Liberty 3-day Review (2/14-2/17)

[Super27]

Just got off a 3-day on the Liberty, and since there don’t seem to be many recent reviews of this ship, I thought I’d share a few thoughts. In general, we had a great time, and would definitely cruise the Liberty again. 

 

General: Our previous cruise was on Breeze, and the Liberty felt noticeably smaller on the inside. It just didn’t feel like there was as much “open” space, and public areas just felt a bit more crowded. On the outside, there were definitely some spots where the ship is showing it’s age. For instance, the aft pool is looking a little rough around the edges. I also noticed a bit of a foul odor in our hallway (Deck 1) one of the days, but didn’t notice it the rest of the cruise. All of that said, the ship overall felt very clean, and there are plenty of great outdoors spaces to relax and enjoy the sun. 

 

Cabin: We were on deck 1 in cabin 1219, which is an interior. It was definitely small, but not as bad as I was expecting. We were very happy with the size for a short cruise. Elevators seemed much quicker/less crowded on this ship than on the Breeze, so the deck 1 location didn’t bother us either. The only room issue was a VERY slow shower drain that led to a VERY wet bathroom floor. We meant to call maintenance about it, but then forgot. 

 

Main Dining Room: We did late Dining in the Silver Olympian (aft). Overall we were very happy with the food and service. For me, the highlights were the prime rib on elegant night, and the braised rabbit appetizer on the last night. As you may know, no free lobster on these short cruises. I couldn’t care less about that, but I just didn’t find myself nearly as excited by these dinner menus as I had on our previous 7 night cruise. It felt like there was far less variety. I was also disappointed that Pasta Carbonara didn’t make an appearance at all. We also did Sea Day Brunch in the MDR. They are still using the “old” menu, and the food was excellent. I firmly believe that the hen ala diavola is the single best dish carnival serves. The service at brunch was a little spotty, though - he brought our entrees and then we literally never saw him again. So much for ordering that banana cream pie, it just wasn’t happening. 

 

Other food: Guy’s burger joint was great as always. The pizzaria was excellent. We tried 3 different kinds and they were all really good. I honestly think Carnival has the best pizza out there of any similar “mass-market” venue. Sushi at Sea was good but not amazing, and reasonably priced. It does take a bit of time for them to make though so don’t order it if you’re at all in a hurry. 

 

Alchemy Bar: We spent a ton of time there, and it was great. It’s currently run by Tatiana, Anca, and Yulia (might be off on spelling), and they are a ton of fun and really great mixologists. Highly recommended!

 

Entertainment: I really enjoyed the string trio in the lobby. Listened to them a couple different times and they do a great job. The piano bar guy (Craig) was just okay. Definitely a fun time and entertaining, but I didn’t feel the need to stop by more than once. We saw one PG comedy show, and I thought the comedian did a great job keeping it clean language but still actually getting adults to laugh. The only stage show we saw was America Rocks, and I thought it was great. The performers are very talented and really put on an awesome show. The only bad part was the obnoxious behavior of our fellow cruisers constantly walking in the aisles and loudly carrying on conversations the entire show. 

 

Spa: This is not a cloud 9 spa, so it’s pretty small. We did a couples massage, and they did a really great job. Very relaxing and the therapists were really nice. Surprisingly, they did not try to upsell with any product. That said, I thought the price for the massage itself was outrageous. As good as it was, I’m not sure it was worth the price. Then again, vacation is the time to splurge. 

 

Casino: The casino is decent size, and has an okay variety of machines and tables. I didn’t play tables this time, as they were always crowded and I don’t enjoy playing with loud drunks who think they are experts at gambling. Against my better judgment, I pumped a decent amount of cash into video poker and slots. All I’ll say is these machines are TIGHT. The only win of the trip was the $100 my girlfriend pulled out of the claw machine. 

