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

[Beeslilmama]

 

I used a Canon Power Shot D20. It's not just an underwater camera and can also be used for land pictures. I know that the Olympus Tough gets high ratings and the quality is also very good & used for land pictures as well. I think Valentinebaby1, who also has a Liberty review of the same sailing, has the Olympus Tough and they got a lot of nice snorkeling pictures. The only downside is that I wouldn't consider either camera cheap. The Canon is around $260 (average) and the Olympus is even more expensive.

 

There is also a Fuji Finepix XP underwater (that gets good pictures) that is less expensive. We still have one of the old ones (they have newer models available now with higher megapixels) and we're still happy with it. The pictures are similar. A lot of times, the water/weather conditions can affect the way pictures come out too.

 

I just came across the Fuji Finepix one in a catalog and was wondering how good it was. Thanks!

[frozenrope2001]

I have loved your sunset and sail away photos so much that I just changed my dining option from early to late seating so that I can take the time to really enjoy the sail aways on my Liberty cruise in February.

[blueshine]

We are simply loving your review. Thank you for taking the time to be so detail oriented. You are a wealth of information; having answered so many of our questions. We sail this one soon and your stunning photos and dialog have garnered much excitement. Thanks again!

[crucero]

Thanks for doing such a great review! I can't wait to go in January!

 

My husband is a photog, so we have lots of gear. He sometimes brings a monopod which isn't quite as gigantic as his tripod. Just an idea for you.

[sdschwrt]

Fantastic review with great pictures. Brings back fond memories of our visits to many of these islands

[pghsteelerfan]

 

I just came across the Fuji Finepix one in a catalog and was wondering how good it was. Thanks!

 

We like ours and what is really nice about it is that it is small, so very convenient. I don't know what size the newer ones are though since I havent actually seen them.

[pghsteelerfan]

I have loved your sunset and sail away photos so much that I just changed my dining option from early to late seating so that I can take the time to really enjoy the sail aways on my Liberty cruise in February.

 

I think we'd done late seating on every cruise and we definitely prefer it. It's so nice to be able to kick back and relax and enjoy sail away instead of rushing to get ready for dinner after getting back from port. I hope your weather is as gorgeous as ours was.

[pghsteelerfan]

We are simply loving your review. Thank you for taking the time to be so detail oriented. You are a wealth of information; having answered so many of our questions. We sail this one soon and your stunning photos and dialog have garnered much excitement. Thanks again!

 

I am so happy that you are enjoying this and that you appreciate the details. I was trying to add things I had questions about before our Valor cruise two years ago (same itinerary). My DH is reading this now (uh oh...LOL) and he told me the pictures are nice but that the review itself is too long and too detailed. I told him that was the point and that I personally love reading those kinds of reviews by others - very helpful in planning our last four cruises, including this one. :) I'm glad that it's been helpful to you. If you do have any questions, I'd be more than happy to answer or at least try to. Thank you for your kind words an for following along.

[pghsteelerfan]

Thanks for doing such a great review! I can't wait to go in January!

 

My husband is a photog, so we have lots of gear. He sometimes brings a monopod which isn't quite as gigantic as his tripod. Just an idea for you.

 

I'm sure you'll have a great time, this is a beautiful itinerary and our favorite. If your husband is a photographer, he will really enjoy this itinerary. The pictures I have do not do it justice. I'm sure he will get some beautiful pictures that you both can enjoy for years to come.

 

Thank you for letting me know about the monopod. I looked them up on Amazon and they do look a lot more manageable than a tripod.

 

Thank you for following along and I hope you have just as good of a time on Liberty and this itinerary that we did.

[pghsteelerfan]

Fantastic review with great pictures. Brings back fond memories of our visits to many of these islands

 

Thank you for following along. I'd love to do this itinerary again and also visit some of the islands for longer than a cruise stop one of these days as well.

[pghsteelerfan]

[pghsteelerfan]

Sunday, September 27, 2015 – Debarkation Day – San Juan

 

 

 

 

The alarm went off at 5:30am...eviction day is already here. OK, we're not actually getting evicted from Liberty, our cruise is over and it's debarkation day. After shutting off my alarm clock, I immediately went out to our balcony. Just like our last cruise, I could tell that we were passing El Morro at that moment. I could see the small peninsula that we'd seen the week before from El Morro and taken a lot of pictures of from the famous women's bathroom windows at El Morro. It is a bathroom, but has great views from the window. It was also still pretty dark, so pictures probably would not have come out that well.

