Jump to content

Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas June 2-9, 2018 Southern Caribbean Trip Report


Recommended Posts

Hello! This is my trip report for our family vacationaboard the Freedom of the Seas cruise to the Southern Caribbean from June2-9. This is not a review but just a retelling of our trip as I hadpreviously learned so much from reading other people's experiences (especially@harryfat1 self-proclaimed Cheapo dad- check his out!).

 

 

We are a family of four - me, my husband Eric, and our two daughters,ages 12 and 8, and this was our first cruise. I am a compliance directorfor low income tax credit housing but previously an accountant so I like beingsuper organized. Eric is a personal injury attorney as well as the authorof the Community College Hero app series which is a modern day choose your ownadventure story. We are from Louisville, Kentucky known best for theKentucky Derby, the Louisville Slugger bats, bourbon, and Muhammad Ali amongother things. I like to save money where I can so I'll give you tips onhow we cut corners as well as post actual prices we paid for things to possiblyhelp you in planning your trip.

 

 

After some discussion in mid-January we decided to embark on our first cruise for our family vacation this year. We researched different cruise lines and itineraries and thought Royal Caribbean would be a good fit and I fell in love with the idea of a port intensive cruise as I was a little worried about getting sea sick. Once we decided on the cruise line, route, and travel dates we posted on the Cruise Compete website to see who could give us the best deal. We ended up receiving $275 on board credit for booking with an agency out of Florida,$225 more than if we had booked directly with Royal Caribbean. In the months that followed I read and absorbed anything I could about cruising, mostly on Cruise Critic, Royal Caribbean Blog, and Travelocity and Viator reviews. I also found a Facebook group and the Cruise Critic roll call for our sailing which was a nice way to share ideas, meet people and just get excited!

dc4f88f4-875e-4eec-917e-b3c38b54a877_zpskinvfqcd.jpg.103a9a606be636d15cbecc7fcea3a4de.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As mentioned before, we tried to save money where we could in this process as we quickly figured out that cruising is not cheap. While researching flights I found it would be cheaper to fly down on Delta ($805.60 total) and back on Southwest ($911.60 total). Because of this, I also applied for both of their credit cards to take advantage of new customer bonuses, so we received statement credits of $200 on our Delta flight and $131 ($200 minus the$69 annual fee) on Southwest bringing our airfare total for the four of us to$1386.20.

 

Both Eric and I applied for Capital One Venture cards which have the promotion of receiving a $500 statement credit if you spend $3000 in the first three months. We both took advantage of this and just paid our monthly bills through the cards and saved another $1000 in no time.

 

We flew to Puerto Rico on Friday, June 1st to start our vacation. No surprise given my track record with flying that we had multiple delays and got stuck in the Atlanta airport. We had a late lunch /early dinner in the airport at Carrabbas Italian Restaurant. We arrived in Puerto Rico about two hours after expected, around midnight. The taxi ride was a little scary and our hotel, Tres Palmas, did not seem to be situated in the best part of town. Regardless, we checked in and fell quickly to sleep. The hotel seemed a little run down but the beds were clean and the air conditioning was cool. There was some mold on the walls and the plugs were a little wonky, which seems like they would be relatively easy fixes. I booked Tres Palmas on booking dot com for a total of $147.15.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Saturday, June 2nd - San Juan and boarding

We got up early to partake in the free hotel breakfast and take in a bit of San Juan before heading to the pier. We were able to cross the street and walk along the beach to take in the views and collect a few sea shells and sea glass and of course take some pictures. We headed back to the hotel to get packed up and called an Uber to go on a tour of Casa Bacardi. Our Uber driver didn’t speak any English but we managed.

