Free to Have Fun! Freedom of the Seas Dec 6th-Dec 13th 2015

[SunshineCruiser24]

Good morning! I am currently on the freedom, waiting to debark after 7 fabulous days! Now that all the fun is had its time to relive a little of the magic with a trip report.

 

First let me introduce the players.

 

My name is Trish, I'm 27 years old and I work as an EMT and dispatcher for a private ambulance company. I'm fairly excitable and impulsive, I am the energy of our little duo! I researched and planned everything and made both of our budgets and kept us on track prepaying things. I apologize in advance for messy hair. My bangs are in that weird spot of being grown out where they're no longer cute when left down but too long to pull back and stick up at odd angles under a headband.

 

My travel companion is my cousin and best friend Donald, but he goes by his middle name of Garrett. He's 24 years old and does non medical transport for my company. He is the voice of reason of the group. At least once a day he gave me an exasperated sigh and was all "Trish, you don't need to buy that. No. Put it down. Step away." And many times he will just look at me and go "No! Nooooo. No." Sort of like he's talking to a child who's about to stick a fork into a power outlet. He is my sidekick.

 

Making a very brief appearance is the most important woman in the world to me, my mother

 

Who graciously agreed to drive us to the port so we didn't have to waste $$ on overpriced port parking or deal with the mess of shuttles and offsite parking. In February you will be seeing more of her as she turns the big 6-0 and we celebrate in style on a cruise ship where she will not only experience her first ever cruise but her first actual vacation. I've been very hesitant to take her because she is disabled with mobility problems (which is why I live with her, I take care of her) but my research on CC has given me the confidence to book her.

 

So take it back with me to the wee hours of December 6th. I'm awake, staring at the ceiling. It's 3am and I'm boarding a cruise ship today and the anticipation won't allow me to sleep. I've planned this trip for over a year. I've worked my butt off for it (112 hours of work in the two weeks leading up to the cruise) and I'm dying to get on board. The hours tediously tick by.

 

Finally! At 630 I spring out of bed like a gymnast at the Olympics (there were flips, I swear, and I totally stuck the landing) and hop in the shower, pop in my contacts and eagerly get dressed. Then! It's time to wake my mom. I bound enthusiastically into her room and flop on the bed "Wake up wake up wake up!! It's time to go!"

 

I pace excitedly back and forth in the living room as she gets ready, too full of excited energy to sit down.

 

My bags are packed, my mothers ready, it's time to roll out! We swing by my grandmother's house to pick him up and spend a few minutes socializing and then head out for a pre-cruise breakfast at Keke's.

 

 

 

When our bellies are full, we head out!

 

 

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Edited December 13, 2015 by SunshineCruiser24

[SunshineCruiser24]

I hop in and drive to the port. We live in the sleepy little city of Casselberry, right outside of Orlando. This leaves us in perfect driving distances of things such as Universal Studios (I'm a pass holder) Disney (I haven't been since I was 12), Blue Springs (Manatees aka Majestic Sea Cows!) and of course... Port Canaveral. It takes us about an hour and 15 minutes to arrive to the port with both my mother and my sidekick complaining about how slow I drive. I side eye my mother with a reproachful look when she says she'll be doing 85 the whole way back

 

 

We made it to the port at 10am on the dot.

 

At the port we pull into the drop off area, unload our bags as my mom shuffles on over to the drivers side and takes off, I'm almost positive I heard the tires squeal and a yell of "WAHOO!" as she drove away. For the first time in my now six cruises a porter actually asked for a tip. I gave him a blank stare and flounced away. I don't tip people who ask for it, that's just rude. I say a silent prayer to the luggage gods, asking for my luggage to arrive safely in one piece and we get in line.

 

 

We've made it! Nothing can stop us now.

 

 

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Edited December 13, 2015 by SunshineCruiser24

[rtw68]

Looking forward to more! :-)

 

We go in April, first RCI cruise!

[SunshineCruiser24]

The line moves lightening fast and we get through security with little trouble. One of the security guys was a bit snippy but if I had to stare at the ship and not get on I'd be snippy too. We were directed into a line for Gold members which I found insanely funny considering we are the lowest loyalty tier but it happened to be the line with the least amount of people and we were checked in and taking our sea pass picture. This is the only picture they knowingly got of us through the entire cruise as I am expert at the "No thank you!" Photo dance.

 

Check in made me nervous, I booked the Police and EMS rate which requires proof to qualify. I had my work ID but as we are a smaller private company our IDs look like I could have made it myself with some photo editing software and a printer that prints on plastic. I would have brought my EMT license but my wallet was stolen some weeks prior and as I mostly dispatch replacing said license sort of slipped my mind until the night before. They did not ask me for proof, simply smiled, gave us our seapasses and waved us off.

 

This time I'm going to rock my Seapass with Hufflepuff pride and brought along my lanyard to tote it around in

 

 

My sidekick meant to bring along his Ravenclaw lanyard and forgot. He refused to buy one and stuck to toting his wallet around. Men's swim suits come with pockets so I guess that wasn't so bad. Check in was painless and everyone was mostly friendly. It was only a few minutes after we sat down were we called to embark. Maybe 20 minutes?

