Freedom of the Seas~May 4th~Third Week of Cruising: My Diary

[maxs mom]

Hello again, everyone!

 

Well....here we are on the Freedom again. This was the third week of our Spring cruising vacation. The first two weeks were spent on the Independence. If you missed that review.....here it is:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2046408&page=9

 

We are Jane and John from North Carolina. Both retired now...we have the opportunity to look for last minute deals and that's what happened for this cruise. We were already on the Indy April 20th and 26th.....then this cruise started lowering prices a couple of weeks before we left, so we added it on. It would be convenient as Port Canaveral would be on our way home from Fort Lauderdale.

 

We were up very early this morning on the Independence and were able to get off the ship at 7 o'clock. We took a taxi back to our hotel in Fort Lauderdale where we left our car for the two weeks. Thankfully it was still there and we repacked a little bit and hit the road for Port C. by 8.

 

We arrived on Merritt Island around 11:45 where we had reservations at Park and Cruise. They were so efficient there. We were unloaded and loaded on the shuttle and parked in no time!

 

We got over to the Freedom around 12:30. We didn't have to wait long before going through security and the check in process was very fast! We had our boarding picture made and on to the ship we go.......week 3 on the ocean!! Yay!!

 

 

Boarding at this time meant we only had to wait about 15 minutes before the cabins opened up. That gave me just enough time to make our Chops and My Time Dining reservations before walking to our cabin...an E1 or an E2...I forget which it was......right at the forward elevators.....7244.

 

 

It was a nice location if you have to be forward. We prefer a mid ship or aft location, but booking late...you can't be too choosy! We unpacked our carry ons and then went to the Windjammer for lunch. One nice thing about Freedom is the fact that D+ can eat their WJ lunch in Chops and get away from the madhouse in there. Very nice perk that we enjoy. They didn't do that on the Independence. It was very quiet in here and a great place to eat lunch. All drinks were available in here.

 

 

 

When we got back to our cabin, we met Renson, our cabin steward. He brought our luggage to us and we unpacked. We tried to take a nap because we were so tired from being up so early and from the travel, but there were just so many interruptions, we couldn't sleep.

 

Muster was at 4.

 

[Yorkvillain]

Alright! Love your reviews, looking forward to this.

[lady_cruiser]

I want to be just like you one day. Spend many, many weeks at a time cruising.

 

I already am enjoying your review and can't wait for more. In fact I just book-marked it.

[maxs mom]

We were supposed to sail at 4:30....but we didn't leave and we didn't leave. It was obvious that some work of some kind was going on involving divers and generators. I never did quite figure out what it was, but we didn't leave until after 6 o'clock. That's OK......we didn't have far to go. It was a beautiful sail away.

 

 

 

 

 

Here we go!

 

 

[maxs mom]

Thank you very much, Yorkvillain!

 

lady_cruiser......LOL!! Hopefully one day you can do this, too. It took me long enough!!

[maxs mom]

More from sail away:

 

 

 

 

Our friend, The Grandeur, was in port today!

 

 

[jerseygirlinsi]

I enjoy reading your reviews, and am thrilled to see that your already onto this third leg! Awesome

[LBumb]

great start

[cruiselife4me]

Great review so far! Going to check out your other one on Indy.

 

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[EbayCruiser]

Great review so far ... we've never cruised on Freedom but we have her booked for fall of 2015!

[cw2go]

Still here...still waiting to see those new Chops Menu desserts...:p

 

Patty

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your review and nice photo's, thanks for posting.

[Jessicalice]

Just was on FOS...loved it

[mj]

Great start and looking forward to reading the rest of your review. Will hopefully on the Freedom Oct 2015.

[maxs mom]

A neat thing about this cruise was that a fellow CC'er....Sherri Z.....was going to be on this sailing along with her husband, Chuck, and their cruise buddies Jack and Shelton. I had never met Sherri before, but we have chatted quite a lot on CC....mostly on my reviews.....and then we e-mailed each other a lot. We were going to meet them in the Concierge Lounge this evening.

 

We go to the CL around 6:45 and we sat with a couple from New Jersey. Soon Sherri came in and found us and we all sat together and had a great time. We have met so many nice cruising buddies through Cruise Critic and this was no exception.

 

 

This group of fun-loving folks was sitting close to us in the CL and on the way out, they wanted me to take their picture. We would see them a lot throughout the cruise and enjoyed talking to them.

 

 

We met the Concierge, Bertie. Bertie is usually the Diamond Concierge, but he was filling in for the regular one, who was on vacation. We met Bertie the last time we were on Freedom and he does a very nice job.

