Freedom review 9/5/10 - more info than you can stand!

[Buckeyebrd]

We have been on the Freedom of the Seas twice and love the boat. We are die hard RCCL cruisers. Just got off the Oasis of the Seas for our 25th 3 weeks ago. Love the review! Freedom is special to us. We have 3 boys and this boat appeals to our whole family. Anxious to hear the rest of the review. Brings back some great memories!

[sunnydaygirl]

Right now I'm vactioning/working in Hi.for 3 wks and it took me away from my cruise buddies. Each time I read your review I think of something else to tell them. We've signed up for my dining since we have a large group and wouldn't be sitting with and meeting new friends. I've read other people comment that they try to sit you in the same area with same servers. That'll be nice. Still waiting to hear if any one can give me a review on RCCL's private island in the Bahamas. Not sure of name. We're cruising 8/28/11. Can't wait. We have a roll call started if you're on that cruise!

[duncanmaria]

Great and unique review! Keep it coming, Tony!!

[Calgarian747]

An absolutely amazing review, I have been a member for quite a while now, but never thought of posting a reply, but your review forced me to. Thanks for entertaining me for over a week! :)

[twospoiled]

Right now I'm vactioning/working in Hi.for 3 wks and it took me away from my cruise buddies. Each time I read your review I think of something else to tell them. We've signed up for my dining since we have a large group and wouldn't be sitting with and meeting new friends. I've read other people comment that they try to sit you in the same area with same servers. That'll be nice. Still waiting to hear if any one can give me a review on RCCL's private island in the Bahamas. Not sure of name. We're cruising 8/28/11. Can't wait. We have a roll call started if you're on that cruise!

 

The island is called Coco Cay. I was there on my very first cruise two years ago. It was nice but can be a little rocky. We just lounged on the beach with some drinks and didn't wander so I can't give you much of a review.

[vegasgirl702]

Thank you for your witty/entertaining/sometimes hilarious commentary. :D

 

I couldn't find you for a while, glad someone bumped it up.:p

 

Questions::confused:

 

For your Falls excursion what kind of shoes did people wear? Keen/Tevas/Sneakers? Did any preteens do the excursion? Was it real slippery? Scary? Are you walking on rocks in the Falls? Do u mind giving an approx price of your excursion? Time?

 

Thanks again!

[dwdwnurse]

I also want to add how much I have enjoyed reading your cruise review! When I saw this on the first page again I was so excited - I thought Tony was telling us more! I don't want it to end :)

[pbinn]

Right now I'm vactioning/working in Hi.for 3 wks and it took me away from my cruise buddies. Each time I read your review I think of something else to tell them. We've signed up for my dining since we have a large group and wouldn't be sitting with and meeting new friends. I've read other people comment that they try to sit you in the same area with same servers. That'll be nice. Still waiting to hear if any one can give me a review on RCCL's private island in the Bahamas. Not sure of name. We're cruising 8/28/11. Can't wait. We have a roll call started if you're on that cruise!

Been to coco cay twice and it is an awesome beach day. If you want privacy, continue to the right around the island and it is beautiful down there. There are posts on it on here.

[Tony1865]

Whew. Back again. Honestly, I envy folks who can spend big ol' chunks of time on CC and other boards and post to their heart's content. One day, perhaps.

 

Anyway, back to stingrays. These are amazing creatures. They are sort of intimidating at first - they are big!

 

I'm looking a little distressed here. I grew up going to Panama City Beach, and was always wary of stingrays. We were taught to shuffle along in the sand, because they prefer to avoid humans. I was never stung, but I had a friend tell me it was unspeakably painful.

 

 

 

They felt like a portobello mushroom. Their tails were very rough and sandpapery. But they reminded me for all the world of puppies wanting a treat.

 

Teresa, on the other hand, was a natural stingray wrangler:

 

 

Look at the size of that thing:

 

 

The stingrays loved the little sardine-sized fish we fed them. I did have one clomp down on my thumb, and it felt like a vacuum cleaner with gums. Absolutely mesmerizing.

[Tony1865]

After feeding the stingrays for a while, we went to deeper water to snorkel. Grand Cayman has absolutely pristine water for snorkling and scuba.

 

Check out the coral and fish:

 

 

 

 

The elusive duo-finned homo sapiens:

 

 

After this superb excursion - ranked by the two of us as the best of the trip - we headed back to Georgetown. Once on shore, we poked around in some of the shops. I was enthralled by one little store that sold salvaged doubloons and other items from wrecks. Wish I'd remembered the name.

 

Guy Harvey, the well-known artist, scientist, diver, angler, conservationist and explorer, fiercely devoted to his family and his love of the sea, has a great shop in Georgetown. Teresa was able to score a University of Alabama Crimson Tide national championship t-shirt. She went into holy raptures - Alabama, Guy Harvey, Grand Cayman all rolled into one. You go, girl:

 

 

After strolling around a bit longer, we headed back to the ship. We got cleaned up and hit the Windjammer hard. Yummy ... got my bread pudding fix in.

