A First-timers Review: Carnival Liberty 5-2-2009 (with photos and capers)!

[Hollybelle]

Ok, now you've gone and done it!!! We weren't going to do the stringrays AGAIN (for like the 4th time!!) but after seeing your pictures, and reading your version of the tour, I'm going home tonite to have another talk with the family!!!

 

You are truly an amazing writer... thanx again soooooooo much...

 

Thanks for such a wonderful compliment, Elaine!! It really is a not-to-be-missed experience.

 

So since you've done the stingray excursion multiple times, can you compare and contrast tour groups for me? Who do you prefer, if you've used various ones?

 

I know this is something we would definitely do again if we return, but I think we'd try to mix it up and use another tour group. Don't get me wrong, the Moby Dick guys were great, I just think it would be cool to get a different perspective.

[idjaffe]

Our trip can not come fast enough.....Now, now, now.....need to go NOW!

[peacefrog]

I know this was probably answered somewhere before, but how do you get the big, clear pictures into your review? :confused: It really makes it fun to read. Nice job with the whole thing. I leave in a few months and want to be able to post a similar post when I get back.

 

Thanks

[Amerikaner83]

This is one great review! Wow. It's obvious you all had a blast on your first cruise... Planning your next?

 

You mentioned earlier in the thread about wanting to do the eastern itinerary... The new carnival dream will be home ported in canaveral on 7 day eastern and western alternating cruises in just a few short months... Come on down to the eastern one on the 22nd of may next year with us... Our roll call can always use more members! And it's a new boat, new itinerary calling your names...

 

:) just a thought. :)

[jjeromer]

Love this review. My daughter and son-in-law are going on ths cruise in July. She ran across your review and was so excited when she told me about it. My wife and I have a B2B planned for August on the Freedom. This review is making me consider sitching ships.

[runamuc]

What a great review. I can't wait for the rest. You are doing a beautiful job with this. I love all the pictures. We are doing the Eastern next May on the Liberty with a large group and I have forwarded a link to your review for them to read. Our group (26 of us) did the Valor western last year. We used Soto Tours to do the Stingray Sandbar and snorkle tour last year and they were wonderful. They just took our group on their boat and did it private for us.

[poptart]

Loving your review and looking forward to the rest.

 

Jimmy Buffet's Barefoot Children is also one of my very favorite of his songs, along with Tin Cup Chalice and Trip Around the Sun.

[mstwigg]

Great review--we're sailing on the Liberty Eastern Caribbean and it's fun to hear about the ship!

 

Susan

[blondieJen]

holly,

 

Do you still have more to post? Or was that the end? If so, then *tear*, If not, I can't wait for more!!

[miniwheat]

Don't leave me hangin I need more!!!!!!:D

[charotarguy]

The throaway camera really doesn't do the stingrays justice; they were beautiful:

 

 

A note about the pictures… I’ve already decided a digital underwater camera is at the top of my “must have” list before our next cruise. Actually, I’ve been doing some research and hope to have one before our upcoming Disney trip in July. So next time… I promise there’ll be better pictures!!

 

 

Get the Olympus 1030W, I have a chepo Intova IC 600 which took some decent pictures, but we were with another couple who had Olympus 1030SW during the Stingray city excursion, the picture he took came out really really good. Heres one I like,

 

[charotarguy]

 

Forgot to mention the above picture was taken with Intova IC-600.

 

Charotarguy

 

Carnival Valor - Sailed

[Hollybelle]

Our trip can not come fast enough.....Now, now, now.....need to go NOW!

 

At the rate I'm moving you'll be on the Liberty before I finish my review :eek:. Okay, okay, I hope not!!

 

I know this was probably answered somewhere before, but how do you get the big, clear pictures into your review? :confused: It really makes it fun to read. Nice job with the whole thing. I leave in a few months and want to be able to post a similar post when I get back.

 

Thanks

 

Ooh I hope you do post a review when you return and I agree, the reviews with pictures just have that extra punch of fun!