We arrived too early as Casa Bacardi had changed their operating hours so we took a walk over to a local park where they were having little speed boat races. There was another beach and a playground that we hung out at for a while, and we had a view of one of the historic forts. We saw a few lizards and someone had spelled out LOVE in rocks on the beach which made for acute picture. We finally headed back to Casa Bacardi for our tour. I had pre-purchased our tour tickets online from Viator which ended up being quite a bit cheaper than buying them there that day. Included with the tour was a nice glass filled with your choice of beverage. Our girls got tropical punch and passion fruit juice and Eric and I got some sort of rum sunrise drink that was super tasty. We rode a tram around some of the property before going into the building for more history and a short movie about Bacardi. It was a nice tour and even better that it only ending up running us $25 for the four of us. After shopping for some souvenirs we called another Uber to take us back to the hotel to grab our luggage and on to the cruise ship port. Jose was a much better driver and prided himself on trying to learn English in his downtime. He told us that he hopes to be able to save up to buy his own boat one day and is one of the reasons he drives for Uber. He also owns his own car wash business with three employees that he was very proud of.

2115314625_IMG_0673_zpsupxblrwb(1).JPG.a01e7a9bf858e57c6b4c44d412c1fd26.JPG

312758914_IMG_0689_zpsdushpogy(1).JPG.8e0b6f95ad14605869012240673999fb.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Boarding our boat, The Freedom of the Seas, went very smoothly. We already had our luggage tags attached so drop off was a breeze. We filled out our medical forms and showed our passports and were on board in about fifteen minutes. It was about 2:30 at this point so we checked out our room and headed to the windjammer for some lunch. Afterwards we explored the boat to start getting a feel for where things were. We headed back to the room for a while before the muster drill and half of our luggage was delivered. Unfortunately the ones with our dress clothes were not in the half delivered and we ended up having to go to dinner in our sweaty clothes. We did carry on our swim suits but next time I will make sure we have a change of clothes as well.

 

We located our assigned table in the Isaac dining room and were seated with a family from Arkansas that has two boys that are going into 9th and 12th grade. We hit it off immediately. We were also introduced to our head and assistant waiters, Cruz and Hector, whom we grew to love through the whole cruise. The food was wonderful. A photographer came around and insisted that I take a picture (in all of my grubbiness) with the newly met wife and Eric with the newly met husband, we all had a good laugh over it.

 

After dinner, we headed back to our room and met our steward, Rolex Booker. I had left him a box of bourbon balls and a note introducing ourselves as well as an advance tip which I had read could insure better service. The remainder of our luggage was delivered and the girls two bunk beds were pulled down from the ceiling at this point. I spent the next couple of hours unpacking and organizing our room while Eric and the girls went and checked out the pool for a little night time swimming. I was glad I had packed some extra hangers for all of the dress clothes. I had also purchased and packed an over the door shoe organizer which worked out nicely for everyone’s bathroom supplies. There were sufficient shelves, drawers, and hidden compartments for the four of our belongings. I’m a chronic over packer as evidenced by our 8 suitcases (four large, four carry on size). I brought along some strong magnetic hooks which held all of our hats and goggles nicely. I was also able to find some large dollar store clips that were great for hanging up wet swim suits and holding your beach towel to the chairs. Lastly, I recommend a pop up hamper (I got mine at the dollar store) to help contain all of the dirty laundry. It worked out well to empty it every other day into the empty luggage. We all took our nightly shower and everyone was pretty tired at this point so unfortunately we skipped the all aboard show because it didn’t come on until 10:15 and we had an early morning the next day.

 

On a side note we decided that since our girls are 12 and 8 that we would suck it up and share a room for the week since we didn’t plan on spending a tremendous amount of time in it. We had cabin 2350 that had an ocean view window. Below are some pictures of the room.

