Sunday, February 01, 2009
Sunny, warm, 75 F
Saturday, January 31, 2009---we drove to the Port of Miami about 9:30 a.m. It was a windy, very cool 45 F. I waited by the luggage while Tim easily parked the car. We were early and boarded the ship by 11:00. My first impression of the Carnival Liberty was glamour and glitz—tile, marble, Venetian glass chandeliers, even Chihuly-like glass (could be Chihuly-don’t know yet) in the Venetian Place Theater.
We headed for the Lido deck buffet-it seemed crowded, no carpet. We enjoyed beef/chicken/shrimp stir fry and baked lasagna. Desserts included fruit tarts and key lime pie.
At 1:30 we were able to go to our cabin, 8399—Deck 8, and we were shocked. For value we opted for an inside cabin and did not seem big enough for the two of us. We thought Liberty’s cabins were supposed to be large. Not so! I had no idea where we would pack away our clothes, etc. I did determine that if we asked our cabin steward, Alline, to make the room up into two beds, we would have more room. Thankfully, that is how this all played out. We found plenty of room for everything and now we had room to move around. For sure we better limit our food intake!
By 3 p.m. Tim already had his Coffee Card ($13 for 5 specialty coffees) and a chocolate ice moccacino and I had the Soda Card for unlimited soda ($46.98). We tried to change our dining time from 6 p.m. to open seating, but Carnival does not promote that and we wouldn’t know until Sunday afternoon. It is funny that we were die-hard 6 p.m. diners and after the Grand Princess we now sold on anytime dining and eating later!
We had the muster drill and then went to the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet at the aft pool. Only 10 other people were there, from Illinois, New York, and New Jersey.
We went to our assigned table for four in the Golden Olympian Dining Room at 6 p.m. By 6:30 no one came to our table and we got downright silly as we missed our Cruise Critic tablemates from the Grand Princess very much. Tim scrolled through the photos on his camera and found our last picture with the gang, Brian and Nancy, Lawrence and Donna, Brian and Leona, and Jim and Sue and we pretended they were right there with us. The New York strip steak was the best.
The Welcome Aboard Show was comedian Carl Rimi who was funny (I can never remember jokes). Steve Knisley is the Cruise Director. We were back at our cabin by 11:30—tired! The seas were rolling with 20-foot waves.
February 1---
At 5 a.m. this morning we both awoke to a voice over the intercom in the hallway. I did not catch what was said, but Tim heard the voice say that someone was missing and should call the front desk. We started hearing this message every ten minutes. We could not understand the name being called. Eventually, by about 6 a.m. the intercom announcement was being broadcast directly into the cabins every ten minutes. I said a prayer for the person and fell asleep only to awake again every ten minutes. Finally, at 6:50, another voice, one without an accent, repeated the message. The first person on the intercom was saying the name-last name first, then the first name in a very strong accent, and I could not understand it. The new voice was heard clearly, first name, last name and by 7 a.m. the announcement stopped. As it turned out the
girl (26 yrs) stayed the night in another cabin-thankfully she was OK.
By 8 we were both awake for room service of sliced melon, croissant, and coffee. I can’t believe I attended yet another port talk, but we did and got two free charms (beach chair and sun umbrella) from Diamond International just like everyone else. Then straight to the aft pool to read-finished Crichton’s Prey and started Ludlum’s The Prometheus Deception. Lunch was a cheeseburger and fries from the aft pool grill. After the Margaritaville cheeseburger, there may be no comparison!
Tim got into the Slots tournament and I signed up for the Susan G. Komen walk a thon on Friday—to honor friend Kathy F. Signed up for the Internet, $.55/minute.
In a different time zone, we started finding seats for the Super Bowl about 4:30. This was the largest Super Bowl party I ever attended! We watched it on the big screen TV above the Lido Deck main pool area—Steeler fans were in abundance. I wore my map of Pennsylvania tee shirt to show my allegiance! Tim, a Seahawks fan, was rooting for the Steelers, too. It seemed hard to believe we were watching this game on a huge screen in the Caribbean, warm evening-calm seas. The chicken fingers, fried shrimp, and burritos we had for our Super Bowl snack/dinner were great. Tonight was formal night and we did not dress up—just ate our snack! The Steelers won in an exciting game, 27-23.
Culinary Delight of the Day—Saturday/Sunday: New York Strip Steak, chicken fingers, burrito, and fresh pineapple.
TK’s Takes: He placed in the Slots Tournament final and won a tee shirt and Fortunes of Fun wristband. Princess—5 shrimp in the shrimp cocktail vs. Carnival—4 shrimp. The Princess shower had more pressure and the temperature was easier to control. The Lido Deck café needs more people to clean up. There are more dining choices on the Liberty. There are plenty of elevators. He's also glad that we did get open seating for dining--he balked at eating at 8 p.m. on the Grand. We are converts!
A Note to our Granddaughters B and B: There is a great big slide that goes into the swimming pool—looks like a lot of fun. There are many more children on this ship—will find out how many. Tonight when she turned down our beds, our cabin steward made a dog out of our towel and put my sunglasses over its eyes—very cute.
