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Carnival Cruise Line

MS Carnival Liberty

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Reviewed by:Giancarlo V. Bruno
# previous cruises: 10 to 20
Date of Trip: August 25, 2005
Itinerary: Mediterranean

I normally like to be optimistic about my vacations, and enjoy them to the fullest, but my cruise on Carnival Liberty was easily the worst I've been on. The itinerary was excellent, and truth to be told, it was nearly the sole reason we booked the cruise, though I did sail with Carnival a number of times before and have never had anything but pleasant experiences until now. This cruise, however, was marked with problems. The ship was but a few weeks old when we sailed on her, and she was already rather dirty. It's amazing considering she had just debuted the same time the month before- and supposedly with the best staff from throughout the fleet! It was possibly the worst money I've spent in recent memory, but before you write this review off as nothing more than sour grapes, I'll remind you that we enjoyed ourselves, loved most of the ports of call, and have sailed on Carnival without problems before.

Carnival Liberty, for the most part, is a rather gaudy ship with cheap looking furnishings that will make most anything look good in comparison. Fake wrought iron and flower borders are used generously, and there are some genuinely ghastly spaces onboard, such as the 'Hot & Cool Dance Club', which I can never quite bring myself to forget, unfortunately. Most of the spaces were tolerable despite my problems with the quality of the furnishings and the decor being in questionable taste, but the main showroom- 'Venetian Palace' suffered from some poor ergonomics. Views in some places, such as the balconies, were obstructed, and trying to make use of the third floor seating is like sitting on a finch's perch. These problems were a bit annoying, but they could be forgiven, unlike many of the other more serious ones. The pool areas were quite nice, despite the use of painted decking at the aft pool which was slippery and tended to get hot quickly. On Lobby Deck there's an outdoor promenade on each side of the ship, it's a nice area, but it's only accessible from two doorways near each other, both being around the atrium.

Having been on Carnival in the past, I was surprised that the food quality had really slipped! Most of the buffet food was rather putrid, with the best items available being simple, ordinary dishes. Carnival used to have the best desserts, I am sorry to say that this is no longer the case. A good 90% of desserts on the Carnival Liberty were awful- you'd taste it, then push it aside for the trash! There was the quality of the food, and other problems as well- my daughter found a toothpick baked into the crust of her pizza! The food in the main dining room is noticebly better than the buffet, but still not quite good enough much of the time.

Our waiter and busboy were very good, and made dinner as close to pleasant as possible, considering what they were serving us! They were friendly, and they did their jobs well, and that's good enough for me. You may think from my complaints that I am one to split hairs and go over things with a magnifying class and fine-toothed comb, that is hardly the case- I am not particularly picky. But most of the staff on Carnival Liberty were unfriendly to most anyone but each other, and didn't seem too concerned about the passengers. The service was poor overall, and the behavior of off-duty staff (a group of entertainers in particular) was appalling. At the disco, they were often seen in large numbers roughousing with one another, and looking at any passengers who entered as if they had three heads. At one of the few major live outdoor events they had, they stood along the handrail drinking and conversing with one another, obscuring the view for any passengers who sat behind them, and there were a lot more than a small handful! I was so disgusted that after 10 minutes of trying to watch the show, I left- I had seen them doing this type of thing often enough before to know that I was probably better off not trying to reason with them. On duty, many staff were more inclined to fool around and talk with each other than they were to do their jobs- thus the uncleaned spills, trays left at tables for hours, etc. Hardly the ever-busy, friendly, and efficient crew I have seen elsewhere- including Carnival ships in the past!

The 6A ocean view we had was very large, with good closet space to boot. Unfortunately, the cabin steward did not believe in going above and beyond the call of duty- or anything close for that matter. The bathroom was cleaned and the beds were made. Not a terrible job, but not impressive at all either. Then again, the same went for the whole ship, so it's not a tremendous suprise.

The shower was plenty big for most people, as was the entire bathroom. Noise wasn't a particular problem, though I do not know if this was due to good neighbors or good sound insulation.

Entertainment was another area in which quality has fallen and corners have been cut. There were some shows that were definitely worth seeing- a hypnotist (Jac Rene), comedy by Lowell Sanders, and singing by Marcus Anthony (who also did the late-night outdoor show which I mentioned earlier) and a welcome aboard show. Beyond that, there wasn't much worth seeing...to be perfectly honest, there wasn't much generally speaking! It could be the fact that it was a European cruise with an older crowd and some special ports of call, but the ship was dead on days the ship was docked, and almost so on sea days- with late morning trivia and some evening karaoke being the only things really planned for the day other than the main show.

The large outdoor movie screen is nice and some good films were shown, but it seems Carnival has used it to replace live entertainment on the Liberty, because often times it is nowhere to be found.

The 12 day Mediterranean itinerary is excellent and the main reason we booked this cruise. Every single port of call was ace, except for Cannes- I know it would be appreciated if I spoke the language, but not being able to do so was no reason for the rudeness we encountered at places like the SNCF railway station. I don't mean to drag on- but I think I might put in some good words for the other cities we visited. Naples is probably nothing to write home about in itself, but seeing Pompeii and Sorrento was great- definitely the main attractions of that stop. Dubrovnik is a wonderful city with much to admire in the surrounding areas, and the walled city is immaculately kept and quite a sight in itself. Venice is just an amazing place, there's probably none like it. Vaporetto service is good for getting around, but if you don't mind walking, try reaching Rialto San Marco on foot- and you'll really get a better idea of the city. Taormina, which you can see when you stop at Messina, is a wonderful town in the mountains with a beautiful church, paved streets, and some good shops- pasticerrie in particular. Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia is quite a sight to see when in Barcelona, as is his Park Guell. Livorno has so much to see and do in the surrounding areas, Florence and Tuscany in particular, I gather, but even seeing the Leaning Tower is quite something. All of the tours were very good, with excellent guides, but the way Carnival set up tour embarkation may cause problems for groups who get seperated before meeting for their tour.

Carnival really let us down with the poor quality of the cruise product end of things Cost cutting is evident everywhere-no more chocolates on the pillows every night, no complimentary birthday or anniversay celebrations - you must buy a cake for celebrations now. There's also less staff on the ships now as well, and this makes service issues even more prevalent. Canival also tends to nickle and dime you to death on their cruises, with things that are complimentary on other cruises, and/or used to be on theirs.

The passengers were a good lot. They were for the most part an older and less rowdy set than the usual Carnival crowd, and I'd say that's a good thing.

The bottom line is that the only reason to even think of booking this cruise is the itinerary. I'd say most of them are probably highlights for people going to Europe, or more specifically the Mediterranean, for the first time. I would strongly advise someone looking for a decent European cruise that's worth their money to take a look at Royal Caribbean, NCL or Celebrity instead. They may cost you some more, but after sailing Carnival Liberty, I can't help but think that it's worth shelling out the extra ducats.