Freedom Review - Newbie reviewer here

[luvabargain]

We had a beautiful sunrise as we were pulling into Nassau.

 

Pictures of the beautiful sunrise as we entered into Nassau*Pictures of Nassau

 

Pictures near the port of Nassau *Micki got nabbed* My jeep buggy

[luvabargain]

The beautiful Cabbage Beach * You can see Atlantis in the background * Body surfing was so much fun

 

More Cabbage Beach body surfing * people who came up to me and asked me for money - I told them I don't carry cash on me, only to learn later that when they went up to hubby and son's jeep he told them that I was the one with the money and to ask me. ACK!!! * A public beach near the Sandals resort

[luvabargain]

Micki is sipping on a virgin drink the man at the beach made for her* you can see our whale tail in the distance * The trashy area behind the public beach* Cheers! My drink was not virgin, but it was devoid of coconut and pineapple, not counting the container*

 

The area surrounding the Sandals Resort side of the island * The fish fry area - everyone was trying to get us to go to their restaurant, each touting theirs to be the best

[luvabargain]

Nassau, Bahamas Port * Heading back on the ship * Pier runners

[luvabargain]

Food Porn: Appetizers

 

Derek had the escargots bourguignonne - he said it was ok * Conch Fritters - not as good as Freeport's

 

I had the Asparagus Vichyssoise (chilled soup)- it was decent

Corn and vegetable succotash side dish

 

I had the Corn, Chili, Quinoa Baked Tomato and it was my favorite dish of the week, surprisingly. I forgot to take pictures of it and of D's dish.

[luvabargain]

Food Porn desserts:

 

 

I forgot to take pic of the desserts until we were already eating them. I don't remember what they were, Derek's was some sort of a cake and mine was a type of custard with caramel popcorn on top. They were ok, but not good enough to finish on full stomachs.

 

I tried getting pictures of the sunset after dinner, but it was not to be on this cruise. A storm was rolling in and the clouds got worse and would stay that way the next 2 nights.

[luvabargain]

June 11, Sea Day

It was nice to have a sea day and be able to sleep in and not have a schedule, but of course I didn't really sleep in all that much. I wanted another Blue Iguana breakfast burrito, so I got one while the others went to the buffet.

I was thrilled that they had the towel animal zoo on the Lido deck, so ran around taking pictures of all the towel animals. I still couldn't tell what the ones were that I had previously had.

We played some shuffleboard and mini golf, boys by themselves and girls by themselves.

For lunch I went back for my second Guy's Burger and again, it was good, but not the best I've ever had. Love the fries though - those were great!

They announced the Dr. Seuss parade which had been postponed, so I coaxed hubby into going with me so we could watch the kiddos march around. My kiddos wanted nothing to do with it and wanted to stay in the room and relax. I made Chad don his 'thing" shirt along with me and off we went. It was cute! Kris with a K even gave me pom poms - I think I was the only adult who got them. LOL I passed them off to the little girl behind me before they started the parade. Chad wasn't amused, but I think it was cute. So what if we don't have little kids - other people were there who didn't either.

We took it easy during the day, went to trivias in between relaxing in our rooms and wandering around the decks. We spent time in the "hidden" whirlpool again, and before we knew it, it was time to get ready for our second formal dinner.

We dressed up the same as we did on the first formal night and headed down to dinner, a little later which meant we had a wait, about 20 minutes. Like normal, the restaurant service was very slow. We had to wait a long time in-between courses. Alex was our waiter again. We were originally planning on going to the PG comedy shows, but because dinner was running so late we weren't able to.

Chad and Derek went back to the stateroom to relax and watch some tv. I wanted to go to the "hidden" whirlpool and couldn't convince Chad to go with me, but Micki decided she would accompany me. We went and relaxed and enjoyed ourselves and then decided to go to the later show: 88 Keys. The boys did not want to go, they were getting their snooze on. The show was good and entertaining.

After the show I had promised Micki that she could launder some clothes, so we scooped up a huge load full. It was $1.50 for soap, $3.00 to wash and $6.00 to dry. Yes, $6.00. We left the laundry in the washer and it was supposed to take 24 minutes. We crashed into our beds and there I tried to stay awake so I could go put the clothes in the dryer. We were both awake so off we went when it was time to transfer the clothes to the dryer. $3.00 to start. It was supposed to take 46 minutes, so off to our room we went to wait. Micki promptly fell asleep, and I did too, but fitfully. I forgot to set a timer. Eventually I pried myself out of bed about 50 minutes later and headed to the laundry by myself. BTW, it was nowhere near my room. Unfortunately, the clothes were all damp. Whether or not it was due to the full load or just not working well, I don't know, but I'll guess the latter. Anyway, another $3.00 for more drying time and off to my room I went. I passed out in bed again, but this time I set the timer on my phone. Before I knew it, it was time to drag myself up and get the clothes. Hallelujah! This time they were dry. Off to bed I went.

