April 7, 2013 Freedom of the Seas picture review - 2nd Cruise and 1st time Royal

[slord12]

Great review so far can't wait to see the rest!!!

 

Thanks! Hopefully I can finish up the video tomorrow and the review next week!

 

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[Calm Blue Ocean]

Great review! Can't wait to read more as we will be on the Freedom in August! It will be our first Royal Caribbean cruise as well.

[slord12]

Great review! Can't wait to read more as we will be on the Freedom in August! It will be our first Royal Caribbean cruise as well.

 

Thanks for reading, hopefully you'll love it as much as I did! It really was a beautiful ship with a great itinerary. I'm finishing up my video now, so I should be able to wind up the review and post it tomorrow!

[Calm Blue Ocean]

The only difference will be that we are doing the Western Caribbean itinerary.

[slord12]

The only difference will be that we are doing the Western Caribbean itinerary.

 

You'll have to let me know how it is! Jon and I are looking at that for next year.

 

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[Calm Blue Ocean]

You'll have to let me know how it is! Jon and I are looking at that for next year.

 

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I'm planning on posting a review. Keep a look out for it!

[alaska_planner]

Half Moon must be the nicest Priv. Island out there...great for kids, adults, etc.

Just Paradise.

 

Tortola was nice, but a short day as it always is. We had rain in the morning so has a later start at that..we just did a beach day but wanted to do The Baths if there was more time

 

disney's private island, castaway cay, is very nice.

I don't know how it compares to the other companies islands, but i'm sure it's right up there...

[HesterMofet]

My first cruise was Western on Freedom. It was so enjoyable that we rebooked Freedom Eastern for this fall. I'm glad to see the Eastern itinerary is great!

 

We even booked the same balcony room again. How nerdy is that?

[slord12]

disney's private island, castaway cay, is very nice.

I don't know how it compares to the other companies islands, but i'm sure it's right up there...

 

I've heard Disney is awesome. I would love to try the Dream or Fantasy. Even though I don't have kids, they don't bother me. In fact there were 800 on our Freedom sailing and I hardly ever saw them. Kids congregate together and stay hidden thankfully haha!

 

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[slord12]

My first cruise was Western on Freedom. It was so enjoyable that we rebooked Freedom Eastern for this fall. I'm glad to see the Eastern itinerary is great!

 

We even booked the same balcony room again. How nerdy is that?

 

That is great, you will love the eastern route! Not nerdy at all, if it ain't broke don't fix it!

 

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[OTownNick]

You never mentioned having breakfast or lunch in the MDR. Did u try that? Those are 2 things everyone must try. We love breakfasts in the MDR so much, we never eat in the WJ anymore. You just can't get French Toast like that anywhere else. Lunch in the MDR - the features are the Tutti salad and the Royal Burgers.

 

We've only done Royal and Celebrity. Since we've stayed on Royal the whole time, we "advanced" to the top tier in their Crown and Anchor and now we are spoiled. I just won't try another cruise line now! Well, for you, maybe you can work up the ranks in BOTH loyalty clubs! Lol.

[slord12]

You never mentioned having breakfast or lunch in the MDR. Did u try that? Those are 2 things everyone must try. We love breakfasts in the MDR so much, we never eat in the WJ anymore. You just can't get French Toast like that anywhere else. Lunch in the MDR - the features are the Tutti salad and the Royal Burgers.

 

We've only done Royal and Celebrity. Since we've stayed on Royal the whole time, we "advanced" to the top tier in their Crown and Anchor and now we are spoiled. I just won't try another cruise line now! Well, for you, maybe you can work up the ranks in BOTH loyalty clubs! Lol.

 

Sad to say but we only ate in the MDR for lunch on our 2nd sea day, and breakfast in the MDR on the last sea day! I know, I really missed out! Both meals I had there were excellent. We had lunch there during our tour (more on that to come when I finish my review). I will say that breakfast on the last day was really slow, and I never got my bloody mary I ordered. It wasn't a huge deal though, not like we had anywhere we needed to be. Next time we will plan better to be able to eat there more!

[Coolcruise02]

Great review and pictures!

[slord12]

Great review and pictures!

 

Thanks for reading!

[slord12]

The video is DONE! It's uploading to youtube now, anddddd it wound up being 46 minutes long, OOPS! I'll finish up the review tomorrow and can hopefully post the video (if it ever finishes uploading)!!

[Luv06012012]

I can't wait to see the turtles in your video! I will live my excitement through that until I can get back there myself!