IMG_0720_zpsoiaawygi.JPG.29a4452b09831e0a6c275e5625ee7ecd.JPG

730712184_IMG_0717_zpsdib5mrsl(1).JPG.45c810230923ce4b36e2666667eba799.JPG

IMG_0716_zps6a5kcsy3.JPG.ea04c39d0c49a4621b19e15b1123e93d.JPG

IMG_0719_zps4qf7bf70.JPG.48f34076cccabb92a723561586fa8067.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sunday, June 3rd - St. Maarten

 

Because we had an 8:30 tour and we didn’t know how long it would take us to get off the boat we got up early and headed to the Windjammer for breakfast. (Quick side note, on the way to breakfast each morning I liked to take a picture of the elevator floor each day to mark the day of the week and it made a nice divider on my camera roll to know when each days pictures begin). It was relatively easy to disembark and we quickly found our way through the cruise port terminal to find our scheduled double decker bus tour after stopping for the obligatory photo in front of the welcome sign.

 

I had purchased this tour directly through the Viator site again even though it was the same excursion that was offered directly from the boat – we paid $162 total. (When you first sign up for the Viator web site they will email you a 10% off discount code so I recommend researching all of your excursions before signing up and then purchasing them all in one transaction to save the most money). Because of this we were the first people on the bus and had our choice of all the seats. We chose the last row on the top because it was covered and several members of our family burn very easily which worked out great until both me and the 12 year old bonked our heads returning to our seats after the first stop. Everyone reminded us to duck at each subsequent stop which was quite comical but my head hurt for the next few days because of it. Our first stop was at a shop in a warehouse that gave us six different rum tastings (this could have contributed to my head bonking but not the 12 year olds!). We purchased a bottle of blue coconut Toppers Rhum which of course was confiscated upon returning to the ship and returned on the last day of the cruise. We rode around the island for a while and heard some of the history through the provided headphones. We were informed that the island suffered 95% destruction after last year’s hurricane and we could see many uninhabitable buildings and destroyed boats. Our second stop was at Mojo beach. Because we were so early in the morning we were only able to see a couple bi-planes come in. Our girls of course had to go down to the ocean and subsequently got filthy dirty and wet. Next stop was a gelato shop and a ride on a carousel. After that we had a quick stop at a high point look out where you could see how beautiful the water was. Our last stop of the day was at a cheese store (we were on the Dutch side of the island) where we sampled some Gouda cheese and were all given free cups of ice cream. Back at the terminal before heading back on the boat we stopped to get a Guavaberry Rum Punch. It was large and delicious for only $7. After I got mine it drew quite the crowd and many more were purchased. Back on the boat for a Windjammer lunch and time for some naps.

IMG_0749_zpssxwfooyh.JPG.0f6abdde222b613cc5b3f8dea60b18e5.JPG

IMG_0762_zpsjcp6qbav.JPG.11e3a66d411f226ee5b8f5f8cc1c0e5f.JPG

1707406735_IMG_0767_zpsjkvbgg1i(1).JPG.dcb90b773561357d766eefbd20a2b151.JPG

IMG_0781_zpsvwnalmv9.JPG.fb137ca483892a1c1cd76ca6ba566524.JPG

IMG_0790_zpsqlsi3yr8.JPG.123aa9a8672e955e813344479115fcea.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tonight was the first of the two formal nights in the dining room. We all had our showers and left early for some pictures before our 6:00 dinner seating. We all became more adventurous with both our dinner selections and the quantity ordered. I tried escargot for the first and last time of the cruise. We then headed to the Arcadia for the 8:30 showing of Marquee. I could really feel the boat moving every time we went to the Arcadia Theater so I learned to make sure I had on my sea sick patches. When we returned to our room for the night we had our first towel animal. Rolex outdid himself utilizing our daughter’s sunglasses and headphones. Off to bed because we have another early morning tomorrow.

