April 4 Carnival Liberty 5 day Review

[Riegal66]

You need to post a little quicker - haha. I'm leaving in a little over a month and want to read the rest of the story before I go. :)

[DenaInWyo]

PGHSteelerfan~ your review was where I got the idea :D I was too chicken to do the feet under the bed..my luck I'd come back to the room with security waiting for me!

 

Nsullivan I hope you can talk her into it. My mom is the one who got me to go on my first and I was really bummed we had to leave her behind this time. She's going in for a hip replacement hopefully in May though, and we have big plans for a cruise in January. We had been sold on the Conquest for an 8 day but it just got beat out by the Magic and a cove balcony. Have always wanted to try one of those.

 

Thanks everyone for the comments and I will get more written tonight. For now I'm off to work. Sigh. They don't have a Red Frog there and the hospital cafeteria does not have soft serve. Jerks.

[pghsteelerfan]

PGHSteelerfan~ your review was where I got the idea :D I was too chicken to do the feet under the bed..my luck I'd come back to the room with security waiting for me!

 

 

Oh no....really?!?! :D My DH always tells me I'm a "bad influence"....LOL!!! That is just too funny and so happy that you also had a great cabin steward. :)

[ScrapbookJ]

Loving your review...can't wait for more!

[Ashpalo]

Great review so far!!! Thanks for taking the time to do this! Since the ship just moved to Galveston, there are so few reviews out there. Reading reviews is what ties me over until I embark on 6/4! :-)

 

Ashley

[DenaInWyo]

Oh no....really?!?! :D My DH always tells me I'm a "bad influence"....LOL!!! That is just too funny and so happy that you also had a great cabin steward. :)

 

I wouldn't say bad influence, you merely gave me an excellent idea! :D

 

I love excellent ideas!

[DenaInWyo]

Great review so far!!! Thanks for taking the time to do this! Since the ship just moved to Galveston, there are so few reviews out there. Reading reviews is what ties me over until I embark on 6/4! :-)

 

Ashley

 

That's what I thought too when I was trying to find them. That's the main reason I did it. I also did it because I started one on our last cruise and going back to read 5 years later was so cool! I was really irritated with myself for not finishing it! There's your insurance that I'll finish this one :)

 

I have a bunch more written and will be working on getting the photos in with it here in a sec.

[DenaInWyo]

Dinner after our Progresso excursion was a big switch up. Our two ladies we had been dining with were no where to be found, but we had four new tablemates. They were four guys who were having a great time on their cruise and they were highly entertaining dinner companions. There was a lot of laughing and joking at our table for the remainder of the cruise. If any of you guys are reading this, I'm waving at you!

 

Having new tablemates, they didn't realize they had a duty to remind me to take pictures of the food and menus, so I did not get a photo of the menu that night. Slackers.

 

Tonight I planned to try the ox tongue from the rare finds menu. I made it past the teasing about touching tongues with another animal and bravely took a bite. Nope nope nope..EW..blech..YUCK. I had a squishy, soft texture and a liver flavor. I hate liver. Sadly, it went to waste because that was Jenny's thoughts on it as well. I had a backup appetizer, the shrimp quesadilla, though and it was fair.

 

 

 

For my entree I had the beef tenderloin, and while cooked nicely and tender, it had that funky taste to it again. Ever had a lower quality steak and had it have an almost liver flavor to it? That was what this was like. This was, unfortunately, a miss as well.

 

 

Jenny had the pasta carbonara and it was delicious! She also had the brocoli soup and liked it as well. For dessert I had the sticky toffee brioche, and discovered that was just a fancy way to say sweet roll. It was okay, but unfortunately the bottom was dried out and hard. Sigh..I hate to sound like one of those constant complainers, but I just had bad luck in general in the dining room this cruise.

 

 

 

Luckily our waiter was a sweety and we had great service!

 

 

We always meant to try out the comedy shows or the piano bar, but somehow just never made it. I really regret that! 3 cruises and I have yet to try the piano bar. Oh well, goals for the future. We ended up back in the casino, and nothing much had changed there.

And that was the end of our second full day cruising.

