CruiseXLife Takes Liberty- Maiden San Juan to Southern Caribbean Photo Review

[SoloSailorII]

Thanks for taking the time to write this wonderful review. The views of St. Lucia sure bring back some great memories.

 

Fair Winds and Following seas.

[cruisexlife]

Thanks for taking the time to write this wonderful review. The views of St. Lucia sure bring back some great memories.

 

Fair Winds and Following seas.

 

Thanks for the compliment, and thanks for following along! I'm glad I'm bringing back memories, hope you enjoy the rest! :p

[cruisexlife]

Didn't realize I put the same photo twice in Part 17. Here is the photo I meant to add.

 

 

Zoomed in on Musica, who departed shortly after us

 

 

That's probably a great view in the morning and evening!

 

 

The Castries City Airport. It is only used for executive flights and small commercial planes with service to nearby Caribbean islands. We watched a plane land in the morning from our 4J, it was spectacular!

 

 

A watchtour at the entrance to Castries

 

 

Beautiful Northern hillside

 

[cruisexlife]

Once we made it past that hill, we saw more of the beautiful northern coastline

 

 

Looking back into Castries with all of the happy passengers lining the rails. I truly love cruise sailaways!

 

 

Looking south

 

 

Looking south to what I think is a beer distillery

 

 

A plane landed shortly after our aft cleared the runway!

 

 

Once last glimpse of Castries. I'll be back soon!

 

[cruisexlife]

20 entries from one day?! You would begin to think that I LIKED Saint Lucia. Preposterous :D

 

I headed back to the cabin and freshened up before dinner. I really loved the atrium in the back of the ship.

 

 

The view from the aft window as we ate dinner. That white rectangle on the left is the MSC Musica. Carnival should work on cleaning these aft windows more often!

 

 

Tonight we went and watched Hasbro the Game Show. We were never contestants, just enjoying the show. Then, we listened to some live music in the atrium from one of the chairs on Deck 4. We just talked. We were super tired from our long day. I am semi-fluent in Spanish, and I've been working to get my fluency back. The singer tonight was singing latin music, and I had a good time half-understanding the song, and trying to understand the rest. They say that's one of the best ways to learn a language.

 

After leaving there, we headed towards the aft elevators to go up to 9, get something from the snack bar, and then head to our room for the night. You know that lounge that no one uses on Deck 4? The one where you walk through the lounge, pass the room the use for weddings or kid activities, and then the stairs, and then there's a lounge? On Liberty its called The Bookcase. Well, they were having a latin dance festival! The music was so loud, and everyone was singing and dancing to the band that was playing. I didn't understand anything this time (at least the singer was singing slow songs :o) but we sat and watched for a little. I thought that was cool.

 

We got our snack and returned to the room. We came back to this.

 

 

So, I'll spoil it now. Due to wind conditions and problems with the ship thrusters, we had to skip Saint Kitts. We were given an extra day at sea. We couldn't go to Antigua because it was Good Friday, and that's a very important holiday for them, and many things were shut down. I promised a ship tour. I'll get to that after a Q&A. Leave your questions below, I'll answer them, and then we can get on with the Ship Tour and Sint Maarten! :D

 

Next: Q&A

[JKirkN]

Actually that's the Hess Oil refinery.

 

Looking south to what I think is a beer distillery

 

 

[cruisexlife]

Actually that's the Hess Oil refinery.

 

That's what I thought at first but something talked me out of it. Thanks for correcting me! :D

[Dirkgun]

That's what I thought at first but something talked me out of it. Thanks for correcting me! :D

 

 

Lol... I was thinking the Beer distillery would be lots more fun. All of those giant tanks filled with Piton Beer...Yum. Great pictures, thanks

[pghsteelerfan]

We were told "oil refinery" when on our Valor cruise two years ago...but I like beer distillery better. Sounds a lot more appealing and, as Dirkgun said, more fun. :D St. Lucia was probably our favorite as well. St. Kitts looked beautiful but it rained, sometimes heavy, the day we were there so we really couldn't see much since there clouds seemed to cover most of the island. Would love to get back and I'm trying to talk DH into another cruise out of San Juan.

