LIVE - Freedom of the Seas Transatlantic - Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale - Oct 22-Nov 5

[Newbcruiser1]

After dinner was the Quest. It was probably the emptiest Quest I've ever seen, but people had a good time! There were some challenges I hadn't seen before as well!

 

 

 

I returned to my room to find this guy taking up my whole bed and eating my remote control! My room attendant has been very creative since I told her I've been posting the pictures of her creations online! :)

 

 

The ship is still rocking quite a bit (it was very noticeable outside when looking at the horizon in relation to the windows or railings). I expect to be rocked to sleep tonight - no complaints there!

 

Coming up tomorrow - day 12, and the 5th of 7 sea days! It's supposed to be another beautiful day, although I am hoping for a lot less wind than today! [emoji38]My whole dinner table of CC members will also be dining together in Chops!

 

Stay tuned for more!

 

 

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[mitchpam]

Sticky Toffee Pudding!?! I love that stuff... I wonder if they serve it on 7 day Carribean Cruises...

thanks for posting and sharing your cruise I’m enjoying it very much [emoji1303]

 

 

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[Kissmya63]

Can't wait to see this ship in real life..only 192 days to go..:(

 

If you have time can you take a photo of the crazy golf, my husband is a big golfer and spends most of his cruise at the crazy golf..thank you.

 

I have 176, I feel your pain, LOL!!! What's your itinerary?

[Newbcruiser1]

Good morning from day 12 onboard the Freedom of the Seas! Today is... you guessed it - another sea day!

 

 

 

 

 

Our location this morning:

 

 

I had breakfast in the MDR's buffet on deck 3. Unfortunately I was seated at the most awkward shared table! I said hello when I sat down and everyone just looked at me. Then to try to break the ice I asked if everyone was enjoying their cruise - one lady said yes and nobody else answered. Eeek! I quickly ate my first small plate of food, and then went up to the Windjammer for the remainder of my breakfast!

 

I then went for a nice walk around the ship:

 

 

 

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[Newbcruiser1]

 

As requested, a photo of the mini-golf course. Unfortunately this one doesn't have any fun characters or anything.

 

 

 

 

The morning dance aerobics class was busy!

 

 

 

 

 

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[Newbcruiser1]

I am currently sitting in the Captain's Corner Q&A session.

 

Fun fact: the southern route that we have taken on this crossing is generally the most calm with the best weather because the ship follows the trade winds.

 

More interesting facts:

 

 

 

 

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[pamela27]

I have 176, I feel your pain, LOL!!! What's your itinerary?

 

We are doing a b2b. 1st week we are going to St Maarten, St Kitts, Antigua, St Lucia and Barbados.

2nd week we are going to St Thomas, Curacao, Aruba and St Kitts again.

We've been to all these islands before, looking forward to going back.

[pamela27]

Thank you for taking the time to take pictures of the mini golf. He's going to LOVE it.....

[cltnccruisers]

Sorry to hear you had problems trying to get in. On sea days the hours have consistently been 11:30am-midnight. They open later on port days depending on the port times. For exact hours, see page 3 of the cruise compasses that I have posted for each day.

 

 

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We checked the Compass each day. The hours were posted but......

[Newbcruiser1]

We checked the Compass each day. The hours were posted but......

 

 

 

I hear ya... I admit I haven't staked out outside to cross reference the listed hours with the actual hours so I'm sorry I can't be of more help there! [emoji6]

 

 

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[Newbcruiser1]

After the Captain's corner, I spent a bit of time reading on the Promenade deck.

 

 

I then met some CC friends/tablemates in the MDR for lunch. I ordered the beef tostada salad on the advice of our waiter.

 

 

It was delicious; however, it was WAY too spicy for me. It was like taco meat with wayyyy too much seasoning. Unfortunately, I was unable to eat it.

 

I ended up getting a delicious salad from the tutti salad bar:

 

 

After lunch I was off to change into my swimsuit. I spent the afternoon up on deck 11 both in the solarium, and at the main pool. I read, went for a swim in the solarium pool, and sat in the sun near the kids' pool area. I also got a margarita at the beginning of diamond happy hour.

 

This afternoon was the Dreamworks Move it Move it parade in the Royal Promenade. I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff - it was fantastic! Unfortunately I cannot say the same for my pictures! The parade was SO high energy with constant rapid movement that I was unable to take decent pictures! But here are a few:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Newbcruiser1]

Once again, sorry for the crummy parade pictures!

