My mother and father raised five kids, four boys and a girl. My middle brother Steve suggested a few years ago that the entire extended family go on a cruise. He is a farmer and milks cows at 4 am and 4 pm. He was never on a cruise and thought the idea of eating all day and sleeping without worrying about milking cows sounded like a great time. So my sister, Diane (DeDe as she likes to be called) and her husband, Dale, pursued the idea of this cruise which came to fruition at the end of March. The people participating in the cruise were my:
- 88 year old mother, Caroline,
- brother David and his wife, Kathleen,
- brother Steve and his wife, Sharon,
- sister Diane (DeDe) and her husband, Dale,
- sister Diane (DeDe) and husband Dale's oldest son Eric and his wife Lindsay,
- my wife, Jean, and me.
All of these people can be seen in the picture below:
first row: Lindsay, Caroline, Diane, Kathleen
middle: Eric, Jean, Sharon
back: Ralph, Dale, Dave, Steve
We all bought tickets from a guy, Cyrus Washington, working for Carnival months before the cruise. The Carnival Liberty waited for us at Port Canaveral located on the Atlantic Coast side of Florida. Diane, Dale, and my mother, resided in the Florida. It was up to the rest of us to fly to the Orlando airport, be picked up by Dale on the 23rd, and then be taken to the ship on the 24th.
Most of us were cruise newbies. Grandma (Caroline) sailed on the most cruises and was the most experienced. The embarkation process for the Liberty was relatively painless. We showed a crew member our passport, they checked us against a list they had on a laptop computer, someone else took a picture which was loaded into the ship's database, we were given a room card with our name, and then we were told how to find our stateroom. Our luggage would meet up with us by 6 p.m. that night delivered by a Liberty crew member outside our room.
We entered the ship from the front (fore) and our staterooms were located in the back (aft). We took an elevator to the eighth floor and walked across the ship to our rooms. After checking into the room, we were told we could walk up to the 9th floor and begin our eating experience. We walked up to the ninth floor and were amazed at the amount of food available in three or four areas. American, Chinese, Italian, and other ethnic foods were available in banquet lines. The drinks were limited to water, ice tea, or lemonade. Alcoholic and more exotic drinks were available at bars located at the fore and aft sections for a price. Every eating area had a dining room. Besides dining rooms tables were available near the bars both fore and aft. We congregated in an area in the aft part of the ship called the Lido Deck.
The price for alcoholic drinks started at $8 and went up from there. If you wanted an alcoholic drink you presented your ship card to the bartender. They would then swipe it in their computer and the price of the drink was added to your bill at checkout. If you wanted to avoid a charge for each drink then you could pay for an drink pass which cost $56 per person per day. With that pass you could order up to 15 drinks. If you had the drink pass the cost of the 16th drink was then added to your bill at the time of checkout.
After eating we were notified all personnel, staff and tourists, must attend a mandatory muster drill at 6 pm. People bunking in odd numbered staterooms needed to meet on the right side of the boat on the first floor near the lifeboats. People bunking in even numbered staterooms met on the left side of the boat on t he first floor near the left side lifeboats. Liberty staff took attendance and everyone needed to be there before the muster could take place. The Liberty held 2,200 tourists and 1,100 staff. The time required to get everyone in place on both sides of the boat was 20 minutes. After standing for 30 minutes, the cruise director, Paully, read off instructions on how to correctly put on a life vest. This exercise lasted less than 5 minutes and then we were all dismissed. The grumbling from the people standing in place on deck for 30 minutes for no apparent reason drowned out Paully's dismissal announcement.
Our luggage arrived as promised before 6 pm. We unpacked the luggage and explored the ship. The Liberty had a casino, two large dining rooms called Silver and Gold, two swimming pools, a number of hot tubs, a water slide, a theater, a large outdoor screen, small rooms for smaller events, and a central area where events such as trivia, violin ensembles, and bingo were held.
The staterooms were small. They had a bed, a toilet, a shower, and some storage space. The rooms had but one electric socket. The one electric outlet encouraged use of multiple extension cords. The toilet sucked the waste away so you avoided sitting on the toilet when you pushed the handle or you might have some part of your body suctioned away with the waste.
The first day and a half of the cruise was totally on the ship. We departed Port Canaveral at 6 pm on Sunday, March 24th and sailed to Nassau, Bahamas. The ship had cameras showing the progress at the front of the ship. The ship had monitors placed in different locations showing the progress of the ship as it sailed to the Bahamas.
We spent the first day and a half sleeping, eating, and exploring. The ninth floor Lido Deck was a nice place to congregate. It sufficient chairs and tables for groups of people to sit and relax. Soft serve ice cream and yogurt were always available on the Lido deck. Because the weather was nice and the ice cream and yogurt cold, most people spent time resting on the the Lido deck.
