Cheapo dad's trip report on Freedom of the Seas

[fletch1027]

Yeah, I think that’s because people are trained to be on the right hand side – at least the US crowd is that way so they turn to the right when entering WJ. Like running the track and field or horse racing, they are used to circling from the right to the left in the counter clockwise direction when entering a circular area. So if you go the other way, you will have less traffic.

 

Anyone has any experience for theater crowd? Do people typically turn right by default such that the right side of the theater has more people at first?

 

With the exception of NASCAR - all left turns... :)

 

Regarding the theater, we usually go left cause it's our go to move, but when we are on Freedom next month I will pay attention to see how it fills in and report back my highly scientific findings. Sounds like a post if I do another trip report, but after three Freedom trip reports, I don't know what else to talk about! :D

[harryfat1]

With the exception of NASCAR - all left turns... :)

 

Regarding the theater, we usually go left cause it's our go to move, but when we are on Freedom next month I will pay attention to see how it fills in and report back my highly scientific findings. Sounds like a post if I do another trip report, but after three Freedom trip reports, I don't know what else to talk about! :D

 

In theory every cruise vacation is a standalone event so you can report whatever you like, be it repeat or not.

 

With the switch to the revised MDR dinner menu, you can talk about that as well. I have found there are fewer and fewer people at MDR for dinner nowadays. Think people are going either WJ or specialty more. You can observe the crowd level on your cruise and give some thoughts on that as well.

 

We talked about your itinerary in going to San Juan and St. Kitts. Both ports are places that we may be going this December so I will be very interested in what you do while in port.

 

With Freedom going to Europe in the summer, there are many overseas readers interested in the latest and greatest Freedom news and photos such that after reading this trip report, they will jump over to read your trip report when you get back.

 

Finally whoever has any questions on the Freedom, please feel free to ask Fletch the next 27 days before he sails. I’m perfectly fine if you use this thread to ask him any Freedom related questions. Or ask him any questions for that matter, doesn’t even have to be cruise related. The dude is a Star Wars/Disney/photography/Cruise/trivia expert. He will answer anything…

[joand452]

...Perfect analogy is your company’s payroll department. Nobody ever thank the payroll department if their paycheck is done right. But, YOU KNOW for sure if anyone’s paycheck is even off by a dollar, there will be a long line of people to pound on the payroll folks for an explanation why the paycheck isn’t right. Perfect thankless job. So after you read this, go thank your payroll department at work next time you get paid and your paycheck is correct....

 

As it happens, my husband is the payroll manager for a multi-national company. I read this to him, and he said that there are people who will come thank him (his department is only him and one other person) for the paycheck. I won't tell you what he said about the people who don't thank him. ;)

 

We love Cozumel. Since we've been there many times, we've started trying different beaches. We've been to Nachi Cocum (nice but we don't drink enough to make it worthwhile); Chankanaab Park (nice, but we didn't know there was a beach there); and Paradise Beach -- we loved it! Only $3.00/person to get in, which included two lounge chairs and palapa...and use of all the giant water inflatables. They just want you to spend $10/person on food/drink. Not a problem. There was also an awesome, multi-level pool. We didn't want to leave, but we always head back to the ship a couple of hours before sailaway.

 

Going to read about the rest of your Cozumel trip. Just wanted to interject re the payroll department and Cozumel.

[956wenbrook]

We love Cozumel. Since we've been there many times, we've started trying different beaches. We've been to Nachi Cocum (nice but we don't drink enough to make it worthwhile); Chankanaab Park (nice, but we didn't know there was a beach there); and Paradise Beach -- we loved it! Only $3.00/person to get in, which included two lounge chairs and palapa...and use of all the giant water inflatables. They just want you to spend $10/person on food/drink. Not a problem. There was also an awesome, multi-level pool. We didn't want to leave, but we always head back to the ship a couple of hours before sailaway.

 

 

When you get off ship do you just find transportation and tell them to take you to Paradise Beach? Are there "areas" to be dropped off at? We have 4 cruise ships in port on our day in Cozumel.

 

 

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[Outlier617]

Thank you so much, Harry, for such a detailed and sensible account of your trip! It makes me extremely excited about our upcoming trip on FOS in March! This must have taken a really long time to prepare. Much appreciated.

