My Husband and I recently returned from a four night cruise on the Carnival Liberty on January 20th. We have been on some ten previous cruises, mostly on Carnival. This was our worse experience on a Carnival cruise. Let me start by saying it was not ALL bad. Here are the things that Carnival did well. Embarkation was quick and smooth. From the check in to the ship was maybe twenty minutes. We parked off site at Parc and Cruise- which we highly recommend. They provide great service and we would use them again if we leave from Port Canaveral. Our room steward was awesome. We were on the seventh deck with an inside cabin. Artewan always kept our cabin clean and replaced our towels often. The gifts I had pre ordered were in the cabin when we first got there.My wi-fi package was up and running by the evening. I just purchased the social plan (It's $27 total for the cruise) We were given two 1.5 liters of water complementary in our cabin as gold members. The ship is older, but was clean and pools and hot tubs were always open and not closed due to any maintenance issues.Our favorite hot tub spot is all the way forward on deck 14, part of the serenity deck. The show flick was excellent.Entertainment was a highlight, very good musicians. The life boat drill went smooth and Chris our muster drill leader made it very fun. If you have any issues with standing for a long time, arrive later for the muster drill. Last year on the Conquest, I almost passed out during the muster drill as we were stuck up against the wall of the ship, because we were one of the first ones to arrive to our muster station. (the musters are done outside on these ships) Debarkation went smoothly despite a storm in the area, that delayed our leaving the ship. We did not use self- debark, but waited in the aft pool area and then on the promenade desk overlooking the atrium. We were off the ship quickly once our zone was called, picked up our luggage, through customs and out the door to meet our shuttle from Parc and Cruise. Parc and Cruise had our car waiting for us under a covered awning so none of our luggage got soaked in the rain, -great service.
Nassau was our first stop and we chose to walk to Senior Frogs for lunch. We had the nachos and wings (They have free WiFi there as well) We did a chocolate tour at Graycliff chocolates. It was very interesting and we got to sample the chocolate as its being processed. It's not a Carnival excursion, we just walked there on our own and you can ask to take the tour. It's $10 per person.
Princess Cays was the next stop and the worst. It is over rated. We have been to Half Moon cay, Coco Cay.,Grand Turk, and Little Stirrup Cay, before to compare to as far as private island experiences. There are many small shops near the beach area. One large shop sells souvenirs and shirts and anything else you might have forgotten and takes sign and sail cards as payment. The other shops are owned by locals so bring cash. The beach and water was too cold to enjoy.It was very windy when we were there and cloudy. We had booked the dune buggy excursion. originally it was scheduled for 1:30, but we were notified via the Carnival Hub app that it was rescheduled to 11:30. My advice is to get the free app. and check it often, as we never received any info otherwise about the time change. It was fun, but not worth the money ($179 per buggy) as they no longer take you to the lighthouse point, just a beach and the ruins of an old church. The town or hamlet you drive through is not the most scenic. It looks a bit run down and many houses there are abandoned. The ride is rough! My husband drove and I'm, glad he did, The steering is manual and you really have to fight the wheel, especially on the washed out and rough dirt road. It was very dusty the day we went, and we were given dust masks, but wish we had worn goggles as the dust gets in your eyes as well.
Now to the bad.... The food was the worst I have ever had on a cruise. The barbecue on Princess Cays was terrible. Under cooked hamburg and chicken. Cold rice and cold sauteed vegetables and cookies and fruit. We tried to eat it but couldn't. My husband had a hotdog that was also ice cold. I had read other reviews from past cruises who said the same thing- I thought they were just picky people, turns out they were right! eat on the ship!
The main dining room has been cutting corners on Carnival over the past few years-like no lobster on elegant night. Steaks have a $20 surcharge on them. On our last night of the cruise my husband had mahi-mahi which did not even look or taste like it. It smelled rancid and he pulled no less than five bones out of. I had fried chicken which had two small wing like pieces-I couldn't really identify what part of the chicken they were- and a half-dollar size dollop of mash potato and two, yes, only two broccoli flowerettes. We ate at the steakhouse on the second night of the cruise. It is an additional $38 per person charge. It was delicious, but I regretted it later as later that evening I got violently ill. Once everything I ate came up I felt fine. Sorry if that offended anyone, but I have never had that kind of experience before after eating on a cruise, and no it wasn't a virus or anything or from alcohol either. On sea day we attended the afternoon tea in the dining room. The scones were great, but didn't want to pay 1.95 per tea bag if we wanted to choose a tea from the wooden box- I remember when it was free. The service was bad, as a waitress reached across my plate as I was eating my cake to serve my husband. It made me wonder if the Liberty is a training cruise? We also had breakfast one morning in the dining room. I had the blueberry pancakes. I can't understand how anyone could mess up pancakes, but they did. it was like they forgot to put all the ingredients in the bowl. They tasted like paper. Very bad paper. The service was okay, but once they poured the coffee, they never returned with any more.Once again made me think the waiters were new to serving or something.
I have to shout out what was good about the food service onboard- the burgers were good, the breakfast burritos and omelets were awesome. Overall the buffet on the Lido was good. Our head waiter Shawn was great,He always remembered to bring our drinks. It was mostly the quality and quantity of the food that was lacking. After having been on many Carnival ships before, I can compare with, even a cruise this past February 2018 on the Conquest, this cruise was a big let down. If it is your first cruise, you probably wouldn't notice, but it is making me consider my next cruise on a different cruise line.I should have listened to the reviews, before I booked about the food on the Carnival Liberty. Believe me we are not picky people, and we have enjoyed the dining and food on previous cruises and expected the same with the Carnival Liberty, but it disappointed us.
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