Freedom E.Caribbean Review 10/8-10/16

[Texarribean Chick]

Tonight we opted to skip the dining room and had dinner on the Lido deck followed by some drinks in the Casino. Tonight was Sangria night and I love sangria, they had six different varieties and I had three of the same one and they were good! DH even tried one and thought it was pretty good.

 

 

 

Tonight we went to Bingo followed by the show which was Motown with Marcus Anthony, while I thought he was good singer I wasn’t thrilled with the show so we didn’t stick around till the end. We ended up in the piano bar once again and stayed her until my eyes could no longer stay open.

 

 

After having a few too many drinks this towel “animal” definitely made me laugh

 

ROFLMAO! I'm at work NOT drinking and that made me do the same :D!

[TakeMeAway1001]

Thank you all for the kind replies and if I missed any questions please let me know :) I am looking forward to getting out of work so I can work on my next part. Hope everyone is having a great day~

[TakeMeAway1001]

The Martini bar setup in the casino....was that just one night? and did you just happen to come across it or was it publicized? Very informative review, thank you:)

 

Yes it was just one night, they changed it up most nights and it was listed in the Fun Times. One night was margarita/sangria/martini/bellini (sp) etc :)

[jannam]

The Sangria night sounds really fun. Was that just in the casino area, or multiple bars? We will be on the Freedom in March.

[TakeMeAway1001]

Great review and pics! Thank you!

We have 14 nights on Freedom in January. Our first B2B no suites left, but have one for our 2nd leg, looks like it will be worth the hassle of moving. I love space! Looks great!

Bummer that folks blagged loungers in the Serenity area...oooh these rude people huh! :rolleyes:

Martini s look good, did they do this every night?

Two tops table? Would they have given you a 4 tops for two, if you are happy to wait on anytime? I remember this kind of table of P&O ships, so squashed up it felt more like a table for four than two?

Thanks for taking time to post your review, much appreciated!!:)

 

The martini night was one night, they changed it up with different featured drinks each night in the casino.

Yeah it was a bummer that most of the seats were reserved in the Serenity. I am not sure about a four seater in the dining room, we never really thought about asking. I have to say the closeness was the only downfall I really saw with ATD.

[TakeMeAway1001]

The Sangria night sounds really fun. Was that just in the casino area, or multiple bars? We will be on the Freedom in March.

 

The one we saw was in the casino and I think it ran from like 5-8pm, I am not sure if they were available elsewhere on the ship :)

[whendoweleave?]

Keep it coming!

[thunderbaycruiser]

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Dinner

 

 

 

 

Loving the review! Sailing Freedom soon on this itinerary and have booked the Steakhouse! I was wondering what entrees these are... My friend I am travelling with loves lobster and I love steak - so we were planning on both ordering the Surf n Turf (which I * think* is the second picture) and then swapping... but the steak and tails look small! Is it just the picture?? What steak was the first picture? Wanna make sure we order the right thing on our one night at the Steakhouse!! :)

[TakeMeAway1001]

"Loving the review! Sailing Freedom soon on this itinerary and have booked the Steakhouse! I was wondering what entrees these are... My friend I am travelling with loves lobster and I love steak - so we were planning on both ordering the Surf n Turf (which I * think* is the second picture) and then swapping... but the steak and tails look small! Is it just the picture?? What steak was the first picture? Wanna make sure we order the right thing on our one night at the Steakhouse!! :)"

 

Thanks~ DH got the NY Strip (1st pic) and I had the Surf & Turf (2nd pic), his was huge and mine wasn't huge but was filling for me and both were cooked perfectly :)

[TakeMeAway1001]

Wednesday 10/12 Antigua 7am- 6pm

 

Up early for arrival in Antigua~

 

While DH was getting breakfast I snapped a few pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TakeMeAway1001]

Today we had an independent tour booked with Gordon/Best of Paradise Island Tour $40 p/p but we received a $5 discount for booking as a group from our Roll Call. This was my least favorite independent excursion, I felt like Gordon knew how many were in our party yet was not prepared with the proper size vehicles for us, the other thing that delayed us was the decision to try to collect the money from 20 people before the tour even though his confirmation stated it was to be paid at the end of the tour. Once this was figured out we followed him to a parking lot and stood in the blazing hot sun while he tried to figure out the transportation situation, this was frustrating.

