GuitarPlayer

We've dodged the bullet now for 10 years since Wilma in 2005.

Our 8 day Southern turned into a 6 day Eastern due to Wilma in 2005, and we left out of Miami instead of Ft. Lauderdale.

Was without water and power for 36 hours in a hotel room with about 15 others that were trying to get on the ship.

We were hoping to get on the ship and be out to sea before she hit, but no.

It was an adventure, and although we were dumb enough to chance it, we were smart enough to get bottled water and some snacks the night before to have for the next couple of days.

These days, everyone wants to travel with me, because, being from Missouri, what are the chances I'll be on *two* cruises that are affected by Hurricanes?

GP

We talked to our cabin steward who said he could move us, but we moved ourselves from cabin A to cabin B (port to starboard on same deck) on debark/embark day (didn't want anything to get lost and they are busy enough already).

Just took clothes on hangars (left them hung up) to new location and moved new cabin's hangars back to previous cabin. Rolled the luggage to new room and was set to go in about 10 minutes.

Later, we were walked down to the gangway (not the debark deck) by a staff member, along with about 20 others that were B2B'ing. A Customs official came on board, looked at out paper work and said "enjoy your cruise." 5 minutes, max for all 20 of us.

Never even got off the ship (This was in Jacksonville)

Very easy.

GP

We've done a couple of BTB's.

There are pros and cons.

One of the biggest things I noticed was I missed out on the anticipation of the second cruise quite a bit, because everything was focused on the first one.

Rather than have a couple of different "anticipations" and countdowns to two separate cruises, they sort of got bundled in together.

The anticipation part is a big deal to me, it helps keep me going, but if it's not a big deal for you, then no problem.

Maybe not a huge deal, but just something to consider.

Also, we did a 5 day followed by a 7 day. Toward the end of the 7 day, I was ready to get off and get back home. Separating them would have been better that trip.

However, we did a couple of 5-days BTB, with the first one cruising with friends and the 2nd leg by ourselves. That one worked out VERY well, we got the best of both worlds, and by the end of the 2nd leg, I WASN'T ready to leave!

The best part of both of them was we didn't have "2 X travel to/from the port" costs, so that made the $/day cost of the trip much less than 2 separate ones would have been. Living near KC, travel expenses can be considerable.

Again, just another data point to consider.

GP

Is this good enough resolution to read? I can read it on my phone/iPad but not sure how it looks to you.

Looks awesome. We're on Triumph in less than 2 weeks.

What ports are you hitting, and how's the temperature (esp the first sea day out)?

GP

Is there a sports bar on the Breeze? I thought I read that there isn't If there is then no problem.

 

We have cruised three times during March madness and only on the NCL spirit were we able to watch the games.

There are a bank of TVs at the Casino Bar. In October, we asked them to change to FOX to watch a KC Royals playoff game. They obliged and changed about 1/2 of them to baseball.

There was no "official" sports bar that I ever saw.

GP

wrigley80 - You have brought a lot of joy to a lot of people through your reviews/posts/and meeting you in person. Sad news to hear about your dad.

Hang in there, girl.

GP

Ready to book the Breeze and have a couple questions. Can you open the balcony dividers? If you book a cabin for 4, which their are only two of us, are the bunks recessed in the ceiling or do they hang on the wall? Also which dinning room is anytime dinning?

No additional comment on the balcony dividers...

Why *would* you book a cabin for 4, if there are only 2 of you? Carnival probably won't let you choose a cabin for 4, but if you would happen to get put into a cabin for 4, the bunks will be up in the ceiling and out of your way.

The Sapphire dining room (Midship a.k.a. forward) deck 3 *is* the anytime dining. We were in that dining room on deck 4 (late seating) on 10/10 sailing and saw lots of people coming and going downstairs.

GP

Another pro-4J comment.

We have one booked on Breeze for this Saturday (10/10). Great deal as it's more like an interior price, but you get to see what the weather is outside, and only a few steps to the "secret deck" as mentioned before.

GP

I am fortunate that I got somewhat of an early assigned time (12-1). But the rest of my cruise group got times as late as 2-3. We are all using the same transportation company so some may be waiting longer than others.

 

I am not bothered by long wait times. My feet may hurt. But I remain HAPPY at all times. :)

We are also on the 10-10 sailing. We did not get a phone call, nor an email.

However, another couple traveling with us did get a call.

Perhaps because we are platinum we won't get a call? Anyone know?

Have only see people actually turned away in Jacksonville for showing up "too early."

GP

I just got off the phone with Royal and was able to get the OBC added to our existing reservation. They didn't have to rebook us.

Ditto here, and it included the bogoho sale previously booked, so no change in price, just $100 OBC added on.

My first dealing (cruise) with RC seems to be good so far.

GP

You can play for hours and only lose a modest amount - maybe $250 for the whole cruise.

To each his own, but losing $250 for free comps doesn't sound like free comps to me?

GP

Get a decent PVP and bypass the online form thing.

My PVP always does it for me, because I've had trouble submitting online form before.

GP

"A lot" of movement is relative, and somewhat of a personal choice.

Yes, there will be "more" movement than midship, but if the seas are relatively calm, then there won't be a lot of movement either location. :cool:

Some like the movement (sleeping better), some don't (get sick).

GP

We've been in cabins near the theater. The shows usually end by 11, and we are out until 11 or later. If we're not out, it's because we're VERY tired, so the thump, thump doesn't bother us that much when we are dead to the world.

It only woke me up once from a mid-day nap, but it was going well past midnight one night. I'm thinking they were having a private party, or rehearsal or something, because nothing was "scheduled" in the show lounge that late.