 

***Best side for views when sailing into San Juan would be port (left) side because that’s the side for views of El Morro and Old San Juan as you return***

 

DH also got up and we both took our time getting ready. At this point I knew I definitely had a cold, so I don’t think the dry throat I was experiencing the day before was from salt water intake while snorkeling in St. Kitts. For the duration of our cruise, I was sure to wash my hands frequently and tried to avoid touching railings. There were hand sanitizer dispensers located throughout Liberty, including at the entrance/exits of the public restrooms and entrances to the restaurants. Although I’m not overly cautious about that and don’t go overboard, I’d try to remember the sanitizer before we’d eat. We hear about the Norovirus outbreaks and didn’t want to risk that. That never appeared to be an issue on our cruise. No matter how many precautions you take, sometimes you just can’t avoid catching something, especially if others don’t cover their mouths when coughing. That woman on the Panorama Deck as we sailed out of Barbados came to mind. I can’t guarantee that this came from her, but it was definitely a good possibility. Either way, I was stuffed up. Colds don’t knock me out, but I know some who are out of commission for a few days. For me, they are more of an annoyance or nuisance...and it would also be working in my favor later on.

 

 

 

At about 6:15am, the sun was starting to rise, so I went out on our balcony to get pictures as the sun came up over San Juan. Just like with every other day of the cruise, we heard the slamming of the balcony doors from the cabin next door.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I went back in a few minutes later, DH was ready to head up to the Lido Deck to go through the breakfast buffet line, so we went for breakfast. This morning, it was packed, but this has been our experience on the last morning of every cruise we’ve been on lately no matter if it’s San Juan or Miami. We made our way through the line, loading up plates because we didn’t know when we’d be eating next. There wasn’t a table to be found on the Lido Deck, but a tip from Jamman54’s reviews helped us this time and something I wouldn’t have thought of, especially that early in the morning. We took the stairs in Emile’s buffet restaurant and went up to Deck 10 and found a table there. So thank you for that tip Jamman54! We had our breakfast then went back down to the cabin to make sure we had everything together and waited for the announcements for debarkation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

We gathered our luggage and headed out when they were calling the lower decks. We figured that by the time we’d be able to get an elevator, they’d be calling the higher decks. We also wanted to get to an elevator before they called our deck so we’d have a better chance of not waiting too long to get an elevator. I was hoping to see Kendrick and had a cash tip for him in the pocket of the shirt I had on. As we got out the door, I was very happy to see Kendrick. I thanked him and let him know that he, I-Ketut, and Snezana had been the best ever “cabin crew” we had on a cruise and slipped the tip to him. I didn’t see I-Ketut or Snezana that morning, but debarkation morning is very busy for them. Someone we’d talked to on the cruise told us their cabin steward told them that each crew had 25 cabins they were responsible for. So this morning is a busy one. I gave Kendrick a big hug and told him to thank I-Ketut and Snezana for us and that we’re sorry we missed seeing them that morning to say “good bye” to them for us. Kendrick said he’d be happy to pass that along to them. I told him I really hoped we’d see him on a future cruise and then we continued down the hallway while Kendrick made his way to the next cabin.

We went to the elevators and there were already several others waiting with their luggage. Instead of pressing the button to take an elevator down, we pressed the button to go up. This worked very well for us on our Valor cruise in 2013, but several others have also figured that out since then. We ended up waiting at least five minutes before we got an elevator that we could squeeze into with a few others. Someone on the elevator who was heading up to Lido for breakfast informed us that this elevator was going up instead of down. One of the others informed her that he knew that and once she got off on Lido, this very elevator would be going down. As soon as she got off, Deck 0 was pressed, but we stopped at practically every deck on our way down and every time that elevator door opened, we saw crowds of others out there with their luggage. Our elevator was already full with no room for anyone else. Once we got down to Deck 0, the announcements were made to have our Sail & Sign cards, US customs forms, and our photo identification out.