 

FYI there are a lot of pictures in this section of the review

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TakeMeAway1001]

More pics~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TakeMeAway1001]

More pics~

 

 

 

 

[TakeMeAway1001]

My favorite stop on the tour was Devils Bridge~

 

 

 

 

Oops, sorry about the small picture

 

[TakeMeAway1001]

More pics~

 

 

[TakeMeAway1001]

Our beach stop~

 

 

 

 

[TakeMeAway1001]

The tour itself was done by a gentleman named Charles, he was ok but I don’t think he was a very informed tour guide, I am used to the guide sharing the island history however he didn’t say much and let us ask questions and I could rarely understand his answers. I also feel like our tour was rushed, we missed key spots that he listed on his website as part of the tour and at one point we had paid separate admission of $7 p/p for Nelsons Dock Yard and didn’t get to go to all of the parts of it because it was raining and Charles didn’t want to let anyone out of the van. While I saw some pretty spots I would have liked to have had more information and more picture opportunities, we drove by quite a few picture view points but didn’t stop. Our final stop was supposed to be a beach but by the time we got there we had just about an hour so many of us skipped the swimming since the time was so limited. I probably wouldn’t recommend this excursion unless you can get assurance from Gordon that you will be getting an informed guide and will be making the stops listed.

 

After our tour we returned to the ship and showered and headed to dinner, I do not have the menus for this evening, I apologize for this. After dinner we went to the Casino, tonight was Mojito night and they were pretty tasty!

 

 

 

After a few drinks we went down to watch the band in the Habana Bar, we became pretty friendly with “Alex” the bartender who had us laughing every time we came by for a drink. Tonight we weren’t interested in going to the main show in the Victoriana which was Laughs and Fun with the Liars Club so we skipped it. We headed to the piano bar instead and stayed there until about 12am. DH was craving some pizza but I was exhausted so I headed to bed while he got some food.

 

 

Next up Tortola

[LKYGSR]

Wednesday 10/12 Antigua 7am- 6pm

 

 

 

 

Love the rainbow pic! We sailed into St Lucia a few years back and found the end of our rainbow as well. :)

 

Rainbow ended on the island, while we never found the pot of gold, we certainly found one of our favorite islands!

[ginnyanne]

I completely agree with your assessment of Gordon. I didn't understand what the problem was because he KNEW how many people would be there. Then when he split us up, there were several people not in the roll call group that were on the tour. I was also bummed that we never made it to Nelson's Dockyard. My highlight was Devil's Bay Bridge. I could've watched the waves crash all day long. :) Love your rainbow pic! Super jealous! :)

[TakeMeAway1001]

I completely agree with your assessment of Gordon. I didn't understand what the problem was because he KNEW how many people would be there. Then when he split us up, there were several people not in the roll call group that were on the tour. I was also bummed that we never made it to Nelson's Dockyard. My highlight was Devil's Bay Bridge. I could've watched the waves crash all day long. :) Love your rainbow pic! Super jealous! :)

 

You are so right, he made a good chunk of cash that day but I don't think he held up his end of the deal. A couple of times we pulled into places and Charles seemed so confused he just pulled out and continued on like he wasn't even sure what he was supposed to do. Sadly I think some of these tour guides start out so devoted to their business but get tempted by the extra cash and overload themselves to the point the tours lose sight of what they originally wanted to provide the customer.

[ginnyanne]

You are so right, he made a good chunk of cash that day but I don't think he held up his end of the deal. A couple of times we pulled into places and Charles seemed so confused he just pulled out and continued on like he wasn't even sure what he was supposed to do. Sadly I think some of these tour guides start out so devoted to their business but get tempted by the extra cash and overload themselves to the point the tours lose sight of what they originally wanted to provide the customer.

 

 

You were on our bus, so I know exactly what you were talking about. I also thought (probably foolishly) that Gordon had drivers lined up. When we paid at the beginning we also included some tip. Well of course I'm sure none of that ended up with Charles so we tipped him as well. Even if he wasn't the greatest tour guide, I just can't not tip the guy. Oh well...lesson learned there. :)

[belkin]

Great review, looking forward to the Tortola section. Will be on Freedom December 3rd but are leaving for Miami in 39 days to go on the Imagination. Seeing the review is really making me wish we were there right now!

[TakeMeAway1001]

Tortola Thursday 10/13 7am-3pm

 

Sorry that I have to break these into so many posts, the six picture limit stinks!

 

FYI this is a another picture laden port review

 

Another early morning for us and another rainbow

 

 

 

 

[TakeMeAway1001]

Today we had an independent excursion to Jost Van Dyke booked with Tortola Charters. There are quite a bit of bad vibes circulating on CC with regards to Tortola Charters however we booked and received our tour as planned. We met our guide just outside the gate where we docked and were instructed where to go to wait for our group, there ended up being ten of us on this excursion. Once we were accounted for we boarded the boat and headed out on our way, the trip over there was beautiful and the guide/captain was really nice and informative

 

Our boat Oil & Water

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Apartment building built on a slant...weird

 

[TakeMeAway1001]

More pics~