Freedom Eastern Trip Report - 2/18/17 – Eight Days THIS Week w/ lots of photos!

[fletch1027]

Day 1 – Let’s go cruising! (cont)

 

After checking out the cabin, we headed up top to get some sun and have a look around. One huge difference between Port Canaveral and Port Everglades is the massive amount of ships in port here. Some of Freedom’s neighbors that we noticed:

 

Celebrity summit

 

 

 

Royal Princess

 

 

 

Carnival Conquest with Harmony looming / towering over her

 

 

 

Speaking of Harmony, I thought this photo of her leaving was cool because she is so big that from this perspective, she just blends in and looks like another high-rise condo:

 

 

 

She has cleared the condos! :-)

 

 

 

Here are our former port mates all out to sea as Freedom is the last to leave (5:30 is the latest departure for any of our previous cruises)... :-(

 

 

 

 

to be continued…

 

[mtns2sea]

Sweet, we are on board and out to sea! Can't wait for more.

 

 

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[sg1phileshipper]

That burger looked really delicious, I'll make sure to try it out.

I am in cabin 8631 for my upcoming sailing, so I am wondering how quiet yours was, since I'll be a few doors down.

 

Cindy

[fletch1027]

Sidebar for Teen Compass posting

 

I have noticed on the CC boards, there are often requests to see what the Teen Compass looks like for a given cruise. Although we no longer have teens, I went ahead and grabbed one so I could scan it and post on here because sometimes the info is hard to find otherwise...

 

Here it is in all its glory! :D

 

 

 

 

 

[twofastdogs]

Thanks for the Teen Compass!! We are doing the 6 day next week but this is the first I've seen these. Gives me a better idea what she will be up too.

[fletch1027]

We just booked the Freedom for January; B2B 8 and 6 out of FLL. Eagerly awaiting your comments/review.

 

 

BTB - that's awesome! We will do one of those someday... :)

[fletch1027]

We were on board by 11 AM and the Windjammer didn't open until 11:30. There was a line of people waiting for the opening but nothing dramatic. Once it opened they were all absorbed easily and by the time we finished eating and were leaving there were quite a few people but it was not crowded by any means.

 

Those thick burgers that were offered in the Windjammer all week were quite good. They had both beef and turkey burger choices. That was a nice addition to the food choices I thought.

 

Interesting - seems like for some reason the Freedom crowd is either more spread out or later arriving in Port Everglades than it was in Port Canaveral. Could also be due to the later leaving time maybe?

[fletch1027]

Day 1 – Let’s go cruising! (cont)

 

So, having had yet another great muster drill experience, we were off and out of port. One thing that is awesome about Freedom that is an advantage over Oasis & Quantum classes is that passengers have access to the bow of the ship. This is where we have typically planted ourselves on previous cruises for sail away. However, with a 5:30 departure, we were already at dinner when we left, so we watched sail away from our seats in the Deck 4 MDR.

 

I guess at this point, I should share some of the details of the cruise itself in regards to some of the things we planned ahead of time.

 

Voom – a few months before sailing, I purchased the one device (surf & stream) Voom package for $11.99 per day. Then about 10 days before sailing, it went on a better sale for $8.99 a day, so I cancelled and re-bought it through the on-line cruise planner. The $24 savings was definitely worth the effort. Before leaving port, I disabled cellular data and connected to the Voom wireless to do a speed test, and here’s a photo below. Got to hand it to RCI, they definitely have the “fastest internet at sea” compared to other cruise lines

 

 

 

Drink Package – neither my wife or I drink alcohol, but we are both avid Coca-Cola fans. We always get the “Coke package” (not to be confused with a coke package on a Columbian cruise). That one is currently running around $10 per person / per day (after the 18% gratuity). A few months ago (for “Cyber Monday”), RCI put the recently retitled “Refreshment Package” on sale for around $21 a day after gratuity. The non-sale price for it is around $31, so it was a pretty good sale, and I bought it. Yes, on occasion RCI has a sale where we can actually save money.

 

If anyone is interested, here is a rundown on the things (beyond soda) that are included with the Refreshment Package:

• Any hot drink from any venue (except for the Starbucks kiosk on Oasis class)
  
• Fresh squeezed OJ in the mornings
  
• Bottled Water
  
• Non-alcoholic frozen drinks from any of the bars
  

In our case, there is no way I would pay the $31 regular price for this package. However, when it is on sale for $21, I have to start doing math in my head to see if it pays for itself. Would I consume more than $11 of stuff to bridge the gap between the packages?

