Cheapo dad's trip report on Freedom of the Seas

[harryfat1]

Time to walk back down

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tour guide lady with her umbrella hurrying everyone up to finish the tour

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Now there’s nobody here at the start just as the tour lady said it would be at the end of the day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Long walk back to the bus area after a hot afternoon in the ruins area

 

 

 

 

 

 

So after a long and exhausting hot day walking around the ruins, we made it back to the bus stop area. After a brief bathroom break, we were rushed back into the bus. Surprised the tour people didn’t even leave us time to shop afterward. Guess there was no kick back commission involved to give the bus folks the incentives for the tourists to shop afterward.

[Calgary3]

Harry, of all the ruins you have seen - which place is the most impressive? I enjoyed your tour of these ruins and hope to see them myself one day. Thanks for a truly magnificent Trip Report.

[JamesEM]

To be totally honest I was apprehensive the entire tour because this was something out of my comfort zone. However, we were on a group cruise and our group leader/travel agent had made all the arraignments. A van was waiting for at the ship and took us to the ferry terminal, when we arrived at Anguilla a van was waiting for our group which gave us a guided tour of the island then returned us to the ferry terminal. Upon our arrival another van was waiting for us and returned us either to town or the ship. The ferry are reliable and safe but, sometimes the weather does not cooperate.

[harryfat1]

Harry, of all the ruins you have seen - which place is the most impressive? I enjoyed your tour of these ruins and hope to see them myself one day. Thanks for a truly magnificent Trip Report.

 

Oh, Goodness, I am by no means any Mayans expert. Many people on these boards have seen far more than me. We have only seen 3.

 

Of the 3 I have seen, just in terms of pure size on how tall it is, Chichen Itza is very impressive.

 

I have seen pictures of other Mayan ruins in the Belize region and they look nice also. Next time we do western Caribbean cruise, that’s where we’re headed

[Suzieanna]

Hi Harry

 

Just to let you know 2 things:-

 

I am a massive fan of your trip reports and photographs and I just love following you and your family on your adventures. Your photos are always interesting and your writing is really good fun!

 

Also, - I have been WAITING with bated breath for you to post about the Mayan ruins. We are going there in a few weeks and I just knew your pictures and stories would be the BEST to add to my excitement!

 

Thanks so much. I appreciate it!

 

suzie

[mbrownferrier]

Enjoying the review!

 

 

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[legion]

Enjoying following your review.Have been patiently waiting for your ruins tour.Cruise leaves on Feb.12 on Freedom and heading on this tour on 16ty.Nothing boring in your review.How low does it take to get to top of ruins.Thanks for taking time to add more excitement to my upcoming trip.[emoji41]

 

 

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[IRcruisin]

Hehe, yes. Us photographers think alike. Only after I came home did I realize I missed the photo op when I saw the 3rd picture in the series that we could have stacked the family on top of each other on different decks – a visual family tree if you will with 3 generations standing on 3 different decks.

 

I was going to do it for the next cruise but we would have to find someone to take a picture for us that would be willing to stand there while we position ourselves.

 

 

Speaking of the Allure and unique family pictures, we had the horizontal family pictures from the balconies back then. I miss that ship. Can't get these picture other than the Oasis class ships

 

Harry,

Love the balcony pictures and the generational one would have been awesome, and if you want to hop on AOTS sailing on May 28th I'd be more than happy to take that picture for you!! My family says I'm always "butting" in asking people if they want me to take their picture..lol

Hey, what can I say...I'm just a nice person :D

For those of us who enjoy reading your reviews, you owe it to us to book another cruise soon!! :)

[harryfat1]

Hi Harry

 

Just to let you know 2 things:-

 

I am a massive fan of your trip reports and photographs and I just love following you and your family on your adventures. Your photos are always interesting and your writing is really good fun!

 

Also, - I have been WAITING with bated breath for you to post about the Mayan ruins. We are going there in a few weeks and I just knew your pictures and stories would be the BEST to add to my excitement!

 

Thanks so much. I appreciate it!

 

suzie

 

 

Hi, Susie,

 

Thank you for the compliments. I hope the Mayan ruins info and pictures will help you on your trip there.

 

Just remember to sit toward the top of the theater if you are taking the trip with RCI. You would be among the first ones to get out. As you can see, there are a lot of people going to the ruins so it’s best to beat the crowd.

