Attn LIBERTY & VALOR cruisers: Detailed Review of Valors Last Cruise from Puerto Rico

[deladane]

Enjoying your review and pictures! Cruising in almost 2 weeks (YEA!!) and planning to go to The Boatyard so looking forward to hearing about your visit and how it was.

Susan

 

Thank you! I plan to post the next segment about the Boatyard tomorrow :)

[deladane]

Wednesday, March 18 ~ Boatyard Beach in Barbados

 

We woke up at 7:15am, got omelets for breakfast at the Lido buffet at 8am, and left the ship at 9am to grab a taxi to the Boatyard Beach on Carlisle Bay.

 

 

The taxi costs $5 per person, and we shared the taxi with 13 other people. The whole time we were in the taxi, the driver tried to convince us to go to Harbor Lights, saying that there would be a long wait for taxis at the Boatyard when we wanted to leave (spoiler alert: we had no wait at all). Anyway, no one in our taxi fell for his tricks and we arrived at the Boatyard by 9:30am. The driver then proceeded to escort us to the check in spot so he could collect his commission! Go figure! We paid a $15 per person entrance fee which included lounge chairs, an umbrella, a cup of rum punch, use of the rope swing and water toys, and the bathrooms/changing rooms. There were already a lot of people there when we arrived, but we were able to get front row seats on the right side of the pier (red umbrellas). By 11am, I heard the staff say they ran out of chairs, so plan to get there early if you want a chair at the Boatyard (and we were the only ship in port that day- I'm sure they fill up faster on days with more ships docked).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Within minutes of putting our bags down, the local vendors were asking if we wanted to rent jet skis or go swimming with the turtles. If you plan to swim with the turtles, it is a good idea to head out early in the day because a) more boats filled with tourists show up as the day progresses so it will get very crowded, and b) the guides feed the turtles to entice them, but as the day goes on, they fill up and don't respond as well to the bait. There are many different vendors, and most charge $20 per person for the tour, which includes life vests, rum punch, and snorkel equipment if needed (the people on the lounge chairs next to us bargained it down to $15 per person!). We found it a bit annoying at how aggressive the vendors were. There are a bunch of guys on the beach soliciting tourists to take the tour, and they expect you to be loyal to them if they approach you first. Well, we noticed that some of our friends from Cruise Critic were going to snorkel at the same time so we joined up with them on their boat, and our original vendor got very upset and started harassing me about it. It was a stressful situation and I felt uncomfortable about it, but luckily the guy didn't bother us once we got back from the tour. It's just something to be aware of if you do go to the Boatyard- the water sports vendors are verrrry pushy!

[deladane]

Anyway, back to the story... We went out on a double-decker glass-bottom boat right away, and were gone for about an hour. We chose to bring our beach bags with us, but noticed many others leaving their bags on their lounge chairs later in the day. Here is the view looking back at the Boatyard as we sailed away...

 

 

First, we went snorkeling over a ship wreck. In my opinion, the snorkeling here was sub-par. There weren't that many fish, there was a bit of a current that we had to swim against, and the water was too cloudy. It was my first time snorkeling in 2.5 years, so it was nice to have some practice time to get the hang of it again, but it was kind of hard to see the fish in the cloudy water. Oh well, it was still fun!

 

 

 

 

 

We stayed there for about 20 minutes, then the guide signaled for us to swim back to the boat. Next, we went over to an area where there were already a bunch of boats anchored. The water was very crowded, but our guide said this was where we could snorkel with the sea turtles so we jumped in the water and made our own space. Notice all the heads bobbing in the water...

 

[deladane]

Sure enough, there were 5 beautiful sea turtles swimming amongst all the tourists. It was definitely very crowded with 40-50 people trying to get close to the turtles, and everyone was getting kicked and hit by neighboring swimmers, but it was all part of the excitement. I was very surprised to see so many swimmers out there since the last time I did this on my cruise in 2012, there were just the 4 people on my boat, but we also went on a lot earlier in the morning so I guess there is a big difference between going at 9am and 10am!!

