Review: Carnival liberty – september 20, 2015 – southern itinerary out of san juan,

[pghsteelerfan]

Holly, Your pictures are amazing.... I am so jealous of the trip. I love this itinerary and Puerto Rico. Your Pics make it so real, I just love them. Loving your review again as usual. I am definitely subscribing. I just found it today and m still reading it but just couldn't wait until I caught up to the end to comment. I was really hoping to see your review. We stayed at the Isla Verde Marriott on our cruise out of San Juan in 2009 on Celebrity and I agree I do think it is a very nice place. Keep it up. Great job as usual on the review.

 

Hi Dirk! Thank you and I'm really glad you are enjoying them. I just started it yesterday and running a little late with it. I took so many pictures and had sizing issues when trying to upload to our external hard drive and that became a whole fiasco. Got that straightened out with DH's help and then typing up the review to I can easily get it posted. But, it's finally in progress. I'm so glad that you're following along again. It was your Victory review from 2010 that sold me on this itinerary and I've enjoyed your other reviews and pictures. We really do like the Courtyard and love the beach there. Thank you again. Oh, before I forget, thank you for your help when we were in the planning stages. Really, really appreciate that.

[pghsteelerfan]

I am enjoying your review! DH and I want to do this cruise in the next couple of years.

 

Thank you. I sure hope you get to. This itinerary is hands down, my favorite. It's just the most scenic.

 

I'm with KPfromCT. Nothing against a smaller ship, but for this itinerary (and this is just me), I need a balcony. Getting up early in the mornings before arriving in St. Lucia and the morning after that sailing into St. Kitts, we passed other beautiful islands. Plus being able to see them as you pass at night.

 

But which ever ship is down there, I sure hope you get to do this itinerary. Again, so happy you are enjoy and glad to have you following.

 

We do too, but not on an old ship like Fascination/Fantasy?

Hardly ANY balconies on that ship.

I still cannot wrap my head around the fact they are putting an old small ship down in San Juan.:mad::mad:

 

If the Liberty was still going to be there next summer, that would have been our itinerary. Instead, we booked the Magic from Port Canaveral. But I am ITCHING to do the San Juan itinerary. Never read a bad review.

 

I really agree with this. They were supposed to move Victory back next fall sometime but now they aren't going to. I think all of us who love this itinerary should write to Carnival. I'd love to see two ships out of San Juan, one continuing with the current itinerary and another hitting some of the other islands in the vicinity (Dominica, Antigua, St. Croix, Martinique, Grenada, and others).

 

I'm really sorry you won't be able to do this itinerary but sure hope they get another, larger ship down there soon so you can. Thank you for following along again. I think we were commenting back and forth on my Valor review. :)

[pghsteelerfan]

Great review thus far and really loving the pictures. We're doing this cruise in mid-January and I cannot wait.

 

Thank you and glad you're enjoying it. I see so many who have commented that they're doing this in January. January/February is definitely a great time to go to escape winter. I hope you enjoy your cruise.

 

Wow, another cruiser from Conshohocken?? We will be on 12/27. Look for my review!

 

You're going to do a review? That's great! :) You can count on me to follow along.

[pghsteelerfan]

The Mall of San Juan was just opened on March 26th, 2015. I completely forgot that I wanted to go check it out. It's supposed to be really gorgeous... sounds like the other one is pretty nice too! Maybe next time. :)

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mall_of_San_Juan

 

I should have told you guys about the mall since you all had extra time after the cruise. I'm not kidding, this mall is HUGE!!! Bigger than any mall I've ever been in. I haven't been to the one in MN though. Seriously, JC Penny had four levels, that we saw, and each one was the size of our WalMart, easily. You could get lost in there. I didn't realize it had just opened this year though. Next time you're in San Juan, check it out. I'd loved to have seen more but we didn't have the time. Thanks for the link.

[JKirkN]

LOL!!! You are totally cracking me up. Yes, Kendra went easy on him and I thought that was probably why, but I won't. :D I don't have close-up pictures of him. But yes, if you want to send the pictures that would be great. I have one with you in it, right after you talked to the assistant cruise director right before that fuzzy upper torso event. But I'll get in touch through a certain "social networking" site for that, pm, of course.

 

I'm really enjoying Kendra's review too - you guys got some great pictures.

 

I always thought that was still Isla Verde and thought that park was part of Isla Verde Beach. I didn't go any further than the park, so I never got to that building. I'll attach a picture I got of the building (with the zoom) from Isla Verde to see if that's the same building. That's as long as the walk to a place we always go to when at Hilton Head. It took about a half hour to get down there and a half hour back. I can't wait to see the pictures you got of that area. Would love to have seen those waves. May have some from the plane on the return trip. Got pictures of the Courtyard, but it was a good distance away since we were way out there after making that turn after takeoff.

