SWEET LIBERTY! The cruise that almost wasn't! Sept 20-27, 2015 review

[valentinebaby1]

 

 

 

 

 

[valentinebaby1]

 

Hubby's last stop in OSJ was to have lunch at Fatties...and sweet hubby brought me Fatties too! So I got all the deliciousness without all the work!

 

He came back to the hotel with my lunch and to say hi before asking if it was ok to head out again and explore the area some more. He wanted to drive along the coast east of the hotel and visit the kioskos there. This maybe the Pinones area that was mentioned earlier...I'm not 100% sure. He drove along the coast and took some photos along the beach as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[valentinebaby1]

Hubby came back with pinchos for our afternoon snack! Super yummy! We ate pinchos out by the pool, enjoyed some drinks and were basically lounge lizard.

 

Speaking of lounge lizards...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We relaxed away the rest of the afternoon and then decided for dinner we would drive to find the El Churry restaurant. They have several food trucks, but none were open at that time in the area, so we drove to their building location for a sandwich. Sis with went us, and we dropped Bil off at Chili's so he could try to catch a baseball game. The restaurant location was busy and we had to wait for a table to sit at. We headed back to the hotel after dinner and we had some packing to do. It was going to be a bit more difficult with all the alcohol and trying to balance the weight to avoid any extra fees at the airport.

 

After getting the packing done, Hubby and I headed out for a late night swim. The pool was heated but still slightly chilly, but the hot tub was perfect!

 

 

 

[Wags67]

Woo Hoo! Welcome back to your review, Kendra!

I understand laptop issues, I just got my laptop back with a new hard drive installed :(

 

Your review has been Amazing...thank you so much for such a thorough playback of your vacation! I told Kyle I'd love to follow you guys on the next cruise...ya'll do So Much!

 

When we were at OSJ, we wanted to go to EL Morro...we walked along the wall on the trail called the Paseo del Morro. This walk follows along the city wall to below El Morro fort. After the 3/4 mile walk we discovered that you can NOT enter the fort this way...upset, we turned around and walked back into the city...we did not realize you couldn't access the fort...I just read online, however, that beginning October 2015 (yea, we just missed it) this same trail will have access to the fort. Maybe someone who recently visited can confirm this.

Thanks for the detailed pictures of the fort since we missed it this time...again.

Our goal for our OSJ visit next November will be to Find El Morro...LOL

[valentinebaby1]

Woo Hoo! Welcome back to your review, Kendra!

I understand laptop issues, I just got my laptop back with a new hard drive installed :(

 

Your review has been Amazing...thank you so much for such a thorough playback of your vacation! I told Kyle I'd love to follow you guys on the next cruise...ya'll do So Much!

 

When we were at OSJ, we wanted to go to EL Morro...we walked along the wall on the trail called the Paseo del Morro. This walk follows along the city wall to below El Morro fort. After the 3/4 mile walk we discovered that you can NOT enter the fort this way...upset, we turned around and walked back into the city...we did not realize you couldn't access the fort...I just read online, however, that beginning October 2015 (yea, we just missed it) this same trail will have access to the fort. Maybe someone who recently visited can confirm this.

Thanks for the detailed pictures of the fort since we missed it this time...again.

Our goal for our OSJ visit next November will be to Find El Morro...LOL

 

The funny thing about our vacations...hubby and I never took a trip together just the 2 of us until our 1st cruise in 2013. We had debated what to do...and initially he just wanted to go somewhere with a nice beach and relax. I was the one who wanted to cruise so bad. He wasn't thrilled about the idea of it. So when I found the Valor itinerary starting and ending in San Juan, we began to research Puerto Rico and decided this would be a good compromise, by adding a couple days at the beach and cruising both.

 

Once we booked and really began the planning, hubby flipped and suddenly wanted to squeeze in every possible thing on the vacation. I literally can't keep up with him. He walks way faster than I do and has endless energy...this old fluffy person can't keep up! I really needed a vacation when we got home! I'm not kidding. I took a week off of work when we got back!

 

Thanks for following along...we'd love to see you all again on a cruise in the future!...I'm glad to finally get this finished up. It's so nice having a new computer! This one even has a touch screen...yay for black friday deals!