 

 

After the parade I went up to my room to get ready for dinner. I decided to go to the show - it was Analiza Ching - a violinist from the U.K. I was sure I remembered her from a previous cruise (I think it was the Celebrity Millennium in Alaska). It was a great show - very fast music and high-energy.

 

I then headed off to meet my tablemates at Chops. We actually rounded up everyone to go.

 

 

 

 

I was disappointed to see that they had removed some past favorites from the menu - scallops, French onion soup, and the mud pie for dessert.

 

I started with the shrimp cocktail which consisted of 3 very large shrimp:

 

 

And the tuna tartare - it was delicious!

 

 

I also had the Caesar salad. Unfortunately I found it underwhelming and not all that different from the salad in the MDR.

 

 

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[Newbcruiser1]

Next came the main course. I had the 9oz filet mignon. It looked kind of naked and unappealing when it came, but the peppercorn sauce and side dishes added some pizazz to the plate!

 

 

 

Our waiter brought out some of each side dish for us to try. Our favorites were the truffle fries and the mushrooms. The creamed spinach and mashed potatoes were pretty good as well. I was not a fan of the tots or the Mac and cheese).

 

Next up - dessert!

 

 

I had the chocolate cake (delicious!):

 

 

And a few of us shared the apple pie a la mode (also delicious!)

 

 

Overall, the food was good, but the service was a bit of a miss. We asked for fresh ground pepper and our waiter made sure to point out that nobody had any and that "we need a new pepper mill". We joked that we should have brought the one from our table in the MDR (yup! Our table is that amazing that our waiters give us one on the table each night). Needless to say we missed our usual waitstaff.

 

There were some activities going on around the ship tonight - disco ice skating, 70's party, karaoke, etc. However, I decided to head up to bed at a half decent hour!

 

So that's all for tonight! Coming up tomorrow - day 13 (the second last sea day of the cruise! ☹️). It looks like the weather will include everything from sun to clouds to rain as per the cruise compass!

 

Stay tuned for more! And thanks once again to this who are following along!

 

 

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[goldgirl2]

I’m absolutely loving this live review! We will be on the Freedom soon! If you happen to be on deck 9 can you look at something for me? My kids will be in 9283 and 9287. I noticed an empty space between the rooms. Wondering if this will be a work area? Hoping it isn’t going to disturb them.

 

 

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[Newbcruiser1]

I’m absolutely loving this live review! We will be on the Freedom soon! If you happen to be on deck 9 can you look at something for me? My kids will be in 9283 and 9287. I noticed an empty space between the rooms. Wondering if this will be a work area? Hoping it isn’t going to disturb them.

 

 

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I am on Deck 9 as well and have the exact same size of white space on the deck plan beside my room. It's some sort of closet which the room attendants use. It's not disturbing, although my room attendant tends to leave her cart right outside my room for easy closet access, so from about 9am onwards, and during evening turn-down, I can hear a little bit of clanging glasses, ice buckets, etc. But nothing awful! I think your kids will be just fine! :)

 

 

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[Newbcruiser1]

Goooooood morning from day 13 onboard the Freedom of the Seas! Today is Sea day 6 of 7, and there are once again tons of activities planned!

 

 

 

 

 

Our current position:

 

I had breakfast in the Windjammer this morning:

 

 

One comment about the Windjammer - it is very well run! There are plenty of crew members offering beverages, coffee, etc, the omelette station is very efficient as you order, they give you a number, and you can go get your other food and come back a couple minutes later when your omelette is ready, etc. I think the fact that 2 floors of the MDR are open at breakfast also helps to take some of the strain off the Windjammer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Newbcruiser1]

The "Build a Boat" competition was this morning. It was great seeing the different teams' creativity! The boats were made from all kinds of materials including bottles, corks, etc. One of them even used flour and water as glue. The boats floated really well. They even had people jumping into the pool and splashing around to create waves and splashing!

 

 

 

I am now watching the Master Sea Chef finals!

 

More later! [emoji3]

 

 

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[Destaw71835]

Thanks for the tip about the omelette station in the Windjammer! Enjoying your review.

 

 

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[Palmetto Pilot]

2 days! I can't wait. Thanks for the live review, I'm really enjoying it.

[cltnccruisers]

Don't beat yourself up about the parade pics. The central characters came out just fine. It's not easy photographing multiple subjects moving at different speeds. My grandkids and I love those Madagascar folks.

[Newbcruiser1]

Don't beat yourself up about the parade pics. The central characters came out just fine. It's not easy photographing multiple subjects moving at different speeds. My grandkids and I love those Madagascar folks.

