Carnival Liberty Eastern Route Review 9/18-9/25 with Pics, Videos, and Capers!

Ok all, I'm back with a review of our trip aboard the Carnival Liberty.

On this cruise was myself (Tracey) 5th cruise on Carnival, BF (Marcus)

4th cruise on Carnival, BF's aunt, mother, and sister. All first timers

except aunt. We flew from Rhode Island to Ft. Lauderdale and Marcus's

family flew in from New York. We met up at the airport and I had made

reservations for SAS transportation, so I called Steve and it wasn't

long before one of his drivers was there to take us to our hotel in

Miami.

I thought SAS was a great service. We also had them booked for our

return to the airport. The price was $15pp for 1-3 people and $13pp for

4+. We all stayed at the Marriott Biscayne Bay. The drive from Ft.

Lauderdale went smooth, but I must say, the traffic lights are

loooooong! We were saying how many people must get tickets for going

through lights because they don't want to get stuck at a red..lol.

Hmmmm I wonder.

When we arrived at the hotel they couldn't find Marcus and my

reservation. I gave her my confirmation and still nothing. Finally, it

was found after the girl talked to a couple of people. We ended up with

a nice room with a view of the port. It was a beautiful view of Miami.

We put our bags in the room and since everyone was hungry we went

downstairs and walked through a little mall area to a restaurant and

had some lunch. After lunch we decided to go to Bayside Marketplace to

look around and check things out. There are so many little shops and

restaurants. After checking those out, we went to sit outside by the

water and there was a latin band playing. We bought a couple of drinks

and relaxed for a bit before heading back to the room.

The rest of the night was spent relaxing and I fell asleep so early due

to being awake and packing almost all night the previos day. The next

day we woke up, looked out the window and there she was. The Liberty!

Yay, our home for the next 7 days.:D

Here is our first view of the ship and also some shots of Miami from our room.

Day 1 Embarkation

Ok so, I was determined and I mean DETERMINED to get a cabana at Half

Moon Cay..lol so I made sure everyone was up and ready to go to the

port by about 10:30am. We went downstairs to get a cab which were all

lined up right outside the door in the parking garage. We hopped in and

were headed to the port and arrived about 10 minutes later. There was

absolutely no line to go through security. When we entered the terminal

I was very pleased to see we were handed zone number 2!:) We went to the self check-in kiosk and scanned our passports and in a few steps we

were done. We took the paper up to he lady at the desk and were

immediately handed our Sail and Sign cards. They need those kiosks in

every port! What a smooth process. That had to be the best embarkation

experience so far.

We were on the ship by about 11:45 I think and I ran straight over to

the excursion desk and was about the 8th person in line. It opened up a

few minutes after we got in line. I knew at that point that my cabana

was secured. I got up to the desk and we chose cabana #12 yellow. Ahhhh now I can relax..lol My determination paid off.

We went off to explore the ship and I was impressed with the Liberty. I

loved the decor and was used to getting around having been on the Glory

already. We started off with drinks right away and all my cares went

out the window for the week.

Here are a few shots from around the ship.

More Ship Pics

I have a few more shots of inside the ship I'll post at the end.

At 1:30 we went to our rooms and our luggage was already there, so we got settled and I noticed a paper from the Ocean Players Club stating that I would be receiving a photo coupon late that evening at dinner. Not soon after that, there was a knock on the door with a plate of chocolate covered strawberries. Yummy! We devoured those and went back up to the Lido. Later on that night we decided to play bingo and I won $500! I couldn't believe it. What a nice way to start off the cruise.

Day 2 Half Moon Cay

Since we purchased a cabana we had priority tendering to HMC. We went

to the Victorian Lounge and waited a few minutes before they called us

to head down to the gangway. When we arrived on the island, everyone

hopped on an open air van and each group was dropped off at their

cabana. The cabana was great. We had our bottled water, fruit, and

veggie plates waiting for us when we arrived. That beach is absolutely

gorgeous. I was in heaven, it was perfect, just like a post card.

We tried the snorkeling, but there was nothing to be seen, so we went

to the bbq lunch and the food was good, especially the jerk chicken

which was my favorite.

Bear with me, I am probably going to post every picture I took there..lol

More HMC Cabana #12

Here is a short video of the inside of the cabana.

This is the Private Oasis Cabana

The water was amazing

Nice pictures!

I like the colors of the Liberty.

Love the pics of Half Moon Cay!!!

