Trip Diary and Review - Carnival Liberty 12/24/12

[Catrin]

Hello Everyone..... We have been home for almost a month now.. and I am so late writing this review. Coming home on December 1st.. and back to work in the middle of the Christmas Season is not easy! So.. finally... I am taking advantage of a snow storm in the Northeast to start my review. This review will be a day to day diary of our trip... I do this for very selfish reasons, as it is fun to read years later!!! Please be patient, as it may take a few days for me to complete.

My husband, Steve and I (Cathy), sailed on the Carnival Liberty on November 24th. This was our 20th Anniversary Cruise. It was our 13th cruise, all on Carnival... our first being our Honeymoon 20 years ago on the Ecstasy! This was our first cruise since 2005 without our kids! We were looking forward to doing... well... NOTHING on this cruise! It was a week to unwind, relax, sleep, chill out and to avoid Camp Carnival at all costs!

Booking...
We booked this Cruise last November, more than a year out. This was the LONGEST we have ever waited to cruise! The reason why we booked so early is that Steve really wanted to have a Corner Aft Balcony room. This was one of our special treats to ourselves (and boy was it!). We booked Early Saver and originally booked Deck 6, as the two cabins on Deck 7 were booked. We chose the Liberty because of the itinerary... we really wanted to go to Half Moon Cay and Grand Turk, two places we had never been in our 12 previous cruises. We had been on the Liberty once before, in 2008 - and it had been a favorite ship. The Conquest class is my favorite class of ships - tons to do, but not as crowded as the Dream, which we went on in 2011.

Planning....and making new friends...
Booking so early, I immediately joined the already established roll call. This roll call,quiet at first.. really took a life of its own early in 2012. Many of the members ventured over to the "Social Media Website that shall not be named". Here, we were able to chat daily and people started making plans for meet and greets, etc. I found getting excited for our trip with a bunch of strangers was fun!

Early Saver....
The price of our cruise kept going UP AND UP all year... until 3 weeks before our trip. Then, little by little, we saw drops. Others kept on commenting on terrific On Board Credit deals.. and eventually our Corner Aft room saw some reductions as well.... the last one with only a week to sail. It was not much, but we were able to board with $100 from Future Cruise Certificate and $110 for a Cabin Price Reduction. If you know exactly when you are cruising and are set on that date.. Early Saver is the only way to go!!

So.. that is our background!!
Hang tight flights, hotel in FLL and DAY ONE!!

IMG_1477 by catrin0917, on Flickr

Catrin

[Catrin]

Haha.. I cannot even remember what month we traveled!!!

Please disregard this post.. and look for review with the correct date.. reposted.
Thanks,
Catrin

[lilbits67]

Hurry Cathy!!!!! Write more!!!!! I can't wait!!!

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!