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Carnival Liberty review: 10/27 - 10/29 OR...the odd cruise


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I wanted to toss out a little review/recap of my most recent cruise. Port Canaveral to Nassau on the Liberty. I've done this same one 3x before when the boat was the Sensation, and I like that it's just a quick little weekend getaway. This would be my first time on the Liberty. I call this one "the odd cruise" because there were some ups and downs, and some of the downs weren't really Carnival's fault. Lets kick it off with some ups:

Embarkation was smooth and quick. The port there really seems to have the process down. We did buy FTTF but it seemed like everyone was having an easy time of it. We took an exterior window room at the very back corner. 4273 I believe. This was fantastic. I will always try to book the back corner rooms from here out if I'm not doing a balcony. The room is huge and has 2 windows, for the same price as a regular single window room. And it's so very quiet back there. There's pretty much zero traffic in the halls and almost no noise from the ship at all. Another positive was the Alchemy Bar, in particular bartender Drazen. I will take this cruise again JUST to sit there and be entertained by him and his female co-worker (who's name I unfortunately don't remember). Absolute highlight of the trip. Nassau was Nassuau, we walked around and had a drink at Sharkeez and a few other spots and headed back on the ship.

Couple bummers I do blame Carnival for: The windows in our room were nasty. It was literally like frosted glass. The glass around the Serenity deck was even worse, it was so crusted up and turning yellow-ish that you really couldn't take in the view from behind it. Every bit of glass on the ship seemed very dirty and I never once saw the sprayers run that I've seen on other ships. And my main complaint with this trip(hold on tight, this is long): Dining room food. Come on now people! I don't expect anything fancy gourmet when you're feeding that many people. But I can't think of a single thing we had that was any better than fair except the filet that my girlfriend got off the steakhouse menu the second night. That was pretty good, not great. Of the 6 people at our table not a single person had a good dining room food experience. Most of us ordered 2 entrees each night, because we never knew what was going to be good. The swordfish was terrible. I'm pretty sure that was not swordfish. Between my girl and I we got Salmon 3 different times and 2 were OK, one was a thinner piece from near the tail that was so overcooked it was inedible. The prime rib was OK except the Au Jus was actually some oddly sweet brown gravy. The scallops....I'm pretty sure those are not scallops. I love scallops....those were bad. Some cheaper places substitute stingray wings for scallops (no really, they do) and I'm fairly certain those are stingray and not actual scallops. 99% sure actually. The duck had good flavor but was very overcooked. The jerk pork also had excellent flavor but was overcooked to the point of being hockey pucks. The flat iron steak was one of my table mate's choice each night and he said it was edible...but that's the best he had to say. The roast chicken on the first night was actually the best dish of the trip, but the chicken breast that was on the every day menu was the most bland hunk of what looked like boiled chicken I've ever seen. I feel like they are overthinking the food for what is possible to really do for that many people. Stuff like swordfish and duck are great when cooked to perfection, but really bad when they're not. On previous cruises there have always been things we've liked better than others but honestly the food was a MAJOR disappointment this time. Off the food topic, my last Carnival-related complaint is smoking. Look I get it...non-smokers like me will always complain about smoking. But there seemed to be an awful lot of smoking going on in non-smoking areas of the ship and nobody said a thing. People were smoking at the non-smoking roulette table the entire trip, and not only did the casino staff not say anything they emptied their ashtrays for them.

Now for the non-Carnival related thing: I love cruising becuase I like to interact with all of the other guests and meet new people. But man, there were a LOT of rude people on this one! I've never seen people argue with staff and complain about nothing like I did on this trip. One lady in particular was the rudest player I have ever encountered anywhere, at any casino in the world. She was rude to the other players, she was awful to the dealers, she was even rude to the servers. Just in case she's reading this: Ms.tall lady with the short hair wearing the weird denim romper who kept asking for the game to be stopped so she could charge her card for more chips every other spin...you suck. But beyond her, it just seemed like overall there was a lot of grumping going on all over the boat. We're not complainers ourselves....as bad as the food was we never complained. We just traded the worst stuff out for something else and thanked our server for being awesome.

And as every time on Carnival the staff was A+ awesome. Every single staff member I interacted with was great.

 

Overall we did have a nice time for sure. But I do have to say this was my least enjoyable cruise overall.

