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SWEET LIBERTY! The cruise that almost wasn't! Sept 20-27, 2015 review


valentinebaby1
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I was on the Sept 13 sailing, the first one after the fire, that was disembarking when you were arriving. The ship was operating under reduced power. One thing that nobody has mentioned yet on these boards was that while we were leaving Barbados, the ship lost power and we sat still in the water for about 45 min. Our arrival and departure times to St. Kitts were also altered due to the reduced power (I'm sure it was the same on your cruise). The ship returned to San Juan at 7am. The ship normally arrives in San Juan at 4am so that put them behind schedule a bit.

 

We couldn't begin the check in process because I had all the paperwork and we needed hubby there. There was no place to sit in the shade.

 

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Our plan for the day originally was to get checked in, have lunch on the ship, drop off luggage and then head back to explore Old San Juan and stop at CVS to pick up sodas and wine. We had tossed ideas around such as going to Senor Frogs, the forts, Coach etc.

 

Our day was not going as planned, however. The heat was just making wandering around impossible.

 

We decided that since we needed a bathroom and shade and water to drink that we'd head to Senor Frogs to wait for hubby there. While my sister and I were in the bathroom, my brother in law ordered some appetizers. I had been looking forward to having a Guys burger, so I didn't want to eat at Senor Frogs, but I felt bad that he ordered food. Our day just wasn't going as planned.

 

Hubby finally caught up with us and we had decided it was just too hot and we were not excited about the idea of wandering around Old San Juan so we decided to just go to CVS since we were already half way there, get our stuff now and then head back to the ship and get checked in. That meant carrying our soda and wine with all of our check in items...probably not the best of ideas.

 

We purchased 3-8 packs of soda and 2 bottles of wine and a couple other little items we thought we might need. I also purchased water pills in case I needed them (I had major swelling in my feet/legs on the first cruise).

 

The next time we cruise, I think we'll skip this and just suck it up and spend the money on the ship. We never ended up even drinking our wine on the ship, and we had about 10 cans of soda leftover after the cruise. The 14 cans of soda we drank would have cost us $28 if we had just purchased them on the ship. I'm not sure it was worth the hassle to save just $28.

 

We had also purchased 4-12 packs of bottled water prior. They were waiting for us in the room. I purchased with my sister and her husband in mind, I figured a 12 pack per person...but we had a full 12 pack leftover and a few other bottles too. We left them in the room because we just didn't want to take them with us. Hopefully someone enjoyed them!

 

After dragging the purchases from CVS and our check in luggage back to the ship, we were all exhausted, overheated and cranky. This was not how I wanted the cruise to start.

 

We had received an email to wait to check in until 2:30. We received a similar email the last time and I've read from so many people that they received emails like that and got to the port earlier and were able to check in. So we figured it was just a way they were trying to spread it out. It was now around 1:15 and we got back to the covered area and started through the port.

 

We got all the way up to the doors to enter the building and they stopped us there. They said the building was full and that no one was entering the ship yet (not until 2:30) and we had to wait outside until 2:30.

 

This was not the news we wanted to hear.

 

The line started to form behind us very quickly:

 

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We couldn't take photos in the building, but trust me...it was complete wall to wall people and just utter chaos. People were very cranky and upset at the wait.

 

(I read after the fact that the Liberty came in about an hour late that morning, and that some Coast Guard issue and something about a search for 2 guys delayed the disembarkation of the Sept 13 sailing. I'm not sure if that's what really happened, but I can understand there might have been some delays simply because it was her first post-fire sailing).

 

They let us into the building a little earlier than they had said they would. It was so crowded. At this point we weren't even in the mood to have an embarkation photo taken. We started into the line that winds back and forth to get to the check in desk and people were cutting in line and no one was stopping them. One group in front of us kept adding more and more people after they had jumped ahead but cutting under the ropes. Once we finally got to the check in line we kind of got separated from my sister and brother in law. We met up again in the lines waiting to go through the security check, but of course we got into different lines and they got through a lot quicker than our line did.

 

They were waiting for us when we finally got through security and we walked into the ship together.

 

We knew exactly where we were going, since the Liberty's layout is the same as the Valor, and we booked the same room. We were in balcony cabin 1059 and they were next door.

