Liberty – Eastern Caribbean - May 26th – 3 Generations

[CruzinScotty]

Next in San Juan, we stopped at the Capital building. It was modeled after the US Capital. We realized we could walk inside. WOW!

 

 

We saw the "Quarter Lady" here on a different tour. "Hey, Quarter Lady". :p

 

Inside - look up:

 

Edited June 12, 2012 by CruzinScotty

[CruzinScotty]

 

 

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As the tour ended. we were dropped off at Plaza de Colon, where the statue of Christopher Columbus is.

 

 

 

 

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It was getting hot, so we decided to head back to the ship to cool off. We got a few more pics on the way:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CruzinScotty]

What better way to cool off than lounging on the Lido with a nice bowl of ice cream. Then, a few of us decided to venture back out to the shopping area.

 

We back tracked to Plaza de Colon. Remember that map I mentioned? It was a HUGE help. We didn’t take the trolley at all; but the map was very useful. It had the street names; but I never saw any street signs. What I did see was the trolley stop numbers. It helped us figure out where we were and how far we could venture out.

 

Here’s the street where we did some shopping:

 

 

[CruzinScotty]

On the way back to the ship, we took more pics:

 

 

 

 

To sum up San Juan for us: low expectations yielded wonderful results!

[CruzinScotty]

Back on the ship, I went up to the Lido Deck aft hot tub. It was nice chatting with people. DW joined me. Then, we had a piece of pizza to hold us until dinner.

 

We did our usual Deck 10 sail away. We had spent a lot of time watching the planes come in all day long when we were on our balcony. When backing out of the pier, you go right in front of the landing strip.

 

 

The sail away from San Juan is also a beautiful one.

 

 

[CruzinScotty]

Gotta include pics of El Morro from the sea!

 

 

 

Fort San Cristobal on the left, El Morro on the right; Old San Juan inbetween:

 

 

Next: Real men CAN drink Frou Frou drinks ;)

[ebandive]

I'm loving your review so far!! Especially loved the old pictures from the Carnivale! How fun! :)

[beshears]

Thank you for that great review and pictures. Nothing like going with "someone else" down memory lane.:) A few years ago I was able to do the same ship and itinerary. When I seen the pictures of Puerto Rico, it reminded me of one of the crew members (up to this point when I had been in PR, we did not get to see much of it) went with some of us ladies through PR, and we really got to see it. We probably walked around 6 hours before we came back to the ship. Now I know what PR is all about.

 

Yes, seeing your pictures of "yesteryear" I'm sure brought back memories to you also.

[CruzinScotty]

Thanks for the nice comments. Guess I should have warned you this might be a long report. ;)

 

Hint – you can’t do it all, don’t even try. But, do try new things later in the cruise; it helps make your overall cruise experience even more memorable.

 

I set up a 5PM meet in the Alchemy Bar. DB/SIL were the only ones to join me; but we sure had fun. Here is the menu:

 

The really cool thing you can’t tell from the picture is that the menu lights up when you open it. I had seen the menu in another trip report. I decided if I only had one drink here, I had to satisfy my chocoholic cravings and try the Deal Breaker. That is fresh shaved chocolate on the top. Heavenly:

 

My compadres tried the Forty is the new Twenty ( with the lime) and the Peach Cosmopolitan (lemon, of course):

 

Corina was our mixologist. She was really great; and made it clear for the guys – it’s OK to get all the fancy drinks. Remember, what happens on the Liberty, STAYS on the Liberty. Except for those taking photos. :D

 

Munchies were brought out. We didn’t touch the olives, but the cubed Swiss and mixed nuts were great. So great that we intended to get to the Sushi Bar, but never did. What a wonderful addition to our cruise experience.

 

Next – Too many choices for dinner!

Edited June 12, 2012 by CruzinScotty

[CruzinScotty]

Oops - my drink was the Deal Closer, not Deal Breaker. Oh well, too late to edit. ;)

 

Dinner was wonderful tonight – too good!

