Carnival Port Canaveral — Local services in Cape Canaveral

The CARNIVAL LIBERTY is a very small ship that looks old, dated, and run down. Rust, ugly decor, and faded paint appeared to be their theme. Even the Carnival whalefin on the top desk looks more pink than red.

Poor menu options caused us to seriously struggle to find food we wanted to eat. Once we ordered the food, quality and flavors were far below our five previous experiences. We were told, "It's the post pandemic norm." No seasoning or flavors. My daughter asked why they were serving nursing home food? The cruise industry is known for 24/7 unlimited food, included in the price of your ticket. However, premiums were charged for many dining room items as well as most of the little eateries on the lido deck. The buffet was equally disappointing. Rather than 24/7 availability, breakfast was served 6-10 and lunch 12-3. The serving staff was exceptionally slow and rude.

The Liberty Rockband was the BEST part of the ship! Ashira can win AGT/IDOL! The violins closely followed. The DJ was fun. The theater show was meh- men with poor dye jobs and sloppy hair and chunky dancers with cheap (spirit halloween quality) costumes. Adam, the cruise director, is a bit too old for his role & he came across as trying to be "the cool dad" who wants to be friends with his kids' friends.

The balcony stateroom was smaller than expected and had tacky, unattractive decor. Our balcony door did not lock. The front door to the stateroom had an airvent kickplate that continuously fell off. The fridge was warm, and the usb ports didn't work to charge our phones, which was required to use the Carnival Hub app.

The casino STUNK like tobacco the entire time. Even when closed- there was poor ventilation, dirty carpets, and no air fresheners. The kids' clubs are poorly planned and placed adjacent to the casino - indicating health is/was clearly not a priority.

And very minimal shopping options: 1. Jewelry 2. Liquor, Souvenir Clothing & Sundries. 3. Candy. That's all.

The ship's staff, MINUS THE CULINARY & WAITERS, were phenomenal! Please treat them well because they only get paid $5000 (plus shared gratuities) for a 7 month contract (10-14hrs/day x 7 days/week), which IS modern-day slave labor. Shame on Carnival and the whole cruise industry!

Advice? Lower your expectations - this is not the Carnival experience from years past. It was not remotely worth the money we spent. Perhaps choose...

The boarding process was so smooth and easy. We were on board the Carnival Liberty and off on our first cruise ever! We began our cruise like everyone else EATING, we opted for Guy's burgers which we thought were fantastic. Next I tried the deli with a Philly steak and cheese sandwich while the Mrs. hit the Mongolian Wok (not so good). There was such an abundance of food and choices to pick from we never once went hungry. The shows were very entertaining and our cruise director Adam was the bomb, from his morning wake up calls to his Toodle Lou's absolutely hilarious. So much fun. We loved the sail away party and of course the 80's glow party so fun. We also hit up the piano bar every time Rodney was pounding the ivories. He was so talented and engaged the audience. We wasn't real thrilled with the comedy shows but the Liberty rock band was fantastic as was the Barcelona blues duo. Had a great visit to Nassau and an excursion on the top 10 of Nassau tour. So much information with plenty of time to soak in the history of Nassau. Our visit to Bimini was our day on the beach with the most beautiful blue waters I've ever seen!! The debarkation process back at Port Canaveral was so easy walk down the gangway, follow the prompts and smile at the camera, easy peasy and off the ship heading home!! All in all it was a fabulous first cruise and definitely will not...

Port Review: The port embarkation was fairly fast! The longest part of the process was the K9 checkpoint. They line everyone up in groups and walk the dog down the line, once cleared they let the next group in. Definitely an improvement in procedures from previous cruise experiences.

Boat Review: Carnival Liberty

Don’t book the spa massage

The spa shares the space of the boats gym, we spent our 75 minute massage listening to laughing, yelling, grunting, and talking.

The cruise was BORING. I’ve done quite a few cruises with carnival making sure to explore different boats and Liberty was by far the most boring. It is a smaller ship so there is only one theater but as mentioned in previous comments the ship is wildly outdated. They have the standard carnival events such as the 80s party, rock show, BINGO, and trivia but expect 70’s, 80’s, and early 90’s music in the club. We tried waiting for a playlist change for an hour before we decided to go to bed. In comparison to previous ships the staff on this boat felt completely impersonal. Our server at the dining seems annoyed to be there every night and we never met our room attendant. The casino smelled awful!

But in the end it’s the company you keep that makes the trip worth it! I’ll keep trying carnival cruises but definitely better boats out there...