It’s time for the Day 3 report from the Carnival Liberty – my first (and will it be my last?) Carnival Cruise Line experience. The day was spent anchored at Half Moon Cay, which is actually Holland America Line‘s private island which is also used by Carnival. Having been here about a dozen times before and knowing that it’s a beautiful place to visit, I spent the day camped out on the beach.
Now, each time I’ve been on the island it was a great experience. Plenty of chairs, lots of room to enjoy yourself. Not so this time. With the majority of the ship’s 3,400 people enjoying the island, it was a cluster. You needed to obtain a tender ticket and wait in the ship’s show lounge for your number to be called – something I never had to do when I sailed on Holland America.
Once on the island, the place was crawling with people, and not an available lounge chair in sight. Beverage servers were abundant pushing the buckets of beer – but – none of the beverages purchased on the island fell under the $49.95 a day Cheers program the majority of the passengers, including me, purchased. So, the few Bud Lights I bought cost a whopping $7.91 each. The private club and resort I belong to in Boca Raton doesn’t even get that much for a beer.
As people began to leave chairs became available, but at that point, it was just worth standing in the ocean enjoying the water rather than hunting down a chair.
Before going to the island, I hit the buffet for breakfast, since room service does not offer any hot breakfast items. This was my first buffet experience on Carnival. The plates you get can hold enough food to feed a starving family of nine in Bangladesh for a month, and people were definitely filling up those plates as high as they could go.
I’m not quite sure what it is about a buffet that turns humans into pigs, but I’m always amazed at what goes on at one of these all-you-can-eat-before-you-puke festivals. People load up like it’s their last meal. Ugh, I just wanted some scrambled eggs and bacon.
Speaking of bacon, out of all the food that is self-service on the buffet line, the bacon is not. It is closely guarded by a bacon Nazi who doles out two strips at a time. Oh, you can have more if you ask, but I found it a little crazy that bacon is such a rare commodity it has to be handed out unlike anything else on the line. Maybe Carnival cruisers eat so much bacon there’s a need for a bacon Nazi to control the amount being distributed. Or maybe there’s some secret bacon shortage I’m not aware of. But whatever the case, I found it to be strange.
The breakfast buffet overall wasn’t bad.
After a few hours on Half Moon Cay it was back to the tender to get back on the Carnival Liberty. Once again, the wait times to get on the tender and the time it took to disembark was nothing like I experienced before, but given the sheer number of passengers, it’s expected.
Once back on board, it was up to the Lido to experience what has become a signature onboard Carnival ships that have been given the “Fun Ship 2.0 upgrades” – Guy’s Burger Joint. The Carnival Liberty was the first ship in the 24-ship fleet to get the upgrades several years ago, so they should know how to whip out a good burger crafted by the Food Network’s own Guy Fieri.
Damn! I was impressed. In fact, I rate it as the best burger on the high seas. Imagine me saying that about Carnival! The burger is fried on a flat top grill until crispy when a slathering of cheese is melted on top that placed on a bun that has been grilled (with butter) on all sides (top, bottom, and inside) and topped with lettuce, tomato, “Donkey Sauce,” and if you want – a bacon patty. You can then head over to the toppings bar where you can add mushrooms, more lettuce, tomato, chopped bacon, and other assorted goodness to make it complete.
Good Lord, it was freakin’ amazing.
Upon sailing away from Half Moon Cay, I decided to call the ship’s steakhouse, Diamonds, to see if I could get a reservation for dinner. I was told they were full, so for the next several hours, I contemplated what to do, because, after the miserable first night in the main dining room, I wasn’t going back. Around 8pm I ventured out on a mission to see if I can walk in and get a table.
Incredibly, after being told by the reservations lady that “we are completely full tonight, sir” the place was empty. Well not empty, but there were only about 8 tables that were occupied. I was immediately taken to my table and was a little pissed off that I was lied to by the reservations person. That’s not acceptable in my book.
Anyway, I started off with Beef Carpaccio, a hearts of lettuce salad, and opted for Surf & Turf – a Maine lobster tail and a petit 4oz filet. The lobster was cooked perfectly but the filet was a little tough for a rare prime cut, but dinner was great and well worth the $35 upcharge. I’m eating there again this evening.
During dinner, a young couple was seated next to me, probably in their late twenties. Right after their main course plates were cleared away, the manager and their server brings over a covered dish and places it in front of the young lady, and lifts the lid to reveal a diamond ring set among some strawberries. She starts screaming, “Oh my God” as he asks, “Will you marry me?”
A few “Oh my God’s” later, in the dining room that went silent as me and a table of ten next to me held our breath, she says “Yes!” We all erupt in congratulations and clapping as I wiped away some fluid that started leaking from my left eye. As I wondered what the hell that liquid was, I also wondered what would have happened if she said, “NO!”
I don’t get the whole marriage thing. I’m one of these fellas that live by the motto, “why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?” I don’t want to marry a man, a woman, a goat, or a sheep and would just assume the life of a bachelor diddling whoever, whenever without having to worry about that damn thing called commitment.
I don’t know why people are so into the whole marriage thing other than for religious reasons. You spend a shit load of money throwing a wedding and three years later the so-called happy couple splits and all that’s left is… well, nothing.
Marriage isn’t like the Donna Reed Show anymore. People don’t stay married long. So I hope this young couple makes it at least two or three years – enough time for him to pay off the ring he gave her last night because pawn shops don’t give you top dollar for that stuff.
After witnessing a tear-inducing event at dinner, it was off to celebrate my bachelorhood with a few cocktails. Before doing that I wandered around the ship showing off my seersucker jacket which I received multiple compliments on, but didn’t get me an invite to anyone’s cabin.
I hit a few bars before ending up at The Alchemy Bar – a bar modeled after a pharmacy, where the bartenders don white pharmacist’s coats and whip up drinks like they were making up a remedy for whatever ails you. These cocktails were killer and were all included in the Cheer’s beverage package. I left the master mixologist, Anna, choose my individual prescription, changing it up each time just to keep it interesting. Great concept, great drinks, I’ll be back tonight.
As I stumbled away from the pharmacy, I stopped off for a bit of ice cream because, after a greasy burger, a big meal in the steakhouse, and several concoctions, ice cream was just what I needed to cap off the night.
Back in bed, I was awoken by a rhythmic thump, thump, thump, thump, thump on the wall directly behind my head. The first thing I thought was that someone was sick and was trying to get attention. Then it dawned on me that the thumps were too perfectly timed to be a frantic signal for help. As I listened to the thumping some more it became apparent that there was more action going on in 7442 than there was in 7444.
Maybe this was the newly engaged couple celebrating their soon-to-be life together. Or it could be one of those random hook-ups bachelors like myself prefer, because there ain’t no commitment in them!
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.