 

We didn't need to stop and ask for directions although there were plenty of people there in the lobby for that purpose. Now after the delays and the heat and the chaos of the morning, let's just say that one member of our party had reached their boiling point and as soon as we entered the elevator to get to our rooms, they kind of just exploded. It was not the way I wanted to start the cruise :(

 

 

 

 

 

 

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We were on the September 20 sailing as well and stayed one night, pre cruise, at the Courtyard by Marriott Isla Verde (right across from the airport). Had trouble sleeping that night and woke up between 4:30 and 5am. I went to the window and saw Liberty out there and got a few pictures, not great, but you can definitely see the "whale tail".

 

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After that, I went back to bed then woke up again around 6:45am, so I again went to our balcony of the hotel to get pictures. I didn't realize it at the time, but once viewing the pictures on the computer at home after the cruise, Liberty was in one of them, still out in the ocean but looked to be near the forts.

 

Liberty is in the right side of the picture:

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Zoomed in view of Liberty in picture above:

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I'm guessing if Liberty arrived at 7AM, then at this point she was getting ready to enter the harbor by the fort.

 

I'm really enjoying your review and love the interior pictures you got of Liberty. I'm also enjoying "reliving" our cruise. :)

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Great review so far!! Sorry it didn't start off very well for you but it sounds like your sister is hooked!

 

Quick question - what's the general atmosphere at sailaway? Is it as lively as the afternoon sailaways?

 

That's a good question but I don't know since we've only sailed this route and both times left at 10pm. It seemed pretty lively though, with music on the lido deck and a lot of people were out there!

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I was on the Sept 13 sailing, the first one after the fire, that was disembarking when you were arriving. The ship was operating under reduced power. One thing that nobody has mentioned yet on these boards was that while we were leaving Barbados, the ship lost power and we sat still in the water for about 45 min. Our arrival and departure times to St. Kitts were also altered due to the reduced power (I'm sure it was the same on your cruise). The ship returned to San Juan at 7am. The ship normally arrives in San Juan at 4am so that put them behind schedule a bit.

 

I had heard about the power outage in Barbados, but I had not heard that your time in St Kitts was altered. Our was not. If we were operating on reduced power, I was not aware of it. We hit every port on time and the fastest speed we were aware of was around 17 knots.

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We were on the September 20 sailing as well and stayed one night, pre cruise, at the Courtyard by Marriott Isla Verde (right across from the airport). Had trouble sleeping that night and woke up between 4:30 and 5am. I went to the window and saw Liberty out there and got a few pictures, not great, but you can definitely see the "whale tail".

 

IMG_8603-02.jpg

 

After that, I went back to bed then woke up again around 6:45am, so I again went to our balcony of the hotel to get pictures. I didn't realize it at the time, but once viewing the pictures on the computer at home after the cruise, Liberty was in one of them, still out in the ocean but looked to be near the forts.

 

Liberty is in the right side of the picture:

IMG_8607-02.jpg

 

Zoomed in view of Liberty in picture above:

IMG_8607-02-1.jpg

 

I'm guessing if Liberty arrived at 7AM, then at this point she was getting ready to enter the harbor by the fort.

 

I'm really enjoying your review and love the interior pictures you got of Liberty. I'm also enjoying "reliving" our cruise. :)

 

Jim and I had talked about this, and were confused why Liberty was out there for so long and didn't enter the port earlier. I wonder if it was a coast guard issue or pilot issue or something...

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Jim and I had talked about this, and were confused why Liberty was out there for so long and didn't enter the port earlier. I wonder if it was a coast guard issue or pilot issue or something...

 

That's where I'm confused too. She (Liberty) was definitely out there, in front of the hotel, on the regularly scheduled time and still out there but appeared to be near the entrance to the harbor by the forts 2 hours later. I'm thinking what you and Jim are thinking, coast guard or pilot issue.

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That's where I'm confused too. She (Liberty) was definitely out there, in front of the hotel, on the regularly scheduled time and still out there but appeared to be near the entrance to the harbor by the forts 2 hours later. I'm thinking what you and Jim are thinking, coast guard or pilot issue.

 

I was so excited to see the forts on the bridge cam when it was coming in on the 20th. I've never seen that before and thought it meant I would be able to get pictures and video when we came back in on the 27th.

