Brief Freedom Eastern Review plus compasses, menus, etc.

[bobmacliberty]

Allright...time for St. Maarten. This was our favorite day. Based on the recommendation of several people on the port boards, we chose to go with Bernard's Tours. They definitely didn't disappoint. I had originally planned to rent a car like we did on St. Thomas but I couldn't find a good deal without having to take a taxi to the airport. I thought I would do a tour very similar to Bernard's but on our own pace, spending more or less time at a stop as we wanted. If we had done this though, we would have missed out on DJ Dave's excellent narration, and on the free drinks in the tour bus.

 

Approaching the pier at Philipsburg

 

The mandatory "Welcome to St. Maarten" sign picture

 

We had a minor issue before the tour got started. Bernard's had people filling several different buses. We weren't in any rush and they were trying to juggle groups to fill the buses. They asked us to stay back for a minute until they saw how much space was available on each bus. They ended up squeezing us into flip down seats near the front. One seat had no "well" in which to put your feet. DD17 spent the entire ride with her feet at the same level as her butt and her knees up in the air. Fortunately, she's young and flexible and it didn't bother her. I wouldn't have been able to walk the next day. The advantage though was that I ended up sitting up front with the driver, and had great views for pictures through the front window.

 

We stopped briefly at several places, giving everyone enough time to take pictures and stretch their legs

 

Sign at the border between the Dutch and French sides of the island

 

Overlooking Oyster Bay

 

Rotary Lookout Point

[bobmacliberty]

I think there is normally a stop at an iguana farm, but it's temporarily closed. Instead, we stopped along the side of the road where a very large number of iguana's hang out, waiting to be fed by tourists. DJ Dave had some bananas and lettuce to feed the iguanas, and held one for people who want their picture taken.

 

It's feeding time!

 

Eating a banana

 

DD20 not quite sure if she should touch the iguana

 

 

You can see DJ Dave in the last 2 pictures. He was both very entertaining and very informative. We learned quite a bit about the island from him, including how some things varied between the Dutch and French sides. For example, the Dutch side has a jail, but the French side doesn't. Anyone being sent to jail on the French side gets sent to French Guiana (if I remember correctly). I'm sure that DJ Dave tells the same stories every day, but he still made it very enjoyable.

[bobmacliberty]

Next stop...Orient Beach. DJ Dave dropped us in the parking lot of L'Hoste Hotel where it was a very short walk to their La Playa Beach area. There were bathrooms and changing rooms to change into bathing suits. You paid at the beach club for 2 chairs, an umbrella, and a drink. I think it was $15. Not sure exactly how long we stayed there but it was supposed to be 90-120 minutes. Time went by quickly.

 

I was at first a little annoyed by the women who kept approaching our beach chairs asking if we want to buy something or get hair braided. It seemed to happen about every 5 minutes. They moved on very quickly with a "no thanks", but it seemed like an endless line of women who were interrupting our relaxation. Then I started looking at the amount of stuff that they were carrying, just hoping to make a few bucks. I started feeling a little sorry for them. Not enough to buy something though. :o

 

 

 

 

A little bit of seaweed, but not bad

[bobmacliberty]

After Orient Beach, it was on to Marigot for lunch. We ate at Sarafina's, a great French bakery. Sandwiches were really good and the cameroons for dessert were awesome. We didn't have much time in Marigot to do anything but eat lunch. We then boarded the bus, cross the border back into the Dutch side, and headed for Maho Beach.

 

Road looking down toward Marigot

 

Ship wreck in the Baie de la Potence near Marigot

 

Straw Market in Marigot

 

Border between the French side of St Martin and the Dutch side of St. Maarten

[mickev99]

Don't know where to fit this into a review, so it gets its own post. Here's the welcome onboard document for C&A Gold members that was waiting for us in our cabin:

 

 

 

 

 

 

We took advantage of the 10% of internet discount but that was it. We did spend more than $25 on Royal logo stuff and could have received 10% off, but we forgot completely about it. I no longer have the receipt, and I guess it's possible that they automatically added the 10% discount, but somehow I doubt it.

