Carnival Liberty Live Review

[serene56]

Could you tell me if you got a differnt menu because of the wine tasting week...or did everyone get the same menu??

 

I like to see the buffet. Is it set up like on the Spirit calss ships or is it one big long line

[Stillfloatin']

Keep em coming.:D

[raider23]

Lisa,

Wow is all I can say! We'll be on the Liberty in March & thanks to your photos I'm more excited with each day. Thanks!!! :p

Gary

P.S. When do you find time to sleep?:confused:

[margauxNH]

As a newbie cruiser going on the Liberty in February, I am finding your reviews and photos very informative! As I recall, you had the sushi at the fish and chips counter, do you plan to check out the sushi bar? I would be curious as to the selection and quality. Thanks!

[BellaOnline]

We're not going to Harry's - there are wine things going on each night that I want to keep track of in the main dining room. We are getting the same meals as everyone else there, it's just the wines that are something special for us.

 

Tomorrow (Thu) is listed as "formal optional" in the capers but really people are dressing formal EVERY night in many cases. Lots of gorgeous long dresses on women and many men in suits. I personally am dressing in long dresses every night :)

 

Here's my write-up for today (Wednesday) -

 

http://www.lisashea.com/lisastrips/yr2005/winecruise/wednesday/

 

I have a lot of photos but am exhausted and didn't annotate them all. Sorry! I'll try to do that tomorrow. If you read the diary part and then look at the pictures it flows along pretty smoothly. I did get lots of spa pictures but no balcony pictures, I'll try to get those tomorrow. We did have sushi today so that's written up.

 

There are several areas of the buffet so it's not one huge line. There is the buffet station nearest the pool, another further away, then all the various deli station, chinese station and the upstairs fish & chips station as well as the separate grill area and pizza area. So it really doesn't back up, that I've seen. Every day is a special feature in the buffet but that's just one area of the buffet that is "mexican" or "indian" or whatever - the rest of the buffet is "normal" I suppose you'd say :)

 

No other photo requests, to see more specifics of a given area of the ship?

[mitchpam]

So wonderful and so helpful...

I am sooo glad you are willing to test out the spa and have a massage for us!! I could not see the prices very well though, so could you tell me how much a massage is, and do they have couples prices?

Also, did you take the stingray tour though Carnival?

I hope and pray that you are enjoying this cruise and are not feeling too burdened by writing these posts, you are doing a fabulous job of it. Thanks so much.

[chrystaldahl]

Hi there, thanks so much for all the great pics and especially the movies. I was just on the Liberty last week and I'm missing it so much!!! Have a great cruise and keep the pics coming. Thanks again. Sharyl

[bigtrigger]

Thanks for all your great reviews. I am sailing the Liberty on Jan 29th and almost cancelled after booking. I have read alot of reviews, people complaining of the crowds everywhere. I have sailed Carnival Spirit and Norwegian Spirit and never had any crowds, or waiting for anything. I guess it should be somewhat expected on a ship this size. Do you have a full ship?

Enjoy the rest of you cruise!

[Tatka]

Wow ... Thank you for a great read.

 

For me it's like re-living our cruise again !!!! We also had an inside room on deck 7 and 8:00 PM dining in Silver room. :)

 

We didn't stop in Gorgetown in GK but on the other side of the island (with great beach!!!)

 

I have to say embarkation was pretty similar to yours :( and wan't pleasant experience.

 

We liked sushi! Nice appetizer before the dinner.

[Tatka]

Thanks for all your great reviews. I am sailing the Liberty on Jan 29th and almost cancelled after booking. I have read alot of reviews, people complaining of the crowds everywhere. I have sailed Carnival Spirit and Norwegian Spirit and never had any crowds, or waiting for anything. I guess it should be somewhat expected on a ship this size. Do you have a full ship?

Enjoy the rest of you cruise!

 

That's what I LOVE to hear! :) You've made my day as NCL Spirit is our next cruise.

 

Liberty is a great ship , but you are right it holds more people than it should. It doesn't prevent you from getting a great service (we had in both DR and from our cabin steward), but there are alot of people everywhere. (specialy in buffets!!!)

[sheri18]

:) thanks for the reviews thay are great..we are sailing 2-18-06....i especially loved the picture from the wines of Portugal....I am Portuguese, how were the wines...will they have them on my cruise to purchase or was this a one time thing....great job thanks, sheri

[serene56]

According to itinerary-- arrival in Grand Cayman should have been 8am. did you not arrive at that time> 11am getting off because of tender tickets and getting back on-- im gonna have to rethink this port.

[juscruzin]

Love the up to the minute review and all the wonderful pictures! Are the hot tubs and lounges at the front of the ship you pictured open to passengers or is this area for cruise ship staff and personnel only? Do you know what floor this is on? It looks like it could be a peaceful adult place to relax.

Also, where is the large movie screen and what type of movies have been playing? Can't wait to read future excerpts about your adventures and commentary about your insight and experiences on this ship. I'll be tuning in. Only 108 days to go for me!! :)

 

Conquest 9/9/04

Elation 5/29/05

Liberty 3/26/06

[LSauls7537]

We leave on Sat and I can't wait, your reviews have made us so excited, we dan't hardly keep our eyes off the clock!.

