Review of our Spring Break 2011 cruise on Carnival Liberty

[santacap]

Good Ol Terracota Cabana... # 13... we just were in it on our Carnival Miracle Cruise last week... our first time to Half Moon Cay, and definitely not our last.

 

Probably doing this itinerary next yr

[Calico Jack Sparrow]

Lucky 13. It's a good thing I'm not superstitious (Spelt correctly 'cause I looked it up on dictionary.com).

 

It's a good thing you spelt "it" correctly. Too bad you missed spelled. Only kidding.

Wonderful review. I feel like I'm right there with you. I just past 200 days till my sailing. Too long to wait.

Looks like I have booked the room next door to the aft wrap you guys had. Nice. :D

[jkjmt]

Where are the cabana's you're reserving.....Grand Turks or Half Moon Cay???

[AndrewD65]

Great job Paul, Keep up the good work Hopefully I get to see the finish product before I leave in 17 days.

[Chef P]

I went straight to the shore excursion desk upon boarding the ship and was second in line? Not sure how that happened, but oh well. A Carnival employee stopped by and told us the desk wouldn't be open until 12:30, but others in line had asked at Guest Services and were told 11:30 so I waited. When the desk opened I requested Cabana #15 and was told it was taken already. The man in front of me requested #14 and got it so I was left with #13. Lucky 13. It's a good thing I'm not superstitious (Spelt correctly 'cause I looked it up on dictionary.com).

 

The boys had tried out their S&S cards at the atrium bar and incidentally were told that they couldn't set at the bar because they weren't 21. I thought that was amusing given the recent thread on CC about the bar and what age you have to be to sit there. All of the bar seats were empty, but I'm sure they filled up shortly thereafter.

 

 

 

 

After the delay in requesting a specific cabana and drinks from the atrium bar we headed up to Lido. By now the older boys had gone exploring so we missed our traditional first pic on Lido;

 

 

 

My Lido 'brunch' was quite tasty;

 

 

 

We always eat on deck 10 above the Lido buffet area near the Fish & Chips. When we first got there I asked one of the chef's if they had any oysters and he mentioned they were working on Fish and Chips. I said they looked tasty. I planned to stop by there later and get some oysters but while we were eating the chef delivered two plates of Fish and Chips to me at our table. We sailed Dream last year where the pasta bar delivers your orders, but it was totally unexpected for him to bring me Fish & Chips to my table.

 

 

 

Britt had pizza;

 

 

 

Bryson tried out the grill (Yeah I know they look messy, but I tried a bite and they were quite tasty! ;

 

 

If that ever happens to my daughter, they will witness a scene, my daughters spends just as much as the next guest on passenger fare, drinks, shore excursions, photos, gift shop expenses.... if she makes a purchase at the bar, she will be entitled to a seat... sorry to vent on your review... Cant wait for more of your review...

[pacarolinagirl]

I was sooooo excited when I logged on & saw a "PaulMedix" review. Wooohooo! Fantastic review so far & I'm anxiously awaiting the rest. We're taking this same cruise in 24 days. YAY! :D

 

BTW, tell Bryson that I love love love his Autism Awareness bracelet. :)

[Ruggled]

Yay Paul! I was waiting for your review so I could relive the cruise! :D

 

Keep them coming..loving your "general" shots...already seen one with DH and me in it!

[jimbo5544]

I went straight to the shore excursion desk upon boarding the ship and was second in line? Not sure how that happened, but oh well. A Carnival employee stopped by and told us the desk wouldn't be open until 12:30, but others in line had asked at Guest Services and were told 11:30 so I waited. When the desk opened I requested Cabana #15 and was told it was taken already. The man in front of me requested #14 and got it so I was left with #13. Lucky 13. It's a good thing I'm not superstitious (Spelt correctly 'cause I looked it up on dictionary.com).

