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

[pghsteelerfan]

Fishy pictures continued...

 

 

 

 

The actual ship wreck can be seen in this picture

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

Fishy pictures continued...

 

 

While we were out there, the clouds that had been building were over us and the sky opened up with a heavy downpour while we were in the water with the fish. It was so cool!!! I got pictures from underwater, looking up towards the surface, and could actually see the raindrops hitting the water. I was actually able to catch this on camera with the raindrops breaking the surface of the water visible. What was really neat was that it was pouring rain on us, but we could see blue sky over the actual beach. We were out there for about a half hour before we made our way back over to the boat.

 

 

 

 

View from under water to the surface...the "pink spotches" are rain drops hitting the water - this was really cool!

 

The shipwreck

 

[pghsteelerfan]

Rain, fish and shipwreck continued...

 

 

 

 

We did not care that it was raining and actually loved it, it was just so cool to be out in the ocean in pouring down rain. Besides, we were already wet.

 

DH

 

 

This is actually the best picture I was able to get from underwater looking toward the surface of the water and actually seeing the raindrops hitting and breaking the surface

[pghsteelerfan]

Rain, fish and shipwreck continued...

 

 

One of the other tour boats out there

I feel bad about this, and I was not trying to be rude, but when I was going up the latter, one of the younger members of the family, probably late teens/early 20’s, held his hand out. I thought he’d been trying to help one of the other family members so I continued up the ladder. He commented about not wanting help from a stranger. I then realized he was trying to help me, so I let him know I thought he was reaching out to help the gal coming up behind me. I told him I’d be happy with the help and thanked him. I really hope he wasn’t offended. Chivalry still exists!!! He stayed by the ladder and helped everyone back into the boat.

 

Their next stop was back to where the turtles were. Even though we had already seen been there, we weren’t dropped off at the beach, we went with them back to where the turtles were. Bonus here, we were getting to swim with turtles twice, the first time, just the two of us and all the time we wanted. I was also happy because I’d now be able to get pictures of the turtles with the underwater setting on the camera.

 

On our way back to where the turtles were

We got to the spot, all of us got into the water, and Carl tossed the bait in. There were also two other tour boats out there that had double the amount of people in our group. Those tour operators were also tossing bait into the water. We were swimming around there for quite a while and no turtles. The puffer fish was back, with a few friends this time. There were also a few of the fish that had pointy noses, like a pencil or needle. I do not know the actual name, so if anyone knows, please feel free to comment to let me know.

Our group all consulted with each other to keep an eye out for turtles and if anyone saw any, to call to the rest of the group. After what seemed like forever, one of the gals in their group called out that there was a turtle near her. We were able to see the turtle but he (or she) remained well below the surface, but I was able to get one decent picture. I also saw a ray swimming on the bottom and tried for a picture, but that didn’t come out. The one turtle we saw swam away and we were never able to see any more. After about a half hour, we all got back in the boat to head back to the beach.

 

Again, letting pictures take it from here

 

 

 

[cruisexlife]

Hey there! Being on the other side, I know...I have been enjoying your reviews and pictures for so long now. I feel terrible, you had the other Liberty review that I want to recommend and I forgot to mention it. I kept getting "timed" out looking for the past reviews that I recommended in my first post. I know there are others following with upcoming cruises that may be leaving before I finish.

 

I remember asking you if you were able to see Saba from St. Maarten and you mentioned that you had. We were able to see it this time! :D And the picture you got from Liberty in St. Thomas...one of my all-time favorites.

 

I've been checking out some of the itineraries for Carnival Pride. There is a 14 day cruise, round trip, that hits a lot of the islands that I love or would love to see. Dominica & Martinique, we visited both on our first cruise in 1992 but would love to get back. The only problem is that DH would not be able to get that many days off work in a row.

 

It's okay, thanks for thinking about me on your cruise! Glad you saw Saba! :D

 

I can see how that would be a problem. Hopefully you find something that will work for the price, convenience, and time. It can be a pain, but I know you'll find something. Have you considered any of the 8 nights from Baltimore or even Norfolk? Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay, Amber Cove?

 

I finally was able to pick a November 2015 cruise, Splendor to Amber Cove, St.Thomas, San Juan and Grand Turk! I'm beyond excited.

