sachmo9085

Thank you for this review! You have a lovely writing style and I am so happy to hear thoughts on the ship/cruise from the perspective of a teenager! My kids are much younger (5 and 2) than you, but I enjoy hearing how you experienced it versus how the adults experienced it as I feel like teens just notice different things than adults do. 

Random question, but could you please post a picture of the mini golf setting if you have a chance? My son was OBSESSED with the mini golf on Mariner last week, but in looking for pictures of Oasis Dunes, it looks like a much less fun looking course (for little kids). We're trying to decide between Oasis, Symphony, and Wonder. It would be greatly appreciated! 

I'm really hoping they update/change some itineraries for 2020 as well! We're currently booked in July on Serenade for Alaska, but I would gladly pay to change to a different itinerary if Glacier Bay isn't added to our current one. 

You could also request to drive through the botanical gardens (in Roseau). I won't lie, I found it to be underwhelming, but our taxi driver drove through there for free on our way back from hiking. There are some cool plants and trees and it has that tree that fell on the bus, but it's truly just like a big, well-manicured park. Morne Bruce is close to the botanical gardens and is supposed to be a pretty view point. Honestly, I enjoyed the driving through the countryside to the trailhead for our hike more than driving through the botanical gardens. Our taxi driver pulled over several times for us at different viewpoints and showed us changes that had happened since the recent hurricane (we were there in October 2015). It was the most beautiful island I've personally ever seen. If you'd be happy driving around, I'd honestly recommend that and just suggest to your driver that you'd like to see scenic overlooks. I didn't think the roads were terrible; I feel like the roads on St. Thomas were more twisty than Dominica. Good luck! I think you'll love this island no matter what you do.

My husband and I have never taken a cruise that is less than 6 days long. I love longer cruises and usually we save up for them once every other year or so and it's our big vacation for that year. However, I'm pregnant and we were looking for babymoon ideas and I've seen how cheap some of the 3 and 4 day cruises are with Carnival over the next couple months. Luckily, flights are cheap too and the cruises all happen well before I hit 24 weeks (when most lines won't let you sail anymore). So, I'm looking for opinions about taking a much shorter cruise than we ever have before. Do you feel like we’ll miss anything from not having as much time on the ship? I usually love to settle in to our room, making it our home for the next week, getting to know some of the staff, etc. I feel like I could be totally okay without that though to escape the cold of Iowa for a weekend =) Also, I understand that on a shorter cruise, especially close to spring break times like this, we could start running into more of a “party” crowd when I clearly will not be partaking in that kind of partying (whatevs. It doesn’t bother me when people party harder than I do on a longer cruise, so I can’t imagine it would bother me now). That stuff aside, any thoughts on a short cruise vs. a longer cruise?

When we were at Titou Gorge this past fall, there wasn't anywhere to stash valuables other than in the taxi we brought there. Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see any lockers or anything like that. Our driver was waiting for us as he was driving us to several different points on the island throughout the day, so we left most of our stuff in the taxi with him. I left things like my shorts, water bottle, and Chacco's on a bench and hoped they'd still be there when we returned; they were =) For a camera like that, I'd leave it in your taxi, or if you're doing a group tour leave it in that vehicle. From what I remember, it was a fairly short walk (definitely less than 5 minutes) from where the taxi dropped us off to the Gorge, so if you want pictures, you could always go up there with your camera, snap pics, take the camera back to the taxi, and walk back up there to swim the Gorge. It is a really a cool experience to swim through the rocks in the cold, deep water. One guide had shown his group where to jump from the ledge into the Gorge and everyone looked like they were having a good time with that. I'm not a fan of heights, so I didn't partake, but just an FYI.

That's such a tough choice!! I would vote the Fascination, simply because I like the ports so much more on that itinerary and I enjoy sailing out of San Juan. We tend to cruise mostly for the ports and a little bit based on the ship. I don't know where you live, but from Iowa (my fabulous home state), airfare to San Juan can be a bit pricey. For us, it's worth it because we love those itineraries and islands so much more, but just food for thought.