 

I know I've told you before, but I really love your pictures and am still following and enjoying your review. This is our favorite itinerary and we were also on Liberty last year and loved her.

Edited May 23, 2015 by pghsteelerfan

[pghsteelerfan]

Oops..double post (blaming this on our computer)

Edited May 23, 2015 by pghsteelerfan

[cruisexlife]

Lol... I was thinking the Beer distillery would be lots more fun. All of those giant tanks filled with Piton Beer...Yum. Great pictures, thanks

 

Sorry about messing it up. But you're right, it would be cool. Thanks for following along!

[cruisexlife]

We were told "oil refinery" when on our Valor cruise two years ago...but I like beer distillery better. Sounds a lot more appealing and, as Dirkgun said, more fun. :D St. Lucia was probably our favorite as well. St. Kitts looked beautiful but it rained, sometimes heavy, the day we were there so we really couldn't see much since there clouds seemed to cover most of the island. Would love to get back and I'm trying to talk DH into another cruise out of San Juan.

 

I know I've told you before, but I really love your pictures and am still following and enjoying your review. This is our favorite itinerary and we were also on Liberty last year and loved her.

 

Yes it's an oil refinery, I messed it up. Don't know what I was thinking. Either way, I think there is too much to see on all of the islands, and you have to do this cruise at least twice in order to see everything, because we still missed out on certain things. So I hope DH gets talked back into it, you'll have a lovely time!

 

Thanks for following along, glad you're enjoying the review! :cool:

[cruisexlife]

So, since I wasn't receiving any questions, I'm going to progress with the review. I want to finish it up already!

 

I'm starting something new for my trips. Since I usually don't keep a camera on me during sea days, but I always have them at night, I decided to do a "ship tour" during one of the sea day slots. Tell me how you like it! :p

 

Taste Bar, Deck 5 Mid

 

 

Czar's Palace Casino, Deck 5 Mid

 

 

The Promenade (that's the actual name, "The") and the Jardin Café, Deck 5 Mid

 

 

Hot & Cool Night Club, Deck 5 Aft

 

 

The Venetian Palace Theater, Deck 5 Forward

 

[cruisexlife]

Silver Olympian Dining Room, Deck 3 Aft

 

 

Overlooking the Lido Deck, seen from Deck 10 Mid

 

 

 

The Cabinet Lounge and Bar, Deck 4 Aft

 

 

The Web Internet Café, Deck 4 Aft

 

 

The Conservatory Atrium, Deck 3 Aft

 

Edited May 24, 2015 by cruisexlife

[cruisexlife]

The Piano Man Bar, Deck 5 Aft. I was really impressed with this space!

 

 

The atrium seen rising up the Glass elevators, forward

 

 

The Versailles Aft Pool, Deck 9 Aft. It is adult's only, however I did see some teenage girls laying out on the chairs, unsupervised, and it did not seem to be a problem. Actually, many said hello to them as they passed. I don't think it was as "Adult-Only" as it was "Peaceful-Only". I spent some time down there and I had no issues with the teenage girls.

 

 

The Carnival Liberty Mural from Fincanteri, Deck 9 Forward

 

 

The chairs set up on the top deck. This was taken on the last day during debarkation. Deck 9 Mid

 

 

Emilie's Lido Restaurant, Deck 9 Mid

 

[cruisexlife]

An Ocean Suite, Deck 7 Midship

 

 

The Jacuzzi Tub. I'd like to get a suite one day.

 

 

A Vista Balcony cabin. I got kicked out before I could get a balcony picture, but the room itself is very spacious.

 

 

Well, that concludes my Ship Tour! Tell me if you liked this, because if you did, I'll make sure I snap more pictures on my next cruise! :D

 

Next: (Unexpected) Sea Day

Edited May 24, 2015 by cruisexlife

[pghsteelerfan]

An Ocean Suite, Deck 7 Midship

 

 

The Jacuzzi Tub. I'd like to get a suite one day.

 

 

A Vista Balcony cabin. I got kicked out before I could get a balcony picture, but the room itself is very spacious.

