Freedom B2B Trip Review 4/28/13 - 5/12/13 (picture heavy)!!!

[AZAficionado]

Day 7 - At Sea

 

 

 

And stuff.

 

 

We crawled out of bed with just enough time to grab coffee (thank the heavens for sweet, sweet java) and pastries from Cafe Promenade and make it to the Consecutive Cruiser's meeting at 11:00 am. If you miss that meeting, they kick you off the boat and don't give you a refund (Psych). No, if you miss the meeting, you can still stay on the ship. But they will have to track you down and make sure you know what you are doing. So, just go to the meeting.

 

There is of course the complimentary Mimosa or Champagne bribe...

[AZAficionado]

The meeting basically covered everything in the document we got back on Day 5.

 

 

There were 42 consecutive cruisers that week. They normally average around 60 and have had 200 or more. I did the math, and on average 1.5% of the passengers stay for a second week. That is way more than I thought.

 

The meeting also allowed for everyone's questions to be answered. One of the biggest was "What if I have to change cabins?" The answer: You have to pack up only your small items (toiletries, etc.). Leave your clothes hanging in the closet. First thing in the morning, your cabin attendant will move everything to your new cabin. When you get back on board, you will have immediate access to the new cabin with all your stuff in it. Obviously, you have to unpack the small items.

 

They did explain that the credit card associated with your Sea Pass card would automatically be assigned to the new Sea Pass card. However, at Guest Services, you can change the payment method after you get the new Sea Pass card.

 

The only other info that wasn't in the literature was that there is a Port Canaveral shuttle bus that will take you to Walmart and then to the local mall. It runs regularly (every 15 to 30 minutes or so) and stops at every ship. If you choose to leave the port for any reason, they give you a wrist-band that allows you to easily come back on board. I can't remember what they said now, but I think you still have to go through security.

 

We decided to try Johnny Rockets for lunch. It was really good and the service was very good. They even do some dancing to certain 50's songs.

 

They started by bringing Fries & Onion Rings (very good, came with ranch dressing on the side, tender steak fries, crunchy onion rings). I think they are bottomless. They topped ours off when the rest of the food came.

 

Smokehouse Burger (double) (excellent, smoked bacon, mild white cheddar, onion rings, 1000 island sauce, very tender and juicy, subtle smoky flavor) and Grilled Cheese (very good, cheddar on sourdough, crispy outside, plenty of melting cheese)

 

We spent the bulk of the day lounging and recovering. At one point, I headed down to Deck 5 and walked around the ship.

 

Who doesn't like to see a little aft?!?

[AZAficionado]

There is a section that sticks out from the rest of the ship that gives some great views. However, it can get rather windy.

 

 

Looking forward and then aft.

 

Before dinner, we decided to celebrate the last night of the first half of the cruise with some bubbles.

 

Mirabelle rose champagne (very good, just a hint of fruit to offset the dryness) and snacks.

 

We decided to do the Vintages Wine Pairing Dinner. We were both really excited, having done many of these kind of dinners before and having a great interest in food and wine. The idea is to present a multi-course meal with a wine for each course. If done well, the wine and the food will cause both to improve, creating an experience that you couldn't get from either alone. Unfortunately, it was a mixed experience. The menu had two choices for each course, so we split the difference.

 

First, the good: The waiter service was excellent as was the pacing of the meal (important when you have lots of course). The wines were great matches for the food.

 

Disclaimer: I kept forgetting to snap a photo before anyone took a bite, sorry.

 

Canapés with champagne (very good pairing, the crispness of the champagne matched well with the creaminess of the canapés).

[AZAficionado]

Pan-seared Sea Scallops (very good, tender scallops on a bed of cauliflower purée) and Spanish Tapas Plate (outstanding, great selection of spicy chorizo and dry manchego cheese).

 

Chilled Pineapple & Lychee Soup (very good, fresh tropical flavors) and French Onion Soup (S) (good, nothing special).

 

Palate Cleanser (very good, red raspberry sorbet).