Fascination is definitely a smaller ship. I guess it's whether you want to see new (and in my opinion fabulous) ports, or repeat a couple ports and see a couple new ones on a bigger ship with more amenities. I vote that you go swim with sea turtles on your birthday (Barbados) and take the Fascination. If you need a couple days of just down time, stay in Puerto Rico for a couple days when you get back. That's what we did as I love sea days for the beauty of doing nothing at all and our most recent cruise had none, just 5 back to back ports from San Juan.

Thanks for writing this review! We just sailed the 6 day itinerary on Liberty on October 18-24 and loved it! I've only been on 4 cruises, but I think Liberty is my favorite ship now. It was Victory, but I liked the decor of Liberty more and loved the chandelier in the atrium.

When we sailed in 2013 I was having ridiculous stomach issues and was eating gluten free at my doc's advice. We did my time dining and it worked out really well. The same waitress/maitre'd checked in with me every night and I ordered the next days' worth of food and they always found me. Of course, we ended up eating with the same wait staff because we requested them, but it was really awesome to see how much effort Carnival went through to ensure that I had food I could eat.

I agree with you about the pools though; I had read trippingpara's review earlier and was really surprised about how many of the tiles were missing from around the pools and how many more tiles just looked rusted. They also re-finished/re-painted or whatever it is you do to water slides while we were on the ship. I was just happy I had gone on the slide before they did that because it was closed for a couple days while it dried, I assume. Thanks for helping me relive our trip!

Sorry this is a bit late, but we were just in Barbados and we paid $5 per adult from the Boatyard to the ship (there were only 2 of us). Boatyard is just 150 yards or so away from Carlisle Bay. From Carlisle to the Boatyard is just one gorgeous stretch of beach. I think there is technically another beach in between Carlisle and Boatyard, but don't quote me on that. If you're not looking for signs, you'll never know you've left one beach and arrived at the next. We actually went to Carlisle, but there weren't too many taxis coming back by that stretch of beach, so we just wandered up the beach towards the Boatyard and grabbed a cab. Some people have reported walking from the ship to the beach because you can easily see your ship from the beach, and although I'm sure you totally could, walking in the heat is not my idea of a good time on vacation. Especially with kiddos, I'd opt for a cab.

I can only speak to the staff at Spencer Ambrose as we opted to do just the Jalousie/Sugar Beach Break tour with them a couple weeks ago, but their staff are absolutely top notch. They were super friendly, entertaining, helpful the whole day, etc. My husband and I don't like to spend a lot of time in a car when we're on vacation, even when that car is taking us somewhere scenic and we're seeing things along the way, so we really preferred Spencer's boat ride along the coast. At most, it was 30 minutes to the beach and 30 minutes back. We got to see plenty of sites along the way by boat (all the stuff listed in the tour description you asked about). We could have opted to go to the volcano or mud baths on the beach tour for a small extra fee, but we just wanted to snorkel, so that's what we did =) And the lunch provided was delicious! I honestly don't remember what most of it was because it wasn't stuff you find in the States, other than jerked chicken, but it was all wonderful!

I'm sorry that's not really specific feedback on the tours themselves, but just an opinion on staff and food. I honestly think you'll probably be happy with either company as I've heard nothing but positives about both and St. Lucia is positively lovely.

I contacted the suggested companies and ran into more of the same problem: they weren't booked up or full, they just didn't have enough people signed up for the specific tours we wanted :/ So, we just winged it and booked a taxi ourselves, which turned out to be the best possible situation. When you walk out of the port, there are guys dressed in official looking dress shirts with an emblem (I don't know if they are actually official or not, but our driver had an official looking license thing in his cab) and they were selling taxi tours. It was $120 (plus $10 each for entry fees, so $140 all told) for my husband and I to have a taxi driver who took us to the locations we wanted, waited for us at each stop, and brought us back to the ship about 5 and a half hours later. This was about the same or maybe $5 more than the tour companies we had looked into. It was great because we were able to hike at our own pace at Middleham Falls instead of hiking with a group, swim at our own pace at Titou Gorge, and hike/boulder again at Trafalgar falls as we wanted. Our driver also filled us in on information about the island and stopped at a few overlooks for us to take pictures. I think Dominica is now my new favorite island due to the lush gorgeousness and amazing hiking opportunities that exist there.