 

 

 

Thank you! If I was using my regular camera, it would have been fine. I brought it but decided not to use it this trip. My iPhone 6 struggles with pictures in low light, and with moving subjects, even when using the burst feature!

 

 

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[OceansOfTravels]

I am really enjoying your review! I am currently pondering two different Freedom cruises at the moment, and I have enjoyed the Cruise Compasses as well as the ship pictures. Also, Gran Canaria is heavenly. Thank you for the great report!

[Newbcruiser1]

The Master Sea Chef finals were this morning. They finally used heat to cook, and the ingredients were much more cohesive! Both finalists made a variation of pasta with seafood. The judges seemed to enjoy it and it smelled delicious! (Once again, sorry for the crummy photos - I was far away and the low lighting didn't help).

 

 

I met up with some CC friends for lunch in the MDR. I have mentioned before that I find the Windjammer lunch selections very disappointing. Fortunately I have really been enjoying the lunches in the MDR, and all of these sea days mean they're actually open each day!

 

I started with another tutti salad (sorry, we were having fun and I forgot to take a photo!), and I had this fantastic dessert. I couldn't tell you what it was called, but apparently they eat it in the Philippines. It was meringue rolled with some sort of custard cream.

 

 

The special dessert today was a giant apple pie that they were serving buffet style. By giant I mean about 3 feet in diameter!! Unfortunately by the time we arrived, the pie crust was gone and it looked more like soup!

 

I went for a walk around the ship after lunch. It was a hot day with absolutely no wind at all. And the forecast on the compass was correct... it was sunny, cloudy, and rainy, both at separate times and even all at the same time!

 

 

 

The guest talent show was this afternoon. I went to it, mostly out of curiosity, and I'm so glad I did! There were 8 participants, doing everything from playing the drums, the piano, singing, to performing an acro routine! They were all fantastic!

 

After the talent show, I changed into my swimsuit and hit the pool deck! I started out at the main pool and watched the line dancing, but it was too busy for my liking, so I moved to the solarium and sat in the shallow perimeter of the pool with my feet in. The pool was completely filled today so it was too deep for my comfort level to get all the way in.

 

 

It started raining on and off, at which time I noticed a few people looking out at the water. I quickly realized there was a waterspout in the distance!

 

 

At around 4:30 as the crowds thinned, I went back to the main pool. One pool was partly drained so it was a maximum of about 4' deep, and the other was completely filled. I went in the shallower one. What a blast that was! The water was swishing back and forth and it was like swimming in the ocean.

 

 

 

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[Newbcruiser1]

When I got out of the pool, I noticed that I had somehow lost my seapass. That was a first for me! I spent 30 minutes in line at Guest Services waiting to have a new one printed (in my swimsuit cover up amidst those who were already dressed for formal night! Awkward!). I then headed back up to the solarium to enjoy a Miami Vice!

 

 

The sun was starting to go down:

 

 

I then headed back to my room to get ready for dinner.

 

Dinner tonight in the MDR included the traditional "last formal night" lobster offering!

 

 

I started with a Caesar salad, and the creamed mushroom pastry:

 

 

I then had the Fisherman's Plate. Often times, the lobster on cruises is not very good. It's sometimes fishy tasting, other times it's overcooked into the consistency of rubber which cannot be cut, and sometimes it's too salty. And when they get the lobster right, the vegetables are often not much more done than raw, and are prone to flying across the dining room when one tries to cut them.

 

I am happy to say, none of that happened tonight! The lobster was incredible - great flavor, cooked to perfection, and it tasted very fresh! The vegetables and rice were all perfectly cooked as well! After we finished our first plates, our fabulous waiters brought us each another one!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Newbcruiser1]

Dessert was also fabulous! I had the ivory chocolate mousse (amazing!), and the creme brûlée.

 

 

 

Dancing with the Stripes was held in Studio B tonight. I missed the beginning but I'm so glad I went. It was hilarious! Very entertaining! There was even an officer in a tutu! (Once again - sorry for the pictures which were taken far away and in low light).

 

 

 

I returned to my room to find this guy:

 

 

 

He joined the towel brigade:

 

 

We have our 6th time change tonight! We will get a bonus hour tomorrow night as we turn back our clocks along with the rest of North America for daylight savings!

 

That's all for tonight! Coming up tomorrow - our last day! It's been such a great cruise that I don't want to leave!

 

Stay tuned for more!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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