My View: A Rainy Spring Break on Freedom of the Seas

[APDMOM]

Enjoying your " style " of review. Looking forward to more. :)

 

Thank you!

[APDMOM]

Day 2: A day at sea:

 

Good morning, from our balcony on our first sea day:

 

 

There she is again: Coral Princess

 

 

A bit grainy, but I love that the superzoom can catch the name:

 

 

 

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[seadog67]

Subscribed! Looking forward to more! Thanks for the great pictures and commentary!

[APDMOM]

I signed up for the Meet & Mingle, knowing that I would likely only stay a short while. Freedom of the Seas has the mean habit of scheduling the M&M right before Captain’s Corner. Those of you who know me by now, know very well that the ‘geek’ in me can not miss Captain’s Corner :)

 

Although over 80 people had signed up for the M&M, there were only about 30-40 people who showed up. That meant more of us had a chance to win one of the prizes. Now, DH hardly ever accompanies me to these meetings, but BAM! The one time he comes, he wins a nice watch and bracelet set - Christmas shopping done! Oh, wait, we don’t buy Christmas gifts (it’s a cruise budget thing), so I got to wear them right away - LOL!

 

 

TIP: If you do not have your meet and mingle invitation after the first night's turn down service, go ask at guest services. It seems Freedom is not that reliable in sending invitations.

 

TIP: Attend the M&M! I have gained some of the best tips and cruise websites from these conversations!

 

The Meet & Mingle was in Olive or Twist, and here are some samples of the prizes available, as presented by Jerry (activities manager) and Edgar (on the left… I must say, Edgar was one of the friendliest and kindest staff members I ever met. He worked at guest services too and he does his job very well, with sincere care):

 

 

 

 

We had such fun talking to fellow CC members that we were almost late for Captain’s Corner. We hightailed it down the stairs to Bull & Bear pub, where I enjoyed listening to the Q & A session. On the left is Captain Toni, the youngest captain in the fleet (with the best taste in music!):

 

 

The reason I say he has the best taste in music, is that he played awesome songs right before some of his announcements!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Ocean Boy]

 

 

. On the left is Captain Toni, the youngest captain in the fleet (with the best taste in music!):

 

The reason I say he has the best taste in music, is that he played awesome songs right before some of his announcements!

 

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It is cool how he plays music before his announcements. I always enjoy listening to Captains' announcements and the music at the beginning was how I always knew to actually pay attention.

[APDMOM]

The Ice Show:

 

They no longer hand out tickets for the ice show. Nor do they assign ice show times by muster station. So, it is first-come, first -served (except for a reserved area for golden seapasses).

 

The ice show is usually 4 times per week - two shows on one day, two shows on another. What surprised me, is that the second day the ice show was presented was on a port day. I don’t remember that ever being the case. It used to be on sea days when we cruised before.

 

TIP: Go to the ice show the first opportunity you get. Get there when the doors open - about 30 minutes before show time.

 

Here are some pictures of the show: (Every time I see this picture, my mind starts singing “It’s a beautiful day!!!” - if you don’t know what I am talking about, go see the show):

 

 

 

 

Every Ice show on Royal has a guest performer. This one was one of my favorite guest acts:

 

 

 

 

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[APDMOM]

The Pirates!

 

TIP: If you go to the ice show with young children, be sure to see an usher or crew member and ask them if your child can ride the pirate ship. They will show you to the special reserved seating, and your child will be able to ride on the pirate ship like this little guy:

 

 

 

This is one of my favorite scenes with the lighting tricks… worthy of two pictures :)

 

 

 

 

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[APDMOM]

As usual, the cruise director comes out at the end of the show to make a few announcements. Michele was quite funny, riding on the Zamboni and trying to get the driver to go faster. I think these facial expressions are pretty representative of his upbeat personality:

 

 

 

 

I thought Michele and Jerry did a great job. They were extra funny when they were baffled about jokes that have a language dependent punchline - since English is not their first language, they just did not always get the jokes we sent to the morning show. Their faces were priceless. :)

 

 

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[APDMOM]

The first day at sea means: "Formal Night!”

