Review B2B Celebrity Infinity and Carnival Liberty

Below is my attempt at a comparison between our recent B2B cruises. I
will warn you in advance, it is lengthy.

Background: Myself 50 years old, husband 46. Experienced cruisers on
various lines (Carnival x 8, Royal Caribbean x 3, NCL x 1, Princess x 3
and first time on Celebrity).

We boarded the Celebrity Infinity with a group of friends on February
5, after spending a few precruise days in Ft. Lauderdale (stayed at our
favorite hotel, Marriott Marina, which will be no longer after Feb. 24
as it's been sold to a Private Equity firm and will be converted to a
high end yacht center). We originally were booked on just the Celebrity
Infinity, but when my parents and sister and BIL and their kids booked
the Liberty on Feb. 12, our plans worked out beautifully to debark the
Infinity and join them on the Liberty. We met up with some friends for
the Sunset Special Dinner (i.e., Early Bird) at 15th Street Fisheries
the night before sailing. It's a great bargain for a 5 course meal
for $18.95 pp.

EMBARKATION:

Celebrity Infinity "A+" - As we had never sailed Celebrity
before, we had no idea what to expect. It was perhaps the easiest
embarkation we've ever experienced. We had filled out our preboarding
paperwork online. Marriott shuttled us over to the terminal (literally
across the street) at 10:15 a.m. We entered the terminal, chatted for
about 10 minutes with a few friends from previous group cruises, and
then were called to board. The process took approximately 5 minutes at
the desk. We were on the ship in no time, greeted by white gloved
attendants and handed a glass of champagne. Since we were so early,
they apologized that they could not escort us to our cabin as it
wasn't ready yet, but that was fine. We went to our cabin, dropped
our bags off, and wandered around the ship exploring.

Carnival Liberty "C" - Lines, lines, lines....that was the theme
of this ship. When we arrived at the port, it was wrapped around the
building and moving very slow. And did I mention it was about 45
degrees in Ft. Lauderdale that morning? People were freezing standing
outside in line. We arrived around 11:45, thinking that the crowds
would have died down by noon time. Wrong! Then I remembered my sister
was eligible for the Skipper's Club since they had booked a suite and
we were able to move into that line which moved just as slowly, but
wasn't nearly as long. I'd say we stood in line for approx. 1 hour
before we boarded. It probably wouldn't have been so bad if it
wasn't time spent outside in the cold, windy weather. Of course, I
knew Carnival doesn't greet you when you board. You are handed a map
of the ship and again, we were told our cabins weren't yet ready
(surprisingly, since it was almost 1 p.m. by now). But no big deal, we
went to our cabins and dropped off our stuff. Met our cabin stewards
who were a bit unsettled that we arrived before the cabins were
completely finished, but we told them we understood, and we'd be out
of their way momentarily. We really just wanted to drop off our bags.
We met up with my parents and began exploring the ship.

SHIP DÉCOR:

Celebrity Infinity "A+": Loved the décor of this ship. Elegant and
soothing come to mind when describing it. The lobby area lacks the
"ahhhh" of the atriums of Carnival that rise approximately 7
stories high, but was so tastefully done that it makes up for the fact
that it doesn't have that "wow" factor of a Carnival atrium. An
elegant two story grand staircase in white marble-like stone with two
story pillars of billowy ivory drapes is reminiscent of old time ocean
liners. Lots of artwork all over the ship, some very quirky and some
very stately. Fresh floral arrangements would have been nicer, but the
silk arrangements were nice just the same. Lots of glass and woodtones
dominate the ship. The lounges were also very elegant. We especially
liked the Martini and Champagne Bars. Lots of choices for martinis! The
Goose Kiss martini got my nod! The Constellation Lounge was lovely and
that's where Celebrity held the Super Bowl party (which took place
the day we boarded, and being huge football fans, we weren't about to
miss it). They had a large projection screen set up near the stage, and
a few more flat screen TV's scattered around the lounge. We found an
area to our liking and soon we had a large crowd of friends who joined
us. Efficient bar service and a "football buffet" was set up in the
room (hoagies, hamburgers, hot dogs, salads, nachos, a carving station,
etc.) And in the middle was an ice sculpture of a football with
"Super Bowl XL" carved into it. The pool areas were okay, with the
exception of the Aqua Spa area, which was absolutely stunning. We
didn't spend much time at the Aqua Spa because with the solarium
roof, we found it got too warm in there. But we did try out the
Thalossotherapy pool (very relaxing) and they have lovely wooden and
padded chairs around the area. Some nice areas off to the sides of the
Aqua Spa pool with padded loungers with excellent views of the ocean.
The Aqua Spa also had healthy food fare offered that was very tasty. I
was a bit underimpressed with the actual Lido pool areas. I think
Princess has the prettiest pool areas, so this wasn't outstanding on
Celebrity's part. Typical, but nothing that stood out. We didn't
have a problem getting a lounge chair, unless you wanted a primo area.
Since it was an older crowd, most passengers weren't sun worshippers,
so finding a lounge chair in the sun wasn't an issue. The public
bathrooms were lovely and always fresh smelling, with glass vases
filled with water and fresh rose petals. In addition to regular paper
towels in the bathrooms, small, rolled up, terry cloth "wash
clothes" were also offered. Pool towels were plentiful. Attendants
were constantly bringing out lots of fresh towels, which were rolled up
and placed in areas around the pool. Rolling them was a nice touch. It
amazed me, though, that some people would grab 6-8 towels at a time.
This seemed very wasteful and created a lot of work on the part of the
staff to keep replenishing them...but replenish they did. Towels were
never lacking.

Carnival Liberty "A": While not as subtly decorated as the
Infinity, I really did like the décor of the Liberty. It wasn't as
"over-the-top" as some of Joe Farcus' other Carnival creations.
It was a little "out there" in places, but overall I thought the
ship was lovely. I didn't expect it to look like the Infinity, and
probably would have been disappointed if it had. I've come to expect
"different" with Carnival, and this delivered that, but was a
little easier on the eyes than some of Carnival's other ships. It had
a definite Mediterranean look to it and overall I found the ship to be
very attractive.

