REVIEW: Carnival Liberty - Western Caribbean - 4/5/14 thru 4/12/14

[pghsteelerfan]

After getting pictures of those, we went inside the Venetian Palace and got pictures from Lobby Deck 3.

Lobby Deck 3 entrance to the Venetian Palace:

Venetian Palace from Lobby Deck 3:

[pghsteelerfan]

I went back to the Atlantic Deck 4 level since DH never came down and was still up there:

 

 

 

After getting pictures there we went to the Garden Atrium to get pictures there since weren’t able to get any a few days ago since they were having a trivia contest. I wanted pictures of this beautiful lobby but as luck would have it, it was again filled with a group playing trivia, so I couldn’t get where I wanted to for the pictures I wanted. We decided to go up to Atlantic Deck 4 and into Pixels Gallery, which is the photo gallery/store and browsed through there. They have all kinds of really nice Carnival scrapbooks, stickers, scrapbook paper, etc. for any one into scrapbooking. I’d love to do one and they had one scrapbook that I really did like…but I might be pushing it for space in the luggage to get home, so I passed. I will be doing a photobook for our Liberty cruise eventually, so I could pass on the scrapbook. DH found our boarding picture but we weren’t crazy about it and decided not to buy it, so he took it down and put it in the discarded photo bin. I know on some past cruises they had some professional photos of the ships, so we looked for something like that but couldn’t find any. I asked one of the guys working there if they had them and where I could find them. He said they didn’t have any of just Liberty but he took me over to a smaller photo album and showed me the pictures in there. There were several pictures of interior places on Liberty as well as exterior pictures of Liberty. There were also pictures from the ports of call we went to…and also Grand Cayman, which he pointed out that we missed getting to. I kind of liked it and asked him how much it was. It was only $8.50, which I thought was a great price, so I bought it. I had no idea at the time how my pictures would come out so it would be nice to have some of the professional ones as a backup. I paid for that using my Sail & Sign card then we decided to move along.

 

We went up to Promenade Deck 5 and decided to go into the “Fun Shops” again. It was crowded in there but I noticed they had some of the $10.00 T-shirts with the ports of call on a table right outside the “Fun Shops”. I saw one for Mahogany Bay, Roatan that I liked. DH found one that he liked, but they didn’t have his size. He told me to go ahead and get the one I had. When I went in, the line was really long and I noticed a rack with post cards, so I went over to that to see what they had. They had a few nice ones of Liberty, a map of the Caribbean, and also from the Ports of Call. I forgot to get post cards when in Belize, so I got one that I liked, of English Cay, which I posted pictures of earlier and where our pilot boat appeared to come from and head back to as we left Belize. I also got two of Grand Cayman, just because. There wasn’t anything I needed, so I got in the line and waited. The line was moving slowly and there was only one guy working the register, but it wasn’t nice enough to lay out on the outside decks and we had no place to be, so I had no issue with the wait. While in line, I ended up talking to two other ladies who were behind me. I don’t know how one of them knew this but told us about that just a few days prior to us being there, a crew member from a Norwegian ship was killed in an armed robbery for an I-Phone or an I-Pad, she didn’t know which. She said it happened in Coxen Hole, right outside the cruise terminal there. We went right through Coxen Hole with our driver from our Victor Bodden tour but we remained it the vehicle in that immediate area because it was on our way back to Liberty. That is really sad because I picture the staff on Carnival and how they all work very hard but yet are so nice. Most of them are far from their homes and families. This poor guy apparently was a husband and father. I just can’t imagine what his poor family is going through. So this low life thug wanted the crew member’s I-Phone or I-Pad, but to kill him for it? Just senseless. Unfortunately that stuff happens every day and it can happen anywhere. She also told us there had been other incidents of armed robberies against tourists and she told us one was a family on a Carnival ship a couple months prior to our cruise. All of this was confirmed through a simple internet search once we got home from our cruise. I won’t go into all the details of the incidents here, but they can be found on-line and also here on CC in the “Port of Call” boards under “Roatan” where it was mentioned and links to other articles have been posted. Roatan IS a beautiful island, so I just hope they can find a way to get the crime stopped. We did notice a police presence at West Bay Beach. Hopefully the can get that kind of crime under control because if not, it’s the honest, hardworking people who rely on tourism for income who will end up hurting in the long run. Once we got closer to the register, a young couple came up to the front but they weren’t trying to cut in line. This is where the motion sickness bands (a couple of varieties) and Dramamine were stocked. It appeared that it was the gal who needed something for motion sickness so she turned to the rest of us and asked if anyone had on the sea bands and if so, did they work. One guy held up his arms and he had a sea band on each wrist and as he was showing her, he told her they weren’t working and he was in line to buy Dramamine. That’s when I overheard several others saying they, too, were in line for motion sickness meds or sea bands. They guy at the register told those of us up there that he’d restocked the Dramamine three times already and was almost out. I guess I wasn’t the only one feeling it today. I do have to say I didn’t notice the motion as bad in the mid part of the ship but could definitely feel it in the front and the back. I finally got to the front of the line and used the Sail & Sign card to pay for the T-shirt and post cards. I think I just spent my $21.84 in the refunded Grand Cayman port fees and taxes.

 

After paying for those, we decided to go to other areas of the ship were we weren’t able to get pictures on our first Sea Day “Liberty Tour”. We stopped at the cabin first to drop off the stuff I bought then made our way back downstairs to Promenade Deck 5 and headed toward the back to the “Hot & Cool Nightclub”. There was an art auction on my first attempt and this time there appeared to be a small lecture of some kind. There were three or four people sitting at some bar stools in the section that is right in front of the dance floor and one person was up there giving a talk of some kind. I was going to leave but DH said there was no sign up asking people to stay out so he thought it would be ok to get a few pictures, so we did.

