Finding my happy in the Western Caribbean on Freedom of the Seas

[Carolina Wren]

Monday was the first night I got to join my family in the Main Dining Room. We had the late seating (8 p.m.) and that night the service was pretty slow, it seemed. I think it was a combination of two things: none of us was used to eating that late, and I think our table had the bad luck of being the last in the section for service. Throughout the week the service got faster and faster. Dinner for me that night was the Atlantic Salmon over fresh vegetables .... delicious even if you're not watching calories.

 

Dinner ended so late (quarter to 10), and I had gotten up so early to be good and go to the gym, that I decided to call it a night. I headed back to the room to be greeted by the first of the week's towel animals - an dog wearing sunglasses:

 

Coming up on Tuesday: our stop at Labadee, Haiti, our excursion boat tour, more serious deck chair relaxation, and meeting a Dreamworks character.

[missholly24]

I love your review. I just got off the Indy and want to try Freedom to get the American version!

 

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[TheGaDawgFan]

Great updates! You have me so excited!!!!

 

 

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[Disneyatheartmommy]

Love reading your trip report! Going on FOS in November!

[drarill]

Great review!! thanks for sharing your pictures and cruise with us!:):)

[banderboo]

Monday morning I got up and did the one thing I promised my gym instructor I'd do: I headed to the FOS' ShipShape Gym and did my workout. My trainer created a 45-minute routine for me which I did 3 times that week. [/i]

 

I'd love to see your 45 minute routine if you are willing to share. You can email me at [my username] @ yahoo.com (or post here for others to see :D )

[Carolina Wren]

Be glad to post the routine - it's customized for me, and I'm quite "unconditioned" as my trainer put it, so it may be too simple for most. As soon as I get it scanned I'll do that.

[just erica]

Thanks for the review so far, I am enjoying it! Also sailing on FOTS in November of this year! Very first cruise too!

[hansolosmom]

Enjoying your review, love all the pictures.

Thanks for sharing with us

[Carolina Wren]

Life got in the way yesterday and I couldn't post. So here's my review and pictures of our Labadee stop - Tuesday of our seven-day cruise.

 

This was our "beach day" on the private beach reserve Royal Caribbean leases from Haiti.

 

Labadee is a peninsula on the island of Hispaniola (which is divided in Haiti and Dominican Republic.)

 

Here's a view as we were sailing up:

 

RCC built a huge pier to accommodate up to 2 cruise ships at a time. Fortunately, we were the only ship there when we went - I've heard it can get pretty crowded.

 

The pier:

 

The majority of Haiti is mountains or hills - see how they come right down to the water:

 

I decided to skip lying around in the sun on the island (I'm very fair) and spend some quality time with my mom and dad. We booked a 2-hour coastal tour of the island - Excursion QLB3, Discover Haiti Coastal Cruise. We boarded a motorized, two-story catamaran and took over to explore. Our guide Tony was fabulous - he showed us the traps local fishermen use for their catches:

 

Later we sailed by the cove where Columbus landed on Dec. 5, 1492. We also saw a special island where locals can camp out, but no permanent buildings are allowed:

 

And we caught a glimpse of the Citadel as well - here it is in the far distance - the flat structure toward the right:

[lwillett]

Awesome review thanks for posting

 

 

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[Carolina Wren]

(I hate that I can only post six pictures at a time. So, here's part two of Labadee and Tuesday!)

 

As we sailed back to the dock, we passed several vacation homes owned by foreigners. It's very cheap to buy your own private beach in Haiti. The challenge comes in building it and then stocking the house - everything has to be brought in by boat. No easy roads over the mountains.

 

Here's another gorgeous secluded little beach:

 

We finished up by seeing the town of Labadee. This is where the islanders who work at RCC's Labadee resort live. Our tour guide, Tony, grew up here and has spent his whole life in Labadee.

 

And here's a closeup of the water taxis. I love these colorful boats!

 

We departed for the morning cruise at 9:15 a.m., so we had plenty of time to explore before having to be back on the ship by 3:30 p.m. (It's not a very long day at Labadee - the ship arrives at 8 a.m. and leaves at 3:30 p.m.) Dad and I wandered up to the artisan's village to buy souvenirs. I got so interested in the wares I completely forgot to take pictures. (And that's a shame -- I wish I could show you the beautiful gardens planted by RCC in parts of the resort. And of course the beaches were beautiful.) I ended up with samples of Haitian money. Dad bought a wood carving.

