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Carnival Freedom - July 5 - 13th Review

tammi0916

By tammi0916,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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NCteacherlovescruising

NCteacherlovescruising

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Day 4 – St. Marteen

(I will post pictures separately as I cannot access my photo site from work)

 

 

Today we had booked a tour with Bernard’s tour. Beach and sightseeing. The cost for $45 per person and they pick you up at 930am at the port. We met DJ at the location outside of the pier. There was a group of 24 that were in our group. We were escorted to our bus and once settled on the bus, DJ went over the plan for the day. The first thing was that he has coolers stocked with soda and water and another one with beer and rum punch. We had a group on the bus that were partiers and were loud and drank non-stop. They were kinda annoying but they were in the back of the bus but still loud and annoying.

 

 

 

Again, he was very informative during out ride and on another note, he had to call to meet up with another driver to get more booze as the drinkers managed to drink the 2 large bottles of rum punch (and that stuff was strong!) and all the beer. Our options were Rose Maries where you could order lunch they had local favorites like goat, or Sarafina’s a French pastry shop that had sandwiches as well or you could go shopping at the open air market. I would have like a little more time here so we could have eaten and did a little shopping.

 

Everyone in my group except my hubby choose Sarafina’s (my mom is from France and I grew up over there – spending my summers there) so we were excited to get true French pastries. Well – this place was awful! First they were out of everything and it took so long that we had to get our sandwiches to go and eat them in the van. The sandwiches were nothing special and were definitely not French, just your basic sandwiches on a baguette. We then rushed back to the bus as we didn’t want to hold up the bus, hubby was already back and said that his meal of goat (yuck) was very good. It came with rice and beans – he was enjoying it!

 

Well others (drunk group) decided that they wanted to do both eat and shop so they went shopping then to eat and we all had to wait for them – DJ had to actually go find them.

 

.

 

We were also on that tour. Unfortunately we sat in the very back, behind the two rows of drunks. They seemed nice but were so loud we couldn't hear DJ so we missed out on a lot of the island information. It was very disappointing. The two girls with you must have been the ones sitting by the coolers. I think I briefly spoke to your mom on the bus. Was she eating a tart? If so, I noticed her eating it and mentioned that i had one and how good it was.

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tammi0916

tammi0916

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We were also on that tour. Unfortunately we sat in the very back, behind the two rows of drunks. They seemed nice but were so loud we couldn't hear DJ so we missed out on a lot of the island information. It was very disappointing. The two girls with you must have been the ones sitting by the coolers. I think I briefly spoke to your mom on the bus. Was she eating a tart? If so, I noticed her eating it and mentioned that i had one and how good it was.

 

 

Hi - yep that was us, we actually changed places with the girls so that they wouldnt have to pass out drinks. And yes that was my mom! We had a great time on the tour and really liked Bernards - just wish it had been a little quieter!

 

Tam

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tammi0916

tammi0916

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Day 5 - St. Kitts

We were looking forward to St. Kitts as this is a port we have not been to before; we docked at 7am and we were scheduled to meet Thenford Grey Tours at 9am. We got off the ship and headed to the meeting location and Thenford was there waiting for us. It was my group and another family of 4. We had chosen the sightseeing and beach tour. Thenford then walked us to the van that we would be using. Our guide greeted us and got us settled in the van. Calvyn was our guide and before we left; Thenford said that the boy in the other family was celebrating his 13th birthday so he wrote Happy Birthday Colton on the back of the van window and gave him some balloons. I thought that it was a really nice touch. This tour was from 9-2 and the cost was $25.00 per person.

ry%3D400

ry%3D400

It was really nice being in a small van and a small group. Calvyn started the tour with our drive to the Royal Palms Gardens. (there was a $2 pp charge to enter and Calvyn paid for all of us). This place was beautiful, the flowers and view were incredible! They had a large infinity pool, gardens, and a restaurant as well as a gift shop. Calvyn told us that you can buy day passes for $10 and spend the day there at the pool. He walked us around and talked about the gardens and the shop where they make gifts and trinkets with shells and drift wood.

ry%3D400

ry%3D400

ry%3D400

After this we headed back to the van to begin the drive to Cockelshell beach. St. Kitts is very hilly and has beautiful mountains. During the drive he would talk about everything you were seeing and we saw lots of Green monkeys along the roads or up in trees trying to get out of the sun.