 

The Hot & Cool Nightclub from the Promenade entrance:

 

 

The lights above the bar change color:

 

 

The "Hot & Cool Nightclub" where it exits to the video arcade:

[pghsteelerfan]

We just kept it very quiet and exited through the door that leads from the “Hot & Cool Nightclub” into the Video Arcade. From there we wanted to go back to the “Piano Man Piano Bar” since the first pictures I got weren’t the best. On the way I stopped to get a picture of the “Alchemy Bar” because I didn’t get pictures the first time either. The “Alchemy Bar” is in a corner section of the Promenade located at the back (aft) of the ship on the right (starboard) side and just before the “Piano Man Piano Bar” and almost directly across the entrance to the “Hot & Cool Nightclub”. A map of Carnival Liberty before she had her upgrades lists the location of the “Alchemy Bar” as the “Paparazzi Wine Bar”.

The "Alchemy Bar":

Right after I got pictures of the “Alchemy Bar” we continued back to the “Piano Man Piano Bar” and got pictures there.

The "Piano Man Piano Bar":

We decided to head back toward mid-ship, stopping for a couple more pictures of “Jardin Café” and another of the “Promenade Bar” (casino bar) then went back to the “Garden Atrium” to see if the trivia was over. It was either not over of there was another trivia of some kind, so I’d have to try again later.

Jardin Café:

The Promenade (Casino) Bar:

After I got back home (and also while in the process of doing my review), I will confess that while I should be working on this one, I've still been reading other reviews. But I got a great idea from one of them to get great interior pictures of the ship. He got up very early in the morning, like wee hours of the morning early, and walked the ship and was able to get beautiful pictures without crowds of people in them because everyone else was probably in bed. Idea for next cruise.

[pghsteelerfan]

We went back to the cabin and on the way, I got pictures of the hallway in front of our cabin and also of our cabin number right outside our door. I wasn’t thinking to get a picture of that when we first got on Liberty.

 

OK, boredom is kicking in. I'm now getting pictures as we walked down the hall toward our cabin. I did forget to take "hallway pictures" on our first Sea Day:

 

 

To get to the other side of the ship, you don't have to walk all the way down to the end where it loops back around. There are hallways throughout that go over to the other side and this is one of those:

 

Right before getting to our cabin:

 

Our cabin:

[pghsteelerfan]

We dropped the cameras off in the cabin and noticed the new edition of today’s “Fun Times” had been delivered. It was titled “Additional Fun Day at Sea”.

 

The updated version of the "Fun Times" titled "Additional Fun Day at Sea":

 

 

 

 

 

 

I went out and took a look from the balcony and it looked like the sun might be trying to make an appearance. While I was out there I heard DH yell “Oh Ship!!!”…well, that’s not exactly what he said but I have to keep it clean here. Carnival had several shows of “Punchliner Comedy” and tonight we were planning to see both comedians for the adult comedy shows, which would start at 10:00PM with Cowboy Bill and hoping to get to the 11:00PM show with Will Marfori. Cowboy Bill would also be doing the 11:45PM show. We do remember that we have to exit the comedy club after the first show and get back in line and if that were the case, we’d try to see Will Marfori the next night since they usually switch around, with Will doing the 10:00PM and 11:45PM and Cowboy Bill doing the 11:00PM. At least that’s how it’s been on our past two cruises that had the Punchliner Comedy Club. OK, so what was DH yelling “Oh Ship!!!” about? Well, the comedians we had on the first part of the cruise either got off in Belize or Roatan, but I’m thinking it was Belize. Cowboy Bill and Will Marfori were supposed to be getting on Carnival Liberty in Grand Cayman, but because we missed going there, we had no comedians. That was in the new edition of the “Fun Times” where it was posted, under the Punchliner Comedy Club section, “***Unfortunately, due to our missed call into Grand Cayman, we will not be able to offer Punchliner Comedy.” That is what the “Oh Ship!!!” was all about. I went over and looked at the new “Fun Times” with him to see it for myself.

Looks like we’ll need to find something else to do. We would be eating dinner at the buffet tonight since this was the second formal night. The “Dive-in movies at the Seaside theater” had a comedy night. At 9:00PM would be “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” and at 10:45PM was “Admission”. OK, I’ll be honest here because I have no clue if these are funny movies or stand-up comedy. The show for tonight was “Wonderful World”, which starred the Liberty Dancers” & vocal talents of Alan Swadener & Ruby Sayre with live music by Omar & The Liberty Big Band. We could do the early or late but DH and I just looked at each other and shook our heads. This kind of entertainment is just not our thing.

But wait a minute! Something else just caught my interest. I noticed in the Punchliner Comedy Section right below the message about no comedy due to missing Grand Cayman, that there was a “Classic Rock Trivia Challenge” at 9:40PM at Czar’s Casino. That’s mainly the type of music I listen to that DH and I can both enjoy. I also like country but mainly the older country, not the newer stuff that sounds more like pop or dance music. DH can’t stand country, but he LOVES classic rock. OK, this might be something we can do. He’s very good with songs, artists and albums. I learned about people like DH in my 9th grade music class. We studied the history of music that year which started with the part that most kids thought was the boring part, but our teacher promised that we’d be getting in the really good part, the music we like, which was rock but we’d have to get through the boring part first. When we finally got into studying the rock, he told us that we probably thought we knew everything about rock because we knew the songs, artists and albums, but he told us (or warned us) that we will eventually meet THAT person who would be a “know it all” about rock who will come out with “but, do you know what kind of rock that is?” in addition to being able to pick out the instruments heard in a song. For any of you in the younger age brackets, this was before video when all the music we heard was on radio, vinyl records, or cassette tapes. I you don’t know what any of these are, it will take too long to explain here but I’m sure it’s on the internet. Back to 9th grade music class…so there are different kinds of rock? It’s not just rock? Nope, we did learn the different kinds, but it was hard for me and a few others to distinguish and none of my friends ever said “OK, you like rock, but what kind of rock?” Never thought about it again until DH and I were dating. My DH is that person, the “know it all”. He asked me what type of music I liked and I told him country and rock. His reply to me was a question and that was “OK, you like rock, but what kind of rock do you like?” I just said “all of it” and my mind went back to my 9th grade music teacher – he was right. Not only did I meet one of those, I ended marrying him. So this Classic rock trivia might be kind of fun and it WAS at the casino…where our favorite bartender worked. OK, that’s an idea. We just decided to keep our options open and decide later on.

