Trip Report: Freedom of the Seas Western Caribbean March 25-31, 2018

[CreativeCruiser119]

Day 1 - Sunday, March 25

Muster Drill, Sailaway & Main Dining Room

 

The guest assembly drill was scheduled for 4:15, and we were assigned to the same station we had on Liberty, given that we were right down the hall from where we were on that ship. However, while we were on the “hot side” during that cruise, we were shaded this time around. It’s not like Oasis class, where we get to sit inside - I joked how last year we had the coolest (temperature-wise) muster, having been assigned to Studio B on Harmony, whereas this year I thought we’d be out in the sun again. Luckily, that wasn’t quit the case! Either way, it’s for safety, so I wouldn’t complain even if it was, considering RCCL always does it fairly quickly.

 

Around 4:00 we began making our way to our assembly station B11 on the Deck 4 promenade deck. While waiting for the drill to start, we met a very vocal (but friendly) lady at our station who was fun to talk to. At 4:15 the Captain made the final call for everyone to go to their muster station, sounded the alarm, and the drill itself started shortly after. A woman near us was kindly asked by a crew member to put her phone away during the talk, so it’s good to see them taking safety seriously. Matt and I were on our phones while we waited for it to start, but once the cruise director started the presentation over the PA, we put them away so we could listen - we’ve been through it several times before, but you can never be too prepared! It went fairly quick, so even though it wasn’t quite the same as on Oasis class, I’d say this was a very painless muster. The crowds going up the stairs were pretty bad, but luckily we only had to climb 3 flights to get back to our cabins and get ready for sailaway.

 

After muster, I went back to the cabin to go through and post photos, then met my family up on deck. We were situated on Deck 12, port side, above the pool deck between the cantilevered whirlpools and main pool area. My understanding was that we were to be the last one out, but the Princess ship that I thought was supposed to leave before us didn’t, I can only assume they had some kind of delay. So, a little after our scheduled departure time of 5:30, we began to move and we enjoyed the sailaway from Port Everglades while I enjoyed my first virgin cocktail of the cruise: a pina colada. I will add that these are the exact same thing as the regular cocktails, just without the alcohol. And oh, so good. The sailaway party consisted of dance music, horn blasts and an all around festive atmosphere. One of the most exciting parts of any cruise for me, next to boarding the ship.

 

One thing we did not like about the arrangement we had was 5:30 dining as opposed to 6:00 like on past cruises. We knew it was going to interfere with sailaway, so we showed up a bit late. It was really only an issue on the first night - we were also a tad late to dinner on Day 4 because of our Costa Maya excursion, but we always try to be as possible! So, while we would have preferred 6:00 dining, we were still satisfied with what we had. When we booked this cruise while on Harmony last year, all that was left was My Time, which sounds nice, but I’d heard the lines were bad. However, we did opt to be notified and switched to traditional dining (early seating) should there be a cancellation, and sure enough, there was, so we ended up with 5:30. I will also point out that, unlike past cruises, the dessert was ordered at the same time as our appetizers and main courses.

 

Sidenote: I know this is strongly encouraged, but we do avoid specialty restaurants for dinner because of the extra cost, although we do get Johnny Rockets once per cruise. We are more than content with the MDR and Windjammer for the remainder of our meals, although I do plan to try out a few specialty restaurants at some points during the long cruising career I have ahead of me.

 

As with Oasis class, the dining room on Freedom spans 3 decks, Decks 3-5, and on Freedom the names are Leonardo’s, Isaac’s, and Galileo’s. We were assigned to table 201 in Leonardo’s on Deck 3 for just the 4 of us, and it was a great location. This was also the level of the dining room where the main breakfast was served. I don’t remember what I ate every night, and as with last year, my memories of exactly what we did each evening may be a little fuzzy, but I can still easily remember which events were which night, and will also add that we took advantage of lots of events this cruise.

 

I do know that the first night, I had the Spaghetti Bolognese with an appetizer of shrimp cocktail and the Royal Cheesecake for dessert. (I also love cheesecake, if you didn’t know). The food was phenomenal, as was the service from our Waiter, Lizel Olis, and assistant waiter Sutirtha. They were fun to talk to and very attentive to our needs, and did not mind that we were late to dinner coming from sailaway! (There were families still pouring into the dining room even after us).

 

That wraps up the rest of our afternoon, next up is our first evening onboard the Freedom as we wrap up Day 1!

 

 

 

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Edited April 10, 2018 by CreativeCruiser119

[CreativeCruiser119]

Day 1 - Sunday, March 25

Welcome Aboard Show, 60 Seconds or Less, Hot Tubbing & More

 

Upon finishing dinner, we headed straight to the Arcadia Theater for the welcome aboard show with a duo (I forget their name) and family routine by guest comedian Heath Harmison, who also performed a great show. I knew from reading on here that our cruise director would be Drew Devine (shoutout to Joe for his hard work on that thread) and I’d heard he hosts a hilarious Quest. We’ll get to that on Day 4. He introduced himself at this show, and I thought he did a great job, along with his activities manager Alex Schmidt. Of course it’ll be hard to top last year’s CD, Abe Hughes, but Drew was phenomenal and I wish I’d gotten the chance to meet him and get a photo.

 

After the show, we did a walk around the promenade deck on Deck 4 as well as the helipad. This was one thing we love about Freedom class. On Oasis class, helipad access is exclusive, and the sundeck on Deck 14 above the bridge is designed to replace that. We do love the sundeck, but love the helipad nonetheless!

 

Upon conclusion of our walk, we went back to the cabins for a little bit to relax before heading to the Star Lounge for a game show advertised in our Cruise Compass. We utilized the Star Lounge quite a bit on this cruise, a nice comfy space to just chill and watch fun events. This game show was called Sixty Seconds or Less, and was a spoof of the show Minute to Win It. Each challenge consisted of a member of the cruise director’s staff asking for a male and a female in the audience to volunteer. Matt, as photographed by Mom, participated in the challenge to knock over as many cups as possible using only air from balloons. He beat his female opponent, but of course it’s all just for fun! (Although he was awarded a keychain).

 

Following the game show, I went back to the room and changed into my swimsuit to take a dip on the pool deck. I went to one of the cantilevered hot tubs, one of which was open, while the other side of the ship was closed for cleaning, which was also the case in the evenings in the past, so I wasn’t surprised. What did surprise me, however, and greatly disappoint me was the fact that the Solarium pool and both of the main pools were closed. I’m assuming this is due to the addition of lifeguards, and I know there’s a thread on here about how it affected pool hours, but I didn’t exactly see this coming as there was always one pool on Harmony - the beach pool - that was open and guarded late into the evening. I do like to take night swims, and the only cruise I didn’t do this on was Allure, simply because I opted to do dry things in the evenings on that cruise as opposed to changing and showering off all the chlorine again.

 

Because of the pool closures on Night 1, I followed that same pattern for the rest of this cruise, because I assumed it would be the same each night. Granted, there were late movies some nights and a Dancing Under the Stars pool party one night (which I attended and enjoyed on Liberty) which the pools on the main pool deck were open for, but I once again opted to stay dressed and do dry activities instead, such as the many events we attended. For all I know, the first night may have been the only night there wasn’t a poolside movie, but I figured I’d get enough swimming in during the day, and didn’t want to miss out on some of those events!

 

I’ll be back tomorrow evening with Day 2, which was a sea day, and I do once again apologize for the “spam” and encourage everyone to share your thoughts and suggestions and ask any questions you may have, as I will still be checking and replying to comments throughout the day! Have a great night, and I’ll see you soon!

 

Next up: our first morning at sea!

 

 

 

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Edited April 10, 2018 by CreativeCruiser119

[Funsinger75]

Following. Great review so far! Sailing Freedom in 74 days.

[CreativeCruiser119]

Following. Great review so far! Sailing Freedom in 74 days.

 

 

 

Thank you so much for following! You’ll love Freedom! Please let me know if you have any questions!