The night before when Micki was sick Chad had asked the room steward for the next day's fun times and asked him if he'd bring by a monkey towel animal. We got the fun times right then, but no towel animal. This night when we arrived in our stateroom a monkey was hanging for us.

 

The towel zoo on the lido deck

Playing shuffleboard - the surface is a little rough

 

A round of mini golf - 1st day there was a full bucket of balls, but by this time there were only a few left and we had to wait for available balls

[luvabargain]

Mom of Thing 1 and Thing 2 and Dad of Thing 1 and Thing 2 - ha-ha!

 

 

Micki and I stopped at the coffee shop for me to get a mocha and her to get a frapp from Melissa the barista. I haven't had a mocha in years and I must say this one was a little sweet for me.

 

I needed a band-aid and I had just assumed the ship would have first aid kits. Ha! Chad went to find me a band aid and had to buy this package for me for $3. That was for 2 Curad bandaids and a little ointment packet. It was either that or pay for a medical visit and get charged anyway.

[luvabargain]

We did triva with Jen several times in the atrium area. We kinda suck at it. The sea was much rougher and choppier - lots of movement the last couple of days.

 

 

 

Our 2nd elegant night waiting on MDR seating

[luvabargain]

I had the crab cake and was disappointed, not the best flavor * We all ordered the stuffed mushrooms and I didn't care much for the sauce - the rest liked it better than I did * someone's salad *

[luvabargain]

I had the teriyaki salmon * Micki had spaghetti and asked for it with no bacon and said it was her favorite dish of the week * Derek had the grilled jumbo shrimp and liked it although he missed having the shrimp cocktail for an appetizer * Chad had the filet mignon and was a bit disappointed in it, wasn't expecting it shredded.

[luvabargain]

I had the grand marnier souffle' and Derek had the Amaretto cake. The souffle' was lacking in flavor and I only ate a couple of bites. The other had the old standby melting cake.

 

The steward remembered my monkey, and this was waiting for us when we returned to our stateroom.

[Heartkrazy]

Love your review!

[luvabargain]

June 12th - last sea day

After leaving the Bahamas, the seas were really rough and we had some storms, lightning, thunder and a little rain. The day before the boat had been rocking pretty heavily. We barely felt it, if at all on its way to the Bahamas, but the way back was rough, which doesn't bother me at all, in fact it's comforting to me, but Chad wasn't liking it.

This day it was overcast and rainy, and of course it was the day we had planned to just chill and I was going to try out the water slide and hang out in the pool.

I had booked the Seuss breakfast for us when we first boarded, and it was on the last sea day. They charge $5 per person. Now, my family wasn't overly excited about this, but tough! I had ordered Thing 1 and Thing 2 t-shirts for the kids to wear at the breakfast, and a Mom of Thing 1 and thing 2 t-shirt for me and a dad of thing 1 and thing 2 t-shirt for Chad. There was grumbling, but they grudgingly put on their shirts and off we went to our 8:30 breakfast. Everything was set up so cute. The food was good and we took pictures with the characters - the Cat in the Hat, Sam I Am and the Things. The wait staff all had on Thing t-shirts. It was so cute, and I think my family was pleasantly surprised, but still feeling "embarrassed" that they were older and no little kids in our party. Tough! I saw others there that were families with teens or couples with no kids in tow at all, so phttt!

As soon as breakfast was over and we went back to our room, they all took off their shirts. I kept mine on all day and got a lot compliments and several people wanted to know if they could purchase similar ones on the ship - even teen boys were asking because they wanted a Thing shirt. A lady came up to me and asked where I had purchased my t-shirt. She was wearing a red Thing Mom shirt, and then pointed out her husband who was wearing a red Thing Dad shirt, but she liked my saying better. I told her Etsy and she said that's where she got hers, we discovered we'd both ordered them to wear to the Seuss breakfast even though her kids were teens, and that they were reluctant as well and took them off afterward, but she made her hubby keep his on. Too funny! It's a mom "thing" people! And... I LOVE Seuss!

We did some trivia, played cards and also hit the shops to finish souvenir shopping. They were clearancing out some t-shirts so we made sure to get there in time for that before everyone went wild and started grabbing everything - which they did, but we'd already picked ours out thankfully. We didn't buy a lot in ports or on the ship, just a few things, and we waited until they were putting them up on sale.

