Carnival Liberty PICTORIAL review - Sept 24 - Oct 1 2011 - Western

It’s been almost 2 weeks now since my return from possibly the best cruise ever. And with reality soberly setting in that I am back to real life, I guess it’s time to write this review.

Backround: Me -32, 7th cruise (6 CCL, 1RCI),Cousin Krystal -26, 2nd cruise, both with Carnival

Ports: Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Ocho Rios

Pre-Cruise (Friday): For the 2nd time in 9 months I booked a pre-cruise room via lastminutetravel.com at the Intercontinental Hotel Miami http://www.icmiamihotel.com/ I really enjoy this hotel. It’s a short walk to the Bayside Marketplace, has a Starbucks inside, and there’s plenty of stores nearby (ie CVS, Walgreens) to pick up last minute items.

The cab ride to the hotel from MIA was metered and I believe it was about $30 not including tip. When we arrived at the hotel, the bell hop approached the car and took our luggage. Normally, I carry my own, but since I was traveling without my husband and my 2 suitcases weighed about as much as 3 chunky kindergarteners, I let him have at it. We tipped the bell hop and proceeded to the front desk.

Check-in was quick. If you use LMT, you will need to pre-pay for your stay. At check-in they will ask for a credit card and will put a $75 hold on the card. I prefer to leave a cash deposit, which is $100.

When we arrived at our room on the 11th floor, it was very nice as expected however there was only 1 bed. After calling down to the front desk and explaining I had requested 2 beds, I was told the manager would call me back. Shortly after hanging up, a different bell hop arrived with our luggage. There’s no way I’m tipping this guy too! He dropped off our bags, offered to get us ice or turn on the AC. He was really working on that tip. I said no thank you and explained that we would be moving to another room soon. He said if we needed help moving to have the front desk call for him to return.

20 minutes passed and the manager hadn’t called. I called back to the front desk and was told a bell hop was coming up with a new room key. The same bell hop who dropped off our luggage returned with the new key card. He asked if we needed help moving our luggage and I declined. I don’t mind tipping, but we could have spent easily $16 - $20 in tips for having our luggage carted all over the hotel by random bell hops.

Our new room was beautiful and on the 20th floor. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a clear view of Bayside and the ships, but we still had a nice view of Biscayne Blvd. The previous room’s view was of what looked like an apartment complex next door. The room on the 20th floor was almost identical to the room I had last year except this room had 2 beds. Also, the higher floors indicated “club concierge” and were nicer than the room on the 11th floor.

It was about 1pm and we quickly changed and walked to Bayside (after my stop into Starbucks for some liquid crack aka caffeine). The weather was hot and perfect the entire trip! At Bayside, I had a mani/pedi for $50 and then we had lunch at Café Mambo. We were exhausted from the heat and back at the room by 6pm. For dinner, we got menus from the concierge and had really expensive sushi delivered. $30 for one tempura roll and a poo poo platter.

Cafe Mambo:

The view from our room:

Before hitting bed early, Krystal went to the gift show for postage stamps and we addressed Miami postcards we had picked up. Postcard stamps are currently 29 cents, but they were being sold at the gift shop for 50 cents. If you plan to buy them, have change because you get them out of a machine that only takes coins.

Nice Pics! Good start!

Subscribing, Doing the Carnival Liberty Western June 12!!!

Embarkation Day (Saturday):

We had planned to be at the port by 10:30am, but needed some last minute items from CVS. Check-out was fast and easy. After carrying our bags to the lobby we gave them to a bell hop to bring them outside and to secure a taxi. The bell hop even asked if we had our Carnival tags and stapled them onto our suitcases! Another quick stop at Starbucks, (my last for a week) some photos in the lobby, tipped the bell hop and then off in our taxi.

We asked the driver to drop us off at CVS and to circle the block for us since there’s no parking. After about 20 minutes in CVS (crazy long line) the meter was only about $11. We arrived at the port and paid about $27 including tip. We typically tipped the drivers, bell hops and porters $1 per bag so about $4-$5 dollars for both of us. The taxi driver got a couple extra dollars for waiting for us.

On our way to Liberty:

YAY!!! Whale Tails!!!!