 

 

If you look closely, you can see 4 turtles in this photo!

 

Snorkel Selfie!

 

 

It was crowded!

 

 

We spent about 15 minutes snorkeling with the sea turtles, then got back on the boat. The guide gave us a cup of very strong rum punch to enjoy as he brought us back to the Boatyard. Overall, it was $20 well spent and I think everyone on our boat had fun, but I do think it was a bit too crowded to fully enjoy the experience. One thing to keep in mind is that many of the other boats near us were half- or full-day catamaran excursions that run up to $100 per person, yet we were all snorkeling at the same time, in the same water, with the same turtles! I am sure they had a great rest of their day on the boat whereas we only had 1 hour on the boat and spent the rest of our day on the beach, but I don't think it is worth the difference in price if you are only going for the snorkel experience and don't care about spending all day on their boat.

[justme_85]

Sure enough, there were 5 beautiful sea turtles swimming amongst all the tourists. It was definitely very crowded with 40-50 people trying to get close to the turtles, and everyone was getting kicked and hit by neighboring swimmers, but it was all part of the excitement. I was very surprised to see so many swimmers out there since the last time I did this on my cruise in 2012, there were just the 4 people on my boat, but we also went on a lot earlier in the morning so I guess there is a big difference between going at 9am and 10am!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you look closely, you can see 4 turtles in this photo!

 

 

 

 

Snorkel Selfie!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was crowded!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent about 15 minutes snorkeling with the sea turtles, then got back on the boat. The guide gave us a cup of very strong rum punch to enjoy as he brought us back to the Boatyard. Overall, it was $20 well spent and I think everyone on our boat had fun, but I do think it was a bit too crowded to fully enjoy the experience. One thing to keep in mind is that many of the other boats near us were half- or full-day catamaran excursions that run up to $100 per person, yet we were all snorkeling at the same time, in the same water, with the same turtles! I am sure they had a great rest of their day on the boat whereas we only had 1 hour on the boat and spent the rest of our day on the beach, but I don't think it is worth the difference in price if you are only going for the snorkel experience and don't care about spending all day on their boat.

 

 

 

I am loving your review! I am going in the Liberty May 10th and will be going to the Boatyard as well. You mentioned in your review that by 11am they did not have anymore chairs to rent and you guys took your bags on the boat with you. Did anyone take your chairs? Is there a set rule that those are your rented chairs for the day? I would hate to come back and my chairs are gone!

[deladane]

I am loving your review! I am going in the Liberty May 10th and will be going to the Boatyard as well. You mentioned in your review that by 11am they did not have anymore chairs to rent and you guys took your bags on the boat with you. Did anyone take your chairs? Is there a set rule that those are your rented chairs for the day? I would hate to come back and my chairs are gone!

 

Good point, I should have been more specific! We took our beach bags with our wallets and snorkel gear, but left behind our Carnival towels spread out on the lounge chair, our paperback books (assumed no one would want to steal that! lol), and our dry change of clothes (again, assumed no one would steal it and didn't want to risk it getting wet on the snorkel boat). Whatever you bring on that boat will definitely get wet. It's hard to avoid it because every time people get back on the boat, they are coming directly out of the water and are dripping wet, so even if it is unintentional, everyone's stuff gets wet. You don't really need your towel on the boat because the breeze will dry you off, but some people did bring their towels (I'm not sure what they did to reserve their lounge chairs! haha) Have a great cruise and come back to tell us how it went!! :)

[Shih-tzu]

Enjoying the review so far....I am booked for the Liberty in Feb 2016 with same itinerary.

[uprivermama]

There are a bunch of guys on the beach soliciting tourists to take the tour, and they expect you to be loyal to them if they approach you first. Well, we noticed that some of our friends from Cruise Critic were going to snorkel at the same time so we joined up with them on their boat, and our original vendor got very upset and started harassing me about it. It was a stressful situation and I felt uncomfortable about it, but luckily the guy didn't bother us once we got back from the tour. It's just something to be aware of if you do go to the Boatyard- the water sports vendors are verrrry pushy!

