My Freedom Review - Kinda "Live" but not really with lots of pics

[sayvan]

So as I was saying, we had finished up with the forts and decided it was time to visit some of the shops and roam the streets of Old San Juan. The streets of San Juan offer you some great views with a touch of history.

 

The streets are narrow and many are filled with cobblestone or brick.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Street Café and Bistros

 

[sayvan]

The streets also offered up some colourful buildings and a few pigeons as well...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sayvan]

oh yeah... I forgot about the pigeons...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[2 cruzen]

Your pictures from the forts are gorgeous....beautiful colors. Which fort did you find more enjoyable? El Morro gets more press but I read where San Cristobal was more informative.

[sayvan]

There really is a lot to see in Old San Juan...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sayvan]

 

 

 

 

 

[SenatorsFan]

You have some stunning pictures from San Juan. The colours are so vivid and I especially love the water views. :)

Heather

[sayvan]

Well we had walked what seemed to be miles... but it wasn't really... Old San Juan is actually a real easy city to get around in and you can walk around in just a few hours. After our walk, we were hot and thirsty... so as we headed back to the dock we made a stop in Senor Frogs...

 

 

A couple of lime shots were in order...

 

 

Vanda taking some pictures with her balloon hat...

 

 

 

 

 

After some fun and refreshment it was time to head back to the ship...relax, grab a bite to eat and get ready for our sailaway....that will be next!

[Momma1980]

Thank you for posting such a great review. I am subscribing so that I can see it in it's entirety.

 

We will be on the Freedom soon... Cannot wait! We are hoping it will have some upgrades by the time we sail. That would be a nice plus.

 

Your pictures are great. I see a snazzy DSLR in some of your pictures:). I take it that you are the primary photographer and I wonder if you would recommend a good "all purpose" indoor/outdoor lens for walking around taking shots of people and landscapes. I am a novice who recently purchased a Canon Rebel and want one lens that will serve multiple purposes so that I don't have to pack/carry more than one.

 

Please tell your wife that I am envious of her. She is in great shape. How often does she have to work out to stay so fit?! :)

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review- thanks again!

[sayvan]

Your pictures from the forts are gorgeous....beautiful colors. Which fort did you find more enjoyable? El Morro gets more press but I read where San Cristobal was more informative.

 

 

The two forts are very different and offer some different things. I would say on the day we were there that El Morro had larger crowds. Each offer different views and El Morro had more green space outside if you will which was nice but if I had to choose one over the other I thought that San Cristobal offered more of a historical perspective.

 

 

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[sayvan]

You have some stunning pictures from San Juan. The colours are so vivid and I especially love the water views. :)

 

Heather

 

 

Thanks for the kind comments and for following along.

 

 

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[Whimsy88]

What a great review and it's helping to tide me over and get me excited all in one! We have a similar itinerary on the Freedom in July - we have St. Kitts instead of St. Thomas. Your pictures of Grand Turk and the forts in San Juan are gorgeous. I can't wait!

[sayvan]

Thank you for posting such a great review. I am subscribing so that I can see it in it's entirety.

 

 

 

We will be on the Freedom soon... Cannot wait! We are hoping it will have some upgrades by the time we sail. That would be a nice plus.

 

 

 

Your pictures are great. I see a snazzy DSLR in some of your pictures:). I take it that you are the primary photographer and I wonder if you would recommend a good "all purpose" indoor/outdoor lens for walking around taking shots of people and landscapes. I am a novice who recently purchased a Canon Rebel and want one lens that will serve multiple purposes so that I don't have to pack/carry more than one.

 

 

 

Please tell your wife that I am envious of her. She is in great shape. How often does she have to work out to stay so fit?! :)

 

 

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review- thanks again!

 

 

Thank you very much..... I use a high end Nikon Camera and I usually carry two to three lenses with me. Now having said that, this time I decided to go a different route and only took one lens with me on a trial. For starters, I don't think the high or lower end DSLR camera makes a huge difference, especially if you don't plan on really large enlargements of your shots. I would encourage you to learn how to use the controls on your Rebel. I usually shoot in aperture priority or programme mode when on vacation. For some of my portrait type shots I will switch to manual.

