8/2 - 8/9 Carnival Liberty Western Review (LONG)

[jkeivel11]

Hello All!

We just got home from our 8/2 - 8/9 Liberty cruise to the Western Carribbean to Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Ocho Rios, Jamiaca. It was absolutely wonderful, and I wish I were back right now!!! This cruise was just DH and I and it was our first (I had been when I was 10, but hardly remembered much of it), and we were celebrating our 5 year anniversary. I'll try my best to be as detailed as possible without making this too long. So for the basics.

 

Our trip was booked from 8/1 - 8/10. We stayed in Miami the night before at the InterContinental Hotel and the night after at the Courtyard Marriot Miami Beach Oceanfront. Our flight came into FLL at 3:15pm or so. We found our luggage and the GO! Airport Shuttle and booked a private sedan for our drive to Miami for $70 plus tip. We figured it being Friday afternoon and people getting off work, it was better to have a car that had a standard fare instead of a timed fare like a taxi. Good thing since we ended up sitting in traffic a little bit. Our driver was really nice and drove us past the Bayside Marketplace to show us how far it was from the hotel and said that would be a good place for dinner. We arrived at the hotel about 4:30pm and checked into our room. We had booked the hotel through Easy Click Travel for $165.00 with tax. Our room was on the 22nd floor and overlooked the pool. It was huuuuge and beautiful. I would definitely recommend staying here if you ever get the chance.

 

We had purchased Rumrunner flasks and had done some research before we left. There is a liquor store within walking distance about 4 blocks away. So, we walked there and bought a 1L bottle of Captain Morgan and 750ml of Strawberry Vodka (to mix with lemonade and have strawberry lemonade, yum!). We filled two large flasks and one little flask. We packed them in ziploc bags and spaced them in the bags were we checking with Carnival. We walked to dinner at Bayside Marketplace and ate at Bubba Gumps. DH had two drinks and I each had a drink (be careful, they will put them in souvenier cups and charge you). Dinner was about $80 with tip (which they so conveniently add for you).

 

Saturday, 8/2 - We slept in and went to breakfast at the hotel. We took a cab to the port and arrived about 11:55am. Our porter was great and accepted $5-6 for our three checked bags graciously. We walked onto the ship at 12:25pm, so it took about 30min to get checked in and everything. We immediately made reservations for Harry's. They said formal nights were Sunday and Thursday. When we looked at the schedule, we were maybe the 5th name to be scheduled. We chose Tuesday at 7:30pm.

 

We then went to the lido for lunch and a couple of DOD's and mosied around until we could get to our room. We were able to get in our room at 1:30pm. We had cabin #6261, an inside cabin, slightly forward. We were right around the corner from the elevators and stairs. We were checking the place out when we heard a knock at the door and our luggage was being delivered...and it was 1:40pm. Our Rumrunners made it without any problems.

 

Because of the wonderful advice received from these boards, we had taken our own drink mugs and lanyard for our S&S cards. We were in the elevator the first afternoon and received the best compliment a newby could receive, “You guys must be seasoned cruisers because you have your own mugs and lanyards for your cards. That’s a great idea.” So, thank you to everyone on the boards.

 

We were seated at the late dinner seating at 8:15pm at a table for four. We sat with another couple from California and we became wonderful friends. We miss them already. Our wait staff was out of this world and they became almost family to us. All of the food was extremely good, and we couldn’t wait to see what they had each night. Although, I didn’t think the chocolate melting cake lived up to the standard it has here on the boards. I had a bite of DH’s the first night and didn’t like it at all, but I realize that this is all a matter of taste. Usually, we each had 1 or 2 appetizers and/or entrees each night with no problems. Our waiter began asking each night, “nothing else” or “anymore you want to share”.

 

With the help from all of these boards, we booked our excursions independently. I had thoroughly thought about companies and ship time vs local time, but it didn't quite pan out. I thought that we would remain on Miami time through the entire cruise, but we actually set our clocks back on Sunday before bed and set them back forward on Thursday before bed. So, all of our excursions were an hour earlier than I had planned them to be, but it still worked out.

