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Liberty Review 9-5-16

bkcoogler

By bkcoogler,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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bkcoogler

bkcoogler

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I'm planning on doing my first detailed and photo heavy review of our upcoming 5 day cruise aboard the Carnival Liberty. This cruise leaves from Galveston and has ports of call in Cozumel and Progreso.

 

Before we leave on Monday, are there any points within my trip you'd like me to focus heavy on?

 

Side note - we are a 30ish couple traveling without kids. My review will contain very little information pertaining to kids activities.

 

Looking forward to sharing our journey with everyone.

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AR Patriot

AR Patriot

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Looking forward to your review. We are doing this itinerary in November. We would like to hear about your steakhouse experience if you go there. We have it booked for the first night.

 

Thanks

 

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bkcoogler

bkcoogler

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Are you arriving on the morning of the 5th, or staying in Galveston the night before sailing?

 

We live in San Antonio and my parents live about two hours from Galveston, northeast of Houston. So we're planning on driving to my parents on Sunday then driving to port the morning of embarkation. This is not my first cruise from Galveston, so if you have any questions regarding the port or area I'd be happy to answer them.

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gannk

gannk

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We live in San Antonio and my parents live about two hours from Galveston, northeast of Houston. So we're planning on driving to my parents on Sunday then driving to port the morning of embarkation. This is not my first cruise from Galveston, so if you have any questions regarding the port or area I'd be happy to answer them.

 

 

Thanks, we live in The Woodlands and have sailed from Galveston before, too. We are thinking about spending Friday night in Galveston because there are so many of us this trip. It feels a little more relaxing to be able to take our time on the morning of embarkation.

 

 

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bkcoogler

bkcoogler

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Thanks, we live in The Woodlands and have sailed from Galveston before, too. We are thinking about spending Friday night in Galveston because there are so many of us this trip. It feels a little more relaxing to be able to take our time on the morning of embarkation.

 

If you do that, you may want to check out a 'park & cruise' option, then you have the parking included in your overnight stay in Galveston.

 

http://www.galveston.com/parkandcruise/

 

We've stayed at the Holiday Inn resort before and they have a free shuttle that takes you to port & will come and pick you up.

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riclop

riclop

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I'm planning on doing my first detailed and photo heavy review of our upcoming 5 day cruise aboard the Carnival Liberty. This cruise leaves from Galveston and has ports of call in Cozumel and Progreso.

 

Before we leave on Monday, are there any points within my trip you'd like me to focus heavy on?

 

Side note - we are a 30ish couple traveling without kids. My review will contain very little information pertaining to kids activities.

 

Looking forward to sharing our journey with everyone.

 

Looking forward to it.

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easyboy

easyboy

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I'm planning on doing my first detailed and photo heavy review of our upcoming 5 day cruise aboard the Carnival Liberty. This cruise leaves from Galveston and has ports of call in Cozumel and Progreso.

 

Before we leave on Monday, are there any points within my trip you'd like me to focus heavy on?

 

Side note - we are a 30ish couple traveling without kids. My review will contain very little information pertaining to kids activities.

 

Looking forward to sharing our journey with everyone.

Interested to know your experience.

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bkcoogler

bkcoogler

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Alright, so here we go on the start of what I hope will be a detailed review of our recent (we got back yesterday) trip aboard the Carnival Liberty.

 

The itinerary for this cruise looked like this:

 

Day 1 / September 5, 2016 - Embarkation in Galveston, TX

Day 2 / September 6, 2016 - Fun Day at Sea

Day 3 / September 7, 2016 - Cozumel, Mexico

Day 4 / September 8, 2016 - Progreso, Mexico

Day 5 / September 9, 2016 - Fun Day at Sea

 

Before we get into the meat and potatoes of the trip. I'll give you some background on me and who I'm traveling with. This cruise was my 5th cruise in total and my 4th time sailing with Carnival. You can see the full breakdown of my trips within my signature. This time around I’m sailing with my boyfriend; who up until this point was a true cruise virgin. We had originally booked this trip as a 7 day southern Caribbean cruise sailing from San Juan for my 30th birthday; however, due to some work conflicts we had to rebook this cruise 3 or 4 times. Over a year later, we were ready to set sail for our 5 day adventure.

I work in the tech world and my bf works in retail. It’s been a long year and we really needed this trip to be a relaxing vacation to unwind and enjoy our time away from work. We are both in our early thirties and don’t have kids. So if you’re looking for information on the kid’s activities aboard the Liberty; unfortunately, this review won’t be too helpful. As for pictures, I hope to be able to get them uploaded. At this point in time; I cannot find my SD card for the life of me. I’m sure it will turn up, but for now… it’s just me and my keyboard. Being a chubby chalupa myself and the bf enjoying a good meal as well, expect a full detailed report of our culinary adventures. While I tried to get pictures of meals here and there, I was not successful in getting a shot of each of the menus. One thing I was able to save, were our fun times from each day. I’ll work in the the coming updates to provide a scanned copy of each of them.

