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

[Anung Un Rama]

Hmm....sounds like my husband. I betcha it's Mass Effect 3 right? My husband had me out at midnight for the release. I couldn't stay awake. I called it a night at 1am. Needless to say he states he went to bed at 3am. I'm not buying that one.:rolleyes:

 

:D:D:D

 

Yeah, I've gotten a good 13 hours in it already. A sick day will help with that. It is pretty awesome though.

 

Work is a lot busier than I expected today as we have some visitors in from overseas and I'm still playing catch up from being out yesterday. I'll try to get to Belize this afternoon since it was a pretty chill day and should be kinda short.

[ardnassac79]

Tuesday, Feb 2th – Belize

 

Prior to the cruise, Chris had done some extensive research into excursions and things to do, and we decided we really wanted to snorkel while we were there. Belize has the 2nd largest barrier reef in the world, and we didn’t want to pass up a chance to experience this.

 

Initially, we booked with a tour group not affiliated with Carnival – they come highly recommended from the Belize forum here on CC, and does stops for snorkeling at a few different places, including Caye Caulker and Shark Reef Alley. However, the more we read about the long tender ride from the boat to shore, then knowing we would be on another boat with the tour group just getting to our locations, we began to reconsider. I’ll admit I was also a bit worried about the tender ticket process with the cruise ship too. By not being with a Carnival excursion, we wouldn’t get priority tendering, and we aren’t platinum yet, so we would have to be on top of things that morning to make sure we got an early tender ticket. Well, after some discussion, we decided to cancel the tour, and ended up booking the “Barrier Reef Snorkel with Beach Break” through Carnival. Not only did that put my mind at ease about being left ashore if something went wrong, but the excursion boat actually picked us up right from the ship, so we were able to save a trip having to go to the mainland first.

 

This is taken from our balcony - the tender ships lining up:

 

 

So we got our Excursion tickets, and they said to meet in the Venetian Palace by 8:30 am. We ordered room service that morning and were ready to head down by 8:15. When we got there, we were faced with a mob of people all standing in a long line to get stickers. We overheard someone telling another person that if they were booked on the snorkel cruise, we didn’t need to wait for a sticker. So we sat down, and luckily a member of the Carnival staff was on stage and kept giving updates for the excursions that did and didn’t need to wait in line. We were pleased to hear that the lady we overhead was correct! We waited about 15 minutes and they called our group to head out and down the stairs. Chris and I were initially worried because it seemed like a LOT of people were getting up for this trip. We were lead directly to the excursion boat, and got on and took a seat. There were a lot of people – about 100 – so we tried not to think about all those people in the water at the same time. They passed out the gear on the way there, and when we arrived, gave a short lesson, and offered people to start getting in.

 

Here are some shots we took on our way there:

 

 

 

Chris and I were luckily sitting close to the side jump off, and took the chance to get in the water before most people. This was an excellent decision, because we were able to get further away from the boat and the masses first.

 

I had my Kodak underwater video recorder and camera, and decided this year to stick to more photos than video – here’s a few shots – I was actually pretty pleased with some of the shots I was able to get:

 

 

 

 

[pmms052999]

What a great review! You guys aren't too far from us...we live in Southern Maryland (St. Mary's County). We'd love to try cruising out of Baltimore...no airfare and very little driving!

[crewsweeper]

Good decision, Cass. DW and SIL went for the CayeCaulker/Shark Ray Alley excursion in Feb and while they had a good time, the excursion was delayed getting off the tender pier and the boat broke down coming back so they missed the traditional Belikan/conch fritters stop at the Wet Lizard. The manager at the WL did give them some to go, but they got cold quickly. Great shots of the reef.

[Anung Un Rama]

What a great review! You guys aren't too far from us...we live in Southern Maryland (St. Mary's County). We'd love to try cruising out of Baltimore...no airfare and very little driving!

 

 

It is definitely a perk. We'll get to more on that once we get to debarkation but it doesn't suck being able to get off the boat, in the car, and home 20 minutes later.

