Freedom 4/17 cruise in review with photos

[vermontcruisers]

Thanks Bob for your review.Glad to hear that Falmouth is coming along nicely.Grand Cayman is our favorite as well.We'll be doing the Stingray City excursion again.Looking forward to the rest of your review.

[Ander026]

Finally found some time to post today between work and baseball. The following couple of posts are my pics that I tooke during the day at Cozemel Mexico.

 

 

Here we are backing into the dock again. I like this because I usually get a room on the starboard (right) side of the ship. As you can see the Voyager is already docked.

 

 

A pic looking at both the Voyager and the Freedom.

 

 

As I was waiting for the tour to start I took this to show the size of the ships as they peer over the buildings

 

 

While playing golf we encounter many of these signs on the course. Basicaly meant if you went in the water, the ball is gone. Talk about another hazard on a golf course

 

 

My Dad teeing of on one of the par 3's. I have always enjoyed playing golf with my Dad.

 

 

 

Next up the 2 part of the pics where we will see more of the Freedom and Voyager and even a pic of another golf course.

[Verfai]

Great pictures, especially those of the ship(s)!

Disney also looks like a surprisingly mighty ship, I didn’t expect that.

 

I can only hope I can make such great pictures of Liberty OTS in 39 days :D.

 

Greets

[RaiderFaninNM]

Thanks for the review with the pictures! Love the pictures.....

 

We were real close to booking the Freedom this June BUT Allure was in the same price range so.................:rolleyes:

 

So Glad to see that Falmouth is not all that bad as some make it to be.

[Tinkers70]

Fabulous review....thanks for sharing. I'm loving it:D

[luv2zdworld]

Thanks for you review. You have some great pictures, specially the pictures of the shows. Where you able to sit close to stage all the time, or is there a place in the theater you recommend to get such a great view?

 

We will be sailing Freedom in 25 days. I wish time would pass very fast until our sail date, then it would slow down for the week we are on board. I am so excited!:D

[gpnfish]

Zin was the best waitress at the Bull and Bear!! She had told us that she was trying to get on the MOS but we did not find her. This review has me wanting to go right back right now!!

 

The Bull and Bear has always seemed like a great place with great music coming from there - but - it was always a big smoking "haven" as well and the smoke used to bellow out of there even to the seating outside the B&B. Has that changed? If it has I know where I will spend my evenings!

[daboyz1223]

 

H2O Zone for the kids

 

 

 

Due to the previous photograph being seen by my almost 3 year old daughter, i believe I will now need to book a cruise on this ship. I thank you....really i do thank you cause this ship looks awesome!

[Ander026]

Thanks for you review. You have some great pictures, specially the pictures of the shows. Where you able to sit close to stage all the time, or is there a place in the theater you recommend to get such a great view?

 

We will be sailing Freedom in 25 days. I wish time would pass very fast until our sail date, then it would slow down for the week we are on board. I am so excited!:D

 

Actually I didnt even sit in the lower level. My favorite spot is the first row of the balcony. More specifically I like to sit to the left side of the stage (1st section) right in the first row. That is where I get my pics from. In another post later on this year that I am planning I will have pics of the theater on the Monarch of the Seas.

 

I hope that this suggestion helps. Also the balcony level is never as busy as the lower level.

[Ander026]

The Bull and Bear has always seemed like a great place with great music coming from there - but - it was always a big smoking "haven" as well and the smoke used to bellow out of there even to the seating outside the B&B. Has that changed? If it has I know where I will spend my evenings!

 

I dont believe that they allowed smoking in the Bull and Bear. At least when I went there never saw anyone light up.

[Ander026]

Great pictures, especially those of the ship(s)!

Disney also looks like a surprisingly mighty ship, I didn’t expect that.

 

I can only hope I can make such great pictures of Liberty OTS in 39 days :D.

