MITSUGIRLYS FREEDOM OF THE SEAS REVIEW & PICTORIAL

[WisconsinFan]

 

When she goes into dry dock I understand she will be "Amped" as they did with Indy and the other Freedom class ships.

Edited May 10, 2019 by WisconsinFan

[graphicguy]

Kim.....so happy to see another review.  Sad to hear of Billy’s family.  Congrats on graduation.

 

I think I’ve been following your cruising and college journeys for years.

[blueridgemama]

Thanks for your review- very informative and entertaining☺ I love your daughters name. I was wondering if there is a meaning or an origin of the name Sakari?

[Palmetto Pilot]

3 hours ago, mitsugirly said:

 

 

Thanks and drydock? 😮 I can't seriously imagine what she would need done to her to make her better. She's beautiful and in such good shape.

She’s scheduled for drydock from January 19 to March 1, 2020. 

[MzShae]

Enjoying your review as always! Great pictures of the beaches.

[KelSny1011]

Great review as always.  My family and I will be on this same ship and same itinerary next April.  

What was your favorite beach out of the beaches you got to see in Antigua? 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

3 hours ago, mitsugirly said:

I always find the hours the buffet is open on port days. Like why can't they adjust these so that those coming back on the ship, after a long day in port, have someplace to eat, other than the 24/7 venues? I just don't get it!

I wholeheartedly agree. The buffet was always closed on the Allure by the time we got back from the beach and took showers. Thankfully, the Allure had a Central Park cafe we were very fond of... Hot paninis, salads, desserts, soups.

[mitsugirly]

4 hours ago, Reginaldvanpelt said:

Love your review! We board Freedom in a week and are really looking forward to it!

 

Thanks and awesome! I hope you have smooth sailing and a wonderful cruise. 

 

 

3 hours ago, mchin said:

I haven't been on Freedom for quite a while.  Are all the pools fresh water or do they have a mix between fresh and salt water?

 

 

Fresh

 

 

2 hours ago, MamatoJack said:

Enjoying the review! I've been on Freedom twice when it was in FLL, we really enjoyed the ship but I am kind of hoping she gets the Indy treatment and they add some water slides 🙂

 

Oooooo, what's the Indy treatment? I kept saying the one thing that was missing on the ship was water slides (which prior to going I thought I seen a picture of some on it but you know how the internet is...they'll say the name of the ship and give a picture and it will be something totally different) and a ropes course would be cool. 

 

2 hours ago, WisconsinFan said:

 

When she goes into dry dock I understand she will be "Amped" as they did with Indy and the other Freedom class ships.

 

Sounds like it will be fabulous. 

 

1 hour ago, graphicguy said:

Kim.....so happy to see another review.  Sad to hear of Billy’s family.  Congrats on graduation.

 

I think I’ve been following your cruising and college journeys for years.

 

Thanks so much for all the comments. Glad you are here and enjoying. The years sure do go by fast. 

 

1 hour ago, blueridgemama said:

Thanks for your review- very informative and entertaining☺ I love your daughters name. I was wondering if there is a meaning or an origin of the name Sakari?

 

Thanks and awww, thank you for the comment about Sakari's name. Everyone always ask me how to say it and it's just like it's spelled SA-KAR-I. The meaning is sweet like sugar. It's a funny (but long story) how I came up with it. Short version is back in the Myspace days, you could post a poll. I picked 10 "odd" names and told people to vote on which name they would pick for our daughter. Then I took the 3 LEAST picked names and did the poll one last time. The ONLY name that didn't get one vote was Sakari...and that's the name I went with. I wanted unique and I had found it. 

 

The only other time we've heard of a Sakari is we were in Belize once and a guy at West Bay (that worked there) said his SON was named Sakari (and the son was living in the US with the mom in California I think he said). 

