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

[TakeMeAway1001]

More pics~

Not sure I would want to live here in a bad storm

$10,000 per week

 

Jost Van Dyke is in our sights

[TakeMeAway1001]

At Jost Van Dyke you have to swim from the boat to the beach area because there is no dock, the swim was easy and the guide loaded up our belongings in a bin and brought them to the beach area. We were the only boat there when we arrived and had our choice of hammocks/loungers & regular chairs.

 

Our boat, not a far swim

 

 

This beach holds the popular Soggy Dollar Bar, we were greeted by a super friendly bartender named Mic. Mic informed us all about the drink specials and the lunch menu, all were reasonably priced for an island stop. DH and I got situated and ordered a few drinks, I was trying to pace myself before trying one of their famous Painkillers.

 

 

 

 

[TakeMeAway1001]

 

Mic doing some entertaining

 

 

We ordered lunch and DH had a Jerk Chicken Sandwich and I had Conch Fritters, both were very good! After lunch I got my first of many Painkillers….yum!

 

 

DH & I spent the rest of the time in the water with some CC friends until it was time to go at 1pm.

 

[TakeMeAway1001]

More pics~

 

They had police badges from all over the world

 

Earlier in the day Mic set the guys up with a skill game, with a prize of free shots!

 

He gave them a bunch of nails and they had to balance all of them on one nail..success!

 

Pretty proud of their accomplishment and awaiting their shots

[TakeMeAway1001]

Once everyone was on the boat our journey back began, we had some free rum punch and sat back to relax.

 

 

 

A little over half way back we experienced some engine trouble, they believe a line had gotten tangled in one the props but they weren’t sure if there was time to get out and investigate so we did our best to continue on. The Captain made some calls and worked on other arrangements if they were necessary, he timed us getting to certain landmarks and determined we would be ok so we continued on. Once we rounded the area where the ships were docked the Captain decided to let us off in front of the ship so we would be on time and not go to where we were picked up. There was however one downfall to this drop off…..we were in a restricted area with an iron fence and no way out since we were past in an area where the pier security couldn’t see us so we hollered to people and got a taxi driver to ask security to help us. DH tried to rationalize whether or not he could shimmy under the gate to get help but we spotted a security guard who came over and was able to get the automatic gate to open and once we showed our id’s and ship card we were on our way.

 

DH and I loved this excursion, JVD is beautiful and we are considering renting one of their cabana cottages down the road.

 

We were told by the Captain that TC was experiencing website issues ie: they were hacked by someone in Bangladesh we don't know the facts so can't honestly comment on what is going and why some people didn't get to go to the Bath's excursion they had reserved with him. Rumors began to spread that TC was out of business but they did provide us with the excursion we booked and I hope that those who were left without a tour for whatever reason are able to get some sort of resolution.

[TakeMeAway1001]

Once we showered we were definitely in need of a drink after that, DH and I tried the Thirsty Frog beer and liked it, I however changed my mind when I saw the calories and how easy they were going down.

 

 

 

Fun Ship Freddy

 

Tonight they brought on two new comedians and we saw both of them and they were ok but I still liked Frank the best. The shows were at 9:45 and 10:45pm.

 

 

Bed time~ Tonight was the Mega Deck Party at 11:15pm and we did not make it since we were exhausted. It was also the Mexican Buffet from 11:30pm to 1am, we didn’t make that either.

 

 

Having three ports in a row was definitely tiring, we were on the go pretty much non stop Tuesday through Thursday and were really looking forward to a relaxing day on Friday before our final stop in Nassau.

[TakeMeAway1001]

Dinner menu~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That is all for tonight, thank you for all the nice comments I do have an obligation tomorrow night after work so depending on what time I get home the next Sea Day and Nassau may have to wait one day. Thanks for your patience~

[belkin]

Thanks again for taking the time to write your review, you are doing a great job :D

[luv2cruise67]

Dinner menu~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That is all for tonight, thank you for all the nice comments I do have an obligation tomorrow night after work so depending on what time I get home the next Sea Day and Nassau may have to wait one day. Thanks for your patience~

 

Very much enjoying all your reviews!!!!! I keep coming back to see what else you have posted!! Thank you!!!

SHARON

[belkin]

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

 

 

Just wondering if your trip was done by Bill the owner of Tortola Charters?

[TakeMeAway1001]

Just wondering if your trip was done by Bill the owner of Tortola Charters?

No it was not Bill that did our tour :)

[navybaby1113]

Really loving your review.

[mystone99]

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

.

 

 

 

Apartment building built on a slant...weird

 

 

Do you remember the cost of the tour with TC? That's one of DW's bucket list items, to visit the Soggy Dollar bar. Thanks and keep the review coming.

[TakeMeAway1001]

Sorry I forgot to list the cost, it was $55 p/p :)

[TakeMeAway1001]

Really loving your review.

 

Thanks, it's hard to believe we were on vaca this time last week, it goes by so fast.

[Irishlinny]

Thanks so much for the excellent review! We will be on the Freedom on 11/5...your pics are great! We also have reservations with Tortola Charters for Jost Van Dyke and are hoping they show up....the whole situation is so very strange.

Mystone, the charge is $55 per person, but you will not be able to reach them to make reservations. People have tried thru the website, by email, by phone and on Facebook, but he is not responding to anyone for whatever reason. There are a few tours which go to JVD...you can check a few on Trip Advisor, and there is one with Carnival, but they're all above what I am willing to pay. Looks like BVI360 dot com also goes there if you can get 8 people (maybe from your roll call?). Good luck!

