CruzinScotty

Capt. Midnight is from Sint Maarten. He is Dutch and proud of it. He happily showed off Phillipsburg and the Dutch side of the island. Here was our first photo stop:

 

 

 

The advantage of a personal tour is being able to personalize it. There were only two of us that wanted to get into the ocean; but for a few minutes. This tour stopped at two beaches for twenty minutes each. That didn’t make much sense to any of us. We asked to have one beach be a 10 minute photo-op and then spend 20-30 minutes at the other one. Capt. Midnight was quite agreeable. He asked which beach to spend more time? We told him to pick. Initially, we thought he chose well.

 

Our photo op beach was Maho Beach:

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As you can see, there’s not much “beach” here. I did go down the rocks to put my feet in the water; it felt GREAT! But, after some photos and a bathroom break, we were on our way.

As enthusiastic as Capt. Midnight was about the Dutch side, he was quite “anti-French”. For example, he could speak 4 or 5 languages: English, Spanish, and some island languages. He did NOT speak French! He also seemed to be putting down the French side of the island, though we were going to be spending a lot of our touring time on that side of the island.

Hey – Capt. Midnight – Don’t be a buzz-kill! I have all these wonderful memories – I want my family to see the beauty of the French side!

Then…..dun, dun, dun……

We get to the French side……

He mentioned to us – look how small the “Welcome to St. Martin” sign is. Wait until we get back to the Dutch side and look at how large our sign is.

Next, before we got there; he mentioned the beautiful resort that I remembered. And he talked about Hurricane Lenny. In 1999, this Category 4 hurricane whipped up on St. Maarten for 36 hours. It was unusual because this storm came from the west, causing devastation everywhere. After this storm, the Dutch put all of their power lines underground, while the French did not. The French resort I remembered from my youth, was COMPLETELY destroyed. The owner took the insurance money and ran. He chose not to rebuild, and it was quite obvious…..

My beautiful French St. Martin is now but a distant memory. Reality was staring me squarely in the face – and it ain’t a pretty sight.

OK, so, we are heading to Marigot – maybe there’s hope for my memories here.

Well….Yeah….dun, dun, dun……

it’s raining again in St. Martin. Well, it’s raining in ONE single part on the entire island. Yep – it’s raining in Marigot as we approach. Not a good omen……

Hmmmmph…..

Pastry. There WILL be Pastry. Even Capt. Midnight admitted the French did have good pastry. There’s still hope!

So, there’s a 45 minute shopping stop in Marigot. We get dropped off in town and – dun, dun, dun….

We get dropped off about a mile or so from two yummy looking pastry shops we had passed along the way. But IN town – ummm…. Capt. Midnight’s version of St. Martin wins out again.

Where are the local people I remember? Where are the shops? Where is the waterfront? I guess you could see it if you wanted to spend your time in the taxi/van parking lot….???

WHERE is the PASTRY shop?

Oh my….. Downtown Marigot is really run down. And, it consisted of a whopping ONE souvenir shop. That’s it. I bought a t-shirt here because our tour didn’t stop in Phillipsburg and I wasn’t sure I’d have time later to look at the shops near the ship. But, the shirt I bought was my “third choice” because they didn’t have my size in my first two choices. There were a couple of patio restaurants, but we just wanted a place to grab a quick goodie and there was no time for that. In retrospect, when we saw the town, we should have told the driver to turn around and take us back to one of the pastry shops outside of town..

Upon our return to the van, Capt. Midnight just shrugged his shoulders and said, “that’s how the French are. They don’t care about the tourists”.

Got that right.

So, we head out of town and see a very depressed area. Now, you see these sights on parts of many of the islands; it just wasn’t helping our impression of French St. Martin.

Orient Beach – that’s our 2nd beach. This will be our saving grace! This will leave at least ONE good memory of modern day French St. Martin.

Unfortunately…… not so much. We stopped at a restaurant that had seating for our non-swimmers – if you ordered something to eat. Not that we’re opposed to trying the local flavor. Though, I wouldn’t consider bar food at Orient Beach to be local flavor. But, a quickie 20-30 minute lunch wasn’t our intent. In retrospect, if we had swam at Maho Beach, it would have been a similar situation. The family would have needed to at least order a drink to get a seat and wait for us. So, us two swimmers quickly decided to forgo our swim. We were all ready to head back to the ship.

The French side of St. Martin really was a bust for us. I’m glad I got to see both sides of the island. But I felt bad that I had subjected my family to this tour when just going to Phillipsburg would have been a much better choice for us.