 

 

 

Never thought about it before but they must have a nice printing setup somewhere on ship. I believe that they print the Cruise Compasses and other documents every day onboard rather than having them all pre-printed before the cruise. Anyone know for sure?

 

 

Do you happen to have the gold benefits for children?

[Clarea]

Do you happen to have the gold benefits for children?

Kids have the same coupons, regardless of level:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=43238756&postcount=21

[kdnurs]

We had lunch at Coral World and sat in the outdoor area near the food stand and shark shallows. The place was crawling with Iguanas of all shapes and sizes, roaming free. There were signs all over the place saying not to feed the iguanas, but they were obviously there for the food:

 

 

 

 

Ha ha ha ha...reminds me of our lunch date :)

[kdnurs]

The Sea Lion Encounter was definitely the highlight of the day. DD17 afterward said it was the best thing we've ever done on a vacation. It was just our family of 4, and trainer, and the intern/photographer, plus Remo. Remo is one of 4 male sea lions that they have. We went back into the area where they keep and train the sea lions, and the brought Remo out to meet us. He was trained to do all kinds of things with us. We did several group poses, and several one on one interactions. The trainer told us a lot about Remo and the other sea lions...where they came from, how they are trained, facts about sea lions etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That Remo is such the HAM!!!! :D Your family really had fun and the pictures prove it

[kdnurs]

 

 

 

 

Awwwww Precious :D

[bobmacliberty]

delete

Edited July 4, 2015 by bobmacliberty

[bobmacliberty]

That Remo is such the HAM!!!! :D Your family really had fun and the pictures prove it

 

You'd sometimes swear that he was human. The trainer said that he was the most unpredictable sea lion that they had, in terms of whether or not he would follow commands. That seemed to give him more personality. We looked at the other sea lions for a few minutes and they all have an incredible curiosity. They all just seemed to want attention.

[tronaiv]

Thanks. Looks like it might be a little longer than I thought. I have more pictures to post and will have time over the upcoming holiday weekend to post.

 

Thank you so much for all the info that you've posted. We go for our 3rd trip on Freedom Sept 6th & am curious if they still rent the Hobie Cat sailboats on Coco Cay still?

[bobmacliberty]

Thank you so much for all the info that you've posted. We go for our 3rd trip on Freedom Sept 6th & am curious if they still rent the Hobie Cat sailboats on Coco Cay still?

 

I can't answer that one. I didn't see any Hobie Cats but I may just have missed them.

[bobmacliberty]

OK...after a very nice 4th of July holiday in the US for us yesterday, time to continue on. In the last post, we were crossing the border from the French side of St. Martin to the Dutch side of St. Maarten, on our way to Maho beach. We spent about 45 minutes at Maho beach and DJ Dave timed it perfectly. We saw several planes land including a few smaller planes, a Delta jet, and a large Air France jet (I think it was a 757). We also watched as a jet took off, although it seemed to be a little bit away from the end of the runway as I've seen several Youtube videos where the jet blast seemed worse. Then again, I was watching from the side rather than riding the fence so it's easy for me to say that it was no big deal.

 

View facing the Sunset Bar

 

View facing Sonesta Resort with Delta jet landing

 

Air France jet on final approach

 

The money shot of the Air France jet overhead. DD17 and DD20 are both staring at their phones while recording video.

 

And here's the video that DD17 shot of the Air France jet

[YOUTUBE]k0LuxdNSdTA[/YOUTUBE]

[bobmacliberty]

As I said, the one jet takeoff that we watched wasn't all that exciting, watching from the side. DJ Dave later told us that there's an airline that has jet service between the islands (can't recall the name) where the pilot gets the plane as close to the end of the runway as possible, waves his hand out the cockpit window to encourage people to grab the fence, and then revs the engines for many seconds before releasing the brakes.

 

 

 

Getting ready for takeoff

 

The fence line feeling the jet blast

 

After Maho Beach, we headed back to the ship. DJ Dave continued his narration, pointing out a new residential area being built called Indigo Bay. If you like St. Maarten, this looks like an ideal place to live.

