Cruise Passenger > Reviews > Review: Carnival Liberty

Review: Carnival Liberty

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28 May 2012

Boarding Carnival Liberty in Port Miami is an experience to say the least…but the long lines do give me a chance to take advantage of the free WiFi available!

I always take the opportunity when checking in to see what my fellow passengers are like and try and guess who I’ll become friends with by the end of my voyage.

The crowd was much more diverse than I expected.

When I think Carnival Cruise Lines, I think young, party people and this group of people included many families, honeymooning couples and older folk.

Very interesting!

The first difference I discover upon checking in, apart from trailing from one long line to another, is the lack of sanitation when boarding.

Other cruise ships I have sailed on are persistently ‘in your face’ with the anti bacterial gel stations and crew spraying your hands everywhere you turn.

Aboard Carnival Liberty this is not the case at all and I found I had to search the decks at times for the sanitation stations.

In saying that though, I found out that the CDC (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention) conducted an impromptu inspection of the ship as we were boarding (hence the delays) and Carnival Liberty achieved a 100% result! So perhaps the over sanitisation on the other ships I’ve sailed on is overkill!

My cabin wasn’t ready (one of the perils of boarding early) so I headed straight to Lido Deck to experience my first Guy Fieri burger.

Having written about these burgers and salivated at the descriptions other people have used after trying them, I was excited…would they live up to my expectations?

Short answer…yes.

Long answer…that ‘Straight Up’ burger with the special secret sauce was one of the best burgers I have ever tasted in my life.

Such a simple concept but…wow!

I relax on a sun lounge and enjoy the Caribbean beats being spun by DJ Electra. Her booth was up two decks on Deck 11 but you could watch the action live on the big screen above the pool as well.

The Fun Ship 2.0 additions I had experienced since boarding the ship had already impressed me.

There was a great vibe surrounding the pool area with the ‘Blue Iguana Tequila Bar’ and

‘Red Frog Rum Bar’ packed to the brim with passengers getting straight into the cruising spirit.

Keen to check out my cabin on Deck Two, I head downstairs and am pleased to find cabin 2271 conveniently located mid-ship just below the lobby and guest services area.

Another thing I had already discovered aboard Carnival Liberty was that things take a little while to find with a maze like layout rather than the straight deck plans of every other ship I have sailed on.

Being able to find my cabin so easily was a Godsend and even more

pleasing was its generous size!

An ocean view cabin, my home for the next week, provided enough space for me to store my three suitcases with ease and not even have to step over them to get to my large and ultra comfy bed.

Little sleep for the past month meant that a nap was in order and I curled up until it was time to muster.

A somewhat arduous process, the mustering aboard Carnival Liberty ran longer than many other ships I have sailed on before, but, apart from a few complaining passengers, was fairly pain free.

A humourous side to the experience was the two wedding parties who had to interrupt their celebrations to muster decked out in bridal garb. The cheers that erupted would definitely make theirs a wedding day to remember!

Heading to the bar for a welcome cocktail I make my first friends, Sandie and Larry from Southern California and Josh and Del from Minnesota. These folks are so welcoming and we spend some time together not only getting to know each other but expanding our group exponentially at a very impressive pace.

New friends in tow, I feel comfortable to explore the ship and the Lido Buffet is our dining venue of choice.

With a plethora of activities onboard Carnival Liberty on a ‘fun day at sea’, the most stressful part of my day is deciding what to do!

I enjoy my first breakfast in the Lido Buffet and head straight to the omelette station for my personal favourite, an egg white omelette with peppers, tomatoes and mushrooms, before securing a table on deck.

iPad in tow, I decide to spend my morning catching up on emails by the pool at my new mobile office and relish the sunshine.

Shipwide wifi is officially my favourite aspect of Carnival Liberty thus far. What a treat to be able to access my emails by the pool rather than in the Internet cafe which is more than a tad difficult to find and doesn’t offer nearly as fabulous a view!

Whilst I sample the Lido Buffet lunch offering, I don’t find anything in particular that tickles my fancy and a Guy Fieri burger calls my name loud and clear. How can a simple burger be so delicious?

It’s all happening by the mid-ship pool on Lido deck with everything from an ice carving demonstraton to the men’s hairy chest competition so there’s more than enough to keep me entertained during lunch!

I bump into my new friends, Sandie and Liz, and they kindly invite meto sit with them at dinner which settles my nervousness at having selected ‘My Time Dining’, as I had no idea whether I would be seated at a table by myself or not.

A simple chat with the maitre’d and my dining confirmation is complete, they are going to add a chair to table number 327 in the Silver Olympian Dining Room especially for me…now that’s service!

As the sun sets, my fellow passengers swap bikinies and board shorts for formal gowns and suits ready for an elegant evening at sea.

Professional photo backdrops are erected and I enjoy seeing so many multi-generational families take the opportunity to capture their cruising memories on film.

I silently add another item to my ever growing bucket list…get my whole family on board a cruise ship and create some family memories of my own…if only half of them didn’t get seasick!

Josh and Del, my Minnesota friends, join me for a cocktail at the Casino before dinner and we make a promise to meet at our usual haunt in time for the production show that evening.

My nerves increase as I make my way to the dining room to meet my new dinner buddies but they are promptly settled as I am warmly welcomed into the large group of former policemen from Southern California, who have reunited with their former colleagues and wives on this voyage to Mexico and the Caribbean.

Hilarity ensues and I enjoy their walk down memory lane whilst marvelling at the situations they found themselves in over their many years of service.

Del and I head to the Venetian Palace after a quick tipple and are very impressed by the calibre of performance with ‘Wonderful World’ a showcase of the innate talent of the performers onboard.

The costumes were stunning as Bree, Bentley and the Liberty dancers took the audience on a journey around the world through music. From Italy to Japan, the variety of songs was impressive…although I was hoping for a little ‘Down Under’ to round off the performance!

From the Venetian Palace we headed to the Punchliner Comedy Club, where Allyn Ball had the packed out room in hysterics for his adult only comedy show.