I will say, if you are looking for a great beach day; Orient Beach will work for you:

 

 

Anyways, we couldn’t get back to the nice large “Welcome to Sint Maarten” sign fast enough. That’s why I call this island, “Sint Maarten”, after the Dutch side. The cruise ships dock there, more of the people live there, the casinos are there, the airport is there. And, I hear Phillipsburg has great shopping and a beach right on the harbor.

If I make it back to Sint Maarten – Phillipsburg will be my destination for the day!

Bye for now, everybody.

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Well, I started having camera battery problems this morning. Not a good start. J

DW had worried that my batteries would wear out. Though they were disposable lithium batteries, of course she was right! I was going to have to find a store where the ship is docked before we could try to take our island tour. But, being the EC she is, EC2 quickly showed up with some regular batteries so I wouldn’t have to delay our tour. Thanks, EC2! I eventually did buy more regular batteries and went into one set of those as well before the cruise was over.

When I went to change after breakfast; I ran into John, my Room Steward. Some of my clan had been able to keep some of their towel animals for multiple nights creating a menagerie (see a couple of posts above). I asked him if he would just start leaving the animals in the room for the last few nights. He said he would.

The EC’s have been to St. Maarten many times and enjoy Phillipsburg, so they decided to head their own way. Most of us haven’t been here before, so the nine of us decided to take an island tour. I didn’t remember Sint Maarten having mountains like going to Mountain Top in St. Thomas. So, when we saw the mountains, I was concerned for our person with problems yesterday. I was assured we had medicated earlier today. Most tours don’t go up in the mountains, just all around the island. That’s probably why I don’t remember them.

At breakfast, we got a good view of the Allure of the Seas. You could tell it was a little longer and a few decks higher. But, this thing is TWICE the weight of the Liberty. It didn’t seem that much bigger. But, it’s the WIDTH of the ship. WOW – I’d seen pictures and it was almost like “two towering hotels” with all that space in between. But, until you see it. WOW. I’m not sure I want to go on a ship this big. But I will admit that I have a better understanding of those that do after having seen it in person.

 

 

 

 

So, on to the port. There’s a nice shopping area here; but we’re looking for the taxi stand.

I will say, in my limited cruising experience; St. Maarten – by far – has had the best set up for planning your own tours. They had covered huts (so you could be out of the sun), that showed four different touring options. With beaches, without beaches, some beach time, etc. We quickly found the one we wanted and tried to get a private tour.

With nine of us; a private van was no problem. And, we’ve got a van with a tour operator named:

CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT!

WOW – With a name like this, we should have a GRAND tour of St. Martin/Sint Maarten. A little rain and battery problems are not going to ruin our day.

I’m so excited to see the island again. Only a few of us have been here and it’s been awhile.

***Time to indulge my memory for a moment to understand my expectations***

So, here we are in St. Martin. It’s June of 1978 and we’re on the Carnivale, one of handful of ships with this new cruise ship company called, Carnival. I was a teenager tagging along on with my POP and my darling mother, who has since passed on.

The Carnivale is a behemoth of a ship, weighing a whopping 25,516 tons (that's less than 1/8th the weight of the Allure)! The thought of being in port with another ship was unheard of, especially since there is only one dock near Phillipsburg.

We took a tour of the island; enjoying the fact that we were visiting two completely different cultures in one location. There’s the Dutch side of Sint Maarten where I remember stopping in Phillipsburg to shop. They even had real wooden shoes for sale. We also meandered over to the French side, called St. Martin, which was just beautiful. We went thru a gorgeous resort where you went by the golf course and visited the charming capital of Marigot. I remember lots of locals there, doing some shopping and being on the waterfront.

 

 

Next, it’s back to reality. Dun, dun, dun……..

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Here are a few re-posted pictures of the towel animal convention at the Lido Pool the morning we arrived in Sint Maarten:

 

 

 

 

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You can tell we had a little rain before we arrived.

But.....would this have any effect on our day?

Evening entertainment after leaving St. Thomas

After our Rhubarb Pie fun, I headed out to catch the last part of “Cory’s 80’s Music Trivia Party”. I had missed the trivia question part; but the answer portion was a sing-along. Being an 80’s fan, I enjoyed hearing: Jesse’s Girl, Take On Me, Footloose and Don’t Stop Believin’. I can assure you, no one heard ME singing. :eek:

Today is the first day I saw info in the Fun Times about Cory’s “Selfie Challenge” in the Atrium Lobby. I had just started taking selfies during my morning walk – for no particular reason. Now, I had a reason. At the end, I caught Cory to get my selfie with him in his 80’s garb complete with long black hair. Sorry, no pic. I said Cory wears “many hats”; you’ll just have to use your imagination.