 

View of the Freedom of the Seas on the way back from Maho Beach

[bobmacliberty]

Overall, Bernard's Tours was an excellent choice and I would highly recommend it to others, especially for a first time visit to St. Maarten. We got to see a tremendous amount of the island in one day, we learned a tremendous amount about the island from DJ Dave, and we were able to help ourselves to cold bottled water, cold Caribe beer, and a killer rum punch.

 

I would only have 2 minor complaints. The first would be that we didn't spend any significant time in any one place, but we knew that going in. This is a little bit of everything overview sort of tour. On our next visit, I'd either rent a car and create our own itinerary for the day, or hire Bernard's for a private tour. The second complaint is that we skipped Simpson Bay and did not have the option of stopping in Philipsburg for shopping on the way back. DJ Dave took us straight to the ship. I think this was because we were running a little late, having spent more time doing other things on the tour. Just as well for me as I'm not a big shopper, but DW, DD20, and DD17 had to make due with the limited stores that are at the pier. Not to worry though...they were able to find their Alex and Ani St. Maarten bracelets. :D

 

Freedom of the Seas docked in St. Maarten

[basebare]

Quick question. Do they still do the white night theme? I leave next Sunday and just trying to figure out what to pack :). Love reading your review and getting excited about getting on board next Sunday!

Patti

[bobmacliberty]

Quick question. Do they still do the white night theme? I leave next Sunday and just trying to figure out what to pack :). Love reading your review and getting excited about getting on board next Sunday!

Patti

 

I don't recall a white night theme.

[John&LaLa]

I don't recall one either, but they did have a silent party

[pgold128]

I don't recall a white night theme.[/quote

 

I think i saw it I think it was day 6 where i saw it..

look at the day 6 compass..

[pgold128]

Quick question. Do they still do the white night theme? I leave next Sunday and just trying to figure out what to pack :). Love reading your review and getting excited about getting on board next Sunday!

Patti

 

oops wrong quote..

look at the day 6 compass..

might be there..

[bobmacliberty]

oops wrong quote..

look at the day 6 compass..

might be there..

 

You're right...there was a Twenty White Party in the Solarium starting at 11:30 on day 6. That was about bed time for us though so I can't comment at all.

[mj]

Great review.

[bobmacliberty]

The last 2 days were sea days, where we spent most of our time by the Solarium pool doing nothing. I'll think I'll start a different thread about this but, it just seemed like there wasn't anything else exciting enough to drag us away from the pool. I don't know if that's because there really are fewer activities (didn't the activities part of the Cruise Compass use to take up a couple of pages?) or if we were particularly stressed this vacation and needed the relaxation (we were), or if it's just that we are "maturing" as cruisers and are satisfied with relaxing rather than doing a lot of things (many of which we've now done before). In any case, it was a great couple of days.

 

I didn't mention previously but they announced that this cruise had more passengers onboard than any previous Freedom cruise. I didn't write down the total but it might have been 4440 passengers. Whatever the number, we were concerned about getting loungers in the Solarium so we were there both days at around 7:30. The staff was very serious about chair hogs. If there was a chair with a towel/book/flip flops/etc. next to someone, they'd ask if that someone if they knew who was sitting there. They'd fold the towel and drape it over the back of the chair, I think so that they knew that they had previously checked that chair, and maybe even noting the time. I don't know if they ever actually took away anyone's stuff, but they sure threatened to do so.

 

Weather for both days was perfect. The Solarium pool was VERY warm. We have a pool at home that reaches 90 degrees in the summer, and the Solarium pool felt warmer than that. We never went into either of the main pools but I heard someway say that they were colder than the Solarium pool.

 

One of the sea days was incredibly calm. It's the calmest that I've ever seen the ocean in my 5 cruises. I had to take a video:

[YOUTUBE]oYeHta4RtJU[/YOUTUBE]

[John&LaLa]

Yep, there was something up with the pool temps. Felt like hot tubs. The starboard main pool was ok though