Southern Caribbean via Conquest (Ft. Lauderdale) or Liberty (St. Juan)?

[misstiffany]

I have been researching options for me and the boyfriend's April or May 2015 Southern Caribbean cruise. I've see a few Carnival options I like.

 

Background: We live in Tallahassee, would be parking&flying from Orlando to San Juan (SCO) or driving&parking to the port in Ft. Lauderdale. The flights to/from SCO would be covered with Southwest reward miles. The date of the Liberty cruise is negotiable, as they seem to frequently have good prices out of San Juan (besides holidays) and Southwest has a good number of flight options each day. I would want to stick w/ the Conquest date due to getting extra time off for Memorial Day Weekend. We typically book at least 1 "big" excursion and then taxi it by ourselves to the beach on other days. Also, class of ship doesn't really matter!

 

 

Liberty Itinerary ($379 Interior)

 

DAY DATE PORT

Sun Apr 26 San Juan, Puerto Rico

Mon Apr 27 St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands 7a-5p

Tue Apr 28 At Sea

Wed Apr 29 Barbados 8a-5p

Thu Apr 30 St. Lucia 8a-5p

Fri May 1 St. Kitts 8a-6p

Sat May 2 St. Maarten 7a-5pm

Sun May 3 San Juan, Puerto Rico

 

Conquest Itinerary ($589 Interior)

 

ITINERARY

 

DAY DATE PORT

Sat May 23 Fort Lauderdale, FL

Sun May 24 At Sea

Mon May 25 Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos Islands 7a-2p

Tue May 26 La Romana, Dominican Republic 9a-4p

Wed May 27 Curacao 1p-11p

Thu May 28 Aruba 8a-4p

Fri May 29 At Sea

Sat May 30 At Sea

Sun May 31 Fort Lauderdale, FL 8:00am

 

Is there anything about either that seems especially good or bad? Have already been to San Juan, St. Thomas and Grand Turk. I've researched the ports a little but thought I would ask the opinion of the real cruise experts as well :D

[Honolulu Blue]

I'm sure you'll hear from real experts shortly, but while I'm here, I might as well take a shot.

 

I was on the Conquest a few months ago. Nice ship. I will be sailing on the Liberty next October. The reviews are generally good - though there's a disturbing thread here about excessive vibrations. I hope that's fixed by then.

 

The Conquest and Liberty are in the same class and have most of the same amenities. The Liberty is slightly newer, but the Conquest was in good shape when I was on her.

 

I did the Liberty's itinerary on the Valor. Those are all great stops! I'm not a beachgoer at all, so I can't comment on those, but I thought there were quite a few other worthwhile things to do on all of those islands.

 

I've never been to any of the islands on the Conquest's itinerary. The three ports that aren't Grand Turk intrigue me, and I'll probably get to them sometime.

 

I like days in port more than sea days, so having 5&1 is better than 4&3, but that's a personal matter and others will differ.

 

The Liberty cruise is cheaper, but airfare to get there will be more expensive (assuming you can use the miles somewhere else, some other time). I'd call it a wash.

 

My choice for you would be the Liberty, but I suspect I'm going to be outnumbered.

[champagne123]

I'm sure you'll hear from real experts shortly, but while I'm here, I might as well take a shot.

 

I was on the Conquest a few months ago. Nice ship. I will be sailing on the Liberty next October. The reviews are generally good - though there's a disturbing thread here about excessive vibrations. I hope that's fixed by then.

 

The Conquest and Liberty are in the same class and have most of the same amenities. The Liberty is slightly newer, but the Conquest was in good shape when I was on her.

 

I did the Liberty's itinerary on the Valor. Those are all great stops! I'm not a beachgoer at all, so I can't comment on those, but I thought there were quite a few other worthwhile things to do on all of those islands.

 

I've never been to any of the islands on the Conquest's itinerary. The three ports that aren't Grand Turk intrigue me, and I'll probably get to them sometime.

 

I like days in port more than sea days, so having 5&1 is better than 4&3, but that's a personal matter and others will differ.

 

The Liberty cruise is cheaper, but airfare to get there will be more expensive (assuming you can use the miles somewhere else, some other time). I'd call it a wash.

 

My choice for you would be the Liberty, but I suspect I'm going to be outnumbered.