Next, I met a few of our gang in the Venetian for this evening’s show, “Swingin’ with the Big Band starring Christopher Alan Graves. From the 80’s to Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. in a matter of a vew steps.

There were still a few of us up to giving the “Open Mike” a try for the first time. I think this might be a “once and done” thing for me. It was only OK. There were a few good jokes from some of the passengers. But, overall, the funniest part of the entire show was having every single passengers comment, “Gosh, the lights are bright up here”. J

Then for me, it’s rinse and repeat time for me: see who my towel animal roommate is, journaling and enjoying the balcony before bed.

Next, it’s time to re-visit St. Maarten

Bye for now everybody.

No, I don't like rhubarb pie! But my DH who has a Danish background cooks rhubarb and strawberries together and that is good! Sometimes he makes juice, which is really good. :) There's rhubarb from our garden in the freezer now so I should get him to make me some. :D

Heather

 

Now that you mention it, I think Ma said it was Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie. Maybe that would be better.

 

Anyone else want to weigh in on "The Great Rhubarb Debate"? :)

So, here’s the picture to go with our Rhubarb Pie Story:

 

 

 

During dinner conversation, we would talk about pie ala mode. Mile told us it was the Chef’s choice and they never knew what it would be from day to day. Ma kept hoping for Rhubarb pie. We had much discussion about this. What’s a Rhubarb and why would anyone make a pie from it? She had childhood memories of pulling it from the ground, dipping it in sugar and eating it raw. Dipping a raw vegetable (or is it a fruit?) in sugar to make it edible wasn’t helping her story much. ;)

My Pop doesn’t like Rhubarb, so it was never in our house as I was growing up. As an adult, when I finally tried it….it's not on my taste palate at all.

So, Ma is the ONLY person in our group hoping to see Rhubarb pie on the menu and each night, she had been disappointed.

Two years ago, DW and I decided to skip dinner in St. Thomas because we wanted to see Sail Away.

You’ve already seen the picture, so you know TONIGHT is THE NIGHT of the Rhubarb Pie.

Can you tell where I’m going with this?

Guess who decided to skip dinner in the MDR tonight so they could see Sail Away. Yep – Ma and Pa!

So, of course, we had some fun conversation tonight at when we saw the dessert menu. We again discussed our dislike for rhubarb and how the chef probably wanted the night off from pie duty so he offered up the Rhubarb! We said this way, he’d only need TWO pies for the entire night – one for each dining room. And there would probably STILL be left overs. :eek:

But, being the nice family we are; we explained our Rhubarb dilemma to Mile. He graciously got a piece plated “to go” which made it’s way to Ma. She also thought it quite funny that she missed Rhubarb Pie night.

The moral of the story is: sometimes you get to have your Sail Away AND eat Rhubarb, too.

 

Here's a pic I took when I took the pie to Ma's room:

 

So, do YOU like Rhubarb Pie?

 

And, if so - what part of the country are you from? Ma and my Pop are originally from the Northeast. Is it a New England thing?

After breakfast, we had a group of six that wanted to do an island tour that included Mountain Top. We wanted to try to get a private tour that we could personalize to our needs. We didn’t book ahead of time because we weren’t sure until the day-of exactly how many people were going. We had some people that decided to go on the tour that weren’t sure how they would handle the roads and/or altitude.

We had a little trouble with the tour operator. She had a van with 6 spots left, but it wouldn’t be personalized. They had no vans for just six people left. I had spoken earlier to a driver that had a small van; but I knew he would be long gone by the time we got back – I was right.

So, if we couldn’t have a personalized tour, maybe I could haggle with the price. She wanted to charge me the same price for a private tour of 6 that she was charging for a standard tour with 10. Really? The same price? No haggling allowed for the difference? After about 10 minutes and standing in the tropical sun – we decided to get on the van that already had 4 people on it and off we went.

So, we start heading thru town enjoying the views and up the mountain we go.

Hey – where’s the audio? This is supposed to be a “guided tour”, not a look out the window – there’s St. Thomas – figure out what everything is on your own - kind of tour. The driver spoke – not – a – word.

Our driver 2 years ago was great; sometimes when you go out on your own at the last minute you win, sometimes – not so much.

So, again, we’re heading up the mountain. I’ve been to Mountain Top before, but I don’t remember the exact route. However, when we’re half way up and start heading back down, I know something is amiss.

