Liberty Review ~ 1/14/2012 ~ Group of 19!

When we originally booked this cruise back in October 2009, it seemed like such a long time to go! Our little group of 6 quickly became a group of 19, 16 adults, 1 teen, 1 pre-teen and 1 baby (our 9mo DS). I always say I’ll write a review, but life takes over when we get home and it gets away from me! So, here I go, typing it all out in Word to cut and paste and not keep everyone in suspense, though I’ll keep it short as possible and will keep the baby-content for the family boards – it was not the best of cruises, but that’s for personal reasons. It was far from the worst of cruises though (that was our first cruise on the Liberty, back on 2006). It always makes me a little sad to relive it! :)

It may take me a little bit to answer questions, but I'll be back eventually. I'll post on the Family Board too if you have any specific baby-related questions.

We’re all from Canada (eh), a few virgin cruisers, one with mobility issues due to MS, all of different ages. My DH and I have been on 7 cruises total now, all Carnival.

Had this cruise been without baby, we would have enjoyed the 4 ports – but it was just too busy with him. Another sea day would have been better for us, I realize now, but all the other members of our party really appreciated the 4 ports.

Pre-Flight Hotel:

We stayed 1-11-12 at Clarion Hotel – Buffalo Airport. We usually just drive in the day of the flight, but with a baby we figured it would be easier to do it this way. We chose this one as all of the hotels closer to the airport seemed to have bed bug problems, and this one was more affordable to boot.

The hotel was dated, but clean. Breakfast advertised fresh fruit, but there was none, and several yogurts were past date. Check in and out was easy, and the shuttle to the airport was quick.

The only issue experienced was by others of our party – they had originally booked a double, and then changed it to a quad. We booked through Hotels.com, and notified them of the change. They confirmed they had faxed it to the hotel, but upon check in, there was only a double bed. It was quickly switched, but not sure what they would have done had they been sold out!

Pre-Cruise Hotel and Transfers:

Flying direct from BUF to FLL on Southwest was our best bet this time around, and we used SAS Transport for the transfers to and from the port. Steve was very quick to deal with our group, and took last minute changes in stride. I’d definitely use their service again, even though one of our group got stuck in a seatbelt, and then the driver tried to charge for our infant (though the website states infants are free). He quickly got on the phone and Steve confirmed no charge for DS.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Port of Miami from 1-12-12 to 1-14-12. This was our second time at this hotel, previous being in 2008. It’s convenient, the price is right – but if we could stay somewhere different for the same price and location next time, we will.

It was nice to see that they’ve renovated, and taken away the awful restaurant. The manager there on our first stay was awful, service took forever (2.5 hours for an entree) and the food was mediocre at best. The new restaurant was brighter, the food was better but not anything to write home about. We encountered issues with the elevators on our first stay, and the same problem existed on our second – our 3 elevators, one was closed the entire time. You’d have to wait up to 20 minutes sometimes, and with a baby in a stroller and a person with MS (on the 10th floor no less), this is an issue.

They also tried putting a couple in our party celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary in a room with twin beds. Again, this was rectified, but had the hotel been sold out, this would have been an issue.

We walked to the CVS up the street on the Friday, and picked up some goods for the cruise. On E. Fagler Street (I think it’s called that), 3 blocks away, there’s a Macy’s, 2 Walgreens and a liquor store within walking distance as well.

Bayside Marketplace is good for a few hours entertainment, and you can take celebrity boat tours there as well as some shopping and food.

Saturday found us grabbing a quick bite at a McDonald’s around the corner, and then off to the ship!

Embarkation – January 14th, 2012

This was quick and painless – I find Miami to be one of the best ports to cruise from as a non-US citizen. We waited for about 20 minutes before they started calling numbers, and were onboard by 10:45am.

Cruise Director – Butch

I found Butch to be entertaining, and warm (at least superficially). Usually I roll my eyes when the announcements come on, but he was very quick and to the point. I signed up for Groove for St. Jude, and thanked Butch (and Amy) for the welcome aboard strawberries we found in our room as well as the Ship on a Stick (7 cruises and I finally got one!).

Amy 6’3”, his ACD, was excellent – during one of the shows she watched the stroller when I couldn’t find my family to sit with, allowing me to sit with DS. (We missed a whole bunch of shows – caught two comedy acts, and part of the Rock show, which I would have enjoyed more of!).

Casino

I didn’t win anything, but group members and my DH won $250 each at the slots.

