Liberty 9/13/2008 Review--western Caribbean!

[alwaysmomof1]

Love your pictures and your review!

[valancy1]

My question to you, did you check out the maitre d of the golden dining room???? quite good looking and he could carm the dead back to life!!!! I must say, Steve, the CD, is also not to bad on the eyes...

 

I was on the ship the week before, alas, they told me to leave.....

 

Oh, so you were one of those that made US wait to get ON, eh? LOL!!!!

 

No, I didn't see anyone in the Golden, unfortunately. I do hope that next time we get seated, it is in the center part of the dining room. We were off to the side and missed a lot of the dancing and singing.

 

I *LOVE* the dining room experience and never want them to quit singing and dancing--it's part of the fun! :D

[valancy1]

Love your pictures and your review!

 

Thanks! We got our Grand Cayman ones back from the drug store a bit ago. I am getting on a plane tomorrow, again, so I have to pack and such. I will try and get more done tonight, but if I don't, I will be back at it tomorrow after work! I want to get it done so people who are cruising next week can see everything from our cruise.

 

AND doing this review has made these memories stay alive for me. I can't begin to say how much I LOVE CRUISING!!!

[Sassafrass'sMom]

Debra:

 

Your review and pictures are wonderful. My daughter and I are cruising on the Liberty 10-25-08 and can't wait. It is my daughter's first cruise. I can't wait to show her your review and pics. Thanks for a great job. Looking forward to seeing more.:)

[ALSEAU]

Debra thanks for feeding our cruising addiction. This may have been your first cruise but you sound like a veteran when explaining what we all love about cruising. Please keep up the good work. This is exciting for those of us who have never sailed the Liberty.

[soon2bmrsowens]

Thanks for the review, I am getting married on the Liberty 2-28 and am also a first timer, so the pictures are very helpful. You have a great eye your pictures are amazing!

[rebeljohn]

Nice review and pics....................Thanks for posting them.............

[Riley's Mom]

Loving your reveiw and pictures. I can't wait for our April 09 Liberty cruise.

 

Thanks, Carla

[cruisin_rn]

Hi Debra,

This is a great review and I am loving everyone word and picture! We will be on the Liberty in Nov and this is really making me impatient. What did you do when in Ocho Rios? We still are undecided. Thanks again for the review and I can't wait to read more!

Paula

[Valor2005]

Wonderful review!! It's got me so excited for our Jan '09 cruise. Really looking forward to trying out the Liberty. Great job!!

[missymac]

Thank you so much for your lovely pictures and your review. I won't be on this particular ship, but will be on Destiny, so I'm enjoying all the reviews I see as I look forward to my trip.

 

Glad you had a good time.

[justcrzn]

Hi Debra from Brent & Sally:) I feel like we must have set with you guys in the dining room because I think I ate all those same meals, LOL You are doing a great job with your review and is making Sally & I feel like were still on the cruise with you guys:) Take care and please dont post that picture of us PLEASE!!!

Friends forever

Brent & Sally

[cruisinsly]

See paulmedik's previous post about this rude porter and how his luggage was impacted:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=786701&highlight=paulmedik

 

Thanks. I am now well informed!! :D I do hope that something happened to make him change his ways.

[TakeMeAway1001]

What an awesome review and the pics make it really fun to read :)

[valancy1]

Hi Debra,

This is a great review and I am loving everyone word and picture! We will be on the Liberty in Nov and this is really making me impatient. What did you do when in Ocho Rios? We still are undecided. Thanks again for the review and I can't wait to read more!

Paula

 

Paula,

 

We went with Phil Lafayette Tours (not through Carnival) and LOVED IT. I have pictures coming. Now that I am back from WORK.. the nerve... having to stop my review in order to WORK. LOL...

 

Grand Cayman is next, then Ocho Rios... I'll provide details coming up.

[valancy1]

DAY FIVE--GRAND CAYMAN!!