 

To post the pictures you first need to upload your photos to an online hosting site (shutterfly, flickr, etc.). I've used photobucket for 4 reviews now and haven't had any problems with it; plus it's free and allows me to upload LOTS of photos. When you upload to photobucket you will have options for size... I upload at 800x600.

 

Next, open the photo to full size in photobucket, right click on the image and click "properties." From there, highlight the address (URL) and copy (hold down ctrl and c for a pc). Then back over in your cruise critic posting box, click on the icon that looks like a mountain with a yellow sky and paste (ctrl and v). And voila... you've got a picture!!

 

This is one great review! Wow. It's obvious you all had a blast on your first cruise... Planning your next?

 

You mentioned earlier in the thread about wanting to do the eastern itinerary... The new carnival dream will be home ported in canaveral on 7 day eastern and western alternating cruises in just a few short months... Come on down to the eastern one on the 22nd of may next year with us... Our roll call can always use more members! And it's a new boat, new itinerary calling your names...

 

:) just a thought. :)

 

Thanks, Amerikaner. We're definitely planning our next and I would love for it to be on an eastern itinerary. The Dream next May sounds perfect! Only I'm hoping we can get one scheduled before then :D!

[Hollybelle]

Love this review. My daughter and son-in-law are going on ths cruise in July. She ran across your review and was so excited when she told me about it. My wife and I have a B2B planned for August on the Freedom. This review is making me consider sitching ships.

 

Thanks! Your daughter and son-in-law are going to have so much fun, as are you. I wouldn't switch ships.... just schedule another cruise ;)!

 

What a great review. I can't wait for the rest. You are doing a beautiful job with this. I love all the pictures. We are doing the Eastern next May on the Liberty with a large group and I have forwarded a link to your review for them to read. Our group (26 of us) did the Valor western last year. We used Soto Tours to do the Stingray Sandbar and snorkle tour last year and they were wonderful. They just took our group on their boat and did it private for us.

 

Thanks, runamuc! Wow... I can't imagine planning for 26 people. I'll have to look into Soto tours if/when we return to Grand Cayman. Unfortunately, private tours aren't as much of an option with fewer people, as they can be so expensive.

 

Loving your review and looking forward to the rest.

 

Jimmy Buffet's Barefoot Children is also one of my very favorite of his songs, along with Tin Cup Chalice and Trip Around the Sun.

 

My, you have good taste... Tin Cup Chalice is a classic favorite of mine!!

[Hollybelle]

Great review--we're sailing on the Liberty Eastern Caribbean and it's fun to hear about the ship!

 

Susan

 

Thanks, Susan. It's a beautiful ship!

 

holly,

 

Do you still have more to post? Or was that the end? If so, then *tear*, If not, I can't wait for more!!

 

There's definitely more. Life happened to get in the way this weekend :rolleyes:!

 

Don't leave me hangin I need more!!!!!!:D

 

I'll have day 5 up shortly... although, don't get too excited. It's rather short and uneventful!

[Hollybelle]

 

 

Get the Olympus 1030W, I have a chepo Intova IC 600 which took some decent pictures, but we were with another couple who had Olympus 1030SW during the Stingray city excursion, the picture he took came out really really good. Heres one I like,

 

 

Wow, charotarguy, it's such a coincidence that you just posted about these two cameras. Last Friday I was researching the intova to death because it looks like such a great deal for the price. And then I came across the olympus 1030 and started drooling a bit because I've always loved my olympus cameras.

 

I ended up purchasing the olympus 1050 yesterday from amazon at the bargain price of $195. I figured once I bought a memory card and rechargeable batteries for the intova I wouldn't be far off from the purchase price of the olympus anyway and I already have the xd memory cards. So I splurged! I'll be taking it to Typhoon Lagoon at Disney next month and can't wait to try it out.

 

Now I just have to plan another cruise. I can't let this camera go unused! I'll use any excuse I can to get back on a ship... and soon :D!