We got to thinking about some of the shows Carnival used to have. A few I remember from our honeymoon were a “Pillow Fighting Contest”, the “Male Nightgown Contest” and there was also a beer chugging contest. A gal won the beer chugging contest on our cruise. The “Male Nightgown Contest” was the best. The contestants were passengers dressed in their wives’, fiancées’, or their girlfriends’ night gowns but a lot ended up being negligees. We really enjoy that and we are so glad that DH got the whole thing on video tape. We watched our honeymoon video about two years ago and that “Male Nightgown Contest” was just as funny this time around as it was then. Funnier now since the hairstyles were so different – there were quite a few mullets. We would love to see some of these brought back, but it could be that times have changed and what was once acceptable is no longer. The “Pillow Fighting Contest” could also be a liability issue.

[pghsteelerfan]

Right now we were both getting hungry. We didn’t know what we’d do the rest of the day, yet, but right now we were going up to Lido Deck 9 for another Guy Burger. The service at Guys Burger Joint was always very fast and they keep the lines moving. We got our burgers, our fourth of the cruise, went over to get our toppings and got a table. By now it was close to 2:00PM. When we finished our burgers, we went over to the Red Frog rum bar for some drinks. DH ordered a “Bahama Mama”, which we didn’t see on the menu but they made it for him. I got a “Red’s Remedy”, which was on the menu. It was pretty good. We took a seat at the second row of bar stools that are closer to the pool and lounge with the hopes of at least getting a little sun. By now, the sun was out. Not long after we sat there, we were joined by two other guys (again, no name dropping here) who we ended up talking to for a while. This is where I do have somewhat of a tip for anyone who likes to scuba dive. They are both into scuba diving, one is actually a certified instructor and the other is getting ready to be a certified instructor (if that’s the right terminology for it). They said they ever brought their own gear, just as we noticed with the group getting off Liberty in Roatan. They said Roatan had some great scuba sights and they had a great time. I think they said they also did the scuba diving in Belize as well, but since we don’t scuba dive ourselves, we never even thought to ask them which they liked better.

We spent a good hour talking with them and needed refills on the drinks. DH said he’d get the drinks and I let him know I’d have a “Bahama Mama” this time. He went to the bar, got the drinks and brought them back. The sun was out, we had some good company and good drinks. We all noticed that the drinks being served today seemed to pack more of a punch than those we had the other days. We don’t know if that had anything to do with missing Grand Cayman or not, but we weren’t complaining. The guys we were talking to were going to head inside to get ready for dinner so we just stayed put while we had the Bahama Mama’s. I realized that I didn’t get any pictures of the Red Frog rum bar from that level, so I got a few pictures while we were there.

Pictures of the "Red Frog Rum Bar":

The mid-ship pool area from the "Red Frog Rum Bar":

[pghsteelerfan]

More pictures from the "Red Frog Rum Bar" of the mid-ship pool area:

 

 

When we finished the drinks, we were both a little buzzed, so we decided to take a walk. I wanted a picture of the seal that is at the pool at back of the Carnival Liberty, the Versailles aft pool. We went back there and I got the pictures then we went back up to Panorama Deck 10. When we passed by the stairs leading up to the sports deck, we noticed the “It’s really windy up here! Please do not enter” sign. DH hadn’t actually seen those signs yet. He has now. I got another picture of that one then we walked back down to the main pool area and got some more pictures of the pool area, Red Frog and Blue Iguana bars from up there. We went back down to Lido Deck 9 and grabbed a quick glass of water and went back to the Red Frog rum bar and each ordered another Bahama Mama. We stayed there for a while and when we finished our drinks we headed back to our cabin.

The seal in the aft pool (Versailles Pool) area:

 

 

 

View from Panorama Deck 10, starboard (right side) of the Seaside Theater area:

 

Edited May 26, 2014 by pghsteelerfan

[pghsteelerfan]

The "Tivoli Pool" (mid-ship pool) from Panorama Deck 10:

 

 

 

The stairs from Panorama Deck 10 that went down to Lido Deck 9:

 

 

The "Red Frog Rum Bar" from Panorama Deck 10:

 

 

 

The "Blue Iguana Tequila Bar" from Panorama Deck 10:

[pghsteelerfan]

"Blue Iguana Tequila Bar" from Panorama Deck 10:

 

Another view of the Tivoli Pool:

 

 

Another view from Panorama Deck 10:

 

 

We got back to the cabin just before sunset time, which was supposed to be 7:41PM but it didn’t look like much of a sunset since there were too many clouds on the horizon. If it looked like we were going to have a good sunset, we’d have gone up to Panorama Deck 10 for pictures. We were still heading north, so sunset would be on the left, or port, side of Liberty. Once back in the cabin, we decided to get showered and ready for dinner. We could stick to comfortable clothes tonight since we were eating in Emile’s Lido Buffet. I let DH get his shower first and I went out on the balcony and watched the water while he was taking a shower. The water was still choppy but looked a little calmer than it was earlier in the day.

Pictures from our balcony:

When DH was done with his shower, I took my turn. We were in no hurry so we were just putting around and taking our time. I remembered to take another Dramamine non-drowsy and I decided to stick with that for now. I’d wait until tomorrow to see how the water was to make the decision on sticking with the Dramamine or switching back to the ginger.

