Review: Carnival liberty – september 20, 2015 – southern itinerary out of san juan,

[pghsteelerfan]

Have never had "no tablecloths" but have read some threads about this and I have to say I don't think I would ever be a fan. :eek: That being said, I have to pick my jaw up off the floor from the pictures you just posted of your sailaway. I just hope you have a VERY BIG WALL to hang those pictures on at home! ;) Just totally amazing! :):)

 

This was the first time we've had "no tablecloths", not fans either but I wasn't going to let that spoil our cruise. I hate to mention this, but I'm sure there are those who would say their whole cruise was ruined. OK, claws back in. LOL!!!

 

I love your comment "pick my jaw up off the floor", I'm going to have to use that one. :D Thank you! I have have one that is definitely going to get enlarged and put in a frame to hang up. It may be my "stand out" picture of this cruise. When I post it, I'm sure you'll know which one it is. :)

[pghsteelerfan]

Hmm, I wonder when they changed the table clothes on Liberty? They were there when we dined in May/June and we had the American Menu. Here's a shot from one of our dinners in the MDR and you can see the table cloth.

 

Wow, the quote feature worked...for both posts. Temperamental little feature, isn't it? Yes, I remember they still had the tablecloths on your cruise and Stinger-pr just cruised in August and they still had them then.

 

By the way, great review as always!! Your photos are amazing! Looks like I now have to step up my game to compete! I might need to break down and actually take a photography class for our upcoming inaugural Vista cruise. And thank you for the kind words of my reviews!

 

Thank you and I feel the same way about your pictures. I have never taken a photography class but would eventually like to, or at least a class on how to utilize my DSLR more. It's a Canon Rebel t1i. I have to admit, other than trying to really take my time when getting pictures instead of just pointing and pressing the button (like I used to) but making sure they are even and the horizon straight as possible. I have had to straiten a few out. I think the weather also helped. Otherwise, I've been keeping the camera in that "P" setting. I haven't a clue what that actually is, but with landscape pictures, it keeps everything in focus. For the night pictures, I adjusted the ISO setting and crossed my fingers. Just got a good tip yesterday to adjust the aperture to the lowest.

 

I have enjoyed both of your reviews and your pictures and happy to see that you'll be on Vista's inaugural cruise. I noticed "Review pending" in your signature - I'll be looking forward to that. Thank you for following along on this one.

[pghsteelerfan]

All of your pictures are so very good, but I especially love the night shots

of the Liberty in San Juan and sail away from San Juan!!!

 

Thank you! Those were ones that I was crossing my fingers that they would turn out. I was using the camera on the smart phone for some of the ones of Liberty and they came out so much better than the DSLR. I only took them on the phone's camera to text to some family members. Had I known, I'd have used that phone for sail away. I'll be sure to next time. The ones of Liberty...I think the pictures were worth missing dinner for, even if DH disagrees. :D

[pghsteelerfan]

[pghsteelerfan]

Today's edition of the "Fun Times"

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

Again, posting the flyer inserts that came with the Fun Times for anyone interested

 

"Spa and Salon (Sea Day Savings)" (both sides)

 

 

This is the "Fun Finds Shopping" insert (both sides)

 

[pghsteelerfan]

And since this is a sea day and bars will be hopping (and before I forget), I'll add the Red Frog Rum Bar and Blue Iguana Tequila Bar menus

 

Red Frog Rum Bar

 

 

Blue Iguana Tequila Bar

 

 

***DISCLAIMER...I didn't steal any menus from either bar but found them on the internet in 2014 when I was working on my previous Liberty cruise. I really wasn't paying attention to cost because we were going to have drinks regardless, so there may be a difference in prices. I'm posting to give you an idea of what is available. You can order drinks that aren't included on the menu as well. They may also be a little hard to read since the print is small. DH needed his "old man glasses", aka reading glasses or he used my eyes to read those menus. ***

 

 

Edited November 6, 2015 by pghsteelerfan

[pghsteelerfan]

Tuesday, September 22, 2015 – Day 3, Sea Day

 

 

I didn’t set the alarm to go off this morning because we wanted to sleep in, but we got up sometime a little after 9:00am. Good thing the next door neighbors decided to sleep in this morning. I was tempted to let our balcony door slam so they could hear what it sounded like, but didn’t want to be inconsiderate to the other nearby neighbors who weren’t letting their door slam. We kind of moseyed out of bed and took turns getting ready. While DH was getting ready, I went out to the balcony to get a few pictures. Today was sunny and the water was fairly calm and as soon as DH was ready, we’d be going up to Lido for breakfast.

 

Just as we were getting ready to head up for breakfast, I got an idea. This is something I’ve wanted to do for a while and what better time than right now. In the past, I have goofed with our cabin stewards. That was usually by setting the towel animals they left the night before out on the bed and put sunglasses on it and stuck a Carnival souvenir cup with it. The one year, it was Mardi Gras beads from the Mardi Gras party that was held in the atrium the previous night. Thinks like that.

