Carnival Liberty 1/20-1/28, Review (Lengthy)

[jrtmouse]

Carnival Liberty

8 Night Exotic Western Caribbean, January 20-28

Costa Maya, Costa Rica, Panama

 

This was my first experience on Carnival. The price was right and allowed me to give Carnival a try. I’ve had unforgettable experiences with Princess as well as Royal Caribbean, both AWESOME experiences. With that being said, here is my first Carnival experience, including my thoughts and opinions on the ship:

 

Embarkation

We arrived to the cruise terminal in Port Everglades around 11:30. It took us an hour from that point to set foot on the Carnival Liberty. It was a fairly painless process.

 

The Carnival Liberty is a beautiful ship. I had seen pictures of previous ships and was expecting the glitz of those. Fortunately, this ship was very classy, nearly Princess like. The lobby was beautiful and opened up from deck 3 to the glass ceiling of deck 10. Three beautifully designed glass elevators opened up to the lobby/atrium area. I did find the lobby to be a little cramped for them to be holding games such as the bean bas toss there. Speaking of elevators, in addition to the three lobby elevators, there were an additional 18 elevators between the aft, forward, and middle of the ship. I took the stairs when I could as I didn’t want to spend my week waiting for elevators. It was hard to tell there were 3100 people on this ship…until it was time to eat in the buffet. I will give this much to Carnival, I did like the plethora of eateries. They had a sushi bar, Deli, Mongolian BBQ, Fish & Chips, pizza, burger/hot dog grill, and a grill that changed from day to day. The pizza was available 24 hours and was very good, in my opinion. The burger grill was also open at midnight. Soft serve ice cream and frozen yogurt were available as well, located in the same area at the back of the ship.

 

Emiles, which is the buffet, definitely has issues that need to be worked out. I understand that trying to please 3100 people is one heck of a task and that lines are going to be inevitable. However, the way they had the buffet on both sides set up was mind boggling. They would have the nacho cheese set out before the chips, cream cheese before the bagels. It just didn’t make sense. With lines as long as they were, why couldn’t they take the time to appropriately arrange the food items to prevent people from having to back track through the line, thus slowing the line up that much more?! And another thing, I found it weird that they didn’t start lunch either in the dining room or the buffet until 12:00! Then on top of that, the buffet was NEVER ready at 12:00! It would be 12:10 or 12:15 before people could start dishing their food. I was at the burger grill one day at 12:00 and they were JUST putting the burgers on the grill! It just never made sense to me. It’s bad enough that we’re having to wait until noon to eat. I would like to have thought that they’d at least have everything ready to serve then! Continuing on to the drink situation, they did offer lemonade, fruit punch, apple juice and water. The fruit punch and lemonade were surprisingly delicious. Unfortunately, I can’t think of a time when all of the drink fountains were up and running! Most of the time at least half of them were down and we’d have to walk to the opposite side of the buffet to get drinks! WHY?! This just never made sense to me.

 

Breakfast at the buffet never changed. It was the standard eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, cereal, yogurt, etc, which was fine. They also had four omelet stations. The omelets were made to order and I thought they were one of the better things I had eaten on the ship. I didn’t mind waiting in line for those. We dined in the dining room for breakfast twice. The menu wasn’t very exciting and definitely not worth the time it took opposed to the buffet. The second time was a horrible experience and would be the last for us as far as breakfast was concerned. We waited a very long time for water and for our orders to be taken. It took an hour and a half before we got out of there. I will say that they must have been having issues at that time because we heard that those dining for breakfast later, as in 9:30/10:00 didn’t have the wait time we had experienced. Who knows what the situation was. All I know was that was the last time we attempted breakfast in the dining room. We never attempted lunch in the dining room, especially after the breakfast experience but I would imagine that the menu wasn’t any more exciting than what we ate from the buffet and multiple grills.