 

You have some WONDERFUL points. Me???? I would be EXHAUSTED on such a port intensive cruise. Lol...showing my age. I would need a vacation to recoup from my vacation. :):):)

[beauty1492]

So for my 2 cents worth. both int have some great ports. the Liberty with ports I like better and I have been to all the ports loved Aruba, and Barbados

 

but having sail out of SJ I would never sail out of that port again. total chaos ruled at embarkation. I mean it was awful. The ship we were on was sold out to the locals that meant there cell PHONES WORKED. If you are like me you want away from chatter in elevators and the pool side. Of course this is just the ship life. and if you thought embarkation was bad just wait until till you debark what a nightmare. pushing yelling and don't even get me started on the airport.

 

So my 2 cents worth I would do the Conquest

[rooster1961]

I have been researching options for me and the boyfriend's April or May 2015 Southern Caribbean cruise. I've see a few Carnival options I like.

 

Background: We live in Tallahassee, would be parking&flying from Orlando to San Juan (SCO) or driving&parking to the port in Ft. Lauderdale. The flights to/from SCO would be covered with Southwest reward miles. The date of the Liberty cruise is negotiable, as they seem to frequently have good prices out of San Juan (besides holidays) and Southwest has a good number of flight options each day. I would want to stick w/ the Conquest date due to getting extra time off for Memorial Day Weekend. We typically book at least 1 "big" excursion and then taxi it by ourselves to the beach on other days. Also, class of ship doesn't really matter!

 

 

Liberty Itinerary ($379 Interior)

 

DAY DATE PORT

Sun Apr 26 San Juan, Puerto Rico

Mon Apr 27 St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands 7a-5p

Tue Apr 28 At Sea

Wed Apr 29 Barbados 8a-5p

Thu Apr 30 St. Lucia 8a-5p

Fri May 1 St. Kitts 8a-6p

Sat May 2 St. Maarten 7a-5pm

Sun May 3 San Juan, Puerto Rico

 

Conquest Itinerary ($589 Interior)

 

ITINERARY

 

DAY DATE PORT

Sat May 23 Fort Lauderdale, FL

Sun May 24 At Sea

Mon May 25 Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos Islands 7a-2p

Tue May 26 La Romana, Dominican Republic 9a-4p

Wed May 27 Curacao 1p-11p

Thu May 28 Aruba 8a-4p

Fri May 29 At Sea

Sat May 30 At Sea

Sun May 31 Fort Lauderdale, FL 8:00am

 

Is there anything about either that seems especially good or bad? Have already been to San Juan, St. Thomas and Grand Turk. I've researched the ports a little but thought I would ask the opinion of the real cruise experts as well :D

 

First, Liberty is Conquest class, same ship. Next,I'm biased when I saw you mention going Memorial Day weekend. I will be on that Conquest cruise so come on with us!:D Although I do like those ports on the Liberty. I saw a couple of weeks ago when they had that 1 day 35 hour sale, an interior on the Conquest was $469pp

[rooster1961]

Hey!, Honolulu Blue, How bout them Lions! I'm a big Lions fan even though I left Michigan 15 years ago.:)

[jwalk03]

The ships are basically the same, but Conquest class and both have 2.0 upgrades. (One thing though is that Conquest does not have a Serenity Area, while Liberty does.)

 

I have not been on the GT, DR, ARU, CUR cruise yet (its on my to do list), but I have been on the Southern route out of San Juan and it is AMAZING! Everyday its a new island that is totally different from the one before it. The crystal clear water in Barbados, The Pitons in St. Lucia, the rolling hills and stunning beaches of St. Kitts, every single island is AWESOME. St. Thomas is a great port of call on most cruises, and to be honest it was my least favorite port on this cruise, not becuase I don't like it. Simply becuase all of these stops are wonderful. If you are looking for beaches that will knock your socks off you will not do better than this cruise. period.

 

All that said, it is port intensive, 6 ports in 7 days is a lot. So if you are the type that just likes to lay on the ship by the pool with an umbrella drink this prolly isn't the best choice. I was very tired at the end of this trip last year when we took it, but I would still do it again in a heartbeat, just leave yourself a day or 2 after the cruise before you have to go back to work. (Especially if you can swing staying in San Juan for an extra day or 2, its well worth the time as well.)

