Kermarkim

I just called Carnival because the rates went down on my Alaska cruise in July 2023 and they are now offering an onboard credit. And they made the adjustments in a matter of minutes. At this point I had only paid the deposit. I was able to save $270.

We were on Liberty August 26th and had deck 8 aft interior cabin and there were no Sewage smells on this deck or any of the decks I Visited: I did notice the marijuana smell one day outside on the Lido deck and then realized we were actually lounging in the smoking section. Once we moved, I never noticed it again. It was a fantastic cruise.

I do see your point. However, It has been my experience that Carnival cruises in general are party cruises when compared to other cruise lines. They call it the "Funship" for a reason. Compared to other cruise lines, I've been on, the Carnival guests take the lead from the CDs and they always seem to be in the party mood. The guests are generally loud in their rooms, hallways, balconies and on the deck and in the clubs. I don't mind this. I actually prefer the fun atmosphere. I haven't really seen a difference on the 3-4 days vs. the 7+ days with the caliber of guests. That is just my experience in 17 cruises on 5 different lines. I think the fact that Carnival has such reasonable rates may attract a more less formal environment and people seem to be in party mode. My other cruises on other lines have been much more expensive and have attracted either more families or older folks which may have contributed to less partying. In addition, I can't even recall if their were CDs on those other lines. They did not have a large presence as do the CDs on Carnival. But I love Carnival the most and love the 3-4 day cruises. Pre-Covid, I did at least a 3/4 day cruise annually and then a longer 6-8 day cruises as well.

I've done the 3 Day cruise on Conquest and just did the 3 day on Liberty for our anniversary. I love the shorter cruises from time to time, but just know it goes very fast. Before you know it, its over. So planning is a key. Try to decide what activities and excursions you will do in advance. If you can book the Steakhouse for an intimate dinner, that will be a nice touch. On the 7 day cruises, you can take it a little more easy and pace yourself and relax somewhat. Not so on the 3 day cruise, it just goes too fast. So have in mind what you both want to do before you are docked back in Miami. Above all else, just have fun and enjoy the time with your wife. DH and I had an amazing 3 days on the Liberty. We did the sailaway party, Steakhouse, art auctions, seaday brunch, comedy club each night and the 2 theatre shows. We didn't do a formal excursion in Nassau. We simply walked to the beach and ate on the beach and had a nice stroll back. I hope you have fun!

I just went on 8/26 and it was literally 60 seconds. DH and I walked to our muster station as soon as we boarded the ship at around 12 noon. A family was just walking away. One crew member scanned our boarding pass barcode. And the other crew member had a life jacket in his hand and asked us if we knew how to put on the life jacket and we stated yes and he said in case of emergency to bring our life jackets and report to the muster station and that was it. Literally maybe 60 seconds or less.

okay, so I just got off the Carnival Liberty and noticed that Guy's did not have the mushrooms and it seemed to be replaced with Chilli. However, the long lines were still proof of the appetite for the actual burger. Each day, the lines appeared to get longer. I enjoyed my burger even without the mushrooms. I wish they would have the veggie burger at the Guys station. I read here that you just needed to ask. We did and were told to go to the deli. However, the deli line was ridiculous and they only had one person working at the time. So my DH (the pescatarian) opted to stay with me and just request the ringer without the beef pattie and then topped it off with the onions, peppers and other toppings and enjoyed that with his fries for one snack. Lastly, I did not see any bacon on the buffet for breakfast the first morning. Neither was it on the Guys burger station at anytime. I did go to the sea day brunch the second morning and was served bacon. I did not go to the final breakfast so not sure if it ever returned to the buffet.

I think OP has a valid issue. I also enjoy the dive-in movies and consider that an added perk for a Carnival cruise. I appreciate the movies under the stars as well. I generally catch at least 1 if not 2 movies per cruise, depending on the length of the cruise. This past weekend on my 3 night cruise, we caught none due to the timing of the movies. Not sure why it didn't work for us because we have always had early dining, then attended the early comedy, a show in the theatre and then at least one evening movie. I have also caught one during the afternoon especially on sea day. There was no daytime move during sea day at all and we never made it to the evening shows. We still had a fantastic cruise but I did miss the dive in movies. I hope I will be able to catch one in December on the Freedom.

