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

What a fantastic review. Even though we've been on this itinerary on the Victory previously you've given me some ideas and places to go that I wouldn't have considered when we do it again on the Liberty in two weeks. Thanks for taking in the time to do this. It was a tremendous read and your pictures are wonderful.

Bravo, Holly! A big high five for you. I can't believe the review is done. I have thoroughly enjoyed it. :) Also, I reminded my DH about the coconut smoothie place and he said "why don't you just Google it?" Now why didn't I think of that? :p :cool: Anyway, when I did, I didn't see it. :( Oh well, we'll just have to have something else to drink if we find ourselves in St. Maarten. :) Maybe I'll see you on a cruise someday!

Heather

What a fantastic review. Even though we've been on this itinerary on the Victory previously you've given me some ideas and places to go that I wouldn't have considered when we do it again on the Liberty in two weeks. Thanks for taking in the time to do this. It was a tremendous read and your pictures are wonderful.

Thank you very much. I'm happy that this has been helping you with ideas and places to go on your upcoming cruise on Liberty. We also cruised on Valor, same itinerary, in 2013, not long after she took over from Victory. We could go again and still find new things to do, there is so much. Definitely our favorite itinerary and I can't wait until we get an opportunity to do it again. You certainly don't have much longer to wait until your cruise. I sure wish we were going again in two weeks. I hope you have a wonderful time and hope they weather will be as nice for you as it was for us. Thank you again.

Bravo, Holly! A big high five for you. I can't believe the review is done. I have thoroughly enjoyed it. :) Also, I reminded my DH about the coconut smoothie place and he said "why don't you just Google it?" Now why didn't I think of that? :p :cool: Anyway, when I did, I didn't see it. :( Oh well, we'll just have to have something else to drink if we find ourselves in St. Maarten. :) Maybe I'll see you on a cruise someday!

Heather

Hi Heather!

And "high five" back. Yes, I FINALLY finished. This one took me a lot longer than I thought. The two I did before only took a week. I don't know if it was because we did a lot more on this cruise than before or not. Anyway, it IS done, just in time for me to start getting busy with Christmas.

I was curious so I also googled and there are comments about it, but those were several years ago. It still could be there. There are a couple of St. Maarten sites that I follow on a certain social networking site and I posted the question asking if it was still there. There is one more I'll also be posting the question to, so hopefully we'll get an answer. I thought for sure someone else would have answered when I posted here. (???) Oh well. We'll get the answer one way or another.

I don't know if you're interested or not, but I did find a recipe... Did the stand look like a little "tiki hut" and also have coconut crafts for sale in addition to smoothies? If so, on one of those sites, others had asked for it the recipe. Someone had seen the question ahead of time and when there herself, had asked the gal at the stand who made them. The gal was happy to tell her and she posted it. I don't know if we're allowed to divulge that here on CC or not. I don't see why not. So, until I get an answer, I'll pass along that recipe:

"she told me that she took a green coconut boiled the inside for about 10-15 minutes. When she said the inside, all of the juice as well as the meat. Once you have done that, any cream of coconut is fine. However, she said she receives the best results when the Lopez brand is used. Invest in a Ninja blender, add a cup to a half cup of ice and blend away to a rich and delicious smoothie St. Marteen style"

The poster of the recipe went on to say it tasted identical. She also "experimented" by adding a little real pineapple juice to it and said that was very good.

If I get an answer, I will post on here for you.

Thank you again for following along on the review and I have really appreciated your comments and enjoying our conversations. Yes, I would love to cruise together one of these days. :)

Holly

Hi Heather!

 

And "high five" back. Yes, I FINALLY finished. This one took me a lot longer than I thought. The two I did before only took a week. I don't know if it was because we did a lot more on this cruise than before or not. Anyway, it IS done, just in time for me to start getting busy with Christmas.