Of course, the chair hogs abounded, which I've come to expect on a
Carnival ship. The first sunny day was almost impossible to find a
lounge chair. My sister and I scoured the entire ship, top to bottom,
near and far from the pools, and couldn't even find a place to put a
lounge chair. We finally gave up. The next couple of days we were in
port, so with most people getting off the ship (we didn't), chairs
weren't as much of a problem. However, the last sea day everybody
came out of the woodwork. I do not believe in leaving towels on chairs
to save them, unless you are stepping away for a few minutes. We went
to breakfast and afterward by 9:15 there was not a lounge chair to be
found near any of the pools. My sister and BIL had their 5-year-old
twins with them, so finding a chair near the aft pool was important to
them so it was easier to keep a watch on them. Oh, which brings me to
another point. Why, oh why, do people ignore the signs that request no
diapered children to be in the pools? At one point I counted 6 children
in the aft pool in either swim diapers, regular diapers, or no diapers
at all (these children were all under the age of 2, so I am assuming
none were toilet trained). We did take a peek at the Children's Pool
area up by Camp Carnival, and while the Camp Counselors were wonderful
and very attentive to the children (my sister used the Camp sparingly,
but was impressed), the pool was downright disgusting. I wouldn't
allow an animal to get into that pool. The water was murky and cloudy,
and the pool walls were filthy. There was one child splashing around in
there, and I had to bite my tongue not to ask the mother what in the
world was she thinking allowing her child in that water.

Anyway, back to the chair hogs. When we arrived at the aft pool on our
last morning approx. 9:15 a.m., almost every chair had a towel on it.
Mind you, there were only about 6 people actually at the pool, but
flip-flops, books, beach bags, towels, all left behind on chairs to
save them. We didn't touch them and found a place a little further
from the pool, but still in view of the kids who were delighted with
the aft pool. Well, one hour later, nobody showed up. Two hours later,
still nobody showed up. After 3 hours, we asksed two security guards
what was the deal with people leaving stuff on chairs just to save
them. They said they weren't supposed to do it. My sister asked if he
would remove some of the stuff that had been left on a row of
approximately 10 lounge chairs for over 3 hours, and he said he
couldn't. Huh? If he couldn't, who could? He said we could! Okay,
so we did, but only because we got tired of seeing people trying to
find a spot in the sun only to be forced to go elsewhere because chairs
were being saved. So after that, whenever somebody came looking for a
chair and had a disappointed look on their face that there weren't
any, we told them these chairs have been vacant all day and they should
feel free to move the stuff to another chair so they could use it.
Finally, around 1 p.m., some of the chair hogs showed up and were
furious that their stuff had all been piled onto one chair. Hello!!!
Their stuff had been left there untouched for almost 4 hours and they
were po'd that they had been moved? They didn't have much of an
argument so they left in a huff.

FOOD:

Celebrity Infinity "A" - There pretty much wasn't anything I
didn't like all week. The pasta station became my favorite place
(open until 1 a.m.). My husband said the pizza was great. The breakfast
buffet was outstanding and I became addicted to the freshly made
waffles with whipped cream and blueberries. The fresh fruit on the
buffet abounded, as did the smoked salmon. We were going to do lunch in
the dining room at least once, but found the food on the buffet so much
to our liking that we never made it there. The dining room was elegant
and comfortable, and we had perhaps the best waiter in all our years of
cruising. Her name is "Carla from Portugal" and she was
outstanding. Personable and knowledgeable. She went over every dish on
the menu and how it was made and gave her recommendation. She asked if
we had any objection to her selecting our dessert each evening, and
then bringing one of each of the other desserts for the table to share.
That was fine by us and she was right on the money with her
recommendations. The room service menu was the most extensive I've
ever seen, and since we had a Concierge Class cabin, the room service
menu for breakfast was outstanding. We ordered a full breakfast almost
every morning and ate it on our balcony. I'm not quite sure how they
were able to keep the fried eggs warm and the toasted English muffin
crisp, but they did. And the coffee was steaming hot. It was really
nice having such an extensive breakfast room service menu and we made
full use of it. There were yogurt parfaits and eggs made any way you
want (egg beaters, egg whites,any type omelets), lots of different
breakfast meats, etc.

We had reservations at the Supper Club one evening, and although I
thought the food was very good and the service top notch (ever hear of
a thing called the "Royal Drop"?), some in our group had a hard
time picking something they thought they might like. The food was a
little out of the norm, and people who aren't as adventurous might
find it a bit intimidating. I had grilled lamb chops that were probably
the best I've ever tasted. And the goat cheese soufflé is not to be
missed. I'm glad we did it, but I probably wouldn't be inspired to
do it again.

A really nice touch is that the buffet area has different seating
areas, each one slightly different in décor but all equally
comfortable. And there was outside dining as well. All trays were made
up with linen place mats and carried to your table by a waiter. While
eating breakfast in the buffet, servers come around and ask if you
would like juice or coffee, etc. A nice touch.

On a few afternoons, the "sorbet parade" begins. Waiters dressed in
white jackets parade down the Lido stairs carrying trays of tropical
sorbets and hand them out. Again, a nice touch.