 

And we were off! Speed walking to the gangway all smiles and snapping pictures along the way.

 

 

 

 

Apparently that's a no no though and when we were told that it wasn't allowed we sheepishly put my camera away until......

 

 

We're on board! I've been dying to see one part of the ship in person...

 

 

 

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[SunshineCruiser24]

It was the promenade of dreams! Everything was just as I imagined it.

 

 

I wanted the cow butt cabin so bad! Sadly it was not to be... I'll see you again, Ben and Jerry cows!

 

 

The ship was nicely decorated for Christmas and even Hanukkah! They had a menorah and daily service at 5pm.

 

 

 

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[LuCruise]

Great report so far. I can almost feel your excitement when you say how you're seeing the promenade in person for the first time. :)

Looking forward to hearing more.

[Megan07]

Excited to read the rest!

[FunX5]

I an over the moon excited that you are posting this review! You and I emailed a few months back (and by few I think it was February lol) I can't wait to read more!!

[CanadaCathi]

Awesome! Loving the excitement and details, thanks!

[John&LaLa]

Great report so far. I can almost feel your excitement when you say how you're seeing the promenade in person for the first time. :)

Looking forward to hearing more.

 

Our first promenade was on Mariner. Laura was on two weeks ahead of me and I met up with her on the bridge. She said they announced I was boarding and to meet me on the promenade. Back to back wasn't as common back then

[SunshineCruiser24]

The first order of business was to explore the ship! We bounced off, weaving in an out of the venues that lined the promenade, it gave us a very "We're not in Kansas anymore." feel as it was unlike anything we've ever experienced on a ship before.

 

 

It took me a few days to realize why they referred to this as "The Morgan Car". D'oh!

 

 

 

 

I absolutely adored the promenade and it was the heartbeat of the ship. So many events took place here from dance parties to food service! After we were sufficiently dazzled by the promenade we moved on to the rest of the ship.

 

 

 

This area man... So sidekick and I have a blonde little munchkin who is our world. He is sidekick's nephew and my second cousin? I'm not sure how that works, but we are both his god parents and I consider myself an honorary aunt. That kid has us wrapped around his little finger and all we could say when we saw this place was "Man, Patrick would love this. I wish he was here." I mean that place looks awesome! What seven year old kid wouldn't love to frolic around here? (Let's face it, I'm 27 and would have been all over it had it been socially acceptable to elbow tiny humans out of the way to play on the splash park.)

 

 

 

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[Coralc]

Our first promenade was on Mariner. Laura was on two weeks ahead of me and I met up with her on the bridge. She said they announced I was boarding and to meet me on the promenade. Back to back wasn't as common back then

 

Oh! She's always sailed without you. I wondered about that. :)

[SunshineCruiser24]

 

I really liked the layout of the pool decks and was in love with the pool in the Solarium area. The steps into the pool were awesome, I dug the parrots and the fake palm trees but what was with the weird red chair?

 

 

Loved the two cantilevered hot tubs, the windows were a bit dirty but you still essentially got a really cool view as you lounged in the hot tub.

 

 

I really dig the solarium and feel like this adult area is leaps and bounds above Carnival's serenity deck and the placement is better thought out. A lot of carnival ships place their adult area by the kids club or sports area making it less serene and more noisy.

 

Previously I'd been on the enchantment and one think I did sort of miss was the park cafe.

 

Exploring worked up an appetite and we headed off to lunch. There was a woman stationed outside the windjammer during meal times to encourage you to wash your hands, she sang a song. "You put your left hand in you take your left hand out you put your left hand in and you rub it all about. You do the washy washy and you turn yourself around. That's what it's all about."

 

Upon arrival we were greeted by this really cool scene.

 

 

 

 

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[SunshineCruiser24]

I also found my new boyfriend. He doesn't talk much but he's very sweet (badumbssssh)

(Because he's a gingerbread elf.)

(Thank you thank you, I'll be here all week)

 

 

Don't judge our love, we're very happy together.

 

 

I apparently fail at taking pictures of every single meal on board. We ate almost exclusively in the windjammer and I have a hard time figuring out their menu inspiration. It was nearly the same all the time, a salad bar, burgers, some miscellaneous Asian dishes, meat and potatoes. Subtle things would change like the condiments for the salad bar (I was saddened by this. I don't consider a salad to be a salad without shredded cheese which I saw very rarely on the cruise. It was just sad hodgepodge of vegetables drowning to death in ranch) and some things would never change like the fact they served fried rice and miso soup with every meal.

 

Yes.

 

Every meal.

 

Even Breakfast. What? Who eats fried rice for breakfast? Sidekicks answer was "It's for the Asians!" To which he was promptly bonked on the head with a fork for being racist.