[AZAficionado]

Rosemary Lamb Shank (excellent, fall-off-the-bone tender, rich sauce) and Tandori Chicken Salad (excellent, tender and flavorful chicken on a bed of greens).

 

Cheese Plate (good, nice selection of Spanish blue, port salute and Brie).

 

Chocolate Mousse Cake (excellent, not too sweet, creamy and decadent) and Key Lime Pie (very good, nice balance of tart and sweet).

 

The bad: Vintages is still an open bar that serves only wine when this dinner is happening. So, marching right past the table are people wanting a beer, or rum & coke, or whatever and being told to go elsewhere, which understandably frustrates them. Not exactly the Chops or Portofino experience, let alone 150 Central Park (which is what they are obviously trying to mimic). The menu is a subset of the Main Dining Room menu for that night and that is where the food comes from. No worries, that means the $50 per person additional charge is for the wines. Notice, I didn't mention the wines except to say that they were good matches for the food. That is because they refused to tell us what the wines were, even after the meal was over! Flat out refused a direct request to know what wines I had paid for and been served!!!

 

To me, one of the purposes of something like this, beyond creating a great dining experience, is to allow people to learn more about how wine and food go together. No matter who you are, you already know the food part - you've been eating it all your life. The unknown is the wines. Not being told at some point (I get waiting until after) defeats the purpose.

 

The ugly: I'll keep this as nice as possible. The head sommelier was a condescending jerk. How he made it past RCCL's screening process is beyond me.

 

The upshot: While it was a mostly enjoyable experience, it was not worth the money to me.

 

Moving on. We finished the evening in the Cigar Lounge with plenty of good conversation with great folks. There is something about that place that seems to foster great social interactions.

 

Watch out for stingrays.

 

Ordinarily, we'd be putting out bags out in the hall, prepared to leave the ship. Instead, it was just another night on board. We'll get to kick everyone off tomorrow...

[dfgf]

T

 

 

They started by bringing Fries & Onion Rings (very good, came with ranch dressing on the side, tender steak fries, crunchy onion rings). I think they are bottomless. They topped ours off when the rest of the food came.

 

 

Everything at Johnny Rockets is bottomless since the fee covers as much as you want to have while you're there.

 

Thank you so much for the first part of this review! I'll be doing the Western on Freedom 5 days from now. It was great to read about the service and see all of the shots of the Compass.

 

By far the best review I've ever read on CC, and I've read a lot of them!!!

[DisnyMik]

Everything at Johnny Rockets is bottomless since the fee covers as much as you want to have while you're there.

 

Thank you so much for the first part of this review! I'll be doing the Western on Freedom 5 days from now. It was great to read about the service and see all of the shots of the Compass.

 

By far the best review I've ever read on CC, and I've read a lot of them!!!

 

We'll be right there with you in 5 days!! ;) And yes, wonderful review, thank you!

[AZAficionado]

Everything at Johnny Rockets is bottomless since the fee covers as much as you want to have while you're there.

 

Thank you so much for the first part of this review! I'll be doing the Western on Freedom 5 days from now. It was great to read about the service and see all of the shots of the Compass.

 

By far the best review I've ever read on CC, and I've read a lot of them!!!

Yea, that's right. I should know that. Hopefully, they won't revoke my status for not knowing. :eek:

 

I'm so glad you're liking it and it has helped. Personally, western is my favorite itinerary, especially on Freedom where you get 4 different ports.

[dfgf]

I'm so glad you're liking it and it has helped. Personally, western is my favorite itinerary, especially on Freedom where you get 4 different ports.

 

I've been on 18 cruises. 1 Bermuda, 1 Eastern and 16 Western or Bahamas. So I'm going to have to agree with you! :)

[luvsun22]

I was thinking that your wine pairings dinner sounded wonderful until you got to the bad and the ugly parts. I can't believe they didn't tell you what wines you were drinking, that's crazy! I'm loving your review and can't wait for part 2. :D

[amster65]

 

 

The ugly: I'll keep this as nice as possible. The head sommelier was a condescending jerk. How he made it past RCCL's screening process is beyond me.