 

The other time this name was ever mentioned...we had a baby polar bear born at the Columbus Zoo (everyone knows Jack Hanna right?) and they did a poll to name the baby polar bear and Sakari was one of them. It wasn't picked...but I voted every day. hehe

 

1 hour ago, Palmetto Pilot said:

She’s scheduled for drydock from January 19 to March 1, 2020. 

 

Awesome. 

 

1 hour ago, MzShae said:

Enjoying your review as always! Great pictures of the beaches.

 

 

Thanks so much. Glad you are enjoying them. 

 

1 hour ago, KelSny1011 said:

Great review as always.  My family and I will be on this same ship and same itinerary next April.  

What was your favorite beach out of the beaches you got to see in Antigua? 

Nice. It looks like you'll be on it right after dry dock then. 

 

I would have to say I would go with Long Bay Beach. Absolutely gorgeous and snorkeling. 

 

1 hour ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

I wholeheartedly agree. The buffet was always closed on the Allure by the time we got back from the beach and took showers. Thankfully, the Allure had a Central Park cafe we were very fond of... Hot paninis, salads, desserts, soups.

 

I just don't understand why they do this. It's all ships and cruise lines too. It creates such long lines and congestion at the free venues during these hours and of course added stress on the employees too I'm sure. 

 

 

[MamatoJack]

Independence of the Seas is the sister ship to Freedom and when it was refurbished, it got water slides, a skypad (though that may be closed? I haven't been keeping up) which is a trampoline type thing. Part of their "amplified" updates. I think they added laser tag as well? So far Indy, Mariner and Navigator have been updated. I assume Freedom will be as well, and maybe Oasis. 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

18 minutes ago, mitsugirly said:

Thanks and awww, thank you for the comment about Sakari's name. Everyone always ask me how to say it and it's just like it's spelled SA-KAR-I. The meaning is sweet like sugar. It's a funny (but long story) how I came up with it. Short version is back in the Myspace days, you could post a poll. I picked 10 "odd" names and told people to vote on which name they would pick for our daughter. Then I took the 3 LEAST picked names and did the poll one last time. The ONLY name that didn't get one vote was Sakari...and that's the name I went with. I wanted unique and I had found it. 

my maiden name is the derivative of sugar (in its more old-time spelling like sakhar, zahari, zuker)

Edited May 10, 2019 by Itchy&Scratchy

[Itchy&Scratchy]

19 minutes ago, mitsugirly said:

I just don't understand why they do this. It's all ships and cruise lines too. It creates such long lines and congestion at the free venues during these hours and of course added stress on the employees too I'm sure. 

The Regal Princess buffet is the only one that is still open when we come back from the beach. Limited selections, but really good ones - guacamole, chicken and egg salads, nice sandwiches, salad bar, etc. I loaded up on guacamole every day, like it was going out of style.

[dreamer976]

As always, just loving your Freedom OTS review. Have had the pleasure of cruising on her a few times. 

 

FYI, just in case you do, in the future, consider a Promenade View Inside, just know that the one drawback to them is that you can see directly across and into the rooms on the other side, and they into yours, so many people dislike that they have to keeps the drapery closed a lot of the time. Likewise aboard Oasis class ships when booking a Central Park or Boardwalk “neighborhood” balcony. 

 

Thank you you so much for your precious time and taking us along with you aboard Freedom! 😁😁

 

p.s. CONGRATS on finishing your degree. No more cruise ship studying and taking online tests for you 👏👏👏

[Nick2000]

Fantastic review, I will be on FOS on 26 May. 

[mitsugirly]

Ok, so only one other thing that happened this day that I want to bring up. This is my b*tch session so sorry in advance. 

 

We had went to the photography studio to take a look at our pictures taken so far. I know from past experiences that collecting your pictures during the week and putting them together never seems to end good for us. People will spread them out, take them-never to be seen again and so on. So, we have started gathering them nightly and taking them to the desk and having them hold on to them until the end of the cruise and then we'll pick what we want. (They have folders and cabinets they will put them in with your room number on them). 

