Debunking the Myths - Liberty 6-2-12 Review

[kwagmyre]

Dinner that night was the first elegant night. We had ATD dining. We requested a two-top more private, so that we didn't wind up in the rows of them that were right next to each other. Still no escargot available, so I started with the mushroom cheese app:

 

 

This was ok. It was pretty obvious that it needed to have snails, and not mushrooms in it, but I know they are doing the best they can with a substitute. Since Carnival doesn't control worldwide crop shortages, I give them a pass on this.

 

Next up, the "didja" alligator fritters:

 

 

The fritters were good (yes, I know they're not real alligator), but the "roasted red pepper remoulade" was just awful. Worse, this stuff just seemed to keep creeping up in dishes over and over again, even at one point making its way into the Chef's Table. GAAAK!!!

 

Salad:

 

 

What can I say, it's a salad, right? But, the greens were crisp, cheese good (Carnival seems to invest in some nice cheeses - more on this later in the review), properly dressed, etc.

 

Next up, Prime Rib:

 

 

Myth: Carnival can't cook meat right. Meat is always cooked wrong, and then served cold or lukewarm to boot.

 

Reality: Every single piece of beef we ordered on this cruise was cooked exactly to order, and served hot. Every. Single. One. I ordered my prime rib medium-rare. This is what I got:

 

 

I'd say we're batting a thousand here, guys.

 

The cut itself was a little thin, but still juicy, flavorful, and obviously well-cooked.

 

Wife had the lobster:

 

 

She said it was good. She said she preferred the one in the steakhouse, but enjoyed both immensely. It was more of an apples/oranges kind of a thing, since they are different lobsters, cooked different ways. She said the one in the MDR was more "milky", but that was not a bad thing. I don't eat lobster, so you'll have to take her word for it. She also ordered a prime rib for her own "surf and turf". Gotta love that unlimited MDR, lol.

[Herfnerd]

Lovin it!

[19cruiser59]

After some yummy burgers for lunch (washed down with a few pints of Thirsty Red Frog, natch), we went back to the room for a nap.

 

But, not without first snagging a slice of.... THIS:

 

 

That, is the chocolate cake that is available from the coffee shop, for something like a whopping $2 a slice. On land, this thing would go for $7, and be worth every penny.

 

After the cruise, my wife and I felt that this was the best dessert we had on the ship. Period. It wasn't that we didn't enjoy the other desserts, it's just that it was that good. We had three of them on the cruise, lol.

 

After napping, I woke up to find a oil rig off the side, and played with the camera:

 

Zoomed out:

 

 

Max optical zoom:

 

 

Max digital zoom:

 

 

Looks like we weren't the only Liberty out there that day:

 

 

 

Nice name 'Bourbon' Liberty ! :D

[kwagmyre]

For dessert, we both got the WCMC. It was pretty good. Maybe a bit dry, but adding in the ice cream fixed that. I didn't get any pics, but I think most people here know what it looks like. From what I had read, it sounded like sort of a cross between a pudding and a souffle. That was just about right.

 

Foodie note:When we did the Chef's Table on the following night, they showed us how they make it. It's scratch-made, from nothing but flour, butter, sugar, eggs, and chocolate. It was actually very similar to a flourless chocolate cake that we make at home, except that we don't use flour of course (hence the name), and we add whisky to it. We then serve it with a raspberry-chambord coulis. Carnival WCMC can't stand up to that, of course, but then, we only make them six at a time. In ramekins, in a water bath - just like the WCMC, actually. So it's primarily a difference of ingredient ratios and baking time. Even our temps are nearly the same (320 vs. 325).

 

After dessert, my wife mentioned it was our honeymoon, and Rachel (our waitress for several of the evenings, who we loved) got the waiters together for the Happy Honeymoon song. They brought us out a little piece of cake. It had a banana flavor to it. It was good, but pretty redundant after our big meal:

 

 

After dinner, we went to the variety show, the one with all the different nations in it. We left after about 30 minutes - after the screaming (literally) can-can girls, we couldn't take it anymore. :rolleyes: We went down to Punchliners to catch the adult show:

 

 

We caught the first performer, who was very funny, and watched him pretty much annhialate an underage girl in the front row (it was the adult show). Based on previous reviews, they seem to like these targets.