 

Unfortunately, we got back in at the normal time on the 27th and it was pretty dark still... The full, blood red, moon was amazing, but it didn't help with pictures of the fort :(

 

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I was so excited to see the forts on the bridge cam when it was coming in on the 20th. I've never seen that before and thought it meant I would be able to get pictures and video when we came back in on the 27th.

 

Unfortunately, we got back in at the normal time on the 27th and it was pretty dark still... The full, blood red, moon was amazing, but it didn't help with pictures of the fort :(

 

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OMG!!! These pictures are great! Did you get any of the moon? Would love to see those if you did. I got up at 5:30am, but when I went to the balcony I could tell we'd just passed the forts, so I didn't bother going up to Deck 10. Next time, I'll set the alarm for 5am. :)

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OMG!!! These pictures are great! Did you get any of the moon? Would love to see those if you did. I got up at 5:30am, but when I went to the balcony I could tell we'd just passed the forts, so I didn't bother going up to Deck 10. Next time, I'll set the alarm for 5am. :)

 

Yes, I took a bunch of pictures... They aren't great, but give a sense of the brightness. The moon looks like the sun... no detail :( But I'll send some to you.

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Day 6; September 21, 2015, Monday

ST THOMAS!

 

We set our alarms to get up with the sunrise and we weren't disappointed. The sun rising over St Thomas was one of the most beautiful sights ever! I tried to narrow the photos down, but it was hard. We probably had 250-300 photos just of the sunrise and docking in St Thomas.

 

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This is so awesome!! I just finished my review (still have to put up the misc. Puerto Rico pictures) and at the same time I am reading yours and anxiously waiting on pghsteelerfan's upcoming review. A few months ago someone posted about the lack of reviews for the Liberty and now they have tons of reading material...lol. I took about 1100 pictures and had a hard time picking, sorting and tweaking the ones I finally picked for my review so I know how hard a work you guys are doing. BTW your pictures are awesome!! Keep up the good job. Can't wait for the rest.

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This is so awesome!! I just finished my review (still have to put up the misc. Puerto Rico pictures) and at the same time I am reading yours and anxiously waiting on pghsteelerfan's upcoming review. A few months ago someone posted about the lack of reviews for the Liberty and now they have tons of reading material...lol. I took about 1100 pictures and had a hard time picking, sorting and tweaking the ones I finally picked for my review so I know how hard a work you guys are doing. BTW your pictures are awesome!! Keep up the good job. Can't wait for the rest.

 

I just found and read yours, nice job!

 

I can only claim responsibility for a few of the photos I've posted. Jkirkn (hubby) took most of them!

 

Thanks for reading :)

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I totally forgot to mention our disappointment when we heard the first announcements on the ship as muster drill was starting up. When the cruise director introduced herself as "Classy Cassie" our hearts just sank. We have no idea who she is, but our hearts were set on Felipe Couto. We had checked the schedule and he was supposed to be our CD and we had shirts made for embarkation day that said "Woo-hoo". Turns out he was at a CD convention. We were so disappointed!!

 

Back to the review:

Hubby took his photos out and about on the ship an secret decks. I didn't leave the cabin...that's why I love my balcony! We really thought through what side of the ship to be on and even what side of the plane to be on for the best views. Being on the starboard side of the ship gave us great views coming into St Thomas, St Lucia (the pitons!) and St Kitts.

 

After sunrise, I went back to sleep for a few minutes and then we met my family for breakfast on the Lido deck. We ate at Blue Iguana. We found there was rarely a wait there so it was typically pretty easy to get in and out of breakfast in about 15 minutes. The burritos were ok, but the scrambled eggs used in them were no different than the ones on the buffet. If you added sour cream and too much salsa the burrito became really watery. But they were edible and it was fast.

 

Our plans for the day was a tour with Godfrey Tours. They have an option for shopping time before the tour but we opted instead to take the tram up to Paradise Point. The tram starts at 9am and we had to be back at the cruise port for the tour at 11:15.

 

We made the short walk to Paradise Point.

 

I believe this was taken from the entrance to Paradise Point:

 

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It was pretty easy to find, and not to far, but the day was already heating up very quickly! We were there in time to be in the first tram up. For anyone with mobility issues, there were quite a few steps up to the tram deck and once you get to the top, there were additional steps to the lookout areas.

 

The tram capsule is standing only and there are some small open windows, but it was extremely hot inside the tram, especially when we were on the way down. But the trip is pretty fast so it was bearable.