 

Well, after gathering the pictures, we went up to the counter, and a guy helped us out.

 

Then our conversation went like this....

 

Him:  "Are you interested in our special? Tonight's the last night for it and it's only $69.95 for the package". 

He continued to tell me "For $69.95 you can have ALL of your pictures taken throughout the week...all of them!". 

Me: "Wait, what? ALL of them for $69.95?"

Him: "Yes, only if you do it tonight"

Me: "So there's got to be a catch to this. Is it only the port pictures?"

Him: "Nope, it's everything. Everything the photographers take of you during the cruise for only $69.95. But only tonight."

Me: "So what about the photographers that set up around the ship with props? Are those included in the $69.95 price?"

Him: "Yep...EVERYTHING! Even the pictures taken around the ship like in the MDR or by the pool and even embarkation"

Me: "So if it's only $69.95, why wouldn't EVERYONE on the ship do that then? That makes no sense."

Him: "I'm not sure. It's a great deal."

Me: "So when we see the photographers set up around the ship with a back drop, we can go to each one of them with no limit every night?"

Him: "Yes"

Me: "So there's no limit?"

Him: "No. You can go to each set up every single night of the cruise. The only "limit" is you can only do 6 pictures at each setup. How many are in your cabin?"

~me now thinking~ "Well, there are 4 booked in our cabin but 1 of those people belong to my older daughters fiance in another cabin and since she's his relative, she's in most of the pictures with them."

Him: "Well, since she's booked in your cabin, any pictures that include her are free with the package as well, even if you are not in them."

~Um ok. That meant that most of Kendra's pictures were going to be free too because Shawna was in most of them. The weird thing was, he never once asked me to prove she was in my cabin or anything. He just asked me to show him a picture of her in all the other pictures and they'd be included.  

Him: "So would you like to do the package for $69.95?"

Me: "Absolutely! Here's my card and I'm going over to get the other pictures as well" 

 

Then I ran off to grab Kendra's pictures with Shawna in them. 

 

When I returned, he gave me the slip to sign and ..... it said $269.95. "WAIT WHAT? You said $69.95 and you just charged me $269.95!!!" He started back tracking...well it's $269.95. I said over and over...NO! "You said $69.95 four times and I repeated it back to you several times and you assured me on the price." His reply was "Well, it was the $299.95 and now it's $269.95 and I was just saying the $69.95 is the changed part" WHAT THE HELL-O ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT????? You don't just "cut off" the first two hundred dollars of the price and quote the $69.95? At this point I'm pissed and I don't get pissed...like seriously, pissed often. My husband said..."ahhhh, the bait and switch program at it's finest!" I was livid. 

 

He said "No problem mam, I can remove it". 

Me: "Ok, remove it and charge me the $69.95 you quoted me!"

Him: "No, I can remove the charge all together and we won't do the package"

 

After going back and forth a bit...he knew I was pissed, the hubby and I talked it over and decided that we usually pay about $150 in pictures each cruise just buying them individually and Kendra usually spends about the same (or has been known to do the professional pictures and dress up and spend over $500). So, I said "I'll just go ahead and take it but this is BS that you did this to us!" I figured I could split the cost with Kendra and still pay less than I normally do.

 

I remembered that there were a few pictures of us that I wasn't going to originally buy and went back over to grab them as well and when I returned and handed them to him, he handed me yet another receipt.

 

I said "What's this?"

He said "I credited your account and took it off". I'm totally confused now.

Me: "What do you mean you took it off? We are still getting the package right?"

Him: "No, I removed the package and charges"

Me: "OH MY GOSH!!! ARE YOU SERIOUS? After I just told you we would take it. What type of salesman are you? I can't deal anymore...get me someone else. I'm done with you!"

 

He went over and grabbed a lady...I explained the entire situation to her and all she had to say was "Do you want the package or not?" Like no sympathy, no getting the supervisor, no discount, no nothing! She just charged my card and then told me that they still had to take my pictures from me and they would not release them until the last day of the cruise. 

