LIVE - Freedom of the Seas Transatlantic - Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale - Oct 22-Nov 5

[Palmetto Pilot]

Before I go to bed... any guesses on what this creature is? It looks like a cat or a raccoon face with chubby legs!

 

 

 

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Could be a Pug

[Zephyr173]

Welcome! This will be a live review from the Freedom of the Seas Transatlantic relocation cruise from Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale, leaving this Sunday, October 22nd! I can't even begin to compete with the in depth live threads by many of the celebrities on Cruise Critic, but I can promise some photos - including food!

 

First, a little bit about me! I am Jen from Canada and contrary to my screen name, I am no longer a newbie cruiser. This will be my 14th cruise overall, 10th with Royal Caribbean, and 3rd Transatlantic. All of those cruises added up to my lowly Diamond Crown and Anchor status! [emoji6] I am traveling "solo" on this cruise. And by "solo", I mean with about 4000 other cruises, including several cruising buddies that I met on last year's Independence of the Seas Transatlantic from Fort Lauderdale to Southampton!

 

The cruise will be departing from Barcelona, with stops in Cadiz (Seville), Spain, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, and La Palma. Given the current political situation in Barcelona and the several hundreds of earthquakes recently which have triggered volcano alerts in La Palma, I am hoping for smooth travels!

 

I am currently sitting in the airport waiting to board my flight from Toronto which will arrive tomorrow shortly after noon in Barcelona! More to come when I arrive!

 

For now, I will leave you with the ship, and the planned journey!

 

 

 

(Hopefully those photos work! I am posting this from the handy CruiseCritic app!).

 

 

 

 

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Just picked up your thread. Have a super sailing. I look forward to reading your posts. Love from Montréal.

[cruiselover04]

Loving your review! Thanks for taking the time out of your vacation so that we are able to enjoy it too through your photos and review.

 

Hopefully they’ll do Master Chef once you start the sea days. It’s really fun to watch and very entertaining if you get the chance to see it. Also if they do Dancing with the Stripes that’s lots of fun. If Dr.Bruno is on board he’s an excellent dancer! :hearteyes:;)

I see they’re doing the Nations scavenger hunt. They did that for the first time on the eastbound TA in April and got good feedback from the passengers and crew. It’s a great way to strike up a conversation with the crew while also looking at their name badge. :)

 

Enjoy your day in Cadiz (Seville).

 

Jenni

[jerseygirl3]

Is it true that RCI now charges a fee for room service except for continental breakfast?

 

 

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[Clarea]

Is it true that RCI now charges a fee for room service except for continental breakfast?

Yes, here is the menu:

 

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/data/dining/room-service/menu/In-Stateroom-Room-Service-Full-Menu-web.pdf

[mitchpam]

Exited to follow along! Yay [emoji3]

 

 

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[jerseygirl3]

Yes, here is the menu:

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/data/dining/room-service/menu/In-Stateroom-Room-Service-Full-Menu-web.pdf

 

 

 

Thank you. Didn’t realize there was a charge. We’ll be on JOTS TA on 11/6; good to know.

 

 

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[danae76]

I am enjoying following along on your travels. We are cruising the Western Caribbean on Freedom in December.

 

 

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[Sherman793]

Thank you. Didn’t realize there was a charge. We’ll be on JOTS TA on 11/6; good to know.

 

 

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Looks to me as if the Continental breakfast is free on that menu only the 'hot' foods charge the fee.

[Clarea]

Looks to me as if the Continental breakfast is free on that menu only the 'hot' foods charge the fee.

You can still get hot oatmeal and hot grits on the free continental part.

[Newbcruiser1]

Hello from day 3 of 14 on the Freedom of the Seas!

 

This morning was a bright and early one for me. Well, it was early, with a 6am wake-up call, but definitely not bright! In fact, the sunrise wasn't until 8:41am! Keep in mind we travelled pretty far west from Barcelona with no time zone change, AND daylight savings time, like in North America, has yet to take effect in Spain! That led to a very dark morning!

 

I started my day with breakfast in the Windjammer at 7am. Fortunately it was not extremely busy. I also had great entertainment watching a lot of seagulls flying alongside the ship all the way into Cadiz!

 

 

I then headed outside to watch us pulling alongside the dock right on time at 8am! It was an incredibly windy and chilly morning. I later found out that Cadiz is one of the windiest cities in Spain, and even in Europe!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Newbcruiser1]

We docked alongside the P&O Ventura - it looked like a gorgeous, new ship. Once the ship was docked they opened the gangways right away, and off I went in search of my Spain Day Tours bus! I had booked this shared tour directly via the tour operator's website. It was 78.50 euros per person, and was scheduled to be 7-9 hours long. As it turned out, there were 2 buses from the Freedom alone, including 32 people on our bus. This group of 32 was split into 2 groups later on for ease of following our tour guides.