 

Bobby Collins, comedian, was the entertainment at the headliner show in the Arcadia theater. With all due respect to Mr. Collins, his family, friends, and fans ... uh, no. He had his moments, but his timing seemed off, and some of the jokes were forced. Maybe he had an off-night. We all have them.

[Tony1865]

Let's see if we can wrap this day up.

 

Tonight was date night at Chops. We had an 8:30 seating.

 

If you've read reviews, seen photos, or experienced Chops yourself, you'll find that opinions vary greatly. It is a cooly elegant, clubbish dining room, far removed from the bustle and din of other parts of the ship. Service was unobtrusive and refined. It was kinda nice, sitting there among acres of white linen and being pampered just a bit. Dinner took a little over two hours, so it's not the place for a quick bite.

 

Teresa had the cheese 'n onion soup, which I would've called French onion soup. A rose by any other name, right? I sampled it - it had a rich broth redolent with onion and gruyere cheese, no complaints. I had a dungeness crab and shrimp cake, which was blessedly free of too much breading. Honestly, it was one of the best crab cakes I'd ever had. We both also had a Caesar salad, touted as a "not so traditional Caesar salad." Well, I did think it was pretty traditional, except the romaine was in stalks, but our server cut it up for us. Still no substitute for a fresh salad made tableside, but more than passable.

 

I struggled with a steak selection. We both ended up with the filet mignon - Teresa with the petite, and I with the 10 oz. I really wanted to try the bone-in ribeye, but I let our little server talk me out of it. She was high on the filet. Medium rare for me, of course; Teresa prefers her to have passed through a crematorium.

 

Even though hers was WAY too done for me, she said it was yummy and not dried out at all. Mine was cooked to just the right temperature, so I couldn't complain there. My gripe is not with the preparation, but gotta tell you - as elegant as a filet might be, it just doesn't have enough marbling to give it the flavor of other cuts. That's just me. It was absolutely good, but I still wonder about the ribeye. Bernaise sauce on the side did liven things up a bit. And the sides were scrumptuous ... we had sauteed mushrooms and leeks, something a bit like lyonnaise potatoes (can't remember the RCCL term for them) and succotash, with corn, lima beans, and some peppers. All three were spectacular.

 

Oh, and the Mississippi mud cake? It absolutely lived up to its hype. Glory and trumpets!

 

After this insane amount of food, we were done for. Graham Seymore had a late night adult comedy show at midnight, but we passed. One of our tablemates was disappointed in the show, so perhaps its just as well we crashed.

 

Tomorrow is Cozumel. Stay tuned!

 

ETA: Any questions so far? I'll give it a shot, or some other helpful folks around here can weigh in, too.

 

ETA Part 2: Anyone besides me wondering what it'd be like to be stuck on the Freedom floating around off the coast of, say, Jamaica? Maybe with a hurricane bearing down on ya? You couldn't pay for excitement like that.

[Ariel's Mum]

Nice to see you back Tony. Those underwater photos are AMAZING.

 

Looking forward to your Cozumel review :)

[atmchic]

im curious that little shop that sold shipwreck souvieneers were they like coins with ocean sediment still on them thanks enjoying your review

[dwdwnurse]

Joy! Rapture!! Tony is back :D.

 

Thanks for the great reviews and photos - RCI should pay you to cruise and write reviews!

[Tony1865]

im curious that little shop that sold shipwreck souvieneers were they like coins with ocean sediment still on them thanks enjoying your review

 

They were indeed coins. They'd been cleaned up, preserving the natural patina in most cases. I'm not one of those who cruises to shop, but if I were so inclined I would've had a ball.

[Tony1865]

Nice to see you back Tony. Those underwater photos are AMAZING.

 

Looking forward to your Cozumel review :)

 

I was kinda pleased with those photos, too. We have an old Canon A570IS point and shoot that we use all the time. (My "work camera" is a Nikon D40X, but I don't carry it with me most places.) That particular Canon has a setting specifically for underwater photography, and it gave the most amazing blues. And a company called DicaPac makes a waterproof case for less than $30. Canon makes a specific waterproof case for the camera I have, but danged if it wasn't more expensive than the camera itself.

 

Anyway, the DicaPac worked just fine. It was hard to see the LCD screen, but otherwise, it performed just like it should've. The instructions translated from Korean that came with it were an absolute hoot.

[Tony1865]

Thank you for your witty/entertaining/sometimes hilarious commentary. :D

 

I couldn't find you for a while, glad someone bumped it up.:p

 

Questions::confused:

 

For your Falls excursion what kind of shoes did people wear? Keen/Tevas/Sneakers? Did any preteens do the excursion? Was it real slippery? Scary? Are you walking on rocks in the Falls? Do u mind giving an approx price of your excursion? Time?

 

Thanks again!