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Thanks for sharing your cruise experience. It seems like there are more and more posts here about how bad the cigarette smoke has become on Carnival's ships. It sounds like Liberty has some work to do with their dining room food. I agree with you it's normal to run across a couple of bad food choices, but it sounds like most everything on Liberty was overcooked. I share your thoughts about how awesome Carnival's staff is.

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Actually I have a question relating to the food if anyone here knows, which could explain some of our issues: We always take late dining. Is it plausible to think that in late dining much of the food has been sitting longer? Obviously they're cooking constantly with that many people to feed, but given how much of ours was way overdone I almost wonder if the food is sitting in warming trays cooking more and more from the earlier service? I wonder if the earlier seating was better?

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Actually I have a question relating to the food if anyone here knows, which could explain some of our issues: We always take late dining. Is it plausible to think that in late dining much of the food has been sitting longer? Obviously they're cooking constantly with that many people to feed, but given how much of ours was way overdone I almost wonder if the food is sitting in warming trays cooking more and more from the earlier service? I wonder if the earlier seating was better?

 

 

 

No, it wasn't on the Glory. My least favorite part of the day....dining room food!!

 

 

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You wrote cabin 4273 with the 2 windows, but I assume you meant 2473? Were the windows so dirty you couldn't see out of them? I'm going to be in this same cabin in a few weeks and hope it's cleaned by then! I'd hate to not have my view.

 

Did you have any good food on Lido? I stay out of the MDR so don't care if the food there sucks.

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We are just off Liberty a couple of weeks ago and I have to say that I really like this ship. I find your MDR comments very interesting since I had similar impressions on the food. In all of our cruises on all lines I had never been served food that I considered "bad" until this cruise. Not everything was bad, but some of the items should not have been brought out of the kitchen. The two that stood out were the calamari and the scallops. My calamari was over cooked, burnt really, and was swimming in a pool of grease. I pointed it out to the waiter and he said "it must have been the bottom of the bowl". I declined a replacement since the main course had arrived. Similarly, the scallops were tiny and rubbery (but no grease). I talked to some others who had no issues with either so I chalked it up to bad luck. It is interesting to see that I am not alone in finding the MDR a little below standard compared to other ships. Nothing stood out as really great but we did not go hungry in any case. I would sail Liberty again in a heartbeat but hopefully things in the MDR will improve a little next time around.

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We were on the same cruise and some of what you said was apparent to us as well. This was our 22nd cruise, 10th on Carnival. There were so many obnoxious, loud people on this ship. It was hard to relax. Look, I get people like to have a good time, but if you drink to the point you are excessively loud, and obnoxious, maybe you should sail Carnival. ...Oh wait, this was Carnival! IMO, Carnival has become nothing more than a bottom of the barrel booze cruise.

 

We still had a good time. You really have to try hard to have a bad time on a cruise. As for the food, despite Carnival being the basement cruise line, we always thought they have the best food. No complaints in that department, except for the fact that people were showing up to the MDR in t-shirts, shorts and flip flops. I don't expect suit and tie, (I only wear a polo and khakis), but come on people, have some respect! There was even a bridal party group of girls that showed up with a 3 ft. inflatable phallus! Fortunately, the seating staff turned them away.

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Bojana is the female with Drazen and she is his girl friend,we met them on the Freedom and they still stand out as two of the best Alchemist and also two great people.

 

Thank you! Not only are the drinks there fantastic the overall entertainment they provide is worth the price of the cruise.

You wrote cabin 4273 with the 2 windows, but I assume you meant 2473? Were the windows so dirty you couldn't see out of them? I'm going to be in this same cabin in a few weeks and hope it's cleaned by then! I'd hate to not have my view.

 

Did you have any good food on Lido? I stay out of the MDR so don't care if the food there sucks.

You're right on, my mistake. The Lido food was good, standard Lido food selections. We kept forgetting to try the BBQ place as it was upstairs but others told me that was pretty good. Guy's burger joint is decent and even though the lines get long they run pretty fast. The Pizza place was not so good, but I'm never a fan of cruise pizza so it may just not be my style. The deli made the usual sandwiches and they were good, and the hot dogs at the deli were actually really good. I did not try the sushi or the seafood shack, but I'd be interested in other's opinions of those places.

