My cruise on Freedom of the Seas ~ 9-21-14

[pepsishot]

I hope I don't bore anyone with this thread but I recently went on my first cruise. I had a great time and thought I'd share with everyone what I thought. Sorry for how big my pictures are.:eek: I'm not sure how to make them smaller :confused:

 

Some things didn't really live up to what I had expected but overall I really enjoyed my trip.

 

Here goes...

 

 

After flying into Melbourne FL on Saturday, my Hubby and I spent the day in Cocoa Beach. We had a wonderful and relaxed day. However, we later found that it would have been easier to fly into Orlando. Oh well. Live and learn.

 

Day 1: Sunday --

After turning in our rental car they dropped us off at the port about 10:45. Everything went quickly and smoothly with no more than a 5 minute wait to step up and get our seapasses and picture taken. Then onto the ship we went....

 

 

We spent the next couple of hours finding everything and looking around...

 

 

After dropping our pack off in our room we were off to meet everyone (ok some of them) from roll call at the pool bar. It was really nice to have some friendly faces around the ship throughout the week.

[sjudis]

I loved the Freedom, so glad you had a great time. Our favorite place was the Bull and Bear Pub

 

 

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[pepsishot]

I loved the Freedom, so glad you had a great time. Our favorite place was the Bull and Bear Pub

 

That's where my Hubby found the best selection of beer :D

[pepsishot]

Day 2: Monday --

 

 

We took our time getting ready and seemed to miss any crowds heading over. No waiting in line was DH's favorite part. lol

 

On our way to the nature trail we found a free hammock and hung out for a bit enjoying the view and sounds.

 

We were happy to find the trail wasn't paved and boring. Although I'm sure this was a disappointment to some. We enjoyed it.

 

 

As we walked we found we had to watch carefully or we'd step on these little critters who were everywhere!

 

 

There was plenty of other things along the way but I won't bore you with pics of them all.

 

I can't really say much about the lunch provided on the island. I had heard some pretty mixed reviews before going. Like everything, you have to basically decide for yourself what you like and don't like. I found I was only hungry for fruit. Lots of fresh fruit. Good stuff. DH didn't eat anything so I can't even share his thoughts.

 

Here are a few more from the day as we took our time doing whatever we felt like as time went by.

 

 

I was sad about the fact that the many shades of blue waters didn't really show up. Words can't say enough about how pretty it was...

 

 

 

The view from my lounge chair. Don't let this fool you. It was a very sunny, warm and gorgeous day...

 

[maggieq]

Omg. Those last 3 pictures are beautiful.

[John&LaLa]

Why do you think it would have been easier to fly into Orlando? I prefer Melbourne, but it can be cost prohibitive for me

 

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[pepsishot]

Day 3: Tuesday --

 

A day at sea...

 

 

We decided to eat breakfast in the MDR. That was good. Wish I could have eaten there every morning. However, time didn't always allow for it.

 

Off to the Meet and Mingle we went. Not exactly what I expected. Right after we showed up they started with the drawings and when those were done... everyone left right away. So I'm glad we had taken the time to visit on Sunday with a few roll call people. Never even had a chance to say one hello to anyone. Oh well.

 

We took the day to chill and not do too much. I enjoyed my favorite spot of our room for a while...

 

Then after lunch in the MDR (again better food than the WJ in my humble opinion) we set off for the basketball court. DH played in the 3 on 3 tournament. His team won 3rd place. (They even gave them medals) He said that was plenty good since he found it hard shooting into the sun and the wind was crazy.

 

Then it was off to the ice show. For such a small area they really do a great job at not making it feel tiny or like you didn't get the best show. I loved the choreography of this number. How they didn't mess it up was amazing...

 

The "half time" act... She was amazing. Who knew you could be entertained so well by one person with hula hoops?!?! DH said it should have been all about her, forget the others. lol.

 

After dinner show. Battle of the Sexes. Something DH said he wasn't going to take part in... yeah right. 3 out 5 rounds he was in there for. Hey at least he was enjoying himself!!

[pepsishot]

Omg. Those last 3 pictures are beautiful.

 

Thank you very much!

[Bailey & Sophie]

What is this little thing?

 

Day 2: Monday --

 

 

As we walked we found we had to watch carefully or we'd step on these little critters who were everywhere!

