Carnival Liberty Southern Caribbean 5/17 to 5/24 2015

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I’m Nathan and I’m writing this review my new wife Marissa and myself. At the very end of this review I’ll give a quick summary of our cameras used during the trip. We took over 1200 pictures, but I’ve only posted the ones I deemed worthy here. OK, time to write our review of our cruise May 17th-24th, 2015 on the Carnival Liberty to the Eastern Caribbean (Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, Sea Day, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, St. Maarten, Puerto Rico). We were married the day before the cruise on Saturday May 16th at a local winery here in northeast Ohio, which is located on a dam. The rain held off long enough for our outdoor ceremony and pictures before the reception, which was indoors.

 

 

After the reception we went home to change, grabbed our bags and left to drive to Pittsburgh. It’s about a 2-hour drive for us. We stayed at the Pittsburgh Airport Marriott. We got up at 4:00am to drop the truck off at a long term parking garage and then took a shuttle to the airport. We flew United and the check-in sucked. There were really long lines and only 3 people working the counter. It took 45 minutes just to check our bags. We left Pittsburgh for San Juan, with a stop in Washington D.C. (Dulles), at 5:50am and we arrived in San Juan at 11:50am. We went down to pick up our bags and nothing was there. Everyone from our plane was confused. We eventually found our plane’s luggage on a Delta baggage carousel. Our mistake for thinking it would come on the carousel marked United since that’s who we flew on. We booked the shuttle from the airport to the cruise port through Carnival and everything was a snap. They loaded the people on a bus and our baggage onto a box truck. We didn’t see our baggage again until it showed up at our room later that evening (hers at 5:40pm, mine at 6:00pm).

 

 

Check-in was fairly simple and quick. Here is our first “Carnival” shot:

 

 

It was less than half an hour and we were on the ship and into our room by 2:30pm. We were in cabin 9201 and it was nice. We never heard any noise other than the usual hallway stuff. There was more than enough room for our things and the 2 of us. We unpacked and put everything away, then just slid the suitcases under the bed.

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After dropping off our carry-ons, we got back off the ship for a while. We were staying 2 nights post-cruise in Old San Juan, so we decided to walk over to our hotel. It was only a few blocks from the cruise port. Whew, it was warm and humid. Plus the uphill walking didn’t make it any easier, so we stopped at a street vendor for drinks. I had a pina colada and she had a papaya smoothie (both virgin). We got back on the ship at around 4:30pm. We walked down to Guy’s Burgers Joint for lunch. We both had cheeseburgers and they were excellent. There are plenty of options on the toppings bar. Then back to the room to relax and nap. We showered, changed and went down to dinner at 7:45pm. Sorry, no food porn, but I will tell you what we had for each meal. She had strawberry bisque (cold soup), a flat iron steak, broccoli and carrots, and a Carnival chocolate melting cake (her go to dessert on the cruise). I had the “Port of Call”. They have a special appetizer, drink and entree for each port. We each had drinks from it each night. I had pork cubes cooked in pepper and cilantro, white fish with a creamed tomato sauce and a squash puree and warm fig pudding for dessert. The fish was the best thing I had on the entire honeymoon as far as food goes. A tip for new cruisers, you can order as much as you want. If you want 2 appetizers, or entrees, order them. Get what you want and enjoy it.We had “My Time Dining”, so we went to dinner when we wanted. We sat at a table for 2 next to a couple that ended up on the same private excursion we were on in Barbados. After dinner, we grabbed our boarding photo posted above and went back to our room to wait for the muster drill at 9:30pm. We were on deck 4, station B which is near the front of the ship. The drill lasted until about 10:15pm and was really a waste for us. Where we were, there we loud exhaust fans and we could barely hear the instructions over the PA system. Basically we stood there for 45 minutes chatting with the people next to us. I understand the need to make you familiar with where to go in an emergency and what to do, but I know how to put on a lifejacket. Afterwards we went up to the “secret” deck on 9, which was just down the hall from us, for our bon voyage. We actually used this deck quite a bit for coming into and leaving ports. I’ll post more about it below in the Sea Day section where we explored most of the ship. It started to rain a little bit, but we stayed up on deck until we were past del Morro fort. I accidentally erased my memory card on my camera, so we don’t have a lot of pictures from Sunday. We skipped the party and went back to the room to sleep. We are usually up early and to bed early, so we missed some stuff in the evenings. The motion from the ship in our room was noticeable, but not bad for me. She had a little bit of dizziness a few times, but no nausea.