 

This whole situation put the worse taste in my mouth and I'm totally convinced they hired incompetent people in the photography studio. We had been there for well over an hour and I was so done with the situation and had it not been so late, I would have insisted on a manager or someone else to speak to. 

 

Or course, I would continue the week taking as many pictures as I could get our bodies in whether or not we were dressed up. It didn't matter. 

 

But, I wanted to let everyone out there know what kind of crap they pulled on me. It was NOT a misunderstanding. I did NOT hear him wrong because it was repeated, by him and myself, over and over during the long conversation. This is some BS!!!!
 

[mitsugirly]

42 minutes ago, MamatoJack said:

Independence of the Seas is the sister ship to Freedom and when it was refurbished, it got water slides, a skypad (though that may be closed? I haven't been keeping up) which is a trampoline type thing. Part of their "amplified" updates. I think they added laser tag as well? So far Indy, Mariner and Navigator have been updated. I assume Freedom will be as well, and maybe Oasis. 

 

Oh gosh. I remember watching the video online of the guy on the skypad and it snapped and he came crashing down and broke several bones. Yikes! But I guess that's the chance you take anywhere you go when you do things like this (including while in port on zipling and so on. I always think about these things. I'm a worry-wart). 

 

34 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

my maiden name is the derivative of sugar (in its more old-time spelling like sakhar, zahari, zuker)

 

Maybe that's why a lot of the drew pronounce her name wrong. I just thought they couldn't say it. LOL  She has been Zahari, Zachariah and even Shakira before. She has learned to answer to anything. She takes on a new name and runs with it. The cruise that they called her Shakira, on the next cruise she took after that, she told the kids staff "My name is Sakari but people call me Shakira" LOL!!!!   This will probably be the FIRST cruise that the staff actually got her name right 100% of the time. 

 

 

31 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

The Regal Princess buffet is the only one that is still open when we come back from the beach. Limited selections, but really good ones - guacamole, chicken and egg salads, nice sandwiches, salad bar, etc. I loaded up on guacamole every day, like it was going out of style.

 

That sounds amazing! I would be loading up on it as well...and the egg salad sandwiches too.

 

28 minutes ago, dreamer976 said:

As always, just loving your Freedom OTS review. Have had the pleasure of cruising on her a few times. 

 

FYI, just in case you do, in the future, consider a Promenade View Inside, just know that the one drawback to them is that you can see directly across and into the rooms on the other side, and they into yours, so many people dislike that they have to keeps the drapery closed a lot of the time. Likewise aboard Oasis class ships when booking a Central Park or Boardwalk “neighborhood” balcony. 

 

Thank you you so much for your precious time and taking us along with you aboard Freedom! 😁😁

 

p.s. CONGRATS on finishing your degree. No more cruise ship studying and taking online tests for you 👏👏👏

 

 

thanks so much! I'm glad you like it. 

 

I did notice that you could see in everyone's windows. I really didn't like that part. We would stand at the end on one of the floors and you'd see people in their rooms. I don't think I would like that. It would be much better if they would make those a balcony. That would be cool to go out on it and see everything going on when they were having parties and stuff...or to just people watch. 😄

 

Thanks for the congrats! I kept saying, on this cruise, "It feels so good to not have to worry about doing homework or writing papers...or even taking test". It was (is) awesome now!

18 minutes ago, Nick2000 said:

Fantastic review, I will be on FOS on 26 May. 

 

Thanks and have a wonderful cruise. 

Edited May 10, 2019 by mitsugirly

[perfect match]

Kim, the beaches in Antigua are beautiful! I think, though, that you would have to move to Antigua for a year to be able to spend time on each of them! 😀🏖

[mitsugirly]

12 hours ago, perfect match said:

Kim, the beaches in Antigua are beautiful! I think, though, that you would have to move to Antigua for a year to be able to spend time on each of them! 😀🏖

 

I would have no problem with that. 😁

[mitsugirly]

APRIL 24: ST LUCIA 9-6PM

 

 

 

We looked out of our extra large room windows and Sakari immediately said "there's the volcanos!" I'm not sure if we were actually sailing by the pitons or not, but it sure looked like it. She was super excited!