Carnival Liberty "D" - I have been a fan of Carnival for some
years now. In the past, I've considered their food to be among the
best. Probably almost equal to Princess and far better than Royal
Caribbean. This was the worst food I've had on any cruise on any
line. First of all, the lines at the buffets were ridiculous. We tried
to go on "off times" to beat the crowds, but forget it. I waited
for the grill line to go down so I could get a hot dog one day from 12
noon until 2:45 and the line was still at least 25-30 people long.
After the first day attempting the buffet, we gave up and had all our
meals (except for the occasional snack) in the dining rooms. The
service was inept and at times downright surly. No bread kept on the
table at dinner time. Okay, I can live with that, so long as they offer
it to you. I can't tell you how many times we had to ask for bread.
And it was next to impossible to get them to pour water at breakfast or
lunch. We always got it without asking at dinner, but never at
breakfast or lunch. And if one person asked, one person got it. They
never asked anybody else at the table if they would like some. Same
thing with the Danish and croissants in the morning. I can't tell you
how many times my sister had to ask if they had any. The last morning
my Mom was told they had no bananas and they were out of Fruit Loops
for the kids. Not a big deal, but just something that I thought was odd
to run out of bananas. Oh, and the popcorn machines at the pool. They
charge $1/bag. It's a bargain for that price, but why charge at all?
Are they really making that much money at a buck a bag? Anyway, by the
5th day, they said they ran out of butter for the popcorn so they
couldn't make any more. Okay, I'll have it without butter. Nope,
they couldn't do that either. We've come to notice that breakfast
on the last morning is usually met with unsmiling faces by overworked
waiters who are just looking to get this gang off the ship. Carnival
held true to this. They were actually cranky. Now I have to preface
this by saying we are not demanding people when it comes to service on
a cruise. We are happy to be fortunate enough to take these kinds of
vacations, so it takes somebody being really rude for me to get upset.
The point is, if I am treating a staff member with respect and
courtesy, I expect at least the same in return. I'm not saying they
have to go over the top, but just simple courtesy would be nice. A
"good morning" in return would be nice. Anyway, it would be an
understatement to say how thoroughly disappointed I was with the food
and service on this ship. Now there were a few exceptions here and
there, but overall, the ship gets very low marks from me in this area.

CABIN:

Celebrity Infinity "A" - Very nice Concierge Class cabin. 191 sq.
ft. and the balcony was 41 sq. ft. The balcony seemed smaller than the
dimensions, but it worked fine for having breakfast. I liked that it
had a regular height table and two padded chairs so you could eat
breakfast out there, which we did on a regular basis. The room was
nicely appointed and kept spotlessly clean. We asked the cabin steward
to unlock the mini-bar, which he did. I asked for extra pillows (made
my selection from the pillow menu) and these were brought in promptly.
There were fresh flowers in the cabin and a long stem rose in the
bathroom, which was changed mid-week. Fresh fruit was delivered daily
to the cabin. A bottle of champagne awaits your arrival in Concierge
Class cabins. Every day the linens in the bathroom are switched with
alternating colors: one day pink, the next day mint green. The
bathroom, while on the small side, was more than adequate. It had
plenty of storage space and the shower was probably the largest
standard shower we've ever had on a ship. There were two dryers; one
mounted to the wall and one hand-held, both very powerful. Excellent
water pressure and always hot water. Hors doerves were served to our
cabin every day around 4 p.m. We were on Deck 9, which has a very large
overhang, and at first I didn't think I'd like that. But actually,
it turned out to be very nice and I would probably request the same
floor again. We didn't mind the overhang and it was a good location.
The bed, while a little hard, had comfortable linens that made up for
it. There was a comfortable sofa and small table in the sitting area.
There was personalized stationery. A leather keyholder. A leather
writing pad. There were bathrobes, binoculars, a golf umbrella and
several other amenities in the cabin for your use. One nice touch is a
very large tote bag that Celebrity leaves for you at the end of the
cruise. There is a smaller, less sturdy one in the cabin when you
arrive that is good for the beach. But the other one, delivered I
believe on our last night, was great for storing last minute items and
clothes after your luggage is put out the night before the end of the
cruise. All in all, no complaints at all with this cabin.

Carnival Liberty "A" - Carnival shines in this respect. Their
standard balcony cabins are spacious and well appointed. There is a
mini-bar, which your waiter will empty upon request. I had no problem
getting extra pillows. The new bedding is fabulous. Of course, the ship
is new, so one would expect the cabin to be in good shape and it was.
However, upon entering the cabin for the first time, the smell of stale
cigarette smoke was overwhelming. When I saw our cabin steward, I
mentioned it to him and he said he had been trying to get rid of the
odor for several hours. He said he would once again try to do it (they
use some sort of machine that looks like a vacuum cleaner in reverse).
After that next attempt, it got better, but never improved completely.
I prefer the sliding glass doors leading to the balcony on Celebrity,
but the window and glass door on Carnival is just fine. The bathroom,
again, is on the small side, but the shower area is very spacious and
the storage space more than adequate. Plenty of closet space and lots
of hangers.

SERVICE:

Celebrity Infinity "A+" - Okay, here is where Celebrity shines.
When they say they will treat you famously, they aren't lying. The
service was outstanding. Everybody smiling, happy, eager to please.
It's one thing to see happy staff members attending to passengers,
but it's quite another to see happy staff members interacting with
each other. These were among the happiest cruise staffers I've seen
on any ship. They truly seemed to be enjoying their jobs.

The Captain, at age 38, is probably the most handsome and definitely
the youngest Master at Sea. He is Greek and has the best personality of
any Captain I've ever come across. His announcements, while few, were
always littered with funny statements, such as "the weather today
is...well, let me look out my left window...yes, it's sunny. My right
window looks sunny, too. Ladies and gentleman, the weather today will
be sunny." Also, when announcing the depth of the water in which we
were currently sailing, after announcing it to be a depth of 18,000
feet, he announced, "no diving, please." The entire staff seemed to
eminent the same light-hearted, but professional attitude handed down
from Captain Demetrios (sp?).

I could go on and on about the wonderful service, but it would just be
redundant. Suffice it to say it was the best service we've ever
experienced in 18 cruises.

Carnival Liberty "D" - Terrible service. Sometimes inept,
sometimes downright rude and surly. I won't go into every little
detail, but it was the little things that added up to a week of dealing
with some very overworked and understaffed crew. The maitre de in the
Golden Olympian Dining Room was difficult to understand and got quite
indignant with me one time when I asked him to repeat what he had said.


DEMOGRAPHICS:

Celebrity Infinity - I won't give this a grade, because this is
quite subjective. Just suffice it to say that the clientele on
Celebrity had much better manners than those we encountered on
Carnival. Celebrity cruisers were nicely attired any time of the day
and/or night. They were polite. They spoke using correct grammar. They
held doors. They weren't running up and down the halls and yelling
and cursing at 3 a.m. They didn't speak to their significant
other/wife/husband/child in a derogatory manner. They didn't sport
lots of tattoos. They didn't show up to the dining room in jeans and
cut-offs, low-risers with thongs showing, baseball caps worn backwards
throughout dinner, etc. However, on Carnival they did. Enough said.

