Liberty Review.....

[shipshapegal]

The Carnival Liberty 12/17/06 - 12/23/06 (Freeport, Grand Cayman, and Costa Maya)

 

Us: Party of eleven, two grandparents, two parents, seven children from ages 10 - 21. Grandparents (me and hubby) gave this trip to the family as a Christmas present.

 

Embarkation: Long lines at 11:30, arrive later if you can, then no lines at check in. Staff was very friendly though. All except the wheelchair ****. One of our party of eleven needs a wheelchair for long walks only. We were told to go in a certain door for this service. Then we ran into the above named "person" and were told only one other person could go with the wheelchair person. There was an area with chairs there and we didn’t want to separate our party and asked if we could have the wheelchair person wait there until the rest got through the long line and then join them. No, we could not do this (in a loud booming voice). Anyway, we finally all got together again onboard and put it behind us. But really, wheelchair people go straight to the front of the line and this was not our party’s intent.

 

 

Cabins were not ready until 1:30 but we could go to the Lido deck for lunch of course, and did. The deli is still wonderful. Great Rubin sandwiches.

 

 

The cabins: When the cabins were ready we met the room steward and introduced ourselves. Since we have five cabins and seven of our party are "young", we thought we should tip up front extra. We told him to please keep the ice buckets full and lots of towels and to empty the fridges.

 

 

We also asked him about noro on the last cruise knowing the transatlantic had an outbreak. He told us there had not been any on the previous cruise and that the whole ship had been disinfected. Now (honestly) our cabin was not all that clean. This is the first I have ever had a cabin I entered and then cleaned myself. Even the mirrors had fingerprints and were almost cloudy. Very disappointing. I wiped everything down with disinfectant even though I do know anti-bacterial wipes do not prevent noro. I guess it just made me feel better. I will not clean the cabin again, I was too timid to tell the steward how unhappy I was. Shame on me.

 

 

Lido food: As expected, not bad, not great, but lots of fun! And lots of food too. Servers very nice...

 

 

Dining room: Golden, midship, 6:15 seating.... food was very good. There are lots of us and some are very picky eaters and everyone has been happy. I thought the food may be a problem as I had recently read so many negative things on the boards about the Liberty. Maybe it is a matter of expectations and mine were low from the boards, but we were happy each night. We liked the lobster, it was NOT mushy and not overcooked and was delicious. We have eaten lobster many times before the flames get started here so I do have a comparison. Youngest grandchildren even tried the snails! Now they didn't love them, but they tried them!

 

 

Sleeping: Carnival has great bids and bedding in my opinion and we were all very happy. I will admit that I did check every single bed for bedbugs though. Since the ship had recently returned from Europe and since this seems to be a problem there, I thought it prudent to look. In case you don’t know how or where to look, just lift the bedding until you get to the edges of the mattress and look in the seams for little "spots". Our beds were all fine. But I would rather look and have none than not look and have bugs. (Sorry if this creeps anyone out.)

 

Freeport: Just went to the straw market off the ship and all the shops pretty much had the same things for sale. You could even buy crack pipes (yikes!). Three of our teen girls had their hair braided for about $300 but they love it and looked great! Some of our group went in a cab for a tour and a little beach time and had a lot of fun with their driver teaching them how to say "Mon" in the Bahamian style. Of course they are still saying it every chance they get! "Hey mon, what you doin’?" They had so much fun.

 

 

Grand Cayman: Tendered to shore as there are coral reefs near shore. Hubby and I shopped and ate lunch in Margaritaville. The rest swam with the stingrays, snorkled, swam, and generally had a blast. There were eight cruise ships in Grand Cayman while we were there. Now with an average of 2,800 passengers and 1,900 crew on each ship, can you count how many people went ashore in this small town? Just under 38,000 is my best guess. In my opinion all the shopkeepers and locals were very friendly and helpful to all of us. Amazing.

 

 

Costa Maya: Our group went on the ruins tour and thought it was very good. Oddly enough one grandson is currently studying this in school so he was particularly interested. The shops - I do know you have to bargain but it was ridiculous! I bought 6 bottles of vanilla and one onyx turtle from the same shop just off the pier. The price started at $131.00 and we ended up at $48.00 for all. There were three ships in port, ours, RCCL and HAL. There are shuttles from the dock to the shops. It is HOT in Costa Maya! Everyone was very nice. There were dancers performing in the shopping area and there are benches to sit and rest. The beaches looked very nice but we did not swim.

 

 

Photographs: We had such a great time having so many photos taken! It is almost impossible to decide which tho buy though. The photographers were fun and professional and had everyone smiling a lot so we did get some GREAT ones!!! Now where else I ask you can you go with a party of eleven and have professional shots done for twenty bucks! Great deal as far as I am concerned. We even had some made into Christmas cards for $15.00. They turned out very nice.