 

Greets

 

 

Thank you. I was supprised myself on how impressive the new how the new Disney ship looks. As far as my pics go thank you. I am very carefull of what type of pics that I take. I may not take many but I like to take a few less if the quality is good. After everyday I review the pics that I take. If I don't like the pic I will delete the pic.

 

I have infact tried to take a pic of a drink that I had at Olive and Twist and my sister looked at it and said that she could do better.

 

This photo is what my sister took

 

This is the photo of the same drink that I took with her advise

 

Well my sisters is the best. She has been in the graphics arts field for many years now.

[Ander026]

Well here is the 2nd set of pics from the Cozemel Mexico stop. Here in this set I will cover getting back on the ship along with other stuff to include a family golf round.

 

 

Here is a shot of the Freedom as I was making my way back. Here you can really see the size of the Freedom

 

 

A shot of both the Freedom and the Voyager

 

 

Another shot of the Voyager this time from my balcony

 

 

Here we are at the other golf course the Freedom Fairways. My Mom won the round.

 

 

Here is a shot of the 80's dance party in Studio B

 

 

Here is another shot of the 80's dance party

 

 

Well that is all for now. next up will be the last couple of posts as I will cover the last sea day and debarkation day.

[Ander026]

Well we are now entering the final full day of the cruise. This was a sea day. As usual I got up around 8am so I could grab some breakfast. Today I was going to relax and see some of the activities onboard the ship. I went and got breakfast around 9am and decided to sit poolside and catch the first part of Yogi Bear the movie, that I saw the last part earlier in the cruise.

 

After that i went to the Loyal Ambassador and set up my annual December Cruise and this time I will be sailing on the Navigator. I relaxed around the ship till I went to lunch and then poolside for the Belly Flop Contest. Well it was very well spectated and one thing I noticed is that they used the new video board for live shots of the Belly Flop. I was like watching a jumbo tron at a major sports areana. Great use so all guest can see the event.

 

I also went to the best surfer compitition at the flow rider and got some great shots of the event. We also had our last dinner in the MDR and it was fantastic as always. After that I went to the Farewell show. It was the basic same stuff as the last time that i was on the Freedom. Actually to tell you the truth I enjoyed the farewell show on the Monarch better.

 

Then it was back to the room to head to bed.

 

The next morning was Debarkation day. This was a sad day because in less than 24 hours I will have to be back to work. We chose to get off the ship during the 9am hour. This gave time to do final packing and enjoying the final meal without rushing. One thing that I noticed is that the debarkation procedure was very quick and painless. In fact this cruise was about the fastest I disembarked and got through customs.

 

Well during the process all of the video boards in the stairway showed the process of what was called and what was next to be called. Well about 830 I made my way back to my parents room as I have already cleared my room. I stopped by one of the boards in the stairwell and noticed our number called already. So we finished up and made our way off the ship. Whithin a half hour we were off the ship and awaited our transportation that would take us to the airport and me to my house.

 

Well now my overall vacation experience was fantastic as always. In fact I think that enjoyed this Freedom cruise than the last one. I also think that my Mom, Sister, and Nephew also enjoyed their cruise as well. I thought that everything was good in all of the areas. The cruise director was busier this cruise because he was hostintg most of the activities that the high seas rally MC was hosting the last cruise. His cruise staff did a great job in keeping everyone entertained.

 

I will be sailing the Freedom again. But first I will be sailing on the Navigator in December. I will probably be sailing the Monarch again this fall.

 

Next post I will post the pics of the last 2 days.

[Verfai]

Thank you. I was supprised myself on how impressive the new how the new Disney ship looks. As far as my pics go thank you. I am very carefull of what type of pics that I take. I may not take many but I like to take a few less if the quality is good. After everyday I review the pics that I take. If I don't like the pic I will delete the pic.

 

I have infact tried to take a pic of a drink that I had at Olive and Twist and my sister looked at it and said that she could do better.

 

[

Well my sisters is the best. She has been in the graphics arts field for many years now.

