Carnival Liberty Review
Rating by category
Additional details
This cruise has some negative recent reviews that made me nervous, but we had a wonderful time and I highly recommend, particularly if: 1.) you're on a budget or a time crunch but want to enjoy a vacation, 2.) you haven't cruised before and want to see if you enjoy it before booking a longer one, or 3.) you feel you have 'been there, done that' with cruising and are fine with a 3-day getaway but think you'd do something new with a whole week at your disposal (that's kind of where I'm at as this was my third cruise). Full disclosure: all my cruises have been with Carnival - you just can't beat the affordability - so I can't compare to other lines. However, my mom and I (her first cruise) had a great girls' getaway on the Liberty.
Staff were more than friendly, and everything was quite clean. Others have said decor seems dated but I did not get that vibe. We always found a deck chair wherever we wanted, enjoyed Nassau and didn't experience any problems. Embarkation and debarkation were well-managed with minimal waiting. This cruise was so worth the affordable price.
My only cons: there was an odd smell (kind of sewage-y) at times that I noticed on deck 2 (Main Deck) - never noticed inside our room and didn't smell it all the time.
Cabin Review
Great full ocean view. Location is near elevators, and I worried about noise but it didn't bother us. If you want to head to bed before midnight, I might choose a location farther down the hall.
Port Reviews
Nassau
Shopped on our own and walked to Junkanoo Beach. Easy walk and highly recommended for a free beach day. Was a bit rocky but quite nice and I didn't hear great things from othesr onboard who booked beach days through Carnival. General consensus was they were overpriced for a pretty limited amount of actual beach time compared to getting organized/transit time.
Port Canaveral (Orlando)
Used Go Port Canaveral snooze/cruise package, which I’m not sure I’d do again. They accidentally double booked my original reservation so charged me twice. They did point that out to me by email and refund me, but when we arrived at the hotel they had trouble finding my reservation and said it had been canceled?
Never really figured out what happened but they got us in a room so I guess that’s what counts. Still, few things are more annoying than getting to a hotel after a day of traveling to be told you don’t have a reservation you booked weeks ago and have already paid for. But that’s not the hotel’s fault. Shuttle service to and from port was fine, though we waited quite awhile after debarking to head back to MCO (30-45 min waiting for bus).