This time, I wanted something good. Since I wore jeans on the flight to San Juan and wouldn’t be needing them until the day we got off Liberty (I shudder to even think about that!), I decided to use them for a little prank. I stuffed the lower portion of the legs of the jeans with rolled up towels, then shoved it under the bed as if they were face down. Only the lower legs were sticking out. I put my tennis shoes, another item I would not be needing until we left, at the bottom of the jeans. It looked like someone was passed out, face down, under the bed.

 

DH didn’t think it was a good idea as my little prank might scare the living daylights out of Kendrick or I-Ketut and eventually tick them off. From talking with them, I found them to be very easy going and also happy go lucky. I told DH they’d realize it was just a prank and they’d probably get a kick out of it. We left it there and headed out to breakfast. Well, guess who was in the hallway? Kendrick. I almost started laughing but kept it cool. We said good morning to Kendrick and talked with him for a few minutes. He’d asked how we’d be enjoying our day at sea and we told him we didn’t really have any plans but would probably go and get loungers outside, hopefully by a pool, and enjoy it. After talking to him for a minute we went up the flight of stairs to the Lido buffet.

 

Once upstairs, DH told me I was “evil” and he just hopes that they can take a joke. I did let him know that both Kendrick AND I-Ketut saw us, both, when we left the cabin and they knew that we were the only ones staying in it. We’ll, at this point one or both of them is probably walking in on my little “surprise”.

Edited November 6, 2015 by pghsteelerfan

[pghsteelerfan]

I don’t know what time this was, but probably somewhere around 9:45am. I asked DH if he wanted to go to Blue Iguana and let him know the burritos were really good, but he just wanted to go through the normal buffet line. There was a line but it wasn’t too bad for a sea day.

 

We got our plates, napkins, and silverware and made our way through the line. There was a gal in front of us who was by herself. We got the usual scrambled eggs, I got a two half slices of American cheese, and the roasted potatoes. That’s one gripe I do have, they could at least mix it up with the potatoes but they don’t, the same ole, same ole. And those potatoes are my least favorite.

 

As we got closer to the bacon, some man with a cereal bowl cut right in front of the gal in front of her. No “excuse me”, no “I’m sorry, but I forgot to grab ….” He just cut right in front of her like she wasn’t there or he owned the place. What a jerk!!! The gal looked over at me like she was getting ready to say “sorry, I didn’t let him in” and that’s when I said to her, loud enough for the pushy line cutter to hear, “I can see you, you’re definitely not invisible” and she just smiled. This line cutter probably heard me, but acted as if he didn’t or he’s just so “me, me, me” that he’s used to comments like that and just doesn’t care. Either way, rude, rude, rude! When he got up to where the bacon was, he shoved the bowl at the “bacon police” who was dishing out the bacon and told her to “fill it”. Our “bacon police” was a younger female. Wow!!! Again, rude, rude, rude!!! Not much we could do unless we wanted to get confrontational, but I avoid that at all costs, if I can. Once this line cutter got his full bowl of bacon, he left and we proceeded to move up the line. The “bacon police” was actually very nice and when we got to the bacon, she said “Good morning” with a smile and had bacon ready to go on my plate. I normally only eat two slices of bacon, three at most, and she gave me at least five pieces of bacon then asked if I’d like more. I let her know that was good and she did the same for DH. I also got two slices of toast. From there we went over to where the pastries are. DH got two and I got one, one of those little cinnamon ones. I LOVE these! After we finished there we went and got orange juice and I also got coffee, found a table fairly quickly and ate our breakfast. Since the scrambled eggs aren’t the best I’ve had, using the toast I made a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich.

 

Once breakfast was finished, we took a walk to the main pool on Lido Deck and this was probably around 10:15am or so. It’s actually called the Tivoli pool but I refer to it as the “main pool”. It’s mid-ship and that’s the pool were most of the action and entertainment are on sea days. There is another pool at the aft (back) of Liberty on the Lido Deck that is adult only. There are also two hot tubs, a bar, the pizza, tables that are in the shade, and a self-serve ice cream machine. That pool is called the Versailles pool, but I just refer to it as the “pool at the back of the ship”. We went out there to see what was going on and also to check out the lounger situation and could not believe our eyes…there were loungers available, plenty of them and some even right by the main pool!!! This is a first.

 

I’m going to get off the subject here, so bear with me. On this cruise there were several large groups that were, well, kind of loud and obnoxious and some acted like they owned the ship. I hate to sound like I’m complaining, and I’m not, it was just something that we observed and others we talked to also mentioned seeing it. I feel if I’m going to give an honest review, I need to mention it. The groups were younger than us, probably mostly 20 and 30 somethings. I don’t know if that’s how they normally are or if it was triggered by booze or maybe just because they were in larger groups or all of the above.