 

 

Was he the guy with greyish hair and dark rim glasses?

 

I was on the Eastern leg of your cruise.

[cpyne1414]

Great review! GF and I are doing the western itinerary in October. IYO, what would you say is something that we MUST do on FOTS?

[AZAficionado]

I've been on 18 cruises. 1 Bermuda, 1 Eastern and 16 Western or Bahamas. So I'm going to have to agree with you! :)

You have excellent taste in itineraries. ;)

 

I was thinking that your wine pairings dinner sounded wonderful until you got to the bad and the ugly parts. I can't believe they didn't tell you what wines you were drinking, that's crazy! I'm loving your review and can't wait for part 2. :D

Yea, I didn't believe it either. I still can't understand it. Oh well

 

Glad you are liking the review.

 

Was he the guy with greyish hair and dark rim glasses?

 

I was on the Eastern leg of your cruise.

Yep.

 

Great review! GF and I are doing the western itinerary in October. IYO, what would you say is something that we MUST do on FOTS?

I can't believe I'm going to say this. And after I say it, I'm going to have to wear a bag over my head. And, please don't tell my friends I said it.

 

The Ice Show. No joke.

 

Just in case you can't bring yourself to do it, here are #2 through #4:

 

#2 - After Labadee, sit in the Viking Crown at sunset as the Freedom passes through the Tortuga Straits.

 

#3 - Go to Twenty.

 

#4 - If he is still on board (I think he should be), watch Richard Spacey's morning show (or any of his antics) on the TV - it is on at lots of different times of the day.

 

 

Thanks again to everyone else for your support.

[UmbrellaDrink]

This is still such a great review. Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing it. I am learning alot and I can't believe there's another week to go!!!

[AZAficionado]

This is still such a great review. Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing it. I am learning alot and I can't believe there's another week to go!!!

You're welcome, you're welcome, you're welcome.:D

 

Or as they say on board, "My pleasure, UmbrellaDrink".

[molsonschooner]

You have excellent taste in itineraries. ;)

 

 

Yea, I didn't believe it either. I still can't understand it. Oh well

 

Glad you are liking the review.

 

 

Yep.

 

 

I can't believe I'm going to say this. And after I say it, I'm going to have to wear a bag over my head. And, please don't tell my friends I said it.

 

The Ice Show. No joke.

 

Just in case you can't bring yourself to do it, here are #2 through #4:

 

#2 - After Labadee, sit in the Viking Crown at sunset as the Freedom passes through the Tortuga Straits.

 

#3 - Go to Twenty.

 

#4 - If he is still on board (I think he should be), watch Richard Spacey's morning show (or any of his antics) on the TV - it is on at lots of different times of the day.

 

 

Thanks again to everyone else for your support.

What and where is twenty

[AZAficionado]

What and where is twenty

You didn't read all of my review so far.:eek:

 

Back on Day 5 (Grand Cayman), in the Solarium from 11:30 pm until 2:00 am, is Twenty - a Miami-style nightclub sponsored by Absolut. I have pictures and everything.

 

I highly recommend either paging back and taking a look or coming back in a few days as I cover it again with the eastern itinerary on Day 13/6 which is a Sea Day.

[AZAficionado]

Day 8 (1) - Port Canaveral, Florida

 

 

Hey, look. Stuff to read.

 

 

Back-to-Back Day!!!! One of the perks of staying in the same cabin for a back-to-back is you get to sleep in. We didn't need to be anywhere until 9:15 am at Pharaoh's Palace. They had coffee, juice and pastries and the Diamond Concierge was there to resolve an issues (he told lots of funny stories). Unfortunately, the airline industry is not the only type of travel affected by the "Sequester". Departures started on time but got more and more delayed because there were only two customs agents for the ship that morning at Port Canaveral. Since we were scheduled to be the last ones off the ship, we were delayed about an hour. Thank you elected officials for not managing the country's finances properly. You can count on my vote in November.