 

Dinner in the dining room – there were only two of us in our party, myself and my aunt. The first night we arrived at our table, a table for two. We were both very depressed as we each feel strongly that the dinner dining experience is a huge part of the cruise experience. I let the Maitre’D know that we’d be willing to give up our table for two to be seated at a larger table. Fortunately, by the end of dinner he had had a request for a table for two and we were given our new seating. This made us very happy and we’re very glad we asked. We met four very nice couples. We’ll definitely be keeping in touch.

 

We ate in the Silver Olympian dining room, one of two dining rooms, the other being the Golden Olympian dining room. It was a beautiful two story room with beautiful chandeliers. It wasn’t until the middle of the week that we realized that the other décor had been based on silverware settings, the design at the end of silverware. Cute. Our waiters were very good and attentive. The only thing I can say about them was that our particular waiters had very little personality. I only mention this because we had an EXCEPTIONAL wait staff on the Star Princess. They were delightful people AND they brushed the crumbs off the table! We did not experience this with Carnival. Again, they did their job very well just not exciting. Regarding the food, they offered the same kind of bread/rolls every night. Every other night, the bread would have a sun dried tomato in it. It was very good, but after the third night, I was bored. The food was NOTHING to write home about. I can’t really say that it was horrible. I heard several passengers refer to it as mediocre. It was definitely nothing I couldn’t have done myself in my own kitchen. I will say that the rib eye was decent and this I happened to notice because in the past year I’ve experienced some pretty horrid rib eyes at my local restaurants. The lobster was very dry and I didn’t bother finishing it. Their salads were boring. They had two to choose from, Caesar being one of them every single night. I did finally ask just for a garden salad and that was my salad from the remainder of the week, and I’m not a picky person! The salads were just so boring! The deserts were definitely nothing exciting. Their alternative desert which is offered every night is the warm chocolate melting cake with vanilla ice cream (i.e. chocolate pudding cake). Don’t get me wrong, it was very good, but I got tired of it after the second time. One night they did have a chocolate dessert and I can’t remember what it was called but it was definitely for the chocolate lovers, and I absolutely loved it. Other nights I had sherbet. Again, I like to try new things but when there isn’t much to choose from, it made it a very boring experience.

 

As long as we’re discussing food, the midnight Gala which was held in the buffet was beautiful. They opened it up from 11:30 to 12:30 for pictures, then 12:30 to 1:30 to eat. As the line grew I thought I would get in line with 30 minutes to go. I can honestly tell you that it was not worth the wait! The shrimp salad was tasty. They had a chocolate cake that was fantastic but then I discovered that you could buy a slice of that same cake for $2 at Jardin’s which offered milk shakes, espressos and other tasty treats. I’d pay the $2 and get the cake at Jardin’s! I also had this other item from the Gala and it had no flavor whatsoever. It was pretty nasty.

 

The deck party – It wasn’t too exciting. They had dancing on the deck and they threw mardi-gras beads. That’s it. Nothing spectacular whatsoever.

 

Activities – I will say that there were always plenty of activities for one and all. The cruise director, Todd Wittmer, was one of the best cruise director’s I’ve experienced. He was very entertaining and gracious to the guests he came in contact with. Activities included Scattegories, multiple trivia games throughout the day, Bingo (of course), line dance lessons,

 

They offered three shows; The Welcome Aboard Show, Wonderful World, Rock Down Broadway. There were two main singers who were definitely singing. It was obvious that the back up dancers and singers weren’t really singing. Call me over-analytical, but I found this to be a bit hokey. Nevertheless, they were still entertaining. FYI – The Welcome Aboard Show was replayed 14 million times in the staterooms. If you miss it, believe me, you’ll get plenty of opportunities to catch it again on the TV. Also, you might want to check out Todd’s Early Morning Show. Amusing.

 

Christopher Alan Graves put on an excellent show, a tribute to Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Junior. Definitely worth seeing. Jerry Goodspeed, the ventriloquist, was fantastic. Frank Dep Pizzo, the “comedian” not so much. Glen Miller was there as a Master Hypnotist.

