Carnival Liberty 4/24/10 - Western Caribbean

[sparky9016]

This was our first cruise, and we had our DD (14) with us. It was wonderful overall...

MIAMI: We flew in the day before the cruise and stayed at the Marriott Biscayne Bay hotel downtown. Had a great deal from Priceline of $65/night. The room was wonderful, beds were great, and we were able to get a balcony room facing the port on the 21st floor... it was great... we went to south beach for a while, and ate at a place on Ocean Dr. called CJ's Crab Shack... it was pretty good... pass on the blue crabs though, they are WAY more work than they are worth.. great flavor though. It was pricy, but good, and we ate on the sidewalk by the beach which was good and bad. Lots of people walking by watching you eat and/or commenting and one even grabbed my daughters shoulder... she didn't love that! The view was great though... fun to watch people skateboard right with traffic! We had our taxi driver stop us at a CVS to get water and soda and then back to the hotel. *TIP - do the CVS or Walgreens type of trip BEFORE you go to the little store connecting Doubletree and Marriott... sooo much cheaper. :) We woke pretty early and the Liberty was already in port...

EMBARKATION: We took a taxi over to the port at about 10:15AM.. checkout was much faster than I had expected from the hotel. We got to the port at about 10:30AM, gave our bags to the porter, and were on our way into the terminal. The staff here is very good at keeping things moving along. We got our tag and we were in zone 7. After checking in we waited probably about an hour or so before they started boarding. I think we actually go onboard at around 12:30 or so... We went to the Lido right after getting on board, and since we were in Miami the night before we already had our suits on under our clothes to start on our tans by the pool with the first of many DOD's in our hands!

CABIN: We had a balcony cabin (6331) which we spent a lot of time on, so I don't think we could ever go on another cruise without the balcony. We were able to prop our door open with the door stop each night, and we LOVED hearing the waves at night. There is quite suction created though between the balcony door and the door to the cabin though so be careful there! The room was plenty big enough, lots of storage. Our room steward was very good, we didn't see much of him though but we always had ice each night, and he emptied the mini bar for us the 1st night after I left a note requesting him to do so. As I said, this was our first cruise, so I don't have anything to compare it to, but other people on board said this was one of the choppiest cruises they had been on. We definitely felt the movement (a lot at times), but it was never an issue, and it was even nice sometimes... it kind of lulls you to sleep. DD got a little nauseous the first night and the last night... we just doubled up on her Bonine and she was fine most of the time. We all took Bonine every night, and I don't know if that is why we weren't feeling sick or not, but either way... I'm glad we weren't!

[sparky9016]

DINING: We were in the Silver Dining room (Aft), and it was a very nice room... we had a table at the window looking out at the wake the ship left. It was very picturesque, but you could really feel a lot of vibration and movement at our table. I had been called by Carnival to upgrade to an aft balcony, but I turned it down since it was our first cruise and I didn't know what to expect as far as seasickness, and I'm kind of glad I didn't take it based on our dinner experiences. Our servers were just good. I'm comparing them to the other servers around our tables and other reviews I've read. They were fine, I didn't have any big complaints (except one night my partner and I both ordered prime rib and a lobster tail, and he brought the lobster first, alone, and then didn't bring the prime rib until all of us were done with that course, so everyone at our table had to wait for us to finish our prime rib before we could order dessert). They just didn't do anything great... they didn't know our names, hardly talked to us at all unless we asked them something. We even had other waiters come over and do some magic tricks which were pretty cool... we all enjoyed that. Our tablemates were great, we were a little concerned about eating with strangers, but there were two nice couples both with kids around our DD's age. I don't remember all that we had to eat, but I do remember the prime rib being excellent, I didn't really care for the flat iron steak, I did really like the pastas that I had for appetizers, and the escargot was wonderful also. Otherwise, for the most part, I felt the food was slightly above average. Again, no huge complaints, it just didn't blow my mind. We did eat sushi every night, which we LOVED... it's only open a few hours each night, so we'd grab a plate on the way back from dinner and put it in the fridge for a snack later. Room service was good also... we had that for breakfast almost every morning. They were always prompt, and only forgot something once.