 

I may or may not have had all or part of the following starters: chilled peach soup, smoked duck, spinach salad, and the shark firework roll. :eek:

 

I also got a taste of the thai soup. If you like spicy, you’ll like it. One taste worked for me. :p

 

There used to be a duck entrée; but that has been changed and there is only an appetizer now. It was DS’s favorite last trip, so he just ordered two appetizers tonight.

 

On to the entrées. I couldn’t decide between the lamb and the seafood Newburg; so why not try both! The entrée sizes have overall been fairly small and not really a problem. It figures that tonight, the serving sizes are the full size ones you would expect in your restaurants back home. LOL The lamb was good, the Newburg was…..different. I’m used to a cream sauce and this was different. I think there was a particular unidentified spice that didn’t blend with my taste buds the way it must for the chef.

 

Dessert time already? Might as well. I like my sweets and I LOVE my chocolate. So it’s time for Bitter/Blanc Bread Pudding and Warm Chocolate Melting cake.

 

Bitter/Blanc Bread Pudding – this seems to get either very positive or very negative reviews. I'll give it a tepidly positive rating. LOL The sauce they serve with it was great and was needed because otherwise, it was dry. Though I might have enjoyed it if I hadn’t had such a large meal……

 

Is this the night of the cappuccino pie? Hmmm, if I don’t find it later in my notes – it is. Several people at the other end of the table had this (whichever night it was); it was quite popular.

 

So, let's talk about Warm Chocolate Melting Cake – one of my favorite things!

 

Has anyone noticed that it seems to come out different each night? I’ve come up with my own scale for them. The way I see it: though they are in individual ramekins, they are cooked in mass production. So, it’s still similar to a large cake in the oven.

 

To me, the comparison is like a steak – well done, rare or medium. The ones on the outer part of the baking tray are “well done” - almost or completely cooked in the middle. The ones baking in very center of the oven are “rare”. While quite delicious, these are a little too gooey, even for this chocoholic. I can only eat ½ of a “rare WCMC”.

 

I find the ones cooking around the middle of the baking tray the, “medium” ones, to be perfect – just gooey enough in the middle. The only problem is that unlike a steak - you don’t get to order how “done” it will be on any given night. LOL

 

I had 5 WCMC this trip – one rare, and two each of the medium and well.

 

What do y’all think about my theory? And, how do you like your WCMC?

Edited June 12, 2012 by CruzinScotty

[Jeans*Fanatic]

Another great review!!!!! I can't wait to read the rest!!! :D

[Lejardin]

I’m gonna take a little tangent if you’ll indulge me.

 

Any “Golden Girl” fans out there? In your best “Sophia” voice, say, “Picture it, June 1978”…LOL

 

Way back when I was a teenager, my parents took me on a 7 night cruise on this mammoth ship called the” Carnivale” from a small cruise ship company called Carnival. It was a mind boggling 25,516 ton behemoth that was a whopping 640 feet long. The ports of call for this trip included St. Thomas, San Juan and St. Martin. This trip and the wonderful memories are why I’ve been promising DW that we would get to the Eastern Caribbean some day. An additional treat is that my Pop is with me as well.

 

So, lets take a quick down Memory Lane. Look at the Carnivale. It was so big, it took two who pictures to capture 25,000 tons of fun!

 

With these newfangled cameras, I can get the Liberty in one shot in Grand Turk:

 

I guess there’s something to be said about camera angle. ;)

 

I was on the TSS Carnivale in the 1980's .. don't remember the exact year..what a nice memory. I was actually looking for that information yesterday. :D

[CruzinScotty]

I was on the TSS Carnivale in the 1980's .. don't remember the exact year..what a nice memory. I was actually looking for that information yesterday. :D

 

It was a great ship, wasn't it.

[cinnamonspider]

Great review! We were on the same sailing, and we had a blast! I loved your pictures of the Carnivale, very cool.

 

Looking forward to the rest of the review!

