LIBERTY REVIEW - Western Sailing 4/11-4/18 with Some Photos

[LizaMM]

Carnival Liberty

Western - Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Ocho Rios

April 11 – April 18, 2009

 

FRIDAY 4/10 PRE-CRUISE DAY

 

First some background….This cruise took place during my kids Spring break from school. Sailing were myself (Liza – 41), my mom (Linda, 65) and two of my children (Kayla, 13 & David, 11). This cruise was a birthday gift for my mom. My mother had been on one previous cruise on the Imagination, my kids have sailed on the Triumph and the Legend as well as RCCL Voyager and this was my 7th cruise (Triumph 2 times, Destiny, Glory, Legend and Freedom) with my most recent sailing having been on the Freedom 2 months ago with my two older children.

 

Due to the outrageous cost of airfare when I booked we wound up flying Southwest out of Islip, Long Island. This is a further airport than usual for us! We had to leave CT at around 3:30AM to get there for our 6:25AM flight. My dad drove us and the ride was a breeze at that hour after we finally squished all the luggage into the car!

 

The flight was uneventful and we arrived in FLL at around 9:30AM. I had arranged transportation with SAS in advance ($15 per adult, $10 per child). Jeff (driver) called me before I even got to baggage claim. He told me where to go after we got our luggage and to call him when we were ready. He pulled up within minutes of my call.

 

It was a fairly quick ride to the Hyatt Regency in Downtown Miami. I had booked this through Hotwire. We arrived at about 10:30 and they gave us a room right away. The room was fine for the 4 of us for one night. We changed and freshened up and then headed over to Bayside Market Place. We wound up taking the MetroMover. We thought this was pretty cool but we did have some navigation problems and went the wrong way the first time!

 

Our first stop was at Bubba Gumps for a bite to eat then we walked around…picked up some sunglasses and a sundress for my DD. We got tired fairly quickly since we had been up since 3:00AM (I actually had not slept at all) so we headed back to the hotel and took a nap. Our beds were very comfortable!

 

We ate dinner at the Riverwalk Café which is in the Hyatt. The food was good and not as ridiculously overpriced as I would have expected for Hotel restaurant. We went back to the room and all fell asleep pretty quickly!

 

 

SATURDAY – EMBARKATION DAY

 

Mom and I both woke up at around 7:30. We went down and got coffee and sat outside drinking it and relaxing so the kids could sleep a little longer.

 

Mom at the Hyatt Regency Downtown:

 

 

 

 

We woke the kids around 9:00 and got our stuff together. We decided to get a cab and get to the port early. We left the hotel at about 9:45. Porter called us an SUV cab over so we could fit all the suitcases.

 

Our first view of the ship from the cab - ONE of my FAVORITE MOMENTS every cruise!!! :

 

 

 

When we got to the pier our cab driver went and found a porter for us. We were very early so all the big bins were not out for receiving luggage yet but the porter took care of it. We breezed through check in and took seats in the waiting area. I have not sailed out of Miami in a few years. The accommodations are much improved since the last time! But I have found that the Carnival embarkation staff was much more friendly and more fun and interactive in both FLL and Orlando.

[LizaMM]

We were given Zone 3 boarding cards. At around 11:15 they started boarding. First was a wedding party then VIP (Platinum & Suites). While they were letting these people head up they made the announcement about the blue cards that were stuck under some of the chairs and for everyone to take a look. If you had one you got to go next. We did not. However, this all went very quickly and Zone 3 was being called at 11:25 and off we went!

 

First stop was for Embarkation Photo then it was over to the gangway.

 

 

 

 

 

S&S photo was not taken until we were stepping onto the ship.

 

 

 

 

My immediate reaction as we got onboard was how gorgeous the ship is! I loved the fun décor on all the ships I have been on but I was struck with the beauty.

 

Piano Player in the Atrium Lobby:

 

 

Chandelier in the atrium:

 

 

We went straight up to the Lido Deck. It is so wonderful to be one of the first people on deck!

