Freedom July 22nd Review Lots of Food Pics

[cruisewithwife]

On the Conquest, we always enjoyed the Italian Restaurant, is there not another specialty restaurant besides the steak restaurant on the Freedom that requires reservations?

Steakhouse and then the chef's table

[monakayk]

Here is the video when we entered the room

QUESTION ;

May I ask your cabin # & category? I thought all OV cabins had a small couch?:confused:

[cruisewithwife]

QUESTION ;

May I ask your cabin # & category? I thought all OV cabins had a small couch?:confused:

It was 7204. This is considered an interior room with a picture window. It is a cabin for 2 at a great price. Just a bed and the table with chair. Window looks out to the hidden balconies at front of the ship

[cruisewithwife]

We made it to day 3 our first port of call Key West.

We technically did not dock in Key West until 10:00 AM. We took a peak outside and then headed down to breakfast. On port days they have the old school traditional breakfast menu in the main dining room.

We got placed at a table with two other couples and would you believe it in each of those couples one was a teacher. They however were both retired teachers. DW and I live for that day when we can cruise during the school year.

I started with the cream cheese bagel and smoked salmon. You get a large amount of salmon with this.

DW had an omelette and some bacon.

[cruisewithwife]

I also had the eggs benedict and had read to ask for the sauce on the side so it is fresh. You could tell the eggs had been done fresh as they were still nice and yolky. It was delicious and this is my staple on the traditional breakfast menu.

After breakfast we walked back towards our room and headed out to that hidden balcony in front of our room as we were finally pulling into port.

We saw some people out parasailing.

While out there we realized we were back in US territory so on came the phones and we made a quick phone call to talk to our kids back with grandma and grandpa. Well only one was there as the other was with her aunt and apparently coloring was cooler than talking to mom and dad. Time to head into the room and get ready to go explore Key West.

[cruisewithwife]

We got our backpack and the tickets for our Old Town Hop on Hop off Trolley Tour. We waited a bit until the mad rush of everyone clearing the boat since we were not in a big hurry. We got down off the boat about 10:20.

We started walking down the pier to head to the bus stop we had already gotten our stickers for the ride as they were waiting for us right when we got off the ship. While walking in the direct port area they had some very cool statues.

[cruisewithwife]

Here is a video coming into the port that I forgot to add in post above.

 

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This was one of the last statues so we thought.

We went around the building to get to the bus and saw this 2 story statue.

We got on the trolley and away we went. We decided we were going to ride it all the way around the first time in order to see everything and hear the information. Our driver was very good and we saw many things along the way.

Below is a video of that first loop around. I will follow up with more pictures of the places we actually stopped in detail after this.

 

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[Markmom18]

We will be back on the Freedom over Thanksgiving. It is always fun talking to the staff members. What part of the fun stuff is he?

 

Hi,

He's with the staff that do the Deck parties,Trivia, Karaoke, BINGO, ST Jude's fundraiser on the pool deck. Etc... Anything involving guests and FUN! He's NOT part of the entertainment staff ( musical shows etc).

His name is Mark , goes by Marky Mark from California. This will be his 2nd 6-Month Contract. I mention it because there was another Marky Mark in the past.

Please say HI to him. If you like Trivia and The Beatles ... boy, he came up with a challenging game! :o

Bobbi

[cruisewithwife]

We went by some bars that were right on the water and also selling conch shells.

This was a brewery that was painted like the ocean.

[cruisewithwife]

After getting off the Trolley we walked over to Sloppy Joe's Bar.

We walked inside and it was packed. After wandering around for a bit as it is seat yourself, we found two chairs at the bar and even better there was a fan blowing straight down.

We took a look at the menu

[cruisewithwife]

It was a very cool open atmosphere on the inside with someone playing the piano up front.

We had to get what they were known for so we got a Sloppy Rita and Sloppy Fries. We shared both and the sloppy fries were definitely a good amount. It was something fun to say we have done but can't say it would be an every stop kind of place.

We then walked over to Capt. Tony's Saloon. This was the original bar for sloppy joe's and they raised his rent. He moved everything to the new location in one night. He had his customers carry chairs and tables for free beer and they never had to close.

The inside of this bar was covered in license plates and money.

[cruisewithwife]

We then walked a block over to Kino's Sandals. I heard about this place on the boards and we wanted to check it out.

They make all the sandals inside this shop and sell them. Word of advice they run rather small and only go up to a size 10 in women's. DW was disappointed as she found some cute ones but not quite big enough. For the men they only have about 4 different types of sandals. We plan on taking the kids here in November as there was a lot for them.

