A small October 27th-October 31st Carnival Liberty Review

[mroden2699]

Hello guys, this is my first review on this site from a first time cruiser. Anyways, wife and I were celebrating a late anniversary, by taking a 4-day getaway leaving from Galveston to Cozumel. As you all may know, this trip appeared to be the catalyst of what caused future delays for (as far as I know) the Oct 31st Liberty sailing and the Nov 5th sailing. I'll be separating sections of this review in numerous replies to this thread.

 

DAY 1:

As a first time cruiser, I felt like I was over thinking the whole embarkation process by doing hours of research, Carnival FAQ searching, and cruisecritic forum searching. Better safe than sorry, but embarkation was super smooth. Luckily we live an hour from the Galveston port in a city south of Houston, so driving the day of cruising isn't no issue. We booked our parking through Lighthouse Parking, which I would highly suggest. Quick great service, and fairly cheap at $50 for 4+ days. Wife and I were the only ones on the shuttle to the terminal, so Carnivals staggered check in seemed to be working well. A quick show of our boarding pass to allow us entrance into the terminal (didn't even ask for ID, thought they would), verification of our passports (they scanned our passport pictures which was then linked to our sail and sign), a quick x-ray of luggage and verification of sealed wine bottles, and after sail and sign card retrieval we were quickly on our way on the ship. From parking to being inside the ship all took less than 45min, excellent.

 

Our staggered check in time was 12-12:30, and we were on the ship at around 1pm. After a quick Jack and coke in the lobby, our stateroom availability was announced by our cruise director Frankie @ about 1:20. We elected to carry on our luggage, so we dropped of our bags and decided to grab a bite to eat at Guys Burgers. It was good, but nothing mind blowing. Quick service with a great toppings bar.

 

We then went up stairs off the Lido to the Adult Serenity area on deck 12. Very relaxing and quiet as opposed to the Lido or Lobby. Here's a picture of the view:

 

 

After another drink, being the cruise newb I am I thought we could getaway with participating in the muster drill. We continued to relax on deck 12 half asleep, then the loudest ship horn practically blew my ear drums out. Then we got up from our little bed to notice everybody on the Serenity deck was gone, and a crew members told us the muster drill is mandatory and we have to leave.

 

The muster drill wasn't as bad as I thought it would. It was a little hot, but Texas heat doesn't bother me as much as some people. It was fairly quick with just enough detail.

 

We then headed to the Lido to people watch for the deck party. Quickly after the muster drill, the ship began to take off. The humid stickiness quickly changed into a nice breeze, and we're off:

 

 

At around 5:30pm not even 10min into the deck party, a woman seemed to have passed out on the Lido deck. Later I found out she broke her ankle, and strangely enough there was reports of blood on the deck which I did not see. She was then carted off the deck, and the party was instantly cancelled. We then headed back to our stateroom to get ready for a night at the casino, to hear an announcement that the ship must turn around due to a medical emergency. Over hearing a convo on the smoke deck, this was the lady who broke her ankle.

 

We were already 2 hours out in sea when this announcement was made, and the lights of Galveston and the Bolivar Peninsula were fading out of distance. We finally arrived back in Galveston at 7:30. The ambulance was right by the window of my stateroom on deck 2:

 

 

This medical emergency pushed back our embarkation 3-4 hours, as we didn't leave Galveston until about 9:30pm. Upon our second take off, the captain announced that our arrival to Cozumel will not be affected.

 

We continued to get ready for a night on the Promenade deck...

 

(part 2 coming next)

[MsSmack]

I'm looking forward to the rest of your review. It seems like the Liberty has had a lot of bad luck this past year. I was on the Liberty for the Oct. 8-13 sailing and there were no mishaps of any kind. The cruise was wonderful. I feel bad for the folks on the 10/31 sailing since it has been cancelled.

[mroden2699]

Finally after taking off again at 9:30pm, we decided to hit up the buffet and Casino. This is when we met our room steward for the first time, and he asked us when was a good time to come clean up. We elected 11am every morning.

 

Honestly I couldn't remember what I had at the buffet that night, some veggie quesadillas are the only thing I remember. Wasn't nothing special. After a quick meal, we hit up the Casino. Wife and I aren't big on table games, so we played slots and a lot of other games where you can win bundles of cash. We were blessed this night, as we won $2500 on this game!!:

 

 

Believe me when I say this isn't rigged, you basically have to have perfect timing as my wife won after her 2nd try. The stack of $2500 dropped, and the Casino crew was quick on the scene to retrieve the money and gave us $100 bills instead of 2500 1's.

 

After a couple drinks we went to see the first R+ comedy show. Azeem is a hilarious comedian, just don't sit in the front expecting not to get called out. This guy has no filter, which only makes the show more enjoyable.

