Attn LIBERTY & VALOR cruisers: Detailed Review of Valors Last Cruise from Puerto Rico

[Mrs.C05]

I am loving you're review! We're headed out on this itinerary next weekend. Ahhh!!! Soooo excited!

 

Man, you lucked out big time on the balcony room. I have never heard of someone be able to be moved into a new stateroom. Usually people have to deal with the noise.

[deladane]

I am loving you're review! We're headed out on this itinerary next weekend. Ahhh!!! Soooo excited!

 

Man, you lucked out big time on the balcony room. I have never heard of someone be able to be moved into a new stateroom. Usually people have to deal with the noise.

 

Oh yea, we know how lucky we were! Not only was there a balcony available, but it was in a great location. I'm not sure if I would have taken the upgrade had the available balcony been located right over the disco or somewhere else that is known to have a lot of noise. I guess that's one of the many upsides to doing so much pre-cruise research on cruise critic... I knew that the new room was in a great quiet location on the ship so we could get the silence we were lacking in our original cabin :) Have a great cruise!! I am jealous... I wish I was just a few days away from getting on a cruise too haha

[Cruisertommyboy]

We had a 4J on our 2012 Liberty cruise and never noticed more than 5 people on the "secret deck" at a time. From being on the deck and looking back into our room, we knew that people could definitely see in if curtains were open, so we made sure to close them when dressing! But, we loved having the 4J and all the light that came into the room during the daytime. It was fun to step just outside our room onto the "secret deck" for sunsets and sail aways; almost like having a balcony! I would not hesitate to book a 4J again. Our room was a handicapped room, so the bathroom was also larger. We knew when we booked that we could be "bumped" if a handicapped person needed the room, but fortunately we were allowed to keep the room.

 

Thanks for the heads up. Switched from an OS to this room. Want to try out a 4J before we go on the Vista next year, if that makes sense.

Thanks Dana for the pic the room makes DW happy and that's all that matters to me

Not intending to hijack the thread because its a great review, did anyone happen to notice that the Liberty skipped St Kitts due to high winds and went to Dominca instead

 

Tom

[deladane]

Thanks for the heads up. Switched from an OS to this room. Want to try out a 4J before we go on the Vista next year, if that makes sense.

Thanks Dana for the pic the room makes DW happy and that's all that matters to me

Not intending to hijack the thread because its a great review, did anyone happen to notice that the Liberty skipped St Kitts due to high winds and went to Dominca instead

 

Tom

 

Oh wow! That's awesome for the people on that cruise because Carnival does not usually go to Dominica so they had a rare experience to see a very unique island. I went there on my cruise on Celebrity in 2010 and it is still one of my favorite port days! I just hope the people on that cruise knew what to do there because it is like St. Lucia where you really need to take a tour or go somewhere on an excursion- there aren't any beaches or much to do close to the port area. Since it wasn't a planned stop, I am sure many people on that cruise had no idea what to do there :-/ It will be interesting to see if any of them write a review about it! They got lucky that it didn't just become another sea day because it seems like that is a more common solution for when a ship can't dock at it's scheduled location.

[mare2657]

Nice review! Thank you. I just booked us on the July 25 sailing on the Valor and have been digging here and on FB for current pics and info. Not easy to find and thankful to have found your review. Love and appreciate the pics.

We will leave from Port Canaveral and go to Nassau, St. Thomas, San Juan, and Grand Turk.

CAN'T WAIT!

...and looking forward to the rest of yourreview!

[deladane]

Nice review! Thank you. I just booked us on the July 25 sailing on the Valor and have been digging here and on FB for current pics and info. Not easy to find and thankful to have found your review. Love and appreciate the pics.

We will leave from Port Canaveral and go to Nassau, St. Thomas, San Juan, and Grand Turk.

CAN'T WAIT!

...and looking forward to the rest of yourreview!

 

Oh wow, that sounds like a great cruise! I hope you found some helpful info about San Juan and St. Thomas in addition to things about the ship itself :) I will try to post the next installment tomorrow!

[deladane]

Saturday, March 21 ~ Birthday celebration on a speed boat in St. Maarten!