 

Your review will help these next two weeks fly! :D

[pghsteelerfan]

Puffer fish and waiting for turtles continued...

 

Needle fish??? If any of you know what kind of fish these are, I'd love to know

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oops...the above may be "fish porn"

[pghsteelerfan]

It's okay, thanks for thinking about me on your cruise! Glad you saw Saba! :D

 

I can see how that would be a problem. Hopefully you find something that will work for the price, convenience, and time. It can be a pain, but I know you'll find something. Have you considered any of the 8 nights from Baltimore or even Norfolk? Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay, Amber Cove?

 

I finally was able to pick a November 2015 cruise, Splendor to Amber Cove, St.Thomas, San Juan and Grand Turk! I'm beyond excited.

 

Your review will help these next two weeks fly! :D

 

I did mention your review and told others to look for the link in your signature from your post. I'm sure you don't mind. :)

 

It was so cool to be able to see Saba that day and we also saw some of the others. I'll have pictures. :)

 

We probably won't be cruising next year as the family vacation to Hilton Head, SC, will be resuming next year. DH just started a new position at the end of July in 2014, so he's back to two weeks vacation. Of course, I didn't think we'd be cruising this year, so who knows. A group of friends want to cruise in late 2016 (may not be possible for us) or 2017, so we may do that, if it's in 2017. I have been looking into cruises on Pride and happy to see different itineraries offered. We loved HMC and Grand Turk and would love to get back, so any cruise with those two would be great. Splendor is also a possibility, depending on price.

 

So happy to see you're cruising in two weeks...hopefully another review to follow? If so, I'll definitely be following it.

[pghsteelerfan]

Puffer fish and waiting for turtles continued...

 

One turtle finally made an appearance, but it wasn't for long

 

 

One of the other gals noticed this little crab on the glass bottom portion of Carl's boat

 

Heading back into Payne's Bay beach

 

We had no idea what time it was, so when I went to put my watch back on I saw the time, 11:45am. Crud!!! When we got back to the beach, we were sitting in the back. Since payment was included in the price of our tour already, we didn’t have to pay but the others did. I don’t know what the exact charge was per person, but the others each had to pay before getting off the boat. Once they paid, we tipped Captain Carl, thanked him, and got off the boat.

We were now on Payne’s Bay Beach, but we only had about 10 minutes before we were scheduled to meet with Patsie. I went down the beach, in both directions, and tried to get as many pictures as I could. This is a beautiful beach. There were several others there but I wouldn’t say it was crowded.

When I went back to where DH was, we just waited there for a few minutes since the guy in who headed the snorkeling, the one Patsie dropped us off with (Carl’s boss) told us Patsie was not there yet and he’d call her. There was still five minutes left, but I wanted to be ready when she arrived. He said Patsie was on her way and would be there in five minutes. Another couple walked up to DH and told him and asked if he was number seven in the “Hairy chest” contest yesterday. He said he was and they told him he did a good job and he thanked them and asked them, “even when I went out of order?” They laughed and told him it was funny. When they left, DH looked at me and said “see, I told you people would be recognizing me all week.” As we waited, I looked at this beautiful beach and just wanted more time here, but maybe another time. So this is where having only the two of us didn’t go in our favor in that we didn’t have time to enjoy this beautiful beach for a while.

 

The following are all pictures I was able to get during the time we had left at Payne's Bay beach

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

Payne's Bay beach continued...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

Payne's Bay beach continued...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisexlife]

I did mention your review and told others to look for the link in your signature from your post. I'm sure you don't mind. :)

 

It was so cool to be able to see Saba that day and we also saw some of the others. I'll have pictures. :)

 

We probably won't be cruising next year as the family vacation to Hilton Head, SC, will be resuming next year. DH just started a new position at the end of July in 2014, so he's back to two weeks vacation. Of course, I didn't think we'd be cruising this year, so who knows. A group of friends want to cruise in late 2016 (may not be possible for us) or 2017, so we may do that, if it's in 2017. I have been looking into cruises on Pride and happy to see different itineraries offered. We loved HMC and Grand Turk and would love to get back, so any cruise with those two would be great. Splendor is also a possibility, depending on price.

 

So happy to see you're cruising in two weeks...hopefully another review to follow? If so, I'll definitely be following it.