 

 

The Concierge Lounge closes at 8 on Freedom as opposed to 8:30 on all the other ships.....so I made our Chops reservations tonight for 8 o'clock. We were seated at a very nice table. They were rolling out the new menu here, so we got to see what that was like. Lots of talk about it on CC. Most people have condemned it before they have even tried it. (Just shaking my head!) I can tell you one thing......We had an excellent meal tonight. Yes....some things were missing that we liked, but other things were added that were just great.

 

I have always ordered the Chops Salad....and it was one of the things that was taken away. Instead they had a warm goat cheese salad. I ordered that. Oh my goodness.....this was absolutely superb!! I moaned the whole time was eating this. So good!

 

 

John ordered his usual French onion soup....still on the menu and he pronounced it wonderful.....not salty at all. I got the petit filet and it was great. Cooked perfectly. We usually order onion rings, but sadly, they are gone from the new menu. We split a baked potato instead.

 

We inquired about the Mud Pie, but got the saving money excuse and making it in house song and dance.....so we passed on the Mud Pie. (They really should call it something else....Jello Surprise or something.) We ordered the Red Velvet Cake and Berry Cheesecake for dessert. They were good....especially the cheesecake. We each ate a little of each with our coffee.

 

 

 

The manager and the chef came out and over to our table to get some feedback on the new menu. We were mostly positive about it and they were happy. So my advice is to give it a try. I was very happy with our experience.

[maxs mom]

Nice to hear from so many of you already!! Thanks for stopping by!

[maggieq]

Hi Jane,

 

Loving another review. The concierge lounge on our jewel cruise closed at 8 pm as well. Thought it was just this ship.

[maxs mom]

I love the first night at Chops and always look forward to it. We used our BOGO tonight and they offered for us to use the other one on another night. We opted to make reservations at Portofino on the last night of the cruise. I've really tired of the menu in the MDR on the last night, so I thought that this was a good idea.

 

 

On to the casino after dinner. John finally hit $150 on the Wheel of Fortune machine. I....on the other hand....could have come out a winner..... but stupidly kept on playing and lost everything.

 

On to bed! We were tired!

[Jax129]

Yay!! Love your reviews & was really looking forward to this one.

[maxs mom]

Hi Jane,

 

Loving another review. The concierge lounge on our jewel cruise closed at 8 pm as well. Thought it was just this ship.

 

Thanks for telling me that! We are on the Jewel in Nov/Dec. I hate to hear that the CL closes at 8 there, too. That's odd for being out of San Juan and the culture there is to eat later. Oh well......

[maxs mom]

Yay!! Love your reviews & was really looking forward to this one.

 

Thanks! I see you are on the Freedom next May! Good for you!

[thebooth]

Enjoying your review, I will be on the freedom on June 29th of this year and can't wait!

 

 

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[kruzerci]

I'm excited to have found the 3rd week review! Beyond jealous... But excited. We can't do more than 8 nights at this point, but i dream of bejng able to do some of these b2b2b when we retire. Until then, I'm living vicariously through these ;).

 

I can't imagine a better setup than B2B on Indy then Freedom on the way home.

[TexasGal]

Love your review. We are on theFOTS. June 29. First time on her and from everything I've read we are looking forward to the cruise.

[maxs mom]

Monday ~ May 5th ~ Coco Cay ~ (Oops.....At Sea)

 

I woke up around 7:30 this morning. We were supposed to be at Coco Cay by now, but we were still sailing! Turns out there was too much wind to tender in, so today would be a sea day. We weren't planning on getting off today anyway, BUT I was hoping to have the ship and pools to myself today! Oh well. Sea days are great. (We did get a refund of port taxes on our final bill.)

 

My morning routine starts with coffee in the CL and a little journal writing. Then we always eat breakfast in the MDR. On most ships there is dedicated area for D/D+/P members in the MDR, but not on this ship. That is such a disappointment, but we have been on this ship before and were prepared for that. So we ate breakfast with two very nice couples this morning. One couple were cruise veterans like us and the other couple were cruise virgins from Florida!!!! I know....hard to believe.

 

After breakfast we got our iPads, strolled the Promenade, and I bought a new lanyard for my sea pass card. For some reason, I am fascinated by the bridges on the Freedom Class ships!

 

 

I also love this little doggie on this ship:

 

 

We ended up in the Diamond Lounge for more coffee and I had a lot of journal writing to catch up on! We also did some reading. Sherri stopped by and we had a nice visit with her.

 

 

 

We went to the Windjammer for lunch around 1:15. What a zoo! Thank goodness we could eat in peace and quiet in Chops. I always get a salad and then have whatever is the carving of the day with that. Very tasty.

 

 

John got some frozen yogurt on the way back to the cabin. I spent some time this afternoon on our balcony with my iced tea, my journal, and a book to read. Fabulous!!!!! Grabbed a nap later on.

 

 

This is what it's all about for me!