[harryfat1]

Enjoying following your review.Have been patiently waiting for your ruins tour.Cruise leaves on Feb.12 on Freedom and heading on this tour on 16ty.Nothing boring in your review.How low does it take to get to top of ruins.Thanks for taking time to add more excitement to my upcoming trip.[emoji41]

 

 

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Thanks for continuing to follow along.

 

They won't let you walk up to the top of any of the structures. Everything is roped off after first few step.

 

The tour itself is about 1.5+ hours. It's about 2 hours round trip. Add in some bathroom time on both ends, it's around 4 hours.

 

Our bus left the terminal a little after 1 PM and we made it back to the terminal at 5:20.

[legion]

Thanks.To be truthful I'm glad you don't go to top.lol. Hubby would insist I go with him him and I can be somewhat clumsy..Looks like a long fall from the top.

 

 

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[harryfat1]

Hehe, yes. Us photographers think alike. Only after I came home did I realize I missed the photo op when I saw the 3rd picture in the series that we could have stacked the family on top of each other on different decks – a visual family tree if you will with 3 generations standing on 3 different decks.

 

I was going to do it for the next cruise but we would have to find someone to take a picture for us that would be willing to stand there while we position ourselves.

 

 

Speaking of the Allure and unique family pictures, we had the horizontal family pictures from the balconies back then. I miss that ship. Can't get these picture other than the Oasis class ships

 

Harry,

Love the balcony pictures and the generational one would have been awesome, and if you want to hop on AOTS sailing on May 28th I'd be more than happy to take that picture for you!! My family says I'm always "butting" in asking people if they want me to take their picture..lol

Hey, what can I say...I'm just a nice person :D

For those of us who enjoy reading your reviews, you owe it to us to book another cruise soon!! :)

 

Thanks for the offer to join your cruise but we only cruise the Caribbean in December. The summer vacation is the road trip type where we drive for couple thousands of miles around the western states taking pictures of rocks and misc. items.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rkkunk]

Harry, thank you so much for the great review! I read your Allure report also! I love detailed reports and lots of pictures, but to keep me reading there has to be humor! Thanks for the laughs! Life is too short. Laughter is a necessity!

We were just on the Allure for a 6 night that went to Costa Maya. We just did a snorkel/beach day. We don't like long tours but had I known that we could do the ruins in 4 hours or so, we would have done that. Oh well, something to remember if we ever go there again! Thanks again!

 

 

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[Kfamilycruise]

So now we move on to the actual proof on how anal I am (don’t scoff, I know there are some of you out there in the same boat/ship). In the Allure trip report, I uploaded my Excel template for my daily activities for anyone that wants one. I coined the phrase – Friends of Excel support group – for those of us who likes to schedule things out.

 

Even though I never had to use one for the Freedom cruise because their entertainment schedule is more traditional/predictable and we have the late dining at 8 PM, I am attaching it again for this trip report in case someone is reading this and might need one for their trip planning. I have read various posts asking for schedules and I think someone should start a new thread and ask people with Excel or any other schedules to upload them into one central repository so any cruiser that wants it can find it quickly instead of having to dog into post #27 of any given trip report to find it.

 

Anyway, if nobody has started the schedule thread by time I am done with this trip report, I will start one. I have seen some trip reports with fancy schedules. Someone color coded theirs by the days of the week. I am waiting to see if anyone also color code their underwear/socks to match the color codes on the spreadsheet (e.g. blue color on day 3 of the cruise means blue socks and blue underwear). I will bow to the gangplank that person walks on as that’s the ultimate planner!

 

 

I bow to you! Your spreadsheet is way better than mine! I think my ratio is probably 20 hours for every 1 hour on the cruise! Great review!

[joand452]

Fabulous photos of rocks!! I would love to see that! Have only been to Las Vegas (and going again in March), but never to the Grand Canyon. Have to wait until DH retires before we can take our ultimate road trip out west.

[sun-sand-smiles]

Beautiful - I am so thankful for your thorough review as we are a family new to cruising, the freedom being our second this spring and I am very much a planner. I have a few questions when you have time...

 

I see that you visited the ruins in Cozumel previously and Costa Maya this round, how do they compare, which do you recommend?

 

I also see on your cruise compass (THANK YOU) that there was a 70's themed night...is that typical? I am starting to prepare dinner outfits..

 

Thank you and I can't wait to see the rest of your review!