[valentinebaby1]

September 30, 2015; Wednesday

Going home

 

Our 2 week adventure was almost over. Our flight was scheduled for the early afternoon. We didn't have any plans for the day, other than to have a nice relaxing morning and to get to the airport on time. We ordered room service and enjoyed one last breakfast in bed. We had most of the packing done, and just needed to pack away our toiletries and pajamas. After getting packed we loaded up the luggage into the car and headed out.

 

We decided to make one last stop at a shop down the street for some last minute magnets and souvenirs. After finishing up our shopping we headed to the car rental office to drop off the car and get shuttled to the airport.

 

We got to the airport several hours before our flight. We had no wait to get the luggage through the agriculture check. That was a piece of cake. Then we stopped to check in our checked bags...50 pounds on the nose. Phew! Now it's onward through security.

 

Sis and Bil somehow managed to get special treatment and got directed through security in a very short Delta special person line. We tried to sneak in with them, but they wouldn't let us. We were directed to the extra long, non-special person line.

 

The line was several layers deep, basically as long as was possible. When we got into the line they were in the process of reforming the queue area by moving the ropes. One airport employee cut between hubby and I and started to put a rope up between us. Hubby said something to him asking him to let me by with him first and the guy must have thought this was rude or something because he took it upon himself to make there rest of our wait in line miserable.

 

After I walked around to catch up with hubby, we waited while the line was moving miserably slow. The line had kind of slowed down and the airport employee took the one large line and split it so that there were now 2 lines, one for either side. Of course the way this was split put us in the longer of the 2 lines. So now we're really irritated!

 

Then to make matters worse, after we literally got to where we would have been the next ones through the winding line and into the security area, the employee switched it all up again to make it all one big line again!!

 

This now put us to where we had to get back through the whole other side of the line. I know this guy did it on purpose but I have no idea why he was so ticked at us!

 

It probably took us a good hour to get through the security line. Then when we got to the front of the line, my carry on suitcase was selected to be searched.

 

I had spent probably an hour packing and repacking this bag as carefully as I could. It had both of my new purses in it and they were all wrapped up in tissue. I had actually fit the smaller bag inside the bigger one, and I had some smaller fragile souvenirs wrapped up inside the smaller purse. I had shells and other fragile items wrapped carefully. This was the worst possible bag to be searched through! Not only was I afraid they were going to break something, I was afraid I would never be able to get everything back in it!

 

He was actually quite careful and was very nice about the whole thing. It took some time but I got everything packed back into it and everything did make it home without breaking.

 

By the time we got through all of that, our couple hour cushion was gone and we didn't have to wait long at all for the flight. Hubby had time to grab some last minute duty free alcohol.

 

At some point during all the walking around OSJ I had managed to twist one of my knees just a bit and it was bothering me quite a bit after the standing in line and carrying my heavy bags. We asked if they would allow us to board with those in the beginning so I'd have a little extra time. They said it was fine. Sis and Bil weren't seated near us; they were closer to the front than we were. Our flight took us to Atlanta where we would separate and fly home to Omaha and Wichita.

 

 

Here you can see the Courtyard, which was getting a fresh coat of paint while we were there. We wondered if they were painting the building white or or if it was just a primer layer...anyone know? I'd be sad it wasn't yellow/orange anymore. It stood out and sure made it easy to spot!

 

 

Goodbye Isla Verde!

 

Hello, Valor! How nice to see you again!

 

 

Goodbye El Morro and Old San Juan...

 

 

Goodbye Puerto Rico..hope to see you again soon! This was the far western side of the island:

 

 

[valentinebaby1]

Out of nowhere, Hurricane Joaquin had slammed the Bahamas and we had wondered if we'd have any issues with our flight. It didn't really affect things for us too much but our flight was delayed leaving out of Puerto Rico. Our flight path was slightly different than the last time as a result of avoiding a hurricane. We went directly west and then veered north once we got just about over Haiti. We flew along the northern coast of the Dominican Republic:

 

 

 

The flight continued along the Florida coast and we recognized Cape Canaveral as we passed over it:

 

 

We made it to Atlanta without any issues and even with our delayed flight, we still had a long layover. We got some food and found a spot to park all our stuff and wait out our 3 hour layover. Meanwhile, Sis and Bil had a very short layover due to the delayed flight and they were off the flight right away and had to rush across ATL to catch their flight home. She texted me that they didn't have time to wait for us to say goodbye so it was kind of sad after being with them for 2 weeks to not get a hug goodbye! But we knew we'd be seeing them again soon (and that was this past week for Thanksgiving).