 

 

Well, that concludes my Ship Tour! Tell me if you liked this, because if you did, I'll make sure I snap more pictures on my next cruise! :D

 

Next: (Unexpected) Sea Day

 

I know I've already commented, but love seeing ship pictures too, so yes, I like the ship pictures too. It's nice to get an idea of what ships we haven't been on look like and even love seeing pictures of ships we've been on. That's what we always do on our first sea day. We'll grab loungers (usually deck 10) for a while, then lunch and after lunch we take our "ship tour" and get as many pictures as we can. They don't always come out that great (I need more practice so I need some more cruises), but so good to remember what certain areas of the ships we've been on look like. Thank you for adding them. I love Liberty's decor.

[cruisexlife]

I know I've already commented, but love seeing ship pictures too, so yes, I like the ship pictures too. It's nice to get an idea of what ships we haven't been on look like and even love seeing pictures of ships we've been on. That's what we always do on our first sea day. We'll grab loungers (usually deck 10) for a while, then lunch and after lunch we take our "ship tour" and get as many pictures as we can. They don't always come out that great (I need more practice so I need some more cruises), but so good to remember what certain areas of the ships we've been on look like. Thank you for adding them. I love Liberty's decor.

 

No it's okay, I love the comments! And I'm glad that you liked it, I will definitely get more ship pictures on my Splendor cruise, exactly a month today! These were taken throughout the cruise, the room pictures taken during debarkation. But I'll make sure I start earlier rather than later. Mine weren't great either, so I need the practice too. I like your theory :D

[cruisexlife]

Wouldn't you know, I had narrated my entire day to make up for the lack of pictures, and in the story, I was just getting back to my room and only had about 3 more sentences to write, and I clicked a button and it deleted EVERYTHING? :mad: I was so mad I had to wait a whole day to finish type it.

 

We had planned on waking up at 8:30, to be off by 9:15, for a 9:45 excursion. We were very lucky to have snatched up the last two tickets on the "St.Kitts Snuba Adventure" excursion, something that we have always wanted to do. Our breakfast snacks were coming around that time. I woke up to a knock on my door before the wake up call came in. I got our snacks, set them down, turned off the wake up call, and went to wake up Mom. Then, I noticed that we were still moving. That was rather shocking. I told Mom, and we both went to get up to go onto the secret deck to see what was up. Then, an in cabin announcement came on. That's never good.

 

"Good morning Carnival Liberty, this is your cruise director Felipe speaking. I hope you had a great day in St. Lucia yesterday, and a great night onboard as well. Around 8AM, we tried docking at Port Zante on the island of St. Kitts. We tried again, and one more time after that. No luck. Due the high winds, we will have to cancel our call here in St. Kitts this morning. There are not alternate ports, so today will be another relaxing day at sea. All port charges and shore excursions will be funded..."

 

I zoned out. I was pretty upset. I had never missed a port in which we docked, and I did not believe what I was hearing. Wind? Really? Why not get on the side in which we are docking and let it assist in the docking process? Well, We ate our fruits, not really saying much. We were pretty excited for our day here. Then Mom broke the silence. "When in doubt, sleep it out" :D We got back in bed and slept until 9:45.

 

At 9:45, we headed to the lido for a real, yet small, buffet breakfast. I had an omelette and some fruit, mom had the Blue Iguana Cantina Huevos Rancheros for breakfast. She said they were great. My food was good too. After eating, we decided to head to the aft pool and lay out for a bit. We stayed there for a good portion of the day, making new friends and enjoying the sun. We had pizza pirate for lunch and some deserts from the lido. At around 2:30, we split, as I wanted to hit the gym for a bit, and mom still wanted to lay out.

 

They had produced a new FunTimes for the day, with a lot of extra things to do. I don't remember what happened to it, but I remember what was on it. Movies in the aft comedy lounge, trivia on the promenade, bingo in the theater, events in the casino, sales in the shops, etc. To be honest, It was a great day onboard, and by the end of it, I was not all that upset missing St. Kitts. I had already made up my mind that I will be repeating this cruise in the future, so I'll be back soon. ;)

 

I got to the gym, ran on the treadmill for a bit, lifted some weights, and spent most of my time on the elliptical. Then, after about 45 minutes in the gym, I went and spent 10 minutes in the sauna. While sitting in there, I had the feeling that I was missing something.... OH CRAP!