 

We then went to the Hot & Cool nightclub. Definitely a young adult crowd, which is fine with the Wife and I as we're in our mid to late 20's. Primarily plays Hip Hop and Latin dance music. After more drinks than I could count, we ate at Pizza Pirate at around 2am-3am. At these hours, it seems the chef doesn't want to deal with the drunks so pepperoni pizza is the only thing he's making. Of course if you're drunk with munchies this shouldn't matter. Which in our case, it didn't. The pepperoni pizza was good, crust was a little crunchy and burnt. Wish I could've tried the Margherita pizza. Time to sleep!

 

DAY 2 (FUN DAY AT SEA)

 

In the late morning hours, the captain made a follow up on our estimated arrival time in Cozumel. Saying it will get pushed back from 9am to 12pm. Which will also push back the departure from Cozumel from 4pm to 7pm. Didn't bother me much. But this announcement was only the beginning of our delays...

 

The Fun Times was dropped of at our stateroom the previous evening. Expecting us to stay out late the previous night, we wanted to check out the Steakhouse cooking demonstration at 12pm. If you're a foodie like myself you definitely do not want to miss this, a very entertaining, free and informative way of getting full.

 

 

After this, we were sold on booking a night at the steakhouse. We booked it at 8:30pm on our excursion day (tomorrow)

 

Coming back to the stateroom, cabin decorations for our anniversary with a bottle of barefoot bubbly was waiting for us. At this point, the weather was rainy and the ship was rocking really bad. Stage performances, and anything outside on the Lido deck has been cancelled. Grabbing some burritos from the Blueguana Grill, (which is excellent by the way, Habenero salsa for the win)the pool on the Lido turned into a wave pool, splashing water everywhere. Definitely the worse motion sickness I've experienced so far. We popped some Dramamine, which helped out a lot. I'm sure weather was a factor for the ship rocking so hard, but was curious if travelling at top speed (according to the captains announcement due to the delay) was causing this?

 

Anyways while I was grabbing some burritos, the captain made an announcement that one of the diesel back up generators has FAILED, delaying our arrival to Cozumel once again. This time from 12pm arrival to a 4pm arrival. They announced our all aboard time for leaving Cozumel is now 7:30pm.

 

We then decided to try out our chances on Bingo in the Venetian Palace. It was a fun time, but unfortunately we did not win nothing. Shortly after that was a game show for married couples, which was entertaining to watch. Frankie is a great game show host, and does a good job at keeping the crowd involved. The married couples game show was probably my favorite game show on the cruise.

 

Later that night we went on to visit another comedy show by Kelly Terranova. His delivery is very funny, and subject matter is even better. He was talking negative about the whole ship from an employees perspective, which I found hilarious.

 

Overall, our first fun day at sea was mainly interrupted by bad ship rocking and nasty weather. We tried to make the best of it though, and was hoping for the skies to clear up before Cozumel...

[toosaxykk]

Great review thus far! I am sorry your 1st cruise is having troubles but I cannot wait to read about the rest of it! Hopefully you had a good time nonetheless.

[tdh8359]

Following

[mroden2699]

DAY 3 (COZUMEL)

 

Woke up late in the morning, grabbed a free cup of coffee from the Lido buffet. First thing I noticed was the ship seemed to be sailing a lot smoother. Not sure if this is because of our moderately slow sailing speed due to the technical issue? Not sure. Either way, I made it to the top of the aft deck on level 10. Definitely one of my favorite locations on the ship as it's the most scenic in my opinion. Of course, the weather is still nasty, but we're smooth sailing...

 

 

After grabbing a Blueguana burrito (my favorite) for Wife and I, we decided to get ready for our excursion. As noted earlier, our arrival time got delayed to 4pm. We were told for all Carnival booked excursions to meet in the Venetian Palace before arrival to Cozumel. After some briefing, and buying a $3 poncho for the rainy weather, we made our way off the ship on to Mexico around 3pm (earlier than expected)

 

 

We opted for La Casa en la Playa, an all inclusive beach with free alcohol and food. After being greeted by super friendly and engaging tour guides at the end of the pier, we all hopped in a van for a 20min ride to the beach. They ensured our safety, and that we'll all leave together and come back together. The 'House on the Beach' is just as expected, a villa style home complete with restrooms, a bar/kitchen, outdoor seating on a patio over looking the ocean. The service was A1, made sure your cup was never empty and always supplied you with chips and pico/guac. The beach is super rocky, but water shoes are provided. Wife and I relaxed under an umbrella as there was still light rain going on. The main entrée my wife chose was the stuffed peppers, and I chose the grilled chicken wrapped in banana leaf. Both were fantastic. After a few games of Jenga, they offered to take us back at 6:30pm instead of the scheduled 7pm time so we could shop on the pier. Our time in Cozumel got cut in half anyways due to the delays. We had a great, relaxing time, and experienced the best customer service on our whole trip here.