 

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Once we got to the top, there were a couple shops, and a lady with a bunch of parrots to take pictures with (for a fee). The views were fabulous!

 

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I found that several times during this trip, when I got too hot I felt extremely nauseous. I didn't have this issue on the previous cruise or even on our 2 other Mexico trips so I'm not sure what was different this time around. I almost always had a bottle of water with me and I drank a lot more water this time (and I took 1 water pill before bed each night, so between the 2 I barely had any of the foot/leg swelling that I had on the last cruise). Anyway, I wasn't feeling well once we got to the top, so I found a place to sit in the shade while everyone else explored.

 

 

 

 

Edited by valentinebaby1
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Thanks for the great review. Your pictures are awesome! We will be going on the LIBERTY in March. Do you know if it is possible to have the balcony dividers removed? (We will have relatives in the next stateroom.)

 

Thanks

 

 

Yes. On most rooms it's possible. We had ours removed.

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Thanks for the review, reliving those wonderful memories thru your pictures and writing. Cant wait to do this itinerary again.

 

Fair winds and Following seas~~~

 

Isn't it a great itinerary? The only thing that would make it better is another sea day! Thanks for reading!

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Thanks for the great review. Your pictures are awesome! We will be going on the LIBERTY in March. Do you know if it is possible to have the balcony dividers removed? (We will have relatives in the next stateroom.)

 

Thanks

 

I'm not sure if I can post the webpage, but if you do a google search for go ccl carnival liberty, the first page that comes up, if you click on stateroom descriptions and then find the room numbers you can see if they have connecting balconies that can be opened.

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Isn't it a great itinerary? The only thing that would make it better is another sea day! Thanks for reading!

 

 

You know we thought the same thing. My wife "complained" about being tired after the cruise and we actually missed dinner after St. Lucia as she was tired. Its such a port intensive cruise that a sea day at the end would not be bad at all; however if I had to give up a port to achieve this I am not sure I could; enjoyed each island in its own unique way.

 

Again thanks for bringing it back to life. Fair winds and Following seas~~~

Edited by SoloSailorII
typo
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You know we thought the same thing. My wife "complained" about being tired after the cruise and we actually missed dinner after St. Lucia as she was tired. Its such a port intensive cruise that a sea day at the end would not be bad at all; however if I had to give up a port to achieve this I am not sure I could; enjoyed each island in its own unique way.

 

Again thanks for bringing it back to life. Fair winds and Following seas~~~

 

Our first time around we had 3 days in Puerto Rico before the cruise and flew home the day after the cruise and we were totally exhausted! This time we added another day before and stayed 3 nights after the cruise just so we'd have that extra time to recover. It was so worth it! I totally agree that I wouldn't want to give up a single port, they are all wonderful in different ways, but just making it 8 days instead of 7 and adding one more sea day would make it perfect!

 

We were looking at one of the journeys cruises in April that starts off with 3 sea days in a row and we were laughing that we wouldn't know what to do with all that time!

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Our tour with Godfrey started at 11:15. Our driver was prompt and the bus was an open style bus with 5 rows that held 4 people per row, if I remember correctly.

 

The bus headed to downtown Charlotte Amalie, where those who wanted shopping time there before the tour were waiting.

 

The tour itself was ok. The driver was good with telling stories and giving historical information, but a lot of the "sights" were seen from a distance...for example; "See that building with the blue roof, and the tall tree next to it, well look behind that tall tree and you'll see Bluebeard's castle". I guess I thought we'd be seeing some of these things from a closer range, but truthfully I don't know that they would have been worth the time.

 

Drakes seat:

 

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As we drove up the mountain, we made a stop on the roof of a hotel and we got out of the bus and the driver pointed out several things to us, and told us about some of the islands we could see. The information was interesting, but it was so hot standing there on this roof and there was no breeze, no shade. And it wasn't until we were done with the "presentation" here that we were offered water or other drinks. It might have been nice to have the drinks offered when we first stopped here!

 

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Getting in and out of the bus was awkward and there was more than one bumped head or scraped knee while doing so. Next time I think we'll make sure to look for a tour in an air conditioned vehicle! This is what most of the tour looked like:

 

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The tour continued on to the Mountaintop. The stop here included a banana daiquiri. We were told to get in line right away for the daiquiri and that we had 15 minutes for this stop.

 

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