 

Vegasgirl, I didn't mean to overlook your question. On the falls, we wore some water shoes from Wal-Mart. We weren't trying to make a fashion statement (well, maybe we were - we're CHEAP), but for less than $10 we found them comfortable, with a secure grip, and they were also handy in Labadee over rocky seabottoms.

 

We did see some younger kids on the falls; the youngest was about seven or so, I'd guess.

 

Parts of the falls were really slippery, but our guide didn't take us in those areas. I saw some freelancers who weren't members of a tour take a couple of spills. It was simply a matter of putting your feet where the guide put his, and on down the line, copying what the person in front of you did. It wasn't in the least bit scary. Just pure fun. You are walking on rocks a lot, but you're also walking in sand/gravel in some places. There was one spot in particular where our guide encouraged us to stand on a ledge and fall backwards into a deep pool. Not everyone did that, but both of us did and it was just that much more fun. Highly recommended. Peat does want you off the ship and ready to roll out as soon as you're given the all clear to go ashore. In so doing, you beat the crowd and have a much better experience touring. You reserve online, and the email he sends you gives you all the details. And, again, he doesn't ask for a deposit.

 

Peat charged $55 for both of our tours, but as I stated, we got to do a lot of extra things, too. I did tip the guides at the falls and on the river, and I also tipped PJ, who seemed genuinely surprised and grateful.

 

I am a Peat Taylor fan, big time.

 

Oh, yeah ... this little guy was an appropriate end to the day:

 

[cruisin' 4 fun]

im curious that little shop that sold shipwreck souvieneers were they like coins with ocean sediment still on them thanks enjoying your review

 

Great review and I too (OK not so much me but my DH) is also very interested in this little shop. We are going in a couple of weeks so hopefully someone will speak up. Otherwise can you tell me where abouts it's located?

[Tony1865]

I do remember that the shop is on South Church Street. Just bear right as you leave the docks and it's two or three blocks down on the left.

[tammymacb]

Still loving your review. DH and I are divers and have had several on island trips to Grand Cayman. So far it's still on of my all time favorite places to go..He has a pendant from the "ship wreck" shop. I can't remember the actual name of it, but you can't miss it. It's pretty much across the road from the pier.

 

How many people were on your stingray charter? I booked Native Way as they only take about 15 people max at a time. Wish we were diving, but alas, the family trip and the teen who won't finish her certification...:rolleyes:

[Tony1865]

Still loving your review. DH and I are divers and have had several on island trips to Grand Cayman. So far it's still on of my all time favorite places to go..He has a pendant from the "ship wreck" shop. I can't remember the actual name of it, but you can't miss it. It's pretty much across the road from the pier.

 

How many people were on your stingray charter? I booked Native Way as they only take about 15 people max at a time. Wish we were diving, but alas, the family trip and the teen who won't finish her certification...:rolleyes:

 

There were probably a dozen or so. His cat will hold about thirty, but that would be on the high side. I highly recommend these folks.

[texnewbie]

Hey Tony!!!

Loving your report... It's so much fun to read..

Question:

Who did you book your stingray excursion with?

Thanks for the underwater pictures they were fabulous..

Looking forward to reading more.

Texnewbie

Carolyn

[Cruisinbeaner]

Hey Tony!!!

Loving your report... It's so much fun to read..

Question:

Who did you book your stingray excursion with?

Thanks for the underwater pictures they were fabulous..

Looking forward to reading more.

Texnewbie

Carolyn

 

Hey,

 

Tony mentioned earlier it was with Stingray Sailing (www.stingraysailing.com). I only know this so off-the-top-of-my-head because after reading about it in Tony's review, I did a little more searching on TripAdvisor and read multiple positive reviews. I ended up booking with them for our January stop in Grand Cayman.

[hucifer]

I just love reviews like yours...

 

It sort of reminds me of DisBoards, which is a great board for Disney fanitics like me. I read it all day long.

 

They have threads that are for PreTrip Reports and Trip Reports and Past Trip Reports and everyone post lots, Lots, LOTS of fabulous pictures of Disney, their families and how they plan on getting there to how the booked it to there days in Disney and heading home in tears... They even have on for Disney Cruises.

I just love to read stories like that.

 

That's what your trip report reminds me of.

 

I think Cruise Critic need to make something like that.

 

Thank you for sharing your trip report with us, it's fabulous. Y'all are such a cute couple you really love each other and that's awesome.

 

Texnewbie

Carolyn

What she said. The Disboards has a devoted board for trip reports. Some are written poorly, some are written well, and some are simply awesome. Like this one.

 

Honestly Tony, this is the best cruise trip report that I've read. It reminds me of the better-written Disboard reports. Your report has what the most cruise critic reports lack: personality and humor. Instead of just saying what you guys did and where you went, we get a glimpse of who you two are. I love that about your report.

 

I just found this report today and I was disappointed to get to the end and find out you're not finished yet. I'm here now, so you can finish it now. :p

[hucifer]

 

Those watershoes are ADORABLE. Where did you get them?

 

;)