 

Crew/Service: Service overall was solid. Everyone was friendly and eager to please. Our cruise director was NoNo. I was less than impressed with her. I know she was apparently on Lido a lot, but other than that we never saw her out and about in other areas of the ship. Her enthusiasm also comes across as forced and kind of fake. I very much preferred Schwartz from our last cruise. 

 

That’s all I got...any questions feel free to ask!

[BusyFLmom]

Very nice review....thanks for posting!  I'm glad you had a good time.

 

[RedbirdFLCruiser]

Thanks so much!! Hubby and I leave on this same cruise on Feb 28 to celebrate my birthday. 😎

 

We're also in an interior on Deck 1. 

Edited February 17, 2019 by RedbirdFLCruiser

[ProgRockCruiser]

Thanks for the review!  We cruised on Liberty for our first two cruises, 3 and 4 day, and really enjoyed the ship and crew.  We had Donkey as CD - he was very good, but we didn't necessarily see him much either, probably because we didn't happen to attend whatever he was doing.  Perhaps we just were interested in activities that didn't need a CD to "lead".  Like drinking at the Alchemy Bar!

[Super27]

5 minutes ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

 Perhaps we just were interested in activities that didn't need a CD to "lead".  Like drinking at the Alchemy Bar!

 

That was definitely us too. We don’t really go to any of the Lido shows...I’d prefer to enjoy those drinks and maximize my Cheers rather than watch hairy men dance!

[KmomChicago]

Thanks for the review!

[mvaughn11]

Great review! Thanks!

[cruzer_77]

We loved Tatiana at the Alchemy Bar!!! She was great!! 

[Cruisegoer]

Hi there, I was wondering if the OP could report back how embarkation went? What time did you arrive to the pier? What time slot was your boarding? I’m going back and forth whether or not I want to spend the extra money on FTTF.  We are not in charge of our arrival at the pier (getting picked up via shuttle) nearby so we may at pier around 10AM with a embarkation slot of noon.

[Super27]

14 minutes ago, Cruisegoer said:

Hi there, I was wondering if the OP could report back how embarkation went? What time did you arrive to the pier? What time slot was your boarding? I’m going back and forth whether or not I want to spend the extra money on FTTF.  We are not in charge of our arrival at the pier (getting picked up via shuttle) nearby so we may at pier around 10AM with a embarkation slot of noon.

 

We did faster to the fun. We got to port right about 11 and basically never stopped walking once in the terminal. In our cabin by 11:15 maybe 11:25. In general embarkation seemed very organized. I’m not sure FTTF actually saved us much time (if any) for boarding. We did it more for having the cabin ready. 

[Cruisegoer]

4 minutes ago, Super27 said:

 

We did faster to the fun. We got to port right about 11 and basically never stopped walking once in the terminal. In our cabin by 11:15 maybe 11:25. In general embarkation seemed very organized. I’m not sure FTTF actually saved us much time (if any) for boarding. We did it more for having the cabin ready. 

Good to note thanks. Any idea when ship boarding actually began??

[Super27]

6 minutes ago, Cruisegoer said:

Good to note thanks. Any idea when ship boarding actually began??

 

I believe check-in opened about 10:15 and boarding started at pretty much 11 on the dot. 

[DGNewton]

On ‎2‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 8:30 AM, Super27 said:

Just got off a 3-day on the Liberty, and since there don’t seem to be many recent reviews of this ship, I thought I’d share a few thoughts. In general, we had a great time, and would definitely cruise the Liberty again. 

 

General: Our previous cruise was on Breeze, and the Liberty felt noticeably smaller on the inside. It just didn’t feel like there was as much “open” space, and public areas just felt a bit more crowded. On the outside, there were definitely some spots where the ship is showing it’s age. For instance, the aft pool is looking a little rough around the edges. I also noticed a bit of a foul odor in our hallway (Deck 1) one of the days, but didn’t notice it the rest of the cruise. All of that said, the ship overall felt very clean, and there are plenty of great outdoors spaces to relax and enjoy the sun. 

