First Time Cruiser on Freedom

[cruisecraze96]

Well I had some vacation days to burn this year and my husbands family was going on a cruise so I decided to tag along while DH got to stay home with the kids :D He saves his winter vacations for hunting. So on this cruise it was just me in one cabin, my mom decided to go last minute in a balcony, my inlaws in a balcony, my FIL's sisters in a GS and my one of their daughters and her husband on the spa deck in a balcony. We did the 6 day cruise to Key West, Cayman Islands, and Jamaica.

NIGHT BEFORE

My mom and I flew in the night before, me from Kansas on SW and her from Tampa on SW. I love Southwest and both of us had great flights. I stayed at a hotel my in laws picked but honestly would not go back again. It was the Sleep Inn Ft. Lauderdale and for the price I know I could have gotten better since I am a bargain shopper but went where they did. But the room was good, I am an early riser which is good since at 7:30 the fire alarm went off only in my room :) but oh well.

 

My sister lives near the airport and works at Rocco Tacos on Las Olas. She picked us up and we went over to her restaurant to have an amazing margarita, the staff there are just great and I would highly recommend people to go check it out. They have live music at night and so the place was really hopping!

 

 

EMBARKATION

That morning my sister picked me up from the hotel around 8 and we hung out and my mom and me picked up some last minute things. I forgot about Florida liquor laws on Sundays so my idea to grab a bottle of wine was smashed :) but I honestly would not have used it. I had FTTF but my mom booked last minute and did not. We got the terminal at 11:30am and they allowed her to go through security with me. That took about 2 minutes and then I went to the FTTF check in line and she went to stand by. I got through in another 5 minutes and if I wanted to get on the boat they were just calling for FTTF boarding when I was through but waited for mom. She joined me about 15 minutes later and they were on boarding group number 6 then. They allowed us both to board then with my priority boarding card and off we went. First stop was my room, so we went through the 100lb doors (jeez they are heavy) and that was the first of about 3 times I saw my stewart. I gave him an extra $20 then told him I would like ice and some room in the fridge for the soda I brought and dropped off our carry on items. Then we went up to the Lido Deck and had lunch and explored the ship until my mom's room was ready.

 

I can tell you my in-laws did not have FTTF and decided to wait until the 1pm to take a taxi to the port, well the taxi was late and the lines were long. They barley got on the boat in time for the drill.

 

I thought FTTF was totally worth the price for this alone.

 

ROOM

Decided to go with an ocean view room and saw that one of aft L Shape rooms were open so I grabbed 2470 for a great price and it was a GREAT decision. The room was huge, compared to the balcony room my mom had. 2 picture windows where very nice to have open during the morning. Now I had already done lots of research and was prepared for the vibration and noise. Some days heard and felt nada, but coming into port at Key West and during some rougher seas you could feel the engines going. But honestly, I would get this room again in a heart beat. I had had a great stewart, I saw him just once in awhile (did not get name) but always had ice and the room as cleaned at least twice a day. Every night but the first night there was a towel animal on the bed which was very fun.

 

DINING

We had early dining and Joseph was our head waiter. We had excellent service with our table of 8. Also, during our cruise Joseph was promoted to Jr. Maitre D so I know that we got a great team! We ate in the Main Dining Room every night and on both sea days for the brunch and I thought the food was really good. Our food was never cold and if I picked something that I just didn't like Joseph was always more than happy to get me something else :) After the first night he also was ready with tea when we sat down. The brunch was also very good, but I just got the breakfast items :) Really wanted blueberry pancakes those days.

 

I will come back in a bit to finish the review. I am trying to keep it to the highlights and my personal thoughts on what I saw :)

[wrigley80]

Nice review....we did that itinerary on the Freedom in March. We really enjoyed the Serenity area onboard the Freedom

[wrigley80]

Nice review....we did that itinerary on the Freedom in March. We really enjoyed the Serenity area onboard the Freedom

[Snuckles]

Tell me more . . . we cruise early December.

[michelle1836]

looking forward to the rest. sailing on the Freedom in July

[cruisecraze96]

DAY ONE - KEYWEST

So first night was great, explored the ship and went to the comedy club (which is awesome!) So mom and I got off the ship around 9am without any wait and mom wanted to do the trolley tour and see the Hemingway House and Truman House. We bought tickets since it was less to do it there instead of through the ship and walked over to the Truman House. Okay, I really should have headed the reviews since to me this was a waste of almost 2 hours of the day :( I would much rather it be a self guided tour with the option to have a guide. It was just way to much talk talk talk, video, wait, etc for me. I also have seen Roosevelt's Little White House and I guess this was a let down compared to that.