 

Cozumel - We did the Dolphin Trainer program at Dolphinaris. We booked it directly with the facility and it was $179/pp and lasted 3.5 hours. It included 70min of dolphin time, lunch, 3 drinks, 2 pictures each, a t-shirt each, a tour of the facility, a training session with the dolphins and one on one time with a trainer to ask them questions. It was worth every penny and more. We booked the first session for 8:30am. We needed to arrive 30min early for a briefing. Since I thought ship time/port time would be different, when we arrived in Cozumel at 7:50am, we were one of the first off the ship and took a quick $6 cab ride to the facility.

 

Once we were at the facility, we were the only two in the group so it was just us with 4 different dolphins. It was amazing!! We first walked around the facility, and went up to one of their conference rooms and looked at how the measure the dolphins activity and feeding. We then sat with one of the trainers for about an hour talking and learning about how they train them and dolphins in general. We then went to one dolphin and doing some training with him. We also learned the hand signals for the tricks and had the cooler to give them their fishy treats (which was kinda gross). Then, we got in the tank with them and swam and did tricks with them. It was by far one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. We had our own paparazzi (film and video crew). Since DH and I were the only ones in the DVD, we opted to buy it with some pictures.

 

After the dolphins, we walked back to the shopping area and walked around some. We then took a cab to Paradise Beach and hung out there for a few hours before going back to the ship. We made sure to bring a small ziploc baggie b/c we collect sand from all of our beach trips. Cozumel was beautiful and would love to go back.

 

Tuesday, 8/5 – We ate at Harry’s Supper Club and could barely make it back to our rooms afterward. The food was soooo good and it was well worth the money. I had the lobster bisque, surf & turf (filet and lobster), grilled veggies, and DH and I split a dessert…that’s how full we were.

 

Wednesday, 8/6 – We booked the Discover Scuba excursion through Shoretrips. DH and I have discussed getting into diving for awhile, but we have never done it. We highly recommend this excursion for anyone even thinking of diving. You will be amazed! We got in port at 7:30am and our excursion started at 8:30am local time. So, we opted for room service breakfast and went down to the lounge to begin the process for tendering. We knew that since our excursion wasn’t booked through the cruise that we were considered passengers just wanting to tender out. Luckily, we made it on the first tender and walked to a few shops before walking to the dive shop to begin our excursion.

 

Rob was our guide and once again, it was just DH and I. We couldn’t be more pleased. After a brief introduction to scuba diving, we got sized for our gear and headed outside. We walked into the water from the shore and began basic breathing from the surface. After we were acclimated to breathing under water (it’s harder than you think), we began our descent and saw the most amazing fish right away. We were diving the Cali shipwreck in the harbor, so we saw the boat scattered across the bottom of the sea floor. At one point, there were these yellow and black fish (about 4-5 inches long) all around me and I was swimming in the middle of them. We made it around the shipwreck and saw this huge reef. We saw almost a 2 foot long lobster, a barracuda, and some of the most beautiful fish I’ve ever seen. We were swimming around for about 50 minutes under the water. As we made it back to the shore, one of the Carnival Snuba excursions was entering the water. Once we got all of our gear off, we stood outside and talked to Rob for about 20-30 minutes about diving. He was most informative and super super nice.

 

After our diving trip, we decided to go to Senor Frogs for lunch. It was by far the most expensive lunch we’ve ever bought. I had a cheeseburger and DH had fajitas and we both had one drink. Since the menu was in Cayman dollars, we knew it would be a little more than the already expensive prices listed. Since they automatically add gratuity, our lunch was almost $60 US. It started raining while we were eating lunch, so we waited it out. After the rain stopped, we took a taxi to Seven Mile Beach…I think it was maybe $4/pp. There was no cost to get into the beach, but it was $5 for beach chairs and $10 for an umbrella, which we rented. By now the sun had come back out, but you could see a black cloud in the distance. We swam and enjoyed the beach. I absolutely loved this beach. The sand was soft and white, the water was crystal clear, and the scenery was some of the most beautiful I’ve seen. After a couple of hours, the black cloud caught up to us and it rained for a few minutes, but stopped soon after. It was about 2:15pm and the last tender was at 3:45pm, so we decided to head back to the ship. I grabbed my baggie full of sand, and we were the last two people to fit into a van back to the port so I went to sit in the front seat; however instinctively, I walked all the way around the van and climbed into the driver’s seat (since they drove on the other side of the car). Everyone laughed and we made our way back. The line was long to get a tender, but we were really thirsty. So, I walked to a store and got a smoothie. I was gone 5-7 minutes and by the time I got back to my husband, he was near the front of the line. We made it back on board where I immediately went to the cabin to take a nap.

