Carnival Liberty Thread - All The Info You Need Is In Here

[Beachbaby777]

I am cruising on the Liberty on 8-8-09 for my one year anniversary. Anyone else going on this cruise? Anyone found any great prices on flights?

[lalajeanne]

I'm a first-time cruiser, and can't even describe how helpful these boards have been! So a big thank you to everyone who contributes to them!

 

My question pertains to Carnival's "Sign and Sail" card.. My family is cruising on Liberty, and my parents will cover the majority of my expenses (tips, etc.) on the cruise. However, I suspect I will want to do some shopping, buy soda, go to the casino and other things with my own money.

 

is there a way to link my sign and sail card to my own bank account? or will i just have to leave it linked to my parents account and pay them back?

[oceanbreezer]

is there a way to link my sign and sail card to my own bank account? or will i just have to leave it linked to my parents account and pay them back?

 

I would just suggest saving your receipts for everything and paying them back. If you were paying for your own tips etc then you could put the S&S account in your name.

[RyanMFitz1]

I'm a first-time cruiser, and can't even describe how helpful these boards have been! So a big thank you to everyone who contributes to them!

 

My question pertains to Carnival's "Sign and Sail" card.. My family is cruising on Liberty, and my parents will cover the majority of my expenses (tips, etc.) on the cruise. However, I suspect I will want to do some shopping, buy soda, go to the casino and other things with my own money.

 

is there a way to link my sign and sail card to my own bank account? or will i just have to leave it linked to my parents account and pay them back?

 

 

My mom and i always travel together and we always take cash with us. That beign said, we go to the pursers desk and put money on our Sail and Sign accounts and they always have asked if we want the Folio numbers linked or separate accounts. We chose separate accounts and never have had an issue.

[serene56]

I'm a first-time cruiser, and can't even describe how helpful these boards have been! So a big thank you to everyone who contributes to them!

 

My question pertains to Carnival's "Sign and Sail" card.. My family is cruising on Liberty, and my parents will cover the majority of my expenses (tips, etc.) on the cruise. However, I suspect I will want to do some shopping, buy soda, go to the casino and other things with my own money.

 

is there a way to link my sign and sail card to my own bank account? or will i just have to leave it linked to my parents account and pay them back?

 

 

leave it linked to your parents card and add money to your account at the pursers desk. taking your parents card away leaves you respoisnible for tips, excursions etc.

[serene56]

I am cruising on the Liberty on 8-8-09 for my one year anniversary. Anyone else going on this cruise? Anyone found any great prices on flights?

 

 

are you talking the Carnival Liberty? I see a sailing on 8/13/09

 

here is the roll calls for Carnival Liberty

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=334

[MaryL_Trvls]

Has anyone had trouble bring their drinks aboard? I don't want to bother with a rum runner ..

[whiskey girl]

The same thing happened to use - 3 extended balcony cabins (8G or E) in a row midship; two of the cabins connected room-to-room. When we were moved to the Liberty they put us in the aft 9A cabins with wrap balconies. Two rooms on one corner and one on the other. We studied long and hard but decided to move. The wrap around balconies were very tempting but we would no longer be together and I was uncomfortable with the (completely) aft situation. The balconies were longer but no wider.

[whiskey girl]

We were originally booked on the Pride for the June 20. 2009 cruise and were switched to the Liberty. That's not a problem. We've been on Conquest class ships before. The problem is the switching of cabins. We had a balcony on Main deck on the Pride. It was midship. When they switched us to the Liberty, we got a balcony on the Empress deck toward the rear of the ship. I've never been in the rear of a ship before and I'm afraid of noise or vibrations. Can anyone help me? Should I try to move? The cabins are 7431 and 7435. I'd appreciate some help. Thanks!!

 

The same thing happened to use - 3 extended balcony cabins (8G or E) in a row midship; two of the cabins connected room-to-room. When we were moved to the Liberty they put us in the aft 9A cabins with wrap balconies. Two rooms on one corner and one on the other. We studied long and hard but decided to move. The wrap around balconies were very tempting but we would no longer be together and I was uncomfortable with the (completely) aft situation. The balconies were longer but no wider. Difficult decision.

[Riley's Mom]

I think when Liberty went into Dry dock last year (Fall) they just added the Mini Golf because I didn't see it in March 2007 or February 2008 when we were on it. That is also when they made the SPA deck outside cabins into Balcony rooms.

=======================================================

 

They did not convert the spa cabins over to balconies like they were supposed to during drydock. We are booked in a spa cabin for our April cruise and they have not been changed.. Darn It!