 

This was exactly our experience at the Boatyard too. My husband got a little irritated with those guys but I convinced him to cool off! Super fun day otherwise!

[ff274]

Awesome review we are on Liberty in June and love your pictures and your comments.....first time to Barbados, St Kitts, and St Lucia for us been to St Thomas and St Marteen......keep up pics

[ohiowilly]

Thanks for posting your review. We enjoyed this itinerary on the Valor in September, 2014, and it has been our favorite cruise, to date. Old San Juan is just..... enchanting; a wonderful city within a city, complete with a European feel in the architecture. The Valor/Liberty Southern itinerary is very busy, but what a great collection of ports.

 

I'm glad that you were able to experience "the balcony." There's nothing more relaxing than sitting on your own balcony with a cup of coffee or other beverage in hand, just taking in the view of the water - without the crowds or noise!

 

We've sailed twice now on the Valor, and even though she has some mileage and years on her, I don't remember any signs of wear that would prevent me from booking the Valor again. Given the 2.0 upgrades on the Liberty, this itinerary from SJU will be even better.

 

Thanks again for sharing; I'm enjoying the chance to relive our wonderful cruise last Sept/Oct.

[AimeeAndJoel]

Loving this review Deladane!

We are on the Liberty June7-14 and absolutely cannot wait! I'm very interested to hear your opinion of anytime dining. In most reviews I read the cruiser has set time finding Ng it those that do have anytime absolutely hate it. We have chosen anytime because we both like to eat when we want to and this tends to change day by day. Also, would you mind please explaining this whole "price drop" thing to me? I'm a complete newbie - new to cruising and new to America [emoji2] And finally (sorry for the question overload!) is there any reason why you would go to Harbour Lights? Or is it that you just prefer the Boatyard?

 

Thanks,

Aimee

[deladane]

Enjoying the review so far....I am booked for the Liberty in Feb 2016 with same itinerary.

 

Thanks! I hope you are finding some helpful info to plan your cruise :)

[deladane]

This was exactly our experience at the Boatyard too. My husband got a little irritated with those guys but I convinced him to cool off! Super fun day otherwise!

 

I think they would probably book more snorkel tours if they were a bit less pushy! Half the crowd shows up there knowing about the tours and planning to book it because they did their research already on Cruise Critic. Then as those people come back from their morning tours, they are all super happy from all the fun they had and the people on surrounding lounge chairs can't help but hear about it and decide to go snorkeling too! It sells itself, so no need to be that pushy haha I totally understand that this is their main source of income, but there are better ways for them to do their job if you ask me :)

[deladane]

Awesome review we are on Liberty in June and love your pictures and your comments.....first time to Barbados, St Kitts, and St Lucia for us been to St Thomas and St Marteen......keep up pics

 

Thank you! You are in for a treat with those new Southern Caribbean islands... truly unique and beautiful places to visit for a few hours :) Let me know if you have any questions!

[deladane]

Thanks for posting your review. We enjoyed this itinerary on the Valor in September, 2014, and it has been our favorite cruise, to date. Old San Juan is just..... enchanting; a wonderful city within a city, complete with a European feel in the architecture. The Valor/Liberty Southern itinerary is very busy, but what a great collection of ports.

 

I'm glad that you were able to experience "the balcony." There's nothing more relaxing than sitting on your own balcony with a cup of coffee or other beverage in hand, just taking in the view of the water - without the crowds or noise!

 

We've sailed twice now on the Valor, and even though she has some mileage and years on her, I don't remember any signs of wear that would prevent me from booking the Valor again. Given the 2.0 upgrades on the Liberty, this itinerary from SJU will be even better.

 

Thanks again for sharing; I'm enjoying the chance to relive our wonderful cruise last Sept/Oct.