Well…………………… it turns out that the other four people on the van are just going to Magen’s Bay. I previously posted this pic from the van:

 

 

So, at this point, we now have an entire van with just the six of us. Gosh – NOW – we have our “private tour” that we asked for to begin with. Hey Faye, I think that was her name -we’ll just go with that: I know it’s busy at the port; but please keep better track of who is going where. If we knew the people on the van were getting off soon – we’ve wouldn't have stood in the heat for 10 minutes and wouldn’t have tried for a price reduction.

So, we leave Megan’s Bay and…. It happens…..

HE SPEAKS!

The driver/tour guide starts chatting things up, telling us all about the island, foliage, etc.

What the heck? We asked him and he said, “the other people were paying for a cab ride to the beach; not a guided tour”. I guess he wasn’t giving out information for free. LOL But, those of us that DID pay for a guided tour – especially those of us in St. Thomas for the first time – did miss out on information about Charlotte Amalie, though we did get some of that on the way back.

So, we head back up the mountain, making a stop at Drake’s Seat where you can check out other trip reports to see the beautiful of the water. ;-)

 

In my desire to show “different” pictures from the ports, I DID post a picture from Drake’s Seat. I believe this is a Formosa tree?

 

So, we make our way up to Mountain Top.

Our driver parked above the main entrance giving us about two stories worth of stairs to walk down. It was quiet, with lots of lush foliage; it is quite beautiful.

But, as it turns out; one of our gang was having some slight motion problems. Medication wasn’t going to kick in fast enough – walking up those stairs was not an option. We needed the driver to come down to the entrance to pick us up. I went up to let the driver know this and to tell him we wanted extra time at Mountain Top for shopping. We had some things to buy and instead of going from tourist trap to tourist trap and in and out of the heat down at Havensight; we decided that this would be our main souvenir stop today.

I’ll re-post this picture of Megan’s Bay that is a standard:

 

 

 

So, we played the part of “happy tourist” and enjoyed the view, had a banana daiquiri and got some shopping done with the extra time we requested and could have since we now had our “private tour”.

And, now on to the “Jammin’ at Mountain Top” portion of the story. I think they play music in the store/warehouse; but I’m not sure. If they do, that is NOT what I’m talking about.

Nope, I’m talking about “Traffic Jammin’ at Mountain Top”. You see, when we were ready, we couldn’t find our van or driver at the entrance. So, I went up the stairs and….. Oh My….. what a traffic jam! With five ships in port, there’s only so many places the people and vans can go. I can only imagine what it’s like with more ships in port during the winter months.

I got more exercise going down and up the stairs. I needed to let everyone know it would be awhile before we could get down to them. Then, back to the driver. I even got to be the “traffic police” a bit. I stood in the middle of the road behind our van because our driver couldn’t get out. Then, it was a mess getting down the hill to the entrance because a couple of vans had pulled over (and left their vans) and hadn’t left enough room for two way traffic. Talk about Grid-lock in St. Thomas…

Anyways, once we got to the entrance, heading back up the hill went a little better and soon enough we were on our way.

With our extra time at Mountain Top, plus the time getting in and out – we didn’t get a full island tour. But, we were ready to head back to the ship and our time was about up anyways.

This pic came from the intersection of the road that came down the mountain the most direct way to the ship:

 

 

I think we all caught up for lunch. We still have a few hours left in port and some of us that had such a wonderful walk in Old San Juan decided to venture out again. First, we headed out on the main road. We walked past the Tram to Paradise Point, it was good to have that as a point of reference as we kept going. There was a nice sidewalk, but it was rather noisy next to a four lane road. We decided to start heading back when I saw a walkway towards the water. We ended up in Yacht Haven Grande Mall. This is an upscale shopping area that is next to Havensight.

Yacht Haven is where this pic came from:

 

 

So, we enjoyed the quiet by the water and the lush foliage on our walk back to the ship. There was even a small bar there that I teased DSIL about. It was called “Lime and the Coconut” which I had teased/sung to her when she ordered that dessert at dinner a few nights earlier. It wasn't "Old San Juan"; but we still had a grand time.

 

 

We split up for a bit after re-boarding. I headed to the aft pool, but only stayed a minute because it was too warm for a pool. So, instead I got in the hot tub. LOL Hey, if I’m gonna be in warm water, it might as well be WARM water.

Along the way, I watched the Crown Princess and then the Norwegian Getaway both leave before it was time for our normal dinner time. Departure would be during dinner.

Coming next: A story about..........Rhubarb Pie!

 

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So, I showed a few random pics of St. Thomas; let’s go back and see what really happened this day.

I was up early, as usual, getting my morning walk in as we approached St. Thomas. I saw another beautiful sunrise and could see a ship heading to port ahead of us. After being the only ship in our first two ports, we knew it was going to be a bit more crowded in St. Thomas with five ships today, including that behemoth Allure ship.

