Carnival Liberty Leap Year Review (2/25 - 3/3)

[19031]

Loving your review-except that it is making me kind of sad since we have been home from our Liberty Cruise and this is making me want to leave again today... Glad you had such a nice time-we had a great week!!!!

[cosita]

I thought that towel was a Cobra

[OldschoolHipHopGuy]

143 days.....I CAN'T WAIT!!! Love the review!

[ardnassac79]

Thanks for the info. We are usually there by 10:30am. We actually were there around 10:15 last year. I'm really thinking of getting there a little earlier this year because I've read that there will be more ships there than we had there last year.

 

We were really happy with the flow of everything. As Chris mentioned, we have only ever sailed out of Baltimore - where there are only 2 ships, and they are at port on different days - so Miami was a whole new experience. Even the fact that all the different ships have different buildings/entrances/customs people was so crazy! We wondered why our shuttle driver asked us what ship we were on! Then pulling up, it was like "oooooh". Very efficient, in our opinion!

 

Same!

 

Getting super excited to be making the trip.. can't wait for the rest of the review..

 

What is the COIN??? :confused:

 

I believe every Carnival ship has a "coin" that every Carnival ship has added to it - I googled it and found this on the Funville forums:

 

Basically, it is a commemorative coin sealed in a box. Here is how John (Heald) described it:

 

The ship was blessed for safe travels for all crew and guests that will sail with her; a champagne bottle was broken and the ship was gifted with a very special coin. According to the shipyard staff there is a centuries old tradition that calls for every ship to carry a lucky coin. The coin is welded to the hull of the ship and has to happen before the ship can touch water. The flooding of the dock is also a very special occasion as it’s the first time the ship will be in her “natural habitat” as one staff member put it so nicely.

 

Great Review so far. We're thinking about a Liberty cruise this fall. She was so fun in 2007 but that was 5 years ago. The sports bar is definitely a plus in my book.

Go for it!! Then again, I tell that to everyone who says they are thinking of booking a cruise! :p

[anjiebaby]

I am so excited that you are posting a trip report. Now I can relive our cruise through other eyes. My husband and 2 redheads 8 year old girl and 12 year old boy and myself were on this cruise. I feel like I just got home and have been at work since. I can't believe you can already be writing the report, but I am so grateful.

I barely remember the first dinner because we sat at the wrong table because the table number was so small on my card I read it wrong. Then my daughter went to the bathroom outside the Silver Olympian Dining room and got locked into one of the stalls. I had to run back to the table for a butter knife to try and turn the lock to get her out. After jimmying it for 5 minutes it finally opened. She wouldn't lock a bathroom door after that ;) Not a great start to eating in the dining room.

[ardnassac79]

I am so excited that you are posting a trip report. Now I can relive our cruise through other eyes. My husband and 2 redheads 8 year old girl and 12 year old boy and myself were on this cruise. I feel like I just got home and have been at work since. I can't believe you can already be writing the report, but I am so grateful.

I barely remember the first dinner because we sat at the wrong table because the table number was so small on my card I read it wrong. Then my daughter went to the bathroom outside the Silver Olympian Dining room and got locked into one of the stalls. I had to run back to the table for a butter knife to try and turn the lock to get her out. After jimmying it for 5 minutes it finally opened. She wouldn't lock a bathroom door after that ;) Not a great start to eating in the dining room.

 

Hi! Yeah, I'm sure with having kids - things like unpacking, doing laundry, and grocery shopping all take longer to get though post-vacation!

 

I can't believe that happened on the first night in the dining room! I never had to experience trying to find our correct tables - with the Anytime Dining, they lead you to your seats. And wow, how horrible about your daughter locking herself in the stall! I'm so glad you got her out, but I'm sure any crew member would have been able to help as well. I don't blame her for not wanting to lock them for the rest of the trip! :eek:

[ardnassac79]

Sunday, Feb 26th – Day at Sea

 

I’ll be taking over review duties for now – Chris is busy enjoying his new video game that came out today

 

I'll also preface this day by saying it won't be as picture heavy as the first one, we didn't take near as many pictures this day!