***Customs forms: back up a little here. I can’t remember which night it was but it was either last night (after St. Maarten) or the night before (after St. Kitts) that our US customs forms were left in the cabin by Kendrick. These are to be filled out completely. There is one form to be filled out, per family. We had this filled out last night when we were doing our packing***

***This morning, and I think it’s always this way when returning to San Juan as a home port, Liberty pulled forward (front) first into the pier/cruise terminal, with the pier/cruise terminal on the port (left) side. Debarkation would be the forward elevators to Deck 0 for our debarkation***

We got in line to get off Liberty and they kept things moving and when we got to the front of the line, our cards were “dinged” one final time before we headed down the gangplank and over to US Customs. There was a bit of a line there, but it wasn’t long at this point and it moved. We turned in our filled out US Customs forms, answered the typical questions (do we have liquor, fruits/vegetables, meat products, etc., etc.,) to which we answered “no” to all. Forgot about that little bottle of the spiced rum I got in St. Lucia, which was in my suitcase. The agent was friendly and I think he told us he hoped we enjoyed our cruise, but that may have been an agent from a prior cruise. Anyway, we were through customs and on our way.

When we got out to the front of the cruise terminal, taxis were waiting. A driver asked us if we needed at taxi, to which we responded “yes” and we followed him. He asked where we were headed and we told him the airport. He loaded our luggage and we were off. I looked in the window and watched Liberty, sadly, as we pulled away. She had been our home for a week, and she had been our home for a week last year and we had a great time on her for both cruises. She was the first ship we had ever repeated, so she’s got a special place in my heart. I just love Liberty.

 

 

Our taxi driver, like the others we had, was also very friendly. We did not have a bad taxi driver at all on this cruise, all were very nice and actually talked to us. He told us that the lunar eclipse would be tonight and asked if we planned to view it and we told him we were going to try, if the weather back home cooperated. We had no idea what the weather was like or would be like. He has a young son, in elementary school, who has a strict bedtime, but tonight that bedtime would be relaxed because he wanted his son to be able to see the eclipse. I really thought that was nice and thought it would be a memorable experience for both him and his son, and one that would be remembered by both of them for a lifetime. We arrived at the airport about 15 minutes later. Again, I can’t remember the time. He asked which airline we needed and he dropped us off at the appropriate entrance to the airport. He got out and got our luggage and DH paid and tipped him. We thanked him and I told him that I hoped that he and his son had an enjoyable time viewing the eclipse and he thanked us then got back in and left.

 

 

Our receipt we got from our cab driver for the ride from the cruise pier in Old San Juan to the San Juan International Airport

Edited November 17, 2015 by pghsteelerfan

[pghsteelerfan]

We made our way into the airport, stopping at the Agricultural Inspection area first. Everyone flying out of San Juan has to do this. This takes place right after you enter the airport. There are large rooms with a conveyor belt that you put ALL belongings onto. Once they go through, a sticker is placed on each item. After our Valor cruise, they had these little green stickers that were constantly coming off, so we’d have to make sure they stayed on. The stickers are different now. They are larger and bright yellow and they stick to the luggage a lot better, so there were no issues with them falling off and having to keep track of them.

 

This is what the new stickers look like. In San Juan, there has to be on on every bag you have, including carry-on and personal items that you take on the plane with you

 

After that, we made our way to the kiosks to do the check-in. We weren’t able to do pre-check in as we had the week before because we didn’t have internet and DH didn’t want to have to pay to do that on Liberty. There are airline employees to assist at the kiosks if help is needed, but we’ve done it before and didn’t need any assistance.

 

 

Once our boarding passes printed out, we went up to check in our suitcases. DH put his up first and it came in under the 50 pound maximum. He put the tag on the handle of DH's bag and sent it through. Now it was my turn. According to the airport scale, it was 51 pounds. I told the guy that I could take something out and put it in my carry-on and told me “you’re fine” and let it go. He put the tag on the handle of my suitcase and sent it through. I guess one pound may not make a difference but I’m sure that there are some that would either charge the $100.00 extra or give you the option to shuffle things around. This guy was really cool about it by letting me pass. DH paid the $50.00 ($25.00 fee for each checked-in bag) and we were given our luggage claim receipts. DH made sure he put them in the section of his carry-on in case we’d need them. We needed it for the first time last week when his luggage ended up MIA upon arrival in San Juan. I tried to see if those tags both had "IAD" (Washington Dulles International Airport), but I couldn't tell, but DH said they were. This is where the trouble started with DH's suitcase that went MIA (Missing in Action in this case, not the airport), last week...at the airline counter at Dulles when the agent put the incorrect destination tag on DH's suitcase, sending it to Louisville, KY, instead of San Juan, PR.

