Kova15

following.

Considering a cruise on Liberty. I don’t like elavators. Is there anytime you are required to take an elevator?

I think you could avoid taking the stairs the entire time. The very first day when you get on the ship they try to get everyone up to the Lido for lunch. This was the only time when they were directing people to certain places. However Im sure if you say "Id rather take the stairs" they would give you directions and you wouldn't have any issues. The staff is very accommodating and they want you to have a good time.

Great review! We are going on Liberty in 3 weeks. I have a quick question for you. We plan on carrying our bags off for disembarkation too. What time were you off the ship by? I’m booking our car rental and I think I remember from years ago we were off way earlier than I expected.

It was pretty quick. Took us maybe 15 minutes from start to finish. I think we started about 5 til 9am and were off before 9:15am.

There were plenty of options for Keto on our 3 day cruise on the Liberty. With the Magic having more options than the Liberty I think you wont have any issues finding food to eat! Enjoy the Magic and your cruise.

Carnival Liberty- 3 Day Review

I wanted to post a quick review of our 3 day CarnivalLiberty Cruise. We are a family of 4 from Colorado. We have 2 kids age 14 and5. We went to Disney for 4 days prior to the cruise and spent the last 3 daysof our vacation on the cruise.

Embarkation Day- Like I said precruise we stayed at Disneyso the morning of our cruise we took the Disney Magic Express Bus back to theairport. From there we caught our shuttle that I had set up for us. We wereusing Cortans. We had used them previously and had a great experience so I decidedto use them again. They were prompt and our driver was great. I would recommendif cruising out of port canveral.

Once we got to the port we were the first people in theterminal which was super fun for me. We purchased FTTF and got in right away. Idon’t know if this is the new normal for Carnival but they didn’t give us ourroom keys until we got onboard. They were placed outside our door. Once onboard we went right down to our room and dropped off our carryons then headedup to the Lido for Lunch. I got Tacos from Blue Iguana and the rest of myfamily got Guys. I have to say I sure did miss Carnival food! Our last cruisewas on NCL and their food options are not as good (IMO)

MDR- We ate at the MDR every night. We had Anytime Dining.The first night we ate with Adrain and Jeneth. They were wonderful that thefollowing 2 nights we requested to be seated with them each time. The food inthe MDR was great! I don’t remember what I got the first night, but I got theprime rib the second night and the jerk pork the final night. All of which wasreally good.

Shows- We went to the show on the second night. I think itwas called Flicker or something like that. It wasn’t great. I was not impressedat all about the show. On the last night my Husband and daughter went to the 80’sparty and they said it was a great time. The Cruise Director Donkey did a greatjob and kept the energy up. My son and I watched Coco up on the Lido deck.

Nassau- We had purchased an excursion to Balmoral Island throughCarnival. Our excursion included lunch. I was a little disappointed in theisland. I didn’t realized it faced Nassau so I had expected to face the oceanso the scenery wasn’t what I had expected. The drinks on the Island were veryexpensive so we didn’t buy anything. But the sand was soft, not too rocky. We didn’thave any issues finding a chair to use. We went back on a Disney Cruise lineboat ride and didn’t have any issues (we barely missed the rain!) Overall I thoughtthe island was OK. Nothing special.

Disembarkation- Went smooth. We decided to carry off and wewere off the ship in about 15 minutes. It may have been one of the easiestdisembarkation we have done on cruises. Post cruise we rented a car throughBudget. The Budget rental car shuttle was prompt. I think we only had to wait10 minutes for them to arrive. Then checkin at the rental car place was efficientand they provided us with a free upgrade! I would recommend renting through themif you are in Port Canaveral.

Overall- Staff was great, I thought they did a good job!Overall some of the better staff we have had on a cruise. The ship is older andit was what I had expected it to be. Showing some wear, but overall a nice shipfor a 3 day cruise. It was a little stinky in ports though. My daughter and I didn’tlike the smell in the Lido when we were docked. The cruise director was goodand I wouldn’t mind cruising with him again. The food was great! Like I said wemissed carnival’s food! It was a great cruise and I am so happy we did thisshort little 3 day cruise after our trip to Disney.

I will try to answer any questions about the Liberty if youhave them!

