Carnival LIberty-Eastern 3/30 Review

[KatPem]

That is awesome! lol I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as we did!

 

Thank you so much for taking this photograph of my husband and me (well, half of me!)!!!

 

 

 

We had a great time on this cruise and I plan to write a thorough review, but I haven't found the time yet. Enjoying reading your review. :)

[KatPem]

Thank you for the detailed report on San Juan....really looking forward to this port next year.

 

We love San Juan....we cruised out of there on a previous cruise and fell in love! I hope to go back again in the future and check out the rain forest next time.

[wendaeh]

Wonderful review and a beautiful family. We are doing the western itinerary on Liberty in June, but loved reading about your ports and viewing your photos as well.:)

[2 cruzen]

We love San Juan....we cruised out of there on a previous cruise and fell in love! I hope to go back again in the future and check out the rain forest next time.

 

If we ever get an extended stay in SJ, I want to do the bioluminescent kayak trip. Looks so cool!

 

BTW, you are beautiful. Hard to tell you are "Mom".

[Coolcruise02]

 

Beautiful family pic!

[pickles1942]

We were ther in Feb. and my friend called home and then again in St Thomas but her two very short calls were 64.00 and I think she is verizon. We had been told on a prior cruise that St Thomas the calls would be the same as home, not.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

We were on this cruise too. We had a wonderful time!

[Jeafl]

Great review! I really enjoyed looking at your pictures too!

 

Did you do the FTTF? If not, did you wish you would have? We can't decide if it is really beneficial or not. Although, you did not have any tender ports and we will have Grand Cayman since we are doing the western itinerary.

[KatPem]

If we ever get an extended stay in SJ, I want to do the bioluminescent kayak trip. Looks so cool!

 

BTW, you are beautiful. Hard to tell you are "Mom".

 

 

 

Yes!! That would be amazing! Definitely something on my to do list as well!

 

Thanks :)

[KatPem]

Wonderful review and a beautiful family. We are doing the western itinerary on Liberty in June, but loved reading about your ports and viewing your photos as well.:)

 

Thanks! I hope to do the Western portion in the future!

[KatPem]

Beautiful family pic!

 

Thank you! I loved it cause of the kid's natural smiles...hard to get that with so many. I wish I could remember what they were laughing about lol

[KatPem]

We were ther in Feb. and my friend called home and then again in St Thomas but her two very short calls were 64.00 and I think she is verizon. We had been told on a prior cruise that St Thomas the calls would be the same as home, not.

 

I had heard both ways about St Thomas so we didn't chance it...no need anyway, we were on vacation lol

[KatPem]

Great review! I really enjoyed looking at your pictures too!

 

Did you do the FTTF? If not, did you wish you would have? We can't decide if it is really beneficial or not. Although, you did not have any tender ports and we will have Grand Cayman since we are doing the western itinerary.

 

No, we did not. With six of us, I just couldn't justify the cost. You are right, we didn't have any tender ports, that might make me change my mind if it were just my husband and I. As for boarding, with us, it was 45 minutes after FTTF got called that we got on anyway being zone 14, we arrived at the terminal about 11:40. By the time we got on board, there was 30 minutes til we could go to the rooms anyway.

 

As for getting off, if you need to get off for an earlier flight you can do it for free by contacting guest services.

 

Can't answer about tenders since we haven't ever been on a cruise where we tendered.

 

I guess it depends on how much your time is worth...

[beans79]

Nice review, your pics made me smile!! I will be on the Liberty in 9 more days, on the Western side!

[KatPem]

Sorry if I am a bit all over the place. I keep forgetting what I have covered and what I haven't ;)

 

 

 

 

Saturday morning we got up and met the in-laws in the MDR for breakfast. This was our first time in here on a non-punchliner brunch day. It was OK, I had a belgian waffle and it was good, the bacon wasn't done hardly at all. I don't think next time I would choose this if the punchliner brunch was available. We went back to our room sabout 8:30 to collect our bags and then headed up to the Lido deck....Brrrr.....it was chilly! Thankfully the kids had their blankets as we had packed all our sweatshirts the night before in our checked bags!

 

 

We didn't last long up there and decided to head to deck 5 to look for seats. We ended up sitting in the casino.Well, some of us sat...others...

My nine year old said he wasn't laying on the floor...he put his blanket down first...yuk!