 

From there we pretty much breezed through security and made our way to our gate. Our gate was D12 for flight US 836. It was still fairly early and our boarding time wasn’t until 2:05pm with the flight scheduled to leave at 2:50pm. There were plenty of seats when we arrived at the gate, so we took seats near an outlet where we could charge our phones. Since we had plenty of time, DH took a walk to see if there were any places to eat where we could grab a bite to eat later on. He stopped at a shop somewhere and got us each something to drink and told me the only places he could see to eat was an “Air Margaritaville”, a Dominos Pizza stand and a Subway in addition to several coffee shop type places. We weren’t really hungry yet, but Subway was a possibility. I took a turn going for a walk through the concourse just seeing all there was to see. There was a large Duty Store but I didn’t go in. There was also a Hudson News Stand and I went in and looked around, but they didn’t have anything that caught my eye, so I went back to our seats.

 

A short time later, we had some company…”L” from “that other” roll call and family were there. Their flight was just a few gates down so we all visited for a while. I was so happy to see them since I hadn’t seen them the day or evening before while still on Liberty. I knew that we’d remain in touch but it was nice to see them again.

We ended up talking to them about what all we did in St. Maarten. They had all gone to Maho Bay and we let them know we had originally planned to, but ended up just wanting a beach day close to port and told them where we’d gone. They let us know that we didn’t miss much at Maho Bay. They said that normally there is enough beach that you can be down on the beach to see the planes flying in directly over your head. Due to erosion, there was no beach, only the large rocks up against the road, so in order to see the planes, you have to go further down. They were still able to see them come in, just not directly overhead. They also told us there were no larger planes scheduled to come in that day, so they only saw the smaller planes. Sounds kind of like a bust to me, so I think we made the right choice.

 

After visiting for a while, they decided to head to their gate. We planned to meet up once again before our planes boarded. Their flight was scheduled to board about a half hour after we had to board ours and we still had a couple of hours left. We spent the time checking our phones and I was able to text the picture I got of Liberty all lit up at night the previous week in San Juan to our table mates since we had access to WiFi. After doing that, I started going through some of my pictures that I had taken during the week.

 

 

A short time later, “L” stopped by again and said they found a good place to eat for a reasonable price if we were interested. We were and she let us know where it was at. They had meals, kind of like a value meal, with large chicken sandwiches, fries, and drinks for a little more than $7.00 each. We talked for a few more minutes before “L” continued to her gate. DH and I were getting hungry at that point, so DH went to that restaurant. The name is Mangos Village and it was in Terminal C. It was a decent walk but not too far. DH came back with chicken sandwich meals for each of us. It was a lot of food, so we thought that was pretty good for the price, which was similar to what we pay for fast food here. Even though there was a lot of food, we ate most of it since we didn’t know when, or if, we’d be eating again before getting home.

While enjoying our meals, an announcement was made that our flight had been overbooked and they were checking to see if they could get six volunteers that would be willing to give up their seats on the flight and I forget what the offer was, but it would have been a decent deal. It may have been round trip tickets to anywhere in the continental US or a huge discount, it’s usually something like that. DH and I just looked at each other and hoped that we wouldn’t be “bumped” if no volunteers came forward. Two groups of people went up, and one group all quickly returned to their seats while the other group (about four people) talked with the agent, so I’m guessing at least that group took the deal.

After we finished our meals we decided to grab our stuff and walk down a few gates to where “L” and her family were and visited with them until it was close to our boarding time. We knew none of the others on “that other” roll call would be in the airport since they were all going to be staying at the Courtyard Isla Verde, same one we stayed at and love, post-cruise. One group would be there one night only and fly out the next day and the others would be staying there for three nights, leaving on Wednesday. When it got close to boarding time, we all got pictures together, hugged and said our "good byes" and DH and I went back to our gate, which was just getting ready to board. They didn’t call any passenger names and started lining people up by boarding zones…so it appeared that they had enough volunteers and nobody was being “bumped” from the flight. Whew!!!

 

[pghsteelerfan]

We boarded right on time, found and got situated in our seats, and the flight left right on time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we were leaving, got a few pictures of our, and our friends’ gate area in the terminal. I was able to get the reflection of our plane in the window because I had not gotten one while at the gate.

 

 

 

The area where our gates were in Concourse D

 

 

 

This is the reflection in the windows of Concourse D of our plane

 

 

 

 

I also got a picture of the plane our friends would be flying on, and maybe even in the process of boarding.

 

 

 

Pretty sure this is the plane our friends would be flying on for the first part of their trip home (this one's for you "L", "K", "S", and "J")

 

 

 

 

I'm guessing that these smaller planes are used for "island hopping" from San Juan to the other islands.

 

 

Just before we got on the main runway to take off, we saw the funniest looking plane. Well, not funny, but different. It was a cargo plane where the wings came over the top of it. It was a large plane but not what I’d consider huge. DH took Russian in high school and could tell it was a Russian plane by the wording on the side.

 

 

Isn't this the coolest looking plane? It would be a boring flight...no windows to look out from. Guessing it's some kind of a cargo plane.

 

[pghsteelerfan]

This came out a little out of focus, but posting to show this plane - so cool.

 

Once we got on the main runway we made the turn to take off. From there I thought I could see our hotel, the Courtyard…except it was white instead of yellow, and got a picture. That was a big change from a week ago. I don’t know if they’re painting it white now or if the white was just primer for repainting the original color.

 

The Courtyard Isla Verde (building in the middle, now white except for a small section at the top that still has the original color)

 

Very shortly after that, the engines came to a roar and we sped down the runway and took off. We took off to the east and as I looked down, I could see Isla Verde Beach and the public beach and park area I had walked down to the week before.

 

The public beach and park at Isla Verde Beach...I couldn't tell from the beach last week that there were also wading pools there and it appears there are canoes (to rent???) as well.

There is a peninsula that goes out into the ocean beyond the public beach and park and right after flying over that is where we made a wide turn to head northwest.

 

 

 

 

Hey JKirkN...the above three pictures...is this the spot you thought I walked to? Definitely not that far.

[pghsteelerfan]

 

This pictures was taken with the smart phone

 

From there, I was able to see where the Courtyard Isla Verde was and got pictures. I’m sure our friends would most likely be there by now, either enjoying the beach or pool and pool bar area. I wished that we could have stayed on night post-cruise, but DH had to be at work the next morning. I could also see the cool looking Russian plane sitting at the airport.

 

 

Pointing out the Courtyard Isla Verde and the Russian plane

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

As we got closer to Old San Juan, I was able to make out where the forts were, and Carnival Liberty! I was able to get a few pictures, but we were pretty far away. On our last cruise on Liberty, I was also able to see her, and the other ships in port that day, from the air shortly after taking off from Miami International Airport when flying home from our cruise and got pictures that time too. We were a lot closer to the port that time. Regardless, I was happy to get one more chance to see Liberty again and a few last pictures. Who knows when we’ll see her again, so sweet Liberty, we had a great time on you and we do hope to see you again and also sail on you again and soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

 

Was trying to zoom in Liberty, both forts and Old San Juan from the air

 

The flight back was nice and I passed the time by talking to a gal who was in the seat on the other side of DH. She lives in NYC but is originally from Puerto Rico. She and her sister had been down there for a ten day visit to see their mom, but tomorrow it was also back to work for them. I noticed DH was starting to sneeze…uh oh. Did I “share” my cold with him? I didn’t say anything to him since he was trying to doze and listen to his MP3 player (I-Pod or whatever it is he has).

While it was still clear, I was able to get a few pictures from the plane over the water. After getting home and looking through them, I noticed a cruise ship in one of them. Even zooming in, it’s hard to tell, but it’s not a Carnival ship since there is no identifiable red “tail”. After doing some research with the cruise ship and port schedule, my best guess would be Disney Fantasy, which had left Port Canaveral the day before (9/26/2015) and was scheduled to be in St. Maarten two days later (9/29/2015) with today and tomorrow (9/27 and 9/28) both being sea days.

 

 

 

 

See cruise ship?

 

 

Probably not...can you see it now?