I will stop here and say a couple of things about the monkeys as I have seen post about people not wanting to get off of the ship due to being attacked by monkeys – I never saw any monkey at the port area. We did see a guy in the shopping area walking around with a couple of monkeys dressed up. He would ask if you wanted to see the monkeys and we just said no. He never let them just jump on you or bothered you if you said no.

At our next stop at the top of a mountain; we stopped for pictures and there was a man set up there with a monkey. Calvyn warned us before getting out of the van that the man was aggressive and that he got pretty worked up if you did not tip him enough after taking pictures with the monkey – he said it was our choice if we wanted to go over and do that but he wanted us to be aware. We told the girls not to go over there that we would not be seeing the monkeys as I had no desire to do that and I felt really bad for the monkey. He never came over to us or bothered us. We took pictures (which were breathtaking) and they had a little concession stand that we both drinks and chips at then it was back on the van.

We got to the beach around 10:30 and Calvyn asked what time we wanted to leave. We all agreed on 1pm so we could get back and do some shopping at the port. It was a beautiful ride to Cockelshell beach – but it was really out there, it was not easy to get to. The beach was okay, small and pretty rocky but they had a bar and food. The water was great and there was a dock that you could swim out to. We rented chairs and umbrellas – they were 15.00 for 2 chairs and umbrella.

We had a great time hanging at the beach, Calvyn stayed at the beach bar waiting for us. We ordered food (which I thought was really pricey) and drinks and swam to the dock.

Calvyn showed us the monkeys that they had in cages there – they were found injured and rescued by the bar owner. He had 3 of them in cages and he never took them out.

There were lots of people selling goods and doing massages on the beach but we just said no thanks and they moved on. We did see a guy walking around with 3 monkeys dressed up and would let you take pictures for a price, the people sitting next to us did it and the monkey guy asked for $10 for you to take one picture with your camera. We said no thank you and he moved on to the next group.

We left on time and headed back to the port, it was about a 20 minute ride and again the landscape was beautiful! After being dropped off we did some shopping around the port and then headed back to the ship to clean up and grab a snack.

We pretty much kept to our usual routine, snack, and pool and then got cleaned up and spent some time in the Pub playing games. We then got dressed for dinner and after dinner we decided to go to the Comedy & Juggling show (Side show Bert) he was just ok. I didn’t think he was too spectacular but it wasn’t awful.

After juggling we watched a bit of Captain America on the big screen and then headed to the cabin.

Tomorrow we would be in San Juan……

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EOSapril11

EOSapril11

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My mom got them for the girls - based on things they like, Victoria had the Effiel Tower/Paris and Tabby had Marilyn Monroe. She got them on ebay.

 

The girls loved them!

 

Tam

 

Thank you for the reply!!!! Going to check ebay right now!!

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tammi0916

tammi0916

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Day 6 – San Juan

We had been to San Juan once before and did a zip lining excursion that took our entire day so we did not get to see any of the city; so this time we decided to take the free trolley to the forts and walk back down and enjoy the city.

We got off the ship around 8 am (we were in SJ from 7am – 2pm) and headed to the spot across the street that the internet said the trolley stopped. Well we waited (there was a large group waiting at the same spot) and waited and waited eventually all the other people left or walked…. It was hot and we did not have a lot of time is port so around 830 we decided to see about a taxi. First a van driver came up and offered us $20 per person for a 2 hour tour but we did not want the tour just a ride to the forts so we declined and then we saw a tent right outside the port and one of the guys came over (they were all wearing red shirts. This group manages the taxis. He asked where we wanted to go and we told him, he then told us it would be $12 total for all of us. We took it….I did ask him about the trolley and he said they run about every 30-40 minutes and sometimes they are already full so we must have missed the last one he also told us we were standing on the wrong corner for the trolley.