After lunch we took a walk on the nature trail and seen some lizards

and heard some rustling in the trees which scared the hell out of us,

but we soon realized there were chickens in the trees. Whew..lol We had

enough after that and were at the end anyway, so we came out on the

other end of the beach which was completely empty. It wasn't a long

walk back to the cabana which was good because it was hot, hot, hot. I

have to agree with everyone about the cabana location. If you want to

be right in the middle of all the action you would love cabanas 1-6. It

was packed down that end of the beach with all the contests and things

going on. I'd say 7-15 are perfect if you want to just relax. We were

the only ones for most of the day laying on the beach in front of our

cabana. It was awesome. I wish I could have stayed there forever.:)

Pic at the beginning of the Nature Trail

The line back to the tender was insane. We ended up sitting in the shade in the bar area waIting for the line to die down, but everytime we looked there was no end. People kept coming around the corner. I think there might have been only one tender. I don't know if that's normal, but we got on eventutally. We were in no rush anyway. It took a while to get off the tender because the water was a little rough at that time.The tender boat kept banging against the ship and if you weren't holding on you would have fallen. I can definitely see why so many people miss HMC due to rough seas.

Day 2 Sea Day

Today was just a relaxing day by the pool and some drinks. We sat and watched the master mixologist competion and it was entertaining watching them come up with different ways to shake their drink up in the shaker. A gentleman from Georgia won with a drink he called Roll Tide. We tried it and I must say it was very, very good.

Today was also the first elegant night, so after enough fun and sun we went up to get ready for dinner. On this cruise we ate in the dining room every night which was a change for us because we usually only eat there on the elegant nights. I really enjoyed going every night, especially because of the table mates we had. They were four ladies from Canada cruising together and always had us laughing. They were a riot. It made the evenings that much more enjoyable. Right before dinner we caught the end of the Captain's Celebration where drinks were $1.00 off.

Sorry I have no food pics to show, but the food was excellent every single night. There wasn't one thing that I ordered that I did not like. I really wanted to do the martini tasting and we happened to walk by the Oragami Bar later on and seen it was going on. For anyone that has met Tommy the bartender, tell me he is not the best! He was dancing and singing songs with just our names as the words to a certain beat. Too funny. He is best know for saying "How You Doin?" If you have heard him, you will know what I mean. He was very well known. We finished our night off with some dancing in the Hot and Cool Club.

Day 3 St. Thomas

Today ended up being a little adventure. We decided to take the Red Hook ferry over to St. John and go to Trunk Bay. We have been there before but the others have not, so we hopped in a van to Red Hook and just missed the 10:00am ferry. The next one wasn't arriving until 11:00am so we had no choice but to wait. Once it came and filled up off we went. The ride was nice and scenic. Ferry over was only about 20min. Once we were off the ferry we caught an open air van to Trunk Bay.

View of St. Thomas when we woke up. A little hazy.

Loving your review and pics. We sailed on Liberty last year....loved HMC and GT. Keep it coming.

Pics taken on Ferry over to St. John.

More please! we set sail Jan. 8th and this is making the wait worth while....thanks for the great review!

We were looking foward to snorkeling, but when we reached the entrance to the beach there was a sign up that said snorkeling was closed due to rough waters. Well, once we got closer all we could hear was loud crashing. When we walked onto the beach the waves were crazy. There was a girl with paramedics around her and a towel on her face. All within a half hour, she broke her nose due to the waves and undertow and 2 others were taken off in stretchers. People were getting caught in the waves and just rolling around in the water. The life guards were walking up and down the beach warning people and telling them when the best time was to enter the water to avoid getting hurt. Marcus went in with a few others that were already on the beach. He said once you got past where the waves break it was fine. The rest of us found shade under the trees and watched the people in the water. Of course some did not listen and did exactly the things the lifeguard told them not to. One lady's bathing suit top fell off.:eek: I'm glad I was there before because even though the view alone is fantastic, it was probably disappointing for those who were there for the first time. There were people there that live on the island and said that was the worst they have ever seen it there. The waves were crazy.

This video was taken after the waves calmed down a bit.

After a few hrs there, we decided to head on back to the ferry. Now here is where it started to get a little scary. When we had first arrived at Cruz Bay we looked at the ferry schedule coming back and the only one for Charlotte Amalie coming back was at 3:45pm. We decided we wanted to take that one because even though it is a longer ferry ride, it is a closer drive to the ship. We knew there would be traffic later in the day. So, when we got back to Cruz Bay, the 3:00pm Red Hook was there, but we were waiting for Charlotte Amalie, so the lady in the booth said to pay for Charlotte Amalie before you get on. Ok fine, so we sat on the benches and waited and got something to eat. It was about the time that the ferry was supposed to be arriving and I overheard a lady on the phone saying, "The lady doesn't think the 3:45pm Charlotte Amalie is coming, so do you want me to put her on Red Hook." I told Marcus and he went up to the booth and the lady had a snotty attitude and said I don't know if its coming or not. Now, if she didn't know if it was coming or not why didn't she come out and maybe let everyone know. She knew there were people there waiting for it. We would have gotten on the 3:00pm Red Hook.