[valentinebaby1]

I would disagree on the San Juan port being chaos. Of course every sailing could be different, but our experience in San Juan was smooth. So much so, that we're going back to do it again. We sailed on the Valor in Oct 2013 and are sailing the same route on the Liberty in Sept 2015.

 

The cruise itself is a very busy itinerary. I would actually have enjoyed one more sea day, but we enjoyed all of the ports so much we are excited to do it again...we've just decided to add a couple days after the cruise to "recover" in Puerto Rico before returning home this time!

 

You can see my review on the Valor in my signature below.

[TeresaJ]

My deciding factor would be that the Liberty is more port intensive with only 1 sea day and Conquest has an extra night so you have 3 sea days. If you are looking to relax I'd say go with the Conquest. If you want to be more on the go and exploring the ports , I would choose Liberty.

 

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[CCL Cruiser24]

I've been on the liberty (my first cruise) and loved it. Everything was great, it won't disappoint. I considered the same itinerary for this summer but decided flying into SJ would just be too inconvenient, and I could use another sea day. With that being said, I am now considering the same southern itinerary you are on the conquest except on the breeze. For anybody that has been to these ports (Aruba, Curacao, etc.) would you recommend it and what did you do there? I have to choose between that and an eastern but just can't =). I love Grand Turk, for sure a beach day!

[misstiffany]

Thank you everyone for the great insight! It really does seem to be a toss between being being a bit busier on the Liberty vs more relaxation on the Conquest. When it comes down to it, I would pick the Liberty itinerary hands down IF it wasn't for the travel to San Juan. Here in FL, we have only ever driven to ports so the lack of experience flying in is a tad intimidating. Whenever we fly, we also bring the bare minimum and never check luggage...I can't imagine packing for a cruise in a little carry on, but I know I shouldn't let that keep me from going somewhere new!

[pghsteelerfan]

We did the Southern itinerary out of San Juan in May 2013, on Valor. This past April, we were on Liberty and love both ships. I would LOVE to do the itinerary out of San Juan again...it is, hands down, the most scenic route we've been on. The islands aren't flat, they are mountainous and green and all are very different. I'm currently in the process of arm twisting DH into doing a cruise out of San Juan for the southern itinerary again. As for flying, I say the southern out of San Juan is worth it, at least once. I've never been to La Romana, DR, Aruba or Curacao, so I can't comment on them.

[I like to cruise]

We cruised the southern route twice via gt, dr, cu and Aruba and had a great time. GT has a margarita ville at the port and it is right at the end of the pier. No peddlers or harassment. DR doesn't have much at the port but you can get a day pass to Dreams resort all inclusive and spend your day floating around their infinity pool or taking I their wonderful activities. CU is a fun port to sight see the Dutch buildings and barge bridge shop or just grab a giant margarita at the fort bars next to the casino. Also a short walk from the ship. Aruba has some greAt beaches . Eagle beach is very relaxing. :cool::):D

[MrSchwump]

We did the same itinerary as the Liberty on the Valor in 2012 from SJ. The biggest downside was the extra time and cost of getting to SJU.

 

We had zero problems at embark or debark. We stayed in Old San Juan which was nice. We walked to the ship. We enjoyed touring around OSJ precruise.

 

We're doing a similar itinerary as the Conquest out of Miami next month, minus La Romana. We're looking forward to the wealth of sea days for relaxing!

 

I like the ports on your Liberty itinerary better than the Conquests. I love Barbados! St. Lucia is beautiful. Orient Bay on St. Martin is a 1st class beach! St. Kitts was nice and the people there were very friendly. St. Thomas is St. Thomas. My wife stays on board there.

 

You can flip a coin, you'll win either way.

[christyran1228]

We were on the Valor out of San Juan this past November (9th) ... I can't say anything about the Liberty, but right now I'd gladly jump on a dinghy to revisit that itinerary.

 

I think it should be on everyone's bucket list. :)

 

Pricing in March had us at $689 for a lido balcony ... from price drops through 2 days before sailing, we ended up in a Jr. Suite for about the same price.

 

And an extremely low population of kids under 18 didn't hurt. :)

 

 

Unbeknownst to DH, I am currently planning our early retirement to St. Lucia. ;)

 

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Edited January 19, 2015 by christyran1228