Carnival Liberty Review

4.5 / 5.0
1,582 reviews

Carnival Liberty - Western Caribbean

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Liberty
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jayneoliz
First Time Cruiser • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Oct 2007

2 girlfriends and I sailed on the Carnival Liberty last week. For myself and one friend it was our first cruise experience. We flew from Toronto to Fort Lauderdale direct via Westjet and had an uneventful (read "very good") flight. We stayed overnight at the Springhill Suites in FLL the night before our cruise and it was an ideal choice (see my hotel review on Tripadvisor). We took advantage of the hotel's free shuttle to the docks and arrived shipside shortly before noon. We were a bit surprised to see the enormous lines to be processed/checked-in but everything ran like clockwork and inside of 30 minutes we were walking up the gangway to our ship. A word to the wise would be to not bring any more bags with you than necessary if you plan to explore the ship before you can access your cabin at 1:30 pm. We were blown away by the gorgeous lobby and glass elevators upon arrival on the ship. After a quick look around we decided to escape the growing crowd in the lobby area and head up to the Lido deck for some lunch. After touring the buffet area (everything looked good) we walked up another flight of stairs and found ourselves on the next deck where the fish and chips restaurant is. I made up my mind quickly and sat down to a mini-feast of fried oysters and seared ahi tuna sushi (both were very good). My friends decided to eat from the buffet and I cant remember what they had but they enjoyed it. Desert was an EXCELLENT key lime pie and an equally good apple crumble. Neither were grossly sweet which was a pleasant surprise for me. By the time we finished lunch and took a quick stroll around the pool it was after 1:30 and we were able to access our cabin. We took a balcony stateroom on the 6th floor, starboard side, in the center of the ship, #6-351. We selected this location out of fear of seasickness and it worked out well. We chose the balcony because one of my friends was very keen to have an outdoor space. Having done it I would prefer to take a less expensive room in future. While the balcony was great sometimes (when arriving in port in the morning, to sit under the stars in the evening) I don't feel that I spent sufficient time on it to validate the cost (additional $300 per person). However, I'm not at all sensitive to small spaces nor do I spend much time in my room other than to shower, dress and sleep. I don't even like having breakfast in my room, preferring to be in the common areas. If you have small children or plan to spend time in your room the balcony would be a good investment. The room provided much more storage space than I expected and all three of us found sufficient space for all of our clothes, shoes etc. I took another reviewers advice and brought one of those over the door shoe racks and it was a GREAT idea!! Very handy for all of those shoes, belts, sunglasses etc. Otherwise the room was simple but clean and pleasant with very adequate beds and good waterpressure in the shower. As part of our attempt to control our weight gain over the cruise we all committed to taking the stairs instead of elevators and, except for formal night in our heels, we stuck to it quite well. Although I promised myself I'd hit the gym regularly it didn't work out that way but the combination of 10-30 flights of stairs daily, walking the decks each night, and lots of walking in port kept things manageable and I only gained 4 lbs. I found the food onboard to be very good. The buffets, like all buffets were hit and miss with some items being excellent and others being bland and "cafeteriaish". I love spicy food and was pleasantly surprised to find lots of options to heat my meals up at my disposal. At the "grill" near the pool they always had Mexi-influenced options such as "chilitos" as well as a big bowl of fresh-made salsa and jalepenos. The pizzas from the 24 hr pizzeria were very good, the Chevre (goat cheese & vegetable) was my favorite - again I liked that they had a good supply of topping options including dried chili flakes, parmesan, and dried oregano. The meals we ate nightly in the Silver dining room were consistently good. The steak would have been the least good (would rate in the "fine" range) and the lobster, quail, and salmon were my favorites. The salads and soups in the dining room were always delicious and the wine was reasonably priced. We each brought a bottle of wine onboard with us and just paid the corking fee to have it served at dinner then bought bottles after we ran out. Deserts were excellent with the chocolate melting cake & vanilla icecream being a favorite of everyone. Our waiter "Lubo" was FANTASTIC (cute as heck too!) and his assistant "Whymen" equally excellent. We asked for cinnamon with our decaf cappuccinos after dinner the first night and he brought it to use each night thereafter without any further requests - AWESOME service!! The shows were hit and miss for me, my friends enjoyed them all. We all thought the comedians and "gameshows" were the most entertaining. The song & dance shows varied in caliber and I enjoyed the "around the world?" show more than the others but generally I find that type of thing tedious after a while. The theatre was spectacularly beautiful and the seats quite comfy. I was pleased and surprised that drinks purchased onboard were about the same as bar prices and were nice and strong! The mojitos I had on board were excellent. The disco was a disappointment. The space was great but we didn't like the DJ's style. Perhaps we're just getting old but we wanted to hear songs play through rather than being constantly "mixed" with other songs and an always changing beat. We got tired of tripping over ourselves after a while and called it quits - not returning again. I understand that this is the way it's done now in clubs and the kids certainly appreciate it but I felt that they could have made more of an effort for those of us over 30ish... I REALLY enjoyed the karaoke (sp?) there were loads of talented people on board and it was a pleasure to watch them perform and sometimes to mess up too ;-) None of us are gamblers so with the exception of one $20 expenditure we didn't spend any time in the casino or at the regular bingo games. The shopping onboard was pretty good - we made a few purchases including a beaded evening bag for a bargain $10 and a Bacardi Rum sampler for $10 that we were actually allowed to bring back to our room - big bonus :-) The pools were good - it was nice that there was an adults-only option at the rear of the lido deck. The whirlpools were good too although a bit crowded most of the time. It was difficult getting a lounger in the pool area on at-sea days if you didn't snag one early. The weasels taking them with their towels at the crack of dawn and then not showing up to use them until early afternoon really annoyed me though! I didn't take any excursions, preferring to explore ports of call on a freestyle basis but my friends did and raved about both the Kayaking in Grand Cayman as well as the DR Falls & Garden/Aviary combo tour in Ocho Rios. The spa was very nice but the services all quite pricey. They did have some good sales though and I would recommend waiting until later in the cruise and taking advantage of a special. Debarkation was painless and our flight home uneventful. We had a GREAT holiday and I cant wait to cruise again!!!

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