 

Today was my birthday and we had a fun day planned. After we booked the cruise, I checked to see how many ships would be in each port with us each day. Most of the time we only had 0, 1, or 2 other ships with us, but today we would have 6 big ships! I could only imagine how much traffic there would be and how crowded the beaches would get!! So I knew immediately that we needed to find an alternative option. After some research, I found a speed boat tour that left from a marina located 10 minutes walking distance from the port. That meant we wouldn't need to worry about taking a taxi or sitting in traffic on the way back to the port in the afternoon. There were 2 companies offering similar tours: Mike Robinson and Bob Cass. They both left from the same marina, both cost $109 per person, lasted from 10am to 4pm, made a few snorkeling stops, and included water/soda/beer on board and lunch on a beach. They had slight differences in where they stopped to eat lunch and what order they visited the snorkel stops. The reviews were excellent for both captains, so I emailed both of them to get some more details about booking the tours. Captain Bob never replied to my email, but Captain Mike wrote back within a day, and he replied to several follow up emails to answer all of my questions. I was impressed with his help, so I decided to book with him. I also requested that we be placed on his boat for the tour, as I had read reviews that some people ended up on boats with other guides but I couldn't find any reviews specifically recommending another great guide. All of the reviews about Mike were excellent so I wanted to be sure we would have the best day possible. Mike said he would put us on his boat as long as he was working that day (he wasn't sure if our tour would fall during his vacation time). This was back in August, so we agreed to touch base again closer to the tour date. About 2 weeks before the cruise, I emailed Mike to confirm that we were all set and he replied that we were.

 

On Saturday morning, we woke up early, got ready, and headed up to the Lido buffet for a quick breakfast. You can see another ship coming into port towards the left of this photo:

 

 

We left the ship by 9am to walk over to the marina. Mike's directions were a bit vague, so we weren't totally sure about where we needed to go, but there were many security guards stationed throughout the port area and they pointed us in the right direction. It was an easy 10 minute walk along a sidewalk to reach the Chesterfield Marina, and we found Mike sitting at the bar. We checked in and paid him in cash for the tour, and he told us to wait in the shade as some people hadn't arrived yet. At 9:30, Mike came over and said that we would be on Jimmy's boat. What?!? I thought you told me we would be on your boat?!? Well apparently he didn't have space for us or something, and we ended up on Jimmy's boat with a bunch of other couples who booked with Bob's tour company. I was really disappointed about this. I know the tours are similar, but what was the point of doing my research and booking with Mike if he was going to pass me off to a different company and a different guide?? Not only that, but Mike took the people on his boat and they left the marina by 9:35am. We were left waiting on the dock until 10:15am because one couple was late. They never showed up, so we ended up with only 8 people on our boat, but we didn't get going until 10:15am so our tour was 40 minutes shorter than the tour we should have been on. We had to be back by 4pm to have time to get back to the ship before the 4:30pm all aboard time, so it's not like they could extend the tour at the end. This was quite a bummer and not the best way to start our day.

 

We decided to make the best of it and enjoy the day as much as possible. Jimmy turned out to be very nice and informative. After briefly giving us some safety info, he helped us board the boat. We were not allowed to wear shoes/flip flops on board, but he did have a safe dry place to store our bags for the day. Our boat held up to 12 people, so we had a little extra space with only 8 people on the tour. Jimmy warned us that the ride is bumpier but drier in the front of the boat, versus a smoother ride with more splashing in the back of the boat. J and I ended up sitting in the front on top of the cooler (it was stocked with water, Coke, Diet Coke, Heineken, and Coors Light), and while it was a bit rocky and jumpy at spots, I never felt like I would be thrown from my seat into the water.

 

 

Looking back towards the cruise port as we left the marina...

 

 

Once we left the marina, we sped through the water for about 20 minutes to Simpson Bay to see all the huge yachts. Jimmy took us under a bridge and into the bay and told us to grab a few drinks as it would be calm cruising for the next few minutes.

 

 

[deladane]

At some point, we crossed over from the Dutch to the French side of the island. Jimmy said we would spend the rest of the day on the French side because the waters were calmer here. From there, we sped along the coast for another 30 minutes or so, passing all the places we would return to later in the day, to get to our furthest point: Tintamarre island. This was probably the bumpiest portion of the ride, so I'm happy to report that I did not get bounced off the boat! When we approached Tintamarre, it looked like a secret tropical oasis in the sea.