Once we were both ready it was about 8:30PM and we went up to Emile’s Lido Buffet. I forget what the meat was, but it wasn’t something I was hungry for. I started with the salad then made my way down the buffet. They had a rotini pasta that looked pretty good, so I got some of that. When I went to get the salad dressing for the salad, I noticed that they had the Caesar Salad tonight. OK, dinner was set. A regular salad, Caesar Salad, and the rotini pasta. Once we were both through the lines, we went and found a table. We noticed a lot of other people eating in Emile’s tonight but it wasn’t so crowded that it was hard to find a table or that it held up the buffet line. I was curious to see how the rotini pasta tasted and it was very good and I’ll definitely give that an “A”. I don’t know exactly what the sauce was, but it kind of tasted like cream of mushroom soup and there were mushrooms in it. As I said, this was really good so I try an internet search and found the menus that zydecocruiser, a fellow cruise critic member, put into a website. I found a menu for the second night “American Feast”, which I mentioned earlier is now what the dinner on formal night is called with the American Menu. There is an appetizer, listed under “pasta” on the American Feast menu, called “Fusilli Mushroom Cream”. The description is (and quoting from the menu here) “Spiral pasta, mushroom, aged parmesan”. I’m pretty sure this is it and if it is, again, it’s the “Fusilli Mushroom Cream”. Very, very good. I got seconds. The Caesar Salad in the buffet that night was just as good as what is served in the main dining rooms and I’ll give that another “A”. As for the other salad, its regular garden salad and you build your own so I won’t even bother rating that.

[pghsteelerfan]

After we finished eating, DH wanted dessert but I passed. I waited at the table while he got his dessert…well, he came back with three. When he got back, I went and got coffee and this time it was regular, not decaffeinated. I am taking the Dramamine non-drowsy and even though it’s supposed to be non-drowsy, it still makes me tired. We sat and talked while DH ate his dessert(s) and my coffee didn’t last long. I got up and got some hot chocolate. I love Carnival’s hot chocolate. DH finished his dessert but I had just gotten the hot chocolate, and I wanted some dessert. DH stayed at the table while I went and got an ice cream cone and brought that back. DH decides he wants one too. By the time we finished, it was about 9:20PM so we decided to stop back at the cabin first.

When we got back to the cabin, we were trying to figure out what to do. We didn’t know if we wanted to do the “Classic Rock Trivia Challenge” or not but after a look through the updated edition of the “Fun Times”, nothing else really appealed to us. As I mentioned earlier, I’m not that big into comedy but after seeing Jason Blanchard the other night, I was kind of looking forward to a comedian, but there would be no comedy so our best option left was the “Classic Rock Trivia Challenge”. But by this time, it was just past 9:40PM, when it was to start. Oh well, we could go down and sit at the Promenade (casino) bar and listen to some good tunes. We had a pretty short walk to the stairs leading from Upper Deck 6, where our cabin was, to the Promenade Deck 5 and the Promenade Bar was right there. There were still seats at the bar, so we took two right next to each other and our favorite bartender was working. She came right over and asked if we wanted two double Captain and cokes. She got it! Yes. She got our drinks, we signed for them and gave her a tip, as we always did. She was great. The guy hosting the “Classic Rock Trivia Challenge” was still trying to get more people to participate and encouraging people to come up and get an answer sheet. The tables at the casino stage, where the guy hosting the trivia, were all filled but there were still seats available at the bar, even over at the smoking side, which was to the right. I figured “what the heck” and told DH “let’s just play”. He agreed so I went up and got an answer sheet. It was labeled “21 – 40”. OK, was there another one that was “1 – 20”? It doesn’t matter, they’ll only be looking for the correct answers. We waited till they got the trivia started.

We had been there between five and ten minutes when the trivia got started. There were a total of 40 points possible. It was explained that we could put all answers on one sheet, whether it was “1 – 20” or “21 – 40”. The instructions where that there would be 20 songs in which they’d play the first part. We needed to have the correct artist of that particular song in addition to the title of the song so if participants got the artist and the song correct, it was 2 points. If you got just the artist or the song right but missed the other, it would be 1 point. If you missed both the artist and the song title, you would get no points. Simple enough. I’ll be giving out some answers here but I’m also doing this for anyone interested in classic rock. There is also one song, which I’ll get to, that is now driving both DH and myself nuts along with two good friends of ours who I think would win every classic rock trivia easily. We told one of our friends about this contest and he still asks if we ever found out what that song is. Not yet, but I will…eventually.

To back up a little, that friend has won numerous “prizes”, usually cheapo stuff but still fun to win, in music trivia. We used go to Ocean City, MD for long weekends for their annual “Spring Fest” back in the 1990’s. There is a bar right on the boardwalk called the “Purple Moose” – anyone reading ever been there or heard of it? They’d have some good rock bands playing at night, but in the late afternoon hours they had a disc jockey called “The Other Blues Brother”. Part of the attraction for “The Other Blues Brother”, besides him dressing up like the “Blues Brothers”, is that he does a trivia every few songs. That first year we all went, about 13 of us, the prizes were free beers. When it was a “trivia” song he would vary it with each song. It was always a year but you had to listen to the question. Sometimes he asked for the year it was released and sometimes it was the year that it made the charts. That was generally pretty easy except if it was a song that was released in November/December one year but didn’t hit the charts until January/February of the next year. In addition to the correct year, sometimes he wanted either the artist or the song title. Once he explained what he wanted for answers for a “trivia song”, he said he’d play the song in full but if you knew the answer, you were to go to the stage as soon as you knew it and the first person to the stage who could give him the correct answer won the prize, the free beer that first year. The following year the state of Maryland passed some kind of law where alcoholic beverages couldn’t be given as prices, so they started passing out tacky souvenirs. The prize everyone wanted was the foam “Purple Moose Antlers”. Yeah, I still have two pairs of those. LOL!!! I guess they were considered the “Purple Moose” trophy just like the plastic Ship on a Stick is Carnival’s trophy.

