Recent Freedom of the Seas trip...new improved review

[LBumb]

great photos, loved your balcony

[haywardwis]

Great review!! What cabin # were you in? We have an aft balcony in March

[relaxatsea]

Thanks so much for your great review and photos!

[Mickeylee]

We were on the Freedom in December and love it, so I always enjoy looking at pictures of her. Thanks!

[clochette]

great pictures we will be on the freedom the 19 and I love seeing pictures right now.

[beej]

Thanx for the great pictures. Love the Freedom and love looking at her pictures

[deban42]

Love thi pics, Hoping to be on there in August. Would love to see more.

[pumpkin21]

Great pictures! Makes me so excited for our cruise in March.

 

Thanks for the chapel pictures - I shared them with my SIL who is getting married there in March!

[milhouse0506]

Heading on this same cruise in May, thanks for the pictures and review! Would love any insight into your excursions as I'm still undecided.

[joand452]

Great pictures! I really want to sail on Freedom some day.

 

Keep the pics coming!

[JustUs275]

Our pre-cruise say was at the Hampton Inn Cocoa Beach, snooze and cruise package that included room, breakfast [typical of 'free' breakfast at chain hotels] and shuttle from MCO to hotel, to pier the next day and then back to airport after the cruise...not a bad deal for around 200/for a couple.

sorry no pics...hotel was not right on the beach, but was a little hike through an alley to get there. Walked to Cocoa Beach pier [about 2 miles] and had a nice dinner at Atlantic Seafood...enjoyed the live music and had a nice moonlit walk back to the hotel on the beach [yes, we like to walk] , had a hard time finding the entrance gate to the 'alley' again so I wouldn't recommend going after dark without a flash light.

 

Enjoying your review - we are sailing on FOS on the 26th, can't wait! The pictures are great. Question about Hampton Inn - we have the same package as you had. Was the transportation ok - were they reasonably on time etc? And was the hotel itself and the room nice (mostly as in clean)? Thanks for taking the time to post your pictures and review!

[Sunebeach]

Glad to hear I wasn't boring everyone to death here...

so I'll continue...

I'm going on this cruise the end of April and I would love to see more of your pictures. If you did any excursions, I would love to hear about them too.

 

Yes, we did a few...we've always booked independently for excursions because we could find them so much cheaper through Island Marketing etc [don't know if Im allowed to mention them by name here?] but there wasn't much to choose from in Jamaica they all seemed to cut it close to getting back on the ship in time so we booked through RCI for that one...I'll include pics later...we did the zip line and kayaking trip to Rose Hall, didn't get to see the great house, but saw the orange grooves and sugar cane fields as we zipped along the canopy, nice tour....great people and they even sprung for free jerk chicken lunch afterwards, which did not come with the package...so nice perk. It was sooooo good and DH tried his first red stripe beer, I had a 'coke light" Jamaica's version of diet coke...

 

in Grand Caymen we did a wave runner/snorkel trip to sting ray city... that was awsome!!

 

and in Cozumel we did 'mini subs' or 'hydrobob's' combo helmet dive and underwater scooter...so james bond..

.and had a great time, the people were fabulous and one of our operators would go buy my DH XX's from the bar for his employee price...1.25 and didn't hike the price to us...the DH gave him a nice fat tip for the beer, considering the ship charges 5$ a bottle...

pictures to come...

[Mama24]

I'm really enjoying this! We were on FOS about six weeks ago, and I love seeing her again. It's making me go into acute cruise withdrawal. Too bad I have to wait til next year. :o

[Sunebeach]

Day three...Labadee Haiti...

Tip here is to stake your claim on the beach early...if you head to other beaches besides the obvious 'barefoot' beach, you WILL need water shoes as the sand ends at mid calf and then there are rocks... by 1100 it's pretty packed, but we met some really nice people from Georgia and had a nice visit with them...

 

 

we brought our own 4$ inflatable rafts and gave them away when we were done with them...12$ to rent them from RCI, no one stopped us or told us we couldn't so with a little lung power we enjoyed a nice float...

the Labadoozies looked really good but I am allergic to coconut and they had coconut in them...bummer...the bar prices were just as high on the island as on the ship since everything is catered off the ship...the BBQ lunch was nice, avoid the ribs...hardly any meat on them, mine were all bone...but it was 'free' so what should I care?