 

 

We're early birds--even on vacation. This morning, we woke up and went out in the balcony (it is so fun to go out in our jammies and know we're not going to be seen--even with bed head <G>)

 

We got dressed and went up to the Panorama Deck and saw bits of the sun rise:

 

 

 

Then we went for breakfast and got an early tender. We arranged for a cruise with SOTO CRUISES. (www.sotocruises.com) I didn't take many pictures prior to being out on the boat, but what we did was go snorkeling and then we went to Stingray Sandbar--more on this as the day goes on.

 

We were an hour early and Randy, the captain, took us out. There were FOUR of us on the ship. Others were out at Stingray Sandbar (aka "Stingray City") and their groups were about 70 people. I highly recommend Soto Tours if you want to just go out, snorkel and see the Stingrays. Randy and Kerry (proprietors) are local Caymanians and you can tell they love what they do.

 

First stop was at a Coral Reef. This was my first experience snorkeling EVER. We bought our own masks, but used their fins. I didn't know what I was doing, other than knowing I had to breathe through my mouth. He stopped the boat about 1/2 hr. from shore, gave us the fins, and away we went.

 

I'm a big person. I don't want anyone reading this review to think that I'm some athletic kind of gal. I'm not. And I took to snorkeling like I'd done it all my life! I say this so anyone that might have trepidation might think, "Hey, if SHE can do it, I DEFINITELY CAN!"

 

The waters of the Cayman Island are beyond description. I took these snaps with a simple disposable Fuji waterproof camera that we brought with us from home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[valancy1]

So we were at the Coral Reef for about 1/2 hr. The water is very salient and it is very easy to float (they have vests, too, if you need one). This was the highlight of the day--seeing all those fish and the coral and the fact that I'd done something I've wanted to do for years and never tried. Don't wait! Do those things you'd like to do! I'm totally hooked on snorkeling now!

 

Next stop was Stingray Sandbar/City. The sandbar is 3-5 feet in depth, and you're about 4-5 miles out! But you can see the "wall" where the sandbar drops off into the abyss... 6,000 feet down. DON'T WORRY--THEY DON'T TAKE YOU NEAR THERE! You can just see it.

 

Randy had us get in the water, and he said he would bring the stingrays to us. He explained while we were still in the boat about the stingrays--how you FACE them and stay away from the tail. He showed how to avoid the bumpy "spine" on their backs (even though it's not really a spine, more like a ridge). It's obvious he knows what he's doing.

 

So he dives down and gets a stingray:

 

 

Enjoy the photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stingrays feel like rubbery velvet. The females are huge. The full-grown males look like babies. Females have the least little bit of a gritty feel and the males are soft all over (think what you want... lol).

 

More to come...

[bills blasters]

We did the same cruise as you in Jan. Reading your review just brings back all the good memories. I love the way you are posting your pictures with the review. Can't wait for you to share the rest of your vacation with all of us.

Keep it up.

[valancy1]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[valancy1]

 

 

 

So after about 1/2 hr. at Stingray City, (again there were FOUR of us, 70 of the other people in the other groups), we headed back to shore totally worn out but so exhillarated with this new experience.

 

 

 

 

When we got out of the boat, a little friend slithered across their back patio:

 

 

This is a wild iguana. I (dumbly) asked if it was a pet. LOL.

[valancy1]

They brought us back to the tender, and we headed to the ship for some lunch. Sorry, I can't find the pictures (which means this might have been one of the rare times I forgot!).

 

In the afternoon, Brent & Sally joined us for some shopping on Grand Cayman. We tendered back for a couple hours. Let me tell you, the black coral at the store that has the name "Bassman" in it was stunning (Brent & Sally can fill in what the name was--my paperwork is at home). Although I didn't buy anything, I *loved* EFFY Jewelers and would love to go back there. They don't negotiate on Grand Cayman. But EFFY would have negotiated a LITTLE if I would have been buying.