 

Through talking with others, including other people we met during the cruise who were not on “that other” roll call, we heard the same gripes, THE SAME GRIPES!!! I will admit that we also observed some of the same things ourselves. I can’t really say it bothered me too much. Heck, I’m on a cruise and I’m going to enjoy it. Yes, we did find some of this annoying but I wouldn’t say it was unbearable for us. If I’m being bothered by loud and obnoxious people, I will move elsewhere on the ship.

 

Another reason it may not have bothered us as much as some of the others is that we are used to it. Sad to say, but we live in the suburbs of a large city. OK, I’ll admit it…“the nation’s capital”, so I’m used to loud and obnoxious behavior and that "me first" mentality. Not everyone, but we do see it more here than anywhere else we've been. Nuff said.

 

Before I go further, I will mention that this was nothing like some of three and four day, “Spring Break” atmosphere cruises I’ve read about here on CC, and seen videos of, where the whole cruise is nothing but one big “booze cruise”. Well, at least we didn’t witness that if it did go on. If you haven’t seen any videos, go to that “Popular Video Hosting site”, the one that has two words, the first word beginning with a “Y” and the second beginning with a “T” (don’t know if I can mention it or not). Do a search on “drunk cruisers” or “drunk cruise passengers”. I’ll apologize, but I think some of those are funny as all heck, they were posted to "that other" roll call we were on, and I was on the floor laughing at some of them. OK, not on the floor, but you get it. :D

 

There was drinking, there always has been, but if there were any obnoxious, fall down drunks, we didn’t see them. But they were loud and if they were coming toward others in a hallway, the Promenade, or one of the outer decks, it was either move out of their way or get “bowled over”. That was one of the major, repeat, gripes we heard from others…having to squeeze along a wall and walk single file because they refused to make room.

 

A few comments by others we talked to throughout the cruise were made about never seeing so much “ink” in their lives. They were referring to tattoos. Well, I’ll admit, we have friends that have tattoos and I have nothing against them. DH and I don’t have any but that’s our choice. I’m also chicken so I never really gave it a thought to get one. I don’t feel I’m missing out though. I will say that some of them over did it with the “ink”. These were things we observed and things that were commented on, from almost everyone we had a conversation with. We have only been on seven day cruises and have not witnessed groups like this on any cruise before this one. We’ve done two westerns, an eastern, a Mexican Riviera, and this is our third southern out of San Juan. Someone mentioned it could have been 10 and 15 year class reunions, but who knows for sure.

Edited November 6, 2015 by pghsteelerfan

[pghsteelerfan]

So back to the lack of chair hogs and the availability of loungers…I didn’t notice any of these groups out there. Maybe with it being a sea day, they partied hardy last night until the sun came up (or venues closed) and were still in bed.

We went up to the Panorama Deck (10) and chairs available there. We were also wasting some time to give Kendrick and crew a chance to clean the cabin since we still hadn’t been up here too long. We ran into “J” from “that other” roll call. “J” was walking around getting pictures, so we chatted for a few minutes. He mentioned the “Men’s Hairy Chest” contest and said he probably wasn’t going to enter this time. He’d entered one on another cruise and came in second. He told us that when he was in it, the two finalists (including him) had to dress like a woman and dance around. How embarrassing, right? After talking with him for a few minutes, we parted ways. DH and I thought enough time had passed for Kendrick and crew to clean our cabin, so we headed back down to get the things we’d need.

When we got into the hallway near our cabin, we saw Kendrick. He just busted out laughing and told us that we got him. DH pointed at me and said “she did it, I had nothing to do with it” and let him know that he didn’t think it was a good idea. I-Ketut also came out of the cabin he was working on and laughed and told us “good one!” Kendrick told us that he went in first, not expecting anything but when he saw what I’d left him, it did scare him. He realized pretty quickly it was a joke. He said he called I-Ketut into the cabin and it shocked him for a minute too. I-Ketut told us at first he didn’t know what to think until Kendrick started laughing.

Kendrick decided to get Snezana in on it but going and finding her and letting her know that they “may have a medical emergency in cabin #8353. She hurried to the cabin with him, he pointed to my “surprise” and he said she screamed, until he and I-Ketut started laughing.

Just then, Snezana showed up, laughing. She said this was a first and that even though she was scared at first, she thought it was funny and appreciated having guests with a great sense of humor and it meant we were enjoying our cruise and all about fun. Kendrick did warn me that all three of them would get me back and they were already making plans. I told him I was hoping they would.

We let them all get back to work then went to our cabin (no surprises yet) and got what we’d need, beach towels, sunscreen applied with extra in beach bag, cameras, and tumblers to fill with water for me and iced tea for DH.