 

On an average day on this cruise, here is what I would drink:

• 1 Grande Hot Chocolate ($3.50)
  
• 1 Fresh OJ ($3.50)
  
• 2 bottles of water ($5 – based on around $2.50 each)
  
• 2 frozen drinks at night ($16 – based on $7 each + $1 tip)
  

That totals up to $28 per day – well over the $11 difference between the packages. Could I live without all of that stuff if I wasn’t on the package? Certainly, but with not having our kids along with us, we had a little extra budget to splurge a little, and it was easy to just get what we wanted and not have to keep track of a slowly tabulating bill… :-)

 

Ok, so this post has gotten a little more wordy than I was intending, so I will finish this part by posting the Day 1 Compass then continue in my next post with how we handled MTD and the remainder of day 1.

 

 

 

 

to be continued…

 

[Clarea]

Something is funky with your speedtest app, because there's no way a satellite connection has a 7ms latency. Either you're using cellular or the app is not programmed or set up correctly.

[bUU]

Thanks for your report... I'm following along.

 

I'm a planner, too. We put everything on Google Drive (or in Google Calendar) so it is on our computers, our tablets and our phones, and we can access it from any browser if we need to. Right now I've got a lot of financial stuff, part of my work to cost-justify the cruise to my spouse.

 

For the cruise itself, we'll be following your lead to a great extent. We live a bit north of you. We love stopping off at Valdosta for lunch on the way to Walt Disney World. There's a great Indian restaurant there. I think, though, that when we cruise on FOS, we're going to try to spend the overnight at Disney's Vero Beach resort. That'll put us much closer to the pier on embarkation morning.

 

We've stayed at Bay Lake Tower. It's great. I hope you had a chance to spend some time in the lounge atop the tower. That's one of the great things that DVC offers us.

 

Keep it coming and thanks again!

[Ocean Boy]

I did not get a Voom package but I did use the Ship's computers with the Diamond benefits that I have. I thought the internet on this ship sucked. It was very slow compared to Oasis last year.

[Ariel's Sister]

Also DVC owner, BWV and AKV. Just returned to cruising and looking forward to combining both vacation styles. Also a scuba diver so have to carefully manage vacation times and budgets! Impending retirement will increase time and flexibility and decrease budget, so love reading trip reports for ideas. I'm not quite so OCD with planning, but your system is incredible.

 

 

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[Ocean Boy]

I also cruises with the Refreshment package on this cruise. I only caved in and bought it as I also caught it on sale for $18.00 + gratuity. I would not have bought it at the $26.00 + 18% that it usually goes for. I have decided that I will not do it again. I found myself drinking too many drinks that had way too much sugar and calories in them. I found that toward the end of the week I just could not tolerate all that sweet taste any longer and I know I did not get my monies worth on the last few days and that probably put me behind for the week. Though I like the taste of those frozen drinks and specialty coffees while I am drinking then I just do not feel good after I drink them. I think that I'd rather eat my calories rather than drink them.

 

Maybe I will consider the soda package in the future as I do drink a lot of Coke Zero or maybe I will go with nothing.

[fletch1027]

Something is funky with your speedtest app, because there's no way a satellite connection has a 7ms latency. Either you're using cellular or the app is not programmed or set up correctly.

 

I was definitely not on a cell network, but you're right about the latency looking odd. I didn't notice that - I was only paying attention to the up & down speeds. I prefer using the original Speedtest app, but for some reason it was not working on that day so I tried this one called SpeedSmart.

 

I ran another test on day 6 using good old Speedtest and the latency looks as expected and the speed is still in the ballpark of the Voom stream speeds I was seeing on day 1.

 

[Clarea]

I was definitely not on a cell network, but you're right about the latency looking odd. I didn't notice that - I was only paying attention to the up & down speeds. I prefer using the original Speedtest app, but for some reason it was not working on that day so I tried this one called SpeedSmart.

 

I ran another test on day 6 using good old Speedtest and the latency looks as expected and the speed is still in the ballpark of the Voom stream speeds I was seeing on day 1.

 

Yes, the 190ms looks normal for Freedom.

