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

[pghsteelerfan]

Hey Holly! Remember me? I am SO GLAD you had a chance to cruise on Liberty again. She is my FAVORITE ship. I am so bummed she is going to TX! After we sailed Liberty in January, we got a great deal on Pride and sailed her on a B2B in May. We are booked on her again for next March, but my heart still belongs to Liberty! :p I LOVE ALL your pictures and am always so amazed that you can identify where you are from way up in the air! And how awesome it must have been to look down and see a ship cruising along in the middle of the ocean. :eek: Thanks for sharing yet another great adventure. Can't wait for more! :):)

 

Hi Karen! :) Of course I remember you!!! I was so happy to go on Liberty again and it took some arm twisting. :D Knowing that Liberty is being moved to TX and Fascination taking over the San Juan itinerary is a good reason why we decided to do the cruise this year. For this itinerary, a balcony is a must for me as I enjoy the views early in the mornings sailing in. How was your B2B on Pride? It was easy identifying from the air this time because I'm very familiar with that route since we've been to Hilton Head so many times. Thank you for following along!

[pghsteelerfan]

Great start, reliving my May cruise!

 

Thank you for following along. We usually try to cruise in May as it's our favorite time to cruise.

[pghsteelerfan]

This was, by far, the nicest hotel room I’ve ever had the opportunity to stay in. We felt like VIP’s!!! There are two “ocean front” rooms on each floor and there are 14 stories in the hotel, but 12 actual floors with guest rooms. At this point I was kicking myself because I didn’t get the name of the gal who checked us in. She was so sweet and genuine and went way above expectations. Of course, the room was probably available already, but still. A few minutes after we got into the room, there was a knock at the door. Our porter was there with my suitcase, so we tipped him and thanked him. We walked out to the balcony to see our view and to get pictures then I came to get ready for an afternoon at the beach.

The view from our balcony

While DH was getting his pictures/video from the balcony, the phone rang and I answered. It was a male hotel employee asking about the room, if there was anything we needed and if the room was ok. I told him we LOVED the room and our view. He let us know that if we needed anything at all, to just give the desk a call. That’s when I told him how helpful and nice the gal at the check-in desk was and asked if there was any way he would know which of the gals it was who actually checked us in. He was able to look it up and let me know her name is Giovanna. I don’t know if I’m spelling it correctly or not though. I was sure to write her name down so I wouldn’t forget so we could send the hotel a note or email to let them know we really appreciated her kindness.

[pghsteelerfan]

We got ready for and headed down to the beach. There are loungers with umbrellas and beach towels are provided but they have a little hut out by the pool that we had to stop at to get loungers and towels. They ask for our name and room number and since we were originally booked in another room, there was some confusion. The attendant at the pool had to call the front desk to confirm that we were actually in room #724 and once they had the confirmation, we were each given plastic bracelets and beach towels. The bracelets are to show that we are guests at the hotel since the loungers and use of the pool are for hotel guests only. We didn’t spend much time at the pool when there in 2013, so I took a quick glance around. The pool area is very nice and there is actually a swim-up bar!!! We then made our way down to the beach and they actually ask where you want you want your loungers and they move them there for you then get the hole dug and umbrella placed. They also give you a small, plastic table that has drink holders. We were set.

Pictures of Isla Verde Beach, San Juan

The water was very calm, even calmer than the last time. There was some “wave action” the last time, but not large waves, they were the kind that were perfect for body surfing or boogie boarding. I do remember a bit of an undertow the last time and also a sand bar out in the water. The undertow wasn’t an issue for me as I’d just pick a wave and body surf my way back. Even standing, I was able to feel the pull, but no one seemed to have any problems with it, just something I noticed for anyone reading who may not be a strong swimmer.

The beach itself is very wide with a gradual slope but with somewhat of a steeper grade but not quite a drop off in the area just before reaching the water and where the tide comes in. It was about 3 feet. This time, that was gone and there was a gradual slope leading down to the water. The wet sand leading into the water was hard packed, reminding me of the beaches in Hilton Head, SC.

The water itself was warm, but still refreshing and the little drop off (about a 12 inches) right after entering the water was gone with a gradual slope. The sand was hard packed and there were waves, but they were smaller than the last time. I did not notice any sign of an undertow this time, none at all. The water was very calm. While in the ocean, I was able to feel a lot of live sand dollars with my feet, so I was very careful to not put full weight on them because I didn’t want to crush the little guys. Again, just like Hilton Head when the tide there is way out…live sand dollars everywhere and the need to watch your step.