After this we walked over to a Trolley stop to jump on and head to the Southern Most Point. We passed by a few fun things along the way.

[cruisewithwife]

There is many little shops along the streets in Key West.

This was a big church.

Having fun and enjoying the cool breeze because it was hot.

This building had been many things on the island ranging from a grocery store to a morgue to a bar.

Caught a small glimpse of the ship while we were going by an area under construction.

The way some of the trees had grown there was amazing.

[cruisewithwife]

Gas was a little more expensive there than back home.

This place was the weather center and they designed sliders to go over the windows in case of bad weather. They also had a certain color they put out when it was time to evacuate however our driver said very few people follow those warnings.

We made it to the area with the water. This had a long pier that you can walk out to and was said to be the highway that wasn't completed to Cuba.

[cruisewithwife]

Along this edge was all of the free beaches

We made it to the southern most point...well almost now we had to stand in line and wait to get our picture taken. It was super hot.

There was some people out riding jet skis while we waited in line.

Finally it was our turn.

[cruisewithwife]

We took a few pictures next to the water.

The original plan was to walk back up Duval Street but i was so hot we hopped back on the Trolley and got to see the Southern Most Point one more time.

There was many little excursions shops throughout the island as well.

Of course they had a Denny's too.

[cruisewithwife]

This is the place that is supposed to have a huge slice of key lime pie with more of the meringue top.

Check out the way the branches/roots had grown on this tree.

They had a few CVS places on the island so the good thing is if you forgot some meds and do this run pick them up in Key West as you are still early on your trip.

This was the cemetery and they put the caskets above ground in the cement containers going three high as families are put together.

[cruisewithwife]

This is one of the bars by the water and they have 3 happy hours a day.

Our next stop was at Kermit's for some key lime pie

They have key lime everything in here. We just had the pie which was pretty good however next time we plan on going to the other place to try.

We left there and then decided to walk to find the rum distillery I had read about. Along the way we passed an art gallery.

[cruisewithwife]

We made it to the Hemingway Rum Distillery. I did not think this was the one I read about but we walked in and there was free tours and free samples.

You could actually taste the pure cane sugar here...it was sweet.

[cruisewithwife]

They made two different types of rum

They had little displays of how they make it however this was strictly a tour place and nothing was truly being made there.

[cruisewithwife]

Now on to the samples. First up was the clear one. We both took a drink and ooo it was warm and burnt a bit going down.

Next up was the dark one and this burnt even more. Needless to say good thing we had a water bottle as the warm rum did not taste amazing on this hot day.

We left there and were headed to the ship. As we were walking we found the Rum Distillery I originally wanted to go to so we needed to stop right.

This place you could walk in and we saw them actually making and testing their rum.

They also had samples here. I was so excited when she reached into a freezer to pull out the bottles. She had a few different flavors...I had Key Lime Rum which wasn't too bad and then they gave us some orange juice as a chaser. The bad thing was the orange juice was warm....seemed like we couldn't win with this haha. DW had vanilla rum and thought it was fine and that it was cold definitely made a difference.

[cruisewithwife]

Alright two rum places we were good now let's get to the ship. Not even a block ahead and there was a tropical winery.

So we went in and they had many different kinds of wine. They allowed you to sample one glass for free or you could get 4 samples and keep the glass for $10. We chose to just each try one. DW had a Cat 5 Hurricane which was similar to a capri sun. She thought it was delicious. Since we were in Key West I had Key Lime Wine. I thought it was very good however DW said she enjoyed hers more.

Finally we had made it back and found the ship. I will say getting back on board being Americans in the United States the port authority in Key West was the most unfriendly people on the trip.

[cruisewithwife]

We got back to our room and our towel animal was waiting for us.

We showered and got ready for dinner and the boat should be leaving shortly so we wanted to watch sail away.

[cruisewithwife]

Bye Bye Key West and off to Freeport we were headed.

We were all ready for dinner and just relaxing now.

The pilot boat was following us out.

Short video of sail away.

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[cruisewithwife]

Off to dinner...our cheese plate was waiting for us on the table with our bread.

 

here was tonight's appetizer menu

I started with the fried shrimp. This was ok but nothing amazing.

DW got the honey roasted ham. She thought it was pretty good...I had a bite and was not a huge fan.

We got the escargot to try. DW had one and thought that was enough. I thought they tested pretty good reminded me of a stuffed mushroom but a little chewier.

We had the marinated chicken tenders as well. These were very good....can you tell we like food haha.