 

After lunch we had to have.... More lunch and headed down to Sorrento's pizza. Honestly this is where Carnival beats Royal. The pizza here was sad. It was cold cardboard smeared with sauce and left to die under lukewarm heat lamps. Elementary school lunch pizza was better BUT... We didn't get to be fluffy by being picky with our food and ate it several times (read: almost daily) through the cruise. It wasn't that I disliked it, I've just had better. On embarkation day it was a ghost town.

 

 

The best part about Sorrento's is it's open very late and made for good late night snacking. They also had various tasty desserts and sandwiches and pre made salads to serve though we never tried it.

 

The first dessert of the cruise was caramel crunch from Sorrento's. Mmmm tasty.

 

After we finished our second lunch we had some time to kill before going to our cabin and I, being myself, occupied my time by being a dork.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[JamesEM]

Following along, looking forward to more reports and photos.

[Clarea]

Excellent photos.:)

[John&LaLa]

Oh! She's always sailed without you. I wondered about that. :)

 

She has 6 weeks vacation, I have 2. :(

I did have 3 for a while, but changed jobs.

[CaribbeanCrush]

Great pictures!

[SunshineCruiser24]

It wasn't long before the clock struck 1pm and we rushed off to the elevators to find our room. We booked 8609, a promenade room. I was very excited about the window aspect because I've only ever had broom closetesque interiors.

 

Sidekick slid in his sea pass, the light flashed green and we threw open the door and...

 

 

 

Nooooooo. The beds were pushed together. It never fails, no matter how many times we mark that we need them separated on online check in, they're pushed together. This is super fixable but incredibly awkward.

 

We both looked at each other and shuddered at the sight. Nope. There goes both our plans for naps. There was a form left that could be check marked to have your steward separate the beds or leave things like extra pillows (which we would need) but there was one thing conspicuously absent from our cabin... A pen.

 

How can we fill the form out without a pen? Call the steward! I demand as Garrett flops on the couch. "No, you call him" he countered. "You're closer to the phone!" I cry as I skitter to the far corner of the cabin to examine the closet. He relents, picks up the phone and presses the button but it doesn't ring.

 

Sighing I resolve to go find a pen and flounce out of the room to leave Garrett to his lounging.

 

I was very pleased with the room itself. It was bigger than we've ever been in and the window seat became a favorite place to sit and watch the people mull around the promenade. Our cabin had a nice view of the cupcake shop which would tease and torment me endlessly.

 

 

 

 

There wasn't a ton of storage but it worked for us (mostly because I staked my claim on the shelves in the closet and the stack of tiny drawers under the TV before Garrett had a chance too and Garrett just shrugged and lived out of his suitcase for a week.)

 

Sidekick did find the beds a bit short but he's a jolly giant so his opinion isn't applicable to all.

 

All in all, I'd book the room again. It was comfortable and suited our needs, it was just steps away from the Internet cafe and I enjoyed the seating area and extra long vanity desk.

 

 

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[SunshineCruiser24]

I originally intended to go ask for a pen in guest services but unfortunately the line was excruciatingly long. I decided to walk the promenade and found a pen sitting unattended next to an unguarded sign up sheet for Internet packages or something. I shot a shift glance around as I neared, picked up the pen and pretended to consider whatever the paper was for. Pen still in hand I wander away and then made a beeline for a cabin with pilfered pen in hand. My intention was to simply borrow the pen and bring it back but I am sad to say that I am a thief and the pen never made it home.

 

We marked the paper and I flopped back on the bed and start fiddling with the remote. Our TV wouldn't access the interactive menu. "You broke it!" He accused as I shot him an annoyed look. "No i didn't. It was like this." "Broke it." "Shhh."

 

I decided I didn't really need to see the room service menu right that second and laid down with the intention of just relaxing for a minute and letting the fact that I'm on vacation sink in but next thing I know someone's speaking over the loud speaker to announce the impending muster drill. I sit up and look around, sidekick is nowhere to be seen. The jerk skipped out on me without telling!

 

Not pleased I groan as I roll out of bed and drag myself off to find my muster station.

 

I fall in line with the rest of the recruits---Errr cruisers-- and wait patiently for the drill to start. Sidekick appears and I shoot him a reproachful look he pretends not to see. The alarms sound and it makes me jump even though I'm expecting it and they go into the usual "Here's your life jacket and in case you have the IQ of drying paint here's how to use it. No you can't use small children as a floatation device" spiel.

 

And then we're dismissed and its cruise time!

 

 

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Edited December 14, 2015 by SunshineCruiser24

[KPfromCT]

Yay!!!! Another review!!!:D:D

Glad to see you were not with your EX:rolleyes: lol

Keep up the great work!

Cannot wait to see more.

Not sure if it's just me, but your pictures are ALL over the place.:eek:

 

Come back!

[LuCruise]

Love your sense of humor. Great review.

 

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[cathykb]

Very entertaining. What's next? Can't wait for more!

[SunshineCruiser24]

Are they? I'm posting my review from my phone, I'll have to check when I pop on to my computer and tweak the formatting.

 

Thanks for reading!!

 

 

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[vavasmom]

Great review. I usually cruise with either my daughter or my BFF - more than 1 steward has told me they don't get the bed preference info you put in.