 

 

Looking back towards St. Maarten:

 

Jimmy handed out snorkel masks, fins, pool noodles, and life vests to anyone who needed it. He also had a little spray bottle filled with Johnson's Baby Shampoo and water. He told us to spray the goggles and to rinse them off in the ocean, and that would prevent the goggles from fogging up. Wow did this stuff ever work like a charm! I don't know how I never knew to do that before, but I am definitely packing a spray bottle with that mixture on future cruises because it made such a huge difference! We spent about 40 minutes snorkeling here. The highlight of this location is there are a few sea turtles hidden in the grass. Unlike in Barbados where we had a ton of tourists kicking us in the face as we tried to swim with the turtles, there were only a handful of people with us in the water at Tintamarre and we could take our time and leisurely swim with the turtles without feeling crowded. I spent a solid 5 minutes completely alone swimming with one turtle off to the side of the island... it was so relaxing and intimate.

 

Ready to jump in the water!

 

Not many fish in the water here

 

Hanging out with some sea turtles!

 

[justme_85]

Thanks for the tip on the baby shampoo and water! I will be packing this for sure!!

[deladane]

Thanks for the tip on the baby shampoo and water! I will be packing this for sure!!

 

haha I guess we can both thank Jimmy for that one! The space in my 3-1-1 TSA bag is always very limited when I travel with just a carry-on bag, but I will definitely find a way to bring this spray along because it made a huge difference for the snorkel experience :)

[ohiowilly]

Sorry that you had a few snags in your speedboat tour in St. Maarten. We booked the same/similar tour with Bob Cass/Soualiga? destinations in September; he replied and confirmed my reservation almost immediately. I wonder if he may have been in the US when you contacted him. I'd think he would have had someone monitoring and responding to emails, though.

 

On our arrival on the day of our tour, Bob met us at the dock, and turned us over to his son and his son's wife-to-be for the day. It seems that Bob is moving toward semi-retirement. He had just purchased a new Scarab speedboat, with 3 x 300hp outboard engines, and his new boat was extremely fast. It sounds like our tour visited the same or similar locations as yours. The water surrounding St Maarten was the most beautiful that I've ever seen. We made 2-3 snorkeling stops, a quick shopping trip on an island on the French side of the island, and then had an excellent lunch in a French/Carribbean Beach cafe. We were able to circle the island completely on our tour; I guess that water conditions determine just how far the tours go. There had been a tropical storm hit St Maarten 6 weeks or so before our arrival, and there was quite a bit of beach erosion. We made it to Maho beach in time to see a couple of huge jets land and take off.

 

It appeared that you had better snorkeling conditions than we did; we ran into quite a few jellyfish at one of our stops, and that cut my time in the water down. I just don't like dodging the jellies! Also, we didn't get to see any sea turtles.

 

Regardless of which vendor you choose for the speedboat tour, you get to see a lot of St Maarten. Alot of people from the Valor simply took a cab to Maho Beach, and hung out at the adjacent bar/beach club. I'm glad that we chose the speedboat tour, and all things considered, it looks like you had a very nice day, too!

 

Thanks again for sharing - Our visit to St Maarten was probably my favorite day that I've spent, so far, on a cruise excursion or island visit. It's such a gorgeous place!

[deladane]

Sorry that you had a few snags in your speedboat tour in St. Maarten. We booked the same/similar tour with Bob Cass/Soualiga? destinations in September; he replied and confirmed my reservation almost immediately. I wonder if he may have been in the US when you contacted him. I'd think he would have had someone monitoring and responding to emails, though.

 

On our arrival on the day of our tour, Bob met us at the dock, and turned us over to his son and his son's wife-to-be for the day. It seems that Bob is moving toward semi-retirement. He had just purchased a new Scarab speedboat, with 3 x 300hp outboard engines, and his new boat was extremely fast. It sounds like our tour visited the same or similar locations as yours. The water surrounding St Maarten was the most beautiful that I've ever seen. We made 2-3 snorkeling stops, a quick shopping trip on an island on the French side of the island, and then had an excellent lunch in a French/Carribbean Beach cafe. We were able to circle the island completely on our tour; I guess that water conditions determine just how far the tours go. There had been a tropical storm hit St Maarten 6 weeks or so before our arrival, and there was quite a bit of beach erosion. We made it to Maho beach in time to see a couple of huge jets land and take off.

 

It appeared that you had better snorkeling conditions than we did; we ran into quite a few jellyfish at one of our stops, and that cut my time in the water down. I just don't like dodging the jellies! Also, we didn't get to see any sea turtles.

