duncan449

We used Blue Water Safaris last year for a snorkel excursion. They were great, the crew were all very nice and the rum punch was amazing. lol

Any updates on the Cruise Compass for Alaska Northbound for this season?

Thanks for the additional info. Sometimes, what bothers one person won't bother someone else so it's helpful to know specifically want you didn't like. In my case, I won't be at the Lido for dinner so that shouldn't be a problem. I like your attitude - glad it didn't ruin your cruise!

Exactly. I don't have the patience to sit through dinners in the dining room.

Great pictures and review. Thank you for taking the time to do this.

Sorry for your loss and thank you for the review. Nice photos.

Thank You.

Great photos. Thanks for posting! I am going on the Magic next year. You said the food was disappointing. Was it the MDR food or the Lido that you were most disappointed with? I love hearing about food, so any specifics of the good and bad would be appreciated.

We didn't venture into the dining rooms, we stuck to the Lido and other eateries. The variety wasn't that great and most nights they only opened one side of the buffet so the lines were always long. I'm a fairly picky eater and sometimes I found it difficult to find anything I liked on the buffet and would end up in the pizza line. They also forgot to label the foods sometimes so it was mystery meat for dinner. lol

I figured with a bigger / newer ship the food would have been better. It certainly didn't ruin our cruise by any means!!

Great pictures! Thanks so much for sharing.

 

How was your excursion to the Stingrays and Turtle Farm using carnival? How large of a group was it?

 

We are thinking of doing this excursion, but am hoping that it won't be excessively crowded.

I loved it, we had SO much fun. There were 30-40 people on our boat. (I attached a picture of snapshots from one of our gopro videos) It was a bit crowded at the sandbar, there were around 10 boats full of people, but there are plenty of stingrays to go around. Your group just stays around the general area of your boat. I'd do it again if we go back to the island.

the turtle farm was pretty cool, I wish we had more time there. (we left to go to Hell, so we didn't have as much time as everyone else) You can swim with the larger turtles and hold the baby ones.

Sorry to hear about your mother. Thank you for sharing with us.

Thanks for the review and sorry for the loss of your Mom.

Thank You.

Thanks for posting.

:) Enjoy.

Thank you for your review, and sharing your photos.

 

So sorry for your loss.

Thank You.

First so sorry about your mom....I was wondering, been on other ships, but first time on Libertly. Do they still do the midnight party at all?? Love your pics. and review..thanks!

Thanks. I don't remember there being a midnight party, but we usually avoid the large gatherings, so there may have been one and I just didn't pay any attention to it.

Hermit Crab Races

swim up bar

Jamaica

Grand Cayman:

blow holes

This is a little late... there's been a lot going on in my life in the past 6 months, but I always try to put up a review of our cruises, so here it is. Enjoy. (A little less detail and more pictures this time)

My husband and I started a new tradition in 2011, cruising for Christmas. My parents usually join us as well. We live about an hour from Galveston, so instead of driving to Miami we chose a port closer to home this year.

Our goal is to see the world, so generally at least one port will be new for us. Luckily on this trip both Jamaica and Grand Cayman are new for us. We were supposed to visit Grand Cayman in 2005 but were diverted to Mexico to avoid a storm.

In Cozumel we did a custom jeep tour through cozumelcruiseexcursions . net . Our ship docked at a different port than scheduled so our tours were a little screwed up. We ended up sharing our private tour guide with another couple, it was both good and bad.. we did get a jeep all to ourselves because the guide tagged along with them, but we had to compromise on what we did during the day. Overall it was an enjoyable day and our guide was great.

In Grand Cayman we did the stingray encounter and turtle farm tour through Carnival, and took a cab over to Hell for some photos. It was a day packed full and we barely had the time to do it all! I LOVED the stingrays and wish we had more time at the Turtle Farm. It was our own doing though, we left the turtle farm to go to Hell and then came back for a few minutes and to catch the bus ride to port. Hell is really cheesy but so worth the trip... who doesn't want to say they went to Hell for Christmas?! lol

In Jamaica we booked an all inclusive resort through the ship. It was the best all inclusive we've been to. The drinks were strong, the music was great, the pools were clean, there were plenty of beach chairs and shade, and the place was so big it didn't feel crowded with all the cruise passengers along with resort guests.

