Review of Freedom of the Seas - 3/17/13 (Western) - Of All Things "so nice"

Welcome fellow CC'ers to my first attempt at a trip report from our recent cruise on the Freedom of the Seas! If you at least crack a smile once or twice while reading my sometimes dry brand of humor, then I will consider this a task worth doing!

I have learned that a clever title for a review goes a long way. If you spend more than two minutes on the pool decks, you will understand the subtitle of my review. Coming in a close 2nd was "Tipping Our Way Through the Caribbean" :)

It may just be me, but a majority of the trip reports I could find for Caribbean cruises seemed to be Eastern Caribbean. This cruise was Western, so my goal is to detail our experiences in the four ports that we stopped at along the way (Labadee, Haiti - Falmouth, Jamaica, George Town, Grand Cayman - Cozumel, Mexico). Based on a lot of research (mainly here on CC) our port adventures ranged from a very small groups to RCI chartered tour busses. My hope is our experiences will help in other folks future planning...

I will also include some commentary of the events we did on the ship (shows, concerts, etc), and of course an account of our runaway victory in one of the trivia contests! I will also sprinkle in tidbits in regards to the other usual stuff around the ship.

A little background on us: We live a little south of Atlanta, and this was only our second cruise - our first one was a three nighter about three years ago on the Monarch, which for a few reasons (20+ foot swells, missing Coco Cay, etc) was not the best experience. Not to be a spoiler, but not that much time will pass until our next cruise! We had a wonderful time!

We were celebrating our 20th anniversary this trip, so our two kids (19 & 15) were invited to stay home this vacation. ;)

I thought it would be better overall to get the bad stuff over with first - that being the end of the vacation and back to normal life today, because as I sit here, all I can think of is my next vacation!:

Day 9 - aka "Back to the Grind" (not a typo, Day 1 will follow shortly)

The plus side of a Sunday to Sunday cruise is the need to only burn 5 vacation days. The down side is returning to work less than 24 hours after being on the ship. :mad:

Here is what I have been used to seeing every morning the last 7 days:

Here was what I saw this morning (along with 35 degree weather):

And my cube which was just how I left it:

I also learned that our employee cafeteria does not care that I have a SeaPass card with the Coke plan on it when I got a drink this morning. Some habits are heard to break!

Now that the Debbie Downer portion of the review is over with, I will head to the happy place in my mind and emerge later today with my Day 1 report!!

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Patiently waiting....

My husband and I are cruising on the Allure in October and will be at the same ports minus Grand Cayman. We haven't decided what to do at the other ports so I am looking forward to your review!!

Boy does that traffic look familiar (at least I didn't actually spot my car ;)). So sorry your cruise is over and you are back to the grind :eek: but we'll be heading south from Atlanta in less than two weeks to board the Freedom :D!

Can't wait for the rest of the review....

I have the feeling I am going to like this thread!!!!!

Awesome start

We love the Freedom.

Sea Ya

Can't wait to hear more....you crack me up about the cafeteria not caring if you have a Seapass card. Ain't it the truth??? I think that is one of the most traumatizing aspects of coming back from a cruise....you are back to fending for yourself. Bleh...

Cute title and amusing start! Can't wait to read more!

Looking forward to your review. We are doing the Western on the Freedom in October.

Hopefully you'll have seen loads more stuff on board than me.... shows etc.

Great, thanks! Hopefull it'll be done before we leave THIS SUNDAY! (Yes I meant to shout.)

Great start. We sail Freedom, Western route in September. Anxiously waiting for the review.

Ok, really looking forward to this. We are doing B2B's on Freedom next month!!

No really take me away from reality, PTF meeting & volunteer meetings tonight. It is cold, snowing and generally yuck. I do not want to go!!!:mad: whhaaaa! I want to dream about warm breezes!!! Glad you had a great time and can not wait to read the rest.:D

Thanks for the report!

Boy does that traffic look familiar (at least I didn't actually spot my car ;)). So sorry your cruise is over and you are back to the grind :eek: but we'll be heading south from Atlanta in less than two weeks to board the Freedom :D!

 

Can't wait for the rest of the review....

Good to know the ATL will be well represented!

Great, thanks! Hopefull it'll be done before we leave THIS SUNDAY! (Yes I meant to shout.)

I will try to get it all in before you head out!

Hopefully you'll have seen loads more stuff on board than me.... shows etc.