 

I was curious so I also googled and there are comments about it, but those were several years ago. It still could be there. There are a couple of St. Maarten sites that I follow on a certain social networking site and I posted the question asking if it was still there. There is one more I'll also be posting the question to, so hopefully we'll get an answer. I thought for sure someone else would have answered when I posted here. (???) Oh well. We'll get the answer one way or another.

 

I don't know if you're interested or not, but I did find a recipe... Did the stand look like a little "tiki hut" and also have coconut crafts for sale in addition to smoothies? If so, on one of those sites, others had asked for it the recipe. Someone had seen the question ahead of time and when there herself, had asked the gal at the stand who made them. The gal was happy to tell her and she posted it. I don't know if we're allowed to divulge that here on CC or not. I don't see why not. So, until I get an answer, I'll pass along that recipe:

 

"she told me that she took a green coconut boiled the inside for about 10-15 minutes. When she said the inside, all of the juice as well as the meat. Once you have done that, any cream of coconut is fine. However, she said she receives the best results when the Lopez brand is used. Invest in a Ninja blender, add a cup to a half cup of ice and blend away to a rich and delicious smoothie St. Marteen style"

 

The poster of the recipe went on to say it tasted identical. She also "experimented" by adding a little real pineapple juice to it and said that was very good.

 

If I get an answer, I will post on here for you.

 

Thank you again for following along on the review and I have really appreciated your comments and enjoying our conversations. Yes, I would love to cruise together one of these days. :)

 

Holly

Hi Holly,

Yes, it did look like a tiki hut but whether there were crafts or not, I don't really remember. I didn't see that recipe but may get daring and try it one day. Would it taste the same without the view, I wonder? :D Please don't worry about getting an answer for me, it is very sweet of you to have tried already. Sadly, we have no cruises in our immediate future so I live vicariously these days through wonderful reviews like yours. :)

Heather

Hi Holly,

Yes, it did look like a tiki hut but whether there were crafts or not, I don't really remember. I didn't see that recipe but may get daring and try it one day. Would it taste the same without the view, I wonder? :D Please don't worry about getting an answer for me, it is very sweet of you to have tried already. Sadly, we have no cruises in our immediate future so I live vicariously these days through wonderful reviews like yours. :)

Heather

We normally don't cruise that often either, the past three years have been a "fluke", where we couldn't do a "beach week" with friends because of their tight schedules and my family took a break from the family vacation to do other things too. Since we had nothing planned, we have been able to cruise. But next year all of that is starting back up again, so I'll be going back and reading reviews to get my "cruise fix".

I probably wouldn't find much more information on the coconut smoothies, but if the questions I posted are answered, I'll be sure to let you know. As for how they taste without the view...I'll let you know when we try to make Bushwackers (famous drink at St. Thomas' Paradise Point)...I have the recipe for those too. :)

Last but not least, my favorite picture. This started when fellow CC member, Cruisin Karen, told me she hopes I have a "very big wall to hang those pictures" on at home. We don't have that kind of wall space, but I replied to her with "I have have one that is definitely going to get enlarged and put in a frame to hang up. It may be my "stand out" picture of this cruise. When I post it, I'm sure you'll know which one it is."

 

Because our our posts about this picture, a few of you had asked which picture it was, so here it is:

 

 

I don't know if its the colors in the picture or what, it's one of my favorites.

 

BRAVA Holly! I had a "ship happens" kind of week, so have just caught up on the last few pages of your review and was SO SURPRISED to see this picture because I KNEW this was THE ONE! I just KNEW IT the minute you posted it!!! It is BREATHTAKING!

Thank you for taking us along on a beautiful journey. My bucket list is to cruise with you, your DH, Jamman and his DW Patti some day. I think we would have the trip of a lifetime together! HAPPY HOLIDAYS and hope the laundry is done. We have free wash and dry being platinum (smack me now lol) and it makes a BIG DIFFERENCE! Good luck in all your ventures!

