Carnival Liberty Photos; Luxury Cruising on NCL; and a New Look for Beyondships

This week there is a new look and some new features on Beyondships. While one is mindful of the adage that “if it isn’t broke don’t fix it,” I hope these changes will make for a better experience in using the site.



First, I am shifting the list of new articles and items from the home page to a separate page. This will make the home page less crowded while at the same time making it easier for viewers to find some of the permanent items. There are also various technical advantages in doing it this way.



Second, I am adding a Beyondships Cruise FAQ section. Often when I am cruising people ask questions about the ships and the way they operate. Since the questions are often similar, it follows that they must be topics that are on a lot of people’s minds. Despite a friend’s warning that I won’t have anything to talk about at dinner if I did so, I have posted some answers to some of the questions that often come up. My intent is to keep expanding this section over time. The section index is at http://www.beyondships2.com/beyondships-cruise-faqs.html



In addition to the aforementioned changes to the site, this week Beyondships is featuring two new items. The first is a photo essay about Carnival Liberty. This essay shows the Liberty returning to her homeport of Miami just as dawn is breaking. It is at http://www.beyondships.com/CarnivalLiberty-photoessay1.html



Finally, there is a new illustrated article about luxury cruising on NCL. Most people know NCL as a mass market cruise line. However, when I have been on NCL’s more recent ships, I have been struck by the fact that there is also quite a good luxury operation going on side by side with the mass market operation. The facilities are quite lavish and the service is excellent. Heretofore, NCL has seemed almost reluctant to talk about it. However, in connection with Project Breakaway - - the two new ships NCL has on order - - the line has turned the spotlight on its ship-within-a-ship luxury operation and even given it a name - - The Haven By Norwegian. Accordingly, I have put together an article discussing NCL’s luxury operation along with some photos of the existing ships and some artist renderings that NCL has provided of the new ships. It is posted at http://www.beyondships2.com/ncl-luxury-cruising.html

Profile and Photo Tour of Carnival Liberty

With the addition of Carnival Liberty, Beyondships now has profiles of all of Carnival Cruise Lines’ ships that have grown out of the design first introduced with Carnival Destiny. This includes the Destiny, Triumph, Conquest, Splendor and Dream classes - - 10 ships in all

I did not plan for Carnival Liberty to be the last, it just worked out that way. Liberty was just the last one I encountered.

She entered service in 2005 and was the fourth of the Conquest-class. It is a good design that has worked well for Carnival and for its guests. There is a variety of public rooms and facilities, which offer guests real options on where to go and what to do.

While the general layout of the Conquest class ships is the same, they are not cookie cutters. Architect Joe Farcus always develops the interiors of the Carnival ships around a unifying idea. The idea is unique to each ship. For Carnival Liberty, he decided to pay tribute to “great artisans and their works.” This is a broad theme and so the theme is not as apparent as one walks through Liberty. However, the result is an interior that is perhaps more subtle than some of her fleetmates.

One of the things that stands out in my mind about Carnival Liberty was the friendliness of the crew. Of course, it all depends upon who you encounter as well as the circumstances but on Carnival Liberty, everyone I spoke with seemed nice and was helpful. The friendliness of the crew helps to create a ship’s personality but the ship’s personality also affects whether a crew is friendly.

Beyondships’ profile of Carnival Liberty is at: http://www.beyondships.com/CarnivalLiberty-Profile.html The multi-page photo tour and commentary begins at: http://www.beyondships.com/CarnivalLiberty-Tour-1.html