Back from Freedom of the Seas!

[mickev99]

We're doing a B2B, Nov. 23 and 30. I cannot wait!

 

B2B....very jealous!!! I'm doing Western in June.

[caral2004]

Hi, the best way I've found is to use a free hosting service like photobucket. Once you've posted pictures the site will generate a link which you can then copy and past into your post and the picture shows up nicely. Use the one called "IMG." Just be aware if you later delete the picture from photobucket your post will have a broken link.

 

 

Est c'est vrai, votre anglais est magnifique.

 

Thanks for the review. As you can see below I'm going soon (for the second time.)

 

Thanks for the information. When I will have more time I will try this. If not, I will continue the way I did. :)

[caral2004]

Here is the building of the Best Western I was talking about. We were in this building, on the 7 floor directly on the Ocean! :)

[caral2004]

Saturday - A day in Cocoa Beach

We woke up not to early (we were very tired) and had our breakfast in our room with things that we bought at the grocery store. You can see on the picture that it is going to be a beautiful day :)

My husband and I went on the beach and reserved 2 long chairs and an unbrella for the day (not very expensive something around $10 if I remember well - sorry). We walked on the beach while our son was taking the morning easy! ;)

 

We then went to Ron Jon to do shopping there - every one found a lot of things to buy! :)

 

We had lunch at the Pizza Hut - special request from my son and we then went on the beach for the afternoon.

 

At the end of the day, my husband and I went to walk on the street and visited some souvenirs shops that seem for us all the same.

 

Later that day, after few drinks on the balcony of our room we then walked again through the beach to the Cocoa Pier to have our dinner at the Marlin's Bar and Grill. The food was good again there but it is more a family restaurant - but we were happy with our selection. If you want a more "romantic" dinner, you should go to the restaurant we tried the first night (Atlantic Ocean Grill).

[caral2004]

Next day....the boarding on the Freedom of the Seas! :) I will be back soon talking about the ship, how it went to board, our room, etc.... Before, here is a picture of our room at the Best Western in Cocoa Beach.

[caral2004]

Sunday - Boarding Day

My husband and me woke up around 7am so we decided to take a walk on the beach while our son was still sleeping. We noticed the night before, works on the beach and since we arrived a strange boat not to far on the ocean so we decided to walk over the work sites on the beach.

I share what I learned here because for us it was the first time we heard about that.

A man explained us that the boat was pumping sand from a sand bank in the water. The sand passed through a pipeline to the beach to bring back sand on the beach!

[caral2004]

Bringing back the rented car and boarding

Breakfast was included at the Beat Western, so took our breakfast there.

At 9h30am we were at Hertz to bring back our rental car. We were surprise to see that there were already around 10 groups or families there at that time. But we waited only for about 5 to 10 minutes before we were able to jump on the shuttle to bring us to the Freedom of the Seas.

We were the first to get out of the shuttle. Others were cruising with Disney Cruise line or Carnaval.

A man took care of our luggage - our Royal Caribbean luggage tag were already on our luggage.

Then we lined up to wait for the doors to open. I would say (sorry for my bad memory) that doors open at around 10h30.

Since we had a Grand Suite, we had a priority boarding (you walk to another line) so it went very very well and we were on the first 15 passengers to be on board the Freedom!

My husband and I were on our second cruise and second cruise with Royal Caribbean and for my son, it was his first cruise so it was a pleasure to hear him speak about the beauty of the ship, its size and everything he saw - he was so exciting! I can also tell you that for us, it was still very exciting too!

For your information, we were able to bring on the ship, 2 bottles of wine that we bought at the liquor store in Cocoa Beach and those were in my hand luggage. In our hand luggage we also had a small bottle of Pepsi, one gaterade and things to eat. In our luggage that we left to the man (big luggage) we also had 2 other Pepsi and 4 gatorade and we had no problem at all.

[Brit-Cruiser]

I'll be on the 16th sailing, Eastern Caribbean!

 

Us Too!! :D

[mulan1123]

Us Too!! :D

 

Yay! :)

[caral2004]

On Freedom of the Seas! - Day 1

We visited the ship almost all day! So much to see!

We had our first dinner at the WindJammer - good choices, good food. All 3 were able to find the perfect dinner for them!

Hot dogs for my son, burgers for my husband and Seafood Paella for me!

We played minigolf, swam in the solarium pool, had fun watching people trying the FlowRider, played Ping Pong and more!

Of course, we were on the helipad when the ship left the Port.

Some dolphins came around the ship as well.

We also decided to buy a Soda package for our son.

[caral2004]

Our cabine 1286

When we did the reservation of our cruise, we decided to have a Grand Suite to have enough place with our son and I can tell you that this decision was very excellent!

Now we will only cruise in a Grand Suite for sure!

The room was large enough and the balcony also with 2 chairs, a table and 2 long chairs also! Wow plenty of space to have breakfast all 3 together on our balcony.

And the advantages that we had was perfect for us : priority boarding, priority to go out of the ship at different places, seat reserved for certain places like the pool, the theater, the ice show , the private lounge with drinks and appetizers every evening from 16h to 20h, a concierge service, surprise in your room almost every day (strawberries and chocolate, cheese, fruits, etc.)

Here is few pictures of our cabine. I also have a picture of the bathroom if someone wants to see it and probably of the balcony too.

[caral2004]

FYI, we also bought a Wine package of 10 bottles and we were very happy to do that. The wine selection was good and our wine waiter was excellent too! One bottle remained at the end of the week and we did bring it back home with us.

Second cruise and second time we buy the wine package and next cruise we will do the same.