Paully would inform people through the ship's intercom of upcoming events. Most of the noisy events such as a DJ playing music was completed in the front of the ship. The front of the ship also had a large screen where recent movies were shown. We sat on deck on Monday night and watched Bohemian Rhapsody. Bohemian Rhapsody was a rather sad tale about the head of the rock group Queen, Freddie Mercury.
We did not attend all of the events. We chose to participate in some games, listen to a three woman violin concert which happened each night, sat in a piano bar, watched a production called Flick and a 70s song presentation in there large concert hall. The concert hall would have been huge on land but was even more impressive on a ship.
All of the events were fun except for the piano bar. The piano bar opened at 8 pm, ship time. We were there a little before 8:00 and the doors were open. We found a place to sit and waited for the piano player. At 8:10 a guy made his way to the piano and started playing. His name tag said Craig. He never introduced himself. He played one song. He alluded to a play list supplied to each table and said he would play any song on the play list and requested people fill out a piece of paper with their song request. He then played another song and he attempted to accompany the song with his off-key voice. He then started the first requested song, "Sweet Caroline", and played it very badly while singing it worse. Craig stated he did his best work when the tip jar had considerable money placed in it. Craig then chugged a drink and began another song. His performance of the next song was even worse than "Sweet Caroline". As Craig massacred the next song our whole contingent of 11 people walked out leaving Craig, his piano, his drinks, and his empty tip jar.
Paully held dance lessons during the day for different participation dances. Paully would crank up his computer, play a song, and then ask people to come up to the stage so he could teach them dance steps applicable to the song. Thriller by Michael Jackson was one of his teaching moments.
Paully taught a sequence of Thriller dance steps based on the count of 8. A specific sequence of dance steps started with the first 8. The next sequence of different dance steps started with the second 8. In total Paully taught five sequences of dance steps for Thriller. One of the more interesting sequences was called Zombie. For Zombie, the dancer held their hands up in a frightening pose, stomped right, circled, stomped left, and circled.
My mother, Sharon, and DeDe all participated in the Thriller dance class. It was entertaining watching my 88 year old mother trying to master the sequence of dance steps. She dropped out of the class after the fourth sequence because she could not remember what to do in the first sequence. Sharon and DeDe participated in the entire class and danced the entire Thriller song. Sharon had problems with the instructions because she would turn left when she was supposed to turn right and vice versa. She was the most unique of the dancers.
Jean, I, and my mother participated in the Nassau port of call but not in Freeport. We walked through a throng of sellers in Nassau as we walked off the Liberty. Nassau was extremely hot. We decided the heat and the hawkers were too much and we went back to the Liberty after a short walk down Nassau's main street. The other group members visited all of Nassau and walked to a beach. After our Nassau experience, we decided not to participate in visiting Freeport the next day. The group minus my mother, Jean, and me, told us Freeport was much more enjoyable than Nassau because the hawking was non-existent and the weather cooler. So I guess we should have stayed on the Liberty in Nassau and visited shops in Freeport.
We had nightly meals and one breakfast in the Gold dining room. Dress was informal except for Tuesday night when the guys were to wear a suit coat and the women clothes other than blue jeans. Each table had an assigned waiter. The waiter presented a menu showing three choices for appetizer, entree, and dessert. You could then pick which of the three or some of the three. There was no limit. The food was high quality restaurant fare. We had mahi mahi, beef, baked Alaska, tiramisu and many other high quality foods. In addition to the food, the waiters staged shows on Sunday and Wednesday after they served the food. The dancing and singing after the meal were surprises.
After the Liberty visited Freeport, it was time for the ship to turn around and return to Port Canaveral. The captain came on the speaker and said the seas would be between 10 and 15 feet on our way back and to expect the ship to bounce. The Liberty did bounce among the waves that night and the following morning. We took various medicines to ward off possible seasickness.
The Liberty arrived in port on March 28th. We had until 9 am to leave our rooms because the ship was to set out for the sea with a new bunch of passengers four hours later. The cleaning staff had a short time frame to clean the rooms and get them ready.
Paully thanked everyone and said this was the first cruise he directed. We all had a good time. My brother Steve was able to eat constantly, enjoy ice cream, and sleep at will. He had a wonderful time and did not want to leave the Liberty.
After the cruise we were sent a survey via Email. We were asked to rate the cruise in a number of areas and supply comments on how to make the cruise better in the future. My comments for improvement were limited to Craig. I told them we did not think a cruise ship required a piano bar and suggested using the space for something else. Perhaps Craig could be designated as a demonstration for evacuating the boat during the mustering demonstration.
I did take photos and short videos on the cruise using a new camera I received for Christmas. I then compiled a video. You can view it on Youtube (my first Youtube video) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA4QzyMdg-E