 

 

We headed off to breakfast and I threw caution to the wind and decided to get waffles with whipped topping this time. They were yummy but I put way too much "topping" on it this time.

 

 

I "think" this is the St Lucia port...if it's not, then here's a random picture of one of the ports. LOL (This is what happens when you switch cameras back and forth and the other camera didn't have the date saved on it).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So here we are...the big day in St Lucia. We absolutely loved St Lucia the last time we were here. We had booked a tour with Spencer Ambrose to go to the Pitons last time and it has some AMAZING snorkeling there! Like amazing! This place holds a special place in our heart because this is the place that our little mermaid, Sakari, decided that she wanted to become a scuba diver. The last time we were here, they had several divers there that day and she watched them from above and tried to dive down to where they were at and insisted that this is what she wanted to learn to do. We immediately came home to check into diving for a child her age, at the time she was 8 years old, and found that they had a class for 8-10 year olds. She started taking monthly classes and she was the first at our scuba shop to "graduate" and become Master PADI Seal certified. She continued to take classes monthly, repeating the course, just because she loved it so much. We started diving at one port each cruise after that. She couldn't wait to get back and tell her instructor and the class where she had dove and what she had seen on each dive. When we were on Spring Break last year her class was moving on to become Junior open water certified and she did not get to do it. She has not went back since then and I believe they do not have enough kids to continue with the children's PADI course at this time. I've tried reaching out to them to continue letting her dive with the class with no response. So, we just continue to dive once each cruise instead.

 

Now Spencer Ambrose loved some of the pictures that I had taken with them last time we went and reached out to me about using some of my pictures on his website for advertising. We bartered for a reduced rate when we returned and he obliged. Sakari is actually pictured on his website with her monofin. (I really wished she had her mermaid tail on that day) So, when we booked this cruise, going to St Lucia, I immediately knew what I was going to do!!!

 

Last time we went to the pitons for a full beach day at Jalousie Beach. I tried to talk the hubby and Kendra into doing the mud bath (I had seen pictures online of others doing it and it looked like so much fun). No way-no how was he doing it he said. Well guess what...yes way-yes how he WAS going to do it this time and that's what I was booking! LOL  Kia had previously done the mud baths and enjoyed it so she decided she was just going to go to the beach at Jalousie and snorkel instead (which is what we did last time) and meet us there.

 

We were off the ship right away and headed for the port to find Spencers tour.

 

 

 

The port here is very small and it's very quick to get out. We met Spencers daughter "She-She" to check in. We waited for awhile for everyone to arrive and check in. Then She-she came around to collect everyone's money. Spencer requires you to put a $10 pp deposit down when booking. So, we had put down $30 for us (and later added Shayla to the tour). Well, at the last moment, Billy and the kids decided they didn't want to come. So, it was just Kendra with us. I believe she had put a deposit down on all 4 of them ($40). So things got confusing somehow and She-she was trying to charge me some outrageous amount and I reminded her that we had the discount, which was significant, and then she was trying to add Kendra on to that. We kinda went back and forth and I couldn't understand that if there was 4 of us total, with the deposits already paid, plus the reduced amount for us (which was a certain dollar amount, not a percentage), then adding Kendra onto that...how could it be that Kendra was actually paying MORE for herself than what the normal cost was? Plus you get a discount (I think $5) for being a returning customer. In the end, Kendra ended up paying full price for her (and obviously she had lost her deposit she had put down on ALL of them, including herself) because of the confusion I suppose.

 

We headed out to their boat, which is a very short walk from the port. It's just right down the sidewalk.