MISC:

Some things to note. I never noticed how much public announcements can
be a nuisance, until I boarded Carnival. They were almost non-existent
on Celebrity, but continuous on Celebrity. While I appreciate John
Heald's talents as a Cruise Director, I don't appreciate listening
to him hawk the "two for one" special on ladies rings and the
$49.95 special on men's watches during dinner. The dining room on
Celebrity played soothing music; Carnival's dining room was like
sound on steroids. Loud and frenetic. The cigarette smoke in the casino
on Carnival was untolerable. I'm a former smoker and I can tolerate
being around smoke to a degree, but this was unbelievable. One night,
just walking through the casino to get to the elevator, our clothes
wreaked of cigarette smoke. I tried to play the slots one night, but
had to leave because the smoke was choking.

Another nice Celebrity touch is that upon reboarding the ship after
spending time in port, there are attendants handing out cold towels to
the passengers to cool off with after a hot day. I liked that the
bottom level where passengers debarked the ship for a port was nicely
appointed with floral arrangements and made to look in order with the
rest of the ship, rather than a "basement" type look most ships
have.

I won't go into such things as weather and ports. I'm sure I've
left some things out, so if one would like to ask any questions, please
feel free. I tried to be as objective as possible. One thing I would
like to point out is that any vacation is fun for us. But having done a
B2B, the differences between these two cruises were very apparent. We
had a great time on Carnival because we were with family, in spite of
what the ship was lacking. And we're experienced enough with cruising
now to know what we like. Did we pay more for the Celebrity cruise? You
betcha. But as my mother always says, "you get what you pay for."
It's taken me 50 years, but I'm finally getting it.

Wow... if I had said even half the things you did, they'd be jumping all
over me.

Celebrity food "A". Carnival food "D".
Celebrity Service "A+". Carnival Service "D".
Issues with demographics on Carnival... cursing, degrading... (where have I
heard that before???)

Yikes.

Seems you differ a bit from the MOAGCr's who keep insisting Celebrity food
isn't as good as Carnival food.

And... you missed the Celebrity of 10 years ago when they had the REALLY
good food. Like palm heart salad, etc. Celebrity food today is a shell of
what it used to be before Royal Caribbean bought them and the bean counters
cut the food budgets.

Though perhaps in fairness... people who like Carnival food may be more of
the meat and potatoes gang, and not as interested in the more gourmet type
things like goat cheese soufflés on Celebrity.

PS... If anyone wants the goat cheese soufflé recipe, I have it and can post
it. It came out of one of the old Captain's Club magazines, so it's the
exact recipe. I've made it a few times and it's easy to make at home...
though a bit time consuming - it's baked twice, but can be refrigerated
between bakings.

--Tom

wrote in message
ups.com...
Below is my attempt at a comparison between our recent B2B cruises. I
will warn you in advance, it is lengthy.

Background: Myself 50 years old, husband 46. Experienced cruisers on
various lines (Carnival x 8, Royal Caribbean x 3, NCL x 1, Princess x 3
and first time on Celebrity).

We boarded the Celebrity Infinity with a group of friends on February
5, after spending a few precruise days in Ft. Lauderdale (stayed at our
favorite hotel, Marriott Marina, which will be no longer after Feb. 24
as it's been sold to a Private Equity firm and will be converted to a
high end yacht center). We originally were booked on just the Celebrity
Infinity, but when my parents and sister and BIL and their kids booked
the Liberty on Feb. 12, our plans worked out beautifully to debark the
Infinity and join them on the Liberty. We met up with some friends for
the Sunset Special Dinner (i.e., Early Bird) at 15th Street Fisheries
the night before sailing. It's a great bargain for a 5 course meal
for $18.95 pp.

EMBARKATION:

Celebrity Infinity "A+" - As we had never sailed Celebrity
before, we had no idea what to expect. It was perhaps the easiest
embarkation we've ever experienced. We had filled out our preboarding
paperwork online. Marriott shuttled us over to the terminal (literally
across the street) at 10:15 a.m. We entered the terminal, chatted for
about 10 minutes with a few friends from previous group cruises, and
then were called to board. The process took approximately 5 minutes at
the desk. We were on the ship in no time, greeted by white gloved
attendants and handed a glass of champagne. Since we were so early,
they apologized that they could not escort us to our cabin as it
wasn't ready yet, but that was fine. We went to our cabin, dropped
our bags off, and wandered around the ship exploring.

Carnival Liberty "C" - Lines, lines, lines....that was the theme
of this ship. When we arrived at the port, it was wrapped around the
building and moving very slow. And did I mention it was about 45
degrees in Ft. Lauderdale that morning? People were freezing standing
outside in line. We arrived around 11:45, thinking that the crowds
would have died down by noon time. Wrong! Then I remembered my sister
was eligible for the Skipper's Club since they had booked a suite and
we were able to move into that line which moved just as slowly, but
wasn't nearly as long. I'd say we stood in line for approx. 1 hour
before we boarded. It probably wouldn't have been so bad if it
wasn't time spent outside in the cold, windy weather. Of course, I
knew Carnival doesn't greet you when you board. You are handed a map
of the ship and again, we were told our cabins weren't yet ready
(surprisingly, since it was almost 1 p.m. by now). But no big deal, we
went to our cabins and dropped off our stuff. Met our cabin stewards
who were a bit unsettled that we arrived before the cabins were
completely finished, but we told them we understood, and we'd be out
of their way momentarily. We really just wanted to drop off our bags.
We met up with my parents and began exploring the ship.

