Back from Liberty Ship : Long Run and Gun Review

[elcuchio24]

Great review! Can't wait to board in 24 days and a wake-up!

 

It really is a fantastic ship. We would book another sail on the Liberty in a heartbeat.

[elcuchio24]

St. Thomas……….

There was a little ‘motion in da ocean’ that night, as we were barreling through 8 foot swells at 20+ knots, but nothing that bothered us and just gave a gentle rocking to the ship. We woke up around 6:30 and could just see the tip of St. Thomas in the distance. Our port side balcony worked out well to watch both approach and departure from the islands we visited. It was another gorgeous morning, with sun rays shooting through some dawn clouds hanging over the island. As we approached the harbor the sun came through and we could see a RCL ship, I believe Voyager of the Seas, was already docked in town. As we docked, our side of the ship was swarmed by gulls as someone in an 8th deck cabin was throwing bread and food out for them. I avoided several gull-bombs before the birds dispersed.

We had breakfast and debarked quickly to meet up with our Parasail Adventure at 10am. I sidestepped the person in front of me at the gangway so I could avoid getting my picture taken with the fake pirate. Bless the fine folks who treasure these pictures as fond memories, but for me there is nothing I am less likely to buy then a picture of DW and me on a gangway with a fake pirate. We met up with our guide and fellow para-sailors and off we went to our parasail boat, right around the corner. Now this was out first time Parasailing, and although I am a pilot, I had never had this experience. I had been surprised when my wife had liked the idea of this excursion as she does not like heights, but she was adamant and stalwart about doing it and ended up having a great time.

The parasail boat was a 21 foot speedboat outfitted with a high bar where the line attached and a small rear deck for launching off. We had a total of 10 guests on this trip, some from our ship and some from the Royal ship. We went up 2 at a time, which was great as you had someone to share the experience with. The two man boat crew was super nice, both American, the captain in his 20’s from NJ and his mate an 18yo kid from Jacksonville. The kid from Jacksonville was taking time off before college living in St. T and doing this, I envied his choice. They started launching folks two at a time off the back of the boat, letting the parachute sail take them up to around 400-500 feet before bring them back down, dunking them in the water, then landing them back on the rear deck. Everyone was enjoying things as the first couple went up, but being in such a small boat and the water being a little rough was quickly causing a greenish tint to become evident on some of the other passengers. It was breezy, perhaps 5 foot chop and after the first couple came down from the parasail the lady put her head between her knees and kept in there for the next 45 minutes. My wife does not get seasick and I grew up on an island where you learned to operate boats before cars, so we just enjoyed watching everyone go up and the sunny day until it was our turn.

Once we were strapped into the parasail harness, they let the sail catch the wind and boom, we were off. Before we could get any height we were nailed by a 6 foot wave and briefly dunked, then went straight up on the breeze to around 500 feet. It was amazing to leave the noise of the boat and waves and be in almost total silence in the sky. The view was amazing and looking straight down into the water and being able to see fish and turtles swimming around under the sea was awesome. We stayed up for maybe 5 minutes, then descended until we were dunked again (this time planned) and reeled back into the boat. An awesome experience I would recommend to anyone regardless of experience. We retook our seats on the boat energized, but noticed that many of the other guests looked less than energized. Some of the pale green faces started to change to a forest green paler. The last couple of the day launched off the deck and sped up into the sky. As we stared, from 400 feet up, the young lady lost whatever she had put on her plate at the buffet that morning, and we watched as it slowing sailed down and splashed in the ocean. Then the guy did the same thing, more fish food spiraling down and splashing at terminal velocity into the warm Caribbean. Then her again. We were laughing a little and giving some ‘ewwws’ but the guys on the boat said it happened all the time. The crew made sure to dunk this couple WELL before reeling them in. Still, I was happy we had gone before these folks sullied the gear and that we had been dunked in un-befouled water. I was also happy this display had not pushed some of the other Green People sitting on the boat over the edge, even though some eyes were bulging at this point. The guys folded up the parasail and we banged across the waves the mile or so back to port. We chatted with the guys about their awesome job as some of the other guest sat, fists clenched, staring at the deck until we docked. We made sure to tip the guys well as some aboard fell to the ground and kissed the earth once we debarked the boat.

