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

[maxs mom]

OK.....let me see if I can get back on track on the right day now!!

Wednesday ~ August 28th ~ St. Thomas

Good Morning!!

Here we are sailing toward St. Thomas......apparently slowly because we don't arrive until noon! I didn't really notice this on the itinerary when we booked and let me tell you......arriving this late is a big disappointment. Love St. Thomas and this really put us off schedule. Oh well.....nothing we could do about it.

Went to the CL early and chatted with the Pinnacle couple that I met on the first formal night.

Breakfast in the MDR was fairly early to try and beat the crowd. We sat with a young family of four from Idaho and a honeymoon couple who were tired of the WJ for breakfast and were trying the MDR for the first time. Great breakfast today.....fast service. Tip: Go early. Usually when we are walking out of the dining room, there is a long line trying to get in.

Here we are sailing along:

We got all of our stuff together for the beach, then went up to the DL for a while to watch the sail in, have some more coffee, and do some reading. Nowell said he would clean our cabin while we were up there. We met a nice couple from (where else) Florida. They will be on our December cruises with us.

Very peaceful in the DL this morning:

We finally introduced ourselves to Berty, the Diamond Concierge. We just haven't been up here on this cruise so we thought we should say hello. He's a busy guy with so many D and D+ on board! And so nice!

[maxs mom]

Got a couple of shots sailing in to the harbor:

Here is Frenchman's Reef:

It was a beautiful day. We were, of course, the LAST ones in so we were in the last berth. Carnival and Disney were ahead of us. We got off just after noon. It was a mob scene, but moved surprisingly fast.

We were heading to Sapphire Beach today and were able to get a taxi right there at the ship.....an AC van as opposed to one of the open air taxis. Sapphire Beach is about 20 minutes away and costs $18 for two of us. We are used to getting out there very early to beat the crowds, but when we arrived.....it really wasn't that crowded. We paid for our chairs ......$14 for two and had the beach boy put them in our favorite spot under the trees near the volleyball court.

Now.....there are iguanas on this beach. They have never been a problem.....interesting to watch.....just minding their own business......except for the time one of them pooped on my head......but that's another story. Last time we were here......we didn't even see any.

Well......today .......we walk up to our favorite spot and there were about 5 or 6 of these guys and apparently they were guarding their territory. They did NOT want us there. They were very aggressive. I think people have been feeding them and they think everyone has food for them. They certainly weren't shy about coming around. One tried to jump up into John's chair......very un-nerving. They were constantly circling us and we had to be very aware of where they were at all times to keep them from jumping at us. Here are a few shots of our new friends:

[maxs mom]

As soon as we got settled......we hadn't had lunch yet......so I went over to the food cart that is there and got a couple of hot dogs for us. I hoped our new friends were not going to expect us to share! The little lunch cart there cooks hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken and fish sandwiches right there when you order them, so they are very fresh and pretty good. However......don't ever be in a hurry, because these ladies are on island time. Our new friends were very interested when they saw the styrofoam containers that I brought back to our chairs......we had to be on guard for sure while we ate!

So this is a nice beach. It has undergone lots of changes due to erosion in the last few years. It has gotten pretty rocky, but I still like to come here. The snorkeling is good. There is coral, but some of the snorkelers are not very knowledgeable and end up standing all over it.

Here are some shots of the beach:

The view from my chair. How did those feet get in there!!!!!!!!

[smeck]

I really enjoy Meagan's bay when in st. Thomas I just love the Beach.

[maxs mom]

I really enjoy Meagan's bay when in st. Thomas I just love the Beach.

 

Yes......We've enjoyed Megan's quite a bit in the past. Nowadays....it just gets too crowded for my taste. You have to carry your own chair (we can't do that any more) and the only area that's not crowded is at the very end. The lines are long to get any food. I just remember the old days when it was relatively undiscovered by the cruise crowd......now that was nice. Many days.....especially when the Oasis or the Allure are in port....you can't move out there. We just started finding different places to go and Sapphire is one of them. Another of my favorite places is Secret Harbour.

[maxs mom]

After we ate lunch..... I took Al and Phyllis down to the end of the beach where the pool area is for the condo guests. It's really nice out there and I have never seen any people out there. I just discovered this not long ago when I took a walk. (It pays to take a walk and poke around!) Now I haven't had the nerve to set up camp here because you're not supposed to.....but it sure is inviting!

I could easily hang out here for a week!!

[maxs mom]

Soon Al and Phyllis went snorkeling and we enjoyed our little spot on the beach.......keeping ever vigilant for the killer iguanas. For some reason......they really liked us!

[maxs mom]

Pretty soon the rain came down pretty hard so we quickly gathered all our stuff and headed for the taxi stand. Would have liked to have gotten out here earlier in the day, but we still had a nice afternoon here despite those creatures. We'll be back.

