Freedom of the Seas Aug 25-Sept 1st

[Airfoz]

Look forward to your review. We can't wait for our cruise on the Freedom in October.

 

 

 

I will also be on freedom in October. Looking forward to your insights

 

 

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[irishone127]

Following along

we do this same itinerary Sept15th

 

We do too!!

[CruisingMegan]

So after our day in St. Marteen, we decided to treat ourselves to Chef’s Table. None of us had done it before and we were all pretty curious to see what it was like. I had thrown the idea out about doing it a few months back in the early stages of planning, and after months of casually bringing it up, everyone was down.

 

Since this part is kind of a food/restaurant review, I should specify that I am an extremely picky eater. You can choose to keep this in mind… or not!

 

Planning wise, I had such a hard time finding reviews, menus, opinions on it. Now, I do know the menu does vary by ship and time but I’m still going to include a picture of it, so you can at least have an idea of the food.

 

We received a card in our staterooms notifying us of the time and location – we were to meet in Boleros at 6pm and it stated it was Smart Casual. It was formal night, so we already planned on dressing up. We arrived at 6pm and Mario met us at Boleros with a glass of Champagne. There were a total of 9 of us. He explained how it worked, courses and wine pairings, and then he shuffled us off to the location.

 

Our location was in the Main Dining room, between floors 4 and 5. Keep in mind, this is not a private location as everyone can look up or down on you. People do walk up the stairs a lot. This didn’t bother us, but I do know other ships have a more private location.

 

Mario introduced the Chef to us and while we waited for him to prepare the first course, we got acquainted with one another. The first course was Scallop Carpaccio. This one was just okay for me. The scallop is super finely sliced, so it’s not as strange that it’s pretty much raw. I liked the scallop, not a huge fan of the toppings. It was served with a chardonnay, which is my favorite white so I was happy.

 

The standout course, in my opinion, was the roasted tomato soup. It had a pretty strong smoky flavor due to the roasting of the soup. This gave it so much more depth than normal tomato soup. It was served with a very delicious Rose. Alternatively, I absolutely hated the Truffle Tagliatelle. First, I don’t like truffle and it was so strongly flavored. I think I took one bite and gave up.

The branzino was served with a pinot grigio and they went so well together. Keep in mind, if you are allergic to seafood or anything, they will swap anything out! The chef served a beef carpaccio for one instead of the scallop and a balsamic vinaigrette chicken for the lobster.

 

The dessert was The World, which is a Wonderland dessert, if I’m not mistaken. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong. It was so good but by this course, I was so stuffed. And drunk.

 

Seriously, a glass of champagne and 6+ glasses of wine? Pays for itself…if I was going to drink 6+ glasses in one night. Everyone was feeling good which made for a very fun and lively table.

So, I know the question you may be thinking (or maybe not…). Did we think it was worth it? We thought it was worth it for a one time thing. We all agreed we wouldn’t do it with the same menu. It’s well worth the regular price based on the amount of food and wine you do get. It’s also worth it for the experience.

 

After reading CruiseCritic, I was made aware that a lot of people were able to snag it for 50% off by a bit of a haggle. We did try this…and fell short at 20% off. But that essentially paid for the service charge so we were okay with it. If you can get it at 50%...I’d say do it. Full price? Well if you have the money and want to give it a shot, do it! I doubt you’ll leave disappointed…but you might be the next morning when you have a hang over.

 

 

 

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[Ashland]

Thanks for posting about "Chef's Table".... I can now easily say...it's not for us.

[depplep]

Great review so far. We were on Freedom in February and had a great time.We did a similar tasting experience in Vintages with the bartender Lovely. Thought it a great value and also, a lot of wine! Can't wait to hear about Antigua, one of our favorite islands.

[ronpes]

Thank you very much for your honest and detailed review ofChef table. It looks like you had a great experience, however, I don’t think itis for us although your picture of the Desert was very appealing !

On ourprevious cruises we have preferred Giovanni’s and thank you for sharing themenu.

I will be interest read your opinionof Chops.

Thanks again for a wonderful review. Enjoy the rest of yourcruise.

Regards

Ron.

[PirateGal]

 

After reading CruiseCritic, I was made aware that a lot of people were able to snag it for 50% off by a bit of a haggle. We did try this…and fell short at 20% off. But that essentially paid for the service charge so we were okay with it. If you can get it at 50%...I’d say do it. Full price? Well if you have the money and want to give it a shot, do it! I doubt you’ll leave disappointed…but you might be the next morning when you have a hang over.

 

 

 

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You can HAGGLE the price? Really? DO TELL!!!

[DISFANS3]

Fantastic trip report. We have the same Itinerary out of San Juan PR on the Freedom March 2019..