 

 

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[Mellowjourney]

That is my family of 14 at the table on the left. You can only see one of us in the pic (barely). We flew from Winnipeg, Fargo, and San Francisco. Nice family reunion of sorts. First cruise for 10 of the 14 and they have assured me it won't be their last. Nice to meet you neighbors!

 

[CreativeCruiser119]

Day 2 - Monday, March 26

Breakfast in the MDR, FlowRiding and Johnny Rockets Lunch

 

So, where were we? So Monday morning started off with breakfast in the main dining room, where I got a waffle from the buffet setup with strawberries and whipped cream, as well as my favorite, the eggs Benedict, which I order every time we eat breakfast in the MDR.

 

After breakfast, we headed up to the helipad where we took some more good photos and I did my final livestream before my Voom expired. After that, we went back to the room to apply sunscreen and head up to the FlowRider. Now Matt practically lives at the FlowRider on every single cruise we’ve been on that has one. He doesn’t do stand-up surfing - he’s tried, but failed like most people do - but he spends his entire day perfecting his craft on the boogie board, often times splashing people, which made a teenage boy angry last year! I can’t remember if I mentioned that in my Harmony review or not.

 

Me, on the other hand, could go without the lines, so I go there occasionally, but not all day. I have never attempted to stand

-up surf, and am only an amateur on the boogie board, but I am not clueless as to the sport either, and can do a few things with it - not 360s and stuff like Matt, but I can get on my knees and last awhile if I’m concentrated. I only got around to doing it once last year, and nobody was around to take pictures. This year, I made sure someone was around to film me on Day 2, and also did another round on the last day of the cruise, but there were no cameras around then.

 

After that, we went straight to Johnny Rockets as we always do once per cruise. I got the usual, the Route 66 burger, and of course we had the appetizers of fries and onion rings. So delicious. We ended up being too full to get the shakes, so we saved that for later in the week. Mom and Dad sat with us but did not eat, but rather went to the Windjammer afterwards. I will be back shortly with the afternoon!

 

 

 

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[CreativeCruiser119]

Like I said, I’m no pro, but I do love to flaunt the “skills” I do have! (I did the same thing on the FlowRider in the Wisconsin Dells last summer [emoji6])

 

Next up: bellyflopping, pool day & dinner!

 

 

 

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[CreativeCruiser119]

That is my family of 14 at the table on the left. You can only see one of us in the pic (barely). We flew from Winnipeg, Fargo, and San Francisco. Nice family reunion of sorts. First cruise for 10 of the 14 and they have assured me it won't be their last. Nice to meet you neighbors!

 

 

 

Is it really? That’s so cool! I hope you don’t mind me using that photo! I couldn’t think of a better way to have family reunion, and I sincerely hope you all had a wonderful time. Such a pleasure to have you here!

 

 

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[Lamar Cheeks]

we always meet a bunch of Minnesotans on our cruises ... we went on Freedom in January, watched the Vikes lose in the on-air lounge.

 

I got 10 bucks that says you're a Tommie. Amirite?

[CreativeCruiser119]

we always meet a bunch of Minnesotans on our cruises ... we went on Freedom in January, watched the Vikes lose in the on-air lounge.

 

I got 10 bucks that says you're a Tommie. Amirite?

 

 

 

How did you know? Did you see the UST pop socket on my phone in the photos? [emoji6]

 

Yes, that’s where I go to school! I’d give you the 10 bucks straight off my SeaPass account if I could. In all seriousness, I’m a first-year accounting major, and chose the school for its business program. It’s quite the struggle, but I just have one month left of the semester!

 

I can imagine why Minnesotans would go on a lot of cruises, heck, there’s still snow on the ground here! I don’t blame them one bit. I hope you like my review so far, and thanks for following along! How did you like Freedom?

 

 

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[CreativeCruiser119]

Day 2 - Monday, March 26

Men’s International Bellyflop Competition, A Day on the Pool Deck, & Windjammer Dinner

After lunch, I went to the Solarium and Matt went to the FlowRider while Mom and Dad went to the Windjammer. I sent the last of my texts and posts from the hot tub, and around 1pm I manually disconnected myself from the network knowing that my Voom was about to expire, having purchased my 24-hour package around 1:05 the previous day.