It was so worth it for the 12 bucks to be in the air condition van. I also really liked the taxi set up. The guy in the red shirt gave me a ticket with the price of the ride on it and told me to give it to the driver. I loved that there was no question about the price.

He took us to the top fort and we passed the trolley on the way and was really happy with our decision to take a cab as the trolley is open air and was standing room only….

We visited 2 forts and spent the day exploring them, it was very hot but we really enjoyed the forts and the history. We did catch the trolley from the first fort down to the second fort and it was crowded and hot! After the second fort we decided to walk back instead of wait for another trolley and we did not see any taxis available.

After the walk, we split up and mom, Tabby and Dave went shopping and Victoria and I decided to head back to the ship. Victoria gets migraines and wasn’t feeling well from the heat so we were trying to avoid one.

Got back to the ship and ordered room service and relaxed in the room while we waited. Room service was fairly quick and I love there BLT’s!

Once the others were on board we had a pretty low key night. We had the Gold party tonight, which was good, great drinks and apps although we didn’t really eat much as we were going to The Steak house tonight. We have been there on every cruise that has one but my parents had not been so we were treating them to a great night out!

Steak house was fabulous as usual, we all had a great dinner and service was exceptional! My parents really enjoyed it but said it was way too much food!

Dinner was long and enjoyable but we were all tired and passed on the shows and no family comedy act tonight was we decided to walk off some of the food and then head to the room.

Tomorrow would be a day at Grand Turk!

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tammi0916

tammi0916

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Day 7 – Grand Turk

Today was Grand Turk, we have been here a couple of times before and I really enjoy the pool and my husband loves the beach. Since we docked at 9am and a second ship was due to dock at 11am we decided to head to the pool for a while since we could get chairs by the pool and then in the afternoon we would head out to Jack’s shack at the beach and do some snorkeling.

ry%3D400

ry%3D400

We made it to the pool and set up by the flow rider and then the rain started, it poured for a good while and then started to clear up. We hung at the pool until 11am and then decided to go to the beach – we found a couple of chairs together and then were able to locate others and drag them over to our spot. We went snorkeling and the snorkeling was pretty good by the rope line. We were having a great time in that spot and since we had chairs we decided not to take the walk to Jack’s Shack (again we didn’t make it there – maybe next time) We were having a great time in the water and we were watching the folks on the tubes being pulled by boats and my mom decided that she really wanted to try it. So hey – I am game so me, my mom and the girls went to talk to the guys running it! We got a price and got in line for our turn – there were 2 other groups in front of us. Finally it was our turn, I was thinking that the ride didn’t seem too long (watching the others) but we got our life vests on and got on the tube! This was some of the best fun we had – it was a BLAST! So much fun…… by the time it was over I thought – hummm that was long enough. We got whipped around and bounced so high. Such a great time with my mom and the girls.

ry%3D400

ry%3D400

ry%3D400

ry%3D400

After the ride we went to find Dave (my dad has left to go back on the ship when we went to the beach) and decided we had had enough sun and were going to head back to the ship and grab a late lunch.

Back on the ship we ordered room service and Dave went to the buffet and brought back his lunch. We relaxed and hung out in the air conditioned room. We also watched folks getting back on the ship from our balcony.

This was the most excited part – one woman was carried on in a stretcher with ice packs all over her, heat exhaustion I guess. I hope that she is ok. The funnies was the woman who was wheeled up to the gangway and I thought she was injured, but turns out she was just too drunk to walk and she could barely walk the gangway to get back on the ship – too funny!

After getting cleaned up and dinner, we decided to go the family comedy show. Dan Chopin was the comedian and he was really funny, the best one we saw all week. We really enjoyed the show. After the show we decided to go to the late show in the theater. Heart and Soul, it was pretty good and we all enjoyed it.

By this time it was late and it had been a long 4 days with port stops so we decided to call it a night. Tomorrow would be our last day!

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