SHIP DÉCOR:

Celebrity Infinity "A+": Loved the décor of this ship. Elegant and
soothing come to mind when describing it. The lobby area lacks the
"ahhhh" of the atriums of Carnival that rise approximately 7
stories high, but was so tastefully done that it makes up for the fact
that it doesn't have that "wow" factor of a Carnival atrium. An
elegant two story grand staircase in white marble-like stone with two
story pillars of billowy ivory drapes is reminiscent of old time ocean
liners. Lots of artwork all over the ship, some very quirky and some
very stately. Fresh floral arrangements would have been nicer, but the
silk arrangements were nice just the same. Lots of glass and woodtones
dominate the ship. The lounges were also very elegant. We especially
liked the Martini and Champagne Bars. Lots of choices for martinis! The
Goose Kiss martini got my nod! The Constellation Lounge was lovely and
that's where Celebrity held the Super Bowl party (which took place
the day we boarded, and being huge football fans, we weren't about to
miss it). They had a large projection screen set up near the stage, and
a few more flat screen TV's scattered around the lounge. We found an
area to our liking and soon we had a large crowd of friends who joined
us. Efficient bar service and a "football buffet" was set up in the
room (hoagies, hamburgers, hot dogs, salads, nachos, a carving station,
etc.) And in the middle was an ice sculpture of a football with
"Super Bowl XL" carved into it. The pool areas were okay, with the
exception of the Aqua Spa area, which was absolutely stunning. We
didn't spend much time at the Aqua Spa because with the solarium
roof, we found it got too warm in there. But we did try out the
Thalossotherapy pool (very relaxing) and they have lovely wooden and
padded chairs around the area. Some nice areas off to the sides of the
Aqua Spa pool with padded loungers with excellent views of the ocean.
The Aqua Spa also had healthy food fare offered that was very tasty. I
was a bit underimpressed with the actual Lido pool areas. I think
Princess has the prettiest pool areas, so this wasn't outstanding on
Celebrity's part. Typical, but nothing that stood out. We didn't
have a problem getting a lounge chair, unless you wanted a primo area.
Since it was an older crowd, most passengers weren't sun worshippers,
so finding a lounge chair in the sun wasn't an issue. The public
bathrooms were lovely and always fresh smelling, with glass vases
filled with water and fresh rose petals. In addition to regular paper
towels in the bathrooms, small, rolled up, terry cloth "wash
clothes" were also offered. Pool towels were plentiful. Attendants
were constantly bringing out lots of fresh towels, which were rolled up
and placed in areas around the pool. Rolling them was a nice touch. It
amazed me, though, that some people would grab 6-8 towels at a time.
This seemed very wasteful and created a lot of work on the part of the
staff to keep replenishing them...but replenish they did. Towels were
never lacking.

Carnival Liberty "A": While not as subtly decorated as the
Infinity, I really did like the décor of the Liberty. It wasn't as
"over-the-top" as some of Joe Farcus' other Carnival creations.
It was a little "out there" in places, but overall I thought the
ship was lovely. I didn't expect it to look like the Infinity, and
probably would have been disappointed if it had. I've come to expect
"different" with Carnival, and this delivered that, but was a
little easier on the eyes than some of Carnival's other ships. It had
a definite Mediterranean look to it and overall I found the ship to be
very attractive.

Of course, the chair hogs abounded, which I've come to expect on a
Carnival ship. The first sunny day was almost impossible to find a
lounge chair. My sister and I scoured the entire ship, top to bottom,
near and far from the pools, and couldn't even find a place to put a
lounge chair. We finally gave up. The next couple of days we were in
port, so with most people getting off the ship (we didn't), chairs
weren't as much of a problem. However, the last sea day everybody
came out of the woodwork. I do not believe in leaving towels on chairs
to save them, unless you are stepping away for a few minutes. We went
to breakfast and afterward by 9:15 there was not a lounge chair to be
found near any of the pools. My sister and BIL had their 5-year-old
twins with them, so finding a chair near the aft pool was important to
them so it was easier to keep a watch on them. Oh, which brings me to
another point. Why, oh why, do people ignore the signs that request no
diapered children to be in the pools? At one point I counted 6 children
in the aft pool in either swim diapers, regular diapers, or no diapers
at all (these children were all under the age of 2, so I am assuming
none were toilet trained). We did take a peek at the Children's Pool
area up by Camp Carnival, and while the Camp Counselors were wonderful
and very attentive to the children (my sister used the Camp sparingly,
but was impressed), the pool was downright disgusting. I wouldn't
allow an animal to get into that pool. The water was murky and cloudy,
and the pool walls were filthy. There was one child splashing around in
there, and I had to bite my tongue not to ask the mother what in the
world was she thinking allowing her child in that water.

Anyway, back to the chair hogs. When we arrived at the aft pool on our
last morning approx. 9:15 a.m., almost every chair had a towel on it.
Mind you, there were only about 6 people actually at the pool, but
flip-flops, books, beach bags, towels, all left behind on chairs to
save them. We didn't touch them and found a place a little further
from the pool, but still in view of the kids who were delighted with
the aft pool. Well, one hour later, nobody showed up. Two hours later,
still nobody showed up. After 3 hours, we asksed two security guards
what was the deal with people leaving stuff on chairs just to save
them. They said they weren't supposed to do it. My sister asked if he
would remove some of the stuff that had been left on a row of
approximately 10 lounge chairs for over 3 hours, and he said he
couldn't. Huh? If he couldn't, who could? He said we could! Okay,
so we did, but only because we got tired of seeing people trying to
find a spot in the sun only to be forced to go elsewhere because chairs
were being saved. So after that, whenever somebody came looking for a
chair and had a disappointed look on their face that there weren't
any, we told them these chairs have been vacant all day and they should
feel free to move the stuff to another chair so they could use it.
Finally, around 1 p.m., some of the chair hogs showed up and were
furious that their stuff had all been piled onto one chair. Hello!!!
Their stuff had been left there untouched for almost 4 hours and they
were po'd that they had been moved? They didn't have much of an
argument so they left in a huff.

FOOD:

Celebrity Infinity "A" - There pretty much wasn't anything I
didn't like all week. The pasta station became my favorite place
(open until 1 a.m.). My husband said the pizza was great. The breakfast
buffet was outstanding and I became addicted to the freshly made
waffles with whipped cream and blueberries. The fresh fruit on the
buffet abounded, as did the smoked salmon. We were going to do lunch in
the dining room at least once, but found the food on the buffet so much
to our liking that we never made it there. The dining room was elegant
and comfortable, and we had perhaps the best waiter in all our years of
cruising. Her name is "Carla from Portugal" and she was
outstanding. Personable and knowledgeable. She went over every dish on
the menu and how it was made and gave her recommendation. She asked if
we had any objection to her selecting our dessert each evening, and
then bringing one of each of the other desserts for the table to share.
That was fine by us and she was right on the money with her
recommendations. The room service menu was the most extensive I've
ever seen, and since we had a Concierge Class cabin, the room service
menu for breakfast was outstanding. We ordered a full breakfast almost
every morning and ate it on our balcony. I'm not quite sure how they
were able to keep the fried eggs warm and the toasted English muffin
crisp, but they did. And the coffee was steaming hot. It was really
nice having such an extensive breakfast room service menu and we made
full use of it. There were yogurt parfaits and eggs made any way you
want (egg beaters, egg whites,any type omelets), lots of different
breakfast meats, etc.