 

 

After making it back to the pier, we bought a few loved ones some souvenirs. Arriving to a beautifully lit up Liberty.

 

 

We arrived just in time for our steakhouse reservation at 8:30. For $35/ per person, you each get an appetizer, salad, entrée and dessert. Solid wine selection too. Well worth it. I got the surf and turf, the best meal I've had on the ship.

 

 

Also this evening, the captain announced our arrival time to Galveston will be delayed (as expected). They will release a better timeframe tomorrow.

 

In the meantime after dinner, we visited the Alchemy Bar for the first time. Definitely the best cocktail selection on the whole ship. Wife enjoyed the Cucumber Sunrise and I loved the Caribbean Manhattan. After another great comedy show from Azeem and Kelly Terranova, the rest of the night was a blur. We've been drinking since Cozumel, and ended this night similar to our first night on the ship: at the Hot & Cool night club, and Pirates Pizza. Now I'm starting to think we've should've got the Cheers package! Oh well

Edited November 1, 2016 by mroden2699

[mroden2699]

DAY 4 (FUN DAY AT SEA)

 

We stayed up so late last night, we didn't end up waking up until around noon. Me being a huge NFL fan, I made my way down to the Skybox sports bar to hopefully catch what games they're playing. Looking forward to a bigger variety of games, the Saints game seemed to steal the show. I watched the first half, and went back to the stateroom.

 

This is when the captain finally announced the estimated time of arrival to Galveston: 6pm. Luckily, we live about an hour from the port. Other people are panicking, and guest services has the longest line I've seen yet. Anyways, this is the same day I located the "secret deck" on levels 6 & 7 mentioned in another thread, aimlessly wandering around taking pictures with dark clouds in the horizon:

 

 

We were in search of eating something different and decided to try the seafood shack near the aft. We got the lobster rolls and fried clam strips, it was okay but nothing I'd pay for again. After the late lunch we decided to give the Casino one more try before we enter Texas waters, no luck. But winning the $2500 earlier was something we were trying to leave to home with anyways.

 

Unfortunately we missed out on elegant night, which was something we will try to be involved in next time around. So we decided to spend our last night on the ship at the MDR. We were assigned in the Silver Olympian dining room at 6pm. My jerk chicken was okay at best, and my wife ordered a steak that was over cooked. We were happy to find out we had a dining table for 2 this whole time, and this is when the captain gave a nice farewell speech and the servers performed Gangnam Style which was pretty funny and entertaining.

 

 

We then decided to check out a 50's-80's rock and roll tribute at the Venetian Palace. The stage props and lighting effects were the highlight here, executed very well. Choreography was okay at best, and same with the singing. It was a solid show overall though, nice to do something different in the Venetian besides Bingo and game shows.

 

 

We decided to end the night relaxing in the Serenity deck on a hammock, definitely the most peaceful area of the ship.

 

FINAL DAY

 

We woke up this morning to find a bonus FUN TIMES that they printed last minute due to our delay. Not too much going on today, just bingo and a stage show that got delayed due to the ship rocking so much on Day 2. We spent most this day gathering our belongings and thoughts, pretty much ready to get back to Galveston. We grabbed breakfast from Blueguanas, not nearly as good as the lunch. And lunch from the deli, the salmon on a bagel was excellent.

 

We knew Galveston was coming close once the aroma of hydrocarbons and sulfur was in the air, and we seen oil rigs and tankers.

 

 

Finally around 6pm, we arrived to Galveston. Debarkation was completely the opposite as embarkation. Nobody listened to the deck by deck rule as everyone was anxious to get off the ship, cutting corners and all. The terminal had a huge line, and luckily Lighthouse parking was still readily available and quick to take us back to the parking lot. We finally got in our car around 7:30pm.

 

Overall, this wasn't a perfect cruise but still a fun experience nonetheless. I know we can't control mother nature, as the weather was ugly about 90% of the time. We can't control mechanical issues with the ship either, which Carnival always maintained great communication about even if the truth was ugly. Service was excellent, and Liberty being a renowned 'party ship' didn't bother me too much. There's always plenty of things to do, and I'd still sail with Carnival again in a heart beat.

 

After finding out the October 31st cruise got cancelled, we're lucky we even made this cruise, although we arrived back home as late as we did. If anybody has any questions I'd be happy to answer. Thanks for reading!

Edited November 1, 2016 by mroden2699

[lazydayz]

Thanks for posting. I hope your next cruise will be much smoother!

[tandemcruzr]

Thanks and Welcome to Cruising. It can be addictive. :)

 

Hope your next cruise is smooth sailing and everything is on time. :D

[siestakeys04]

Congrats on the win and nice review.

 

 

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[easyboy]

Thanks for the review.