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

[joand452]

Loving your review, Tinkers! I can hear the excitement in your review as you experience all the ship has to offer! Your sons are verra handsome!

[Tinkers70]

You're doing an amazing job w/this review. Actually, I like it slow.... if you wrote it all at once I'd read and that would be that! Between your review, Trainman 2's and Bugsy's live posts and Host Faith's review, I'm keeping pretty busy!

 

Thank you again for taking the time to share your holiday! Looking forward to the next installment!

 

Cathy

 

I've been reading up on those same reviews too, I honestly think i've caught the cruising bug now :D

 

The fun of sharing is also tempered by the effort of sharing.

 

I daresay if I spent a week there in Scotland (on the bucket list I should say) I'd likely pick up a bit of a Scot's lilt in my own speech. It goes both ways! :)

 

If you ever manage a trip over the Scotland please feel free to contact me and i'll help you with any plans as much as possible :)

[Tinkers70]

Loving your review, Tinkers! I can hear the excitement in your review as you experience all the ship has to offer! Your sons are verra handsome!

 

 

Awww thank you Jo, we did have a very exciting time so I imaging it'll be coming across in my review:)

[Ginamarie]

I am really enjoying your review. We just book a week at WDW followed by an Eastern Caribbean cruise on FOS, so this is right up my alley and getting me excited for our trip next year.

[wolfganghowell]

Tinkers, where are you? More more more! We are on Freedom soon and this is the next best thing to being there. And as a Brit/Irish/Scot by heritage, I love when your idiom creeps in. I too hope to get to my ancestors homeland someday. I've been to London but still have so much of Great Britain to explore!

 

Thank you for taking the time to do this - you're doing a wonderful job.

[Tinkers70]

I am really enjoying your review. We just book a week at WDW followed by an Eastern Caribbean cruise on FOS, so this is right up my alley and getting me excited for our trip next year.

 

Oh fab! We're going back to Disney again next year. Wish we could fit another cruise in too but it's not going to be possible *s0b*

 

Tinkers, where are you? More more more! We are on Freedom soon and this is the next best thing to being there. And as a Brit/Irish/Scot by heritage, I love when your idiom creeps in. I too hope to get to my ancestors homeland someday. I've been to London but still have so much of Great Britain to explore!

 

Thank you for taking the time to do this - you're doing a wonderful job.

 

lol i'm here.....honestly :D

 

I'm working on the next instalment just now and should have it finished in the next hour or so. The time difference is a bit of a problem. Back here in Scotland it's just after 7pm so not long home from work and just finished our dinner.

 

London is my favourite city in the world! I was there earlier this year and had a fab time.

 

If you decide to come over here again sometime and I can help you with any of your plans please just let me know. Scotland is a beautiful country and our weather can be pretty cruel at times :(

[kernow]

Brilliant review, I'm really enjoying it. I started reading last night and was so pleased to see it back at the top of the page with more to read this evening.

 

I can really feel your excitement, it takes me back to our first cruise although I still get the tummy tingling now(only a week to go until our next trip).

 

Look forward to the next installment:)

 

Julie

[SeaHunt]

Loving your review, thanks for taking the time to post it :)

 

There was a ship in just down from where we were sitting. I'm not sure which ship this was but it had a big pair of red lips painted on the front lol

 

Just for a fun FYI the cruise line with the ships with "red lips" is AIDA Cruises - based in Germany with ships marketed to German speaking clients.

 

[DrD]

Thanks for the great review, love your enthusiasm!

 

I see your boys have as much trouble smiling for pics as mine, although they seem to smile more as the review goes on.

[cynt]

Loving your review Tink. I'm a Disney and cruise lover as well. :D Now I need to find your Brit Disney review so I can look at more of your pics. I'm headed to the disboards. LOL! ;)

[Tinkers70]

Brilliant review, I'm really enjoying it. I started reading last night and was so pleased to see it back at the top of the page with more to read this evening.