[DenaInWyo]

Cozumel was up next. Again we booked a Carnival excursion, mostly because it was just easy. We chose the Fury catamaran snorkel and beach day and it was very fun.

 

I will warn you, give yourself a little extra time buffer in getting off the ship and to your excursion in Cozumel. They had security checking bags as you went into the tourist area, and it was a real bottleneck. It was really kind of silly because they were only checking maybe one person in ten by the time people just walked right through while they were busy looking at one person's bags.

 

There were four ships in port that day and the tourist/entrance area was super crowded and busy. We made our way over to where the catamarans board finally, hopped on and off we went.

 

 

 

 

The first stop our small boat made was just a little ways away and we got off to snorkel. It wasn't the best snorkeling I've ever done by far, but it was an okay intro for someone who had never done it before, like my sister. It was a bit annoying that they made you wear inflateable life preservers. I was never able to fully get the air out of mine and it made it really hard to dive down to look at things. It was also very crowded and I was constantly either kicking someone or being kicked.

 

After about 30 minutes, we were back on the catamaran and the drinks started flowing. It was a pleasant boat ride to the beach where we hung out for about an hour and a half. There were big inflatable water toys and people made good use of them. I bobbed around in the ocean for a bit and had another margarita (or three) and then it was time to go back. At least I remembered my hat this time!

 

 

 

Another small warning: If you bring your kids on this excursion, caution them to be careful! We had two casualties that ended up leaving the tour to go back to the ship and get sewn up. There's a lot of falling into and getting knocked into the water on those big toys so watch yourselves!

 

The boat ride back was fun and there was some dancing and music going on. They had sold hamburgers at the beach but we weren't hungry at the time and didn't have any so I can't comment on how those were.

 

 

 

Back in the tourist area, we did some shopping and ate fish tacos and drank HUGE margaritas at Fat Tuesdays. Both were really good! We were pretty much feeling no pain at that point and having a great time!

 

Then came the death march back to the ship.

[DenaInWyo]

 

 

Apparently everyone decided to get back on board at about the same time and the line was huge. In addition to all my beach gear, I was lugging 3 5ths of tequila that I'd bought to bring home as gifts. It was unpleasant but funny in a way that only happens when you've spent the day drinking margaritas :D

 

Once we dinged our cards, I put the tequila, in a very obvious bag on the conveyer belt for scan and told them "That's booze." It went through and I again said, "That's booze." A female crewmember touched my elbow at that point and quietly said "go go go." I went went went :D I think the line was just so backed up, they were just pushing people on through. So, I spent the rest of the cruise with three bottles of tequila stashed under my bed. This was handy because I was able to pack it securely for the trip home on the last night.

 

I'll mention here too, that a very sad thing happened on this day of the cruise. One of our roll call members lost her life in a drowning accident. My thoughts are still with her family and I hope they are doing as well as they can manage.

[DenaInWyo]

Once back on board, Jenny decided to lay down for a little while and I went up to watch the sailway. It was really neat to be able to stand up on deck 10 and be able to see the Lido decks of 3 Carnival ships at the same time! I didn't really get any still photos of this but took a lot of video.

 

I did some hanging out on the deck, went back to see if anything had changed in the casino (it hadn't) and finally went back down to dress for dinner and wake my sister up so she could as well.

 

Still no ladies at dinner. I found out later that they were just too pooped to manage it after their shore excursions. We were feeling about the same on this day too, really, but sucked it up and went anyway.

 

That night I just didn't see anything on the menu that really appealed to me, and given my luck so far, I opted for the surf and turf from the extra charge menu. Normally I'm not a huge fan of lobster, but it's been years since I tried it so I decided to give it a go. It was really, REALLY good! This was the best dining room meal of the cruise. Luckily the boys had caught on to my mission and remembered to remind me to get a photo of the menus.

 

 

 

 

 

[DenaInWyo]

I choose two appetizers again tonight. The guys had been eating 2-3 of every course so I was inspired to live a little dangerously.

 

 

 

One was the rabbit and this was actually excellent. The sauce it's in is kind of sweet, and it was very tasty. The other was the spring rolls and they were also very good.

