April 4 Carnival Liberty 5 day Review

Just back from a short 5 day cruise on the Liberty out of Galveston and I thought I'd share my experience with the forums.

We saw so few short cruise reviews when we were planning that I thought this might be helpful for those planning a quickie.

This was (for us) a pretty last minute deal. My sister Jenny and I were both in need of and in a position to take a week long getaway and we just went for it! We came up with the idea on a Thursday and had it booked Friday and had only four weeks to wait to leave. That was actually fun. We're used to planning trips about a year out so this was a major fast forward. That said, it was my first time being in charge of the planning of a cruise, and I didn't have a lot of time to change my mind about things. I for sure learned a lot about what I'd do differently if I were to ever sail out of Galveston again.

I'll stop here and give some overall ratings of things before I launch into my long winded tale:

The Liberty: The ship was clean and well maintained. I enjoyed the decor, especially the beautiful atrium chandalier with the color changing lights. I like most of the over the top deco of Carnival ships though, so your mileage may vary. I don't want it to look like an every day hotel. I'm on a CRUISE!

The Crew: We had great luck here. Everyone we dealt with was at least polite and many were over the top awesome. Our room steward (Joner) played along well and hugged us on the way out and we loved him. More on that later :) Our waiter (Sudaman) was sweet and did a good job but nothing really stood out about his service. Our favorite bartender, Dirk, was the best of the best this time though!

The food: Hit or miss. The dining room had the most misses for me. Guy's and Blue Iguana were the most sure bets. Lido buffet was meh the one time we ate there other than breakfast.

Embarkation/debarkation: Smooth as could be. No issues there and did not have FTTF.

Ports: It was Progreso and Cozumel. Fun, but nothing over the top. That wasn't really the intention of this cruise to begin with though.

We did the cheers package and it was well worth it. More on that later too.

So here is where you get off the ride if you don't want to read a super wordy account of our vacation :D

You are off to a great start! I am looking forward to your review. I have avoided cruising out of Galveston since it would require a flight and lengthy/costly transfers coming from Atlanta. There are several ports that we can drive to or they are closer to the airport. Can't wait to hear your opinions!

Looking forward to a super wordy review.:)

We left Casper Wyoming bright and early on Saturday morning in my little VW beetle. We drove to Denver to catch our Southwest flight to Houston that afternoon. This leg went off without a hitch, which was pretty much the theme of our travels despite all my worrying.

I purposely built in some time cushion in case we got lost or kidnapped by Martians on our way to Denver so we had some time to spend in the airport. We parked the car at USAirport Parking and have no complaints about the lot. They pick you up and drop you off right at your car which is nice and convenient. Shuttles run pretty much constantly so there was no wait.

We had three hours to wait for our flight but it went really quickly! We had a few "I'm on vacation!" beers and that probably helped ;) Our flight was also delayed about 30 minutes but that was no big deal. One of my worries on this trip was SW airlines "People of Size" policy. I needn't have worried. I was fine in the seats and none of my neighbors were harmed in the process. I think this is a bit overblown and in fact I also think the SW seats are just a tiny bit larger than other lines I've flown on. Just wanted to tuck that in here in case someone else is out there choosing this for their "Thing to worry about today" topic.

At any rate, we landed safe and sound in Houston at about 7pm. The cab ride to our hotel, the Super 8 South was about $12. The hotel was adequate for one night and cheap ($75) but this part of the journey was a lesson for next time. Next time I will book a shuttle to Galveston when we get in and spend the night there. I even looked at changing things around to that, but by the time it ocurred to me the shuttle was booked up for a convenient time for our flight. There are plenty of hotels in Galveston with free or super cheap shuttles to the port.

The reason this was even a worry was because of our transportation to the port the next day. We booked with Galveston Express shuttle to drive us down. Now, they got us there and back without an issue, but I felt like it was a bit of a crap shoot considering their reviews on Tripadvisor. People either give them 5 stars, or 1 star. I would have been happier having them take us to Galveston the day before so that if anything went haywire, we would have had that time cushion and not be trying to figure things out the day of embarkation. That said, all went well and I personally have no complaints. I think their reviews are such though that I would not ever book them without a backup plan like being prepared to just pay for a cab if needed.