I’ll try to stop saying it: there’s so many more pics I wish I could post… So, a lesson learned if I have the chance to do another trip report using the “free” portion of Photobucket: download ALL of the pics you intend to post for the entire report to make sure you don’t run out of space! I’ve been too cheap and don’t have another use to pay to store my pics there……

I love approaching the dock in St. Thomas; there’s so much to see on both sides of the port. We docked at Havensight, like we were 2 years ago. But, we’re the 3rd ship in line, behind the Caribbean Princess and Norwegian something-or-other. It was the Norwegian ship I had seen ahead of us while I was on the jogging track.

From the Lido deck and higher, you could see over to Crown Bay to see the top of the other 2 ships in port.

On cruises that stop in St. Thomas, you are allowed to bring back more liquor. EC, having been to St. Thomas on numerous occasions; has a favorite store here and wanted to beat the rush. So, I decide to head off with him. Since we were so far down the dock, I wanted to see how long of a walk was in line for those of us wanting to do an island tour.

It was nice being off the ship early, with no crowds around considering there were 3 ships right there. With our purchase quickly made, on the way back I could look to see how things were set up for tours. Where the Liberty was docked, there was open water on both sides, so you had to walk a little bit to get to land. But, at that point, they had tour operators and buses ready to go. It was nice to know that after breakfast, with the tropical heat, we wouldn’t have to walk too far to get a tour.

Coming up: Tour operators – please keep track of your vans, the “silent” tour guide, and Jammin’ at Mountain at Top!

So, there’s been much discussion on Cruise Critic about “The great mattress turnover” on Carnival. They used to have these wonderful mattresses with pillow tops on them. In general; I think most people really, really liked them. I know I did. A few years ago, there started to be complaints about harder, firmer mattresses being on board. But, there was no consistency on any given ship.

I understand that pillow top mattresses can’t be flipped and won’t have as long of a life; but I really did prefer them. I guess they’ve been changing them out as they feel each individual mattress needs it – or maybe a few at a time no matter what?

On the Liberty (2008 and 2012) and on the Dream on 2013; I slept on these wonderful mattresses. This year on the Liberty (with no dry dock in between for a massive mattress swap since 2012); I was on the newer, harder, firmer, less popular mattress.

Since, I don’t sleep on a pillow top at home; the conversion to the newer mattress was not as hard as it seems to be for some. But, it is worth noting.

While I’m filling in missing information, I did want to reassure you that DW continued to improve while I was on the cruise. I was able to call her a couple of times from San Juan and St. Thomas. The added cost on our phone bill was more than worth it to make sure she was OK. She ended up on a different antibiotic; but all was well in the end.

So, I showed pictures of the first morning I had an omelet (the day we docked in San Juan discussed above). There are the omelet makers, and then another server there with breakfast meats and potatoes so you don’t have to go thru the hot buffet line. I always like to look at the names and countries of the staff. The woman serving the hot food was from Lithuania. This is a very small country, one of “The Baltic States”, on the Baltic Sea that was part of The Soviet Union for a long time. I mentioned to her that I have some Lithuania heritage in my background.

The gleam in her eye and the smile on her face were…..priceless.

The crew spends so much time away from home, trying their best that we have a wonderful vacation. I think the thought that someone took the time to notice where she was from and to speak with someone that knows ANYTHING about her home country was a nice perk for her that day.

Next, let’s see what we did in St. St. Thomas – other than eat. :D

One more story from our San Juan day.

We had a noon arrival in San Juan. I posted sunrise and breakfast pictures and explained we had family and pool time before we got to San Juan.

I can’t believe I forgot to tell this story!

During my morning walk, I saw some people had stopped and were looking at something in the water. Is it dolphins, jumping fish, or maybe a whale (it is the season for this????). No one could tell, but it didn’t look to be a sea creature. It was a “white dot”. It was hard to tell how far away it was – there was no land in sight to give us any type of perspective. It looked to be maybe a mile away? It looked like it could have been a large cooler or life preserver; it appeared too small to be a boat. I continued on my walk and said to those still there, “if you figure out what it is, let me know”.

Anyways, some of us decided to head to breakfast in the Main Dining Room this morning. We met right when they opened at 8AM so we could have that family time on deck before our San Juan arrival.