 

 

[pepsishot]

Why do you think it would have been easier to fly into Orlando? I prefer Melbourne, but it can be cost prohibitive for me

 

Since our flight home was just a few hours after we were off the ship we didn't feel it was worth getting another rental. Therefore we went with a taxi. It wasn't as easy for us as we had thought it would be. Everyone keep telling us no they were only going to Orlando. We had to have a guy call in a taxi just for us because no one would go to Melbourne. Plus there was the after cruise excursion to the Kennedy Space Center but you had to be flying out of Orlando to go on.

 

Although that was something we were going to do the Saturday before the cruise but got caught up enjoying our Cocoa Beach lunch and shopping.

[pepsishot]

What is this little thing?

 

Hermit crab. There were thousands of them! We stopped and took video in this one spot because what looked like just a big rock at first, started moving all around. There were so many. It was pretty cool to watch actually.

[O2Bcatfree]

Hi Amber,

 

Glad to hear that you had a good time on your first cruise. We were also on FOS and the roll call; sorry that we didn't get to meet you. Some M&M's are quiet and some are very animated; just depends on the mix and what people have scheduled. Hope you got home ok and are already planning your next one!

 

Bill

[pepsishot]

Day 4: Wednesday --

 

San Juan, Puerto Rico -- aka; The day we had planned to be in St Thomas.

 

Backing up just a little bit... On Monday after being in Coco Cay, we had to alter our cruise course. A crew member became very ill and needed a hospital right away. So into Nassau Bahamas we went as fast as possible. Thankfully as it turns out he/she did make it in time. By the end of our cruise we had heard word this person was out of ICU and making a recovery. Well worth heading off course.

 

To make up for missing St Thomas, we were taken for a short stop in San Juan. It was beautiful as we pulled up to port...

 

 

We had to wait "in line" to actually disembark as their docks were full. There should have been an opening but a Carnival ship was there before us due to "something wrong, needed fixing". Yikes!

 

Once they were loaded back up and ready to leave. We pulled in just in time for....

 

A major downpour!

 

DH and I decided to watch from deck 4 as everyone stood in line eager to get as much time in San Juan as they could (who could blame them). We were thankful to be dry though. At this point in our trip my DH had gotten a bit toasted my the Caribbean sun and wasn't as happy go lucky as when we started out. By the time the lines had cleared and it was just a quick walk off the rain had stopped. Off to see what I could find to take pictures off...

 

I was thrown off mentally a little with this stop. I'm a planner. I admit it. I like to know something about where I'm going. What I want to see. Where I might find cool pictures to take. How to get around from one place to another. This was a test for me, lol.

 

I knew from watching land as we had arrived there were a couple of historical places that I wouldn't mind trying to find. Sadly we were too late to go into the one and too far to get to the other before we lost light. DH wasn't interested in being on land after dark since we didn't know how to get around very well. (Due to lack of planning of course, hehe)

 

However, I was able to find some places to take a couple of pictures. I do no editing to any of my photos so I'm really glad the rainbow showed up...

 

 

After dinner; the magic show!

I am one who had seen him perform on AGT so I was excited to see what he had to offer for a whole show not just 90 seconds or so. I was perfectly thrilled with the show. Still not completely sure how he pulled off some of the tricks. Even though we sat in the front row. Pretty sure we figured out some of them though. And glad we did. DH is the kind of guy to take things apart to figure out how they work. Doesn't spoil anything for him. Or myself really. He stood not 3 feet from us with the little boy doing that dollar trick. We have zero idea how he did it. Yet. DH thinks he can figure it out with the help of the internet. Lol.

 

 

Day 4 part 2 coming up next....

[mulan1123]

It'll be on Freedom in November on this itinerary as well!! I'm so excited!!!

[pepsishot]

Day 4 part 2 --

 

I would have done this in all one post but they don't allow more than 6 photos in a post. This day had 9 :rolleyes:

 

Back to the magic show....

 

The end was fun...

 

What this guy doesn't do for his job.

 

I believe this was also the night of late night comedy with Carl Banks. If not it was the night before :confused:

 

Anyway... very funny man. Glad we stayed up late.

 

Finally ready to call Wednesday over we headed to our room. When we opened the door we heard our tv on... strange since we knew we turned everything off. We soon found out the reason. We had a guest visiting our room...

 

The struggle over the remote between DH and "George" was shameful. LOL. Yes I named him. It was easier to leave a note for our room steward to ask him to keep an eye on him when we're not in our room if he had a name.

 

When we left San Juan, we said good-bye with one last look...