The night before, at dinner, I noticed the lanyards for the Sail & Sign cards that our table mates had. The one I bought in the Fun Shops was nice and have been getting them on our past four cruises. The strap is kind of thick and can sometimes be a bit of a nuisance. The lanyards that our table mates had looked really nice and I liked them and had seen a lot of others using them, so I asked where they got them. The casino. Duh!!! They had theirs hole punched. They definitely looked a lot more convenient.

Before going out to the outer decks for fun in the sun, we stopped down at the casino where I went to the main desk and asked if I could possibly get a lanyard. The gal working there was very nice and asked if a blue one was OK, they were already out of the other colors. Blue was fine. She asked if I wanted my card punched but I let her know that I had it in a plastic protector that had a hole that I could hook the lanyard into. What I did was take the plastic card protector off the lanyard it came on and swapped lanyards. I liked this much better, it was less “bulky” to wear. As we were heading out of the casino, I ended up talking to another gal. Small world, she was from the Pittsburgh, PA, area, where DH and I grew up! Her name was “B” and her DH was “M”. We would see them more during the cruise. After talking to “B”, we stopped up on the Lido Deck to fill the tumblers, again using the cups provided to pour contents in.

 

***Before continuing, just adding that today we will be passing other islands. If it’s clear and not too hazy, they will be visible from the ship. We passed Guadeloupe in the morning but I missed it. It was on the port (left) side of the ship. We were passing Dominica around noon/12:30pm but could still see it for a while. Dominica was also on the port (left) side. At around 2:00pm we were starting to pass Martinique and Martinique was on the port (left) side. We would be able to see Martinique for most of the afternoon. Also from the port (left) side, we were also able to see another island in the distance, St. Lucia. At one point, we were able to see Dominica, Martinique, and St. Lucia, all from the port side of Liberty. We had to look toward the back to see Dominica since we’d already passed. Martinique was straight ahead on the left and St. Lucia was in the distance ahead, toward the front. Later in the afternoon, around 5:00pm, we were past Martinique but Martinique was still visible from the port (left) side and St. Lucia now on the starboard (right). Liberty sails between Martinique and St. Lucia to get to Barbados. I will mention seeing these islands and will have the pictures in the main part of the review. I just thought I’d add this for anyone who may be interested in seeing the other islands and about when we saw them. Now, back to the review, next post.***

 

 

Map of Liberty's southern Caribbean itinerary out of San Juan, PR

 

Map of the southern/eastern Caribbean islands

Edited November 6, 2015 by pghsteelerfan

[pghsteelerfan]

When we walked outside, “L” from “that other” roll call saw us and came over to us and let us know that they were all up on Deck 10 on the port (left) side and that there were still several loungers next to them. We followed her up and got two of the available loungers. It was “L” and family, “M” and her DH, “J”, and now us two. These were the loungers along the railings overlooking the main pool, so we had prime seats to see all of the action today.

Shortly after we got up there, one of the bar waiters came around and a few of the others were ordering, so I ordered a beer. DH didn’t want any yet since he had the iced tea. I still had my water, but it’s “5 O’clock somewhere”, right? DH did have a couple sips of mine a little later, between sips of iced tea. I got some pictures of the ocean since it was so calm and we could see an island in the distance. We were thinking that was probably Dominica since we’d already passed the lager island. We didn’t see it, “J” mentioned seeing it. Dominica!!! We stopped there on our honeymoon cruise, very pretty and would love to get back.

I got a couple pictures of our group as well, but on the camera’s display, I noticed my pictures came out like the lens had fogged up. The lens wasn’t fogged up, it was dirty. I tried cleaning the lens with a corner of the tank top I was wearing with no luck, it actually made it worse. Since I wanted pictures, I went down to the cabin to clean it with the actual lens cleaning cloth.

When I got back up, they were getting ready to do the ice carving, which was at noon. At 12:30pm they had the “Red’s Rum vs. Blue’s Tequila Challenge” or the mixology contest. That’s where four people have to come up with a drink and name it then mix it and the judges try it and decide the winner. The name of the winning drink was “Ride It Like You Stole It”. That was my favorite name out of the four but I forget what the others are. Seriously though, how could you forget a name like “Ride It Like You Stole It”? Great name. That drink would be featured during the rest of the cruise as the “Red’s Rum vs. Blue’s Tequila Challenge drink of the week”.

While we were up there watching, “J” told let us all know that he changed his mind and was going to enter the “Hairy Chest” contest. What?!?! This was going to be funny. I have never been on a cruise where I actually knew one of the contestants. We had prime seats for this. This was to start at 1:00pm, but our friend “J” went down early.