 

We had made a plan to meet up at 1:15 on Deck 12 to watch the Men’s International Bellyflop Competition, which was hosted by Activities Manager Alex and is always fun to watch. After that, I spent the rest of my day pool- and hot tub-hopping as I always do on cruises, going between the Solarium pool, cantilevered hot tubs, and main pools and hot tubs.

 

The Solarium pool was one thing I missed on Harmony last year. Granted I thought the rain shower was a cool new design, and I did enjoy it, although I did miss having an actual pool. I was a year too young to use the Solarium pool when I went on Oasis, but when I went on Allure, I fell in love with the design with the jets and fountains in the middle. This exact same design is in place for the one on Oasis too. It’s funny because I graduated from high school last spring, and as those of you who read my Harmony review know, I was the principal’s student aide for a class period a day last year. She went on an Allure girls’ trip with a few friends and came back telling me all about it, and I asked her what she liked and she said she loved the Solarium. When I told her I loved the pool, she said “there was a pool?” Maybe she thought it was just a large hot tub, you can’t miss it!

 

From what I’ve seen, the one on Symphony is somewhat similar, except with benches and no jets, and shows evidence of influence from the Quantum class design. Still great for just chilling and relaxing, just like on her original sisters. Freedom class, on the other hand, is really large and deep and good for swimming around, with a minimum depth of 4’11” and maximum depth of 6’11”. It does, however, have a few underwater barstools where people can sit and relax with a drink in hand. Either way, it’s always so relaxing. I was also in the port side cantilevered whirlpool when a ton of dolphins started swimming around the bow on that side, but unfortunately I didn’t have my phone on me, and my parents napping in the Solarium nearby must not have heard the excitement, so sadly there is no footage of this event from us. I’m sure there are plenty of photos and videos from other guests though.

 

After a day on the pool deck and FlowRider for Matt, we headed back to the rooms to shower in time for dinner. I know I mentioned this last year too, and it makes us look odd, but we don’t usually bring formal clothes on cruises simply because it’s just more to pack. So we opt to go to the Windjammer on formal nights. Tonight was the first of two formal nights on the cruise, so we are at the WJ, and my parents always joke with me about the desserts I get. It’s a once-in-a-blue-moon thing, I am on vacation after all! My school has a nice buffet in the student center, but WJ is like that on steroids. So much to choose from, and so good.

 

After dinner we got ready for the evening’s events, which I’ll get to in my next post. Next up: Marquee the Show & more!

 

 

 

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Edited April 11, 2018 by CreativeCruiser119

[CreativeCruiser119]

Day 2 - Monday, March 26

Captain’s Welcome, Marquee, Majority Rules & Adult Comedy

 

After dinner, we headed down to the Royal Promenade for the Captain’s Welcome Aboard Reception, where Captain Espen introduced himself and many of the senior officers onboard. Our next stop was the Arcadia Theater for Marquee, a main production show on Freedom. This ship does not have an official Broadway show, but the ones we did see onboard were pretty spectacular! They also had popcorn at most of the shows, which was nice despite the long lines to purchase a bag! But the flavor was worth it!

 

After the show, our next event of the evening was another game show in the Star Lounge: Majority Rules. Here’s how it works: each group in the lounge picks up a pencil and 8 pieces of paper. When a question is asked, you write you answer down on one of the pieces of paper, run it up to the front, and whoever gave the most repeated answer was the winner for that question. It got pretty funny, and let’s just say some people wrote some pretty raunchy things for some of their answers, which I won’t go into detail about on here! (That’s for Night 4. You know what that is!)

 

Finally, after the game show, we spent some time on the Promenade and then went back to the rooms, where Mom and Matt went to bed while Dad and I went back to the Arcadia Theater at 11:45 for an 18+ comedy show starring Heath Harmison, the same guest comedian from the welcome aboard show. We kind of regretted this decision the next day when we had an early excursion that got cancelled (more on that tomorrow), but not really because it was funny, as are all comedy shows! He was no Simeon - the guy had us laughing our lungs out last year - but he sets the bar high. Heath performed a great show, and in the first hour of Tuesday, we finally decided to hit the hay.