Up next… driving to Galveston / Day 1

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bkcoogler

bkcoogler

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Day 1 – Embarkation in Galveston, TX

We live in San Antonio, Texas; which in itself is about a 4-5 hour drive to Galveston. Instead of driving in the day of, we decided to head to my parents. They live about an hour and a half from the port of Galveston and they were keeping our dogs while we we’re away.

The morning of our departure I couldn’t contain my excitement. It had been over a year since my last cruise and over two years since my last Carnival cruise. I’ll admit, I enjoyed my Norwegian cruise last year but Carnival truly is a ‘Fun Ship’. I woke up early to watch the Galveston cruise cam as our Carnival Liberty pulled into port. My family laughs at my fascination and addiction to cruising. If time and funds permitted, I’d take multiple trips each year. Anywho, the ship docked around 7:30a and I could point out each deck and all the bells and whistles that I’d soon get to see in person. I also looked for my cabin, which quickly I remembered was on the starboard side of the ship.

This cruise I really lucked out. I was able to book an “L shaped balcony” on the 6th deck. I had read reviews before on the noise level and vibration in this cabin… so I was a little concerned being such a light sleeper. I’ll give my review of this cabin in depth a little later, but I’ll tell you now O M G. WOW! I was not disappointed. If you ever have the chance to book the “L shaped” balcony on this ship, DO IT!

My goal was to be at the port of Galveston by 10:00a; however, I sat around watching the docking of miss Liberty for a little too long. We managed to get showered, dressed and on our way, just before 9a. It’s a really easy drive from my parents to the port of Galveston. We made it in just under an hour and a half. At just around 10:30 I could see it, the whale tale. I felt like my 7 year old self seeing Cinderella’s Castle for the first time at Disneyland (ok.. I was the same way in my teens seeing it for a second time). I kept pointing it out to my bf (let’s call him MC) along the way until we got up to the terminal.

Upon rebooking this trip; I was able to score FTTF (Faster to the Fun). I read the reviews and thought, why not. Let’s give it a try. Our scheduled check in time was between 10:00 and 10:30. We parked at the Port of Galveston parking lot (Lot A) which was right in front of the cruise terminal. We initially pulled up to the terminal, unloaded our bags with a porter and proceeded to the parking lot. Once there, we boarded a shuttle and headed back to the terminal. All in all, we were at the security lines by 11:00. Security was a breeze and to be honest, faster to the fun made no difference here or at the check in counter. As soon as we walked into the ‘waiting area’ they started boarding the wedding party, then Diamond and Platinum cruisers. Within 15 minutes we were in line (more of a mass mob like group) to board the ship. It took about 20-30 minutes to proceed onto the ship with the 200+ people that were a part of FTTF.

As soon as we got on the ship we headed to deck 6; where our stateroom awaited. OK, I touched on it earlier but this cabin was magnificent. We were in cabin 6450; an “L Shaped” balcony cabin on the starboard side aft of the ship. This cabin is slightly different than a standard balcony, you forgo a couch for a slightly different layout and a HUGE balcony. This balcony is ridiculously big… it stretched the entire length of the cabin and included two normal chairs, a small table and a lounge chair. I instantly knew when walking out on this balcony that we would be spending a TON of time out here… and that we did.

As for our luggage being there as soon as we boarded; that wasn’t quite the case. We waiting around for a bit then decided to head up to the Lido deck and grab some Guy’s burgers. At around 12:30-1p we walked straight up, grabbed our burger and found a table next to a window easy. You could tell as we sat there, the place was starting to get busier and began to fill up. We found a waiter that got us a “Fun Ship Special”; a rum punch sort of drink. We finished up our meal and drink and it was time for MC to go have a smoke. I’m not a smoker, so I’ll do my best to give his own account along with my own. We walked up to deck 10 and found the port side smoking area pretty easily. There were plenty of chairs and seating along the way. We found that never in our entire cruise was there too little seating for all the smokers. MC was always able to find a place to relax for a few minutes and be on his way.

We headed back down to our cabin; walking around and touring the ship along the way.

Next up… Muster, Sail away on our beautiful balcony and Diamonds Steakhouse

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bkcoogler

bkcoogler

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Am I doing something wrong? I can't see the photos.

 

I'm not sure, I viewed from my phone, iPad and my Mac on multiple browsers. If anyone else is having issues, maybe someone else out there has a suggestion. This is really my first time posting a lengthy review w/ pics.

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