It was the assistant cruise director hosting the “Hairy Chest” contest and he picked the three women judges first. When they were getting ready to get contestants, “J” was one of the first. They needed seven total but needed one more. Now my poor DH has a hairy chest and I always kid him that he could win the “Hairy chest” contest on a cruise. Not happening. DH is very low key, quiet until he really gets to know someone, and most of all, does not like any attention drawn his way. Sometimes I think he’d prefer to be invisible. Even though I feel he could do well in this contest, it just isn’t for him.

Jokingly, and only with our group up on Deck 10 in the loungers where us gals standing at the railing, I pointed at DH. This pointing was meant only for our group. Next thing you know, the assistant cruise director says something along the lines of “We’ve got our number seven right up there on Deck 10” and he was pointing right in the direction of where I was standing. Of course everyone else paying any attention is also looking right our way. Oh boy, what did I do? It was only meant as a joke for our group. I have a feeling “something” will hit the proverbial fan when this is all said and done. But I just started laughing, everyone in our group was laughing. Not DH, who was giving me the evil eye and turning 50 shades of red. But, he got up to go down. I told him he didn’t have to do this and he said that everyone on the ship was now looking at him and he’d be even more embarrassed if he didn’t. He went down. The rest of us stayed on the railing and watched.

 

This is how the contest went. The seven contestants, including DH, were lined up at a railing by a short set of stairs right in the center of the stage area, right in the middle of the seating for the Seaside Theater.

All seven contestants lined up

The assistant cruise director told the guys they had to do a sexy entrance dance down that set of stairs up onto the dance floor where they’d introduce themselves by first name and where they are from, then make their way over to each judge to let the judges feel the hair on their chests and backs. This intro dance was to be kept clean (children around) and showed them the types of moves they were allowed to do. Oh, my poor DH. I joked with the other gals by saying if they hear my name being paged over the ships PA system tonight, I’m over the balcony and DH did it. We laughed.

 

When they lined them up, even though DH was contestant number seven, he was the one closest to those steps, so when the assistant cruise director called for the first contestant and an intro song was played, DH went first. He did his allowable moves then the assistant cruise director said “stop the music”, and something like “You’re not contestant number one, you’re number seven” and told DH that he had to go and get back up there then made sure all guys were in the correct order, so there was some shuffling around. They started again and the guys all took their turns dancing down the stairs to the dance floor, introduce themselves, then make their way over to the judges and let each of them feel their chests and then form a line, side by side. Then poor DH had to do it again.

Looks like he's enjoying this...look at the smile on his face!

 

 

 

 

One that was done, the judges had to eliminate three of the guys. I was hoping DH would be one of them so he could quickly exit the spotlight. When they eliminate the guys, the female judges put medals around the necks of the ones being eliminated. Nope, not DH. Our friend “J” was eliminated, but not DH. At least before he had “J” up there with him.

 

 

They had to do something else, then one of the four left had to be eliminated. Please, puhhhhleeeezzzzzz be DH. Another one of the guys got a medal, but it wasn’t DH. He made it to the final three and more humiliation.

 

 

Next they had to something else and this time, finally, the judges walked up and put the medal around his neck. We were not unhappy. The final two did have to dress as women and prance around like that then they had to do another dance. After that, the runner up got a medal and the winner was crowned. I had a feeling he’d win as he was such a natural up there.

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

Hairy chest contest continued...

 

 

And....the winner!!! Congratulations!!!

 

Since the “Hairy Chest” contest was now over, DH made his way back to our loungers. For any of you who grew up when spanking children who misbehaved was a common thing for parents to do and “time outs” were unheard of, you may also remember your mother saying “just wait till your father gets home”. Remember that feeling? I do, and I was feeling it right then.

 

When DH got back up, everyone else was congratulating him and telling him he did great. He did. He handled it well. He put that ball cap on backwards and went through it. The guy I saw down there was NOT my DH, even though it WAS my DH. It’s like he became another guy and he only had about two sips of beer. He could drink two six-packs of beer and it’s still not something he’d volunteer to do. I’m proud of him but I also felt so bad for embarrassing him like that. He lightly grabbed my arm, just below the shoulder and said into my ear “I am going to kill you.” I told him I was sorry and he replied “no you’re not” then he told me that I wasn’t the only one, “M” was pointing at him too. That I didn't know. But how did the assistant cruise director actually see us two up there pointing to him? He must have “eagle eyes”. Maybe he thought that I didn't mean it when I said I was sorry was because I was still laughing??? I told him he did well and others were still congratulating him.

We got back in our loungers and they were getting ready to do the “Groove for St. Jude”. No, shame on all of us, but none of us participated. Another bar waiter was making the rounds, so DH and I ordered a bucket of beers. I hadn’t seen “L” and didn’t think much of it until her DH said “L” is at the top, it’s almost her turn. She and their DD were on the water slide.