 

I can really feel your excitement, it takes me back to our first cruise although I still get the tummy tingling now(only a week to go until our next trip).

 

Look forward to the next installment:)

 

Julie

 

Oh wow....I hope you have a lovely time on your cruise next week. I jealous! :p

 

Loving your review, thanks for taking the time to post it :)

 

 

 

Just for a fun FYI the cruise line with the ships with "red lips" is AIDA Cruises - based in Germany with ships marketed to German speaking clients.

 

 

Ahhhh cool! Thank you for posting this. I did think this ship looked pretty cool and it wasn't one that I recognised. That looks like a fun ship :D

[Tinkers70]

Thanks for the great review, love your enthusiasm!

 

I see your boys have as much trouble smiling for pics as mine, although they seem to smile more as the review goes on.

 

I know! They are terrible. Scott my youngest is a bit better but my 15 year old Callum is at the typical 'can't be bothered' stage in his life. Hope he grows out of it soon:)

 

Loving your review Tink. I'm a Disney and cruise lover as well. :D Now I need to find your Brit Disney review so I can look at more of your pics. I'm headed to the disboards. LOL! ;)

 

 

Ahhh haaaaa...it's not the Disboards I go on, it's a forum call The Dibb. It stands for 'disney information bulletin board' :D If you scroll down i've put it under 'General NON florida holiday trips' and my username is TrueBlue on there.

 

I'll try and get a link for you but not sure if i'm allowed to post it or not x

[Tinkers70]

Day 6 .......sea day

 

Oh my goodness, who'd have thought it. Day 6 already!! How did that happen

 

Today was going to be a leisurely day at sea so time to kick back, relax and enjoy our new home for the next few days. I really wanted to explore the ship but didn't want to do anything that took too much effort.

 

If my memory serves me right we all had a lie in today. Probably until after 9am anyway. Ramsay say's he's not sleeping too good at night. We don't think it's the bed, we think he's still got jetlag as he's wide awake at 5am almost everyday. He does manage to fall over again but he say's it's always a restless sleep.

 

Me and the kids on the other hand don't seem affected at all *result*

 

Today I didn't even get a shower when I got up. I just threw on a summer dress, put a brush through my hair then tied it up, put on my flip flops and walked up the stairs to the Windjammer for my daily 2 cups of tea *insert smilie face*

 

I also brought back a plate of fresh fruit and smoked salmon. I love smoked salmon but noticed the difference in taste to the Salmon i'm used to eating back here....Scottish Salmon. It was still nice though so no complaints

 

We ate our breakfast on the balcony this morning and it was another lovely day and yet again the sun was shining. I could get used to this!

 

 

After breakfast we all got showered and dressed and headed up to the pool deck. We managed to find sun loungers no problem which I was surprised at as i'd heard it was really busy up there on sea days.

 

Although there was 4 of us we decided to just take 2 sun loungers as we knew the boys would be up on the sports deck most of the time.

 

Today at the main pool it was 'The world's sexiest man competition' so I was looking forward to that. I went up to the sports deck for a while with the boys then Scott decided he wanted to watch the competition at the pool so he came back with me to the loungers. Callum stayed up in the sports deck between the flowrider and the basket ball court

 

There was a guy in front of us at the pool who was quite a looker (a bit too young for me though lol). He girlfriend was trying to talk him into entering the competition, it didn't take too much effort from her. In the end he won and he did probably deserve it as he was probably the fittest guy out of them all

 

 

 

 

After this it was time for lunch so I went up and got Callum and we headed once again to the Windjammer

 

There was a good selection for lunch and it didn't take long for us to fill our plates. I've never eaten so much in my life and the worse thing was I was hungry all the time on the ship!.....not good for the waistline lol

 

 

[LifeIsButADream]

Am loving your review and pictures...will be on the Valentines Day 2013 sailing of FOS next year and can not wait!! Will be our first time on RCCL and also our first time to those eastern ports. You are doing a great job and have two precious sons!! Thanks for taking the time do post this review!! :)

[Tinkers70]

 

 

 

We left the Windjammer and headed towards the staircase to walk down to Deck 4 as we had a reservation for the ice show in Studio B

On the way there we bumped into Shrek. Scott was quite pleased at this and I got some photo's

We got in and grabbed ourselves some seats and before we know it the ice rink is full and the show begins.