 

Regardless of which vendor you choose for the speedboat tour, you get to see a lot of St Maarten. Alot of people from the Valor simply took a cab to Maho Beach, and hung out at the adjacent bar/beach club. I'm glad that we chose the speedboat tour, and all things considered, it looks like you had a very nice day, too!

 

Thanks again for sharing - Our visit to St Maarten was probably my favorite day that I've spent, so far, on a cruise excursion or island visit. It's such a gorgeous place!

 

I will address more of the differences in the next part of my review, but there were things that Mike's tour did which I would have preferred over what we did with Jimmy on Bob's tour. I just think it was poor business practices to put us with a different company... there is no way that everyone on Mike's boat booked that tour before we did considering we booked it over 6 months in advance! And if he was already filled up for the date we booked, he should have told me that in our emails. That should not have been a surprise when we showed up that day, especially not since it meant our tour was 40 minutes shorter than the boat we were supposed to be on! Overall, yes we had a good time with Jimmy, but I can't help but think that it would have been better if it had gone according to plan and we had been on Mike's boat. More on that in the next part of my review...

[deladane]

Once we were all tired, we climbed back on the boat and sped over to Pinel Island. Jimmy anchored the boat a few feet off shore and told us we could have 20 minutes to swim ashore, use the restrooms, buy a drink, and explore the beach. There was a small trail that is supposed to have lots of wildlife, but I didn't get a chance to see it. The water here was very shallow... when I jumped off the side of the boat, I could easily stand with my feet on the sand, so we walked ashore instead of swimming hehe This beach was absolutely beautiful!! Definitely one of the prettiest beaches I have ever seen, with crystal clear water and powder soft white sand (warning: the sand further up on shore is VERY hot on your feet so stay closer to where the tides come in and out to avoid the pain! haha) I have read other reviews where people spent the whole day here and now I know why... I could definitely see spending a whole day on Pinel Island if (when) I return to St. Maarten again. I wished we could have spent more than 20 minutes here, and I know the original tour I booked with Captain Mike was scheduled to eat lunch here, so I was a little upset that we had to miss out on that opportunity because he changed our boat. Plus, the extra time Captain Mike's boat spent here would give them time to explore the wildlife trail that we did not have time to see.

 

Sorry for the blurry photo (I think there was water on the lens), but I just wanted to show how shallow the water was, even this far from shore. I am 5'2" and the water only came up to my waist.

 

 

 

 

 

[deladane]

Swimming back to the boat:

 

Once everyone was back on board, it was time for lunch. We headed back in the direction we came from until we got to Grand Case Beach. Jimmy told us we would be eating lunch near the orange umbrellas on the right side of this beach:

 

 

We had to swim ashore again, but the water here is much deeper than at Pinel Island. While lunch was included in the excursion price, it did not include drinks so Jimmy offered to carry a dry bag ashore for us with our cash or anything else we needed (I brought my suntan lotion!) Jimmy took our lunch orders: we had a choice of chicken, ribs, or fish, and either rice and beans or french fries as a side. Once we got to the beach, we found that most of the lounge chairs in our section were occupied by other people's towels. How ironic that I hadn't even thought about chair hogs on the ship all week, but I found them on our excursion. We were able to find 2 chairs that were not directly next to each other, but they were both in the shade so we took them.

 

 

 

 

Lunch was ready in 20 minutes and it was worth the wait! The fish was very fresh and delicious! I easily could have eaten a second portion haha

 

[pghsteelerfan]

I finally just got caught up with your review again and am really enjoying it as I have your others. I have to tell you, I lived in San Jose (born there) till I was 10 when my family moved to PA. We used to pick up/drop off relatives at the airport when it was still just a regional airport. Small world. I haven't been back since we moved (1970's...ok, I'm letting on my age...LOL!!!) but have heard from relatives out there that because of how much it's been built up, I would not recognize it except for our neighborhood. We were in the southern part, near Los Gatos. There was still some countryside and orchards left when we were there but know they are all gone now.