We had reservations at the Supper Club one evening, and although I
thought the food was very good and the service top notch (ever hear of
a thing called the "Royal Drop"?), some in our group had a hard
time picking something they thought they might like. The food was a
little out of the norm, and people who aren't as adventurous might
find it a bit intimidating. I had grilled lamb chops that were probably
the best I've ever tasted. And the goat cheese soufflé is not to be
missed. I'm glad we did it, but I probably wouldn't be inspired to
do it again.

A really nice touch is that the buffet area has different seating
areas, each one slightly different in décor but all equally
comfortable. And there was outside dining as well. All trays were made
up with linen place mats and carried to your table by a waiter. While
eating breakfast in the buffet, servers come around and ask if you
would like juice or coffee, etc. A nice touch.

On a few afternoons, the "sorbet parade" begins. Waiters dressed in
white jackets parade down the Lido stairs carrying trays of tropical
sorbets and hand them out. Again, a nice touch.

Carnival Liberty "D" - I have been a fan of Carnival for some
years now. In the past, I've considered their food to be among the
best. Probably almost equal to Princess and far better than Royal
Caribbean. This was the worst food I've had on any cruise on any
line. First of all, the lines at the buffets were ridiculous. We tried
to go on "off times" to beat the crowds, but forget it. I waited
for the grill line to go down so I could get a hot dog one day from 12
noon until 2:45 and the line was still at least 25-30 people long.
After the first day attempting the buffet, we gave up and had all our
meals (except for the occasional snack) in the dining rooms. The
service was inept and at times downright surly. No bread kept on the
table at dinner time. Okay, I can live with that, so long as they offer
it to you. I can't tell you how many times we had to ask for bread.
And it was next to impossible to get them to pour water at breakfast or
lunch. We always got it without asking at dinner, but never at
breakfast or lunch. And if one person asked, one person got it. They
never asked anybody else at the table if they would like some. Same
thing with the Danish and croissants in the morning. I can't tell you
how many times my sister had to ask if they had any. The last morning
my Mom was told they had no bananas and they were out of Fruit Loops
for the kids. Not a big deal, but just something that I thought was odd
to run out of bananas. Oh, and the popcorn machines at the pool. They
charge $1/bag. It's a bargain for that price, but why charge at all?
Are they really making that much money at a buck a bag? Anyway, by the
5th day, they said they ran out of butter for the popcorn so they
couldn't make any more. Okay, I'll have it without butter. Nope,
they couldn't do that either. We've come to notice that breakfast
on the last morning is usually met with unsmiling faces by overworked
waiters who are just looking to get this gang off the ship. Carnival
held true to this. They were actually cranky. Now I have to preface
this by saying we are not demanding people when it comes to service on
a cruise. We are happy to be fortunate enough to take these kinds of
vacations, so it takes somebody being really rude for me to get upset.
The point is, if I am treating a staff member with respect and
courtesy, I expect at least the same in return. I'm not saying they
have to go over the top, but just simple courtesy would be nice. A
"good morning" in return would be nice. Anyway, it would be an
understatement to say how thoroughly disappointed I was with the food
and service on this ship. Now there were a few exceptions here and
there, but overall, the ship gets very low marks from me in this area.

CABIN:

Celebrity Infinity "A" - Very nice Concierge Class cabin. 191 sq.
ft. and the balcony was 41 sq. ft. The balcony seemed smaller than the
dimensions, but it worked fine for having breakfast. I liked that it
had a regular height table and two padded chairs so you could eat
breakfast out there, which we did on a regular basis. The room was
nicely appointed and kept spotlessly clean. We asked the cabin steward
to unlock the mini-bar, which he did. I asked for extra pillows (made
my selection from the pillow menu) and these were brought in promptly.
There were fresh flowers in the cabin and a long stem rose in the
bathroom, which was changed mid-week. Fresh fruit was delivered daily
to the cabin. A bottle of champagne awaits your arrival in Concierge
Class cabins. Every day the linens in the bathroom are switched with
alternating colors: one day pink, the next day mint green. The
bathroom, while on the small side, was more than adequate. It had
plenty of storage space and the shower was probably the largest
standard shower we've ever had on a ship. There were two dryers; one
mounted to the wall and one hand-held, both very powerful. Excellent
water pressure and always hot water. Hors doerves were served to our
cabin every day around 4 p.m. We were on Deck 9, which has a very large
overhang, and at first I didn't think I'd like that. But actually,
it turned out to be very nice and I would probably request the same
floor again. We didn't mind the overhang and it was a good location.
The bed, while a little hard, had comfortable linens that made up for
it. There was a comfortable sofa and small table in the sitting area.
There was personalized stationery. A leather keyholder. A leather
writing pad. There were bathrobes, binoculars, a golf umbrella and
several other amenities in the cabin for your use. One nice touch is a
very large tote bag that Celebrity leaves for you at the end of the
cruise. There is a smaller, less sturdy one in the cabin when you
arrive that is good for the beach. But the other one, delivered I
believe on our last night, was great for storing last minute items and
clothes after your luggage is put out the night before the end of the
cruise. All in all, no complaints at all with this cabin.

