CruiseXLife Takes Liberty- Maiden San Juan to Southern Caribbean Photo Review

*Grabs mic* HELLLLOOOOOO CRUISSSEEEEEE CRRRIIITTTTICCCCC :D

Many of you may remember me from my Carnival Glory Photo Review from my Thanksgiving adventure. The link is in my signature for anyone who wants to read it while they wait for this review, or just need to take a mental vacation.

I have returned from my beautiful cruise on the Carnival Liberty on the famed Southern Route from San Juan, and I must say, this was my favorite cruise to date :D While, I will address all of the fun activities, breathtaking sights, and astounding service we received on this cruise, it will not be a "hey guys here are my pics from the beach in Sint Maarten the cruise was great I love Carnival everyone go". I will be just at detailed with the negatives as I will be with the positives.

I need to go sort out some pictures, but here is a picture I took in Barbados to not only test uploading, but to hold you guys over!

In the meantime, feel free to ask me any questions that you would like me to answer in this review! Any questions, just cannot speak for Saint Kitts, as we missed it (I'll explain later). :p

Looking forward to more. Leaving on Liberty May 3rd. :)

Looking forward to more. Leaving on Liberty May 3rd. :)

You're going to have the time of your life :D:D

I'll add a little background before I really start.

Hello, my name is Anthony. This was my 8th cruise, 7th on Carnival, giving me 46 nights onboard a Carnival ship. I am loyal to Carnival, except for the one time that I cheated and went on Royal :D I would like to give Royal another shot, but Carnival is my go-to cruise line. I took this cruise with my mother. Yes, I have gone with friends, but I will say, I enjoy going with mom a lot more. We have a lot of fun together, and this cruise was no different.

Why I Chose This Cruise: Well, I've always said to mom "hey, I wonder what the cruise from San Juan is like". Well, she took a hint, so when the Valor and Liberty switched places, the prices were super low (ie $550 for an interior per person, holiday week), so she put the deposit down and got a room. Next, she headed over to Southwest and booked direct flights to SJU from BWI. All of this was given to me at Christmas, as a surprise. Everyone knew her plan except for me :D She knew I had a very tough year with work and losing my best friend (4-legs), so this was a great surprise. So, while I didn't really "chose" it, I have had my eye on it for long. I liked the port-intensity, as sea days aren't my favorite. I liked the 7AM-5PM stops. And so did mom apparently :D

Pre-Cruise: Since we had just been to Puerto Rico in November and had done a land trip before, she got flights the day of. After checking for more flights, as I didn't like the idea of getting in at 6PM, It was an extra $300 per person to go the day before, plus a hotel!? You're crazy. So while I didn't really like our flights, we went with it. We packed during the day. We both decided to utilize Southwest privileges and take 2 bags each. Also, I made sure I was right at my computer to check in 24 hours in advance so we could get better seat. B8 and B9, and if you fly Southwest, you know that's not too shabby. We had both run out of food in our houses, so we spent our Saturday night at Noodles and Company and looking at flowers to buy for our houses once we came back. I did my pre-vacation ritual, where the night before a trip, I watch Youtube videos of past vacations to get myself hyped up. I went to bed, dreaming of the adventure waiting for me In the next week!

Next: San Juan

I woke up and rushed to grab the last two bananas and a toaster waffle that I had saved for breakfast! IT'S CRUISE DAY!!! The day before, I had swung by my Mom's to get her bags in my house so I could load them all before we left. My neighbor always drives us, as it is just the two of us, and it saves in parking. I loaded his car and we drove to my mother's and picked her up. Next stop: Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport!

We checked our bags in and got our boarding passes. Southwest is always quick with this, it took about 10 minutes to get in and get out. Security, not so much.

We were early, about 11:45. Boarding started around 12:45. We picked up some Chinese and enjoyed our lunch together. Let me just talk about BWI for a second. In my honest opinion, it should be called Baltimore-Annapolis International Airport! Unless people are driving up from DC for Southwest or Spirit (They do have Southwest at Dulles and Reagan), the people are coming from Maryland. BWI had grown so much, and now has a lot of domestic and international service, due to Southwest's commitment to the airport. We even have British Airways and Condor Airlines now too! However, It's nice being able to hop on a plane for as low as $73 each way for the weekend, or for a trip like this, direct, from home. We know many do not have this luxury, and we use the airport as much as we can.

Carrying on, we boarded our plane. We were in Row 18 because I really wanted a window seat. Here was my view for 3.5 hours.

We took off on time. Our plane was equipped with Wifi, which meant Southwest Live TV. There are about 40 channels were you can watch live television from your seat. It was a nice feature, but I only used it for one episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. I liked the map feature on it, so that's what I used, if I wasn't sleeping. :D

Calm, cloudy skies on the way to PR. The wifi cut out about an hour until we landed, but the map channel still worked.

Land-Ho!

More Pictures coming soon! :D

Thinking of booking this cruise for June.

Thx for taking the time to post!:)

Looking forward to your review, thank you.

Subscribed. Going in February

We're taking our daughter for her college graduation on this cruise at the end of May. Can't wait! Its our second time on this itinerary. Love it! Looking forward to the rest of your review. Thanks for taking the time to share with all of us.

You're going to have the time of your life :D:D

Just wondering if we are getting switched from St. Kitts to Antiqua or Dominica...:eek: Been on Liberty twice already so we know we will like the ship.