Well, 1997 – 2002 are long gone and we’re now on Carnival Liberty getting ready for the “Classic Rock Trivia Challenge” to begin. For the first ten songs we knew we had the correct answers because they were songs we both knew. A few stumped me on the artist, but DH knew all of it. When our host got to song #11, we both had “mental block” on the artist and we both know it but it didn’t come to us right away. We both knew the song. It’s that situation when we past the halfway point and KNOW we have all the correct answers so far and we choke. We knew we missed our first point for that wrong answer. OK, shake it off and now we get to song #12. Holy crap, I’ve never even heard this song! DH: “Don’t worry, it’s “Nobody Hurts”. Me: “isn’t that song done by R.E.M? If so, that’s NOT it, I know that song and LOVE that song, it’s not “Nobody Hurts!!!” DH: “No, you’re thinking ‘Everybody Hurts’, that’s the R.E.M. song.”. Me: “oh, ‘Everybody Hurts’, that’s right…then who does this?” DH: I’m pretty sure ‘Nazareth’ did it.” I write down for Song #12: Nazareth/Nobody Hurts. The only song I know of from Nazareth is “Love Hurts” but DH has the Nazareth album/CD/downloaded CD to computer for MP3. I’m not into Nazareth but he liked them in the 70’s and he knows his music. Even though he’s not certain, he’s “pretty sure”. We knew all the others until song #18 was played. This is where we disagreed. I thought I knew it and wrote down “Air Supply” for the artist and “Keep on loving you” for the song. DH told me it was wrong and said it was REO Speedwagon/Take it on the Run. He told me it was REO’s album “Hi-Infidelity” and he swore it was REO/Take it on the Run. Problem was I already wrote down Air Supply/Keep on Loving You. Since he was SURE it was REO, I crossed out “Air Supply” and wrote down “REO”, also writing “Take it on the Run” over my answer of “Keep on Loving You”. They are now moving onto song #19, which we both knew but I kept thinking about the previous song, which was now going through my head and was “Keep on Loving You”, so I filled my original “Keep on Loving You”, over the “Take it on the Run”. I know both of those songs. Since DH was so sure about the artist being REO Speedwagon, I left it even though I thought it could be “Air Supply” but I wasn’t that familiar with them and never had any of their albums. I figured we had a better chance with the 50/50. Now they are on song #20, the last one, and we both knew it.

Now the contest was over and they were playing the songs and revealing the correct answers. By that time there was a large group of people standing in the area in front of the bar and in front of our contest host. I couldn’t see and I also couldn’t hear when he was revealing the answers. He had everyone participate by calling out the answers. By not being able to hear, it was a matter of hearing the correct answer since people were calling out several different answers and we couldn’t always hear our host when HE said the correct answer. Because of the crowd noise and the fact that I couldn’t see our host, I finally got up and went to an area where I could see our host and hear the answers better. There was a guy beside me and a gal who came up behind both of us. The gal wasn’t playing but the guy was but were both saying that they should play this kind of music on the ship more often. They were sick of the “Happy” song by “Pharrell Williams” song along with “Blurred Lines”, “The Cupid Shuffle” and “The Wobble”. Yeah, I heard enough of all of them too. As the answers were called out, we missed that one where we both “choked” on who the artist was but got the correct song. Finally they got to that song #12, that one I never even heard. Again, we had “Nazarath/Nobody Hurts”, but I couldn’t hear the answer because when the host asked for the artist, I heard so many different answers and it was the same when he got to the song. Sounds like a lot of people missed this one too. The guy next to me told me our answer was correct. OK, that leaves the only one I wasn’t sure of left, since we knew the others. We knew we had those right because those were very popular songs, songs that could be considered “over played” when on the radio. When they got to it, the correct answer was REO Speedwagon (or the abbreviated REO) and the correct title was “Keep on Loving You”, that song that DH and I disagreed on. In the end, the host asks for everyone to raise their hands the he asks anyone who had 10 or more correct answers to keep their hands up. Then he moves onto 20 or more correct answers. As he called out higher numbers, more hands go down but we were still in the game. Next is “36” correct answers and there are only two left…another guy and us. Our host gets up to “39” and we’re both still in. The host asks if either of us got them all right but we both had 39 correct. But, I couldn’t hear the answer to Song #12, so when he called us both up, I gave the host my answer sheet and let him know I may have 39 correct but it could be 38 or even 37 because I didn’t hear the answer for song #12 and asked him what it was and to check my answers. By that time he’s reaching into a large sack that appeared to be filled with “Ships on a Stick” and handed me one. I told him I don’t even know if I’m an actual winner and asked about song #12. He laughed and said “we go on the honor system” and by that time the other guy who had 39 correct made it to the stage and was handed a “SOAS” by the host. The host told us to compare our answers and started packing up to leave since they were trying to set up for the next event “Live Party Music”, which was supposed to start at 10:30PM, and the trivia ran late. We’re both standing there and I told him I may not have 39 right and that he may have won. We looked at each other’s answers and he had all his song titles up in the right hand corner of the sheet. He saw my “21 – 40” and said it was “1 – 20” and I told him that was all they had and that answer “1” was “21” on my sheet and so forth. For that song #12, he had .38 Special and no song title and he said he missed it. I couldn’t tell what the rest of his answers were and he was confused by my “21 – 40” answer sheet. Either way, we think we both had song #12 wrong, at least for the artist. I don’t know if our song title was correct or wrong. So, I could have had 37 or 38 and he could have 38. I told him that I think he won but he said something along the lines of “shhh…he’s not checking, it doesn’t matter since we both have one (Ship on a Stick) and no one will know”. I’m standing here with this plastic (yes, it IS plastic) “Ship on a Stick” that I may not actually deserve. If I win something, I want to win fair and square but there is a question of whether we tied or he won with me having one less correct answer. Since everyone else was out of the running with 35 being the next highest, I was definitely in 2nd place if I only had 37, but I still don’t know for sure and I still don’t know what that one song was. I went back to the bar where DH was with the “Ship on a Stick” and asked him about that song and he said he couldn’t hear the answer either but didn’t think it was Nazareth and I told him it wasn’t and the other guy missed that one too. We stayed there while we finished our drinks and watched as they set up for the “Live Party Music”. If this was “The Purple Moose”, the winners of “Purple Moose Antlers” wear them. But we’re not in in “The Purple Moose” hanging with a rowdy crowd and didn’t want to be walking around with the Plastic Ship on a Stick, so we went upstairs to put it in our cabin since we finished our drinks, then came right back down.