 

The ride to Seville was about an hour and a half (maybe a little more) long, and we made one stop at a rest stop along the way for washrooms/beverages.

 

Upon arrival in Seville, we first went to Plaza de Espanya. Are you noticing a trend? It turns out there was a Plaza de Espanya in Barcelona, in Cadiz, AND in Seville (and many more in other cities across Spain and the Canaries!).

 

Due to the size and the very low position of the sun, pictures just do not do it justice!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Newbcruiser1]

More from Plaza de Espanya:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Newbcruiser1]

It was then off to explore more of Seville including the old Jewish quarter:

 

 

 

 

And the outside of the Cathedral (the tower is also the highest point in Seville).

 

 

 

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[Newbcruiser1]

And we finally made it to the Alcazar - the Royal Palace. It was built between the 10th and 14th centuries, and is also the place of filming of scenes from Game of Thrones, and Lawrence of Arabia.

 

 

 

 

 

It had beautiful gardens both inside and out!

 

 

 

 

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[Newbcruiser1]

More from the Alcazar:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Newbcruiser1]

The Royal Alcazar continued:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Newbcruiser1]

 

We then had about an hour and a half of free time to explore the area!

 

Another look at the cathedral:

 

 

 

Myself and another solo traveling Cruise Critic member (shout out to herb she knows who she is!) went in search of lunch. There were a ton of tapas restaurants so we picked one that had a table available and in we went! First off, sangria:

 

 

We started with the caprese salad with burrata:

 

 

We then had shrimp croquettes, and "small battered prawns". Unfortunately I forgot to take photos, but the croquettes were delicious and nicely presented with some different sauces. The "battered prawns" looked more like shrimp pancakes or latkes, although they were somewhat tasty.

 

We then met up with the group once again and walked about 10-15 minutes back to our starting point where we boarded the bus back to Cadiz! It was another hour and 45 minute ride with a brief stop at a rest stop.

 

 

 

 

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[Newbcruiser1]

Note that Cadiz is a major ship-building/repair port. As such, it's not so nice to look at with lots of cranes and other equipment. I tried to get a decent picture of the ship anyway! I suspect I'll have better luck in the Canaries! Haha!

 

 

 

Once back onboard, I went to the Royal Promenade for a snack, including a caramel frappuccino with my 1-a-day preloaded diamond specialty coffee. Yes, it worked in the afternoon too! Yay!

 

 

After returning to my room to freshen up and change, I rushed out to the diamond lounge to pick up a glass of wine, and headed outside to the Promenade deck with big plans to watch the sunset and sailaway. Those plans were crushed as the captain made the announcement that we would be leaving late due to the loading of some supplies. It turned out at least 4 trucks, 2 forward and 2 aft, had just arrived with numerous pallets of provisions - I saw watermelons, red and green peppers, some other fruit, boxes of meat, and insulated boxes of... lobster perhaps?!

 

 

 

I watched the sunset and took a stroll up to the helipad and around the ship.

 

 

 

 

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[Newbcruiser1]

 

 

I stopped in at Vintages to pick up some wine for dinner.

 

 

By 8:00, we still hadn't left port. On the upside, it was still light at the beginning of dinner in the MDR. This is a rarity at late searing!

 

 

Dinner menu tonight:

 

 

I started with shrimp cocktail and the fruit plate:

 

 

 

 

 

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[Newbcruiser1]

Followed by the orecchiette pasta (it tasted like basic pasta with tomato sauce. Hardly had any short rib in it).

 

 

And for dessert I had the apple pie a la mode.

 

 

For the first time in 3 days, our table finished in time for me to go to the show. Tonight's show was "Hector is Magic". Hector is a Spanish magician from... Seville (how convenient?). He was great! I believe I may have seen him previously on a cruise, but his tricks and material doesn't get old!

 

After the show, it was back to my room to find 2 exciting things. A new towel friend:

 

 

And the first of 7 time changes (as daylight savings in North America will occur at the very end of our cruise).

 

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171024/bc52434967306259018f89ae6ddbdfbb.jpg[/

 

 

 

 

 

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[orla56]

Great pics.

[Newbcruiser1]

My apologies - I forgot to post today's cruise compass!

 

 

 

 

 

That's all for today! Coming up next - day 4 - another sea day! And it's supposed to be HOT HOT HOT at 32 degrees C (90F!).

 

Thanks again to those who are following!

 

 

 

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[jeawl]

Absolutely beautiful pictures

[cruiselover04]

Your pictures are stunning! Thank you so much for this review!

 

Jenni