 

We took the trolley to the Hemingway House and I really really like this. It was a self guided tour and I loved the grounds and things around the house (plus you could take pictures) :p I would do this again with DH or the kids.

 

Back on the trolley and the island tour was quite interesting, next time I would stick with the train and the historic district but that is just me. After getting off the trolley we walked through some of the shops and got some souvenirs.

 

NOTE: I bought the shopping guide and did get several of the discounts or free items throughout the trip. Made for some great gifts for the kids (4 and 11).

 

Back on the boat...was really really disappointed no pier runners :rolleyes:

 

Had dinner with the group and then I went and saw the Love and Marriage show which was wonderful and funny and did the Adult Game Night (our team came in 2nd) which was a double blast!

 

DAY TWO - SEA DAY

Yeah Sea Day....slept in since the group wanted to do Sea Day Brunch at 11am. Okay sleeping in for me with a 4 year old was 7:30am but hey anything is great. I had room service bring some cereal and iced tea and then relaxed and read some.

 

Brunch was good, had some blueberry pancakes and then off to explore the ship. Mom wanted to do some of the shopping seminars so we listened into those and of course won nada ;)

 

I was able to find one of those round chairs on the Serenity Deck :D Loved it up there! Laid back and read some more and just got some sun, much needed since Kansas weather had already sucked all the sun out of me and I might have scared some kids (and adults) being so white.

 

Since it was formal night I got dressed up and headed to dinner and had another good meal with some lobster :) yummy! We had an early day in Cayman so I went to bed around midnight.

 

Sidenote: Forgot that on Embarkation Day we went on the spa tour and then booked the special of the day with the facial, full body massage, and eye treatment. Added the hot stones....now I will never ever do a massage again without the hot stones! Had a great experience in the spa, did forget my tennis shoes so was unable to use the gym and never got a chance to use the other facilities.

[cruisecraze96]

Nice review....we did that itinerary on the Freedom in March. We really enjoyed the Serenity area onboard the Freedom

 

Since I didn't have the kids I sat up there several times. I too thought it was very nice. I got lucky and got a round chair one day and then on the others relaxed in a chair or lounge chair. I like to read and bought a kindle paperwhite just for this trip and it got tons of use!

 

One thing I noticed, I never had a chair issue. Even though the ship sailed full I always found a lounge chair or chair on the Serenity area or down by the pool without any hassles.

[cruisecraze96]

DAY THREE - CAYMAN ISLANDS

Mom wanted to go shopping before our excursion at 10am so we got up and off the boat by 7:30am. Tenders were a breeze, I had FTTF but no need for that. We walked down, got on the tender boat (2 story) and about 15 minutes later was getting off onto shore.

 

We walked around the shops, stopped by some of the stores that we had free gifts from (such as the charm bracelet) and got the kids each a shirt. Headed back and I had booked an excursion through Grand Cayman Cruise Excursions, we were going on an Catamaran out to Stingray City and then do some snorkeling at the Barrier Reef and Coral Gardens. My MIL met us there at the tent (after some lost text messages) and this was just a great trip. It was around $38 pp and we had a blast, the boat captain (Captain Bryon) was wonderful and they do allow you to use your own cameras as well.

 

Stingray City was a very different experience, my mom just went for the boat ride but MIL and I got into the water and hung out with these very neat creatures. We then got back into the boat and stopped at the barrier reef. Very nice, not alot of sea life but lots of coral there and then over to the Coral Gardens which had hundreds if not thousands of fish for you to view. On the way back they turned up the music and put out the sail and it was a very nice day.

 

The tender back again was pretty easy, no lines we got on a boat and back onto the ship within 15-20 minutes. I went over to the Lido deck and had some Indian food (they do an awesome job) and then relaxed some before dinner. :p I did not stay out late this night, so no comedy club for me. We had another early day in Jamacia.

[Colorado Kat]

Very interesting review. I'm glad you were able to score a round chair on Serenity.

[cruisecraze96]

DAY FOUR - JAMAICA

Well we made it to Jamaica and the rain we have been outrunning caught up with us. It is the rainy season there this time of year but that wasn't going to stop us from having fun. I booked the Tranopy excursion through Carnival and my mom booked just the chair lift to go up to Mystic Mountain. My in-laws thought the website to look at mystic mountain was Carnival's so they booked directly with them but that did not include transfers and the cost was about the same as my mom paid for just the lift.

