As promised here’s the first of my reports from onboard the Carnival Liberty for a 5-day Bahamas cruise. For those new to my cruise logs, this is my first time on a Carnival ship and you’ll just have to wait a few more days to see if it will be my last.
I arrived at Port Canaveral around 1pm Sunday to an unorganized cluster of traffic that wasn’t going anywhere. Seriously, the management of the port needs to take some lessons from Port Miami or Port Everglades to improve traffic flow to the parking garages once you drop off your luggage. Sitting in an idle car with a full bladder watching traffic go nowhere isn’t exactly the best way to start off a vacation.
Neither is the $90 parking fee.
Once inside, boarding was quick and easy although there was a slight mixup with my passport. Apparently, someone else’s passport information was loaded into my record, but it was soon corrected as the agent knew I wasn’t a female with the last name Gonzalez.
My first impression when I walked into the ship’s atrium was, “wow, what happened here.” Gawdy décor is a simple, yet nice way to put it. I’ve got lots more exploring to do, so I’ll leave my comments on the décor for later once I see what else is lurking around the corners.
I have an aft-facing balcony stateroom which I thought would be larger than it actually is. The room is quite dated even for a ship that’s only 9 years old. One lampshade has a huge water stain on it which I’m trying to figure out how it got there, but I probably don’t want to know. The bathroom is small and only has a shower – which is actually a good size compared to other cruise ship showers I’ve had.
Speaking of the shower, yeah low flow. Plus, the valve that controls the mixture of hot and cold water isn’t working right so it’s been chilly in there.
Our departure was delayed by two hours due to additional time being needed to take on fresh water. Once out to sea, I hit the main dining room for dinner at 8:15pm. The service was slow – actually had to wait almost 15 minutes for a drink, had to ask for bread twice and the food was nothing to brag about. The shrimp in the shrimp cocktail was very small and the pork chop must have come from the world’s smallest pig and was very dry.
First impressions matter and my first impression of dinner was disappointing.
The rest of the evening I spent in the ship’s dance club Hot & Cool where the Manhattan’s flowed freely as I wanted to make sure I got my money’s worth on the $ 49.95 per day beverage package I bought that entitles me to 15 alcoholic beverages a day. It’s safe to say that I was reminded that “you’ve got one more Mr. Scott,” which I don’t recall whether I drank or not.
On to the people. There are 3,400 people on board. Way too many for me. It is an incredible range of ages and nationalities. Screaming babies in the dining room push my buttons, but apparently, some people don’t care and they sit there eating their meal while the little one screams his head off. I’ve seen people in tank tops in the main dining room, which I’m surprised is allowed – but the first night’s dress code is “come as you are.” Unfortunately, it’s not “come as you are but don’t come like that.”
I keep saying, it’s Carnival!
I’m about to order the Internet package to see what the speed is. The price isn’t bad, with 480 minutes costing $159.
Unfortunately, I’m sick! Woke up this morning not feeling well at all. Not norovirus, but my stomach is not being cooperative. I spent the day so far in bed with no desire to leave. I did venture out for some fresh air and a bite to eat, but quickly returned to sleep off whatever is ailing me. Not sure if I’m going to make dinner tonight, being sick on vacation isn’t fun.
Personal Day-By-Day Carnival Liberty Cruise Review:
Photo Tour of the Carnival Liberty:
No vacation would be complete without a ton of photos, right? For this particular cruise, I took a bunch of photos of the ship’s interior, pool areas, the stateroom itself, and more. Photos can be found by in the Carnival Liberty Photo Tour as well as in the day-by-day review of the cruise at the links above.