 

 

 

Oh, that's not a building...that was just a monument or something. Some kind of art. I didn't take a picture of it since I was driving by myself... but I got a picture of Isla Verde from right around that area while I was driving by... If Kendra doesn't post it, I'll put it up here for you to see...

[SoloSailorII]

SoloSailorII...you were on our cruise, remember your name from the CC roll-call! Happy to have you following along. Oh jeez, those hectic weeks leading up...that was one heck of a roller coaster ride, wasn't it. LOL!!!

 

I'm really enjoying Valentinebaby1's review too. Have you seen her Valor review? Same itinerary. I also love their pictures.

 

 

Hi there, yeah it was her review of the Valor that convinced us to do this trip... Both of you have amazing pictures and great writing styles.

 

Fair Winds and Following Seas~~~~

[RiotAct]

Nice review! I sailed her out of Port Canaveral last year and loved it.

 

Also, where in NoVA? I'm in Manassas.

[saltybones]

Great review, love this ship!

[Crusin Karen]

Oh, that's not a building...that was just a monument or something. Some kind of art. I didn't take a picture of it since I was driving by myself... but I got a picture of Isla Verde from right around that area while I was driving by... If Kendra doesn't post it, I'll put it up here for you to see...

Where is Kendra's review? I click on the link in your signature and it takes me to your roll call thread. :confused::confused:

[JKirkN]

Where is Kendra's review? I click on the link in your signature and it takes me to your roll call thread. :confused::confused:

 

Something strange is going on with CC. The link is:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2266205

 

When I paste that into my browser, it works...but when I click on it in my signature, it takes me to the old roll call... ***????

[JKirkN]

Where is Kendra's review? I click on the link in your signature and it takes me to your roll call thread. :confused::confused:

 

I think I got it fixed now...

[DeDe63]

Thank you! Is that a Journey cruise? I was looking at one that hit a lot of the islands in this area (southern Caribbean), and I think it was on Sunshine. It was 10 days but DH would not have been able to get that off work at once. I hope you get to enjoy San Juan and you can't beat going in January. So much to see and do. :D I hope you have a wonderful cruise on Triumph and thank you for following along.

 

 

.

 

I guess ours is considered a Journey cruise - it's the second leg from Galveston to San Juan and back on the Triumph. The first leg is 11 days and our is 10. Would have loved to do all 21 days, but that won't happen anytime soon. Come on retirement!!! :p

[pghsteelerfan]

Oh, that's not a building...that was just a monument or something. Some kind of art. I didn't take a picture of it since I was driving by myself... but I got a picture of Isla Verde from right around that area while I was driving by... If Kendra doesn't post it, I'll put it up here for you to see...

 

I didn't know if it was part of a building or not. I used zoom for this and even when I walked (forgot camera & wasn't turning back at that point), I couldn't tell since I only saw the point at the top. I'd love to see the picture you got of Isla Verde. I'm sure she'll post it. Thanks!

[pghsteelerfan]

SoloSailorII...you were on our cruise, remember your name from the CC roll-call! Happy to have you following along. Oh jeez, those hectic weeks leading up...that was one heck of a roller coaster ride, wasn't it. LOL!!!

 

I'm really enjoying Valentinebaby1's review too. Have you seen her Valor review? Same itinerary. I also love their pictures.

 

 

Hi there, yeah it was her review of the Valor that convinced us to do this trip... Both of you have amazing pictures and great writing styles.

 

Fair Winds and Following Seas~~~~

 

Thank you again. Just finished getting caught up with Valentinebaby1's and now getting ready to work on mine some more. :)

[pghsteelerfan]

Nice review! I sailed her out of Port Canaveral last year and loved it.

 

Also, where in NoVA? I'm in Manassas.

 

Well hello neighbor!!! We're in Manassas Park, near the VRE station. Small world!

 

Thank you for following along and glad you're enjoying the review. This is our second time on Liberty. The first was out of Miami last April, two weeks before she started sailing out of Port Canaveral.

[pghsteelerfan]

Great review, love this ship!

 

Thank you and thank you for following along. Liberty is a great ship.

[pghsteelerfan]

Something strange is going on with CC. The link is:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2266205

 

When I paste that into my browser, it works...but when I click on it in my signature, it takes me to the old roll call... ***????

 

Technical difficulties...OK, it's not just me then. I was having issues when I started on Sunday and the quoting feature. Like you even mentioned, it works for some but not others. I guess our computer needs an apology...I was cussing it out the other day. LOL!!! :D

 

Oh, just tried the link, this one seems to be working.