We headed back down the dock to the Liberty to change, shower, and have lunch. Another great outing at Fish and Chips. We went and ate at the back of the ship and enjoyed the views and the fact that the Liberty was a ghostship what with everyone out and about in town. After lunch we debarked again and walked around the shopping area for a while. My wife does not fit the stereotype, she could not care less about the shopping opportunities in most of the ports. So we stopped at the little corner shop, who’s name escapes me now, loaded up on $2.50 coronas and red stripes, and proceeded to enjoy the ‘drink wherever you want’ laws on ST.T. We grabbed a shady bench near some trees and a diamond outlet storefront and enjoyed our beers while the proprietors shot us dirty looks. I guess we didn’t look like we were in diamond buying mode just then. We continued enjoying beers and walking around the shopping areas, dock and Sky Ride Mall. We were planning on going on the Skyride as we had never done in on previous trips to ST.T, but looking at our beers and looking up to the top of the hill we could not get motivated. Looked like a long way, even if we would be riding and not walking.It will have to wait for the next trip to ST.T. We finally headed back to she ship around 3pm and relaxed in our room before sailaway. I decided to make a quick run down to the Sushi Bar, I had heard good things, and hey you only live once! We began hearing the old “will mister and misses’ smith please report to guest services” calls over the PA for people who had not checked back in, although I never found out if we ended up losing any guests. Sailaway was beautiful, as the Royal ship pulled out behind us, and then we backed up with a setting sun behind us, slipping behind the hills of ST.T. We enjoyed some more G&T’s on the balcony before getting ready for dinner.

We headed for dinner but where waylaid by the barkeep in the atrium bar and ended up having cocktails and listening to the piano/singer duet for a while. We sat down to dinner around 7:30, again seated right away. Although we had different servers every night, they were always friendly and gave great service. The only people who might NOT like anytime dining are the folks who like having one service team the whole cruise whom they can form a longer relationship with. I had Study in Sushi/ prosciutto ruffles/ jerk pork loin/ fig&date cake. DW had French Onion soup/ Caesar salad/ Norwegian Salmon/ strawberry cheesecake. It was all good, the pork loin was decent but the sauce was great. The cheesecake was more of the high quality jello variety, but still good.After another cocktail and more live music, we retired to our stateroom and I set the old LG for an early wake up so I could catch our sail in to San Juan.

[TinkyPatz]

This is an excellent review! I'm trying hard not to laugh at work! :p

Question: can you customize your sushi? I love sushi but don't care for seaweed, can I order it without?

Can't wait to see pics and read the rest of the review! We'll be on the Liberty in September, I'm glad you didn't find it crowded so far...

[w8ing2cruz]

St. Thomas……….

 

 

We headed for dinner but where waylaid by the barkeep in the atrium bar and ended up having cocktails and listening to the piano/singer duet for a while. We sat down to dinner around 7:30, again seated right away. [quote]

 

This is why I SO want to try Anytime Dining - would love to have the flexibility to get waylaid on my way to dinner and not worry about it! I'll have to wait until just my husband and I sail again as I've heard it doesn't work out so well with a group of eight. Five of our Golfbags have never sailed before so I think they should experience the traditional dining this time around.

 

Loving your review!!! Sounds like you have just the right mix of relaxing and doing something at the ports.

[elcuchio24]

This is an excellent review! I'm trying hard not to laugh at work! :p

 

Question: can you customize your sushi? I love sushi but don't care for seaweed, can I order it without?

 

Can't wait to see pics and read the rest of the review! We'll be on the Liberty in September, I'm glad you didn't find it crowded so far...

 

What they do is give you a little plate usually with 3 sushi pieces on it. They only have 3 types each night. But you can have as many plates as you want, and it you want 3 of one kind instead of 1 of each they can do that for you no problem.

