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Review: Carnival Liberty - Southern Caribbean 6/20-6/28

stupendousman8

By stupendousman8,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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stupendousman8

stupendousman8

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Just got off the Liberty 8 day cruise out of Port Canaveral to Aruba, Grand Turk, Curacao. This was the first vacation me and my wife had taken without the kids in 14 years (they were visiting other relatives out of town with their grandparents) and enjoyed it a lot. We'd gone on a cruise to Key West, Grand Cayman and Ochos Rios on the Freedom last year and had such a good time decided to go on another cruise this year.

 

EMBARKATION - We flew into Port Canaveral via Southwest. Our flight was delayed almost 5 hours. Didn't get to Orlando until after midnight and not to our hotel until after 1am which stunk. Stayed at the Radisson at the Port http://www.radisson.com/cape-canaveral-hotel-fl-32920/flcocoa. We reserved a hot tub room and it was nice, clean and large. The grounds around the hotel were very nice too (pool, koi pond, etc.). We’d purchased the hotel shuttle from the airport ($50 for the two of us) and then took the shuttle to port from the hotel as well. Hotel staff had everything pretty organized and everything in this regard went smoothly.

 

From the time we got out of our shuttle until we were on the ship was probably 10-15 minutes. This was without any kind of priority status at all. Very impressed with the organization at the port.

 

CABINS - had 2 interior cabins on the first floor. No problems, nothing special to report. Their was ZERO problems with the AC. In fact, I had to turn it down a couple of times and I’m not the cold blooded type. The only bad thing I have to say about this ship (other than they need to repaint the interior of their elevators) is the fact that if you are staying aft in the lower levels, if you want to access anything forward on levels 3 and 4, you’ve got to go up to level 5 and walk forward, then go back down due to the galley and dining room is blocking much of those levels and there is no getting around them.

 

FOOD -

Breakfast: Most mornings we ate in the Silver Dining room. They had a great selection, you didn’t have to stand in line, and during sea days their “Brunch” menu included a “Steak and Eggs” option that included eggs, filet mignon, a tomato, fried potatoes, and a few regular and curly fries on the side. VERY GOOD. However, DW didn’t like that the orange juice came to us at room temp. and not chilled. On port days we normally whizzed through the buffet early in the morning to make sure we got off the boat in plenty of time to see the sights.

 

Lunch: We had Guy’s Burgers 3 or 4 lunches, Blue Iguana once, Fish and Chips once and the buffet a couple of times. Guy’s Burgers was very good, as everyone has pointed out already. I’m sure that there are better burgers to be had, but if you like “5 Guy’s” style burgers which will normally will run you about $7 each you’ll really like Guy’s Burger Joint. Plenty of toppings, pretty large beef patties and great buns. Blue Iguana had good “burrito bar” style burritos (I prefer restaurant style slathered in cheese myself). The buffet and Fish and Chips all had great food and you’ll never leave that area hungry.

 

Dinner: Even if none of the appetizers or main courses looked interesting to me, I could always go with the shrimp cocktail, flat iron steak (medium) and twice baked potato and not complain. I did have a “Pasta e Fagioli” appetizer that I didn’t care for. However, my favorite main course was the filet with roast beef and for desert the Grand Mariner is for vanilla type flavors what the Chocolate Melting cake is for chocolatey desserts. Highly recommended.

 

CASINO - Didn’t really gamble much, but we spent a lot of time in the Casino lounge listening to Music Boardwalk. They are a 4 piece cover band, originally from the Philippines I think. They played a bunch of great rock, pop, r&b and classic rock. The keyboardist Audie had little dance routines choreographed to most songs and was very entertaining. They were on the Freedom last year and from pictures posted here about earlier Liberty cruises, knew they’d be onboard and looked out for their performances.

 

ENTERTAINMENT - Went to lots of trivia contests (won the Star Wars one) and watched the live musicians. Music Boardwalk (as described previously) and Tom (forgot his last name) were great to sit and watch. Tom was a younger guy who accompanied himself on the acoustic guitar. This kid had a great voice and really could be a big star some day.

