Carnival Liberty Review

Liberty is a modern ship with superior service, but crowded

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Liberty
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Cuper Cruiser
First Time Cruiser • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Aug 2009
Traveled with children

Launched in 2005, Liberty is the essence of a big, modern crusier. Despite its 100,000 tons of bulk, it has beautiful lines. Although not pleasing too all tastes, the somewhat gaudy interior is nothing if not interesting. Carnival has done a good job of maintaining, so the vessel is like-new. What is generally believed about mega-cruisers thinly spread service and inconsistent food was not true on Liberty. The service was always friendly and consistently efficient. The dining experiences seem to have steadily improved on our four cruises on Carnival. While a bit below the standards of "premium" lines, Liberty offered nice dining experiences, both in the dining rooms and buffets.

But what you fear most on a 3000+ passenger mega-ship is crowding, and Liberty suffered from that. The staterooms were clean and at least as spacious as on other ships (and the balconies were downright large). But the common areas are, alas, too small. Passengers are too often shoulder-to-shoulder in narrow halls, promenades and poolside. Carnival does its best to smooth embarkation, debarkation and port visits, but the smallest glitch can mean lines and delays. The worst situation is ports of call where the ship is at anchor and passengers must be tendered on and off. At the one port (Half Moon Cay) we were tendered, Carnival seemed to have too few tender vessels in use, so there were lines to get off and, worse. a 45-60 minute wait in hot sun to get back aboard. Except for the crowding issues, the Liberty experience was a good one. We would recommend it, as long as cruisers know in advance the downsides of this big ship. Would we cruise on Liberty again? Doubtful, since we'll probably be more inclined toward ships that carry 2000 or so passengers.

Cabin Review

Great deal: the "corner balcony" stateroom with wraparound deck. Too bad there are only 8-10 of these

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