 

So glad you at least got to visit Pinel Island...we LOVE it there and also spent our whole day there on our Valor cruise in May 2013. I remembered it from our honeymoon cruise in 1992 when we did a Carnival "Pinel Island snorkel/beach break" excursion but they no longer offered it or anything like it that we could see. The first time there, there was nothing there except for the island itself, not even loungers. We put our towels in the sand but it was just so beautiful we had to get back. Even with the modern conveniences, we still thought it was just as pretty and actually liked having the modern conveniences there. There is no way DH would agree to go back for the day if we had to put our towels in the sand. :D

[deladane]

I finally just got caught up with your review again and am really enjoying it as I have your others. I have to tell you, I lived in San Jose (born there) till I was 10 when my family moved to PA. We used to pick up/drop off relatives at the airport when it was still just a regional airport. Small world. I haven't been back since we moved (1970's...ok, I'm letting on my age...LOL!!!) but have heard from relatives out there that because of how much it's been built up, I would not recognize it except for our neighborhood. We were in the southern part, near Los Gatos. There was still some countryside and orchards left when we were there but know they are all gone now.

 

So glad you at least got to visit Pinel Island...we LOVE it there and also spent our whole day there on our Valor cruise in May 2013. I remembered it from our honeymoon cruise in 1992 when we did a Carnival "Pinel Island snorkel/beach break" excursion but they no longer offered it or anything like it that we could see. The first time there, there was nothing there except for the island itself, not even loungers. We put our towels in the sand but it was just so beautiful we had to get back. Even with the modern conveniences, we still thought it was just as pretty and actually liked having the modern conveniences there. There is no way DH would agree to go back for the day if we had to put our towels in the sand. :D

 

Oh Wow!! What a small world! I can't believe that after years of chatting on Cruise Critic, it turns out that I live just a few minutes from where you grew up! I live like 10 minutes from Los Gatos haha I work in Geriatrics, and many of my patients have lived here for decades. They always talk about how different it was here when they grew up, especially in that there used to be lots of orchards filled with fruit trees. Now there are a few fruit trees in peoples backyards, but it's mostly a dense suburban neighborhood haha

 

You were one of the people I was thinking of when I said that I know of people who spent a whole day on Pinel Island :p It sounds like they really built it up since your first time there in 1992... If I'm going to spend all day somewhere, I'd better have a lounge chair to sit on! lol I just can't get comfortable when I sit on my towel on the sand... it's tolerable for an hour, but not for all day! That's interesting that Carnival used to offer a snorkel tour there... Jimmy told us there was no snorkeling around Pinel Island. I wonder if the fish have moved on to other spots, or if he just said that because we only had 20 minutes there and he didn't want us to be late getting back on the boat because if we did go snorkeling lol

[pghsteelerfan]

Oh Wow!! What a small world! I can't believe that after years of chatting on Cruise Critic, it turns out that I live just a few minutes from where you grew up! I live like 10 minutes from Los Gatos haha I work in Geriatrics, and many of my patients have lived here for decades. They always talk about how different it was here when they grew up, especially in that there used to be lots of orchards filled with fruit trees. Now there are a few fruit trees in peoples backyards, but it's mostly a dense suburban neighborhood haha

 

You were one of the people I was thinking of when I said that I know of people who spent a whole day on Pinel Island :p It sounds like they really built it up since your first time there in 1992... If I'm going to spend all day somewhere, I'd better have a lounge chair to sit on! lol I just can't get comfortable when I sit on my towel on the sand... it's tolerable for an hour, but not for all day! That's interesting that Carnival used to offer a snorkel tour there... Jimmy told us there was no snorkeling around Pinel Island. I wonder if the fish have moved on to other spots, or if he just said that because we only had 20 minutes there and he didn't want us to be late getting back on the boat because if we did go snorkeling lol

 

OMG, you do live very close to where I grew up!!! Yes, after years of chatting here on CC...definitely a small world. One of the orchards I remember well was at the end of our street where the newer (well, been there for years now) highway, 85 (Norman Y. Mineta Hwy.) now runs. We always played in that orchard and I remember the cherry trees well...we used to pick and eat them. LOL!!! I don't know if it's still there or not, but I would have gone to high school at Branham High school. I don't know if Vasona & Oak Meadow Parks (right next to each other, thinking they were right off Hwy. 17) are still there, but we spent a lot of time there as well. Also a lot of time in Santa Cruz (for the beach) or my mom's favorite, Seacliff (near Aptos). They were both so close and now it's over 3 hours to the closest beach. I was a very spoiled child. LOL!!!

