Carnival Liberty Eastern Review: Dec 22, 2012

[AdobeRN]

Happy New Year!!!

 

I booked this cruise back in the summer of 2011 because of the itinerary - Half Moon Cay, St. Thomas, San Juan and Grand Turk. Some short time after booking the Half Moon Cay stop was changed to Nassau, Bahamas. We decided to just go ahead and stick with this cruise since we booked Early Saver it would have been to much money lost to change.

 

I booked Early Saver for 10 of us. Myself, husband (Chris), daughters (Katie & Lizzie), Parents, Father-in-law, Brother (Matt) and my niece (Bayleigh) and nephew (CJ). All of us have cruised before except for my brother and his kids.

 

My FIL ended up not going due to health reasons. He is 82 years old and since last Christmas his health has slowly declined to where we could no longer provide care for him at our house and we had to move him to a nursing home a few months ago. I could just kick myself for not purchasing travel insurance but oh well...live and learn. So we ended up losing his fair, I did complete the necessary paperwork to get the deposit back so we will see if that happens.

 

All of us drove to Miami. My parents are full time RV'ers, they didn't have far to drive from the Punta Gorda area. My brother lives in Virginia - he left on Thursday 12/20 and drove 1/2 way then drove the rest on Friday 12/21. We drove from Dallas, Texas. We left around 5:30pm Thur 12/20 and drove straight thru to Miami - That was a beating, I will not do that again. It took us about 24 hours. We were beat when we arrived in Miami.

 

We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Port of Miami. Ok - hotel, close to the port just really expensive.

Edited January 1, 2013 by AdobeRN

[AdobeRN]

We are packed and ready to go!

 

 

Driving to Miami

 

 

View out of our hotel window.

 

[AdobeRN]

Miami - Saturday 12/22/2012

 

We were excited about the trip and ended up getting up super early. We went down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. You could order off the menu or do the breakfast buffet for $12.95.

 

We headed over to the Port around 10:30am. I did receive an email requesting my arrival to be between 1:30-3:00pm but I chose to ignore it. We drove by the terminal and dropped off everyone and the luggage then drove to the parking lot which was just across the street from the terminal. The parking lot was close enough that I didn't need to bother with dropping everyone off first. The cost to park at the port is $20/day - we paid $140 at the end of the cruise.

 

 

[mephistoles]

Looking forward to your review. We sailed the Liberty in August 2012 and are going to sail it again this coming August

[jobell]

Look forward to more...cruise on the Liberty - Eastern in a couple of weeks. :)

[AdobeRN]

While we were parking my husband handed over the luggage to the porters. When we arrived after parking everyone was ready to start thru the terminal. The first line they checked our passports and boarding passes, then we went thru the metal detector then headed to the area where they take your picture and give you the sign & sail card. All of this didn't take much time - we were checked in and waiting to board by 11:15am. We sat in the large waiting room for maybe 20 minutes before they started to call folks to board. We were Zone 3, once they started to call the Zones it went quickly - we were standing in line for the photo and they were already calling Zones 8-10 to board.

 

 

 

[mumofsons]

Keep it going - great job so far - we love the Liberty

[AdobeRN]

We headed straight for the Lido Buffet when we boarded so we could find a good spot to park till 1:30 when we could go to the room. Complimentary champagne was handed out as you walked out by the Lido Pool. We found a spot by the Deli counter. Everyone had a little bit of everything - from the buffet, Guys burgers/fries & burrito bar. We just hung out in our little corner till it was time to go to the rooms at 1:30.

 

[Colorado Kat]

This is great! Keep going - we sail the Liberty on Sat. I can't wait.

[AdobeRN]

At 1:30p we headed to our rooms. My parents had balcony room 7208, my girls had interior room 7210, my brother and his kids were in interior room 7214 and my husband and I had interior room 7218. My girls are teenagers so original booking I was booked in room 7210 with one of them and the other was in room 7218 with my husband. Once onboard it was no problem to get the extra room keys for us to switch where the girls had their own room & my husband & I in one.

 

After we had dropped off our stuff in the rooms I went to Guest Services to have holes punched in the Sign & Sail cards, spending limits placed on the kids S&S cards & got 2 extra room keys.

 

My brother and his kids were linked to my CC. I had a limit on the kids spending to $50 for the week. All of the kids did great with it. They spent it on "virgin" drinks, arcade, candy and stuff from the gift shop. The 3 girls still had money available when we left, my nephew had spent his by Friday - mostly in the arcade.

 

Our plan was to purchase the soda card but at the last minute decided not to. It ended up being ok - the kids were fine with lemonade and my girls are used to drinking water. It wouldn't have been worth the money for us - between the 4 kids they only spent about $25 on soda during the week.

 

After getting the room key situation taken care of & CC limits placed we just walked around the ship. Ended up back in the Lido area till it was time for the Muster station. We were to meet in Muster B, which was all the way in the front of the ship, almost to the crew area. It seemed to take awhile to get everyone lined up.

 

 

 

The waiters were relentless trying to get you to buy drinks. We finally gave in and purchased a bucket of beer just so they would leave us alone :D

 

[AdobeRN]

Rooms 7210 & 7214. The 3rd bed dropped down from the ceiling. The room stewards pulled it down while we were at dinner.

 

 

 

TV/Desk area in rooms 7210, 7214, 7218.

 

 

Area as you walk into the room - closets on left and bathroom on right.

 

 

Bathroom for 7208, 7210, 7214, 7218

 

[AdobeRN]

Room 7218

 

 

Balcony room 7208

 

[KenMo]

Complimentary champagne was handed out as you walked out by the Lido Pool.