 

 

 

Looking back, this is how close it is.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We got on the boat and found seats. This boat was PACKED! Like there were NO seats left, which makes me wonder how the heck would this have worked out if Billy and 3 other kids were with us like they were supposed to be???

 

Everyone look this way and smile...even those that are not with us or know us. LOL

 

 

 

 

 

Now I hadn't even been in water yet with my camera and it was already fogging up! What the heck!

 

 

 

Away we went...

 

 

Now I have seen plenty of questions about how rough is the boat ride there. Well, I took a video. Everyone has to remember that sea conditions change all the time and you can never be sure if the ride is going to be smooth or bumpy. You are on a speed boat...so...I thought (both times we have went) that it was a fairly smooth ride. I did see a recent review/comment about this tour and how someone said the word "St Lucia" is a dirty word in their house just because of the speedboat ride there and how bad it was and they never want to return again. So, no one can ever predict what it's going to be like. This was just our ride and day...pretty darn smooth if you ask me.

 

 

 

 

 

We got to the area that you could see the pitons.

 

 

 

Then we pulled up to the bat cave. You could hear and see them in the crack...

 

 

 

 

 

Then the smell of sulphur...you know it instantly. It's such a distinct smell and you know you are by the volcano's.

 

This would be the area that we watched everyone on our last tour get off to go to the mud baths while we continued on. Well, not this time...we are GOING TO THE MUD BATHS!!!

 

 

 

It's the little town of Soufriere .

 

 

 

 

We all piled out of the boat...except for Kia and the kids. They were going on to the beach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

Our van ride to the mud baths...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our driver told us...this is where you are going...

 

 

 

 

 

 

To get into the mud baths, you have to purchase a ticket. This is included in the price of the tour (which is why this tour cost a little more than just the beach tour).

 

 

$10 for each adult and $5 for kids.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The little area outside the springs and mud baths

 

 

 

We did have a guy that followed us asking us to buy stuff and we told him that we didn't carry any money on us (which was true) and we only had our towels. He said "you left your things in the van and when you return from the mud baths, you can get it and buy stuff". LOL 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

Headed down to the mud baths...we were so excited.

 

 

 

Oh my word!!! It was SO CROWDED!!!

 

 

 

So Sheshe was our tour guide for the mud baths today. We put our things in some little cubby holes they had and headed over to the baths.

 

We were at the top bath. Sheshe said "now they are hot". I LOVE hot water and take scalding hot baths/showers and the hubby can't stand it like that. He says I come out looking like a lobster.

 

 

We attempted to get in. OH EM GEE that was HOT!!! Now FYI, the top bath is the hottest coming down off the mountain from the volcano. There are several baths and each gets cooler and cooler. Now when I say cooler, I'm not talking cooler as in bath water...they are still super hot, but more tolerable. 

 

Now I don't know what I pictured, but this wasn't it. I thought "MUD" "BATHS" and thought the baths were the mud and you get in them and cover yourself with mud. Well, that's not the case. These are man-made square "baths" and they are black water from the volcano and people getting in them with the mud, and there are steps going down (about 5 each bath) and of course you can't see them. I was so scared thinking I was going to fall or break something...because that's how I roll on vacations. LOL

 

Well, Kendra and I got our feet and eventually our legs in the water and we just couldn't do it. It was just too hot! It was already hot outside and this wasn't going to work.

 

We headed down to the second bath and attempted it again. There were other people in it, so this one had to be better.

 

 

 

 

Well Kendra and I made it...the hubby and Sakari...they were a little slower at it.

 

 

Now Sheshe said that you have to get wet (and I'm just assuming the heat of the volcano water opens your pores up like when doing a facial) and then you do the mud. The mud is supposed to be good for your skin. It helps exfoliate and remove dead skin...making it soft, and the minerals (like the sulfur, zinc and magnesium) is also good. Sheshe stated "It make you look 10 years younger". Of course I inquired where could I buy some to take home with me. 😀 It also detoxifies the body: helps with sunburns, eczema, arthritis, sore joints and so on. The hubby ended up just taking the water and splashing it all over his body to wet it and I believe Sakari eventually got "most" of her body in.

