Chrissandra's Honeymoon in the Aft (an eastern Liberty review)

[ardnassac79]

Pretty Woman. Did I win???

 

Congratulations my friends!!!!!

 

WOO HOO! Winner Winner! :D Thanks Jen!!

 

Congratulations! Beautiful wedding picture. Looking forward to the rest of your review--

 

Thank you!

 

Congratulations on your wedding! Look forward to your review!

 

Thanks!

 

Congratulations on your wedding. You look like a very sweet couple. We are really enjoying your pictures.

This ship is on our bucket list. It has many great reviews. Can you tell me the cabin number? The balcony is wonderful!

Hae a wonderful life and LONG & HAPPY marriage!!!!:D

 

Aww, thank you! We were in room 8450, and I think it's just this room and the other aft room on the 8th floor next to the wrap on the other side that has this size - these 2 are a little extra long due to the ship support beam on this floor.

 

[BubMunkeyBles]

Really looking forward to your review! Loved the few I've read. :)

[ardnassac79]

Luckily the rain subsided, and we went back up to our Balcony for sail-away. I cracked open our bottle of pink champagne, and we enjoyed some Champagne and Strawberries – ahh this is the life.

 

 

 

 

We got to talking to our neighbors in the Aft Wrap and turns out they were also on the 2 and 8 Day Breeze US Inaugural – what a small Cruising world. They were on their 55th cruise, all Carnival, and were really nice people. They invited us over to check out their balcony and get some more pics from the side of the ship. They had friends in the next room over, and with the divider open, it was quite impressive!

 

 

 

[Mom2JJandJ]

Woo hoo!! I'm SO glad you've started.... subscribing right now! ;)

[ardnassac79]

I know, most of us have seen a Miami sailaway, but it really does have some great views.

 

Disney was leaving behind us:

 

 

 

It was cool to try to figure out where our little hotel on South Beach was too.

 

[ardnassac79]

Woo hoo!! I'm SO glad you've started.... subscribing right now! ;)

 

Hey Leslee! Thanks!! Boy how I wish we were back on board!! :o

[ardnassac79]

After sailaway, we made our way down to deck 5 – stopped in at the Taste Bar (which was previously the Sushi Bar… sadly I didn’t see any sushi on the cruise other than the app the one night in the MDR… not sure if they ever had any for dinner in the Lido, but they certainly replaced Sushi with the Taste Bar offerings).

 

 

Tonight was a spicy pork thing with a yummy tomato-based soup with chicken in it.

 

Here's some more rand***** ship pictures we snapped earlier in the day as well.

 

Club O2 Lounge for the teens:

 

There were a few weddings on board and in the ports this week, one was on Embarkation Day:

 

Internet Lounge... sorta hard to find, tucked away behind one of the lounges (The Cabinet) on Deck 4:

 

Silver Dining Room - for the Early and Late Seating folks... Anytime is in the Golden Room, midship.

[Mom2JJandJ]

Hey Leslee! Thanks!! Boy how I wish we were back on board!! :o

 

Hi! :D I agree... I would give just about anything to be on HMC right now... though it is FINALLY above frickin freezing around here! We're sittin' at 77 right now... suntanning weather! ;)

 

Thanks for doing the review, I look forward to reliving that awesome week! :)

Edited April 28, 2013 by Mom2JJandJ

[ardnassac79]

And just a few more ship pics...

 

Deck 5 - Cherry on Top Candy shop and formalities:

 

Atrium Lighting from Deck 5:

 

Looking down to Deck 3 Atrium Lobby from Deck 5:

 

Upward-facing Atrium shot:

Main Theater - Venetian Palace

 

[CruisinTeacher4]

Great start!!

 

Did you guys smuggle, order Bon Voyage, or do Cheers program?

[ardnassac79]

Then we headed over to the Alchemy bar for a pre-dinner drink.

 

 

We made quick friends with Miro the bartender – really cool guy, who we are hoping we’ll get to see again on the Sunshine in December!

 

 

He made Chris an awesome “Perfect Storm” and I had a Cucumber Sunrise.

 

I'm a big dork and took a short video of him making it... with flair!!

 

 

Some other FB Lunatics showed up and we chatted till we decided to head to dinner around 7 or so.

[ardnassac79]

I think most people eat late on embarkation day, because there was no wait at this time for Anytime. We knew to ask for a more “private” table for 2, and sat at table 224 where we would end up for most of the nights we ate in the MDR. These are true tables for two – not a 2 person table squashed in between other tables, where you are sitting closer to someone else than the person you are dining with. This was the standard day 1 menu for a 7 day cruise – I went boring with a regular salad for an App,

Chris had the Chicken Tenders… we are pleased to report the heavy breading has gone away, and is now a lighter, yet crispier breading… closer to the way it was originally, but better than that heavy fried breading we had last year.

 

For entrees, I had the sweet and sour shrimp and Chris ordered the beef brisket in gravy.

 

 

 

Both were yummy, but we also saved room to share an obligatory warm chocolate melting cake.

 

Every night in the MDR they would come around with pre-made shots in collector glasses to purchase… why not, it’s the start of the cruise! And yeah, I was lazy and didn’t change into “dinner” clothes… meh, it’s embarkation day, who cares?

Have to take a quick moment to say dinner service was a little longer than we were used to some nights. This was one of the nights where it felt like each course just took about 5-10 mins longer to get than usual. It wasn’t consistently slow every night, but this was one where it was just slow enough to be slightly annoying. Regardless, the food was good, and we rolled out of there stuffed.