I recently started Keto, Ill check out option and report back. Im going on a 3 day cruise in 13 days.

My DH proposed on a cruise. He is not the type to draw attention either. He did it our first night on our balcony at sunset. it was beautiful.

I know how you feel. I went on my first cruise after gaining a decent amount of weight. BUT I still lounged by the pool, I still swam in the ocean and in the moment I didnt feel insecure about it. I bought 2 new swimsuits that I loved right before we went and that helped. (I would suggest to spend more than you normally would on a swimsuite that you love. Also, I dont know what size you are, but Torrid has super cute swim suites!) Also I would remind myself that although I know I am not the best looking person on the beach I am also not the worst. I also would remind myself that I will never see any of those people again so why does it matter! Celebrate you, YOU are worth it! Enjoy your cruise and I hope you can relax, unwind, and have fun!

Thanks for the review. We will do the same cruise in early June!

We were on the Magic in 2015 over July 4th. It was a sea day and they had some themed activities. They also played a lot of themed music. I got my family some crazy T-Shirts that we wore that day and we had fun. No fireworks but enjoyed they day overall.

Just booked a 3 day for the second part of our vacation. We are doing 4 days at Disney and 3 days on a cruise after. I would normally not book a 3 day cruise since we have to fly to port and the airfare alone wouldnt make the price worth it. Since we are already there for Disney we are going to attempt to unwind from the craziness of the mouse! Although it seems short, I'd rather do a short cruise than no cruise!!!

I believe the PBJ from room service is slightly toasted but I would assume you can ask for that to not be toasted. It is with Grape Jelly (my husband love their PBJs. lol)

Have a great cruise. You are a good momma!

I am having a hard time deciding between a cruise and I thought maybe I could get some additional thoughts from some friendly CCers.

We are looking at 2 cruises for Spring Break 2019 so we have to go during this specific time. The Magic 7 day to St Thomas, San Juan, Amber Cove and Grand Turk out of Miami. We have been on the Magic before her most recent Dry Dock and liked the ship. We've also been to all these ports except Amber Cove. I like these ports better than the Vista's ports. The Vista is going to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. We were just on this itinerary on our last cruise so I am not really excited about it except for the ship. The Vista is out of Galveston which is a much shorter and cheaper flight we've cruised out of Galveston before so the proximity to the port is a non issue.

I want to go on the Magic for the more exciting ports. My DH wants to go on the Vista for the cooler ship. Basically same price when you compare flight prices from DEN to HOU or DEN to MIA well save a little to HOU which will help with the extra $300 on the Vista.

What would you choose? Magic for the ports or Vista for the ship?

Have fun, go with the flow. Traveling with kids is different but so much fun! We took our son on his first cruise when he was 2 and he loved it so much. Such amazing memories.

Bring plenty of diapers.

Plan easy shore excursions where you dont have to take a cab or drive far. We took our son in a cab (with the car seat) to a beach. It was a total PITA and I prayed we made it there safely because I still worried about the seat belts holding my sons car seat in the car. That was the most stressful part. If you are flying I would pay a little extra for a shuttle so you dont need to bring a car seat with you.

Its been over a year since our last CCL cruise, but there used to be machines that would take cash next to the guest services desk that you could apply to your account. I used them to pay off part of our ending balance with the extra money we didnt use during port days.

So if you dont want to wait in the line, you that machine. I think it even took smaller bills and printed a receipt of the transaction for me.

I wonder in restaurants that are not a la carte like Moderno and teppanakki, if we wanted kids to enjoy a non kid menu meal. I wonder how much is charged for 6 year olds

 

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When we are in Teppanakki last month our son ordered off the kids menu but our server told us that we could share our entrees with him and not be charged. He ate some of the fried rice and some chicken- they give you enough food to share. I think if he orders a meal himself you get charged the full price- there is no discount for kids as far as I know.

We had a wonderful at Little French Key

We had no issue taking our kiddos in the specialty dining. If they eat off the kids menu it is not an upcharge. We ate in La Cuccinna and Cagneys.

