Liberty May 9 Southern Review

[Pete C]

I was on this cruise as well. Loved the ship and the ports were our favorites. If only it stopped at Bonaire too!

 

pirate4me2, did you feel a lot of ship movement at night? I felt more movement at night than my last two sailings, and we were on deck 1 midship!

[pirate4me2]

Thank you for your review. Have heard so many raves about the Caesar Salad, can you go into detail as to what is on Carnival's version? Does it have Anchovies? Thank you.

 

It is romaine lettuce, shaved Parmesan cheese, croutons and dressing. The dressing does have anchovies in it, but there are not strips of them like I've had on salads in the past. For the most part I don't taste the anchovies, but one night this cruise I did get a salad that was VERY fishy tasting. I gave it to Chris and he agreed it was strong. I got a different appetizer that night tho so all was well.

[pirate4me2]

Thanks for this review, sorry you lost your pics, I would have liked to see them (probably not as much as you'd like to have them back, though!).

 

I feel like I'm getting a preview of my cruise. We booked your same room (8450) for the same itinerary in September.

 

Do you mind if I ask how much you paid for the meet and greet, and how many people you had? We were talking about this in our roll call and someone mentioned the cost had gone up considerably. There's about 35-40 people in our roll call so far, not sure how many of them want to participate in the roll call but some have expressed interest. Also where was it held?

 

Oh that's awesome that you booked the same room and are going to the same ports! You will love everything, the balcony is FANTASTIC. The meet and greet was $20 per person and we had 50 people attend. It lasted 1 hour, and we were served unlimited drinks. We had to choose 3 specialty drinks from a list Carnival sent, and we could have those drinks, wine, beer, and soda. The event was held in the Stage Lounge.

[pirate4me2]

I was on this cruise as well. Loved the ship and the ports were our favorites. If only it stopped at Bonaire too!

 

pirate4me2, did you feel a lot of ship movement at night? I felt more movement at night than my last two sailings, and we were on deck 1 midship!

 

Hi Pete! We did feel a lot of movement at night, but it was nothing compared to when we were on the Breeze in November! I felt like I was being rocked to sleep.

[Pete C]

It is romaine lettuce, shaved Parmesan cheese, croutons and dressing. The dressing does have anchovies in it, but there are not strips of them like I've had on salads in the past. For the most part I don't taste the anchovies, but one night this cruise I did get a salad that was VERY fishy tasting. I gave it to Chris and he agreed it was strong. I got a different appetizer that night tho so all was well.

 

Haha! Yes! My wife and I both had the bad Caesar that night! Well, I had it almost every night, but they way overdid the anchovies that night. It tasted like fish.

[pambud96]

I was also on this cruise and have a lot of the same feelings so far that you have had about the Liberty!!! She is a great ship. I am going to write a small review and add lots of pictures and your welcome to steal any of my pictures you would like. I am going to try to start tonight but it may be tomorrow.

 

Here is one from the sunset on our first night.

[amyh13]

Just booked today for the Southern Caribbean on the Liberty for next April!! Love your review.

[APDMOM]

I'm enjoying every morsel of steak taco review you are sharing :) Loving the rest too!

[APDMOM]

I was also on this cruise and have a lot of the same feelings so far that you have had about the Liberty!!! She is a great ship. I am going to write a small review and add lots of pictures and your welcome to steal any of my pictures you would like. I am going to try to start tonight but it may be tomorrow.

 

Here is one from the sunset on our first night.

 

I'll be reading that too. There has been quite a lack of fresh Liberty reviews lately! :)

[pirate4me2]

Today is Aruba day! We were not arriving in port until 1 p.m., but I still woke up early excited. I decided to finally try out the Blue Iguana on Liberty for breakfast, and I wasn’t disappointed. I had a breakfast burrito with Mexican eggs, chicken sausage, cheese, pico, crispy hash browns, and guacamole. It was delish! Hubby ate off the buffet and said that they had pretty good waffles.

After breakfast we prepared our things that we needed for our excursion in Aruba. At 12:30 we arrived in Aruba, and we were off the ship by 1:15. We booked the Best of Aruba and Beach excursion through Carnival, and I will say right here that this tour was the best one we did this trip. I highly recommend it. Our tour guide was Rocky, and he was very informative and funny. This tour took us to the Casibari Rock Formations, which are amazing. We had 30 minutes to climb and explore the park area. We climbed to the top and the view was spectacular.

