Funship 2.0 (Liberty) Review w/Lots of Pictures

[swagner]

Absolutely, Monica is the BEST. Personal service means so much when dealing with a large corporation.

 

Thanks for the Kudos on the pictures, I have about 180 or so that I'll have in this review, and if anyone wants larger ones, I'll post links (as long as they aren't of my wife) :eek:

 

If you want to get into DSLR, look into the Nikon D7000 which is what I used for most of these pictures. Also, digital-photography-school.com is a great resource for tips and gear recommendations.

 

Excellent review! We will be on the Liberty in September and you're review made us that much more excited! Your photos are excellent! We have the Nikon D5000 and are still trying to get used to it. So far we only have the 18-55 and 55-200 lens but we have talked about getting another one before our cruise.

 

Would you mind posting a link for the first picture in post 40? I'd love to use it as my wallpaper at work so I can dream about being on vacation? Thanks so much in advance!

[Vicki22]

You said you were off the ship by 8:30...did you do the self assist? A couple in our group are looking at an early flight and I want to make sure they can make it.

 

Great pics....I can't wait, we have 72 days!!

[luvcdays]

Thanks for posting the wonderful review and awesome pics! It looks like you and DW had a great time.

 

Can you tell me where the secret door is located?

[Counsel]

...night reading your review and looking at the great pix! We will be on the Liberty in 43 days sailing the same itinerary. We have reserved a Cabana at HMC as well.

 

We were on the Liberty this past February, so it will be interesting to compare old vs. 2.0 ! :)

 

Your pictures make me want to go out and buy a DSLR for the cruise. Thanks again for taking the time to post... I was going to ask you about the secret door, but I see luvcdays beat me to it.

 

Bruce

aka Counsel

[Counsel]

... in the picture of your DW at the HMC Cabana that she is wearing a "Lead without Limits" shirt - isn't that a Dave Ramsey shirt? If so, you must be "living like no one else, so that someday you'll be able to live like no one else". :D

 

I am the facilitator for FPU at our Church...

 

Bruce

[KrystalWaters]

Absolutely, Monica is the BEST. Personal service means so much when dealing with a large corporation.

 

Thanks for the Kudos on the pictures, I have about 180 or so that I'll have in this review, and if anyone wants larger ones, I'll post links (as long as they aren't of my wife) :eek:

 

If you want to get into DSLR, look into the Nikon D7000 which is what I used for most of these pictures. Also, digital-photography-school.com is a great resource for tips and gear recommendations.

 

Thank you for posting the digital photography website,it has a wealth of information:eek:. I'm a novice photography just got 'the bug' and received my 1st 'real' camera for Christmas. It's a bridge camera Fuji Finepix S3380. I love it takes wonderful pictures. I'm just learning how to use it...i'm still stuck on the "auto mode":).

 

Loving your review so far. Pictures are beautiful!

[Angileyze1]

... in the picture of your DW at the HMC Cabana that she is wearing a "Lead without Limits" shirt - isn't that a Dave Ramsey shirt? If so, you must be "living like no one else, so that someday you'll be able to live like no one else". :D

 

I am the facilitator for FPU at our Church...

 

Bruce

 

 

I LOVE Dave!!!

[pyroguy]

So did I miss something? What does (HDR) stand for? I just got my first DSLR so I don't know the lingo yet.

 

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range - it's done by bracketing photos (taking multiple shots at different exposure levels), the faster the better with moving things like waves or clouds for example. In most of the HDR pictures I took in San Juan, I had my camera taking 3 shots at -1.3 (underexposed) , 0 (correct exposure) and +1.3 (overexposed) EV all within about 1/2 second.

 

All cameras have a limited tonal range, much less so than the human eye. By taking multiple shots, creating a 32 bit image, then "re-mapping" the colors back down to a standard 8-bit jpeg, we can get a much higher tonal range on the final picture.

 

Sometimes they look kind of "painterly" as some of mine do, but that's all controlled in the software. It's kind of an art form. Depending on several variables, you can go for a more natural look or more of a painted look.