 

Since it was our first morning and we weren’t sure what time we wanted to get up, we didn’t put out the room service tag the night before. Unfortunately we both ended up getting up early – although, I’m not too sure you can say you got up early if you didn't really sleep. Neither of us got a good night’s sleep – but my poor baby only had about 3 hours total. We still aren’t sure why, maybe just random ship noise? I told him to think about using the extra pair of earplugs I brought. I personally can’t sleep with any random noises, and we have a sound machine at home, so I always come prepared now!

 

We threw on some clothes and schlepped up to the lido deck to get some food – it was still pretty early, so it wasn’t too crowded. I also enjoyed having a room on deck 7 that was more toward the Aft – directly up 2 flights of stairs was the buffet area.

 

Time to note a little rule we made for ourselves, and came to hate toward the end of the cruise – our cabin was on deck 7, so we made a “rule of 2” – meaning if the floor we wanted to go to was only 1 or 2 decks higher or lower, we were taking the stairs. Yeah yeah I know we’re crazy – and we definitely realized that as we quickly found out most everything was on either deck 5 or 9. Ugh.

 

So I grabbed my one and only omelet for the week (it was really good!), Chris nabbed a few danishes, and some OJ and brought it back to our room (elevator this time – rule of 2 doesn’t count balancing food trays!) and ate breakfast out on the balcony - probably one of our favorite traditions.

 

After breakfast it was still pretty early – about 8:30 – so we got out the bathing suits and headed up to take a shot at getting some chairs up on the Serenity deck. We actually found a few chairs, but the clamshells were being “saved” by the hogs already. We set up shop next to one that had an artfully displayed stuffed animal carefully wrapped in a towel (sure stuffed animals are good seat savers, right? :rolleyes:) and made a mental note of the time. I’m not gonna get started on the chair hog police issue, but the Fun Times say you’ve got 30 minutes to go, do your crap, and get back. And if you’ve got no one else in a group there to watch over your stuff, I have no qualms about giving a chair a 45 minute window and then claiming it as my own. More on this a little later in the review… However it didn’t turn into an issue this time… the wind really started to whip up, and it started to get very cloudy, so we pulled out the Fun Times to see what else was going on. We debated between taking over the clamshell, or go down to the very first trivia of the cruise… and trivia won out.

 

….and boy were we glad we went! It was at 9:30am in the Venetian Palace, and there were NOT a lot of people there – a group of kids aged 11-12, and maybe 10 other adults. Our one goal for this trip was to score a Ship on a Stick – it took us 3 cruises on the Pride to get one, so we were determined this cruise to add to the collection! My love’s vast knowledge of movie quotes old and new won out – he got 18 out of 20 (I helped on like 1, the Gone With the Wind one) and we won!! :D Nothing like getting that out of the way early! All sadness over giving up our Serenity chairs flew out the window.

 

 

After that, we weren’t sure what to do, didn’t really feel like trying to scout out more deck chairs, so we crazily decided to hit up the gym. It was about 11am, and the next thing we wanted to do was round 1 of Super Trivia at noon. So up to the gym we went. It was a lot less hot in here than we experienced on the Pride, and there was a good selection of equipment. I hopped on an elliptical, and Chris hit up the freeweights. The ellipticals had TV screens that showed all the channels available in the cabins, but I was a little disappointed closed captioning didn’t work. I love being able to listen to my iPod and “watch” the TV on closed caption while I work out. Anything to keep me from watching that timer go down.

 

 

 

We finished up just in time to hit the room to freshen up quickly and head down to a lounge area on Deck 4 called “The Cabinet” for Super Trivia.

 

(this pic was actually taken later in the trip, so no, I didn't go directly from the gym to the bar!)

 

 

We’ve never done this before, but after reading some reviews, we were curious, so tried it out. It’s 3 rounds of trivia spread out over the entire week, and you’re teamed up with other people – we had 6 to our team – we called ourselves “East Side” since we were all from the East Coast. Our team members were a really good group – one couple – Alicia and Dave – Dave was such a history buff! We later found out he was applying to law school – he definitely gave us an edge! Marie from Carnival who was running the game wouldn’t tell us our scores, but we had a feeling we were doing pretty good, so we all made a pact to come back for round 2, which was going to be on Wednesday.

