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Carnival Liberty 09/23/07 review (LONG)

jennybabee

By jennybabee,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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truecruiser

truecruiser

Posted
Posted
...let's move on to something happy and talk about the good things of cruising, or something to that effect.:D

 

huh:confused: that isn't what the OP wants to talk about. but, if that's what you'd like to talk about, then the only thing you can discuss is the spa.

 

see the original post for details.:p

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Kurbanfan

Kurbanfan

Posted
Posted
i'm gonna be really pissed if they don't have food and water on my cruise.

 

It's all about attitude baby;) Go in with a bad attitude you won't find anything:eek: Go with this on your face:) and poof.... you will be amazed how much food there is :p Amazing how that works:D :p

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standby 06.30

standby 06.30

Posted
Posted
I was not, sweetheart ... I attended for observation of social-commentary-in-action ...
Then luvy may I suggest the "Simpson" it is far more representative, and more intellectually

challenging, and you dont have to leaves the couch, a big big plus for some, toodle pip

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we2cruze

we2cruze

Posted
Posted
Well said!!

As a non American I sometimes read some of the replies on this forum and wonder about the people we are going to cruise with in December.

 

You'll find that the people on your cruise do not behave in the same manner as people on an open forum.... Here folks are expressing opinions, some with more tact than others. On your actual cruise you will find most folks are having a great time and can't be bothered with the issues you read on CC. Have a great cruise.

 

Oh no! No personal attack. Just saw the word nitpicker and it had been so long since i had heard or used the term, well, i just wanted to use it.:D

Do you know what nitpicking really is?? Think little buggies in the hair that have to be picked out....:eek:

 

1) When we first got on the ship we asked 3 different people where you would go to check on your dinner table reservation, ever one of them gave us a different answer and none of them were right. We asked the front desk finally and they were still wrong (on the times at least)

 

Since many working on a ship speak English as a second language, we have found that it is sometimes better not to ask them questions that would not be specific to their jobs. They are trying to be helpful, but don't know the answer and sometimes don't really understand the question.

 

2) We had to wait in a horrible line because Carnival is the only cruise line that we have ever been on that does not let you pre assign the size table you would like.

I believe we were able to choose our table size preference on RCI, but don't remember doing this on any other line.

Also, the times we've gone to change our dining assignment on any ship, any cruiseline there have been lines, sometimes quite long.

 

3) The buffet lines were always extremely long because the ship would only open ¼ of the huge buffet area therefore long lines were constant.

I have found long lines at buffets a little frustrating at times myself, particularly when trying to get food for myself and my two young children, but when you have so many on board sometimes lines are inevitable. As far as the sections of the buffets that are closed... I have observed that they are usually closed so they can set it up for the next meal. Then when they open that side for the next meal, they close the first side so they can clean it and begin preparing it for the next meal.

 

4) Food both in the buffet and in the dining room were very poor. Food had very little taste and all the steaks were extremely tough and of poor quality, the fruit for the most part was not ripe and the soups were extremely thin. Food opinions are so subjective. I've no doubt that you didn't like the food. I also have no doubt that there were people on your sailing who thought it was great. That is the way it always goes.

 

5) Food was very hard to find on this ship, buffet was only open certain hours and all the grills on the deck only had certain hours. And the hours were very few. I think I understand where you're coming from here. Having sailed Princess myself (did you state you've sailed Princess or have I just assumed it?), I really appreciate the extended hours that the Princess buffet is open. You can get something to eat at the buffet literally 24 hours a day, which is great for me because I sometimes like to grab something in the off hours when other buffets are closed. I know they are only closed for a short time, but it's nice to get it when you go looking for it. However, I think that most people really have a problem with the idea that you had trouble finding food on a cruiseship. This line alone is probably what most people have taken exception to... sometimes wording is everything.:)

 

6) We never encountered one staff member who knew the correct answer to anything. It was as if the ship was new to the staff members or they just did not bother to learn correct information about the ship they are living and working on. For an example, we had an over charge on our bill for the spa, we went to the front desk to correct the problem and we were told the spa was not open yet, that they would have to call them when they opened. My husband said, they opened at 8 AM and it is 9 AM now. The woman at the front desk said "oh, did they ?" then proceeded to call. I have found this type of thing to be true on other lines as well. For that matter, I have found it to be true just about anywhere I go.. the mall, the doctors office, the post office... ect...