As for the ship, we didn't encounter any problems that I can remember. The food was a little disappointing though, it seems the bigger the ship the worse the food. Or it's just our luck..

Your almost guaranteed to see dolphins when sailing out of Galveston!

Punta Langosta Port was festive for the holidays.

At the lighthouse you can hold Parrots!

Nice review. Nice pictures also. Sorry for the loss of your mom. Extra nice to take dad along. I am sure he will treasure the memories.

Thank You. It was bitter sweet, we usually traveled for Christmas and my parents always came with us (it was our present to each other, we paid for their room, they paid for our room... it all cost the same but it made my Mom feel better). So for the 3 of us to share a room was really strange, but between the cost of a single room and him being alone it was better all around.

Thanks for the review as I too will be on the Liberty in October. I was wondering what you thought of the 5 day cruise compared to what you normally sail? Was it enough?

 

Also, loved the Henna - was it expensive?

 

I agree with you about the solo supplement - if solos pay double it should count as double in points/credits!!

 

 

My condolences to you and your Dad.

Thank You.

As for the henna, I had my right hand done at Technotel for $15 and it looked awful! On our way back to the ship a guy caught my eye at the jewelry shop near the bus drop off, he did the design pictured free hand in 5 or 6 minutes and charged me $25. It lasted about 3 weeks, may have been longer but I had to go back to work so I washed it with lime juice to fade the ink faster.

Now to the serious question... was it long enough. Honestly, no. But 7 days isn't long enough, I could spend a month on a cruise ship, I just can't afford it. The 5 days served it's purpose of distracting us, but for the price in my opinion it's not worth it. Now, if I had the time during off peak season I'd definitely take a 5 day cruise again! If you only have a week then it's worth it, but if you have the time and extra money I'd always go 7 or more. My problem is that I work for a school, so my vacation time coincides with peak travel seasons. :/

It should definitely give you double the points, like booking a suite! (that may just be RC, I get the benefits between the two mixed up sometimes, that happens when you go back and forth. lol)

I am sorry for your loss of your Mom.

 

Thanks for your review. Liberty is still my favorite ship! Hope to some day sail on her again. Look forward to more of your review.:)

Thanks for doing a review and sorry for the loss of your mom.

Thank You Both. :)

Thanks for the review. We will be sailing on the Liberty very soon, so always excited to read anything about her.

 

We are up in the air as to what to do in Progresso, we will check Technotel off of our list of options. When we were in Costa Maya a few years ago, same thing......took more than just a couple of minutes waiting then a 45 minute drive on the worst roads I have ever been on in my life. The place was great, but the getting there and back, not so much.

 

Once again, thanks for taking time to do your review and I'm glad you had a wonderful vacation.

The place was great, it was just getting there that was the problem. The actual bus ride was short, but the waiting in line part was not fun. There weren't enough buses for everyone so I think they were busing a group and coming back for another. If you get in the front of the line then your golden.

Thank you for the review. My husband & I will be on this ship soon (same itinerary). Do you recall if the Hairy Chest Contest on Lido deck was offered as part of the entertainment? My husband likes to enter this contest, but I told him I'm not sure if it is offered on the 5 day cruises.

I think I remember it being on the list of things to do.

Super long pier.

Henna, done in 5 minutes at the shopping area right off the boat! (Much better than what was done at the resort!!) It lasted about 3 weeks before completely fading away.

I forgot to add the dates in my first post... July 25 - 30, 2016

Thanks for reading. Life will not wait on you, explore the world while you can. <3

We saw a turtle from our balcony when docking in Progreso, he went down before I could grab my camera, but you can kind of see it.

We booked the Technotel through autoprogresso website... not sure I would recommend this. The place was great, but getting there was awful. We were told it would be a 45 minute wait before departure time, no big deal. After the 45 minutes they lined us up and we stood in a line in direct sunlight for 30+ minutes waiting on a bus to arrive. I bought a hat while standing there because it was just that hot!

I love the color of the water, it was like a mint/lime green color in the sun.

It did rain on us a bit while we were there and the staff was really great, they moved my dad's table under a private awning that wasn't in use while my husband and I were out on the beach! They were all really nice!