 

Staterooms – We had an oceanview on deck 2. We had requested two twins but when we arrived they were still in queen formation. We mentioned this to our room steward and promptly took care of it. We found the beds to be extremely comfortable as did a few of our tablemates. We had towel animals every night. We took our animals and placed them at the top of the “couch” and at the end of the week had every one of them lined up. That was fun. Our room steward was very attentive.

 

Lido deck –

Three pools and 5 jacuzzis. Here’s what I didn’t understand – they closed all of the pools and 3 Jacuzzis at the middle of the ship for the evening around 10:00pm, and yet they had shows playing on the huge screen of the two at the aft, near the burger grill and pizza place…because that’s relaxing! I have to say that I thought the Lido deck was poorly designed. There wasn’t much room for much of the activities that had. It was very chopped up.

 

Deck chairs – If you can’t beat them, join them! Yes, I learned after the first few days of not having a deck chair, the trick is to get up early and save your deck chair…just like everyone else.

 

I heard several complaints regarding the amount of cigarette smoke coming out of the casino on Deck 5. Unfortunately, there really is no way around walking past the casino to get to the rest of the rooms on that floor. They need to work on better ventilation. The area REEKED of smoke.

 

Venetian Palace – Not one of the better designed theaters. Large poles spread throughout the room left many areas pointless to sit in. Also, the second level of the theater had handrails throughout, sometimes blocking views of the stage. The theater on the Star Princess is without poles and rows are elevated. By far a better theater than the Venetian Palace. However, the VP is beautifully decorated.

 

The ships speed tops out at 23 knots and sailed beautifully. I found it to handle the seas very well. The weather was a consistent 79/80 degrees, with only a few days of overcast ugly clouds. For the most part, the seas were calm and the sun was out. I was quite pleased with the weather.

 

Disembarkation – Considering that 3100 people want off of the ship when the trip is over, we made excellent time. They have self assist for about an hour which means you can disembark first if you choose to handle ALL of your luggage yourself. Then they start the color thing. Being on Deck 2, we were one of the last groups off of the ship. We were off by 9:30! That’s got to be a record! Unfortunately, due to the lack of port organization, we couldn’t catch a cab until almost 11:00. It was ridiculous. If you want a cab, you should call ahead of time. We were told by our cab driver that they don’t like to go into the port because it’s not worth the hassle for them. You should keep that in mind if you are expecting to take a cab to wherever your destination is.

 

Overall, not a completely horrible experience. However, I think I’ll stick with Princess and Royal Caribbean. I heard over and over again throughout the week VERY good things about Holland America. I hope to experience them some day as well. It’s just fascinating to me that Carnival, Holland America and Princess are part of the same family, and yet you’d never be able to tell! When one of the Carnival employees highly recommended Royal Caribbean and Holland America, that was definitely a sign to me.

 

This was my experience sailing on the Carnival Liberty in January 2007. If you have any questions, let me know. Happy Sailing!

 

If you would like information on the ports, I’d be happy to share with you what I did. I will tell you this much, Costa Maya was still just as pointless as it was for me the last time I was there!

[Moondawgie]

Thanks for your very detailed and honest review. You are very observant.

[stlrboo]

I may understand why you were 'unhappy' with the Liberty, but you lost me when you mentioned that Costa Maya (one of my fav's), was 'pointless'.. HUH?:rolleyes:

 

I'll bet I'll LOVE the Liberty.. Just like all my other Carnival cruises..:) It is 'what you make of it'!:D

[nybumpkin]

Many thanks for your very detailed review. We're sailing this same itinerary 2 weeks from Saturday.

