Sail Date: August 23-30-2008 "Fun Ship Liberty"

My husband and I went on this curise with the expectations and idealistic hopes that we had on another curise line: (FUN WAS HAD BY ALL) on that cruise ship.  By the way it was not Carnvial.  Firstl we found out that we would be dining alone; why? No clue.  Did not ask us if we wanted it that way unitl after we had asked about it and then was asked on the fourth day of the curise; (little late, you think). Second; ROOM SERVICE was a straight up mess; they got my husband's sandwiches wrong on four different occasions, and it was only once that both of our orders actually came together; hell we were in the SAME room. On the other curise ship the room serivice menu; you could order breakfast items; you know scrambled eggs, bacon, hotcakes; not on this ship "No breeakfast items except for:  fruit, beverages "no lemonade or fruit punch", cereal salads and sandwiches " which they got wrong ALL THE TIME".  The pictures were absolutely stunning but over priced.  I also noticed on the other curise line tat the selction of food on the big buffet on the Lido deck was more expansive with more selection to choose from; the main dining room's selection was limited also.  The last night we ate in the main dining room I noticed that it was almost the exact same menu as the first night we set sail.  Let me tell you about the breakfast in the main dining room; I have been wanting to get Eggs Benedict for ages at a restaurant so I thought since that was a little fancy I would order it on my cruise.  They were HORRIBLE to say the least this was thought about by others as well.  They looked like they had been sitting there for hours; they were not that many people in the dining room when we entered at this was about 7:00 a.m.; there was no SAUCE and you were lucky if you got all you ordered.  I am not a picky or finicky eater but if I am spending over ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS" for a cruise I expect to get my money''s worth.  One last thing you know my travel agent who is also my good friend told me that we were suppose to get "on board ship credit", for sometthing that had happen and our status to be changed to VIP "whatever that means", you know not one guest services representive ever told us this; not one.  We had been to guest relations several times for this or that and they never mentioned a word.  Well thiese are my reasons for one scoring Carnival Fun Ship "Liberty"'s food a 4 out of 10 and Guest Relations a 5 out of 10.  I will not sail on this cruise line ever AGAIN

Here Here Clear C.

I just returned from the same trip and for the first time am not happy with my carnival vacation...Breakfast buffet on lido deck was the exact same food every day the only variety you got was if you had an omlet made for you at the omlet station but how many combinations can you make with the same ingredient selections each day, tomato,mushrooms,cheese (only 1 kind) ham peppers and onions, the toast and bagles were Never warm (even from room service just toasted and chewy) we had a lite early breakfast delivered every morning but the last one and again it was never right I always had to call for stupid stuff silverware (there were 3 of us and items ordered for 3 only 1 or 2 sets were sent) sugar for coffee (but hey no place on the order form to req. sugar) you order bagels for 3 with cream cheese and get 1 dollop in a bowl common sense does not run rampant in the room service department.....Dining room WE WISH we had your problem our party of 6 were sat with 5 other people at a huge table for 11  3 of us requested early and 3 late we all ended up in early and with this other group that ruined our dinner seating with innapropriate conversations and complaints..1 young man ordered the flat iron steak almost every night and sent it back every time he did and then complained loudly about the service and the staff in general. that just made us uncomfortable. we thought the wait staff was very good and we loved them.... teens on board only advise NOT ON THIS SHIP!!!!! the O2 club is suppose to be designated for 15 - 17 yr olds was attaqtched to the arcade for the younger kids..the rooms decor was more towards the 9-11 age group come on clowns airplanes and army men wonder what the decorator was huffin that day and there was NO information on teen only excursions as advertised just check out the O2 activities list for info..guess what NO INFO.....we had great staff and we had rude people again not every one is cut out for this type of job I had one guy on embarkation day tell me Lady just shut up and let me do my job (delivering luggage that although had my cabins tags on them were actually for the other half of our party because they didn't get tags I simply wanted to tell him to leave thise bags in the hallway. never got that chance ...WE LOVED the CD and ACD Karl and James were great we had a blast with them.....again good did outway the bad but for the most part we were very dissapointed with this trip and not likely to travel on the Liberty again but will take carnival again my good experiences still out way the bad..Heres hopeing that a different ship brings a better vacation....

It's a shame that we cannot share a horrible cruising experience without people critisizing our post. I deleted my post because it upsets me to be critisized for sharing our experience.

I've cruised many times. If this was my first cruise it would the last!