After we finished there, we were taken to a spot on the coast that had waves crashing against the rocks, and we had 5 minutes to get pictures. When you think of the coast of an island, you think sandy beaches, and Aruba made me realize this isn’t always true. Seeing the waves crash against the huge rocks was just breathtaking.

We then continued to the Natural Bridge and the ruins of the first Natural Bridge that collapsed. The second bridge is also weakening, so we were not permitted to walk on it, but we could walk around and take pictures. We were given 15 minutes and then we were off to see the California Lighthouse. While we were at the lighthouse, a bunch of us on the tour went to a shack called Yum-Yum. They had all sorts of smoothies, coconut water, sodas and such. I ordered a coconut smoothie, and it was really, really, really good! They make them with fresh coconut, and I have never tasted a smoothie as good as that one.

After the lighthouse we were taken to Eagle Beach for an hour and a half of beach time. It was a gorgeous, clean beach and we really enjoyed our time playing in the water. All in all the tour lasted from 1:30 to 6, and Chris and I both feel like it was the best excursion on this trip and worth every penny.

The excursion offered the option to be taken back to the ship or dropped off downtown for shopping. Chris and I opted to go downtown. For those who have not been to Aruba, downtown is literally right outside the cruise terminal, so it’s a piece of cake to get back on board after shopping downtown. We wandered the flea market, then the shops. Finally at 7 we decided to get some dinner at a restaurant rather than on the ship. After all, this was our first time being in port after 4 p.m., so we wanted to spend as much time in port and enjoy an island dinner! We went to a place called Iguana Joe’s, and we both ordered their coconut shrimp. It is really yummy! It came with a mango salsa, and I got Cuban Black Beans (pretty good) and fries. Chris got mac and cheese with his (really good) and baked beans (nothing special about them).

After dinner we walked around a little more. We had to be back on board by 9:30, and we went back at 9. We enjoyed our time in Aruba so much, and we both want to go back again. We decided to call it a day since we would be arriving in Curacao at 8 the next day. It was a wonderful day, and we had high hopes for Curacao!

Edited May 20, 2014 by pirate4me2

[pirate4me2]

It was hard, but we got up at 6 a.m. to get ready for our fun filled day in Curacao. I wandered up to Blue Iguana for another breakfast burrito, and again, I wasn’t disappointed. Gosh, I wish my breakfast burritos at home tasted as good as theirs!

We arrived in Curacao at 8 and we were off the ship at about 8:30. We had booked the Discover Curacao Island Tour through Carnival, and we were to meet on the pier. After standing in the hot sun for about 30 minutes, we were taken to a bus and met our tour guide for the day. Our first stop was the Curacao Museum, which was OK but nothing great. It was filled with old furniture to give you an idea of how they lived many years ago. We stayed there for about 45 minutes and then boarded the bus for our next stop, the Hato Caves. On our way there we got to see a huge flock of about 100 flamingos, and the guide stopped the bus to talk to us about them. It was neat to see them in the wild and hear about how they are not born pink but turn that color with their diet.

Once we got to the caves, we went up a set of 49 stairs to get inside. Now, when you think of caves you think nice and cool inside, right? Not the Hato Caves! They are actually really, really hot inside. They have fans running, but after exploring the caves for about 30 minutes we were ready to get back outside, and it felt refreshing to be outside! The caves are really neat though, and they were the best part of this excursion. We also got to see a bunch of iguanas. They are huge!

Next we went to the Blue Curacao liquor distillery. Honestly, this part of the excursion fell short of my expectations. We were there for 5 minutes, and I really wanted to learn more about how the liquor was made. I didn’t learn a thing. We did get to taste 4 different flavors: orange, chocolate, coffee, and a raisin one. You could also purchase some if you wanted. Overall though this part of the excursion was a flop for me.

The excursion ended with the option of getting dropped off downtown for shopping or to be taken back to the ship, and we opted to be dropped off for shopping. Again, for those who have never been to Curacao, it is simple to get back to the ship from downtown. You just walk through this big gray building (I forget the name of it) that has a bunch of shops in it and follow a path that leads to the dock. Simple! We walked around some shops, and then decided to head back to the ship at about 2. We were both hungry and the sun in Curacao is HOT.