[cruisin'gal]

Wow, a bit critical. I toke my first CCL cruise 1/6/07 and had a lovely time, total # of cruises to date is 16. Had an 8c balcony, service -good, food-good to excellant, did not have any problems with the buffet line, but the beverage stations on more than one occaision did not have cups, lots of activities and the best BINGO play deals I have had on any ship, loved the art seminars and fun at the auctions, agree about the shows, not worth seeing, but than it really isn't my thing. Not a smoker myself, but did not think the casino was that bad, slots are very tight though. I am thinking of going again on the same ship and itinarary. Also, crew upbeat and willing to help. I was a bit skeptical on takling a CCL cruise because of opinions I have heard, glad I did go, I enjoyed myself as did the other 11 family members that cruised with me and will return to CCL again. Next cruise though is booked for RCL FOS, flying to Antigua in August for 2 weeks. Laura

[breenw]

Wow - your review was soooo different from mine for the same sailing. Guess that shows how different people see the same thing differently.

 

For those of you sailing soon, the Venetian Palace has only 2 poles, not numerous as mentioned by this poster. The seats are very comfortable and there is actually room to walk between each row of seating.

 

I thought the food was very good in the dining room for dinner. Some of the desserts that were offered throughout the week were: Tirimasu, various cheesecakes, apple pie, apple dumpling, chocolate cake, almond cake, baked alaska, key lime pie, custard, warm souffles, plus assorted ice creams and sherbets. These are all that I can remember but I would hardly say that there was "nothing to choose from".

 

I agree that chair hogs were out in force, but I am sorry to see that you felt the need to join that particular segment of the cruisers.

 

I don't know the actual reason, but maybe they close the pools in the evenings so people can hear the movies and concerts being shown on the big screen and not have to listen to a bunch of people splashing in the pool. I know that we thoroughly enjoyed watching the NFL playoffs last Sunday evening and watching the Colts win without that particular interruption.

 

Glad to see they moved you to a larger table for dinner. It is always nice to meet good tablemates and share your experiences with shore excursions and such. We had a fabulous wait staff that interacted very much with their tables. They were a blast. We were expecting very mediocre food on this ship due to a few reviews we had read, and we ended up thinking the food was very good. We didn't have any meals that we thought were bad or any meat that wasn't tender. Maybe we just had different items to eat than you did.

 

I see people sometimes complain about the breakfast buffet and I have to say I don't understand this. After all, how many choices for breakfast do you need?????? Every day there are scrambled eggs, (not including the omelet stations where you get made-to-order omelets and can order eggs from the shell cooked however you want them), ham, bacon, sausage, pancackes, french toast, waffles, oatmeal, grits, hot cereal, several cold cereals, bagels, toast, english muffins, various donuts and breakfast rolls, breads, yogurt, cheeses, several selections of fresh fruit, cream cheese and loxs, fried potatoes, juice, coffee, milk, tea. I know there was other stuff but this is what I saw. I can't understand what else they could offer that isn't listed above.

 

The 2 dance shows in the theatre we have seen on other ships, but the lead singers on the Liberty were the best I've seen on any cruise ship. As far as "lip syncing" by the dancers, I can't say that I blame them. Could you do a 45 minute show, dance around the stage constantly, and belt out a song without becoming breathless??? I thought they did a very good job as those shows go.

 

We did self assist disembarkation. We walked right off the ship, had little wait to go through customs, and walked right up to a taxi to take us to the airport. From the time we walked off the ship to the time we got to the airport was probably no more than 20 - 25 minutes total.

 

For those of you who will be sailing the Liberty - you will love it. Just like you would love any other ship by any other cruise line. I have sailed RCCL, Princess and Carnival and have had good and not so good experiences with all of these lines. Your cruise experience is what you make of it. Did we encounter chair hogs - yes. Did we encounter rude and not so bright passengers - yes. Did we think every activity on board suited us - no. That is what is so great about a cruise - you can pick what you want to do according to your personality and likes and dislikes.

[FastFreddie]

jrtmouse,

 

Thank you for your review. As always there will be differing points of view on a cruise. I pretty much had the same opinion of the Dining room on our Triumph cruise as you did on your Liberty cruise. I was just curious did you eat the fish & chips? If so what was your opinion?