Galveston does the staggered check in and that went very well. Our check in time was 11:30 and by the time we got there and got bags dropped off, we were 15-20 minutes past it. This actually worked out very well. They had nearly finished checking in all the 11:30 people, and we had a huge mob of 12:00 people behind us. Was pretty funny really! I told my sis "Runnnnn!!!" We were on board by 12:30, no issues. FTTF was sold out by the time we booked so I have nothing to comment on how that works for this port.

You are off to a great start! I am looking forward to your review. I have avoided cruising out of Galveston since it would require a flight and lengthy/costly transfers coming from Atlanta. There are several ports that we can drive to or they are closer to the airport. Can't wait to hear your opinions!

Living in Wyoming, we have to fly to any cruise port we sail out of :( I will admit, Galveston was a pain in the butt to plan for. You would think there would be more transportation options from Houston but there just aren't.

We went straight to the fish and chips for lunch. It was FANTASTIC! The fish is hot, crisp and a made from whole fish fillets. The sauces that go with it are delicious. I tried bouillabaisse for the first time and while the actual mussles in it are too fishy for me, the broth is rich and delicious! Embarkation day is a great time to visit this place, which is just up the stairs from the dessert bar, because it's not well known about yet.

There we ran into one of our roll call members, and a special one at that: This cruise marked him sailing on the last ship he needed to have sailed on every ship in the Carnival fleet. Here's his awesome hat! Hi Leon!

We walked around a bit after that, took in the view from the smoking area (I'm a vaper, so if you have questions about that feel free) and ended up with a picture of two of our dinner tablemates without realizing who they were yet. They ended up in one I took of the view and when we went back through after getting home, we were all "Hey, we know those two!"

At 1:30 we decided to go down and check on our room. We booked an interior on the Riviera deck. This was a first time thing for us, having only had balconies before, and we were actually really pleased with the room! It was pleasant, cool and dark which made it a great getaway when I'd had too much sun, which was often on this trip. No complaints here and depending on itinerary, would definitely think about doing it again. Anyway, not only was our room ready, but our bags were there too. That's the earliest I've ever gotten bags on the first day. We had several people in our roll call on that other website complaining they hadn't gotten their's around 3pm and they had FTTF. Weird, but we'll take it!

Oh, need to insert here, since I skipped it: We had planned to bring rum runners (your judgments will be cheerfully ignored :) ) but all the liquor stores in Houston were closed Sunday night! We ended up getting the cheers package instead. It doesn't count on embarkation day in Galveston; something to do with taxes, but it was WELL worth what we paid for it. It was also FUN. We got to try a bunch of different drinks and we totally got our money's worth. I even hit the 15 drink limit on the first sea day. It's easier to do than you might think! But anyway, our empty rum runners were in our suitcase..wonder if they even got a second glance? I thought it would be kind of funny if they opened our bags to find empty rum runners :D

We took some time and unpacked, then continued to enjoy the ship.

Here I have to say..cruising with a ship loaded with 80% southerners, and most of those from Texas, was a BLAST. That was the most fun sail away party ever! I bet 2/3 of the guests were on the Lido. It actually felt like a PARTY. Our "site that will not be named" roll call had our first meet and greet at the Red Frog and though we could hardly hear anyone, we had fun meeting up!

We had late dining and there were 8 of us at a long table. 4 sat at one end and we didn't really talk to them. One couple were concerned with having a vegan menu and we didn't see them again after the first night. The two other ladies were there one other night, but that was it. Our most frequent tablemates were two ladies, a mom and daughter who we enjoyed talking with very much. They know who they are and if they're reading..HI! I'm waving at you both!

