Carnival Cruise Line
Carnival Liberty Cruise Review
Western Caribbean

John

Sailed on the Carnival Liberty to the Western Caribbean on February 12. There were 14 of us and we had seven cabins. This was my 12th cruise and it was the first cruise for about ½ of our group. All of the first time cruises loved the ship and the cruising experience.

The Liberty is a beautiful ship. The interior design is nice and uses lots of color; although, I felt some of the interior spaces and passageways were a little dark. The cabins were standard for a modern cruise ship. Nothing special, but certainly comfortable and sufficient. I liked Carnival’s new bedding.

The cabin safes are locked and unlocked with your Sign & Sail card. This worked fine, except that the exact same card that locks the safe must be used to open it. We had one of the best cabin stewards we have ever had. He was very friendly and the cabin was always clean.

The exercise area was large and had plenty of equipment. It was always busy. The pool area was nice with lots of lounges. There were lots of other areas to find loungers if you did not want to be by the pool. The music/speakers by the pool are too loud. Heard other passengers complaining of this also. Do not know why they are so loud. It was really very irritating.

The show lounge is large and adequate. The entertainment was standard for a cruise ship. One outstanding staff member was the cruise director John. He was the funniest and most entertaining cruise director I have ever seen. He did an excellent job.

The dining rooms are your standard ship dining rooms. Our waiter and assistant waiter were some of the poorest we have had. Our water glasses were often allowed to run dry and it was difficult to get an additional roll/bread. I have had much better service on other cruise lines.

I thought the dinning room food was pretty much what you would expect. Nothing great but not bad either. The buffet food was also adequate, and like others have said, the fish and chips are pretty good. Do yourself a favor and find the fish and chips on the 2nd story of the buffet area.

Did not use the casino or bars, so can not comment on them.

The internet connections on the ship work fine and are fast, but I thought the charges were too high.

Although some of the crew members did an excellent job and were very friendly, others were clearly only doing their job and did not go out of their way to be of service. However, as my wife and I discussed it, this could be a response to the way they are treated. On past cruises we have always seen a few guests who treat the staff poorly and are rude to them. However, on this cruise, there were many more guests who treated the staff poorly. I am not sure if the staff was responding to the passengers or if the passengers were responding to the staff, but either way it was very noticeable and service was lacking.

Visited Freeport, Grand Cayman and Jamaica. Freeport was okay, just did a little shopping. When we were in Grand Cayman there were six ships in port. This made for a very crowded island. We did the stingray sandbar tour which was excellent.

I was a little disappointed when I found out we were going to Jamaica. I was last there six years ago and was not excited to go back. However, I was pleasantly surprised by Jamaica this time. They have cleaned up the island and built several nice shopping areas. There were also police everywhere and very visible. You get the feeling that they understand the importance of tourism and are trying to do what they can to make Jamaica a safe and enjoyable place to visit.

One unusual aspect of this cruise was that on the second night a passenger became gravely ill and needed immediate medical care. The captain came of the P.A. system about 11:30 at night and said that the passenger would be airlifted off the ship by a Coast Guard helicopter. Around midnight a Coast Guard helicopter arrived at the ship. He circled the ship a few times and then began hovering over the aft and port side of the ship. Between the speed of the ship and the winds that were blowing, the wind across the deck must have been 30 to 40 mph. A Guardsman was lowered down and then a stretcher was lowered down. The helicopter then continued to circle the ship while the patient was loaded into the stretcher. The helicopter then returned to its position hovering over the ship. A basket was lowered down and a nurse was picked up that would accompany the passenger. Next the stretcher was picked up and raised into the helicopter. Finally the Guardsman was lifted back aboard the helicopter. The helicopter then transported the patient to Miami. I must say that I was very impressed with the skill and bravery of the Guardsmen to pick up a patient from a moving ship in the black of night with such high winds.

Overall it was a good cruise and Carnival is doing a good job. I think however that Carnival is not the cruise line for us and we will be going on Princess and/or Celebrity in the future.