568382874_IMG_0794_zpsy97rzbwy(1).JPG.136145465415e39f7d6c7dc4d2ec056c.JPG

IMG_0796_zpsqzot7vde.JPG.958237f188ca5053d853126c291b47b0.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for all the kind words so far! I had fun reliving the vacation while writing it out. Sorry I can't seem to figure out how to embed the images, they will only show up at links. :confused: If anyone has any tips let me know. I'll try and post another day worth later today. :cool:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Monday, June 4th – St. Kitts and Nevis

 

We were able to sleep in a tiny bit later as we weren’t meeting our tour guide until 9:00 and we knew more about what to expect when disembarking. Back to the Windjammer for breakfast and then off the boat. I was very excited about this excursion as I had read fabulous things about My Island Tours by Javin on both Cruise Critic and Travelocity and he did not disappoint. This was by far our favorite excursion of the entire trip. It was $300 for our family of four. We were paired with a family of five and one other couple for the tour. Javin himself as well as another young man he was training named Javen and of course Peaches the monkey greeted us and we were on our way. I brought my camera but Javin takes a ton of photos and posts them for free for you to be able to download after your trip on Shutterfly.

 

Our first stop was at an old cotton gin factory. We were given a quiz on some local plants by smelling them and told stories of Javin’s time as a youth playing in the factory. We also got to give Peaches a treat and pose for a picture. Our 8 year old is deathly afraid of animals so she avoided him the entire trip and would not pose for the photo.

 

Next stop was for a rain forest hike. Javin spoke about all of the different types of plants and had a very nice path made for our hike. Peaches of course came along and would visit with all of us along the way. Back to the van for some ice cold water.

47a8d827b3127cce98557dba64cc00000010100Ybs2rdm2ZM_zpsbnizmpay.JPG.033361e9b6120974ab2ec3299bc9ac4f.JPG

1813596802_47a8d827b3127cce98557d9064e600000010100Ybs2rdm2ZM_zpsdryvtpn9(2).JPG.38b6bd9d48bd05ceea6e09bd7adf22d5.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We were next taken to a spot where some local vendors were set up with merchandise and drinks, including local beer, for only $2. We wondered around while Javin set up some ropes for us to be able to repel down to some lava rocks. One thing to note about St. Kitts is there are multiple people with trained monkeys all around the island. They will put their monkey on you and then demand a “donation,” just beware. I was suckered even though we had our own monkey on our tour. More photos down on the rocks and back up for our first of two picnic lunches that he provided with tasty bakery treats, fruit juices and a variety of empanadas.

47a8d827b3127cce9855726ea5b700000010100Ybs2rdm2ZM_zpsbyu8ig3l.JPG.e34a888bb0314ca3ab1eaec77f6eba0d.JPG

842443849_47a8d827b3127cce98557258a58100000010100Ybs2rdm2ZM_zpsraae2irx(1).JPG.fd0b4cb8d7704f3f02b0e5d1174bdc95.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our day was only half over at this point. Some Caribbean music was turned on for our travels and various sites were pointed out along our travels. We stopped at a look out for one of the prettiest pictures of the cruise – a view of both the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea separated by St. Kitts. Next, it was on to try our hand at snorkeling at a ship wreck, and you guessed it, Peaches the monkey came right along. All of the gear we needed was provided by Javin. Our last stop of the day was at a secluded beach with a view of their sister island Nevis and another picnic this time including rum punch. Javin was very conscientious about our time and got us back to the cruise terminal with plenty of time to spare before the all aboard.

 

Back on the boat and time for showers, another fun dinner, and perhaps the best show of the cruise, the showman, El Gaucho. He did tricks, interacted with the audience, and was very funny.

IMG_0824_zpsbazrgehg.JPG.eac9e724e23a75691603d7cff7ed9af9.JPG

IMG_0837_zpsxrqcfifb.JPG.baa2d727e2fa7871f92ad711f6f46c70.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Enjoying this trip report a lot! We will be on this itinerary in July. Your tours seem to be very nice in seeing as much of the island in such a short time.

Do you have the cruise compasses? I would be curious in seeing them if possible

Barbara

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Enjoying this trip report a lot! We will be on this itinerary in July. Your tours seem to be very nice in seeing as much of the island in such a short time.