 

At 10:15 am, we were escorted as a group off the ship and given new Sea Pass cards. We were then put in a waiting area in the terminal because the passenger count on the ship was still 2. I guess two people didn't want their cruise to end. Fast forward 30 minutes, and we got to clear customs. We were back on board by 11:00 am.

 

So, here is the weird thing about customs and a back-to-back. As far as RCCL is concerned, it is just two cruises. Customs considers the combined vacation as a single trip for the purposes of the amount of stuff you can bring back into the US - which makes sense to me. However, we had to fill out a customs form and clear customs half-way through and then again at the end. That makes no sense to me at all, but that is government in action.

 

Back to the review....

 

The ship was really creepy for about 30 minutes. The pool deck looks like this for about an hour, once a week. The Royal Promenade was even creepier with nobody in it.

[AZAficionado]

Since this is a common departure port, we were not alone.

 

 

The competition (Carnival Sensation and Disney Dream).

 

One of the perks of being a Consecutive Cruiser is being invited to the Consecutive Cruiser's lunch in the Main Dining Room. Which was very good considering the entire crew has much more important things to do than serve us a special lunch. The menu was limited: two apps, three mains and one dessert. The service was excellent (my future waiter but I didn't know that at the time).

 

Shrimp Cocktail (very good, nothing special) and Caprese Salad (very good, firm but silky mozzarella with fresh tomatoes and a mild pesto).

 

Beef Stroganoff (very good, tender beef in a mild brown sauce with mushrooms) and Cheese Ravioli (very good, fresh pasta with ricotta and a mild tomato sauce).

[AZAficionado]

Apple Pie a la mode (excellent, not too sweet, not too tart, but stuffed full with apples).

 

We had access to our cabin to entire time. The doors they close are not locked. However, that doesn't mean your cabin is ready. And by "not ready", they mean the door is open, a pile of dirty sheets is on the floor and stuff is all over the place - not suitable for you to enter. It seems they turn over the cabins assembly-line style, rather than one at a time. We decided to start off the second half right with some bubbles and sun on our balcony.

 

Veuve Clicquot (excellent, especially on balcony).

 

It was interesting to see how different a cruise can be depending on the passengers. I'm pretty sure the first week was not a full cruise. It certainly seemed that way. Week 2 was either a full cruise or close to it. I think the average age was probably the same, but the variance was much smaller for week 1. To those who don't speak statistics: Week 1 passengers were mostly in the 30 to 50 age range. Week 2 had lots more of the under 30 and over 50 age groups. There was also a noticeable difference at the 4:00 pm Muster Drill. Week 1, everyone I could see was in place and waiting at 3:55 pm. Week 2 had people walking up at 4:15 pm and trying to wander away before the captain had released us.

 

My wife scheduled a mani/pedi after the drill, so I went to the helipad to see the sights.

 

Nasa's Vehicle Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral. We'll be seeing you in a week.

 

Heading through the channel.

 

I think that is Cocoa Beach, but I'm not sure.

 

I mentioned the Viking Crown in Part 1 as a great place to have a drink after sail-away. It turns out that isn't exactly the case. The first night of the cruise, Portofino does a Murder Mystery Dinner. It starts at 7:00 pm with drinks in the Viking Crown. The bartender in the Viking Crown closed down the bar immediately at 7:00 pm. It was a bit abrupt and caused one couple to not get served at all and a guy to not get a drink he had ordered but had not received yet. If you are in there well before 7:00, it should be great. Otherwise, not so much.

 

The bartender was in such a rush to get out of there, my drink didn't quite get filled to the top. I let it go because our Sea Pass cards didn't work (see below).

 

The bartender said my Sea Pass was not activated, which made no sense at all. It seems that my Sea Pass got turned into a cash account and the mani/pedi used up the allowance (I think). Two minutes at Guest Relations had the situation resolved, but I never got a straight answer on what happens with a back-to-back. The meeting said the credit card gets immediately applied to the new Sea Pass. Guest Relations said the roll over doesn't happen until Day 2 and it becomes a cash account in the mean time. Who knows. If you hit the situation, don't panic, remain calm and head to Guest Relations who will fix everything and give you an apology.