Last but not least, my favorite picture. This started when fellow CC member, Cruisin Karen, told me she hopes I have a "very big wall to hang those pictures" on at home. We don't have that kind of wall space, but I replied to her with "I have have one that is definitely going to get enlarged and put in a frame to hang up. It may be my "stand out" picture of this cruise. When I post it, I'm sure you'll know which one it is."

 

Because our our posts about this picture, a few of you had asked which picture it was, so here it is:

 

 

I don't know if its the colors in the picture or what, it's one of my favorites.

 

BRAVA Holly! I had a "ship happens" kind of week, so have just caught up on the last few pages of your review and was SO SURPRISED to see this picture because I KNEW this was THE ONE! I just KNEW IT the minute you posted it!!! It is BREATHTAKING!

Thank you for taking us along on a beautiful journey. My bucket list is to cruise with you, your DH, Jamman and his DW Patti some day. I think we would have the trip of a lifetime together! HAPPY HOLIDAYS and hope the laundry is done. We have free wash and dry being platinum (smack me now lol) and it makes a BIG DIFFERENCE! Good luck in all your ventures!

 

Hi Karen!

 

Ship happens, I use that one. :D I just KNEW you'd know which one it was. :) I'm still shocked that this is a picture that I took! I knew the smart phone got decent pictures since I've gotten some good ones of our cats. With the cats, they don't see it as a camera and don't shy away from it, they're curious and stick around and those pictures come out great. This cruise I just had it with me and took a few to text to family/friends. When I saw how they came out once on the computer, I was really surprised. But this one just blew me away. I'll definitely be getting it enlarged and framed. With the smart phone, you just hold it up and press a button. I was not expecting the quality it has.

 

Oh, that laundry when we got back...two and a half days. Running it through the washer and dryer is no biggie, it's the folding and ironing. But the vacation laundry is done, it's just the weekly wash...never ending. LOL!!!

 

I'd love to cruise with you, Jamman54 and Patti, and even Ryan, some day too. I think that would be a great trip! We did get the opportunity, on this cruise, to get to cruise with some other CC members. I got to know the one group through our Valor reviews and the others through the CC roll call that ended up on the same social network roll call. We didn't hang out together the whole trip since we did our own things in port, but we did see them at some of the ports and around Liberty. It was definitely a great time.

 

Thanks again, so much, for following along. It's great being back in touch with you. I hope you have a great weekend, Happy Thanksgiving, and a great holiday season. Would you believe some neighbors of ours down the street have Christmas lights up and had them up, and on, since last weekend? :eek: That's just too much. LOL!!!

When I went on my Aug 2-9 sailing on the Liberty we also went to Maho but arrived just before 2pm as well. I had done some research prior because I didn't want to waste the day wondering when the big plane arrive or leave and found out that on Saturdays (the day Liberty is in port) there is a slow-down in air traffic between about 10am and 1:30pm when most (if not all) of the planes coming or going are small island hoppers. After 1:45pm and usually starting with the arrival of that Air France plane, traffic ramps up with quite a few big planes landing or taking off. We were at Maho from 2-3:30pm and saw no less than 5 big planes come in and rode the fence with big planes taking off three times and enjoyed watching from the sidelines about three more.

 

Regarding beach conditions, well there's not much to say... there's not much beach left. Just a wave breaker.

I was extremely disappointed in the fence riding this time... No big planes taking off and something seemed different about the fencing...(but looking back at the pictures from 2013 there really wasn't anything different about the fencing...weird)

Holly, Thanks so much for taking the time to post this great review with such awesome pictures! My wife and I are cruising on Liberty Jan 3rd for our 25th wedding anniversary and can't wait! This will be our first time to any of these ports, so we are quite anxious. We have an aft extended cabin, so I'm hoping we will have some nice views. We both love to snorkel and your snorkeling pictures were great. We are taking SCUBA lessons before the trip to get certified so we can take a dive or 2 while on this trip as well as a snorkel trip.