Yikes! A couple of those came out blurry! Sorry..must have been that sailaway party :D I also just realized we did not take photos of the dessert menu. Ooops. In addition to that, I'll warn you right now that I also did not save my fun times. I tend not to pay a lot of attention to them to begin with, and didn't take pics. Sorry guys..I know those are hard to come by for the short cruises.

I was hit and miss about taking photoes of the menus, but I did get the first night and I also did a little better with taking food pictures, though I frequently forgot until after a few bites were taken so sorry for that! Most of the time my tablemates had to remind me :D The first night I had the beef brisket and it was not very good. It was very dry and stringy.

My sister had the vegetable lasagne and I wished I'd ordered that. This became a frequent theme in our dining room meals. Hers was almost always better!

I had the fig cake and it was dry.

She had the tiramisu cake and it was really yummy.

Our tablemates had the sweet and sour shrimp, which was good, though the sauce was served about halfway through the meal and was a bit weird.

A fellow cruiser!!! I love reading the cruise from someone else's perspective. I also found the dining room to be hit or miss. I almost tried the brisket the first night but now I'm glad I didn't.

I posted all the funtimes on my review and I'm pretty sure they came out ok. A lot of my pics were sideways though for some reason. Oops.

We checked out the casino, which was shockingly tight with the slots. It remained so until the last night for me. The last night made up for pretty much all of it though :) We turned in fairly early that first night. It had been a really long day! The beds were comfy and the room quiet and dark. I slept like a rock!

Before going to bed, my sister drew our room steward a cute little post it note. I can't roll my Rs so he told me to call him Captain Jack. That's where the games began :D

A fellow cruiser!!! I love reading the cruise from someone else's perspective. I also found the dining room to be hit or miss. I almost tried the brisket the first night but now I'm glad I didn't.

 

I posted all the funtimes on my review and I'm pretty sure they came out ok. A lot of my pics were sideways though for some reason. Oops.

I am going looking for your review! I love reading from someone else's perspective too :) No, you did well with your brisket choice for sure. I can honestly say I only had two meals in the dining room that were really nice, and one was from the pay menu. Oh well. Definitely not a cruise breaker for me. There was plenty of other food that was great!

Day two was our first full sea day. This is is my favorite day on a cruise. It's your first full day, you have the whole cruise to look forward to, and it's a SEA DAY. I love them :) We ate at the seaday brunch for breakfast and it was pretty good with one exception. I did the steak and eggs and the steak just tasted..off. I did not take more than a couple of bites because I didn't want to risk it. Mac and cheese was fab though! I did not get any pictures of the brunch.

We hung out at the Red Frog and on the Lido quite a bit. Dirk was our favorite bartender. Such a funny and friendly guy and always remembered our names and even what we'd been up to in order to ask us how it went.

We did a meet and greet in the Cabinet Lounge, which one of our roll call members arranged and Cory the CD was there as well. Super fun guy, and we really enjoyed him as a CD! The hairy chest contest was entertaining as always. The casino was tight as always.

On past cruises we have been on a mission to try and see and do all we could pack in. This time around, we spent a serious amount of time parked in a lounge chair on the lido. Both Jenny and I were well in need of some plain old R & R and we took advantage.

Pro tip: Even if you have the cheers package, bring an insulated cup of your own. The tervis cups they sell at the lido bars are cute, but they're tiny. I have a 32 oz insulated mug and filled it about half with ice, then dumped a purchased drink in there on top. It kept the ice from melting way longer than just the bar glass.

We grabbed lunch at the Blue Iguana Taco bar and it was AMAZING. I did not get a burrito though, but instead opted for the tacos and I think that's the best choice. They're like little street tacos and the tortillas are nice and fresh. Beware the habanero salsa :)

This is where I discovered that the ice cream is really awesome. I'd never paid much attention to it before, as I am generally the kind of person that can take it or leave it when it comes to ice cream. For some reason, I really like THIS ice cream, even when it isn't being eaten because my face is melting :D

Ha we did the Behind the Fun tour. The chef said they almost weren't prepared for the amount of ice cream being eaten on the ship. When they were in San Juan people didn't eat as much ice cream.

