MdSue's: Live from CARNIVAL FREEDOM, March 23-31, 2013, Review, Pictures, and more!!!

[MDSue]

Soon to come- the other side- a walk through town....

[Momma Mojito]

Beautuful!!!! I think I said it earlier but now I know I will put Curacao on list of places I have to visit!!!!. Good luck with your studies!!!

[MDSue]

Beautuful!!!! I think I said it earlier but now I know I will put Curacao on list of places I have to visit!!!!. Good luck with your studies!!!

 

Thanks! I'd much rather be writing (or reading) cruise reviews than doing homework:)

 

Fortunately, I don't have too much to do over the weekend.

[MDSue]

Another view of the walk-through to the other side

 

 

Across the river is the colorful buildings of "the Handelskade" district

 

 

There are two ways to get across the river- one is the floating pontoon "Queen Emma" bridge:

 

 

 

This bridge is pretty cool because it literally floats on pontoons and regularly opens and closes throughout the day in order to let boats and ships through the channel. When the bridge is going to open you'll hear a few short beeps and if you don't make your way off in a hurry, you'll be going for a ride on the bridge!

[MDSue]

If the bridge is open, they start running free ferries back and forth across the river:

 

 

Where you will find streets full of quaint shops:

 

 

One of my favorite jewelry designers is Marah Lago, who makes beautiful jewelry (with her namesake- Marahlago) out of the Caribbean gemstone called Larimar, which can only be found in the Dominican Republic. Her line is now featured in many stores in the Caribbean and we headed to a local jeweler on this street where we found the rings we were looking for. We didn't find what we wanted in Freeport, so we were both happy to find the pieces we wanted here:

 

 

We continued to wander and shop and admire the local architecture:

 

 

 

[MDSue]

All and all, I probably took over 300 pictures of Curacao and it's taking me forever to wittle the ones I want to post to a reasonable amount. I took both my good camera and my smaller digital with me for pictures.

 

It takes much longer to upload the good camera ones to Photobucket- so I'll try and finish the rest tomorrow.

 

The night pictures are awesome (for an amatuer, anyway), with the moon rising in the background and the reflections on the water.

 

See you tomorrow with lots more to come. I even found a few more interior ship shots that I'll save till the end of my island reviews.

 

Susan

[MDSue]

And here's a few more I thought I'd sneak in on my lunch break until I get get to my sunset and evening shots tonight:

 

 

 

My favorite camera shop in the Caribbean (Boolchands)- even though I admit to being partial to the St. Maarten location. I didn't deposit any dollars here, but I bought my entire DSLR outfit from their St. Maarten location a few years back

 

 

 

 

Sorry for the oversized occasional picture- Photobucket has made some recent changes to their web site and there seems to be no rhyme or reason to what size image will appear- i hate it when they are too small- or like some of these- so big you have to scroll to see the whole image and review. (and for the typos- no excuses- I just need to proofread before posting :))

[MDSue]

Can't remember which souvenir shop I took these pics in, but thought the decorations were cool

 

 

 

This building (below) was either the Maritime museum or right next door -my memory is fading, but the gate was locked so we didn't go in:

 

 

For something like $44 per person, you could take this train ride through town. For me personally, I'd rather walk and save the money, but for anyone wiith mobility issues, it might be a decent excursion. I'd say it was about a ten- fifteen minute walk altogether to get to the downtown area from the ship. I'm not sure exactly how far the train went.

 

[MDSue]

At the end of the main block, you came to another canal lined by boats, straw market booths, and a vibrant fruit market:

 

 

 

 

 

[MDSue]

I just went back to try and resize my pics so they don't take up so much screen space- hope it works!

 

The fruit market

 

 

 

Guess I have to finish up my work day- will come back after work and post more. i hope you aren't getting tired of Curacao pics- I took a lot! (but I promise I won't post them all!)

[hoss23]

Great job on the review and pictures. We are on the 8 day Freedom cruise on april 20, and have a question. You said you were in the Chic dining room, but I gathered you had assigned seating. We have anytime dining and were told it is in the Chic dining room. Could you tell me which level it is on. Not sure if the whole dining room is anytime, or if one level is atd and the other assigned. Thanks

[MDSue]

Great job on the review and pictures. We are on the 8 day Freedom cruise on april 20, and have a question. You said you were in the Chic dining room, but I gathered you had assigned seating. We have anytime dining and were told it is in the Chic dining room. Could you tell me which level it is on. Not sure if the whole dining room is anytime, or if one level is atd and the other assigned. Thanks

 

Thanks! We did have assigned late seating and we were on the second level of the Chic dining room (which I think was on the 4th floor). The Chic was located in the forward part of the ship near our rooms and the Posh dining room was located further aft.