 

[pghsteelerfan]

After a while we could not see anything, totally enclosed by clouds. I knew we weren’t close to landing. They made an announcement that we would be going through some turbulence and asked everyone to take our seats and fasten the seat belts. We were probably somewhere near the Bahamas and did not realize it at the time, but we were probably flying through what would become Hurricane Joaquin. At the time, it was a “non-tropical low” and became a tropical depression the next day. We did hit turbulence but it wasn’t too bad, just a bit of a bumpy ride for a while.

We headed into some clearer skies again shortly before we headed back over land. I was definitely watching to get pictures and was wondering if we’d be flying the same path. If so, Hilton Head Island, SC, would be on the right side of the plane (we were on the left) and from my side, I may be able to see Tybee Island and Savannah, GA. We’d been to Savannah numerous times while visiting Hilton Head and I love it there. I did not recognize the area we were passing over and once I viewed the picture and Google Maps when home, I found that it was Bull Island, SC, which is just northeast of Charleston.

 

 

This is Bull Island, just northeast of Charleston, SC

 

 

 

About a half hour later, we started our final descent into Charlotte, NC. We were scheduled to arrive at 6:39pm. When flying into Charlotte, it was obvious that it was cloudy and rainy. We couldn’t see anything but clouds until just before we landed. It didn’t look like anyone living in the Charlotte area would be able to see the eclipse of the moon tonight and we were just hoping for clear weather once we got home.

 

[Jamman54]

I really enjoyed your review and pictures. Brought back memories of our cruise on the Liberty. GREAT job!!!

[pghsteelerfan]

Once we got to the gate, we waited until it was our turn to exit the plane. We ended up in Terminal B and our gate was E15 and we already knew that would be another LONG walk. Last week, we arrived at Terminal E and the flight from Charlotte to San Juan was in Terminal B. It was at least a half hour walk from B to E and the airport was crowded, but we made it to the gate. There wouldn’t be much time there since we’d be boarding at 7:34pm, which would be about a half hour. Definitely no time to eat, so good thing “L” told us about that place in San Juan.

We noticed that there was no plane at the gate yet and they announced that our flight had been delayed a few minutes at the airport of origin but was scheduled to arrive in about 10 minutes and once those passengers were off, they would start the boarding announcements. Sure enough, about 10 minutes later the plane arrived. At that point I asked DH if he was getting my cold. He said “no” and asked why? I told him it was because he was sneezing during most of the flight from San Juan to Charlotte. He said it was because someone in front of us had on smelly, heavy perfume. Heavy perfumes make him sneeze and bother his allergies, kind of like hay fever. All I can say is I was so glad to have this cold at the moment. Perfume causes my sinuses to get inflamed, triggering major sinus headaches. Unbearable headaches. Not today, I had a cold, I was already stuffed up and could not smell a thing. There are times a cold can be very beneficial and this was one of those times. I was already as clogged us as I could get & couldn't smell a thing...so the perfume was unable to penetrate so no sinus headache for me!!! Yippee!!!!

One woman got off and was carry several bags and had a small, lap type dog, on a leash. She came back a few minutes later, with the dog, and proceeded to try to get back on the plane. The agent, a female, at the gate told her that she could not go beyond a certain point then the argument started. The woman who had just gotten off the plane had forgotten to grab her carry-on. I don’t know how much stuff she had, but she obviously had what we’d consider a carry-on, a personal item, and the dog. There was another man who also started to argue, her husband. The agent told them they were not allowed beyond a certain point after getting off the plane and if they went past that point, security would be called. They both proceeded to argue with the gal and the woman was having a real hissy fit at the agent. When the agent was finally able to get a word in, she told the couple that she’d radio and have someone bring the bag they had forgotten out to them. They kept insisting on getting back on that plane for it and the gal warned them, once again, if they went beyond a certain point, she’d call security. This couple was so uncooperative that we thought for sure that security would be called. Other people waiting to get on were getting ticked because those two passengers were delaying everything. Finally, a bag was brought out and it was theirs and they were on their way.

About 10 minutes after that little fiasco, they started boarding our flight. We got in line with our zone and made our way onto the plane and found our seats. We left later than scheduled and once we were on the runway, the pilot stopped the plane and said that since we left late, we’d have to wait about 15 minutes to proceed to the main runway due to heavy air traffic at Washington Dulles International. Oh great…is this going to be that 15 minutes that turns into an hour…or longer? Less than 15 minutes later, we were moving again and making our way to the main runway for takeoff.