Following! Thanks for this review. I have been waiting for people like you and nsullivan to do your 5 day Liberty reviews from Galveston.... counting down my days until my turn.

Tonight was our elegant night and we were a step or two above business casual but definitely not formal. I wore a fancy blouse and palazo pants and thought I looked quite schnazzy. I had the duck, which was quite good and Jenny had the crab ravioli, which she liked and I thought was horrible. We did a lot of sharing across and you can see bites of each dish on both plates. I took one bite of the ravioli and chucked it back where it came from. VERY fishy and I'm kind of funny about that.

For dessert most of the table had the chocolate hazelnut cake and all agreed that it was much prettier than it tasted. Those sprinkles around it are not nuts but cocoa crispies cereal that is no longer very crispy.

OH..forgot to mention, I had the Caesar salad and the broiled scallops as an app. The salad, which I know a lot of people rave about, had an odd taste to me and no it wasn't the anchovies. The scallops, on the other hand, were absolutely AWESOME and I highly recommend. Missed that picture. Must have been that excellent Muscato I started the meal with :D

We went to the 70s music show after that and sorry to be a poop here, but I have decided I am done with the theater shows unless it's something like the motown or they come up with something new. It was just bad. The male singer was frequently off key and I spent a lot of the time wishing we had gone to the piano bar or comedy club. Fine for some, but I'll use this time on something more enjoyable in the future. I say this because it's been my general opinion of nearly all the theater shows I've seen on the cruises I've done. I love Carnival, and am hard pressed to think of trying another line after all I've read, but this is one area where they really need to pick up the pace.

That being said, the small bands around the ship were actually REALLY good, and I especially liked the ones that played in the casino.

I ended the evening by visiting one of my favorite spots on the ship. The outdoor deck from the third/atrium floor is a really neat place to watch the water and I especially love it at night. It's very peaceful and surreal for me and though this is only my third cruise, it's already a tradition for me to go down there and check it out several times during the cruise. The deck is almost always desserted, too. I bet a lot of you have favorite places like that on ships.

And finally, our first message back from Jonerrrrrr (those Rs I can't roll) aka Captain Jack:

Following! Thanks for this review. I have been waiting for people like you and nsullivan to do your 5 day Liberty reviews from Galveston.... counting down my days until my turn.

Hope you have an absolutely fantastic time and am betting that you will! May your countdown go quickly and your cruise time go slowly :)

NSullivan..as I posted in your review (which is awesome btw) I was in your behind the fun tour :) I think I might have been part of the ice cream shortage! :eek: Nah, not really. For me to have had ice cream 3-4 times in the cruise is saying a lot..I normally eat it once or twice a year.

Up and out for our Progreso day! We ate at the Blue Iguana for breakfast and unfortunately neither of us was very impressed. The eggs in the breakfast burritos were watery and goopy. Just not good.

For this port, having never been there and having read some dubious tales of the sketchiness of the place, we decided to book through Carnival. On our last cruise we did pretty much all independent excursions with no problems, but we were going by the "Better a live chicken than a dead duck" rule.

We did the Holy Guacamole tour and it was a very pleasant day. If you book this, be prepared that this is more of a beach day than advertised on the Carnival site. Yes, there is the cooking class portion, but that lasts about 30 minutes and the rest of it is spent at a beach house where you can lounge in hammocks or beach chairs, take a dip in their pool or walk a little ways down to the beach. It's not a particularly pretty beach but you can go for a swim if you like.

You start out on a large bus with a very informative tour guide and take about a 30 minute ride through Progreso, which is not touristy at all in the actual town part and I don't know that I'd go for a walk there by myself, then along a road that has a bunch of beach front houses owned by ex-patriots. Apparently these homes run about 85-100k and it's a popular place to retire. We really liked our guide, though I cannot for the life of me remember his name. He was friendly and made the drive go by very quickly.