 

They said there was no snorkeling in Pinel Island?!?! Two years ago we spent a couple hours snorkeling there. If your on that narrow strip of sand that juts out into the water and looking at the island, it's over to the right. There is a little snorkeling hut where they have guided tours with Isabel (I think she heads up the snorkeling there) or you can snorkel on your own. It's roped off, for safety to snorkelers, and a pretty large area that goes over and around the island to the right. It wasn't as good as Jalousie Beach in St. Lucia, but it was pretty decent or at least we thought so. In 1992 we were only there for a couple of hours but they did serve free rum punch, so that helped. :) I don't know if the trails to the top and to the other side were there then. It was still very pretty though. I didn't get many pictures from then but I scanned what I have and am trying to do a photo book with them. That was a southern Caribbean itinerary also out of San Juan. The only differences on that trip were we went to Dominica and Martinique instead of St. Lucia and St. Kitts, all others were the same. Loved it.

Edited April 15, 2015 by pghsteelerfan

[deladane]

OMG, you do live very close to where I grew up!!! Yes, after years of chatting here on CC...definitely a small world. One of the orchards I remember well was at the end of our street where the newer (well, been there for years now) highway, 85 (Norman Y. Mineta Hwy.) now runs. We always played in that orchard and I remember the cherry trees well...we used to pick and eat them. LOL!!! I don't know if it's still there or not, but I would have gone to high school at Branham High school. I don't know if Vasona & Oak Meadow Parks (right next to each other, thinking they were right off Hwy. 17) are still there, but we spent a lot of time there as well. Also a lot of time in Santa Cruz (for the beach) or my mom's favorite, Seacliff (near Aptos). They were both so close and now it's over 3 hours to the closest beach. I was a very spoiled child. LOL!!!

 

They said there was no snorkeling in Pinel Island?!?! Two years ago we spent a couple hours snorkeling there. If your on that narrow strip of sand that juts out into the water and looking at the island, it's over to the right. There is a little snorkeling hut where they have guided tours with Isabel (I think she heads up the snorkeling there) or you can snorkel on your own. It's roped off, for safety to snorkelers, and a pretty large area that goes over and around the island to the right. It wasn't as good as Jalousie Beach in St. Lucia, but it was pretty decent or at least we thought so. In 1992 we were only there for a couple of hours but they did serve free rum punch, so that helped. :) I don't know if the trails to the top and to the other side were there then. It was still very pretty though. I didn't get many pictures from then but I scanned what I have and am trying to do a photo book with them. That was a southern Caribbean itinerary also out of San Juan. The only differences on that trip were we went to Dominica and Martinique instead of St. Lucia and St. Kitts, all others were the same. Loved it.

 

Wow you really did live right near where I live now... I am about a mile north of the Camden/Branham exit for the 85. We were just in Santa Cruz this weekend- J ran the Santa Cruz Half Marathon and we spent the day at the beach/boardwalk and we went to the Mystery Spot.

 

 

That's crazy about the snorkeling at Pinel!! I feel so cheated! He specifically said to leave our snorkel stuff on the boat when we walked ashore, so now I know he only said that to keep us on schedule. Next time I am in St. Maarten, I definitely look in to spending the day there. Hopefully it maintains it's serene beauty until then haha

Edited April 15, 2015 by deladane

[deladane]

After lunch, we had a few more minutes to hang out on the beach, but I really just wanted to continue on with our day. By now, it was 2:30pm and I was getting nervous about getting back to the ship on time. After a little prompting, Jimmy came over and told us it was time to leave. We swam back out to the boat and went 2 minutes out into the water to reach Creole Rock.

 

 

Rumor had it that Creole Rock offers some of the best snorkeling in the Caribbean so I was really looking forward to our time here. Jimmy said we could have 25 minutes to snorkel here, and he showed us where the best spots were to find the fish and coral. He also warned us that there is a lot of fire coral and sea urchins, and instructed us to avoid touching it (obviously!!). I jumped in the water as soon as we were anchored and swam for a few minutes until I reached the most incredible underwater experience I have ever had! There were so many colorful fish and interesting types of coral, and I felt so lucky to be able to see it all first-hand.

 

 

 

 

 

Poor attempt at a selfie with the coral in the background

[deladane]

Our 25 minutes ended far too quickly, but by now it was after 3pm and we still had a long way to travel. I am fairly sure Jimmy was driving much faster on this leg than he had earlier in the day, but at 3:30pm, we arrived on the shores of Maho Beach. I spent some time here in 2012 to watch the jumbo jets landing at the airport. Unfortunately, those planes only arrive in the morning and early afternoon, so we missed all the action. At this time, there were just a few smaller planes landing and it wasn't nearly as exciting as the last time I was there.

