TRIP REPORT w/pics Freedom Western 4/26th to 5/3

[BillOh]

Bill, were you able to get any pictures of the Sunshine on April 25th?

 

Yes, thanks for the reminder. They are at home, I'll try to post them there this weekend. or if you prefer, email me at bmccall at insight.rr.com and I can email them to you directly if you like. If I post them on your old roll call page they will be full resolution.

 

 

Thanks for the reminder.

 

Is my memory correct that Sunshine left before Valor that day?

Edited May 12, 2015 by BillOh

[workathome]

Love your pictures of 7408 balcony! Now I just have to crop my group in there (JK). I will take the real photos when we have that cabin on the Thanksgiving cruise!

[ALSEAU]

I mentioned I had several Dos Equis. I may have forgotten one other drink I had.

 

 

The taxi ride back was uneventful. We actually bypassed all the port shops as we had seen them before.

 

 

 

Hmmm! I am wondering if this is a copy of a photo commercial.

[BillOh]

FYI, i checked my pics from 2008 and the red couch at the Solarium was not there back then.

[suizas]

Did you really enjoy running on the shortened track? I will confess that on my FOS cruise 2 years ago I may have gotten up early and jogged on the promenade deck. If I saw people coming I would slow to a 'race walk.' Having knee surgery in 2 weeks so I may be 'ok' with a smaller track in August when I board Freedom again. Or, may even be ok with walking the promenade :-(

[Ocean Boy]

Did you really enjoy running on the shortened track? I will confess that on my FOS cruise 2 years ago I may have gotten up early and jogged on the promenade deck. If I saw people coming I would slow to a 'race walk.' Having knee surgery in 2 weeks so I may be 'ok' with a smaller track in August when I board Freedom again. Or, may even be ok with walking the promenade :-(

 

I'm sure the folks in the ocean view cabins on deck 3 under the deck 4 Promenade really appreciated that.

[mellibee]

FYI, i checked my pics from 2008 and the red couch at the Solarium was not there back then.

 

It was there on our first cruise in July 2009. I sat on it to get my picture taken and got up with a wet bottom lol! :eek:

[mellibee]

Really enjoying the review! Will be on Freedom again in 6 weeks! Can't wait! :D

[BillOh]

It was there on our first cruise in July 2009. I sat on it to get my picture taken and got up with a wet bottom lol! :eek:

 

Here is the same Solarium in May of 2008 with no red couch.

 

[mellibee]

Wasn't disputing your word! :eek:;) Was just telling you my story. If I knew how to post a pic on here, I would show you my pic of it. :D

[BillOh]

Wasn't disputing your word! :eek:;) Was just telling you my story. If I knew how to post a pic on here, I would show you my pic of it. :D

 

Not saying you were disputing, just helping set the timeline. Much of this trip was seeing what changed and what I had forgotten about. We are help establishing the time line for the couch. It must haven been a late 2008, early 2009 addition.

[mellibee]

Not saying you were disputing, just helping set the timeline. Much of this trip was seeing what changed and what I had forgotten about. We are help establishing the time line for the couch. It must haven been a late 2008, early 2009 addition.

 

We haven't been on Freedom since 2011. Can't wait to see the changes from the last dry dock. Loving your pics!

[BillOh]

Ok, I should wrap this one up. Embarkation was just as it should be. Super Easy! In our case the only problem was the fact they thought our cabin had only one person so they brought only 2 baggage tags. Ok, one more trip to Guest Services for luggage tags.

 

As mentioned I purposely scheduled a later flight home so we could revisit Cape Canaveral and NASA. We met in Studio B and on time we were escorted through baggage, customs, and to our bus. The new terminal 1 is now running like a fine tuned machine. We probably only waited about 20 minutes for everyone to be on board and on our way. We met our tour guide and bus driver. The tourguide was a lady in her late 20s, maybe early 30s. She was nice enough, but clearly the weakest part of the tour. She ended up losing an Italian Family who didn't speak English. She also had a script, but she must have felt comfortable enough to go off script a bit. She shouldn't have. At this point I only remember two of her mistakes. The first one was when she mentioned the crew of Apollo 1 died because the capsule didn't yet have the escape rocket attached yet. :eek: The other was probably just a slip of the tounge, but she said the new Orion spacecraft would land on Saturn in her lifetime.

 

When you first arrive, you arrive at Rocket Park.

 

 

Below I believe is the Mercury Redstone combo.

 

 

The Gemini/Atlas combo.

 

 

One of my favorites in this area was walking across the same gantry that the Apollo 11 astronauts used. I could actually imagine myself making that walk. At least that is what the tourguide said it was. (Maybe there was a sign)

 

[Clarea]

...

 

The Gemini/Atlas combo....

