Liberty 9/13/2008 Review--western Caribbean!

[valancy1]

First Day-at-Sea Lunch!

 

 

 

 

We ate at the Lido deck nearly every day. Once we had pizza on our trip as well as a hot dog another day, and totally forgot to take pictures. However, I will vouch for everyone else who's raved about the pizza--it really is good! As are the hot dogs! YUM.

[Guest Mary49]

Pictures and review on just great but did you take any pictures of my favorite group "Music Boardwalk"??? Hope you saw them. Mary49

[BettyPC]

Fabulous Review & I am REALLY loving the food pictures.

 

Can't wait to read it all

[valancy1]

FIRST FORMAL NIGHT DINNER!!

 

I don't know if I mentioned that we ate in the dining room every night. We got on our "cruise elegant" clothes and headed down to the Promenade (Deck 5) and sat out by the casino (Czar's Palace). Barry said he liked "watching the parade". <G>

 

It *was* fun watching everyone all dressed up. I wanted to talk about the portrait opportunities (again, for those that don't know)...

 

You can get your picture taken at various stations on the Promenade or the Atlantic deck (Deck 4). There are many photographers, not just one, and various choices of backgrounds. The photographer gives you a number which tells which area in the photo gallery you will find your pictures (the photo gallery is on Deck 4, Atlantic).

 

When you get your pictures, you will see at the bottom or on the side, "Gold", "Bronze", "Platinum", etc. This determines the price. We got 2 portraits done and of course, they were both Platinum <G>. That means for one 8x10, the price was $21.99. You could get additional copies in various configurations for $9.99. We got one that was a 5x7 and 4 wallets for both our formal night portraits.

 

 

They even offer black & whites, which we got and now we cannot find the picture, but I'll look for it.

 

SCRAPBOOKING ALERT! While I was in the photo gallery, I espied photo albums of all sizes... and the second time I was there, they had REAL scrapbooks (12x12) and scrapbook kits made specifically for Carnival! I was going to scrapbook this cruise, so I was thrilled to find the book right away and have it settled. This one has a picture of the Liberty included and the names of all the ships, so you can take your ship's name and place it on the front cover. Not all will be excited by this news, but if you're a scrapbooker, you will be.

 

I paid $23 for the book and the scrapbook kits were from $6.95-11.95 for a mega pack w/ 250 pieces.

 

 

Anyway, on to the food...

 

 

 

 

[valancy1]

 

 

When we came back to our room after dinner, Kelvin had turned down our bed, left us our mints and our Capers, and a new friend:

 

 

 

After dinner, we rested in our room for a bit. I currently have a foot problem and needed to rest my feet. Then we went to the evening's entertainment. Jeff Laub was the comedian for the evening and he was pretty funny! They had a late-night edition (Rated "R") and we didn't go as we were pretty tired.

 

Time for bed, because tomorrow is Cozumel day! Our first day in port.

[valancy1]

Pictures and review on just great but did you take any pictures of my favorite group "Music Boardwalk"??? Hope you saw them. Mary49

 

Sorry Mary! We didn't frequent the clubs. I heard they were here and people raved about them, but they were performing when we were at dinner and then while we were at the evening show. I'll have to catch them next time.

[valancy1]

DAY THREE - COZUMEL MEXICO!!

 

We woke up with Cozumel on the horizon (we are early risers no matter what)...

 

 

 

Then, after Barry took his walk up on Deck 11 and came back, we were getting ready to dock. The ship's magic "sideways" engines (hey, if I call them "thrusters" someone will correct me anyway! <G>) and started moving us toward the pier...

 

 

 

We had breakfast in the dining room that morning. For those who have not cruised or eaten in the dining room for breakfast, the portions are small. In other words, if you order an omelette, it is probably about 5" in length--nothing like what you get in a breakfast house. Everything is smaller. If you have a big appetite in the morning, order a couple of things. I will also say that the hash browns were INCREDIBLE. YUM. No pictures here, my apologies.

 

One thing they did that I really appreciated, too, was they offered to sell us water before we got off the ship right in the dining room. We got two big (litre) bottles. However, once we were down on Deck 0, they were selling water there and insulated bottle holders. So make sure if you get off at Cozumel to get your water one way or the other. Even the natives do not drink the water.

 

 

[valancy1]

 

We decided to rent a Jeep for the morning. I searched on-line and there was a local place as well as an Avis. So I chose Avis. PLEASE NOTE: There are other rental places in Cozumel! Alamo, Budget, Dollar, etc. and they are located at the port. We walked nearly 1.5 miles to find the Avis place and it was at an inconvenient location (unless you get the port that is not the "downtown" port). Yikes, my feet were really hurting by then. Had I known Alamo was right there, that's what I would have done.

