seannyice81

Not sure, now that the ship will be going to China in a couple years.

Fingers crossed for Guy's, but they might pass it up like Victory.

Wow been to Labadee 6 times and this is the first I have heard of this.

 

I am so interested in doing something like this.

 

Years ago before barefoot beach was made a suite beach you could snorkel out to the sunken plane by the orange buoy. No more they moved the rope in and it is off limits because they let the kayakers use this path of water.

 

I hope someone knows about this......

 

I would be interested in this.

 

Thanks for the post...

Welcome.

Bummer about the plane! We're shelling out for a suite this time too. How far would you say it is from the rope?

3 or 4 excursions mention the shipwreck. I'm wondering if its intentional (reef) or accidental. Also, if you can snorkel around it.

I've been reading some of the excursions listed for my cruise in January and some mention a shipwreck near a sandbar.

Is there a shipwreck that some of the excursions allow you to snorkel near?

Less wait times... In the terminal.

If most are anything like me, eagerness will have them up early and then starting at the clock on a wall until their boarding time has arrived.

I believe Valor will probably get it as well (finally) when it has it's dry dock in the coming year.

I've used FTTF multiple times and this is how I see it's worth

Worth it if...

-If you have Belize, Grand Cayman, or Half Moon Cay on your itinerary and you intend to be off the ship early.

-If you need embark the ship ASAP and aren't Plat/Diam

-If you need to debark the ship ASAP and are not doing Self-assist

I've used it in Miami and San Juan. For Miami, it was great. For San Juan, its not necessary at all.

A real indication something that big happened, would be if Splendor adjusted timing of a port of call or made a pitstop for a "special" debark.

Is the lobster really that small? A 4 oz. tail at my local store is about $6.

The lobster tails do tend to be small outside of the steakhouses (where they're definitely larger). Don't feel bad ordering two :cool:.

Bright spot: The Tandoor Indian place. Prior to this cruise I thought I didn't like Indian food. I ate lunch here every sea day. A few things were vile and inedible (but I saw passengers from India enjoying them), but most things were absolutely delicious. Bread was awesome.

Indian Tandoor is VERY underrated! Great food!

This is sort of a "greatest hits" of their sales.

Can't deny I will probably book something.

Thank you for a really great review that included excellent pictures. I loved your review so much that I also enjoyed reading others in your blog. I like your approach and admire your independence.

Unfortunately your flight back did seem quite crappy but fortunately it was on your way home not on your way to start your vacation. (still a ****ty but at least not a holiday destroyer!) I am genuinely eager to read your other vacation reviews. Warmest Regards!

Thank you for enjoying my reviews!

More will be on the way for sure. Stay tuned for my first Royal Review in January. :cool:

Sounds pretty enjoyable so far! Considering it on Navigator.

Those who've dined at Sabor, how did you like the food? How was your experience?

You can definitely read posts and send messages. Not sure about playing games.

EXTRAS! PHOTOS THAT DIDN'T MAKE THE CUT FOR MY SITE

Pulling into Cruz Bay in St. John.

Loading a cargo ship in Barbados.

Storms coming in St. Lucia.

The Turtle Time Bar in Nevis.

The ferry in St. Maarten.

Packed and ready to go with (one of the last) Freddy.

Great writing and review...I got depressed when you had to get off the ship)-: I love the Liberty, be back on in March--can't wait!

Thanks!

Have a good cruise!

You mentioned the water taxi in St. Maarten had one stop between Philipsburg and the ship at port. Could you tell me where that stop was?

Both stops were in Philipsburg. One was the pier mid-town (were I boarded) and the other was the part of town closer to the port area.

The mother in me wants to tell you to get away from the fence in St Maarten LOL. I've seen the horror youtube movies of someone flying into the curb. The boys watched this and said we are so doing this there.. I said NO YOUR NOT. I don't have time to go to the hospital LOL. But good to hear there is a bar nearby... that's as close as they need to be :)

 

Your time in San Juan looked like money and time well spent. BUT ugg on the delays on flying home. Thats the worst, when your finally ready to go home but cant.

 

Aww man I'm so sad to have it end. You really tell a great tale.

 

So whats next for you vacation wise?

Haha.. My mom was with me the first time I tried doing this in St. Maarten when I wasn't feeling well. She just looked at me like I was an idiot. You all should be there when the 747 arrives. MAKE SURE YOU'RE ON THE BEACH OR ROAD FOR IT! You will need to be back onboard by the time it takes off again. The Sunset Bar is pretty cool. If P is 18 or older, he can enjoy a drink or two there too (depending on what his mom says of course! lol).