 

 

 

We only stayed for about 10 minutes, and then we had to get on our way back to the marina. I know this photo is a little blurry, but I just wanted to share it because this was another speed boat traveling back to the marina alongside our boat (and you can also see one of the cruise ships behind it leaving port).

 

 

 

We arrived back at the marina promptly at 4pm. We gathered our belongings, tipped Jimmy and thanked him for a (mostly) wonderful day, quickly used the restrooms, and went to the little store at the marina for some free ice cream! They had those little paper cups of ice cream that you get as a kid with the wood "spoons" and we could choose between vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, pistachio, and rum raisin. I had the pistachio and J had the rum raisin. We enjoyed our refreshing treat on the walk back to the ship. We got back by 4:20pm, so we didn't have a chance to do any shopping at the port (we knew that we would be back close to all aboard time so we hadn't planned to shop there anyway).

 

Looking back, we had a fantastic time on this excursion. It was a bit rocky in the beginning, and I am still disappointed in how Mike switched our boats because I really would have loved to eat lunch on Pinel Island, and I think the day would have been more relaxed if we were on the boat that started at 9:30am instead of 10:15am, but Jimmy was great and the beauty of the island speaks for itself.

 

 

[deladane]

Once back onboard at 4:30, we ran up to Lido for a snack since we were still hungry after the ice cream and didn't want to wait until dinner. When we got there, they were cleaning up from the chocolate buffet. I had assumed this would be long over by the time we got back to the ship, and I hadn't planned on participating, so I was thrilled to see they were still serving stuff. When we got to the end of the line, there was a crew member holding a sign saying the buffet was closed. What?!? But there is still cake there and I wanted a piece!! I asked if we could quickly get some food, and she said no. I then resorted to begging, and pulled the "it's my birthday" card! I figured I had nothing to lose and I really wanted that chocolate cake! There were other people next to me who also wanted some of the chocolately yumminess, so the crew member gave in and let us take a plate. There weren't many options left and they were literally clearing the cakes away as we walked down the buffet, but at least we got a few little things to try. I didn't take any photos because it was all so hectic and rushed, but they had a few types of chocolate cake, chocolate cookies, and some fruit to dip in the chocolate fountain. Pure chocolate heaven! It's the little things in life! haha

 

We took our plates to go and headed up to our balcony to watch one last sail away. At 5pm, they announced 3 names over the pager system... it looked like we would have a few pier runners coming our way! It was exciting but nerve-wracking at the same time, not knowing if these 3 people would get back to the ship or how long the Captain was willing to wait for them. There were golf carts running up and down the pier and soon enough, we saw all 3 people come back to the ship. Everyone was cheering and clapping as they walked up the gangway! In the end, they were only 10 minutes late, but they were lucky that the ship waited for them because I have read stories of people getting left behind in similar situations.

 

The last few people going up the gangway before all aboard time:

 

Here are the guys on the bridge trying to see if those pier runners are on their way:

 

With everyone back on board, we could finally set sail!

 

 

After sail away, we got showered and ready for dinner. It was finally time to break out that fancy champagne J bought at the San Juan pier duty free shop!!

 

 

The steward brought us champagne flutes earlier in the day, so we poured two glasses and took the bottle with us down to the dining room to enjoy over dinner. There was only about a 5 minute wait to be seated at dinner tonight. I'm not sure if the hostess didn't see the bottle, or didn't care because it was already opened, but we did not get charged a corking fee. Once again, we arrived as the waiters were doing their little show. A word of advice: try to avoid getting to the dining room at 7:15pm if you can because that's when they do their shows and the waiters aren't available to take your orders or serve your food. It's not a huge deal since the show only takes 10 minutes or so, but when you are hungry and rushing to make it to the theater for a show, it's annoying to have to sit through the waiters dancing. I think another issue is that the anytime dining people are seated on the lower level of the MDR and there is a glass partition that blocks our view from the show so we can't see what's happening. I have always had a good view of the waiters dancing on other cruises, so I guess it never bothered me before, but this time it just seemed annoying. At least we had a wonderful bottle of champagne to enjoy while we waited!

 

[pghsteelerfan]

Wow you really did live right near where I live now... I am about a mile north of the Camden/Branham exit for the 85. We were just in Santa Cruz this weekend- J ran the Santa Cruz Half Marathon and we spent the day at the beach/boardwalk and we went to the Mystery Spot.