 

While we were waiting for our flight, our gate was changed twice so much of our time in ATL was spent just moving all of our stuff from gate to gate. Meanwhile, on a flight headed out before us, Hubby recognized someone. He's got a knack for remembering names and faces and he knew she was an actress and even remembered what show she was in. Her name is Carly Pope, and although she's not a huge star, she's been in several TV series. He wanted to say something to her, I was urging him not to, to let her travel in peace. But when she had to walk right in front of us to inquire something of the gate agent, he blurted out her name. She looked really confused that we knew who she was. She was actually really sweet, and talked to us for a few minutes. He told her he recognized her from a show that aired from 1999-2001 called Popular. She laughed and said that he was only one of 2 people who ever watched that show. She was actually surprised that he recognized her from that show. She was gracious enough to allow me to take a photo of them together.

 

 

After our evening at ATL, we boarded our last flight and arrived safely in Omaha. Now remember one of our pieces of luggage had a broken wheel by the time we got to Puerto Rico? Well, a 2nd piece of our luggage broke on the way home. This was 2 pieces of a 3 piece set. This just made things extra difficult in getting everything home. But everything made it and the only thing that broke was the actual luggage! (and thanks to Kohls generous return policy, they allowed me to return the set for a full refund!)

 

Now that our adventure was over, here's a look back at what we learned...

 

1. I'm definitely older than I was on the first cruise and definitely more out of shape! I hope I can make some changes before we do this again!

 

2. No matter how much you think you know someone, you'll learn new things about them when you travel together!

 

3. It's hard not to compare everything when taking the same trip twice. In some ways I almost wish we had planned an entirely different trip. It's hard to know if the first trip was just so magical because it was SOO many years past due for us, or if things really had changed that much in 2 years. Overall it was a wonderful vacation, don't get me wrong. But I think there was just a certain amount of magic with our first real vacation and our first cruise...and I missed that the 2nd time around!

 

4. We did notice some of the cutbacks from 2013 to now...we missed the chocolates on the pillows. We missed table cloths and the old menus...we had been looking forward to our first free drink as a red card holder and never even drank our free bottled water...would this stop us from cruising again? Heck no! We understand that sometimes cuts have to happen to keep costs minimum and we still feel that Carnival offers a great value. We will be back. It may be awhile, but that's not because of Carnival, it's just because of our own finances!

 

Thank you to everyone who has read and followed along. Feel free to ask any questions you may have!

 

[pghsteelerfan]

Kendra,

 

I just finished your review and sad that it is over. :( It was nice to relive a great trip again and we were so happy to have the opportunity to cruise with you guys and would love to again one of these days.

 

I really love the pictures you guys got in San Juan and I had no idea you couldn't get to the fort from the walkway along the water. We were at the fort the night we boarded Liberty but by the time we got to El Morro, we only had about 15 minutes before they closed. We were there the last time too, but I'd love to see more of it next time. That would be great if they had another access to El Morro from the road.

 

Again, I really enjoyed your review as much as I enjoyed your first one from your Valor cruise. I know they take up a lot of time to do, so thank you for taking that time.

 

Holly

[valentinebaby1]

Kendra,

 

I just finished your review and sad that it is over. :( It was nice to relive a great trip again and we were so happy to have the opportunity to cruise with you guys and would love to again one of these days.

 

I really love the pictures you guys got in San Juan and I had no idea you couldn't get to the fort from the walkway along the water. We were at the fort the night we boarded Liberty but by the time we got to El Morro, we only had about 15 minutes before they closed. We were there the last time too, but I'd love to see more of it next time. That would be great if they had another access to El Morro from the road.

 

Again, I really enjoyed your review as much as I enjoyed your first one from your Valor cruise. I know they take up a lot of time to do, so thank you for taking that time.

 

Holly

 

I'm glad at least 1 person read this all the way to the end! Lol...I was finally able to finish reading your review...I had to come back to it because my poor old, now retired laptop wasn't letting me get very far before overheating. Your photos are stunning! I loved the favorite one you took in St Kitts. I'm so glad the weather was nice for you in St Kitts this time!

 

I love this itinerary...but after seeing some of the Journey itineraries, I'm not sure I'd want to do anything other than a Journey Cruise in the future! I'd love one with a lot of ports like ours, but I'd love more sea days...so a longer cruise would be so nice. Of course I've spent a lot of time on Carnivals website dreaming about the next vacation, but the typical cruises to Cozumel and the Bahamas just don't appeal much to me. I really want to take one that stops in the ABC islands...Aruba, Bonaire and/or Curacao. I'd love to do one that stops at the lesser visited islands...Dominica, Antiqua etc. I'd settle for anything, but I dream about a longer one! I sure they are doing the Journey cruises in a couple years, since it will probably be 2017 before we can even think about doing this again!