PORTS: We stopped in Cozumel where we did the Dolphin Swim....that was amazing... very fun. We did not book through Carnival, but I got a good deal online through the Dolphin Discovery website. Taxi to Chankanaab park is $10. Shopping in Cozumel was great... we got a lot of stuff for a pretty good deal. We ate at the Three Amigos place right at the end of the pier... it was ok, around $10 - $15 per plate. We got a bottle of alcohol in each port, in Cozumel we got a bottle of Tequila (not sure the name sorry) and it was $11. Next was Grand Cayman. We tendered in and got a taxi to Royal Palms on 7 mile beach. It was $4/pp for the taxi, and they try to wait to fill their vans before leaving to your destination. Royal Palms is very nice, we got chairs right on the water almost... it was $7/pp to rent a chair, and we didn't get an umbrella but I think that was an additional $10. You could rent wave runners (somewhere around $65 for 1/2 hr), or go parasailing... I took DD parasailing, she went up; I just was on the boat with her. It was $70/pp. She had a great time, and our guides on the boat for the parasail were really nice. Shopping was kind of expensive, and we didn't buy much in GC. Alcohol is cheap though... got a bottle of Absolute for $9! Last stop was Ocho Rios. Mixed feelings about OR. Overall feeling is that it is very poor and the people are very pushy. DD was kind of scared and just wanted to go back to the ship early. We booked an excursion through Carnival here, Bamboo Beach Club. It was an all inclusive beach day, and they brought you drinks (rum punch, mojitos, beer, lemonade, water) about every 5 minutes, and different plates of food to try. You were never wanting for anything. There were also Jamaican dancers periodically that were fun to watch. Our servers Melissa and Radisha were great. They didn't want you to leave though!! We got too much sun, and wanted to go back a little early and also to do some shopping, but they were very concerned that we didn't have fun. I suppose they are worried you are going to complain to Carnival. We had fun there, and it was relaxing. As I said, shopping was a bit of an adventure. I asked the shuttle driver to drop us at the duty free shop right by the pier area, and he said he would, but dropped us instead at this little shopping center. We had one store employee that appeared to be stealing from her store... she told us she was making a great deal...which they all tell you, and then before you knew it you were handing her the money in the back of the store and she threw our stuff in a bag and we were out the door... all I could think of was that she was going to report us for stealing and we were going to be in a lot of trouble! Thankfully nothing happened. We got offered drugs a couple times... just said no thanks and moved on. *TIP - if you get dropped off at this shopping center, just know that the duty free place a couple blocks away has some more shops and everything is cheaper there. We had bought a bottle of coconut rum before the duty free for $12 and could have gotten 3 bottles for that price at the duty free store. We did end up getting another bottle of spiced rum for $8. Don't know that I'd go back to OR... I don't like feeling that I have to be on guard all the time when I'm trying to experience a new place and do a little shopping.

[sparky9016]

CIRCLE C: DD didn't want to go at first, she's shy. But we made her go to the orientation, and she ended up making friends with a group of about 6-8 kids. We hardly saw her after the 1st day. We saw her in the morning, and then for dinner, and then she didn't come back to the cabin until 1:30AM each night. She had a great time though, so that's all that matters!

MISC: We are pretty early risers, so we never had any trouble getting a chair by the pool on the Lido deck. There were some saved though that seemed to never be occupied... We had great weather the entire trip, even with the wind that occasionally made the ship movement more noticeable... we ended up with a great tan, which was part of the plan! :) One pet peeve I developed was neighbors having no clue how loud their balcony door is when you let it slam shut. I just don't understand why it's so hard to close a door without letting it slam... also our neighbors were kind of loud....there was a lot of yelling from time to time.. so that was a little annoying. We got two soda cards, one for DD (which she used a lot she said) and one for me. I don't think I'd do it again. I found the water on the ship to be very good, and I didn't drink that much soda outside of our room, and that we had brought along. I found myself drinking the DOD's or pina coladas a lot. The long island ice tea is good too, probably the most "bang" for your buck anyway! Tommy the bartender at the Paparazzi bar is great! We also enjoyed Margaret in the piano bar quite a bit!

BUFFET: Fish & Chips was really good, I had that a couple times, and the burrito bar was good... as was the deli. We got sandwiches at the deli the night before Grand Cayman for lunch since we'd heard it was very expensive on that island. The regular buffet areas were good... I didn't love the Mongolian, which is weird as I usually love that kind of thing... maybe it was just an off day. Loved the ice cream, and dessert bar... there was always something very tasty there!

GUEST SERVICES: This gets its own category since I spent so much time there. I was not impressed with this area of Carnival. They either need more staff or they need to correct the issues people are having. I almost never got in a line that was less than 1/2 hr long, and I think I spent approximately 4 hrs in line for GS throughout the cruise. Not my idea of fun. Now, part was because of my choice to have a cash account, and not realizing how much money we would spend onboard. I had to go in line probably 3x to deposit more money. The first day kind of set the tone for my GS experience though... There are some good points to take from this if you are going to use travelers checks for your account or anything else. I first waited in line for about 30 minutes to put my initial deposit on my S&S card. Once I got up there, I was told that I needed my passport or drivers license to use travelers checks at the desk... they said that the photo they have on the S&S card of you is not sufficient even though they checked your ID before they took your photo! Soooo, I had to go back to the room and get my ID. Then I went back to the line and waited another 30 min. They have people on the first day that walk up and down the GS line to see what you are waiting to do so if you are in the wrong place you didn't wait the whole time to find that out. So they found that there were several of us that were just waiting to put money on our accounts. Ok, so I was 2nd in line now, and a GS rep came over and called all of us out of line into another line that were just putting money on our accounts, as she was going to take us to the excursions desk to do that. So, then 2 or 3 other people that were behind me and the couple in front of me went through the regular GS line while we were waiting in this other line to go to the excursions desk.. all of us up front were getting upset since we could have been through the line by now if they would have just left us there. So then we went to the other desk, and she could not get her computer to work. So we waited in line ANOTHER 1/2 hr while she tried to get that working only to find that she could not. So now, they moved our whole line back over to GS and just put us through in our own line. This is not what you want to be doing your first day on a cruise! The other thing that was not good w/ GS was that on the last night when they return your alcohol that you bought in port, they only brought two of our four bottles. So I called down to GS, and they said that there were some down there that lost their labels, so I should come down to see if they were there. So I waited in ANOTHER line for about 40 min this time, and was told they didn't have it there, but "they would find it" and I should come back in the morning. They did end up finding it later that night and brought it to our room, which is good because I don't think I could have waited in another line.