Mixology Bar

I’m a martini fan more than a wine fan, so having this upgrade was certainly appreciated by me! I found the staff a little lack lustre though – they were good at their jobs, but personality was lacking. They have a martini class during the cruise, but don’t post signs, and get very frustrated when guests come up to purchase drinks. It happened to me, and a gentleman right behind me – he voiced my thoughts when he said they should have a sign saying closed for private function.

Thirsty Frog’s Red Rum Bar & Blue Iguana Tequila Bar (or whatever they’re called)

It was nice to see some new drinks onboard! Again, though, I found the bartenders to be sans personality – it seemed like guests were bothering them by asking for drinks.

Dining Room

Dinner wasn’t anything too spectacular – I find the changes made to the menu to be a little dull. There were 2 or 3 evenings that I couldn’t find anything to eat (and I’m one to order 2 apps, 2 entrees and 2 desserts!), but was satisfied with the Southern Fried Chicken. I’m petite, but my father is... large, and he couldn’t find something to tickle his fancy some evenings either, which is quite astounding – he’ll eat anything. My uncle has sailed other lines, but this was his first time on CCL – he found the options lacking and the selection smaller than other ships, but food to be okay.

In general, our dining room staff didn’t introduce themselves (Francesco, I Made and another assistant waiter), nor did they pull out our chairs, place napkins or anything we’ve become used to. If this had been our first cruise, we wouldn’t have missed it – we’re not ‘that’ type of people, but having had this quality of service in previous cruises we were surprised. In addition, the staff kept forgetting our orders, and took forever to bring the next choice if you had ordered more than one appetizer, for example. We also had to ask for bread some evenings.

I believe Francesco overheard us complaining about him, as he avoided us more or less for the duration of the cruise and took care of his other tables, leaving the 19 of us to his assistants. We’re not sure if this was because they were too busy, but the lunch and breakfast service was always quick, accurate and complete with the servers seating you and placing your napkin. It was quite a contrast. The service picked up for the last 2 evenings, but no one bothered to learn our names, and the ‘read-your-mind-service’ was hit and miss. They did have a high chair there every evening after the first for DS though, and we never heard a complaint about his mess.

The first night, we asked about having DS’ food pureed, and were told to speak to the hostess. We went down to see the hostess after dinner (6pm seating), but she wasn’t available. In speaking to the Maitre’d, we arranged to have DS’ food for the next evening (chicken, peas and mashed potatoes). The hostess was to review upcoming menus the next evening as well. We never saw her, nor was there any food for DS the second evening. It’s a good thing I brought a bunch of jarred food for him, as well as my Kidco grinder or he would have starved. We did receive his food the 3rd, 4th and 5th evenings – I tested it each time, as I was told it was ‘plain, nothing added’, and the mashed potatoes had a ton of butter in it. DS has had butter, so this wasn’t a concern, but to be told food was plain and not have it be was an issue. He was sick for the balance of the dinners and wouldn’t eat anything but toast, so we cancelled our puree orders.

Stewards

Paranyatt was by far the best we’ve ever had – she went well above and beyond what we expect of a steward(ess).

Nightclub

We made our way to the night club the 3rd night for about half an hour. I had been dying for a good nightclub outing and was excited by the upgrades made, but we were disappointed and ended up leaving. The majority of the music played was from early 2011, and not a lot of people were dancing. My sister and I love to dance – and have no qualms about it. Quite a disappointment. I wanted to give it a second chance, but with all of us being sick, making it to 11pm without pyjamas seemed like too big a feat.

Debarkation – January 21st, 2012

As I’m sure everyone will agree, always a sad day! I’m glad we booked late flights from FLL, as we had one of the last numbers to be called.

I believe next time we’ll take advantage of the luggage express option – would have been much easier than having to carry a Pack and play, 4 luggages (luggie? Luggi? Lugi?), 2 carry-ons, a car seat, stroller and diaper bag. For $20 per person, definitely worth it.

Our debarkation number was 33 (out of 35) – slotted between 11am-11:15am. We ended up being last call off the ship at 10:45am.

Customs was quick, as was our baggage claim. We were off the ship and in the SAS shuttle within 30 minutes!

All in all, if DS and the rest of us hadn’t been sick, it would have been a more enjoyable cruise. Not the best ever, but enjoyable. But, like the weather, Carnival can’t control everything! LOL! Blame Carnival!

We will cruise CCL again one day, depending on what the ‘anticipated’ revised past guest benefits are. Overall, we find it the best bang for our dollar, but we are getting bored with the same old, same old. We’re not sure if we’ll be grandfathered in or not with 7 past cruises, and wanted to hit platinum before we tried another line. The changes will determine if we try another cruiseline or not beforehand, though. In regards to if we’ll cruise again with a high-needs baby – that’s another story!

