Funship 2.0 (Liberty) Review w/Lots of Pictures

[pyroguy]

I finally uploaded some of my videos to Youtube.

 

Here's one of Tofer, the Dog at Jack's Shack going after crabs in the sand:

 

Here's the liberty atrium and the multi-colored chandelier:

 

Here's the north shore beach of Grand Turk (near the lighthouse):

 

Here's one of Butch Begovitch and 6-3 groving for St. Jude on the last sea day:

[Buffett fan]

I finally uploaded some of my videos to Youtube.

 

Here's one of Tofer, the Dog at Jack's Shack going after crabs in the sand:

 

Here's the liberty atrium and the multi-colored chandelier:

 

Here's the north shore beach of Grand Turk (near the lighthouse):

 

Here's one of Butch Begovitch and 6-3 groving for St. Jude on the last sea day:

 

Great videos!

[futureAG]

I have a bunch of questions for you about your flight, transportation, stay, etc. I read your review a few days ago, but today got a wild hair to book the Breeze 2-day cruise out of Miami! I was excited, now I'm flipping out!! I knew it was thanksgiving day when I booked but I didn't care, now I care! We need flights, a hotel & transportation reservations ASAP! I remember you said you really enjoyed your driver so I came back to you! Now for all my questions!

 

Do you remember how much your SAS ride was? And how long it took to get to the hotel?

And the taxi the next morning, how much was it & how far from the hotel is POM (took me forever to figure out that was port of Miami!:o)

And finally, cause I can't remember, did you have SAS pick you up from POM & take you to the airport & how much was it?

While I'm asking, why did you fly to FLL instead of MIA?

Sorry for all the questions!! I just realized I've got lots of planing to do! :eek:

[pyroguy]

I have a bunch of questions for you about your flight, transportation, stay, etc. I read your review a few days ago, but today got a wild hair to book the Breeze 2-day cruise out of Miami! I was excited, now I'm flipping out!! I knew it was thanksgiving day when I booked but I didn't care, now I care! We need flights, a hotel & transportation reservations ASAP! I remember you said you really enjoyed your driver so I came back to you! Now for all my questions!

 

Do you remember how much your SAS ride was? And how long it took to get to the hotel?

And the taxi the next morning, how much was it & how far from the hotel is POM (took me forever to figure out that was port of Miami!:o)

And finally, cause I can't remember, did you have SAS pick you up from POM & take you to the airport & how much was it?

While I'm asking, why did you fly to FLL instead of MIA?

Sorry for all the questions!! I just realized I've got lots of planing to do! :eek:

 

Ok...to answer your questions, first of all the cost flying into FLL was quite a bit cheaper than MIA is why we went that direction.

 

SAS told us when we reserved that it would be $20pp from FLL to the doubletree biscayne bay...but the driver told us $15 each when we arrived.

 

The hotel is about 3-4 minutes from the POM, basically 3 blocks to the pier road, over the bridge and you're there. The cab ride was $12.

 

SAS can't pick you up from anywhere BUT POM in Miami. Something about the territory rules in Miami. It was another $15pp from POM to FLL.

 

Hope this helps.

[soccersharon]

Thank you for posting your review, Pyroguy :)

 

We are very much looking foyrward to seeing our Liberty again in March.

 

Your photos are awesome!

[futureAG]

Ok...to answer your questions, first of all the cost flying into FLL was quite a bit cheaper than MIA is why we went that direction.

 

SAS told us when we reserved that it would be $20pp from FLL to the doubletree biscayne bay...but the driver told us $15 each when we arrived.

 

The hotel is about 3-4 minutes from the POM, basically 3 blocks to the pier road, over the bridge and you're there. The cab ride was $12.

 

SAS can't pick you up from anywhere BUT POM in Miami. Something about the territory rules in Miami. It was another $15pp from POM to FLL.

 

Hope this helps.

 

It does!!! Thanks a million! I'm going to look at flights into both, we usually fly southwest and they onflight into FLL. One more thing, how long did it take to get from the airport to the hotel?

[Manatee Mom]

We recently sailed the liberty 2.0. If you want to see some of the upgrades in a fun way....check out this Youtube video of "La Cheapo" Flat Daddy's Liberty adventure. Guaranteed a few laughs!

 

[beshears]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your wonderful review of the Liberty.

 

I was planning on doing the Liberty this year, and unfortunately my plans fizzled out.:( One of my best friends that lives in Florida (I live in Missouri - Kansas City) left on the 10th (Saturday)of December on the Liberty. By Wednesday, I believe they had docked at San Juan, and had to get off the ship and fly back home.:( Her husband started having BAD pains not very long after they got on the ship, and they were so bad that he wound up in the hospital having surgery. They thought on top of this that he had CANCER too, but Thank God, thinks turned around for them, and he does not have cancer.:) Unfortunately they missed most of the cruise, but his life (age around 50's) is going to be alright.:)

 

I want to thank you once again for your write up and the awesome pictures. The picture of your wife at the bar in a "swing", I "love" any kind of swing.:) Then the picture of the lighthouse, which I dearly love. In fact a couple years ago, I climbed over 600 steps in 8 minutes, just to prove to my sons "mom" could do it.:) I also love shells. The conch shell picture was something else.

