Carnival Liberty Review

Exceeded expectations

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Liberty
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FlaCrooser
6-10 Cruises • Age 60s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Jun 2012
Cabin: Balcony
Traveled with children

This was my tenth cruise but my first one sailing on Carnival, so I really didn't know what to expect. I had a vision in my mind of rowdy crowds and mediocre food. It turns out that nothing could have been further from the truth. Just to tell you where I'm coming from, I've sailed on Royal Caribbean's Marnier, Majesty and Jewel as well as Holland America's Oosterdam and Westerdam in addition to a few others. I really wanted to try out Royal Caribbean's Allure or Oasis, but the fare would have been nearly four thousand more for my family for the same week, so the decision was made.

Prior to booking the Liberty I read the reviews here top to bottom. I learned to read between the lines a long time ago when visiting any critic site, whether here or TripAdvisor. I find it almost comical that a one star review could be sandwiched right between two four star reviews. While the reviews for the Liberty are good overall, they are not stellar. I'm here to report that my overall experience was better than I would have possibly expected.

First item of business, everything that you read here about embarkation is absolutely, 100% true: it's a nightmare. After waiting in line to get into the terminal, we finally made it to the check-in desk where we proceeded to hand over our passports and pre-filled paperwork. That part went very quickly -- but for a reason (read on). We sat for nearly two hours waiting for our number to be called. When it was called, we took the escalator up to the gangway only to be met by two long lines that roped around. While waiting on the line for another forty minutes, it finally dawned upon me what the problem with boarding was. I couldn't figure out why boarding my Holland America (a Carnival company by the way) cruises, which had the identical number of passengers, took less than an hour from arrival. Then it hit me like a brick. When passengers check in for Holland America, or Royal Caribbean for that matter, the passenger security pictures are taken at the check-in counter. That means that if there are 25 employees checking people in, there are 25 pictures being taken at a time. On Liberty, the passenger photos are taken when entering the boarding door of the ship. You may ask, what's the big deal, well the answer is simple. There are only four cameras to take the picture of 3000 passengers. To add insult to injury, the line we were in was shut down because the family being processed had problems with their key cards and my line was merged into the line beside it, meaning there were now three cameras to take care of everybody in line. It was pure insanity and inefficiency at its absolute worst. This was the craziest thing I had ever seen while cruising and since Carnival hasn't addressed this bottleneck by now, chances are it's acceptable to them and they never will.

Cabin Review

Balcony

Cabin 8B

Our balcony cabin, 7408,was located towards the back on deck 7 (Empress) and was extremely comfortable and absolutely silent. There was no vibration other than when the thrusters were being used to pull into and out of port. The size of the shower was sufficient with plenty of hot water. The only thing I would have liked in the bathroom was a constantly powered power outlet for a nightlight which I brought. The outlet is powered only when the bathroom lights are on. This also hampers people using the plug to charge electronic devices.The bed was made up as a queen and super comfy with plenty of room under it to store suitcases.There was an abundance of closet space but no drawers in the nightstands.The fridge was large enough for us to store cans of soda and water we brought on-board. Ask the steward to clear out and store the liquor and soft drinks that are there when you arrive in the cabin.The only noise that came through was during PA announcements and loud people transitioning through the hall.The location of this cabin was absolutely ideal for reaching the Lido, which was 2 decks above, as well as the dining room, three decks below. The staircase and elevators were a few steps away.

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