 

 

Ah, that’s something I wanted to do. I’ve only done it once before, on Valor in 2013. I went and got in line. While in line, there were a few people from Puerto Rico behind me pointing out at sea to another island in the distance. They said it was Martinique and there was another, way in the distance. They said that was St. Lucia. The one guy said it was so cool to be able to see three different islands out there at once. We had passed Dominica, but could still see it. It took about 20 minutes in line, but finally my turn to go down the slide. What fun. It’s not just for little kids. After that I went back to the loungers.

 

When I returned to the loungers, “J” was up there again and we were talking about the “Hairy chest” contest and how DH ended up in it. Well, it turns out that “M” and I had some help. When “J” was down there and they were looking for a seventh contestant, he spotted “M” and I pointing at DH. HE told the assistant cruise director that they had their number seven. After the fact, once we got home and I started going through pictures, sure enough, I have proof that he did. I took this picture of “J” down there getting ready to participate, after pointing at DH, so it’s out of order since it was taken before they had seven contestants. In this picture is “J”, standing next to the assistant cruise director and looking right up at us. There was another contestant, not looking at us but at the assistant cruise director and he was pointing right at us. DH has two others to blame, in addition to me.

 

He reminds me of a cat that just swallowed a bird

 

DH did let me know that he’d be recognized through the duration of the cruise for this. I assured him he wouldn’t be, especially since he had his ball hat and sunglasses on for most of it. He reminded me that they seem to show that, and a few other contests, on the ship channel throughout the cruise and that Carnival would probably be selling the video afterwards. Not to jump ahead, we never saw the video of the “Hairy chest” contest, or others, being replayed. Of course, they may have replayed it on the cabin TV channel when we were at port since we would be having a port of call each day for the duration of the cruise. We never saw any fliers or heard any announcements advertising a sale of the professional video taken throughout the cruise. If so, I’d have purchased this one and given it to DH as one of his Christmas presents. Wink, wink.

[pghsteelerfan]

I got several pictures of the other islands we were able to see: Dominica; Martinique, and St. Lucia.

 

Dominica

 

Martinique

 

Barely visible, but this is St. Lucia

 

Out of order, but this is "Groove for St. Jude"

 

DH decided to skip going down the water slide, so we hung out in the loungers. After a while, the group started vacating the loungers to go and grab lunch, including DH and I. Guy’s, here we come! We got our burgers and found a table to eat. On sea days after we have lunch, we normally do our “tour” of the ship but since our last cruise had been on Liberty in April 2014, we already had those pictures. Nothing had changed with the interior décor since we were on her then.

 

When we were finished eating, we went up to the Panorama Deck above to get some pictures. The water was still very calm and I wanted pictures because the way the sun was shining through a break in some clouds had a nice reflection on the water.

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

 

 

After that it was back to our cabin. Our formal night was tonight and we decided to go to at least one of the formal nights on this cruise. We have been skipping both formal nights on our past three cruises and had just eaten at the buffet for dinner. I had a dress that needed to be ironed and wanted to do that since I didn’t want to wait until last minute. DH wanted to take a nap, so while he napped, I went to the laundry room that was basically right across the hall from our cabin.

There are irons and ironing boards in there, free to use. I had checked that out our first night to be sure. When I went in, another man was just finishing up ironing a dress shirt. Yes, there are men who actually iron their own clothes. Another man was waiting on some clothes to finish in the clothes drier. There is a charge for the washing machine and drier, but I don’t know how much it is.

The three of us ended up chatting to pass time and when the one guy finished with his ironing, I ironed my dress as our conversation continued. The man waiting for his clothes to finish up in the drier, is from Puerto Rico, so the other guy and I were asking him about different areas and places of interests and also, if there were places that he’d recommend that you don’t normally hear about. He was very happy to answer our questions and tell us about Puerto Rico and recommended several places and points of interest. I asked him about Isabela, since a friend of mine had been there this past January and loved it. He highly recommended it and told us about that area and of the legend about a man leading a cow who fell into a hole in the rocks above the water. They say if you yell something into the hole, the spirit of the man will splash you. “A” told us what you’re supposed to yell into the hole, but he said it in Spanish. He translated it to English and it was “give me the cow” or something like that. I should have asked him if you’d still get splashed if you yelled it in English. Once we were finished with our ironing and laundry, we went our separate ways, but not after exchanging names. They guy from Puerto Rico was named “A” and I’d see “A” a couple more times around the ship.

 

I returned to the cabin and straightened a few things out and views pictures on the camera displays while DH napped. When he woke up, it was around 5:00pm, so we decided to go up to Red Frog and get a beer. Of course we saw Antonio, Joseph and Winston. These guys are great. We sat there awhile and after finishing the beers, we each got another to take up to Panorama Deck 10.