 

Note: To those new cruisers, I'm offering my opinion here. IF you are interested in shopping, I *highly* recommend you go to the ports "talks" on the ship. I don't think it's necessary each time you cruise, but if you want to shop or learn about the shopping on the islands, it is worth an hour of your time. I probably won't go each time now that I've been to this, but I appreciated the talks and learned a LOT. Plus, they give out free stuff, have raffles for merchandise, etc. Once, a woman won a DIAMOND NECKLACE at one of these talks where I was present. So you never know!

 

OK, so then we hobbled over to Del Sol. Ok, Brent & Sally and Barry weren't hobbling... only me. Time was getting short (we can't wait to go back to Grand Cayman), but we shopped at Del Sol. Everything they have turns color in sunlight. Here's an example of a t-shirt we got Barry; first one inside, second one in the sun (in just seconds):

 

 

 

They also have these sunglasses (that change color) that you purchase and with that comes a lifetime replacement guarantee. So you buy them and if something should happen that you lose your sunglasses, you send a postcard to them and a small handling fee and you get a new pair! With the replacement pair of sunglasses, they send you another postcard, too! So I got a pair of those.

 

We had to get back. The last tender was at 3:45 and we got on one approximately 3:15. It was a full and busy (but absolutely incredible) day.

 

Then it was time for dinner. You know what that means!

 

 

 

 

[valancy1]

 

 

 

 

This meal was (like all others) delicious. There were braised short ribs, which are one of my favorite things, and Barry's Seafood Newburg.

 

One of the desserts was "Bitter & Blanc" and it was scrummy yummy. Just lots of good food this particular evening. Another thing... just above, you'll see a piece of cake (which reminded me). This was their sugar-free coconut cake. Barry had that for dessert. They have low-cal/high-flavor food on the menu every night. So if any of you cannot have sugar but would like something sweet, you can get it on the ship. Barry doesn't have a sugar restriction and he LOVED this cake. One night, too, they had an "orange creme" cake, which looked divine. So I hope this is helpful to some of you to know this ahead of time.

[valancy1]

We caught the sunset this evening. I hope you enjoy this display...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[valancy1]

This evening's entertainment was Phat Kat.

 

I have to tell you, he was HYSTERICAL (at least I thought so). Just thinking about it is cracking me up. If you ever cruise and see him as the entertainment, I suggest you go. Now I will say that the next night he did an "R RATED" version at midnight. I took a little nap to go to this show and it was more like NC-17... bordering on "X", imho. I didn't enjoy that as much. But his PG-rated one this particular night was SO FUNNY!!!

 

Afterwards, we came back to our bed turned down, our mints and Capers there, and a new friend:

 

(Forgive me if these are out of order... we got a new towel friend every night but the first night and the last night)

[valancy1]

DAY SIX--JAMAICA!!

 

Today was our last port of call... Jamaica. We had heard negative things and some positive things about Jamaica. It was the only port we did not see as we came to the area (our room was port side, Jamaica was approached from the starboard side). It was beautiful--all mountainous and tropical (jungle-y).

 

Here was my very unexciting breakfast <G>:

 

 

Because of rave reviews on Cruise Critic, we went with Phil Lafayette Tours (www.phil-lafayette-tours.com) . Note: If you take this tour, take CASH. What he does is quotes a "lumped" or "grand total" price for the tour, but part of it is given at Dunn's River Falls, and part of it is given at the tubing place and the leftover is his. I'm so glad we just brought cash. More on this as we go along.

 

He had an air conditioned tour bus. His daughter, Tammy, waited for us on the pier area and escorted us to her father, Phil, and he took us to the bus outside the terminal.

 

 

We went first to Dunn's River Falls. You can climb the falls if you want or you can walk beside the falls down to the ocean. Whichever; you still have to go back UP. I could tell with my feet feeling like they were that there was no way I could do the falls. Barry elected to stay outside of the falls with me.