Pictorial Review of the Liberty Looneys CC Cruise - 1/15 - 1/22/2011

[gapearl]

Awesome review so far and great pictures! Keep it coming!

[dodger501]

The tour continues. Here we can see one of the 850 photographers on the ship getting set up for Elegant Night:

 

This is the same as it's been for a while, folks -- good, bad, or indifferent, if you're not interested they will take No for an answer.

Here is one of my favorite places. Not for the pastries but for the Irish coffee, made with Jameson - my after-dinner drink:

 

Hey, it's Phil (Salty Dingo)!

 

Back outside we go, it's still hot but the sun is getting a tad lower:

 

Lido Buffet. One thing I like about this ship is that there are 4 different buffet lines, not counting the specialty places (fish & chips, burrito bar, etc.). I never had more than 2-3 people ahead of me at the beginning so crowding was not a problem. It was a little dicey finding a seat but you always found one before the food got cold.

 

Kelly and Mitch, cooling their heels (literally) at the Lido pool:

[serene56]

Awesome photos- what kind of camera.?

 

http://abduzeedo.com/how-create-hdr-photos-hdrphotomatix-tutorial

I was using this page --is it good?

[dodger501]

Thank you kindly, gapearl.

Up on Deck 10 starboard, watching the sun set. I love this light, don't you?

 

This was fun to look down on and watch this - Jets fans taunting Pats fans during the game on the big screen:

 

OMG, is she pushing him over?

 

I took this one with the amber filter on the flash. Mrs. Dodger held the flash unit just to the right, it was triggered by the camera. Pretty slick.

 

Harry's Steakhouse:

 

Elegant Night. That dress. Yeah. It's a Diane von Furstenburg she got from her late ex-mother-in-law. We call it "The Tree Dress"

I set the flash to rear sync, which means the flash fires just before the shutter closes as opposed to when it opens. This enables more of the ambient light to come in. The downside is that it required a slower shutter so I had to ask Mrs. D hold as still as possible.

[dodger501]

Hot & Cool Disco (HDR):

 

Piano Bar (HDR):

 

The piano player was Brad something. He was talented but I didn't care for his voice, kind of screechy.

Looking out the window on the Promenade deck (HDR). One minor complaint I had throughout the cruise is that the windows were caked with salt. There are water pipes on the outside to soak them but apparently were never used:

 

I'll put a quick mini-lesson on HDR here. Skip over this, if not interested.

A tripod is recommended but you will remember that was no longer an option for me.

Set your camera to aperture priority mode because you don't want the depth of field to change. You are going to be taking 3-5 shots.

Set auto ISO to off, you don't want exposure varying all over the place.

On the Nikon, setting bracketing is easy - just the push of a button and the turn of a wheel. I do 5 exposures 2/3 of the time. 3, others.

I also have an infrared remote that goes on the hot shoe where I can trigger the shutter remotely. Otherwise set the camera to a 5-10 second delay to minimize vibration.

Get your focus. Now turn AF off so that the camera doesn't try to refocus each time.

Take your 3-5 exposures. You should end up with EV-2, -1, normal, +1, +2

Now you have the full range of what your eyes saw. A single picture and you get exposure only on one part of the scene. So if you are shooting out a window, it will be blown-out white.

Here is the tricky part. You have to have software to merge these exposures together. I have 3, in order of preference:

 

1. Photomatix Pro 4

2. Nik Efex HDR Efex Pro

3. Photoshop CS5

 

There could be others less costly but I don't know what they are. Tweak the settings to your liking - strength, exposure, detail, contrast, temperature, and so on. The first 2 above will align the images which is a good thing since . . . no tripod.

There's lots more that go into my shots, a lot of times I add the 5 exposures as layers underneath and mask in features from each that I like. I have spent hours on some. The ones you see here averaged about 15-20 minutes or work each.

[dodger501]

Awesome photos- what kind of camera.?

 

http://abduzeedo.com/how-create-hdr-photos-hdrphotomatix-tutorial

I was using this page --is it good?

 

Thank you so much. Nikon D700. SB-800 speedlight. I brought 3 lenses: Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR (my walking-around lens), 12-24mm ultra-wide Sigma, Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 prime.

I use the Gary Fong lightsphere on the speedlight half the time, always with the sunset shots.