 

After this, we walked around the ship a bit, did a few of the photo thingies. This seems as about as apt a place to put this as any in the review:

 

Myth: Carnival is the "Wal-Mart of the Seas". Be prepared for bathrobes in the buffet, and land-cows in mumus.

 

Reality: One word: Hotties. :D I don't know which "Wal-Mart" most people are going to, but after seeing all the scenery on board, I wanna shop at THAT Walmart, lol. It makes sense, I guess. Cheapest line, youngest crowd. There were many, many very attractive people on this cruise - girls, and guys too, according to my wife! :eek: We had fun taking it all in. :cool:

 

Afterwards, we retired to the room which, as hoped, had a DVD player. We had brought some movies from home, popped one in, and ordered up some late-night room service. Nice way to end the day.

 

Next up: Cozumel

[Herfnerd]

Your digi-cam has one of the best digital zooms I have seen - what is it??

[kwagmyre]

Your digi-cam has one of the best digital zooms I have seen - what is it??

 

Canon Powershot SX40. Has 35x optical, 140x digital zoom. One of the main reasons I bought it. That shot was only stabilized with my elbows on the balcony railing (no tripod/monopod), and from a moving ship at that. Of course, it has internal stabilizers. I wish the Liberty's stabilizers worked half as well!! :D

[kwagmyre]

On the third day, we arrived in Cozumel:

 

 

After waking up to room service coffee and pastries on the balcony (I could get used to this), we headed down to the buffet for breakfast. We found that the lines were not too long, and they had most of the same things as in the MDR, and some even fresher IMO. I liked the french toast from the buffet. Also, the omelette stations moved pretty quickly (there was more than one), and these were also delicious as well.

 

For this day, we had something a bit different planned - a cooking class. This was a private, off-ship excursion. So, if you're keeping track, that's first port, first excursion, first cruise, done off-ship. That caused a little anxiety, but we needn't have worried.

 

The shopping village at the port was a little annoying, mostly because we couldn't find our way out of it - we finally exited through what I think was the employee entrance!

 

We hailed a cab, and gave the driver printed directions to the address of the house in the foreign country of the lady who we had never met or spoken to to the driver who didn't speak english with no one on the ship having any idea where we were going.

 

More than a little anxiety-inducing.

 

Once we got to the house (farther than we thought, but really only a couple of miles), we heard Alma come to the door. I think maybe links aren't allowed on AUP, but if you search for "cocina con alma" or something like that on TA or Cozumel sites, you should be able to find it.

 

Now, these are usually group classes, but no one else had booked that day, so we wound up having our own private class!

 

One of the things I liked about this class, was that she first takes you to a "mercado" - a local market (VERY local, as you are about to see), to shop for the ingredients you will be cooking that day:

 

 

We had discussed some of the recipes from her website. I had expressed interest in the "Tikkin Xic", which as I would come to find out is a fish dish (her website featured snapper, which was at the local market that day):

 

 

... that is generally marinated in a mixture of achiote seasoning and sour oranges (more like a lime than an orange). Think this might be them on the left:

 

 

Alma also tipped this dude to sing us the "Official welcome song to Cozumel""

 

[kwagmyre]

More market pics:

 

 

 

 

No estamos en los Estados Unidos nunca más! :eek: :

 

[cruzegurl104]

Fantastic Review!!!:)

[suchaclassylady]

Ok, let's get this ship back on course...

 

 

 

 

After this, I was def hungry for lunch. For lunch, 2nd day, having known (and executed) the plan to have the fish & chips the first day, the plan for the 2nd day lunch was....

 

Guys Burgers

 

Oh yeah. That's right. We're going there...

 

 

That right there is a "pig patty", smothered with carmelized onions and sauteed mushrooms... mmmmm.... 1800 calorie burger.....

 

 

 

 

 

Good fries, too. I recommend the Chipotle mayo for dipping...

 

 

 

1800 calories? None of my business. Vacation calories don't count. How dare you try to take that away from me?