 

The boys had tried out their S&S cards at the atrium bar and incidentally were told that they couldn't set at the bar because they weren't 21. I thought that was amusing given the recent thread on CC about the bar and what age you have to be to sit there. All of the bar seats were empty, but I'm sure they filled up shortly thereafter.

 

 

 

 

After the delay in requesting a specific cabana and drinks from the atrium bar we headed up to Lido. By now the older boys had gone exploring so we missed our traditional first pic on Lido;

 

 

 

My Lido 'brunch' was quite tasty;

 

 

 

We always eat on deck 10 above the Lido buffet area near the Fish & Chips. When we first got there I asked one of the chef's if they had any oysters and he mentioned they were working on Fish and Chips. I said they looked tasty. I planned to stop by there later and get some oysters but while we were eating the chef delivered two plates of Fish and Chips to me at our table. We sailed Dream last year where the pasta bar delivers your orders, but it was totally unexpected for him to bring me Fish & Chips to my table.

 

 

 

Britt had pizza;

 

 

 

Bryson tried out the grill (Yeah I know they look messy, but I tried a bite and they were quite tasty! ;

 

You got 13, who got 12 and 11?...........must have been me

[workn2cruise]

Really enjoying your review!

[iluvdoxies]

If that ever happens to my daughter, they will witness a scene, my daughters spends just as much as the next guest on passenger fare, drinks, shore excursions, photos, gift shop expenses.... if she makes a purchase at the bar, she will be entitled to a seat... sorry to vent on your review... Cant wait for more of your review...

 

It's not an issue of money, but of age. Do you let your daughter go to bars at Home ?

 

When my boys were young, I wouldnt have wanted them sitting on a barstool.

[reno3]

Great review Paul:D

It is nice to relive it through your review.

We had a great times also.

We had cabana #10 and hope to get it again next April:D

 

Just noticed, I lost my "Sailed" countdown clock from my Liberty cruise last month:confused:

It is not in my signature anymore:confused:

[PaulMedik]

It's a good thing you spelt "it" correctly. Too bad you missed spelled. Only kidding.

Wonderful review. I feel like I'm right there with you. I just past 200 days till my sailing. Too long to wait.

Looks like I have booked the room next door to the aft wrap you guys had. Nice.

 

Calico Jack Sparrow,

 

The rooms on both sides of our room had great balconies. I'm sure you'll enjoy them.

 

 

Where are the cabana's you're reserving.....Grand Turks or Half Moon Cay???

 

Half Moon Cay.

 

 

 

You got 13, who got 12 and 11?...........must have been me

 

Jim,

 

Yep, those would be yours!

 

And yes the board delays and disappearing posts are driving me nutz. It seems like every time I forget to copy one before submitting that it disappears.

 

 

kerrytens,

 

He wears the autism bracelet every day.

 

***********************************************

Thank you all for your kind comments. Sorry for the skipped day yesterday; I typed up replies twice and never could get them through. Yesteday evening I checked my ping was 22ms to most servers in adjacent states and my d/l speed was 48.6MB /sec and u/l was 2.8. My lowest readings were 58ms ping, d/l 46, and up 1.7. No lost packets on any servers. I realize those readings are meaningless to most people, but to me they indicate my connection is fine.

 

***********************************************

 

 

 

After we dropped our carryon bags off at the cabin, Britt and I went to make sure they hadn't moved things around too much;

 

 

 

 

We found Spencer and Jake playing a modified version of Air Hockey;

 

 

 

When I returned to the cabin I noticed they had delivered our Platinum Stationary;

 

 

 

 

I also found our beach towels piled up on a balcony chair;

 

 

 

Upon closer inspection I noticed Karen was under the pile along with a pillow. She slept all afternoon until time for the 'Safety Briefing.'

 

 

 

 

As you can tell she wasn't fully awake for the trek down the crew stairs to our Muster Station;

 

[PaulMedik]

I was sooooo excited when I logged on & saw a "PaulMedix" review. Wooohooo! Fantastic review so far & I'm anxiously awaiting the rest. We're taking this same cruise in 24 days. YAY!

