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

[conshycruiser]

Thanks!!!!

[Wags67]

"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."

 

HI, HOLLY!!

 

So excited to see you started your review! I'm Loving All your pictures and, of course, the detailed review...

 

Yes, Holly, it was the first leg of the trip that was messed up. The flight crew in Detroit was told to arrive for a 9 am flight and it was supposed to be a 6:40am flight. Airlines contacted the crew and we "patiently" waited for their arrival to our terminal. We weren't too nervous about the crew being late because we knew we had almost a 1 1/2 hour layover once we landed in Charlotte. Well, the crew was over an hour late and then we started to Panic...Would our flight make it in time for the connecting flight to Puerto Rico? When we arrived in Charlotte we got off the plane and rushed to our terminal...only to find out that Our flight to Puerto Rico had already left!

Passengers were all in a panic rushing to the service counter to find connecting flights...some were able to catch a connecting flight within the hour. We were put on a connecting flight to Miami arriving at 2pm instead of a flight going to Puerto Rico. Once in Miami, we were told the flight to Puerto Rico would be 9pm! We found an earlier flight to PR and put our name on stand by. Luckily, we were called last minute, boarded the plane and arrived in PR at 7:15pm.

Although we should have arrived in PR at 1:23pm and got there at 7:15pm, I'm just glad we flew in the day prior!

 

 

Keep up the EXCELLENT review, Holly!!:)

[Crusin Karen]

Holly, I think I submitted my reply just as you were submitting the story about your DH'es lost luggage. Funny but when I read about the worker who slapped a sticker on the luggage I had a sinking feeling that something would go wrong. :( I, too, hope there is a happy ending to the story. You lucked out with that hotel at least! Your pictures are just beautiful! Kind of cool you got to experience the mall! Just stinks the reason WHY you did! :mad:Since we usually drive to our cruises, I love seeing your pictures from the air. So pretty and interesting. Maybe we can meet up on the Pride some day! An easy drive for both of us. Thanks again for sharing this journey!

[seventysixracing]

Loving it so far! We leave on the Liberty in four weeks for our first time on this itinerary but second on the Liberty. Very excited!! You do have me a little worried about luggage! We are going to "try" to fit most of both of ours in one big one and then each have a carry on. Last time one was actually lost one on the SHIP. Ours turned out well so hoping yours did too! Looking forward to the rest of your review.

[valentinebaby1]

Yay! I'm so excited to see your review start! I actually came to CC to add some more to my review, but saw your review and had to read it! So I'll have to work on mine later...lol

 

Now it's time to get the boy up for school.

 

Bookmarked! Jim was excited too so I'm sure he'll be chiming in soon!

[pghsteelerfan]

Hi Laura!

 

I was trying to use the "quote" feature so you could find my reply easier but it won't let me. Also my thread title, it wouldn't let me edit that. Driving me nuts!!! LOL. It's about time I got this thing started, right? It has taken me this long to get the pictures squared away then typing it up.

 

Thanks for clearing that one up. I couldn't remember if you actually made it to Charlotte or if you ended up flying to Miami from your airport of origin since you'd be missing the connection in Charlotte. I know that if things had worked out, you would have been an hour behind us landing in Charlotte then arriving about an hour behind us in San Juan.

 

Will be uploading embarkation day pictures today and will be getting more up tomorrow. Busy day today. Hope all is well and please tell everyone "hello" for us.

[pghsteelerfan]

Holly, I think I submitted my reply just as you were submitting the story about your DH'es lost luggage. Funny but when I read about the worker who slapped a sticker on the luggage I had a sinking feeling that something would go wrong. :( I, too, hope there is a happy ending to the story. You lucked out with that hotel at least! Your pictures are just beautiful! Kind of cool you got to experience the mall! Just stinks the reason WHY you did! :mad:Since we usually drive to our cruises, I love seeing your pictures from the air. So pretty and interesting. Maybe we can meet up on the Pride some day! An easy drive for both of us. Thanks again for sharing this journey!