[kwagmyre]

After the market, we went back to Alma's place, and got started. But not without, first, some refreshment:

 

 

This is "hibiscus water" (yes, from the flower), and is pretty much the best liquid on God's green earth. I've never had this before, but it was amazing - sort of like a cross between iced tea and koolaid. So delicious. I must have had about 4 or 5 glasses of the stuff.

 

Cactus leaf:

 

 

Cactus leaf properly cleaned and diced:

 

 

The sour oranges:

 

 

Alma opted for grouper over snapper today:

 

 

The first spread - mango salad, cactus salad, fresh guacamole (one of the best I've had), mexican cheese, fresh salsa:

 

[kwagmyre]

Tikkin Xic:

 

 

You can probably figure out what this is:

 

 

I don't drink margaritas (because they contain tequila - bad memories) but the wife said this was excellent. Alma makes them more for taste than getting schnockered.

 

I had this instead:

 

 

Alma said it was from her home country, and was made with water filtered by volcanos. It certainly tasted crisp and clean on a hot June day in Mexico, I can tell you that.

 

At the end of the class, we purchased Alma's cookbook, and said our goodbyes, leaving richer in experience, knowledge, and food than we arrived. I think it is such a shame that so many people spend so much time and money to visit all of these exotic countries, and then spend their time in a cordoned-off area away from anything authentic. They visit a country, and never see or experience any of it.

 

Anyway, Alma directed us towards the shopping and taxi areas a few blocks away, and back towards the waterfront. She called it the "sol" or sun shops, or something like that (she has a thick accent). We did find the shopping their to be pretty good, and got souveneirs for most of the family back home. To get to them, you pretty much take the main road out of the terminal down a couple miles, past the Dolphinarius resort, in the opposite direction of Chankanaab. (Not sure of spelling on that).

 

We also encountered some "other" shopping opportunities along the way:

 

 

More selection inside:

 

 

I appreciated the convenience of being able to buy my anabolic steroids, and then also being able to pick up some (little blue pills - take that, autoboard censor!) in the event of any negative side-effects. Talk about one-stop shopping!

 

After this, we returned "home":

 

 

Next up: Chef's Table!

[Chigirlcruzin]

Great review! Love the pics! I also have an aversion to tequila after bad night freshman year in college 16 years ago. I still can't even smell the stuff without getting nauseous!

[designgirl]

I love your review. Your writing style is fun! Can't wait for Chefs table :)

 

Erica

[Tutankhamen]

Fantastic review!! Thanks for taking the time to allow us to virtually cruise with you!

[najnelle]

Enjoying your review so much! One of the best reviews I've ever read!

[crusinpsychRN]

More, more!

[CCbaby817]

OK, you have mentioned several recipes that you use at home that I would LOVE to have, if you are willing to share. The flourless chocolate cake that you said is similar to the warm chocolate melting cake and the white chocolate mousse. I am currently going to school for my degree in Culinary Arts with a Pastry Specialization. I like trying new recipes bit I also know that some people do not share their recipes ( have one such recipe, anything else I make is fair game). Please let me know...

 

Btw, I have no intention on going on this ship, but I am loving this review!

[SMSACE6]

Wow...loving this review! Liberty is one of my favorite cruise ships. The photos are fantastic. Thanks for posting.:)

[kjunea]

Excellent review and you have some pretty good knife skills, if you diced that cactus.

 

Can't wait to read more!

[Jenbo57]

I think it is such a shame that so many people spend so much time and money to visit all of these exotic countries, and then spend their time in a cordoned-off area away from anything authentic. They visit a country, and never see or experience any of it.

 

I couldn't agree more. Unfortunately, I think we may be of the minority...

[marshhawk]

I too flipped over to this review from another thread. This is not a ship that I would cruise on, but I am thoroughly enjoying your review!

[AnAngelsMom]

Great review! Thank you.

[travellover39]

You certainly know how to write and entertain us. Love the mystery surrounding you and your wife. Your review is packed with good stuff. Not sailing on the Liberty, was on another review and also flipped over. Thanks for sharing your experience.:D

 

P.S. I'm guessing your in the witness protection program.:) :cool:

[RuthlessBoss]

I don't think there's any mystery at all. I think it's a ploy to keep checking the thread, actually a different approach to writing a review:D