Picture of our plastic, Carnival Liberty "Ship on a Stick" with our answer sheet. This is our first one but again, we may have come in 2nd place so can't say we "won" it, but it does make a nice Carnival Liberty souvenir:

When we got back down, less than three minutes later, we noticed a decent sized crowd at the bar and near that stage are for the “Live Party Music”. I forget what kind of music they played but it drew a crowd. There were no seats available at the bar, so we just stood. There were three or four bartenders working and had things running smoothly. Our favorite bartender looked over at DH because we were next but standing behind the bar stools which were all filled. He just held up two fingers, she smiled and got the double Captain Morgan and Cokes. We stayed there for about fifteen minutes then decided to take the drinks and enjoy them on our balcony. When we got back to the cabin, our towel animal (an ostrich or peacock laying down???) was waiting on the bed with our last edition of the "Fun Times: This is one of the towel animals that very well could be one of the "naughty animals".

We talked about the trivia contest for a few minutes while we were on the balcony talking about some of the songs that stumped people (tips here): One of the songs was very popular and done by a band in which one of the band members (lead singer) went solo. A lot of people got that wrong because they had then name of the one artist instead of the name of the band. They played a song later on by that artist from when he went solo. A few other songs that were missed by a lot of people were songs that were popular but the artists weren’t well known and maybe even “one hit wonders”. The other seemed to be that one in question for us. They’ll probably always throw in a song that was never popular and maybe not played often, but those who had the original album it was on may know it. We also were well aware that tomorrow was our last day of the cruise. We decided we’d go to bed when the drinks were finished instead of going downstairs for one more. We wanted to sleep in some but not too late because we both wanted to get some sun and would need loungers for that. DH asked about the debarkation and whether we should do the “Self Assist” or the “Relaxed”. I thought since we had the transfer to the airport booked through Carnival and that our flight wasn’t scheduled to leave Miami until after 1:00PM, that we’d be doing the “Relaxed” Debarkation, where we’d put our suitcases outside the cabin door and the staff would have it down in the terminal to be picked up by us once we got off the ship. The perks to this are you can take your time getting off the ship. The other option is “Self Assist”, where we’d keep our luggage in our cabin and take it off the ship ourselves. Perks to that are, well, not many…but you will be one of the first groups off the ship. DH wanted to do “Self Assist” and I wanted to do “Relaxed”. It’s getting close to midnight, so we’ll just figure that out tomorrow and we’d have the whole day to think about it. The drinks were finished and we came in from the balcony and took turns getting ready for bed and called it a night.

Next up: Our last full day of our cruise and final "Fun Day at Sea".

[tiggerkaj]

Great pictures you captured of Grand Cayman and the waves! Sorry you weren't able to go there. I hope to go there soon. Loving your review, thanks for all the work your putting into it.

[erby2283]

We made our way up to Upper Deck 6 where our cabin was located. We were in cabin #6389, which is a balcony cabin on the starboard (right) side of the ship and located in the middle of the ship, or “mid-ship”. This is the first time, recently, that our cabin has been ready and we were able to get right in, but this was also the latest that we’ve gotten on a ship. It was 1:45PM. I took a few pictures of our cabin, the bathroom and then we went to the balcony.

 

 

Since many people ask about the gift basket in the bathroom, there was one but it only had a bar of soap and a trial sized tube of toothpaste, so I didn’t bother getting a picture. This was also a cabin with an adjoining door to the cabin next door, #6387. We weren’t traveling with anyone else, so we did know our next door neighbors. We just kept that door locked. Since we booked slightly more than a month from our actual sale date, and wanted a balcony, there weren’t many left to choose from. We are aware that balconies on Upper Deck 6 can get a lot of noise at night. Most of the ones that were still available were on Upper Deck 6 with a location right above the “Hot and Cool Nightclub”, which can be a problem with the noise volume for anyone trying to sleep. Thanks again to other comments and reviews on Cruise Critic, we knew to take this into consideration when choosing our cabin. Our cabin was fine at night, for the most part, but the few times we were woken up during the night had nothing to do with Liberty or Liberty’s crew.

 

We just upgraded from an inside to a balcony for our Aug sailing and had to choose between 6429 and 6439 (nothing available on 7 and the rest of our group has aft cabins on this deck). We choose 6429 but now am worried about the noise and even started a thread asking people which room they thought was better but not many people replied. Do you think we'll be okay in this room or is the noise from the night club really going to be felt in our cabin?

[wrigley80]

I'm all caught up now. Dad and I are going on the Victor Bodden tours in Roatan in December....we are looking forward to seeing the monkeys

[pghsteelerfan]

Great pictures you captured of Grand Cayman and the waves! Sorry you weren't able to go there. I hope to go there soon. Loving your review, thanks for all the work your putting into it.

 

I could not believe those waves. We did take a LOT of pictures trying to get the waves, but I did put all the pictures I got in the review. LOL!!! We were bummed because we were looking forward to it, but at least we have been there before. I felt bad for a few others on our cruise who would have been there the first time and two that we were talking to had excursions booked that they were really excited about. I do feel bad for them but we'll eventually get back. :)

[pghsteelerfan]

We just upgraded from an inside to a balcony for our Aug sailing and had to choose between 6429 and 6439 (nothing available on 7 and the rest of our group has aft cabins on this deck). We choose 6429 but now am worried about the noise and even started a thread asking people which room they thought was better but not many people replied. Do you think we'll be okay in this room or is the noise from the night club really going to be felt in our cabin?

 

So sorry I got you concerned about your cabin choice. We were in 6425 (2 doors down) on Glory two years ago and Glory and Liberty have the same layout since they are both Conquest class ships. We had no noise when we were in that cabin. I just looked up Carnival Liberty's deck plans to be sure. Same location. Those cabins are actually right above the Promenade hallway area and I am almost positive that they are above the booths along the windows in the hallway. Cabins 6445 and the few cabins back from it may experience noise from the piano bar but I don't know how noisy that gets. The night club generates noise and even though your cabin is near it, it's not directly above it. You may hear some noise but it should be more of a muffled noise since you won't be directly above it. Again, we were in 6425 on our Glory cruise and never had a problem with noise. I hope this helps some. As for the cabins on the other side of the ship...I think they're the ones that get the noise. When we booked, that's where most of the available balcony cabins were located. No thanks. I hope you enjoy your cruise. :)

[pghsteelerfan]

I'm all caught up now. Dad and I are going on the Victor Bodden tours in Roatan in December....we are looking forward to seeing the monkeys

 

I'm almost finished typing up the next part, our last Sea Day with an unexpected port of call (I think I may have told you about that one). You'll laugh, but my favorite pictures are the ones I got in Miami on the morning of our return when it was still dark. I LOVE the color in the buildings in Miami when they are lit up at night/very early morning.