 

Our first view of the Lido Deck:

 

 

We got lounge chairs and got to sit and watch peoples faces and feel all that joy as people boarded and came out on deck! Of course the first thing we did was get a Fun Ship Special for me and my mom.

 

[LizaMM]

The kids went off to get some food. I bought them each a soda card and I bought a Wine Package. Mostly we sat around and relaxed. We wound up taking to a man who was next to us and his kids which was fun. We saw them a bunch of times the rest of the week.

 

I love Embarkation Day while all the flags are flying!!! :

 

 

 

 

 

1:30 we headed off to find our cabins.

 

View from the glass elevators as we went to the cabins:

 

 

 

 

Panorama Deck (Deck 10) 1039 & 1041. This was fun for me! I had told everyone that we had 2 inside cabins but really I had booked an inside for the kids and a balcony for me and my mom. It was not until we walked into 1039 that they found out. The surprise was great!

 

View of Miami from our Balcony:

 

 

 

 

After getting rid of the carry-ons and enjoying the view from the balcony for a few we went back out to the Lido Deck.

 

View of the Big Screen and the Band ( Ocean Flame) :

 

 

Hung out with our new friends for a bit and then went to the Cruise Critic Meet & Greet at the Aft Pool Bar.

[LizaMM]

We went to the cabin to get lifejackets and most of our luggage had already arrived. We went to Muster which was not bad but the weather started to get ugly. It was raining by the time we got back to the cabin. We unpacked and watched SailAway from our balcony. It poured for a few minutes but was only a drizzle while we sailed away.

 

View from our Balcony as we Sailed Away:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rest of the luggage came so we finished unpacking. The kids did some exploring and we all had a piece of pizza to hold us over to dinner. We went to the Pursers desk at 6:00 to get the room cards switched around and extra keys made for all of us. There was virtually no line and it went very quickly. We also stopped at the DR and found out that we had a table for 4 – just us. I asked if it would be OK to come a little late tonight because we wanted to stop by the Circle C Orientation to get the info which was at 8:15 (same time as dinner). No problem.

 

We went back to the cabins and got ready for dinner.

 

Sunset from our Balcony:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Went to the Circle C Orientation and I filled out the paperwork for Kayla. I wanted to see if David (he will be 12 in 2 months) would be able to join that group. The leader, Natasha, told me to stop by later during one of the activities to talk to her about that. Then it was off to Dinner – Golden Dining Room , Table 143.

 

Dinner was great! We had a bottle of wine. We did not finish it and opted to bring it back to the cabin to have a glass on the balcony later before going to bed. After we dropped the wine of in the cabin we went down to find Natasha. We talked for a bit and it was fine to let David give Circle C a try. I also picked up the info and forms for the 9-11 group at the Kids Club in case it did not work out….but he stayed with Circle C all week.

 

We wound up bumping into some Cruise Critic friends and Kayla went with their DD to the show, David hung out in the arcade for a bit. Mom and I checked out the Piano Bar but it was pretty quiet in there. I got my first Martini and we collected David and went up to the cabin where we had arranged to meet Kayla (CC folks were just a few doors down from us so that worked out great!). We were all ready to hit the sack for night. Kids went over to their cabin and mom and I had a drink on the balcony before going to sleep.

 

Our first towel animal (Kids had the same one):

 

 

 

It was a wonderful first day! We were very excited for a Day at Sea !

[trvlady]

Great review and great pictures! Keep it coming... :D

[tink24]

Great review! Please tell me EVERYTHING. I sail on Liberty in November and can't wait!!!!

[LizaMM]

Great review! Please tell me EVERYTHING. I sail on Liberty in November and can't wait!!!!

 

Feel free to ask any questions iin the meantime because it may take me a couple of days to get through the review depending on what my family needs!!

