Another Froufie Review - Jan 21-28, Carnival Liberty

[Froufie]

Looking forward to reliving the cruise - great start! :D

 

Hi There!!! Hope you enjoy the review of 'our' cruise (you too are 'featured' in a few spots!) :)

[Froufie]

Woo hoo! Another spectacular Froufie review! Looking forward to hearing all the details - we're about Liberty in 28 days! So sorry we couldn't hook up for this one - how about next year!

 

Yep, I'm watching the Fifth Estate too...

 

Looking forward to the rest!

 

Wish I could join the crazy canucks too! You will love the Liberty!

 

And that Fifth estate special was excellent - here is the link to the show (sorry can only be viewed online by canadians) http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/2011-2012/thewreckofthecostaconcordia/

[Froufie]

Hi Froufie !...

 

We are getting set to go on the Miracle.

 

Your Cruise looks awesome !

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Sha and Waddles say "Hello" :D

 

Hi you guys - hope all is well! Special hugs to Waddles! :)

[Froufie]

So far so good! Keep it comin'

 

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk

 

Lots more coming - stay tuned!

[Froufie]

Froufie:

 

Enjoying your review! We have to wait until July for this trip, but I am so happy to be taking this "pre-cruise" cruise with you.

 

We were going to use Hilton Honors points for our Miami hotel, but after seeing the Marriott, I might check the priceline bids for July.....

 

Looking forward to more---love your detailed reviews!

 

Kathy

 

I've usually had pretty good luck with Priceline and hotwire - always want to find that great bargain of course. The Marriott was lovely and I would highly recommend it - give it a try on priceline (but keep a backup booked just in case!)

[soccersharon]

Wish I could join the crazy canucks too! You will love the Liberty!

 

And that Fifth estate special was excellent - here is the link to the show (sorry can only be viewed online by canadians) http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/2011-2012/thewreckofthecostaconcordia/

 

 

Probably not the best documentary to watch...but, I believe cruising is still safer than driving my car to Wal-Mart!

 

Who knows...maybe another Crazy Canuck is in our future!

 

Loved the Liberty the first time and I'm sure I'll love her this time!

 

Keep up the great review!

[Froufie]

Now altho Bonnie is a first time cruiser - I had put her on my S&S account as I understand this would get her into the VIP lounge with me (in fact I don’t think they would have cared as no one really asked....) In any case her S&S card was in the Lounge along with mine and she was able to switch it to her own credit card prior to boarding. While sitting in the Lounge we ‘found’ roll call friends Mike and Jocelyn from Virginia so chatted with them awhile! I believe we boarded around 11:45 am.....

 

Bonnie loved being a “VIP” especially when seeing the crowds of people waiting while we got to board first! So after our boarding pic we headed towards the ship for our S&S card pic and first ‘ding’ of the cruise!! YAAY!!!

 

Once onboard we were hoping to drop off the carryons in my cabin (from what I have heard platinum cabins are cleaned first?) - and were able to do this after asking the room steward if it was okay. Filled the safe, dropped off our bags, grabbed our cameras and off to explore the ship, get some pics and of course some lunch!

 

Just about there.....

 

Porthole 1A cabin 2217

 

 

 

 

[Froufie]

Having been on the Liberty before (it is the prettiest in my opinion) as well as many other conquest class ships I knew my way around very well - but Bonnie did have to keep that little map handy to get where she needed to go. We ended up having our one and only Guy’s burger for lunch - wow! It was excellent - fresh and yummy - along with the spicy fries. I got our first round of lemonades, Bonnie volunteered to get the 2nd - but I was on the verge of sending out a search party as I was certain she got lost somewhere inside! But she finally found her way back!

 

Miami skyline:

 

Valor parked right behind us!

 

The famous 'whale tail'

 

Deck 9 aft adult pool:

 

Gorgeous views:

 

Someone's in 'vacation mode'!

 

After lunch (around 2:30 pm) we decided to go to our cabins - and alas no luggage yet! Left note for room steward re some’extra’ requirements and made some last calls home (then phone is off and in the safe!).

[Froufie]

And of course some of the 'newest' additions to the Liberty:'

 

 

 

 

 

[Froufie]

The Blue Iguana cantina for those great burritos:

 

 

 

 

[Froufie]

Guy's burger joint

 

 

 

 

And some of the other usual 'spots':

 

[Froufie]

The 'tour' continues:

 

Welcome to the new Serenity Deck:

 

 

Looks like the 'chair hogs' have discovered these yet:

 

The bar (I understand they also stock some cold 'lunch items' here)

 

 

[Froufie]

The new EA Sports Bar:

 

 

Waterslide entrance:

 

 

The Sushi bar (deck 5 aft)

 

The Hot and Cool Nightclub:

[Cozzette2]

We were getting off the ship as you were getting on, two sad faces :(, two happy faces :D.