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I was up at 5:00am before the alarm (we set the alarm at 6:00am every day). She didn’t sleep well with the motion and excitement, but I slept like a rock (as usual). We got up and got ready for the day, then went out to the “secret” deck to watch the sunrise and coming into port.

 

 

At 7:00am we walked to the Lido buffet for breakfast. Afterwards we went back to the room to get ready for the day. We packed a beach bag and put on sun block. We went down and got off the boat around 8:30pm.

 

 

We wandered around Charlotte Amalie and looked in the different stores. We saw a few things that caught our eye to come back and get after our excursion. We booked an excursion through Carnival to Trunk Bay on St. Johns. Our excursion left at from the same dock as the ship at 10:00am. This was the yacht on the pier across from us.

 

 

Notice it has it’s own speedboat and helicopter. The ferry ride to St. Johns was about 45 minutes. There were drinks and snacks for purchase on the ferry, but nothing included. During the trip, they gave us a lot of information on the islands and some of the houses.

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Madonna’s 5 houses

 

 

They call this alligator rock because it’s shaped like an alligator. Also, on the left side of the picture there is a false bay inlet where Christopher Columbus lost a ship trying to enter. We arrived at Cruz Bay and boarded an open air bus for a 10 minute ride to the beach. The driver was very funny and informative. We stopped at 3 scenic outlooks along the way.

 

Cruz Bay

 

Camile Bay

 

Trunk Bay

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After we arrived, we had to go through a short orientation to the park and it’s rules. Afterwards, we had a few hours to enjoy on the beach.

 

 

The water was cool and refreshing. There was also a brisk wind, so we had waves. Afterwards we went up to the concession stand and had lunch (again nothing provided on the excursion). After eating, we showered and got back on the bus. The bus took us back to the ferry. We walked around the shops again and bought a few things we saw earlier and then got back on the ship around 2:20pm. We napped for awhile, then got up to shower and get ready for dinner. She had a Caesar salad, braised rabbit, green beans and a Carnival chocolate molten cake (that’s #2). I had braised rabbit, lamb shank (with actually mint jelly), green beans and passion fruit flan. Again, all of it was very delicious. This time we sat at a table for 6. There were 2 girls from Missouri in their 20s (we ran into the quite a but the rest of the cruise) and an older couple from Ottawa, Canada. After dinner we went up to the store to get a few items we missed in packing. We took these up to the room and then went for a stroll around the ship. We stopped at the casino and I introduced Marissa to slot machines. After 2 spins, she was up $20 and she said she was done. I finished my money and then we left. We stopped and played a few games in the arcade before swinging by the comedy show. It was packed, so we left and ended up watching about the last hour of Hunger Games-Mockingjay Part 1 at the Dive-In. We saw it when it was out in the theatre. We headed back to our room and found our first towel animal.

 

 

We filled out the tag for room service breakfast, stuck it on the door handle and went to bed.

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This was the only day we “slept in”. We got up around 6:45am and breakfast arrived at the room around 7:00am. She had cereal, citrus, coffee, apple juice. I had cereal, peach yogurt, a banana, apple juice and chocolate milk. We got showered and dressed. We went up and bought our pictures from the day before, took them back to the room, then off to explore the ship. I’ll start at the top and work my way down. We didn’t get up to deck 14. We were only up on deck 12 in the back to play the miniature golf course.

 

 

The only area we got to on deck 11 was also at the back of the ship. That was the sports area that we had to go thru to get to the miniature golf course

 

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On deck 10, we were on the “secret” deck in the front,

 

the pool area in the middle

 

and the deck in the rear of the ship.

