Cheapo dad's trip report on Freedom of the Seas

[harryfat1]

I know you are cheapo but you should try a Segway tour in San Juan. It's only two hours but it was very fun. You go up to the forts and make a few stops along the way, then have some time at the fort. Your kids would love it. I'm inconsistently/sorta cheapo and I do not regret spending the money.

 

Someone mentioned the America's Cup Regatta in St. Martin- I have not done this, but over the years I have seen a lot of people rate it very highly.

 

The $35 magic kit: we were on one RC cruise several years ago and my son wanted the magic kit so badly (they must promote them on every cruise). We went to some demonstration and he actually won one of them, so I didn't have to buy it ;)

 

Thanks for the Segway info. I think we would be game for the Segway tour if we didn’t have the in laws with us. I don’t think their balance and coordination will render them using the Segway safely for couple hours. Don’t want to have the whole family yell at me if one of the grandparents break any bones ahead of Christmas in 2017…

 

I didn’t pay close attention to the magic kit at the gift shop so I don’t know what’s in it. Per quick check on Amazon, you can get one for less than $20 but it may not be the same one.

[harryfat1]

Hi Harry,

 

Can you please upload the cruise compasses of your cruise on the Freedom as attachment (PDF) files, then we can print it.

It will be very helpful.

 

Thank you very much for review.

 

You’re welcome.

 

I’ll have to do the PDF scan at the very back end as I already finished the jpeg upload up to day 5. If I drop them in here, it’s neither here nor there for future folks reading this to find it. Easier to say look for it at the end of the report than say page XX. Just remind me again when we get close to the end and of this report - should be sometime soon - when the fat lady is on the stage belting away to remember to scan all the pages for people that wants it.

[harryfat1]

Ummm...I already started reading other Allure roll calls. :o

 

Why am I not surprised? Disney people are used to planning ahead. Well, you are way ahead of the game then…

[harryfat1]

(Enough detour. Let’s wrap up the tour and get back to the ship)

 

OK, after being in the water and sun for awhile, time to wipe the sand off the butts and head off to the final stop of the tour – El Mirado. For those that read my previous trip report from the Allure, this will look familiar as we were there exactly 2 years ago on the RCI tour. But that tour stop was too brief and not very good weather. This time, we have more time and better weather and since it’s on the way back to port, it was a must stop for us.

 

I like the natural beauty of this place. Both times there, it was windy and my glasses and camera lenses got pelted by the wind & the sand such that by the end of the visit, I had dots of sand all over my glasses but no matter. I like the place. Judging form the crowd, so do many other people. I know RCI tours stops here and no surprises if other tours stop here throughout the day.

 

Last view of the beach as we pull out of the parking lot

 

 

 

 

There’s really nothing by the side of the road on the east side of the island

 

 

 

 

So we made it here

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

This looks like some beast sitting in the water

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

Time to head back to port

 

 

 

 

This was on the dashboard of the taxi driver and I was looking at it for the 4+ hours on the tour. The driver said his daughter gave it to him. Looks cute so I took a picture of it

 

 

[harryfat1]

This is Punta Sur, the southern tip of the island as we are making a full circle of the lower part of the island. This is the special ecological park. Saw some pretty pictures online of the sandy beach and light house there.

 

So you ask - if it’s so great, why didn’t you come here instead?

 

Because I wanted to see more of the island that we didn’t see last time so I opted for quantity over quality of just one place. Also, there’s a $14/pp charge just for admission and you have to pay for the taxi to and from the port to come here. So the cost will be higher. But I’m sure we’ll come here next time. Most of the ships on the typical western Caribbean route stop at Cozumel so I’m confident we will come here sooner or later.

 

 

 

 

Traffic jam as we headed back into town with people coming back to port after their tours.

 

 

Edited January 25, 2017 by harryfat1

[harryfat1]

So we made it back to town. Tipped the drivers and wished them happy holidays. It’s a much more relaxing way to do your own tour than following a pre-set program on if you can find a decent cost for the private tour. Highly recommend doing so - just have to do some homework ahead of time so you have an idea on what to see.

 

The mall by the taxi stand

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a picture of the various taxi prices for people that like to book the tour on game day at the pier. Making it a bigger picture for people looking at this on the computer so they can enlarge it to get the detail pricing on wherever they want to go

 

 

 

 

As with all cruise terminals, we have to walk past numerous shops just to get back to the main pier to get back to the ship. That’s not counting the fact we started from the other side of the street at the mall where the regular taxi zone is. Then have to walk across the mall to get across the street just to get to the outside part of the cruise terminal and then walk through that maze to get back to the ship. The glamour part of cruising not discussed in any glossy brochures.

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Always good to see the ship again after every tour

 

 

For those that don’t want to venture far from the cruise terminal, there are plenty of shops in the area and if you consume $6+ of food/drinks, you get free wifi to boot. No thanks. Don’t need to check my email that badly not that the tour is over. I can wait another 2 days before I get Internet access. I like to be disconnected from the real world when on a cruise. Fewer distractions so I can take pictures of places. Didn’t pay thousands to come and read email here.

 

 

 

I like the fact that coming back, you go through security scan inside the building before you get to the ship and then you can just walk up to the ship without doing it one more time. Seems to be a faster process as they have more lines.

 

 

[harryfat1]

Yes, of course, more pictures of ships' butts and the pier area for the photo collection. The color is amazing

 

 

 

 

 

 

This butt beats square butt any day of the week. Twice on Sundays

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey, golly gee, folks. Bet you never seen any mooring ropes at the pier before. How about that? Take a picture

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

Water for people coming back who are thirsty.