 

That one was Gemini/Titan.:)

[abw]

Nice review. On Freedom July 26 for Eastern Itinerary and celebrating our 34 anniversary while on board. We sailed Liberty in January so have loved hearing about Freedom. We didn't think we were cruise people after our first Cruise which was the Oasis in 2023. Don't get me wrong we had a great time but thought ok we've been on a cruise now so we can move on to something else. Well, well when we did the Liberty in January we were like, we really like this, so now on to the anniversary cruise.

[Angel59920]

Bill, Thanks for doing another review on the Freedom. We have 311 more days to go until we get to sail on her again.

[BillOh]

DAY 3 Labadee!

 

 

The place certainly has changed, we were able to make the approximately 1/2 mile walk to find the Nellie's Beach just beyond Barefoot Beach Club.

 

Ok, I impressed myself. not that this is hard, but I used a running route generating tool to measure the distance and from the gangway of Freedom to Cabana #3 at Nellies is .49 miles!

[Fionat29]

What a comical, interesting and thorough review! Thankyou so much for taking the time. The photos were beautiful. Never having cruised properly, I'm trying to hoover up as much info as I can get by reading everyone's reviews. Obviously we would never have your misfortune?? to be upgraded to a JS but the rest of the ship is the same whoever you are. I love the idea of the meet and greet, as soon as we book our holiday (tomorrow, hopefully!!!) I will be in there meeting and greeting!! Lol!

Fantastic review, thank you!:)

[BillOh]

What a comical, interesting and thorough review! Thankyou so much for taking the time. The photos were beautiful. Never having cruised properly, I'm trying to hoover up as much info as I can get by reading everyone's reviews. Obviously we would never have your misfortune?? to be upgraded to a JS but the rest of the ship is the same whoever you are. I love the idea of the meet and greet, as soon as we book our holiday (tomorrow, hopefully!!!) I will be in there meeting and greeting!! Lol!

Fantastic review, thank you!:)

 

Glad you enjoyed it. 6 months later I can confirm Freedom is my favorite ship. If I go back on her, it probably won't be till 2018 when I assume she will be in Fort Lauderdale. maybe that can be my first longer than 7 day cruise.

[mjeff87]

We'll say hello to her for you Bill.......will be boarding in 5 days:)

 

Jeff

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

Glad you enjoyed it. 6 months later I can confirm Freedom is my favorite ship. If I go back on her, it probably won't be till 2018 when I assume she will be in Fort Lauderdale. maybe that can be my first longer than 7 day cruise.

 

Summarize for me what makes it your favorite ship???? So far, Allure & Oasis are my faves from Royal Caribbean. I also like the Spirit class from Carnival but totally different reasons.

[BillOh]

Summarize for me what makes it your favorite ship???? So far, Allure & Oasis are my faves from Royal Caribbean. I also like the Spirit class from Carnival but totally different reasons.

 

I guess, when I do say it, I mean it, but if I have to rationalize it and put a score on it, I'd rate Freedom 97 and Allure 96. Now with that said, Freedom changed significantly between my first and 2nd visit. Allure has changed a bit since we were on it, so how valid is the comparison?

 

The two swaying points might be the bigger Windjammer and the solarium on Freedom. I dislike the solarium on Allure (Though there may be changes on Harmony) These are two areas I use a lot. There are several things I like better on Allure, but dont' use as much like Park Cafe. They added Sabor to both, so this is really getting trivial. I would also say I like Freedom's itinerary better with one extra port. That is why when we did western it was on Freedom. I like cruising out of Fort Lauderdale just a bit better, but of course Freedom is leaving Port Canaveral next year.

[BillOh]

What a comical, interesting and thorough review! Thankyou so much for taking the time. The photos were beautiful. Never having cruised properly, I'm trying to hoover up as much info as I can get by reading everyone's reviews. Obviously we would never have your misfortune?? to be upgraded to a JS but the rest of the ship is the same whoever you are. I love the idea of the meet and greet, as soon as we book our holiday (tomorrow, hopefully!!!) I will be in there meeting and greeting!! Lol!

Fantastic review, thank you!:)

 

Thanks! While it isn't real likely, you never know about upgrades, they occasionally happen for hard to predict reasons.

[CruisingMom-2016]

Thanks for a really great review! And all of the pictures. We're trying to decide between Allure, Freedom and Norwegian Getaway. I think this just help solidified me on Fredom. Hubby really wants RCI, I want to feel like we are on a ship - and better Solarium area sounds great for when kids are in th Kids Club.

[BillOh]

Thanks for a really great review! And all of the pictures. We're trying to decide between Allure, Freedom and Norwegian Getaway. I think this just help solidified me on Fredom. Hubby really wants RCI, I want to feel like we are on a ship - and better Solarium area sounds great for when kids are in th Kids Club.

 

Thanks for stopping by and letting me know. I love both Freedom and Allure, but have never been on NCL. I hope you have a great cruise. May I ask what part of PA you are from? I am an Erie native.