 

So glad you're booked with Victor Bodden. Are you going to do the "Best of Roatan" private tour? We LOVED the monkeys and you actually get to spend time with them and weren't rushed at all. They are really funny. I just wish we had a longer day in Roatan so we could have seen more of it or spent more time at the places we were at.

[pghsteelerfan]

Day 7 – Friday, April 11, 2014 (Fun Day at Sea…and an unexpected stop)

[pghsteelerfan]

Today's edition of the "Fun Times"

 

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

The fliers that were delivered with today's "Fun Times"

The "Good to Know" flier (Side 1):

 

The "Good to Know" flier (Side 2):

 

The "Spa & Saloon" flier (Side 1 only; Side 2 was just a picture):

 

The "Fun Stuff" Flier (Side 1):

 

The "Fun Stuff" Flier (Side 2):

[pghsteelerfan]

We woke up at 7:00AM when our alarm clock went off and took turns getting ready. One of the first things I did was take the Dramamine non-drowsy since the water was still a little choppy and I didn’t want to chance getting seasick. After I finished getting ready, DH took his turn getting a shower. I could tell the sun was shining today and I totally forgot to look for sunrise when I got up. Before my usual morning trek for coffee, I went out on the balcony and the sun had just come up, so I got my camera and got a few pictures.

The air had a little chill to it and it was breezy, but not windy and I could tell that the humidity was down. The water still looked choppy but didn’t seem as bad as the previous day but that could be because it wasn’t quite as windy. We were heading east now and we knew we’d be passing close to Cuba, which be on the right (starboard) side of the ship, where our balcony was. I couldn’t see any land in the distance yet, so I went up to Lido Deck 9 to get coffee. It looked kind of crowded this morning but that was probably because others wanted an early start to beat the chair hogs to the loungers. I did not go outside to check the situation out, I just got my coffee and went back downstairs to the cabin where I sat and enjoyed our balcony. I know Carnival has done the “Towel Animal” chair hogs where the loungers around the pool will each have a “towel animal”. I’ve seen pictures of this in other reviews but have never seen it on any of our cruises. I don’t know if that was done this morning or not. It seems they usually do that on port days, but I didn’t see them out those mornings but that may have been because it had been raining early in the morning on those days. That’s just speculation on my part though. I just never saw them out but if they were, I missed them. Maybe next time.

When I finished my coffee, DH and I went up to Lido Deck 9 for breakfast. It was about 8:00AM when we got up there. I was kind of tired of the regular buffet and not hungry for that. I wasn’t really hungry at all but decided to at least eat something to prevent the “grungies” (what we call severe hunger pangs) from kicking in before it would be Guy Burger time. It was still crowded, but the lines were moving, so we went through the buffet where DH got his usual and I think he even had some French toast this morning. I got a box of cereal and a milk for it. When we exited the buffet line, I followed DH over to where the pastries were. He got two, a Danish and one of the cinnamon rolls, and I got one of the cinnamon rolls and we went over and got a table. DH got up and got us each a glass of orange juice. We ate our breakfast then went back to the cabin to get ready for the day.

When we got down to the cabin, DH went out on the balcony and told me he could see land in the distance…Cuba! We went out and got pictures of that.

[pghsteelerfan]

More of Cuba:

 

 

They didn’t come out that well, but Cuba is Cuba. While we were out there, we saw a tanker ship and got pictures of that too.

The tanker we saw with Cuba in the distance:

When we finished getting pictures of Cuba and the tanker ship, we went in and got what we’d need. We took our “Red Frog” and “Blue Iguana” tervis tumblers to fill with ice water to have while laying out and getting some sun. I used sunscreen on my face but that was it. Neither of us had much color and we did want to come home a little darker than we were when we left, but that wouldn’t take much because we had no color when we left.

We stopped up at Lido Deck 9 to fill the tumblers with ice and water then went straight up to Panorama Deck 10 since we could tell the mid-pool on Lido Deck 9 was already filled. When we got up there to Deck 10, we walked along the starboard (right) side looking for loungers, which were already filled. We walked to the back of the ship and it looked like there were several loungers there, but once we got there…chair hogs. UGH!!! We went over to the port (left) side to see if there were any loungers there, and it was the same. Either occupied with bodies or claimed by “chair hogs”. We went down to the aft pool, the Versailles pool, on Lido Deck 9 and there were no available loungers there either. We headed back toward the mid-pool, the Tivoli pool, which we noticed was closed, empty and had the net over it. ??? Thought for sure it would be open the last Sea Day, so something has to be up with that. We went over to see if we could find any seats in the Seaside Theater area, but none were available. Well, we would just have to go back up to Panorama Deck 10 and take one of the few empty loungers that were under the shelter and in the shade. Maybe we could pull them out into the sun. We were able to find two loungers next to each other there and took them. However, we were unable to pull them into the sun because we’d be blocking the walkway. We were out there for probably a half hour, hoping that some loungers in the sun would open up, but more and more people were showing up, also looking for loungers. As we sat there, in the shade, I was getting restless. We had packing to do and my thought was why waste the time sitting in the shade. It was also starting to get chilly in the shade. I finally asked DH if he wanted to go back to the cabin and maybe see if we could get sun on our balcony and if not, start the main packing then go back up and try to get some sun later. It was a plan.

We went back down to our cabin and went out on the balcony. We tried there for about a half hour but kept having to move at weird, and uncomfortable, angles to try to stay in the sun. This isn’t going to work, so I went in and started packing and put most of my clothes in the suit case and tried getting my souvenir drink cups in as well. I had the ceramic ones and the souvenirs that I bought at the ports in my carry-on bag, since many of those were breakable. DH also gave up on getting sun and came in and started getting his things organized as well. By now it was about 12:45PM and we thought we’d try to see if any loungers opened up on Panorama Deck 10. While walking through the hallways, we noticed the tiny, green lights all along bottom of each side of the hallways and stairways. I got some pictures of that.