[TakeMeAway1001]

Thanks so much for the excellent review! We will be on the Freedom on 11/5...your pics are great! We also have reservations with Tortola Charters for Jost Van Dyke and are hoping they show up....the whole situation is so very strange.

 

Thanks Irishlinny~ I really hope TC works out their issues because they offer a great excursion to JVD that is very reasonably priced :) Have a great day~

[belkin]

Looking forward to your Nassau review!

[TakeMeAway1001]

I will definitely have it up tonight, I had a meeting last night and got home too late to upload my pics into webshots but I promise to do it this evening. Thanks for sticking around :)

[tiggerman101]

Thanks for taking the time to do this. I know how much effort a long review takes. I have been reading this with my morning coffee and enjoying the pics as well.

[TakeMeAway1001]

***Thursday omission~ I forgot to mention the Past Guest Party, that is where the picture of Fun Ship Freddy came from. The drinks were free and it was packed, they walked around with all sorts of drinks and appetizers and we stayed for about a half hour and watched a short film on Carnival over the years. We went to the early one and heard the later one was so busy people couldn’t get in.***

 

 

 

We were so looking forward to this day and not having to get up early and rush around. We also knew we wanted to get seats on the Serenity Deck so we planned on getting up there by 8:30am and found two seats that weren’t reserved so we set up shop for the day and planned on a day of total relaxation. Let me tell you it was hot up there! DH was able to finish a book he bought before we left and I tried without success to read mine, I just wasn’t able to focus and that could have been due to the family that felt that need to scream to each other across the deck. There were eight people in this family and half were sitting on loungers and the other half on the couches and they were so dang loud, people were getting so annoyed and getting up and leaving because it was clear they had no idea what the word serenity meant. Today was the first day I tried a frozen drink along with two Bloody Mary’s that were excellent. Today was also the only day we used the pool, I am not sure why we didn’t use it much on this cruise but if I had to pick a reason I would say they were too crowded for my taste. We lasted until about 1pm before the heat got the better of me and I had to get out of the sun. Today they had the taco station and DH wanted to try that I wanted to try the Mongolian Stir Fry, both were really good. It was also the Chocolate Extravaganza which was extremely popular, the lines were very long.

 

After lunch we decided to take a nap, not sure why but sitting in the sun all day was tiring. We both crashed and woke up at 5 and quickly got ready for dinner and after dinner it was off to the Casino to check out the drink special which was a Bellini which I had tried at the past guest party the night before and I found it too sweet for my liking so we skipped that.

 

Sadly we just realized that they did indeed have a Military Veterans Meet & Greet at 3pm today, not sure how we missed it but we would have liked to have gone.

 

Some pics~

 

This is how close the tables for two are

 

The only sunset pic we got, taken from our table in the dining room

 

 

 

My favorite beer

 

Stan the country singer in the casino

[TakeMeAway1001]

I somehow forgot to jot down what we did this night, my guess is we went to the piano bar…shocker! After that bed and up early for Nassau, we did not have anything planned and for the first time thought we would hang out on the ship however we both decided wanted to get one last day of sun so we caved and booked a Carnival excursion to Blue Lagoon Beach with lunch for $179 for two, it killed me to do this but DH wanted to have something planned so we went for it.

 

More pics~

 

Last cruise elegant night

 

Mural in the Habana Bar

 

 

 

 

 

[TakeMeAway1001]

We were told to disembark by noon for a 12:30 departure…chaos! We met outside and it was raining at this point, no signs of the sun at all. We finally saw a Carnival Excursion Rep and followed him under a covered area. We handed in our tickets received our wristbands and waited for everyone to check in before making our trek over to the boat.

There was a bit of a walk involved, in and out of the straw market area and dodging many a puddle in the process. Once on board DH and I headed up to the top of the boat so we could get some pictures, we didn’t have the best side for this but did manage to get some good shots. They were offering up a cash bar on the trip over and DH and I indulged in a few rum punches, they were ok but it was nothing more than Hawaiian Punch and Rum. Once on the island we walked over to the bar and grabbed a few drinks and found two chairs and hit the water.

 

 

DH and I purchased the excursion that included lunch so once the heavy clouds rolled in we decided to go check out the buffet, it was a good thing we did since within ten minutes the sky opened up and the downpours began. Lunch consisted of a Cheeseburger, piece of chicken, salad, rice and orange slices. DH really like it, I thought it was ok but didn’t like that we were served and if we didn’t want one thing there were no options for substituting. DH even tried to go up and get another burger and offered the guy $10 but he said no. Within 15 minutes of us arriving at the covered eating area the entire beach found there way there to avoid the rain. Once the rain died down we walked to the back side of the island and there was beautiful beach but there was no swimming allowed. DH and I hung out there for awhile and then made our way to the bar and met George and hung out there for a few very strong drinks.

 

More pics~

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TakeMeAway1001]

 

More pics~

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the rain waned we made our way over to see the area that where they had the dolphin encounters and watched a few dolphins swim around, it was pretty neat. I would really like to do that one day, guess it’s just another reason to book another cruise. We hung out here and got ready to board the boat back at the designated time. Once everyone was onboard we make our way back to the ship, one couple told us they were able to walk around the dolphin encounter area and got to see baby dolphins that were six weeks old, they said it was really neat. On the way home they served more drinks and DH and I just sat back and enjoyed the ride and sat on the side that allowed us to take some good pics.

[TakeMeAway1001]

Lots more pics~

 

We saw them tossing a bunch of the deck chairs off the Destiny

 

 

 

One of my favorite pictures