[pghsteelerfan]

I'm glad at least 1 person read this all the way to the end! Lol...I was finally able to finish reading your review...I had to come back to it because my poor old, now retired laptop wasn't letting me get very far before overheating. Your photos are stunning! I loved the favorite one you took in St Kitts. I'm so glad the weather was nice for you in St Kitts this time!

 

I love this itinerary...but after seeing some of the Journey itineraries, I'm not sure I'd want to do anything other than a Journey Cruise in the future! I'd love one with a lot of ports like ours, but I'd love more sea days...so a longer cruise would be so nice. Of course I've spent a lot of time on Carnivals website dreaming about the next vacation, but the typical cruises to Cozumel and the Bahamas just don't appeal much to me. I really want to take one that stops in the ABC islands...Aruba, Bonaire and/or Curacao. I'd love to do one that stops at the lesser visited islands...Dominica, Antiqua etc. I'd settle for anything, but I dream about a longer one! I sure they are doing the Journey cruises in a couple years, since it will probably be 2017 before we can even think about doing this again!

 

I'd with you on the Journey Cruises, I'd love to do one. I was actually looking at one, the 12/9/15 sailing on Sunshine from San Juan to: St. Thomas; Antigua; Dominica; Martinique; sea day; St. Croix; sea day; Grand Turk; sea day; ending in Port Canaveral. We were in both Dominica and Martinique on our honeymoon and both were gorgeous, but not many pictures to remember by and would love to go again. We've never been to St. Croix or Antigua. The only problem was that hubby would not be able to get that many days off work in a row and it will probably be a while before we can do something like that. There's also a 14 day southern itinerary cruise on Pride out of Baltimore that hits some of the lesser visited islands on 3/13/16 AND we could drive to Baltimore, no airfare/flights to deal with, but too many days off in a row. The Journey cruises seem pretty successful, so hopefully they'll still be offering them a few years down the road.

 

And thanks for reading mine to the end too, you were one of the few who read it. That will definitely be the last review I do...just too much time goes into them & then paying to upgrade Photobucket for more storage just to complete it. Had I known, I wouldn't have bothered but would have gotten you and the others on our roll call the pictures. I've done three, so I've made my contributions. LOL!!! That St. Kitts picture...I already ordered and received the enlargement from Shutterfly. I had to do the "odd" size since it was on the smart phone camera, so I'll have to take it somewhere to get it framed.

 

Hopefully we can all cruise together again someday and a Journey cruise would be great. :)

Edited December 2, 2015 by pghsteelerfan

[EBONI325]

along the drive to maho beach, we passed the "border monument", which was erected in 1948 to celebrate 300 years of coexistence of sint maarten and st martin.

 

 

and we got to cross the new bridge called the causeway bridge that crosses simpson bay. It was still under construction on our last visit, and opened a few months after our last trip. This was a big time saver!

 

 

we arrived at maho beach...but one could hardly call it a beach. There was basically no sand left, just large boulders. On our last visit, mailman dropped us off right on the road by the runway. This time he parked the bus just about as far away from the runway as possible, in a parking lot past sunset bar. We really only had about 40 minutes at this stop and it was a long hot walk to where the planes actually came in. Since there are so many boulders and no beach to even walk along, it basically meant walking in the street. It was super crowded and so very hot.

 

Here's another last time/this time comparison for you...maho beach 2013

 

 

maho "beach" 2015:

 

 

there was more sand on the northern side of the beach, but it was just a dangerous walk to get to it. They say the beach comes and goes depending on the season. It was just a disappointment because there wasn't much room for people to stand under where the planes come in. Walking along the boulders and asphalt just made it even more hot, and the boulders made it very difficult to get to the water to cool off. One on our tour tried to get down to the water to take a few photos from there and managed to ruin his phone when a wave about knocked him down.

 

We got to see a couple planes, but really weren't close enough or there long enough to get any really great photos this time.

 

 

 

 

 

we were also unhappy with maho beach on our trip in august, the tour guide claimed the storm the night before washed away the beach. Didn't he know this before we went. We told him this was the main beach we wanted to go to before we took the tour.

