Freedom of the Seas 12/2 Semi Live, Maybe, Sort of, Kind of Trip Report

[43mpd902]

St. Thomas

Woke up to another wonderful day in the Caribbean. Had a little rain over night and coming into port but cleared up by the time we went into port. When we got to Windjammer a new town emerged. Was pretty cool.

 

Today was a make your own adventure day. And based on this trip so far, who knows what will happen. We had a 1030 Snuba Excursion scheduled at Coral World. Upon arriving in St. Thomas, we hopped a cab to go get our rental car for the day.

 

Today's rental- Avis near the Seaborn terminal at 3400 Veterans Dr. Despite our cab driver dropping us four blocks in the wrong direction, getting there was not to bad. Getting the car was a different story. Check in went really fast, getting the car went really slow. I reserved a Jeep for the day only to be told that the Jeep was not returned. So we were being upgraded in our reservation. Upgraded awesome. Maybe a nice SUV, a convertible. Or even a Mercedes. Nope a minivan. Upgraded to a minivan. I have driven minivans for almost 20 yrs. This was not an upgrade. But at least we were getting our car quickly. So I thought. Apparently the vehicle and the keys were at the airport and had to be delivered to us. 30 minutes later. We had our car. 

 

Up next was a twisting and turning journey on the wrong side of the road up and down mountains on very narrow streets. Needless to say there were lots of gasps and oh my gosh and slow down coming from the vehicle. But we made it safely with no accidents. And like any good traveler. I learned and brought a spare battery to charge my phone for GPS.

 

Once at Coral World, we met with our dive master Sonny. Not sure if that is his title but we are going to call him that. He advised the currents and the weather were not exactly conducive for Snuba today. He advised that they had another adventure we could take part in call Sea Trek. He advised you wore what looked like a divers helmet and simply took a walk along the sea floor. No swimming necessary. After some extreme hesitation from some in the group, we were a go. The only catch was the tour started at 11 am. Not a problem, we could do that. It gave use time to explore the park before our trek. So off the the aquariums and bird cage. For some reason the birds thought it would be a good idea to jump on me and then poop on me.

What a joy. So after shacking those little buggers off it was time to change for our trek along the sea floor. Unfortunately no pictures of that right now, but it was quite the experience. The Trek cost about $75 each and was worth it for the experience.

After the trek, we headed to do something more normal for us folks from Minnesota. Time to head to the beach and burn like a pot roast. And burn I did. Really bad idea to not use sunscreen. Spend sometime at Magens Bay Beach. Cost $22 for four of us and parking. Not to bad. Saw some fish, swam alittle, and met a really nice old guy from NY who liked to talk. Also just about dive bombed by some pelicans. What is with the birds on this island? After about 2 hrs at the beach it was off to Drakes Deat and Mountain Top Store. Got some great shots of the island and neighboring islands. Would have been nice to have more time but had a ship to catch. So off we went back down the twisting and turning roads back to Avis. Let me tell. GPS is nice, but someone needs to tell it to pick the neighborhoods you travel through better. Was a little iffy on some of the streets we traveled down. But again we made it no problem. Dropped off the car and made it to port with 1/2 hr to spare. 

Once we got back on the ship, it was time to show the stupid rock climbing wall who was boss. So took my Bro up with me and went for my second attempt on the wall. I dropped back one level and scaled that sucker like any good fat man- slow and steady. But in the end, I made it. So if I can do it anyone can do it.

After conquering the wall it was off to our last meal in the MDR. We said goodbye to our waitstaff one last time and had one last quality meal. I opted for the Coconut Shrimp and Turkey Dinner. I made sure Royston stopped bringing me the junior portions of the shrimp and gave me a portion fitting of a "rock climber."

Dinner was again delightful and I the only complaint was it was over.😢

We headed back to our room to pack and get ready for the Farewell show, Once upon a Time. The production was well done and ranked right up there for best production of the week. After the show, back to packing and to turn in for an early morning. Interestingly enough we seemed to have more room in our bags with less weight. Not sure the same can be said about me after this week. Oh well. New years is coming and I need a resolution. Off to bed and the most dreaded day of the vacation. THE END OF IT!

 

FAREWELL FREEDOM-

 

Woke this morning with what can only be described as a chest cold, the chills, and extreme sunburn. Going to be a fun ride home. We did the Self Assist departure. If you can, you must do this. We were off the ship in no time and off to get our rental car since our flight did not leave until 415 pm. As we left the pier by cab, the Freedom just go smaller and smaller. Almost shed a tear. Got to the airport by 830 and were on our way. Rented a car from Alamo and finally had a good experience at the car rental place.

 

Once we got the rental car, we were off the the forts in Old San Juan. After touring around Old San Juan trying to get to the forts, we finally made it.  The fort was much bigger the I expected and had plenty of steps to go up and down. Because it's not like I already get my steps in for the week. But exploring the area and the history was fun. So I put up with the steps.

After the fort we traveled past the Carnival Fascination and their pier. And then off to lunch. After search for a while we found a location establishment to eat call Olive Garden. Okay not local but food was good and plentiful. I headed our waitress my sea pass card and said one Pina Colada please.  She said no. I don't get it,  it worked all week.  Seriously though had a relaxing meal and then off to the airport for the 10 hr journey home.

 

Once at the airport, I found Southwest to be great again. I was already set for the extra seat and with the expectation of having sunscreen we forgot about in our carry on had no issues. 