 

Jenny had the ahi tuna and said it was great! I don't remember what she had for a main course and I didn't get a picture. Again, I blame our tablemates for falling down on their duties :D

 

 

 

Dessert was the strawberry fanancier and again it was dry. That seemed to be a problem with a lot of the desserts. I need to learn not to be lured by the fancy options and just get the darned melting cake already.

 

 

Oh yeah, and my steak and lobster!

 

 

[DenaInWyo]

That's it for tonight. TGIF tomorrow night, and I'll get it wrapped up. Thanks for the comments and nice things said about the review :) I'm having great fun writing it and reliving the cruise.

[Keith1010]

Enjoying your review.

 

Keith

[tphitman]

This is a GREAT review! Can't wait to hear the end of the story!

[Naomi John]

Two reviews posted this week on a cruise I'm taking in June. Thanks!!

[cruisinsly]

Cant wait for the rest. Great so far.

[jennyh_1]

Loving your review!!! May 21 needs to get here already!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[DenaInWyo]

The next morning was our last day, and a sea day. How did that happen so quickly?

 

We did the behind the fun tour and it was really interesting. To take this tour, you must sign up once on the ship. This does fill up quickly, so make it one of the first things you do once you get on board. The cost was $95 and the tour was about 3 and a half hours long. You must wear closed toed shoes, so don't forget to pack them if you plan to go! You are also not allowed to bring cameras of any kind, or cell phones. If you forget they will hold them for you until the tour is done. You are wanded by security before it starts.

 

We met in the library at 9:15 or so. The tour consisted of about 10-12 people, but they did have at least one other group that started a little later. We visited the laundry, an engine control room, the bridge, the crew meal areas and the galley. We also sat in the staff education room for a bit and learned a few things about the crew's life on board. We were unfortunately not able to see a crew member room because they are all full on the Liberty right now.

 

While very interesting, some of the areas were a bit long winded for me. In two of the areas, the crew member telling us about it had such a thick accent I was only really able to make out a few words, so that probably had an impact on my feeling slightly impatient to move on.

 

My favorite area was definitely the bridge, and we met the captain and had our photo with him. He was a very nice guy and gave great answers to all questions asked. I really loved the view from up there!

We finished up the tour in one of the dining rooms, and were given a little sport satchel, a ball cap, and a carved soap, as well as champagne. Once back at the room, we had chocolate covered strawberries and our photos with the captain and by the ship's bell waiting for us.

 

Overall, this is something everyone who cruises Carnival should try to do at least once, but I don't think it's something I'd repeat now that I've seen it. I was ready to get on with my last sea day!

[DenaInWyo]

We went to lunch after that and had some more fabulous Blue Iguana tacos and I took a few items from the Lido buffet, which were nothing to write home about.

 

We then snagged some prime Lido deck real estate and literally spent the rest of the afternoon out there in the sun, just enjoying people watching and our cheers program. Lots of dancing and music was going on! Jenny actually made it down the water slide, with some encouragement from others going down. Great job Jenny!

 

 

 

We ended up back at the Red Frog for a bit, then finally had to admit it was time to go in and dress for our last dinner. Our lady tablemates were back! They did the behind the fun tour with us as well.

 

We had a blast at this last meal, with lots of talking, laughing and joking going on.

 

So much fun was had, I once again forgot to take pictures of the menus. Oh well.

 

Some of the braver among us had the frog legs as an appetizer. Being a nurse, I have done too many unmentionable things to frogs while in school and I just can't get past that and will probably never eat frog legs in my life. Nope.

 

 

A few other appetizers were had including the flat bread and the tomato/mozzarella dish I don't recall the name of.

 

 

 

I had the prime rib and it was very good, but to be honest I was so distracted by the fun being had and the multiple good drinks that had been drunk, I didn't eat all of it.

 

 

 

I did end the cruise on a positive dessert note.