 

Each night they had atleast one offering that was just rice/fish/shrimp without the nori roll or seaweed salad. Hope this helps, you guys will have a great time in september!

[elcuchio24]

St. Thomas……….

 

 

We headed for dinner but where waylaid by the barkeep in the atrium bar and ended up having cocktails and listening to the piano/singer duet for a while. We sat down to dinner around 7:30, again seated right away. [quote]

 

This is why I SO want to try Anytime Dining - would love to have the flexibility to get waylaid on my way to dinner and not worry about it! I'll have to wait until just my husband and I sail again as I've heard it doesn't work out so well with a group of eight. Five of our Golfbags have never sailed before so I think they should experience the traditional dining this time around.

 

Loving your review!!! Sounds like you have just the right mix of relaxing and doing something at the ports.

 

 

With a big table it probably makes sense to do a fixed time dining, but yes, we loved anytime dining and will book it every time we can in the future. Only waited for a 2 top one night, and that was only for a couple of minutes.

[Casey9]

Please keep the review coming! I'm sailing on the Liberty on Saturday!:)

[elcuchio24]

Please keep the review coming! I'm sailing on the Liberty on Saturday!:)

 

I should have it all up by tomorrow and then add some pics. If you have any specific questions, let me know!:)

[elcuchio24]

San Juan, Puerto Rico………

Since we’d been here several times, we had not planned anything in particular and were just looking forward to walking the old city and doing our own thing. I set my alarm for 6:30 with hopes of maybe catching us sailing in for a 7am arrival. Of course, no dice, when I opened the blinds we were already docked. I always like watching the sail in past the fort, but not enough to get up at 5:30am. Next time I’ll solve the problem by just sleeping on the balcony. I was again sent to fetch breakfast; we ate a leisurely morning meal on the balcony, filled the water bottles and headed down to deck 0.

If you are mobile, Old San Juan is a fantastic port to just walk, explore, shop, and do your own thing. We headed off the dock, past our old friend Voyager of the Seas who had preceded us through the night and beaten us to port once again. We walked down past the tourist center and down La Princesa, a wide cobbled street lined with old trees and gardens. Took some pictures at the fountain and walked along the path between the old city wall and the ocean. If you want to go do the forts, or anywhere in the old city for that matter, make sure you exit the ocean path though the red city gate. Otherwise you keep walking another half mile and end up at a dead end at the base of the fort (but with no access to the fort). We walked though the old city, saw the Totem and headed for El Morro. From the port to fort is only about ¾ of a mile each way and an easy walk, you really can’t get lost. It was a $3pp fee to get in; we must have been about the first people of the day at 8:30am. The fort was huge, thickest walls I have ever seen in a fort, and beautiful. There is a lot of walking and stairs up and down in this fort, so be aware if you have a tough time getting around. When we had seen the whole fort we headed back outside and lounged on the vast lawn in front of the fort. By this time it was getting much busier and we were happy we had come so early and had the place to our selves.

About this time, busload after busload of Puerto Rican kids were being unloaded to check out the totem and the fort. We sat in the little square across from the fort interest and watched as dozens of these kids purchased kites and began flying them between the fort and the graveyard. Within an hour there were 50+ kites riding the morning breeze and it was really an awesome site. We spent a while watching the kids and helping them with repairs and getting airborne again when their kites crashed. We eventually walked back towards the ship, taking our time and stopping all over the place. We really like this port, great people and a great old feel to the city. I love the blue slag cobblestones. We watched people get their picture taken with some trained Macaws, which was neat. But having had some run ins with these birds in the past, and wanting to keep both my ear lobes, we decided to keep walking. We stopped for a few drinks and did some people watching before returning to the ship and grabbing lunch. Sail away was at 3:30, which meant everyone had to be back by 3pm, so the day was short but sweet.