 

(Notice Matt’s funny face)

 

 

 

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[CreativeCruiser119]

Espen Been, Master of the Freedom of the Seas! (Not the best picture)

 

 

 

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[CreativeCruiser119]

One more cool thing I’d like to point out: I use a social media app called Snapchat, I’m sure many of you do too and know exactly what I’m about to talk about, but it has a feature where you can track yourself in real time and it shows you on a map, as well as all your friends who have it turned on for them. This feature is off by default for obvious privacy reasons, but I turned mine on because I think it’s cool, and the only people who have me on there are my friends anyway. I wouldn’t even think twice about letting my Twitter or Instagram followers see my location! (Even if you have yours turned off, you can still see your own location, but nobody else can).

 

Anyway, it’s high-tech to an almost scary degree, it can detect movement at certain speeds - it can show your “Bitmoji,” as the customizable avatars are called, walking, in a car, a plane, or a boat. Before I disconnected from Voom, I took this screenshot of me off the coast of Cuba. My mom just got into Snapchat recently, and while she has hers set where her friends can’t see her on their map, she still finds it fascinating and wanted me to take a screenshot of it!

 

Next up: tendering and Grand Cayman & making a plan after our excursion got cancelled! See you tomorrow with Day 3!

 

 

 

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[CreativeCruiser119]

We did buy the welcome aboard photos!

 

 

 

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[CreativeCruiser119]

Day 3 - Tuesday, March 27

Tendering in Grand Cayman + an Impromptu Beach Day

Our first port of call was George Town, Grand Cayman. This was one of the ports we had never been to before, so we were excited to check it out. We got up early, ate breakfast in the MDR, sunscreened on the balcony and headed down to Deck 1 to board a tender to the island. We were anchored with the Celebrity Summit, MSC Seaside and Norwegian Escape. Our booked excursion involved swimming with sea turtles and stingrays, however, upon meeting with the group once the tender docked, we quickly found out it had been cancelled due to the weather. It was a nice day, but supposedly the wind and sea conditions were not ideal. This was the same situation back in 2013 when we had a planned stingray experience in Castaway Cay during our Disney Dream cruise.

 

After this experience, we made a point to bring a credit card with us on future excursions, as we had left it on the ship not thinking we would need it. Luckily, we found another RC excursion to the famous Seven Mile Beach that we could just charge to our SeaPass accounts. The original excursion was fully refunded. So we waited for about an hour until the bus was to pick us up, ate snow cones, and just chilled for a little bit.

 

Around 10am, the bus arrived, and our group was told that the bus would leave the beach around 2:30 to head back to the pier. We all told the driver that was not appropriate as the last tender to the ship was to leave at 2:45. So he said “ok, we’ll do 2:15.” I still thought we needed more time, but it wasn’t a terribly long drive, and it was an RC excursion with a full bus of passengers from Freedom. One fellow passenger on the bus did bring up in conversation with us how the islanders are typically less schedule-oriented than tour operators in let’s say Mexico, which we have noticed, and don’t always care too much about the ships’ schedules. They’re all wonderful people and experiences, and this isn’t always the case, but quite often they can be a little bit laid-back, so do keep that in mind when booking excursions, especially those not booked through the cruise line. All of our excursions in Mexico, on the other hand, have always been concerned with the schedules of the ships and adamant on getting the guests back on time.

 

We arrived at the beach and got settled in before lunch. We were bummed on missing out on the experience we had planned, but do love a relaxing beach day, and were happy we got to go to this famous beach. Next up: afternoon in Grand Cayman & back onboard! Stay tuned!