 

Thank you so much for the shoutout! :D

 

Yes, I do hope to write a review of the cruise. With Amber Cove being so new, I hope to have a photo review for people to follow.

 

Quick question regarding Sapphire Beach. We were trying to pick a beach in St.Thomas, and I would really like to try Sapphire. How much was the cab fare? There are four of us going. Also, are there beach chairs to rent? Facilities, such as bathrooms and food, possibly a hotel nearby? Your pics of Sapphire are beautiful! :D I was going to settle for Emerald Beach, but now I don't want to!

[pghsteelerfan]

Payne's Bay beach continued...

 

 

 

 

 

We went over to the guy that Patsie dropped us off with, and I just feel terrible that I don’t remember his name, and thanked him and told him that we were heading back to our meeting spot for Patsie. He walked out with us and asked if we had a nice time and we told him we did and that we were able to see turtles. We talked to him for a few minutes as we waited for Patsie. She would be there in just a few minutes. When we were waiting, we noticed a little chicken laying down in the sand under a tree. I got a picture.

 

The little chicken...Brianna, aka Wrigley80, this is for you. :)

 

Patsie arrived a few minutes later, we thanked the other guy again, and we got into the van. There was another couple who were also going to be doing the east coast tour with us. Although I forget their names, we introduced ourselves to each other and, small world, they were from our area! They live in the state of Maryland, in another suburb of Washington, DC. When worked, I worked in Maryland and DH currently works in Maryland, so we were familiar with the same areas. They were very nice. We are now on our way for the second part of our tour.

[pghsteelerfan]

Need to wrap this up for the day, so this is a good place for me to do so. Next up will be the second half of our tour with Patsie where we'll see some other places of interest and the tour of Barbados' east coast and Bathsheba.

 

[pghsteelerfan]

Thank you so much for the shoutout! :D

 

Yes, I do hope to write a review of the cruise. With Amber Cove being so new, I hope to have a photo review for people to follow.

 

Quick question regarding Sapphire Beach. We were trying to pick a beach in St.Thomas, and I would really like to try Sapphire. How much was the cab fare? There are four of us going. Also, are there beach chairs to rent? Facilities, such as bathrooms and food, possibly a hotel nearby? Your pics of Sapphire are beautiful! :D I was going to settle for Emerald Beach, but now I don't want to!

 

Oh good! I love your reviews and I can't wait to read about and see pictures of Amber Cove, as there isn't much in the way of that out there yet. :D

 

The taxi fare to Sapphire is $10.00 per person/$20.00 per person round trip. That is the basic rate and the same we paid in 2013. There are beach chairs to rent. I'm not sure of the exact cost, but DH told me he didn't pay more than $15.00 for two (they may have been around $7.00 each???). There are bathrooms. If you're facing the buildings, the bathrooms are in the back corner of the building on the right. There is a long, blue mat to walk on (to try to keep sand out of the bathrooms) that leads the way. I don't know if it will still be there or not. There is food/beverages there and I believe there is a bar waiter/waitress who will make rounds. I don't know if you can get food through them or not. DH got a coke for himself and a water for me, but I don't know how much we paid. We didn't get anything to eat, so I'm not sure what's offered (believe sandwiches) or the cost. We decided to wait until we got back to Liberty for the Guy's Burgers. :D There are condos there, but I don't think a hotel. It is a resort/marina but if there is a hotel, it's probably for guests only.

 

I'm glad you liked the pictures of Sapphire that I have. If you do that walk out to that little point, I definitely recommend shoes - that sand could get hot. There has been a lot of erosion since we were there in 2013, which I'm sure you noticed I mentioned. If you go into the water to swim/snorkel, I'd definitely recommend water shoes. Your feet will thank you. :D

[SmudgeCat]

 

The Tervis tumblers. They are 16oz. I'd love it if they had the 24oz.

 

 

Thank you so much!!!!

[pghsteelerfan]

Thank you so much!!!!

 

You are quite welcome! :)

[bcsurvivor05]

Thank you so much for this amazing review. I am sailing her iin 15 days and getting so excited can't wait to read the rest

[xrayvin]

I am LOVING your review. We are sailing out of San Juan on the Adventure in 27 days! We have a few ports the same so I am excited to read those.