 

7) We had a extra internet charge on our bill when we used the internet café because when we got up to print what we needed the printer was out of paper and we had to disconnect because no one was in there to help us, then walk all the way down to the front desk where they said sorry you have to make a appointment with the internet manager to get that fixed, We have never had that problem in the past with an incorrect charge.

Did they get the charge taken off or did you end up paying it?

8) The restaurant never opened on time, always 2-6 minutes late. May not sound like much but it is when the lines are backed up for miles and you can not get out of the elevator because there is so many people.

I don't know about the dining rooms opening late, but there is always a line outside the dining room and up the stairs ect. before they open the dining room, even at the exact opening time. People just like to congregate. It clears quickly once they open the doors.

 

9) Cruise director made way to many lengthy announcements during the cruise, could never rest because they were so constant.

My husband likes to use ear plugs for this very reason.

 

10) Ship was very hard to get around, only 2 decks that went all the way through the ship in the common areas and they went right through heavily smoky areas and I am very allergic to smoke. Also, you could never go outside on deck 3 to enjoy the view because on this ship the smoke on both sides. Truthfully I find all the large ships difficult to get around. We usually have fun joking about getting lost and such. I've never been on a ship that you could get from one end of the ship to the other on all the decks... not even the little Tahitian Princess.

 

We have never been so disappointed in a ship. I am not usually one to complain but this so called vacation was a nightmare. You can definitely see where Carnival has cut corners on this ship and where there are several areas that need improvement within the staff that works on these boats. I'm sorry you had such a bad time. Hope you find a cruiseline that suits your needs.:)

 

The only strong points I can even say about this cruise was the spa was wonderful (although through no surprise we found out that it was not owned by carnival) and Harry's supper club was very good although higher in price then any cruise line we have ever been on.

Never done the Spa on any ship and have never done a supper club on Carnival. Glad you have two good memories from your cruise.

How were the itinerary, entertainment, dining room service, room steward service, embarkation, disembarkation, and shore excursions ? Was your stateroom nice? How was the weather for your cruise? Just curious.:)

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whimdriven

whimdriven

Posted
Posted
Then luvy may I suggest the "Simpson" it is far more representative, and more intellectually

challenging, and you dont have to leaves the couch, a big big plus for some, toodle pip

 

I do enjoy the "Simpsons" but find Family Guy's raw humor and satire to be more modernized ... If you're a Simpsons fan, you might want to try to catch a viewing of James Lipton's "Inside the Actor's Studio" with the voice cast of The Simpsons ... It's a classic.

 

Sugar lump.

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AllyCat81

AllyCat81

Posted
Posted
Never done the Spa on any ship and have never done a supper club on Carnival. Glad you have two good memories from your cruise.

 

How were the itinerary, entertainment, dining room service, room steward service, embarkation, disembarkation, and shore excursions ? Was your stateroom nice? How was the weather for your cruise? Just curious.:)

 

I don't know if the OP will post on here again, but we were on the same cruise so I can answer those questions if you're interested. Unless you were just trying to get the OP to find something positive about their cruise... which is where I think you were going with that. ;)

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LolaBunny

LolaBunny

Posted
Posted

For the record, we just got off the Pride and found the times for the buffets on the Lido deck not the best, at least for us. They closed down around 2ish and did not reopen for dinner until 6pm. We were a bit unhappy with that because we were looking for food around 5pm. Our dinner wasn't until the late seating and many times we were craving food at 4:30-5:00 and there is room service, but after a couple days of blt's and the chicken fajita roll up thing, while both delicious, we wanted a bit more variety. Of course there is always pizza and ice cream, but I do think the Lido deck should start serving dinner at 5 or at least 5:30. Of course that IS only my opinion, but I can see where the OP was coming from about it being a bit difficult to find food.

 

Oh, and I also agree about the steaks in the dining room, I expected better quality meat, but the rest of the food was fine. In fact, the prime rib was actually decent on the last night.

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Parrothead420

Parrothead420

Posted
Posted
My husband and I just got off the Carnival Liberty , 6 day cruise that left on 09/23/07 and we have to say that this was the worst cruise of our life. We have taken several cruises with several different lines and have never met the problems that we met with this cruise line. We took the Carnival Miracle as our first cruise and it was wonderful but the cruise line has gone down in quality severely since that cruise 1 ½ years ago. There was so many problems with this cruise that I am including them in numerical order. This was a test to see if we would like to cruise with Carnival in the future and the answer is a huge NO. We absolutely had a horrible time and will never cruise with Carnival again as it stands right now. We have also never been on a cruise where upon leaving the ship so many other people were expressing the same problems that we had.