 

Carla

[shortstuf1255]

Hi All,

I just got off the Liberty Eastern yesterday and will try to answer any questions

 

I had requested Early Dinner. I got the Open seating. Went to try and change it was told I would have to wait until the next day to see if they could change it. The first night did the open seating. The waiter was slow and had to keep asking for things. The next night we did get Early dinner and our waiter Charlie was great. Then it was back to Open seating the next night because we were in San Juan at 5-11:30pm so it was that way for the whole ship Same thing again had to ask for every thing and Slow. The next nights it was back to Charlie!!! My daughter had her Coke waiting for her as she sat down every night and we always had bread and rolls!! Charlie was great so if you are in the Silver Dinning Room on deck 4 hopefully you will see him.

 

Chocolate buffet was at lunch on Friday. Deli sandwiches were great too!!! Daughter loved the Fish and Chips too bad she got it on Friday and not earlier in the week. Any other questions I will try to answer for you

Karen

[serene56]

 

I had requested Early Dinner. I got the Open seating. Went to try and change it was told I would have to wait until the next day to see if they could change it. The first night did the open seating. The waiter was slow and had to keep asking for things. The next night we did get Early dinner and our waiter Charlie was great. Then it was back to Open seating the next night because we were in San Juan at 5-11:30pm so it was that way for the whole ship Same thing again had to ask for every thing and Slow. The next nights it was back to Charlie!!! My daughter had her Coke waiting for her as she sat down every night and we always had bread and rolls!! Charlie was great so if you are in the Silver Dinning Room on deck 4 hopefully you will see him.

 

Karen-- you requested early seating and got Open-- the guy changed to erly seating for you the next night.. (i got all that) are you saying they came to you and told you that you have to go back to Opened seating becasue you were in port so late? ws every dining room opened seating?

Could you not go to your set table during your time?

[LizaMM]

Karen-- you requested early seating and got Open-- the guy changed to erly seating for you the next night.. (i got all that) are you saying they came to you and told you that you have to go back to Opened seating becasue you were in port so late? ws every dining room opened seating?

Could you not go to your set table during your time?

 

The way I read the original post everyone had Open Seating in San Juan. I have had the same experience once when we were in Cozumel until late. Since the ship is in port and a lot of people are off they have Open Seating instead of the usual assigned dining.

 

It seems to vary though because when I sailed Eastern and San Juan was a stop in the evening the regular dining times were in place. That was on the Triumph a couple of years ago.

[serene56]

When we sailed to San Juan for a night visit we had our regular assigned seats- guessing that if someone from late dining wanted to eat earlier maybe that is how its done

[shortstuf1255]

Sorry if I caused confusion. The second open seating was due to the fact that we were in San Juan from 5pm -11:30. It was Open seating for everydody or Lido deck.

[Gingermuffin]

We were also on the 1/24/09 Liberty eastern trip. The ship is beautiful., but not as open as I was use to on the smaller ships. The buffet was pretty standard for cruise fare, and the formal dining was typical menu from other carnival cruises. We did not go to the supper club so I cannot comment about that.

I was disappointed in San Juan, as we did not get there until 5pm, and there was not a lot to do. We took a tour that we got off ship but it was hard to see anything as it was dark, and I was not impressed with the shopping. ST Thomas was great- we booked our own private tour for all day with Spiderman tours for a group of 9, and had a great time, went swimming on 2 different beaches, lots of shopping, and toured the entire island.

St Martin, we just shopped, took the water taxi from the ship to shopping and shopped till we dropped!. I thought prices were better there than St Thomas, and a lot of the ships staff said that ST Martin is there favorite port. There is a beautiful beach right off the ship accessaible by water taxi or 20 minute walk.( 6.00 per person for all day pass)

We did not take a tour of the Island, but several in our party took the ships Island tour, and said it was interesting and just OK.

 

I was a little disappointed in the service on the ship. We were a party of 9, with 3 balcony and one inside cabins. A lot of us had cruised prior with Carnival, and I though that the service was somewhat lacking in comparison to previousi Carnival cruises. We had a lot of Little things that happened, but when we thought about all the little things they really added up. We have always had a few things we did not like which will happen but not this many!

Embark in Miami was great, it took about 20 minutes to get through everything an on the ship, Debark was just as fast.

We spent some time in the Cabinet almost every night( which is the cigar bar) as my husband smokes. The staff there remembered us and my the end of the cruise did not even need to look at our sign/sail card for drinks as she remembered what it was!

The had 3 musical shows which were pretty good, otherwise they had 2 nights of comedians which were also pretty good, but I was a little disappointed that the entertainment was not what I had been use to.

The captains party was held in the bars, so not everyone was able to get to see/met the officiers.

 

We attempted the room service morning breakfast with the pre order card on the door, but it never came on 2 mornings, so we had to call room service to get the breakfast. It came pretty quick after calling.