 

Just a note on the snorkel excursion, there were WAY more than 100 people. I did a quick head count and got 80 just on the lower level of a 2 level boat. I'd say this trip had about 3X as many people as any other snorkling excursion we'd been on. I was really worried about it but there is a lot more room to snorkel at this location than any other one we've been to. Being able to get off quickly was a godsend. Our Super Trivia friends, Dave and Alicia, were stuck getting off later and said it was a struggle to not get kicked repeatedly. This was the only down side to this entire excursion though. This reef should not be missed if you are into snorkeling.

[ardnassac79]

Even with all the people, they let us swim in a fairly large area, so there were only a few times I felt crowded (as Chris mentioned, getting off the boat early definitely helped with this). There were also some pretty shallow areas, so I was trying very hard to be cognizant of where my flippers were and that I didn’t touch any of the coral. SO far we have snorkeled at Freeport and Grand Turk, and this was the best so far – the coral and fish were beautiful and there was a lot to see!

 

 

 

They let us snorkel for a full hour, and then out came the free Rum Punch! We were good any only had 2 cups each on the way back to the Liberty, but I definitely saw some other people that were really taking advantage!

 

 

The next stop on the excursion was some time on a little beach called Bannister Island. We had a little over an hour to eat, shop, soak up the rays, whatever we wanted. We walked around the island, and then decided to wade into the water and then lay out for a little. The beach was VERY rocky, with broken shells, etc, so wading into the water was a little dicey. It was still a nice break after snorkeling, and the island was pretty. There were some other people already there, I believe one of the "beach only" excursions went here.

 

 

 

There was a large area set up for volleyball:

 

There were also some nice areas to sit at tables and still be in the water:

[ardnassac79]

I forgot to mention as well that on the way to Bannister Island, there was a commotion at the front of the boat – we went to investigate, and there were 2 dolphins swimming with the boat! If you’ve read our other review, you’ll know I’m completely smitten with dolphins! If it were acceptable to have a pet dolphin in Maryland, I’d have one! This was a really lovely “extra” and I’m so happy I got to see it. We tried to take video, but it was really shaky. Luckily I was able to isolate one image from the video that shows one dolphin popping out - it's not the best, but you can get the jist:

[DEBnGAB]

:D:D:D

 

Yeah, I've gotten a good 13 hours in it already. A sick day will help with that. It is pretty awesome though.

 

Work is a lot busier than I expected today as we have some visitors in from overseas and I'm still playing catch up from being out yesterday. I'll try to get to Belize this afternoon since it was a pretty chill day and should be kinda short.

 

Hi Chris, Erman went top pick up his copy of ME3 on Tuesday and his car died on the way over to Best Buy! :( He finally got it last night!

 

What kind of underwater camera did you use?

Edited March 8, 2012 by DEBnGAB

[ardnassac79]

Hi Chris, Erman went top pick up his copy of ME3 on Tuesday and his car died on the way over to Best Buy! :( He finally got it last night!

 

What kind of underwater camera did you use?

 

It is a Kodak Playsport Video Camera, Zx5 model. It's pretty handy, and I've used it in the ocean on 2 different cruises now with no trouble. I did be sure to read the instruction manual fully though, because it did get some bad reviews on Amazon for not working properly... I'm guessing it was more a problem with the user, not the camera ;)

[Spudder]

I forgot to mention as well that on the way to Bannister Island, there was a commotion at the front of the boat – we went to investigate, and there were 2 dolphins swimming with the boat! If you’ve read our other review, you’ll know I’m completely smitten with dolphins! If it were acceptable to have a pet dolphin in Maryland, I’d have one! This was a really lovely “extra” and I’m so happy I got to see it. We tried to take video, but it was really shaky. Luckily I was able to isolate one image from the video that shows one dolphin popping out - it's not the best, but you can get the jist:

 

 

Jealous!!!!! Enjoying your review, thanks.

[ardnassac79]

Here are just a few more shots of Bannister Island. The sand was not very deep, so I wouldn’t recommend walking around in bare feet. We also didn’t check out the bar or restaurant, but the gift shop wasn’t really anything to write home about.

