just off Freedom July 4-13

[realtrip]

My first trip report! Woo hoo!

I love reading reviews and find them so helpful and exciting before going on a cruise. Well, I've been on 11 cruises and figured it's about time I paid back.

 

The cruisers: mom (68) and me (46). We've cruised together 5 times. We are from Montreal, Canada.

 

The cabin: balcony, lido deck, 9289. Great location. We were unlucky though as the cabin in front of us was inhabited by teenagers. Said teenagers made friends, lots of friends. It got noisy in the middle of the night. Mornings were quiet though, lol

 

Embarkation: quick as can be. The lounge for Platinum, Diamond was full!!! We saw quite a few blue and red cards, so I assume FTTF was in our not so exclusive pre boarding lounge. Oh, well. We still got on fast and I was third in line for the Wok, so I was a happy cruiser.

Our luggage got to the cabin by 1:30.

Muster drill was painful. It was so hot and they did it outside by the life rafts. A lady next to us fainted and one of our table mates felt faint and had to sit on the floor. I wish all the ships did the drill in one of the lounges.

 

Food: love the Mongolian wok! We had delicious deli, Guys burgers, salad from the buffet, all suppers in the dining room. We were seated with 2 groups of friends. So 7 gals at the table. We had a great time! We skipped dessert every night in the DR but caught up with dessert in the buffet area a little later. We loved doing this. Sometimes we even brought dessert to eat in bed. It was fun.

The platinum gift was a ceramic coffee cup that is lined with metal and has a lid. I like it.

We also got chocolate covered strawberries one night.

The ports:

St-Marten: we went to Maho beach to see the airplanes. It was lots of fun. Taxi was 8$ per person each way. Beach was free. We had a margarita it was 7$.

St-Kitts: we went to Carambola beach club. We got 2 chairs with super thick mattresses. They were so comfy, I had the best nap. The beach was beautiful, the sand so soft. The water refreshing, ahhh perfect day, my new favourite place. Taxi was again 8$ each way per person. Our taxi driver asked us for a return time and he picked us up promptly. He even gave us a guided tour with a picture stop on the way to the beach. Chairs were 10$ each. Margaritas were10$ each. The have a beautiful restaurant. Food is pricey but quantities are huge. A 20$ pizza is the size of a medium at dominos. So good for two or three people. Port to beach is 30 minutes.

 

Puerto Rico: we did the Bacardi tour on our own. So easy! We took the ferry it's a two minute walk from the ship. 15 minute ride (on the 15 and 45 of the hour). Once on the other side, there are shuttle taxis waiting to take you to Bacardi. At Bacardi, the tour is free. You get two coupons for free cocktails

( like rum punch, rum and coke...) they were 5 once glasses. Then you get on a trolley for a short tour, then go inside for another tour and a movie. All in all it took around two hours including transport to the sight.

Afterwards we hopped on the free trolley in the port area for a bit of sightseeing , got off for some shopping and back to the ship.

There is a CVS right across the street from the ferry pier and a huge Marshalls nearby. We got off the ship at 9 and were back on board at 1. A very productive morning.

Ferry over 60 y.o. was 25 cents, the others 50 cents each way, taxi 3$ per person ( I was expecting to pay 2$ but it seems the price just went up), tour and drinks = free

 

Grand Turk: beach and pool right off the ship. Very nice and free, yippee!

 

Random thoughts:

 

My mom bought our usual dress up photo, we had two lobsters each on elegant night (day 2), crème brulé was delicious wish they had it more often! A lot of people really dress fancy on elegant night ( including us) it was beautiful sight. People slam the balcony doors allllll the time. It's insane. The piano guy ( Seth) was a lot of fun. We liked the shows= 88 keys, Heart of soul and I can't remember the other one. Did not enjoy the Hasbro game show nor love and marriage , to me if your not playing it's boring. The comedy shows were funny.

 

Debarkation was easy until you go to border control (They are on a reduce crew as a pressure tactic so there were two agents for the whole ship, it was loooong.).

Let me know if you have any questions.

[WAHMto5]

Thanks for the review! Sounds like you had a great time.

[cruizinisthebest]

Thanks for sharing your trip details! Sounds like you enjoyed your vacation. :)

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for your report, sorry about your noisy teenage neighbors.

[lyannea]

Thanks for your review.

Can I ask you if you had to disembark real early, because of Canadian status ?

Thanks !

[realtrip]

I really enjoyed the cruise!

 

There are no particularities as far as being Canadian and getting off the ship. We got off at around 8:30. I think only Galveston does it differently for us Canadians. Miami, Port Canaveral and Port Everglades we stand in the same lines as Americans, the border control doesn't have many questions for us. They basically want to know if your going straight home and if so that's the only question.

