Disney, FOS and Tennessee Smoky Mountains - full review with pics

[Tinkers70]

Loving it Marion :D , I loved cococay, but didnt get to enjoy much due to prickly heat, doh!

 

Xx

 

oooo ouch! I can imagine Cococay would have been a bit uncomfortable for you lol. Hopefully if you go back again at some point you'll enjoy it more:)

 

Thanks! I found it! Yaaa Hoo!!!

 

lol glad you found it. I've been on the Disboards before but that site is just too big for me to nagivate around. The Dibb is just ideal for me. I've met soooo many people on that site and some have become very good friends and we meet up as often as we can. I imagine it's similar to this site when people do the meet and mingle on the ships

[Tinkers70]

Loving your review - what could be better - cruising, sunshine and Disney!

 

We cruised on the Allure last year and also did Disney (MNSSHP etc) and the weather was stormy and overcast at best for most of the holiday.

 

You look like you had a great time. Thanks for posting!

 

Hiya Lisa, we had the best time ever. I'm glad we weren't on the same cruise as you with the stormy weather. Beat the ship was really rocking??

 

I am loving your pictures.

 

Awww thank you :)

[Tinkers70]

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this review! Your pictures are fabulous and I love all the detail. We were getting on the ship 10-14-12 when you were getting off. We also had Lola as our cabin attendant. She is the best we have had in a long.......time! We were in Junior Suite 9334 and my daughter and new son-in-law (got married 9-14-12) were in 9332 and my son and his girlfriend were in 9330. We opened up all the balcony partitions and had a huge party deck. We were celebrating my 50th birthday which was 10-19-12.

 

Freedom is our favorite RCCL ship. For some reason the staff is just a little nicer and friendlier and we just love everything about the ship. We booked her again for next September but will be doing the Eastern.

 

Can't wait to read the rest of your review! Wanda

 

Hiya

 

Wow, that would have been some size of balcony!!! Sounds like lots of fun was to be had.

 

I'm glad you liked Lola, she was really lovely. She always had a smile and everytime we passed by a cabin that she was cleaning you could always hear her singing:D She really took to my 2 boys too and they were very found of her

 

I'm jealous that you've booked again! I'd love to sail Freedom again. Maybe in a few years :)

[Tinkers70]

Day 7 - St. Thomas

Another lie in today as we weren't due to dock in St. Thomas until 11am. We woke up around 9am and went out on the balcony to see if we could see land and also to check the weather.

 

It looked like it was going to be another sunny day *yeeehaaaaaa* and we could see land! There was a bird sitting perched on the balcony next to ours. It was like it was getting a hitch back to St. Thomas and it wasn'r fazed when it saw us.

 

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We did our usual routine of getting up, showered, dressed and off to the Windjammer for breakfast. I had my usual 2 cups of tea to kick start the day and various items from the buffet. It was all delicious as usual.

 

On the way into the Windjammer the funny hat guy that was there every morning posed for a photo with Scott. His smile is infectious, he really did make everyone happy that encountered him. The world should be filled with funny hat men lol.

 

 

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We went back to our cabin to pack a bag as today we were doing an island tour with Bernards Tours. I booked this tour after reading another trip report and read all the recommendations. We paid a $10 deposit each when we booked about 6 weeks before the cruise and the remainder was to be paid once we got on the tour.

 

Our reservations said we were to meet the tour just outside the gates at the port at 11am.

 

As we were getting closer to St. Thomas we noticed there was another large ship in the port. We couldn't quite work out which ship it was at first but as we were getting closer I could tell straight away it was a Disney ship

 

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[Tinkers70]

 

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Before too long we were pulling into the port and we docked right behind the Disney ship. It was Disney Fantasy, the ship we had waved off on the Saturday from the pier at Port canaveral. This was the ship that my friend Joa and her partner Mick was on.

 

I wondered if we would bump into them on the island

 

 

At 10.50 we left the cabin to go down to Deck 4 to walk off the ship (we didn't need a tender boat for St. Thomas). We popped our sea passes into the machine where security / passport control are and waited for the 'bong' then we got to leave the ship.

 

We headed straight for the gate and there was lots of tour guides holding different boards with their name on them. I asked one of the other tour guides if they could point me in the direction of 'Bernards Tours' and they pointed us in the direction of where the bus was. I use the word bus loosely as it was more like a safari jeep lol.

 

Bernard introduced himself and we took a seat on his bus. There was another few people who joined us, we paid our remaining balance ($120) and we were soon on our way.

 

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We only drove for a few hundreds yards and our bus pulled into the side of the road beside an open market. Bernard said we could go out and have a look and meet his back at the bus in 40 mins (I think). We had a look around the market, just what i'd imagined the Caribbean to be like. There was Bob Marley t-shirts etc everywhere and I love it lol.