Thanks! We'll check with them about availability :)

Has anyone had experience with just hiring a taxi to go see various sights around the island? We have inquired with several tour companies (Levi, Woody, Nature Isle) and none of the companies are doing the tour that we would like to do the day we are in port. We sail in one week, so it doesn't look like people are going to be booking the other tours and I really don't like the limited tour options the operators are offering as I really don't care to see Champagne Reef or the Botanical Gardens. I just want to see waterfalls, hike, and not get lost so we can make it back to the ship in time =) I started thinking that maybe we should just hire a taxi when we get there. We have done this in other ports with great success, but then I thought about the borderline disaster we had when I tried this in Jamaica and got nervous about trying that here... I have read great things about Shy Guy and Sister's, but has anyone else just hired a random taxi driver at the port (by random I mean someone still licensed) and had success touring the island? Thank you!

Thank you for taking the time to do a review! We leave in one week on her and I cannot wait! I am excited to have one more review to read before leaving; it should help pass the time =) I'm sorry the cruise didn't start off great; although I have loved cruising with family and friends in the past, sometimes it's just easier when it is only my husband and I. We know what each other expects from certain situations (ie I get all pumped up about getting on the ship, he doesn't care until we're in our room, he HATES lines, I couldn't care less about lines, etc) and we only have to coordinate with each other for what excursions we want to do or where to eat. Add more people in the mix? It's a nightmare for someone like me who loves to plan things out and who has anxiety. I am confident things turn around though and am excited for the rest of your review!

In Barbados, we REALLY loved swimming with the sea turtles. I know it’s not really on your list of things, but we all agree this was our favorite part of the cruise. Our group of 5 or 6 booked with Jason from Shasa Catamaran and we had an awesome time. So awesome, in fact, that we are booked with him again this October =) I know people say you can go to a beach and swim out to see the turtles on your own, but I loved riding on the catamaran, drinking the rum punch, and eating the food that Jason provided (it was homemade, local fare).

In St. Kitts, I really enjoyed seeing Brimstone Fortress. I thought it was pretty cool to see, plus it had some great views on the island. When we were there, we were with a group of 5 of us and we just approached a taxi driver, told him what we wanted to do, and he took us to Brimstone, gave us tons of info about the island on the way, and then took us to a beach to snorkel. I apologize, but the name of the beach and how much it cost escapes me :/ It was almost 2 years ago, but I don’t think it was more than $15 or 20 per person. We also wandered around town, found a neat old church to tour (it was open and free) and felt really safe the whole time. I think St. Kitts is honestly my favorite island thus far because it isn’t as touristy as many of the other ports are.

San Juan – The forts are really fabulous, plus they’re cheap ($5 per person to do both I think). Definitely would do those.

I don’t have much advice for the other islands. St. Lucia was a bust last time we were there as the guys went deep sea fishing while the girls went shopping and to the beach. It was lovely, but not my favorite. This October we are going with Herod to see the Pitons via boat. I don’t have it in me to do a nearly 2 hour car ride through the island on windy roads.

St. Martin – not much help either. We shopped the boutiques on the French side, which was unique, and then another beach (whose name I can’t recall). I really loved the guavaberry rum though and would highly recommend a drink with it =) This year we are going to the famed Maho Beach to see the planes. I have also read that Mullet Bay Beach is only a 10-15 minute walk from Maho and is much more swimmable, so we will probably spend some time there.

St. Thomas – no help. We missed this port last time due to propulsion issues. I think we are going to make it a beach day this time around.

