Review: Carnival Liberty June 11th - 18th...

[pacarolinagirl]

Carnival Liberty - 7 day Eastern Caribbean - June 11th - 18th (their will be lots of pics as those are kind of reviews I like so you have been warned). LOL!

 

First view of the whale tail!

 

Inside the Miami cruise terminal.

 

 

Who was cruising? It was DH & I (both 38 & our 2nd cruise), our 11 y.o. son, our friends Laurie & Tim (38 & 44)…it was all their 1st cruise. We were suppose to have our 19 y.o. son & their 18 y.o. son but ours is in Boot Camp until the end of July & their son had mandatory training everyday in June for his college major. So they both missed out. Next time…

Me & Hubby (Jason)

Our younger son David

Our good friends, Tim & Laurie

 

Also, I didn’t take any food porn pics. Sorry. But for the most part everything was good…to us anyway. We had late seating in the Silver Dining Room.

　

We flew into Ft. Lauderdale from PA & stayed at the Sheraton in Dania Beach. Not far from the airport at all. They had a shuttle to come pick us up. This was a nice hotel but there wasn’t anywhere to go eat, shop or do without taking at least a 10 min taxi ride. Just wanted you to know. While nice, we won’t stay here again just for that reason. The food in the hotel restaurant was excellent. Expensive but excellent.

[pacarolinagirl]

More pics around the ship...

 

This is where DJ Ace spun the tunes at night.

 

David wasted no time trying out the waterslide.

 

In the Atrium

 

A view of South Beach as we sailed away.

 

Our 1st towel animal. David loved these!

 

The Arcade

[pacarolinagirl]

Another arcade pic.

 

The Venetian Palace stage

 

inside the Venetial Palace

 

ahhhhhh!

 

Laurie & I waiting for the show to start.

 

David with another buddy!

[pacarolinagirl]

EMBARKATION DAY:

Wooohoo! We booked transportation through SAS. They were great (this round…l'll explain later). They actually called my cell about 30 min prior to pickup (which was 10am) to see if it was OK if they picked us up 10 - 15 minutes early. Absolutely! Our friends had flown in that morning from NC & were in the van waiting. YAY! It was an easy ride & seemed to go pretty quickly. They dropped us off at the porter station & those guys got our bags & we headed to the terminal. SAS charges $15 pp. You pay when they drop you off. We reached the terminal & honestly it was a very smooth process. Now we only have the Tampa port to compare it to but to us it was much easier. We used the kiosk to check in…VERY EASY & it seems you get a $1 OBC pp when you use those. That was the only thing we could figure that matched up with the time listed on our statement. We got zone 11 but it seemed to go very quickly. It seemed like we were on the Lido deck eating & celebrating in no time. Well I went to the shore excursions desk 1st to select my cabana for HMC. I was a little worried being in zone 11 but I had right many to choose from. We picked #14 the red one (more on that later).

 

Seems our rooms were ready right around 1:30 & we went to check them out. We went to the customary muster drill. It seemed a little unorganized but no biggie. OR it could have been the 3 boys (that had to be b/t the ages of 17 - 20) that were being completely obnoxious to the crew. Had they been mine I would have thumped on the back of the head & told them to act like they knew better but to each his own. I only had 1 to worry about on this trip & he was 11...he had already been threatened about his behavior. LOL! After this was over, we went up by the waterslides to meet some friends we met on “roll call” on Carnival’s mb. Our son had email another little cruise buddy his age who also happened to be from PA. They hit it off & had a great time on the cruise together. Yeah, another plus for us. I believe our luggage came while we were at Camp Carnival registration. We came back put things away & headed to dinner. Service was slow this first night…kind of unorganized but we just figured it was just their way of working the kinks out with everyone. Nothing to shake a tail feather at. By the next night it was up to speed & fantastic. We loved our bar sever Bambang, our head waiter Gheorghe, and the asst waiters Swatra & Krisma. Swatra is very personable & Krisma can dance. He was one of the ones on the tables dancing. LOL! They were all great & provided excellent service the entire cruise. :)

[pacarolinagirl]

HALF MOON CAY, BAHAMAS:

 

 

 

 

OK, I totally understand why people never want to leave this place & are disappointed if the weather causes them to miss the port. It was breath taking to me. Just beautiful!!!

 

Since we had a cabana rented we were all on the first tender. They told us to meet in the Victoria Lounge around 8:15 - 8:30 & then they led us all down to the tender. We had cabana #14, the red one. They had a bus drop us off on the road right above our cabana. They told us to tell the driver that we had stingray excursions & what time & that he would be back to pick us up. He was! It was great!

 

We also enjoyed the Capt. Morgan’s Ship Bar. Laurie & I walked down to check out, got some rum runners & took some pics. Great music, etc but not so loud that it would interrupt those down the beach. The guys just ordered buckets of beer from the server down the beach. LOL! Our friends from roll call came down & set up in front of us so the boys could hang out & play. They used the nets from our snorkel gear to catch some fish…they let them go immediately. Our so caught a baby blowfish & his friend caught a baby seahorse. I don’t have pics as Laurie & I were at the bar during this time but DH videoed them.

 

 

 

[pacarolinagirl]

HALF MOON CAY CONT.