 

Once refreshed, we went back to our loungers and DH said he was ready for lunch and a drink. We were both starved since we hadn’t really eaten at all that morning since nothing was open at Dulles airport yet and we didn’t have time while at our layover in Charlotte. I did have a small bowl of cereal at around 2:00am, but that was basically a “late night snack”. DH went up to the Courtyard’s “Papaya Ocean Front Grille”, which serves “Americana” food and brought down a menu for us and we both decided what we wanted then went back to place an order. Once he placed our order, DH was back down with the drinks and said when it was ready, the food would be delivered right to our loungers. For the drinks, DH got us each a rum punch type drink. I had him do the repeat pose for a picture of the “first drinks on vacation” toast that we had done on our first visit before our Valor cruise.

Cheers! We're on vacation

A short time after that, our food was delivered. We each ordered the grilled chicken breast sandwiches, which come with fries. I forget how much we paid. The sandwiches were huge and they didn’t skimp on the chicken. There were also plenty of fries, more than enough. I was able to eat the entire sandwich and some of the fries and it was VERY good and I was very full.

Edited November 1, 2015 by pghsteelerfan

[ladygal4.4]

I hope the luggage story has a happy ending!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[paytonjsplace]

We will be boarding the Liberty a week from today! I am LOVING your review and look forward to reading more!

[pghsteelerfan]

Right around this time, DH’s phone was buzzing with a notification sound. It was “that other” roll-call site “notifying” us of updated posts. DH checked and there were several new posts, one of which was one of our members checking to see if we had made it yet. They had just arrived. DH messaged back that we had and that I had let my phone in the room but let them know we were both here and on the beach now, but his luggage wasn’t. They messaged back and forth for a few minutes. It appeared that the most of the group of 14 of us had issues with flights or lost luggage!!!

There were three other groups of four, in addition to us that were on “that other” roll call. One group had a piece of lost luggage, another group was stuck in Miami when they were supposed to be in San Juan and waiting on a flight to San Juan and, as it stood, they’d be getting into San Juan very late. All eight of them had reservations at the Sheraton right near the pier. The last group of four had flown down several days prior and were staying in Luquillo, another area I’d love to visit someday, but they never mentioned any issues of lost luggage or flight fiascos.

The group who were stuck in Miami were supposed to fly through Charlotte and their schedule was between 1 and 2 hours behind ours. I can’t remember exactly what happened, but there was a miscommunication between the airline and the pilots, causing pilots to be late on what I believe was their first leg of the trip, thus causing them to miss their connecting flight from Charlotte to San Juan. This is where I forget the details, whether they flew to Charlotte and caught a flight to Miami instead or if they got a flight directly to Miami from their airport of origin. Either way, they were in Miami when they were supposed to be in San Juan. This is definitely a very rocky start to a highly anticipated vacation for all of us. I don’t know what the others were thinking, but I was beginning to wonder if this was foreshadowing for a bad cruise experience. Please, I sure was hoping not.

Not much we would do about any of this and just hoped that it would all work out. We enjoyed the beach and I was in and out of the lounger walking the beach some and in the water. At this point, I got a “second wind”, probably excitement, and didn’t feel the need for snooze on the beach. I also needed to move around some after eating a large lunch. I decided to take a walk down the beach heading east (beach faces north). The Courtyard Isla Verde appears to be the last multi story hotel on the eastern end of Isla Verde Beach. I ended up walking to the “end” of the beach, and that is where the beach becomes boulders and rocks.

On the way I noticed another building not too far beyond the Courtyard, but don’t know if it was another hotel or not since I was barely able to see the roof above the trees. Beyond that was a large area that appeared to be a public beach park, with many pavilions with picnic tables. I didn’t go up there, so not sure of what all facilities they have, but there also appeared to be buildings for changing and restrooms and beach volleyball areas and there appeared to be a mix of local and tourist families there enjoying it. I should have walked up to check it out and get pictures, but I forgot my camera, so once I got to the end (where beach becomes rocks), I turned around and went back. I’ve only ever been to Isla Verde Beach in San Juan, but it’s only a 15 – 20 minute taxi ride from Old San Juan and would definitely recommend it.

I made my way back to our loungers, went for another swim, and we decided to get another drink. I think DH just got a beer this time while I got a Pina Colada. That Pina Colada was very good.

[conshycruiser]

Last year we have flight and luggage issues. On our way down we missed our first layover and ended up having to have an extra layover and spent 22 hours traveling. On our way home us airways lost both our bags and we didn't get them back for a week. This time we will be packing half of our clothes in each suitcase just in case, and also flying direct both ways from Philly. I hope it worked out for everyone in your Larry.