 

Mom and I got off the boat and meet at 8:15 to head to the mountain. It was pretty simple to get off, no real lines but a long walk to where you met for the Carnival excursions. We got on the bus to the mountain and it started to rain again. We waited about 15 minutes to get on the lift, but by that time the rain stopped again. This is a great way to see everything, you are pretty high up and even though I was deathly afraid of heights I was able to appreciate the views. Just had a death grib on the bar :eek:

 

Once I got up to the top I headed over to do the zip line. I had heard lots of mixed reviews on this but this had to be hands down the best customer service experience I've had. The guides were fantastic and the course was well worth it. I brought my camera and just turned it on video mode for the zips and got some great shots that way.

 

After the zip line was done you finish up about halfway down the mountain where you get on the chair lift to ride it back down and then back up again. Here the guides again were amazing, they knew my mom was up waiting on me and I was by myself on the zip so they took me their way back up the mountain. We went down a trail where another employee stopped with about 4 bobsleds and I got in that instead and had a quick ride on the bobsled with them and then up the mountain. Took about half the time as it would have taken to use the lift :D. I made sure to tip my guides well though too.

 

I met up with mom and then did the bobsled again bymyself which was lots of fun, but I liked it better when I wasn't in charge of how fast it went and just went with it.

 

Afterwards we got on the lift and about the time it took off down the mountain the sky opened up and we got a pretty decent shower, looked like a couple wet cats once we were at the bottom. Bus pulled up, and in-laws got off (they slept in) and Mom and I went shopping.

 

Shopping was interesting, we ate lunch at a resturant there by the dock and had to fend off the hair braiders and locals wanting pretty much anything you had on you (phone cases, jewerly, etc). We then went back into to the doc area and I haggled on several items for the kids and back on the boat we went.

 

Tonight was the 2nd formal night so we got dressed up again and went to dinner. Afterwards I attended all the adult comedy shows, I have to tell you get there early! It was standing room only in there, luckily I got there early and made a friend to get a seat near the stage.

[cruisecraze96]

DAY FIVE - SEA DAY

Well I guess technically this is Day 6 but at least I get a day to releax without having to be somewhere early. I decided to sleep in and woke up at 8am...I know so much additional sleep. Met mom down at the MDR for the Sea Day Brunch to get some blueberry pancakes. ;)

 

I packed up most of the suitcase and had to talk to my room stewart since I was missing one of the beach towels I asked to be replaced. Didn't want to get a surprise bill for one of those later.

 

It was a bit overcast today with rain off and on but I did get to lay out by the pool and watch the Mr and Mrs Carnival contest and read some in between the showers. The contest was quite funny, but there should have been a warning for parents whose kids were not in the camp. At the end of the contest the last item needed was 3 bikini tops....so lots of topless woment out there for a few minutes covering themselves with hands or towels. I thought it was funny, but there were a couple young girls hanging out nearby that had a look of complete horror on their faces :eek:

 

I even got to take a nap today, and then off to change and go down to the dining room. Dinner was good like usual and afterwards I decided to be nice and give the guy at the blackjack table some cash, gave the slots some cash too but so far none wanted to give me an cash back. :cool:

 

I decided to do the express luggage and the paperwork was there on the bed so I finished up packing and put the luggage outside the door for pickup. I also went to the late show that night, it was good but not that great.

 

DEBARKATION DAY

Time to get off the ship...I had the FTTF so I could have had group 2 if I wanted or I could have used group 6 that came with the Express Luggage but mom and I decided to eat some breakfast and head off the boat around 9am. It was just before they called for group 7 so we were in between the rush. Pretty easy to get off, the line was fairly long and it took us about 30 minutes to get through customs and out to wait for my sister to pick us up.

 

 

This was my first cruise and I really enjoyed myself. I did have to get used to the movement of the boat and I think a couple times I did have a bit of anxiety being out in the middle of the ocean on a boat but otherwise it was a good experience. I did love the comedy shows and was a bit disappointed that the dance clubs were lacking, that could have been the groups on the boat too.

 

I did stop by camp carnival and got some information so the kids can see what they might have been able to do on this boat to get them prepared for the March trip.

 

I would purchase FTTF again, and have already done so on the March trip. We got the most out of it on that first Embarkation day but on the last 2 nights when everyone had questions on their bill the line for guest services was huge so if I needed the shorter line it would have been a breeze to go through. Only once did I really use it, for some reason the last night after I got a drink my sail and sign card was canceled, they had no clue why but turned it right back on again.

 

Also, I didn't realize until the 2nd to last night but they were doing match play on table games in the casino if you bought any classic drink, you got a $5 match card to lay with your bet. Since I did have several of the Cruiser drinks I was able to save 2 of those but would have had a few more to lose on the blackjack tables if I saw that earlier.

 

I know now some of the things I don't need to bring with me in March, I tried to keep it to 2 suitcases but in March I am really hoping to stick with 2 even with the 2 kids going with me.