Carnival Liberty "A" - Carnival shines in this respect. Their
standard balcony cabins are spacious and well appointed. There is a
mini-bar, which your waiter will empty upon request. I had no problem
getting extra pillows. The new bedding is fabulous. Of course, the ship
is new, so one would expect the cabin to be in good shape and it was.
However, upon entering the cabin for the first time, the smell of stale
cigarette smoke was overwhelming. When I saw our cabin steward, I
mentioned it to him and he said he had been trying to get rid of the
odor for several hours. He said he would once again try to do it (they
use some sort of machine that looks like a vacuum cleaner in reverse).
After that next attempt, it got better, but never improved completely.
I prefer the sliding glass doors leading to the balcony on Celebrity,
but the window and glass door on Carnival is just fine. The bathroom,
again, is on the small side, but the shower area is very spacious and
the storage space more than adequate. Plenty of closet space and lots
of hangers.

SERVICE:

Celebrity Infinity "A+" - Okay, here is where Celebrity shines.
When they say they will treat you famously, they aren't lying. The
service was outstanding. Everybody smiling, happy, eager to please.
It's one thing to see happy staff members attending to passengers,
but it's quite another to see happy staff members interacting with
each other. These were among the happiest cruise staffers I've seen
on any ship. They truly seemed to be enjoying their jobs.

The Captain, at age 38, is probably the most handsome and definitely
the youngest Master at Sea. He is Greek and has the best personality of
any Captain I've ever come across. His announcements, while few, were
always littered with funny statements, such as "the weather today
is...well, let me look out my left window...yes, it's sunny. My right
window looks sunny, too. Ladies and gentleman, the weather today will
be sunny." Also, when announcing the depth of the water in which we
were currently sailing, after announcing it to be a depth of 18,000
feet, he announced, "no diving, please." The entire staff seemed to
eminent the same light-hearted, but professional attitude handed down
from Captain Demetrios (sp?).

I could go on and on about the wonderful service, but it would just be
redundant. Suffice it to say it was the best service we've ever
experienced in 18 cruises.

Carnival Liberty "D" - Terrible service. Sometimes inept,
sometimes downright rude and surly. I won't go into every little
detail, but it was the little things that added up to a week of dealing
with some very overworked and understaffed crew. The maitre de in the
Golden Olympian Dining Room was difficult to understand and got quite
indignant with me one time when I asked him to repeat what he had said.


DEMOGRAPHICS:

Celebrity Infinity - I won't give this a grade, because this is
quite subjective. Just suffice it to say that the clientele on
Celebrity had much better manners than those we encountered on
Carnival. Celebrity cruisers were nicely attired any time of the day
and/or night. They were polite. They spoke using correct grammar. They
held doors. They weren't running up and down the halls and yelling
and cursing at 3 a.m. They didn't speak to their significant
other/wife/husband/child in a derogatory manner. They didn't sport
lots of tattoos. They didn't show up to the dining room in jeans and
cut-offs, low-risers with thongs showing, baseball caps worn backwards
throughout dinner, etc. However, on Carnival they did. Enough said.

MISC:

Some things to note. I never noticed how much public announcements can
be a nuisance, until I boarded Carnival. They were almost non-existent
on Celebrity, but continuous on Celebrity. While I appreciate John
Heald's talents as a Cruise Director, I don't appreciate listening
to him hawk the "two for one" special on ladies rings and the
$49.95 special on men's watches during dinner. The dining room on
Celebrity played soothing music; Carnival's dining room was like
sound on steroids. Loud and frenetic. The cigarette smoke in the casino
on Carnival was untolerable. I'm a former smoker and I can tolerate
being around smoke to a degree, but this was unbelievable. One night,
just walking through the casino to get to the elevator, our clothes
wreaked of cigarette smoke. I tried to play the slots one night, but
had to leave because the smoke was choking.

Another nice Celebrity touch is that upon reboarding the ship after
spending time in port, there are attendants handing out cold towels to
the passengers to cool off with after a hot day. I liked that the
bottom level where passengers debarked the ship for a port was nicely
appointed with floral arrangements and made to look in order with the
rest of the ship, rather than a "basement" type look most ships
have.

I won't go into such things as weather and ports. I'm sure I've
left some things out, so if one would like to ask any questions, please
feel free. I tried to be as objective as possible. One thing I would
like to point out is that any vacation is fun for us. But having done a
B2B, the differences between these two cruises were very apparent. We
had a great time on Carnival because we were with family, in spite of
what the ship was lacking. And we're experienced enough with cruising
now to know what we like. Did we pay more for the Celebrity cruise? You
betcha. But as my mother always says, "you get what you pay for."
It's taken me 50 years, but I'm finally getting it.

wrote in message
ups.com...
We had a great time on Carnival because we were with family, in spite of
what the ship was lacking. And we're experienced enough with cruising
now to know what we like. Did we pay more for the Celebrity cruise? You
betcha. But as my mother always says, "you get what you pay for."
It's taken me 50 years, but I'm finally getting it.



I very much enjoyed this "dual" review. Thanks for sharing. It really
shows the blaring differences between Celebrity and Carnival.

I've had some really great cruises on Carnival (all Spirit Class), but also
some very bad experiences. The worst was on CARNIVAL CONQUEST, a sister
ship to the CARNIVAL LIBERTY. I will NEVER sail on this class of ship again
if I can help it. It was almost like being on a completely different line
when compared to Carnival's Spirit Class ships. Everything you experienced
(lines, rude people, chair hogs, drunks, more lines, dirty pools, shouting
down corridors, more lines, etc.) I experienced as well. It almost turned
me off to Carnival for good but then I sailed on CARNIVAL SPIRIT and it was
just fantastic.

I've also sailed on INFINITY to Hawaii and it was a superb experience. I
can't say enough positive things about the ship or Celebrity Cruises.

Ernie

"E.k.R." wrote in message
...
wrote in message
ups.com...
We had a great time on Carnival because we were with family, in spite of
what the ship was lacking. And we're experienced enough with cruising
now to know what we like. Did we pay more for the Celebrity cruise? You
betcha. But as my mother always says, "you get what you pay for."
It's taken me 50 years, but I'm finally getting it.



I very much enjoyed this "dual" review. Thanks for sharing. It really
shows the blaring differences between Celebrity and Carnival.

I've had some really great cruises on Carnival (all Spirit Class), but
also some very bad experiences. The worst was on CARNIVAL CONQUEST, a
sister ship to the CARNIVAL LIBERTY. I will NEVER sail on this class of
ship again if I can help it. It was almost like being on a completely
different line when compared to Carnival's Spirit Class ships.