There wasn't anything of interest to us between 12 and 3, so we decided to use that time to hang out on the Lido deck. They had closed the top on the deck that morning when it was raining, but opened it up later. I went on the water slide, which was fun and then Micki, Chad and I went in the nearby pool and the not so hot, hot tub - it was way less crowded than the day before. Micki decided she wanted to do the slide with me, so up we went, then back to the not so hot hot tub.

Micki left, and Chad and I went to the Serenity deck and had a drink - the yummy Kiss on the Lips, that the really cute and friendly bar tender from the Ukraine made. We went in one of the Serenity hot tubs that was really hot just like I like it, and enjoyed some time there watching the ocean.

We left to do the Disney trivia and went back to our room to discover that Derek had been throwing up all over. Yuk. I am the mom who doesn't handle that well, so I started heaving myself after going into the bathroom. Ugh. He said that he didn't feel it was the ship that did it, but all the food he'd been eating. He ate a LOT all week, and earlier he'd had 2 Guy's burgers as well as ice cream and a whole bunch of other stuff at the buffet, not to mention the Seuss breakfast. No wonder!

We had already decided that we didn't feel like going to the MDR and going through all the waiting, and Derek had wanted to go anyway, but now no way. He stayed in the room while we went out.

We planned to go to the PG comedy shows that evening, Micki really really wanted to go, so we went early, all 4 of us - Derek was feeling better. We got there really early to get seats and then just waited. Derek started feeling ill again so he went back to the room.

The comedian was Jason Blanchard and he was good, we enjoyed it. Chad and Micki stayed in the seats to catch the next show so I left to get something to eat, I'd only had a sandwich for lunch and no dinner. First I stopped by the casino because earlier I put put $10 on my casino tab to try my hand at the slots for the only time during our cruise. It had taken me a long time to lose less than $1 so I decided to go try and spend the rest quickly. I sat down and played .25 after .25 losing, but not fast enough so I upped it to $1 and immediately won $10. So much for trying to gamble away my balance. I now had $18 so was up by $8. I quit and decided to just cash it in and left to go get my food. I had only spent about a minute in the casino. Hee hee. Smoke and gambling just aren't my thing.

I headed back to the international lounge with my plate of food. I don't know if I was supposed to, but I did. The second comedian was Cowboy Bill and he was good too, I think I preferred Jason a bit more, but I enjoyed them both.

We went back to our cabin and Derek informed us that he had stuff coming out the other end while we were gone. Poor guy. The worst was over, though and he felt fine in the morning.

I had packed up a lot of stuff earlier in the day to get a head start and we finished packing up our suitcases as we chose to not self assist. We set the suitcases out and the only thing left was to pack up the carry-off bag the next morning with our leftover items.

I wanted to catch the last late show - the showcase of the stars where the passengers show off their talents. No one wanted to go with me, and we all went to bed but I got up in time to go catch the show by myself. It was good and fun. There was one guy who played the ukelele and sang and it was beautiful and unexpected.

Afterward it was time to plop into bed which I did, but I stayed awake typing my vacation diary. All of a sudden the rain slammed down hard and we had a good long hard rain storm with lots of lightning and thunder, which had already been going on. Chad woke up and looked out to see all the rain, but the kids snoozed on.

[tanbum6]

Where is this "secret" jacuzzi you speak of?

[Lila1975]

What rooms did you stay in? We have to get 2 rooms if we are taking 2 kids, right? For a family of 4?

[luvabargain]

Where is this "secret" jacuzzi you speak of?

 

It's not really secret, but most people don't seem to know it exists. It's in the exercise/spa area. You have to go through the spa locker room and then go through a door that looks like it's for employees only, but isn't, and then there's another door heading out to the jacuzzi which is surrounded by the exercise area.

[luvabargain]

What rooms did you stay in? We have to get 2 rooms if we are taking 2 kids, right? For a family of 4?

 

We stayed in room 8276 - just one room for 4 of us. My husband and I slept in the beds that were pushed together to make one bed and my daughter slept on the couch sleeper and above her my son slept in the overhead bunk. It was plenty of room for all of us, although the bathroom does get a little tight. You can always use the spa showers and dressing room as well. We were originally going to get an interior or window room and have 2 connecting rooms, but we decided to splurge on a balcony, and we got a discount with each person staying in the balcony, but if we got 2 rooms it would have cost us full price making it too expensive.

[Ang4OU]

Great review! Thanks for the info!

[wallybone]

Does anyone know who the cruise director for the Freedom november 2nd. We when on the Freedom in march the cd was Jen, didn't really care for her.

[Bon Qui Qui]

We were on it in May and It was Jen.

[Jenniell]

Thank you so much! We leave on the Freedom in 2 days and I just can't wait.