The show was good, especially as the dancers were trying to skate professionally whilst in the middle of the ocean but I wasn't 'wowed' by it somehow. I'm not sure why, maybe because I've been to a few ice shows back here before.

After the ice show finished the boys were itching to get back to the sports deck. Scott really wanted to try the climbing wall and Callum was desperate to go back on the flowrider again.

 

 

[Tinkers70]

I went to the climbing wall with Scott and the girls at the wall directed us over to the desk for Scott to get his harness and shoes. The guy behind the desk was a bit grumpy and didn't have a very good attitude at all. No communication from him and his face not happy looking at all. I just thought he must have been having a bad day. He gave us the shoes and helped Scott into his harness and we walked back over the to climbing wall. The girls at the bottom were lovely and explained to Scott what to do.

He went up quite a bit but decided that was high enough for him and he came back down again. I thought he would have went higher than he did but he's a chicken like me when it comes to heights.

We went back over to the desk to take the shoes etc back and the guy was still grumpy. He didn't speak at all and just grunted at us! Very rude. Again I thought he must have just been having a bad day but 10 mins later when I was watching Callum on the basketball court a very pretty looking girl was at the desk and getting her harness etc on and he was really flirting with her! he was smiling and laughing at her so I don't know what his problem was with us.

 

 

 

I went over to the flow rider as the trainers were showing people how it's done. OMG they were brilliant! Callum was really in awe of them and I think this would be his ideal job when he's older lol.

 

 

 

We went back to the cabin for a while to relax before dinner. I love sitting on the balcony looking at the sunsets

 

[Tinkers70]

Before we knew it we were starting to feel hungry again. So off we went back to the cabin and got ready for our meal at the main dining room.

We arrived in the dining room around 7pm and were seated straight away. I didn't take much food pictures tonight as we were seated with other people and I felt a bit awkward.

 

I did manage to snap a photo of my dessert though

 

 

We left the dining room around 8.30 and just had a wander around the ship again. I just love how new this ship looks even though she's about 6 years old ( I think).

We did what we did most nights and went back to the cabin quite early. I loved sitting on the balcony and watching the stars in the clear sky

 

 

 

[Tinkers70]

 

 

Tomorrow we are at St. Thomas yahhhhhh :cool:

[Lyann]

Just finished reading from where I left off last night. Brilliant! Keep posting, the photos are great too.

[Cruisingboyo]

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

 

Xx

[cynt]

Ahhh haaaaa...it's not the Disboards I go on, it's a forum call The Dibb. It stands for 'disney information bulletin board' :D If you scroll down i've put it under 'General NON florida holiday trips' and my username is TrueBlue on there.

 

I'll try and get a link for you but not sure if i'm allowed to post it or not x

 

Thanks! I found it! Yaaa Hoo!!!

[Lisa-UK]

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!

[workathome]

I am loving your pictures.

[spammie]

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

[Tinkers70]

Am loving your review and pictures...will be on the Valentines Day 2013 sailing of FOS next year and can not wait!! Will be our first time on RCCL and also our first time to those eastern ports. You are doing a great job and have two precious sons!! Thanks for taking the time do post this review!! :)

 

awww thank you and how exciting doing a valentines day cruise! You won't be disappointed with RCI, i'm so glad we chose this company to do our first cruise and can highly recommend everything about it :)

 

Just finished reading from where I left off last night. Brilliant! Keep posting, the photos are great too.

 

Thank you for reading more, i'm about to post the following day very soon:)