Time for a u-turn. The MDR doesn’t open from breakfast until 8:30 today. Well, we were hungry now, so changing to the buffet was not a problem. It’s things like this that people complain about that sometimes bother me. I enjoy cruising on Carnival; but I’m not so blinded by the fact that there have been some cut backs over the years. On the other hand, us not reading the Fun-Times closely enough to realize the time change is not Carnival’s fault. I compare this to deciding to go out to breakfast at home. You decide to go to IHOP and see it’s so busy that people are lined up outside. So, you make a change in plans and head on over to Perkin’s instead. It’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. IMHO

So, later in the morning, the Captain made an announcement, as Captain’s occasionally do – especially as we are approaching a port. He discussed the “white dot”. Apparently, it WAS large enough to be a boat. It had two people on it and the engine wasn’t working. The ship made contact with the Coast Guard to ask what it needed to do. It turns out the ship was not running, but it was not in distress (taking on water, in danger of sinking). The Coast Guard had time to get to the boat, so the services of the Liberty were not needed.

It’s nice to know that everyone was fine on the boat and that the Liberty did the right thing in this situation; as you hope every ship would.

So, as we’re heading back to the ship, it’s about 3:45pm. Everyone wants to get back by 4PM. Hmmm – what’s going on a 4PM, I ask. It turns out the Alchemy Bar is having their Martini Tasting where you can purchase a taste of 4 martinis and it starts at 4PM. Oh, OK – alcohol – yes – let’s get back on the ship!

So, we arrive to an empty Alchemy Bar right at 4PM. One of the bartenders is there. He said he came early so he could let people know there was a typo in the Fun Times – it turns out this event doesn’t start until 5 O’clock. We decided this was a little too late for us today. With all the walking, we needed to get refreshed for dinner. I believe they may have done this more than once and I’ve seen pictures from other trip reports. It looks fun, but we only made it back for a single drink, not the Martini Tasting.

Dinner is fully covered a few pages back, so onward to tonight’s activities.

Let’s see….umm….

Tonight wasn’t the greatest in the way of Carnival entertainment. No big show or comedians. Tonight was audience participation: Then Gender Game, followed by Bingo and then The Game of Love. We did attend these as they are usually fun – you never know what will happen, particularly at The Marriage Game. I took a walk thru the Lido Deck at the beginning of the Caribbean Beach Party. There was lots of fun to be had for those in the party mood. I didn’t stick around, instead heading to my room for my evening ritual of journaling and enjoying the balcony before calling it a night.

Bye for now, everybody.

DSIL decided to join the walkers, so we’re up to 7. We left with the intent that you could stick with the pack as long as you want and then head off on your own or back to the ship.

Our first destination was Plaza de Colon. I knew how to get here because this is where our tour 2 years ago ended. You go down one block from the ship and then up 2-3 blocks. It is a bit of an uphill walk. We stopped to relax for a bit. Ma and Pa decided this was going to be as far as they went with us. They did a little shopping and then headed back to the ship.

The rest of us looked around the Plaza a little bit. My intended destination was Castillo de San Cristóbal, anything else I saw after that was icing on the cake. I knew it shouldn’t be too far away, but, I didn’t realize just how close it was. One corner of the fort is adjacent to a corner of the Plaza! The way our tour bus dropped us off 2 years ago, I hadn’t looked that way and didn’t realize how close I was then. So, off we go.

My, it's quite a steep walk up the side street; we sure got our exercise in on this walking tour! It was $5 to enter, we decided to give it a go. I kept teasing everyone we needed to get our $5 "money shot":

 

 

Gosh I wish I could post more pics. You see the pic of the ship from the fort; but not of “us” and the beauty of this fort. We probably spent 45 minutes here and could have easily spent another hour or so. We went in and out and up and down and every view outside the fort was photo-worthy: either of the ocean or Old San Juan.

So, where should we go now? No one really wanted to do any shopping, so EC2 said she and EC1 usually walk all the way around the perimeter of Old San Juan. The only difference is they start in the other direction. We decided to start heading to El Morro. That’s where this picture came from:

 

 

 

I just LOVE this photo. The architecture of Old San Juan reminds me of a lot of southern cities like Charleston, Savannah and New Orleans. The vibrant colors just give it that Caribbean flair!

We walked past a San Juan museum which looked like a great place to visit on another trip. Then, we passed the cemetery and approached El Morro. Next, we headed over to the harbor side for our walk back. Such a tranquil walk, there are times where we were the only ones in sight. There were also lots of banyan trees, and landscape so lush, you couldn’t even tell you were in a city.

Here’s a view looking out over the harbor:

 

 

 

Then, we approached the area with the fountains and we were back into the city.

 

 

I think others have mentioned it’s about a mile from the ship to El Morro, so we figured we walked over 3 miles, including our adventure at San Cristobal.

Coming next: It’s Four O’Clock Somewhere….or is it?