 

 

[DenaInWyo]

Some time in the evening my roll call on that other site informed me that my name had been called in the casino to win a free cruise. Of course you had to be present to win :( I am consoling myself by thinking that it probably wasn't nearly as free as it sounded, and that it was a very specific cruise that I might not have been able to get time off for or worked out for me. (It was in October on the Dream)

 

I decided I'd better get to the casino in case anything else like that happened, and much to my surprise, the luck had changed a bit for me! I ended up staying up WAY too late visiting at the bar, playing slots and 3 card, and just when I was about to call it a night, I decided to try "just one more machine" and hit $1200. I had to do a tax form and have my ID for that, so I had to run alllll the way back down to the cabin to grab it then alllll the way back to the casino, afraid the whole time they wouldn't wait for me to cash out and shut down! All in all, I paid for a good portion of my cruise on the last evening :)

 

This, however, did not make for a pleasant morning. After dinner, Jenny and I had packed our bags to put out. Well, actually it was WELL after dinner because we almost didn't get them out in time to be picked up! We were doing the grab and chuck method of packing. I had no interest in self-debarkation as our shuttle to the airport wasn't until 12 the next day and since we had no rush to be off the ship, I was just as happy to let them carry my bags off the ship.

 

We rolled out of the room a little after 8, had breakfast at the buffet, then hung out and I actually snoozed a bit on the lido. We were off the ship and through customs at about 10:30. I'll know next time to book an earlier shuttle. I was just worried that it might take longer than I thought to get through customs and would rather wait than miss our ride.

 

It was a long, generally miserable day, but we made it back to Denver finally and spent the night at Woolley's there. That is an excellent hotel by the way. Great restaurant, amazing rooms, and reasonably priced for a hotel near the airport.

 

We drove home the next day, and the morning after that I was back at my desk wondering how the heck it all went by so quick!

[DenaInWyo]

Some areas I did not cover in the review but want to mention:

 

Smoking in the casino: The smell was there but wasn't overwhelming. I quit smoking (by vaping) nearly three years ago and I can be pretty sensitive to it now. I was never put off enough by it that I felt I needed to avoid the place.

 

The muster drill: It was long. It was hot. It made a 40 something year old woman whine like a little kid with "Can we be done now??" It is what it is. There was nothing different about this one than the other two cruises I've been on. Just get your butt up there and get it over with.

 

The Deli: My sister tried this and I had a bite or two and it was very yummy! There is just only so much food you can pack in, and I didn't eat there other than that.

 

The Pizza: I had this one late night, and my sister had it more than that. It was yummy. In fact, all of the alternate food venues were really great on this cruise. We ate at the actual lido buffet a total of three times and two of them were for breakfast. I never tried any of the buffet desserts, though the chocolate buffet looked interesting as I walked by (probably headed to the casino)

 

The Photographers: We did pose for some photos on the elegant night, but did not end up purchasing any. We just didn't end up liking any of them enough to buy them. I really wish Carnival would get with the times and make this a more digital process. It seems like such a terrible waste to print all of those, and it's so crowded when you're trying to find your pictures.

 

Vendors in Mexico: Granted we did excursions and then our shopping was limited to the port area, but we were never really harassed by merchants. I was kind of prepared for this but it never happened and even those that approached backed off with a polite "no thank you."

 

We purchased two cases of water and used every single bottle. WELL worth the 3.99 a case and (shhhh!) I'd probably pay more than that to not have to haul it on the ship myself.

 

The Cheers program was well worth what we spend on it. Now, we did do some <cough> living it up on this cruise, but even if we'd been more temperate, I think we would have gotten our money's worth. You can't look at it as a day by day thing but an overall expense. Did we use it as much on port days? Probably not, but we more than made up for that on the sea days. Jenny made good use of the coffee bar as well. The lines for that always seemed slow and long to me and I didn't use it as much.

 

If you're thinking about trying the ol' recorking the wine bottle trick for smuggling, I'd think again. We brought our two bottles on and were sent to a separate table where they were very carefully examined to make sure they were legit.

 

That's all folks! We had a great time and cruising remains my favorite way to vacation. We will be sailing again in January, this time with mom and my youngest with us as well. I think we finally have it narrowed down to the Magic, 1/28/17. Let the countdown begin!

 

Thanks for reading :)

[sampsonsmom]

Really like your review, thanks for taking the time to this.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[nsullivan]

Behind the fun tour pics!! And I didn't realize it was you that missed be free cruise! I was so sad for you!! And now I feel horrible for even reminding you. So here are the pics! I really hope they aren't sideways!