Carnival Liberty Labor Day Cruise...short and sweet!

Just wanted to give a quick little review of my recent cruise on the Carnival Liberty, 9/2 - 9/6. On this cruise was myself and two of my friends, and neither of them had ever been on a cruise. One of them loved it, and one of them learned how much she disliked cruising. Aside from her constant complaints about the cruise, I had a WONDERFUL time!

Initially, I was very nervous that since it was just a 4-day cruise, I would be surrounded by a bunch of rowdy drunk people. That was not the case at all!

EMBARKATION: We had an 11:30 check-in time, and we got to the port around 11:20. They waved us right on through, and I think it was another 15 minutes before we were on the Lido having some lunch. At that time, the Aft section where Pizza and Seafood Shack are located was dead, and there was tons of seats!

ROOM: We were on the 8th deck, midship in a balcony. The room was not completely ready when they allowed everyone through at 1:30 (almost exactly to the minute). I wasn't thrilled about that part, but thankfully, it was the only "hiccup" when it came to the room. I never did meet our room steward (my friends both did), but he did his job and brought us ice when we left him a note. Very quiet room, and I LOVED being only one deck down from the Lido deck (first for me).

DINING ROOM: We ate here the first night and the next night (elegant night). Service was great both times. We were there about 90 minutes both times. I do feel like the serving sizes are smaller, and for that I am VERY thankful! Now I can eat almost my entire dinner and not feel like I need to be rolled out of the dining room. :cool:

LIDO FOOD: I, of course, had a Guys burger. It was just as good as I remembered. I also had a breakfast burrito one morning. Delicious!!! Tacos for lunch one day (very short line compared to the burrito line). I made an effort to try the bbq, but sadly, because I had waited so long, the chicken was already gone. The brisket was a bit fatty for my liking, but the pulled pork was wonderful! And the area up near the bbq is a GREAT place to sit! Beautiful views, and hardly anyone up there. I was sad to find out that the pasta place is gone. :( I always enjoyed it. Hopefully they won't remove it from any other ships! Buffet lines were never bad IMHO, and the omelette station moved quickly. The one thing I wanted to try but didn't was the Mongolian Wok. The line was BAAAAD every time I tried.

BARS: I need to learn to be a little more pushy, I guess. I would wait a long time at the pool bars because I wasn't pushing my way up to the front. It's hard for me to be that way, so I'd end up just going back to the aft to get a drink. My favorite bar, hands down, was the Lobby bar. Excellent service and strong drinks! I didn't have Cheers (friends didn't want it), but I definitely would have saved money if I had!

LIVE MUSIC in LOBBY: Excellent! Loved both trio groups, especially the last one.

DEBARKATION: Super duper fast! Faster debarkation ever! I couldn't believe how easy and smooth it was.

CRUISE DIRECTOR: Tevin is one of my favorites! He didn't surpass "The Flying Scotsman" (my favorite) but he was full of energy, extremely kind, and super funny! I would gladly sail with him and his fun squad any time!

If you have any questions, I can try to answer them. I would easily sail the Liberty again, and I definitely enjoyed the Port Canaveral cruise port! They’ve got their stuff together!

Thanks for the review! We're going on Liberty (for the second time) in November. Just curious, what did your friend dislike about cruising?

Thanks for the review! We're going on Liberty (for the second time) in November. Just curious, what did your friend dislike about cruising?

It’s probably easier to list what she did like. :rolleyes: She disliked the ship decor, the fact there were “so many kids” (there was definitely not!), the food, how there is too much food (her fault for feeling the need to order two apps, two entrees, two desserts), prices of drinks, ridiculously small pools, etc. The complaints never ended. :rolleyes:

Ugh! That sounds like someone I would not want to vacation with!

Ugh! That sounds like someone I would not want to vacation with!

I won’t be repeating the same mistake!;)

My ‘favorite’ complaint was “it is f’ing ridiculous how few single guys are on this cruise! They’re all either with someone or ugly. How am I supposed to meet someone?” :rolleyes: I usually cruise with my husband and kids. But after she said that, I started to look around and it seems cruising isn’t a really big “single guys vacation”. Most were with someone already! Learned something new!:D

Thank you for this! Saw it linked from another review. We are cruising on the Liberty in September and I'm trying not to get overly excited haha. How much did you drink per day that you thought it would be better to go to Cheers? We were thinking of not doing it for this same cruise.. but we do drink a lot (not necessarily 15 per day though). So this has me thinking it may benefit us doing it.

9 minutes ago, xostacylee said:

Thank you for this! Saw it linked from another review. We are cruising on the Liberty in September and I'm trying not to get overly excited haha. How much did you drink per day that you thought it would be better to go to Cheers? We were thinking of not doing it for this same cruise.. but we do drink a lot (not necessarily 15 per day though). So this has me thinking it may benefit us doing it.

For one thing, I’m a coffee drinker and I visited the coffee bar twice each day. Those could have been included! And I don’t consider myself a “big drinker” but I had between 6 - 8 drinks a day (possibly a couple more on the last day). It’s much easier to do when you aren’t taking care of kids (which is what I’d usually end up doing on past cruises). I know I never had 15 (including the coffee), but my total for the 4 days was $100+ more than Cheers would have cost.  Keep in mind we were only off the ships at port for a few hours each day, so we had more time on the ship to indulge. 

31 minutes ago, momof4girls said:

 

For one thing, I’m a coffee drinker and I visited the coffee bar twice each day. Those could have been included! And I don’t consider myself a “big drinker” but I had between 6 - 8 drinks a day (possibly a couple more on the last day). It’s much easier to do when you aren’t taking care of kids (which is what I’d usually end up doing on past cruises). I know I never had 15 (including the coffee), but my total for the 4 days was $100+ more than Cheers would have cost.  Keep in mind we were only off the ships at port for a few hours each day, so we had more time on the ship to indulge. 

Thank you! This is very helpful. We didn't factor in all the water, soda, coffee, etc. when doing the math. Definitely reconsidering our decision. Luckily we have time to number crunch with those elements, and may end up going that route.