 

Tea was at 3 with Mom, and I missed it! She had told me about it at breakfast and I completely forgot. I felt terrible, it was going to be 3:30 by the time I got out of the gym, showered, and dressed for tea, she would be done. So I spent a little more time in the sauna and then left to the room. Mom was there when I got there. I began the apologies, but she wasn't all that upset. She had made some friends and had tea with them. Well, that made me feel a little better, but I still felt bad.

 

Here is the only picture I took all day.

 

 

We decided that we wanted to go read up by Serenity. We grabbed some chairs on Deck 12 (14 was closed) and enjoyed our books. Mom had finished her 2nd book of the trip up here, and I wasn't even halfway through the only book that I brought. I eventually got tired of reading and sat in a hottub for a bit. I made a few friends from Indiana. At 5:15, Mom and I left the Serenity deck for formal night.

 

We headed back to the room and got dressed. We decided that we wanted to take pictures, as we haven't had pictures done since our first cruise on the Pride in 2010. Mom being Mom, we stopped at every single photo station.

 

We went to dinner. I had the Lasagna, Chicken Breast, and Pumpkin Soup. I did not care for the Lasagna at all, it did not even come close to Grandma's recipe. It may have been a good dish, but I have been spoiled by other recipes. Oh well. The pumpkin soup was okay, but I miss my cold soups from the old menu. I still ate it though. I then had my chicken breast, and ended up ordering some mashed potatoes to hold me over. I had the smore parfait for desert, it was AMAZING.

 

Tonight we talked to our waiters for a little bit. one was from Bali, Indonesia, and the other was from a town about an hour from Manila, Philippines. They were both sending home money to their families and children. Learning more about their lives onboard and at home only made me come to appreciate them more. They come out on this resort boat for months on end, alone, just to bring home money. I really enjoyed talking to them, and they ended up being my favorite wait staff of my cruise history.

 

We then headed to the show lounge to watch Hasbro the Game Show. It was a fun way to spend an hour. It was now 9:30. We got our nice clothes off, and then headed to the casino for a bit. I played for a bit, lost, but eventually broke even, so I stopped. Mom went to a comedy show with her new friends, and she said that it was great. I went on deck and watch a bit of a movie. We both agreed to meet at 10:45 at the aft snack buffet. We skipped the buffet and decided upon ice cream tonight. There was a party by the pool. We watched from an upper deck for a little, but not for long. By 11:30, we were back in the room, getting ready for Sint Maarten, which ended up being my favorite island to date.

 

Next: Sint Maarten

[tawaik]

Thanks for the entertaining review :) This is helping me relive my experience on the Liberty. We sailed her on April 26 and it was the best cruise so far me and was my husbands first :)

 

 

We left out of Dulles for our flight to San Juan. The distance from out place and the BWI were about the same. The cost to park was more and we had direct flights round trip. The BWI is becoming more congested (like most airports) and I do prefer that location for some reason.

Edited May 25, 2015 by tawaik
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[cruisexlife]

Thanks for the entertaining review :) This is helping me relive my experience on the Liberty. We sailed her on April 26 and it was the best cruise so far me and was my husbands first :)

 

 

We left out of Dulles for our flight to San Juan. The distance from out place and the BWI were about the same. The cost to park was more and we had direct flights round trip. The BWI is becoming more congested (like most airports) and I do prefer that location for some reason.

