Cheapo dad's trip report on Freedom of the Seas

[Coralc]

Very cool tree! I think it is another fig tree. :D

 

And referring back to a previous photo, I have never seen a bison with an udder before. It makes sense that they would have one, since they are related to cows. I have just never thought about it. :D:):D

 

Wonderful and fun trip report! :D

[JamesEM]

Thanks for the side trips/detours, have seen the Redwoods, but only have flown over the Hoover Dam at 30,000 feet. On the topic of luggage, we sign up to be bag draggers, that way we have the flexibility of departing when we are ready.

[Miryam1234]

Harry, thanks for the side tours! So far we've only been to Florida in US, and you have given me lot's of ideas for the future!

 

Loving your report, detours and all.

 

 

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[dizneydawn]

Hi, Cindy,

 

 

 

Thanks for continuing to follow along the trip report.

 

 

 

Truth be known, I am running out of new jokes. My comedy writing team (of one) is having a writer’s block to come out with anything new & witty to talk about. It’s like watching a 2 hour comedy movie that stopped being funny at the 1:20 mark. But at least there are pictures to keep the folks entertained.

 

 

 

As for your question, I scrolled back to post #188 and was going to reference that for you to look at and then to my embarrassment, I realized I scanned page 4 twice and missed page 3 on where they list the places that were open when you board the ship. Ooops. DUH! :o

 

 

 

Surprised no one pointed out that error. Guess nobody cares to read the scanned info. Like I said, not a professional reviewer.

 

 

 

At any rate, I just re scan a whole new set for you (made the pages bigger on computer screen for easier reading of the small fonts). Now it has all 4 pages and if you look at page 3, it looks like the places that are open for lunch is WJ, Café promenade and Sorrento’s Pizza. Unless you consider cupcakes place a lunch place…:D

 

 

 

 

 

]

 

 

I'm bummed Johnny Rockets is not open for lunch when u get on! I was hoping that would be a place where we could avoid crowds!

Thanks for the info!

 

 

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[bobmacliberty]

Sure you can (like the embarkation time, this is a suggestion), but your luggage may not be there yet.

 

Thanks for the correction. Didn't know that.

[hucifer]

Harry, if you are ever in Cozumel without the kids, you should consider the Cozumel Bar Hop. It's not an excursion offered through the ship. They take you to four bars on the far side of the island where there is no electricity or tourists. I enjoyed it, even as a solo.

 

I just booked a cruise in September on the Allure. First time on such a beast of a ship, and I have to admit that I'm a little intimidated by all it has to offer. I tend to prefer smaller ships. I will read your Allure report next, even if it's a little out-of-date.

[harryfat1]

Very cool tree! I think it is another fig tree. :D

 

And referring back to a previous photo, I have never seen a bison with an udder before. It makes sense that they would have one, since they are related to cows. I have just never thought about it. :D:):D

 

Wonderful and fun trip report! :D

 

 

Hi, Patti,

 

Yes, I knew you would be the only one commenting on the tree. I like the roots action going all the way down and out in the open.

 

Always appreciate you and the other that are chiming throughout the various parts of the report. It’s like running a marathon. Much more fun to run with a pack than solo.

[harryfat1]

Harry, thanks for the side tours! So far we've only been to Florida in US, and you have given me lot's of ideas for the future!

 

Loving your report, detours and all.

 

 

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Hi, Miryam,

 

Thanks for continuing to read along. Yes, there are many other sites in the US that are worthy of a visit that is not cruise related. The detour is part to show the overseas folks that there is more to US than the coastal states.

 

We typically spend one plus week on the road and one plus week on the cruise for our annual vacations.

 

A for cruise places, you should look into doing an Alaska cruise down the road as that’s very different than the Caribbean cruise.

[harryfat1]

I'm bummed Johnny Rockets is not open for lunch when u get on! I was hoping that would be a place where we could avoid crowds!

Thanks for the info!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

If you looked at our boarding pictures from day 1 (seems like eons ago), if you get on the ship early, there is no crowd at WJ.

 

Mathematically speaking, think the WJ holds around 700 people? Don’t remember anymore but I once did a math calculation on the Allure trip report talking about the sizes of the WJ.

 

Using the Disney logic of fighting the crowd, regardless of how crowded any place may be, SOMEBODY has to be the among first 350 people in the 700 capacity place, why not you? Just get to port early, chill out in the wait area and board when they allow you. WJ won’t be crowed and by time it is, you will be done with your meal and can walk around the ship doing whatever.

[harryfat1]

Harry, if you are ever in Cozumel without the kids, you should consider the Cozumel Bar Hop. It's not an excursion offered through the ship. They take you to four bars on the far side of the island where there is no electricity or tourists. I enjoyed it, even as a solo.