 

If you have a standard P&S camera, you can try it yourself if you have a tripod. Just play with the shutter settings, or even do an in-camera exposure boost and take 3 shots to try it. Google "Free HDR Software" to find some programs to play with if you're interested in giving it a shot.

[pyroguy]

Awesome review PG. My DW and I will be on the Liberty the end of Feb, but we are doing the West. Caribbean. We've been looking for a review like yours since we booked, but it seemed like every ship but the Liberty was being reviewed. I can't thank you enough for taking the time to do this (especially the fantastic pictures).

 

One question though if I might...overall, how would you rate the entertainment? Are there any good bands to listen to while having a couple of drinks later in the evening?

 

Thanks again for your review. You really made us that much more excited about our cruise.

 

As far as the shows in the Venecian Palace - honestly I thought they weren't that great. I'm by no means an expert - but I do run both audio and lighting production for a fairly large church in our area. I'm a volunteer, not a full time production person - and I thought there was some definite room for improvement in both the production quality and the singers themselves.

 

There was a husband/wife duet that sang quite often in multiple venues - the husband playing keys and backup vocals and the wife lead vocalist. They did quite a few late 80's and early 90's pop and country songs. I would rate them a 7-9 out of 10. Pretty well done for the range of stuff they played.

 

There was also a solo guitarist that played mainly in the atrium. I thought he was a 9 or 10 in quality - but he only had songs that really matched his voice so I couldn't say how he would do with a wide variety of music. What he did do, though was excellent. Pop/Rock/Country type stuff.

 

There was another band that played in the Promenade across from the Casino almost every night. We listened a couple times - mostly 80's and 90's pop. The band did a great job, but the heavy accents threw me on the vocalists. Just didn't sound right. Almost sounded like they weren't really singing the words, but just repeating the sounds as they thought they should be sung (maybe didn't know the words?). I would give them a pretty low, 3-4 rating although the band did a good job overall.

 

Hope this helps.

[pyroguy]

Question, I tried to find it in your review re-reading, but couldn't. Was there a second formal night? If so, which night was it?

 

Yes, there was. I believe it was the Grand Turk Night - however we did the Steakhouse that night so we were kind of formal anyway.

[pyroguy]

It stands for "High Dynamic Range".

The camera actually takes a series of pictures with different exposure settings and then "merges" them into one. Pretty cool stuff!

 

Mike

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Yes, Mike got it right in much fewer words that I tried :)

 

I go geek too quickly, as my wife will attest when it's something I like.

[pyroguy]

I absolutely LOVE this picture.

 

When you picked out your cabana at the4 excursion desk, did you have to pick your sodas and all that right then? Or was it something you could step aside, think about and bring back to the excursion desk?

 

Thanks for sharing your pictures and writing a great review. We are in major countdown mode to embarkation!

 

Great question. No, they give you a green sheet of paper that asked the sodas you wanted (Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite and Orange I think were the options), and also the sizes (mens and womens) and quantity of snorkel gear you wanted (up to 4). You turn it in later at the excursion desk.

[girlscruise2011]

Great Review. I'm doing the Destiny in May and doing HMC and GT so I love the pics. Hoping to get Cabana #11. Thanks for the info on the spacing. Doing the Liberty for Thanksgiving with the family and can't wait to see the 2.0 upgrades but thanks to you and your great pics, I can imagine me having one of those delicious Guy burgers.

 

Thanks for the great pics and review...great job :)

[mdbowl300]

That could be dangerous after an afternoon at Jack's Shack. :eek:

 

The second cruise elegant night is when you are on Grand turk. Andy yes it was a bit of a challenge after being at Jack's Shack...

 

Still don't remember taking those pictures when walking back through Margaritaville after being at Jack's Shack. DW says I did.

Edited January 5, 2012 by mdbowl300

[pyroguy]

Great Review and I can really appreciate the pictures. I recently picked up the Nikon D5100 and am looking forward to my first cruise with it. What settings did you use for your pictures and did you use on camera or the pop up for the flash?

 

Thanks again ...great review

 

Thanks!