[harryfat1]

As it happens, my husband is the payroll manager for a multi-national company. I read this to him, and he said that there are people who will come thank him (his department is only him and one other person) for the paycheck. I won't tell you what he said about the people who don't thank him. ;)

 

We love Cozumel. Since we've been there many times, we've started trying different beaches. We've been to Nachi Cocum (nice but we don't drink enough to make it worthwhile); Chankanaab Park (nice, but we didn't know there was a beach there); and Paradise Beach -- we loved it! Only $3.00/person to get in, which included two lounge chairs and palapa...and use of all the giant water inflatables. They just want you to spend $10/person on food/drink. Not a problem. There was also an awesome, multi-level pool. We didn't want to leave, but we always head back to the ship a couple of hours before sailaway.

 

Going to read about the rest of your Cozumel trip. Just wanted to interject re the payroll department and Cozumel.

 

Your husband's company have nicer people than the places I have worked for.

 

The Paradise Beach thing was my backup if we didn't do the tour. That is the easy/lazy way to do Cozumel. They typically have excellent reviews on TA, but my preference is to sight see first if I have an option. Not the sit still type on vacation. I sit 8+ hours a day at work in front of computer. When I vacation, I want to move and see things.

[harryfat1]

When you get off ship do you just find transportation and tell them to take you to Paradise Beach? Are there "areas" to be dropped off at? We have 4 cruise ships in port on our day in Cozumel.

 

 

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Joan can confirm but from what I read about Paradise Beach on TA, you just grab a taxi and it takes you right there at the front of the resturant.

 

Now keep in mind when it says "Paradise Beach", it's not a WHOLE BEACH AREA like a 7 mile beach at GC so you don't get dropped off at "an area" of a beach. The name of the place is called PB. The place is like a huge water front restaurant/park place.

 

Easier to read it than explain in words.

 

 

 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g150809-d574699-Reviews-Paradise_Beach-Cozumel_Yucatan_Peninsula.html

[956wenbrook]

Merci

 

 

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[harryfat1]

Thank you so much, Harry, for such a detailed and sensible account of your trip! It makes me extremely excited about our upcoming trip on FOS in March! This must have taken a really long time to prepare. Much appreciated.

 

You're welcome. Glad the info is helpful.

 

Hehe, you don’t want to know how long it takes to do these reports. When I use the analogy “marathon”, I wasn’t kidding.

 

It takes fair amount of time to find the right pictures for the story and then upload and then type and check for grammar and so on.

 

Since I did one 2 years ago, I know what to expect for this one. And this one with more people chiming in and since I know more people now than 2 years ago, it makes doing this one a more enjoyable experience than last time.

[harryfat1]

(OK, back on the tour once again)

 

So off we go to the other side and ended up here. Playa Chen Rio.

 

Our driver said he has 4 kids and he said this is where he takes his family on Sundays when he is not working and they want a beach day. He said on weekends many locals hang out there with BBQ cooking equipment. That sounds like my kind of place. Not fancy by any means but cheapo dad is not into fancy – practical and good value is more important to me.

 

As you can tell, the place is very quiet in the morning when we got there as I think we were the early crowd. Being the cheapo group we didn’t sit or buy anything to drink at the restaurant so we just spread out on the empty spot on the beach off to the side (behind the beach chairs that had a “for rent” sign). One hint is if you are on the cheap tour, just wear your swimming trunks as you may not always have access to the rest room to change if you are not the paying customer.

 

This is not the perfect beach by any means. Has some rocks and some stuff washing up the shore, but for the natural beauty and the overall lookout and since it’ FREE and very few people there, it’s a great place to hang out for awhile. No one is pressuring you to buy anything. Just plop down and enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

The chairs are for rent. But you can just plop down behind the chairs for free for the cheapo crowd

 

 

 

 

The view of what’s behind us

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

The view from the “cheap seats” – wait, we don’t even have a seat. Call it view from the free sand butt ground sitting on the RCI beach towel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

You know how you always send out post cards (but who the heck even send post cards anymore – people just texts nowadays) where you say “Having a great time, wish you were here”.

 

But you KNOW deep down that you really don’t mean it. You are HAPPY that whoever you sent it isn’t there and you are there wherever you are – that’s the point of being on vacation, to be AWAY from work and friends and family, right? So why would you want those people to be there where you are? Other than to make it sound good and polite but you know you don’t really mean it…

 

At any rate, here is my post card to the 28,000+ people in port from the 8 cruise ships that day – Glad you are NOT here and we are…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Think this was on the front sheet as a sampler

 

 

[harryfat1]

Walking up to view things from the rocks on the left hand side of the beach

 

 

 

 

Never made it to the back side of the beach on the other side. Wonder what’s over there?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey, look, rocks. Bet you we don't have these rocks back at home. How about that? Take a picture

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

I know this was another sample one from the front page

 

 

 

 

 

 

My wife took this picture and many others – but at least this one shows me what the back side of the beach area looks likes

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JamesEM]

Thanks for the photos of Playa Chen Rio, DW and I have driven past this location, but did not check out the beach area, living here in N Myrtle Beach visiting other beaches is not high on our list of things to do, kinda like a mailman talking a walk on his day off.