We had received two letters under the door that morning, one to confirm our Steak House reservation for 6pm and one with two tickets to the Past Guest Party in the Venetian Palace. So we decided to hit the deck and do some tanning/water sliding before the evening festivities commenced. DW solidified the tan and I got a half dozen good runs down the Blue Beast before things started to get more crowded with folks congregating on deck for sail away. This had to be the hottest day of the cruise, well into the 90’s with a bright sun. I don’t know how anyone could walk on deck barefoot without donating a pound of foot flesh to the teak. We grabbed a couple beers and headed back to the room to watch sailaway from the balcony and to get presentable for the evening.

We headed down to the Past Guest Party at 4pm, expecting a full house. I don’t know if there were multiple parties during the cruise, if there were very few past cruisers, or if many past cruisers just blew it off, but the turnout could not have been more that 250 people. We sat and were offered finger food left and right, which we tried to turn down because we wanted to be hungry for the steak house. But you know me, I don’t like to be rude to the servers so I sampled most of what they were offering. They also came around constantly with trays of free drinks. These drinks were the best kind ever, that is free. Some strange selection though. There was a Midori Melonballer, champagne, red/white wine of the just-unscrewed-the-bottle vintage, some fruity drink I think was a Yellow Bird or Yellow Lady, and some concoction that tasted like very strong instant ice-tea mix with alcohol in it. I bartended for a few summers in college, and still have not a clue what that ice tea thing was. That did not stop me from drinking two of them, a few Melonballers and a glass of wine. DW was feeling down right Brisk after a few of these Slippery Snapple’s (there, I officially named this drink). We then watched the video where they give a synopsis of the beginnings of Carnival with the tiny MardiGras and then run though all the ships and people clap at all the ships they had sailed on. There were a group of ladies in the front row who had all gone together on the MardiGras back in the day! I thought that was pretty cool. At 4:45 the drink trays disappeared and all of a sudden no one seemed to have a good reason for sitting in the show lounge with no show and no more free drinks. We retreated up the stairs to our room to regroup for dinner.

[SMSACE6]

Elcuchio!!!! AhA! I knew it! and I knew I could count on you to clarify the "subterfuge" sp? Thanks for the tip re the spots on the shell of rock lobster. Yep, dont remember those spots on the lobster tail shells from back home! And yes, their lobster tail is not inedible, nor that terrible, but when you are "spoiled" like me, I usually choose something else from the menu that night. :)

 

I am busy now catching up on the rest of your review. Loving it!:)

[elcuchio24]

Steakhouse……

Ya, that’s right. I made a whole separate posting for the Steakhouse. It was that good. We got dressed up and headed up to Harry’s at 6pm, it was fairly empty but ended up filling up around 7:30. We were told to expect a 2 hour eating marathon and the staff at Harry’s did not disappoint. We had a head waiter and two assistants waiting on us hand and foot, all women, and I saw almost all women servers in the whole restaurant. They presented a great assortments of breads and waters, then wheeled out a cart with all the evenings’ selections of meat cuts available to see. The lobster tail was still Rock,(but huge), and they did assure us that the Maine Lobster Ravioli was indeed made from Maine Lobster. We had another round of Pinot Noir and Mojito’s and placed our order. I ordered Toro Tuna Tar-tar/ Baby Spinach Salad/ 24oz Porterhouse. DW ordered Tiger Shrimp Cocktail/ Caesar Salad/ Strip Steak. The chef sent out a little tasting course of baked shrimp casserole with truffle sauce for the men and a little mushroom cream soup for the ladies. Both were fantastic. Our appetizers where delicious as well. DW’s shrimps where as big as the Rock lobster tails in the MDR and she loved them. My Toro was perfect, nice and fatty and perfectly butchered by the chef so it was oh-so-tender. The salads where equally good. My Spinach salad was fantastic with blu cheese and a mushroom gateau in the middle, but it was put to shame by the tableside preparation of DW’s Caesar complete with fresh dressing and anchovies. The steaks were both great and the temperatures just as requested. DW loved the Strip as much as I loved the Porterhouse. As delicious as it was, with 3 courses, already under my belt the Porterhouse started looking like ‘the old 76er’ from that movie The Great Outdoors after a while. I soldiered on and polished it off, just leaving room enough for espresso and dessert. We both had the Chocolate Tasting for desert, which were superb and capped off a great meal. We rolled thanked the girls and rolled ourselves back to our stateroom to get ready for the show.