 

Actually, I didn't use the flash much. I rarely use the built-in popup flash because it almost always produces red-eye. I'll use it when we're in bright sunlight and I just need a fill flash for a shadow, but that's about it.

 

I do have an SB600 that I used for some of these pictures - and I use that more than anything else. My D7000 has a commander built in and the SB600 is wireless, so I can do it off camera and stay completely away from red eye. I can also rotate the flash up to reflect off of a ceiling or wall to backlight the subject a lot better.

 

For the most part, though, I don't use the flash at all. For most of these shots, I set my ISO at 100-400 and use program mode. I'll set my WB depending on where I'm at, but Cloudy works for almost every situation except the room or heavy incandescant areas.

 

When I started shooting with my D3000, I always went to Apeture or Shutter priority - and those are great for specialty shots where you need a narrow focus field or a super fast or slow shutter speed...but for most shots, Program mode works really well.

 

The D5100 has I believe the exact same CMOS sensor as the D7000. What I've found with mine, is that with proper exposure, even high ISO photos look pretty good with little noise.

 

Probably 95% of the pictures that I posted are without using a flash at all.

[pyroguy]

Wow an 11:50 flight out of FLL , we are on the same cruise next Nov. Havent booked air looking for the best deal between Mia and Fll and everything I have read is not to book before 1pm out of there . I am finding a lot of noonish flight out FLL but am hesitant to book them.

 

Great Review enjoyed it. :):)

 

You know, we didn't really have any problems. Taren was nervous as I'll get out, but it went very smoothly. The only snafu we had was when we got to FLL - the Continental scale was about 1-2 lbs heavier reading than our luggage scale so we had to transfer some weight to our carry ons.

 

The security line for us in FLL was pretty long, and it took us about 20-25 minutes to get thru (maybe that's not long, we're used to KCI where the wait is typically less than 1 minute). We were able to eat lunch and sit and read for about 45 minutes before boarding.

 

I can't recommend SAS enough from POM to FLL. They are on the ball and great to deal with.

[pyroguy]

Excellent review! We will be on the Liberty in September and you're review made us that much more excited! Your photos are excellent! We have the Nikon D5000 and are still trying to get used to it. So far we only have the 18-55 and 55-200 lens but we have talked about getting another one before our cruise.

 

Would you mind posting a link for the first picture in post 40? I'd love to use it as my wallpaper at work so I can dream about being on vacation? Thanks so much in advance!

 

Swagner - no problem. Here you go:

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/z1PW5C9MzY4_Ye_yIxLbk3nSzfoaKSbBPPbFRDNSO2E?feat=directlink

[pyroguy]

You said you were off the ship by 8:30...did you do the self assist? A couple in our group are looking at an early flight and I want to make sure they can make it.

 

Great pics....I can't wait, we have 72 days!!

 

Yes, we did the self-assist. They tell you to bring your bags to the Venecian Palace (the V room up front). We looked at which side we were docked on from pulling in (at that time is was the opposite of how we got on - so starboard) so that's which side of the room we went in on. People kept piling in the room until it went out to the atrium. A couple of times some staff came in telling people they needed to be INSIDE the doors of the Venecian, but eventually it kept piling back up until they just opened the doors and let everyone debark.

[pyroguy]

Thanks for posting the wonderful review and awesome pics! It looks like you and DW had a great time.

 

Can you tell me where the secret door is located?

 

The secret door(s) are located all the way forward on Decks 9 and 10 (I think you can also get on 7 but I didn't do that so don't quote me).

 

They aren't marked or anything. You can go outside on deck 9 and there is a stairway in the middle of the ship to go up to Deck 10. You can also get back to the ship on the sides at deck 10 just like deck 9.

 

Often on this cruise there were signs on the doors saying "closed due to high wind", but there were often people out there anyway.

[pyroguy]

... in the picture of your DW at the HMC Cabana that she is wearing a "Lead without Limits" shirt - isn't that a Dave Ramsey shirt? If so, you must be "living like no one else, so that someday you'll be able to live like no one else". :D

 

I am the facilitator for FPU at our Church...

 

Bruce

 

Bruce - YES! When I posted that pic, I wondered if anyone would pick up on that!

 

This is our first vacation after we became debt free. We have led 15 FPU semesters at our church, a little over 500 families and 1200 CC's shredded. Living like no one else!

 

:cool:

[Buffett fan]

After lunch at Barbies, we headed over to Jack’s Shack. Most of our Roll call had been there before us and left, but we still had a great time. Jack was cool, the place was nice...food was great (except they ran out of Jerk Chicken) and Tofer is awesome!

 

...Taren drinking her Sandy V***** (you can fill in the name)...

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just found this review and I am LOVING it...I was on the Liberty 2 years ago and now really want to book again! And by the way, the "Sandy V*****" - hilarious! :D

[pyroguy]

The second cruise elegant night is when you are on Grand turk. Andy yes it was a bit of a challenge after being at Jack's Shack...

 

Still don't remember taking those pictures when walking back through Margaritaville after being at Jack's Shack. DW says I did.

 

Yeah, Mike - I heard you had a great time at Jack's Shack...we were at Barbies and missed you, but Sue said you really tied one on! That's what vacations are for, right?:D

[SuntanaGirl]

Thanks for explaining what HDR is. I just got a Canon T3i for Christmas with the standard IS lenses. I did get a UV and Polarizer filter to help. My first cruise is the end of Feb. so I'm trying to learn as much as I can in 2 months. I start camera classes this weekend too, and I have a friend who has one and we're getting together to shoot on the weekends. I know I won't get the best shots with such a short time to learn, but I've taken some really good ones to me so far.

 

We'll see what I can come up with.

[pyroguy]

Thanks for explaining what HDR is. I just got a Canon T3i for Christmas with the standard IS lenses. I did get a UV and Polarizer filter to help. My first cruise is the end of Feb. so I'm trying to learn as much as I can in 2 months. I start camera classes this weekend too, and I have a friend who has one and we're getting together to shoot on the weekends. I know I won't get the best shots with such a short time to learn, but I've taken some really good ones to me so far.

 

We'll see what I can come up with.

 

Awesome! Really check out the digital-photography-school.com - they have a lot of great tutorials and articles.

 

Also a friend of mine had a great idea - she took a picture a day in 2011 and posted it with a little discussion on the lighting, what settings she used, etc. I got some great inspiration from her little daily blog - it was called "aprimeyearinpictures.blogspot.com" - loved her last one last week.

 

The great thing about digital is that you can take as many as you want without worry.

 

I really appreciate all the "great pictures" kudos...but you all don't see that for every 1 great picture, theres 5-7 that don't make the cut. :eek:

[Indianaseadog]

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range - it's done by bracketing photos (taking multiple shots at different exposure levels), the faster the better with moving things like waves or clouds for example. In most of the HDR pictures I took in San Juan, I had my camera taking 3 shots at -1.3 (underexposed) , 0 (correct exposure) and +1.3 (overexposed) EV all within about 1/2 second.

 

All cameras have a limited tonal range, much less so than the human eye. By taking multiple shots, creating a 32 bit image, then "re-mapping" the colors back down to a standard 8-bit jpeg, we can get a much higher tonal range on the final picture.

 

Sometimes they look kind of "painterly" as some of mine do, but that's all controlled in the software. It's kind of an art form. Depending on several variables, you can go for a more natural look or more of a painted look.

 

If you have a standard P&S camera, you can try it yourself if you have a tripod. Just play with the shutter settings, or even do an in-camera exposure boost and take 3 shots to try it. Google "Free HDR Software" to find some programs to play with if you're interested in giving it a shot.

 

I think I just got a headache after reading this post.:D

 

I think it is great you facilitate the FPU at your church. I used to live in Nashville, Tn (home of Dave Ramsey) and went to a "mega" church and our Pastor was good friends with Dave and he actually came and talked every once in a while. Very motivational and entertaining too.

 

Every once in a while I'll read a review and think..."this would be a fun couple to cruise with" and you and your wife definetely fall into that category! Great review and God Bless you both!