 

Thursday, 8/7 – Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We had booked the Dunn’s River Falls/White River Tubing through Shoretrips again. Our excursion was at 9am, but we made it down to the pier at 8:30am and asked for our specific person. We found her immediately and they put us on a bus with another couple that had booked through Shoretrips as well. It was just the four of us and we had a personal driver, Mr. Nelson, the whole time. He took us to Dunn’s River giving us information on Jamaica on the way. He told us it would take about 2 hours to get through the falls and that he would pick us back up at 10:40am. We rented a locker to share with the other couple and began our trip. We had purchased a waterproof camera for this trip, but if you can be careful, I would take a better camera b/c NONE of our pictures turned out. So, as a result, we have no pictures of Dunn’s River at all. We opted to not have a guide and we climbed the falls with just us four. It was so much fun and we didn’t have to hold on to everyone else that was climbing. We took our time finished in about an hour and a half. By the time we got back to our locker and walked through the vendors, it was time to meet Mr. Nelson back at the van.

 

He then took us up the mountain to the White River Tubing portion of the trip. As we were slathering on more sunscreen, we saw how some locals lived. It was very sad. We were told to get our tubes and leave our personal belongings and anything you didn’t want to get wet in the van. We felt a little uneasy about doing this, but shoved our credit cards and cash into a waterproof case that hung around DH’s neck. Everything else got left, our clothes, our camera, everything. We were a little nervous, but didn’t want to be rude so we trusted them (and everything was just fine, exactly as we left it). We grabbed our tubes and got our guide, a 16 year old young boy. He had us hold on to each other’s tubes and he took us down the river. The water was so extremely clear and slightly chilly. Parts of it were faster and fun where you got wet and others were very calm and relaxing. As we were floating down the river, we saw one Jamaican family washing their clothes on the side of the river. A little further down, we saw another family bathing.

 

Halfway through, we got off our tubes and walked up the bank where there was a vender set up. They had also taken some pictures of us floating down the river. They took about 6-8 pictures and said that they would sell them for $1 each or all of them for $5. We both bought the pictures and I purchased a shell bracelet (I get compliments every time I wear it) and shot glass from the vendor. Before we got out of the water, there was another group that was jumping about 15 feet from a small cliff into the water that was about 11 feet deep. My husband made the comment that you would never catch him doing something that stupid. Well, before getting back in our rafts, they walked us over to the cliff and had us jump off. DH and I were chickening out, but they made a joke that it was a one way street. DH actually jumped off, even after making the comment that he would never do that. I, on the other hand, chickened out. Now, I’ve jumped off bridges higher than that into lakes before, but I didn’t do it solely because the water was colder than I would’ve liked. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. :D

 

We climbed back in our rafts and made our way down the river to the end. We met Mr. Nelson back at the van (and checked to make sure our things were still as we left them) and asked him to take us for some jerk. He took us to a local jerk stand where we had some of the best food on the trip. We got 1/2lb of jerk chicken and 1/2lb of jerk pork and some festivals (which are these amazing dough-y like foods, two words: yum-my!). It was $21 and I bought a Red Stripe for DH and a Yardy Shandy for myself at the bar for $6. After Mr. Nelson picked us back up, we had him drop us off to do some shopping where we would walk back to the ship. For those of you who don’t know this yet, there is a Harley Davidson store in Ocho Rios now. They said they’ve been there about a year now. After buying some HD gear, Blue Mountain coffee, Jamaican spices, and liquor, we snuck over to the beach area (they were charging to get in) to get my baggie of sand and headed back to the ship.