Taxi ride back to the ship:

It was late and we were tired so we didn't stop to do any shopping here. We just had the taxi driver take us straight back to the ship.

Many others had the same idea!

Since we were last in today.....we were last out. Fun to watch the other ships sail out. The Disney ship is backing out.......playing "When you wish upon a star!"

[maxs mom]

Here comes the pirate ship in for the day. I'll bet they had fun! Can you say Rum Punch!?

The Disney ship looks nice.

They have this neat water chute thing. Looks like fun.

We only had a short time to rest this afternoon. We met A & P in the CL, but first there was a really nice sunset.

[maxs mom]

Al and Phyllis went to Chops tonight courtesy of the Casino Manager. We went to the MDR and were seated once again in a different spot. We had a nice dinner. I actually got lasagna.....that was a first for me and it was really good. We were seated next to a couple from Raleigh! Franco.....our waiter from last week....stopped by to say hello. A Head Waiter seated us tonight and I put my arm around him and told him that we had been on the ship for two weeks and he was the first Head Waiter we had seen!. He just said they were very busy. No kidding!

After dinner we took the nightly bridge shot.....then headed down to the casino.

We did our Free Spin to Wins......I got nothing......John got a key chain. Then we both proceeded to play different Wheel of Fortune machines. John hit a spin on his first pull and won some money. I hit a spin on my last pull and won $60.......we cashed out and went some place where we could breathe!

We left there and went to the Love and Marriage Show. A new CD was on board this week......Luke Arrowsmith. He was just another OK CD.....but he did a great job with the Quest. More about that later. Not so good with Love and Marriage. First we had to sit through a Bingo game.....arrrrrrgh! This made the L&M game start way late. It dragged and dragged and dragged......not nearly as good as last week. Two of the couples were obviously very familiar with the game, so that makes it not so much fun. I was about to fall asleep so I think we left a little early.

We had another towel animal waiting on us in the cabin tonight.

Oh......I forgot to post the best picture of the day!!! When Al and Phyllis went snorkeling today they ran into this creature:

[JohnGaltny]

Hi Jane,

 

Glad I found your review of our week aboard together. Obviously, some of our observations are very similar. Curious about what you did on St. Maarten. Unlike us, I'm sure no sunglasses were harmed.:D

 

You really are good, especially for the people taking notes. Enjoy my favorite ship next.

[maxs mom]

Thursday ~ August 29th ~ St. Maarten

Saved the best for last! St. Maarten......our favorite port in the Eastern Caribbean. Early arrival today....Yay!! 8:00 Just beautiful!!

Got up early and in for breakfast so that we could get out to the beach in a timely manner today! We were the only ship in port today and that was wonderful! We still docked at the farthest berth away from the port.....go figure!

We were off the ship at 9 and we walked to the taxi area. Did not see any trams at this time. Got to the taxi stand and there were plenty of taxis and no cruisers! Weird. A couple did come up behind us and wanted to know where we were going. They weren't sure where to go. I said they were welcomed to come with us......but warned that we were trying out a new place today. They were game and off we went.

We always, always go to Orient Beach. Our usual hang out is Kakao, but the last time we were there, I went on one of my walks and found a place all the way at the end of the beach that looked interesting and I wanted to give it a try.

OK.....I hesitate to report on this because I don't want this place to get overrun with people like all my previous finds have!! So I will say this. This new place is not for everybody. It is not someplace where you want to go and drink all day because that would be cost prohibitive. It IS a little pricey. Having said that......I will continue.

The name of this area of Orient is Palm Beach. Our taxi driver took us right there, and asked when we wanted to return.....he would come back for us. We were the first to arrive for the day. The cute little French beach boy, Julian.....

........showed us to our chairs and umbrellas.....and there was no charge. They only ask that you have lunch in their restaurant. No problem.....we were staying all day, so we made reservations for lunch at 12:00.

We got all settled in our chairs and proceeded to enjoy one of the most wonderful beach days we've had in St. Maarten in a very long time!

[maxs mom]

Hi Jane,

 

Glad I found your review of our week aboard together. Obviously, some of our observations are very similar. Curious about what you did on St. Maarten. Unlike us, I'm sure no sunglasses were harmed.:D

 

You really are good, especially for the people taking notes. Enjoy my favorite ship next.

 

Hey John!! I don't think we met, did we? I read your great review and enjoyed it very much. Read on to see what we did in St. Maarten. I love the quiet places so Maho is not for me, but sounds like y'all had a great time there. (Everybody......go to Maho.......don't go to my quiet beach!) Thanks for stopping in!