[BobNoxious]

Great review of the meal. Definitely not for me... but interesting to read and see. How's the nightlife at the bars?

[CruisingMegan]

Thank you very much for your honest and detailed review ofChef table. It looks like you had a great experience, however, I don’t think itis for us although your picture of the Desert was very appealing !

 

On ourprevious cruises we have preferred Giovanni’s and thank you for sharing themenu.

 

I will be interest read your opinionof Chops.

 

 

Thanks again for a wonderful review. Enjoy the rest of yourcruise.

 

Regards

 

Ron.

 

 

 

 

We ate at Chops and as a sneak peak since I haven’t posted it... I much preferred Giovanni’s!

 

 

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[CruisingMegan]

Day 3, we arrived in St. Kitts. This was a beach day for us so we took a taxi to Carambola Beach Club. We reserved 5 chairs and 2 umbrellas – lucky for us, we were the only ship in port so it was pretty dead at 10am. We were able to get the front row. By noon, it had really picked up.

 

We ate lunch at their restaurant on the beach. I had the lobster sandwich, which was very good. The general consensus from my family is that everyone really liked this place. If you are interested in this beach, keep in mind it isn’t cheap. It’s a public beach so technically you could just bring your towel and use the facilities here without spending anything, but we like the loungers.

The lobster sandwich.

 

My mom, dad, and brother did walk a little ways down the beach, but I didn’t… I napped instead… so I’m not sure how close anything is or what the beach walk is like. I’m sure it’s nice, though!

 

Now for the downer. We ate at the Main Dining Room for the first time here. We have My Time Dining since we’re doing mostly specialty restaurants. You get spoiled by doing a specialty, then chef’s table, then going to Main Dining Room just seems less great. Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of the menu from this day because they actually gave me the previous night’s menu…which I ordered off of… the waiter didn’t even realize I ordered from the wrong menu and I ended up being served something I didn’t order. I’ve attached the picture of the menu… I ordered lobster bisque but was served poblano soup. Not a fan. Meh, it is what it is.

So if you like this menu, go on Day 2!

 

I may have ventured into the Next Cruise office to book a 11-day for April 2020. Currently taking applications for a sponsor to pay for the vacation :p

 

Travis went to the show for the night – a magic and comedy show. He said it wasn’t that great. Me and Kaylyn went to Battle of the Sexes and The Quest. Battle of the Sexes was cute but I’m honestly not a huge fan of The Quest. We came in second though, so there’s that!

[CruisingMegan]

Day 4 was Antigua. This was a place we hadn’t been to before! We just did an island tour so we could really see the island – this is something we like to do the first time visiting an island. We went through Scenic Tours Antigua. They were affordable and our tour guide Raymond was knowledgeable and fun.

 

Nelson’s Dockyard was pretty nice but the main reason I wanted to was for the bakery. But alas, it’s closed until mid-October.

 

At least I got some great shots like this.

 

And this.

 

And for dinner tonight..... drum roll....

Chops Grille.

We went crazy and got the large seafood tower. It was definitely enough food for the 5 of us along with our normal entrees. I’m not a huge steak eater, so to prepare, I checked out the boards near the elevator that have the menus. I saw this:

Alas, this was not correct and apparently they don’t serve a grilled lobster tail. I was pretty disappointed when I heard that. I would still go again, though.

 

Oh! Most importantly, I went to napkin folding earlier.

 

Here’s proof.

 

I know, I know. I’m really crazy and clearly know how to have fun. I’m also looking forward to Bingo ;)

[#1cruiseaholic]

Megan,

Quick question. Did you reserve the lounges when you arrived at Carambola or did you reserve ahead of time?

[CruisingMegan]

Megan,

Quick question. Did you reserve the lounges when you arrived at Carambola or did you reserve ahead of time?

We did it ahead of time. You can do it through their website. The online reservation was down when I tried to, so I just shot them an email and they responded back within a day!

 

Great review of the meal. Definitely not for me... but interesting to read and see. How's the nightlife at the bars?

It's not the liveliest nightlife I've seen. I think it's mostly due to the fact that this is a very port intensive cruise and the ship is ready for bed at 10pm. The bars I've been to late at night are usually half empty.

 

You can HAGGLE the price? Really? DO TELL!!!

So we just asked them point blank if they could lower the price. They only offered 20% but I have heard success stories of people saying it's too expensive until they bring it down to 50%! Might depend on how many people have prebooked... sounds like quite a few people are doing it this cruise!

[CruisingMegan]

 

I have located and obtained the drink card!

10 drinks for $75.

Came out today, Day 6

 

 

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[Ashland]

Well...Darn It...the bakery is closed until October (what are they thinking) at Nelson's Dockyard and I was going to head there soon....disappointed !!

[gammite]

Great review. Awesome detail.

