Cruise Ship: Carnival Liberty
Cruise Destination: Western Caribbean
Cruise Dates: January 29 - February 4, 2006
Guest Contributor: Mary and Vincent Finelli
The Liberty joins the Conquest Class of Carnival's Fleet of 21 ships. She is the first Carnival ship to cruise the Mediterranean Sea and Europe. From July to October 2005 the Liberty sailed out of Civitavecchia, Rome, Italy offering eight twelve day round trip cruises to Naples, Messina, Venice, and Livorno, Italy; it also sailed east to Dubrovnik, Croatia and west to Cannes, France and Barcelona, Spain. From these ports of call passengers were offered over 80 different excursions to famous destinations such as Capri, Venice, Pisa, Florence and even Monte Carlo, Monaco. This was the Liberty's maiden cruise itinerary, which Carnival augmented with pre or post cruise packages of one to three additional days in Rome. This is very attractive since Rome, the Eternal City, should never be a one day trip! We know this for sure after living in Rome, while on sabbatical in 1981. We found the academic year (9 months) not sufficient for the many beautiful attractions of Bella Roma. Three extra days will at least provide an overview of the grandeur that is Rome.
Significantly, on October 12, 2005 (Columbus Day), the Liberty made its first transatlantic crossing and began it inaugural season in the Caribbean. April 2006 the Liberty will return to the Mediterranean and her European cruise itinerary. This new Carnival itinerary is an exciting one for Americans and the Liberty was designed for it. Its decor celebrates artisans and their wonderful creations.
Embarkation on the Carnival Liberty
With Sunday Traffic on I-95 at a minimum, Ft. Lauderdale is only twenty-five minutes from our home in Boca Raton, Florida --- an excellent place to live for "Frequent Floaters." The baggage drop off was peculiar; even though our auto was clearly marked handicapped, we were directed to the left; even though there were right side drop offs. After depositing our luggage, we had to cross over through traffic to get to the entrance. This was harrowing. Once on the other side, we were sent through the VIP entrance with the wheelchair. From here on boarding was a cinch. We were given assistance with the wheelchair after check in, and we were in our stateroom in twenty minutes. This was our third cruise on a Conquest Class ship in the past five months, so we are very familiar with its layout.
Thus, our first bit of business was to change reservations from the Silver Olympian Dining Room, which was all the way aft, to the centrally located Golden Olympian Dining Room. This would make our dinners more pleasant, since the only wheelchair accessible staterooms with balconies are located all the way forward in the prow of the ship. More on these logistics later. Our reservations were easily adjusted for us by the dining room staff, we went directly to the excellent buffet.
Description of the Carnival Liberty Cruise Ship
The Carnival Liberty, launched the summer of 2005, was christened by Mira Sorvino (Hollywood and Oscar fame). The Liberty was built at the venerable Fincantieri Shipyards in Italy. She is hull number 6,111 and is a beauty. Among the largest cruise ships in the world, she is equipped with 22 lounges and bars; a stunning 1,500 seat Venetian Palace Theater, plus a Seaside Theater for watching films and concerts under the stars (featuring a 270 sq. ft. Jumbo screen and a state of the art 70,000 watt sound system providing concert quality sound), a novelty at sea first seen on the Caribbean Princess. This cruise featured concerts by Tom Jones, Placido Domingo, and James Taylor among others.
The Liberty is 952 ft. long, and 116 ft wide and weighs 110,000 tons. She has 1,487 staterooms of which 60% are ocean view and 60% of these have balconies. Capacity is 2,974 (two passengers per cabin) and a maximum of 3,700. Joseph Farcus, Carnival architect, commissioned a group of artists to create pieces which celebrate "great artisans and their works." In a series of 6' X 9' aluminum panels, made specifically for the ship's central staircases, artist Calman Shemi features iron workers, sculptors, glass blowers and jewelry designers at work. Artist Virginia Ferrara created 6' X 15' tropical views of South Florida with palm trees, floral and water allusions, which were placed by the stair landings. Luciano Vistosi's colorful blown glass pieces are illuminated from the rear. Placed near the swimming pools on Deck 9 are the bronze sculptures of Susanna Holt: an Anhinga bird drying its spread out wings in the sun; Sea lions lounging; and a standing Stag and Doe. The Anhinga is very appropriate to South Florida, but we wish it had been much larger like those over the El Rio Canal in our back yard.
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