 

Yes, that tutorial is just right, best of luck.

[serene56]

Thank you so much. Nikon D700. SB-800 speedlight. I brought 3 lenses: Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR (my walking-around lens), 12-24mm ultra-wide Sigma, Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 prime.

I use the Gary Fong lightsphere on the speedlight half the time, always with the sunset shots.

 

 

 

es, that tutorial is just right, best of luck.

 

awesome camera- one I was looking at but for what I use a camera for my honey got me a Nikon 8100. I have been practicingng with it since christmas.

[dodger501]

This was great, we had all day in Cozumel, not leaving until 10PM. I wish all port visits were like that.

Here is the little 'village' at the end of the pier:

 

We signed up for the Nachi Cocom Beach Break through Island Marketing:

 

The beach:

 

Here is what I have to say about this place: It was exactly as advertised, exactly what I expected. Quiet, all-inclusive, swim-up bar, jacuzzi, and lots of extra-cost activities such as scuba, snorkeling, parasailing. Mrs. D did the parasailing. No loud music, no beach party, just total R&R. No rush, no fuss. The waiters put on a lot of mileage walking up & down the beach tending to their customers' needs and did a good job. Plenty of shade for those (me) who don't care to baste and broil in the sun. I liked this place.

The above picture and the one before it were taken with the ultra-wide lens.

This was our postcard home:

 

The swim-up bar:

Like I said, all-inclusive.

Up next: Parasailing!

[dodger501]

We had the noon run, with several other customers. Like a numskull, they go by local time, not ship time, so we were an hour early. Karen was the second to last to go.

 

Karen gets hooked up:

The crew were diligent about watching their customers. The last ones to go, a pair of kids, the boy started to slip out of the bottom part of his harness so they reeled them back in, fixed him up, sent them back out. Each customer gets 10 minutes.

Ready to launch. I clipped a lanyard to the metal hoop on the video camera strap so she could film her trip. Thank goodness for image stabilization:

 

You can see the video here

 

Up, up, and away!

 

This one is a 300mm zoom, she was way further out than it looks here:

 

Coming in for a landing:

[dodger501]

awesome camera- one I was looking at but for what I use a camera for my honey got me a Nikon 8100. I have been practicingng with it since christmas.

 

If you can do bracketing and aperture priority, you can do HDR with this camera. I still recommend getting a tripod, even a cheap one. But as I said, Photomatix will help align your images.

[Cathy p]

As Chat Director of the Looneys, I have to say that Steve you take wonderful pictures and folks not to forget that Steve and Karen are some fantastic people to meet. We can't wait to cruise with them again. Thank you so much for the wonderful review so far.

[nbsjcruiser]

We're on the Liberty in a month. Thanks for the review.

[dodger501]

As Chat Director of the Looneys, I have to say that Steve you take wonderful pictures and folks not to forget that Steve and Karen are some fantastic people to meet. We can't wait to cruise with them again. Thank you so much for the wonderful review so far.

 

The feeling is mutual, CathyP. I have observed that all the Looney folks were pretty much as I expected them to be after reading all those months worth of posts so that added to the enjoyment of this cruise.

 

We will meet again on the high seas!;)

 

I have some things to attend to today, have to see my Mom in The Home and show her the cruise pictures and hope to get back to the review this evening. Then it's back to work tomorrow . . . will pedal as fast as I can.

[dodger501]

Back to the Beach Club - did everyone get a chance to look at the parasiling video?

 

Our Leader Marie with Dawn and Payton - who really did not care for having his picture taken. I can't remember if I already said this but I will anyway: Marie is an outstanding leader. Along with her sister Chelle, this was a fun group to cruise with. Of course it helps we got to all know each other pretty well on CC months ahead of time but still, you have to execute and she did it.

 

We idled away the rest of the afternoon. Sure beats a day at the office. You wish you were there now, don't you? I do . . .

 

Finally, we head back to the ship as the sun is sinking lower. We wandered around the shopping village for a while, looking for stuff to get for the folks back home. Necklaces, mainly.

A day full of sun takes a lot out of you, I'm ready to get back, kick back with a cold one.