 

We went for a walk around some of the nearby shops and kind of walked round in a loop until we were back at the bus again

 

 

 

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A few more people had joined our tour by this time and off we went again. Bernard pumped up the music and everyone on the bus was having a good time. We were heading up the mountain to get a birds eye view of the island.

 

Anyone passing by us must have thought Bernard was crazy! His caribbean music was blaring out this jeep come bus thing and everyone in the back was singing lol

[Tinkers70]

 

A few more people had joined our tour by this time and off we went again. Bernard pumped up the music and everyone on the bus was having a good time. We were heading up the mountain to get a birds eye view of the island.

 

Anyone passing by us must have thought Bernard was crazy! His caribbean music was blaring out this jeep come bus thing and everyone in the back was singing lol

 

We stopped after about 15 mins and pulled into a car park where there was a shop that sold water / juice etc. We had a good view up there of the 2 ships in the port. Freedom of the Seas and disney Fantasy were docked bum to bum. It was an amazing sight

 

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Our tour guide Bernard!

 

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Two beauties together

 

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Our 'Boogie Bus'

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[Tinkers70]

We got a few photo opportunities then it was time to hit the road again. We got back onboard the boogie bus and Bernard told us we were heading up to the top of the mountain.

 

The roads were really winding and some parts were a bit scary but it was good fun. Soon we were pulling up outside the Daiquiri shop at the top of the mountain.

 

 

 

We all walked through the shop and exited at the back where Bernard showed us all the view from out there.

 

WOW......so spectacular!!! It was like looking down on paradise.....literally!

 

 

 

 

[Tinkers70]

 

 

I have never seen such a beautiful sight before in my life. Bernard pointed out all the different islands like St. Johns and how you can easily go over on the ferry. He told us so much more about his beautiful island of St. Thomas and also some history of the surrounding islands.

 

We were also overlooking Megans Bay. This is in the top 10 most beautiful beaches in the world and I would have to agree. It is stunning and the sea was so blue.

 

I could have stayed looking at that view all day. It was very hot though so I was quite pleased to go back into the shop to cool down a bit.

 

We had a look around inside the shop and we bought some touristy things to take back home with us like fridge magnets lol. My mum collects these and she doesn't have one from St. Thomas yet so I couldn't resist.

 

We stopped in this location for about an hour then it was time to go back to our boogie bus again. We got chatting the family sitting behind us who had been trying to guess where we were from but couldn't quite place our accent lol. When I told them we were from Scotland they were pretty impressed we had travelled all this way. The family in front of us joined in the conversation too when they heard us say we were from Scotland. Both of these families were from the States ( I feel pretty bad as I can't remember which State both of them were from

 

 

Bernard then said our next stop would be for 2 hours at a beach. We could choose from either Megans Bay (paradise!) or Sapphire Beach. Most people said Megans Bay but Bernard talked everyone out of going there as they charge $4 per person entrance whereas Sapphire beach is just as gorgeous and less crowded and it's free.

 

So we headed in the direction of Sapphire beach.

 

We arrive a wee while later and Bernard said we could either stop at the beach for 2 hours or we could stay at the beach for 20 mins then head back to the ship. We decided to opt for the 20 min visit as I was so scared of something happening and we missed the ship.

 

 

[Tinkers70]

 

 

The bus was only half full on the way back as the others were staying for longer and Bernard was going back to collect them later.

 

He dropped us back off again at the shops which are beside the port and we had a look around these.

 

 

 

I fell in love a few pieces of jewellery they had but I didn't have any spare pennies for this type of jewellery. If we go back again i'd like to buy myself one of the lovely rings we seen.

 

We went back on the ship again around 4pm. We weren't due to set sail until 7pm so we were back in plenty of time

 

 

[Tinkers70]

We went straight to the windjammer for something to eat and I had my first burger on the ship. I was surprised at how tasty they were. I'm not really a burger person but this was pretty yummy

 

 

After we had finished our lunch it was another trip back up to the sports deck with the boys.

 

I went to the back of the ship again and was looking right at the back of the Disney ship to see if I could see any sign of my friends Joa and Mick on there. It wasn't to be though and a short while later the Disney ship left the port (probably about 5pm).

 

 

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We went back to our cabin to get ready for dinner but me and Ramsay sat on the balcony for a while. We heard a bit of a commotion below us so we looked over the balcony and we could see an ambulance parked right beside our ship, directly underneath us. We didn't know what had happened and a few minutes later some people came off the ship and went into the ambulance. The ambulance pulled away but it was driving slowely so we weren't sure what was going on. (I have since learnt since we've got home that a gentleman took a heart attack whilst waiting to board the ship again and although they worked on him at the scene unfortunately he didn't make it, how sad) That was the reason the ambulance drove away slowly .....I felt so sorry for everyone that was with the gentleman)

 

We sat on the balcony for a while watching day turn into night. St. Thomas looked really nice lit up at night.