 

Now getting to the question. If your looking for an all in one, good quality lens, I would recommend you get the Tamron 18-270mm lens. This is a perfect lens to capture some nice wide angle shots while still being able to zoom into the those great close up shots. This lenses comes in both a Nikon or Canon mount. Almost every shot in my review was taken with this lens.

 

 

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[cuzzx]

just getting into this cruise and it ended, wheres the rest ?

[sayvan]

just getting into this cruise and it ended, wheres the rest ?

 

one needs to be patient... more to come!

[sayvan]

After getting back on Freedom and heading up to the lido for a bite to eat it was getting close to the time for sailaway. I should say at this point, that during the first two stops of this trip we never experienced any line ups or a slow process for getting on and off the ship. Things went incredibly smooth and I can say of all the cruises I have been on this may have been the best as far as ease to get on and off the ship.

 

So after eating, freshening up and changing clothes we headed up to the outside deck for the sail away. It was hard to believe the we were about to complete our 3rd day of the cruise...almost the half way point.

 

The upper decks offered some great views again of the city skyline...both old and new.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A different angle...

 

[sayvan]

We then paused for a little "sex on the beach"... here is some drink porn for you...

 

 

Then the Sun began to slowly makes its way to the other side of the world....

 

 

 

 

 

I usually carry a small tripod with me and as the darkness slowly took over the sky I had wished I hadn't left it in my room. Sorry for the blur...

 

[sayvan]

By this time we were on our way out of port...

 

 

We then made our way down to deck 5 for a pre-dinner drink and to listen to the band in the cigar lounge Habana's. These guys were great.. one of the best cover bands I have ever heard. I will have a few shots of them later in the review.

 

After dinner and another nightcap we returned to our room to find this.

 

 

It was then time to lay our little heads on our pillow and wake up to St. Maarten, the first time we had ever been to this "particular harbour".

[JillGadget]

I might have missed you saying, but when I San Juan, did you book a tour from carnival or took cab or did a tour approach you? Great pics. I go on same cruise April 5th. Can't wait

 

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[sayvan]

We had never been in St. Maarten and on this cruise we would finally make it to this port that we have heard so much about. We had some trouble trying to decide what to do but since this was our first time to the Island we thought that we should probably do a full island tour. So that's what we did.

 

We booked the tour through Carnival and the name of the tour was St. Maarten Island Tour. The cost was $29.99 per person and for the most part reasonably priced. The tour would give us a good glimpse of the Island as it made its way around the full circle of the island taking you from the Dutch side over to the French side. So basically on this tour we would:

 

- See downtown Philipsburg, the capital of the Dutch side.

- View different homes and businesses as we travelled along Perimeter Road towards lookout point.

- We then crossed the Dutch / French border towards the capital of the French side of the island, Marigot.

-Spent time shopping or strolling along the main street of this busy and popular little town.

-we drove past the resort areas, featuring many luxury hotels and resorts.

-and then returned back to the Dutch side of the island where we were dropped off before getting to the port (if you wanted) to head to the beach area. The whole tour was around 3 hours.

 

Here are some shots I took from the tour. Some of these shots were taken through the bus window so they have a bit of a polarizer effect on them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We experiences some great views on this tour...

 

[sayvan]

I might have missed you saying, but when I San Juan, did you book a tour from carnival or took cab or did a tour approach you? Great pics. I go on same cruise April 5th. Can't wait

 

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We didn't take a tour... we just got off the ship and walked around the old city... As long as you do not have mobility issues it is fairly easy. They are many spots to stop and refresh as well.

 

We didn't have any problem with people trying to sell us tours. There are some people right around the entrance to the dock area but not so bad!

[sayvan]

 

 

 

 

 

[sayvan]

As we moved toward the French side of the Island the views were simply spectacular.

 

 

 

 

and then we reached the border....

 

 

The French side seemed to be a lot more busy than the Dutch side on this day...and windy

 

 

[sayvan]

We then made our way into Marigot and had about 45 minutes to walk around and explore a bit.

 

 

a painting on the wall gives some historical perspective...

 

 

French flag...

 

 

 

 

[Lulu01]

Amazing views ,enjoying your review & pics immensely

 

 

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