Day 1 – January 14th, 2012

Our tradition is to meet on the Lido deck and have the first DOD, and then head to the room, but members of our party felt deck 10 was a better option, so we went with it.

We all grabbed a bite to eat and waited for the rest of the party.

Around 2pm, we went down to the room and started unpacking, with 2 of our 4 bags already awaiting us there. We didn’t request it, but the Stewardess had a crib all set up and waiting for DS. We had brought his pack and play, but having had some sleepless nights in the hotels, opted to use the crib instead. He seemed better settled in it, as this is where he sleeps at home.

Our Stewardess Paranyatt introduced herself – by far the best we’ve had to date! She really shone – always interacting with DS (who loved her), telling us about her 13yo DS back home in Thailand. When we discovered DS’ Ivory Snow detergent had scattered throughout my suitcase, she had her assistant vacuum it out for us! Really appreciated the extra steps she took for us.

We kept our stroller outside our room (8225) for the majority of the cruise, and it was never touched. We brought it in at night time, and if we were going to be on the balcony for any period of time. We also travelled with the car seat (travel system), but didn’t use it outside of if DS was having issues napping (he naps better if we put the travel system together) and in the shuttles. It just wasn’t needed in ports.

The room itself was nice – since it’s forward, you can really hear the water breaking far below, so it’s harder to hear your neighbour than other balcony locations (which in our case, happened to be my parents and our friends on the other side). We never opened up the partitions, but had previously planned to do so. It just never crossed our minds. 8225 has a connecting door, we really couldn’t hear our neighbours much, but did hear the blow dryer in the morning. They must have heard our baby sometimes though – we apologized in advance.

The muster drill was a little longer than we’re used to, but that could also have been since we were inside for it, rather on the open decks, and with a cranky baby. I feel bad for missing our CC M&G, but it couldn’t have been helped.

Fun Day at Sea – January 15th, 2012

Traditionally a lazy-around-the-pool-day for us, we were up early with DS and out to breakfast. The cold I’d been fighting for 2 weeks caught up with me, what joy!

Eventually I tried my first Guy’s burger – Oh. My. I’m not a fan of ground meat – I love steak, but hate the texture of ground meat. I was instantly in love. It’s so, so, so unhealthy for you, but I had one every single day. A SMC without cheese, please! Side of seasoned fries, a handful of chips (found in the silver buckets by the sauces), a bit of bacon and mushrooms, and off I went.

We also took a quick walk around the Lido buffet – again, not too many options to be found. The vegetables were lacking – unless you liked items like coleslaw, or various interesting salads. We found the majority of the Lido servers to be... displeased at their jobs. No one was really smiling, but it was clean.

We convinced my father to babysit for a time, and took a quick dip/sun tan. The mid-ship Lido hot tubs were cooler than DS’ bath water, but the aft hot tubs were a bit warmer. This was consistent throughout the cruise, we found. I suppose it’s because kids use the mid-ship hot tubs.

Dinner, again, was non-descript. I love the warm chocolate melting cake, so that was always a go-to dessert for me.

Cozumel – January 16th, 2012

This was my 3rd time to Cozumel, and I wasn’t in the mood for an excursion, so my sister and I went to Senor Frog’s, Carlos N’Charlies and Fat Tuesday’s while DH, DS and BIL walked around Puerta Maya. It was nice to see the duty-free building rebuilt after the original was destroyed by Wilma.

I wish we had just stuck around Fat Tuesday’s instead of venturing into town – our first time at SF’s years ago, it was dead, but we were literally the only ones there that day. CnC’s wasn’t much better. FT’s had a good crowd going, and we had a blast.

On previous cruises we’ve been to Playa Mia and done some shopping.

Belize – January 17th, 2012

Again, my 3rd time to this port. DH went off with BIL and did the Land Rover excursion through Carnival, while my sister and I walked through the shopping area. I was previously nervous taking DS on a long tender, but it appeared we were the only one anchored that day, so the ride wasn’t too long. I did find the tender operators to be very helpful with the stroller.

On previous cruises we’ve mountain biked through the rainforest, been to Altun Ha, had a traditional lunch and been to the Belikan Brewery.

Mahogany Bay, Roatan – January 18th, 2012

We had originally booked this cruise to include Ocho Rios, but several months ago OR was cancelled, and MB and GC added instead. A great boon for the rest of our big party as they hadn’t been to any of the ports, but a big boo for us as we had visited all by MB, and had really wanted to see OR.