I opted to have a burrito from Blue Iguana for lunch, but I found it to be a disappointment. The breakfast ones are so good, and this one (with chicken, black beans, pico, onions, peppers, cheese and guac) was just…blah. I went to the salsa bar and tried adding sauce to it but it didn’t help. The salsa bar does have excellent black bean and corn salsa though! I ended up not eating the burrito and got a Guy’s Burger instead…it was much better than the burrito. I got the Straight Up and went to the toppings bar and added hot peppers, and I got the Chipotle sauce to dip my fries in. Totally unhealthy but yummy!

After lunch Chris and I went to the atrium for the Country Music trivia. I am a slight country music fan. Ok, fine, I am a HUGE country music fan and can usually tell you the song name and artist after hearing a few seconds of a song. Guess what? That useless talent of mine paid off, and we won a ship on a stick! We got 17 out of 20 songs right. J

I decided to relax on the balcony until dinner, and the Liberty set sail at 4 for Grand Turk. I read until about 6:30, and then my husband informed me he was hungry again. We got ready and went to the MDR, and Gideon was our server tonight. Let me just say that he and his team were FANTASTIC. They were very attentive to our needs and funny. Tonight Chris and I both had the pork loin which came with coconut rice and steamed beans. The meat was very tender and tasted great. The beans were crisp and flavorful. The rice…well, I will just say both of us took a bite and left the rest. Not so good. We finished dinner off with the famous melting cake, and it was cooked perfectly…just enough melting in the middle!

We finished the night off by hanging out at the piano bar. Like I said, he can really play the piano, but I again wasn’t a fan of the songs he sang and the way they sounded with his raspy voice. There was still a good vibe in the piano bar though. We also walked around the ship a little bit to try and work off some of our dinner.

Up next…sea day number three!

[pirate4me2]

We had a sea day between Curacao and Grand Turk. I didn’t think we were tired from our time in Aruba and Curacao, but apparently we were, and it was nice to have a day to relax! We slept until about 9, and then went to Lido for breakfast. Guess what I had? You guessed it…a breakfast burrito from Blue Iguana. Hubby hit the buffet; he had beans (who eats beans for breakfast?), ham, and some other items…nothing special.

After breakfast we decided to go learn how to fold towel animals. I am hopeless, but Chris is pretty good! We then hung around for the Towel Animal Theater, which was a cute show. I may be 27, but I enjoyed it.

Chris decided it was time for a nap, and I wanted to sun myself on the balcony and read some of my book, so we took 2 hours to just be lazy. I did want to go to the Gender Showdown though, so I made sure we made it to that. It was funny! We both laughed a lot. Then we headed to the Future Cruise presentation, and it was informative but we already have a cruise booked for next year. I mostly went hoping that maybe they had some new info about Carnival Vista, but all the lady said was that the new ship would enter service in February 2016.

We decided to go check out what 60 Seconds or Less was all about, and we enjoyed it. Basically it is Carnival’s version of Minute to Win It. We watched the two teams battle it out and got a good laugh out of it.

Up next was the couple’s dance class, which I really wanted to do, and I managed to talk Chris into trying. We got up on stage to try and learn how to jive. I will be the first to admit that I am a klutz, and let’s just say that I am sure the audience got a few good snickers out of us. I do not foresee us becoming professional dancers anytime soon. Or ever.

We decided to eat early today and went to dinner at 5:45. We both ordered the usual Caesar salad, but tonight mine was really, really fishy. I gave it to Chris and he agreed, so I ordered the flatbread instead. Every night they had a different flatbread on the menu, and I decided why not try it. They are so yummy! This one had caramelized onions, eggplant and a cheese on it. Chris got the spaghetti carbonara (I forget how to spell it) for his entrée and said it was pretty good. I forget the name of my entrée; it was the vegetarian option and was a dish with eggplant, potato, and tomatoes with a pasta sauce and cheese. It was FANTASTIC. I didn’t think I would like it as much as I did, but once I started it I couldn’t stop until it was gone! I really didn’t think I would have room for dessert after eating it all, but who doesn’t have room for chocolate melting cake? I got it and it was good, nice and moist but not really melting. Chris got the peach pie and that is all that me, Gideon, and his assistants heard about the rest of the cruise. Apparently it was pretty amazing.