[anne.brumlevestaley]

Sidebar for Teen Compass posting

 

I have noticed on the CC boards, there are often requests to see what the Teen Compass looks like for a given cruise. Although we no longer have teens, I went ahead and grabbed one so I could scan it and post on here because sometimes the info is hard to find otherwise...

 

Here it is in all its glory! :D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[fletch1027]

Thanks for your report... I'm following along.

 

I'm a planner, too. We put everything on Google Drive (or in Google Calendar) so it is on our computers, our tablets and our phones, and we can access it from any browser if we need to. Right now I've got a lot of financial stuff, part of my work to cost-justify the cruise to my spouse.

 

For the cruise itself, we'll be following your lead to a great extent. We live a bit north of you. We love stopping off at Valdosta for lunch on the way to Walt Disney World. There's a great Indian restaurant there. I think, though, that when we cruise on FOS, we're going to try to spend the overnight at Disney's Vero Beach resort. That'll put us much closer to the pier on embarkation morning.

 

We've stayed at Bay Lake Tower. It's great. I hope you had a chance to spend some time in the lounge atop the tower. That's one of the great things that DVC offers us.

 

Keep it coming and thanks again!

 

Glad to see there's another family making the long drives from North GA to Port Everglades! Every time we are driving home, I swear it's the last time we drive down and we will fly next time. Time will tell - depends if we catch a super cheap flight sale. :)

 

We have stayed at VB once. It is a really nice resort and looks like it will save you an hour - but the cost is an extra hour on the first half of the drive.

 

Not sure if you got to the fireworks photo posts yet, but I took all of those from the DVC rooftop lounge. It was our first time up there and it is an awesome vantage point!!

[fletch1027]

Day 1 – Let’s go cruising! (cont)

 

This was the first time we have cruised with friends and had the opportunity to combine reservations for MTD, coordinate excursions, and stuff like that. We were cruising with three great friends of ours that flew in from Moscow, Idaho and met us on board.

 

In regards to MTD and combining reservations into one table for five, I was able to do it all on line and the process was very smooth and there were no screw-ups or anything like that when we were on board. Reading that last line back again, I’m not sure what that says for RCI’s reputation when something gets labeled a surprising fantastic success because “nothing was screwed up”. :-) We were also able to keep the same table and wait staff for 7 of the 8 nights, with the only hiccup being the night that we ate very late, which was also a good thing.

 

After dinner, we headed to the Schooner Bar for movie theme trivia. My wife & I love trivia, and I would classify ourselves as “moderately crazy”. We love winning, hate losing, however we don’t pull a nutty when we don’t win – meaning I have never talked back or argued with the staff over answers and stuff like that. I’m on vacation to be stress free after all! :-)

 

That being said, our group of five won that trivia. After trivia, we were hanging around relaxing at the Schooner Bar when I noticed way too many lights out the window on the horizon and in an odd direction for the way we should be heading. We went out to the bow area to check it out and sure enough the lights were Miami and we were heading towards them. Conveniently enough, I had my GPS app running and here’s what it looked like around 9pm:

 

 

 

The Miami skyline looming closer:

 

 

 

A few minutes after this, Captain Toni came on the PA to say that due to a medical emergency (our first cruise with a medical emergency), we were indeed heading towards Miami to sync up with a Coast Guard ship to pick up the affected person.

 

Sure enough, here it comes into view (apologies for the crappy cell phone picture quality):

 

 

 

 

 

Coast Guard pulling up alongside the ship

 

 

 

After that, Captain Toni came on again and mentioned that this would not affect our arrival time into Labadee on Monday morning. We then headed to the welcome aboard show, which was good and what you would expect for a typical welcome aboard.

 

On the way back I checked my app again and noticed that we were indeed turned and heading full steam towards Labadee once again:

 

 

 

Tomorrow – in search of adventure on our first of three sea days on this cruise…

 

[bUU]

Not sure if you got to the fireworks photo posts yet, but I took all of those from the DVC rooftop lounge. It was our first time up there and it is an awesome vantage point!!

Duh! I did see that photo, and I should have immediately recognized that it was from the lounge rather than from outside the California Grill.

 

Thanks again for the continuing story of your cruise!

[harryfat1]

Day “0”– Hit the road Jack!