 

 

 

It was then a short trip back to the ship – she's quite a looker:

 

 

When we got back on the ship, it was pretty early – around 12:30, and we were both ravenous. We had already decided to try a burrito from the Blue Iguana cantina – so we headed up to the lido deck, and since the ship was still mostly deserted, there was no line at all. I got a shrimp burrito with rice, black beans, lettuce, cheese, pico de gallo, guac, and sour cream. Chris had a beef burrito with cheese, rice, refried beans and sour cream. We decided to take them back up to our room and eat out on the balcony. MAN were these things tasty. I definitely recommend trying one at least once if you’re going on the Liberty!

 

 

The Burritos are on the right side and the tacos on the left. They do them up right in front of you so you can pick and choose what you want in it. Then you can choose to add to it from other salsas from the bar on the side.

 

My super-yummy shrimp burrito! (With a bite taken to show how awesome it looks)

[jabberjaw070596]

Here are just a few more shots of Bannister Island. The sand was not very deep, so I wouldn’t recommend walking around in bare feet. We also didn’t check out the bar or restaurant, but the gift shop wasn’t really anything to write home about.

 

 

 

It was then a short trip back to the ship – she's quite a looker:

 

 

When we got back on the ship, it was pretty early – around 12:30, and we were both ravenous. We had already decided to try a burrito from the Blue Iguana cantina – so we headed up to the lido deck, and since the ship was still mostly deserted, there was no line at all. I got a shrimp burrito with rice, black beans, lettuce, cheese, pico de gallo, guac, and sour cream. Chris had a beef burrito with cheese, rice, refried beans and sour cream. We decided to take them back up to our room and eat out on the balcony. MAN were these things tasty. I definitely recommend trying one at least once if you’re going on the Liberty!

 

 

The Burritos are on the right side and the tacos on the left. They do them up right in front of you so you can pick and choose what you want in it. Then you can choose to add to it from other salsas from the bar on the side.

 

My super-yummy shrimp burrito! (With a bite taken to show how awesome it looks)

We had the burritos two times and they were yummy!!

[Anung Un Rama]

We had some really nice views from our balcony and I have say that Belize is quite beautiful from here. I've heard other things about the actual city itself but can't comment since we did not see it first hand.

 

 

 

[pbmsmile]

Here are just a few more shots of Bannister Island. The sand was not very deep, so I wouldn’t recommend walking around in bare feet. We also didn’t check out the bar or restaurant, but the gift shop wasn’t really anything to write home about.

 

 

 

It was then a short trip back to the ship – she's quite a looker:

 

 

When we got back on the ship, it was pretty early – around 12:30, and we were both ravenous. We had already decided to try a burrito from the Blue Iguana cantina – so we headed up to the lido deck, and since the ship was still mostly deserted, there was no line at all. I got a shrimp burrito with rice, black beans, lettuce, cheese, pico de gallo, guac, and sour cream. Chris had a beef burrito with cheese, rice, refried beans and sour cream. We decided to take them back up to our room and eat out on the balcony. MAN were these things tasty. I definitely recommend trying one at least once if you’re going on the Liberty!

 

 

The Burritos are on the right side and the tacos on the left. They do them up right in front of you so you can pick and choose what you want in it. Then you can choose to add to it from other salsas from the bar on the side.

 

My super-yummy shrimp burrito! (With a bite taken to show how awesome it looks)

You are making me salivate! Thanks for a great review so far and all the wonderful pictures!! Looking forward to the next installment.

[Bo'sun Hank]

We had some really nice views from our balcony and I have say that Belize is quite beautiful from here. I've heard other things about the actual city itself but can't comment since we did not see it first hand.

The south side of Belize City is definitely a place to be really aware of what's going on around you. The north side seems to have much less gang activitiy. Trouble is the tenders come into the south side so you have to get through it, I'd never walk from the tenders into town, grab a taxi and get there. The bridge that splits town is really cool, it's manually operated and they open it twice a day to let ships in and out, what a zoo around 5:30 or 6 in the evening.