[LizaMM]

SUNDAY – FUN DAY AT SEA

 

Mom and I both woke up at around 7:30. I immediately ordered coffee from room service – 2 carafes with cream, skim milk, sweet & Lo and Splenda – they said it would take half an hour to 40 minutes! Mom decided she would rather walk out to Lido Deck and get some so she called to cancel and they said they would bring it right away! I was very impressed…..Knock on the door about 5 minutes later….however, when we looked we realized that they only delivered 1 pot and no sweeteners at all. I mention this because one of my comments on my Freedom review from Feb was how the room service always seemed to be screwed up in some way for us…..Anyway, we called and they came right back with the items they forgot.

 

We enjoyed our coffee in our robes on the balcony discussing the week ahead and reading our Capers and marking it with a highlighter pen.

 

After about an hour the kids got up and we all sunscreened and got ready for a nice day at sea!

 

This was a full sailing with tons of families and kids. The Lido Deck was packed! Chair Hogs were abundant which I will elaborate more on when I get to the next Day at Sea....We finally found a few lounge chairs on an upper deck on the port side of the ship. We went inside and grabbed some breakfast and then got busy relaxing! I made a trip to the Library on Deck 4 and borrowed 2 books for the week. The library is only open for an hour at a time, twice a day so if you want to take advantage be sure and look for it in the Capers. You can return stuff to the Pursers Desk anytime though.

 

View of the funnel from my lounge chair:

 

 

 

 

The kids decided to go to Circle C for the Scavenger Hunt at 1:00 and Never Have I Ever game after that.

 

Mom and I read our books and dozed off. It was very hot out! We went down to the bar on the Lido Deck every now and then to sit in the shade and cool off and also get a chance to see some of the other stuff going on like the Ice Sculpture and Hairy Chest Contest. I really like to enjoy all this kind of entertainment so our deck chairs were really not optimal for me!

 

David came back and said that he had no desire to participate in the Hip Hop Dance Class but Kayla stayed for it. The three of us decided to cool off in the pool for a bit. This did not last very long! It was incredibly crowded with LOADS of little kids doing things I would never allow my children to do! We wound up getting out.

 

David wanted to go back to Circle C for Apples to Apples Game and then the Water Wars. Mom and I decided we were hungry so we packed up our stuff, dropped it off in the cabin and went to the buffet for a bite to eat. The Taste of the Nations was Caribbean. I usually get things from the specialty stations but gave it a try and I was pleased! The jerk chicken was really good and I particularly liked a corn salad in a garlic mayo….mmmmmmm.

 

After eating we went to the Jardin Café on the Promenade Deck for lattes. We sat on a couch sipping our coffee and enjoying the view of the sea.

 

At 4:30 we got our towels and went back out to the Lido Deck….it was much easier to get lounge chairs in the vicinity of the music at this point! We ordered Mojitos......

 

 

 

Just as I got good and relaxed David came back and reminded me that I promised to go to the Sports Trivia in the Gloves Sports Bar with him! So off we went. Circle C activities were on a break for a couple of hours so Kayla hung out with my mom. David and I did very poorly but had a lot of fun!

 

David and I went back to the Lido Deck. Kayla decided to go to the cabin and shower and relax before dinner. Mom and I lounged and David went down the slide a few times

 

 

 

then we all went back to the cabins to get ready for Dinner.

[kjunea]

Great review!! I am looking forward to more!!

[LizaMM]

This was Cruise Elegant Night and the Captains Cocktail Party. We got dressed up and went down to the Promenade Deck at around 7:15. The line to get into the Victoria Lounge and greet the Captain was crazy long! We decided to skip it and went over The Stage Lounge instead. The drinks were being served and there was live music in there as well as in the Piano Man Bar.

 

Kayla and David in The Stage during the Captains Cocktail Party:

 

 

 

 

 

Mom and I had some wine and they gave the kids virgin drinks and listened to the music until we went to dinner.

 

 

Another delicious meal in the Dining Room. Mom David and I had the Cream of mushroom soup, we all had caesar salads, David had the penne and us girls all had veal parm....very yummy! The kids had warm chocolate melting cake and mom and I had the chocolate rasberry cream cake. Our waiters knew our names and details of some of the things we liked already....hot choclates were brought for the kids and decaf capps for mom and I without even having to order them. This is the kind of service I have had on most of my cruises but noticed it was lacking a bit on the Freedom in Feb.