 

 

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[CreativeCruiser119]

Day 3 - Tuesday, March 27

Lunch, Relaxing on the Beach & Tendering back to the Ship

Shortly after arriving at Seven Mile Beach, we got lunch at Calico Jack’s on the beach and brought the food back to our chairs. I had jerk chicken with a side of fries and Diet Coke. After that, I took a much-needed nap on the beach, which felt great. I didn’t feel like getting wet, but Dad and Matt did go in the water for a little bit while Mom left me to doze off and took pictures of them. We also saw a few little lizards crawling around near our spot and getting into spilled food, which was adorable. We love the lizards on the islands, in 2014 we went to Pinel Island in St. Maarten as part of our Oasis cruise, and we set up on the beach right by a colony of large iguanas, which enjoyed the leftover food they were given by the staff from the island restaurant.

 

After my nap, I enjoyed a refreshing rum punch, as drinking at my age is legal in the Caribbean islands. I did this during my Harmony review too, but I’ll take this time to give a little disclaimer here as well. Please do not take my actions as encouragement to get off the ship and drink like there’s no tomorrow! I never have more than 1 or 2 drinks per island. And that doesn’t just apply for those 18-20 such as myself, whether you’re 18 or 75, alcohol affects us all - albeit differently for different people, it still affects everyone to a degree - and the last thing you want to have happen is to be inebriated in a foreign country where you don’t know you’re way around and are at the mercy of the ship’s schedule. You’ll see exactly why later in this post, where I saw a real-life example of why I don’t advise excessive drinking in port for anyone. So, to sum it up, don’t overdo it - enjoy yourself, have a few drinks, just know your limits! There, disclaimer over.

 

After enjoying my rum punch, it was almost time to head back to the bus, so we waited at the loading area for our driver. Traffic was worse than we expected, so I will admit, I was panicking a bit. Yes, we were on an RCCL excursion, but while they try their best to wait for those guests, there’s no guarantee and there are a lot of financial and logistical factors that go into a ship’s decision to wait for guests, such as docking fees, fuel efficiency (going faster to get to the next port = more fuel used = higher cost), and just getting to the next port overall and keeping the schedule. Not to mention, we were preparing for a long haul to Costa Maya the next day, so I wasn’t thinking Captain Espen would want to wait very long.

 

We eventually got back to the line to board the tender, and the line was winding a long way. Obviously a lot of people were just getting back. Now I would be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to mention that I felt like the crowds were more noticeable on Freedom. Granted that wasn’t what caused the line to get on the tender - that’s to be expected just with the process in general - but it was quite long, and it’s on topic, so I thought this would be a good time. I don’t think the crowds were this bad even on Liberty, but then again I may not have paid as much attention on that cruise. I can say for certain that they were definitely more noticeable on Freedom than Oasis class. That being said, I still loved Freedom and this had very little effect on my experience! Also remember that this was spring break (as have been all the cruises we’ve taken).

 

When we finally got to the tender, we realized we were on what was supposed to be the last tender, but with the crowd of people, I’m pretty sure there were more after us! Before the tender left, there was a young woman, maybe 21-22, stumbling on the tender, and the boat crew was having to hold her up when she walked so she wouldn’t fall. She was clearly quite intoxicated, and I guess her “friend,” probably also drunk out of their mind, was lost and could not find his/her way back. See why I don’t encourage excessive drinking in unfamiliar territory when you’re on a schedule? She kept getting on and off the tender, trying to decide whether she wanted to wait for her friend or not. She eventually got off again, at which point the captain of the tender decided to take off before she could get back on! I don’t know if she ever came back to the ship on another tender - like I said, we were supposed to be the last one, but I don’t think that was actually the case - I do hope she and her friend were able to make it back onboard, because being stranded is terrible as it is, much less while intoxicated. We never did find out if they made it back or not.

 

After getting back onboard, I went up to the Solarium for a little bit where I got a virgin cocktail, swam for a little bit, and then Dad joined me and we watched the sailaway from the hot tub. After this it was time for dinner in the Main Dining Room. Next up: dinner, ice show & Love and Marriage!