At the port, our bags were out of the cab, on the sidewalk and immediately grabbed up by a porter. The porter of course let us know that if we wanted to “take care” of our porter, “now would be the time”. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know the drill and would like to have my bags delivered dry and in one piece. I had a $5 bill ready for him. We arrived inside about 11:50 and were through security by noon. We stepped into a line that utilized the self-serve kiosk. Everything ran quickly and smoothly. Within 30 minutes we were taking our embarkation photo and walking onto the beautiful Carnival Liberty.

WE'RE.....ALMOST......THERE!!!!

Nice Pics! Good start!

Thanks Jimmy!

Subscribing, Doing the Carnival Liberty Western June 12!!!

You're going to have a blast!!!

Cabin:

Our ocean view cabin was 2301. It was near the elevator, but directly under Guest Services and not far from the Venetian Palace. At night we’d hear what sounded like someone dragging a chair across the floor. It wasn’t constant and didn’t prevent us from getting sleep, but it’s something to keep in mind if you’re a light sleeper. I look forward to meeting my room steward, but we were rarely in our cabin and missed the first day introductions. In any case, whoever he or she was, they did a fabulous job all week keeping the room tidy.

Although my cousin and I had enough space and easily coordinated our daily and evening showers and primping, I can't imagine having more than 2 grown women in a cabin.

We are staying at ICMiami, as well, so love the photos.

Just a note, Intercontinental is a 5 star hotel. The usual guest there

tips; tips big; tips often. These people live on tips, because their regular salary isn't that good. The guy who brought your bags up, and then took them to the other room EARNED a tip. Yes,it was his job; and yes, you tipped the other guy; but it sounds like he did it well. With enthusiasm to please you. Just a buck or two.

Admitedly, your bags were too heavy for you to handle easily. He's not gonna see any of the tip you gave the doorman. Put yourself in his shoes for a moment, and next time maybe you'll do it differently.

Of course, a tip is never required. It's your choice.

A couple of bucks can go a long way. One of the reasons it is frequently advised that you bring a stack of singles.:D

Anxiously awaiting the next installment.

Yohoho!:D

Thanks I am looking forward to it!!!!:D:D

Embarkation Day continued: First stop was the buffet at Emile’s. Of course it was not easy find a seat, but luckily I remembered Fish & Chips was on deck 10 and there were plenty of seats up there. My cousin and I took turns getting food while the other held the table. My first lunch was a tuna melt from the Deli, which was very good. The Mongolian Wok and Burrito Bar appeared to be good options, but I like to keep it simple.

After the Safety briefing we attended the Spa Raffle, which we left empty handed. We hung out on the deck for sailaway and I took my first ever official sailaway photo!

Destiny leaving us in her dust:

We are staying at ICMiami, as well, so love the photos.

Just a note, Intercontinental is a 5 star hotel. The usual guest there

tips; tips big; tips often. These people live on tips, because their regular salary isn't that good. The guy who brought your bags up, and then took them to the other room EARNED a tip. Yes,it was his job; and yes, you tipped the other guy; but it sounds like he did it well. With enthusiasm to please you. Just a buck or two.

Admitedly, your bags were too heavy for you to handle easily. He's not gonna see any of the tip you gave the doorman. Put yourself in his shoes for a moment, and next time maybe you'll do it differently.

Of course, a tip is never required. It's your choice.

A couple of bucks can go a long way. One of the reasons it is frequently advised that you bring a stack of singles.:D

 

Anxiously awaiting the next installment.

Yohoho!:D

I hear you about tipping and I agree, but I didn't like that one person took my bags, put them on the cart, received a tip and then another person is expected to get tipped for taking the same bags up the elevator. One person could have easily done the job. They weren't uniformed any differently. And just for clarity, we moved our own bags to the new room.

Glad you're enjoying the review. Plenty more coming.

OK....I have to run out for a moment. This review is already written in Word and I only need to post and add the pics here on CC. So, this won't be one of those reviews that takes days, weeks, or months to read. :)

Can't wait for more!:D

Can't wait to read more! There haven't been very many Liberty reviews lately and I'm getting excited for January!:D

im going on that ship on nov 12th and i cant wait seeing pics makes me even more excited!

Looking forward to the review! NICE PICS!

I was 2 weeks ago on the Glory and had flat screen tv in my cabin. I saw a pic of Valor the other day and now the Liberty and both have the old fashioned tv's.

I was 2 weeks ago on the Glory and had flat screen tv in my cabin. I saw a pic of Valor the other day and now the Liberty and both have the old fashioned tv's.

