Back from the Liberty - Cat 1A & 8A

[susanf31]

Just returned from the Oct. 17th Eastern Caribbean sailing of the Liberty. We had a GREAT TIME. The ship is spotlessly clean and beautiful. I didn't find the decor busy or tacky at all. I thought the ship was beautiful.

 

I'll try to keep it brief. We had cabins 6227 (1A) and 6225 (8A). Both were great. Comfortable beds. Nice linens. This was the first time we ever had a balcony and now I'm hooked!

 

We openly carried on 2 bottles of wine and a bottle of cranberry juice. We smuggled on 1.5 L of vodka in Rum Runners that we bought on line. No problems.

 

The food was mostly excellent. Harry's was OUTSTANDING! Flawless! Don't miss it! It's the best $30 you'll ever spend.

 

My only food complaint was the breakfast buffet and room service. The breakfast buffet was uninspired with wet, runny scrambled "eggs", dry pancakes and french toast. Room service was a joke. We TRIED 3 times to have room service for breakfast. The first time, we got no silverware. The second time, they didn't show up at all. The third time, we got a pot of coffee, but no cups. The fourth time I tried to order something late at night, they didn't answer the phone. Finally gave up on room service. But those really are my only complaints about our cruise.

 

The public rooms can get really cold at night, so definitly bring a jacket or wrap.

 

I thought the entertainment was fine. The shows were entertaining and we enjoyed everything we attended.

 

Butch, the cruise director has been getting a lot of flak on this board. He's a really tall, skinny, HIGH ENERGY guy with a huge, bright smile on his face at all times. It's his JOB to make announcements. I thought he was great and did a great job. He was very funny during the shows he hosted and really seemed to enjoy his job.

 

PORTS OF CALL: St. Thomas!!!! I'm going to go out of order and start with the BEST excursion we have EVER done. Now, I'll admit it was expensive, but if you could get 6 ppl together, it wouldn't be that much. We hired a private boat to take us to St. John to snorkel the very best spots - to our heart's content. The boat, "Big Blue"/Capt. Wilson had a private driver meet us right as we got off the ship. Our driver drove us to the boat in Red Hook and off we went!!! The capt. asked us what we wanted to do and see. He custom tailored our day to whatever we wanted to do. We spent the day along St. John' shores and tiny islands inbetween St. John and St. Thomas. He took us to a Green Sea Turtle nursery where we snorkeled with tons of juvenile sea turtles. Then off to coral gardens and other great places. It was sooooo nice to not be "cattle herded" with other cruise ships passengers or taken to a beach to share it with hundreds of other people. It was just our family doing what we wanted to do for as long as we wanted to do it. At the end of the day, he radioed ahead and our driver was waiting for us as we stepped off the boat...he gave us a nice tour of St. Thomas on our way back to the ship. We were only able to do a 1/2 day with him due to the port times, but if you have a full day, he will take you over to the British Virgin Islands, the Baths...anything you want.

 

Half Moon Cay - we didn't get to go due to weather. So they took us to Nassau instead. We hopped a cab over to Atlantis and made the best of a disappointing day. Not Carnival's fault.

 

San Juan: We walked to the fort, toured the fort, and then walked around Old San Juan. It was a nice day.

 

Grand Turk: Poor Grand Turk - so decimated by Hurricane Ike. We rented a golf cart and explored the island. Everyone is so friendly. Unlike Mexico, no one tries to sell you anything. They are very happy to have us there and I hope they recover soon. We stopped at Bohio but found the water cloudy and not much there, so we left. After we returned the golf cart, we had lunch at Margaritaville. I found it to be over priced with loud, pounding music. I didn't like it. After lunch, we headed for the beach, to find it soooo crowded and the ocean had a rocky bottom. Not my cup of tea. BUT, BUt, BUt, if you just get your stuff and walk down the beach for about 10 minutes, you come to the most beautiful spot!!! It's empty. The water was crystal clear. Sandy bottom. Perfect!!!! When you get off the ship, go left, but don't stop where all of the chairs are. Keep walking and you will find a perfect "caribbean" beach. :)

 

That's about it. This was our first Carnival cruise. I paid so little for it that I went in with really low expectations, but I was pleasantly suprised by the food, the service and the ship!

 

Feel free to ask any questions.

[firefly333]

Was 6227 bunk beds?? Iv always avoided that particular 1A.

 

Glad you loved the cruise and cabins. Welcome back.

[susanf31]

Yes, 6227 just had bunk beds. I liked the room. It was small, but the bathroom was the same size as the bathroom we had in our Cat 8A cabin. We put our teens in 6227 and we were 3 feet away in 6225.

[firefly333]

The cabin was so convenient and Im sure your kids didnt mind the bunks. We always had the same size bahtroom in a 1A so I wasnt worried.. thanks. We had 6393 down the hall last time and it was great, two twins.

 

Sounds like you loved St. Thomas. That was my favorite port when we went there on the Caribbean Princess. We did a Princess excursion, heights of something, the tram, mountain top etc, and then local lunch and then a beach to snorkel and had fun with the locals. Best port of that cruise for us too.

 

Im glad you had a great cruise. Sounds like you will be back booking Carnival probably.