 

 

There are "hawkers" everywhere. Since we went to the shopping talk, we knew what to do. They don't mean any harm--they just want you to come in and buy from them so they can make some money--no fault in that.

 

However, one thing Eddie told us was not to shop in the actual port shop (except Los Cinco Solace), particularly for jewelry, so they were hawking the whole walk through (you have to go up an escalator, walk past all these shops and then go down another escalator on the other side of the mall).

 

Anyway, we got in the Jeep (6-speed stick) and took our lives in our hands and drove on the streets of Cozumel. There were times I just had to close my eyes. They would just pull right out in front of us. Scared the crap out of me.

 

We made our way to the east end of the island where it was the road less traveled. (cont'd)...

 

Once we got to the east side, the ocean lay before (and beside) us. The colors were beyond description. This is our first trip to the Caribbean and the water was so incredibly beautiful.

 

 

 

 

[valancy1]

Were I to do it again, I would have rented from one of those other places... the cruise ship tells people DO NOT RENT THE SCOOTERS and our taxi driver (back to the ship from Avis) told us of a cruise passenger 3 weeks prior who didn't see one of their all-too-common speed bumps and she died after hitting it. So consider NOT renting the scooters!

 

We came back to the ship for lunch:

 

 

Then we headed back out to Cozumel to go shopping. We had fun doing it because, after the 2:30 talk the day before, we felt better prepared should we "happen upon something" LOL (hey, I'm a girl and LOVE jewelry)

 

I was so involved in our transaction at Diamonds International that I didn't think to get all the freebies. Oh well, next time.

 

 

Nice 50th b'day present, eh?

 

After we were done walking around, we went back to the ship for a little bit. We were booked for a Sunset Catamaran excursion through Carnival and that was at 5:30.

 

 

This was a BLAST. I would so do this again. You are on a catamaran and they serve margaritas, beer, water, some soda, etc. They play fun music. People were dancing (even the crew was dancing). The breeze was very welcome (it was a cooker of a day). However, the one thing they could not do is guarantee a sunset--drat. About 10 minutes after we set sail, the clouds rolled in over the sunset viewing area (WEST) and that was the end of that hope. Mother Nature made it up for us later in the cruise, though.

 

There was someone dancing the twist and she was doing it PERFECTLY...

 

 

There was a guy that was drinking a LOT of beer and when Big & Rich's song "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy" came on, he was acting out the whole thing...

 

 

This was a fun excursion. At the end, it was obviously dark and I got a great shot of the Liberty, waiting to welcome us home:

 

[valancy1]

Dinner time!

 

 

 

 

 

Ilshat (my bar man) and my wine <G>:

 

 

[Wags67]

 

And we met our room steward, Kelvin (Costa Rica). He's been with Carnival for 6 years.

 

 

 

OMG!!!! Debra....we had Kelvin as our room steward October 07' but we were onboard the Destiny....Kelvin was an absolute DOLL! He was awesome!

[Indiansbaseball]

Debra...great job. I am loving your review and pics. Keep it going :D

 

Jen

[valancy1]

OMG!!!! Debra....we had Kelvin as our room steward October 07' but we were onboard the Destiny....Kelvin was an absolute DOLL! He was awesome!

 

Laura,

 

He WAS awesome. He was never in the way--he said that we were never around :) I told him we DO come around, but it is when he is "off".

 

(For those that don't know, the staff/crew don't get days off. They work split shifts by what we were told. We would see them at some of the ports and such, but they were back to work later that night.)

 

He even signed my birthday "page" on my door, and he said he wished he had more people like us. (That just meant we didn't ask anything of him. ha).

[valancy1]

After dinner, we went to the evening's entertainment again in the Venetian Palace. This particular evening, it was Jerry Goodspeed, a comedian and ventriloquist--it was hilariously good.

 

When we came back to our room, we had our bed turned down, our mints, and a new little friend came to visit:

 

 

[Wags67]

Laura,

 

He WAS awesome. He was never in the way--he said that we were never around :) I told him we DO come around, but it is when he is "off".

 

 

 

Debra......we seen Kelvin on a daily basis..which surprised us since on our first cruise we Never seen our cabin steward! Kelvin was such a kind Soul...I'd leave him a simple note each morning & night and he responded each time:) Told him I wish I could have him each cruise..

P.S. I am loving your review...keep up the Excellent Job!!!

[valancy1]

DAY FOUR--A DAY AT THE ART AUCTION... err A DAY AT SEA!!

