The Hallo-wino Cruise! A Freedom of the Seas Pictorial Review!

[Daghis]

Yes, Daghis alerted to the original deal.

Alas, I wasn't the original person to find it. That credit belongs to sonvoltken6 who posted about the deal. I did take advantage of it and book the October 12 sailing, but we ended up canceling that one.

[cruiseJMO]

Great review; thanks! Looking forward to the rest. I've added you to my contacts. Going on my 3rd cruise in December (Royal Princess). My first was only 3 yrs ago. I hope to continue cruising annually. Since I research anything that I buy or do, I need fabulous reviewers like you.

[breezy_carol]

We were on this cruise also. Can't wait to see more of your pictures.

[cruiseJMO]

Glad you d a good dinner at Chops. We did also. Great food and wanted to go again.

See your pic of the new terminal being built? Sunday morning the crane dropped a huge beam on the bathrooms at Grills on the deck. Thank God no one was in there. It did mega damage. They are now only allowed to swing that crane holding heavy items over Grills at night when no one is there. They have messed up our fav port place so badly.

That's at least the 3rd crane accident in Florida within a month. A crane just took out a bridge in Tampa a couple days ago. Then there was the crane removing a tree branch that was so heavy, the entire truck/crane flipped over, crushing an RV and several other vehicles.

 

I guess if you see a crane in Florida, steer clear! Lol

Maybe we need new cranes and/or operators?

[DarthGrady]

Great review; thanks! Looking forward to the rest. I've added you to my contacts. Going on my 3rd cruise in December (Royal Princess). My first was only 3 yrs ago. I hope to continue cruising annually. Since I research anything that I buy or do, I need fabulous reviewers like you.

Thanks! If you haven't been on Freedom yet, I'd definitely give it a look. She's a great ship, this was my third cruise on her, and they've all been great.

[LisaGoeke]

We were on the prior Western route on the Freedom, two weeks prior, same stateroom, 8321 and connected with our two youngest kids. Like you, we heard about the great deal and I booked three cabins for us. I heard it through a CC member thru Facebook and she was on your sailing too celebrating her birthday. Looking forward to hearing more!

[cruiseJMO]

Thanks! If you haven't been on Freedom yet, I'd definitely give it a look. She's a great ship, this was my third cruise on her, and they've all been great.

Have you also done the Oasis? I'd love to read your comparison if you have. We were already thinking about Oasis for next year.

 

We live in Tampa Bay area and have been wondering about some of those cruises, but Fort Lauderdale cruises seem to have better itineraries.

 

I appreciate that you are a lively drinker/partier since we are, too. Helps to relate to the reviews.

[Rockfordcruiser]

Grady a partier? lol ok maybe we did a little bit..;)

[DarthGrady]

Have you also done the Oasis? I'd love to read your comparison if you have. We were already thinking about Oasis for next year.

 

We live in Tampa Bay area and have been wondering about some of those cruises, but Fort Lauderdale cruises seem to have better itineraries.

 

I appreciate that you are a lively drinker/partier since we are, too. Helps to relate to the reviews.

 

I haven't been on Oasis yet, but have it booked for next year. I did do Allure back in '11, that review is linked in my signature.

[DarthGrady]

Grady a partier? lol ok maybe we did a little bit..;)

 

I can only strive to one day attain your level of partying Redfoo!

[DarthGrady]

Day Two, At Sea:

 

Fist stop on my sea day was in the Viking Crown Lounge for our Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle. We had a pretty active roll call, and it was well attended. We also hosted a room for the wine and cabin crawl that followed. It was nice to meet so many folks that I had been chatting with.

 

We met our friends in the main dining room for lunch. They put a nice salad bar out on sea days that we always try to make. We spent a little time up on the pool deck, and I watched the obligatory belly flop competition. I made a trip up to the gym and got that out of the way before the evening festivities.

 

The Diamond Lounge was very fun this night. We met up with friends and lots of new people and had a great time. After the cocktail hour we ate in the Windjammer since it was formal night and we didn’t dress up. The night was finished out again in The Crypt and some late night Sorrento’s Pizza.

 

The CC M&M

 

 

Some at-sea shots

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

The main dining room

 

 

 

Pool deck areas

 

 

The Solarium

[DarthGrady]

The H2O Zone kids area

 

Johnny Rockets

 

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

The ship's large gym facility

 

 

[goodml]

Too funny, I actually made it into your second meet and mingle pic. I'm sitting in the front row and all you can see is my back in a black t-shirt and the back of my head:D. As I was reading I was wondering if it was your cabin we went through on the crawl and I see now that it was. We also got the great promenade deal but we were on deck 7.

 

Great review. Thanks for taking the time to do it and looking forward to seeing the rest.

Edited November 7, 2014 by goodml

[Peacemkr59]

In our case the Freedom Christmas sailing had a price of $369 per person for a D2 balcony cabin. It must have been a mistake. It lasted for about 2 hours. I believe some got it for even less than $369.

 

A nice CC person posted the deal (Thanks again Ken :) )

 

Where would a "nice CC person" post such mistakes? I want to read that thread? :)

[Clarea]

Where would a "nice CC person" post such mistakes? I want to read that thread? :)

It was posted right here.:)

[tabbi_cakes]

We didn't get an invitation to the m&m, so we ended up being late. [emoji21]

[Kycruisefan]

Sailing the Freedom for the first time next year so I am tagging along to read your review! Thanks!

[Peacemkr59]

It was posted right here.:)

 

 

I guess I missed it on this thread!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[DarthGrady]

Too funny, I actually made it into your second meet and mingle pic. I'm sitting in the front row and all you can see is my back in a black t-shirt and the back of my head:D. As I was reading I was wondering if it was your cabin we went through on the crawl and I see now that it was. We also got the great promenade deal but we were on deck 7.

 

Great review. Thanks for taking the time to do it and looking forward to seeing the rest.

 

Thanks, it's no problem at all. I'll be back on tomorrow with more!

[pspercy]

They were PR cabins for 369 on both 10/12 and 10/26, and some in December. I had three of those PR's booked for 10/12 but was not able to go ultimately.

 

The pricing was advertised 9/27/13 - 10/02/13

 

Grand total with prepaid gratuities and travel insurance (through RCI) with taxes and port fees was $1097. Pretty good deal; sorry to have missed out. Love Grady pic reviews. Yes, Daghis alerted to the original deal.

 

Navigator today had PR at $790+taxes etc, came out to $992 total or $496pp, Dec 7th sailing out of Galveston. Diamonds might do better.

[MattInFLL]

Nice pics Grady! When did you find the time to take them all? :)

[DarthGrady]

Nice pics Grady! When did you find the time to take them all? :)

Thanks Matt! I went around and got most of the ship pics on Labadee day since we stayed onboard.

[DarthGrady]

Day 3, Labadee:

 

Our day in Labadee was pretty light. We decided to stay on the ship and just enjoy the empty pool deck and lightly populated Windjammer for lunch. After some time up on deck, I hit the gym and then got ready for the evening.

 

We spent some time in the Viking Crown for the nightly Diamond Lounge. The Viking Crown wasn’t officially part of the event, but the staff didn’t mind us hanging out at their bar. We had dinner again at the Windjammer before heading out to the bars and The Crypt. Of course the night ended with more late night pizza.

 

The Windjammer

 

 

The Plaza Bar in the Windjammer

 

Portofinos

 

Our evening towel animal, one of the more creative we've had

Edited November 7, 2014 by DarthGrady