 

Brenda

[Froufie]

Hi again,

 

Not sure if you kept the Fun Times from your cruise but if you did is there any way you can scan and post them for us? (pretty please with a cherry on top? :) ).

 

Leaving next week and would love to see all the stuff I will get to do! :D:D

 

Thanks!

[jaburr24]

Well it's official, these pics have sold me on booking a cruise on the Liberty this year!

[pyroguy]

Well it's official, these pics have sold me on booking a cruise on the Liberty this year!

 

Ahh...see CCL? My pics are selling cruises...see? Maybe I can barter for a little OBC ;)

[sjcruiser]

Thanks for the pictures and the review. I really enjoyed them!!!

 

Happy sailing!!!

[funfamilyof6]

Pyroguy, I don't know if you saw my previous post, I bolded questions......

 

Thanks again for the great review....now that you have helped me book the Liberty (we had a very difficult decision between Freedom and Liberty). We have mostly cruised RCCL recently, but we wanted to give Carnival a try since RCCL is so much more expensive and the ports never seem to change, we have 4 kids, 3 who are teens. I have a question for you.

 

We went with Conquest Class mainly (I know this will sound kind of silly but we have teen girls who LOVE volleyball) for the volleyball court. The volleyball court should be separate from the basketball court. Do you remember seeing this when on board?

 

Did you notice a lot of volleyball playing going on in the Sport Deck area?

 

Also, how do you get to the Sport Deck area? I see it when I click on Spa Deck but the Sport Deck area looks separate.

 

One additional question...was there always pasta available at the buffet during lunchtime, my picky daughter wants to know. :rolleyes:

Thanks in advance for your help and thank you again for the great review and beautiful pictures. We can't wait to see the dance area (I think) with the tattoo arms.

 

Thanks in advance for any answers. :)

Edited January 14, 2012 by funfamilyof6

[Gazelle2]

PyroGuy...thanks for the great review and awesome photos. Let me ask you a "geek" question or two.

 

I have the original Nikon DSLR, the D70. It takes really nice photos but, even shooting in JPG, the photos need A LOT of post processing to make them really pop. I am wondering how much post processing you had to do to get photos of this quality from the D7000?

 

Thanks again for the great post.

 

Gazelle2

[pyroguy]

PyroGuy...thanks for the great review and awesome photos. Let me ask you a "geek" question or two.

 

I have the original Nikon DSLR, the D70. It takes really nice photos but, even shooting in JPG, the photos need A LOT of post processing to make them really pop. I am wondering how much post processing you had to do to get photos of this quality from the D7000?

 

Thanks again for the great post.

 

Gazelle2

 

I use adobe photoshop CS5 for my post processing. For most of the non-HDR pics in this review, other than fixing some white balancing on some of the interior shots (sometimes interior lights shed funky yellow hue on things), I just have a simple medium sharpen filter action that I apply and that's all I do.

 

I may do some cropping or straightening here and there, but that's about it for

the most part

[cowgirlsrock]

:pThanks so much for the review! I want to hear more about your camera ? I am searching right now for the right camera. I have always been intrested in photography. I was wondering how the bands were on board? We are going in April . We love to dance to live music and on previous ships there was always a band that played every night different music and also a latin band in another area. We were on the Liberty in 2010 but exceited about the upgrades! Please if you wouldn't mind email me at danceboots2@yahoo.com hopefuly we will be on another carnvial ship together sometime . Thanks Jen and Amado

[mjmiller]

We went with Conquest Class mainly (I know this will sound kind of silly but we have teen girls who LOVE volleyball) for the volleyball court. The volleyball court should be separate from the basketball court. Do you remember seeing this when on board?

 

Did you notice a lot of volleyball playing going on in the Sport Deck area?

 

Also, how do you get to the Sport Deck area? I see it when I click on Spa Deck but the Sport Deck area looks separate.

 

One additional question...was there always pasta available at the buffet during lunchtime, my picky daughter wants to know. :rolleyes:

Thanks in advance for any answers. :)

 

I just got back Saturday from the Liberty, so I'll try to address these for you.

 

The volleyball and basketball courts are in the same area with no net or wall between. But they are separate. The bball court is a half court. I didn't really pay attention to the vball court, so I'm not sure if it's standard size. I wasn't in that area much, but I did see vball being played two separate times.

 

The top few decks are only partial decks: part up front, part in back. So the sports deck is on the same level as the spa, but the spa is in the front of the ship, and the sports deck is in the back. It's easy to get up to the sports deck, just go outside in the lido area mid-ship by the main pool, look for the funnel, and go up in that direction.