Sunny, warm, 75 F
Saturday, January 31, 2009---we drove to the Port of Miami about 9:30 a.m. It was a windy, very cool 45 F. I waited by the luggage while Tim easily parked the car. We were early and boarded the ship by 11:00. My first impression of the Carnival Liberty was glamour and glitz—tile, marble, Venetian glass chandeliers, even Chihuly-like glass (could be Chihuly-don’t know yet) in the Venetian Place Theater.
We headed for the Lido deck buffet-it seemed crowded, no carpet. We enjoyed beef/chicken/shrimp stir fry and baked lasagna. Desserts included fruit tarts and key lime pie.
At 1:30 we were able to go to our cabin, 8399—Deck 8, and we were shocked. For value we opted for an inside cabin and did not seem big enough for the two of us. We thought Liberty’s cabins were supposed to be large. Not so! I had no idea where we would pack away our clothes, etc. I did determine that if we asked our cabin steward, Alline, to make the room up into two beds, we would have more room. Thankfully, that is how this all played out. We found plenty of room for everything and now we had room to move around. For sure we better limit our food intake!
By 3 p.m. Tim already had his Coffee Card ($13 for 5 specialty coffees) and a chocolate ice moccacino and I had the Soda Card for unlimited soda ($46.98). We tried to change our dining time from 6 p.m. to open seating, but Carnival does not promote that and we wouldn’t know until Sunday afternoon. It is funny that we were die-hard 6 p.m. diners and after the Grand Princess we now sold on anytime dining and eating later!
We had the muster drill and then went to the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet at the aft pool. Only 10 other people were there, from Illinois, New York, and New Jersey.
We went to our assigned table for four in the Golden Olympian Dining Room at 6 p.m. By 6:30 no one came to our table and we got downright silly as we missed our Cruise Critic tablemates from the Grand Princess very much. Tim scrolled through the photos on his camera and found our last picture with the gang, Brian and Nancy, Lawrence and Donna, Brian and Leona, and Jim and Sue and we pretended they were right there with us. The New York strip steak was the best.
The Welcome Aboard Show was comedian Carl Rimi who was funny (I can never remember jokes). Steve Knisley is the Cruise Director. We were back at our cabin by 11:30—tired! The seas were rolling with 20-foot waves.
February 1---
At 5 a.m. this morning we both awoke to a voice over the intercom in the hallway. I did not catch what was said, but Tim heard the voice say that someone was missing and should call the front desk. We started hearing this message every ten minutes. We could not understand the name being called. Eventually, by about 6 a.m. the intercom announcement was being broadcast directly into the cabins every ten minutes. I said a prayer for the person and fell asleep only to awake again every ten minutes. Finally, at 6:50, another voice, one without an accent, repeated the message. The first person on the intercom was saying the name-last name first, then the first name in a very strong accent, and I could not understand it. The new voice was heard clearly, first name, last name and by 7 a.m. the announcement stopped. As it turned out the
girl (26 yrs) stayed the night in another cabin-thankfully she was OK.
By 8 we were both awake for room service of sliced melon, croissant, and coffee. I can’t believe I attended yet another port talk, but we did and got two free charms (beach chair and sun umbrella) from Diamond International just like everyone else. Then straight to the aft pool to read-finished Crichton’s Prey and started Ludlum’s The Prometheus Deception. Lunch was a cheeseburger and fries from the aft pool grill. After the Margaritaville cheeseburger, there may be no comparison!
Tim got into the Slots tournament and I signed up for the Susan G. Komen walk a thon on Friday—to honor friend Kathy F. Signed up for the Internet, $.55/minute.
In a different time zone, we started finding seats for the Super Bowl about 4:30. This was the largest Super Bowl party I ever attended! We watched it on the big screen TV above the Lido Deck main pool area—Steeler fans were in abundance. I wore my map of Pennsylvania tee shirt to show my allegiance! Tim, a Seahawks fan, was rooting for the Steelers, too. It seemed hard to believe we were watching this game on a huge screen in the Caribbean, warm evening-calm seas. The chicken fingers, fried shrimp, and burritos we had for our Super Bowl snack/dinner were great. Tonight was formal night and we did not dress up—just ate our snack! The Steelers won in an exciting game, 27-23.
Culinary Delight of the Day—Saturday/Sunday: New York Strip Steak, chicken fingers, burrito, and fresh pineapple.
TK’s Takes: He placed in the Slots Tournament final and won a tee shirt and Fortunes of Fun wristband. Princess—5 shrimp in the shrimp cocktail vs. Carnival—4 shrimp. The Princess shower had more pressure and the temperature was easier to control. The Lido Deck café needs more people to clean up. There are more dining choices on the Liberty. There are plenty of elevators. He's also glad that we did get open seating for dining--he balked at eating at 8 p.m. on the Grand. We are converts!
A Note to our Granddaughters B and B: There is a great big slide that goes into the swimming pool—looks like a lot of fun. There are many more children on this ship—will find out how many. Tonight when she turned down our beds, our cabin steward made a dog out of our towel and put my sunglasses over its eyes—very cute.
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