Maybe, but you scored my Holy Grail - the behind the scenes tour! I'm doing that one next time! :)

Our "Day 1" was actually Saturday the 16th, the day before embarkation. As an aside, I love the word embarkation - it makes me sound nautical. I'm also set with forward and aft. Still working on the difference between port and starboard. You would think it would be easy, as Wikipedia uses the Freedom as their example for starboard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_and_starboard).

Anyway, about 4-5 years ago, we bought into the Disney Vacation Club. We have had many wonderful vacations down at Disney & their resort on Hilton Head Island. It's also very convenient as a place to spend a night before heading to Port Canaveral, which is what we did this time. Just don't use DVC points as a way to pay for a Disney cruise - it's a heart stopper! :eek:

Saturday morning we said goodbye to everyone and headed south. It is about a 6-7 hour drive from our house (south of Atlanta) to WDW.

Tip: if you are driving to WDW via southbound on the FL Turnpike, utilize the new State Road 429 (toll road). The exit is about 5-10 miles north of the I-4 exit and saves at least 30 minutes from all of the traffic around the I-4 area near Universal. It is a dollar well spent!

Here is a picture of the "secret" Western Way back gate from the exit off of SR 429. It will put you between Coronado Springs and Blizzard Beach. Also notice the lack of traffic!

We booked a studio at the Animal Kingdom Lodge - Kidani Village. There are a couple of other DVC resorts I like better, but the savannah view rooms are really cool, so I can "tough it out" for a night. :-)

The only minor downside to a savannah view room is that they are real (not animatronic) wild animals and if you are on the porch and the wind shifts, a smell can drift by that is probably similar to Day 5 on the Carnival Triumph. Sorry (not really) for that Carnival shot, but the Carnival jokes were flying fast and loose all week among the passengers (and sometimes the crew).

Here are some photos of the animals that ventured past our room:

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After chilling on the back porch watching the animals eat, we decided to head over to Downtown Disney to one of our favorite places to eat that is both delicious as well as under $15 total for the both of us, Earl of Sandwich. After all, we need to get in some grazing practice of our own before cruising for a week!

It was a fun evening as Downtown was hopping with St. Patty Day activities going on all around. I also loved Lego's growing up, so I look for new creations they build outside of the Lego Store:

Some of the 7 dwarves:

Buzz & Woody:

But I digress as Disney was not the purpose of this trip (and this is CC not DisBoards). We returned to the room to find an omen of the trip to come - the first of many towel creations to be seen this week! :-)

Tomorrow, is embarkation day and we were ready!

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I share your sense of humor so I'm loving your review. I can't stand slapstick humor or "funny" sitcoms, but give me an old campy movie and I'll laugh myself onto the floor - much to my friends dismay!

Just wondering...my son has always been called "Fletch," which his friends shortened from our last name - Fletcher. Could this be the case with you too?;)

BTW - What a great experience it must have been to have "wild animals" wandering aroun in your view, despite the accompanying "aroma"!

I share your sense of humor so I'm loving your review. I can't stand slapstick humor or "funny" sitcoms, but give me an old campy movie and I'll laugh myself onto the floor - much to my friends dismay!

 

Just wondering...my son has always been called "Fletch," which his friends shortened from our last name - Fletcher. Could this be the case with you too?;)

 

BTW - What a great experience it must have been to have "wild animals" wandering aroun in your view, despite the accompanying "aroma"!

Nope, I'm not a Fletcher. My username is a combination of one of my favorite movies plus my birthday. My real name is Harry, but I didn't go to Hogwarts. :-)

Ah, that explains it! So, you're not a Ford man, huh?:D

... Still working on the difference between port and starboard.

Waiting anxiously for the rest of your review!

Port = left (both have 4 letters) that is the only way I could remember. :rolleyes:

Lovin your review so far and as a Disneyholic, I love seeing pics of my happy place!!! We are on Freedom less than 5 weeks from today! Looking forward to the rest of your report.

... Still working on the difference between port and starboard.

 

Port = left (both have 4 letters) that is the only way I could remember. :rolleyes:

My dad is a Navy man and that's how he taught me to remember also :)

Also anxiously awaiting the rest of the review, we are on the Freedom Western itinerary in three weeks!

... Still working on the difference between port and starboard.

 

Waiting anxiously for the rest of your review!

 

Port = left (both have 4 letters) that is the only way I could remember. :rolleyes:

Lol, you have NO IDEA :eek: how many people that you have probably just taught! :D Now, FINALLY, I can remember!