We had a couple of bad nights in formal dining on the first seating. Our head waiter was ill on the first formal night and it was a disaster!. IT took over an hour to get our appetizers, and most of our table's meal was not right, did not get what we ordered, never got anything anything to drink outside of the initial one glass of water. Several of the 9 people at the table could not eat the prime rib as it came back blood red- they ordered med well, and the staff never asked if anything was right. It was not our waiters fault, as the assistant waiter was attempting to fill in, but he had several tables to wait on, and he was not given any help at all, and was expected to do everything himself. The Mater'D was aware of the problem , and even told us after the meal that it was our assitant waiters first time to attempt this, but he did nothing to assist or give him any help. The Mater'D said he would make it up to use for a bad experience, but he never came around to speak with us again until the last night waiting his tip! I heard serveral other people complaining about bad dining experiences blaming the Mater'D

We also had an issue with the cabin not being stocked for 3 days for 3 people, we had to continue to remind the steward to give us more than 2 wash clothes, glasses towels etc.

My husband attempted to speak with the cruise director & staff on several occasions but was totally ignored.

We did try to discuss some of the problems we had with the Persers staff and they said that someone would get back with us, but never did.

Overall, we had a good time, but most of our group felt that customer service was lacking.

[racingraysswimmom]

Past Liberty Cruiser Question:

 

Does anyone know which dining room as the open dining option?

If it is in the Golden is it on one level or mixed with both levels?

 

Thanks for your replies.

[Valor2005]

Past Liberty Cruiser Question:

 

Does anyone know which dining room as the open dining option?

If it is in the Golden is it on one level or mixed with both levels?

 

Thanks for your replies.

 

When we were on the Liberty a couple of weeks ago, open dining was on the upper level only of the Golden Olympian dining room.

[marcia014]

The way I read the original post everyone had Open Seating in San Juan.

 

I was also on the Liberty last week. The above statement is accurate. At dinner on Sunday there was an announcement that all dining rooms would be open seating for time and tables during the San Juan stop.

 

We had requested late seating but were assigned open. Open was the upper level of the Golden dining room.

[serene56]

I was also on the Liberty last week. The above statement is accurate. At dinner on Sunday there was an announcement that all dining rooms would be open seating for time and tables during the San Juan stop.

 

We had requested late seating but were assigned open. Open was the upper level of the Golden dining room.

 

 

Only the Golden was opened during the San Juan port?

[Stephen77]

Did anyone have any luck getting a lanyard from the casino?

[LizaMM]

I was also on the Liberty last week. The above statement is accurate. At dinner on Sunday there was an announcement that all dining rooms would be open seating for time and tables during the San Juan stop.

 

We had requested late seating but were assigned open. Open was the upper level of the Golden dining room.

 

Only the Golden was opened during the San Juan port?

 

I have a question/clarification as well....

 

From what i understand it was Open Seating for everyone in San Juan due to the hours in port.....are you also saying that you requested Late Seating but were assigned Open Seating for the whole cruise??

 

I know that the Liberty offers Open Seating/AnyTime Dining as a requested option now....I, too, have requested Late Seating....I have asked quite abit on various reviews and threads since the AnyTime option started in Nov. about how it affected those who requested Traditional and I am very interested in hearing about that.

[marcia014]

Sorry my clarification wasn't clear! Yes, all three dining room venues had open dining in San Juan. You would arrive at your assigned dining room and be seated upon arrival with whatever dining team was available at that moment.

 

Yes, when we booked our cruise we requested late seating. Upon arrival on the ship our Sign and Sail cards indicated we were assigned open dining on the 4th floor of the Golden dining room. We decided to give it a try. We were not too impressed with our dining team the first night, so decided to be seated wherever we were placed. We ended up with the same dining team for 4 nights, and did enjoy them. I talked to Dario, the maitre'd on the final night and he said that all servers were assigned a share of the tips for everyone who was assigned open seating. When you walk up to request seating, the hostess printed a slip which was handed to the head waiter with your cabin number on it. My guess is that these are turned in so that they could ensure proper reimbursement for gratuities. I did miss having an assigned dining team that knew my preferences, and I did miss my team participating in the entertainment. Other than that, it was pretty cool to go eat when you were hungry and have the opportunity to partake in tea time, sushi, etc. without worrying about ruining your dinner. Dario also said that Carnival is working toward dedicating one entire dining room to open seating while keeping the other for traditional dining in the future.

[racingraysswimmom]

Thank you Valor2005.

[cjm61]

I found out the same thing prior to booking my trip. I'm on the 2/7/09 sailing this Saturday. I opted to book Harry's for that night in Puerto Rico. I did it online and have received a confirmation for my reservation. Now I don't have to worry about open seating or missing out on one of the traditional nights with my tablemates.