 

After dinner we went to the cabin and changed. The kids went to Mock Casino Night at Circle C. Mom and I went to the Piano Bar and had too much fun (including Lemon Drop Shots...well me anyway!! :D) with these 20 somethings who were part of a wedding group! We went to the Adult Midnight Comedy Show. It was Tommy Drake who I had just seen on the Freedom. I laughed a lot anyway! I have to say that we really enjoyed his Family Comedy and juggling act on the Freedom so if you get a chance to see that I would say go!

 

We went up to the cabin to get ready for bed.

 

Our towel animal:

 

 

 

 

Kids towel animal:

 

 

 

The kids came back from Circle C and had ordered some room service and were going to sleep as well. I propped our balcony door open with a bungee cord and we drifted off in that wonderful cruise sleep!

 

Oh….We had been instructed that the ship was going to switch to Island Time. We had to turn our clocks and watches back one hour before we went to sleep. This was the first time I was on a sailing that switched off of Ship Time! Announcements were very clearly made and it was posted right on the cover page of the Capers.

[dperki1]

Can't wait for more. I am taking my two boys (19 yr olds) me 45 yrs and my mom 66y(her first cruise) on the Liberty May 30th....can't wait, really enjoying your posts!!1

[LizaMM]

Can't wait for more. I am taking my two boys (19 yr olds) me 45 yrs and my mom 66y(her first cruise) on the Liberty May 30th....can't wait, really enjoying your posts!!1

 

You should have a blast!! I took my two older DD's - 16 & 19 - on the Freedom in Feb....both of these family cruises were great! My mom had a blast! She had only been on one cruise before but that was a 5 day on the Imagination with my dad....this was her first cruise with just me and my kids....in fact it was her first vacation ever without my dad (they have been married for just about 45 years) since he stayed home for this one. She loved it!

[LizaMM]

MONDAY – COZUMEL

 

Disclaimer: I have a LOT of pictures from Cozumel....some of them are due to a project I am working on for school....and I am going to post a bunch based on Puerta Maya Pier questions that were asked before I sailed so this may take a few posts since only 6 photos can go at a time :o

 

 

Once again mom and I woke up at 7:30. We sat on the balcony for a little while and decided to go to Jardins Café on the Lido Deck to get lattes. We brought them back to the cabin and sipped on the balcony enjoying our view as we docked in Cozumel. We were not on the port side so there was not too much to watch but It was fabulous none the less!

 

We woke the kids up at 9:00 for breakfast. We went to the Silver Dining Room and very much enjoyed a sit down and be served breakfast!

 

Kayla & David in the Silver Dining Room for breakfast:

 

 

 

After we ate we went back up to our cabins, sunscreened and suited up. It was around 11:00 when we made our way off the ship.

 

The only other ship in port was the Carnival Freedom. This was cool because I was just on that ship in February with my 2 older DD’s!

 

 

The sister ships side by side in port:

 

 

 

We walked right through the pier area and over to the taxi stand. Immediately we got a cab over to Paradise Beach. I purchased wristbands for all of us ($10 per person). We walked down the beach and got loungechairs all the way up by the water. It was very hot out and also windy. We were told that they could not open the unbrellas due to the wind.

 

We had a great time! We got rafts and floated around in the water. The kids climbed up onto the trampoline and played there for a while.

 

 

The water toys at Paradise Beach:

 

 

 

 

David on a raft:

 

 

 

Mom & Kayla on a float:

 

 

 

 

Of course mom and I had margarita’s and I got the kids virgin pina colada’s. We stayed here until about 3:00 when we decided to get a cab back to the pier.

[LizaMM]

We got back on the ship to freshen up and drop off all our stuff then we headed back off the ship to spend a little time in the pier area.