 

CRUISE DIRECTOR - Cory Rogers was a great cruise director. While a mediocre cruise director probably won’t likely hurt your cruising experience, an interested, entertaining and personable CD can make things better. Cory seemed to be involved in ALL the activities and when he held trivia contests he did it in costume - A Jedi with light sabers during Star Wars trivia, A Hogworts student during Harry Potter trivia and he sported a mullet wig with a cut off sleeve shirt during 80’s Music Trivia Sing Along (4 floors of the atrium singing 80’s tunes!). He really helped spice up some of the after-hours “Adults Only” events (one of which can not be discussed) as well.

 

ARUBA - Got off the ship and went to a few shops downtown before our scheduled excursion. World Cup mania was everywhere. At bars and open areas, they had bleacher seating and massive big screens showing the games. Most were rooting for Holland. We ended up getting picked up for a Segway tour of the Island through Segwaytoursaruba.com. The van they picked us up in could use a little cleaning, but other than that we had a fantastic time. It cost us $75 each and they took us through the touristy hotel area (there’s a Hard Rock and other themed places) on our way to Moomba beach where the actual Segway tour started. After about 5 minutes of instruction and practice (they really are that easy to use!) we headed out along the hotel route, eventually getting to a beach path, around many scenic areas and finally to the California Lighthouse where we enjoyed a VERY GOOD Strawberry smoothie (real fruit) for $4. An extra $1 got you rum in it - which we declined since we were “driving”. After the tour, we were free to use the beach there (and they had a nice beach bar with the aforementioned World Cup video setup) and after about 2 hours we went back to the Segway area and they took us back to the ship.

 

CURACAO - First thing we noticed is that in Curacao they had all the non-Carnival tour vendors sequestered in a little holding area where you could go to ask about tours, but they couldn’t get right up in your face trying to get your business. This was a very good set-up. We took the Indie Tours 3 hour tour of the island which we had pre-scheduled, on an open air bus which was great. Very nice island and beaches and beautiful scenario. For $25 they toured all around the island with all you could drink Polar beer (very good - Venezuelan), water and soda. Also stopped at the distillery where we had samples. Would highly recommend their tours.

 

GRAND TURK - Got off the boat and found a $29 deal that took us up the beach to Governor’s Beach which included the use of snorkle equipment. The water was very clear and there was a slightly rocky area that started about 20 feet from the beach that a lot of tropical fish gathered at. There were also a few salvaged boats in the water, but the fish seemed to like the rocks a little better. After we were done there, we had our bus driver drop us off at Jack’s Shack for lunch. While I’ve heard raves about them, my experience was that they were a little unorganized and I had a hot dog and fries where the hot dog was overcooked and the bun either stale or way over toasted. This was after the guy who came to the table we were sitting at screwed up our order a few times (didn’t write it down). Their prices weren’t all the spectacular either. We walked down the beach and headed for Margaritaville where we had a great time in their well kept pool area and while it wasn’t cheap, had a few of their extra large Margarita’s (serves two EASILY) for $15 each with the lidded souvenir cup that floats. Refills where about $11 which is about what they were on the ship for MUCH smaller drinks. We participated in the aqua mambo line and the wife did the “Wobble” line dance in the pool. We didn’t go inside or eat, but I’d highly recommend their pool bar area and their massive margaritas! This was probably our favorite port of the trip.

 

DEBARKATION - this went fairly smoothly. We did the self-carried luggage option and where off the boat on our way to the Avis car rental location by 9am.

 

Overall, it was a great vacation and I’d recommend it to everyone who would consider this itinerary and ship.

 

I hope to update with pictures and Fun Times for all 8 days within the next couple of days.

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stupendousman8

stupendousman8

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We'll be doing this cruise in January. Altho not mentioned in your review I am hoping that the Mongolian Wok and Indian Tandoor are available on the Liberty:)

 

Mongolian Wok - Yes.

Indian Tandoor - No.

 

I think that Blue Iguana Cantina replaced Tandoor on both the Freedom and Liberty.

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joshac912

joshac912

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Great review. You mentioned it only took about 15 minutes from arrival at the port to being on deck. May I ask what time you arrived at port? Just curious about timing for my upcoming cruise on the Liberty. Thanks!

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stupendousman8

stupendousman8

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Great review. You mentioned it only took about 15 minutes from arrival at the port to being on deck. May I ask what time you arrived at port? Just curious about timing for my upcoming cruise on the Liberty. Thanks!

 

We left our hotel at about 11am. It takes about 5 minutes or so to get from there to port, then a couple of minutes to get off the shuttle and drop off the bags. Porters were right there at the shuttle to get the bags.

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