We disembarked on Monday the 29th from the Liberty. The nice thing was that Carnival must have anticipated the traffic issues and cleared those who were self disembarking with their luggage close to 6:30 a.m. DH and I immediately got off the ship and was waiting for our shuttle to Orlando airport by 6:55 a.m. By time the shuttle arrived and loaded passengers at 2 different terminals, we left the port about 7:45 a.m. There were thousands of cars already lined up on the side of the highway waiting to view the launch but it didn't really impact us. Heading towards Orlando, there was very light traffic for first 10 minutes and then it was smooth sailing. I believe we reached Orlando airport at about 9 am. On the opposite lanes going into the port there was much more traffic. It wasn't at a standstill but clearly it was a mixture of those heading to their cruises as well as those heading toward the launch. For the folks coming and going on the 5th, just need to give yourself plenty of time and exercise a lot of patience.

And a tip that I learned on this site is at dinner not to sleep on the Indian Vegetarian dish. They don't specify on the menu exactly what it will be each night, but the Chef will make an Indian Vegetarian selection each evening in the main dining room. We only ate at the dining room the second night of the cruise and I chose this as an option. It was probably the best dining selection I have made since 2005. I will be choosing this going forward as my 2nd entree along with something else in the event I don't care for it. The Maitre D came over to see how everything was and when I told him that we loved the dish, he informed me that you can also ask the waiter each night to make a non-vegetarian Indian dish and they will accommodate you. He said they will add lamb, chicken or something else. I can't wait until December on the Freedom to make this request. Not only is DH a pescatarian and really appreciated this Indian dish but we both love the Indian spices such as curry, so I'm looking forward to it in the future.

Ok, so now we are off to the Welcome Aboard Show. It was typical welcome show. However, I will say this, all three shows in the theatre were lacking. Not sure if this is a COVID thing but I had seen both shows “Flick” and “America Rocks” and I believe the lightning and special effects as well as the background displays were missing in all the shows. I felt like I was at a dress rehearsal. But we still enjoyed the singing and dancing. I’m really enjoying this alone time with DH. We’ve been married for 35 years and have had children for 31 of those years and generally have taken them on every vacation with us. So now that we are empty nesters, this is our first vacation in 12 years without the children or grandchildren. I now remember why I married this guy. We just have so much fun together.

Cruise Director Dustin Gabriel at the excursions preview. He was really good and funny. Not my favorite CD. That still goes to Donkey and Wee Jimmy 🤩

Here's our Cruise Director Dustin Gabriel at the sail away part along with his crew. This was a fun sail away party, just as I had remembered it.

Next we head to Diamond Steakhouse and the Maitre D is aware that we are celebrating our 35th anniversary and eventually gives us 2 glasses of champagne and a glorious special chocolate dessert that I almost couldn’t even try because I was totally full by time I even got to my main course. So here is how it went down: Free wine with first night booking, Bread selection with a basil butter, Chef’s choice of a mini beef slider appetizer. DH: Shrimp Cocktail, Lobster Bisque, Caesar Salad, Lobster Tail with sauteed mushrooms and Hazelnut Cheesecake Me: Risotto, lobster bisque, Caesar salad, surf and turf with onion rings and mac n cheese and Hazelnut cheesecake. The chef also sent out 2 glasses of champagne and a heavenly chocolate dessert to celebrate our anniversary. Dinner was superb and better than some of the steakhouses I've been to here in Atlanta. The lobster was perfectly cooked and the filet mignon was extremely tender and flavorful. I didn’t eat most of it because I was full but it was divine. We also had to take our cheesecake to go because we couldn't eat another bite (should not have had the Guys Burger).