 

 

 

DS & I did the stingray excursion. It was one of the few things he really wanted to do. It was fun! Now, if you have done Stingray City in the Caymans then this will not even come close (that is my opinion anyway). It was all new for my son & the excitement in his face made it more than fun for me. It isn’t the same caliber as G.C. but it was still fun nonetheless especially for younger kids. YES, I kissed a stingray…I wasn’t passing up 7 yrs of good luck. Are you crazy? LOL! My DH videoed the entire time but what part do you think he missed…yep, the kiss. Said he got caught up watching me & forgot the camera. Un huh…jealous of a stingray are you. LOL! The funny part on the video is you know exactly when I kissed my sweet stingray…you hear all the gasps. Ha ha. I believe there were a lot of first timers snorkeling with stingrays on this excursion. YES, so far, the good luck is happening. Already have our next cruise booked. ;o)

 

 

 

 

 

I was a little upset that I wasn't able to get more pics. Our camera charge for my underwater camera had decided to quit working & didn't charge my battery. We remedied that problem once we were back on the ship. Ended up buying a new one on the ship. It was an actual upgrade to the one we had because, of course, the only one available with the same type battery we had was a more expensive one. LOL!

[pacarolinagirl]

ADVICE: If you want souvenirs, get them on your way to the beach or go over after you eat lunch. I KNEW this & still didn’t do it. We did head back @ 3 but everything was closed except a few local vendors. I did manage to buy a straw bag with HMC on it & I forgot the other item I wanted until I was back at the ship already. Oh well, NEXT TIME! Ha ha.

 

HMC has been the most beautiful place that we have seen so far but remember we are just getting started. LOL! This is only our 2nd cruise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Laurie & I at the top of Capt. Morgan Ship Bar.

 

 

I swear I made all these pics smaller on photobucket. Before reviewing any more ports, I'm going back to make the rest even smaller. Good grief!

[pacarolinagirl]

A few more pics from HMC. I totally forgot to mention the BBQ lunch they provide. We found it to be excellent. The jerk chicken was awesome! YUMMM! The cabana worked out well for my hubby & Tim. They enjoyed an escape out of the sun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up...St. Thomas

[oncruisecontrol]

　

We flew into Ft. Lauderdale from PA & stayed at the Sheraton in Dania Beach. Not far from the airport at all. They had a shuttle to come pick us up. This was a nice hotel but there wasn’t anywhere to go eat, shop or do without taking at least a 10 min taxi ride. Just wanted you to know. While nice, we won’t stay here again just for that reason. The food in the hotel restaurant was excellent. Expensive but excellent.

 

Great start to your review. Can't wait to read the rest. I highlighted the above paragraph just to point out that Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World and Islamorada Fish Company are a very short walk from this hotel. The food at Islamorada is good (especially their blackened chicken alfredo and their grilled chicken sandwich). And Outdoor World is a large, interesting store with neat stuff. From the Sheraton, it is also very doable to walk to Tropical Acres Steakhouse, which is on Griffin Rd (same street as the Sheraton) about a half mile west of the hotel.

[SASA13]

Excellent pics, keep the review coming ;)

[Cruisingzs]

Enjoying the review! We leave on July 23rd. We also have a cabana and stingray tour booked. How did you like #14? How far were the restrooms? MIL wil be with us and don't want her to be too too far away

[BaseballMomof4]

Keep it coming!! We are sailing this itinerary in November and can't wait! :D

[spideyfam]

Great Half Moon Cay pictures. Looking forward to the rest of you review!

[Anung Un Rama]

Very nice review so far. You have some great pictures in there. I am about 100 days away from my first trip to HMC and can't wait. Look forward to the rest.

[dodger501]

I swear I made all these pics smaller on photobucket. Before reviewing any more ports, I'm going back to make the rest even smaller. Good grief!

 

Your review is going great and your pictures are just the right size!

My monitor resolution is 1680x1050 and they look fine.

[NurseW2Kiddies]

Great review!!! Anxious for more!!!!! This is our itinerary for next May!!!:eek:

Can I wait that long??????? Sigh......;)

[MyDogRudy]

Great start to your review. Can't wait to read the rest. I highlighted the above paragraph just to point out that Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World and Islamorada Fish Company are a very short walk from this hotel. The food at Islamorada is good (especially their blackened chicken alfredo and their grilled chicken sandwich). And Outdoor World is a large, interesting store with neat stuff. From the Sheraton, it is also very doable to walk to Tropical Acres Steakhouse, which is on Griffin Rd (same street as the Sheraton) about a half mile west of the hotel.

 

Thank you for the tip. We will be sailing out of Miami again in January and have a vacation ownership with Sheraton. We flew into and stayed in FLL this January because it was cheaper, but it was such a hassle getting the the port it was not worth the savings. Looking to fly into and stay in MIA next year and was intrigued by the airport shuttle this hotel offered but was worried there was nothing within walking distance. Now I know it is still an option.

[joydisney]

Can't wait to read more. We plan to take this cruise next summer with extended family.

[SoosieQ]

our head waiter Gheorghe, and the asst waiters Swatra & Krisma. Swatra is very personable & Krisma can dance. He was one of the ones on the tables dancing. LOL! They were all great & provided excellent service the entire cruise. :)

 

 

We had the same dining room staff. They were awesome! :D