My Freedom Review - Kinda "Live" but not really with lots of pics

[sayvan]

So back onto the ship we went. Tonight the Filipino band was playing on the outside deck. I can't remember the name of these guys (I recall it was one word but what was the word?), but as I said before they were really good.

 

St. Thomas from Deck 10

 

 

 

 

 

The band...

 

 

[sayvan]

A line of parking spots for some Yachts!

 

 

 

 

Sun starts to set to the left side of this shot... kinda....

 

 

 

Vanda enjoying some green tea while we wait on deck...

 

[sayvan]

Freedom then started to pull away from the dock...

 

 

 

The Sun slowly makes its way to the other side of the world...

 

 

Vanda watching as we pull away...

 

 

 

[sayvan]

Our day in St. Thomas was coming to and end and nothing said that better than the Sun as it climbed below the horizon...

 

 

 

 

 

Darkness had now descended on and it was time to go and get ready for the evening...

 

 

St. Thomas had been yet another great day for us. We went back to our room to shower and get dressed for dinner. We would head for our pre-dinner drinks at the martini bar and then our 8:15 dinner. After dinner we made our way to the Karaoke to listen to some fun singers and well give it a go ourselves... as was our pattern on this cruise we did not make it to the show yet again... oh well...

 

when we arrived back at our room we were greeted with what I think is a frog...

 

 

Our next two days would be at sea... time to explore the ship a little more...

[sayvan]

Thank you for this wonderful review! I love the pictures, they make me feel like I'm there, rather than here, where it's only 5 degrees out!

 

You are very welcome... I didn't see many Freedom reviews so I figured I would do one as I know they are very helpful to others when planning what to do or just needing to feel some warmth away from the cold for a few pages!

[ktravel]

thanks for all the pics and review. We just booked the freedom for 2/7/15 and am looking forward to these ports.

 

 

me too

[imluvncruzn]

Our St. Thomas day was nearly identical! LOL! We were at Coki too! It was beautiful. That was my 4th time in St. Thomas and I try to hit a different beach every time. I loved the color of the water and sandy bottom. However, nearly everyone in our group of 25 got stung by something in the water. Me and dh did multiple times. Nothing terrible but felt like multiple pin pricks. After coki our group went to Senor Frogs for my birthday. Oh what fun that was! We also listened to the band on lido and needless to say missed dinner that night then went to karaoke too! That was a great day. Oh and I love your pics of St. Maarten. It was so beautiful and the color of the water there was just breathtaking!

[sayvan]

Our St. Thomas day was nearly identical! LOL! We were at Coki too! It was beautiful. That was my 4th time in St. Thomas and I try to hit a different beach every time. I loved the color of the water and sandy bottom. However, nearly everyone in our group of 25 got stung by something in the water. Me and dh did multiple times. Nothing terrible but felt like multiple pin pricks. After coki our group went to Senor Frogs for my birthday. Oh what fun that was! We also listened to the band on lido and needless to say missed dinner that night then went to karaoke too! That was a great day. Oh and I love your pics of St. Maarten. It was so beautiful and the color of the water there was just breathtaking!

 

 

Were we on the same cruise? Did our paths cross?

 

 

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Edited March 2, 2014 by sayvan

[imluvncruzn]

Were we on the same cruise? Did our paths cross?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

Yep we must've "seen eachother" a lot because we were in the same places alot! LOL! My friend says she spoke with you and your wife a few times.

[sayvan]

Yep we must've "seen eachother" a lot because we were in the same places alot! LOL! My friend says she spoke with you and your wife a few times.

 

 

Very interesting... Now I am very curious .... Lol

 

 

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[imluvncruzn]

Very interesting... Now I am very curious .... Lol

 

 

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Here's a picture of our group (with a few MIA). There were 25 of us and I spotted us several times in your pics! LOL!

[sayvan]

Here's a picture of our group (with a few MIA). There were 25 of us and I spotted us several times in your pics! LOL!

 

 

Oh ok... Now I know... You guys were actually right around us when the band was playing after St. Thomas. Your friend was my 'Wooohooo' girl! You guys looked like you were having a blast! I think she commented on this thread as well.

 

 

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[sayvan]

me too

 

 

Your welcome

 

 

 

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[2 cruzen]

Again, your pictures are breathtaking. Which beach did you enjoy more, Meagan's Bay or Coki? We will have a 6 yr old.

Thanks

[sayvan]

Again, your pictures are breathtaking. Which beach did you enjoy more, Meagan's Bay or Coki? We will have a 6 yr old.

Thanks

 

They are both very nice... and they both have their own beauty to offer. I would have to say for snorkelling and such that Coki was better then Magen's Bay. Frankly, I would go to either. I think the beach is a bit bigger at Magen's Bay length wise but perhaps shorter distance to the water. Here are a couple of shots for you to compare..

 

Megan's Bay Length of Beach... note the width to the water..

 

 

 

now.. Coki Beach...

 

 

In this you get a feel for the width as well...

 

 

so as you can see the beaches are very similar... Perhaps Megan's Bay was more crowded but I suppose that would be determined by the number of Ships in Port as well on the day you are there...

