Disappointing Cruise

I was excited and looking forward to this cruise because of the itinerary. I had been to all the islands with the exception of St. Lucia and St Kitts and I ended up being disappointed.

Our experience at the beach in St. Lucia was the worst I have experienced in all my years of cruising. The rental for the chair and the umbrella was doubled to $20 a pair. We know this because even though I gave the man who came to collect the money a $20 bill he gave me back change of $10. When I asked if I could use balance to pay for the other party, he said yes and left with the money. 15 minutes later, another man came over, confronted us and demanded that we pay another $20. When we balked, he demanded the rentals back until we paid the extra $20. Soon after that, my teenage godson went to use the bathroom and was told that he had to pay a Government fee of $2 to use the bathroom. When his mother went to inquire about the fee and whether she would be furnished a receipt for the payment, the beach staff got irate and cursed her out. She was called an unsavory name and told to go back where she came from. I guess that was hospitality St. Lucia style! We left the beach with a sour taste in our mouths and vowed not to spend another dime in that country.

Now to the cruise ship itself. Contrary to what was advertised, the Teenage group on the ship did not have any organized activities which was a big disappointment to my godson who was on his first cruise. They entertained themselves by hanging around in clusters and chatting. The entertainment for the adults was just okay, not wow. Most of the music at the adult club on board was geared towards the latino/latina cruisers which left those of us who enjoy other types of music in the lurch.

We had 2 cabin attendants, one male attendant in the morning and one female at night. The one in the morning did not clean the bathroom well.

Finally, the Carnival Liberty's new procedure of having cruisers queue at 6 am on the day of disembarkation to collect their liquor purchased in the Duty Free shops on both the ship and the islands is very inconvenient. For those of us who were flying out of Puerto Rico and whose luggage had already been picked up the night before, we had to carry the liquor off the ship and pack them in our luggage at either outside the port or at the airport. There has to be a better way than that.