 

WHAT???

 

I've never seen this done.

 

Is this something new or was it a special occasion?

 

Looking forward to more of your review!!

[Catrin]

I bet the campagne due to the Christmas Cruise?

 

Great review so far!!

 

Catrin

[Out to sea!]

Just to let you know, DW and I waved goodbye as you left port and hello as you return on the 29th as we were timesharing in South Beach and had a great view of all the ships leaving and entering the port during out week there! :)

[AdobeRN]

After the muster we went back up top for sail away. It was alittle chilly and really windy. We hung out on the Lido deck, watched the boat pull out of Miami, danced etc. At 5:30 we tried to go sign the kids up for the kid clubs but it was standing room only in the theater - so we just decided to do it later. We went back to the room to freshen up for dinner.

 

We had early dinner at 6pm - my parents choice. I would prefer late or anytime dinning. 6pm was just to early for me - I was not really hungry on most days or I felt rushed on the port days.

 

 

 

[AdobeRN]

WHAT???

 

I've never seen this done.

 

Is this something new or was it a special occasion?

 

Looking forward to more of your review!!

 

 

I think it was because of the holiday.

[AdobeRN]

As soon as the boat left the protected area of port it started to rock. OMG - it seemed rough - of course I only have 1 cruise to compare it to - of which I never felt any movement. At times you could hardly walk or stand straight without appearing to stumble or lose your balance.

 

Lots of people were not feeling great at dinner. A kid at the next table during dinner got sick, an elderly man at the same table was having issues - his wife kept standing up and fanning him and he was looking quite pale. Alot of people were saying that it was the roughest they ever felt. One of our cabin neighbors went down to the infirmary to purchase something for motion sickness and he said the line was out the door.

 

My brother & niece got sick. My nephew was nauseated. My mother was nauseated. Bonine and Dramamine was our friend for a few days.

 

It was rough till Monday afternoon - Lido pool was closed for a few hours during the afternoon - it looked like a wave pool at a water park (kids were loving it though).

 

[AdobeRN]

After dinner just about everyone went back to their room because they just were not feeling well.

 

I took my girls to sign up for the kids clubs. I have 2 daughters - Katie (16) and Lizzie (15). Lizzie just turned 15 on Sunday. I registered them online, Katie for Club 02 and Lizzie for Circle C. Lizzie did not want to go to Circle C - she had already met a couple of kids that were 15. When I went to turn in the consent form for Katie I asked about Lizzie joining Club O2 - the director said no problem as long as I was ok with her hanging with 15-17 year olds. She told me the birthday cutoff is 14 years 9 months, if she was younger she would need to be in Circle C.

 

After that my husband and I listened to the band playing near the casino then headed over to the Piano Bar at 9pm. We stayed there for about an hour then headed to bed.

 

Our dinner tonight.

 

 

Towel Animal

 

Edited January 1, 2013 by AdobeRN

[AdobeRN]

Nassau, Bahamas 7am-2pm Sunday, 12/23/2012

 

Lido Buffet breakfast today. We picked a spot in back of the dining area to meet for breakfast/lunches. We had decided to be off the ship by 9am. We were kindof cruising on a budget so at this port we were just going to walk around and see the city.

 

I had printed off a walking tour I found online that gave info on historic landmarks around the city. The walking tour directions were not that great and alot of the city streets are not labeled with street signs so we had a bit of trouble.

 

The city area around the port is poor. The people look poor. My mom and I were quite intimidated with walking on the streets especially since it was clear we were tourist who had no idea where we were going. My dad went back to the ship, my husband and brother kept making comments like "are you sure this is a good idea??"

 

Somehow we managed to find the Queens Staircase, Fort Fincastle was just down the street. After seeing both of these places - none of my family was interested in trying to find the other historical landmarks. I was able to convince them to walk to the beach - getting to the beach was easy once you left the ship.

 

 

 

Queen's Staircase

 

 

Fort Fincastle

 

 

Junkanoo Beach

 

[AdobeRN]

The weather was perfect in this port. It was alittle humid but nothing unbearable. Water was a bit chilly. My nephew was the only one brave enough to go in the water. There were people swimming. The beach for the most part was clean but I would wear water shoes - I did see some broken glass bottles in the sand. There are some local stands selling drinks, water toys, hair braiding etc. We were approached by locals selling things when we first walked onto the beach but after saying No thanks we were left alone.

 

 

Looking to the right.

 

 

Looking to the left.

 

[navybaby1113]

We did the walking tour in Nassau a few years ago and felt the same way as you. No way would I do it again.

[AdobeRN]

We headed back to the ship around noon, made a few stops along the way - Senor Frogs, souvenier shops etc.

 

Once onboard we had some lunch and then everyone scattered. My husband and I went up top to the Serenity Deck, grabbed a lounger and fell asleep until the ships horn blew - boy was that loud and startling when you are asleep :eek:

 

We stayed up top till the boat was out at sea. Then we met up with the kids and participated in a music trivia game then headed back to the cabin to get ready for our first Elegant night.

 

 

 

[SMSACE6]

Im loving your review! Beautiful photos! Twice when I sailed out of Miami, it was rough that first night. I hope the seas were calmer for the rest of the cruise. Thanks for your review.:)

[AdobeRN]

Im loving your review! Beautiful photos! Twice when I sailed out of Miami, it was rough that first night. I hope the seas were calmer for the rest of the cruise. Thanks for your review.:)

 

After Monday afternoon it was fine - I didn't feel anything. My mom and brother were the only ones who felt nauseated the entire cruise.