 

Our second week was the first week Freedom went to the new coupon-less system for member benefits. Gone are the coupon books with all the nice stuff like drink discounts, free spins in the casino, free internet time, etc. Relax. You still get many of the same benefits (see other threads for the specifics), you just don't get the coupon book. Instead, you get a letter explaining the benefits that are loaded up on your Sea Pass card. The significant change is that the benefits cannot be shared or used by anyone else as they are now attached to the individual Sea Pass card. For us, that meant that my wife had to make a few purchases for both of us, when prior to this I would use my card if we were together.

 

Supposedly, the first time you use your card and a benefit can apply, it will be applied unless you say otherwise. So, if you order two glasses of wine, the 20% discount on the second glass should be automatically apply. Not surprisingly, that didn't happen. The entire crew had a handful of hours to go from one system which they had been using for years to something completely opposite. My recommendation is you should say something either way every time you do something that could have a coupon apply, at least for a while. Order two glasses of wine but state specifically if you want the coupon to apply or not when you place the order. I'm sure it will be as they say in the letter, but it will take some time.

[AZAficionado]

Not wanting to sit through the introduction to the Murder Mystery, we left for the Champagne Bar. A Bombay Sapphire martini would make up for everything. Which they had plenty of, on Deck 1, on a pallet, waiting to be unloaded. It was just one of those days. Luckily, it only lasted about an hour.

 

Tangeray 10 martini (very good, smooth with floral hints), Bellini Sunset (same old, same old).

 

We did not have the same table in the Main Dining Room. Not only do they "shuffle" the passengers, they also "shuffle" the waiters and assistant waiters. Our old assistant was a few tables away, but I never saw our old waiter. The new table was for six (three couples). That allowed us to talk with everyone, but also made it very hit or miss on who was at dinner. One of the other couples was on their first week of a back-to-back. Our new waiter and assistant waiter were simply amazing. I have to give a shout-out to our waiter for his great knowledge of the wine list and excellent pairing suggestions. Use your waiters' knowledge. They know their stuff.

 

Spinach Salad (excellent, tangy citrus vinaigrette with sunflower seeds was the key, a nice contrast to the simple salad) and Lamb & Farrow Broth (excellent, simple but had a rich flavor despite being just a broth).

 

NY Strip Steak (very good, nicely cooked and a good portion, could substitute for Chops) and Prime Rib (very good, tender and cooked perfectly).

[AZAficionado]

Aussieres Rouge Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) 2011 (very good, nice fruit flavors with good tannin levels). This wine is part of the Wine & Dine package.

 

Chocolate Almond Cake (good, a little dense, but had great flavor) and Blueberry Peach Crumble (excellent, warm, crunchy, great fruit flavors, contrasted by ice cream).

 

After dinner we checked out the Cigar Lounge and then The Crypt which had a slightly smaller, yet younger turnout than last week.

 

Mauricio had his hands full turning over all those cabins and many of the extra towels were probably in the wash. So, no towel animal.

 

The eastern itinerary doesn't waste any time. No sooner than you find your cabin and you're back in port. We'll see how that worked out later...

 

A quick programming note: I'm going to pick up the pace and try to post more than one day of the cruise each real day. There just isn't as much to show you guys that you haven't already seen and the eastern itinerary has more sea days.

[KLStrategies]

I am pretty sure Cruise Critic will be hiring you to write these reviews from now on, yours is the best I've seen!

 

Question regarding internet - did you purchase a package through RCC and would you mind sharing the fee.

[goneclear]

Really, Really enjoying this review. We will be on the FOS in August for western Caribbean. This will be out third cruise on her. The Champagne bar is our favorite . wife loves the Veuve Clicquot also. I have the dirty Martinis.

Glad to hear you can smoke a cigar at the sky bar at least one night on the cruise (or is it every night?)

Thanks for posting this review.

[mets550]

Great review! Love the photos and descriptions of all the food and drink. (That is, of course, the main reason to cruise! :D)