This evenings show was the magic and humor of……I have already forgotten his name. That shows how memorable the show was. Puck! That was his name. Mildly funny, the magic, well, I guess I stopped being entertained by magic about the time I learned to use the Big Boy Potty. Anyway, it was entertainment none the less and the house was packed. Afterwards we headed back to the room and enjoyed some G&T’s, looked forward to yet another port day the next day in Grant Turk.

[pokergirl34]

Awesome review. We'll be on this itinerary in August. Thanks for the info! I see that first elegant night is Monday and PG party on the day we'll be at PR, I'll stay tuned for the second elegant night!

[Jeafl]

I am really enjoying your very entertaining review! We're on the Liberty a month from tomorrow--can't wait!

[elcuchio24]

Awesome review. We'll be on this itinerary in August. Thanks for the info! I see that first elegant night is Monday and PG party on the day we'll be at PR, I'll stay tuned for the second elegant night!

 

You will really enjoy this itinerary, this was our first time on Grand Turk and we enjoyed it as well as the old faithful stops. The food was the best we've had.

[Casey9]

I should have it all up by tomorrow and then add some pics. If you have any specific questions, let me know!:)

 

Loving the review! We are also booked for the horseback ride on HMC. How wet do you get when the horses go swimming in the water? Are you completely submersed up to the waist? thighs?

 

Also, how did you get so much on board credit? Our cruise is booked, so no opportunity for us to get an early saver discount unfortunately.

[GinDon]

We are also "Maineiacs", and did this itinerary last October. I can SO relate to some of your very funny remarks! Yes, my hubby was also suspicious of the lobster tails. While he complained that they weren't as good as Maine lobster, he managed to choke down two orders of it.!

 

Very entertaining review!

[kyrisong1]

Steakhouse, looked forward to yet another port day the next day in Grant Turk.

Elcuchio thank you so much for this review I am loving it!!! Can't wait for the pictures.

Cheers, Carole

[Cathy p]

It was so sad to hit the end and no more. I love your review. We will be on the Liberty in January and can't wait.

Looking forward to the pictures and more!!:)

[savannahjohnny]

Well done! Informative AND entertaining- kinda like gin and tonic, they just go together SO well. :)

 

Thanks for posting!

[elcuchio24]

Grand Turk……..

No fear of missing the sailin at this port, as our scheduled arrival was not until 11am. I was sent out immediately to gather breakfast and refill the coffee carafe. We enjoyed another award winning breakfast on the balcony as Grand Turk came into view on the horizon. This was our first visit to Grand Turk, since so many of the Caribbean cruise destinations can become repetitive after a while it was a treat to have a brand new port to look forward to. The island is very low and sandy with beautiful beaches and clear water. From the ship you can see the big salt pond in the middle of the island they used to use for harvesting seasalt, which was the base of most of the islands economy at one time. As we approached the dock, it seemed like the captain was going to oblige us by landing us directly on the beach. You could seriously chip a golf ball to the beach from our balcony; I have never seen a ship dock so close to land, the buoys outlining the swimming area weren’t more than 20 feet off the hull. The vision of hopping off deck zero right on to the beach looked like it wasn’t going to happen but I was still entertaining the idea of tying the bed sheets together and repelling straight into the water. About this time the CD Noonan called the all clear to debark, probably saving me a tour of the ships brig.