Holly, Thanks so much for taking the time to post this great review with such awesome pictures! My wife and I are cruising on Liberty Jan 3rd for our 25th wedding anniversary and can't wait! This will be our first time to any of these ports, so we are quite anxious. We have an aft extended cabin, so I'm hoping we will have some nice views. We both love to snorkel and your snorkeling pictures were great. We are taking SCUBA lessons before the trip to get certified so we can take a dive or 2 while on this trip as well as a snorkel trip.

I am so happy that you enjoyed it and the pictures. This is definitely our favorite itinerary and we also love Liberty, it was our second time on her and the first time we've repeated a ship. I think you both will really love the ports, they are all beautiful. With an extended cabin, you will definitely have good views. We actually saw one of them when we were on Liberty the first time in 2014. Our table mates at dinner had one on Deck 6, in the back, and took us all up to see it. Very nice and great views. I'm glad you enjoyed the snorkeling pictures. I still need practice, and also need to remember to use the underwater setting, but the snorkeling in St. Lucia is the best we've seen. I'm sure with SCUBA, you will see so much more.

Congratulations on your upcoming 25th wedding anniversary! Taking a cruise on Liberty and this itinerary is a great way to celebrate and I hope you have some great memories. I hope you have great weather and an enjoyable cruise.

Thank you for your kind words and so glad you enjoyed it.

Holly, Thanks so much for taking the time to post this great review with such awesome pictures! My wife and I are cruising on Liberty Jan 3rd for our 25th wedding anniversary and can't wait! This will be our first time to any of these ports, so we are quite anxious. We have an aft extended cabin, so I'm hoping we will have some nice views. We both love to snorkel and your snorkeling pictures were great. We are taking SCUBA lessons before the trip to get certified so we can take a dive or 2 while on this trip as well as a snorkel trip.

Best itinerary and most beautiful ship to celebrate such a milestone. This itinerary offers plenty of beach, do not miss scuba diving in St. Lucia, whether an excursion from the ship or on your own try to do superman's flight at the bottom of the pitons. (is a drift dive on the wall, as a novice diver I would advise to stay close to the reef and watch your depth (stay above or close to DM) it is absolutely thrilling. The other do not miss is diving with Pro Divers St. Kitts (outside excursion, they will pick you up at the port, great chance to see some sharks) ;)

Holly again, thanks for the memories. Fair winds and Following seas~~~

Tony

Best itinerary and most beautiful ship to celebrate such a milestone. This itinerary offers plenty of beach, do not miss scuba diving in St. Lucia, whether an excursion from the ship or on your own try to do superman's flight at the bottom of the pitons. (is a drift dive on the wall, as a novice diver I would advise to stay close to the reef and watch your depth (stay above or close to DM) it is absolutely thrilling. The other do not miss is diving with Pro Divers St. Kitts (outside excursion, they will pick you up at the port, great chance to see some sharks) ;)

 

Holly again, thanks for the memories. Fair winds and Following seas~~~

 

Tony

Tony, thank you! I was happy to share the memories. It was great reliving those memories with you and the others who were on Liberty with us for the 9/20 sailing. Now I'm ready to do it again....

Holly

Payne's Bay beach continued...

 

 

 

 

 

We went over to the guy that Patsie dropped us off with, and I just feel terrible that I don’t remember his name, and thanked him and told him that we were heading back to our meeting spot for Patsie. He walked out with us and asked if we had a nice time and we told him we did and that we were able to see turtles. We talked to him for a few minutes as we waited for Patsie. She would be there in just a few minutes. When we were waiting, we noticed a little chicken laying down in the sand under a tree. I got a picture.

 

The little chicken...Brianna, aka Wrigley80, this is for you. :)

 

Patsie arrived a few minutes later, we thanked the other guy again, and we got into the van. There was another couple who were also going to be doing the east coast tour with us. Although I forget their names, we introduced ourselves to each other and, small world, they were from our area! They live in the state of Maryland, in another suburb of Washington, DC. When worked, I worked in Maryland and DH currently works in Maryland, so we were familiar with the same areas. They were very nice. We are now on our way for the second part of our tour.

