Liberty 6 day Review March 23-29

[sandm]

A little backround. This was my families 8th cruise with 5 on Carnival, 2 RCCL and one Disney. We are myself, husband and two teens (a boy and a girl)We traveled with my sister and her family (husband and 2 teens).It was a terrific cruise. The ship was clean and did not notice much wear. We stayed at Embassy Suites 17th street in Fort Lauderdale 2 days pre cruise. Arrived at the port at 11:30 am We were in a cat 12 so had VIP boarding. We went up to the Lido deck for grub. Usual fare but on par with other cruise buffets. We managed to eat plenty and feel full. Our cabin was ready at 1:30. It had plenty of storage space. We had several empty cabinets even with my teenage daughter and son and all their stuff. We did not feel the crowds in the Lido buffet but we tend to eat early for breakfast and lunch. We ate dinner in the dining room every night and all felt the meals were good. When I couldn't decide I would offer two choices and let our waiter choose. I enjoyed everything I ordered. The staff and service were excellent. They seemed genuinely eager to serve and we never felt as though we were an imposition to them. We have gotten that from staff on other cruise lines. The wait staff thanked us for being so easy to work with. My children had to question this further and they were told that many times the guests are so disrespectful to the staff and difficult to work with. Unfortunately we have seen disrespectful treatment of staff on all three cruise lines we have sailed. We did two carnival excursions and one private. On Key West we did the Carnival bike tour. It was slow and easy moving. The guide was an older gentleman that offered much info about the area. The bikes are very old and one broke down and was irreparable so he offered cab fare back and a refund to anyone. Since I am a runner my sister volunteered me to run the rest of the tour along side the bikes. We had a great time and they all gave me a hard time about keeping up but in reality the pace was quite slow for me especially since the guide was an older gentleman and in no hurry. In Cayman we did the Kayak/ snorkel tour. All snorkel and Sting Ray city tours were canceled due to high winds and swift currents but we were able to kayak. The guide was great. We had a 15 minute bus ride to the beach and got a little history and informative tour as we traveled. The kayak guide gave good instructions and anyone who has never kayaked before could easily master it. Jay, the guide stopped several times along the shore to give us history and teach us about the plants along the shore. Unfortunately not everyone reads the descriptions of the tours and didn't realize we did our own paddling. They were disappointed they had to paddle themselves on the kayak. Please read the descriptions of the excursions before you sign up. On Ocho Rios we hired Mark Morris through Markstours.com. This was a terrific excursion. We climbed Dunns River Falls and river tubing and toured fern gully. Mark is delightful and knowledgable. We never felt unsafe and not one person bothered us. He directed us at the Falls to stay away from the market area where venders may get aggresive.

The sea days were fun with lots to do. The teenage boys are not satisfied with sitting in the sun and still found plenty to do. I was up on the running deck at 5:45 am everyday and there were people saving chairs at 6am on the two sea days. This also occured on our Mediterraean cruise with RCCL this summer so this is nothing new. It just makes me chuckle to imagine someone getting angry enough to move the towels or turn in the flip flop to lost and found. We didn't notice many young children but we did notice teens congregating. They were LOUD and using bad language on a few late nights in the hall and tore apart door decorations. This was not Carnivals fault but the parents fault for not teaching their children manners and the basics of being polite. Once again this was behavior we have seen on other cruiselines. It was spring break so we expected this but we still are disappointed when we see this bad behavior. We had a great cruise and look forward to our next. We have two more on the books(one on RCCL and one on NCL) and my husband told me to schedule up for next spring break. We would easily book on Carnival again.

[DBCH911]

Great info! I am definitey going to check out markstours.com. We go on the Liberty in August.

[sandm]

Mark was a great host. He was so articulate and a wealth of information. My kids loved his corny jokes. They also loved to hear him change his speaking from very articulate to the very fast Jamaican talk. It was one of our favorite excursions. The Liberty was a great ship. There were so many places to explore for the kids. Four of us had various massages in the spa and all were wonderful. They were calming and relaxing. There was absolutely no attempt to sell any products to us. If you have any questions I'd be happy to answer if I can.