[soccersharon]

Congratulations! Looking forward to the rest of your review. Liberty is our favourite ship :)

[ardnassac79]

We headed back to the room, made some Room Drinks, and decided to brave the Piano Bar and check out Peter Brenner. We went in with some trepidation, because unfortunately we hadn’t heard anything good about Mr. Brenner… however we had promised our friend Laura that we would give him a fair shot and report back with an honest opinion.

He was just starting when we got there and explained that he would start with a few of his own songs, then take a few requests, then do a few more of his own.

 

He was OK at best… he’s a decent piano player, but his tempo on everything just seems fast. We tried our best to be engaging and talk to him in between songs, but during songs he would absolutely zone out and not engage the crowd (all 5 of us in there at the time) at all. There were some times where he would either try to improvise and it just came off awkward, or he’d switch into this really low grumbly voice, and that was sorta brutal.

 

Julie, Ram, Alan, and Gayle came in, and we had fun with them (Poor Julie needed 2 Long Islands just to stand it).

We asked if he did any sort of “late night” material after 11 or 12, and he flat out said NO, he didn’t do it, and refused. Alrighty Then… no real reason for us to stay in there and have fun in the late hours of the evening, that’s for sure.

Yes, this shot was taken in the height of what should be optimum Piano Bar time... pretty empty...

 

With the slow transformation to re-brand the Carnival Piano Bar scene, we are both hoping Carnival starts to take guest opinion into consideration when this guy’s contract comes up for renewal. Just Sayin…

 

We left, each lost a quick $100 at the Let it Ride table, and decided to call it a night… I headed up to get some pizza to take back to the room for us to share out on the Balcony. We had the fun "seal" for the first night's animal... this one cracks me up every time...

While I was getting ready for bed, Chris fell asleep outside on a lounger, and I came out and cuddled up next to him. We both fell asleep out there… and then the night got interesting… (get your minds out of the gutter, lol!)

We both woke up and in my half-asleep state, I went to push myself up off the lounger with my right hand on the side, and my hand slipped, and all my weight went into my thumb and it got bent backwards… now I’m an admittedly very clumsy person in general, so usually I’ll run into something, trip over something, etc, and not think anything of it… this was different.. I knew something was wrong and actually thought I dislocated my thumb. It was late, I could barely wiggle it, and it was blowing up like a balloon... Well damn.... We went down to the Medical Bay, but they told us that since it was so late, we’d have to go to Guest Services first so they could call the night nurse first. We went up to 3, then back down to 0… she took a look, said that because I could move it at least slightly, it wasn’t dislocated or broken… she gave me lots of plastic bags with Ice, and I got a shot in the butt for pain and swelling… Fun times!!!

She said to come back the next morning around 8 when the doctor would be in, and we were sent on our way… I swear it’s always something with me! We made our way back up the room and set our alarm earlier than we wanted, due to the new 8am apt with the Doctor…

 

This is what it ended up looking like after a day or two...

 

[ardnassac79]

Unfortunately, that's all for today - we've got some house stuff to get taken care of... but we'll be back hopefully tomorrow with Half Moon Cay!

 

I'll leave you all with the Fun Times for Embarkation Day... I apologize for the lower quality - didn't realize the scanner was set to a lower resolution... the rest of the week's documents are clearer...

 

FUN TIMES - CARNIVAL LIBERTY - EASTERN CARIBBEAN - 4/13/13 - EMBARKATION DAY

[carnivalcruiser10]

aww your hand are okay??:)

[SMSACE6]

First, I congratulate you both on your marriage! Second; I love your reviews, or is that yours review both, ahhh I mean your's reviews collectively and no I have not had one of those head sized drinks, but would like one:D, and third, I love the Carnival Liberty!.

 

I hope the hand is better. Im looking forward to more of your great review! What an excellent way to honeymoon!:)

[kittycrusin08]

Congratulation and many years of happiness together. You all are certainly looking happy in your pictures. Thank you for sharing your cruise with us. We will be doing the same cruise in September and reviews seem to help the time go by a little faster. Looking forward to the rest of your review.l ;)

[Sthomp]

Enjoying your review very much. I love the Liberty, although we sailed before the upgrades. I'm sure it's so much better now!

 

Best wishes on your marriage!

[smeck]

Fantastic review enjoying it very much. Bummer about the thumb, hopefully it didn't impact your honeymoon to much.

[nodogkisses]

Wow your thumb/hand look sooooo painful. Didn't you have a foot/ankle problem on one of your cruises last year? Poor girl. Congratulations to you both and many many many happy years of cruising together. Thanks for this and all of your past reviews.

[ready2cruzagain]

Well it is about time Chris and Cass!:p Wow Cass...your thumb looks awful! Hope everything was okay! Guess we will find what the doctor says tomorrow (Is this your version of a cliffhanger LOL)!

 

Glad to see the band by the casino, always loved listening to the live band there. Been on the Liberty twice and we are looking at the Liberty for Dec. but was going to go with Princess if no live bands. Have not made the final decision yet though.

 

Thanks for the review...can't wait for more!:D

[retiredgram]

So happy to see the two of you finally tied the knot;). Many happy years together.

 

Sorry about your hand Cass.

 

Can't wait for you to post the rest of the review.

[jdvmd]

Can't wait to read more!

[KPfromCT]

Awesome review, as always!!:D:D Don't leave us hanging...did you break it? I hope you are OK now!!! :)