[pghsteelerfan]

I hope the luggage story has a happy ending!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Thanks! :D

 

We will be boarding the Liberty a week from today! I am LOVING your review and look forward to reading more!

 

I'm officially jealous! LOL!!! I'd love to be going on Liberty again next week. I hope you have a great time and thank you for following along.

[pghsteelerfan]

Last year we have flight and luggage issues. On our way down we missed our first layover and ended up having to have an extra layover and spent 22 hours traveling. On our way home us airways lost both our bags and we didn't get them back for a week. This time we will be packing half of our clothes in each suitcase just in case, and also flying direct both ways from Philly. I hope it worked out for everyone in your Larry.

 

That would have been a total nightmare! I can't believe it took them a whole week to get your luggage to you. We prefer a direct flight to avoid possible situations like this, but this time we couldn't get one since we booked with only two months out. But I'll definitely be getting to the luggage situation later on.

[pghsteelerfan]

I'm going to let the pictures do the talking for a while. These are all of Isla Verde Beach at the hotel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

We spent the whole afternoon at the beach, in and out of the water, and decided to head back up a little after 5pm. There is a little bar near the pool against the hotel where we each got a bottle of beer. We decided to walk over to the pool to get a good look and some pictures and just hung around out there for a while as we enjoyed the beers. I made sure to get a lot of pictures of the actual hotel this time since I didn’t the last time. This is a very nice hotel, inside and out. The outside grounds and pool area are also very nice. They even have hammocks strung between palm trees on the upper part of the beach. There is also a very nice looking outdoor restaurant right outside the back exit/entrance, the same one we use to get outside to the beach. We’ve never eaten here because it’s on the pricey side.

Pictures of the pool and other outside areas of the Courtyard

[pghsteelerfan]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

 

 

The outdoor restaurant at the hotel

 

 

Once we finished our beers, we went back up to the bar and ordered another round to take to the room while we took turns getting showered and ready to make a “mall run” for a few items of clothing for DH.

Views from the area by the hotel's elevators. We were right across the road from the airport

[pghsteelerfan]

I was to get ready first and went to our balcony to get a few pictures first. The sun had just set, but there were some clouds which prevented me from seeing the actual sunset.

[pghsteelerfan]

 

 

 

 

Once I was ready, DH took his turn. By now it was dark, so I got more pictures looking toward the west of the other hotels all lit up at night.

Once DH was ready, we went down to the lobby where we went to the attendants/porters got us a cab. The young guy who assisted us told us there were actually two malls, so we let him know the closest one, to which he replied they are both the same distance. One was “The Mall of San Juan” and the other was “Plaza Las Americas”. He said Plaza Las Americas was much bigger and was the largest mall in the Caribbean. Since we had to go to a mall we decided we’d like to see the largest mall in the Caribbean. Our attendant hailed us a cab, which would be $14.00 each way. Our driver was very nice and he told us that we should be able to get a cab outside the mall, but if for some reason we weren’t, he gave us his business card and told us to give him a call and he’d come get us. We’d only planned to stay an hour, till around 9:30pm (mall closes at 10:00pm).

We get inside this mall and, my gosh, it’s HUGE!!! It’s also a very beautiful and modern looking mall. DH wanted something like JC Penny, Sears, or Macy’s. They have many of the main anchor stores that malls in the states do but JC Penny and Sears were the first we saw and DH thought he’d have better luck with what he wanted at JC Penny, so we went there. Again, oh my gosh…this JC Penny is HUGE!!! There were four levels with each, individual level being the size of a WalMart here in Virginia. This JC Penny, alone, was larger than the local mall closest to where we live. Unbelievable!!! Of course, where was my phone? Locked up in the hotel room, didn’t think I’d need it. I wish I had it because I’d loved to have gotten pictures of this mall.

We made our way to the men’s department where DH picked up a long sleeve polo type shirt, a pair of dress slacks, two solid color T-shirts, a pack of underwear, and a belt. He almost forgot about the belt until I asked him. There were several others in front of us and we ended up having to wait about 20 minutes. Someone at the front of the line was holding everything up, but I couldn’t hear, or understand, what the holdup was since the conversation was in Spanish. When it was our turn to pay, we knew we didn’t NEED Spanish to pay, but were happy to find out the clerk who waited on us was also very fluent in English. Once we finished paying, we went to look for the food court. Now that was a hike, and either up on the third or fourth floor.