The hallways and stairways all lit up with tiny little floor lights:

I actually thought they were really cool. This was the first time I noticed them being on and certainly don’t remember them being on during the rest of the week. Right up on Panorama Deck 10, before we continued out to the mid-ship pool, we saw a member of Carnival Liberty’s staff who looked like he could be some kind of security. DH asked him why the pool was closed and he told us it was because of the high swells and wind. That’s kind of weird because the water was rougher yesterday and the wind was stronger yesterday. It was breezy today, but not windy. Whatever. We did not question him. I told him I noticed all the little lights in the hallway and said I hadn’t noticed them earlier. He told us that they were the emergency lights and they were on for testing for a Coast Guard inspection. I let him know that I liked them and thought they were pretty and thought it was something they did on Liberty for the last Sea Day.

[pghsteelerfan]

We went outside and we could tell they had the ice carving going on but didn’t bother going down because of the crowds around it. We actually had a better view from where we were and I tried getting a couple of pictures.

Ice carving demonstration going on:

We watched that from Panorama Deck 10 for a while and walked toward the back to see if any loungers had opened up. While out there, I had to get more pictures of Liberty's funnel.

Everyone knows what this is by now:

We were out of luck and by this time all of the loungers in the shade were taken. We were getting hungry anyway, so we went back down to Lido Deck 9 for a Guy Burger. Since we had my beach bag, the towels, and tervis tumblers of water with us, we got a table first and took turns getting our burgers and toppings. I let DH go first and then I went. There was a small line that moved very quickly. We were now both at the table, enjoying our (sob, sob) last Guy Burgers of our cruise. I am really going to miss these because they are just that good. Carnival, you hit a “home run” with the addition of Guy Burgers. While we were eating, DH noticed another ship off to the starboard side (right) that was sailing parallel to us, yet a little behind us. We didn’t have our cameras so we couldn’t get pictures from there. When we finished our Guy Burgers and fries, we stopped back in the cabin to drop off our towels and my beach bag. We got our cameras and went on our balconies to get pictures of the other ship. We could tell it was an MSC cruise ship, but couldn’t tell which one since we were unable to read her name. ***Quick jump ahead here…when we got to Miami the next morning, MSC Divina was with us. Before our cruise I looked at the different ports we’d be at to see which ships would be with us. For our last day in Miami, MSC Divina was not listed as one of them, but she was there. I looked her up on MSC’s site and the pictures of her are very similar to the ship I saw. The only other ship that looked like her was not in the Caribbean. The other cruise ship port schedule website I always refer to had listed “No Information Available” for MSC Divina from March 29, 2014 – April 12, 2014, but she was in Miami with us, so we are assuming that this ship is MSC Divina***

This is MSC Divina:

[pghsteelerfan]

After getting pictures of what we were referring to at this time as the “MSC Ship”, I went through the items I bought while in the ports to get them ready to pack. I wanted to make sure anything breakable was securely wrapped and that I had everything. I did try to keep it all in one bag. I got other things organized and together and when I went to pack the little photo album of Carnival Liberty that I bought the previous day, I remembered that I STILL needed pictures of the Garden Atrium from Lobby Deck 3. DH also mentioned he wanted to go to the “Fun Shops” to see if they had any more T-shirts in. He found one he liked the previous day but they didn’t have his size but he was told they may be getting more in later. It was almost 3:00PM by now, so I checked the “Fun Times” to see if there was trivia scheduled in “Atrium 3” (how it’s listed in the “Fun Times” under the “Have a Great Time” section. I went down to Lobby Deck 3 and this time, I was able to get pictures. I spent several minutes getting pictures of the Garden Atrium then went back up to Promenade Deck 5 and met DH outside the “Fun Shops”. They did not have his T-shirt and he said there weren’t many left.

And FINALLY...here they are, pictures of the Garden Atrium from Lobby Deck 3:

[pghsteelerfan]

More of the Garden Atrium:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Out of all the Carnival ships I've been on, with the exception of Festivale in 1992, Liberty's atrium and décor are my my favorite. It's just very beautifully done and very pleasing to look at. As for Festivale, I only had a film camera and had 7 rolls of 36 (pictures) on a port heavy itinerary in the Southern Caribbean out of San Juan, similar to Valor's current route. I have pictures of the ship but not many of the interior and I've long forgotten most of what Festivale's interior looked like.

[pghsteelerfan]

We decided it was time for a drink, so we went up to Red Frog rum bar and ordered drinks. Today I was just sticking with Coors Light beer. I can’t remember what DH had but he may have also had a beer. Since there were no seats available at the bar, we went and got seats along the window behind the bar. I was watching the “MSC Ship”, which seemed to be catching up to us and DH said “hey look, an elephant!” I told him I wasn’t falling for that one and he said “really, it’s a big towel elephant.” So I looked and there was someone dressed up as a “towel animal” elephant posing for pictures with people. I was able to use the zoom on my camera and get pictures of him.

The "Towel Animal" Elephant:

He was also out during our sail away from Miami party at the start of our cruise. They had music on but I can’t remember if it was a DJ set up on Panorama Deck 10 or not. I just know I heard the “Happy” song by Pharrell Williams…again. Oh well, it’s growing on me and I know darned well that when I hear it once home and after our cruise that I’ll be thinking of our cruise on Carnival Liberty. Last year on Carnival Valor we heard the song “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke, so many times we were kind of getting tired of it. But once we got home, every time I heard it, which isn’t too often since I normally stick to country and classic rock, I thought of our great time on our Valor cruise. Speaking of “Blurred Lines”, it was also played a short time later and we heard it at least twice before on this cruise. I noticed out the window that the MSC ship was right beside us, but still a good distance away. I got pictures of her from where we were sitting at the window to see if I could make out a name, but still no luck with that.