 

Is lobster tail offered as a regular entree on either of the formal nights?

 

I am sailing Freedom in a month. I’m looking forward to it more and more everyday.

[ronpes]

Awesome review.

You have just cheered me up on a cold and chilly morning in Scotland as I am about to start work at 7:00 AM.

This makes me look forward even more to our cruise on FotS in Dec.

Thank You.

Ron.

[mchin]

Nice review! We are sailing a similar itinerary in June 2019.

[jonbgd]

 

I have located and obtained the drink card!

10 drinks for $75.

Came out today, Day 6

 

 

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Is there a price limit for the drink you can have?

Is the card for one person only or can it be shared by a group?

[Clarea]

Is there a price limit for the drink you can have?

Is the card for one person only or can it be shared by a group?

Same price limit as the Deluxe beverage package. Card can be shared with whoever you want.

[jonbgd]

Same price limit as the Deluxe beverage package. Card can be shared with whoever you want.

Ok cool

Thank You

[Clarea]

Ok cool

Thank You

You're welcome.

[CruisingMegan]

Hiding in the closet during disembark proved unsuccessful and we had to end our vacation. I figured I better finish up this trip review before I procrastinate too long and never finish.

 

Day 5 was St. Lucia. It was another port we hadn’t been to. We had booked a tour through Joy’s Adventures which went to the top locations it seemed most tours were going to: mudbaths, waterfalls, snorkeling. The reason we chose this one? It had boating transportation rather than land.

 

So, when we arrived in St. Lucia, we were escorted to a little pier near the cruise ship dock to wait for our boat. We were with one other group from the ship and the other ten or twelve people were from various hotels. Our tour guides were Vaughn and Johnny – and they were great!

 

We stopped at the mud baths first. Okay, now I promise I had every intention of partaking in this event. I did, I promise. But once I got there and I smelled the baths, I had to back out. It reeked. There was also at least a hundred people in a 20x20 area. Only Kaylyn and Travis did it. Both my parents also backed out. There was another mother/daughter combo that chose to opt out, as well.

 

After this, we headed over to the waterfall. It was very pretty, but also very crowded. You had to wait in a line to go down. We did, it was cold, of course. Honestly, not much to say about it.

We went and had some lunch at Joy’s house. This is a family run business which made it feel special.

 

As I believe I have mentioned, I’m picky and didn’t eat much here.

 

We headed to a small beach, Sugar Beach, that had some snorkeling opportunity. The only one who chose to do some snorkeling was Travis. He said there was some nice views. The water was warm but the ground was pretty rocky, so be careful!

 

It rained pretty much the whole day. Luckily we had so many water adventures that it didn’t matter all that much. We hopped back on our boat and headed back to the port.

 

The way back was about an hour boat ride and our tour guides busted out the rum punch, beer, and soft drinks! The music was flowing and so were the drinks! I opted to try to Piton beer instead of the rum punch. It was very good, much like a Corona. This is where it turned into a party atmosphere but not too crazy. The boys definitely helped lighten up everyone.

 

For dinner, we headed back to the Main Dining Room. This was definitely my favorite menu they had here. I had the Pork Tacos (although it is very misleading as they only serve 1…had I known this, I would’ve ordered two), the Tiger Shrimp (and the lovely waiter added a few extra shrimp on my plate), and the Royal Chocolate Cake.

We checked out the game show, Who Wants To Feel Like A Millionaire, and don’t normally like to leave in the middle but unfortunately, it was very boring. From there we went to the casino and had a drink at Boleros.

 

At 10:30 we headed to the Dancing with the Stripes show. This is kind of like a Dancing with the Stars show, except everyone danced at once. I’ve seen it in the past where the crew are Officers, but these were all random positions. One was a beverage server, one was a kids counselor, one was training to be cruise staff. It was hilarious, though. I recommend it!

I finished the night with a good book in a lounger on deck 12 overlooking the pool

[CruisingMegan]

Day 6. Our last port of call was Barbados. We had prebooked a catamaran cruise with Silver Moon Cruises on their Silvermoon II. We booked this cruise because it is limited to only 12 people so you know they aren’t trying to pack 50 people onto a small place.

 

It was jam packed with snorkeling, food, drinks, and fun all over a 5-hour period.

This beach was said to be packed with turtles, but this is the only one we saw.

Their local beer.

 

Once back on board, we dined again at the Main Dining Room. This was our second formal night, also known as lobster night! So, yes, there was definitely lobster offered.

 

After dinner we caught the FREEDOM-ICE.COM ice show. This show did not disappoint and was the top of their entertainment. We then caught the 10pm show of their variety show – an Adagio couple and comedian JR McCollom.

 

We also caught the late night adult comedy with McCollom at 11:45 but honestly, half of his jokes were similar to the ones he told at the family friendly show.