 

I just booked a cruise in September on the Allure. First time on such a beast of a ship, and I have to admit that I'm a little intimidated by all it has to offer. I tend to prefer smaller ships. I will read your Allure report next, even if it's a little out-of-date.

 

Thanks for the info on the bar hop. It will be many years down the road before we cruise without the kids.

 

It’s great that you will be going on the Allure. You will have many things to do and see - the different neighborhoods provide many photo ops. Don’t let the size concern you. If you look at the picture from Cozumel of Freedom next to the Harmony, yes, the Harmony is wider and longer but not by a significant margin.

 

If you plan to go back and read my old Allure report, the key take away is not the day by day events as those will likely have changed but to know that you need to have some sort of pre-planning. I am very biased in that I come from a Disney background where I am used to crowds and preplanning is second nature to me. So I’m not as bothered by having to pre plan as some folks here on CC are and I recall you mentioned that you used to write Disney trip reports so you know the preplanning drill very well.

 

Just know that they built more new events on the mega ships but not proportionally bigger to accommodate everyone. For example, the aqua theater only seats 600+ people and I believe they only have 6 water shows scheduled when we cruised. Simple math will get you to 3,600 people can watch the water show from the theater, but the double capacity of the ship is around 5,400. So you don’t need to be a math major to know they can’t accommodate everyone that wants a seat at the theater.

 

There will be stand by lines for the shows but the key is to sign up for things you like early online. Join your roll call and people will let you know when the online reservation for shows will open up for your sailing.

 

Especially popular will be the comedy show. I think the place only holds around 120 or so (?) and they have less than 20 shows planned as I recall. Don’t hold me to the numbers as it’s been couple of years and I am too lazy to look it up now. So that means less than 2,000 people can see the comedy show on a typical cruise. But since it’s for adults only, we didn’t sign up anyway. They did have one open comedy show in the main theater on last night of our cruise that is not adult themed for those with family that wants to watch.

 

So you will see that they offer more things to see and do on the Oasis class ships but they don’t build them to accommodate everyone on the cruise with the thinking that not everyone will want to do everything. If something is important to you (like a show), be sure to plan it out in advance like you would for a Disney vacation.

 

I still subscribe to my Allure report for anyone having a question as I will for this trip report after I am all done so if you have any Allure related questions feel free to drop me a line here or at the Allure report and I will try to answer them. Unless you are just catching me during the one week I am on my road trip in the summer, then I will get back to you with a delay.

[harryfat1]

Thanks for the side trips/detours, have seen the Redwoods, but only have flown over the Hoover Dam at 30,000 feet. On the topic of luggage, we sign up to be bag draggers, that way we have the flexibility of departing when we are ready.

 

Hi, James,

 

You’re welcome. Hoover dam is just outside of Vegas and if you are ever in town, you can either get there on your own via rental car or they have tons of bus tours that can take you there for a reasonable price. The dam also has tours that take you inside the dam to show you. We did that many years ago so we didn’t do it on the previous visit but if that interests you, be sure to sign up for that.

 

Since I have the folder up and running, uploaded some more pics on the detour for those who may be interested. This is also known as the “Dam Detour”.

You park your car at a lot by the mountain side and walk up to the top of the bridge to see the entire dam from above. The bridge connects border between the 2 states of Nevada and Arizona. Since the states are on different time zone, by crossing the bridge, you gain or lose 1 hour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zoom in view of the visitor center for the tour

 

 

 

 

Bottom part of the dam

 

 

[harryfat1]

This is the part that I said earlier was scary if you have to stick your head and arm and camera above the railing on the bridge to look down few hundred feet with the cold December wind blowing at you. This was one shot I took. Didn’t care if it was blurry or not. You get what you get.

 

 

 

 

 

Side view of the dam if you walk all the way to the other side of the bridge

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s the parking structure – kind of cool they made it the same color as the rocks around it so it doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb

 

 

 

 

 

 

After walking around on the top, we walked down to the dam area. Back in 2012 when we were there, the western states were in middle of a bad drought and you can see the water level is so much lower by looking at the contrast in color level of the river banks. The white color is where the water used to be

 

 

 

 

 

This is the view from the dam looking back at the bridge where we first took the earlier picture. Yeap, scary to look straight down from the bridge

 

 

 

 

 

 

Final picture – river boat cruise to see the dam from a different perspective

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

(OK, back to Cozumel)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other tourists taking pictures after us

 

 

[harryfat1]

Then it’s off to see do some obligatory gift shopping. This is the other family’s first visit to Cozumel so they wanted to buy various souvenirs. We just picked up couple simple stuff for people back home and then we walked down the street for few blocks to take more photos before we headed off for the east side – the wild side.