Edited November 3, 2015 by pghsteelerfan

[pghsteelerfan]

I guess ours is considered a Journey cruise - it's the second leg from Galveston to San Juan and back on the Triumph. The first leg is 11 days and our is 10. Would have loved to do all 21 days, but that won't happen anytime soon. Come on retirement!!! :p

 

I was curious, so I just looked up the the itineraries for both. I just love the one you'll be doing. We've been to all the ports, except Antigua (would love to get there) and loved each one. A B2B on any of the Journey cruises would be great, so many nice stops. LOL!!! I was just very happy that we were able to go on a cruise this year.

[RiotAct]

Well hello neighbor!!! We're in Manassas Park, near the VRE station. Small world!

 

Thank you for following along and glad you're enjoying the review. This is our second time on Liberty. The first was out of Miami last April, two weeks before she started sailing out of Port Canaveral.

 

Ah cool. I live clear on the other side of town, closer to Bristow.

 

I was wondering which mall you were talking about when doing the comparison to the one in San Juan... NOT a fair comparison at all! The Manassas Mall is sad, sad, sad :D

 

One more question - is Giuseppe Giusa still the Captain on Liberty?

[pghsteelerfan]

Sunday, September 20, 2015: Day 1 – Embarkation Day!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For some reason I woke up around 2:30am, but feel back to sleep. I think I woke up again between 3:30 and 4:00am, then again at 4:50am. I have no idea why I kept waking up, but I was. At that time I kept thinking it was between 4:00 and 4:30am. I know I was excited about the cruise, but also anxious. I know to expect anything on a cruise and not to have high expectations. I was thinking about DH’s luggage and just hoping it would get to the ship before we sailed out of San Juan. Maybe I was just so tired that I couldn’t sleep. Who knows, but I’ll chalk it up for excitement and anticipation of our Liberty cruise.

As I was thinking about Liberty, I realized it was after 4:00am and the ships usually return to the pier in San Juan between 5:30 and 6:00am. So, I got up and went to the window. I could not believe my eyes…Carnival Liberty!!! Yessssssss!!!! OK, this was just so cool so be able to see her sailing in like that. I knew it was Liberty, her mostly red “whale tail”, “tail”, funnel was a dead giveaway. She was all lit up and looking so beautiful out there. She was way out there but not too far for me to see her tail.

I wanted a picture, I needed a picture. I stumbled around in the pre-dawn darkness to where my luggage was and felt around for my camera and found it. But the lens on it was the regular and I’d need as much zoom as possible for any chance at a decent picture. Felt around some more where I was keeping the camera bag and got the zoom lens, swapped the two, then went out to the balcony. When I went to get a picture, the lens was all fogged up. I had to wait a few minutes but I had plenty of time as Liberty would still be visible. She’s a cruise ship, not a speedboat. Once the lens cleared I tried getting pictures. Blurry. I tried different settings, but still blurry. I had the camera strap around my neck and braced the camera on the balcony railing, still kind of blurry. Well, they aren’t great, or even good, pictures, but they are pictures of Liberty sailing in and even though the pictures are blurry or more than double vision (I’ll call them multiple vision), they are of Liberty and her tail is still visible. I probably spent about 15 minutes out there trying then gave up and went back to bed. At the time I was thinking it was close to 4:30am, but by this time it was probably 5:00am or just past that. When I saw the date stamp when reviewing the picture the next morning, I saw that it was 4:54am when I took the pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

I woke up again at around 6:45am and noticed it was light out. I got up and went to the balcony again but had just missed sunrise but I wouldn’t have been able to see it anyway since we were facing north and the actual sunrise wouldn’t be above the water, but over land on the other side of the hotel. No biggie though since the water was so calm and really had some nice cloud reflections, so I could still get a few good pictures. Little did I know it, but in one of the pictures Liberty can still be seen out there. I didn’t noticed until after our cruise when I was going through the pictures on our computer. She looked like she was in the area of the entrance into the Harbor in San Juan (at the fort) but just waiting to get in. But again, it was early and I was sleep deprived and did not notice her out there. After getting those pictures, I went back to bed.

 

 

View from our balcony to the right (east/northeast)

 

 

 

View from our balcony looking straight ahead (north)

 

 

 

 

View from our balcony looking to the left (west/northwest). See Liberty?

 

 

[ConshyCrock]

Wow, another cruiser from Conshohocken?? We will be on 12/27. Look for my review!

 

Will do conshycruiser and you look for mine when I come back from my trip in January.

[pghsteelerfan]

Ah cool. I live clear on the other side of town, closer to Bristow.

 

I was wondering which mall you were talking about when doing the comparison to the one in San Juan... NOT a fair comparison at all! The Manassas Mall is sad, sad, sad :D

 

One more question - is Giuseppe Giusa still the Captain on Liberty?

 

The area you're in is so much nicer. My DH's sister and her hubby live in Bristow. So much over there now and convenient to Nissan Pavilion.