 

 

Edited March 7, 2012 by ardnassac79

[ardnassac79]

After trivia was over we were both famished, so up to the lido deck we went for Guy’s Burgers!

 

 

 

We both went for a Plain Jane with Cheese, and gussied it up with the creamy chipoltle sauce at the fixin's bar.

 

 

 

 

The Guy's stand actually has 2 entrances to the line on either side - most people didn't realize this, so one side always had a much longer line than the other.. be sure to check both sides!

After some food we just walked around for a bit and checked out the shops and then there really wasn’t anything else going on, so even though we didn’t plan on going to the Meet and Greet, we decided to after all. Actually, the day before we were stopped by some other CC members (MissKia, TimandDonna, Cayman4me J) asking if we were Chris and Cassandra, haha! So weird to be recognized from our pictures on here, but it was nice to meet people early on the first day! So we went down to the Aft Pool bar and met up with the folks there. Had some good conversation, it was nice to meet everyone and have familiar faces to see for the rest of the cruise! Unfortunately we forgot our camera, so no pics L

 

After that, it was time to go up and start getting ready for formal night. Chris has a big aversion to the posed pictures they try to draw you into throughout the ship, so while we were looking for the sushi bar (FYI – not open on the first formal night) we asked a girl standing around to take reservations for the steakhouse if she would mind snapping a photo for us. Turned out better than the posed ones I’ve had to drag Chris to in the past!

 

 

After realizing the sushi wasn’t open, we weren’t quite hungry yet, so we went up to the Serenity deck to get some sunset photos.

 

 

My handsome love

[ardnassac79]

We headed back down to the midship Golden Dining room on the 3rd level, and this time went in with a plan to see if we could be seated at a more “secluded” table for two. We politely told the girl that the table we had the previous night was a bit too close to other people, and wondered if they had any other tables seating 2 people that were not smack against other tables. We also said we wouldn’t mind waiting if we had to. She said she thought she had something we would like, and we were led to a WONDERFUL table – there are few around the staircase, and then 2 others we could see that are next to the little stations where the servers keep the waters and things. We were perfectly fine being next to these stations – at least we felt we could have a conversation without having to include table-mates. As Chris mentioned, we didn’t mind talking to other people the night before, but I don’t like feeling like I have to. This is one of the biggest draws we have to the Anytime Dining – not having to be seated with other people. So this was a saving grace for us. Had they not been able to provide us with this better seating option, I’m not so sure we would have been so keen to come back on the Liberty again. I have a feeling this is due to the way the MDR is in 2 different areas of the ship. On the Spirit class ships, there is one section only, spread across 2 floors, so the seating can be further apart. Whatever the reason, we were now entirely happy with the situation, and settled in for a great meal.

 

 

[ardnassac79]

I started with the Shrimp Cocktail and the Chilled Strawberry soup. The shrimp was very good, and the soup was OK. Don’t get me wrong, it was tasty, but don’t think I’ll ever order it again. It reminded me too much like I was eating runny yogurt. Good, but not for dinner. I was envious of the other people around us eating the Pumpkin Soup.

 

 

Chris couldn’t find anything that he really wanted for an appetizer, so he just went with the Fruit Cup.

 

Dinner came, and I had the Lobster Tail and Shrimp. Normally I am all for raving over the food, and I’m by no means a picky eater, but my lobster tail was kind of mushy. Maybe I just got a dud. The shrimp was very good though, and I loved those mashed potatoes that come with it.

 

 

Chris got the BBQ Ribs – his favorite – but of course his only complaint is that they are served on formal night. There is no dainty way to eat ribs. Finger food all the way! He said they were great, and had a ton of meat on them.

 

 

For dessert, I tried the banana cake – this was the first time I had it, and it was great! Very light and fluffy. Good choice for people who like banana bread!

 

 

Chris had the orange sorbet, and I was starting to get tired, so also ordered an espresso. That perked me right up!

 

After dinner my feet were starting to kill me, and Chris was dying to change into something more comfortable, so we went back up to the room to change, grab our casino chips and some cash, and we headed back down to the casino.