 

And after seeing how many locals live, I could see why they try really hard to sell you things. However, I never felt pressured or threatened or uneasy when shopping. I thought every person we encountered was extremely nice and the locals in Jamaica were the nicest we met in any port.

 

Friday, 8/8 – We decided to “book” a cruise while on board, kinda. You could either book a specific cruise, pay $250 deposit/pp and get $100 onboard credit for that cruise OR pay $100 deposit and get $100 onboard credit for that cruise. The OBC depended on the length of cruise you planned on booking. The $100 deposit goes towards your booking fare and it could be booked through Carnival, personally, or through a TA.

 

After spending the last day on the ship, we didn’t begin packing until after the show. It took us a couple of hours and we were worried how we were going to get everything back home. We opted for the self-debarkation. Mainly because he hadn’t packed anything when our bags needed to be outside at 10:30pm :D We woke up about 6:45am or so and finished getting our things together and went to eat at the buffet. We debarked the ship at about 8:00am or so and made it through customs and had a cab by 8:30am. Now this is where the excitement begins…

 

Saturday, 8/9 - We had a hotel for Saturday night at the Courtyard Marriot on Miami beach. When we got our taxi, we ended up with a minivan. When we got to the hotel at 9am, the valets unloaded the van while we squared up with the driver. We checked in early and had our luggage taken to our room. After 2 hours of phone calls to our families, we decided to go to the beach to hang out for the rest of the day. I went to get in our small carry-on suitcase and couldn’t find it. This was the bag we were going to take on the plane that had all of my makeup, jewelry, important documents, etc. In our haste, we realized that this bag had fallen into the backseat of the van and got left in the taxi. We rushed to the lobby and spoke with the hotel manager who immediately went to the valet guys (not their fault as they did not know it fell back there and they asked us if 3 bags were correct, which we said yes when we actually had 4). We didn’t know the cab company, taxi number, make/model of the van (which we normally check since we’re car people), all we knew was that his name was Jean. That’s it. We knew that we would probably never see our bag again. It also happened to be the one piece of luggage that wasn’t locked because the zipper broke when we were packing.

 

After calling everywhere I could think of (the Port of Miami and almost every taxi company in the phone book), it seemed hopeless. The hotel manager also began making calls to help out. We sat in our room for about 90 minutes sulking and feeling sick to our stomachs. We then decided to go get lunch and just wait it out and be optimistic. We ate at a Cuban restaurant that was within walking distance and it was very good. We made it back to the hotel and went to the manager to see if he had any news, nothing. He said that everywhere he called, they were just rude to him. We went back to our room almost in tears and exhausted, so we took a nap. DH’s cell phone rang waking us up. I looked at the number and it said FL. I threw him the phone and he answered it half asleep. IT WAS THE CAB DRIVER!! He just noticed he had the suitcase and called the cell phone number on the luggage tag. We had also put an index card inside each suitcase with our name, address, home number, and cell phone numbers in case we lost any luggage tags. After hours of fretting and worrying, we were getting our suitcase back. We realized that we were extremely lucky as cab drivers and people in Miami or other big cities are not always so honest. He said that he would wait for a fare closer to our hotel and call us when he got here. He kept in contact with us the rest of the afternoon and at about 6:45pm, we had our luggage back! We tipped him $30 for bringing it back to us, and as we got it back, the valet guy was walking by and said, “You guys are extremely lucky b/c there’s not that much honesty in Miami.”

 

We called GO! Airport Shuttle to pick us up at 6:15am to get to FLL. They were there right on time and we made it to the airport in plenty of time. Good thing we went a little early b/c the ticket counter was busy busy busy. Luckily, our luggage didn’t get weighed because they were so busy b/c I think we would’ve been over. :D

We made it home all in one piece with all of our luggage. It’s interesting to compare the beach sand from each port with each other. They’re all very different. Anyways, we had an absolute wonderful time on this cruise and we can’t wait to go again. We learned a lot on this trip, and we’ll be even more seasoned and ready the next time we go! Sorry if this review is really long, but I just had so much information to share!