 

We do the Western itinerary in three weeks and I will do my best to get a review on!

[JoTop]

We'll be getting off the day you are getting on!

 

Love love love your unbridled enthusiasm and happiness over your vacation! You seem like such a fun person. Thank you for this review and sharing such a genuine and honest recount of your trip! I can't concentrate on my work for over 40 days until my cruise on the Freedom! :p

 

T

[slord12]

I can't wait to see the turtles in your video! I will live my excitement through that until I can get back there myself!

 

We do the Western itinerary in three weeks and I will do my best to get a review on!

 

Yay! I've got the video saved, so tonight I'm starting the upload to youtube so hopefully it will be up by tomorrow!

[Benjh1028]

Jon announced as we got back to the marina "it's all downhill from here". I think he was right, I couldn't have asked for or expected a greater day than what I'd just had! Captain Pat had a taxi waiting for us so we all hoped in and made it back to port a little after 6pm. We said goodbye to Ben and his family and told them we'd hopefully run into them on the ship again

Callan - great review. We took a cab into Marigot on St. Maarten only to discover it was a dump. We were standing in the road looking for a cab to take us to Orient beach when Jessica (my 10-yr old) turned to me and said "Jon wasn't kidding about the downhill thing."

 

Ben

[Eriksgarden]

We didn't think Marigot was a dump. The open market there was excellent, especially the Spice Lady. There are also a few fruit vendors along the water to get an authentic taste of the island. The fort above Marigot is also very interesting. The taxi ride was $8 per person and afforded a good overview of the island. We stayed in Marigot about 2 hours, shopped, walked around, then headed back to Philipsburg. While I wouldn't spend the whole time there, I thought Marigot was authentic and interesting.

[slord12]

Sorry for the delay in finishing up this review. I've had severe back problems for the past several years (way too young for this IMO) and I had a bad night Sunday and all day Monday. I'm feeling much better now!

 

Anyway, let's continue!

 

I'm a huge nerd, it's true, so today Jon and I were signed up for the "All Access Tour"! We slept late today, grabbed some pastries and coffee from the cafe, then met around 10:15 with our group and guide Gemma and off we went.

 

We went to the bridge first, down the officers hallway (got to peek inside the captains room since his door was open) then headed downstairs into the area where the anchor chain and ropes are held.

 

Here are some bridge views.

 

 

 

Here is one of the huge anchor chains!

 

 

Ropes used during docking. This area is where the "blue boys" work you see hanging out the front of the ship when docked.

 

 

Next, we headed to the ice skating rink and met some skaters and the production guy. Royal Caribbean even has a special little mini-zamboni! We followed that with a trip to the theater and got the backstage tour there with that production guy and a dancer.

 

Tiny ice skating show control booth! It was really cool seeing how the stored all the props for the show.

 

 

Ice skating costume changing area.

 

 

I didn't get any good pictures from the main theater backstage, the lighting was crazy and they all looked blurry!

 

By now we were starving so we were very happy it was lunch time! We had lunch in the MDR, and this was the only lunch I ate there all week. I really missed out! My lunch was delicious. I had an open face steak sandwich with a fried egg on top and a side of fries. Jon had the catch of the day. We both had the apple parcel with ice cream for dessert.

 

I'm at my 6 photo limit, so up next is the galley tour!

[slord12]

After lunch it was time for the galley tour, which is my favorite part. Since tonight was formal night they were busy prepping the food, including the lobster.

 

Assembling the royal seafood salads (and yes, I ordered one for dinner that night)

 

 

Baked Alaska prep (see the huge mixer they're whipping the meringue in..yum!)

 

 

Plating example/tasting station. The head waiters know what each dish should look and taste like!

 

 

The galley on this ship is huge, it was really fun to see!

 

We headed downstairs again the the I-95 corridor (think crew version of royal promenade, haha) and met up with the provisions coordinator. This part was also interesting. Jon decided that RC was crazy the way they order food. They do it all by hand, no automatic ordering. The guy told us that after he orders and submits it to the head office in Miami they will kick out an exception report if he's missed anything. Pretty cool stuff!

 

Butcher shop.

 

 

Vegetable cooler.

 

 

Beer cooler..everyone's fave!

 

 

Here's an interesting fact, apparently these coolers were still considered very full for this point in the sailing. The provisions guy said not as much alcohol was being consumed on this sailing, maybe something to do with the large numbers of kids onboard??