 

Unfortunately, Lady Luck had moved on from the night before, so I didn’t do so good, plus a lot of the people from our table were leaving to go to the adult comedy show, so we dedided to check it out as well. We saw Mark Simmons – one of his credits included working on the Chappelle’s Show! We both thought he was hilarious!!

 

After the show was over, we weren’t quite ready to go to bed, but I didn’t want to go back to the casino tables, so we headed up to the Big Screen on the Lido Deck where they were showing the Academy Awards. It was towards the end of the show, so we were able to catch the last 40 minutes or so, and saw The Artist get the Oscar.

 

By this point we were both exhausted from not having much sleep the night before, so we went back to the room where this guy was waiting for us: we were guessing a dog?

 

 

Then off to bed where I convinced Chris to try the earplugs so he would hopefully get more rest than the night before. Plus we knew we needed to rest up for tomorrow’s activities!!

 

Well that’s it for our first day at sea – tomorrow’s itinerary includes Cozumel, Mexico where we booked an All-Inclusive day at Mr. Sancho’s (not offered through Carnival). Stay Tuned!!

[jkudzu]

Thank you so much for this review! I'm loving it and learning a lot. I love the photos and can't wait to see and read more.:) J

[marshalltp]

You should have offered them $13.80 for it and hope they had change for you.:)

 

Last Home at Home, Hawks 2 Wings 0.....nuff said

[JGetCRUSING]

I am Loving this review. I cant wait for October to get here. this is helping curb my cruising fever.

 

Btw very cute couple ;)

[ardnassac79]

Thank you so much for this review! I'm loving it and learning a lot. I love the photos and can't wait to see and read more.:) J

 

Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it - we both like to pass on things we discover, as so much of what we know we also picked up from other reviews!

 

Last Home at Home, Hawks 2 Wings 0.....nuff said

 

I'll let Chris chime in and agree with this one ;)

 

I am Loving this review. I cant wait for October to get here. this is helping curb my cruising fever.

 

Btw very cute couple ;)

 

Aww, thank you! I do the same thing! I love reading reviews before and after cruises to either get excited or help staunch the post-vacation depression!

[Zetterberg40]

Last Home at Home, Hawks 2 Wings 0.....nuff said

Ha ha ha, touche, but I don't want to hijack this review. I am really enjoying it and I apologize to Chris and Cass for bogging it down with sports banter.

[amcjeep4life]

Thanks so much for doing an awesome review of the Liberty. Counting (rather impatiently if truth be known) the days until I get to do this same cruise! Keep up the great work, can't wait to read the rest!

[parrothead74]

I don't think that I have enjoyed a review as much as I have enjoyed reading you guys. I sometimes marvel at people's perspective on things. I can't wait to see what you did for the ports. Bravo

[cowgirlsrock]

John,

1. We do and Cass should be scanning them in and posting them later (just give her some time as work is reallyguy a pain for her right now). Don't worry, we kept them all just for the review ;)

 

2. No idea :o - hopefully it'll say in the fun times

 

3. Not 100% sure off the top of my head since I don't have the fun times with me at work but I can answer for you. I know Mark Symonds was one of the first 2 cuz I have it written in my notes. He was really good. We never saw the second of the first set of comedians because we had such early ports of call early on. Percy Crews was one of the second set and I only know that because we saw him on the Pride. Not our favorite.

 

Hi you guys sound ausome wish you were going with us! Can you tell me a little about the music on board ? Bands ? Band in casino? Latin band? Dj? Thanks Jenna

[girlscruise2011]

Western Caribbean - Cozumel, Belize, Isla Roatan, and Grand Cayman

 

I'm doing this itinerary on the Liberty for Thanksgiving this year. I can't wait to read the rest of your review, especially what you did in the ports. Always looking for ideas.