 

Around 7pm the ship set sail again and we pulled out of St. Thomas

 

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[AnnaBeth]

Loving your review, we will be sailing FOS on 11/4! :D

 

Question about your St. Thomas tour though... we have booked Bernards tour for St. Martin... was it a different tour company for your St. Thomas tour? We haven't made plans for St. Thomas yet so I'm still looking for ideas!

 

Can't wait to keep reading!!

[Tinkers70]

 

We went for dinner at 8pm and were seated beside a couple from Conneticut, a couple from Florida and another couple from California. We had a lovely evening with our fellow table mates getting to know a little about each other and area's we travelled from.

 

After dinner we went to Pharphos Palace where they were having a family quiz. It was really funny and the boys enjoyed it too

 

 

 

 

When this finished we went for another stroll around deck 5 and other area's of the ship.

 

We then decided to go back up to Deck 11 to the pool deck as they were having a 'Party under the Stars' night.

 

The atmosphere up there was brilliant! Everyone was dancing and singing and it was all action dances like YMCA, Cotton Eye Joe etc by the crew staff

 

Graham Seymour our cruise director came on and was singing live. He was actually really good! I was well impressed. He must have been sing for about half an hour and it was songs like The Twist etc. he had the whole boat rocking (not literally lol)

 

 

 

They brought food up too and I got us a plate of sandwiches. It was the end of yet another lovely day, I really could get used to this

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[BettyPC]

Great review - am really enjoying it! I hope to get over to the UK one of these years! Glad you enjoyed your first cruise!

[Tinkers70]

Loving your review, we will be sailing FOS on 11/4! :D

 

Question about your St. Thomas tour though... we have booked Bernards tour for St. Martin... was it a different tour company for your St. Thomas tour? We haven't made plans for St. Thomas yet so I'm still looking for ideas!

 

Can't wait to keep reading!!

 

Hi AnnaBeth

 

I'm so sorry, you're right, i've got the tours mixed up!:eek:

 

We did Bernards tour in St. Maarten, it was Sunny Liston tour we did in St. Thomas.

 

It's too late for me to know go back and edit the whole post as i'm past the 15 minute cut off time :(

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review!

[Sunshine-lady]

More please!!!!

[Tinkers70]

Great review - am really enjoying it! I hope to get over to the UK one of these years! Glad you enjoyed your first cruise!

Thank you :) The best time of year to visit our country would probably be between May and August. You're not guaranteed nice weather though but if you're lucky you might see a bit of sunshine lol :D

 

Thanks for the review!

 

No problem, thank you for reading about our holiday :)

[Tinkers70]

More please!!!!

 

i'm working on the next day just now, hopefully have it posted in within the next hour or so.

 

I've had the family visiting over the weekend so had to put my review on hold :)

[Tinkers70]

Day 8 - St. Maarten

Day 8 already! Time is really going by quickly now. Although i'm sad that we are more than half way through our cruise i'm getting excited about the next part of our adventure up to the Smokys

Anyway, back to the cruise. We are due to dock at 8am this morning in St. Maarten and we have another island tour booked today with Bernards Tours.

No lie in today for us, we're up at 7am as we have to meet our tour bus at 9am just outside the gates of the pier. We get showered and dressed then head to the windjammer for a quick breakfast. We head back to the cabin to pack another bag for our trip on the mainland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

At 8.45 we make our way down to deck 4 where we can disembark. The hallway and the stairs are all chocca block with people all wanting off the ship as soon as they open the gangway. Just before 9am the crowds start moving and we're soon making our way across the gangway and off the ship.

We headed for the tourist information office which is just a minute or two walk from the ship and we meet our tour guide for the day. We had to wait for another few people arriving then we'd be on our way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we stood waiting I could feel myself swaying from the movement of the ship! It was the first time i'd noticed it. I had to keep moving around as I was feeling a wee bit light headed.

Soon the rest of our party turned up and our tour guide introduced himself as Timo (pronounced Teemo) and we walked round the corner to our bus for the day. Today we were travelling in a minibus, there was 10 of us on it and the rest of the people on the tour left on different buses.

Timo was really good and full of information about the island. We started off in St. Maarten which is in the Dutch side of the Island but we'd be crossing the border into St. Martin - the French side of the Island.

We were driving along for around 10 mins then we pulled into a piece of spare land. Timo explained that this was an Iguana farm and we all piled out of the minibus. As we walked towards the Iguana's I was surprised and just how many of them there was! There was also lots of chickens and ducks around too and Timo said the chickens like to bully the Iguana's as soon as the food comes out

[Tinkers70]

True enough, Timo produced a bunch of banana's and started feeding the Iguana's with them. All the chickens and ducks came racing over and were literally taking the banana's off the Iguana's and being quite nasty about it too lol. It was quite an eye opener.

