unc1acc

One question I do have is what time did you arrive to port and how long was check-in? I've heard the port of Charleston can be a little of a bear. Looking to get on as early as they'd let me after priority guests that is.

I'm leaving on the Fantasy for the first time on Feb. 6th. I'm looking forward to hearing more.

Can't wait to hear more, I will be on the Fantasy in less than 3 weeks!

Great! Thanks for your answers.

I know it's a random question but I'll be sailing on the Fantasy, February 6th and the Opening Ceremonies for the 2014 Winter Games will take place the following night.

Has anyone ever been onboard and know if they show or do anything special for the Olympics? The rarity (every two years) is not as common as say the Super Bowl, Final Four, so there might not be as many people that know the answer.

I sent a note to John Heald through his blog (which isn't updated) and haven't seen a response and I'm not surprised by that as I'm sure he receives tons of questions.

Thanks in advance! Excited about my first trip on the Fantasy. Living in NC, this is going to be very convenient.

Looks like she's aligned and officially docked now.

Anyone else think the way they are approaching and docking is strange. Looks like they tried to turn around and couldn’t. Not sure what they are doing now.

I thought the exact same thing.

We are returning for a medical. Should get update info later. Don't know if itinerary will change at this point.

Thoughts going out to that person and their family/friends.

yeah..not sure why that "funny face" thing showed up in my previous post. Obviously this isn't something that's funny. I guess it was because I used the standard abbreviation with colon for "regarding."

Hope no one was offended.

If it was something urgent I would think that the captain would have used Port Everglades or Miami since she was closer to those 2 ports. Lets hope its something minor.

Interesting. Never thought about that..being closer to Miami/Port Everglades.

Does it seem odd we haven't heard anything regarding possibilities of the turnaround? The Roll Call seemed pretty active even while onboard earlier today. Seems like they'd post something. Maybe they don't know either but I'd have to assume they were told when the land was on the OTHER side of the ship.

Maybe but she seems to be headed due west.

Yep, looks like she's following the track when she left PC and heading back to port.

The northeast turn for FOS is interesting. Do they usually make that wide of a turn coming back in to Port Canaveral?

I guess so..because here she comes..headed right to the port.

By now, they should have cell service back, correct?

All of this craziness is happening while I just posted day four of my before Thanksgiving FOS review. I didn't hear about last week's accidents until this thread. WOW!

I will say on my recent FOS cruise, we had one evacuation while docked in St. Thomas and then on a sea day, a request for O+ blood type as there was another medical emergency.

That seems very odd that two ships would have to return shortly after leaving. Looks like FOS is about parallel with Cocoa Beach now coming up.

Yeah, definitely a ship living now. Via Marine Traffic, that is Grandeur leaving and in channel.

However, According to the Port Canaveral Webcam Twitter:

PTZtv @PTZtv

#FreedomoftheSeas is returning to #PortCanaveral. http://PortCanaveralWebcam.com #rccl #RoyalCaribbean pic.twitter.com/uFkovUOzhz

Here is the link to marine traffic

http://www.marinetraffic.com

Just checked...any word on what has happened? Has the marine traffic website just not updated correctly?

unc1acc...has to be University of North Carolina 1 Atlantic Coast Conference... only someone from NC would know what those letters stand for!! Thank you for sharing your trip....

I am from Knightdale!! Taught at East Wake Middle School....

You are absolutely correct! :D I live in Raleigh (originally from Statesville) and graduated from Carolina.

Thank you so much for posting your reviews! I'l be sailing with RCCL for the first time on Freedom in January. Would it be possible to get copies of the cruise compasses? It looks like we'll be doing the same itinerary as you, but in reverse!

Sure, I'll be happy to get those posted. I'll scan tomorrow and try to post on here or you can send me a message and I will email directly.

Thanks - We were on FOS in February when my son was granted a wish from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Reading the post makes me remember the fun we had and can't wait for the 29th!

 

I do have one question, our past cruises have been more port intensive and this time we have an even 3 port days and 3 sea days. Do you have any tips for avoiding lineups at meal time etc.:cool:

We always tried to do meals at the Windjammer at 'off' times. So for example, we'd eat at 11:30a or wait till 1:30p or so for lunch. I'll say though, I never recall lines at Windjammer as long as when entering you stayed to the left. Haha. Seating, if you were looking for more than 4 people could be tough.

Obviously, on sea days, if you want a chair by the main pool (not kids area), you'll need to get there early. I had no problem finding a chair in other areas, including my relaxing spot at the back of the ship behind the flow rider. This was my first cruise that had the half sea days/half ports.

Great Review! Freedom is a great ship and I am going to have to go on her again one day!