 

Note: If you buy any wood carvings, you will be questioned by Customs when you come home. They made Dad open his suitcase and show it to them. Something to do with worry about bugs or termites. Dad said he'd never had that happened before, and remember - he's a Platinum cruiser, with lots of carving purchases.

 

So then it was back to the ship for an afternoon of lounging about. On the port days, it's easy to get a deck chair in the Solarium! I'm relaxing with my Kindle and who should come prancing through but King Julien from Madagascar. This ship is filled with Dreamworks characters from that movie. They even have character breakfasts for the kids, as well as a "Move It" parade down the Royal promenade on Saturday and special character sightings throughout the week. I saw King Julien walking by and called out - "I want a picture!" And darned if he didn't come over and pose:

 

Later that night, we were treated to the most incredible headliner in the Arcadia Theatre - Tony Tillman, from the Las Vegas show "The Rat Pack is Back" where he played Sammy Davis. He was so high-energy at the 7 p.m. show we wanted to go back to the 9 to see if he could match it! The man was supremely talented, singing something for everyone. Even a country music fan in the audience!!! If you get the chance to go to his show, GO.

 

That was it for Tuesday. So, what's coming up next - sadly, a bad decision in Jamaica.... Read on to learn from my mistake.

[Carolina Wren]

Thanks for the review so far, I am enjoying it! Also sailing on FOTS in November of this year! Very first cruise too!

 

You will love FOS. I'm ready to sail away on another trip on her!

[Carolina Wren]

Thanks for the review so far, I am enjoying it! Also sailing on FOTS in November of this year! Very first cruise too!

Your first cruise - and on the Freedom!!! You'll have the same reaction my sister-in-law did - "We've started at the top!"

[TropicalIslandGirl1981]

I love reading your posts! I'm going next march 2015! I can't wait for more reviews and pictures!

 

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[Abercram]

I'm so excited reading your review, we're going on the same ship same itinerary in May! This will also be my first cruise so thank you for giving me a glimpse!

[mommyto3nj]

Just booked this cruise and same itinerary for August 2015. It can't come soon enough!!!! Reading this in the meantime helps :)

[DrD]

Thanks again for the great review. I'm really posting so I can mention that I'm going this Sunday. I'm rather excited. Even though we did the exact same cruise last year.

[mickev99]

Thanks again for the great review. I'm really posting so I can mention that I'm going this Sunday. I'm rather excited. Even though we did the exact same cruise last year.

 

Have fun on your cruise and we'll be looking for your review when you get back! :):):)

 

I go in June and it can't come soon enough!!

[Carolina Wren]

Wednesday - part of a day in Jamaica

 

Wednesday morning I decided I didn't want the free-for-all of the Windjammer for breakfast. This morning I, my sister-in-law, brother and my youngest nephew decided to treat ourselves to the MDR. They let you dress casually there for breakfast, so our shorts were fine. We headed down to the 3rd deck - Leonardo dining room - for the served breakfast. The waiters are all lined up ready to seat parties.

 

You may end up dining with another group - but that's fun. We met some great people each of the mornings we ate in the MDR. Highly recommend it as a way to meet other cruisers. Plus, there were lots of options - they had a tremendous buffet in the middle of the MDR, and yet when you were seated you had the option of ordering off the menu. The Eggs Benedict looked delicious. I had fresh salmon and cream cheese on a bagel - yum!

 

Then, at 10 a.m. the ship docked and we were ready to leave and explore Falmouth, Jamaica. Here's where I made my mistake. In a foolish attempt to save money, I didn't book an excursion that day. Neither did my brother's family. (Dad and Mom wisely opted for another sea day.) We thought we'd just wander around. Big mistake. Once we left the international port area (built I'm sure by RCC) we walked into a dicey part of Falmouth. The independent tour operators were some of the most persistent hustlers we'd come across. One of them kept following my brother and telling him about his tour services. When my brother finally got mad and interrupted him, the guy said, wait, I'm giving my pitch, you can say no when I'm done! We decided to cut short our little stroll and return to the ship.

 

On the way out of the international port into Falmouth, RCC had put up many nice billboards with facts about Jamaica. It was a way to pretty up the area. I'm posting a few of the pictures I took. I thought they were interesting, and you might think so too.