Thanks again!

Next trip is on Royal in January, Then back to Carnival for two cruises (maybe one in spring too), before NCL Epic.

I've been heavily considering Hawaii in 2017, but I'm just waiting on the dates and rates.:cool:

OVERALL CRUISE EXPERIENCE 9 / 10!

This was truly an awesome cruise. There is really little I could complain about. There were times I didn't think I was going to be able to go with work and other issues. I'm certainly glad I did though because dang, its going to be near-impossible to top this one!

HIGHS

-Willingness to assist with diet needs.

-Interaction with crew/staff. Excellent attitudes, smiles, good discussion, humorous, and still professional. A+!

-Debarkation was the easiest and most efficient I've ever experienced.

-Lack of children in the "Adults Only" pools.

-Always being able to find a lounger somewhere

-Mostly excellent live music. Calypso (WITH steel drums!). Piano Bar singer with amazing voice.

-A real, live orchestra in the main shows!

-The ship on stick with strawberries and champagne! Getting a Liberty trophy was perfect a cherry on top of everything.

-Enjoying everything with some great friends

LOWS

-The condition of the aft pool. LINK

-No bitter & blanc

-Acoustic guitarist in the lobby ALL the time was a little much. No live latin music out of PR???

-Other passengers lack of spatial awareness and courtesy. They were clogging areas and bumping into me like no other cruise before.

-Aft sliding roof always seemed to close a little too early.

-And lastly (my fault) losing my sail & sign card somewhere in PR after the cruise. I like to keep them.

People that made a difference:

-Micheal in Shore Excursions

-Kris in Golden Dining Room

-Ivan in Golden Dining Room

-Katherine in Entertainment

-Octav our Cabin Steward

-Tijana at Alchemy Bar

Things I recommend:

-Ferry to St. John, Trunk Bay & Cruz Bay (on your own)

-Catamaran to Nevis, beach and snorkel

-Diamonds Steakhouse or Chef's Table

-El Yunque, but book longer tour if possible

-Booking Spa on embarkation day for decent deals

What I DON'T recommend:

-Rainforest Tram Ride in St. Lucia (unless you're a botanist)

-Behind the Fun Tour (losing most of your Sea Day morning, you will need to be up by 9, and will miss the Sea Day Brunch. Keep this for other cruises with more sea days)

I will miss Liberty even more now and am slightly saddened that the ship will operate the shorter more repetitive cruises to Mexico from Galveston (no offense TX). I feel like Liberty is more cut-out for more interesting itineraries. Maybe one of these days, I'll see it out of Norfolk...

Thanks again for reading!

I have been following along, as usual, and just finished the last part of your review. I can't believe it's over already.

 

I have enjoyed this one, just as I have your others and I really love the pictures you get. And next time we get to do this itinerary, whenever that may be, I'd love to take the tour you did to get over to Nevis. We were actually able to see it this time, but didn't get over there. I don't remember seeing a review before where anyone has gone to Nevis, so glad you shared that.

 

It sounds like you all had a great time. That flight back sounded terrible though, but at least you got to see Liberty on her way, that would have been cool. Our flights, themselves, were fine when we went in September, but DH's luggage was lost on the way to San Juan. We flew out of the other Washington Airport, Dulles, and a lazy employee couldn't find the other baggage tag with SJU on it, so he just grabbed one that was on the counter of the other worker and stuck it on his and it ended up in Kentucky. In San Juan, there was another suitcase that was unclaimed - guaranteed someone was looking for it in Kentucky. They did get DH's to Liberty, good thing we flew down a day early.

 

Thanks again for another review!

Thanks for reading!

Hard to believe it was weeks ago already...

It's true. I think because it's just easier to stay in St. Kitts I suppose. Perhaps it was the cost of the excursion too ($130). I really want to do a more detailed land-tour of Nevis if I do this itinerary again. I hope you see and enjoy the "little brother island."

Stinks about the luggage and flights. JetBlue has always been hit or miss for me, but (knocking on wood) have yet to be read my riot act, so far.

Since you're also a local feel free to add me over on a popular social media page. Just message me, so I know who you are. My page is my username here minus the numbers. :)

Great review, as always, Sean!:D

Was so looking forward to doing this itinerary next summer, until they pulled Liberty and replaced her with Fascination.

I know this is TRULY about the itinerary, but I just can't bring myself to sail on a ship that old and hardly any balconies.