 

We definitely should have double checked that sticker before he put DH's luggage on the conveyor belt. We will be sure to from now on. We also should have asked him about checking in again at the kiosks, as we'd done that 23 hours prior to flight. Getting up at 1:00am after only 3 hours of sleep had our brains kind of fuzzy. LOL!!!

 

Yes, we loved the hotel and it's the same one we stayed at prior to our Valor cruise. Our room the last time was nice and we had a nice view from that balcony, but this was just "WOW"!

 

Seriously, I wish we had more time at that mall. I'm not a big shopper, but it would have been nice to spend more time there and see all that they had. That is apparently the largest mall in the Caribbean.

 

I'd love to try the Pride someday. I find it strange that it's more expensive to cruise on Pride than the cruises out of San Juan and even out of FL??? But we'd be saving in airfare. Would also love to sail out of NYC someday, but it would have to be in a warmer month. But I do hope we can sail together. :)

[pghsteelerfan]

Loving it so far! We leave on the Liberty in four weeks for our first time on this itinerary but second on the Liberty. Very excited!! You do have me a little worried about luggage! We are going to "try" to fit most of both of ours in one big one and then each have a carry on. Last time one was actually lost one on the SHIP. Ours turned out well so hoping yours did too! Looking forward to the rest of your review.

 

I don't have to tell you about Liberty then, but I really think you'll be impressed with this itinerary. The scenery of each of the islands is just out of this world and pictures don't do it justice. It's my favorite.

 

Luggage, it does get lost but this is the first time we've had that happen. Just be sure that they get the proper tag attached. I also recommend packing a few extras in the carry-ons. I did, DH didn't, thus the trip to the mall.

 

Thank you for following along and I hope you have a wonderful cruise next month.

[pghsteelerfan]

Yay! I'm so excited to see your review start! I actually came to CC to add some more to my review, but saw your review and had to read it! So I'll have to work on mine later...lol

 

Now it's time to get the boy up for school.

 

Bookmarked! Jim was excited too so I'm sure he'll be chiming in soon!

 

Hey there!

 

OK, you have me officially bummed. I have so much to do today (Monday's are my cleaning/grocery store day) and I just got on here to look for updates to your review. LOL!!! I recommended your reviews (both this one and Valor) for anyone reading that will be cruising before I finish. I am really enjoying all of the pictures you guys got - same islands but different tours.

 

I'm uploading the next batch of pictures now and will have more up tomorrow. Dave gets to work from home Tuesdays now. They are allowed to once they've been there a year and he was there a year at the end of July. I try to avoid the housework in case he needs to be on the phone (usually does at some point), so I'll quietly sit here and work on the review.

 

Glad to have you follow along and hope we can all relive our Liberty cruise through each other's reviews. :)

[ch27088]

Subscribing. Thanks so much for your wonderful review of the Liberty. The review and pictures are great, and I can't wait to finish reading the review!!! Thanks again for sharing our review with us.

[DeDe63]

Loving the review!!! We will be in San Juan in January and staying a few days before taking the Triumph back to Galveston!! Can't wait!!!

[Permanentvacation11]

Great review! I will be reading it over and over along with the others you mentioned until we board Liberty in January. We also are staying at Courtyard Marriott Isle Verde for 3 days pre-cruise. Loving your pictures, can't wait to read on!

[goingcrzn11]

We will be on the Liberty in just 4 weeks. Can't wait to read the rest of your review!!

[SoloSailorII]

Thank you for taking the time to review and share your pictures. Loved the way you started it reminding us of those hectic weeks leading up to sailaway.

 

Love the pictures and look forward to the rest. Valentinebaby, following yours as well, Jim takes some great pics too.

 

Fair Winds And Following Seas~~~~

[JKirkN]

Hrmmm... won't let me do a quote either... seems to be specific to certain posts though...strange...

 

So... to the post... :)

 

Great review so far! It's always fun to read... I've been glued to Kendra's review...even though it's our pictures, it's always fun to relive it through her comments... And now I'm enjoying yours as well!

 

So you walked ALL the way down to Loiza??? Holy cow...that's almost 2 miles. The building you passed is a convention hall type place...and the other beach area is the Parque Lineal de Loiza... basically the public beach area for the non-hotel locals...

 

I drove down past that area and around the corner... As soon as you go around that corner, the surf gets ROUGH! There is no longer a break, so the full force of the Atlantic hits that north shore... and it's amazing to watch! HUGE waves...15-20 footers... And then there are tons of Kioskos selling souvenirs and food, etc... And then a ways farther down, there is this really cool area that has a shallow area that protects you from the huge waves... so it's like a pool with big waves hitting the edge of it... awesome! Next time I go to PR, I'm going to go swimming there!!!

Oh and around that area is near the end of the run way, so you you get to see the planes take off right over you... not quite like Maho, but still pretty dang cool! (Kendra will probably post pictures of this area when she gets near the end of her review...)

 

Looking forward to more of your review... I've also got a picture or two that I need to send you for the sea day... in case you want to post it... Kendra didn't because she thought it might be embarrassing...so I figure, I'll send to you and you can decide if you want to post it... :) (It has something to do with a fuzzy upper torso event...lol)

[Dirkgun]

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holly, Your pictures are amazing.... I am so jealous of the trip. I love this itinerary and Puerto Rico. Your Pics make it so real, I just love them. Loving your review again as usual. I am definitely subscribing. I just found it today and m still reading it but just couldn't wait until I caught up to the end to comment. I was really hoping to see your review. We stayed at the Isla Verde Marriott on our cruise out of San Juan in 2009 on Celebrity and I agree I do think it is a very nice place. Keep it up. Great job as usual on the review.

[Jenny in TX]

I am enjoying your review! DH and I want to do this cruise in the next couple of years.

[KPfromCT]

I am enjoying your review! DH and I want to do this cruise in the next couple of years.

 

We do too, but not on an old ship like Fascination/Fantasy?

Hardly ANY balconies on that ship.

I still cannot wrap my head around the fact they are putting an old small ship down in San Juan.:mad::mad:

 

If the Liberty was still going to be there next summer, that would have been our itinerary. Instead, we booked the Magic from Port Canaveral. But I am ITCHING to do the San Juan itinerary. Never read a bad review.

[ConshyCrock]

Great review thus far and really loving the pictures. We're doing this cruise in mid-January and I cannot wait.

[conshycruiser]

Great review thus far and really loving the pictures. We're doing this cruise in mid-January and I cannot wait.

 

 

Wow, another cruiser from Conshohocken?? We will be on 12/27. Look for my review!

[JKirkN]

 

 

 

 

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.

 

The Mall of San Juan was just opened on March 26th, 2015. I completely forgot that I wanted to go check it out. It's supposed to be really gorgeous... sounds like the other one is pretty nice too! Maybe next time. :)

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mall_of_San_Juan

[pghsteelerfan]

Subscribing. Thanks so much for your wonderful review of the Liberty. The review and pictures are great, and I can't wait to finish reading the review!!! Thanks again for sharing our review with us.

 

Thank you so much, I'm glad you're enjoying it and thank you for following along.

[pghsteelerfan]

Loving the review!!! We will be in San Juan in January and staying a few days before taking the Triumph back to Galveston!! Can't wait!!!

 

Thank you! Is that a Journey cruise? I was looking at one that hit a lot of the islands in this area (southern Caribbean), and I think it was on Sunshine. It was 10 days but DH would not have been able to get that off work at once. I hope you get to enjoy San Juan and you can't beat going in January. So much to see and do. :D I hope you have a wonderful cruise on Triumph and thank you for following along.

 

Great review! I will be reading it over and over along with the others you mentioned until we board Liberty in January. We also are staying at Courtyard Marriott Isle Verde for 3 days pre-cruise. Loving your pictures, can't wait to read on!

 

Thank you, and believe me, the others I mentioned are great reviews I've enjoyed them and gotten ideas and have had some help. As I just mentioned to DeDe63, you've picked a great time to go. I think you'll be happy with the Courtyard, we're repeaters there and is a nice hotel. It looks a little dated on the outside, but don't let that fool you. Thanks again for following along.

[pghsteelerfan]

We will be on the Liberty in just 4 weeks. Can't wait to read the rest of your review!!

 

Four weeks? Believe me, that time will fly! It did for us. I hope you have a wonderful cruise and enjoy it as much as we did. Thank you for following.

 

Thank you for taking the time to review and share your pictures. Loved the way you started it reminding us of those hectic weeks leading up to sailaway.

 

Love the pictures and look forward to the rest. Valentinebaby, following yours as well, Jim takes some great pics too.

 

Fair Winds And Following Seas~~~~

 

SoloSailorII...you were on our cruise, remember your name from the CC roll-call! Happy to have you following along. Oh jeez, those hectic weeks leading up...that was one heck of a roller coaster ride, wasn't it. LOL!!!

 

I'm really enjoying Valentinebaby1's review too. Have you seen her Valor review? Same itinerary. I also love their pictures.

[pghsteelerfan]

Hrmmm... won't let me do a quote either... seems to be specific to certain posts though...strange...

 

So... to the post... :)

 

Great review so far! It's always fun to read... I've been glued to Kendra's review...even though it's our pictures, it's always fun to relive it through her comments... And now I'm enjoying yours as well!

 

So you walked ALL the way down to Loiza??? Holy cow...that's almost 2 miles. The building you passed is a convention hall type place...and the other beach area is the Parque Lineal de Loiza... basically the public beach area for the non-hotel locals...

 

I drove down past that area and around the corner... As soon as you go around that corner, the surf gets ROUGH! There is no longer a break, so the full force of the Atlantic hits that north shore... and it's amazing to watch! HUGE waves...15-20 footers... And then there are tons of Kioskos selling souvenirs and food, etc... And then a ways farther down, there is this really cool area that has a shallow area that protects you from the huge waves... so it's like a pool with big waves hitting the edge of it... awesome! Next time I go to PR, I'm going to go swimming there!!!

Oh and around that area is near the end of the run way, so you you get to see the planes take off right over you... not quite like Maho, but still pretty dang cool! (Kendra will probably post pictures of this area when she gets near the end of her review...)

 

Looking forward to more of your review... I've also got a picture or two that I need to send you for the sea day... in case you want to post it... Kendra didn't because she thought it might be embarrassing...so I figure, I'll send to you and you can decide if you want to post it... :) (It has something to do with a fuzzy upper torso event...lol)

 

LOL!!! You are totally cracking me up. Yes, Kendra went easy on him and I thought that was probably why, but I won't. :D I don't have close-up pictures of him. But yes, if you want to send the pictures that would be great. I have one with you in it, right after you talked to the assistant cruise director right before that fuzzy upper torso event. But I'll get in touch through a certain "social networking" site for that, pm, of course.

 

I'm really enjoying Kendra's review too - you guys got some great pictures.

 

I always thought that was still Isla Verde and thought that park was part of Isla Verde Beach. I didn't go any further than the park, so I never got to that building. I'll attach a picture I got of the building (with the zoom) from Isla Verde to see if that's the same building. That's as long as the walk to a place we always go to when at Hilton Head. It took about a half hour to get down there and a half hour back. I can't wait to see the pictures you got of that area. Would love to have seen those waves. May have some from the plane on the return trip. Got pictures of the Courtyard, but it was a good distance away since we were way out there after making that turn after takeoff.