 

Cabin: We were on deck 1 in cabin 1219, which is an interior. It was definitely small, but not as bad as I was expecting. We were very happy with the size for a short cruise. Elevators seemed much quicker/less crowded on this ship than on the Breeze, so the deck 1 location didn’t bother us either. The only room issue was a VERY slow shower drain that led to a VERY wet bathroom floor. We meant to call maintenance about it, but then forgot. 

 

Main Dining Room: We did late Dining in the Silver Olympian (aft). Overall we were very happy with the food and service. For me, the highlights were the prime rib on elegant night, and the braised rabbit appetizer on the last night. As you may know, no free lobster on these short cruises. I couldn’t care less about that, but I just didn’t find myself nearly as excited by these dinner menus as I had on our previous 7 night cruise. It felt like there was far less variety. I was also disappointed that Pasta Carbonara didn’t make an appearance at all. We also did Sea Day Brunch in the MDR. They are still using the “old” menu, and the food was excellent. I firmly believe that the hen ala diavola is the single best dish carnival serves. The service at brunch was a little spotty, though - he brought our entrees and then we literally never saw him again. So much for ordering that banana cream pie, it just wasn’t happening. 

 

Other food: Guy’s burger joint was great as always. The pizzaria was excellent. We tried 3 different kinds and they were all really good. I honestly think Carnival has the best pizza out there of any similar “mass-market” venue. Sushi at Sea was good but not amazing, and reasonably priced. It does take a bit of time for them to make though so don’t order it if you’re at all in a hurry. 

 

Alchemy Bar: We spent a ton of time there, and it was great. It’s currently run by Tatiana, Anca, and Yulia (might be off on spelling), and they are a ton of fun and really great mixologists. Highly recommended!

 

Entertainment: I really enjoyed the string trio in the lobby. Listened to them a couple different times and they do a great job. The piano bar guy (Craig) was just okay. Definitely a fun time and entertaining, but I didn’t feel the need to stop by more than once. We saw one PG comedy show, and I thought the comedian did a great job keeping it clean language but still actually getting adults to laugh. The only stage show we saw was America Rocks, and I thought it was great. The performers are very talented and really put on an awesome show. The only bad part was the obnoxious behavior of our fellow cruisers constantly walking in the aisles and loudly carrying on conversations the entire show. 

 

Spa: This is not a cloud 9 spa, so it’s pretty small. We did a couples massage, and they did a really great job. Very relaxing and the therapists were really nice. Surprisingly, they did not try to upsell with any product. That said, I thought the price for the massage itself was outrageous. As good as it was, I’m not sure it was worth the price. Then again, vacation is the time to splurge. 

 

Casino: The casino is decent size, and has an okay variety of machines and tables. I didn’t play tables this time, as they were always crowded and I don’t enjoy playing with loud drunks who think they are experts at gambling. Against my better judgment, I pumped a decent amount of cash into video poker and slots. All I’ll say is these machines are TIGHT. The only win of the trip was the $100 my girlfriend pulled out of the claw machine. 

 

Crew/Service: Service overall was solid. Everyone was friendly and eager to please. Our cruise director was NoNo. I was less than impressed with her. I know she was apparently on Lido a lot, but other than that we never saw her out and about in other areas of the ship. Her enthusiasm also comes across as forced and kind of fake. I very much preferred Schwartz from our last cruise. 

 

That’s all I got...any questions feel free to ask!

Thank you for your review....DW is celebrating her 60th and we jumped on the 2/28/19 cruise....good info!

Much of what I expected, it is what we will make it - another great fun time!  Will catch the America Rocks and maybe treat her to the Steakhouse one night.

Thanks again!

[jwcruise1]

Thank you for the review, we are on the Liberty in April and like you, I couldn't find any recent reviews.

It will be DW and our kids (niece and nephew) first cruise so I don't think they will be disappointed