 

My husband isn't any better though

 

They finally ended up starting disembarkation. They had to stop several time due to backups in the terminal. We finally got called about 10:30 I believe. For disembarkation, we were zone 17. My in-laws were zone 27 and we were not allowed to switch. Disembarkation was about 45 minutes or so behind due to customs. When we got off, we had no trouble finding our luggage and then headed into the line for customs....quick and painless.

 

 

We were renting a car from Alamo at MIA so we went outside and had to cross to the center island to get on the bus. It was about 5-10 minutes. When we got on, we did have to show proof of reservations, my email on my cell phone sufficed. It was about 15 minutes to get back to MIA. There was no line there, sowe quickly on our way to go get our van. With Alamo there, you are able to just go and pick which vehicle (within your class) that you want. We were able to grab our van and were heading out.

 

 

One note, while I have rented cars several times in the past, I haven't ever paid attention and couldn't remember how return times worked. I didn't want to have to pay for a third day but our ship docked at 8am and we didn't fly out until 2:30pm two days later. I ended up doing 11am pick and drop off when I reserved it thinking we would take our time going to rent it to avoid having to show up early at FLL to return it and being stuck there. We ended up getting there at 11:30, you have 24 hours from the time you pick it up-when you leave the garage, not the time you reserve from! You also have a 30 minute grace period per the alamo employee. Just thought I would share...

 

 

We went to our hotel, Staybridge Suites in Plantation (near FLL) at 2:30...check in wasnt until 3 and there were a ton of people checking in including some that were supposed to be out but still had their stuff in their room. Our room wasn't ready yet...no big deal, we headed to the river walk in FLL, nice area! Parking was cheap ($3 for the 1 -2 hours we were there). We finally went back to the hotel about 6 and they apologize for our room not having been ready earlier and thanked us for our patience. We went to our room, we had booked a two bedroom suite. It had one bedroom with a king bed and full bath, another bedroom with 2 doubles and a full bath, a living area with a pull out double sofa and a kitchen with two electric burners, dishwasher and fridge. They also offered continental breakfast in the morning, had a pool (it was chilly), a nice fitness room and FREE laundry room! All this for about $150 a night including the taxes. The bones of the hotel were very nice but it isn't very well taken care of. Maybe it is just cause we were used to the Carnival ship but it just needed a good thorough cleaning.

 

 

We got to FLL to return the car about noon. It took us just a few minutes to run it back in and then we went in to get our tickets reprinted since ink was running out of the printer. Security took about 30 minutes. We had no other issues other than our battery being dead when we got back to St Louis. It is a 99 Suburban though so it wasn't suprising, they have someone there that will give you a jump.

[Marla07860]

The Dream

Partying on the dream

 

actually the Disney ship is the Wonder. Dream and Fantasy are bigger, Magic is in Texas

[Marla07860]

What did your family think of San Juan? I was actually there on the Disney Fantasy on March 27th, 2013 and my dad and I loved the port

[ucfjag]

Great review and awesome pictures!! My boyfriend and I are going on the same itinerary in September, and you just made my mind up on what we're doing in St. Thomas AND in San Juan!! :)

 

 

 

-Paul

[KatPem]

Ok—FINAL THOUGHTS!

 

 

Kids-All of my kids went to the meet and greets, they aren't the type to think they are 'too cool' to do so. I told them to go to it and one or two things and then if they didn't like it they didn't have to go back. My 15 year old went to several things during the week but when she wasn't doing O2 stuff, she was hanging out with the kids she had met in O2. The 12 year old LIVED in Circle C. He met so many people and had a blast! My 11 year old (only 11 months younger than the 12) was in with my 9 year old in the 9-11 group. She was really jealous of the 12 year old. My kids are all pretty mature for their ages, with the exception of my nine year old that CAN be mature but can also act his age lol The 11 year old thought the things that their group did were kind of babyish, so did the 9 year old but there were more activities that he is interested in. I think they enjoyed the scavenger hunts the most. They were put into groups so they got to know the others and got to explore the ship. They also enjoyed some of the video game time. A lot of the stuff they had no clue what it was so a little more explanation would have helped. It also kinda stunk that the older two had activities til 1 am many nights and theirs were done at 10 unless you were to pay for 'parties'. My two younger kids are able to stay at home by themselves for short periods, and don't need a babysitter so I didnt' want to pay for a babysitter disguised as a party.