The little cooking class was fun. We made margaritas, pico and guacamole. We were supposed to have made tortillas as well but unfortunately they did not have the ingredients that day. It was fairly basic and you didn't pick up much if you're already a decent cook but he did give me the tip to soak the tomatoes used in guacamole in tequila before adding them, and the avacados were so fresh and perfectly ripe that the guacamole was just fantastic.

I did a short massage while there for $25. It was, I believe, 25 minutes and I do know you can get less expensive massages on the public beach. A lot of our roll call did the public beach and liked it fine. The food served at the buffet was actually really good and the service was excellent. A waiter saw that I had my drink and plate on the sand near my hammock and without being asked came over with a little table for me. Most of the staff did not speak English and I had fun practicing my very limited Spanish. They were prompt with drinks, too, which were included. I'd definitely recommend this for Progreso if you aren't interested in ruins and the like. It was a nice, relaxing day.

We had a little bit of time before getting back on the ship to shop and picked up some vanilla and a leather purse for my mom.

We schlepped around the ship for a bit, I had a great conversation with a roll call member out on Deck 10, and then it was back to the room to dress for dinner.

That's when it hit me just how sunburned I was. I'd put on sunscreen like crazy but it just didn't work. I'm just so fair skinned that at some point, nothing works. Sigh. Shoulda worn my hat and brought my sport sunscreen I guess. I'm kind of a pink person to begin with.

This was the evening we played a little prank on Captain Jack :) He made us such nice towel animals that we made him a towel person and parked it on the toilet in the bathroom!

We were walking out of our cabin to head to dinner and he asked us if we'd left him a note again and we told him "oh yeah, you could say that" Then we finished walking down the hall cackling like loons.

The next day he was postively bent over GIGGLING (not laughing, not chuckling, but giggling) about how he used it to prank his fellow stewards about how there was someone in the bathroom and what should he do??

When we came back from dinner we had another note on the mirror:

As you can see, the towel person got moved so he could clean the bathroom. That was fine, my pillows were used in the operation and I needed them so we had to disassemble towel chick anyway.

What can I say? I like to have fun when I can :)

Loving your review! Looks like you and your sister had great fun. :)

I love what you did in Progreso. If we ever go back I think we will do that instead of the ruins again. I'm trying to get my mom to take a cruise with me.

Loving your review! The Liberty is one of our favorite ships. :)

Can't wait for more!

I am really loving your great reviews!! We are going on our 1st cruise(Liberty)in June and your giving me tons of useful information:) Thank you!!!!!

This was the evening we played a little prank on Captain Jack :) He made us such nice towel animals that we made him a towel person and parked it on the toilet in the bathroom!

 

 

We were walking out of our cabin to head to dinner and he asked us if we'd left him a note again and we told him "oh yeah, you could say that" Then we finished walking down the hall cackling like loons.

 

The next day he was postively bent over GIGGLING (not laughing, not chuckling, but giggling) about how he used it to prank his fellow stewards about how there was someone in the bathroom and what should he do??

When we came back from dinner we had another note on the mirror:

 

 

As you can see, the towel person got moved so he could clean the bathroom. That was fine, my pillows were used in the operation and I needed them so we had to disassemble towel chick anyway.

 

What can I say? I like to have fun when I can :)

OMG, we did the same thing when we were on Liberty last September and I'm still laughing just thinking about it. I'm so glad that we're not the only one who likes to have fun with the cabin steward. LOL!!! We were on Liberty's former itinerary out of San Juan, which is very port heavy and one sea day. On the morning of our only sea day, we (OK, I - DH was in no way involved) stuffed a pair of my jeans, added shoes where feet would be and shoved it under the bed then went to breakfast. Our cabin steward was the first person we saw and he did see both of us leave that cabin, but when he walked in, he saw my "surprise". He was a great sport and thought it was hilarious, but said it scared him at first.

He did let us know he'd be getting us back though and I told him I was looking forward to it. They did, a couple nights later, with this in the bathroom. We had so much fun and I'll do it again...but only if we have a cabin steward that seems easy going.

I'm enjoying your review and looking forward to the rest. Thank you for taking the time to share.