Liberty of the Seas

October 05, 2016

If you've never been on a cruise before, trying to describe the moment when you first step onto the ship could be difficult. For us, there was a rush of fresh air and then we heard music as we walked into a very colorful and large room. A staircase stretched up above us and 4 or 5 glass elevators were traveling through their large tubes. I was at a loss for words (which was a good thing because we were still trying to find our way around). Once we found our rooms, we split into three groups. Our cousins went one way, my parents and two brothers another, and Christianna, GranAnnie, and I got our own room as well. The rooms were larger than I had expected, and that's saying something. We had a cabin with a porthole on the far side, a large bed that could split in two, and much more closet space than any of us had anticipated.

My favorite moments on the Carnival Liberty were as follows (not in order of what I liked the most... I think):

Unlimited Ice Cream! There was a soft serve machine that was on the main deck, and you could have UNLIMITED ice cream. Who doesn't love ice cream between meals for absolutely no reason except ice cream?!
The Water slide. It was slow compared to O Lodge but a fun ride with a great view of the surrounding ocean.
The library. The main attraction for us was not the books, but the atmosphere. Cool, quiet, and dark, the library offered a getaway from the chaos of vacation.
The elegant dining hall at dinner. This wasn't ALWAYS my favorite part. Our table was stationed directly over the engine. This meant that when the ship was trying to reach it's maximum speed, our whole table would vibrate. Nonstop. The whole meal. And it could make you sick. Thankfully this only happened the first and last night. What I did like was that we could try all sorts of exotic food: frog legs, rabbit, mussels e.t.c.
Green Apples. Because of our shaky table, someone would run out of the fancy dining room every evening meal and grab a couple green apples from the buffet. Green apples are supposedly good for people with seasickness (as is ginger). Caitlin and I were both a little green our first night and I left dinner early.
Giant chess! There was a giant chess set on deck and the tallest pieces reached past my waist. Caitlin and I played chess and I don't remember who won (probably because I lost).
There was also a mini-golf course. It was cute, but up high on the decks, so it was very windy and I almost lost my hat.
Food, food, food! There was a lot of food. Breakfast is my favorite meal, and I was not disappointed on the Liberty! Pancakes, bacon, steak and eggs, ham, smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels, ah, the list goes on and on.
Towel animals. The staff would leave towel animals in our rooms every evening. The only ones I can remember off the top of my head were a swan and snake, but if you ask Christianna she could tell you all of them! In the end, we got a 'how to' book with dozens of adorable little cloth animals.
Everything we did together. That is definitely my favorite part of this whole venture, that we did it together. That made it doubly fun.

Evelyn & Caitlin

Evelyn & Hosanna

Evelyn in her room window

We had an excellent waiter in the dining hall named Ivan, and on our last night the Kelly's made him a card and sang a short, sweet, and to-the-point song. It went, 'Thank you, Ivan." Only each person was a different pitch.

The staff for Carnival would come and take our picture every night while we ate. After awhile, I felt like my face was plastic from smiling so much, but it was funny watching everyone across from me squirm while their picture was being taken. One evening my dad and Uncle Wally got so tired of it they made goofy faces at the last possible second, causing everyone at our table to burst out laughing.

Evelyn & Hosanna

Evelyn

The televisions in our cabin had the longitude, latitude, and for poor, simple people like me who can't really grasp that, the view above with a moving dot marking our ship. I really enjoyed this feature.

Evelyn

There were so many things we did, and so many I can't convey. This is a time I feel that I could do better on my posts than I have done, but don't know how. It's hard to put down the fun and exhilarating energy that we had in a blog. If there is anything I missed, hopefully it's not important. But "a picture's worth a thousand words," so I hope that the following pictures can speak to you in a way I feel that I can't. :)

GranAnnie & Aidan

Caitlin & Christianna
(How's that for an embarrassing photo, Caitlin?)

Tristan

Christianna

Brianna

Aidan

Tristan, Aidan, and Christianna

Hosanna & I

Aidan

Caitlin

Caitlin remarked to me that she doesn't think she ever actually smiled in any of my pictures (she did), because in most of my pictures, I catch her off guard or she makes a face.