 

I'm not really sure where the anytime diners were seated; possibly on the level below us. Now that you ask, I have to wonder myself, because I assumed that the people on the lower level were also late seating diners. The reason I thought that was because they had entertainment every night towards the end of each dinner that originated from the lower level. The people who were seated at table that overlooked the lower level could watch the entertainment, but our seat was against the wall and we couldn't see below. We kind of missed out on the entertainment by being upstairs where most of the wait-staff didn't participate.

 

I found a few more interior shots yesterday, but haven't had time to upload them yet. I have some pretty good shots of the Chic dining room that I will post this weekend.

 

Hopefully, someone else can chime in about the anytime dining.

 

Susan

[poptart]

And with a full moon at night:

 

 

 

Beautiful!!!!!

 

enjoying your review!!!

[meluvtogocruise]

Beautiful pics. Thanks for sharing.

 

Mel :)

[MDSue]

Beautiful!!!!!

 

enjoying your review!!!

 

Thanks! I have so many night shots, I'm not sure how to choose which to post!

[MDSue]

Beautiful pics. Thanks for sharing.

 

Mel :)

 

Thanks!!

[MDSue]

Beautiful pics. Thanks for sharing.

 

Mel :)

 

Thanks!!

[APDMOM]

For something like $44 per person, you could take this train ride through town. For me personally, I'd rather walk and save the money, but for anyone wiith mobility issues, it might be a decent excursion. I'd say it was about a ten- fifteen minute walk altogether to get to the downtown area from the ship. I'm not sure exactly how far the train went.

 

 

We were on the train :D I agree with you that this is an easy port to explore on your own. That is exactly what I am doing next time. The train tour did have very interesting history and facts about Willemstad. If that is your cup of tea, it is a fun tour, but definitely over-priced.

 

MDSue, I need some of your courage! I am still afraid to do independent excursions in new ports. I fear I will be like the guy we left behind in Freeport! :eek:

 

Thanks for all the picture memories!

[MDSue]

A few more of the pontoon bridge:

 

 

 

 

And I'm assuming some previous port protection cannons

 

 

And another cruise ship in port:

 

 

And an older ship sailing through town:

 

 

 

As evening approached, we headed back to the ship to drop off the goods we bought. We thought about hiring a taxi for a short tour before evening, but by time we headed back to where the tour operators were located, they were all gone for the day. That was fine, because I wanted to be in town to photogrpah the moon rise over the buildings.

 

We took a few twilights shots from the ship and headed back into town.

[MDSue]

One last one of daylight:

 

 

And a twilight from the ship:

 

 

 

 

And right at 7:15 pm, you can barely see the moon coming up over the buildings

 

 

And there it is:

 

[MDSue]

MDSue, I need some of your courage! I am still afraid to do independent excursions in new ports. I fear I will be like the guy we left behind in Freeport! :eek:

 

Thanks for all the picture memories!

 

Thanks!

 

My sister used to feel the same way about doing independent excursions. She was always afraid we would miss the ship. On an all day excursion in St. Lucia a few years ago, I noticed anti-freeze leaking out of the van we were riding in. The roads were all hills and mountains and I knew the van was going to overheat. I didn't want to panic the other people on the tour, but I quietly asked the tour guide if we were going to break down (which he assured me we'd be fine). He was definitely worried and kept making phone calls while he was driving us.

 

We finally made it to a small town where another driver picked us up and we finished the tour problem-free until we were a few minutes from port and hit a massive traffic jam. We barely made it to the ship in time!

 

We ended up loving that tour and I pretty much have faith that reputable private tour guides will make sure they get you back to port in time- their reputation depends on it. We do try to make sure we always get back to the port area with an hour or two to spare just to be safe.

 

I do love the excitement of making my own plans- especially searching the port of calls boards on CC for ideas. One of my roll call members mentioned she booked the Seavis tour, and I'm so glad I signed up. We had such a great time!

 

Susan

[MDSue]

 

 

 

[MDSue]

We crossed back over the bridge and actually took a short ride on it when it started to open up just as we were about to step off-

 

From this pic, we were standing just at the end of the bridge as it opened to let a tug boat through:

 

 

And we sat at this outdoor cafe to enjoy a nice pina colada and a great live band under this outside cafe/bar:

 

 

 

 

 

[spacepotatoes]

Love the Curacao pictures! It looks like such a vibrant port.

[MDSue]

Afterwards we walked around and took a few more shots:

 

 

 

 

 

Sidewalk art: