B2B On the Freedom ~ August 18th & 25th: My Diary

[LABCHICK]

Jane

I have really enjoyed your review with the wonderful pictures. Looking forward to your next review.

[SilkySal]

Another "like" button!!

 

I believe my 4 lady friends and I met you and your DH on Adventure of the Seas a few years back' date=' didn't we? If this is you, I lost your email. Mine is tnskuhn@gmail.com and would love to hear from you now and then! Looked like Terri enjoyed her visit a few weeks ago! If I am mistaken, sorry for the interruption!:o In any event, really loved your review of the Freedom! We will be on her soon!

[Zhane's mum]

Great review, full of helpful tips. I feel your pain for the final night :(

[CRUISEMAMI]

For all of you, that need a 'like' button, here it is!!!

This is for your review my 'sweet sista'

And thank you for your 'feet' pics: love them!!

You can copy this 'like' button... I did

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

[CRUISEMAMI]

Well.....final night in the CL with Al & Phyllis and Gerry & Sandy. Nice time. Pretty crowded in here this week' date=' but we always managed to find a place to sit (Thanks, Al!!) Service was really slow in here this week. Arlene was nice but really slow.[/size']

Making plans to cruise together again!

Said good-bye to Willie! Great Concierge!

Dinner in the MDR.....still another location. Service was good and fast, though. Tried a new dessert tonight .......some pear and chocolate thing......very forgettable.

After dinner we got our suitcases out in the hall. Always a sad thing to do!!

Can't laugh this week!

 

We love Willie, too!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

[cruising granddad]

Jane, thanks for your wonderful review!

I am Kay's (cruising grandma's) DH (dumb husband).

I want to really thank you for all the great pictures!

I can see Kay (and Wendy) had a lot of fun!

Kay and Wendy had so much fun without Tom and me, that they are on a B2B again soon.:D

I hope to sail with you and John someday.

 

If you have any pictures of Kay that you did not post, please send them to my email below!! Thanks!

[maxs mom]

Jane

I have really enjoyed your review with the wonderful pictures. Looking forward to your next review.

 

Judi......Thanks a lot. Looking forward to meeting you n December.

SilkySal.....It is quite possible that we sailed with you on the Adventure. We've been on her several times.

Zhane's Mum....Yes....that last night is always tough.

Franca......Thanks for that Like Button!!!!

John......so good to hear from you. We enjoyed meeting Kay. I hope she will let you cruise with her again!!! She and Wendy were having a ball. Hope we can cruise with you, too.

[maxs mom]

Well.....here we are. The cruise is over.

We got our 5:30 wake up call and we were just docking at that time. We opted not to have breakfast on board this morning. We had early luggage tags and wanted to get off the ship and on the road as soon as we could. We had a long drive that day.

So we got all packed up and said good-bye to yet another wonderful cabin steward, Nowell.

We went down to Pharoah's to wait until they called our number. I grabbed a muffin and some coffee there. Fortunately we ran into Al and Phyllis one last time. We said good-bye to them. We will see them again in December on the Independence.....Yay!!

We were called off at about 7:20. After walking the length of the ship, we were able to get off, get our luggage off the carousel, and go through customs easily. We went out to the pick up area and waited on our shuttle to Park and Cruise. We waited for about 10 minutes and just barely got on that shuttle. We got to our car and on the road at 8:14.

Here we go:

We found a McDonald's and had some breakfast to go. Fortunately it was a beautiful day and there was not much traffic. We made it home a mere 11 hours later!

Here we are passing through Jacksonville:

We were totally exhausted when we got home. Usually after a cruise, I have to go back to school the next day, so it was wonderful to be able to sleep in and not worry about that. Now all I had to do was tackle all that laundry!!

[maxs mom]

So once again....another two cruises are in the books! Once again a good time was had by all. This cruising lifestyle is great fun and we love it. We meet the nicest people on cruise ships and have made some life long friends as a result. Looking forward to more and more cruises and hope to meet more nice folks as well. So please be sure and say hello if you see me.

Oh....here is a little video of some interactive artwork near our cabin on Deck 6. Hope you can see it. It was neat.