[Hollybelle]

Day 5, Wednesday, May 6: Fun Day at Sea # 2

 

Capers:

 

 

 

 

[Hollybelle]

I woke up around 8 am on Wednesday and headed up to the track for some laps while Brett slept in. I’m telling you… someone usually has to drag me out of the house to get a run in. Not on this cruise; I was loving that track. I might enter more running events if I could train here all the time! My parents were up there making the rounds as well. I was excited to see the gym so we went and checked it out, but it wasn’t too impressive. It was a lot smaller than I expected it to be.

 

Proof that I donned running gear on vacation:

 

 

We met up with Brett and enjoyed breakfast before lathering up with sunscreen and hitting Lido to find some chairs. We found some up on top in front of the railing that overlooks the pool. It was so miserably hot up there, cold drinks couldn’t even keep us satisfied. Eventually we just gave up the coveted Lido loungers in search of some old chairs up on the Sports Deck. Relief!! It was so much better up there because we could feel a breeze; the rails aren’t solid like they are down below. Now that we were all comfortable, we settled in for a relaxing day of nothingness. Ahhh… bliss!

 

 

 

 

View of the whale tail from our chairs:

 

 

We discovered the fish and chips station for lunch, which by the way is really a hidden gem up there above all the buffets and tables! While up there we saw Anat (our assistant waiter) working hard, bussing tables… wow, they really do work all day long!

 

The afternoon held more of the same… margaritas, beer, and laziness in our loungers. Around 5 pm we decided it was time to head in and get ready for dinner. It was about this time our cruise director, Steve, came over the loudspeaker to announce we would no longer be docking in Roatan, Honduras due to civil unrest. Instead we would be making our way to Belize City, Belize.

 

He did a quick “afternoon show” to address the situation and describe the different shore excursions that would be available in Belize. I was shocked that people actually called in to the show to complain to him about how their cruise had been ruined by not one, but two itinerary changes and blah, blah, blah. Seriously people, do you think the cruise director is responsible for this? Why take it out on him? I have to say though, he earned some major points from me when he basically said… be happy with what you’ve got, it could have just as easily been a sea day! I even recall him sarcastically telling someone that he didn’t like it anymore than they did, as this was supposed to be his nap time! While some might find this rude, I thought he was making a great point about how the staff didn’t prefer the change either, but were working very hard to make this as enjoyable as possible for guests. Go Steve!

[Hollybelle]

So during dinner we discussed our options for the next day. My parents had been to Belize on a previous sailing and during that time they were instructed not to leave the gated area, etc. due to safety concerns. Because of this, we decided to just book excursions through Carnival. The price list was released at some point during dinner, because I remember Brett got up to go get us a copy while we were eating.

 

Speaking of eating… here’s what we had. And I think I stole the zucchini off everyone’s plate. Mmm!

 

Fried mozzarella:

 

 

Lamb:

 

 

Pork chop:

 

 

Beef stroganoff:

 

 

Mmm dessert... anytime you cover something in vanilla sauce, it has to be good:

 

 

Looking at the price list, there weren’t a lot of options. I kind of wanted to zipline but couldn’t justify the price (over $100pp) when I hadn’t had a chance to research the activity; I had no clue whether or not it would be worth it. Brett and I finally decided on doing a Mayan Ruins/Belize City tour and my parents went with the private island beach option. We left dinner and immediately went to the shore tours desk to get in line. For whatever reason, selections couldn’t be made from stateroom tvs so we figured the line was going to be crazy long. It wasn’t. We waited about 5-10 minutes and were booked.

[Hollybelle]

That night we went to the Venetian Palace a little early to get seats for the show with hypnotist, Asad Mecci.

 

Venetian Palace show room:

 

 

A jester holding up one side of the stage:

 

 

Wall decor in the lounge. From afar they kind of look like an advertisement for dos equis... no really, look back at that first picture if you don't believe me:

 

 

We were there early enough to donate $20 to the Bingo pool… how generous of us! Not the winner:

 

 

This was my second time seeing a hypnotist; the first of which was at a conference where I witnessed colleagues change before my very eyes. I don’t know whether or not I buy the power of hypnotism in full, but I do know it’s hilarious! Asad did not disappoint. Real or not... I was looking forward to being entertained, and was shocked at the number of people who rushed the stage when he asked for volunteers.