Edited January 23, 2017 by JamesEM

[nancronin]

Harry, sorry to hijack but

 

Hucifer,

 

This tour sounds really great but I'm afraid it will attract too many loud groups of men that punch each other and call each other bro. The hubs and I are in our 40s and are with my 18 year old daughter and her boyfriend. Thoughts?

 

TIA

 

We are 68 and went on this bar hop for the second time this past October. There were no problems - just people having fun. Minimum age is 18 so that works for your daughter too. It really was a good day - and no one was drunk.

 

This is the site to reserve http://cozumelbarhop.com/

 

Thanks Harry for letting us use your review to help others.

[B&J_Pgh]

With the ship scheduled to dock at 12 noon, the meeting time is 11:45 at the theater to get the infamous privileged sticker that we didn’t have the day before at GC. Before heading there, we went over to RP with our water bottles to fill up the water. One problem - everybody and their cousin has the same thought and they ran out of water in the two ice containers and there was a big old line backed up to get the water and people were cutting in line to boot.

 

Final straw is even though there was a BIG OLD sign that tells people DO NOT put their water bottle directly under the dispenser (can you spell CONTAMINATION?), still many idiots still try to shove their water bottles right into the dispenser. The better way to do it is get water into the cups and then take the cups to a table area and pour the water into the water bottle. But people are lazy.

 

By putting their water bottle opening directly into the dispensers and touching it, they are spreading whatever germs they might have from their water bottle.

 

Look, stupid people, we don’t want your spit or germs from your water bottle. Even the worker there was trying to tell the people not to put their water bottles directly under and pointed to the sign right on the top of the water dispensers forbidding people from doing so - where is that mean security guard from yesterday when you need him? But nope. Stupid people be stupid people - many kept on doing it one by one in front of us shoving their water bottles under the dispenser.

 

Mental note to self and to you folks looking to get water from RP prior to getting off the ship – take your water bottle to WJ during breakfast in the morning where they have a gazillion cups of ice water just sitting there. Get the water from there and pour those into your water bottle at WJ. Clean and safe for you as well as others and you don’t have to deal with other folks’ water bottle germs.

 

After that we headed for the theater and got our tour sticker. Think it was 36? Matters not what the number was. You people wouldn’t care if it was 36 or 3.14159…

Because we left for this cruise at 4:00 am the next day after your excursion post we didn't get to read it and we missed our Grand Cayman excursion. We preordered and the evening before around 10:00 pm I mentioned to husband that everyone else seemed to have already received their tickets. We had to go to the desk for them. He didn't bother to read them because the online excursion site mentioned it started at 10:00 am. In actuality we were to have meet up at 7:45 am on the boat. By the time we got to the Port and started looking for our guide and couldn't find one (way it was done the last 2011 we booked an cruise line's excursion) it was around 9:00 the bus had left already. So warning to those who haven't cruised Royal or not in a while that the tickets should be delivered to your stateroom around dinner time the night of AND the excursion lists on their website are obviously out-of-date.

[B&J_Pgh]

I think you do have San Juan covered. There is so much to do with a self-guided walking tour there. I mean, all of the islands are pretty good for this. My parents tend to prefer the eastern itinerary, so I have been to all of the ports at least twice.

 

I know you are "Cheapo Dad" but if you are ever looking for a fantastic place for lunch, there is a place called Cafe' Amalie that serves Spanish food. Their sangria is good and the food is amazing. And one can never go wrong with Gladys's. My former employer lived on St. Thomas for several years, so I keep meaning to get a cab to take me up to the area where he lived. I just want to see the house in person once.

 

On St. Maarten, there is a shop for a guy called "The Yoda Guy." There is all kinds of Star Wars memorabilia and artwork in his shop. It's a fun place to walk through. No charge, unless you buy something in the shop. He does other artwork as well. I have never done an organized tour in St. Maarten. I may have to do it the next time. I am kind of tired of visiting the Uncle in Prison on St. Maarten. It's a beautiful island.

legaljen1969

 

We are going to St. Thomas (first time) February 18, 2018. We are always in pursuit of the best beaches! We bombed at 2 of our 3 places we went last week. Would you happen to have the name of the beach Grey's stopped last so we might just hire them to take us there?