 

Thanks for following along, I'm glad I can help you relive your vacation! This, as well, was my favorite cruise. I cannot imagine this being a first cruise, it would set the bar pretty high! :p

 

My house is actually right over the holding pattern for BWI, so it makes a lot of sense for me to drive 9 miles and board a Southwest plane to wherever. My flight was also direct, each way. I like Dulles airport as well. Our of the three in the area, it is my second favorite. Reagan is nice, but I have to change planes to go anywhere, and if I'm going somewhere national, Southwest operates the flight I need. I am actually using Dulles for my Europe trip, we are flying from IAD to Amsterdam (KLM, Yay! :D) to Athens, and then Rome to Atlanta to IAD at the end. Dulles is my "international" airport! ;)

[cruisexlife]

I woke up to the wake up call that we set for 7:30AM. We had no excursions planned for today in Sint Maarten, but we wanted to be up and out by 8:30 to spend as much time on the island as possible. Our of all of the islands we were visiting, I was most excited for St. Lucia and Sint Maarten, but Sint Maarten trumped St. Lucia because it has been on my bucket list for a very, very long time.

 

I got Mom up, and we went out onto the secret deck to check out the view. The Wind Star was in port with us today. It was disembarking and embarking passengers on a 7 night Caribbean voyage, roundtrip Sint Maarten.

 

 

Wow, the island is as beautiful as I thought, and I haven't even left the ship yet!

 

 

The Tere Moana, an 88 passenger vessel in the Paul Gauguin fleet, was also in port with us today. It wasn't on the port schedule I looked at before we left, and due to its size, I thought it was a large yacht. But, I later found out that it was disembarking passengers from an 8 night cruise from colon, Panama to Sint Maarten, and was boarding passengers on a 7 night roundtrip cruise from Sint Maarten. It looked like a beautiful vessel.

 

 

The port area in Phillipsburg. It looks much more developed than St.Thomas, both at Havensight and Charlotte Amalie.

 

 

As I looked off the side of the ship, I saw the MSC Musica coming into port to join us!

 

Edited May 26, 2015 by cruisexlife

[cruisexlife]

We then got our breakfast snacks, and headed to the Lido for a buffet breakfast. We stacked up on pastries, fruits, bacon, French toast and eggs. We enjoyed the breakfast watching the Musica dock at a window seat. One of the advantages of cruising with one person is always being able to find a table, especially one close to the window!

 

We headed back to the room, got our things, and made our way off the ship to begin our beautiful day in Phillipsburg, Sint Maarten. Here is the Musica and Wind Surf seen from the gangway.

 

 

The Tere Moana. I would love to try this ship someday!

 

 

The side of the Carnival Liberty and the gangway.

 

 

Welcome to Sint Maarten Carnival Liberty, I'm ready for a great day in this long awaited island!

 

 

The very nice port area here in Phillipsburg.

 

 

Welcome to Sint Maarten!

 

 

We took our obligatory picture, and then headed to the water taxi station. Bruce, the shopping guide, had suggested that we go into the city, we will find all of the shops there, and many cabs, and it really beat walking.

 

Next: More of Sint Maarten!

[Club Disney Chandler]

Thanks for writing this review. I haven't sailed CCL yet but we are trying the Vista next summer. You've mentioned afternoon tea a couple times now and I was wondering, is this something they do on all Carnival ships? Is it only on sea days? Is there a cost? On the Disney ships they sometimes have tea with the princesses but it comes with a nice price tag of about $125/person, needless to say I've skipped that. Thanks again for the great review, I'm really enjoying it.

[cruisexlife]

Thanks for writing this review. I haven't sailed CCL yet but we are trying the Vista next summer. You've mentioned afternoon tea a couple times now and I was wondering, is this something they do on all Carnival ships? Is it only on sea days? Is there a cost? On the Disney ships they sometimes have tea with the princesses but it comes with a nice price tag of about $125/person, needless to say I've skipped that. Thanks again for the great review, I'm really enjoying it.

 

Chandler,

 

Thank you for reading this review, the pleasure is all mine! :) I am so happy that you made the choice to switch over to Carnival, you are going to love the Vista, and Europe.

 

Afternoon Tea is a free activity on every Carnival ship. It happens every sea day. I've seen it happen at 3:00, 3:15 and 3:30. But no, there is no cost. You go into the Main Dining Room and snack on fruits and pastries and drink as much tea as you like ;)

 

Let me know if you have any more questions regarding Carnival or the type of cruise is offers, I would be more than glad to help! :D