 

 

Sea days: Luckily we had mostly smooth seas and there were lots of activities on board. Everyone found plenty to do. CD Todd was energetic and available. I think he did a pretty good job.

 

Camp Carnival: Ten and twelve year olds joined and loved it!! At first they thought it was a little lame but quickly got involved and wanted to go all the time. They partied like rock start to hear them tell it! (but for their age groups - smile).

 

 

Disembarkation: Smoothest I have ever seen...... go here for a slideshow.

 

http://muffin53.blogspot.com/2006/12/liberty-slideshow.html

[renza]

Thank you very much for your review. I will be sailing on her in Feb. and I am pleased to here that the food was good. Again ty, Janna

[teamkern]

What time could people get there later to avoid the lines at embarkation. We are anxious to get on board but will be traveling with an 8 & 7 year old and would love to avoid standing in line for a couple hours. Great review.

[DqALEX]

Thank You for your review. I hope you wrote on your comment card about your cabin. That is unacceptable. I was on the Triumph and the cabin or the decks were not clean. That was the only time I was ever on a dirty Carnival ship.

[shipshapegal]

I certainly did use the comment card! But the ship was very clean, I think it was just our cabin steward.

 

And as for embarkation, I would say 1:00 should be good, 11:30 had lines all the way outside and around the baggage drop off. They moved pretty good, but who wants to start their vacation like that? I would say go even to a fast food place and have a soda or coffee or watch the ocean for a little while, then board and it will be much smoother. Smooth seas to you!

[mcintyre9454]

You mentioned there were shuttles that ran from the ship to the shops in Costa Maya. How long of a ride is it? And, did you have to arrange ahead of time with the ship to utilize the shuttles? Thank you for your review. We leave next weekend! :)

[bills blasters]

Great to read your review. We will be on the same cruise soon, and are looking forward to it. Can you tell me what movies were showing on the outdoor big screen?

Thanks

[nybumpkin]

Thanks so much for your review. We're sailing the 8-day Western in February. Were there a large number of ships in port when you sailed?

[shipshapegal]

The shuttles are near the ships, they are free, and they go right to the shopping area but it is not far and lots of people walked. It was just so hot we rode the shuttles. You just jump on, that's it!

 

Gosh what movies? I am so sorry but I have no idea. We did not watch any movies. the shows were lots of fun and we mostly did that and some lounges.

 

Large number of ships in Port Everglades? Yes. Lots.....

In Freeport, yes, lots....

In Grand Cayman, YES!!!! yikes, and all in tender boats!

In Costa Maya, only two others, RCCL and HAL

Back in Port Everglades this morning, yes. Lots....

 

Other than Grand Cayman it didn't feel too crowded though. We just rolled with it and had a blast!

[sunsetme]

I was on this sailing too. I booked it the week before as a solo cruiser. Had a 1A guarantee and ended up on Panorama deck 4G. The only downside was being under the spa jacuzzi. We had great weather and good seas. I was seated at a table of 8 with 3 ladies from Atlanta, a family from Brooklyn and another solo cruiser from California. Eating at 8:30 was difficult, the service was good though and the food OK. There were 2 formal nights. In Freeport I went to the beach. If you go walk down to the right when you get to the beach, it is really pretty and not crowded. in Cayman, I booked with Nativeway and did the stingrays and Rum Point. really enjoyed that. It wasn't crowded at rum point and I"ve been to 7 mile beach several times. The town was very crowded with 8 ships so I'm glad I did an excursion. In Costa Maya I took the bus to Mahajual. It is a fun place, the water was great, there is snorkeling off the beach, the water is shallow. There are lots of bars with swings and massage places. they really try hard to please there. The pool at the pier is large and there's a large swim up bar with music and some shops.Went to the 2 production shows which i've seen before. The deck band is very good and the deck party was very entertaining. The midnight buffet was very small and not worth the time. The comedian was average. Embarkation was easy at 1:00. Disembarkation wasn't bad either although I was in no hurry having a 1:20 flight. FLL was a madhouse being the weekend before Christmas. The ship had Chanukah each night and a Christmas event one evening. All in all, a good cruise.

[nlcentralchmps03]

Nice review!

 

Enjoyed the pics too!

[lovecruzing]

Great review/reviews and pictures too. We also will be sailing her on Jan 14/07. Did I read correctly in that there are 2 formal nights? Also, how long did it take you to get off the ship? Took a chance and booked a flight home for 11:45 a.m. and hope that's not pushing it.

[sunsetme]

yes there are 2 formal nights. getting off was easy. self debarkation is around 8:30. you can probably get VIP tags for early flights. 11:45 no problem.