As I stated in the above blog My good carnival cruise experiences have far out weighed the bad this is the first cruise that I have had bad experinces on board. by all means do not let this one trip sour your next. I will continue to book on carnival and will be out on 2 additional carnival ships in the next year. Go with the state of mind that this one will be the one you will remember for only the good things don't let this trip have any adverse effect on what is to come. every ship is different and so is the crew on each. I don't understand why you were not aware of why the ship was late they made several anouncements that morning while we were waiting for out zones to be called for boarding but that is neither here nor there I do however understand what you are saying in your above message as I stated this is the First one of my carnival trips that were not 100% to my satisfaction and I have been cruising with them for the last 6 years this was my first experience with this class of ship I think they may have made the cabin capacity higher at the expence of the space afforded to you on other ships we have always been comfortable with three in a cabin before on the smaller ships and on the triumph class and I think I will stick with them from now on. she is a young ship and as such unfortunately so is her crew and i think that may have shown through a bit as well I do hope they get it together soon its a waste for such a ships record to be marred by a few things that can be improved upon. I wish you the best on your next carnival cruise for smooth sailing and happy times.

This is the first time I have ever heard anything negative about this ship.  I cannot wait for this trip.  While I will note your complaints I will by far listen to those who loved the cruise.  I have never had a bad experience with Carnival.....

sounds like you need to go to "that other cruise line"  Bon Voyage.

Again as I stated this is the FIRST carnival cruise that I have had problems on...I by no means am trying to indicate that this is a bad ship It was actually wonderful I had good times and a few bad things happened.....I did not go into detail on all that went wrong but touched on my agreement with the first posters statements that I too had problems in the same area..again small things that were mostly inconvienent and not fatal....I have been other other ships and will note that the Lido Breakfast buffet was the same on those ships as on the liberty same food and all I believe it is a standard buffet served on all carnivals ships. they have removed the option of ordering full room service breakfast for simple items of breads fruits cereal and such I simply wished that they would have gotten the order right on just one day out of the 6 I ordered I try to stay away from the lido buffet simply because I know what to expect and that after my 2nd and 3rd cruise saw the same items l knew that was not for me I choose not to eat breakfast in the dining room simply because it starts to late for me because of my job i am an Early riser and waiting till 8 or 9 am i have already been up for 4 or 5 hours. I was traveling with 2 teenagers both 16  (1 my daughter 1 a friend of hers we brought along) and was assured by carnival Miami that they could have their own cash sign and sail accounts this was done but only for part of the cruise My daughter went to add money to her account and was abrubtly told that she was not old enough and the purser on duty closed not only her account but the other girls as well leaving them with no S&S and thus missing the oportunity to purchase a shore tour they wanted to attend it stayed closed until I was located and was told that i had to add them to my credit card regardless of the fact that they both had money left on their accounts which was returned to me but since I used a Credit card and not cash could not leave it on  my account for the girls to use, I was actually told that my option was allow them to charge on mine or they not so politely indicated that they could close my acount as well leaving none of us an open account for the remaining 4 days of the cruise..and again being told to shut up by a crew member while only trying to ask that he not bring the luggage into the room but leave it in the hall for us to sort out since my travelmates used my extra tags since they did not get any was uncalled for.as well as waiting 3 hours for a simple request of an ashtray these are the things that I was unhappy with and I feel well within my right to be unhappy about. I will be the first person to say (and I have above) DO NOT let one bad experience sour other cruises I will travel carnival again because the good outweigh the bad this like any other industry has good days and bad I just happen to catch a VERY FEW crew members on bad days and thats how I look at it. If i offended anyone by posting my complaints it was not my intent I was simply responding with similar problems on the same cruise as the original poster not to vindicate him or to say that the Liberty is a bad ship but simply to say He was not alone in the problems he experienced there were others out their that had the exact same issues.

Had you asked about other seating arrangements, you would of been helped I am sure since a lot of couples would love to get dining for two! They will not generally ask and I am surprised they did ask you about your seating arrangements.

The room service menu is very limited and there are mistakes with hundreds of people ordering, mistakes can and  will happen anywhere. Buffet selection is limited as well but there are only so many breakfast foods hehe!

As to your friend/travel agent telling you that you would be a VIP, if you only paid + "ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS" for your cruise, then they were blowing smoke up your tailpipe. For VIP status, you need to have been on 10 Carnival cruises or be booked in a suite, which costs far more than + $1,000.00. It is not Carnival's guest relations fault that you got some misinformation.

I do wish you would have had a better experience and hope the best for you in the future, just remember every line/cruise is different.

I had a similar experience with room service, but I didn't let it wreck my good time! I am spending over 1000.00 for an interior cabin on my Legend cruise, and I do not expect to be given VIP status ....haven't (yet) been on 10 cruises, and don't own 100 shares of carnival stock.

Yout TA may be a friend of yours, but that doesn't make her well informed. If you are happier with a different cruise line, then I am sure that cruise line will be delighted to keep you as a customer.