 

 

 

Here is the list:

 

 

1) When we first got on the ship we asked 3 different people where you would go to check on your dinner table reservation, ever one of them gave us a different answer and none of them were right. We asked the front desk finally and they were still wrong (on the times at least)

 

2) We had to wait in a horrible line because Carnival is the only cruise line that we have ever been on that does not let you pre assign the size table you would like.

 

3) The buffet lines were always extremely long because the ship would only open ¼ of the huge buffet area therefore long lines were constant.

 

4) Food both in the buffet and in the dining room were very poor. Food had very little taste and all the steaks were extremely tough and of poor quality, the fruit for the most part was not ripe and the soups were extremely thin.

 

5) Food was very hard to find on this ship, buffet was only open certain hours and all the grills on the deck only had certain hours. And the hours were very few.

 

6) We never encountered one staff member who knew the correct answer to anything. It was as if the ship was new to the staff members or they just did not bother to learn correct information about the ship they are living and working on. For an example, we had an over charge on our bill for the spa, we went to the front desk to correct the problem and we were told the spa was not open yet, that they would have to call them when they opened. My husband said, they opened at 8 AM and it is 9 AM now. The woman at the front desk said "oh, did they ?" then proceeded to call.

 

7) We had a extra internet charge on our bill when we used the internet café because when we got up to print what we needed the printer was out of paper and we had to disconnect because no one was in there to help us, then walk all the way down to the front desk where they said sorry you have to make a appointment with the internet manager to get that fixed, We have never had that problem in the past with an incorrect charge.

 

8) The restaurant never opened on time, always 2-6 minutes late. May not sound like much but it is when the lines are backed up for miles and you can not get out of the elevator because there is so many people.

 

9) Cruise director made way to many lengthy announcements during the cruise, could never rest because they were so constant.

 

10) Ship was very hard to get around, only 2 decks that went all the way through the ship in the common areas and they went right through heavily smoky areas and I am very allergic to smoke. Also, you could never go outside on deck 3 to enjoy the view because on this ship the smoke on both sides.

 

We have never been so disappointed in a ship. I am not usually one to complain but this so called vacation was a nightmare. You can definitely see where Carnival has cut corners on this ship and where there are several areas that need improvement within the staff that works on these boats.

 

The only strong points I can even say about this cruise was the spa was wonderful (although through no surprise we found out that it was not owned by carnival) and Harry's supper club was very good although higher in price then any cruise line we have ever been on.

Wow! I really think people need to learn to relax on a cruise. I am beginning to wonder if people just get on the ship to find things to compalin about?

Sure things have gone wrong on the cruises I have been on but, nothing will get in the way of my relaxation and fun.

Also, when I board a cruise ship I know its kind of like going to Vegas; Why would you go on a cruise if your allergic to smoke? I dont smoke but I know that about 20 - 30% of a cruise ship population smokes, therefore how can people compalin when they know this?

And wow! Carnival forced you toi waste 2 - 6 mins in line for dinner..... HAVE ANOTHER DOD AND CHILL!!!!!!!!!

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Kurbanfan

Kurbanfan

Posted
Posted
For the record, we just got off the Pride and found the times for the buffets on the Lido deck not the best, at least for us. They closed down around 2ish and did not reopen for dinner until 6pm. We were a bit unhappy with that because we were looking for food around 5pm. Our dinner wasn't until the late seating and many times we were craving food at 4:30-5:00 and there is room service, but after a couple days of blt's and the chicken fajita roll up thing, while both delicious, we wanted a bit more variety. Of course there is always pizza and ice cream, but I do think the Lido deck should start serving dinner at 5 or at least 5:30. Of course that IS only my opinion, but I can see where the OP was coming from about it being a bit difficult to find food.

 

Oh, and I also agree about the steaks in the dining room, I expected better quality meat, but the rest of the food was fine. In fact, the prime rib was actually decent on the last night.

 

Here is the capers from the Liberty.

Breakfast 6:00 a.m. to noon

Lunch Noon to 3:00p.m.