TIP #2- Dont' go to the shopping village until there is a nice crowd there, the sales people are too busy to really plague you then, we went early and barely dipped our toe in and headed back to our lounge chairs...waited til later...had a much nicer time...

[Sunebeach]

more Labadee photos...the view from the pier...

 

Dragons point...zip lines overhead...

 

Some 'ruins' that were roped off, but interesting...

 

Barefoot beach, has a great view of the ship for photo ops....

 

there are nice shaded trails for some great scenic shots...and there are several hammocks...beware they will flip you! learned the hard way...lol...

[Sunebeach]

The SUITE area cabanas...

 

 

 

the hammocks...

 

the BBQ line...sorry this is as close to 'food porn' as I got...maybe next time?

 

the cultural dance show...was pretty interesting..

[Sunebeach]

Day three....Jamaica Mon....

Our room steward was from Jamaica and taught us the proper way to say 'mon' haha...he was so funny and was always saying hello to us by name any time we passed him in the hall ways...NEVER had to ask twice for fresh ice in the room...after the first request, it was always there waiting for us as if he knew we'd set foot on board and he'd refill it and vanish...

 

arriving at the pier, and backing into the parking spot...glad I didn't have to do that!! the Voyager was our neighbor that day...

 

the 'welcoming committee'

 

and just off the port...extreme poverty of the area...

and this was one of the 'nicer parts' of town that we saw on our way to Rose Hall...

 

Our only glimpse of the 'great house' from the tour bus...

an 'outbuilding' of sorts...and the starting point for our zip line tour...

[Sunebeach]

The zip lines...

 

OUR tour group...

 

 

 

 

 

Then on to kayaking....

 

[Sunebeach]

they look more impressive in this shot...but they were like class one rapids...so pretty tame..

 

 

again our group after the kayaking...

 

I lost the CD of the pictures they took on the bus on the way back to the ship I was heart sick...I emailed them when I got back home, they took a great deal of effort to sort through all the groups they photographed that day and were able to find us and send us a link via email to download our photos...they never did find our disk. But we were able to get our pictures after all, I was impressed they saved them and that they were so great about helping us reclaim our vacation memories...fabulous staff!!

[Sunebeach]

Day Four...Grand Cayman Island...wave runner to stingray city and snorkeling at rum pointe...great fun!

 

 

Tendering off the ship was new to us...but went fairly quickly...

the princess ship near us used their own lifeboats..which seemed to take longer.

 

 

 

 

Getting our stingray "massage"...

[Sunebeach]

how clear the water is....and they swim right up to you and rub against your legs like a cat...they want squid...

 

 

 

the snorkeling..my first attempts...the water was a bit rough and I soon tired out, but I want to try again...in calmer waters next time...

 

 

 

didn't see many fish here, I guess they didn't like the rough water either...

[Sunebeach]

Cozumel....mini subs...so James Bond...

 

 

 

 

 

 

great beach area to hang out on before or after your 'tour'...and a snorkel area ...if I can find the pictures I'll post them..

[allthatjazz]

I have so enjoyed all of your pics! We'll be on the Freedom on March 4th, and just looking at these makes you excited! Thanks so much for taking the time out to post, great job:):):)

[Sunebeach]

some neighboring ships from the Norwegian line...

 

some scuba divers return...

 

nice buffet right next door,

 

and a wedding on the beach... I felt like I was crashing in my bathing suit... A little under dressed for the occasion.

 

[Sunebeach]

Love the pictures. Lovely ship! Am considering Freedom in October or November. Or Liberty same time frame. Question. What is Full Aft Balcony? Is this a Junior Suite? What's the category? It looks huge!!!!! We usually go for a JS on longer cruises but might not have to if this is the size of the regular balconies on Freedom class.

 

A D1 'Superior ocean view balcony"...room 1702... a full aft balcony is a room on the 'butt' end of the ship...not on the sides, like most balcony rooms...ours was extra large and just as nice as the junior suite down the hall from us, I actually liked our room better and it was cheaper...the 'regular' balconies are smaller, just room for a straight back chair or two and a tiny table, but this one had those along with the loungers..not much for sunbathing, but great for relaxing...

 

the view if you look straight down from our balcony, the balcony of the person under us, a family suite I believe...and not very private...we were directly under the windjammer so very private, no one looking over on to our deck unless they were right next door to us...

 

AND I'll add a fabulous view...great pictures of the ports as we were docking or setting sail...