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| Carnival Liberty |
For our last trip around the Carnival Liberty, a Carnival Cruise Line ship, we’ll head directly to the main dining room for lunch. Of course, if I was on this ship for a week long cruise, I would have the opportunity to enjoy 24-hour room service, two formal restaurants (The Golden Olympian and The Silver Olympian), as well as the Deli, Grand Buffet, Mongolian Station, as well as Harry’s Supper Club, a specialty restaurant with a $30 per person surcharge.
Lunch was for our large group at the ship inspection and we were quite appreciative that the servers were making time for us in the middle of their day as they were also preparing for a brand new cruise with new guests about to board. The dining room is glitzy with lots of shiny chandeliers and bright colors.
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| Stuffed mushrooms |
Lunch started with a Caesar salad, but instead of emulsifying the anchovies into the dressing, there were bits and pieces of anchovies on top of the salad. I politely informed the server that I couldn’t eat the salad and she said she would try to get me a plain salad. The appetizer was stuffed mushrooms of the white button mushroom variety. Each tiny mushroom was filled with spinach and laid to rest in a neon orange — well, I don’t know what. I can tell you that most people I saw eating avoided this like the plague. It was reminiscent of Royal Caribbean‘s escargot appetizer that is served in a little tin plate with the escargot floating in a sea of garlic butter. I silently hoped that the main course would be better.
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| Prime Rib entree |
Choices for the main course included prime rib or fish. Since I don’t eat either, the server said she would ask in the kitchen if they could make me something different. While I waited, the other diners at my table dug right into their prime rib with gusto and seemed to really enjoy it. Served with a baked potato and a side of vegetables, this seemed to be the kind of cut of meat that appealed to most people and it was a generous serving as well.
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| Eggplant and zucchini entree |
My salad finally arrived minus any dressing and was basically a large bowl of romaine lettuce with a few seasoned croutons thrown in for good measure. I did ask for dressing, which arrived when I was done with my meal, but again, at least they did try. Halfway through everyone’s entree, my entree arrived. It was a tower of eggplant and zucchini with a ratatouille type mixture in between the layers, smothered under a blanket of cheese. Thankfully, I was able to lift the cheese off completely and move it to the side of the plate. It rested on top of plain tomato sauce and was surrounded by these odd ball shaped vegetables. I determined a few were zucchini and I think, which is never good to do someone dining on your food, the others were potato. Was it great food? No, it was good and I did appreciate that they were able to accommodate me. However, as a greater number of passengers move toward a vegan or vegetarian diet, it is surprising that Carnival Cruise Line did not have an option that didn’t include meat on their menu for us during this ship inspection.
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| Trio of Strawberries dessert |
For dessert we were treated to a trio of strawberries. Treated might be too strong a word as I think the items definitely were short on strawberry taste and high on sugar and artificial coloring. That red circle near the front of the plate is not sauce, but instead was a disk of gelatin, something no vegetarian or vegan would ever consume gelatin. I won’t go into it here, but go ahead and Google “gelatin vegetarian vegan” and read what exactly is in that stuff and you might not want to eat it either. On this dessert plate was the aforementioned gelatin disk, a piece of cake with some kind of strawberry jam glaze, and a strawberry sorbet. I thought I would try the strawberry sorbet and what a shocker. The server caught me making a face while trying it, you know the face you make when you pucker up from biting on a lemon? Yup, that one. It was a strangely overpowering sugary taste that I absolutely did not expect from what I thought tasted nothing remotely like strawberry. Artificial is the operative ingredient in this dessert so if that doesn’t bother you, eat up.
Our ship inspection was soon over and we were escorted off the ship and back to our respective coaches for our ride back to Fort Lauderdale. If you are looking for a Caribbean cruise that provides a great value, Carnival Liberty could be the cruise for you. I would recommend this cruise ship would be great for families and groups of couples or singles traveling together. With itineraries that alternate between the Eastern and Western Caribbean, Carnival Liberty departs weekly from Miami to take you off on your next great adventure.