 

Thank you for your wonderful comments :) I agree that this is one of the best itineraries out there! I'm kinda bummed that the Liberty will only be there until early March 2016, and then they are sending a really old outdated ship to replace it. I'm glad I got to do my repeat cruise from San Juan while there was still a nice mid-sized ship there :)

[deladane]

Loving this review Deladane!

We are on the Liberty June7-14 and absolutely cannot wait! I'm very interested to hear your opinion of anytime dining. In most reviews I read the cruiser has set time finding Ng it those that do have anytime absolutely hate it. We have chosen anytime because we both like to eat when we want to and this tends to change day by day. Also, would you mind please explaining this whole "price drop" thing to me? I'm a complete newbie - new to cruising and new to America [emoji2] And finally (sorry for the question overload!) is there any reason why you would go to Harbour Lights? Or is it that you just prefer the Boatyard?

 

Thanks,

Aimee

 

Hi Aimee,

Don't hesitate to keep asking questions... I got so much helpful info from Cruise Critic when I was planning my cruise, so this is just my way of returning the favor :)

 

I will go into more details about my experience with anytime dining towards the end of the review, so if you don't mind, I'm going to ask you to hold off on that question for a few more days. I keep wavering back and forth about if I would do it again and if I really liked it, so I want to have some more time to reflect on the pros and cons before I give my final verdict haha

 

I am sure Harbor Lights is lovely, but we specifically wanted to go to the Boatyard because they have a really fun Caribbean party vibe and they are the only place along Carlisle Bay to have all those fun water toys. You can only use the water toys if you pay their $15 entry fee, so we knew we definitely wanted to go there :)

 

Price Drops are when the price of your cabin category goes lower than what you originally paid for it when you booked your cruise. Carnival handles price drops in 2 ways... I booked the Early Saver rate. It is only available if you book the cruise far in advance (5 months prior to sailing, I think?), and it has a lot of rules and policies (no changing the names of the people in your cabin, and if you cancel, you lose $50 and the other $200 from your deposit gets applied to another cruise in the next 2 years, so basically you need to be really sure you are taking that cruise with those people if you book this rate). The benefit to Early Saver is that if the price of your cabin drops, Carnival will match the price. If this happens before final payment is due (about 3 months prior to sailing), they just decrease your final payment amount as long as you haven't already paid in full (which is why I usually wait until 1 week before the final payment date to pay that remaining balance). If the price drops after you have made your final payment, they will give you an onboard credit which is usually refundable if you don't use all of it (but since tips cost $12 per day, you would need a lot of on board credit money to not use all of it!) If you do not book the Early Saver rate, then I think you can price match if the rate drops before you make your final payment, but after that, you are out of luck. I hope that helps! Let me know if you have any other questions :)

[Kobayashi]

I checked the JetBlue website and was totally shocked! They had roundtrip flights from San Jose (our closest airport) to Puerto Rico for $464 each!! The flights were not direct (which I knew, because we can only fly directly to NYC or Boston from San Jose), so we would have to connect at JFK airport in NY. So basically that meant that we were paying $116 for each leg of our flight (CA to NY, NY to PR, and back)! Holy cow!! I usually pay close to $500 just to fly from CA to NY! This was such an amazing deal on flights that we knew we had to book them ASAP.

 

I'm also in Silicon Valley. Thanks for the tip. Looking forward to your pictures. I always sail from Long Beach as the prices are too high for a flight and cruise and if I'm going to fly for five hours I may as well go to Hawaii. But with those prices you have me thinking twice!

 

Enjoying your review! Cheers!

[deladane]

I'm also in Silicon Valley. Thanks for the tip. Looking forward to your pictures. I always sail from Long Beach as the prices are too high for a flight and cruise and if I'm going to fly for five hours I may as well go to Hawaii. But with those prices you have me thinking twice!

 

Enjoying your review! Cheers!