 

Final thoughts:

 

First- THANK YOU to everyone who has followed. I hope I might have given you a little glimpse Into our vacation. But more importantly the wonderful ports we visited, the tour companies we traveled with, and RCCL Freedom of the Sea.

 

Second- We stayed in room 9308. I found the room to be more the accomadating for our needs. With the exception of limited outlets and a tiny bathroom which were really not problem, the condition of the room was good.

 

The overall condition if the ship was decent. I know it is slated to head to dry dock for a major upgrade soon and look forward to seeing it refurbished someday. The biggest area of issue was the elevators. Several buttons were missing, buttons did not work and I found one button hanging. Some of the lights did not work as well. But overall minor issues.

 

Pop machines- the chipped cup was nice but there were only 4 spots on the ship where you could get it. Two were in Windjammer and could not be accessed when closed. One by Sorrentos and one in the arcade. Most of the time the ones outside of Windjammer were missing drink choices. This was a little disappointing.

 

MDR service was fantastic.  Like I mentioned earlier if you have MTD request Dennis and tell him the fat guy for Minnesota says hi. You will not be disappointed with him and his staff.

 

Royal Caribbean as a whole was great. Having sailed on Carnival multiples, I found that Carnival is not even in the same league as RCCL.

 

Questions were raised about the rudeness and diversity of the passengers on the ship. I heard people grumble about the rudeness and diversity of the passengers and how it was awful.  Having lived in a predominantly Hispanic community before one needs to understand there are cultural differences between us all. I witness maybe two or three instances of what I would term inappropriate behavior. The incidents I witnessed were across the board on ethnicity, from a Hispanic female snapping her fingers at the waiter to a highly intoxicated white gentleman shoving his way into an already full elevator almost knocking a lady over. At the end of the day, I am and was on vacation and while their behavior was inappropriate it was only going to effect me if it allowed it too. Cruise ships are mini cities and like our own towns we live in, has people we do not like staying on them. If focus on you having a good vacation you will. If you focus on what others do, it might be a long week.

 

FINAL DRINK COUNT:

 

20 PINA COLADAS 

3 LAVA FLOWS

3 STRAWBERRY DAIQUIRIS

1 MANGO DAIQUIRI 

1 SHAKE

LOTS OF POP

7 OR 8 POWERADES- LOST COUNT

 

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2018 by 43mpd902

[skidawg79]

You stayed Very close to where I’m staying! We are in 9292 On our cruise in May! Thanks again for your posts, getting me excited for mine!

[JamesEM]

Enjoyed your reports and photos, thanks for taking the time to post your vacation experience.

[loug1601]

What a great review! Thank you so much for all of the photos and details!

[TysonsTraveler8]

Enjoyed your review-- am on the Freedom on 12/23 out of San Juan --cannot wait!  Nice pics!  

 

(live in DC area but consider myself a mid-westerner!)

 

[ronpes]

I would just like to say again thank you very much for taking the time and trouble in putting together what was a fantastic review / live report from your trip on Freedom. It was very enjoyable reading and was the first thing I looked up each morning when I got into work.

I totally agree with your final thoughts, and as we fly out I 10 days’ time to board her, we will keep this forefront in our mind.   Our focus is to chill and relax and not let anything spoil our vacation.

As they say   Life is too short.

Thanks again and safe travels home.

Ron.

[martyap]

We too just returned from the 12/2 Freedom and enjoyed our cruise. Our last three cruises have been on the Symphony 10/18; Allure 6/18 and Allure 4/17. The Freedom certainly lacks the additional food venues and top rate entertainment the Oasis class offers.....we missed Central Park, CP Cafe, Solarium Bistro and the more varied entertainment.

 

We always stay in Old San Juan and the Decanter Hotel was a good choice. The taxi to the Pan American Pier is a set fare as is the taxi from the airport............zone 1 to zone 4......$21 + $1 per bag.....airport adds $3.....

 

Embarkation was chaotic........they took our bags and they were all placed haphazardly on the sidewalks rather than placed immediately on the luggage trolleys........I guess they got to the stateroom around 4:30. Getting aboard was not so bad and we went to the Windjammer which was fine. Got to the cabins a little after 1:30. Muster was around 5:30

 

We took private tours in three of the four ports that included some touring and some beach and they were great......Irie in Curacao; Sonny Binns in Aruba and Thenford Grey in St. Kitts........if you don’t plan on shopping for t-shirts or diamonds....plan an excursion! They were all great and not that $$.

 

We had an 11:30 return flight SJU to JFK. Self assist debarkation was also disorganized.......huge line already when we got down to deck 4 at 6:45.......line started moving at 7:00 and despite the system used on the Freedom we were at SJU, through Agricultural Screening, checked bags, through security and at the gate by 8:05am. We do have TSA pre check so that did help. SJU is well organized but can get quite busy so we prefer getting there on the early side.....lots of food choices and duty free shopping as well.

 

Enjoy the Freedom......nice ship and  great ports.......and the service we encountered was excellent

 

Edited December 11, 2018 by martyap

[43mpd902]

As promised, here are the cruise compasses from our sailing along with the port shopping guides.

Freedom Cruise Compass 12-2-18.pdf

Freedom Port Shopping Guide.pdf

[43mpd902]

Sorry for it being upside down. I tried to fix it but it did not want to cooperate.

[Mycraft]

thank you!

Edited December 14, 2018 by Mycraft

[cruisequeen4ever]

Fun to read!