[SMSACE6]

Congratulations on your wedding!:)

 

I am loving your review and beautiful photos, and looking forward to the rest of your review. I have been on the Liberty and love that ship. I would love to cruise out of San Juan some day.

 

Thanks for your review.

[cntryman77]

This is deck 9. First off, here is the “secret” deck at the front of the ship.

 

These are the stairs that go from the “secret” deck on 9 up to 10.

 

Here is the one of the hallways that run most of the length of the ship.

 

This is the forward elevator area. It was similar on every deck.

[KPfromCT]

Congratulations on your wedding!!!

You guys make such a nice looking couple.

Loving your review.

Short, plenty of pictures. and to the point.

Following.

Keep up the great work!:D:D

[cntryman77]

Here is a picture inside the elevator.

 

This is the atrium from deck 9.

 

We didn’t get any pictures of the pool area, bars or buffet, but here is the pool at the rear of deck 9.

 

We didn’t get any pictures on decks 8, 7 or 6, so here we go with deck 5.

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Here is the Venetian Palace, which actually spans decks 3, 4 and 5.

 

Here is the atrium from deck 5.

 

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Here is the casino.

 

This is the promenade.

 

This is the Alchemy Bar.

 

This is the night club.

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This is the Piano Bar.

 

This is the Stage Bar.

 

The only picture we have from deck 4 is of the Cabinet and the Antiquarian Library.

 

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Now here is deck 3. This is the lobby.

 

This is the entrance to the Silver Dining Room near the rear of the ship.

 

Here is the exterior area on deck 3.

 

We didn’t get down to decks 2 or 1.

 

Here are some various ship pictures taken at various times throughout the week.

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These murals were on the stairs at each deck. We didn’t get pictures of them all though.

 

[cntryman77]

We had lunch at the Pizzeria and Blue Iguana Cantina. We had pepperoni and margarita pizza and chicken and pork tacos. We wandered some more and played a couple games of trivia (placed second in a TV theme song trivia). We also went to one of the bingo games. We had fun, but neither of us won anything. Then it was up to the room to get ready for the first formal night dinner. We had reservations for 6:00pm in the steakhouse. The food was phenomenal. She had Caesar salad, surf and turf, steamed broccoli and cheesecake. I had lobster bisque, filet minon, plain mashed potatoes, creamed spinach and honey ice cream. Afterwards, we went down for some pictures and then went to a comedy show at 8:30. We saw Kim Harrison and it was a PG show. She was pretty good. Then it was up to the room for bed.

 

 

[cntryman77]

We were up at 6:00am but the ship still wasn’t in port. We did our routine of getting ready and going down to breakfast. She had an omelet from the omelet station (egg white, bacon, cheddar), French toast and coffee. I had an omelet (egg white, ham, mushroom, tomato, cheddar and mozzarella) oatmeal, wheat toast, potatoes and orange juice. We were originally booked with Calabaza, but 2 weeks before the cruise, they contacted us to say their boat was out of commission, so they rebooked us on Silver Moon. It’s basically the same boat and the same tour. Stacy, Tony and Jamar were excellent. This was our favorite excursion of the entire cruise. We got off the ship around 8:30am and went to the area to wait. At 9:00am we loaded on an air conditioned bus for a short ride to the catamaran. The boat was gorgeous and very clean.

 

 

We crawled out onto the netting on the front for the cruise to our first stop, snorkeling with the turtles. On the way over we saw some flying fish being scared up by the boat. We anchored and we all got our snorkeling gear. One of the guides came out and fed the turtles while we swam. One turtle was with us pretty much the whole time we were there.

 

 

Edited June 1, 2015 by cntryman77

[cntryman77]

 

 

 

 

 

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Next we went to another spot to snorkel that had a shipwreck and reef.

 

 

 

 

 

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Then we went to a third stop to eat and then swim. The food was excellent. We had flying fish, chicken, rice, macaroni and cheese, salad and garlic bread.