Cruises (as are all vacations) only as good as you make them.

It sounds like you have some legitimate concerns that you ought to pass on (concisely and politely) to guest relations, just to let them know your experiences. I wasn't overly impressed with Dining Room breakfasts and consistently dry Eggs Benedict, either.

Personally I preferred the Lido Buffet for Breakfast and Lunch and felt the menu was varied and adequately extensive. I felt the food in the Dining room was above average and that the menu had different items each day.

It doesn't sound like your friend set you up as a VIP or he/she would have told you go go to the VIP check-in line where your name would have been waiting (how this could have been set-up w/o a suite or Platinum status I don't understand) - Carnival doesn't ask each of 2000 passengers if they're supposed to be a VIP you have to identify yourself (and you obviously didn't come up on the checkin-in screen as VIP). Similarly, if you were expecting OBC credit on your account, you should have checked your cruise documents (where credits are separately indicated) and/or with Purser to confirm it - if it was on your account then it was deducted from your charges with no need for comment from the pursers office. Ken

Sorry about your experience with the rude crew members, jordiebear.  Being told to shut up was inexcusable, and uncalled for to threaten to close your onboard account as well.  Yes, most of the crew are polite and pleasant, but unfortunately the few rude ones do tend to stick out in your mind more.  It's just human nature.  Most of the carnival staff have been just fantastic on the cruises I've been on, but it still was upsetting to be treated with lack of courtesy by the few. 

On the first cruise I went on, my son (then only 7) had some flaming dessert, I think it was the cherries jubilee.  The server accidentally dropped some on him, and it left a charred spot on his suit. He wasn't hurt thank goodness, but it was pretty frightening.  I contacted the purser about the damage, she acted like I was complaning about nothing since the suit wasn't burnt through.  I had to contact Carnival in writing after the cruise, at least they payed for the suit to be dry cleaned - it was a beautiful suit from nordstrom that was never the same - but I guess not the end of the world since he outgrew it in less than a year anyhow.  

I don't think it's too much to expect to be treated with courtesy on your vacation.   

I just came back today from the liberty today. I enjoyed it greatly. I had no problems. I was very impressed with the staff. I was amazed by how nice and helpful every one was. It exceeded my expectations. I'm sorry to hear the problems that you had. I just want every one to know that not every one had the same problems. I don't believe it is a common problem.

Mary Ellen.......Since you just returned from Liberty, thought I'd put a question in here..... I read on Cruise Critic that Carnival had Pillow Menus where you got to choose what kind/firmness pillow you wanted.  But no one on these forums seems to know anything about that.  So was wondering if you were offered anything like that.  Thanks!  Glad to hear you had a great time on the Liberty!

luv2cruz:

Carnival had Pillow Menus

Hello Luv2cruz,

I too, have just returned  from Liberty cruise. I did not read anytime about a pillow menu, however, the pillows on the bed were great. My husband and I truly enjoyed this cruise. We enjoyed all of the food except for the grand gala buffet it was very beautiful, but mostly sushi. Of course, the deserts was awsome. Our room steward was awsome and left a towel animals almost every night. Our dining waiters sang to us every night, they have very beautiful voices. The first night we dined alone our tablemates did not show, but they came the following nights and we got alone very well. We even took a picture together and exchanged email addresses on the last night.

I only wished they showed more movies on the lido deck big screen instead of mostly musicals. My husband and I enjoyed all of the shows in the Velentian Palace, they were great. Also, Carnival had great sales on watches and other things, so my advice to shoppers is to make sure you have enough money on your sign and sail account. The purser desk close early on the last day at sea and if you do not have money on your account to buy last minute things the stores onboard WILL NOT ACCEPT CASH. I didn't have this problem but other people did.

For those who are concerned about sea sickness and ship motion. We were on deck 8 Aft and could feel the swaying a lot a times. I could definetly feel the ship turn and docking movement. I felt sick on the second night but was able to pull through it. Also, I did not hear any noise from the lido deck. Another note, we were in an interior cabin and it had plenty of space. There are shelves in the closet, hangers, and plenty space to put luggage in the closets and under your bed if you wish.

We order room service four times and it did not take long to get our food. One other thing about tips, we tip our head waiter on the first night and eventhough he was thankful he ask us to please do not make it a habit of tipping him. Not sure why?[*-)

We also gave our room steward an extra tip on the last day, because he was great. 

Overall this cruise was awsome and hubby and I are planning one for next year. I would definitely sail Carnival Liberty again. The ship is so big, we didn't get a chance to enjoy everything it had to offer. However, every staff member we met was friendly, we also received a small on board credit, which I am not sure why.

me too just off the liberty my only complaint was the breakfast food in the dining room was not hot on many!!! occassions