 

Granted we knew there were storms the days before because our itinerary was changed, but we feel we should have been told there's no beach before we left on the tour.

[JKirkN]

Here are some pictures I took in the Loiza area and a bit east of there.

 

Loiza - Pinones area...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JKirkN]

Cont...

 

 

 

And zoomed in...

 

 

 

[JKirkN]

And a little bit farther down the road and another beach area...

 

I loved this plant...whatever it is...

 

4

 

 

 

Definitely not a beach to swim at... not even sure about surfing...because it's all rocks...but there were some really big waves... I'd say they were anywhere from 5-15 foot waves or bigger...

 

 

[JKirkN]

Driving down the road a bit more... Lots of kioskos!

 

 

 

And then an amazingly beautiful beach... it was REALLY neat because there were huge 5-10 foot waves coming right toward the beach but there is some kind of natural pool like area that stops the waves and you can swim around without worrying about them...just like a pool...

 

I believe this area is called Playa Rocosa De Pinones

 

 

 

 

And it's right beneath the flight path of the planes taking off...

 

Edited December 3, 2015 by JKirkN

[JKirkN]

Cont...

 

 

 

5-10 foot waves and not a worry in the world about them... :)

 

 

 

[JKirkN]

Cont...

 

 

After driving a little bit farther, I turned around and headed back west...

 

 

 

 

[JKirkN]

And then it was back to the hotel...

 

 

And a quick little rest on one of the hammocks :)

 

 

 

 

And that's all from me... I'm really missing Puerto Rico!

 

Someday, my DW and I will live there! (Or one of the other islands down there!!!!)

[pghsteelerfan]

Love these pictures of the Loiza area...you guys find the neatest places. I remember you telling me about the waves, you're not kidding. I'd love to see that. Thanks for adding these.

[SenatorsFan]

Thanks for adding those last beach pictures. They are beautiful. :)

Heather

[hockeyguru32]

Well let me put my 2.6 cents in (exchange from Canadian to American) Wait we don't have pennies anymore, so here is 5 cents for a priceless review.

 

Thank you so much for doing this for myself and others. The Liberty was my first ship that I went on and swore I would never do a cruise (never say never) and now I have 2 more under my belt and wish I could do more. Guess I need to win that lottery or get rid of the mortgage lol.

 

I so want to do this itinerary so bad and I'm sure I will get to it one day. So thank you again for letting me tag along with you and your hubby on your trip awesome review.:)

[valentinebaby1]

Thanks so much for reading along! I hope you get to do this itinerary at some point in the future. It is amazing!

[gapearl]

I've spent the last couple of hours reading your review and it was awesome! I took this same itinerary on the Valor 2 years ago and went to some of the same places you did. I was shocked to see how Maho Beach and Shipwreck Beach are so different now. That's so unfortunate that they've taken a turn for the worse. Did your husband go to the nude beach in St. Maarten when he snuck away? :p San Juan is one of my favorite places ever and I'm fortunate enough to be able to go down there a few times a year. Your pictures have me ready to plan a quickie trip next month. Fatties and Cafe Mallorca are also 2 of my faves. Oh and I watched the cuttlefish video. Interesting! lol Thanks for taking the time to put this together! :)

[valentinebaby1]

I've spent the last couple of hours reading your review and it was awesome! I took this same itinerary on the Valor 2 years ago and went to some of the same places you did. I was shocked to see how Maho Beach and Shipwreck Beach are so different now. That's so unfortunate that they've taken a turn for the worse. Did your husband go to the nude beach in St. Maarten when he snuck away? :p San Juan is one of my favorite places ever and I'm fortunate enough to be able to go down there a few times a year. Your pictures have me ready to plan a quickie trip next month. Fatties and Cafe Mallorca are also 2 of my faves. Oh and I watched the cuttlefish video. Interesting! lol Thanks for taking the time to put this together! :)

 

I feel honored that you have read my review! I love reading yours! In fact, I'm fairly certain it was your southern itinerary review that lead us to Fatties! Your review and Pghsteelerfan's are what inspired me to write my Valor review! Thanks so much for reading!

[Bimmer09]

Kendra, I just read your review in one long sitting. Kudos!

 

Thanks for the detailed review and the generous number of great photos-the underwater shots and the sunrise/sunsets in particular were all spectacular.

 

Great job, so my thanks to you and your husband.

 

Norris