 

Very colorful store in downtown area – time to visit Uncle Bob in prison

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gobo2]

Harry, if you are ever in Cozumel without the kids, you should consider the Cozumel Bar Hop. It's not an excursion offered through the ship. They take you to four bars on the far side of the island where there is no electricity or tourists. I enjoyed it, even as a solo.

 

.

 

Harry, sorry to hijack but

 

Hucifer,

 

This tour sounds really great but I'm afraid it will attract too many loud groups of men that punch each other and call each other bro. The hubs and I are in our 40s and are with my 18 year old daughter and her boyfriend. Thoughts?

 

TIA

[harryfat1]

Harry, sorry to hijack but

 

Hucifer,

 

This tour sounds really great but I'm afraid it will attract too many loud groups of men that punch each other and call each other bro. The hubs and I are in our 40s and are with my 18 year old daughter and her boyfriend. Thoughts?

 

TIA

 

No worries. This is a community forum – we all pay the same annual dues to post here so please feel free to ask any questions of me or others. I am sure there are others that are reading this and may be asking the similar question.

 

I’ll move on with the trip report and Hucifer can respond later on.

[harryfat1]

Downtown area

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

While at the area, we saw another old friend, Carnival Paradise. This was my younger son’s first cruise way back in 2005 so that’s a special ship for him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Closer look at the divers & the ship

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mega zoom camera time

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[hucifer]

Thanks for the info on the bar hop. It will be many years down the road before we cruise without the kids.

 

It’s great that you will be going on the Allure. You will have many things to do and see - the different neighborhoods provide many photo ops. Don’t let the size concern you. If you look at the picture from Cozumel of Freedom next to the Harmony, yes, the Harmony is wider and longer but not by a significant margin.

 

If you plan to go back and read my old Allure report, the key take away is not the day by day events as those will likely have changed but to know that you need to have some sort of pre-planning. I am very biased in that I come from a Disney background where I am used to crowds and preplanning is second nature to me. So I’m not as bothered by having to pre plan as some folks here on CC are and I recall you mentioned that you used to write Disney trip reports so you know the preplanning drill very well.

 

Just know that they built more new events on the mega ships but not proportionally bigger to accommodate everyone. For example, the aqua theater only seats 600+ people and I believe they only have 6 water shows scheduled when we cruised. Simple math will get you to 3,600 people can watch the water show from the theater, but the double capacity of the ship is around 5,400. So you don’t need to be a math major to know they can’t accommodate everyone that wants a seat at the theater.

 

There will be stand by lines for the shows but the key is to sign up for things you like early online. Join your roll call and people will let you know when the online reservation for shows will open up for your sailing.

 

Especially popular will be the comedy show. I think the place only holds around 120 or so (?) and they have less than 20 shows planned as I recall. Don’t hold me to the numbers as it’s been couple of years and I am too lazy to look it up now. So that means less than 2,000 people can see the comedy show on a typical cruise. But since it’s for adults only, we didn’t sign up anyway. They did have one open comedy show in the main theater on last night of our cruise that is not adult themed for those with family that wants to watch.

 

So you will see that they offer more things to see and do on the Oasis class ships but they don’t build them to accommodate everyone on the cruise with the thinking that not everyone will want to do everything. If something is important to you (like a show), be sure to plan it out in advance like you would for a Disney vacation.

 

I still subscribe to my Allure report for anyone having a question as I will for this trip report after I am all done so if you have any Allure related questions feel free to drop me a line here or at the Allure report and I will try to answer them. Unless you are just catching me during the one week I am on my road trip in the summer, then I will get back to you with a delay.

That is VERY helpful info, Harry. Thank you!

 

Yes, you remember correctly that I have been to WDW a dozen times, and I am very much a planner (which puts me somewhere high on the Anal Scale). So scheduling ahead for the Allure is not out of my comfort zone.

 

My question is (forgive me for all the questions...the Allure truly is a new animal for me), how and when do you find out the schedule for all the performances? Does RCI inform you so many days out?

 

Again...thank you! :)

 

Wendy

[harryfat1]

OK, part 1 of the tour is done after walking around downtown. Now onto part 2 and going to the other side of Cozumel.

 

For those who don’t know, the east side of the island of Cozumel is much more rustic in not having electricity after being hit by the hurricane awhile back. But that’s what I wanted to see. I know there would be 28,000+ passengers from the 8 ships at the various popular spots of Cozumel that day and I wanted to see a more tranquil part of Cozumel with fewer tourists around.

 

As part of my research on Trip advisor, I found few beach areas that looked interesting. I asked the two drivers the various places on my list and based on my selections, they suggested Playa Chen Rio as we had some younger kids and the waves are not as rough there given the rock formation. And it fits my requirement of fewer tourists. As much as I think the GC beach was pretty, it was way too noisy and crowded for my preference.