[CruzinScotty]

After dinner, a few went to the participation shows in the Venetian. DW and I went to get pick up portraits and view new pics. For some reason, it seemed easier to pick our pictures out of the crowd. We got a few and walked around a bit.

 

In the casino we ran into Pop and W'ma and decided to get ice cream. Tonight the back Lido closed for a private function. The ice cream station by Guy's was still open, so that's where we sat.

 

Tonight was the Mexican Fiesta; there had been a Caribbean party a few nights prior. These are fun events that we have attended in the past. This trip, we didn’t get to either one.

 

We headed to the room to find:

Time for balcony time and lights out. Pretty good – 10:30 – two nights in a row. Plus, the plan is to sleep in a little bit tomorrow.

 

Next: Grand Turk

[CruzinScotty]

I kept the curtain closed a little more last night and the result was getting to out to the balcony at 6:45 today. More of the morning ritual: I-pod, writing trip report and enjoying the view until DW awoke to enjoy the view with me.

 

We set plans for breakfast at 8:30 in the Lido. I hoped that our late arrival at Grand Turk, plus people sleeping in from the Mexican Fiesta might yeald a smaller crowd. The wait for the omelet station was 30 seconds – mission accomplished! For my toppings, I chose ham/cheese/mushrooms/onions. They will also cook eggs any way you want them. I added fresh fruit, chocolate milk, guava juice and of course – yep – banana bread.

 

Marie-Ann, our head waitress at dinner was working the Lido; we had a nice conversation with her. It was nice to see her in a more relaxed atmosphere.

 

Later, a very nice lady come up to our table to announce that I had a twin. Who knew? LOL She told us that where she lived in Florida, she had a neighbor that looked just like me. They do say everyone in the world has a twin out there – now I know where mine is.

 

More coincidences: DW recognized the town this woman was from. Remember the picture I posted of DW in the hot tub making new friends – after we had gotten back from HMC? Yep – this woman was married to one of the guys she had been talking too. Neat.

 

DW and I had a few minutes to wander the ship. We made our way up to the Serenity Deck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Next: Wastin’ away again in Margaritaville

[CruzinScotty]

We don’t have a lot of sun worshippers or beach lovers in our gang. We decided the best thing to do was for everyone to bypass the stores getting off. I know – this was blasphemy for the women. ;) We wanted to all spend some time at Margaritaville.

 

 

 

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After some family time, we split up. Some went directly back to the ship. Some stopped to shop on their way back. Myself, DW, DS and SIL stayed for more fun. So, again – a crowded beach and we’re looking for some chairs. Luck is with us a 2nd time. In the very 1st section, up in the palm trees, we found 2 chairs in 30 seconds. DS didn’t want to swim, he was more than happy to watch our stuff while we swam.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CruzinScotty]

In HMC, they had a sign – 472 miles to Grand Turk. What a difference it made in the temperature of the water. It was still cool, but VERY nice. OK, I’ll admit – the fact it was sunny and hot outside might have made the ocean feel more refreshing.

 

We stayed in the water for a very long time. At one point, a large school of fish came by – something in the sheephead/spade family. They kept swimming between us. It was really neat:

 

They were so close you could feel the tails and one even the body of a fish brushing up against you. No snorkel required. :D

 

 

We found out later that another group had thought to bring bread from the ship to attract the fish. The reason didn’t matter, our encounter was still very special.

[CruzinScotty]

When we had had enough of the salt water, it’s time to switch to the chlorinated variety. :)

 

At the Margaritaville pool, if you want to be with the crowd you can:

 

 

 

 

Or, you can find some quiet places, too.

 

We thought about heading down the beach a bit for some local food. We really did. But, it was really hot and we dashed those plans. Instead, we found another table at Margaritaville and split some conch fritters and cracked conch.

 

Then, DS headed for the ship while we decided to get a little shopping in. Cocoa Beach is a favorite in our family, so when we saw the Ron Jon store, we had to stop by and maybe make a purchase or two. ;)

 

Next: Gee, it’s awfully hot outside to be dressed as an astronaut.