 

The mall comparison - yes, you got it, Manassas Mall. I think the WalMart is the biggest draw there now. It is sad. Fair Oaks is nicer but it's a pain to get there anymore.

 

We also had Giuseppe Giusa on Liberty last year and he was still the captain until just recently. The captain we had for this cruise is Andrea Catalani.

[pghsteelerfan]

If you couldn't make out Liberty in the picture in my previous post, this should help:

 

Same picture previously posted, but with an arrow pointing to Liberty

 

 

The zoomed in view of her

 

[pghsteelerfan]

At 8:00am, the alarm was going off, so we got up to start getting ready, but not before we stepped out onto the balcony for more pictures. The water was still almost like glass, reflecting the big, white, puffy clouds but this time it was several beautiful shades of blues with a touch of green in areas.

 

 

 

 

For today, we already had plans pretty much set. There was talk an informal meet and greet for the Cruise Critic roll call. That was to be after passing Fort El Morro and when we were out in open ocean after sailing out of San Juan later that night. Now remember, I wasn’t very active on that one. Some were and seemed to really connect, but since we had “that other” roll-call, I had interacted with them quite a bit and felt more connected to them. Either way, I’d make my way up to the “meeting spot” anyway. Now for “that other” roll-call, one of the members had a great idea…meet at the cruise ship pier at 11:30am on the morning of embarkation then walk on Liberty together. We all seemed to agree to that then another had a great idea…an embarkation picture of all of us together. For this to happen on our part, we’d have to be checked out of the hotel by 11:00am (hotel check out is at noon) and get a cab to hopefully be at the pier at 11:20am, taking into consideration that we’d have to unload luggage and make our way to where the line was.

 

Once we got on Liberty, which we thought might be shortly after noon, our plan was to see if our cabin was ready to drop off the carry-on luggage then head to Lido for a drink. If cabin not ready, carry-ons would come with us to Lido then check on cabin status again around 1:30pm and if ready, then back off the ship and if not, a few more minutes wouldn’t change much.

 

 

I had a full day planned in Old San Juan. I really wanted to try a Mallorca from Café Mallorca. There was also the idea tossed around with “that other” roll-call about getting right back off the ship to get Pina Coladas/other drinks at Barrachina’s before heading our separate ways to explore. If that still happened, Café Mallorca after Barrachina’s. DH and I wanted to start our “tour” at Castillo San Cristobal since we didn’t actually get inside that one the last time since most of our time was spent at Fort El Morro and dodging rain showers. We were also back on the ship, Valor then, by 4:00pm.

I wanted more time this time and since we did what DH wanted to do this time, he agreed to do what I wanted to do. After Castillo San Cristobal, we wanted to head back to Fort El Morro but hit areas we missed the last time. We never made it down to the bottom to look up and I wanted to do that. After El Morro, I wanted to head over to a restaurant called “Patio de Sam” to try Mofongo and Trifongo. Another CC reviewer who has done reviews of both Victory and Valor on this itinerary, Deladane, recommended this to me. I went back through her Valor review and saw the pictures. She said that they were very good and I wanted to try something different while we were in San Juan this time. Yes, DH and I have both been craving a “Guy Burger” since April 2014, our last time on Liberty, but we’d be having plenty of those during the week. “Patio de Sam” appears to be on the corner, or near the corner, of Calle San Sebastian and Calle del Cristo, according to “Google Maps”. This is just down from Fort El Morro. It was recommended that we allow time for dinner, since service can be slow, so we’d be watching time.

 

If time went as planned, the next step was to make our way back over toward the steps that lead down to Paseo del Morro and get down there for sunset pictures, then make our way along the walkway to Paseo de la Princesa, which would lead us right back to Liberty. By this time it would be dark enough that Liberty would be all lit up at night and an opportunity for me to attempt to get pictures of her after dark, all lit up. I wanted to do that when we were on Valor two years ago, but DH just had to eat dinner on the ship and said we could go down after dinner. Well, that never happened. By the time we finished dinner, there was only about 10 minutes left to be back on board, plus there was a heavy downpour happening. I let him know, in advance, that last time we did what HE wanted to do, so this time we do what I want to do. No argument, so that was set, we had a plan.

Edited November 3, 2015 by pghsteelerfan

[pghsteelerfan]

So back at the hotel, we’re taking turns getting ready and get down to breakfast around 9:00am. I got some pictures of the lobby area on our way to the restaurant where the hotel’s buffet breakfast was. They have a few really nice fish tanks set up between the bar and the main lobby area so I got pictures of those as well.

 

The lobby of the Courtyard

 

 

 

The fish tanks that are located in the lobby area

 

 

 

 

The bar just off the lobby of the Courtyard - love those stocked shelves

 

Edited November 3, 2015 by pghsteelerfan