[hucifer]

Unfortunately RCI is not as clock work as Disney where you know at the 180th day of whatever, that reservation slot is open. Things are much more “gray area” with RCI. Typically it’s 3+ months out before your entertainment reservation is opened.

 

That’s why I suggest you join your roll call and subscribe to their thread such that you know there will always be someone on the roll call that will be anal enough to check the entertainment schedule online daily to see if they can book it and let the rest of the people on the roll call knows.

 

Looks like you are doing the western route similar to us. Also check the Allure sub tab here on CC to see if others have recently posted any western compass so at least you can more or less map out what you want to do. Then whenever the reservation slots are open, you can jump on it without having to think on what to do.

 

Back in the old days, they had the water shows 2 times a night for the first 3 nights for the western route. I would suggest taking the earlier show as if there’s bad weather, they can reschedule it for a later time. And if for whatever reason you really love the show and want to catch it the second day, you can come back to be either in the stand by line on day 2 o watch it from the back standing room only area.

These are great suggestions! Thank you! I have already joined the roll call for the sailing, but it's been pretty quiet so far. Maybe we're too far out to chat about it much.

[fletch1027]

In theory every cruise vacation is a standalone event so you can report whatever you like, be it repeat or not.

 

With the switch to the revised MDR dinner menu, you can talk about that as well. I have found there are fewer and fewer people at MDR for dinner nowadays. Think people are going either WJ or specialty more. You can observe the crowd level on your cruise and give some thoughts on that as well.

 

We talked about your itinerary in going to San Juan and St. Kitts. Both ports are places that we may be going this December so I will be very interested in what you do while in port.

 

With Freedom going to Europe in the summer, there are many overseas readers interested in the latest and greatest Freedom news and photos such that after reading this trip report, they will jump over to read your trip report when you get back.

 

Finally whoever has any questions on the Freedom, please feel free to ask Fletch the next 27 days before he sails. I’m perfectly fine if you use this thread to ask him any Freedom related questions. Or ask him any questions for that matter, doesn’t even have to be cruise related. The dude is a Star Wars/Disney/photography/Cruise/trivia expert. He will answer anything…

 

You are far too kind Harry! :)

 

Yes, I'm sure I will end up doing another one. Maybe between now and then I will come up with a clever angle to approach it with. We shall see, but you are right - the reason we are doing the extra 3 hours in the car each way (Port Everglades on Freedom vs. Port Canaveral on Oasis) is because of the extra 8th day and the two "new" ports (St. Kitts & Puerto Rico)...

[TickledBlue]

These are great suggestions! Thank you! I have already joined the roll call for the sailing, but it's been pretty quiet so far. Maybe we're too far out to chat about it much.

 

As far as roll calls go, "your mileage may vary". I've been a member of many roll calls through the years and some are very quiet (maybe breaking 100 posts by cruise time) to very interactive (like my Apr 2018 Celebrity Solstice cruise that currently has 1335 posts).

 

Naturally, you may or may not have people that are high on the anal scale in your roll call (all of my roll calls did have at least highly anal me on it though). I do find that if I contribute my findings regarding the details on port load, what I'm doing on port calls, ship trivia, etc., this gets the roll call moving a little. So embrace your anality (a word I just made up) and contribute to your role call. You and your cruise mates will get more out of it.

[kelitino]

As it happens, my husband is the payroll manager for a multi-national company. I read this to him, and he said that there are people who will come thank him (his department is only him and one other person) for the paycheck. I won't tell you what he said about the people who don't thank him. ;)

 

 

 

We love Cozumel. Since we've been there many times, we've started trying different beaches. We've been to Nachi Cocum (nice but we don't drink enough to make it worthwhile); Chankanaab Park (nice, but we didn't know there was a beach there); and Paradise Beach -- we loved it! Only $3.00/person to get in, which included two lounge chairs and palapa...and use of all the giant water inflatables. They just want you to spend $10/person on food/drink. Not a problem. There was also an awesome, multi-level pool. We didn't want to leave, but we always head back to the ship a couple of hours before sailaway.

 

 

 

Going to read about the rest of your Cozumel trip. Just wanted to interject re the payroll department and Cozumel.

 

 

We went to Paradise Beach last year and loved it!! But they did charge an additional $15 to use the water toys. They gave a bracelet and there was a staff member checking out at the toys. But still totally worth it! My husband and sons got the bracelets. I was happy to just sit in a lounge chair and read! Great for $3 and then we had assigned staff who brought me cold beer! [emoji41]

 

 

 

 

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