[Anung Un Rama]

OK, you're gonna have to bear with me for this next post as it's kinda silly. We decided to take advantage of the quiet ship and being anchored to try out the mini golf course (which is around the whale tail on this ship). We picked up our putters and golf balls on deck 9 (right by the Blue Iguana) and proceeded up the stairs to the sports area. You do have to walk across the courts to get to the stairs leading up but there were just a few kids shooting hoops so no big deal)

 

 

 

 

So we were playing our standard game and as usual I was winning, but it was closer than normal. I came up to the last hole with a 2 shot lead and I completely flubbed my first shot and had to take a penalty stroke with a long put coming up. Figured no big deal since I had at least 2 puts to get it. That is until little miss brat sinks her shot for a hole in one. So now I have to sink my shot just for a tie.........I did not pull a Noonan (for any Caddyshack fans out there). Sank it to tie it up but neither of us were happy with a tie so we go to a playoff. Cass went first and that son of a bit.........sweet, lovely, soon to be wife of mine got a 2nd consecutive hole in one :mad:. I was so bitter. I am slightly competitive and don't like losing, even to one as beautiful as her.

 

Her brat pose........

 

 

So now it's time for me to suck it up and admit defeat..........NOT!!! I get a hole in one of my own and we head to a 2nd playoff hole where I win and conclude the best played game of mini golf the Liberty has ever seen.

 

After such a mentally exhausting competition we both headed back to the room for a nap.

[lymah]

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!

 

Great pic! great review...keep it coming:)

[jrmende63]

Love your review! We are on the Liberty in August and on deck 7 interior with a window (clear at the end of the hall). Our PV told us about a secret deck outside of our room and I wondered if it was the one directly below the secret deck on Lido?? Any idea?? Also..were there any chairs out on that deck?

These rooms are called 4J's. They are really nice as they have the window but are classified as inside. There will be a door at either end. Go out these and you will have an area across the front of the ship.

Nice view and yes there are chairs out there...at least there were on the ship we had a 4J on. You must keep your curtains drawn at night...two reasons: 1) The bridge needs complete darkness in the front of the ship. Look up at night and you will see the red lights on in the bridge...pretty cool. PLEASE hold the hand rail until you are in the exact front of the ship, if you go out there at night. There are stairwells leading to other decks and you can easily fall. Your eyes will adjust and you will be able to see. 2) The windows are coated so they are not see through in the daylight but the ARE see through at night!

We enjoy these rooms very much!

[jrmende63]

Chris and Cass...nice review. Keep it up! We can't wait to sail on the Liberty! Esp those new eateries! YUM!

[Anung Un Rama]

Insanity is often defined as doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result. Hmmmmmmmm,

 

 

 

We missed sports trivia on Monday so I wanted to catch it today since there was nothing else going on. Got the the sports bar and just relaxed with a drink until 5. Little did I know that this is now a week long event with a really good prize at the end. It consists of EA sport video game competitions (all played on an Xbox 360) combined with the sports trivia. Each rounds winner gets a new Carnival Medal (think Olympic medal)......great something else I need to win (I thought I was done with the ship on a stick). They total up the scores for each event throughout the week for the overall winner. Well we didn't know this so we didn't play the video game that day even though only 2 others did and we had missed both competitions Monday. I finished 3rd in the trivia for a meager 100 points. They told us tomorrow's game would be Tiger Woods golf so I made a note to be back because I destroy at that game.

 

Went back to the MDR for a rather early dinner and again got seated in a nice little section by the stairs, just the two of us. We both ordered the same thing for startes and main course. We started with the Chicken in Thai Sauces. Probably my favorite app of the week and I need to remember to order about 4 of these next time

 

 

For the main course we both got the petit filet with braised short ribs. I just remembered in time to take a picture as I was still starving after that tiny app

 

 

We both skipped desert for some reason and went back to the room to get our casino chips and cash. It was a rather uneventful night except for the horrible casino dealer (really wish I had gotten her name) who was more concerned with speed than accuracy. After several screw ups, she messed up both our hands and Cass just stormed off. All our friends complained about her the next day and whenever she was at the Let it Ride table the rest of the week, it was empty.