 

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In reviewing already downloaded pics; I have a few that I hadn't posted yet. So, there will be a few new ones along the way.

In addition, I may re-post a few photos with further explanation.

Like this:

 

When discussing these desserts earlier at lunch before touring San Juan, I couldn’t remember for sure what the cream cheese topped cake was. In reviewing my notes – it was Raspberry Cheesecake. Isn’t that awful when you eat something really good and then can’t remember what it was. Such is the life when you’re on a cruise…. ;)

Earlier in the report, I mentioned we had lunch before getting off the ship. Back in 2012, we had no plans and found an air-conditioned 2hr city tour that we really enjoyed. This year, some of us planned on doing a walking tour, but DB wanted to go to the Bacardi Factory; DSIL was going to go with him. They had a Carnival excursion; but I assured him that 2 years ago they had Bacardi Tours off the ship that would be much cheaper.

That didn’t work out as planned. It turns out that because we got to port around lunch time, and then got off the ship after lunch – it was now too late in the day to do a Bacardi Tour. You could only get there if you had taken the Carnival tour. Oops.....

So, I owe DB/DSIL a trip to the Bacardi Factory if we’re in San Juan together the next time. I did see in another report just a day or so ago that you can take a ferry over to Cantino (?), and then it's only a $3 cab ride from there. I don't know if we'll be that adventurous, but you never know.

DB, living in Florida, didn’t want to get more sun on a walking tour, so his visit in port was short-lived. That’s what next times are for.

Next, details of our walking tour of Old San Juan

I'd be interested in more of your stories. :)

Heather

 

OK, it doesn’t take much to keep me talking. :D

So, let’s re-visit our day in San Juan.

[quote name='bury me at sea']I have ordered the chocolate. MUCH better than anything served on the chocolate buffet.

One word of caution. Don't order a size bigger than you need.. Fantastic on days one and even two. Not so much thereafter.[/quote]

Agree with everything 100%

Hey, DB!

 

Glad to have you join the conversation. Thanks for painting an even more vivid picture of the "Run DSIL Run" story. :D

 

When I started having trouble posting pictures, I went thru the last part of the trip more quickly than anticipated.

 

Since the trip report is "in tact" again;I don't want to tempt the "Photobucket gods" by posting more pictures. But, I'm going to review my notes from the trip.

 

I think I've got a few more stories to tell if there's interest. Let me know if you wanna hear more.

 

I'm sure DB can chime in as well as we did some different activites. For example, you are the first one I asked "where were you when the lights went out" and you said, "what are you talking about". ;) So.....I don't remember what you told me. Do you remember?

OP, thanks for your review of the Liberty. She's my favorite ship. We almost chose this itinerary, or one similar to it at the end of September, but went with the 8 day Eastern earlier in the month.

 

 

We were on this sailing as well, and most loved being in the sports bar watching the World Series games, even though "our boys" from KC didn't win.

 

Were any of you from OP, KS in there watching as well?

 

DW and I are from the other side of the metro, and thoroughly enjoyed the cruise and wearing our Royals gear around the ship.

 

A couple of gals we saw in the sports bar even went as far as finding us in the aft dining room to update us on the score of one of the games! We hurried through dinner to get to the sports bar...Priceless!

 

GP

 

GP! It's great "seeing you" on another Liberty trip and trip report thread. It looks like your family has been quite busy since we were on the Liberty at the same time in May of 2012! We've only been on the Dream last year and the Liberty in September.

 

And, though we didn't have a horse in the race; we were rooting for the Royals since it'd been so long for them.

Hey, everyone!

When I was posting this review, I started having trouble with my pictures on Photobucket. A lot of them disappeared.

I ended up deleting the 3 days of Fun Times that I had posted.

Somehow, over time - all of the pictures are back!

So, it may seem strange to see a review from September if you started reading this for the first time just now. LOL But, if you did and don't like the suspense of waiting for more to be posted - you don't have to because it's already done!

Or, if you jumped in at the end and didn't see the beginning - it's there now. :)

And, if you have any questions; I'll try my best to answer them.

It should be Terminal 6; but here's how to check and make sure.

 

Go to the Carnival site and make sure the Sunshine doesn't depart the same day. If it does, it gets priority for Terminal 6 and the Liberty moves to Terminal 10. If you happen to depart from Terminal 10, the Carnival staff are not used to being there all the time. It can slow down dropping off luggage, it did for us in September. Once inside the building things were fine.

 

Also, check on your return date. If you are at Terminal 6 when you leave and both ships are in port when you return, then you'll return to Terminal 10. They will have shuttle busses to get you to the correct parking garage.