Next up for us is the Explorer out of Bayonne on October 13th to Bermuda! Hey .....It's almost time to start packing for that one!! As always......here is a toast to all our cruise buddies.....past and present. Hope to see you once again on a cruise ship!!

[beachbuddy]

Great review Jane!!! I really enjoyed it!!

 

Patty

[maxs mom]

Great review Jane!!! I really enjoyed it!!

 

Patty

 

Thank you, Patty. Thanks for stopping by!

[bdcat117]

Super Review!! We will be on Independence in February. I enjoyed your details and photos. I'll stayed tuned for your next two voyages.

[maxs mom]

Super Review!! We will be on Independence in February. I enjoyed your details and photos. I'll stayed tuned for your next two voyages.

 

Great! Yes we will be on the Independence again the first two weeks of December. Look for that review close to Christmas. I hope it will be of some help.

[Ocean Boy]

It is a good thing you have a cruise coming up soon. Then we will all have another thread to be on together for a few days after you get back! If I can't retire and cruise once a month like you I'll just have to make due with your reviews!:D

 

 

By the way, I'm glad Bermuda is next. I love it there.

Edited September 10, 2013 by Ocean Boy

[boaterette]

Thank you for your review. I have always enjoyed reading your reports. Congratulations on your retirement. I am sure the teaching community will miss you. My daughter just received her Masters in Education and is now entering the profession. I must say I don't envy her decision for it is certain to be a tough road in this day and age. I am looking forward to your next review. Enjoy Bermuda!

[Ciardasully]

Great Review! Congratulations on your retirement!

[1ParticularHbr]

I've really enjoyed your review. Freedom is our next (so your review timing was perfect) and we're contemplating what to do next October. I'll be looking for a review of your trip to Bermuda as it's on our future cruise list but we're on the fence about doing it in October 2014...worried it's too cool there in October.

[msjaxson]

Thank you so much for a great review !! I did Freedom Eastern in October of 2011 . We now have a back to back booked for next October and you gave me some great ideas !!

[audome78]

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Now that's a REAL treat...our friend, Michael Rasmussen. Had a great time with him a year ago on our Freedom B2B last year. When we were back onboard 3 months later, he was on holiday back in Australia. A great fellow!

[ContessaK]

Wonderful review! Thank you for wrapping it up so nicely! Can't wait to see your future reviews! Sad this one is over but it makes me doubly excited for our b2b on Freedom in October!

[maxs mom]

Ocean Boy....Hope to see you back in October. Will look forward to "seeing" you then.

boaterette...Thanks! Unfortunately I would not recommend the teaching profession to anyone this day and time. And it's sad that I have to say that. Good luck to your daughter.

rec625......I'll be sure and let you know about that temperature in Bermuda. We've been in late September before but not in October. We're going on this one because the timing was right and the price was incredible.

msjaxson....glad I could give you some ideas!

audome78.....we didn't get to know Michael very well. He wasn't on with us the first week, but he was always so pleasant any time we came in contact with him. Everyone seemed to love him!

ContessaK....have a great time on the Freedom in October!

Ciardasully.....Thanks! And thanks for following along!

[JohnGaltny]

Really nice job Jane. Sorry we missed each other that second week.

[dsvd79]

Love your reviews!

[SherriZ366]

Standing in the water facing the beach, Club Orient is at your left and Palm Beach is all the way to the right, way past Bikini Beach, etc. A bit pricey.

 

The St. Martin taxi association controls the rates and if you go to the taxi dispatch area at the pier, look for the rates to Orient Beach. The only thing is that the rates per person drop depending on how many people the driver gets for his cab. Palm Beach is isolated so you will pay the top rate, maybe $8 pp one way or even $ 18 minimum charge. I haven't been to the island in two years.

 

If you go there or any place on Orient Beach, bring cash. Lots of places don't take plastic and those that do might not give you a 1-1 exchange rate for Euros/dollars. This is France, after all, land of very high taxes.

Thanks for locating Palm Beach and filling me in on the cost. We usually are around Kon Tiki and that is not very expensive but probably would want to try something else.

[SherriZ366]

Sherri....Palm Beach is all the way down at the end next to Boo Boo Jam. It's way away from the action.....but I like that!! It was perfect for me!

Thanks Jane. Boo Boo Jam is on my panorama map.