 

One being Barbados, one of my bucket list wants is to swim with turtles. Your pictures are amazing. What kind of underwater camera are you using? It was crazy the difference when you switched to the underwater setting.

 

I am also curious about your night pictures at sail away. You said you played with the ISO (the ship pictures prior) but I was wondering if you found a setting you really liked. Your sail away of the coast/forts are great. What settings did you use to not have motion? Did you use a tripod?

 

You do a great job including everything in your review, I wish your review was of the AOS. I am searching for all the information you included about the Liberty.

 

Speaking of the Liberty, I sailed that ship a couple years ago and it was one of my favorite ships! I would love to sail on her again.

 

Thanks again!

[Anneschmera]

Loving the review. we leave on her in 35 days. We leave for San Juan in 33 days, so looking forward to it:)

[pghsteelerfan]

Thank you so much for this amazing review. I am sailing her iin 15 days and getting so excited can't wait to read the rest

 

Thank you for following along and glad you're enjoying it. I am hoping to have this done by the time you leave for your cruise. I hope you have as enjoyable of a time as we did. We really love this itinerary.

 

I am LOVING your review. We are sailing out of San Juan on the Adventure in 27 days! We have a few ports the same so I am excited to read those.

 

I'm sure you saw the pictures I was able to get of Adventure when flying in and also when she sailed out that night, beautiful ship! I love some of the itineraries that Adventure does and were actually looking at the Adventure cruise that left on 10/31 but October was busy for us and September was the only month we could book a cruise this year.

 

One being Barbados, one of my bucket list wants is to swim with turtles. Your pictures are amazing. What kind of underwater camera are you using? It was crazy the difference when you switched to the underwater setting.

 

The underwater camera I was using was the Canon D20. I've seen good and bad about the Canons but I've been happy with mine. Just wait till you see the snorkeling pictures I got at Jalousie Beach in St. Lucia. I've also heard good things about the Olympus Tough underwater cameras as well.

 

I am also curious about your night pictures at sail away. You said you played with the ISO (the ship pictures prior) but I was wondering if you found a setting you really liked. Your sail away of the coast/forts are great. What settings did you use to not have motion? Did you use a tripod?

 

No, I didn't have a tripod with me. I just didn't feel like hauling it around. To be very honest, my best pictures of Carnival Liberty at night were with my smart phone camera. It gets the best night pictures. I didn't have to do anything except point and shoot. In comparison of the ship pictures at night on the computer between the smart phone and the DSLR (Canon Rebel t1i), the ones from the phone came out much nicer. Had I known, I'd have just used it for the sail away pictures out of San Juan. The ISO I was using (a special feature on camera just to adjust that) were 1600, 3200, and 6400. The only issue with the highest ISO is that the pictures will appear grainier. I had the camera strap around my neck (just in case) and braced the camera on the railing of the ship. Another poster gave me a tip to use the lowest aperture when taking night pictures. I am really a novice and still getting used to my camera. I have what I call a "cheater" setting to get clear pictures. My brother, who has the same camera, told me about this. I find it to be the best for landscape pictures where you want everything in focus and sharp. By setting the camera to "P" on the mode dial (at the top), it will automatically keep everything in focus. I'll attach a link to a "cheat sheet" that I just found on the internet. It's for the Canon Rebel, but I'm sure some of the features are the same on others as well.

 

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/canon-eos-rebel-t1i500d-for-dummies-cheat-sheet.html

 

You do a great job including everything in your review, I wish your review was of the AOS. I am searching for all the information you included about the Liberty.

 

Thank you very much. I'd also love to try AOS one year since we love the islands in the southern Caribbean. Nothing against Carnival, we've always had a great experience, but they have the same itinerary and I'd love to see some of the others that AOS goes to (Martinique, Antigua, St. Croix, just to name a few) and also RCI's Jewel of the Seas. I just wish my night pictures of AOS sailing past our hotel at Isla Verde Beach came out clear, that was an amazing sight watching her.

 

Speaking of the Liberty, I sailed that ship a couple years ago and it was one of my favorite ships! I would love to sail on her again.

 

Thanks again!

 

This was actually our second time on Liberty. We were on her in April 2014 on a western Caribbean cruise. We've also been on two of her sister ships, Glory and Valor. We loved all but Liberty "wins" for my favorite decor. I LOVE her atrium.