 

 

 

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Edited April 12, 2018 by CreativeCruiser119

[CreativeCruiser119]

Tuesday, March 27

Dinner, Freedom Ice + Love & Marriage

 

Our dinner tonight was once again in the Main Dining Room. I cannot remember what I ate, but I can assure you it was good! After dinner we did our usual walk on the track on Deck 4 and since we were heading west, wanted to watch the sunset from the helipad, but when we walked out on the starboard side, it was closed while the crew hosed it down for cleaning! What great timing, and they conveniently opened it back up right after the sun went down... it wasn’t until we got up there after the sun set, that we realized the port side entrance was open the whole time! Sidenote: to access the helipad on Freedom class, follow the Promenade deck on Deck 4 to the front. On either side you will find a stairway leading up to a small outdoor wind tunnel-like hallway that leads to the helipad.

 

So we watched the sunset from Deck 4, went up to the helipad, and then headed to Studio B for the ice show, Freedom Ice Dot Com - the name has the dot itself in it, but I’m not taking that risk on here even though it’s not an actual website! LOL! The show was great, I’ll see if Mom can find some pics for me to post. Afterward was one of our favorites, the Love & Marriage Game Show in the Arcadia Theater, where couples are asked hilarious questions about their marriage and the spouses try to match answers, for a lack of better description. We always get a good laugh, and found that the middle couple was EVERYWHERE for the rest of the cruise. We saw them at the shows, on the Promenade, they were all over the place!

 

After that, we spent some time on the Promenade for Sorrento’s. There was no immediate rush to go to bed as we wouldn’t be docking in Costa Maya until 11:00 the next day. After some time on the Promenade, however, we were all tired, so we decided to hit the hay for the night.

 

 

 

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[CreativeCruiser119]

 

 

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[CreativeCruiser119]

Day 3 - Tuesday, March 27

Lunch, Relaxing on the Beach & Tendering back to the Ship

Shortly after arriving at Seven Mile Beach, we got lunch at Calico Jack’s on the beach and brought the food back to our chairs. I had jerk chicken with a side of fries and Diet Coke. After that, I took a much-needed nap on the beach, which felt great. I didn’t feel like getting wet, but Dad and Matt did go in the water for a little bit while Mom left me to doze off and took pictures of them. We also saw a few little lizards crawling around near our spot and getting into spilled food, which was adorable. We love the lizards on the islands, in 2014 we went to Pinel Island in St. Maarten as part of our Oasis cruise, and we set up on the beach right by a colony of large iguanas, which enjoyed the leftover food they were given by the staff from the island restaurant.

 

After my nap, I enjoyed a refreshing rum punch, as drinking at my age is legal in the Caribbean islands. I did this during my Harmony review too, but I’ll take this time to give a little disclaimer here as well. Please do not take my actions as encouragement to get off the ship and drink like there’s no tomorrow! I never have more than 1 or 2 drinks per island. And that doesn’t just apply for those 18-20 such as myself, whether you’re 18 or 75, alcohol affects us all - albeit differently for different people, it still affects everyone to a degree - and the last thing you want to have happen is to be inebriated in a foreign country where you don’t know you’re way around and are at the mercy of the ship’s schedule. You’ll see exactly why later in this post, where I saw a real-life example of why I don’t advise excessive drinking in port for anyone. So, to sum it up, don’t overdo it - enjoy yourself, have a few drinks, just know your limits! There, disclaimer over.

 

After enjoying my rum punch, it was almost time to head back to the bus, so we waited at the loading area for our driver. Traffic was worse than we expected, so I will admit, I was panicking a bit. Yes, we were on an RCCL excursion, but while they try their best to wait for those guests, there’s no guarantee and there are a lot of financial and logistical factors that go into a ship’s decision to wait for guests, such as docking fees, fuel efficiency (going faster to get to the next port = more fuel used = higher cost), and just getting to the next port overall and keeping the schedule. Not to mention, we were preparing for a long haul to Costa Maya the next day, so I wasn’t thinking Captain Espen would want to wait very long.

 

We eventually got back to the line to board the tender, and the line was winding a long way. Obviously a lot of people were just getting back. Now I would be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to mention that I felt like the crowds were more noticeable on Freedom. Granted that wasn’t what caused the line to get on the tender - that’s to be expected just with the process in general - but it was quite long, and it’s on topic, so I thought this would be a good time. I don’t think the crowds were this bad even on Liberty, but then again I may not have paid as much attention on that cruise. I can say for certain that they were definitely more noticeable on Freedom than Oasis class. That being said, I still loved Freedom and this had very little effect on my experience! Also remember that this was spring break (as have been all the cruises we’ve taken).