 

We just kicked back and enjoyed. It was late in the afternoon and we had great views of both Martinique and St. Lucia since we were now sailing between both on our way to Barbados. Martinique could be seen from the port (left) side of Liberty and St. Lucia from the starboard (right) side. We were back and forth between both sides getting pictures. On our Valor cruise in May 2013, it was too hazy to see either island as we sailed between both, but this time it was clear enough. We were even able to see St. Lucia’s famed Pitons!

 

 

St. Lucia...we were able to see the famed Pitons

 

 

 

This is Martinique

 

 

 

Martinique

 

 

 

Martinique (zoomed in)

 

[pghsteelerfan]

Martinique (another zoomed view)

 

St. Lucia (zoomed)

 

St. Lucia (the northern end, where we'd be in Castries the day after tomorrow)

 

A couple pictures from the starboard (right) side of Liberty, where we were able to see St. Lucia. Martinique could be seen on the port (left) side.

 

 

Edited November 6, 2015 by pghsteelerfan

[pghsteelerfan]

Martinique again - just thought this was so cool that it was clear enough to see the islands as we passed by

 

 

As we came around to the starboard (right) side from the port (left) side, I noticed the reflection in the windows. On the other side of those windows is Diamond's Steakhouse.

 

As sunset approached, we went to the aft (back) of Liberty for sunset pictures. There were some clouds around but the horizon was mainly clear.

 

 

 

DH attempted a few “selfies” of both of us with his phone and another gal, by herself, noticed us and asked if we’d like her to get a picture of us. Since the “selfies” weren’t the greatest, we accepted her offer and she got pictures of us with my camera. Because it was breezy back there, they aren’t the best pictures since my hair was all over the place, but this is what we look like on a cruise.

 

 

We thanked her and I asked her if she’d like me to get a picture of her, with the sunset behind her, with her camera and she accepted.

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

 

 

We stayed back there until the sun went down. I have always heard about the “green flash” phenomenon that occurs in the Caribbean at the moment the sun totally drops beyond the horizon. I was trying to get as many pictures at that moment as possible and saw some kind of slight, greenish glow, but wasn’t positive since I’d never witnessed it. I mentioned it to DH and he said he definitely saw something, so I think we actually witnessed it for the first time. I noticed a very small fleck of green at the horizon when I zoomed in on one of the pictures in my camera’s display, but don’t know if that was part of the “green flash” or just the way the lighting on the camera was when the sun set. It’s barely visible. I had seen another picture posted here on CC where someone actually caught, on camera, the whole green flash. This was nothing like that picture and I’d really have to crop the picture to see that little fleck of fluorescent color green. It was a beautiful sunset.

 

Tonight was our first formal night, now called “American Feast” on our cruise. Many of those who had early or anytime dining, had already gone in to start getting ready at that point, so there weren’t too many others out on deck. We decided to head back to our cabin a little after the sun set to start getting showered and ready. I went first but didn’t get dressed up yet since we still had over an hour.

 

 

I just threw on shorts and a T-shirt, grabbed my camera and did a walk around Liberty, getting pictures of Emile’s Lido Restaurant, the buffet, after dark.

 

 

 

Emile's Lido Restaurant/buffet

 

 

 

View of Emile's from upstairs

 

 

 

The skylight above Emile's

 

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

I remembered the sculpture, by the back pool, of the seal and wanted better pictures from the ones I got last year. This is my favorite Conquest Class aft pool sculpture of the ships we’ve been on. Right before I got outdoors, I could smell chlorine, and when I got outside, I found out why. The back pool is kept uncovered in nice weather, but they’ll pull the cover over it if it’s rainy or cold. The cover was over the back pool. The chlorine was from the hot tubs, which are kept well chlorinated. I got pictures of that since it was the first I’ve seen it.

 

The aft (back of Liberty), adult only pool. It's called the Versailles pool and it's also on Lido Deck 9.

 

 

 

 

After I got pictures of the seal sculpture and went over the bar to get a beer while I did my “after dark, outer deck tour” for pictures. I spent some time talking to the bartender since I was the only one there. I forgot his name, but he was also very nice. He told me they will pull the cover over the pool if it’s raining. I was headed up there anyway, for pictures, and told him I’d let him know when I got back downstairs. When I got up there, I found out why it was closed. The weather was clear, I could still see the lights on Martinique and St. Lucia, but there were workers in the process of cleaning the pool cover. Scrubbing and hosing it down. Always something on a ship to clean.

 

Barely visible, but there is a guy up there with a hose, hosing down the retractable roof over the Versailles pool

 

While I was up there, I walked over to the other side for a picture

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

I went back downstairs and let the bartender know that it was still beautiful outside but that they were in the process of cleaning the cover. I talked to him for a few more minutes then headed back through Emile’s.

 

One more picture of the pool with the retractable roof closed

 

There were a lot of people eating at the buffet tonight. It wasn’t packed, but there were quite a few. I guess we’re not the only ones who normally skip formal night. Again, tonight we’d be attending.