 

As most everyone here on CC is prone to do, we spend exponentially more time prepping for a cruise than the cruise actually lasts! That being said, I planned ahead and brought with me some different things than I had in the past. Below is an overview of what produced the photos that you will see:

 

 

iphone – Since I used my iphone to take the photo, this one in the pic is my wife’s as a stand in

 

Sony A7 – This is an awesome digital camera! Way out of my price range, but I was able to borrow it for 2 weeks from my work. Ferris Bueller said it best: "It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up."

 

Zoom lens – This is a 55-210mm zoom lens for the Sony A7

 

GoPro Hero – I borrowed this as well from a friend and I used it while zip lining and snorkeling.

 

Olympus TG-4 – I actually own this camera and I use it for underwater photography

 

 

 

Hey, hey, hey,

 

Look who's back on town and writing another top notch Freedom trip report!

 

So it sounds like you are impressed by the A7? If you can borrow it from work every time you cruise, no need to buy any camera for your vacations. I'm way too cheap to spring the for the top range equipment. Still trying to talk myself into upgrading my SLR lens to a Sigma for the upcoming trip.

 

Was looking to see if the bottle of diet Coke was going to photo bomb your photographic equipment this time.

[ImpulsivePuppy]

great report so far, I'm excited to follow along!

[fletch1027]

I did not get a Voom package but I did use the Ship's computers with the Diamond benefits that I have. I thought the internet on this ship sucked. It was very slow compared to Oasis last year.

 

I'm wondering if the ship computers connect at the "surf" speed as opposed to "surf & stream". Last time we had just soft, it was terrible (less than 1 Mb download speed)...

[fletch1027]

Also DVC owner' date=' BWV and AKV. Just returned to cruising and looking forward to combining both vacation styles. Also a scuba diver so have to carefully manage vacation times and budgets! Impending retirement will increase time and flexibility and decrease budget, so love reading trip reports for ideas. I'm not quite so OCD with planning, but your system is incredible.

[/quote']

 

Thanks for the compliment - but there are many great planners on the CC boards and it seems more and more fellow DVC owners are coming out of the woodwork as well... :D

[fletch1027]

Day 2 and our first of three sea days. Below is the day 2 compass. What we did was go through the next days compass the night before and highlight the things that we wanted to try and make an effort to get to. These may also be good the trip report to show both what was going on in general as well as what we did.

 

 

 

The first thing we did after breakfast was split into pairs. The women in our group were content to lay out in the sun with a book, while Monty and I have much shorter attention spans. We always had to be looking for something to do. The first thing we did was open climb on the rock wall. As a tip, if you are wanting to do stuff like this (rock wall, FlowRider, ice skating, etc), it is must less crowded early in the cruise as opposed to later.

 

Here we are auditioning for the next Spider Man movie:

 

 

 

 

While this could be called an auto-focus mistake, I prefer to label it as a great artistic expression

 

 

 

Around 20 minutes before it started, we got a great spot above the pool where the belly flop contest was happening. Not only is it funny to watch, but I also thought it would be a good test to see how good photos the Sony camera could take.

 

It got started with a surprise – our cruise director (Michele Scarpato) hosting the event in one of the craziest shirts I have ever seen!

 

 

 

 

The next few posts will be of various belly flop contestants. There was a clear favorite and also a surprising great competitor…

 

to be continued…

 

[fletch1027]

I also cruises with the Refreshment package on this cruise. I only caved in and bought it as I also caught it on sale for $18.00 + gratuity. I would not have bought it at the $26.00 + 18% that it usually goes for. I have decided that I will not do it again. I found myself drinking too many drinks that had way too much sugar and calories in them. I found that toward the end of the week I just could not tolerate all that sweet taste any longer and I know I did not get my monies worth on the last few days and that probably put me behind for the week. Though I like the taste of those frozen drinks and specialty coffees while I am drinking then I just do not feel good after I drink them. I think that I'd rather eat my calories rather than drink them.

 

Maybe I will consider the soda package in the future as I do drink a lot of Coke Zero or maybe I will go with nothing.

 

Agreed, that was the same deal we got and the big sale was the only reason I bought it. I also agree with you that will likely not get it again. I drank too many more than my fair share of the frozen drinks and they definitely have a lot of sugar in them.

 

We will always at least get the Coke package (we got a Boardwalk cabin on our 2018 Allure cruise partly because of the free Coke package). I will miss the fresh squeezed OJ and bottled water, but oh well... :)