Awwwww another little chicken friend in Barbados. Thanks for thinking of me Holly. I started packing this weekend for my cruise on the Elation. Pedro was the first thing to get packed

We stopped for pictures of the “Welcome to Barbados” sign and pictures of Liberty docked.

 

 

 

The shuttle busses were there, so we got on and once it filled, we were driven and got off at the drop off area close to the gangplanks. There was a small line but it moved quickly. I can’t remember if one or both gangplanks were open, but we weren’t waiting too long. We “dinged” our Sail & Sign cards and were back on board. We didn’t have to wait long for an elevator to take us back to Deck 8 and went directly to the cabin do drop our purchases and my beach bag off.

 

 

I stepped out on the balcony for a couple of pictures while we were in the cabin

 

 

 

 

After our cabin stop, we went right up to the Lido Deck and got in line for a Guy’s Burger. The line was long today, but that was only because they were waiting on a fresh batch of burgers that were being cooked. Once those were done, the line moved pretty quickly. After getting our burgers, we stopped at the topping station then went to find a table. It was a little more crowded up here today, but we were able to find a table along the windows behind Red Frog. Antonio was working and he saw us back there, so he walked around and asked if he could get us a drink. We each ordered a rum drink but I forget what it was and DH can’t remember either, but they were good. We took our time eating our burgers and enjoyed our drinks.

 

 

That drink Holly is the Beachcomber. That was one of my first drinks that I had last month on the Ecstasy at the Red Frog. It was OK but definitely not one of my favorites. It was very sweet

Awwwww another little chicken friend in Barbados. Thanks for thinking of me Holly. I started packing this weekend for my cruise on the Elation. Pedro was the first thing to get packed

As soon as I saw him (or her), I thought of you. So glad Pedro will be going with you on the Elation. The Elation, saw her last year when we were in Cozumel and I didn't realize it, but we'd seen her once before...in 2000. I was looking through some of the pictures (film camera prints) from the only cruise we took on RCI, a Mexican Riviera out of San Pedro. There is a picture that hubby took of me and part of Elation was in the background, the part that clearly showed the name. So glad you get another cruise...sure wish I was going on another one soon. :)

That drink Holly is the Beachcomber. That was one of my first drinks that I had last month on the Ecstasy at the Red Frog. It was OK but definitely not one of my favorites. It was very sweet

Beachcomber...that's it! :) It was pretty sweet. I love just a typical rum punch the most and the Funship Special tastes more like those. I had one in the Bahamas once (land vaca for a few days) and it was the best. Thanks!

Thank you so much for this very detailed review! My husband and I both read every bit and enjoyed it very much. We are doing this itinerary in January on the Liberty. Can't wait. 61 days and counting....

Thank you so much for this very detailed review! My husband and I both read every bit and enjoyed it very much. We are doing this itinerary in January on the Liberty. Can't wait. 61 days and counting....

Thank you very much for following along and reading and so happy that you both enjoyed it. I hope you have as an enjoyable experience on Liberty as we did when you sail in January.

Best itinerary and most beautiful ship to celebrate such a milestone. This itinerary offers plenty of beach, do not miss scuba diving in St. Lucia, whether an excursion from the ship or on your own try to do superman's flight at the bottom of the pitons. (is a drift dive on the wall, as a novice diver I would advise to stay close to the reef and watch your depth (stay above or close to DM) it is absolutely thrilling. The other do not miss is diving with Pro Divers St. Kitts (outside excursion, they will pick you up at the port, great chance to see some sharks) ;)

 

Holly again, thanks for the memories. Fair winds and Following seas~~~

 

Tony

Hi Tony,

Thanks for the advice. I'm looking to do 2 dives while on this trip with one of them definitely being in St. Lucia around the Pitons. On our last cruise with Princess, I booked all of our excursions on our own and will probably do the same this time.

