Freedom Review: 10/28/12 by FunInTheSun1964

[funinthesun1964]

We then went outside to have a look around the deck. Also in port was Allure of the Seas

 

 

and Ruby Princess (this was the one delayed departure by one day due to Norovirus and disinfecting the ship)

 

 

The deck was still fairly empty. Notice the server in the below picture, this was my favorite server, I Made. I didn't even know I had this picture of him! I hadn't met him yet, in fact not until the next day.

 

 

[DarB58]

We love the Freedom and the 6 day cruise. We've done it 3 times already and ready for a forth!

 

Wow that encourages me... we haven't booked yet but I'm thinking it won't be long!

[jobell]

Welcome back! Great review so far and look forward to reading more. :)

[SMSACE6]

Im enjoying your review! I had an awesome cruise on Freedom two years ago! Looking forward to more of your review, and thanks for sharing!:)

[2bthereagain]

Looking forward to seeing more!

[funinthesun1964]

Welcome back! Great review so far and look forward to reading more. :)

 

Thanks, jobell. Hope I won't disappoint!

[funinthesun1964]

Looking forward to seeing more!

 

Thanks, hope you enjoy the review.

[funinthesun1964]

More photos from our wandering around:

 

 

 

 

 

[funinthesun1964]

The must-have photo:

 

 

Back inside, promenade deck

 

 

As I said before, we had anytime dining in the Chic dining room. So we went to find it and I took these photos:

 

 

[tulipcityfamily]

 

 

We were signed up for zero excursions when we left. We signed up for two on the ship: The plantation tour in Jamaica, and then the Everglades Tour for Fort Lauderdale (as our flight home did not leave until 3pm). We enjoyed both of these.

 

 

Did they have other excursions for individuals that have a late return flight home? We did the Everglades tour 3 years ago, and although we had a great time, I'd like to do something different. Our plane doesn't leave until 5pm.

[luverly]

yay! It was nice meeting you two on the cruise . We had an amazing time! I hope to get my review started sometime this week. :)

 

Kristen and Dave

[funinthesun1964]

Did they have other excursions for individuals that have a late return flight home? We did the Everglades tour 3 years ago, and although we had a great time, I'd like to do something different. Our plane doesn't leave until 5pm.

 

I am sorry, but I don't know for sure. I didn't notice anything else, but the Everglades tour was heavily promoted and we had never done it, so we jumped on it. We wanted to do something, since our flight didn't leave until 3.

 

Over on the departures board, there may be information for you regarding things to do; I've heard that some people go to the beach for the day; one person was checking into getting a hotel for a day rate - you could check into these options.

 

Whatever you choose, have a great time!

[funinthesun1964]

yay! It was nice meeting you two on the cruise . We had an amazing time! I hope to get my review started sometime this week. :)

 

Kristen and Dave

 

Hi Kristen! Tell Dave we said hello! We had a great time too. We enjoyed talking with you at the meet and greet and seeing you other places on the ship. I will anxiously wait for your review!

 

How's charlotte? We came home to 38 degrees :eek:

[funinthesun1964]

By this time, it was 1:30 and time to go check out the cabin! I was really looking forward to this cruise because of the location. I had picked #2470, an aft corner ocean view. On our first cruise, we had met in someone's cabin in the same spot (different ship) for wine and could not believe the size! For the same price as a regular ocean view on the Main Deck, Aft section, we had TWO windows, and a spacious area! We both loved it. I took photos, even though others have already posted some of this room in the past:

 

 

DH checking in with family before we set sail

[funinthesun1964]

DH is a chatterbox LOL

 

 

Bathroom is the same size as others:

 

 

 

Bathroom door on left, closet door on right. There were two other closets opposite side, one had only shelves, the other had hangars/shelves. The closet shown here had hangars and shelves.

 

 

Standing beside the closet and looking towards the door of the cabin

 

 

There is some vibration and noises in the morning when docking. You can hear noises when ship is turning, anchoring, etc. We are early morning risers and the noises did not bother us. I will definitely be booking one of these cabins again in the future.

[funinthesun1964]

By this time, we received one of our bags so we quickly unpacked. We knocked it out in no time. We checked the time and it was getting close to 2:00, the time we were to meet our roll call dude, Mike, to get our name tags for the roll call meet & greet. We were to meet him on Promenade Deck, across from sushi bar, near the 70's disco.