[maxs mom]

This part of the beach is just beautiful. We had the place pretty much to ourselves......now a lot of that had to do with the fact that we were the only ship in port. There is a lot of sea grass on the beach in this area. but that didn't bother me at all. They try really hard to rake it up, but it just comes right back. Here are some more shots of the beach:

[maxs mom]

Lots of quiet time relaxing and reading and just enjoying the scenery.

Really......I usually read a lot at the beach but today.....I thoroughly enjoyed just sitting and enjoying how beautiful it was today. I enjoyed swimming in the ocean today. There was a little drop off right when you walk in the surf and the first time out I stumbled and sat right down. I just stayed there for a while and pretended that I meant to do that!

The undertow is a little strong here so you must be careful. I loved it, though. Lots of great waves. Some people like it calm........I like waves!

[maxs mom]

No water toys or action down this way.....just beauty.

A horse sauntered by:

Guess what!!????

[JohnGaltny]

Gee Jane, you don't remember me and all the drinks we shared and that terrific night we spent together with the waves crashing on the balcon?

 

OHHH, that was a Jack Daniels inspired dream you say??? Ah well, I guess we didn't really meet but if you handle the day life review and I handle the weird stuff, folks on here will see the whole truck.:)

Edited September 9, 2013 by JohnGaltny

[The Big Booper]

Still here enjoying your review. What makes it interesting is doing a compare and contrast between you, Radio and Trainman-2. All excellent but all totally different. You have a personal visual diary of your time on the ship and whatever beach you go to, along with footsie pictures. Radio does a National Geographic tour of the ship, especially the early riser pictures, and the island stops. And Trainman, Food Porn!!!!:D. And some wicked one-liners. Zowie!

 

Maybe I'll do a live but I doubt it. Probably do what you are doing.

 

We are doing a sorta b2b only on different ships and different months. Plus the 2014 Ex repo from NJ/NY to PC.

[Realtor at Sea]

Loving your review as always. Is there anywhere at Sapphire Beach where you can avoid the "wild life"...perhaps not under the trees???

[maxs mom]

Gee Jane, you don't remember me and all the drinks we shared and that terrific night we spent together with the waves crashing on the balcon?

 

OHHH, that was a Jack Daniels inspired dream you say??? Ah well, I guess we didn't really meet but if you handle the day life review and I handle the weird stuff, folks on here will see the whole truck.:)

 

LOL!!!

You are exactly right!

Next time, be sure and say hello!

[maxs mom]

Loving your review as always. Is there anywhere at Sapphire Beach where you can avoid the "wild life"...perhaps not under the trees???

 

Sapphire Beach is a large beach. We can't deal with the sun, so that's why we sit under those trees. There are lots of places to sit, if you don't mind sitting in the sun.

Like I said.....we've been there many times and the iguanas have never been a problem. I'm sure they'll move on or be moved and things will once again be peaceful. I hope so, anyway!

[maxs mom]

Still here enjoying your review. What makes it interesting is doing a compare and contrast between you, Radio and Trainman-2. All excellent but all totally different. You have a personal visual diary of your time on the ship and whatever beach you go to, along with footsie pictures. Radio does a National Geographic tour of the ship, especially the early riser pictures, and the island stops. And Trainman, Food Porn!!!!:D. And some wicked one-liners. Zowie!

 

Maybe I'll do a live but I doubt it. Probably do what you are doing.

 

We are doing a sorta b2b only on different ships and different months. Plus the 2014 Ex repo from NJ/NY to PC.

 

I could never do a live report. That.....to me.....would be stressful. I just keep a journal and try to put it together when we get home. I spend all my time in relaxation mode on the ship!

[maxs mom]

We had lunch around noon. The couple that rode out there with us joined us for lunch. We were practically the only people there so we got the best table in the place. The restaurant is up these stairs and overlooks the beach.

This was our table:

And this was the view:

Lots of good French cuisine here but what did we get? Hamburgers!! Well.....that was the cheapest thing on the menu.....but they were mighty good!

The other folks got different kinds of fish sandwiches and they said they were wonderful. Might opt for that next time.

The prices were in euros, but they brought the bill in dollars as well.

[maxs mom]

One of our tablemates got this Bushwhacker. Mmmmmmm!

We enjoyed some Presidentes!

As a tradition in most of the restaurants on Orient Beach we were served a liqueur after dinner.

After lunch.....it was back out to the beach for more relaxation.

[maxs mom]

It was such a nice day that we hated to leave.

We told George, our taxi driver, to come back for us at 2:30, but I could have stayed out here a lot longer. We reluctantly packed up and found George waiting for us at the bar. I hope he was drinking water!

What a perfect beach day and end to our port stops. Perfect weather.....hot.....but the sea breeze kept us cooled off as well as the water.