Let me just preface this before Don pipes up. LOL...

 

I have always loved art. I see art in other people's houses and sigh. It just "DOES" something for me. Others may get a high by getting a great hand in black jack, others by getting a great buy; some probably from being at a major sporting event. For me, it is art. LOVE IT.

 

So I went to this art auction. Sally (of "Brent & Sally" fame) said she might go to get some champagne. I didn't know Don was also an art lover as well, but when I went, it was Don I'd see and not Sally.

 

I got a number, sat down (sans champagne) and just started watching. First up was an Anatole Kraznyansky. I have good taste LOL... it was ONLY something like $11,000. LOL. Um, no, I didn't buy it. But I loved his work.

 

 

LOVE this. Probably not for everyone, but it sends me.

 

Then, there was another artist, Michael Milkin (not the junk bond guy, someone else)

 

 

 

 

Well I bought a Kraznyansky AND a Milkin. SIGH. That was going to be IT for art purchases. HO HO was I wrong about that. More to come...

 

Don got a couple pieces too... I hope he'll feel free to post what he got if he feels comfortable in doing that.

 

It was a BLAST and until these are paid off (lol) there won't be anymore ART purchases! EGADS!

[valancy1]

This was the day we had pizza for lunch and I didn't photograph it. It looks like regular pizza ;) But the taste is very very good.

 

The afternoon was the art auction. But dinner, again, was quite tasty

 

 

Here is a picture of Dennis, our waiter,

 

 

And more dessert (this was Barry's). We got the same thing to eat so only one picture this time.

 

 

This evening's entertainment was Christopher Alan Graves and "Singin' with the Big Band". He did a tribute to Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. One thing I really enjoyed was when they ran a film of SDjr doing Mr. Bojangles and Christopher acted it out and sang it in exact perfect time. Even the little incidental hand movements that SDjr did, so did Christopher Graves. It really was good.

 

He sang Sinatra songs and nearly the whole place was singing with him. GREAT concert!

 

When we got back to our room, we had our bed turned down, our mints and Capers, and a new little friend:

 

 

It was another wonderful, ARTFUL day. LOL...

[cruiser 1952]

I have enjoyed reading your review and looking at the photos. I was on the Liberty last June and we are cruising again in November. Looking at your pictures has got me all excited!

[valancy1]

I have enjoyed reading your review and looking at the photos. I was on the Liberty last June and we are cruising again in November. Looking at your pictures has got me all excited!

 

Thanks Carol...

 

Now we just have to figure out where WE are going next, too. My husband, the hesitant one, is so hooked... he keeps doing that old Celebrity commercial where people are talking out loud and no one is paying attention saying things like,

 

"My bed was turned down for me each evening."

"My waiter knew exactly what I wanted to drink"

 

And all that other funny stuff--does anyone remember that commercial? Anyone know any of the lines from that commercial?

 

I have to go in a 1/2 hr to go get my film developed from the Grand Cayman day (the next day in the trip). They are underwater cameras so I had to do traditional processing, but there is more to come!

 

Thanks for reading and enjoying...

[cruisinsly]

CRUISE DAY ONE!!

"TIPPING IS OPTIONAL DEPENDING ON SERVICE"

 

Which I thought was interesting considering the notoriously infamous Porter 150!

 

 

Ok, I have been a little out of the loop lately with the boards. What is the deal with Porter 150? Just curious.

 

Great review by the way. Looks like you had a wonderful time. Great pictures.

[cruiser 1952]

Debra,

 

I'm looking forward to your next posting! Thanks so much.

[moosebrew]

We leave Saturday for this same cruise! I am really really excited now that I have read your review & have seen pictures. Can't wait to see the rest of your review to come!

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to do this! :)

[misguidedangel]

My question to you, did you check out the maitre d of the golden dining room???? quite good looking and he could carm the dead back to life!!!! I must say, Steve, the CD, is also not to bad on the eyes...

 

I was on the ship the week before, alas, they told me to leave.....

[marcia014]

Ok, I have been a little out of the loop lately with the boards. What is the deal with Porter 150? Just curious.

 

See paulmedik's previous post about this rude porter and how his luggage was impacted:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=786701&highlight=paulmedik

[valancy1]

We leave Saturday for this same cruise! I am really really excited now that I have read your review & have seen pictures. Can't wait to see the rest of your review to come!

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to do this! :)

 

You're welcome! If I (as being a first-time cruiser on this voyage) can help you in any way, just let me know. There was stuff that I learned and I'm trying to convey it so first-timers feel less novice.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!