 

 

Next Timo lifted an Iguana up and asked if anyone would like to hold it. I was very keen to have a hold. Timo held the Iguana over me and I put my hand underneath it. It was a strange feeling and I could feel it's heart beating lol.

Callum and Scott weren't too keen on holding it but were happy enough to get their photo taken which Timo held it beside them

 

 

 

After 10 minutes or so we all filed back into the minibus again and drove for another short while. Next stop was for some scenic photo opportunities and got told a little about the area we had stopped at.

Back into the bus again and our next stop was going to be at a sea urchin farm. I was really looking forward to this bit. The things they brought out of the sea was amazing! Some of them were very scary looking things, especially the black devil. The spikes on that thing sends shivers down my spin at the thought of ever standing on one.

 

 

[Tinkers70]

Scott held a starfish and another 'thing' that I can't remember the name of. He said if felt strange feeling it moving in his hand but he wasn't scared which I was surprised at.

 

 

Before we left we climbed some wooden stairs up to a viewpoint and got some photo's taken then it was time to get back onto the bus again.

(apologies for the mess of my hair on this cruise. I had so many 'bad hair days' it's was unbelieveable lol)

The next stop was going to be beach stop. I can't remember the name of the beach (might have been Orient beach?) but it was beautiful. It was just along a bit from the nudist beach. When we arrived there was a live reggae band playing, just the way i'd always dreamed the caribbean should be like.

We went down for a paddle in the sea as we had a 20 minute stop here. It was a gorgeous location.

 

 

 

[Tinkers70]

You'll notice that my eldest son Callum doesn't appear in too many photo's. He really doesn't like getting his photo taken and often dodges the camera - he's at that strange age I suppose :-)

 

 

 

On the way back to the bus there was a local man up a tree cutting down coconuts. He gave one to Timo and he cut it open and everyone had a drink of the coconut milk. I didn't want to try it as everyone had said it didn't taste very good.

 

 

 

Our next stop was to Marigot. We had an hour's visit here and Timo dropped us off at the Market. There didn't look like there was too much else here but he did tell us there was a lovely bakery just across the road. We were in the French quarter and nobody does bakery's quite like the French so we went for a look.

 

I had a lovely strawberry tart, Ramsay had an appie tart and the boys had donuts. They were all delicious!. I would highly recommend this place for anyone visiting the island.

 

 

[Tinkers70]

After this we went for a walk around the area but didn't go too far.

 

 

We all met back at the bus after an hour. I was excited for our next stop.....Maho Beach!!!

We arrived here about 12.30 and drove past the famous beach with the airport right beside it. Timo parked up his minibus round the corner, about a 2 minute walk away.

 

We headed for the beach as I couldn't wait to see the planes coming into land right over our heads. We had literally just got onto the beach when we noticed an plane about to take off. I had heard about the jet blast before but I didn't realise we were right in the force of it. Somehow I didn't give it a second thought. We had just arrived and was putting our bags etc down on the sand when the plane that was sat on the runway started up it's engines and we felt the force. I heard Scott shout my name and when I turned round he was getting blown down the sand and heading for the sea!

I got the fright of my life and ran after him. He ended up in the sea and I went in after him and helped him out. He didn't go in too deep though and he thought it was funny. Me on the other hand was petrified! I was so scared as I didn't know how deep the water was. I can laugh about it now but honestly if anyone has any intention of going to this place please be very careful as I imagine it could be very dangerous.

 

Ramsay took this photo of us coming out of the water

 

 

Ramsay took photo's of these people clinging onto the fence. If any of them had let go I dread to think what would have happened as there is a road right behind them and also a concrete wall that they could easily have smashed their head off if the force of the planes had made them loose their grip.

 

[Tinkers70]

Anyway......lesson learnt and we were thankful no-one got hurt.

I loved watching the planes coming into land and couldn't believe just how close they come in. They were also bang on time too according to the schedule

I love this photo of the DHL plane coming in to land. The pilot is waving to everyone on the beach lol. What a job to have eh?

 

 

We left Maho beach at 2pm and headed back to the ship. We stopped off at some viewpoints along the way. We were due to depart at 4pm today and we were back at the ship in plenty of time

 

 

 

[Tinkers70]

We didn't do too much again tonight. We just went to the main dining room where the food was excellent yet again.

We went back to the cabin as Scott was wanting to change his top. I bought him a 'Smile Mon' top in St. Martin in the market and he couldn't wait to wear it.

 

 

 

 

 

Again we went up to the sports deck for a wander around and Scott had another game of crazy golf. It was another lovely calm night at sea and I loved the feel of the warm air

The end of yet another pefect day.......bliss