 

Haha yea, I think the trick is to plan in advance. We must have booked our flights within a few weeks of them adding those dates to the flight schedule so they were at their lowest. From what I've noticed, flight prices rarely drop... they mostly just get higher as time passes, so your best bet for great prices is to book as soon as they post the new flight schedules :) We are planning to go back to Vegas for our 2 year anniversary in December... Southwest hasn't posted their flights yet, but as soon as they do, we will likely book round trip from SJC for around $150 each! Not as impressive as the deal we got to San Juan, but you get the idea ;) Plus, I love flying from SJC because it's such a small easy airport, rarely has a line for security, and tends to have way cheaper flights than SFO. Keep your eyes open and you'll surely find a good deal!

[pcrum]

I loved your European review of the Sunshine, so am very excited for this one!! I also love the idea of the candy jars...I had not seen that one before! :)

[deladane]

I loved your European review of the Sunshine, so am very excited for this one!! I also love the idea of the candy jars...I had not seen that one before! :)

 

Thank you! With all of this positive feedback, I think I may start a new Cruise Critic trend with that candy jar idea ;)

[deladane]

We spent the next few hours relaxing on our lounge chairs, drinking our free cup of rum punch, and chatting with the people on our neighboring lounge chairs. Everyone was so friendly and it is always fun to meet new people. J even met some people from his home town and their son went to J's high school! What are the chances?! Less shocking was when I met a couple who live in the same apartment building where my brother used to live in NYC (it's kind of an infamous building and once they mentioned the intersection, I knew the exact building they were talking about... they found it funny that they met someone in Barbados who could identify their apartment building by it's nickname lol)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At some point, we heard a siren go off to signal that they were pouring free shots at the bar. Tons of people ran up to have the bartender pour liquor from the bottle right into their mouths! It felt like we were on spring break! Haha

[deladane]

Later in the afternoon, we decided to try out the water toys. J loved the rope swing and went on it a few times. Sadly, I did not enjoy it as much as I thought I would, and it took me a while to recover from all that water that got in my ears upon landing haha oops! We also spent some time relaxing on the giant trampoline (btw, it is much harder to climb that ladder than it looks!! Haha), and J was able to climb to the top of the inflatable iceberg on his first attempt!

 

 

I am proud to say that I took this photo without using burst mode! haha

 

 

 

 

At 3pm, we packed up our belongings and caught a taxi back to the cruise ship. As I already mentioned, there was no wait for a taxi and they run continuously from noon until 5pm (but don't wait until that last taxi or you will miss the 4:30 all aboard time!!)

 

Being silly tourists back at the port...

 

[deladane]

Once back on board, we spent a few hours relaxing in the cabin and getting ready for dinner. Luckily there was only a 5 minute wait for dinner tonight when we arrived at 7pm. I ordered the prosciutto with melon, the French onion soup, and the penne mariscos. I had the fig cinnamon cake for dessert.

 

 

I promise this tasted better than it looks in this photo!

 

 

 

After dinner, I suddenly became extremely tired. Tonight was the night of the Mexican buffet and the big deck party, but I literally couldn't keep my eyes open so we just went back to the cabin. I was in bed and asleep by 9pm and J read his book out on the balcony for a while. I guess the sun got the better of me today (and it left me with the lovely souvenir of a terrible sunburn on my back!). I am disappointed in myself for not staying awake to go to the deck party, but I guess this falls under the category of "you can't do EVERYTHING on a cruise" and "now I have an excuse to take another cruise!"

 

Good night Barbados!

 

 

Up next: zip lining in St. Lucia

[deladane]

Does anyone know how to post a video on Cruise Critic? I have a few videos uploaded on Facebook that I want to include in my review. Hoping some of you know how I can post them so I don't have to start a new thread about it :) Thanks!

[pcrum]

I'm sorry, but I have no idea how to post videos. I went back to look at your previous reviews and the photos are not showing...wondering if anyone else is having this issue.

 

Enjoying your reivew! :)