We will do the steakhouse for sure next time. I'd rather pay more money for a meal that I'm truly happy with than try to pick through multiple different plates to find enough decent food to compile a meal.

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I did not try the sushi or the seafood shack, but I'd be interested in other's opinions of those places.

We will do the steakhouse for sure next time. I'd rather pay more money for a meal that I'm truly happy with than try to pick through multiple different plates to find enough decent food to compile a meal.

 

We do not like sushi but we did try seafood shack a couple of times. First time I got oysters which were advertised as raw but they will steam them which is what I had. They were good. My wife got steamed shrimp which was very good. The second time I ordered the fried shrimp & clam combo. Big mistake. The shrimp was all breading and it was all a bit greasy. I would stay with the non fried selections.

 

We went on the second day to book the steakhouse and it was sold out for the cruise. The man said that it always sells out so book early.

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Carnival has become nothing more than a bottom of the barrel booze cruise.

 

I believe the cruise duration was more to blame for this than the cruise line. Short cruises on other lines also have a "party till you puke" thing going on. Pay only a couple hundred bucks and want to cram as much as you can into three days, and that is what you get.

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We are just off Liberty a couple of weeks ago and I have to say that I really like this ship. I find your MDR comments very interesting since I had similar impressions on the food. In all of our cruises on all lines I had never been served food that I considered "bad" until this cruise. Not everything was bad, but some of the items should not have been brought out of the kitchen. The two that stood out were the calamari and the scallops. My calamari was over cooked, burnt really, and was swimming in a pool of grease. I pointed it out to the waiter and he said "it must have been the bottom of the bowl". I declined a replacement since the main course had arrived. Similarly, the scallops were tiny and rubbery (but no grease). I talked to some others who had no issues with either so I chalked it up to bad luck. It is interesting to see that I am not alone in finding the MDR a little below standard compared to other ships. Nothing stood out as really great but we did not go hungry in any case. I would sail Liberty again in a heartbeat but hopefully things in the MDR will improve a little next time around.

 

I totally forgot about the calamari. Mine was similarly overcooked and nearly burned but cold and dry. It wasn't awful, but it was good either.

 

We were on the same cruise and some of what you said was apparent to us as well. This was our 22nd cruise, 10th on Carnival. There were so many obnoxious, loud people on this ship. It was hard to relax. Look, I get people like to have a good time, but if you drink to the point you are excessively loud, and obnoxious, maybe you should sail Carnival. ...Oh wait, this was Carnival! IMO, Carnival has become nothing more than a bottom of the barrel booze cruise.

 

We still had a good time. You really have to try hard to have a bad time on a cruise. As for the food, despite Carnival being the basement cruise line, we always thought they have the best food. No complaints in that department, except for the fact that people were showing up to the MDR in t-shirts, shorts and flip flops. I don't expect suit and tie, (I only wear a polo and khakis), but come on people, have some respect! There was even a bridal party group of girls that showed up with a 3 ft. inflatable phallus! Fortunately, the seating staff turned them away.

 

Glad to hear your dining was better than mine, it gives me hope for the future! :) I'm not quite ready to call it a booze cruise, but I can see why you'd feel that way. We drink, no doubt....we get our Cheers and make good use of it and have fun....but we also make sure we never get to the point where we're sloshed and certainly not to the point where we are affecting anyone else's experience. Typical drunk behavior I just chalk up to people having their own brand of fun but the amount of people who were being rude and even mean to other guests and especially the staff was really something I've never seen before. But at the same time I feel like a lack of action by the staff might encourage some of that. The casino lady I mentioned for example, anywhere I have ever played her behavior would have gotten her asked to leave the tables. Esepcially when the tables are packed full and there are people lined up behind waiting to get a seat. Her behaviour affected the experience of every single person at and around the entire table and the staff just let it go.

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We do not like sushi but we did try seafood shack a couple of times. First time I got oysters which were advertised as raw but they will steam them which is what I had. They were good. My wife got steamed shrimp which was very good. The second time I ordered the fried shrimp & clam combo. Big mistake. The shrimp was all breading and it was all a bit greasy. I would stay with the non fried selections.

 

We went on the second day to book the steakhouse and it was sold out for the cruise. The man said that it always sells out so book early.

 

We also heard that about the steakhouse! Thanks for the tips on the seafood spot. I'm always sketchy about fried stuff like that.