 

 

That's crazy about the snorkeling at Pinel!! I feel so cheated! He specifically said to leave our snorkel stuff on the boat when we walked ashore, so now I know he only said that to keep us on schedule. Next time I am in St. Maarten, I definitely look in to spending the day there. Hopefully it maintains it's serene beauty until then haha

 

That is VERY close. We lived on Joseph Lane, which runs between Kooser Road and Rebel Way. I've only seen pictures, but I think 85 runs right behind Rebel Way. I do remember being up in the area where you're living (friends, parents' friends, some shopping). There was a creek behind the one friend's house we used to play in - I think Ross Creek. Thanks for attaching the picture of you guys at Santa Cruz. :) We did get there a few times but we mainly went to Seacliff, but only on days the fog lifted. LOL!!!

 

Snorkeling on Pinel - you were cheated! :D But the snorkeling looked great at the spot you got to. Just too bad you didn't have much time there. Getting back to Pinel is a great excuse to book another cruise. I'm always looking for excuses and am currently in the process of arm twisting my DH to book another southern out of San Juan on Liberty.

[deladane]

That is VERY close. We lived on Joseph Lane, which runs between Kooser Road and Rebel Way. I've only seen pictures, but I think 85 runs right behind Rebel Way. I do remember being up in the area where you're living (friends, parents' friends, some shopping). There was a creek behind the one friend's house we used to play in - I think Ross Creek. Thanks for attaching the picture of you guys at Santa Cruz. :) We did get there a few times but we mainly went to Seacliff, but only on days the fog lifted. LOL!!!

 

Snorkeling on Pinel - you were cheated! :D But the snorkeling looked great at the spot you got to. Just too bad you didn't have much time there. Getting back to Pinel is a great excuse to book another cruise. I'm always looking for excuses and am currently in the process of arm twisting my DH to book another southern out of San Juan on Liberty.

 

Wow, it's definitely a small world!

 

Unfortunately, I don't think we have time for another cruise before the Liberty leaves San Juan... J runs several marathons per year, so we have small windows when we can travel between when he needs to train for his races. We have several small weekend trips planned throughout the rest of the year, but another cruise will have to wait til later in 2016. I hope you are able to convince DH to take that cruise on the Liberty soon before she changes homeports again in March!!

[deladane]

Sorry to put these out of order, but I just remembered that I had a few videos from the speedboat tour! The first one is from snorkeling at Creole Rock:

 

[YOUTUBE]PwkKV02bK-g[/YOUTUBE]

 

and the second video is from the bumpy ride back to the marina at the end of the day. I was trying to capture how fast we were moving and how the boat kept slapping against the waves, but it's hard to show that on video ;)

 

[YOUTUBE]eMXU3L0-3jA[/YOUTUBE]

[deladane]

Dinner was tasty as always. I had the fettuccine with mushroom sauce and chicken as an appetizer, and the sweet potato and cheddar cheese soup, followed by the prime rib for an entree, and one last warm chocolate melting cake for dessert.

 

 

 

 

 

While we were eating dessert, the waiter came over and started chatting with us. I had a feeling I knew what was coming. Sure enough, a few minutes later, 2 other waiters joined him with a piece of pie with a candle in it and they sang happy birthday to me! This was my first time celebrating a birthday on a cruise ship, so it was a fun way to end the meal.

 

 

After dinner, we tried going to guest services to settle our bill, but the line was realllllly long. Instead, we went to the Carnival Legends show in the theater with plans to go to guest services after the show. The Legends show is like karaoke on steroids. They hold auditions for the show throughout the week at karaoke each night, and assign 10 passengers one of the song to perform. The passengers were dressed in costume and had back up dancers for their performances. They had someone dressed as Britney Spears, Elvis, Gloria Estefan, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, and a few others. All of the passengers were terrific and I give them a lot of credit for getting up on stage in front of hundreds of fellow passengers! My only issue with it was that it seemed like Carnival cheaped out by enlisting the passengers as free entertainment instead of hiring a professional to perform like on my prior cruises.

 

When the show ended, we tried to go to guest services again, but the line was still super long. We found one of the self-service kiosks to check our accounts but it didn't work. We decided to wait it out until the morning, and just head back to the cabin to pack. One of the many benefits of traveling with only carry-on bags is that we didn't have to put our suitcases outside the cabin tonight, so we could pack a little now, and finish the rest in the morning.

 

It's always a little bittersweet to see this towel "animal" on our bed at the end of the cruise...