I knew that as sad as we were to leave our home for the week that there were 3000 really excited cruisers.

I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise, we sure did.

Kris

[LittleMiss]

Wow! Can't wait to go in June, we're getting married on the ship so it's great to see what we're in for. Great review!! Thanks!

[Froufie]

The new Alchemy Bar (replacing the old wine bar):

 

The drink menu:

 

...which lights up when you open it!

 

The Stage Lounge:

 

The Cabinet - deck 4 aft (former cigar bar):

 

The Internet Room - right off of The Cabinet:

[Froufie]

We were getting off the ship as you were getting on, two sad faces :(, two happy faces :D.

I knew that as sad as we were to leave our home for the week that there were 3000 really excited cruisers.

I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise, we sure did.

Kris

 

Thanks for keeping the ship in good condition for us :D (and wait til you see our sad faces when we are leaving!) :(

[Froufie]

Wow! Can't wait to go in June, we're getting married on the ship so it's great to see what we're in for. Great review!! Thanks!

 

Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials! You picked a great ship for your wedding! :)

[Froufie]

Muster drill announcements started at around 3:30 pm and after last week’s Concordia disaster I am expecting people to be quiet, serious and paying attention (okay do people really have to be told several times to end their conversations and turn off their cell phones???). Once the drill was over (only 15 painless minutes) it was time to gather for our meet and greet.

 

We had quite an active roll call with several cruisers already friends having cruised together. The M&G was very well attended and it was fun finally putting names to faces and catching up in person. Of course the fun continued as we met many of our roll call friends at various spots around the ship and on excursions as well. We were also invited to Trevor and Sue’s aft wrap cabin for sailaway from San Juan!

 

Brian and best friend Anita:

 

Early morning coffee connoisseur Ed and his lovely wife Rita:

 

Carol and Kevin in the background, and Chuck and Bobbi

 

Bobbi's dh Hugh and Bonnie and Trevor (seated) and Lorraine (standing):

 

Bonnie and Sue (soon to be Trevor's wife as they got engaged on the cruise!)

 

And I finally got to try my Mango Swirl (half mango daiquii and half pina colada) and it was excellent and a great way to start the cruise.

 

[Froufie]

Just about time for sushi so off we go to enjoy a pre-dinner snack...after that I visited the internet room to ‘sign’ up for my package - but no luck - something wrong (as I was not the only one having issues - and this was to be a constant problem throughout the cruise) - had to come back later when the IT manager was there to see what was wrong!

 

Then back to the cabin to get ready for late seating dinner and finally some luggage! I was getting a bit nervous but there it was complete with my airplane bottles of gin/vodka (which I never used by the way) and my smuggled red wine (yup another bottle in my cabin - I believe it got thru cuz it was a ‘tetra pak’wine and not in a bottle which I think is what they are looking for?). Got unpacked and ready for our first dinner in the MDR (silver). Also got to meet Kervyn my room steward extraordinaire from Dominica - excellent and friendly service!

 

We are of course escorted to our table the first night and not happy to see a booth for 4? We were hoping for a large table of hopefully other solo cruisers? So back to see the Maitre D (wait in line for our turn), and ask for a change to a large table - his first question - do you speak spanish? (Well a couple of phrases here and there but NO!).....then he looks and looks and finally ‘finds’ a spot for us. We are now escorted to the back of the dining room (along a window altho it’s pitch black) - table for 10 (altho most evenings there are only 6 of us).

 

Here we find our tablemates (and future friends?) for the week.....I end up sitting next to Carol from Toronto (and London, Ontario) for the week and we become great friends as she is a hoot and a half and lots of fun. This is a lady who cruises 2 weeks at a time (she was on the 1st week of a b2b) at least twice a year - my kind of a cruiser! She is irreverant and funny yet kind and generous - a great combination. We are also joined by Marie (another Canadian) who is a retired nurse and a MILESTONE cruisers (gotta love that white card) having completed 35 Carnival cruises - on the 2nd week of a b2b on the Liberty (hmmm - what am I doing wrong?). She is also a fun lady and so sweet and Bonnie and I do end up spending a lot of time with this two lovely ladies throughout the cruise ending with a pouting and tearful farewell.