Can't wait for your report. I will be on Liberty in August, and I'm very excited. This will be my first time on her as well as my first time doing this itinerary.

Just wondering if we are getting switched from St. Kitts to Antiqua or Dominica...:eek: Been on Liberty twice already so we know we will like the ship.

Since I was on the first cruise to miss Saint Kitts, it was a sea day....

I was very upset that they didn't take us to Dominica or Antigua, as both are close by, and I have not been to either. Lots onboard were first-time cruisers, and a good 80% of the boat had never have done this itinerary, so I really wish they would've added a port. But, safety does come first, and I would've rather Carnival be safe with us than to have something bad happen.

I hear both are amazing though! :D

Looking forward to your take on this cruise.:)

Looking forward to your review. I am going on this same cruise in August 2015. Can't wait

I also can't wait for your review! Sailing on the Liberty in Oct. This will be our second on the Liberty, first out of SJ. Plus, my BIL and SIL are joining us for their first!

Once we began flying over Old San Juan, I was able to snap a pic of Lady Liberty, my new favorite, and the Adventure of the Seas :D

The beautiful city of San Juan

We were 25 minutes early, but we had to wait about 10-15 minutes for the gate to open up. Once off the plane, we made our way to baggage claim. The airport is under construction so be aware of the strange side hallways and shady stairs, I promise you'll get to where you need to go.

Of course, my main suitcase was the last bag off of the plane, thus causing a great deal of stress. Can't really complain, I was on vacation! After we secured all four bags, we went to the Carnival Pre-Paid Transfer area.

The lady working scanned our tickets, and we waited about 15 minutes for the shuttle to come. Your bags do not go on the same shuttle as you!! They wait around at the airport for a little for more suitcases to accumulate , and are brought to the ship later in the night. We didn't realize this until after we got on the shuttle and talked to the lady sitting in the row across from us, who was smart enough to ask. If you read my Glory review, you'll read about how my mom and I completely skipped all porters on accident and walked right on the ship with our bags! We wanted to do this again, so we could unpack and settle before heading out to the ship, as it was already 5:45. Oh well.

The ride was about 15 minutes. Seeing the real city of San Juan was pretty cool. After driving along the coast and seeing all of the resorts, I know where I want to go on my next land trip!

The Adventure of the Seas docked at the main cruise port in San Juan. I am so glad that Carnival has this terminal building in Old San Juan, so convenient to all of the resorts and anyone who wants to spend the day roaming the city before departing on their cruise.

And there she is, Lady Liberty!!!!!

We got off of the shuttle and made our way to the ship. We had to go through 2 security checks before we entered the building. I captured this before we entered the building.

I really liked the design of the inside of this room. It was very cultural, and you felt a worldly atmosphere throughout. We opted not to purchase FTTF this cruise, as we were not tendering at all, plus we had a late arrival into San Juan, which meant shorter crowds. We waited about 10 minutes to get our keys.

Sorry the picture isn't great!

Mom wanted a bottle of vodka, so she bought it at the little store between the check-in counter and security. We bought it, then went through security. We boarded, and walked into what has to be the best atrium I've ever seen at sea. It competes with the Breeze. Carnival really did a great job with Liberty's interior!

We got on and headed to our room. Mom and I were in Cabin 9201, the one 4J on Deck 9 that isn't oddly shaped, quote Carnival. This room is a square. You have a lot of room by the end of the far bed and the closets, but virtually no room between the close bed and the deck, and the close bed and the bathroom. But I really enjoyed this room, my favorite to be honest!

Got a typical bench shot. Didn't turn out too well :(

Here are some shots of San Juan I got!

The sun was setting, which meant that it was time for a picture!

These pictures are great. Question I am staying at the sheraton the night before, is it a walkable distance with all your luggage? We are talking about 8 women 2 bags each of course. LOL :D

These pictures are great. Question I am staying at the sheraton the night before, is it a walkable distance with all your luggage? We are talking about 8 women 2 bags each of course. LOL :D

Yes, I think you would be able to walk that. Besides, you'll have the ship to look at the entire time as motivation. :D But by the time you think "dang I'm tired" you're going to be in the terminal.

Thanks, I was starting to question my pictures or my writing :p

CruiseCrazedQT: The Sheraton is the yellow building in the middle of this picture. Totally walkable to the ship. :)

OP: great start - looking forward to more. Love sailing out of OSJ! :)

Please do not question anything you are doing great with the pictures and I love the stories. Please continue to post I am living thru you until August 23, 2015. :D:D:D

Thanks cruisin*tigger. I thought so but wasn't sure without my glasses on. I will not forget them before I cruise thats for sure. :-)

Can't wait for the rest! We are getting ready to book this cruise for January! Thanks so much for posting and please keep it coming, loving it so far!

Oh and I know how time consuming these pictorial reviews can be so thank you, thank you, thank you for taking the time to post!

Can't wait for the rest! We are getting ready to book this cruise for January! Thanks so much for posting and please keep it coming, loving it so far!

 

 

 

Oh and I know how time consuming these pictorial reviews can be so thank you, thank you, thank you for taking the time to post!

Thank you! Yes they are time consuming, but I really enjoy writing them. It's also my way of paying this forward, you never know when I'll need a photo review!

Will post more tonight! :D