 

About Columbus:

 

About Free Black Society in Jamaica:

 

Road to Independence:

 

 

And here was a picture of what the little area of Falmouth we were in looked like when we left the international area. Yes, we were ready to get back to the ship:

 

If I had to do it over again, I'd either have bitten the bullet and paid another $75-100 for an excursion to one of the famous houses, with tea, or the Dunn River Falls excursion, OR I'd have skipped the very pleasant Haiti coastal cruise and just had a beach day on Labadee. My recommendation: just be prepared to spend a lot! But remember, I was trying to hold down the spending level on my SeaPass account.

 

So - what to do now? We decided not to stay any longer in Falmouth, so a delicious jerk dinner was no longer in my future. Instead, we headed back to the ship and treated ourselves to Johnny Rockets. And that's when our sad little excursion turned into a happy experience, because experienced cruisers know: GO ON A PORT DAY!! NO WAITING!

 

Coming up: a few more pictures from the International Port in Falmouth, then, the all-dancing wait staff of Johnny Rockets.

Edited March 28, 2014 by Carolina Wren
left out something

[TropicalIslandGirl1981]

I hear Falmouth is really terrible and most people choose to not even get off the ship because they hound you so bad. Doesn't royal have a blocked off area now where the locals don't bother you?

 

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[Carolina Wren]

More scenes from Jamaica:

 

As we made our way back to the ship, we spent a little time wandering around the shops of the port for souvenirs. There's a huge amount there - you could waste a lot of time there. Along the way we ran into some interesting people, including this gentleman dancing for tips:

 

...and this gentleman cutting open coconuts for us thirsty tourists:

 

That's the Navigator of the Seas behind him. The Navigator is slightly smaller than the Freedom, but it was still awe-inspiring to see the two ships parked near each other.

 

My nephew had to get some dreads (fortunately, my brother's plan to put dreads on all his family members for the annual Christmas card came to an end when he found out how much they cost):

 

And, of course, there's an outpost of Margaritaville in Falmouth. That Jimmy Buffet is doing well for himself - we also saw Margaritavilles in Georgetown, Grand Cayman and Cozumel.

 

And that's the Freedom of the Seas, behind the Margaritaville.

 

Once we got back on board the ship and headed topside, I shot a few pictures of Falmouth from the deck. If you look on the left, you'll see the straight pathway with the billboards which I showed earlier. We went straight down that path and into the dicey area. DON'T do that! We should have kept going to the right. Next post, you'll see why.

[Carolina Wren]

Once back on the ship, I got more pictures from the deck outside Johnny Rockets. And when I kept going around the end of the ship, I discovered we missed out on the beauty part of Falmouth. If we had turned right, instead of going straight down that boulevard of signage, then we would have seen this beautiful architecture:

 

...and also this pretty view:

 

Ah, well, - something to savor on the next cruise to Jamaica!

 

But it was lunchtime and we were starving. Falmouth was HOT and that had the effect of making us hungry. And thirsty for a Johnny Rockets milkshake. We carefully ordered fries and onion rings - only to be told the waiters were going to put them on the table anyway. And they did - with smiley faces made of ketchup, and another sauce on the side.

 

Watch your onion ring consumption - the five of us we went through 2 or 3 plates. It'd be a shame to fill up before you got your burger.

 

At this point I am embarrassed to admit I don't have any photos of the delicious burgers or the creamy milkshakes. Frankly, they didn't last long enough to be memorialized in photographs.

 

But I did make sure to capture the dancing waiters. Every 20-25 minutes the waiters would stop whatever they were doing and dance - both inside the restaurant, and outside, by the booths on the deck.

 

The one from above was taken only a few minutes after we came in (at 11:30 a.m.)

 

This one was taken 25 minutes later - look how busy they are:

 

The diner is built like it came straight out of the 50s. Yet, oddly enough, on this ship the waiters all danced to 70s disco music. And cried "whoop-whoop" every so often in time to the music!

 

Next post: I unexpectedly, but to my total delight, become part of the night's show in the Arcadia Theatre.

[Carolina Wren]

I hear Falmouth is really terrible and most people choose to not even get off the ship because they hound you so bad. Doesn't royal have a blocked off area now where the locals don't bother you?

 

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Well, the International Port area is that blocked-off area. No one hounds you there. But, as I show in my next post, I think we just took a wrong turn ... and next time I'll know better!

[TropicalIslandGirl1981]

In that blocked off area is there shopping available?

 

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