 

Well, we have enough threads about the ‘formal’ nature of the evening, so we’ll just say we really enjoyed the Caribbean style formal night :)

 

DS and DH:

 

 

I forgot to mention: We had My Time Dining, which was assigned to us in error. We usually choose early traditional dining. So, we made all our reservations for 5:30 or 5:45 p.m. We liked our waiters so much the first night, that we asked the seating hostess if we could sit there every night. It worked out great, as we were basically back to traditional dining. :) Our waiters were Samphan and Bharat. We ate on deck 4.

 

The captain introduced some of the staff members to us on the promenade. Here is Captain Toni:

 

 

“Smile and Wave!” (With a special wave for doctor Philip from South Africa)

 

 

 

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[APDMOM]

My view: The End of Our First Sea Day:

 

 

 

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[APDMOM]

Subscribed! Looking forward to more! Thanks for the great pictures and commentary!

 

Thanks for following!

[APDMOM]

It is cool how he plays music before his announcements. I always enjoy listening to Captains' announcements and the music at the beginning was how I always knew to actually pay attention.

 

Definitely! He is one of my favorite captains :)

[APDMOM]

Thanks to everyone who is following along! I will hopefully have time tonight to start posting about Labadee (our favorite memory of this cruise).

[George C]

Just love aft balconies, much bigger than balconies on GS, great review, also looking forward to meeting you at meet and mingle on Navigator in Nov

[lauraodonnell86]

Were you able to book that stateroom with only 2 guests?

 

Yes we were! When I called back to check on aft balconies on other decks, they said that deck 9 was the only one that you could book with 2 people. Some friends also booked a deck 9 after with just the 2 of them.

[Kissmya63]

Enjoying your review so far! We have a long wait before we're on Freedom! Love following along on the reviews!! ;)

[Kteacher]

Looking forward to the rest of your review! We have this cruise booked for next April [emoji41]

 

 

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[LuCruise]

Yah. Love your reviews. Great that you went on Freedom. Thanks for sharing your report, pictures and helpful tips.

 

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[paradise4me]

What an awesome thread! I just changed my balcony to 7708 for my December cruise. Thanks very much and can't wait to read more!

[Coolcruise02]

Great review and pics!

[APDMOM]

Just love aft balconies, much bigger than balconies on GS, great review, also looking forward to meeting you at meet and mingle on Navigator in Nov

 

Hi, George C! Thanks for stopping by! I look forward to November too! We are booked in a corner aft, of course :D See you "soon".

[APDMOM]

Enjoying your review so far! We have a long wait before we're on Freedom! Love following along on the reviews!! ;)

 

Glad to hear!

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review! We have this cruise booked for next April [emoji41]

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Well, if your CC name rings true to your occupation, you will thoroughly deserve a break by April! I work in the school system too and get it. ;)

[APDMOM]

Yah. Love your reviews. Great that you went on Freedom. Thanks for sharing your report, pictures and helpful tips.

 

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Thank you LuCruise! It is fun to see a familiar name post on my reviews. :)

 

What an awesome thread! I just changed my balcony to 7708 for my December cruise. Thanks very much and can't wait to read more!

 

Woot! Woot! You are in for a treat! I am glad you got to snatch it. Enjoy every moment...

[APDMOM]

Great review and pics!

 

Thanks, Coolcruise!

 

...and don't you mean you live in "Coldville, OH"? Tried it for 2 winters and moved right back to Florida!!! :D

[APDMOM]

Day 3: Labadee

 

Our view as we approached Labadee… look at all that rain! "Don’t worry, it’s the Caribbean. It will pass soon." (Yeah, right!)

 

 

This was our 23rd cruise and it was the rainiest of them all. We typically do not book active excursions, as we said, “We will do that when our son gets older.” Well, we suddenly realized that he has been ‘older’ for a while, and we can go on active excursions! There was a sale on excursions just before the cruise, so we booked the Labadee Kayaking for the two of us.

 

Upon arrival, the rain was still pouring down… but most of our balcony was dry! :D

 

 

Wait, am I seeing clear skies? (It lasted only a little while)

 

 

 

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