[Coralc]

Welcome to Cruise Critic! :) Personally, looking at Harry's photos of the ruins in Costa Maya, they look much more impressive than the San Gervasio ruins in Cozumel.:D And, I'm not Harry, but yes, most cruises have a 70's themed night. The level of participation and dressing up varies. :)

Edited January 17, 2017 by Coralc

[IRcruisin]

 

Thanks for the offer to join your cruise but we only cruise the Caribbean in December. The summer vacation is the road trip type where we drive for couple thousands of miles around the western states taking pictures of rocks and misc. items.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LOL, "rocks and miscellaneous items". How does an avowed "anal" type person handle the logistics for driving and gas and food and staying in hotels? Do the Grandparents go on these type of trips? Sorry, I'm nosy...I just like to hear others stories lol :D

[IRcruisin]

Meant to say in my last post, the picture of the rocks are awesome! The closest I'll ever get to seeing the West is by watching old movies:(

[harryfat1]

Harry, thank you so much for the great review! I read your Allure report also! I love detailed reports and lots of pictures, but to keep me reading there has to be humor! Thanks for the laughs! Life is too short. Laughter is a necessity!

We were just on the Allure for a 6 night that went to Costa Maya. We just did a snorkel/beach day. We don't like long tours but had I known that we could do the ruins in 4 hours or so, we would have done that. Oh well, something to remember if we ever go there again! Thanks again!

 

 

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Hi,

 

Thanks for reading both of the reports and the kinds words. It’s hard to be funny in the sequel as I only have so many jokes and I used most of them in he first report. The second one is just a repeat.

 

I had 2 years to think of replacement terms for crazy aunt and uncle in prison but never came up with anything good. Oh, well. Don’t quit my daytime job…

[harryfat1]

Beautiful - I am so thankful for your thorough review as we are a family new to cruising, the freedom being our second this spring and I am very much a planner. I have a few questions when you have time...

 

I see that you visited the ruins in Cozumel previously and Costa Maya this round, how do they compare, which do you recommend?

 

I also see on your cruise compass (THANK YOU) that there was a 70's themed night...is that typical? I am starting to prepare dinner outfits..

 

Thank you and I can't wait to see the rest of your review!

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for the compliment. Welcome to CC as well.

 

We never went to the MDR for dinner that day as we came back too hungry from the ruins tour as we had to skip lunch so just ate at WJ instead. We went to 70’s party and I saw ZERO people in the 70’s clothes. So if you didn’t have anything, you won’t feel left out.

 

As for the ruins, yeah, Patti said it. The Cozumel one was there just because that’s the best they have there but if your cruise goes to Costa Maya, try that one. You can click onto the link under my signature to look at the Cozumel ruins picture if your ship only goes there. Just skip to day 5 or 6? Don’t remember anymore…To man brain cells have died the past 2 years.

[harryfat1]

Fabulous photos of rocks!! I would love to see that! Have only been to Las Vegas (and going again in March), but never to the Grand Canyon. Have to wait until DH retires before we can take our ultimate road trip out west.

 

Hi,

 

The pictures are not grand canyon. They look like it, but not.

 

Those are from Badlands National Park in South Dakota.

 

If you go to Las Vegas, be sure to go to the Valley of Fire, that's 1 hour away. Grand Canyon is 5+ hours away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

LOL, "rocks and miscellaneous items". How does an avowed "anal" type person handle the logistics for driving and gas and food and staying in hotels? Do the Grandparents go on these type of trips? Sorry, I'm nosy...I just like to hear others stories lol :D

 

Minivan fits a lot of people and luggage.

 

Just use Google map to plot out where you want to go and stop off at the major cities. Stay at the places that offers kitchens so we you can cook your own meals and that serves free breakfast. Places like Residence Inn/Homewood Suites/Staybridge all fit the bill. Just look at what we did at day 0 at FLL and you have an idea on how we travel for road trips.

 

Here is the screen shot of Excel to just map things out from the 2015 road trip where we drove 3,000+ miles round trip from CA to South Dakota.

 

 

 

 

Few more rocks area

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wild animal life in South Dakota

 

 

 

 

That’s not snow in the background. It’s salt flat area from outside of Salt Lake City area.

 

 

[harryfat1]

Bus driver passing some slow car in the 1 lane road by driving on the other side. Better step on it, buddy…

 

 

 

 

So after the same long ride back – think many of the people fell asleep on the way back. We were dropped off at the cruise terminal around 5:20. We took few nice pictures of the ship from a unique angle of the pier and people walking back.

 

Cruise terminal

 

 

 

 

 

 

Too neat and clean looking and too sanitized – like Falmouth