 

I want to note that there was some pressure in trying to organize this tour for 16 people. Never done one this big and not like I’m the Cozumel expert or anything. Just the only anal person from the group willing to spend hours online reading Trip advisor reviews on various sites. It’s almost a thankless job. If everything goes well, people are happy but nobody comes over to say, thanks for organizing the event and getting us a great deal and the tour itself is great. If thing go wrong, like ship going to different pier last minute, it’s you that has to scramble for last minute adjustments.

 

Perfect analogy is your company’s payroll department. Nobody ever thank the payroll department if their paycheck is done right. But, YOU KNOW for sure if anyone’s paycheck is even off by a dollar, there will be a long line of people to pound on the payroll folks for an explanation why the paycheck isn’t right. Perfect thankless job. So after you read this, go thank your payroll department at work next time you get paid and your paycheck is correct.

 

Enough digress talk. Back to the tour. Here are few pics of the drive on the way there. The same drive as the one we took 2 years ago on the Allure as there’s really one main road to cut across the island, so didn’t take too many pictures as it’s just same old, same old.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The reason for this picture is not for religious reason to point out the Jehovah’s Witness but the taxi driver said there are many places on the island that has 3 languages signs – English/Spanish/Mayan

 

 

 

 

 

 

The road to the east side

 

 

[hucifer]

Hucifer,

 

This tour sounds really great but I'm afraid it will attract too many loud groups of men that punch each other and call each other bro. The hubs and I are in our 40s and are with my 18 year old daughter and her boyfriend. Thoughts?

 

TIA

Forgive me, but your question made me giggle. I am 46 and I went on the Cozumel Bar Hop as a solo guest. There were a variety of age groups on the tour, which took about twenty (?) guests. Mostly couples. Some were in their 20s and 30s, some our age, and some a little older. I have to say that I met most of the folks on the tour, and they were very nice to talk to. Even by the end of the tour, no one was sloppy drunk and punching each other. :)

 

I don't remember the age restriction, so I'm not sure if your daughter is allowed to go. I actually learned of this excursion right here on CC, and after doing some more research, all I found were glowing reviews. It was a lot of fun, and it was wonderful to be on the empty side of the island. The folks who run this excursion did an excellent job of keeping us informed and entertained. Each of the four beaches were on the coast. I am returning to Cozumel this September and plan on booking this again.

 

Hope that helps!

Wendy

[fletch1027]

Using the Disney logic of fighting the crowd, regardless of how crowded any place may be, SOMEBODY has to be the among first 350 people in the 700 capacity place, why not you?.

 

 

Another Disney logic tip - always when given a choice go to the left. Works in the Magic Kingdom in the morning (Frontierland always less crowded than Tomorrowland) and seems to be the case in the WJ when both sides are open. :-)

 

 

 

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[harryfat1]

That is VERY helpful info, Harry. Thank you!

 

Yes, you remember correctly that I have been to WDW a dozen times, and I am very much a planner (which puts me somewhere high on the Anal Scale). So scheduling ahead for the Allure is not out of my comfort zone.

 

My question is (forgive me for all the questions...the Allure truly is a new animal for me), how and when do you find out the schedule for all the performances? Does RCI inform you so many days out?

 

Again...thank you! :)

 

Wendy

 

Unfortunately RCI is not as clock work as Disney where you know at the 180th day of whatever, that reservation slot is open. Things are much more “gray area” with RCI. Typically it’s 3+ months out before your entertainment reservation is opened.

 

That’s why I suggest you join your roll call and subscribe to their thread such that you know there will always be someone on the roll call that will be anal enough to check the entertainment schedule online daily to see if they can book it and let the rest of the people on the roll call knows.

 

Looks like you are doing the western route similar to us. Also check the Allure sub tab here on CC to see if others have recently posted any western compass so at least you can more or less map out what you want to do. Then whenever the reservation slots are open, you can jump on it without having to think on what to do.

 

Back in the old days, they had the water shows 2 times a night for the first 3 nights for the western route. I would suggest taking the earlier show as if there’s bad weather, they can reschedule it for a later time. And if for whatever reason you really love the show and want to catch it the second day, you can come back to be either in the stand by line on day 2 o watch it from the back standing room only area.

[harryfat1]

Another Disney logic tip - always when given a choice go to the left. Works in the Magic Kingdom in the morning (Frontierland always less crowded than Tomorrowland) and seems to be the case in the WJ when both sides are open. :-)

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

Yeah, I think that’s because people are trained to be on the right hand side – at least the US crowd is that way so they turn to the right when entering WJ. Like running the track and field or horse racing, they are used to circling from the right to the left in the counter clockwise direction when entering a circular area. So if you go the other way, you will have less traffic.

 

Anyone has any experience for theater crowd? Do people typically turn right by default such that the right side of the theater has more people at first?