 

I believe the cruise duration was more to blame for this than the cruise line. Short cruises on other lines also have a "party till you puke" thing going on. Pay only a couple hundred bucks and want to cram as much as you can into three days, and that is what you get.

 

I agree. We live in Tampa so we also do the Tampa - Cozumel trip which is only 1 day longer and typically not much more $$$ but the whole vibe on the ship is more laid back and not quite as party-ish. We have noticed this on each of the 3 day Canaveral - Nassau trips we've done.

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Thank you! Not only are the drinks there fantastic the overall entertainment they provide is worth the price of the cruise.

 

You're right on, my mistake. The Lido food was good, standard Lido food selections. We kept forgetting to try the BBQ place as it was upstairs but others told me that was pretty good. Guy's burger joint is decent and even though the lines get long they run pretty fast. The Pizza place was not so good, but I'm never a fan of cruise pizza so it may just not be my style. The deli made the usual sandwiches and they were good, and the hot dogs at the deli were actually really good. I did not try the sushi or the seafood shack, but I'd be interested in other's opinions of those places.

We will do the steakhouse for sure next time. I'd rather pay more money for a meal that I'm truly happy with than try to pick through multiple different plates to find enough decent food to compile a meal.

 

Thanks for the Lido review. I'm easy to please when it comes to food and i'll usually find something I like wherever has the shortest line. :)

 

So those cabin windows were never cleaned the entire sailing? You said it was like frosted glass? Does that mean you really couldn't see out to the water and view? I wonder if you could have gone to GS to let them know. After all, you're paying extra for an ocean view cabin for the ocean view!

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We were disappointed by the MDR food on Dream in September. I'm sorry to hear that others on other ships are encountering disappointing meals, too. When the dining is the least anticipated part of the day, that's a sad statement about where it seems Carnival is heading.

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Thanks for the Lido review. I'm easy to please when it comes to food and i'll usually find something I like wherever has the shortest line. :)

 

So those cabin windows were never cleaned the entire sailing? You said it was like frosted glass? Does that mean you really couldn't see out to the water and view? I wonder if you could have gone to GS to let them know. After all, you're paying extra for an ocean view cabin for the ocean view!

 

I'll see if my girl took a picture of it. I only took a pic of the room the morning we were leaving and it was still dark outside. It rained heavily almost all day Saturday and that was the first time I felt like i could really enjoy the view from the room. Before that it was bad enough that it really wasn't fun to look through at all. The streaks were so heavy and white that you had to look around them, and nowhere at allwas a very clear view at all out of either of our windows.

I was truly surprised by how dirty ALL of the glass on the boat was. We went to the dining room for breakfast and got seated at the window, which was nasty. And the Serenity deck glass was literally crusty. I know how hard it is to keep glass clean in saltwater (I'm a saltwater boater myself) but it just really seemed excessive.

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I'll see if my girl took a picture of it. I only took a pic of the room the morning we were leaving and it was still dark outside. It rained heavily almost all day Saturday and that was the first time I felt like i could really enjoy the view from the room. Before that it was bad enough that it really wasn't fun to look through at all. The streaks were so heavy and white that you had to look around them, and nowhere at allwas a very clear view at all out of either of our windows.

I was truly surprised by how dirty ALL of the glass on the boat was. We went to the dining room for breakfast and got seated at the window, which was nasty. And the Serenity deck glass was literally crusty. I know how hard it is to keep glass clean in saltwater (I'm a saltwater boater myself) but it just really seemed excessive.

 

Thanks for the info. What a bummer and really defeats having the ocean view cabin. Hopefully it was a one time incident and it'll be cleaned by the time i'm in it. But if not, knowing this information beforehand is good because it'll lesson the shock when entering the room if it's filthy. I'll consider myself warned and just keep fingers crossed and hope for the best.

 

I always thought the workers cleaned off all the windows in between each sailing but I guess not. Wonder if it's Carnival cutting more corners.

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Never been on the Liberty, but the "scallops" on the Victory last week were the same - I'm also pretty sure they are not real scallops, I vote for skate or stingray wing. Mine were also overcooked, which doesn't help. I've had some really good stingray - got some off a food truck in Aruba once that was amazing. Whatever I had that posed as scallops was not.

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