 

BTW, tell Bryson that I love love love his Autism Awareness bracelet.

 

Amy,

 

Thank you.

 

I'll be sure and tell him.

 

 

Yay Paul! I was waiting for your review so I could relive the cruise!

 

Keep them coming..loving your "general" shots...already seen one with DH and me in it!

 

Debbie,

 

You'll be in a few more coming up soon....if the boards allow me to post!

 

Great review Paul

It is nice to relive it through your review.

We had a great times also.

We had cabana #10 and hope to get it again next April

 

Just noticed, I lost my "Sailed" countdown clock from my Liberty cruise last month

It is not in my signature anymore

 

 

reno3,

 

I think the CC Hosts are cleaning our signatures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the Muster Drill was over we headed back up to our deck errr balcony for sail away.

 

Cruise Critic roll calls are a great way to learn about your ship, your ports, and establish friendships. Sometimes you meet people who know people from your previous cruises and they want to get even with you for things you've said. They plan ahead and know you'll want a shot of South Beach during sail away so they have their innocent husband sit on the rail to prevent the shot;

 

 

 

I do love sail away from Miami, and even though deck six aft wrap was our favorite, I'm thinking deck eight comes in a close second;

 

 

 

 

Finally! A shot of South Beach without some vengeful CC roll call member having her family get in my way;

 

 

(In case anyone took my comments seriously about my fellow roll call members, I assure you they were all in jest)

 

 

While I wish the skies were more clear in this shot, I don't mind that the clouds were behind us and not out front;

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PaulMedik]

Norwegian Epic was docked in front of Liberty in port and led us out to sea. I remember looking at artist rederings of Epic when she was in construction and wondering if they'd realize during construction that she was an odd looking ship and modify her. They didn't. I recall looking at photos of her launch and thinking it must be the angle of the pics making her look so awkward. Since she launched I have read many reviews and most all are glowing, but none seem to think her outward appearance is attractive. Now that I've seen Epic in person, I have to agree with my earlier thoughts; that's one ugly ship! In all fairness, if they'd slope the front third of her and paint her hat the same color as her body and remove the graffiti she'd be much better looking;

 

 

 

Once we were out to sea I settled in with a cool drink and uploaded the image to FaceBook while still on AT&T;

 

 

I had just settled in my chair to enjoy the evening when I remembered our CC roll call meet & greet was scheduled for right after sail away.

 

OK, so where was everybody?

 

 

 

I enjoyed meeting my fellow roll call members and have to confess to missing a few M&Gs myself over the years, but given that half our rool call booked an excursion together in St Thomas that I missed I can't give them too much grief for missing the M&G. We also booked all but one or two of the cabanas in Half Moon Cay; the Captain's family got #15 and the guy in line in front of me got #14, but I think we got all of the others?

 

After the M&G I found Britt in our cabin in his 'Office.'

 

 

 

I'm sure whatever his occupation eventually is that he will not have a view that nice from his office.

 

There's only two outlets in our cabin; one by the desk and one in the bathroom. We pulled the DVD player out to see if there was an extra plug there for the Nuvi and discovered that Carnival isn't as safety conscious about their wiring when it comes to outlet strips as they'd like us to believe;

 

 

 

TV, DVD / VCR combo, and fridge all on one extension cord wound up in a ball. All I have to say about the tangled mess is they can keep their hands off my outlet strip!