 

To be continued!

[slord12]

The wine cooler.

 

 

Looking down I-95

 

 

Our tour was almost over, but we had one more stop to make, the engine control room!

 

 

This turned out to be an interesting stop to me. If you look in the very bottom of the next picture you'll see the ship deck plans on the table. The officer pointed out to us the layout of the engine control rooms on the Freedom. They engine rooms are separate, forward and aft. In case one were to go out, one should still be operational (think Carnival here). Also, RC runs the electrical wiring on the perimeter of the ship. This officer explained that Carnival runs their wiring overhead. So, if you have an engine room fire and the fire touches the ceiling, then your electric will get burned up as well, and that's what caused the power outages. Interesting, huh?

 

 

After spending some time here and talking with the officer (he was so nice) we headed up to the bar and each got a glass of champagne. We also got to keep our badges, a pen, and a camera case. The tour lasted over 3.5 hours, so we got our money's worth.

 

I will say, I did this tour on the Carnival Dream last year and Carnival's tour was much better. It was only $95 vs. $150 RC. No, you can't take pictures, but they do take pictures for you and deliver them to your room that night with a plate of treats. Also, you get to see more crew areas like the mess hall, a cabin, crew gym, and we spent a lot of time in the recycling center and the laundry. I'm still glad I did this tour on RC, just to see how the ships operate differently!

 

After the tour we were wore out! Jon took a nap and I went and layed in the sun for a while. Around 4:30 we headed up for afternoon snacks, then made our way over to the Flowrider since Tammy's private lesson was at 5:15. We hung around there and watched most of her lesson before heading up around 6:00 to get ready. We went to the 7pm showing of "Once Upon a Time" and I thought it was super cute, my favorite show all week!

 

Dinner tonight was formal, so the menu was great! Jon and I each had a royal seafood salad and split a creamed wild mushroom appetizer. For dinner we each had the fisherman's plate and split a prime rib! For dessert we ordered a baked alaska (best I'd ever had) and a grand marnier souffle. I did not enjoy the souffle at all so I stuck with the baked alaska!

 

After dinner I ran upstairs and changed clothes and then ran back to Pharoahs to save our whole table seats for the "Battle of the Sexes". I scored a great table up front and we all really enjoyed the show. The boys won, and they deserved it, as all the girls that volunteered seemed very silly. We then joined the rest of the herd as well all headed to Studio B for the Quest. This was a lot of fun as I'd never been to it before! I heard some people grumbling that it's the same everytime, but so what! I think it's all about the volunteers you get.

 

After Quest we made our way to Olive or Twist and listened to the Rockport Band! They were good, and would take requests for anything. To finish up the night we went down to the promenade and enjoyed some Sorrento's pizza and tiramisu cups (because apparently we didn't eat enough at dinner haha). We all had a great night hanging out together. We all finally headed back to our cabins around 1:30 or 2!

 

 

 

Up next, our last day on the Freedom of the Seas!

[smeck]

I made a booboo, I posted Day 4's dinner on day 3, that's what I get for keeping bad notes!

 

Day 3 dinner was still good though. Jon had the clam chowder and a salad with blue cheese. For dinner he had the lamb, which was pretty good to me! Dessert that night he had the praline finger and the warm chocolate cake with ice cream (he had to make up for missing night 2's dessert he said)

 

I had the shrimp cocktail and caesar salad (kept it traditional) with the veal scaloppine oscar for dinner. I enjoyed the warm chocolate cake with ice cream for dessert.

 

Really, I there were only 2 things I had all week that I didn't like, and they were both desserts.

 

I will say...Royal's warm chocolate cake doesn't even come close to being as great as Carnival's warm chocolate melting cake!!! :D Sorry guys, but it's true!

 

I too enjoyed Carnivals warm chocolate cake until I found out it was 1400 calories of enjoyment.

[slord12]

Callan - great review. We took a cab into Marigot on St. Maarten only to discover it was a dump. We were standing in the road looking for a cab to take us to Orient beach when Jessica (my 10-yr old) turned to me and said "Jon wasn't kidding about the downhill thing."

 

Ben

 

Thanks! Hahaha, that is hilarious! I'll be sure to tell Jon she remembered his comment. Did you get the pictures I emailed you? We had a good excursion in St. Maarten, not as great as St. Thomas, but still good! I'll send you some video footage too, I'm waiting on my main video to upload to youtube. As of last this morning after uploading all night it was still only 20% done. Gonna be a slow process!