Independence of the Seas transatlantic 7.april 2013

[Madshus]

Our original plan was to go on the transatlantic cruise in 2013 on Liberty of the Seas which we think will leave Fort Lauderdale 27.april 2013 and go to Barcelona. If they repeat the itinerary from 2012 it will be like this:

 

Day 1 Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Day 2 Nassau, Bahamas

Day 3 At sea

Day 4 At sea

Day 5 At sea

Day 6 At sea

Day 7 At sea

Day 8 At sea

Day 9 At sea

Day 10 Tenerife, Kanariøyene

Day 11 At sea

Day 12 Sevilla (Cadiz), Spania

Day 13 Malaga, Spania

Day 14 Valencia, Spania

Day 15 Barcelona, Spania

 

Does anybody have any information about the 27.april 2013 cruise on Liberty and the itinerary ?

 

We have now seen that Independence of the Seas also has a transatlantic in april 2013 and it leaves Fort Lauderdale 7.april 2013. The itinerary is:

 

Day 1 Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Day 2 Nassau, Bahamas

Day 3 At sea

Day 4 Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

Day 5 Philipsburg, St. Maarten

Day 6 At sea

Day 7 At sea

Day 8 At sea

Day 9 At sea

Day 10 At sea

Day 11 At sea

Day 12 At sea

Day 13 At sea

Day 14 Southampton, England

 

We are father, mother and by the time of the cruise a 5 year old girl and a 3 year old boy. The girl will start at school 4 months after the cruise, so this will be our last chance doing something exciting.

 

We live in Norway and Charlotte Amalie and Philipsburg sounds exiting and exotic to us because it is far from home and we never have been to a Caribbean island. Tenerife, Sevilla, Malaga (Granada), Valencia and Barcelona is much closer and we have been to all those places on landbased holidays before.

 

Liberty has been to Drydock in 2011 and has got some upgrades while Independence will wait until later in 2013 or 2014. Is it any important differences on Independence and Liberty ? I understand the first one has the Dreamworks figures and a Nursery. Probably not very important for us, but Dreamworks seem to be fun for the children. The important thing will be that both children can be in the same Adventure Ocean® youth program: Aquanauts (age 3-5 years). They do not understand English, so I think they will be more happy if they are together.

 

How do you think the two cruises will be weatherlike ? I suppose the first week on both cruises will be warm enough, perhaps Independece a little warmer. But the last few days Independence will be cooler since it is earlier and Southampton is farther north than The Mediterranean. We are used to cold weather, but hope to use the pools and H20 zone on the ships.

 

Is it likely there will be any differences about the passengers ? Probably there will be a lot of people from the UK on Independence. Any chance our children will have other children to play with ?

 

Actually we have found the ideal stateroom on Independence at booked it, but the booking will be deleted if we don’t pay something like 700USD within a week. If Liberty had an itinerary without all the Spanish harbours and more Caribbean I think that would have been our choice.

[larhode]

Our original plan was to go on the transatlantic cruise in 2013 on Liberty of the Seas which we think will leave Fort Lauderdale 27.april 2013 and go to Barcelona. If they repeat the itinerary from 2012 it will be like this:

 

Day 1 Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Day 2 Nassau, Bahamas

Day 3 At sea

Day 4 At sea

Day 5 At sea

Day 6 At sea

Day 7 At sea

Day 8 At sea

Day 9 At sea

Day 10 Tenerife, Kanariøyene

Day 11 At sea

Day 12 Sevilla (Cadiz), Spania

Day 13 Malaga, Spania

Day 14 Valencia, Spania

Day 15 Barcelona, Spania

 

Does anybody have any information about the 27.april 2013 cruise on Liberty and the itinerary ?

 

We have now seen that Independence of the Seas also has a transatlantic in april 2013 and it leaves Fort Lauderdale 7.april 2013. The itinerary is:

 

Day 1 Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Day 2 Nassau, Bahamas

Day 3 At sea

Day 4 Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

Day 5 Philipsburg, St. Maarten

Day 6 At sea

Day 7 At sea

Day 8 At sea

Day 9 At sea

Day 10 At sea

Day 11 At sea

Day 12 At sea

Day 13 At sea

Day 14 Southampton, England

 

We are father, mother and by the time of the cruise a 5 year old girl and a 3 year old boy. The girl will start at school 4 months after the cruise, so this will be our last chance doing something exciting.

 

We live in Norway and Charlotte Amalie and Philipsburg sounds exiting and exotic to us because it is far from home and we never have been to a Caribbean island. Tenerife, Sevilla, Malaga (Granada), Valencia and Barcelona is much closer and we have been to all those places on landbased holidays before.

 

Liberty has been to Drydock in 2011 and has got some upgrades while Independence will wait until later in 2013 or 2014. Is it any important differences on Independence and Liberty ? I understand the first one has the Dreamworks figures and a Nursery. Probably not very important for us, but Dreamworks seem to be fun for the children. The important thing will be that both children can be in the same Adventure Ocean® youth program: Aquanauts (age 3-5 years). They do not understand English, so I think they will be more happy if they are together.

 

How do you think the two cruises will be weatherlike ? I suppose the first week on both cruises will be warm enough, perhaps Independece a little warmer. But the last few days Independence will be cooler since it is earlier and Southampton is farther north than The Mediterranean. We are used to cold weather, but hope to use the pools and H20 zone on the ships.

 

Is it likely there will be any differences about the passengers ? Probably there will be a lot of people from the UK on Independence. Any chance our children will have other children to play with ?

 

Actually we have found the ideal stateroom on Independence at booked it, but the booking will be deleted if we don’t pay something like 700USD within a week. If Liberty had an itinerary without all the Spanish harbours and more Caribbean I think that would have been our choice.

 

I'm booked on Liberty for a Trans Atlantic crossing this coming April so I'll let you know how it goes! I'm doing the first itinerary you mentioned with stops in Spain for the same reason you mentioned. Those places are far from home and I've been everywhere in the Caribbean many times. From what I've read, the weather is unpredictable. You will have sunny warm weather for your stops in the Caribbean, but after that who knows. You could encounter rough seas on the crossing. But then you are crossing the ocean, and it would probably be rare to have smooth sailing the whole way.

 

The Caribbean ports you mentioned are nice, Phillipsburg is the better of the two in my opinion, I go there often on business. In fact, I was there 3 days ago and will be going again next week. The island is interesting with a Dutch and French side. They take US Dollars on the Dutch side while the French portion takes Euros. The island is interesting and not just a sandbar selling trinkets like some of the other islands. It actually has some terrain and natural beauty. I suggest renting a moped or bicycle to explore the island. Of course you could just lay on the beach if you're into that, the water is crystal clear.

 

One rather odd attraction is the beach right by the airport. The end of the runway sits mere feet from the beach, which is open to the public. Everyone congregates there when the big planes land, they come so low you'll think they are going to land on your head. Everyone screams and dives to the ground as they come overhead, it's sort of a rush and quite fun. When the planes take off, people stand there as the jet blast knocks them over and they go rolling into the water. I know, it sounds strange, but even if you just go to watch the others, it's worth a look.

 

I've been to St Thomas too, but not as often, and always for work. I haven't explored it as much, but from what I saw, it didn't impress me as much as some of the other islands. The beaches are wonderful however.

 

Hope that helps, I'll write a trip report when I return from my voyage!