 

After the show we wandered through the photo gallery for a little while. Okay, so I’m a little confused by the photo gallery. Maybe it’s a cruise thing and they don’t want to stray away from tradition, but I’m really shocked they print every single photo and display them all. I can’t believe they haven’t started using a digital system. For example, Disney has been using a system (they call it photopass) for 4-5 years now, which I’m sure many of you are familiar with. Basically the photographer takes your picture and then scans the back of your photopass card (for Carnival they could easily add this feature to your sail and sign card) to link it with the image. It only takes a few seconds to do, so shouldn’t back things up too much (especially for all those formal pictures). Guests then have a couple of options: they can go to certain locations in each park, view the pictures on a screen and purchase if they want or they can view all their pictures online for up to a month after they return home and purchase at that time.

 

In my opinion it’s a win/win. Carnival would no longer be wasting money printing pictures that aren’t wanted and cruisers wouldn’t have to spend forever looking for their pictures. Plus Carnival could make money later off all those people who end up regretting not buying a certain picture. I know we’ve bought photopass pictures after we got home that we wouldn’t have bought otherwise. Just my two cents!!! But like I said, I’m sure there’s a reason they’re keeping the current system. Anyone have any ideas?

 

Back in our room we found a monkey hanging about:

 

 

At some point after confirming our shore excursion it hit me that Brett and I would not be partaking in a beach day at any of our ports of call. This bummed me out, as it was one of the things I was most looking forward to when we booked the cruise to begin with (we were planning on Tabyana Beach in Roatan). Brett could tell I was upset by this, so he suggested we go back down to the shore tours desk and see what we could do to switch. He's so great! Turns out the private beach was booked full and no longer available. Oh well… we tried. Mayan ruins, here we come!

 

Wow… sea days are much quicker to write! I apologize for the lack of excitement. There’s only so much you can say about lazing around all day J. But I promise you... we enjoyed it!!

 

Next up: Altun Ha and Bannister Caye in Belize City, Belize.

[Hollybelle]

What do you know? Just as I reply to someone that photobucket is awesome and free... I exceed my bandwidth and all my pictures disappear :eek:! Oh, the irony :rolleyes:. Now let's see, how am I going to fix this?

[blondieJen]

What do you know? Just as I reply to someone that photobucket is awesome and free... I exceed my bandwidth and all my pictures disappear :eek:! Oh, the irony :rolleyes:. Now let's see, how am I going to fix this?

 

 

Oh thank goodness.... they are back! :)

[Hollybelle]

Woohoo... fixed! And it only cost me $3.95 :rolleyes:.

 

Okay so for anyone curious about photobucket, the free account allows you 1 GB of memory and 25 GB of bandwidth (basically this tracks the amount of views each photo receives). I've been using it for over a year and have about 800 images uploaded (25% of the free storage space available) and this has never happened before. However, I exceeded my monthly bandwidth allowance only two weeks into the calculated month :eek:. This, of course, is thanks to everyone here at cruisecritic reading my review :D!!

 

So by upgrading to photobucket pro for $3.95 a month, I now have 10 GB of storage and unlimited bandwidth (along with some other perks)... so please view as many times as you like; in fact, help me get my money's worth!!

[Hollybelle]

Oh thank goodness.... they are back! :)

 

Yes, blondieJen, I was having a momentary freakout there for a second! I went and checked all three of my past reports and a scrapbook forum I post on and EVERYTHING was showing up as that dreadful little box. I'm just glad it only cost $4 because they could have gotten a serious chunk of change from me to get it all back!

[blondieJen]

Yes, blondieJen, I was having a momentary freakout there for a second! I went and checked all three of my past reports and a scrapbook forum I post on and EVERYTHING was showing up as that dreadful little box. I'm just glad it only cost $4 because they could have gotten a serious chunk of change from me to get it all back!

 

Ok not to digress or "hijack" this, but do you mind me asking what scrapbooking forum you post on? It is one of my favorite hobbies (as is researching cruises and weddings) and I'd love to waste more of my life online with more forums that spark my interest.

 

Thanks holly!