 

Then we headed back out for the mud portion of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Now remember I said this is not what I pictured for the mud baths? Well this is why...they have buckets of mud (2 different types) and you get out of the water and apply the mud to your body.  😲    Um ok. I thought you sit in it somewhere. This was going to take some effort.

 

 

As you can see, Sakari dug right in and was enjoying this. She came out looking like she swam in mud at least.

 

 

Big sis helping her out.

 

 

 

 

We were applying the lighter colored mud at this point. Kendra was getting serious about looking 10 years younger and went for the face. (Kendra has her dads skin obviously...I think she has more wrinkles at 30 years old than I do at 53, especially around her mouth and above her lip). 

 

 

 

 

Time for a little of the black mud now. This is where it gets creative and fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kendra was putting on her "socks" 🤣

Then later a pair of "gloves".

 

 

 

Once we were done, it was picture time of our creations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sakari did my face and gave me a mustache and beard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sakari had to get a hold of daddy too. She put her dogs name on him (Loki).

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were a hot mess I tell ya! Sakari was enjoying it so much that she just kept putting more and more on.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Now it was time to let it dry. We stood there...not knowing what to do at this point. haha

 

Then it was time to get back in the pool of scalding hot water.

 

Here was the sign they had. I can guarantee it's not just 100 degrees in the water. We get in Kendra's hot tub, which is set to 104 degrees with no problems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided in order for us all to make it in the pool, we'd have to go down a few baths lower. I think we ended up in the fourth bath. It was still very hot, but tolerable.

 

 

Now I just wanted to say that when we first got there and was getting in the top bath, Sheshe said "you can't take your camera in there and I'll hold it and take pictures for you". Um...I can guarantee that handing my camera off to someone doesn't sit well with me because she will probably snap a few pictures and be done. You all know me, I'm going to snap a picture at every angel and using multiple settings until I get the perfect picture. Well, when looking at the pictures, I barely had any. Just a few. I'm not sure why she said you're not "allowed" to take the camera in there. I mean it's my camera and responsibility if something happens and it's on me.

 

So, when we went to go wash the mud off...I took my camera in with me and got in real quick before she got down there. So, if I wasn't "allowed" to have it in there, she's gonna have to come in the water with me to get it back. lol

 

 

 

You can't get this angle and picture from standing up above with my camera. You have no idea that the water is flowing from each bath to the other...unless you are down in there like I was. 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to wash off the mud (as we were supposed to) but keep it on our faces. I mean that's really where we needed to be 10 years younger...well, some of us. LOL Our skin was so smooth and exfoliated now. But our faces were still very tight! It was almost hard to smile.

 

 

At some point I decided to hand my camera back to Sheshe so that we could get a group picture and don't you know it turned out blurry or foggy or something. You see the picture I took above (and others) and the minute I give the camera to someone else...this is what I get. My camera knows my touch. hehe

 

 

 

After the water flows out of the baths, it goes down the hill

 

 

Of course there HAS to be that one group that does the unique (why didn't we think of this? Oh that's right, because I would have probably broke something).

 

Sliding from one bath to the other...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sakari decided to apply a little more mud after washing off. She's now a two-face...

 

 

This is the little hut that you keep your things in. They did have showers as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Back to the van we went and off to the next event. Now our group was split up into two groups. Some of us went to the mud baths and others went to the volcanos. We all met back up to continue on to the next event...the waterfalls.

 

 

 

Kendra says "My face is hard...I can't move it". Sakari tried her best to smile for a picture.

 

 

 

 

 

She's still in the process of drying...

 

 

 

Then we made it to the Toraille Waterfall. This waterfall has a drop of around 50 feet and goes into a decent sized pool area below.