 

 

Britt wasn't able to keep the Nuvi plugged in by his office window, but it has a two hour battery life so he got to enjoy it on the deck;

 

 

(Yeah, I know that's a blurry pic)

[PaulMedik]

Sunset;

 

 

 

 

 

 

Be careful, you'll burn your finger;

 

 

 

One of the best aft features is enjoying the reflection;

 

 

 

 

 

Three hours out we are passing the Bimini Islands;

 

[PaulMedik]

The light blue lines are our 'bread crumbs' as our vehicle GPS calls them. I'm not sure what Nuvi calls them, but they are where we've been when it was turned on. The blue line East of Fort Lauderdale is our flight down then the one behind us is our sail away from Miami. It's nice to be able to look and see exactly where we are, but it does make the vast blue ocean seem a little smaller;

 

 

 

 

When you book Early Saver and send in Price Claim forms, they send you a nice card for each price adjustment once you are on board. Bryson brought the cards down from his cabin;

 

 

 

It was funny that some of them were made out to Karen, some were made out to Karen and the boys, and some were made out to Karen and I. Our Grand Total of OBC was $1290 which includes ES, FCC x2, SeaMiles, and Shareholders OBC. $890 was ES alone on one cabin! Anyone still not like ES?

 

 

On our first evening we bagged up all of our dirty clothing and our steward picked it up for Platinum FREE wash and fold;

 

 

 

Karen, Britt and I had dinner at the buffet and it was delicious.

Here's what I had;

 

 

 

Karen's

 

 

 

Britt obviously loves bread;

 

 

 

Bryson, Spencer, Jake, and Heather all ate in the main dining room.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review, looks like everyone was having fun....now about that girl in the red suit.....

 

 

Kirk

[PaulMedik]

On the way back from dinner we stopped by the Game room so Britt could show us an iPod4 he'd been trying to cut loose in a game that involves using robotic scissors to cut a string. I watched him cut the string a little, but not all the way thru. I told him to save his money.

 

 

After we returned to our cabin we found the next day's Capers or FunTimes on our bed along with an animal;

 

 

 

There was also two more OBC cards for our Shareholders and from SeaMiles or FunPoints as it's now called;

 

 

 

 

You will read on CC that SeaMiles or Carnival FunPoints is a ripoff and that owning Carnival stock for the OBC isn't worthwhile, but I disagree and the above is two reasons why (Or should I say a few hundred reasons?)

 

 

We also discovered that our stewards had manufactured a bed for Britt;

 

 

 

Karen tried the bed out with Britt and said it was quite comfy;

 

 

 

This blurry pic of Nuvi shows that we are passing below FreePort Bahamas where two weeks earlier Liberty had to turn around and return to Miami for a sick passenger drop off. You can bet that incident was fresh in my mind and I was relieved to see we'd passed that point;

 

 

 

Just before we fell asleep Spencer stopped by to show us his new iPod4 that he won by cutting a string on a game in the arcade. Britt was happy that his brother won, but insisted that he had the string nearly cut in two and that he'd win one before it was over.....

[PaulMedik]

Thanks for the review, looks like everyone was having fun....now about that girl in the red suit.....

 

 

Kirk

 

 

Kirk,

 

Her website is **********.***. Hmm. It won't let me post it? :D I'm not sure there was enough there to call it a suit, but in her defense I will add that there were a lot of folks on SOBE wearing less than she was.....

 

 

*************************************************************

 

 

Sunrise as we approach our favorite port of Half Moon Cay;

 

 

 

 

Gotta luv the aft reflections;

 

 

 

 

A quick check of Nuvi shows we were right on schedule;

 

 

 

 

 

 

We woke Britt up and stopped by the boys cabin on our way to Breakfast to see if they wanted to go with us. As you can see, they opted to sleep in;

 

[PaulMedik]

Our Breakfast table on deck 10 is always ready and waiting;

 

 

 

Healthy Breakfast;

 

 

 

 

Karen's brown sugar with oatmeal;

 

 

 

After breakfast I got some pics of our approach to Half Moon Cay;

 

 

 

Half Moon Cay from our balcony;

 

 

 

We noticed the first tender was on it's way in so we woke the boys up to head down and catch it;

 

[jimbo5544]

Nice sunset pics Paul. My fav to take during a cruise (my avatar is from the Liberty).