Last Spring Break we went on the Carnival Glory to Half Moon Cay. This Spring Break we booked NCL Epic to Great Stirrup Cay. We loved HMC. It has been our best port day yet. It was pure paradise which is why we were excited to try NCLs GSC. Here is a quick break down of my opinion on the different Private Islands:

We enjoyed HMC more than GSC. The sand on HMC is amazing and nothing compares to how soft it is. The view of the ship from the beach is enjoyable. The little slide area for the kids is a nice touch. Decent buffet is offered at HMC but it is nothing special.

On GSC the sand is nice but not nearly as soft. The beach is pretty rocky and we stubbed our toes quiet a few times. The ship is not anchored in a place where you can view it from the beach. Its kinda off to the side. The food is slightly better at GSC with the newly added Taco Bar. The clamshells were awkward at GSC. They were in sections and if you didnt get there on the first tender you would have no view of the water. only the backs of other clamshells.

In short, I would absolutely book another cruise that stops at HMC. I would actually seek out an itinerary that stops at HMC... However, I would not do the same for GSC. I enjoyed it, but it was not nearly as nice as HMC. Also, I would likely splurge on a Cabana if we went to HMC again. They looked nice, and I could justify the price, however I could not justify the price for one with NCL. It was like $200 more for the day. I hope this helps anyone looking for the differences between the two islands.

I find it funny that the people on this thread are complaining about disrespectful kids and how they never let their kids act a certain way.... I guarantee that your kids were at some point in their life disrespectful, loud, inconsiderate, and everything you are complaining about.

I hate the loud drunks at 2am. but you know. stones and glass houses.

If you hate kids, and cruising with kids, cruise on a line that doesnt encourage families. Problem solved. Until then, I wont complain about you, if you dont complain about my kids.

My husband and I had the drink package but we did not get the kids soda packages. I would often go to the bar with my daughter, order my drink then she would order a soda and we never got charged for a soda. She would even offer her card (I wouldnt have minded paying) but the bartender would always just use mine. Same with my 4 year old son, if I ordered him a shirley temple I would say Id like this for my son and they never charged me. Even the few times my kids wanted a Pina Colada I would make it a point it was not for me, but I was never actually charged. Not complaining though!

We rented a car for pre-cruise. Post cruise we used Cortans and they were great. They were there and ready for us when we disembarked. No issues at all. I would use them again if we cruise Port Canaveral again.

We were on Epic a few years ago and can't remember if there is seating on deck 7 under the life boats. It shows a jogging track and deck games and I seem to remember a few deck chairs too. Can anyone confirm this. We LOVE the waterfront on the Away ships and Escape and know Epic doesn't have a waterfront but was hoping they had a few chair on deck 7. Thanks

I dont remember any deck chairs. I only went out there once, but the lifeboats are positioned in a place where its very hard to see the ocean if there happens to be deck chairs out there. It was pretty windy the time we went out there and it was night so we didnt explore much.

We were on the same boat! So my Brother picked the Epic for a "family cruise" He booked without consulting anyone. We were on this past sailing March 25-April 1. I was not really excited about it because of all the mixed reviews. I plan on writing up a review in more detail but here are some of my thoughts:

We didnt hate it. We liked the ship, but it was not love. Shes nice a big! We didnt find all the crowds that I read about- although chair hogs are in full force on sea days!

It does feel more like a hotel or a mall than a ship. If you like the feel of being on the ocean you will miss that. I felt like this was a huge miss of the design of the ship.

The staff was great, we didnt have a single issue with staff.

Food was good, especially in the specialty dining.

Pools were packed but it was spring break so there were kids (including mine!) everywhere. But the water slides and kiddie area is well done.

Entertainment was great! Loved the shows

Our biggest gripe was the room- The room was small. we were in a balcony room. It seemed WAY small. I will never put 4 people in a balcony room on NCL again. The wave in the cabin made the room seem even smaller, but there was plenty of storage, just not much walking room. The bed was small as others have pointed out. I am 5'7 and my feet were at the bottom of the bed, and I thought the bed was insanely hard and uncomfortable.

Overall I would say to go, youll have fun. Stay positive, its a cruise, you just can have a bad time! If you have specific questions you can email me at luckyjen15 at gmail dot com

Close the door softly! Dont wake up the sleeping kiddo before the coffee sets in!