 

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask here or email me:

 

jkeivel11@yahoo.com

[valancy1]

Hello All!

 

We just got home from our 8/2 - 8/9 Liberty cruise to the Western Carribbean to Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Ocho Rios, Jamiaca. It was absolutely wonderful, and I wish I were back right now!!! This cruise was just DH and I and it was our first (I had been when I was 10, but hardly remembered much of it), and we were celebrating our 5 year anniversary. I'll try my best to be as detailed as possible without making this too long. So for the basics.

 

Jen,

 

Thanks for this review! This is the exact cruise we're taking ONE MONTH FROM TODAY! WOO HOO! So I appreciate it greatly.

 

LOVE the idea of getting sand from each port. I'll label some zipper bags to remind me of which one is which. I'll figure out a way to put them in my scrapbook.

 

Thanks for the info on the ports; I'm anxious to do more in Grand Cayman than Stingray City (which is what we've booked).

 

Questions:

 

1. I have been on these boards a couple months but don't recall anything about Rumrunners; would you oblige me with some info?

 

2. Did you like your inside cabin and would you book inside again?

 

3. What were your sea days like? What did you do while at sea?

 

4. Do you have any pictures to share?

 

Thank you so much for the idea of putting contact information in your bags--I guess you just never know, right? I can only imagine your relief getting your bag back. Although hard to find, there ARE honest cabbies out there--once Yo Yo Mah put his cello (worth over a million dollars) in the trunk of a cab and left the cab without getting the cello. He got it back. :)

 

If you think of anything else, please post it. I would love to read about it. Appreciate the time you took in writing that whole thing!

[cjkumbaya]

Great review - thanks so much for sharing. Glad you had a great cruise and that things turned our so well with your luggage.

[Handsome58]

We are on the same ship...same ports this coming Saturday!!!!!

[TakeMeAway1001]

Great review! After reading about your dolphin experience you have me seriously thinking about it. We are big fans of Paradise Beach and really wanted to spend a full day there but might have to rethink that.:cool:

How much time were you able to spend at PB?

We tried booking dolphin excursions at both Freeport and Roatan and found out that we have to go through the ship which we do not want to do. Thanks again for the review :)

[reno3]

Thanks for the great review.

I have a loooong wait for my Liberty cruise:(

[rebeljohn]

Enjoyed your review..........very detailed........Thanks for taking the time to post it..........

[jkeivel11]

Jen,

 

Thanks for this review! This is the exact cruise we're taking ONE MONTH FROM TODAY! WOO HOO! So I appreciate it greatly.

 

LOVE the idea of getting sand from each port. I'll label some zipper bags to remind me of which one is which. I'll figure out a way to put them in my scrapbook.

 

Thanks for the info on the ports; I'm anxious to do more in Grand Cayman than Stingray City (which is what we've booked).

 

Questions:

 

1. I have been on these boards a couple months but don't recall anything about Rumrunners; would you oblige me with some info?

 

2. Did you like your inside cabin and would you book inside again?

 

3. What were your sea days like? What did you do while at sea?

 

4. Do you have any pictures to share?

 

Thank you so much for the idea of putting contact information in your bags--I guess you just never know, right? I can only imagine your relief getting your bag back. Although hard to find, there ARE honest cabbies out there--once Yo Yo Mah put his cello (worth over a million dollars) in the trunk of a cab and left the cab without getting the cello. He got it back. :)

 

If you think of anything else, please post it. I would love to read about it. Appreciate the time you took in writing that whole thing!

 

Thank you. In answer to your questions:

 

1. Rumrunner flasks are plastic containers that allow you to "sneak" alcohol on. They also work great for other occasions as well. http://www.rumrunnerflasks.com/

 

2. Our inside cabin wasn't bad, and we would probably book it again if we were wanting to be frugal. But we ended up spending more time in our room than we thought. There were times that DH didn't feel well, so I'd go back to the room with him, or vice versa. We vowed that we would book a balcony next time, so if the other wanted to take a nap, we could just sit on the balcony and not feel guilty for being in our room.