[pepsishot]

It'll be on Freedom in November on this itinerary as well!! I'm so excited!!!

 

I loved our cruise. We plan to go back to some of the places as a whole family (we left the kids home) and spend a whole week taking it all in.

 

Hope yours is as wonderful as ours was.

[mrpayroll]

We were on Freedom the week before you. Agree with the skating and magic show. Both were very enjoyable.

[maureencruiser]

Great photos and I am loving your review. I'm glad you rolled with the punches when the itinerary changed.

 

 

 

For the battle of the sexes, that one guy has some great gams! :eek: I love his heels! :D:D

[molsonschooner]

I loved the Freedom, so glad you had a great time. Our favorite place was the Bull and Bear Pub

 

 

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that was our favourite place also. Our waiters, Sonja and Jarvis were fantastic

[mattpro]

Beautiful pictures.

 

Thank you

[BillOh]

Sorry for how big my pictures are.:eek: I'm not sure how to make them smaller :confused: .

 

These are about perfectly sized. If you can't run 1024x768 its time to get a new monitor.

[pepsishot]

Day 5: Thursday --

 

 

I was sad to have missed the only excursion we booked when we skipped St Thomas but I think I was more excited about this port honestly. Maybe because it was mostly planned around taking photos. I don't know. Although I didn't get to most of the places we had planned to go due to the previously mentioned sunburn DH had. Oh well. He has lived and learned from it.

 

It was a beautiful day!! We choose to walk to downtown Philipsburg. Walking was a big theme of our vacation. We also only used the elevators on-board twice.

 

Anyway... The walk wasn't bad really. Maybe about 10 minutes depending on how fast one walks. Although I admit the scenery left a lot to be desired. Much of the area beside you as you walk is all under construction. Kind of unappealing to see. But it was free and worked off those wonderful dinners we had each night.

 

I had 2 main purposes for the day. First and foremost...

 

I found out about this place through an internet search of what to do in Philipsburg. I am a huge fan of Star Wars. Kinda drives DH crazy sometimes. However, he was interested in going through the museum part just as much as me. The 2 highlights of this stop. Being up close to my favorite man of all time...

 

 

And also getting to meet Nick Maley, one of the creators of my wise and awesome favorite green guy...

 

 

Nick spent some time walking through the museum with us talking about some of the different movies he worked on. Sure he has dvds playing with info of things about stuff as you walk through. However, getting the chance to ask questions thrilled my DH. He's really a behind the scenes kind of mind. It was a joy. He even signed and dated the items I had bought earlier.

 

Our only other stop we managed was...

 

Also found out about this place during my searches. I knew I just had to stop here. One, I needed an anniversary present to bring back to my parents since we set sail on their anniversary day. Plus we left our kids behind with them to watch!!

 

Walking back to the ship with the presents in hand we were stopped by a security guy in the little port shopping area. Wish I had gotten a picture of him. He quickly became a highlight of our trip. One, he was really funny. Two, he shared some island background with us that we found interesting. Three, he told me he couldn't allow me to carry our rum purchase around due to my being underage. LOL!!! Oh that was so long ago!! I asked him if that meant he was offering us a ride back to the ship on his cart thingy. What can I say, it was covered and it was crazy hot out in the boiling sun.

 

St Maarten was such a short stop for us. We are planning to go back for a week and take the kids too.

 

[pepsishot]

Hi Amber,

 

Glad to hear that you had a good time on your first cruise. We were also on FOS and the roll call; sorry that we didn't get to meet you. Some M&M's are quiet and some are very animated; just depends on the mix and what people have scheduled. Hope you got home ok and are already planning your next one!

 

Bill

 

I kind of figured that might be the case. If I get to go again, I plan to sign up then too.

[pepsishot]

Great photos and I am loving your review. I'm glad you rolled with the punches when the itinerary changed.

 

For the battle of the sexes, that one guy has some great gams! :eek: I love his heels! :D:D

 

I was really surprised by how many people were upset with the change. They tried to get a helicopter out so we could stay on course but none could get to us before we could get to Nassau. The doctor was very concerned and very specific about how soon the crew member had to make it in to get treatment.

 

I wondered if anyone would notice her. They told us clearly before it started that whichever side you sit on, that's the side you're helping and cheering for.

[pepsishot]

Beautiful pictures.

 

Thank you

 

Thank you for saying so. I enjoy viewing the world through my lens.