 

Thanks for the review :D

[crewsweeper]

Keep it coming! Congrats on the ship on the stick! Our past experience with clamshells on the Serenity is to grab one at 7AM and then bring up the breakfast and enjoy the morning. But nothing beats morning coffee and nosh on one's balcony. Yeppers, dat's da DAWG!towel animal. Can't wait to see the pics of Mr Sanchos, been a long time since I've been there and have wondered if they've changed their lineup in light of PB getting a pool and a bit of a redo last year. Edited March 7, 2012 by crewsweeper

[Anung Un Rama]

[quote name='Zetterberg40']Ha ha ha, touche, but I don't want to hijack this review. I am really enjoying it and I apologize to Chris and Cass for bogging it down with sports banter.[/quote]

I'm surprised you didn't ask us to check the standings :o (thanks for not by the way). At least you have two adorable pups in your avatar :D

[quote name='parrothead74']I don't think that I have enjoyed a review as much as I have enjoyed reading you guys. I sometimes marvel at people's perspective on things. I can't wait to see what you did for the ports. Bravo[/quote]


Um, thank you :o. That's probably one of the nicest compliments we've received.


I'm home sick today so I'll see if I can drag myself away from Mass Effect 3 long enough to post about Cozumel and Mr. Sanchos.

[lablover61]

Great review by the two of you. Best I read on CC ever. Real interesting for me , because I 'll be on the Liberty in a month for our family Spring Break cruise - yippee !!! :D

[ardnassac79]

[quote name='Zetterberg40']Ha ha ha, touche, but I don't want to hijack this review. I am really enjoying it and I apologize to Chris and Cass for bogging it down with sports banter.[/QUOTE]

No worries ;)

[quote name='amcjeep4life']Thanks so much for doing an awesome review of the Liberty. Counting (rather impatiently if truth be known) the days until I get to do this same cruise! Keep up the great work, can't wait to read the rest![/QUOTE]

Thank you!

[quote name='parrothead74']I don't think that I have enjoyed a review as much as I have enjoyed reading you guys. I sometimes marvel at people's perspective on things. I can't wait to see what you did for the ports. Bravo[/QUOTE]

I agree with Chris, that was so nice of you! Thanks!!

[ardnassac79]

[quote name='cowgirlsrock']Hi you guys sound ausome wish you were going with us! Can you tell me a little about the music on board ? Bands ? Band in casino? Latin band? Dj? Thanks Jenna[/QUOTE]

Thanks Jenna! When I post the Fun Times, it will shows the band names and where they were playing (but that won't be for a few days at least). In the meantime, I posted the band names a few pages back, but here you go: Jams with TJ; DJ Steven; New Dawn; Mambo Chilango; High Rise; DJ Electra and DJ Steven; and Christopher Allen Graves (one night only looks like?)

I can't tell you who they were or what they sounded like, but once we get to the end, I'll be scanning and adding links to the Fun Times.

[quote name='girlscruise2011']I'm doing this itinerary on the Liberty for Thanksgiving this year. I can't wait to read the rest of your review, especially what you did in the ports. Always looking for ideas.

Thanks for the review :D[/QUOTE]

Thank you! We had some excellent port stops, with the exception of Grand Cayman (didn't plan on anything that day). Keep checking back, we are aiming to finish one port a day :)

[quote name='crewsweeper']Keep it coming! Congrats on the ship on the stick! Our past experience with clamshells on the Serenity is to grab one at 7AM and then bring up the breakfast and enjoy the morning. But nothing beats morning coffee and nosh on one's balcony. Yeppers, dat's da DAWG!towel animal. Can't wait to see the pics of Mr Sanchos, been a long time since I've been there and have wondered if they've changed their lineup in light of PB getting a pool and a bit of a redo last year.[/QUOTE]

See, I have no problem with claiming a chair, going to get food, and bringing it back to eat... but when you claim, then your entire group goes eat (at a table in the buffet area), then go back to the room to change, and then finally saunter up 2 hours later.. eh.. well ok sorry for the rant, stopping that right now :o

As you'll see today - Mr. Sancho's AI section is very nice now.. they re-did it about a year or 2 ago I think - all I can say is awww-some (sing-song voice)!

[ardnassac79]

[quote name='lablover61']Great review by the two of you. Best I read on CC ever. Real interesting for me , because I 'll be on the Liberty in a month for our family Spring Break cruise - yippee !!! :D[/QUOTE]

Oh my gosh, thank you so much!! :o :D Ah you only have a few days to go, I bet you can't wait! The Liberty is great - you'll have an excellent time!