 

3. The first day at sea, DH got a sun burn, so we tried to stay out of the sun the rest of the trip. Most sea days, we would wake up and eat, walk around and see some of the ship. Go out on the Lido and people watch, go eat, play bingo, go eat. Mainly, we would look at the capers, see if there was something that interested us and go if we really wanted to go, or if we were in the area.

 

4. Do I have pictures?? I'm a photog nut. I have several hundred pictures. However, my point and shoot camera began taking a crap on the trip (I wanted to buy a new one before we left, but didn't get the chance). I had my dSLR, but everytime I wanted to take pictures outside, the lens, body, and everything else would fog up b/c it was so cold inside the cabin/ship. It would take about an hour to have everything unfog. I'll see about adding my pictures online!

[valancy1]

4. Do I have pictures?? I'm a photog nut. I have several hundred pictures. However, my point and shoot camera began taking a crap on the trip (I wanted to buy a new one before we left, but didn't get the chance). I had my dSLR, but everytime I wanted to take pictures outside, the lens, body, and everything else would fog up b/c it was so cold inside the cabin/ship. It would take about an hour to have everything unfog. I'll see about adding my pictures online!

 

Oh Jen... I'm a photography nut, too. Thanks for the head's up on the fogging up thing. Makes sense--we had that once when going to botanical gardens and a butterfly garden--took forever for the gear to "equalize". I'll keep that in mind!

 

Let us know when you've posted them.

[jkeivel11]

Great review! After reading about your dolphin experience you have me seriously thinking about it. We are big fans of Paradise Beach and really wanted to spend a full day there but might have to rethink that.:cool:

How much time were you able to spend at PB?

We tried booking dolphin excursions at both Freeport and Roatan and found out that we have to go through the ship which we do not want to do. Thanks again for the review :)

 

We were in port in Cozumel from 8:00am to 10:00pm, so we had all day. We finished the dolphins by 12/12:30pm. and went walking around the shops for about 20-30min. So we were at Paradise Beach by 1:30pm or so. We stayed until 4:30/5pm.

 

If you book the dolphins, do the early session and you'll be done in plenty of time to spend the afternoon and evening at Paradise Beach. You'll have to be one of the first groups off the ship, but most people will want to sleep in knowing they have the full day in port anyways. I'll try to post the dvd online.

 

Good Luck.

[vicciW]

Jen -

 

I was on the cruise at the same time - We had an "aft" room corner on Verandah Deck 8 - It was fabulous - wrap around balcony and loads of storage. We loved Cozumel, went on the Segway Tour and Snorkel/Swim - I would have went on this tour on every island! The shows were terrific

and the midnight buffet ! Wow - I took loads of pictures and as soon as I upload them I would be glad to share. Grand Cayman - the jewelry prices are great, I bought a 1.5Ct blue topaz/diamond ring and an aquamarine necklace. Also bought a few things on the ship in their jewelry store.

The Libery with it's big entertainment areas and dining rooms is awsome.

The staff was gracious - props to my Steward Hery and Pravit in the Golden Olympian 1st seating and Vladimar. Karl with a K is a hoot, even won two trophys during the week.

 

Vicci

[TakeMeAway1001]

Jen thanks so much for the tips :)

[buckeyegurl]

Thank you so much for sharing your experience.

 

We will be on the same ship/itinerary at the end of this month. I am even more excited after reading your review. I was not going to plan anything for Ocho Rios, but think I will check into the shoretrips excursion. Sounds like you all had a blast!

 

Thanks again,

Teri

[valancy1]

Ok, I have questions again:

 

1. How long was muster?

2. Did you like the cruise director? Who was it?

3. Did they wait for sailaway until after muster drill?

4. I had heard reports of the Piano Bar being a real yawner. What was it like when you were on the ship?

 

 

Thanks!

[jkeivel11]

I just got our dolphin video loaded on youtube.com. I'm still working on the pictures though.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUbGHJeXTd4

 

Enjoy!

[Kurbanfan]

Great review!!!