We had booked an excursion through CCL to Tabyana Beach, but misread the excursion info. We had understood it to be an ‘at your leisure’ excursion, and ended up missing the 8:30am shuttle to the beach. After 45 minutes of trying to figure out what to do, we ended up opting for taking the walk to Mahogany Beach, and were so pleased! The short walk was easy for our MS cruiser, who had no issues with her walker. There was plenty of shade if you didn’t want to rent a cabana, the restaurants were good and free WIFI was found as well! After enjoying a Monkey La La we took a quick dip. If you like snorkelling, you can snorkel off the end of the pier.

I realize this is a cruise-ship owned stop, but am hopeful the rest of this island was as gorgeous as the beach area – truly a gem. (and we had our excursion money refunded with no problem)

Grand Cayman – January 19th, 2012

This is where our personal issues arose – our son woke up at 2am with flu-like symptoms, resulting in several calls to the onboard medical centre. We were very impressed with the service found there, as you hear stories of people’s experiences onboard sometimes that can be disturbing.

I’m very much an overpacker, and always bring practically our entire medicine cabinet with us. With a baby, that meant I had to bring all of his meds as well. It’s a good thing I did. :)

When the baby wasn’t feeling better later that morning, we brought him to see the doctor. The nurse that admitted us had a bit of a chip on his shoulder, but was quick and efficient. After a bit of a wait for the doctor (they needed to find an interpreter for the patients before us), DS was seen. They believed he had something viral, but as he didn’t have a fever, they didn’t feel it was serious enough for him to be quarantined, just kept quiet and allowed to rest as much as possible. We weren’t planning a big day in GC anyways, as again, this was our 3rd time there. Being from Ontario, we have universal healthcare – it was quite a shock to receive a $101 bill for 10 minutes of the doctor’s time and 2 bottles of Pedialyte! The doctor herself was from Barbados, and was quite knowledgeable, to our relief. As for our colds – she said there was something going around the ship, and she herself had even gotten it.

After checking with the doctor, we all decided to take taxis to Royal Palms, where we rented umbrellas and lounge chairs for $10 each. We kept DS in the shade, dipping him in the water to keep him cool.

We actually saw some water spouts while on the beach – I’m terrified of tornadoes, so started to pack everything in when I realized what they were! They quickly passed without ever coming near land though.

On previous visits we’ve been to the Turtle Farm, swam with the stingrays, been to Hel, danced on tables at Senor Frog’s (now closed), searched for our lost shaker of salt at Margaritaville, and parasailed.

Fun Day at Sea – January 20th, 2012

The virus that got DS ended up tracking myself and my mother down as well, with my sister catching my cold. Such an eventful cruise for sickness, it made all our activities twice as difficult, but we tried to make the best of it. Overall I’m very happy I packed so many diapers and wipes!

We had a very, very lazy, laid back day on our final sea day.

Great start.

Ill be doing this cruise in Sept. ... what nights were formal nights?

Great post so far, hoping to take this trip in September. Can't wait to try the burger bar and new draft beer!

Riz,

Sorry you had so many illness issues and that you missed the M&G. We enjoyed the cruise, had a good time because of good weather, good ports, and having the family together for the first time in 2 years. However, it is my first (and probably my last) Carnival cruise. We liked the 24/7 ice cream, the mini golf, the serenity area, hot tubs, DS loved Guys, and DGS loved the water slide and saunas. After 7 cruises on Premier, NCL, and Princess, I booked Carnival because it was the "party boat" mostly for my two 30-something single sons and 9 year old grandson.

Not much measured up to previous standards - - - Mediocre food, painfully slow MDR service, missing those little niceties (like serving women first), poor entertainment (3 nights of dance troop (not my thing), one night with no show, one night with passenger talent, and one comedy juggler), adult comedians that I didn't find funny (I'm no prude, just didn't find them funny), and virtually NO night life. My sons were VERY disappointed in the lack of nightime activities/action. I conclude the the folks on the "Old peoples'" cruise lines know how to party better than the "Fun Ship" crowd.

Ill be doing this cruise in Sept. ... what nights were formal nights?

2 and 6

2 and 6

Thank you! Another question... I am not sure... I may have missed it when reading your review...

On the Destiny, the hot tubs were barely warm.... how were they on Liberty? I hope they were at least very warm....:)

Thank you! Another question... I am not sure... I may have missed it when reading your review...

On the Destiny, the hot tubs were barely warm.... how were they on Liberty? I hope they were at least very warm....:)

I covered it, but that's okay. The midship tubs on the Lido were luke warm, but the adult (aft) ones were warmer. Not hot hot, but noticeably warmer.