[pat0317]

I just wanted to apologize because I am one of the teenagers that was in cabin 9291 across the hall from you and we didn't realize how loud we were being at the time. We tried to keep our friends as quiet as possible, but hey kids are kids. I just want to say sorry one last time and wish you & your mom the best.:o

[tonit964]

I just wanted to apologize because I am one of the teenagers that was in cabin 9291 across the hall from you and we didn't realize how loud we were being at the time. We tried to keep our friends as quiet as possible, but hey kids are kids. I just want to say sorry one last time and wish you & your mom the best.:o

 

Very nice of you! Awesome actually! :)

[realtrip]

I just wanted to apologize because I am one of the teenagers that was in cabin 9291 across the hall from you and we didn't realize how loud we were being at the time. We tried to keep our friends as quiet as possible, but hey kids are kids. I just want to say sorry one last time and wish you & your mom the best.:o

 

Thanks! That is really nice of you.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

My first trip report! Woo hoo!

I love reading reviews and find them so helpful and exciting before going on a cruise. Well, I've been on 11 cruises and figured it's about time I paid back.

 

The cruisers: mom (68) and me (46). We've cruised together 5 times. We are from Montreal, Canada.

 

The cabin: balcony, lido deck, 9289. Great location. We were unlucky though as the cabin in front of us was inhabited by teenagers. Said teenagers made friends, lots of friends. It got noisy in the middle of the night. Mornings were quiet though, lol

 

Embarkation: quick as can be. The lounge for Platinum, Diamond was full!!! We saw quite a few blue and red cards, so I assume FTTF was in our not so exclusive pre boarding lounge. Oh, well. We still got on fast and I was third in line for the Wok, so I was a happy cruiser.

Our luggage got to the cabin by 1:30.

Muster drill was painful. It was so hot and they did it outside by the life rafts. A lady next to us fainted and one of our table mates felt faint and had to sit on the floor. I wish all the ships did the drill in one of the lounges.

 

Food: love the Mongolian wok! We had delicious deli, Guys burgers, salad from the buffet, all suppers in the dining room. We were seated with 2 groups of friends. So 7 gals at the table. We had a great time! We skipped dessert every night in the DR but caught up with dessert in the buffet area a little later. We loved doing this. Sometimes we even brought dessert to eat in bed. It was fun.

The platinum gift was a ceramic coffee cup that is lined with metal and has a lid. I like it.

We also got chocolate covered strawberries one night.

The ports:

St-Marten: we went to Maho beach to see the airplanes. It was lots of fun. Taxi was 8$ per person each way. Beach was free. We had a margarita it was 7$.

St-Kitts: we went to Carambola beach club. We got 2 chairs with super thick mattresses. They were so comfy, I had the best nap. The beach was beautiful, the sand so soft. The water refreshing, ahhh perfect day, my new favourite place. Taxi was again 8$ each way per person. Our taxi driver asked us for a return time and he picked us up promptly. He even gave us a guided tour with a picture stop on the way to the beach. Chairs were 10$ each. Margaritas were10$ each. The have a beautiful restaurant. Food is pricey but quantities are huge. A 20$ pizza is the size of a medium at dominos. So good for two or three people. Port to beach is 30 minutes.

 

Puerto Rico: we did the Bacardi tour on our own. So easy! We took the ferry it's a two minute walk from the ship. 15 minute ride (on the 15 and 45 of the hour). Once on the other side, there are shuttle taxis waiting to take you to Bacardi. At Bacardi, the tour is free. You get two coupons for free cocktails

( like rum punch, rum and coke...) they were 5 once glasses. Then you get on a trolley for a short tour, then go inside for another tour and a movie. All in all it took around two hours including transport to the sight.

Afterwards we hopped on the free trolley in the port area for a bit of sightseeing , got off for some shopping and back to the ship.

There is a CVS right across the street from the ferry pier and a huge Marshalls nearby. We got off the ship at 9 and were back on board at 1. A very productive morning.

Ferry over 60 y.o. was 25 cents, the others 50 cents each way, taxi 3$ per person ( I was expecting to pay 2$ but it seems the price just went up), tour and drinks = free

 

Grand Turk: beach and pool right off the ship. Very nice and free, yippee!

 

Random thoughts:

 

My mom bought our usual dress up photo, we had two lobsters each on elegant night (day 2), crème brulé was delicious wish they had it more often! A lot of people really dress fancy on elegant night ( including us) it was beautiful sight. People slam the balcony doors allllll the time. It's insane. The piano guy ( Seth) was a lot of fun. We liked the shows= 88 keys, Heart of soul and I can't remember the other one. Did not enjoy the Hasbro game show nor love and marriage , to me if your not playing it's boring. The comedy shows were funny.

