flight attendants announced that if anyone had missed their connection, they had already printed new boarding passes for us and we could just pick them up at the top of the ramp. Well, I was one of the lucky ones who didn’t get a pass automatically printed because the last leg of my flight was on United, so they sent me down to the US Airways customer service center.

 

I waited in line for awhile (but not nearly as long as all the people behind me, bless their hearts), and finally got “assisted” by an agent named Jon. Jon had already explained to the gentlemen in front of me that US Airways would not be paying for any hotels or meal vouchers because the delay was weather-related and was not the airline’s fault. Although I kind of see this, I would also see it as a customer service—if you can’t get your passenger home that night, then you put them up in a hotel—but apparently they don’t see things my way.

 

Jon was clearly frustrated by the time he got to me, and I’m pretty sure I didn’t help his day any. There was no way they could get me back to Fargo that night, but even worse, Jon didn’t know how to get into United’s system so that he could get me booked on a flight for the next morning. Everything was starting to unravel, when I finally had to “solve” things myself, because he wasn’t getting anywhere. I convinced him to at least get me to Chicago that night on US Airways, and then I would get on the phone with United and get rebooked for the next morning. Although he should have been able to help me right there and given me new boarding passes, he wasn’t able to, but my solution ended up working out as best as it could have.

 

I ran down to another concourse and barely made it in time for the last flight to Chicago that night. When I got in, my only option was a super-expensive night in a hotel, or to pay for a $34 roundtrip bus ticket out to Rockford to stay with my husband’s parents. The latter was what I opted for, and I have to admit that a shower and a comfy bed sure felt good, even though I was only there for about 5 hours tops before I had to turn around and head back to O’Hare. The only bad thing was that a.) I didn’t have any of my luggage except a carry-on, and none of my clean clothes or toiletries were in that carry-on; and b) I still didn’t have a confirmed seat on a flight out the next morning.

 

Even though I had been on the phone off-and-on late that night with United trying to get things straightened out, they still weren’t looking too good. So, I just headed back to O’Hare the next morning in time to make the first flight to Fargo in case I got lucky. Fortunately I did get lucky, but the funny thing was that when the agent checked me in, she asked me if I knew why there were FOUR reservations in my name for that day—ha! What a mess things had become!! Fortunately I did make it onto that earliest flight back home to Fargo, and lo and behold, even my checked bags made it onto that flight with me! I was so shocked, but happy to see them coming around the carousel! (Long story short, their little excursion without me in Chicago wasn’t too great…there are some things missing from my luggage.)

 

I finally made it home to Grand Forks around noon on Monday (only 12 hours later than planned—haha), and crashed. I was completely exhausted, and I’m just now starting to recover.

 

Final Thoughts:

My final thoughts on the cruise—it was awesome. My mom and I both remarked more than once during the week that we were having just such a BETTER time than we had on any of our previous cruises, even though all of our previous cruises were still good. I admit that before I sailed on Carnival, I was skeptical. I had heard all of the “Wal-Mart” cruise line rumors and half expected to be disappointed, but I was more than pleasantly surprised. I just felt like I really fit in and had a good time. I participated in the nightlife and got to know the crew. We just had a great time overall, and I can’t wait to do it again. As you can see by my signature, I’m already planning to check out the Splendor over Thanksgiving…I don’t know if that will officially pan out because I’m finagling some vacation days at work, but if it does, you can be sure that I will write a review and have a great time!

 

Here’s the link to my pictures once more, in case you don’t want to go all the way back to the beginning: http://picasaweb.google.com/mrskennedynd

 

Thanks for reading, and if you have any questions, I’ll be glad to answer them!

[memecakes]

Great review Thanks so much for all you work in posting it! You made me feel like I was there with you.