 

I believe if you signed up to on-line to let them know you are driving to the port; you should get an e-mail if you leave from one Teriminal and return to the other. You'll also get a letter while on board.

 

Hope this doesn't sound more complicated that it should be. ;)

 

And hopefully, there's no overlap with the Sunshine so you'll be at Terminal 6 for boarding and returning. :)

I'm not staying in a handicapped cabin but both my husband and myself have difficulty standing for long periods. Does anyone know how we should go about being assigned to a muster station where we could sit instead of standing on the deck?

 

In the event of a real emergency, the Muster Station listed in your room will be your Muster Station.

 

On Debarkation Day, either when you first board, of after having lunch; ask Guest Services where the Special Needs passengers will go for the Muster Drill.

 

I think the location may vary depending on how many people they expect. I was on the Liberty in September and there were quite a few people with Special Needs. Initially we were told the Library, as was noted above. But when the time came, we were in the 4th Floor Golden Olypian Dining Room because the Library was small and filled up quickly.

 

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Jamman54 did a GREAT review of the Fantasy. Here's a link to page 8 where he discusses Behind the Fun :

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1993572&page=8

 

It's very specific that you can't have any recording devices of any kind.

 

His entire review is really worth a read if you've not been on the Fantasy. Or even if you have. Or even if you just like to read REALLY well written trip reports. :)

How warm it will get depends on the date and itinerary, etc.

 

I agree completely.

 

I've been on the Liberty three times. Twice, the retractable roof was closed due to rain.

 

In July, it was hot, humid, crowded and loud. But, it was still bearable.

 

Last month; it was cooler, not humid, not crowded and very quiet. I was surprised the crowd didn't appear because the Main pool was wet. But, it was fairly early in the morning on the first sea day - maybe people were sleeping in.

So, Cory "Jolly Rogers", our Pirate Cruise Director, was having a contest all week long. If you took a selfie with him, and showed it to him the last day of the cruise; you got a prize. The prized ended up being a Carnival medalion on the red/white/blue lanyard.

 

I did this earlier in the week. Ma decided she wanted to join the fun. She had never taken a selfie before and needed a little help. I noticed people with "selfie extenders" that I'd never seen before. Cory was gracious enough to let "me" be the extender.

 

So, Ma got her selfie. But, how many selfies do you take that get photo-bombed? Here's Ma, Cory and two of his staff. I could see what they were doing and made sure they made the shot:

 

 

 

Here's another ONE of a kind picture. Before The Morning Show started, Cory was putting on his pirate gear. They had a patch for him, but with his glasses; it just didn't work. He gave it to a young girl when The Morning Show started. I asked Cory later (when I got my selfie medalion) if he had worn another patch that day. He said no. I knew I was the only one to get a picture of him with the patch.

 

So, here it is:

 

 

 

Well, I'm probably out of pics again, so I guess it's best to end here.

 

What better way to end than the way we began; so here's one final pic:

 

 

Thanks for coming along for the ride!

 

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ARRRRGH!!!! Friday, September 19th be INTERNATIONAL TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!!!

 

Aye, ye must be on ye best beh'vior lest ye be forced to walk da plank!

 

We be done with our lootin' and plunderin'; we go back to the land o' the Fountain o' Youth wher we be splittin' our booty and headin' to our respective lair's. AAAAAAAAAARGH! :D

 

AYE, I be said in da way back o' the beginin' (where be the pictures bandit hid them thar early photos ;) ); that I be had a "dark" picture taken in the Venetian dat you'd be seeing.

 

 

ARRGH! I can only do the Pirate speak for so long. LOL

 

 

So, after the lights went out and came back up; AND they finally got the Bingo computer working - they had a game where I expected to find some family members. Welllllll, I DID find a different maraudering family member who was getting ready a few hours early:

 

 

Pirate Trent was trying to set the mood for the next day.

 

I heard about Pirate Day just a few days before our departure. I didn't have time to really think about it other than to pack a Jimmy Buffet t-shirt with they lyrics to "Pirate looks at 40" that has a pirate on the back of the shirt.

 

There were some activities this day, which included a Trivia contest and some Lido Deck contest they altered to give a Pirate theme too. I wasn't there, so I don't quite remember what it was.

 

In addition, Cory dressed up like a Pirate for the Cruise Director Morning Show. Carnival had provided him with some corny pirate jokes. He could only get thru a few of them - they must have been bought with some bum pirate booty. ;)

 

He tried a couple different Pirate get-ups. Some people in the audience had some accessories they were willing to share with him. Here's one of Cory's Pirate looks:

 

 

Coming up: TWO - ONE OF A KIND PHOTOS with our PIRATE Cruise Director