 

When we finally got to the tender, we realized we were on what was supposed to be the last tender, but with the crowd of people, I’m pretty sure there were more after us! Before the tender left, there was a young woman, maybe 21-22, stumbling on the tender, and the boat crew was having to hold her up when she walked so she wouldn’t fall. She was clearly quite intoxicated, and I guess her “friend,” probably also drunk out of their mind, was lost and could not find his/her way back. See why I don’t encourage excessive drinking in unfamiliar territory when you’re on a schedule? She kept getting on and off the tender, trying to decide whether she wanted to wait for her friend or not. She eventually got off again, at which point the captain of the tender decided to take off before she could get back on! I don’t know if she ever came back to the ship on another tender - like I said, we were supposed to be the last one, but I don’t think that was actually the case - I do hope she and her friend were able to make it back onboard, because being stranded is terrible as it is, much less while intoxicated. We never did find out if they made it back or not.

 

After getting back onboard, I went up to the Solarium for a little bit where I got a virgin cocktail, swam for a little bit, and then Dad joined me and we watched the sailaway from the hot tub. After this it was time for dinner in the Main Dining Room. Next up: dinner, ice show & Love and Marriage!

 

 

 

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I just realized I made the mistake of saying “you’re” when I meant to say “your,” that infamous grammatical error that many people, including myself, commonly make fun of! (Too late to fix now, it won’t let me edit any post after it’s been up for more than half an hour). I’ll chalk that one up to the fact that I was writing a lot, had a lot going through my mind, and it was just an impulse error. My apologies!

 

 

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[CreativeCruiser119]

Unfortunately, we do not have any footage of shows this time around (except for the Quest, which I’ll try and get Matt to fork over ASAP), but rest assured there will still be plenty more photos throughout the review. Next up: a morning at sea prior to arriving in Costa Maya! I’ll be back tomorrow with Day 4!

 

 

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[kwazi07]

Thank you for commenting on my review for this sailing ! Your review is great, I am loving it so far! I’m currently reading it instead of writing a Spanish essay...

 

Edit: your pictures aren’t showing on my phone. I’ll check my computer when I get home to see if they show up, but currently there are blank boxes :/

[kwazi07]

Okay the more I read your review the more I realize how similar our experiences were...I didn’t like the 5:30 dining and were a little late in Costa Maya...don’t eat in specialty dining. And I don’t understand the 21 year old rule either, my friends and I wanted to take a cruise after the first year of college, but we need to find a 21 yr old friend :(

 

 

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[CreativeCruiser119]

Thank you for commenting on my review for this sailing ! Your review is great, I am loving it so far! I’m currently reading it instead of writing a Spanish essay...

 

Edit: your pictures aren’t showing on my phone. I’ll check my computer when I get home to see if they show up, but currently there are blank boxes :/

 

Really? That’s a problem! I am re-reading what I have so far on the library computers at school (not logged in on there) and pictures are showing up. Is anyone else having this problem? Try refreshing the page- have you downloaded Tapatalk? That’s what I use to upload photos.

 

I very much appreciate you reading along, your review is quite spectacular and I agree, it seems as though our experiences were very similar! Only a couple years to go until we can book cruises on our own...

Keep up the great work, I will continue to follow!

 

ETA: what level Spanish are you in? I took 3 years of Spanish in high school and fulfilled my college Spanish requirement first semester, so I may be able to help you out if you need it. Best of luck - summer is almost here!

[CreativeCruiser119]

Is anybody else having issues viewing my photos? If so, does anyone know of a way I can fix this? I am using Tapatalk, and when I view the page on my school computer, the photos load just fine, but I can’t speak for everyone.

 

If anyone is having trouble viewing photos, please let me know as the point of my sharing them is for you to see and enjoy them! Thanks again to everyone who’s following along, and I’ll be back tonight with Day 4 so stay tuned!