Thanks also for telling the story about your luggage. The same thing happened to us in Miami. A person in our group noticed a piece of his luggage was missing after the taxi already pulled away. This piece of luggage was actually sitting in the passengers seat, so the driver had to see it.:rolleyes: We had 3 taxis and in the mist of confusion and paying we didn't check to make sure we had everything. We did the same as you calling everywhere. Never got it back. So yes I agree with the valet guy. You were extremely lucky!!! I'm sure this type of thing happens more then we know:cool:

[jkeivel11]

Ok, I have questions again:

 

1. How long was muster?

2. Did you like the cruise director? Who was it?

3. Did they wait for sailaway until after muster drill?

4. I had heard reports of the Piano Bar being a real yawner. What was it like when you were on the ship?

 

 

Thanks!

 

1. The muster drill didn't take very long. I remember I timed it, but can't exactly recall. Maybe 20 minutes.

2. We LOVED our CD. It was Karl with a K. He was absolutely hilarious without being obnoxious. The entire Carnival crew was amazing and I would love to sail with them again.

3. We hadn't started the sailaway when we started the muster drill. But by the time we got back to our rooms and put our lifejackets back, and got back up on the deck, we had started moving. But we hadn't gotten very far down the canal. There was another Carnival ship and RCI ship leaving at the same time, and I believe they left before we did.

4. Wouldn't know b/c we never made it to the piano bar. Sorry I couldn't help here.

[jkeivel11]

Great review!!!

Thanks also for telling the story about your luggage. The same thing happened to us in Miami. A person in our group noticed a piece of his luggage was missing after the taxi already pulled away. This piece of luggage was actually sitting in the passengers seat, so the driver had to see it.:rolleyes: We had 3 taxis and in the mist of confusion and paying we didn't check to make sure we had everything. We did the same as you calling everywhere. Never got it back. So yes I agree with the valet guy. You were extremely lucky!!! I'm sure this type of thing happens more then we know:cool:

 

My advice...take a picture of the outside of the taxi and be sure to include the name and cab number. Also, get a picture of the driver's taxi license. You may feel like an idiot doing this, but at least you'll have a means of getting your stuff back if it's ever left inside.

 

This is a valuable lesson we learned.

[Kurbanfan]

My advice...take a picture of the outside of the taxi and be sure to include the name and cab number. Also, get a picture of the driver's taxi license. You may feel like an idiot doing this, but at least you'll have a means of getting your stuff back if it's ever left inside.

 

This is a valuable lesson we learned.

 

The lesson is to make sure everything is accountable before you pay the taxi driver. We had 8 people and 3 taxi's and it was total kaos.........

Believe me it has not happened since;)

[scgssny]

Great review and info about the excursions. You are luckly that you got an honest cabbie. Enjoy your next cruise!

[Cruz4us]

Hi Jen,

 

Was the HD store by the Margarittaville or down by the Hard Rock Cafe? I will have to get something from that store too.

[sayhello]

Hello All!We just got home from our 8/2 - 8/9 Liberty cruise to the Western Carribbean to Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Ocho Rios, Jamiaca.

 

Cozumel - We did the Dolphin Trainer program at Dolphinaris. We booked it directly with the facility and it was $179/pp and lasted 3.5 hours. It included 70min of dolphin time, lunch, 3 drinks, 2 pictures each, a t-shirt each, a tour of the facility, a training session with the dolphins and one on one time with a trainer to ask them questions. It was worth every penny and more.

Did your dolphin program include what they call the dolphin "push", where they push you through the water, one dolphin under each foot? I'm really trying to decide between the Dolphin Trainer program at Dolphnaris and the Royal Swim at Dolphin Discovery, and it seems as if that's the big difference (they do the "push" on the Royal Swim). Other than that, I was kind of leaning towards Dolphinaris. Haven't decided if the "push" is a deal breaker or not. :D Thanks for any info/opinions you can give me to help me to decide! (This should be the biggest problem I have --- deciding which fabulous Dolphin program to attend while I'm in Cozumel on my charity cruise... :cool: )

 

Thanks!

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