Background: My wife and I sailed the Liberty this year on 10/25/2008 from Miami. We are 26 years old and have sailed five times before on the three major economy lines (Carnival Inspiration, Carnival Miracle, Norwegian Sky, Norwegian Norway, RCL Majesty of the Seas). We are somewhat reserved, and enjoy some of the finer points of cruising such as formal nights, relaxing evenings in a lounge listening to music, or enjoying a port of call. Given the reviews for the Liberty, we had medium-high expectations for this cruise.

Embarkation: We arrived in Miami around 11 a.m. and went directly to the ship. Embarkation was slow and unorganized, as the Carnival and Port Authority officials could not get a handle on keeping the lines moving, resulting in some passengers becoming inpatient when waiting to be screened. At one point the line for security was outside the building and when we finally reached the doors, I asked the Port Authority which way the line went and she shrugged her shoulders and said she didn't know. Security took about a half hour. After passing security, we then entered our next line which was to check-in and receive our Sail and Sign cards. This line went rather quickly (10 minutes), however, when providing our information to the representatives she was somewhat convinced that we had gotten our cabin switched and even provided us with the first and last name of the two guests who were in 'our' cabin. It turned out that she incorrectly read the cabin number off of the Carnival confirmation I provided her and did not bother double-checking. As for providing the first and last names, I viewed this as a privacy issue that should not have happened. Next, we had to wait in line to get onto the ship. This line took about 15 minutes, but went smoothly.

Ship Info: The Liberty is without question a beautiful ship. While we found the majority of the ship clean and very well kept, it was clear that the crew's attention to detail was lacking, but I will discuss that a little later. It is worth mentioning however, that the ship was dry-docked two weeks prior and nearly 175 crew members came on board the week before our cruise, so perhaps that 10% of the crew is still getting into the swing of things. Read more