Whats done is done, so we had to wait 15min for the next Red Hook which is 4:00pm. Once that came, we got on that one and arrived back at Red Hook at about 4:25pm. We had to be back onboard at 5:30pm. We got in a van and started off to the ship. We are driving fine until we come to a complete stop and can't figure out what is going on because we looked ahead and it was clear. The road the cab driver was going to use had a car faced in the opposite direction almost in the middle of the road. There was definitely enough room to go around, but the van forked off to the left and went up a hill and all the cars behind us followed. Now this is where my worst nightmare was coming true. As soon as we hit the middle of the hill we see a cop car and a big dump truck ahead blocking the road completely. No one is moving and now we can't back up because there is a line of cars behind us and a car in front of us that was sticking out horizontally coming out from the side of the road. Another cop car made his way up the hill on the side and pulled up a little ways in front of us. After waiting and nothing happening, Marcus got out and walked up to the cop car. He advised us to get out and walk down the hill. Marcus was going to try and direct the van back down, but then the cop up top moved and there was an opening to go by. But, now all the other cars in the opposite direction were coming down the hill. LOL I can laugh now, but I felt physically sick at that time. It just seemed like it was out of a movie. At this time the driver says, "oh you ain't making it to the ship." Ok, so maybe not what I wanted to hear, but then miraculously the cars stopped and we were saying GO, GO! to the driver. He was beeping his way through past the dump truck. We made it back to the ship at 5:00pm. WooooWeeee, I wanted to die. Stepping foot on the ship was the best feeling. I think I've had enough of St. John for a long while.:)

This day was also Marcus's Birthday, so he was surprised with a piece of cake and everybody singing Happy Birthday.

I'll be back later with our stop in San Juan. Bye for now.:p

Nice pictures!

 

I like the colors of the Liberty.

Thank you, me too. I thought it was so simple, but yet so nice!

Love the pics of Half Moon Cay!!!

HMC and Grand Turk were the only reason I booked this cruise and both were definitely worth it.:)

Thanks for the review..

Me and my group set sail on her on the 16th of October for the same route..

Again, many thanks..

Thanks we are doing this next Sat

Thanks for a great review! We're staying at the Marriott Biscayne Bay also. Is it a far walk to Bayside Marketplace? Thanks again!!

Great review....beautiful pictures!

Loving this review! I am in the process of trying to choose between this cruise and the RC Allure for March. I really love how Half Moon Cay looks and I have also heard great things about Grand Turk. Can't wait to hear more of your review. Any reccomendations for deck and cabin?

Very nice review! Love seeing pics to go along.

We have been to half moon and Grand Turk before which is why we picked this itinerary again but with the Liberty.

Can't wait to read more! Sounds like you had a good time so far except for the scare at St.Thomas! I would have been a hot mess!:eek:

Thanks for a great review! We're staying at the Marriott Biscayne Bay also. Is it a far walk to Bayside Marketplace? Thanks again!!

We didn't walk all the way to Bayside. We walked about 5 min. to the tram and then from the tram to actually get to Bayside I'd say about 15-20 min total.

Loving this review! I am in the process of trying to choose between this cruise and the RC Allure for March. I really love how Half Moon Cay looks and I have also heard great things about Grand Turk. Can't wait to hear more of your review. Any reccomendations for deck and cabin?

Thank you! I personally like being between passenger decks and midship, so we chose Empress Deck 7, room 7358. It was a good location for us.

Day 4 San Juan, Puerto Rico

We have been to San Juan before and seen the forts, so today we slept in and then decided to go to take a walk to La Bombonera to get a couple of mallorcas. Those things are so delicious! I can never get enough. After leaving there we walked around a little while longer and then headed back to the ship. Once on the ship, we decided to take advantage of the port specials in the spa. We made an appointment and to pass the time until then we went in the pool and hot tub. Now I see what people mean about having the boat to yourself. It was nice. We walked back up to the spa at our scheduled time and received the ladies and gents special for $99 each which included a massage of your neck, back, feet, and scalp, and a facial. It was great.

Here are some pics I took from our balcony on the ship.

This was walking back to the ship.

Day 5 Grand Turk

Today we had also rented a cabana by the Margaritaville pool. This cabana was in my opinion better than the one on HMc in terms of appearance. There was a couch and a chair inside, along with an A/C and fan and 2 loungers on the porch. There was a button on the wall that you press if you wanted drinks or food. The waitress would come right to your cabana and take your order and deliver it when it was ready.

Approaching Grand Turk.

The Miracle was also in GT that day.

Here are some pics of the cabana.