As a fellow North Carolinian I know that was exciting to be able to watch that Panthers game. I would have been right out there with you! :cool:

Watching the Panthers on the high seas was really cool. Even better getting to see them WIN! There were a few other Panther fans out by the pool too.

Day Four: St. Thomas

Because we didn’t arrive until Noon to St. Thomas, this was one of the days that I was able to sleep in. After a 2miles on the walk/run track, I headed down to the windjammer for and to the omelet station. Had my egg white omelet, made-to-order. I was glad to see turkey sausage on the buffet each day too.

So before I left for the cruise, I spoke with some friends about things to do in St. Thomas. It was suggested I try to head over to St. John for the day. After looking around and weighing the prices, I went with the RCCL excursion to St. John. Because of the long (35 minutes) boat ride to St. John and the short stay at this port (6 hours), I wanted to make sure I was in RCCL hands so I wouldn’t be left.

We had to meet in the Arcadia with other tours who were heading to St. John or the Dolphin excursion. It was interesting that she said everyone on the Dolphin excursion needed to BE SURE to have their passports. Not sure if that meant that particular one is often late or what? Maybe someone here can help with that.

Any way, we were supposed to be one of the first off but they didn’t hold the line so there was some congestion getting off the boat. We met up with our group and headed to the Independent Sea boat that would take us to St. John for some snorkeling. We chose the St. John - National Park Cruise Shop/Explore excursion at $42 because we had snorkeling equipment.

After a breathtaking tour and info session on the boat, we made it to St. John. There were taxis waiting to take you wherever. We wanted to go to Trunk Bay. The drive and Trunk Bay was the most beautiful thing my eyes have seen. It was simply amazing and the pictures I posted here will not do it justice.

Once at Trunk Bay, we hung out on the beach and snorkeled. They have a snorkel trail you can follow. Just STAY OFF THE ROCKS or the lifeguards will yell at you. What’s interesting is that at 4pm (St. Thomas time), the lifeguard stands closes up shop. I’ll say that particular day out by the rocks the current was swirling and strong. If you weren’t a good swimmer, I would have recommended to not go that far out.

After some water time, we grabbed a taxi back to the harbor area, shopped some and since we were starving, we stopped by a small brew pub and had some soft pretzels. We jumped on the boat back to St. Thomas and was served free rum punch and pretty much all you wanted. It was dark by the time we reached the port and pretty close to 6pm so they dropped us off closer to the port.

I will say that length of time in St. Thomas was my only “complaint.” Maybe they should stop at Coco Cay on the way back? The 6-hours seemed really rushed, especially when doing the St. John excursion.

That night was PIEMENTO in the dining room. The headliner that evening was Drew Thomas in “Now You See It.” I thought it was a very good illusionist show. Still not sure how he did some of that stuff. A MUST SEE!

Tonight was also the Love & Marriage show. Very funny but I do have a question….are all the question faked or just the last one with the old people? OR is the whole thing legit? I have a debate going with a friend. Either way, it’s hilarious.

Another stop at Matt Yee’s, some casino time, some food/drinks on the Royal Promenade. Then, some nap time before St. Maarten.

Day Three: At Sea

I forgot to mention in my last post how cool it was to be able to sit pool side in the ocean and watch my Carolina Panthers beat the Patriots on Monday Night Football. Very cool. [/img]

We had a free lunch for four (only two of us) at Johnny Rockets. I had never been to one before but I’ll have to say that it was a pretty good burger, great onion rings and fries. I also had a strawberry sundae. Everything was great and the waiters even sang/danced to “Last Dance.” I’d have to say I would pay $4.95 for that mean in a heartbeat. [/img]

Dinner that night was the ****take menu which I enjoyed. I had a pumpkin seed and cheese roll. They finally had to stop asking and by middle of week just put one on my plate.

For entertainment that evening, we went to the late showing of Jeff Tracta. It was a singing, comedy and impressionist show. Apparently, he was on the Bold and the Beautiful in the early 90s. He had great impressions and the show had a little something for all ages. I did think the “Living Years” piece was a little of downer but other than that, the show was well done.

Later that night, we went to the Battle of the Sexes contest. They kept saying we’d be divided in the Studio B, but that didn’t happen. You sat wherever you wanted. The ladies won…shocker. Katie the activities director hosted and she was quite funny when some people started booing her judgement. Acknowledging that it was JUST A GAME and for fun.

Needless to say, this was the first crew out of my four that I didn’t wear the patch. I stuck with 1x/day Bonine and was completely fine.

We went to bed after I'm sure some pizza or sweet treat from the Royal Promenade and got ready for the next stop: St. Thomas.

Can't wait to hear more. Sailing on Dec 29th!!!! :D

You're going to love Freedom of the Seas! Let me know if you have any questions. I'll be happy to help as I'm sure others will as well.