 

Even though I was slightly dissappointed in the Dining room, I felt that Carnival was really a great value and that there were other eating options that were quite satisfactory. But as I said we all have different points of view and things that satisfy ourselves. I am looking forward to our Liberty cruise, and will keep in mind to get off early in order to catch a cab.

 

 

Thanks again

 

FF

[star10]

Thanks for your review.

 

We sail her in 2 weeks!! I can't wait!

[jrtmouse]

Stlrboo – I did say that for me Costa Maya was pointless. I understand that they excel in water activities. If you’re into that then this would be the port for you. No worries. I’m glad you enjoy it! :-) You are correct, it is what you make of it…

 

…which is why I participated in many of the activities and had a wonderful time, thoroughly enjoyed myself. I participated in Survivor. I sang at karaoke. I played a few rounds of BINGO. I played several games of trivia. I participated in Scattegories. Heck, I won three “24 karat gold covered plastic ship on a sticks” and a Fun Ship medallion last week! I even participated in one of the art auctions and made a purchase. I certainly did my best to make well of my vacation but you can’t go back to the galley and help the cook out or rearrange the buffet so that it makes better sense. :-p

 

Fast Freddie – I did try the fish & chips and they were good. They actually made their potato chips!

 

I’ll admit I’ve been completely spoiled after sailing Princess. They did a great disservice to me because they definitely set the bar high. COMPARATIVELY SPEAKING, this was my review of the Carnival Liberty. As I mentioned before, this wasn’t a horrible experience. People, it’s not like I said I hated my experience and I’ll never cruise again! Sheesh! Any day on a cruise ship is better than any day at home! I love love love to cruise and will continue to do so.

 

For those of you getting ready to go on the Carnival Liberty, I’m sure you’ll have a blast! I’m excited that you’re excited! Like I said, the ship is beautiful! The cruise director and staff were fantastic! It’s just unfortunate that the food and organization wasn’t as good as I had expected, IN MY OPINION. Well, not solely my opinion as I heard unpleasant comments ALL WEEK LONG regarding some of these things. Let’s face it, I’d venture to say that many people consider eating to be one of the major activities while cruising. I would like to see Carnival step it up a little bit and be a little bit more attentive to the organization of the buffets, making sure the drink stations are ready to roll, and food stations are open and ready when time to serve. I don’t think that’s a ridiculous request. I did enjoy the variety of food available. That was nice. And yes, there were several options for dessert to choose from, but were they worth eating? According to the five couples at my table, more often, not, and THEY were all previous Carnival passengers! BUT if you’re into chocolate, definitely go to Jardins on Deck 5 and get yourself a piece of that chocolate cake!!!

 

As far as being “critical”, what is the point of these boards if everyone said that every ship and everything on it was great and fine and dandy? These boards would be pointless! I thought I was complimentary as well, thank you very much! :-)

 

It’s obvious that people cruise for different reasons and have different expectations. I enjoy good food and like to eat. I enjoy a good broadway show. I’m very into the technical aspects of shows so I just happen to notice things like the cast doing Riverdance: I can hear the tap tap tapping and yet there aren’t any tap shoes to be found on that stage. Or the fact that the music we are hearing is prerecorded and the live drummer is simply supplementing the sound. Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily for most, but when I’ve seen that it all can be done live, I tend to be a little more “critical”.

 

I think self-assist disembarkation is genius! Had circumstances been different, I would have totally taken advantage of it. Unfortunately, we were unable to, but as I said, I was impressed we were off by 9:30 as it was! Job well done Carnival!

 

Everyone, enjoy your cruising experiences!

[Lib0007]

jrtmouse, thank you for your very detailed review. I'll be sailing on the Liberty 3/31 and look forward to it very much.

 

Even though things weren't "perfect" for you, I'm glads to hear that you made the best of it and had a wonderful cruise! I'm anxious now to try the chocolate cake that you mentioned!