 

 

 

 

 

The Harmony has a wider walk way to come back to the ship and even has an electronic sign to welcome the people back. Freedom has nada. Newer/bigger ship has few more bells and whistles.

 

 

 

 

Remember what I said before, walk up the stairs to deck 2 and then across to the other side of the ship to take elevator to get back to the super cold AC filled cabin? Ahhh, the good happy feeling to be back after being out all morning.

 

Walk up

 

 

 

Walk across on deck 2

 

 

 

 

In the real world, it’s Thursday. In the cruise world, it’s Day 5

 

 

[SenatorsFan]

Hi Harry, I've been lurking and laughing throughout your report, but I did want to let you know how much I'm enjoying it, especially the diversions. Your rock pictures are amazing. I've seen the Grand Canyon from the air and know I need to see it in person some day. I've driven from Vancouver, BC down through Washington and Oregon and back, but not as far as California, so that's on my bucket list, too. Keep up the good work! :):D

Heather

[fletch1027]

Always good to see the ship again after every tour

 

 

 

...especially because she's still tied down and hasn't left yet! :D

 

 

 

For those that don’t want to venture far from the cruise terminal, there are plenty of shops in the area and if you consume $6+ of food/drinks, you get free wifi to boot. No thanks. Don’t need to check my email that badly not that the tour is over. I can wait another 2 days before I get Internet access. I like to be disconnected from the real world when on a cruise. Fewer distractions so I can take pictures of places. Didn’t pay thousands to come and read email here.

 

 

I try and stay off the grid, but we usually spring for the Voom wi-fi if it is discounted the usual 30% pre-cruise. HOWEVER, working in IT and having to deal with security, I NEVER log onto any "free" wi-fi in public places and especially at any of these Caribbean ports. Here's an article to show what I am referring to:

 

Getting hacked on public wi-fi

[harryfat1]

Hi Harry, I've been lurking and laughing throughout your report, but I did want to let you know how much I'm enjoying it, especially the diversions. Your rock pictures are amazing. I've seen the Grand Canyon from the air and know I need to see it in person some day. I've driven from Vancouver, BC down through Washington and Oregon and back, but not as far as California, so that's on my bucket list, too. Keep up the good work! :):D

Heather

 

Hi, Heather,

 

Thank you for the compliment.

 

Good to hear you are enjoying the various digression topics, but I think you are in the minority as I think I put most of the people to sleep with all the rocks talk.

 

Yes, do make it a point to drive down to CA as it’s one of the nicer drives out there. If you are into driving, check out this book on most scenic drives. I have the prior edition.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Scenic-Drives-America-Revised-Updated/dp/1606523589/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

[harryfat1]

...especially because she's still tied down and hasn't left yet! :D

 

 

 

 

 

I try and stay off the grid, but we usually spring for the Voom wi-fi if it is discounted the usual 30% pre-cruise. HOWEVER, working in IT and having to deal with security, I NEVER log onto any "free" wi-fi in public places and especially at any of these Caribbean ports. Here's an article to show what I am referring to:

 

Getting hacked on public wi-fi

 

 

 

Yeah, with the bay area filled with tech savvy people, the local news station has a reporter that is dedicated to only reporting new tech trends. Saw this the other day on how to surf more securely with public wifi:

 

http://kron4.com/2017/01/16/tech-report-new-gadget-to-protect-your-device-using-free-wi-fi/

[Coralc]

Thanks Harry! I sent a link to the KRON4 story to work. We are switching to tablets and public/department wifi in the cloud for work this spring. Security will be a consideration. :D

 

~Patti :)

[harryfat1]

Thanks Harry! I sent a link to the KRON4 story to work. We are switching to tablets and public/department wifi in the cloud for work this spring. Security will be a consideration. :D

 

~Patti :)

 

You're welcome. Glad the info might be useful. Scary nowadays to use any public access.

[harryfat1]

So we are back at the ship.

 

Same routine as before, drop off the stuff back at the cabin. Freshen up and headed for WJ before it closes at 3 PM. Time stamps for this picture was 2:26. Not crowded at all as the typical crowd is already done and gone or the rest of the guests are still not back to the ship yet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More shrimp chips for lunch

 

 

 

 

Pic of the elevators

 

 

[harryfat1]

OK, took awhile but finally remembered to take pictures of front of the cabins. We had 7291/7293/7295 PR view cabins. We also decorated the front of the door with holiday magnets bought from Target years ago post Christmas sale at 50% off. We saw many doors were decorated as well. It made our door stand out so you can just keep walking down the long long hallway and not have to look for the number you know you will spot your door when you see all magnets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did lose one set of train wheels. Think it fell off as the door was slammed and probably got sucked up by the vacuum cleaner. Wouldn’t be any small kids coming by as we put it pretty high by the eye piece level.

[harryfat1]

After lunch, we walked around the outside of the ship and took few pictures.

 

Check out the color of the water from above

 

 

 

 

Two years ago, we swam at the pool in the afternoon when it was raining in the afternoon at Cozumel and nobody was at the pool. Since we came back from the beach, swimming wasn’t high on our list of things we wanted to do. Since we couldn’t play golf the other night during the super windy night, we wanted to do that before the ship sails.

 

Pool not crowded at all compared to day 2 when it was “human soup” time with number of people there. So if you can use the pool on the port days, it will be a much nicer experience than sea days

 

 

 

 

 

Kids pool area

 

 

 

 

Harmony in the background with a whole bunch of empty chairs

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

Hey, looks, chairs. Bet you don't see these chairs at home...

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pier for Carnival down the road

 

 

 

 

Flowrider not flowing yet at 3:42 PM

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

Looking at the people streaming back to the ship