Best itinerary and most beautiful ship to celebrate such a milestone. This itinerary offers plenty of beach, do not miss scuba diving in St. Lucia, whether an excursion from the ship or on your own try to do superman's flight at the bottom of the pitons. (is a drift dive on the wall, as a novice diver I would advise to stay close to the reef and watch your depth (stay above or close to DM) it is absolutely thrilling. The other do not miss is diving with Pro Divers St. Kitts (outside excursion, they will pick you up at the port, great chance to see some sharks) ;)

 

Holly again, thanks for the memories. Fair winds and Following seas~~~

 

Tony

Hi Tony,

Thanks for the advice. I'm looking to do 2 dives while on this trip with one of them definitely being in St. Lucia around the Pitons. On our last cruise with Princess, I booked all of our excursions on our own and will probably do the same this time.

dfwhgsfan,

Saw Tony's reply and the mention of Superman's Flight at the base of the Pitons...there was a thread that was popular a while back titled "Unique Photos" and I remembered these pictures I saw posted where the gal who posted mentioned they were from Superman's Flight (base of Pitons) and just went through and found the thread and her pictures. She posted the one picture earlier and someone wanted to see more, so she posted a few more (on Page 68). Her pictures on page 68 start with post 1345. In her reply to me (I was curious where they were taken) she let me know. That is post 1354. Attaching the link (to hopefully start at page 68 for you) for that thread:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1158659&page=68

Thanks for this great review, I leave for San Juan in 15 days and then on the Liberty. I am so excited for this trip

Thanks for this great review, I leave for San Juan in 15 days and then on the Liberty. I am so excited for this trip

Thank you and I'm happy you enjoyed it. I'd be getting excited too and sure wish we were going again...our favorite itinerary. I hope you have a wonderful time in San Juan and on your cruise on Liberty.

dfwhgsfan,

 

Saw Tony's reply and the mention of Superman's Flight at the base of the Pitons...there was a thread that was popular a while back titled "Unique Photos" and I remembered these pictures I saw posted where the gal who posted mentioned they were from Superman's Flight (base of Pitons) and just went through and found the thread and her pictures. She posted the one picture earlier and someone wanted to see more, so she posted a few more (on Page 68). Her pictures on page 68 start with post 1345. In her reply to me (I was curious where they were taken) she let me know. That is post 1354. Attaching the link (to hopefully start at page 68 for you) for that thread:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1158659&page=68

Those were some great pictures and superman's flight is a wonderful dive... but then, what was not great on this cruise? I would love to be doing this trip again , specially before ms. liberty is re-positioned.

I am going to take this opportunity to wish each of you a very merry christmas and a happy and prosperous new year.

Fair winds and Following sea.... Always

Tony

Those were some great pictures and superman's flight is a wonderful dive... but then, what was not great on this cruise? I would love to be doing this trip again , specially before ms. liberty is re-positioned.

 

I am going to take this opportunity to wish each of you a very merry christmas and a happy and prosperous new year.

 

Fair winds and Following sea.... Always

Tony

I agree 100%, everything about this cruise was great and will go down as one of our favorites, if not the favorite. I'd definitely love to be doing this itinerary again and I'm sure we will someday as it is my favorite itinerary. Oh, to be on Liberty sailing St. Somewhere is where I'd love to be. :D

And thank you. I'd like to wish you and everyone else a Merry Christmas as well, and a Happy Hanukkah to those currently celebrating. And, Happy New Year and hope that 2016 will be a great year for cruising.

Holly

 

 

 

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Hi Holly! I finally finished reading your review (got a bit side tracked for a few weeks, but I didn't forget about you! haha) Bummer that you didn't get to eat at Patio de Sam, but I guess that's an excuse to go back to Puerto Rico for another cruise hehe It looks like you had amazing weather for your vacation! I am OBSESSED with these two sunset photos!! I hope I get to see a sunset like that on my next cruise :D Thanks again for taking the time to write up another great review