 

At this point we were hungry so we went straight to Pancho’s Backyard. We ordered a few appetizers for us to all share, margarita’s for me and mom and virgin strawberry margarita’s for the kids. The food was FANTASTIC and the drinks were SUPERB and STRONG!!!

 

 

David with his virgin Frozen Strawberry Margarita:

 

 

The view from our table at Panchos Backyard:

 

 

 

 

Kayla enjoying some incredible dessert!:

 

 

 

 

 

Everyone enjoying themselves!!! :

 

 

 

 

 

We were in port until 10PM but the Freedom sailed away at around 6 I think. We were in a great spot at Panchos to watch her sail off!

 

 

[LizaMM]

We walked around and got a few souvenirs. I buy coffee mugs from every port of call and ship! They are wonderful to drink my morning coffee from each day and start my day off with great memories!

 

Kayla and David picking out some items:

 

 

Some of the other shops:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LizaMM]

More shops at Puerta Maya:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one is for Darren!!! :

 

 

 

 

Puerta Maya is beautiful:

 

 

 

 

[Elaine515]

Liza,

 

Thnx so much for doing this. I'm cruising on the Liberty June 13th with sixteen (yup 16!!) family members from ages 6 up to 80 and any/all information that I can get from you is great.

 

So far the only thing we know we're doing for sure is Paradise Beach so I am waiting for the next "episodes" of your review to give me some ideas!!!

 

The pictures are great, as is the review. Keep it coming please...

[WAcruisers]

Wonderful review! Love the pictures

[dawnrae]

Thanks for the review. Looking forward to the rest. I see that you had late seating. Did this work out okay with the kid's Circle C club? We are doing late seating also on our upcoming trip and we have kids in just about every age group.

 

Thanks

Dawnrae

[poptart]

Great review!!! Beautiful family. Looking forward to the rest along with LOTS of pictures!!

 

Thanks for you time and effort!

[crusiegirl99]

Great Review:p

[maloy]

Wonderful review!! Keep it coming. I can't wait to be on the Liberty. You mentioned that u bought the soda cards for the kids. How did it go? I've read conflicting reports and am concerned that my kids will only get a partial can of soda poured into a cup. Is this true???

[scrappinannie]

What a fun review, thank you for sharing. Looks like you and your family had a great time and I love seeing all your pictures. Makes my wait until my Freedom Cruise (January) seem a little less painful! lol ;)

[LizaMM]

Liza,

 

Thnx so much for doing this. I'm cruising on the Liberty June 13th with sixteen (yup 16!!) family members from ages 6 up to 80 and any/all information that I can get from you is great.

 

So far the only thing we know we're doing for sure is Paradise Beach so I am waiting for the next "episodes" of your review to give me some ideas!!!

 

The pictures are great, as is the review. Keep it coming please...

 

 

I had been to Paradise Beach before.....it is a great place for a mix of ages.

 

We did the Dolphin swim in GC and no excursion in Ocho this time. I had been to these ports before and done other excursions. There is a lot to choose from!

 

 

Wonderful review! Love the pictures

 

Great review!!! Beautiful family. Looking forward to the rest along with LOTS of pictures!!

 

Thanks for you time and effort!

 

Thank you. More is coming soon!

[LizaMM]

Thanks for the review. Looking forward to the rest. I see that you had late seating. Did this work out okay with the kid's Circle C club? We are doing late seating also on our upcoming trip and we have kids in just about every age group.

 

Thanks

Dawnrae

 

Late Seating did overlap with Circle C (you will find this is the case with all the age groups). The Kids Club generally has a break in activities from 5 until 8. We chose to work around it. My kids would just go to Circle C after dinner most nights. Toward the end of the week Kayla wanted to go to the earlier activities that overlapped with out Dinner Seating and we decided it was OK for her to skip dinner with us and go. David preferred to eat in the DR and go to Circle C later. On previous cruises I have told my kids that dinner was not an option.....I play it by ear.

 

We had Early Seating on our first cruise because I thought it would be better for the Kids Club etc but we hated it!!!!