The forward grill is open until 6:00 p.m. (burgers, hot dogs, fries etc)

The aft grill is open from 11:30 until 2:30 and again at 11:30 p.m. until 1:00a.m.

The deli is open from 11:30 until until 11:00 p.m.

Then of course dining room dinner starts at 5:45 p.m

Dinner buffet starts at 6:00 p.m. 9:30 p.m.

24 hr. pizza

24 hr. room serve

Coffee cafe you can choose pastries and cakes from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00a.m. and also again from 4:00 p.m. to 1;00 a.m.

Click on the caper below for bigger image. ( I hope it works) I don't buy the no food complaint!

 

2488436770102129461MTzkdB_th.jpg

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jennybabee

jennybabee

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I will answer the two people that were pleasant to me:

 

Married

spa was really nice, Hubby and i got a couple massage and I got a facial and they were very enjoyable. You could hear the kids play area above your head, but during the massage it did not matter LOL

 

We2Cruise

Never saw room steward, but room was cleaned and dusted everyday, so that was great too me

 

I am not willing to say anything negative in the carnival board anymore so I will just say the entertainment was alright. Although after being on a disney cruise and seeing there shows, I do not think anything could compare.

 

disembark - we did self serve and alot of other people did that as well (the most I have ever seen on a ship matter of fact) so it was alittle crazy and packed.

 

dining room service was nice during dinner, did not get a particularly great server during lunch (and I seemed to get him everytime !!)

 

I have no problems answering anything to the people that are not sarcastic towards me

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jennybabee

jennybabee

Posted
  • Author
Posted

wow you must have alot of time on your hand Kurbanfan. Thanks for posting that !!

 

We had a 8 PM dining time therefore if we wanted anything to eat between 3 - 6 then we were out of luck. (which if you look at what you listed, it shows that much) We tried the forward grill twice between 4-5 and they were closing down already, so we did not try again after those 2 tries. And the dining room may START at 5:45 but if your not assigned that time then obviously you can not eat then. And if you are eating at 8 , you would normally want to eat something around that time to hold you off until 8. Yes the pizza place was 24 hour but between 3-6 when we tried to use it there were either several people already wanting for the pizza or there was no pizza ready .

 

So I am sorry if you do not buy the food complaint, but it is my complaint not yours. And as shown above, I am not the only one that has thought that in the past

 

I hope the next person that tries to post a review in here is not attacked as much as I have been. I was only trying to be helpful and alot of you have torn me apart bit by bit for some reason

 

I have gone on numerous cruises I have loved btw, and I ALWAYS have a smile on my face , since so many of you have made the comment that maybe if I had one the cruise would of been better.

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Kurbanfan

Kurbanfan

Posted
Posted
wow you must have alot of time on your hand Kurbanfan. Thanks for posting that !!

 

We had a 8 PM dining time therefore if we wanted anything to eat between 3 - 6 then we were out of luck. (which if you look at what you listed, it shows that much) We tried the forward grill twice between 4-5 and they were closing down already, so we did not try again after those 2 tries. And the dining room may START at 5:45 but if your not assigned that time then obviously you can not eat then. And if you are eating at 8 , you would normally want to eat something around that time to hold you off until 8. Yes the pizza place was 24 hour but between 3-6 when we tried to use it there were either several people already wanting for the pizza or there was no pizza ready .

 

So I am sorry if you do not buy the food complaint, but it is my complaint not yours. And as shown above, I am not the only one that has thought that in the past

 

I hope the next person that tries to post a review in here is not attacked as much as I have been. I was only trying to be helpful and alot of you have torn me apart bit by bit for some reason

 

I have gone on numerouse cruises I have loved btw, and I ALWAYS have a smile on my face , since so many of you have made the comment that maybe if I had one the cruise would of been better.

 

Nope I wish I had too much time :D I was also on the Liberty so it was not a big deal. Sorry the grill closed down early between 4 and 5. I'm sure they go by how busy they are. Even though your dinner assignment was not until 8:00p.m. you still could have went to the buffet dinner and had a snack. They open at 6:00p.m. I see you were turned off with the wait for the pizza also. Yes sometimes you do have to wait. Remember there are lots of people in the same situation. To me it just sounds like you were frustrated with the wait and the lines and what not and came here to vent. Just looking at it from another view:)

As for posting the capers, I just want the newbies to know there is food available 24/7 so don't worry!

Although I'm not sure why you would need it 24/7 lol!

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