There were a lot of options and we chose Burger King. Most of the places had lines, so we ended up waiting about 15 minutes in the line for Burger King. Once we got to the register, DH orders in English. The cashier had to go and get someone else to wait on us since she didn’t speak any English and once they got to the counter, we placed our order and waited. They were busy, but service seemed slow. We just ordered two double cheeseburgers and two small Pepsi’s but waited what seemed forever to get them, but it was probably about 10 minutes. We got a table, ate our burgers and took our drinks to go.

Even though the mall closes at 10:00pm, the stores all seemed to be closed since it was just after 9:30pm. We made our way through the mall to the area where we were to exit since the doors where we came in, through Sears, were already closed and locked. I guess that was the main mall entrance, or one of them as there could have been more than once since the mall was so large. There was a taxi stand outside, where we were able to get a taxi immediately. Once in the taxi, we were on our way back to the Courtyard.

Edited November 1, 2015 by pghsteelerfan

[pghsteelerfan]

We went back up to our room to drop off our purchases and I went to the balcony because I saw a cruise ship all lit up outside the window and tried getting pictures of it. It was just before 10:00pm so we knew that the ship was Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Seas, which sailed out at 8:00pm.

Royal Caribbean's Adventure of the Seas sailing out - not the best picture, but she was very pretty all lit up at night.

We went down to the bar just as you exit the hotel for pool and beach access and we each got a beer and took them to walk around the pool and get pictures of the pool area lit up at night. There was no one in the pool or at the swim-up bar, but there were a few others walking around and getting pictures. We were laughing at this one couple who were posing for selfies and taking turns posing while one would get pictures of the other. We walked around and got our pictures then headed down to the beach to try for pictures.

The Courtyard's pool area at night

[pghsteelerfan]

More of the pool area at night

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[audcc77]

We have taken this cruise on the Valor as well and will be doing it again on Liberty in February.

 

Since I hate flying, I just go to my happy place and don’t look out the window much on an airplane. Therefore, I appreciate your great photos of Hilton Head, etc.

 

As others have said here, sometimes it is not only about your final destination, but the journey to that destination.

 

It takes effort to put together a review. And I don't care what font you use, paragraphs, etc. Thanks for taking time to post photos and commentary.:)

[pghsteelerfan]

When we got to the beach, that couple was there. Both were pretty well dressed up and she was laying in the sand, posing as if she was modeling, while her other half was getting pictures of her.

When we finished those beers, we decided to get one more. It seemed to take DH forever, so while I waited I decided to get into one of the hammocks but was not successful. The hammocks are large, for two people, so the easiest way to get in would probably be to have a person on each side, getting in at the same time. I went back and waited on a little bench for DH, who finally returned about 10 minutes later. The little bar just outside of the hotel was closed so he had to go to the bar inside to order. We spent a few more minutes on the beach and we could still see Adventure of the Seas on her way out. Just a pretty sight to see a cruise ship, all lit up at night like that, sailing past. Since it was getting close to 11:00pm and we were getting tired, we decided to head back in.

The place was crowded since the hotel has dancing every Saturday night. The dancing is open to anyone, including those not staying there. While making our way through, I got a few pictures, with my phone, of the inside area where the buffet restaurant, a bar, dance floor, and lobby area are.

This is the buffet restaurant in the hotel

This is the bar right off the lobby of the hotel. There was dancing here and it was busy

There is a casino in the hotel and back in the same area is the gift shop. When I raised my phone to get a picture of that area, a member of what I’m guessing to be casino security staff came out waving at me saying “no pictures, no pictures”. Oops. DH told me it’s a casino, I can’t take pictures. I apologized to the guy and pulled the phone down. DH told me I should know better than to get pictures in the casino and I told him we weren’t in the casino and he said it didn’t matter. Yes, my picture taking put him in an embarrassing situation again. He does not like any attention drawn to him and having a casino staff member waving his arms and saying “no pictures, no pictures” can draw a little attention. This wasn’t the first time that I’d embarrass him getting pictures and it won’t be the last.

Either way, there IS a casino in the Courtyard for anyone interested, I just don’t have a picture of the entrance. DH and I didn’t spend any time in there since we usually end up making donations and we wanted to save our money for the cruise. I’m not a big gambler but any time I’ve been in a casino playing the games of chance, I have lost. Not big, about $10 or $20 here and there, but I’ve never come out ahead, ever. I guess I’ve never gotten drawn in by the feel one gets when actually winning some money. Sure, I’d love to go and give it a try, there’s a first time for everything. But…so far luck has not been on our side this trip so I have no temptation to push our luck any further at this point. Just next to the entrance to the casino and the gift shop area is a small ice cream parlor/cafe. Just past that is the main lobby/entrance area and elevators. We were done walking around and it was 11:00pm, so we made our way upstairs to our room where we’d finish our beers.