After dinner we went to see Courtney and the Liberty Band concert. It was awesome! She can really sing, and the show band is amazing. We enjoyed every second of the show.

Chris decided to check out the piano bar and see what was up, and I was wearing down and realized that tomorrow was Grand Turk day. I adore Grand Turk and wanted to take advantage of every second we had in port, so I decided to call it a day. I went to bed and had happy dreams of the beautiful blue waters Grand Turk offers and an adorable Labradoodle named Topher who I knew would be waiting for me.

[pirate4me2]

Allright, that is all that I have for today. Tomorrow will be a late day for me but I will still try and at least post about Grand Turk.

[travel33]

Allright, that is all that I have for today. Tomorrow will be a late day for me but I will still try and at least post about Grand Turk.

Thanks for a terrific review so far! Am really enjoying it :)

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your review, your doing a good job.

[mom2tcdx2]

I have enjoyed reading your review. We get to sail in 11 days. I have never booked such a last minute cruise before, as we just booked last week. Had great prices so I am going along with my sister, and then my parents also booked. It has been a while since we have sailed Carnival. I am hoping they have made a lot of changes since last we sailed.

[marygal]

Great review so far :) makes me feel like I was there with you :)

[pirate4me2]

Great review so far :) makes me feel like I was there with you :)

 

Haha thanks Mary! It was wonderful to meet you, and thamks again for arranging the meet and greet, it was fun!

[pirate4me2]

I have enjoyed reading your review. We get to sail in 11 days. I have never booked such a last minute cruise before, as we just booked last week. Had great prices so I am going along with my sister, and then my parents also booked. It has been a while since we have sailed Carnival. I am hoping they have made a lot of changes since last we sailed.

 

I hope you enjoy your trip! The service (for the most part except those two evenings in the MDR) was outstanding on our sailing, and Liberty is a great ship. Have fun!

[pirate4me2]

Grand Turk is our favorite port to visit. There is just something special about this tiny island. The water is so blue, and when you swim in it it’s so clear that you can be chest high in it and look down and see your feet. Whenever we are there we feel relaxed and carefree. It’s paradise. Needless to say, seeing that the port was on this itinerary was the icing on the cake for me. I couldn’t wait to be back!

We never book an excursion in Grand Turk, which makes the relaxing day even better. We don’t feel rushed to get off the ship to meet up with a tour. Today we got up at 8, just as we were docking. We saw Carnival Splendor pulling into the port behind us, so we watched her dock, and then headed to the gangway. We were off the ship at 9.

We decided to walk around the shops to do our shopping before hitting the beach. We walked around but didn’t find anything to purchase on this trip. So we headed back on board to change into swimsuits. When we got back off, we walked down the pier and headed left outside of the cruise terminal. To you Grand Turk veterans, I am sure you can guess where we were headed. J To those of you who haven’t been to Grand Turk, when you do get a chance to go, you need to walk about ¼ a mile down the beach until you reach a place called Jack’s Shack. They are a nice place to crash and spend the day. They have beach chairs, good drinks, and it is much less crowded than Margaretville. You will more than likely see a white dog out front digging his way to China in the sand; that’s Topher. He digs all day, some say he is digging for crabs.

Anyway, we reached our destination and met up with members of our roll call who invited us to share their table in the shade. I ordered a Reef Wrecker, which is a great drink, and Chris ordered jerk chicken. We had skipped breakfast so he was hungry. When his food arrived and my drink began to hit me, I realized I had better eat something if I wanted to be able to swim, so I ordered a cheeseburger. Who says you can’t eat one at 10:30 in the morning? J

We watched Topher dig in the sand for a bit and let our bellies digest their unusual breakfast, and then decided to hit the water for a bit. Oh, it felt wonderful!! We played for a good while, and then we saw this boat pulling this big, red/orange colored, 4 person inflatable thing behind it. I think it was called the Big Madel? Chris spoke with the driver and arranged a deal, and we went for a ride on it along with one of our fellow roll call members. It was an absolute blast! I thought I was going to fly off a few times, but we all managed to hang on. Oh my goodness was it fun!