Not for long on the Liberty!!! In drydock now where I understand flat screen tv's are being installed in all the cabins! :D:D

I was 2 weeks ago on the Glory and had flat screen tv in my cabin. I saw a pic of Valor the other day and now the Liberty and both have the old fashioned tv's.

Well at least we know the Liberty is going to have flat screen TVs by the end of the month due to the Carnival 2.0 upgrades.:)

Oh well i see Froufie beat me :p

I'm back.....where were we.....ok

The sauna:

We had early dinner, which I love! I like early because it’s over just in time as not to miss any of the evening activities. We were seated at a table for 8, but my cousin and I were the only ones to arrive. We were in the Silver Olympian dining room on deck 3, table 306.

After dinner, we were off to the Venetian Palace for Mind Game Mania. Krystal won her 2nd ever ship on a stick. At this point, I’m a bit p.o’d. I mean really! 2 cruises and 2 ships on a stick!!! I’m 0 for 7! At this point I VOW…..I WILL GET A SHIP ON A STICK!!!!! We stuck around the Venetian for Game Show Mania. Game Show Mania was followed by the Welcome Aboard Show and Adult Only Comedy featuring Mark Simmons.

Punchliner: I love stand-up comedy and the Punchliner is awesome. If you are easily offended then the family friendly shows are where you want to be. We attended the adults only shows, which were always packed. The comedians did 30 min sets and were hilarious. I know Carnival has plans for the Punchliner with it’s new Fun Ship 2.0 revamp. I hope that includes a bigger venue with a setup more like a comedy club with more performances.

First Sea Day and First Elegant Evening (Sunday):

Today was a relaxing day at sea. Breakfast on lido, followed by photos on the deck, then hit up the fun shops for the $10 sale. In the past I really enjoyed picking up some nice costume jewelry at the $10 section of the store, but these sales get more and more mad every year and the quality of products offered by Bijoux Terner has declined. Now, I try to avoid the Fun Shops when they first open the roped off section of coveted $10 items as not to be trampled by people acting like natural disaster refugees being given rations of food and water. Besides, it’s more amusing to watch from afar, LOL.

The most beautiful ship I've sailed yet:

Breakfast: Each morning we had breakfast on lido. This was the first cruise where I tried the omlet station. What took me so long?!?!? The made to order omlets were really good. The lines became longer as more people realized you could get omlets and other egg dishes to order, ie fried eggs, sunny side up, etc. Also, after realizing the foods being served out by the grill was usually cold, we made sure to get our breakfast from the lines inside of Emile's.

Back to our first sea day.....

Today is Round 1 of Super Trivia. It’s a really cool trivia game played on sea days. You’re divided into 2 teams, you remain on your team the duration of the cruise, try to recruit new members and have physical challenges thrown into the mix.

Our Super Trivia Team:

Our first physical challenge:

After Trivia, we enter the $500 Slot Tournament. It’s $20 to enter and requires no gaming skill whatsoever. I’M IN!!!! As long as you are able to mash the hell out of the spin button, you’re good to go! Basically, there are 8 tournament machines. The qualifying rounds go for about 2 hours and 45 mins. At this time anyone can play to try to place in the top 8. You can also enter more than once. I placed in the top 8 to make the finals, but sadly I didn’t win. I came in 4th.

I'm Ready!!!!

Look at me go!

Good enough to make the finals, but didn't win the big money :(

Love this review!! I can't wait until I'm on the Liberty in April!!

Elegant Night:

Dinner was wonderful every night in the main dining room. We always arrived promptly for dinner at 6 and were leaving the dining room by 7:30. On this evening we met our 5 tablemates. There was a couple from Canada traveling with the wife's father and 2 female friends sailing together. Dinner conversation was awkward as we didn't have much in common. I really wish we'd asked for a smaller table.

Our head waiter Francisco seemed a bit distant at first, but by the second night of the cruise he was much more engaged, greeted us by first name and could really tear up the dance floor. :cool: Our drink waiter, Sutama, visited our table nightly soon after we were seated.

After dinner we attended the first big stage show, Wonderful World. The singers and dancers performed songs and dances representing different countries. It was visually interesting and the female singer, Lisa, was amazing. The male singer, Matthew was just ok. I wish Carnival would provide more mainstream musicals for production shows.

There was also comedy going on in the Punchliner with Mark Simmons & Jim McCue, but we didn't attend since we had an early morning coming up for Cozumel.