 

Thank you again and hope this helps. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask.

[pghsteelerfan]

Loving the review. we leave on her in 35 days. We leave for San Juan in 33 days, so looking forward to it:)

 

I didn't forget about you. I tried quoting your post with the others but the "quote" feature is being a little goofy with me for this review.

 

Thank you for following along and I hope you have a wonderful time on Liberty. We just love her and this itinerary is my favorite. It will be nice to have those extra days in San Juan, there is just so much to see and do there. I need a whole week sometime. As I posted above, I'm expecting to have this done before you leave. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

[pghsteelerfan]

[pghsteelerfan]

The first stop on our tour was to the oldest church in Barbados, St. James Church, and we had about 15 minutes. It was 12:30pm. There appeared to be a few other tour groups stopped here, so we didn’t go in and decided to use the restrooms here. I think the other couple went in for a few minutes as well.

 

St. James Church, the oldest church in Barbados.

 

When we all got back to the van, Patsie opened the back and opened up the cooler. DH and I each had a beer and the other guy had a beer but his wife declined. It wasn’t that she didn’t drink, she didn’t want to have to make a lot of stops. Patsie assured here that she’d be stopping for breaks for us. The gal did have a beer at one point later on. The beer was Banks Beer, which is brewed in Barbados. It was good. We all asked her if we could drink in the van and Patsie assured us that we could. We mentioned the “open beverage container” laws in the USA and she said we were fine. The next stop on our tour was about 20 minutes later, about 12:55pm, to a spot overlooking a Luxury Marina. Patsie told us the name but there is just so much information to take in on tours that I had to look it up once home. I don’t take a note pad on vacation to take notes and prefer to take in the experience while we’re experiencing it. The internet is my friend to refresh my memory when needed. Anyway, I’m pretty sure it was Port Ferdinand Luxury Marina, on the northwest coast of Barbados.

 

Picture of the town we were going through from the van

The road we were on was along the coast in areas and Patsie stopped the van for a minute so we could get pictures from the van.

 

This is what I believe to be Port Ferdinand Luxury Marina

 

 

Residential area across the road from the marina

 

When researching on Google Maps and the internet to find the name of the marina, I saw that it's just past Speightstown, Barbados, which is on the northwest coast of Barbados. I didn’t realize we were that far up the coast.

Edited November 8, 2015 by pghsteelerfan

[pghsteelerfan]

After stopping there, we were headed up into the higher elevations of Barbados. Now sailing into Barbados, while it doesn’t appear flat like Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Grand Turk or the Bahamas, it’s also not as mountainous as the others, as I mentioned earlier. From where we were heading, the elevations were a lot higher than I expected.

 

Some pretty Barbados countryside along the way to our next stop.

 

In about 10 minutes, we were at our next stop, the Cherry Tree Hill Reserve overlook. I was really looking forward to seeing this one after seeing the pictures in fellow CC member’s, Dirkgun’s, Valor review. We had about five minutes here but that was plenty of time to get pictures. It was clear out over Barbados’ eastern side but starting to get cloudy on the west side. The view from the overlook was still beautiful. There were vendors set up with tables here but we didn’t make any purchases. We all got the pictures we wanted and were all ready to continue on to our next stop, Bathsheba!!!

 

The following pictures are all of the stop at the Cherry Tree Hill overlook

 

 

 

 

There are vendors at the Cherry Tree Hill overlook who have tables set up to display their merchandise. They weren't pushy but encouraged people to at least take a look.

 

 

The vendors' tables

[pghsteelerfan]

It only took 15 minutes to get from Cherry Tree Hill overlook to Bathsheba. Along the way we passed an old windmill (I got a picture, but it didn’t come out), and farms with cattle. I didn’t get pictures of the cattle but DH was able to get video of them since they were on his side of the van. We watched the videos that DH got from our cruise and I’d forgotten that a few of us in the van were acting silly and mooing at the cows, but we WERE mooing at the cows.

Some cactus along the road as we headed down towards Bathsheba

 

The windmill...this was the best picture I could get since this was a main road and Patsie couldn't really stop or pull over, but she did slow down so we could try to get pictures of it.

 

Picture of the Atlantic coast on the eastern side of Barbados from the van

 

Some more scenery along the way