 

Pasta is the hardest question for me, as I didn't really look at the standard buffet. One suggestion for her would be the Mongolian grille - you choose your own stuff that they cook in a wok for you. There are noodles of some type there, plus veggies and meat and different sauces.

 

hope this helps!

[gunther619]

Hey Pyroguy,

 

Love your review and awesome pictures! I'm going to HMC and found the information about the cabanas very helpful, since I have one booked :).

 

Could you give me a little more information about Barbies in Grand Turk? I'm also going to Jack's Shack, so I was wondering how close in relational to Jack's is it. I want some good conch fritters :-)

 

Thanks again for the great review!!! You made me very jealous that the Miracle doesn't have a Guy's Burgers :rolleyes:

[Gazelle2]

I use adobe photoshop CS5 for my post processing. For most of the non-HDR pics in this review, other than fixing some white balancing on some of the interior shots (sometimes interior lights shed funky yellow hue on things), I just have a simple medium sharpen filter action that I apply and that's all I do.

 

I may do some cropping or straightening here and there, but that's about it for

the most part

 

Thanks, PyroGuy. We are looking forward to seeing lots more of your great pics on future cruises.

[Debbie42467]

...Eggs Benedict in the MDR...

 

 

 

 

Amazing Photos!

 

Thank you for posting your review & photos.

 

I always take photos of food when cruising, to me it's part of the cruise experience. My photos never turn out very well. After looking at your fantastic photos, I noticed your food photos are mostly on angles. I would just look down at my plate and snap the photo. I'm going to try different angles when taking my photos and hope my photos turn out 1/2 as good as yours.

 

Thanks again,

Debbie

:)

[acetray]

Amazing review, I love the pictures, unbeliveable!!!. I have a Nikon D5000 that I like a lot. But I sure can not make it work like you make yours work. I think me and the wife need to go on a cruise with you guys just so you can show me how to use the camera better.( I can always come up with an excuse to go on a cruise)

 

Do you have a website with all your pictures on it? becuase I am sure you had even more that you did not post

[KPGirl]

Your pictures are so nice I have decided to take a camera course before my cruise, I don't think I have ever seen such amazing pictures !!!

[Oakman]

The next day was San Juan. We had reservations to do the Segway Tour and Sheila and Joe from our Roll Call and Chef’s Table were on it too. We met up with them and headed down. It’s a short walk from the pier to the one (I think 2 piers over) to the Segway place, so it was pretty nice.

 

***Side Note***

Careful of the tour vendors in San Juan right outside the pier. They were pretty aggressive, asking where we were going, then telling us “Oh, that’s right here, that’s me”...then taking me by the arm and trying to make me go with them. What a bunch of crooks.

 

We waited for a bit for the Segway office to open. Soon after, Manuel (our tour guide/instructor) showed up and started us in on the safety and operation of the segways).

 

...Manuel...

 

...Taren was first...

 

The Segways are really fun. He took us outside one by one, taking us around turns and up and down a small hill nearby to get us acclimated to using the machine. He was a great instructor and a really nice guy.

 

Soon we headed off for our Old Town San Juan tour. Note...I’m a big guy, a little over the 260lb weight limit for the Segway, but they have a larger one that used to be a police one. I used that one for the tour, and it was MUCH easier than the smaller ones that we practiced on.

 

He stopped in several places along the way to show us history on San Juan.

...A US flag flying in San Juan...

 

 

...some local boats along the ocean walk...

 

 

...Narrow Streets (HDR)...

 

...view of the coast from the Fort San Cristobal (HDR)...

Plan on doing this tour also. did you book the 900AM or the 12PM departure? Thanks.

[dperki1]

great review...went on Liberty in 2009 and booked again for January 2013...can't wait. Your pics were awesome.

Edited January 29, 2012 by dperki1

[RunsWithFlyingDolphins]

First of all, GREAT review!! I can't believe I'm just finding it now. And I love the pictures. I'm also trying to get into the photography thing. But since I'm a pilot, my pictures are usually of sunsets over the pacific ocean or of planes going 150+ knots.

 

The flight was uneventful except for some turbulence and the pilot dropping the plane out of the sky about 20’ above the runway at landing. Scared the heck out of my wife (ok, I’ll admit, me too) - and I told her not to worry, It’s the younger, “unpaid dues” pilots who get to work the holidays - we don’t get the more experienced ones. I have no idea if it was true or not, but I like giving her fits sometimes.

 

The pilot most likely didn't drop you 20 feet. The sun heats the Earth unequally, causing wind and updrafts and downdrafts. The unequal heating it much worse over land because of the different color and houses, hills, etc. and is pretty much nonexistent over water. So what you experienced is a downdraft, which are extremely common. And I'm one of the most senior pilots at my airline and I have to work on the holidays. I was in Japan over Christmas this past year. But on a lot of the smaller airlines... it's usually the less senior pilots.