Why such a major difference between Spirit Class and the other classes of
ships?

--Tom

Caribbean Queen, what a terrific review format. That took a lot of work--but
it your side-by-side comparison is very enlightening and particularly
helpful to prospective cruisers of either ship.

"Tom K" asked:
Why such a major difference between Spirit Class and the other classes of
ships?

I want to know the answer to this question, too.

It seems most people are very careful to qualify their good time on Carnival
by saying, "It was a Spirit class ship." We sailed on the Miracle--a Spirit
class--and, in fact, had a top notch experience. The food was exceptional,
and not just the meat and potatoes. That was our one and only Carnival
experience, but because it was so good, we've been thinking we'll take the
Conquest some time soon because it's now a "drive-to" ship for us. Now, with
both CQ & Ernie coming down so hard on Liberty & Conquest, I'm thinking WHOA
put the brakes on that idea.

Diana Ball
near Houston, TX

I agree with your review on the Liberty, for the exception of the
food. We found the food in the dining room to be good, but the buffets
weren't as good as we have had on past Carnival cruises. Surfer was on
the Liberty the same time we were, and I think she will agree with your
review as well.
The service was terrible, not only in the dining room but on the Lido
aft as well. Our room steward was good, but a lot of our group (50)
really complained about theirs. I feel that the automatic tipping has
something to do with the service problem. Although we've been on the
Glory and Valor and the service was excellent.
I definitely agree with you about the children in the aft pools and
hot tubs. The parents are to blame for this problem as there are big
signs that say "Adults Only", funny thing is: most of this generation
can't read and have absolutely no consideration of others. Linda

"Tom K" wrote

Though perhaps in fairness... people who like Carnival food may be more of
the meat and potatoes gang, and not as interested in the more gourmet type
things like goat cheese soufflés on Celebrity.

Yes, I can see where it would take a sophisticated gourmet to appreciate a
steak that is so tough that it can't be cut with a knife. A certain
sophistication is required to fully appreciate the gastronomical delight in
a bowl of glop that is passed off as French Onion Soup. A poor Country
Goober like me doesn't have the necessary gustatory skills to appreciate the
subtle nuances of Rice Krispy Treats covered with glorified Chocolate Cool
Whip. I'm not going to get overly enthused about a kitchen that can make
Goat Cheese Soufflé in a restaurant that charges $30 pp... but can't
prepare a simple steak for the Hoi Polloi eating in the main dining room.

For the most part, I thought the food on the Infinity was very good but some
things were just not good at all. The quality was uneven.... prime rib one
night was very tough yet on another night, it was very tender.... but as I
wrote, there were some very, very good dishes during the week.

Other things I liked.... fresh berries on the breakfast buffet. Very nice.
The meat at the lunch carving stations was all good, whether it was turkey,
roast beef, pork or ham. It was odd that the turkey on the lunch buffet was
MUCH better (tender and moist) than the turkey served in the dining room. I
like the way Celebrity has servers on the buffets dishing out the food
rather than letting every passenger handle the serving equipment. Pasta
dishes in the dining room were very good. It got so that a friend and I
would order a pasta dish and split it with our dinners. I liked that bread
baskets were placed on the table and refilled as necessary and that the
butter was not the pre-wrapped pats. One day on the lunch buffet they had
some of the best brownies that I have ever had on a cruise ship. I liked
their home made ice cream and even better, there was no charge for this.

Things I didn't like... The Spa dishes tried to be too cute without being
flavorful. Artistic presentations don't mean much when the food doesn't
taste very good. Chicken breast was prepared with different marinades or
spices every day... but if it is overcooked and dry, all the dressing or
marinades in the world aren't going to help. One of the only chilled soups
that I like is chilled cucumber soup and the stuff they served at the Spa
was similar to their onion soup... an amorphous mass of glop with little
flavor. The coffee on this ship was in my opinion, truly bad. I am not a
coffee snob by any means and you won't catch me paying $3 to $5 at Starbucks
for some Jamocha Frappachino Cinnamon Latte.... but sheesh, a simple cup of
coffee shouldn't be difficult. It got so that I took to drinking iced tea
most of the time instead.

I really do not like that Celebrity does not have a casual dining buffet.
They do have a "dining alternative" which is still waiter service in the
buffet area and you have to make reservations to dine there. FWIW, I think
that most people would be served there even without reservations but the
nights I went up to take a look, the place was almost empty. Ironically,
Royal Caribbean ships have one of the better dinner buffets.

As usual, YMMV.

--
George Leppla http://www.countryside-travel.com

Cruise Specials BLOG http://www.countryside-travel.com/3834677_6105.htm
May 20, 2006, Caribbean Princess - http://cruisemaster.com/caribprin.htm
October 29, 2006 - SLEAZY 4! http://cruisemaster.com/sleazy4.htm

wrote in message
ups.com...
Below is my attempt at a comparison between our recent B2B cruises. I
will warn you in advance, it is lengthy.

YIKES! Jo-Ann, if anyone else but you had written this, I would have thought
it to be a gross exaggeration!
It seems consistant with other Liberty reports...I thought that Len C. might
just have been a bit unhappy with his on her because it was a 5 dayer....But
no one seems to have very nice things to say about her that I can remember.
Sorry you had such a bad time...maybe you should have gone on her before the
Infinity and the shock would not have been so drastic! Too bad the ship had
to be a lovelier one of Farcus' designs...(that sounds impossible for
Farcus!) The rest seems like a cruise from Hades!
I hope that you put your comment card power to use!

--Jean

I agree with every thing you posted about carnival liberty,and i even
add the dancing,and singing of the waiters,and other help would be nice
for once or even twicw,but every night! Always done just after
ordering dessert,and by the time the show was done,all the pie ala mode
had melted ice cream.never saw the maitre de,and yet they left an
envelope for a tip in our cabin,and do not like having to use towels
left in cabin for the pool,other ships you can get all you need from
pool area,and we do not like the sun,and still hada hard time finding
lounge chairs in the shade on promenade deck.

(.a cruise lover.)

And I hope Carnival reads our comment cards! Linda