 

We didn't want the night to end on that note so we put our swim suits back on and headed to the aft pool where both hot tubs were empty. That helped calm us down and we both conceeded an early night knowing tomorrow was going to be busy....and fun ;)

[cruisin' 4 fun]

These rooms are called 4J's. They are really nice as they have the window but are classified as inside. There will be a door at either end. Go out these and you will have an area across the front of the ship.

Nice view and yes there are chairs out there...at least there were on the ship we had a 4J on. You must keep your curtains drawn at night...two reasons: 1) The bridge needs complete darkness in the front of the ship. Look up at night and you will see the red lights on in the bridge...pretty cool. PLEASE hold the hand rail until you are in the exact front of the ship, if you go out there at night. There are stairwells leading to other decks and you can easily fall. Your eyes will adjust and you will be able to see. 2) The windows are coated so they are not see through in the daylight but the ARE see through at night!

We enjoy these rooms very much!

 

First off great review!!!! The hubby and I are thinking of booking the Liberty for next Jan and are looking at the 4J's do you think you feel more motion being up high and at the front of the ship. We have never had cabins in the front always miship or aft. Thanks in advance!

[LPGA Golfer Gal]

Fantastic review. I am loving the pictures and great tips about the Liberty. We leave in Sept. and cannot wait. We will also be visiting the casino in the evenings - did it seem crowded? we enjoy playing roulette and were just wondering how tough it will be to get on a table?

Thanks again for the great review.

[ardnassac79]

Fantastic review. I am loving the pictures and great tips about the Liberty. We leave in Sept. and cannot wait. We will also be visiting the casino in the evenings - did it seem crowded? we enjoy playing roulette and were just wondering how tough it will be to get on a table?

Thanks again for the great review.

 

Thank you! You shouldn't have trouble getting a spot for roulette. There are 2 tables - one that allows smoking and one that doesn't. The Let it Ride table that we frequented was next to roulette, and it never looked crowded. May Lady Luck be with you!

 

First off great review!!!! The hubby and I are thinking of booking the Liberty for next Jan and are looking at the 4J's do you think you feel more motion being up high and at the front of the ship. We have never had cabins in the front always miship or aft. Thanks in advance!

 

Our cabins have always either been on the 6th or 7th floor, but we have been in both the Forward and Aft sections. However, our 3 previous cruises spent a lot of time in the Atlantic, which is automatically going to make you feel more motion regardless of where you are in the ship. I'm sorry I can't answer this for you directly - hopefully someone else can help!

[pbmsmile]

The south side of Belize City is definitely a place to be really aware of what's going on around you. The north side seems to have much less gang activitiy. Trouble is the tenders come into the south side so you have to get through it' date=' I'd never walk from the tenders into town, grab a taxi and get there. The bridge that splits town is really cool, it's manually operated and they open it twice a day to let ships in and out, what a zoo around 5:30 or 6 in the evening.[/quote']

We went outside the gates in Belize to take a local water taxi over to Caye Caulker and I agree; lots of scary guys hanging around and security with guns. As soon as we walked out the gate a local teen came up and walked us through to the water taxi port and helped us buy tickets. He talked to us as we walked and pointed out where he lived, ect... probably not the safest choice on our part but we tipped him and it worked out fine. BEST SNORKLING EVER!!

[lablover61]

First off great review!!!! The hubby and I are thinking of booking the Liberty for next Jan and are looking at the 4J's do you think you feel more motion being up high and at the front of the ship. We have never had cabins in the front always miship or aft. Thanks in advance!

 

 

We had a 4J room on the Triumph last year and it was just ok. My wife and I both agreed there was a noticeable difference in the movement you feel, and we hardly ever have a problem with this. Several times it was to the point one or both of us felt a little " quesey ". The other big negative is the if you are outside you cannot enjoy it unless your in port because the wind is horrible. Even when we were going down the Mississippi River at a lower speed , the wind was bad. On the open water it was almost unbearable. We would not book one again.