What with an 11am arrival, this would be a short port stop so we had planned our longest excursion of the cruise in Grand Turk. We booked the ‘deluxe catamaran snorkel and beach break’. As we headed down the gangway and sidestepped the guy in the dolphin costume posing for pictures, we could see a Holland America ship in the distance, closing fast. I only prayed the islanders had mixed enough rum punch to cope with the onslaught from two ships. Better get ours quick, just in case. We took the short walk to the pier, through the duty free trap (I saw more than a few being snared), and into the main square to meet up with our excursion. It was a little confusing as to which tour was ours since there where a variety of ‘deluxe sail away’, ‘deluxe snorkel and sail’, ‘snorkel sail and beach deluxe’, ‘catamaran deluxe snorkel adventure’. Eventually we did find the correct word ordered excursion and headed down to the 78 foot Oasis Sea Breeze. The guys on this excursion where great, very multinational many from Jamaica and one guy even from Alaska. We sailed out on another beautiful sunny day with flocks of flying fish darting out of the water in front of the bow. We got our snorkel equipment and then sat through the boring tutorial by the crew and the classic stupid questions from the first time snorkelers (my mask is fogging up! Which end do I breath through? What do I do if I see a shark?). We have always had fun on these types of snorkel excursions, but being seasoned snorklers, DW and I will probably go on private snorkel adventures from now on. We’ve just outgrown what these tours have to offer. Still, once we were in the water they let us do our own thing and the snorkeling was pretty decent. The Wall was amazing, where 25 foot water suddenly fell straight into 2000ft+ water. Swimming over it was like getting to the edge of an enormous gorge and flying right over the edge.

After snorkeling we rinsed out, reapplied sun block and enjoyed some rum punch as we headed for a private beach for some beach time. We arrived and were told we would have a short swim from the catamaran to the beach. They told us we could jump over the side of the boat if we wanted, and that the water was around 7 feet deep. I jumped off and stuck my feet into 5 ½ foot water, glad I didn’t dive head first. We enjoyed the beach, more punch, and allot of entertaining fellow guests. After a while we reloaded and took a leisurely sail back towards the main dock area. I went to the wet bar, which in this case was literally wet from the sea spray, and had the nice lady on the boat mix us some of their Rum Captains Special. I noted the high quality Don Eduardito rum they were using for the drinks, really top shelf stuff, paper label and everything.

During the sail back, one of our towels figured it was it’s time to finally make a break for freedom. Probably been planning its escape for months. I thought I saw it grab a bottle of Don Eduardito and dive over the side. It reminded me of the cartoon magic carpet from Aladdin. Anyway, as stated before, it got swept under the preverbal magic rug by housekeeping and we didn’t get charged so no harm no foul.

It was a great excursion overall and we were sad to bid the guys on the boat and our fellow partiers goodbye. We took some more pictures and hung out around the beach for a while before deciding to head back to the ship as it was closing in on 4pm. After all the sun, fun, and rum, DW decided to take a nap and I decided to go out and look for trouble. Somehow I ended up at the Sushi Bar at 5pm, imagine that? Blew threw a couple of plates before returning to our room to watch us sail away from the shallow water of Grand Turk and onto our last leg of the cruise back towards Miami.

Tonight was the 2nd Elegant night so we dressed up again and headed down to dinner around 7:30, sans cocktails tonight since the Rum Punch has a way of sticking with you for a while. Another fine dinner service, I had Delice of the Ocean/ Escargots/ Martini Braised Basa/ Baked Alaska. DW had Cream of Broccoli soup/ Jumbo Tiger shrimps Buerre Blanc/ Fruit Plate. Everything was delicious as usual and we headed back to our room, beat from the busy day and backhands from Don Eduardito. Tomorrow would be a nice relaxing day, but sad as it would be our last onboard the Liberty this trip.

[camorelli]

I really can't wait for my Liberty cruise in October! Thanks for a great read! :)

[dodger501]

 

He was the scuba-diving videographer.

We had a blast on this excusion last Jan.

[elcuchio24]

 

He was the scuba-diving videographer.

We had a blast on this excusion last Jan.

 

 

you know it, thats the guy!

[smeck]

Sailing on the Miracle in July with the same ports of call. Enjoying your review.

[spideyfam]

I am a Mainer also. Have lived there for all of my 42 years. The only time I have ever had lobster was on my 6 Carnival Cruises. And they weren't even from Maine? So that means I have NEVER had a real lobster!