 

 

What we did for the kids was

 

 

1-set rules up ahead of time of what was allowed and expected of them.

2- told them they could not leave the room by themselves unless they were headed to a club activity.

3-told them they had to leave a post-it note on our 'mailbox' with their name, time it was and where they would be. If that changed it either needed to be a club activity or a new post-it note left.

4-if they left the room and weren't going to club activity, they had to have a buddy family member.

 

 

We also left notes where they could find us if they needed to. This worked out fairly well. Later on in the week, we let them have friends as buddies and allowed them to hang out in public areas with them but they had to meet there.

 

 

We had a blast and all four said they would give up future Christmas gifts to go again. They all had a blast, the younger two hung out quite a bit together.

 

 

Im sure there are other things I will think of later on but that is the gist of it.

 

 

Thanks for reading and sorry again for bouncing around. I had to go with what I thought of before I forgot it lol

[KatPem]

What did your family think of San Juan? I was actually there on the Disney Fantasy on March 27th, 2013 and my dad and I loved the port

 

They loved it! They thought the forts were really cool, they are nerds(that is a loving term in our house) though and like to learn lol There really was something there for everyone! My youngest liked the cannon balls, iguanas, and where the cannons were and trying to figure out how they were used and what things were for. It is sooo beautiful there and so different than the other places we went to that the variety is nice. My daughter's like the 'backdrops' for pictures. We loved the views and history. I can't wait to go back!

[KatPem]

Great review and awesome pictures!! My boyfriend and I are going on the same itinerary in September, and you just made my mind up on what we're doing in St. Thomas AND in San Juan!! :)

 

 

 

-Paul

 

you will LOVE it! Just make sure you get off the boat by half past in St Thomas since the ferry from Red hook to Cruz Bay are only on the hours.

 

San Juan forts you can spend hours in! Every corner there is another gorgeous view!

[Coolcruise02]

....... and all four said they would give up future Christmas gifts to go again.

 

Awesome! :)

[NavarreCruiser]

Thanks for this review with so many photos. We cruise a lot and will be back on the Liberty for a B2B cruise next week. I often don't read reviews because they don't tell me anything new. Due to the amount of trips we take we have become somewhat jaded about cruising. It was really pleasant to read your posts and remember how much fun new cruisers have. I hope you are able to do this with your family again.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

No, we did not. With six of us, I just couldn't justify the cost. You are right, we didn't have any tender ports, that might make me change my mind if it were just my husband and I. As for boarding, with us, it was 45 minutes after FTTF got called that we got on anyway being zone 14, we arrived at the terminal about 11:40. By the time we got on board, there was 30 minutes til we could go to the rooms anyway.

 

As for getting off, if you need to get off for an earlier flight you can do it for free by contacting guest services.

 

Can't answer about tenders since we haven't ever been on a cruise where we tendered.

 

I guess it depends on how much your time is worth...

 

Great review! I really enjoyed looking at your pictures too!

 

Did you do the FTTF? If not, did you wish you would have? We can't decide if it is really beneficial or not. Although, you did not have any tender ports and we will have Grand Cayman since we are doing the western itinerary.

 

Since they didn't get it I thought I would respond to your question. We were on the same cruise and did get FTTF. We thought it was worth it and have already purchased it for our June cruise as well! That one has a tender port, but I would have bought it either way. We loved being able to go straight to our room to drop off our carry on items. Besides, it was our first suite and we were anxious to see it. :) We also got our luggage delivered quickly and were unpacked before most had even received theirs. That was a major plus since we had steakhouse reservations the first night. It was also nice going to the short line at customer service!

[KatPem]

Thanks for this review with so many photos. We cruise a lot and will be back on the Liberty for a B2B cruise next week. I often don't read reviews because they don't tell me anything new. Due to the amount of trips we take we have become somewhat jaded about cruising. It was really pleasant to read your posts and remember how much fun new cruisers have. I hope you are able to do this with your family again.

 

 

Thanks! We really enjoyed it, I hope to take a cruise this fall just my husband and I. That is the reason I didn't take a whole lot of pictures on the ship and post them.....there are so many already on here. I did appreciate them when planning ours but know they can be found very easily.

 

Enjoy your B2B!