 

Also would like to know if you went to Harrys, and which night you would choose to give up the dining room and head for Harrys.

 

THANK YOU

[2funcruzin]

LSauls 7537 - Sorry but in the #30 post she stated she wasn't going to Harry's due to the other wine engagments.

[serene56]

Also would like to know if you went to Harrys, and which night you would choose to give up the dining room and head for Harrys.THANK YOU

 

so far--from looking at her menus.. I am heading to Harrys on Tuesday--which for us is Valentines day and I bet its crowded that night.

Formal nights are Monday and Thursday so that kinda leaves those out

 

Check out the menus and decide what you can live without.

 

PS-- you are headed out on an 8 day cruise- this review is for a 6 days---which is completly differnt from what you will experince.

[BellaOnline]

Hi everyone sorry that I didn't post last night, we fell asleep after the dessert wine tasting. I'm trying to put this in quickly before our 3pm Spanish wine tasting so I didn't annotate the photos but at least you can see them :) The notes from yesterday are here -

 

http://www.lisashea.com/lisastrips/yr2005/winecruise/thursday/

 

along with the photos. The ship did get into Grand Cayman earlier than when we left - the tenders were jam packed all morning long from what we heard. Yes the ship is 100% full. The lines IN the ship weren't too bad most of the time, with the exception of when everyone was coming back from Grand Cayman, starving to death, but dinner wasn't served yet. So the grill and pizza line were huge.

 

They do have a couples massage, 50 minutes, $242. My hour massage was $99 for an in-port day, I think it's $109 for at sea days. I have to say I wasn't overly impressed with the spa area, you can read my notes on that. The forward hot tubs aren't marked for crew only but they really are apparently for the crew and I would have felt guilty going in there as the poor crew works so hard all day long. The back hot tubs are really empty most of the time. The one time we saw them full was when we were about to leave Costa Maya but by the time we went to our room, got on swimsuits and went back out to the hot tubs, they were empty again. So it's really not a problem at all.

 

We really didn't hang out in the large-tv-screen area much - that's where all the kids were screaming. It's also very humid there. I suppose also between the ports and the wine events we didn't have spare time to do that. The wine events were a special thing for this cruise only, they're talking about doing another one in a year or so.

 

I'll check back in again late tonight so if there are any final requests for photos, let me know! The weather has been GORGEOUS all week long, I've been weaing strapped sundresses all week and if anything have been roasting. On the other hand the air conditioning IN the ship is pretty cool so I have to carry a shawl to wear inside or I freeze :)

[jeanneful]

This has to be the best review I have ever read!!!!

Awesome!!!

Thank you so much. We leave Sunday on the Conquest and I am even MORE excited now

 

Oh guess your wondering why I posted tote bags.......well does Carnival give them to you free? The last Celebrity cruise we were on we got them free.

How about a deck of cards free?

[BellaOnline]

OK I *just* ran out of my 110 minutes plan so I'm on a pay-per-minute now and will be brief. I just loaded up Friday notes up through right now - all that's left is our Champagne farewell event, our final dinner, and then disembarkation tomorrow. I'll post all that stuff when we get home or on Sunday. I hope I got enough photos of things for everybody, and I did get all the capers so if nobody else scans them in, I can scan them in when we get home.

 

Friday's notes up until now are here -

 

http://www.lisashea.com/lisastrips/yr2005/winecruise/friday/

 

We didn't get any bags / cards / etc. from Carnival :)

 

Oh the large movie screen is up above the main pool area, you could see it from the docks when you were out next to the ship. It is really large and crisp. They played things like Shrek and Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings plus had trivia games on it and musical concert videos. You can see it in many of my pool area photos.

 

Enjoy!

[toothchick2000]

I just wanted to say thanks for all the pics and day by day details. I sail on The Liberty next Sunday and with your live review it's making things much more real.

Thanks!

[BellaOnline]

I've added captions to the photos from Thursday and Friday, and added the disembarkation notes from Saturday. Now I'll work on adding in the Saturday photos and the travelogue should be complete! Let me know if anybody has any other questions for me.

[serene56]

Could you tell me what time that choc buffet was--please?

[billh65]

Could you tell me what time that choc buffet was--please?

 

On the 8 day Liberty Cruise to West Caribbean, the Choc Buffet was on Friday for the featured "Taste of Nations" for the lunch time buffet. Other days were Spanish, Caribbean, Indian, Italian, etc -- my wife and I decided that the nation of Chocolate must be Hershey, PA :)

 

Bill

[RizzoLee]

I keep getting 'Invalid Thread' when I click Submit Reply, so I apologize if this ends up in a double post.

 

Lisa-Thank you for sharing your vacation with us! I've spent the past week driving my family insane, looking for you reviews everyday. Not only did you post the nightly menu, but the pictures and menus of the alternative restaurants were a wonderful bonus too! 48 days and counting for me!

 

On a side note:

bigtrigger-I haven't seen you post on our roll call yet, but look us up under 'Roll Calls, Liberty, January 29, 2006'. We've got quite a few wonderful people on board and looking for more! :)

[serene56]

I am trying to set up our free group coctail party for 3pm on the Friday and hope it dont interfere with the choc buffet. I for one would rather do the buffet.