[PaulMedik]

We made it down to the deck 0 stairwell when a Carnival rep approached us leading a group to the tender. She said 'You all have to go to the lounge and get a tender ticket. I showed her my card and said we're all platinum. She said 'It doesn't matter, you still have to go get a ticket.' I then showed her my cabana rental excursion ticket and said that they told us at the excursion counter that we didn't need tickets and to just show our cabana rental tickets to security on deck 0 to board. She then said 'Oh OK. You are right, you don't need a ticket.'

 

As I now understand, as platinum we were supposed to stop by guest services and be escorted, but why shouldn't we just proceed and show our cards when asked?

 

When we got to the security line Bryson, Britt, Heather, Jake, and I made it thru fine, but bells went off on Spencer and Karen. They eventually got Spencer's card to work and allowed him to board, but Karen's picture was blank. Security gathered around us and tried her card several times then said she'd either have to stay on board until they get it sorted out or return to her cabin and get her passport. I normally carry our passports with us, but have never carried them to Half Moon Cay. (I will next time). The first tender was now full and all but Karen and I were on board. I reminded Bryson and Spencer of our cabana number and sent them on ahead. (Jake's Mom Heather was also with them).

 

When Karen left to go upstairs and get her passport security had multiplied around me. One officer apologized and stated he had to be able to prove her identity. I replied that it was not a problem and that it wasn't the first time the computers had messed up. I told him that on our last cruise on Liberty it messed up on all five of us when we were getting off the ship. The tense security situation relaxed when they realized that I didn't just look calm, but actually was calm. As the officers discussed the situation they concluded that they didn't really need her passport and that all they really needed was to retake her picture. They apologized many times and I assured them it wasn't a big deal and that she knew her way around the ship and would be back in no time. In fact she was back with her passport before the next tender tied off and they retook her picture and apologized to her for having her go get her passport. Karen was calm and not bothered with the delay either.

 

Another thing you will read from time to time is about the diminutive appearance of Carnival's security. I was calm because there was no need to become upset, but had I opted to run my mouth I was surrounded by prepared security officers and would have been hustled out of there quickly. It was actually a pleasure to observe them casually surrounding me as I stood to the side and watched everything that was going on with Karen's card. They didn't get close to me, but had me covered from every angle including toward the officer involved and the gangway to the tender. When Karen left the area they asked if I wanted to board the tender and I said I would wait here for her. At no time did any of the officers display aggression, but I did observe them becoming more anxious as I also remained calm. Calm people are normally the most dangerous. As the situation defused it was also amusing to watch them relax their guard and return to where ever they came from.

 

We boarded the tender and enjoyed the quiet view while waiting on additional passengers to baord.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It took a while for the tender to be fully loaded, but once everyone was on board, all eyes went from HMC to Liberty;

 

 

 

 

 

[PaulMedik]

Nice sunset pics Paul. My fav to take during a cruise (my avatar is from the Liberty).

 

 

Jim,

 

Thank you. My favorite too.

 

I got better pics in St Thomas.

 

 

*****************************************************

 

 

The Carnival Photog were waiting as the tender gangway lowered;

 

 

 

 

While we would have preferred a Half Moon Cay shot of all of us together, we still posed;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[crewsweeper]

Oooh! love the sit n chill pic!!!:cool: Nice shot. Nice handling of id sitch too:)

[PaulMedik]

I was concerned and a bit apprehensive that the ship wreck bar Captain Morgan would alter the atmosphere of Half Moon Cay;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I won't say that Captain Morgan's enhances Half Moon Cay because it was perfect without it, but I will say it does provide a few more scenic photo ops and doesn't diminish the beauty of Half Moon Cay and most importantly doesn't cause an annoyance. Captain Morgan's did prove to be a nice watering hole for a couple of cool drinks on our walk to Cabana #13;