[sayvan]

Well our cruise was starting to wind down. Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Maarten and St. Thomas had done us well but they were now fading away to distant memories brought back by the good times and of course pictures we took... but wait... This was an 8 day cruise so we still had 3 days to go before we were back in Ft. Lauderdale and two of those days would be at Sea.

 

Although we love the port days, we also love the sea days... When Vanda and I look to book a cruise we usually look for something that has a few sea days because we love to just sit around and well...do nothing... There is just something about being on an open deck watching the sea pass you by... Last spring we spent 32 days on the Celebrity Solstice. We were sailing around Australia and then in the South Pacific to Hawaii... During that cruise we had a total of 16 days at Sea... we loved it!

 

Anyway... when we are on the ship we usually like to get up to the Lido and onto deck 10 as soon as possible. Always nice to get a good spot. As I may have said earlier in this review we usually like to be on the port side and toward the corner, just a little to the side of the big outdoor screen.

 

This would be the area I am talking about...

 

 

We do not do a whole lot on a sea day.. I will usually walk around and snap a number of pictures but I try to stay outside as much as possible. My wife and I are very social. We love to meet new people. On this cruise we met a ton of people and throughout the week when on deck we seemed to be around the same people all the time. As it turned out these folks were all from Canada as well and lived around 2 hours west of us. We all had a blast all day long.

 

Now back to the ship for some pictures...

 

I always love the wake of the ship...

 

 

This is the aft pool area looking down from Deck 10... There is a retractable roof at the back...

 

 

a couple of adult only hot tubs as well... something I never go into on a cruise...

 

 

If you want to head up to the track or some more sun tanning spots Deck 11 is where you need to be.

 

 

There were plenty of chairs available during this cruise and we never had a hard time locating one... although we never did sit in this area...

 

[sayvan]

 

Today was also the day they would hold the "Groove for St. Jude" event. As you can see the ship was full of those wanting to get their "Groove" on.

 

 

 

 

During the event they were pushing hard to raise more money... So Someone offered up $100 and said that if they donated the money then the DJ had to get Ice Cream poured on his head and face... Apparently 2 or 3 people donated and next thing we knew it was Ice Cream in the face time...

 

Here two young guys volunteer to do the duty!

 

 

 

[sayvan]

 

 

 

Talk about "Brain Freeze"

 

 

 

[sayvan]

The Lido Pool area... very busy Hot Tubs,,

 

 

 

 

The pool... sorry about the blur...

 

 

Love the Sea.... Apparently some folks said they saw some whales on this day but unfortunately we did not... but they must be out there somewhere!

 

 

Of course...this fellow was around most of the day..

 

[sayvan]

Mike and Jerilyn find another couple from our dinner table who didn't make it to dinner the night before...

 

 

 

After a great, hot and fun day on deck we headed to our rooms to get ready for our last elegant or formal evening. We headed into Habana's for some pre-dinner drinks and to listen to the band before we made our way to dinner.

 

After dinner and seeing that we only had a couple of nights left on board we decided to ramp it up tonight. A couple of others from our dinner table also joined us tonight, so off the six of us went back to the Habana bar to sing some Karaoke. We had a blast. We then made our way over to 70's Dance Club for some late night clubbing and drinking... water of course...

 

 

I have no idea what happened here... something I wasn't supposed to see me thinks...

 

 

Us and the Newlyweds...

 

 

We eventually had to call it a night and so we headed back to our room and once again found this on our bed...

 

[sayvan]

Well the day had arrived and we were now getting closer to Florida... But we still had a fun day at sea ahead of us... This would be our 3rd and final sea day.

 

The weather was once again superb. We had been extremely lucky all cruise long. I think the entire time we were on this cruise we saw about 15 minutes of rain and that was it. Simply beautiful.

 

Today was another beauty with extremely calm seas and the bright blue skies...

 

Setting up in our usual spot Vanda decided we would hit the slides today...

 

 

 

 

 

She kept her hair dry the whole way down....

 

 

[sayvan]

The salt water pool was looking very refreshing today...

 

 

I then decided to head up to the sports deck and check things out...

 

 

 

The very top deck...

 

 

The Sports Deck

 

 

[sayvan]

Although we never got around to playing, this is the Mini Golf course...

 

 

the view from the golf course...

 

 

 

 

[sayvan]

As we made our way toward Florida we started to see other ships in the distance who where also heading toward the end of the weeks cruise...

 

 

I think some folks have spotted someone creeping them with a camera...

 

 

Lots of fellow cruisers enjoying a beautiful day on deck...

 

 

Now almost all the folks you see in this shot were the group of fellow Canadians we met up with. Each of us always sat in this area and looked out for the others when someone left the area... which was never for that long really...

 

 

Someone always enjoys her books during a sea day..

 

 

enjoying a view....

 

[sayvan]

The problem with being married to a photography enthusiast is that he is always wanting to take your portrait.... also explains why I am never in the shots... note the two ships off in the distance...

 

 

 

Oh look, I am in a shot after all.... reflected through Vanda's Maui Jim's.. I also love the reflection of the whale tail in this one...

 

 

the Canadian group...

 

 

 

Mike pondering the cold weather we would soon be returning too...