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and our day in Grand Turk was drawing to a close. We headed back on board at 2, before the lines would start getting long. Before we went to our room to change we decided to hit the water slide again since there were not many people on board. Have I told you all how much fun the slide it?

We watched Splendor pull away at 3, and took a quick nap before elegant night. This evening Chris ordered the filet mignon and short ribs, which he said were incredible. I got the pasta with mushroom cream, and it was pretty good but nothing incredible. We both got the crab cakes for an appetizer, but they were not as good as the ones in the steakhouse. I also got the stuffed mushrooms, which I always love. There was no dessert for us tonight.

We went and saw the production show Wonderful World, which was really good! After being on the Breeze last year and seeing the 2.0 shows, I have to agree and say that the old style shows with the show band are just better. The band and dancers were really good.

Tonight our roll call had a glow party planned for in the piano bar and Hot N Cool Nightclub. We all met in the piano bar, but the nightclub was having 80’s hour and we felt that we could have more fun there. I went to the Alchemy Bar and got myself a drink (I don’t know the name of it) and it was amazing. I told the bartender I like fruity drinks and love pineapple, and she whipped up some amazing concoction with a pineapple slice on it. The drink was really, really, really good and the pineapple…well, let’s just say the pineapple had been marinating all week long and had reached its prime. J I was ready to party!! We danced and sang, and when 80’s hour ended Chris and I continued our party at the piano bar. Barry was taking requests, and he played Freebird for Chris, Summer of ’69 for me, and a few others we requested. He really is a nice guy, and I grew to like him over the week.

My pineapple finally caught up with me at this point, and I decided to call it a day. It was probably 11:30. Tomorrow was our last day on the ship and I wanted to make sure I was ready to take full advantage of it and leave nothing left undone!

[pirate4me2]

I will post about our last sea day tomorrow, I am deaded to bed after a long day! Getting back into work mode after a wonderful cruise is tough!

[pambud96]

This evening Chris ordered the filet mignon and short ribs, which he said were incredible. I got the pasta with mushroom cream, and it was pretty good but nothing incredible. We both got the crab cakes for an appetizer, but they were not as good as the ones in the steakhouse. I also got the stuffed mushrooms, which I always love. There was no dessert for us tonight.[/size][/font]

 

Did he actually get both filet and short ribs. My husband and I both ordered this and we only received the filet. Didn't bother to ask about it we were tired from the full day Grand Turk, but were wondering if we just missed saying short ribs and didn't get them because we didn't say filet and short ribs.

 

Loving your review, you really packed in a lot of fun things, makes me wish I had went to some of the trivia, but we had decided this was a rest and relax vacation, and it was. I will figure out how to link to my pictures on flickr so maybe you can steal a few, Maybe your even in the ones of Topher I took.

[pambud96]

 

 

 

not sure if this is how to link to my pictures.

[pirate4me2]

This evening Chris ordered the filet mignon and short ribs, which he said were incredible. I got the pasta with mushroom cream, and it was pretty good but nothing incredible. We both got the crab cakes for an appetizer, but they were not as good as the ones in the steakhouse. I also got the stuffed mushrooms, which I always love. There was no dessert for us tonight.[/size][/font]

 

Did he actually get both filet and short ribs. My husband and I both ordered this and we only received the filet. Didn't bother to ask about it we were tired from the full day Grand Turk, but were wondering if we just missed saying short ribs and didn't get them because we didn't say filet and short ribs.

 

Loving your review, you really packed in a lot of fun things, makes me wish I had went to some of the trivia, but we had decided this was a rest and relax vacation, and it was. I will figure out how to link to my pictures on flickr so maybe you can steal a few, Maybe your even in the ones of Topher I took.

 

He did get both the filet and short ribs, that's weird you didn't!

I will check out your pictures and review tonight when I get home. Thanks for posting some pics on here!

[APDMOM]

I am getting so much great info from you review! Thanks for sharing.

 

We are actually considering a second trip in June, since the Southern Itineraries are pretty cheap right now! :) I think we will wait until we are onboard on the 7th to see what kind of deal we can get...