 

Debarkation was easy until you go to border control (They are on a reduce crew as a pressure tactic so there were two agents for the whole ship, it was loooong.).

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

We were on the same cruise and also went to Carambola Beach Club. It was the highlight of our cruise!! We also went to Margaritaville in Grand Turk.

 

In St. Martin we went on a Bernards tour and one of the stops was at Maho Beach. We were there when it started pouring. In San Juan we went to one of the Forts and walked around Old San Juan.

 

We made it to a couple of shows. The first one was really good, 80's Pop to the Max! We saw another that was enjoyable but I don't recall the name. I think it may have been Heart of Soul. It was kind of gross seeing their sweat flying off them though. I was glad I wasn't sitting in the front row. We took in a few comedy shows, they are always good.

 

I wonder if you are the mother/daughter that we talked to a couple of times...hard to say. Our son said there were lots of Canadians on this cruise. He hung out with a Canadian boy the whole week and had a blast. He was on a month long vacation. Lucky boy!!

 

We had faster to the fun and they did not put us in the VIP lounge. They put us in the seats close to doors where you go on the ship. They put us there in Feb. too. Maybe the red and blue cards were there with someone else. We sailed with platinum friends once and they let us sit with them while we waited (although Tampa doesn't have a VIP lounge) and let us board with them...we just told them we were with them and they let us on. It was one of our funnest cruises because we had a blast hanging out with them.

 

Did you get to the steakhouse? We love it!

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[lovestocruise19]

I have a couple questions about Maho Beach. DH and I want to do that, too, on our Freedom cruise in February. You mentioned it was $8 per person per way. I thought I read somewhere that taxis in St. Maarten had a flat rate of $10 per person per way, making it $40 for DH and I to get there and back to port. Is this not the case, or did you get a generous taxi person?

 

My other random question is if you got off the ship right away to catch a taxi or if there were taxis available say an hour or so after the ship docks. I want to be sure there are taxis available. I have heard the big planes fly over Maho in the afternoon. DH and I want to be able to see a bigger plane, but also aren't huge beach people, so I was thinking of leaving the ship a little later (but not TOO late as I want to leave a couple hours to get back to the ship). Did you run into any traffic on the way back to the ship?

[realtrip]

Hi

 

We definitely paid 8$ per person each way. It was a large taxi van. They filled it up. ( maybe 8-10 people). We were not the first off the ship, maybe 30 minutes later, there were tons of taxis.

The biggest plane we saw was KLM, it was at around 1 o'clock. You can check the airport web site before you leave home. They also post a sign with flight times by the bar ( the sign is a big surf board).

We left the beach early ( around 2 ). There was no traffic. Taxis are very easy to get when done with Maho. Again the cost was the same 8$ so I don't think it was a fluke but again it wasn't a private taxi for two.

BTW the beach is really small. It's not the best for a beach day; it's really all about the planes.

[lovestocruise19]

Hi

 

We definitely paid 8$ per person each way. It was a large taxi van. They filled it up. ( maybe 8-10 people). We were not the first off the ship, maybe 30 minutes later, there were tons of taxis.

The biggest plane we saw was KLM, it was at around 1 o'clock. You can check the airport web site before you leave home. They also post a sign with flight times by the bar ( the sign is a big surf board).

We left the beach early ( around 2 ). There was no traffic. Taxis are very easy to get when done with Maho. Again the cost was the same 8$ so I don't think it was a fluke but again it wasn't a private taxi for two.

BTW the beach is really small. It's not the best for a beach day; it's really all about the planes.

 

Ah, perfect! Thanks for all the details. Looks like it is cheaper when it is a larger taxi that can fit more people. We'll try to snag one of those. And the main reason we are going to Maho IS for the planes! :D We would probably leave the beach earlier too as the ships leaves at 4 p.m. and I want to allow plenty of time to get back. How long was the drive? About a half hour?

[realtrip]

I think half hour but I don't remember. On the way to Maho check how long it takes and double that to feel comfortable with the timing.

[SMSACE6]

Thanks for your review of the Freedom. I am really looking forward to my cruise in November.:)

[092306]

Enjoyed your review and the apology you got which was very sincere and a nice thing to do! Funny it happened coincidentally on CC after the cruise.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[CleveCruiser]

That was a nice, succinct review! Loved it!

 

About FTTF: We purchased it for our June 22 cruise on Freedom out of Port Everglades.

 

They were very strict about which line we went into; we did not go with my sister (platinum) into lounge, they split us and we waited under the fishes, buy the grey entrance doors. There was about 40 of us.

 

We boarded after the plat/diamond lounge was emptied out.

 

I think the red/blue cards in the lounge were people who paid for suites? I think they get to use the plat/diamond lounge?

 

Does that seem right?

 

Loved the Freedom, especially the Blue Iguana Cantina!