 

New Friends Marie and Carol:

 

We are also joined by Bob the ex-Canadian retired schoolteacher (math/economics), widowed, now living in Texas. Now it took a while to ‘warm’ up to Bob shall we say as he had a lot of complaints about the US political system, the governor of Texas, the ex-governor of Texas, the public school system in Texas, the unemployment in Texas...and the weather (get the picture?). By the 2nd night no one really wanted to sit next to Bob and we tried to steer the conversation away from the ‘bad’ situations and focus on how much fun we were having on the cruise right? (Bob what are you doing in St. Thomas tomorrow - I am staying on the ship - they predict 60% chance of rain!!! But Bob it won’t rain and if it does only for a few minutes?) Oh well..... there were a few nights he didn’t show up as he was watching those pre-super bowl football games.

 

Steve and Bob:

[Froufie]

I had the cured salmon and candied tomato and beef and barley soup as my appetizers. (I find the soups on Carnival to be excellent!), and the pan seared fillet tilapia as my main dish (very good) with the vanilla creme brulee for dessert along with my first of several decaf cappuccinos after dinner. (Tablemates had already ordered - the flatiron steak and were not that impressed! They also had the nacho chips/guacamole/salsa appetizer as well and as mentioned here this was also disappointing as it is jarred guacamole/salsa and ‘bagged’ chips - nothing homemade about this dish!)

 

After dinner it was off to the Welcome Aboard show (I have seen many but wanted Bonnie to experience the fun and the ‘bouncing’ beach balls!). Got to see our cruise director, Karl with a K (replacing Butch) who was excellent - did some great singing and impersonations and I am happy to see he was very visible and involved throughout the cruise.

 

We also got a ‘sample’ of the 2 first comedians on board: Jorge Solano and Tommy Drake - both pretty funny!

Off to the casino for me to find that one and only Lucky Lemmings machine only to find myself not so lucky and making my first of many donations!

 

 

Back to the IT room - seems the problem has been corrected? Back to the cabin to try to use the wi-fi on my ipad - well ya it works - but the ‘logout’ not so good? Can’t tell if I am actually logged off or not so I have to get dressed again and go back to the IT room to make SURE I am not wasting my precious minutes! And I decided perhaps the ipad in the cabin was not the way to go (esp after reading the wifi info sheet provided in the IT room about using an ipad instead of a laptop - oh well!).

 

To be quite honest I always get an IT package so I can communicate with family back home and I know being on the ocean does make the satellite connections slow and frustrating but in all my cruises I have never experienced the issues I did on this Liberty cruise....waiting minutes to log on, finally connecting to hotmail, typing a message - and before sending the whole system crashes or my connection is lost....then saving email as a draft - only to find out the next day that it too has disappeared? After a few days of this (and an email from home asking ‘where are you? What has happened to you?”)

 

I left a note for Debbie the IT manager explaining my frustrations and issues in not being able to communicate (the whole reason for getting the package?) and asking her to call me which she did the next day - offering to add some minutes to my package! (Which did help - but I still didn’t understand why it was so bad this time?)

 

It is now bedtime (well way past my bedtime) and I am in bed way too late at 1:30 am (a theme which will continue throughout the cruise which may explain my exhaustion on coming home and my need for a ‘vacation after my vacation’!!)

 

 

Next up - A fabulous beach day at Half Moon Cay!

[BSQ]

Perfect! I am enjoying reliving our cruise through your eyes Froufie! So glad we had the opportunity to meet! Looking forward to the rest as a nice weekend read!

[trvlqueen]

YAY! Thanks so much for posting - I love your reviews! Liberty is my favorite ship ... cannot wait to book her again - just have to get the right price at the right time and you won't be able to hold me back.

 

Great pics - and we had a "Bob" on our last cruise, too. Isn't it funny how people can find something to worry/complain about anywhere they go - it's too sunny! it's not sunny enough! the sky is too blue - it hurts my eyes! You get the idea. :eek:

 

Heading to bed, but now with your thread to look forward to in the morning! YAY!

[hockeyluver]

Wish I could join the crazy canucks too! You will love the Liberty!

 

And that Fifth estate special was excellent - here is the link to the show (sorry can only be viewed online by canadians) http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/2011-2012/thewreckofthecostaconcordia/

 

Thank you for posting this very interesting.... now.on to reading the rest of your review.

[Yankeegirl]

Loving your review! We have stayed at the Marriott Biscayne Bay twice and both times we were able to get a room with a bay/port view. It's great to wake up in the morning and see your ship!:)