Once back in our room, we accessed the internet through our phones. The Courtyard does have wifi for guests. Once I got on, I noticed a few email notifications for new posts on “that other” roll-call. The one group who had been stuck in Miami made it to San Juan around 7:00pm, but all of their luggage was still in Miami!!! That group flew on the same airline we did and theirs, like ours, would be flown to San Juan the next morning and hopefully be delivered to the ship. What a cluster!!!

I posted to those staying in Luquillo that we’d just watched Adventure of the Seas sail past and that they’d probably also be able to see her soon. One of their group mentioned getting up around 4:00am to hopefully see Carnival Liberty sailing in. On our Valor cruise my plan was to get up and hopefully see Valor sailing past. I set the alarm for 5:30am that time to get up but I never did see her. We found out when we were returning to San Juan on the last morning of our Valor cruise that we were already just about to the pier at 5:30am when we sailed back in. If I wanted a chance to see Liberty come in, I’d have to set the alarm for at least an hour earlier. Setting the alarm for 4:30am to see Liberty came up on “that other” roll-call site and one of the others, who was also on Valor in 2013 and stayed at the Courtyard, mentioned they’d seen her around 4:00/4:30am. DH also asked me if I was going to try to get up to see Liberty. Oh h*** no!!!! Absolutely NOT!!! I wanted sleep this time. Sorry Liberty, would love to greet you on your return to San Juan tomorrow morning, but I just can’t make it happen. I will see you in port though.

In all seriousness, we’d been up now for about 22 hours straight, at least I had since DH snoozed on the beach a bit. We’d also only gotten three hours of sleep the previous night. Nope, going to bed and not getting up till 8:00am, at which time I set the alarm to go off. Once those beers were finished, we got off the phones, took turns getting ready for bed and called it a night. I do remember that one of the last “that other” roll-call posts before I turned the phone off was one of the group in Luquillo saying they were now able to see Adventure of the Seas. So off to bed we went, and that bed was so comfortable.

[pghsteelerfan]

Since this is the end of the first day of our vacation, I thought this would be a good spot to wrap up things for this evening. I will be back with more later on. Next up will be embarkation on Liberty, which didn't exactly go as planned.

[pghsteelerfan]

audcc77: We have taken this cruise on the Valor as well and will be doing it again on Liberty in February.

 

Since I hate flying, I just go to my happy place and don’t look out the window much on an airplane. Therefore, I appreciate your great photos of Hilton Head, etc.

 

As others have said here, sometimes it is not only about your final destination, but the journey to that destination.

 

It takes effort to put together a review. And I don't care what font you use, paragraphs, etc. Thanks for taking time to post photos and commentary.:)

 

Audcc77, I tried hitting the "quote", but for some reason it's not letting me quote comments right now. I just tried rebooting computer, but still not letting me.

 

I just wanted to thank you for your kind words and I really appreciate it. The reviews I enjoy reading cover the journey as well as the destination and I've always enjoyed reading those parts and seeing the pictures that the others have included as well.

 

I love the "happy place" when you're on a plane and I'm glad you're enjoying those pictures as well. It does take an effort to do a review, but here I am doing another one. I must be crazy. It IS a great way to relive a great vacation.

 

I hope you have a great time on Liberty when you cruise in February, you'll love her. We loved Valor too, but this itinerary is the main attraction for me. Thank you for following along.

[conshycruiser]

Since this is the end of the first day of our vacation, I thought this would be a good spot to wrap up things for this evening. I will be back with more later on. Next up will be embarkation on Liberty, which didn't exactly go as planned.

 

 

Loved following your first day. I hope you got the luggage back before boarding. I look forward to reading the rest. Thanks for the pictures and details [emoji3]

[pghsteelerfan]

Loved following your first day. I hope you got the luggage back before boarding. I look forward to reading the rest. Thanks for the pictures and details [emoji3]

 

Hey, I was able to use the "quote" feature again. Thank you again. You'd asked if I had pictures of the menus, which I didn't but I remembered another thread awhile back where Buffettfan 225 posted pictures of all. She was on Liberty this past summer and the menus were the same as ours. I actually had a few in Spanish. LOL!!! Here's the link to that thread. Hope this helps. :)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2222215&highlight=liberty