 

 

 

The buffet area of Emile's that's more mid-ship, where we'd go for breakfast

 

Since I was out anyway and still had time, I walked all the way to the other end, by the main pool. We really love the colors of Liberty and her pool areas when she’s lit up at night. I got a lot of pictures around the pool area and of the Red Frog and Blue Iguana Bars, went up to the top, by the water slide, and got more pictures. I took a lot more pictures than what I’m posting but a lot of them didn’t come out the way I wanted. They looked decent on the camera’s display at the time, but when viewing on the computer after the fact, several were kind of blurry. Oh well. Ship happens.

 

Will let pictures run this show for a bit.

 

This is kind of blurry, but I just loved this view so I had to post. It's mid-ship as you head from the inside to the outside of Liberty

 

[pghsteelerfan]

Pictures from the outer decks of Liberty after dark continued...

 

 

 

 

We all know what this is by now, get used to it, it's not the last

 

Zoomed in view

 

[conshycruiser]

Your pictures are great. 50 days till I sail and you are getting me pumped! I've only been on Valor and Pride before upgrades. I'm really looking forward to Liberty it looks like a great ship.

[pghsteelerfan]

Pictures from the outer decks of Liberty after dark continued...

 

 

 

Blue Iguana Tequila Bar

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

Your pictures are great. 50 days till I sail and you are getting me pumped! I've only been on Valor and Pride before upgrades. I'm really looking forward to Liberty it looks like a great ship.

 

Thank you. Those 50 days will go quick. Glad this is getting you pumped for your turn. I sure wish I was going again. :D I'd actually get on Carnival's site every day and check out my VIFP status for how many days were left quite frequently. I got screen shots of 50, 40, 35 (five weeks), 30, 20, 10, and then each day down to 1 day.

 

Liberty is a beautiful ship. She is almost identical to Valor in layout, just different decor. The major differences you'll notice are where the pool bars are on Valor that were mid-ship by the main pool. They were kind of tucked in behind the stairs going up to 10 on each side. Those bars are gone and that is now were they have the toppings stations for Guy's Burger Joint and Blue Iguana Cantina. You've probably seen the pictures already, but the bars are now Blue Iguana and Red Frog and they are right across from each other, in the center along the windows of the main pool. There's a picture of the Blue Iguana in the above post. But I loved both Guy's Burgers and Blue Iguana Cantina.

 

Glad you're still following along. :)

[pghsteelerfan]

Pictures from the outer decks of Liberty after dark continued...

 

Red Frog (that was Joseph working, but he was moving so he's blurred)

 

I stepped inside to get these

 

 

 

 

Guy's Burger Joint...I'd really love to have one of these right now

 

[pghsteelerfan]

Last picture on my little tour, Blue Iguana Cantina

 

When I was back on the Panorama Deck getting pictures, I ended up talking with a very nice Carnival staff member named Aden (I think that’s how he spells it). Aden was out there sweeping and cleaning the outer areas of the Panorama Deck. He was very nice and I enjoyed talking to him. He asked if I’d cruised before so I told him which other cruises we’ve been on, including our first, on Carnival’s Festivale, for our honeymoon in 1992. He seemed surprised and said that he’s definitely heard of Festival and think he said it was a “legendary Carnival ship”, then told me he was born in 1991, so he never actually saw Festivale but definitely heard about it. I let him know that in 1991, several of my friends all had boys born that year and they were now the ages of that their parents were when they were born. Aden was very nice and I really enjoyed talking with him. Through my experiences, the Carnival staff have all been very nice.

*********************************************************

American Feast - Cruise Elegant night, or first Formal Night (there will be food porn)

 

 

After spending about 10 minutes talking to Aden, I went back to the cabin to get ready for dinner. Once we were both ready, we headed down to the dining room and we went down at 8:15pm since our table was in the top section and there shouldn’t be a line. There wasn’t, we walked right back to our table. Tonight, for formal night, or “American Feast”, they had table cloths and a nice, silver seashell centerpiece.

 

 

 

 

 

Our table mates weren’t there yet, but we thought they may just be running late tonight. Marko came right over and got us water and gave us the menus. He seemed a little rushed but was still very friendly and attentive. Our head waiter, Jorge, was off tonight, so Marko and our other assistant, whose name I can’t remember, were handling everything tonight. The other assistant brought the bread basket over.

 

 

The menus…DH had a menu in English but mine was in Spanish. It wasn’t a problem since DH’s was English and I just chose from that. Marko was back shortly to take our orders. Since our table mates weren’t there yet and it was still early enough that they could have showed, we told Marko that we’d wait a few minutes longer to place our order. When he came back the next time, we went ahead and ordered since we figured our table mates weren’t coming.