Do you have the cruise compasses? I would be curious in seeing them if possible

Barbara

 

I did save and scan them all as well as the kids compasses but they are too large to post here. I did submit them to another website that I can't type out the address here but if you search Royal Caribbean blog (just put all of the words together with a .com) they have been posted their under cruise compasses. Hope that helps!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Boarding our boat, The Freedom of the Seas, went very smoothly. We already had our luggage tags attached so drop off was a breeze. We filled out our medical forms and showed our passports and were on board in about fifteen minutes. It was about 2:30 at this point so we checked out our room and headed to the windjammer for some lunch. Afterwards we explored the boat to start getting a feel for where things were. We headed back to the room for a while before the muster drill and half of our luggage was delivered. Unfortunately the ones with our dress clothes were not in the half delivered and we ended up having to go to dinner in our sweaty clothes. We did carry on our swim suits but next time I will make sure we have a change of clothes as well.

 

We located our assigned table in the Isaac dining room and were seated with a family from Arkansas that has two boys that are going into 9th and 12th grade. We hit it off immediately. We were also introduced to our head and assistant waiters, Cruz and Hector, whom we grew to love through the whole cruise. The food was wonderful. A photographer came around and insisted that I take a picture (in all of my grubbiness) with the newly met wife and Eric with the newly met husband, we all had a good laugh over it.

 

After dinner, we headed back to our room and met our steward, Rolex Booker. I had left him a box of bourbon balls and a note introducing ourselves as well as an advance tip which I had read could insure better service. The remainder of our luggage was delivered and the girls two bunk beds were pulled down from the ceiling at this point. I spent the next couple of hours unpacking and organizing our room while Eric and the girls went and checked out the pool for a little night time swimming. I was glad I had packed some extra hangers for all of the dress clothes. I had also purchased and packed an over the door shoe organizer which worked out nicely for everyone’s bathroom supplies. There were sufficient shelves, drawers, and hidden compartments for the four of our belongings. I’m a chronic over packer as evidenced by our 8 suitcases (four large, four carry on size). I brought along some strong magnetic hooks which held all of our hats and goggles nicely. I was also able to find some large dollar store clips that were great for hanging up wet swim suits and holding your beach towel to the chairs. Lastly, I recommend a pop up hamper (I got mine at the dollar store) to help contain all of the dirty laundry. It worked out well to empty it every other day into the empty luggage. We all took our nightly shower and everyone was pretty tired at this point so unfortunately we skipped the all aboard show because it didn’t come on until 10:15 and we had an early morning the next day.

 

On a side note we decided that since our girls are 12 and 8 that we would suck it up and share a room for the week since we didn’t plan on spending a tremendous amount of time in it. We had cabin 2350 that had an ocean view window. Below are some pictures of the room.

When I took my 3 kids we separated the double bed, had room set up like 2 Bunk Beds. If you all share room like this again might want consider that, makes more room in the cabin and if get Ocean View can sit on window sill. My 2yr old loved doing that, waving at people on passing Boats/Pier.. Thank's for sharing, sounds like your family had good time...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also enjoying your review. We'll be doing a B2B on Freedom this September....However maybe a bit too much personal info and I'm sure we all know (or at least I do...was born/raised in Ashland Ky) where Kentucky is and what's it's known for. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also enjoying your review. We'll be doing a B2B on Freedom this September....However maybe a bit too much personal info and I'm sure we all know (or at least I do...was born/raised in Ashland Ky) where Kentucky is and what's it's known for. ;)

 

Ashland, Hope you didn't scare her off:p

 

mike

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also enjoying your review. We'll be doing a B2B on Freedom this September....However maybe a bit too much personal info and I'm sure we all know (or at least I do...was born/raised in Ashland Ky) where Kentucky is and what's it's known for. ;)

 

Hey Ashland, I lived there in early 80's, had a nice office in the Arcade. I always liked the people in Ashland, but had to go to Ironton to the Depot for nice dining....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...