 

On the way there, I took some more photos from around the ship:

 

 

DJ in atrium, no band :eek: (lol was expecting this though)

 

 

Everyone having a great time already:

 

 

 

We met up with Mike and others from our roll call at the designated location. It was nice meeting others. We received our name tags, chatted a bit, and we would all see each other again at 5 in the disco for our party.

[funinthesun1964]

Out and about to enjoy until 3:30, which is muster drill time!

 

 

OF COURSE, DH gets his ice cream :) I told him to pose by this statue and the thought it was a little weird. I told him to stand there and be quiet :p

 

[funinthesun1964]

Mike: I made good use of my name tag even before the actual party

 

 

a bit windy which totally messes up my do: (lol, kidding, who cares?)

 

 

I think I may have unknowingly got another shot of I Made in the lower right of the next photo :p

 

 

 

[funinthesun1964]

We made our way to muster just before 3:30 and really, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Everyone pretty much showed up on time and it seemed to have been shortened just a bit from the previous drills. We were anxious to leave the drill, so as to make it up to Lido deck for sail away. Made it just in time!!! YAY! Party in full swing, music from DJ and all!

 

Could not help but capture these photos, some beautiful homes and scenery as we sailed away.

 

[funinthesun1964]

 

[funinthesun1964]

Everyone was in a festive mood, of course. I did the Cupid Shuffle. Glad DH didn't get any photos of that :o

 

OK, so at 5:00 we headed to the 70s disco club for our meet and greet. we had paid in advance for a one hour open bar. We had quite a few people (thinking maybe 30 something?)

 

They had waiters with drinks on trays, kind of like the old past guest parties, where they were pre-made. We were told we could get any drink, but in the beginning I only saw one server and she had the pre-made drinks, passing those out. Finally, after about ten minutes, I settled on one of those pre-made blue margaritas and DH chose a screwdriver. Then another server or two showed up and I ordered a regular margarita, and DH ordered mudslides. They would make you what you wanted, but you just had to be patient and wait for a server. Also, when they brought the drinks, they were not full size, but in the smaller-size glasses. No worries, though, we had our fill of drinks in that hour! :D

 

We sat at a table with some nice folks, Kristen and Dave. It was a good time. Someone took a group photo, and I'm not sure whose camera it was. I wish that I had taken more pics, but I was having too much fun. However, I did get one of Mike:

 

[funinthesun1964]

After the meet and greet, we decided to go to our anytime dining in the chic dining room. We had never tried this, but I can tell you that we loved it. We arrived and were greeted, showed our s&s card, asked if we wanted to sit with others, and were promptly showed to a table. Here we met Floyd and Diane from Colorado. We ran into them several times on the ship and went to karaoke with them.

 

The dining room service was good, the one thing I do miss is getting to know our servers, we had different ones every night. The food was good, not great, just good. I do not have photos of the food, sorry. DH had flat iron steak and I had pasta. I had one of the diet cakes for dessert and DH had WCMC. Service was excellent on this night.

 

I do not have any other photos from the rest of the day, ms. photographer's finger was tired of pressing the button. No, really, I just wanted to enjoy the rest of the night.

 

We went to the casino and donated a little money to some slot machines. We also went to the piano bar for a little while. I am not sure of the entertainer's name here but he was not particularly attracting a large crowd of people. After about 15 minutes, we left.

 

We walked around to see if anything exciting was going on, and no, it wasn't. We went to Lido deck and split a calzone. We decided to call it a night around 11. We were so tired. Old people, we are. :o

[RWolver672]

We made our way to muster just before 3:30 and really, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.

 

We'll be on her Feb 23rd. Really enjoying your review. Out of curosity, is the muster drill held by the lifeboats or inside the ship in lounges? On the Dream it was inside and you couldn't hear anything because of the people all talking around you during the drill.

[funinthesun1964]

We'll be on her Feb 23rd. Really enjoying your review. Out of curosity, is the muster drill held by the lifeboats or inside the ship in lounges? On the Dream it was inside and you couldn't hear anything because of the people all talking around you during the drill.

 

Thanks, the drill was held by the lifeboats. At least our group was. I think they all are now. I remember a couple of years ago, we were set up to meet at various lounge areas on the ship.

 

Have a great time! We will be on Liberty on Feb. 23!!

[RWolver672]

You have a great time too! Ten more days and we'll be down to two digits!