I love this itinerary, hence we are doing it again, only the 6 day version, so we miss St. Kitts, but see Dominica. Hopefully this was helpful and not just me rambling =) Enjoy the cruise! If you want super in depth, entertaining, and recent info, I found trippingpara’s cruise review awesomely helpful. Here’s a link: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2221552

Just found this review! Thank you for writing it! Perfect info and great pictures.

Thank you for taking time to do this review! I just found it today and read it all. I loved the pictures as they make me feel like I am reliving the trip. We'll be on the Liberty in October (similar itinerary; the 6 day with Dominica), but we were on Victory with this itinerary last January. Thank you also for the ship pictures! I love to dream about being on the ship and pictures help =) Our last cruise we waited on board until we were about the last people and we had a great time looking into the empty rooms/suites that we'll never be able to afford =)

Thank you for writing this review! We will be on the Liberty in October and I love reading reviews as our cruise gets closer and closer. I can never have too much information for my trip binder. Yep. To my husband's dismay, I'm one of those trip-planner-full-of-excel-spreadsheets kind of people =)

I would say that door decorating is not extremely popular. On our last cruise, we cruised with friends and had a total of four rooms. I get so excited for cruises and I like to decorate our doors, so I packed decorations for everyone's door and had themes for each door. My brother-in-law accidentally stated he like a Justin Bieber song before he knew it was Bieber singing it, so I found some ridiculous Bieber poster and Bieber valentines at the dollar store for their door, our door had a grass hula skirt and some other festivities on it, and I don't remember what I had for the others :/ I had also found white boards (all at the dollar store) and those were excellent for keeping in touch throughout the day. I know some people don't care for the door decorating, but if you enjoy it like I do, then do it! I think the wall might be a bit much, but far be it from me to stop someone else's fun =) As long as you're not leaving a mess behind when you leave for the steward to have to clean (and I'm sure you won't) then decorate on!

Or, if you decide you just want to go to Maho, it should be about $10 per person, per way to take a taxi to Maho. Then you could hang out there for as little or as long as you want. I haven't done this yet, this is just what I've gleaned from extensive reading of the St. Maarten board and what we plan on doing when we are there in October :o

If I'm planning a cruise, then I just love to read and read because it helps build anticipation for my coming cruise. I'm one of the crazies with spreadsheets about every port and a binder that comes along with every cruise :rolleyes: If I'm not planning a cruise, then I'm just on here pretending that I'm planning a cruise and living vicariously. I love seeing pictures of the Caribbean when it's -10 degrees and snowing in Iowa =)

When traveling with a group of friends a couple years ago, we all had whiteboards on our doors which made it SUPER easy to communicate about who was where (if we wanted to be found), where we were meeting for supper, what we were up to, etc. It made life much easier for keeping in touch with a larger group. Our rooms were all close together too, so that helped. I too use the 3M hooks and painters tape as that seems to peel off really easily without leaving any residue behind.

Thanks for posting the pics! It's been hard to find detailed information on much to do in Dominica and I am really looking forward to some hiking while we are there, I just can't decide what I want to see the most =)

Thanks for the quick overview! We are debating between this cruise or one of the itineraries offered on the Jewel out of San Juan as well. I feel like Aruba and Curacao are both gorgeous to see, but like there isn't anything spectacular to do other than hang out on a beautiful beach and snorkel (not that there's anything wrong with that as we love to snorkel, but we also enjoy seeing unique historical sites like the Brimstone Fortress in St. Kitts). Any thoughts on what else one could/should do while in Aruba or Curacao?

Thank you for writing this review! I love reading reviews that make me feel like I was there on the ship with you! I've only been on two cruises and Legend was my first ship and it was our honeymoon, so I think I will always have a soft spot for her.

Now, if you could kindly make some more posts to this review for me to read, it would be much appreciated ;) Otherwise, I am going to have to do homework or go work out or something equally terrible :)