[sparky9016]

SHOWS: We only went to the first one... Wonderful World I think it was called... it was ok... I'm just not that into that type of show. One thing I would have preferred was for them to have the other shows earlier. We're kind of early to bed people and we missed a lot of the shows we wanted to see because they were at midnight only. I didn't see many of the shows with an early and a late time.

 

CASINO: We spent a little time and money each night in the casino. Didn't do very well, but we enjoy gambling so it was fun anyway... they have cards on EVERY machine telling you how to put money in and how you need to add it back to your card, so just read them and it walks you through it. We went to bingo one night... didn't win. :(

 

SHOPS: I expected there to be more shops on board. There was really only the gift shop, and a jewelry store... I'm not counting the little place you could rent formal-wear and buy candy... it was the size of our bathroom. If you go to the big watch sale, be prepared for a mob... holy cow... and then make sure you walk away with the right watch if you buy one... we were lucky we looked at it outside the shop as they gave us the wrong one... also we waited for the big clearance sale on the last sea day, and it was pretty much the same prices from the whole week... like they had t-shirts 2 for $20 all week, and then put some on "sale" for $10/ea!! lol...

 

Overall it was an amazing vacation, and yes, we’d cruise Carnival again, but I would also like to try other lines as well. DD already has a B2B planned for the next one! LOL!

[mnsawyer]

Nice review and thanks for posting. We were on vacation to South Beach two weeks ago and ate at the crab restaurant you mentioned. We actually got 50% off the menu but believe that was on a Tuesday night. We thought the food was great and even better that it was 50% off. Still over $50 for 2 of us! After our trip, we agreed that cruising is the best bang for you buck and will do so again next March.

[Princessbride3]

I have never used cash on a s&s account, do you give cash when you check in before the ship or do you have to go directly to the gs to do so? I was just going to prepay tips before cruise and then give 800. I am not expecting to use that much as we have done the spa and massages and all that. I figure a soda card for my dd and some d of the d and that should be about it.

[sparky9016]

I have never used cash on a s&s account, do you give cash when you check in before the ship or do you have to go directly to the gs to do so? I was just going to prepay tips before cruise and then give 800. I am not expecting to use that much as we have done the spa and massages and all that. I figure a soda card for my dd and some d of the d and that should be about it.

 

They told me to go to Guest Services to deposit cash/travelers checks when we got on board. So I tried when we got on but their computers were not up and running yet, so I went back later. I think not including tips, we probably spent about $700? I forgot to check our bill before we left and was just checking it on the TV as we went along to make sure nothing was there that wasn't supposed to be. We had 12 bar tickets, and still ended up spending quite a bit more than I anticipated on drinks.. we're not usually big drinkers at home but I guess that goes out the window when you're on vacation! :) We also bought a couple cartons of cigarettes on board, some jewelry, and we didn't really go to the spa except that I got my hair cut on board. It all adds up pretty fast! ;) Next time, I don't think I will do a cash account, or if I do - I will put much more down in the beginning so I don't have to keep going back in line.

[sparky9016]

Nice review and thanks for posting. We were on vacation to South Beach two weeks ago and ate at the crab restaurant you mentioned. We actually got 50% off the menu but believe that was on a Tuesday night. We thought the food was great and even better that it was 50% off. Still over $50 for 2 of us! After our trip, we agreed that cruising is the best bang for you buck and will do so again next March.

 

50% off would have been helpful... our bill was about $130 for the 3 of us!! Yikes! ;)

[Elmo31]

Sounds like alot of fun. I cant wait to get back on the Liberty once again in a couple of weeks. Im going nuts counting down the days. I have a 15 year old son and hope he will have fun. He has cruised before when he was young and loved it. I just hope now that he is in the club o2 group he will have fun.

[Jeafl]

Nice review! Thanks for sharing. :) It sounds like I will have to avoid Guest Services if at all possible. It's a shame you wasted so much time standing in line. :(

[Princessbride3]

I was wondering if anyone has ever pre paid on a debit card before the cruise? That might make things easier to not go to guest services.