I am truly bumming....

 

Pictures were beautiful! Great Job!

And it sounds like Carnival did a great job with your "dietary" restrictions.

 

Sounds like a great cruise overall!!!

 

Looking forward to your next review....

Thanks!

To be honest, I've been considering this itinerary on Fascination. Yes, there are not as many bells and whistles on the ship, and the lack of balconies. That said though, this being a port intensive itinerary I don't think I'd mind all that much. Also, imagine having breakfast on one of those outside (bistro) tables on lido deck that are on the aft sides of the ship... I'd love to start my mornings like that :cool:.

Carnival really did excellent this cruise. More on that shortly, but I doubt I could have had a better ship "homecoming" of sorts on Liberty. I will be praising this cruise for some time to come.

Enjoy your next cruise!

Nice review - although your flight home sounds awful. It's never fun to end a great vacation with a lousy trip home.

 

Looks like the guy with the parrots in San Juan has added a bird since we visited!:)

 

Thanks for sharing your trip with us

Thanks!

The flight wasn't too bad honestly. Waiting for the plane was what stunk. I can honestly say that I heard more than my fair share of salsa music waiting in the terminal. Once on the plane, I had a beer and slept, lol. Woke up on descent :).

I do think one of the macaws is new. That cockatoo was so chill. :cool:

Thanks for another great review. I love your photos and details of the excursions.

 

I see you will be on the Vista next year. Looking forward to that trip report as well.

Thanks! Looking forward to meeting you! This cruise is really looking to be something else and it will be my first time in Europe.

Good review, shame about the flight home, we have had the odd low trip home.

Thanks!

Odd low trip home?

Did you guys have a M&G? Did I miss that? I was hoping for a group photo.

 

And are there already plans for another sailing from San Juan next year?

There was supposed to be a meet and greet but there was confusion over times. One post said 2, the other 4. I made it to the 4pm one and found nobody. At 2 I was having beer with Carol.

No plans for another sailing in November (at least for me and much of the group).

Good morning, everyone!

HERE is the final installment of my trip. Back in San Juan.

Enjoy!

Have a good evening, everyone.

I will post the return to San Juan tomorrow night with a wrap-up post possibly Friday morning.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned.

Thanks for referring to the airport as Washington National and not that other unpleasant moniker it has.

Ahhh, politics. haha. I always grew up with it being Washington National. I thought Reagan was an odd choice for the name if not very polarizing.

Thanks for writing this review! We just sailed the 6 day itinerary on Liberty on October 18-24 and loved it! I've only been on 4 cruises, but I think Liberty is my favorite ship now. It was Victory, but I liked the decor of Liberty more and loved the chandelier in the atrium.

 

When we sailed in 2013 I was having ridiculous stomach issues and was eating gluten free at my doc's advice. We did my time dining and it worked out really well. The same waitress/maitre'd checked in with me every night and I ordered the next days' worth of food and they always found me. Of course, we ended up eating with the same wait staff because we requested them, but it was really awesome to see how much effort Carnival went through to ensure that I had food I could eat.

 

I agree with you about the pools though; I had read trippingpara's review earlier and was really surprised about how many of the tiles were missing from around the pools and how many more tiles just looked rusted. They also re-finished/re-painted or whatever it is you do to water slides while we were on the ship. I was just happy I had gone on the slide before they did that because it was closed for a couple days while it dried, I assume. Thanks for helping me relive our trip!

Thanks!

No wonder the slide looked so green!

For a 6-day you all had a pretty decent itinerary, including Dominica if I'm not mistaken. I too was surprised to read that they had supposedly refinished the pools. I'll be sharing a photo in the coming days on that topic too.

The diet thing definitely worked. I was also fortunate that I had an app on my phone that guided me and that the wifi this cruise was excellent. While I had some of the more "bland" options on the menus, I can happily say I still enjoyed all the food I was served. I suggest everyone with digestive issues read into this a little and if you have any doubts, to contact Carnival. They were very helpful.

Liberty will always be THE ship to me. Even after sailing Breeze and looking forward to Vista, Liberty was the first ship I sailed. The nicest decor of it's class is just a bonus. :)

Looks beautiful! I'll have to check this place out if I make it over there one day!

You can take a picture with Donald Duck on the way out. Someone tell him to stay off the drugs because he's looking a little rough these days.

 

LOL! That duck has seen better days!

I haven't even had a chance to start reading Sean's yet. :(

No rush! I'm still trying to crank-out mine too. Two more posts and I'll be done, woohoo!