 

We took off and were heading home. It was dark at this point, so there wasn’t much to see. As we passed over southwestern Virginia, we could see lights of smaller cities and towns but even with Google maps, I would have no clue to be able to tell where we were. I’m thinking it was probably Roanoke or Lynchburg, VA.

 

 

 

Since the flight from Charlotte International to Washington Dulles is slightly over an hour, the flight seemed pretty quick and we were soon able to see a lot of lights as we were making our final descent. We live in the DC area, but I didn’t recognize anything like the Washington Monument or Capitol Building in the distance. We could see the moon so I knew we were heading north. The eclipse had not begun yet. I think that was supposed to be around 10 or 10:30pm. If we land to the north, we would be flying over our neighborhood, but again, I didn’t recognize anything. As we got lower, we made a wide "U-Turn" to the left and landed from the north, so we knew the winds were out of the south, and probably bringing all that rain from Charlotte.

 

 

Now were closer to our area

 

 

This was just before we made that "U-Turn" to head south to land

 

It was mostly to party cloudy and was not raining. That was a good thing. Once we were at the gate, and it was our turn, we made our way off the plane and headed through the airport to baggage claim. By the time we got there, we didn’t have long to wait until the luggage arrived on the carousel. This time, both of our bags were there. No mix up this time. The agent in San Juan, remember the nice gentleman who let my bag slip through even though a pound over weight? He knew how to get the right tags onto the right bags.

We collected our luggage and made our way to the kiosk inside the airport where we could pay our parking. Once DH did that, we made our way, another long walk, to the parking garage and to our car. DH always says after vacation that it feels weird not having someone else to do the driving. Vacation is over hon. While on the way home, I was able to tell that the eclipse was just starting through a break in the clouds. We made it home in a half hour, unloaded the car and came in through our garage. Since it was now between 10:30 and 11pm, we just dropped all of our luggage in the living room. We were greeted by three of our four “boys” (the cats). One was hiding, one of our two year-old rescues who had been abused as a kitten then “disposed” from a moving car at six weeks old, so we didn’t expect to see him right away and knew he was probably hiding under our bed. Our neighbors let us know that's where he'd been every time they came over. We went out to our back deck to see if we could see the eclipse, but it was so cloudy there was no way we’d be able to see it.

We quickly opened our suitcases to make sure everything was there (it was) and to see if TSA had done a snoop through either of our bags…not this time. We went up to bed and out from under our bed came our other cat. He seemed startled at first but once he realized it was us, he was all lovey dovey. Since we were getting ready for bed, they knew what was coming…bedtime treats.

We got ready for and went to bed as tomorrow would be back to work as usual. DH at the office, bright an early. I had unpacking and tons of laundry (Mt. Washmore) to do. But going to bed, we were in our own bed and I was thinking about those on the September 27th Carnival Liberty sailing and how they were probably enjoying their sail away from San Juan party, just as we had in what seemed such a short time ago. Even though are time on Liberty was over, I was hoping for a good week of weather, smooth sailing, and great memories on a beautiful itinerary for the current passengers, just as we had. It was a great week, a great cruise and probably one of our best ever. We made some great friends in those we had gotten to know from “that other” roll call and our table mates at dinner and are still in touch.

We missed the cruise and still do, but we had a great time, met some great friends, and will have great memories for a lifetime. We got to go on a cruise and we all know that those don't last forever. There will be another one one of these days. It is good to be home and I was missing our four "boys".

 

 

The "boys"

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

This wraps it up for the actual review. It's finished...finally! I'll be adding my final thoughts on the whole cruise next.

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

I really enjoyed your review and pictures. Brought back memories of our cruise on the Liberty. GREAT job!!!

 

Thank you so much! That really means a lot coming from you...I have enjoyed your reviews for quite some time now. Happy to be able to bring back memories of your Liberty cruise and thank you for following along. It looks like there will be a long wait until I can look forward to your next review, but I can wait. :)

[cruisexlife]

Wow, such an amazing cruise review. You really went in depth with things and it was very informative, let alone interesting and fun. Even helped me cure my excitement for Splendor in 5 days. Such a GREAT job! :D:D