 

More experimentation with sunset pictures, trying a silhouette shot here. Took the exposure reading on the sky above the sun, very minimal flash:

 

The sun slowly sinks into the west. Lido deck, I'm sitting on the wooden bench by the pool pointing forward (HDR). If you look hard, you can see Mitch, Kelly, and Karen in here:

[PoofyTheCat]

Excellent review and pictures Dodger! I'll never forget your face (or Andy's, or the feeling on my face) from the first bite of salsa at Nachi Cocom! Priceless!

There were many mixed reviews about the food at Nachi Cocom among many of the Looneys. I just want to add in my two cents that they had the best cheeseburger I've ever had. In addition, their grilled shrimp was so good that I would pay for the price of admission for TWO people just to get two plates of shrimp! :eek:

Also, if the Looneys ever do return to the seas as a group, led by the fabulous Marie and Chelle, book it. You will love this amazing group of people! :)

Thank you again Dodger! (oh and hi Salty and CathyP!)

[daddybuff]

I know that the Liberty stays at Cozumel until 10:00pm. Does the village shops stay open in the evening?

[dodger501]

After dinner, it must have been Michael Jackson Night in the Casino area. First there was a moonwalk contest, it was all kids:

 

Then Thriller zombie dance lessons. The instructor was pretty good, knew all the moves but then again, so did a couple of the people in the group.

All ages were represented, it seemed, it was a great time and by the time they were through the lesson and doing the final run-through, they were a finely tuned machine.

I took a boatload of pictures during this, here is a good representation of them:

 

 

Lido under moonlight (HDR):

 

Lido after dark. They were showing Iron Man 2 on the jumbotron (HDR):

[dodger501]

I was thinking maybe I could scan in the Fun Times and post them here but then again, maybe not . . . kinda time comsuming. Maybe at the end.

Here is the one from Jan 15, Sailaway day:

 

 

 

 

[dodger501]

I know that the Liberty stays at Cozumel until 10:00pm. Does the village shops stay open in the evening?

 

Not 100% sure, daddyb, but we were the only ship left at the time (the Freedom had skeedaddled around 5:30). I would imagine they would stay open until drop-dead time when all have to be back on board, which was 9:30PM.

[trvlqueen]

Loving the review so far- especially the photos! I use a similar Nikon with the same "walking around lens" - and I'm in the market for a good wide angle -

 

keep the review coming, and thanks for posting the capers!

[dodger501]

Another hot, lazy day. They changed up the times on showtimes -- seating for late diners is at 7, early diners at 9.

The show was 'Singin' With the Big Band' which was a tribute to Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr performed by Christopher Alan Graves and the Liberty Dancers/Big Band.

Not bad but not overly memorable, either.

Here is the Lido buffet, it looks sparse because it's after breakfast and well before the lunch rush:

 

 

Step outside and . . . OMG! It's packed already!

 

 

CD Todd was spinning the tunes and taking dedications. I walked over there, it's just his iPod plugged into the sound system:

 

I think you have all seen enough pictures of 3,000 people in their bathing suits lounging outside so that will be it for a while. But we had some events coming up. First, the ice sculpture demonstration, with Cesar:

 

The crowd was in rapt attention:

[dodger501]

Little Mr. Mohawk watching the sculpture:

 

I did not get a good shot of the finished product, it was an Indian chief, looked like the Chicago Blackhawks logo:

 

Fellas, don't be this guy:

 

And now, the moment we've all been waiting for (not), the Hairy Chest Contest!

Lawrence lines up the women judges and calls out the first contestent:

 

It's Mr. Macho here:

 

The judges love it:

[dodger501]

Next contestant:

 

 

Next up is Do-Rag Guy:

 

 

Then this spark plug, the lady with the hot dog had to quick get out of the way:

 

I have no idea what this guy is doing here:

[goodtoglow]

What an amazing review so far! My Liberty cruise leaves in just under 9 months now.... 2nd sailing after the drydock. Do you have any pictures of Harry's Supper Club? My fiance and I are holding our wedding reception in there for 88+ guests - we are a little worried about how people will see us since it is a U shape (head table will be on the dance floor). Any extra pictures of the interior would be extremely helpful!

 

I look forward to the remainder of your review!

[Geek Squard]

What a great review - I'm hooked! We leave on the Liberty on Feb 10 and this is making me even more excited. Loved the Nachi Cocoom pictures, we're heading there too. Thanks for taking the time to put such a great review together.