[dcruisers]

I agree with some of the other positive comments given. We were on the 1/14/07 sailing (11 other cruises-2nd on Carnival) and loved it. Food was good to excellent, staff friendly and helpful and the shows were better than any other cruises we sailed. As with any cruise line, there are minor things that I prefer on other cruise lines and vice versa. However, Carnival Liberty is a wonderful ship, crew and deal! I would sail Carnival again.

[Patdmoose]

jrtmouse

thank you for your review. Every opinion is important, and should not be critcized just because you do not agree.

 

My thoughts on this same cruise as well as breenw's are on two separate threads now on the Carnival board. I have never sailed another line besides Carnival, and if I keep having great cruises like this one on the Liberty, I probably will not try another. There were 18 of us in our group, and the cruise could not have been better. I did take some shots at Todd Whitmer in my review, but a CD is so unimportant to me that it had no effect on the enjoyment of the cruise.

[Kurbanfan]

Thanks for your review. I have to agree with you that the casino really reeked with smoke. We have been on 8 other carnival ships and the LIberty was the worst smelling casino. Not sure why.

Hope you find Holland America to your liking. We want to try them for their itenerary, but kinda hear that it's for the older crowd. Not sure if we would fit in LOL!

Good luck!

[Cruising89143]

I found your review very honest and interesting to read. You pointed out both the good and bad and there is nothing wrong with being objective. It was your experience. Thanks for sharing.

[Cruising89143]

Double post once again!!!!!!

[corkpopr]

we are on the liberty in may. hpoe the dining room is ok, if not we will eat in the alternative dining room for the cruise. casino is primary evening attraction and we hear it is great! don't care who the cruise director is or the stops we just want the 4 sea days. don't try and save a chair if no one is there, it's mine.

[zaandam_2]

thanks for your review, which was glowing comapred to mine ;)

[MaritimeCruisers]

I agree with you on the drink and coffee stations being down. Twice during the week at breakfast all coffee machines were down. We advised some staff, and they took care of it immediately and brought us fresh coffee to our table in the dining room.

 

By the way were you on the Vicious Cruisers or East Coasters in Survivor?

[cruisinbuddy]

Wow' date=' a bit critical. I toke my first CCL cruise 1/6/07 and had a lovely time, total # of cruises to date is 16. Had an 8c balcony, service -good, food-good to excellant, did not have any problems with the buffet line, but the beverage stations on more than one occaision did not have cups, lots of activities and the best BINGO play deals I have had on any ship, loved the art seminars and fun at the auctions, agree about the shows, not worth seeing, but than it really isn't my thing. Not a smoker myself, but did not think the casino was that bad, slots are very tight though. I am thinking of going again on the same ship and itinarary. Also, crew upbeat and willing to help. I was a bit skeptical on takling a CCL cruise because of opinions I have heard, glad I did go, I enjoyed myself as did the other 11 family members that cruised with me and will return to CCL again. Next cruise though is booked for RCL FOS, flying to Antigua in August for 2 weeks. Laura[/quote']

 

I was on the same cruise and completly agree with cruisin'gal, we met at the M&G. We had the same cat. cabin too. On the slots, DW pulled for $90.00 and we quickly cashed out. Then went and spent it in the gift shop. Hey we never win. We went to one show and it was,,,,,,ok.

[jrtmouse]

MaritimeCruisers - I was on the Vicious Cruisers team in Survivor.

[micki69]

I've been on the Liberty twice. Ship/Beautiful-Food/I'm not cooking it and was excellent both trips!! Fish and Chips the Best!! Costa Maya? Go to the Fishing Village $2 per person taxi ride. Cats Meow great place, great food, great beer, great Maguritas, great massage get it on the beach forget the ship. $20-45min. Water was clear and no big waves to knock you on your butt. Had a wonderful time. Both on 8 day to Panama and 6 day to Western Carribean. Take this ship you can't go wrong. Service is excellent not outstanding but good. :) Have a fun time your on vacation!!