 

 

After eating we swam for a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was back to the port. We stopped to do a little shopping before getting back onboard. My mother once told me “every girl should have her own string of pearls” and since the wife didn’t, I bought her some with the earrings to match.

 

 

We got back onto the ship at 3:30pm and went up to our room to clean up. After showering and changing, we went down to the lobby for some Disney trivia. We got 20 of 24 correct, but the winner had all 24 correct. Then it was off to an early dinner at 6:00pm. She had chilled asparagus cream soup, beef lasagna and a baked potato. I had roasted pumpkin soup, escargot, roasted Caribbean spiced chicken, cornmeal cou-cou, calabaza, creamed spinach and macaroni and cheese with bacon. Neither of us had dessert. We then went to the 8:15pm show for the night. It was a Frank Sinatra/Sammy Davis Jr tribute. The show was really good and the singer had a great voice. We went back up to our room at 9:30pm and crashed. We were both exhausted.

[cntryman77]

We got up at 6:00am and got ready for the day. We went up to the “secret” deck to watch us come into port. There we saw a pod of dolphins following the ship.

 

 

 

Then we went down to the Lido buffet for breakfast. She had cereal, scrambled eggs, potatoes and coffee. I had an omelet (egg white, bacon, mushroom, tomato, cheddar and mozzarella), potatoes, cream of wheat, wheat toast, sausage, orange-guava-passion fruit juice and chocolate milk. Down to our second private tour of the week, Spencer Ambrose’s Jalousie Beach Break. We were on the boats and headed out at 8:50am. We stopped to drop off the people doing the volcano tour and we were on the beach by 9:30am. We were some of the first people to the beach, which was the crew’s goal. It was nice because there are limited beach chairs. On one side of the dock are vinyl beach chairs that are free. On the other side of the dock, there is a resort. While you can use the beach there, it is $20 for a beach chair for the day or $50 for 2 beach chairs with an umbrella. We just stayed under the almond trees in the vinyl chairs. We did walk over to the resort side and swim at the beach.

 

 

 

 

After we lazed in the beach chairs for a while, then went snorkeling. There was a area marked off and there was a lot of fish.

 

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Edited June 1, 2015 by cntryman77

[cntryman77]

 

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For lunch they had chicken, noodles, rice, beans and various fruits and vegetables from the islands. The food was very good. After we lazed in the chairs a little more, then packed up to left around 2:15pm to head back to the ship. Along the way we made a few stops for sightseeing and history of the island.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we got back to the dock, we stopped to pick up a magnet and we were back on the ship at 3:45pm. We showered and order sandwiches from room service. There was nothing that looked good to us on the schedule, so we just napped in the room and watched some TV. We went out at 6:00pm to watch Big Hero 6 at the Dive-In theatre, then went to dinner afterwards. She had Caesar salad, southern fried chicken, mashed potatoes and a s’mores parfait for dessert. I had chilled peach soup, mahi-mahi (it was overcooked/dry and I didn’t eat it), BBQ pork ribs, baked beans, cornbread and a fruit plate. The fish was the only bad food we had the entire cruise. After dinner we wandered the ship for a little bit, then went back to the room and to bed.

[cntryman77]

We were up at 6:00am again and down to breakfast at 7:00am. She had scrambled eggs, potatoes, wheat toast and coffee. I had an omelet (egg white, tomato, mushroom, bacon, ham, spinach, cheddar and mozzarella), potatoes, wheat toast, a banana, apple juice and chocolate milk. We went down to the Venetian Palace to meet for our Rail and Sail excursion. Once we got off the ship, there was a short trip in an air conditioned bus to the train. The cars had 2 levels. The lower was enclosed and air conditioned. The upper was open. The ride was informative although a little boring. St Kitts is a poor island and there wasn’t much to see. It was very scenic though. There were drinks and acapella singers. The only bad thing was a very inconsiderate lady who talked on her phone for almost the whole train ride.