GP

Are the shower gel and shampoo nice smelling or not deliberating whether to take my own , we also like American country music hope we will see some great entertainers ?

 

 

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I use the shampoo and gel. It's nothing fantastic, but gets the job done.

DW brings her own shampoo.

GP

OP, thanks for your review of the Liberty. She's my favorite ship. We almost chose this itinerary, or one similar to it at the end of September, but went with the 8 day Eastern earlier in the month.

 

 

 

 

GP! It's great "seeing you" on another Liberty trip and trip report thread. It looks like your family has been quite busy since we were on the Liberty at the same time in May of 2012! We've only been on the Dream last year and the Liberty in September.

 

And, though we didn't have a horse in the race; we were rooting for the Royals since it'd been so long for them.

The other couples we cruise with keep twisting our arms behind our backs and are MAKING us go! :rolleyes: (They are forcing us to go next Oct on the Breeze)

We were happy the Royals made it as far as they did. It had been a long dry spell for them.

Good to "hear" from you.

GP

Thank you for the warning. And yes you are correct in your assessment of the lack of "protection" from the blank spaces on deck 6. I am glad you didn't let the noise diminish your enjoyment. The lessons learned for others from your experience: Have the deck plans in front of you when picking your stateroom. And for those that let Carnival pick your rooms remember there are some less desirable locations.

Exactly.

Room choice *can* make the difference between a good and a great cruise.

GP

Any of you go to SeaAquarium Beach in Curaçao and if so what did you think of it? Any specific restaurant there stand out? How far was it from the pier? Thanks!

Didn't go there, sorry.

GP

I used to think that the Empress Deck (on most ships) was a quiet deck, because you have cabins above you and below you.

That is true in most cases, but just wanted to make folks aware that some of the forward cabins on Empress might pick up a LOT of noise from the main show lounge (forward deck 3/4/5), because there aren't actually cabins on Deck 6 to filter out the noise.

We were in cabin 7226 on the Liberty (with friends in 7232 reporting the same noise issue) and heard the music pretty plainly, along with electric motors, presumably running movable lights or something like that.

Another set of friends were in 7246 (still forward, but more toward the middle) and heard nothing.

Looking on the deck plan, it's pretty clear there is "blank space" below 7226 and 7232 on the Liberty, and makes sense that we weren't protected from the show lounge noise, but those in 7246 were "protected." :cool:

We aren't the complaining types, nor do we let something like that affect our great cruise adventure. Rather, I'm just making note of it here, to perhaps give someone else a head's up about it on the Liberty and potentially other ships that have "blank space" directly above the main show lounge, where one might (incorrectly) take for granted that the passenger deck (deck 6) would buffer out the sound.

Bon Voyage!

GP

For those on the Liberty Halloween sailing...How did you guys like the last night? The ship was really rolling! I was in the casino pretty late at the Hold 'em table, and I saw one of the crew peeking out the window because the ship was moving so much.

I didn't see anyone getting sick, but it was the second most movement I've felt on a ship. (Previous time, I did get sick, but that was in 50 knot winds on the Legend).

Made it back to the cabin (deck 7 forward) and was trying to calculate how far up and down I was actually traveling. Felt like 10 feet down, 10 feet up. No way to know for sure.

Anyone else feel the movement that last night?

GP

Were you clear in the back of the aft dinning room on the starboard side? We were back there kind of in the middle.

Were you on deck 3 or 4 for dining?

We were at table 529 in the aft dining room. The table was pretty much dead center in the very back of deck 4, late seating.

It was a rectangular table for 6 and all 6 of us (traveling together) were there every night (late seating).

Noticed a couple of tables to the starboard side (right behind us) that no one ever sat at.

There was a large round table to the starboard side of us (but slightly more forward than our table) that was maybe 1/2 full most of the nights.

We ended up on excursions with a couple of those folks on the 2 southern islands (aruba/curacao).

GP

We watched the sunset a couple of times from a nearly empty hot tub in serenity on Liberty a couple of weeks ago. Timing is everything on finding a spot, but at least it's a couple of decks, not just a single one.

Agree that, on Embarkation day, it was nearly empty most of the day.

GP

We were on this sailing as well, and most loved being in the sports bar watching the World Series games, even though "our boys" from KC didn't win.

Were any of you from OP, KS in there watching as well?

DW and I are from the other side of the metro, and thoroughly enjoyed the cruise and wearing our Royals gear around the ship.

A couple of gals we saw in the sports bar even went as far as finding us in the aft dining room to update us on the score of one of the games! We hurried through dinner to get to the sports bar...Priceless!

GP

Lido is great. Another benefit is that you can go out to the forward deck and there are usually VERY few folks out there.

It can be quite windy, but it's nice to run out there in the morning to see what the weather is before committing on what to wear for the day. It's also nice to be out there while coming into/leaving ports.

We book early saver usually, so we pick Empress deck, in hopes of having a better shot at getting a price drop (Lido rooms are more $$$ than Empress rooms). We get many of the same benefits of Lido, with activities above and below you, and we never have to wait for elevators, since we always take the stairs! :p

GP

Taking Carnival's point of view, it's a supply and demand situation.

If there are few 4J's that hold 3 folks (very low supply), the price will most likely be (and remain) higher.

If there are a ton of 4E's (large supply), the price is way more likely to drop.

I've had anywhere from $20 to $700 ($700 on last cruise, 10/25/2014) in OBC due to price drops, but like others have said, you better be happy with the price you pay at the start, and not rely on price drops.

Seems the prices have been lower lately, which one can guess the reasons, but underlying it would seem to be a lower demand overall.

GP