 

In low light it’s always a disaster to take a picture, unless you have massive artificial light sources and a great flash (an if you’re really a pro maybe a artificial focus card)...But then again to take a glass, the flash will just bounce back of the glass and there will always be blur due to shake.

 

Photography is one of my hobbies, I used to have an Olympus PEN, but do to the hassle to take this large camera everywhere with us, we went back to a smaller digital cam which fits in the purse of the misses :D , I know image loss, but at least now we have pictures of everything (we also have a full HD camera to make the story complete)

 

For the drink picture:

Was your macro, or super macro setting enabled? If yes you should look up the distance at macro mode from the object, it looks to me that you are a litle too close to the glass...(try focus on the glass border or the stick, you can also try to focus on something different nearby that is clear and hold the same distance from object, lock the focus and return to the glass)

Select the highest possible ISO setting, select a faster shutter speed to avoid the blur and camera shake

Hold your breath and try to stabilize the camera, take the picture...

 

;)You can also try to first empty the drink, order a dozen other ones, empty those to, and then your body might be ready to take a very stable picture :D :D :D lol.

 

Greets

[Ander026]

Well here are some of the pics of the last sea day

 

 

Here was our greeter during breakfast

 

 

Some Ice figures that were set up for the Freedom Fest

 

 

Grahm Seymor hosting the belly-flop

 

 

A shot of the crowd watching the belly flop. This was a great crowd.

 

 

Next up the last pics of the cruise. :(

[Ander026]

Well here is the last of the pics to post from my cruise

 

 

Well here is the best surfer compitition. The crowd was fantastic and it was hard to find a spot. I finally did and took this shot of one of the surfers

 

 

Here is another shot of the crowd watching the compitition.

 

 

As a castmember at Disney I had to take this shot of the Disney terminal at Port Canaveral. The Disney Cruise Line Buses (operated by Mears) ready to take guests to the Airport or Disney

 

 

Well the final pic of this review is here. This is a departing shot of the Freedom and the Disney Dream.

 

Till we cruise again.

 

 

Well I hope that everyone has enjoyed this review. This is the longest that I have ever posted here on Cruise Critic. I hope that I have helped those where were thinking of taking the Freedom of the Seas as a cruise. I will definatly plan on taking another Freedom cruise. Well the next planned cruise is Navigator in December. However I am hoping I can pick up a good price on the Monarch in September - November.

 

I will still be responding to questions and comments.

 

 

Well I leave you with this pic.

[Con5421]

Great review and nice pictures.

I will be on the freedom end of August, and i'm happy to see the Disney Dream agian. We have seen the ship when it was in germany at the Meyerwerff and in the Ems in the Netherlands.

 

This will be our first cruise on a RCCl ship, hope it will be as good as a Disney one.

I notice one thing that there a lot more people at the events then on a Disneycruise.

When i'm going on the cruise i will be happy that were going to cruise but a bit sad to see the Disney Magic. Because we want to go on that one, but this year the prices are to high.

 

Connie

[bionicman97]

Great review and great pics. I really enjoyed it and it brought back fond memories from when we traveled on the Freedom :)

[AeroBaldness]

 

Here is a shot of the 80's dance party in Studio B

 

 

I am just slightly ashamed to admit that is me playing Prince in your shot....

[nat9511]

Your pictures were fantastic. I am sailing on the Freedom in December and now I can't wait. Thanks for your review.

[Ander026]

I am just slightly ashamed to admit that is me playing Prince in your shot....

 

You did a fantastic job. How did it feel to perform infront of the growing crowd that was there? Hopefully you had a great time on your cruise.

[IB4cruise]

Great reveiw. Thanks for taking the time and effort to share. The photos were great!

[Gator0178]

NIce review! thanks for sharing the pics too! We were on the Freedom May 1 on the same Itenerary and had a blast!:D

[Sunebeach]

The DH and I will be sailing on her in November...loved the pics! Can't wait to see her for ourselves.

Thanks;)

[Texas Teen]

Thanks for the picture review! :D