 

 

 

 

 

There is an entrance fee of $3.00 pp here as well.

 

 

 

 

It was also very crowded here too, just like the mud baths. It was a busy day in St Lucia this day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did not realize I had this setting on my camera. Oops

 

 

Now getting in the water were some stepping stones. They were in the water as well at the entrance. They were slippery and we took it very easy. There were a lot of stones in the water, so very tricky walking around the pool area without slipping or hurting your feet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I seriously can not believe this but the hubby talked Sakari into going into the falls. Everyone around us was doing it and there was a small line. We waited our turn and then a HUGE tour group (led by the guy heading toward the falls in the picture above, herded everyone in the water and jumped in front of us and his photographer was taking pictures of the couples one by one in his group. Now wait a minute...we had been waiting on others to finish up and standing close to the waterfall for our (meaning hubby and Sakari) turn and they just jumped right in. At that point I told the hubby and Sakari to just walk right in and if they didn't get their turn, they would end up in everyone's pictures from the other group. Well, they moved and the tour guide got the hint and backed off while they took their turn.

 

 

Sakari really didn't want to go at first because she wanted to keep her face on. But eventually said "ok, I'll just rinse it off". Kendra and I stayed back and didn't go in because truth be known, we had just had our eyelashes done the week before this cruise and very little water is to be applied to them to maintain them. We had already had a speed boat ride over and trying to block the wind from that was challenging enough and I'm sure we had some flying lashes during that trip. LOL They are individual lashes and you can't tell where they are applied and looks like they are real and actually are coming out of your lash line...that is unless some fly off during a speed boat excursion and you have some missing. 🤣

 

 

 

 

 

Kendra and I agreed to wash the mud off our faces so that Sakari would not get upset about not having hers anymore.

 

Then back up and out of the pool we went.

 

 

 

 

We headed back to the van and ready for the next...only the next never came (thank goodness). We were also supposed to tour the banana farm, but we've been seeing the banana trees this entire cruise and all I wanted to do was get to Jalousie Beach and snorkel. With each minute gone by, we were losing time there. I was pleasantly shocked when we pulled up to the banana plantation and stopped, they told us that's what it was and went on. Yippee!

 

 

 

Back on the boat, we headed over to Jalousie Beach.

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

As soon as we arrived, lunch was being served. Their lunch is amazing and you get to try so many things. It was all yummy and much needed after our long day of exfoliating and looking younger. Now if they just had a treatment for eating food to make you skinnier then I would have had a few plates.

 

 

 

 

I scarfed that lunch down like I was in a marathon because I couldn't wait to get into the water and snorkel. Everything that my momma told me about eating and waiting for 30 minutes after that to go in the water was thrown out the door. No time to waste. This is my favorite snorkeling spot.

 

I motioned the girls to grab their gear and "come on!" Out I went...without waiting on them because they were just taking too long and wasting time and there was no time to be wasted at this spot.

 

NOW...I'M ABOUT TO SHARE A LOT OF PICTURES!!! Remember, this snorkeling spot is awesome and I'm only probably sharing 1/4 of the pictures I took. So be prepared........

 

They have some of the biggest sponges here. It's so hard to tell, from pictures, just how big they are but you could stick your head in most of them.

 

 

 

 

I love snorkeling spots that have a variety of colored sponges and corals. They just make things interesting. I was also very glad that the sun was out and bright. That makes the pictures turn out good and clear for the most part...not to mention you can see deeper as well. 

 

 

 

This was pretty far down even though it appears as though I'm fairly close to it. They were huge. 

 

 

A lot of times I would dive down to get closer. The pictures turn out so much better the closer you are to the coral.

 

 

 

 

 

Last time we were here, there were TONS of squid. This time would be no different. They were located in the same exact spot they were last time...it's like they never left.

 

It's much harder to get a picture looking across the water than it is looking down to take the picture. So you can always tell the different in my pictures because they are not as clear and more blue the further out it looks.

 

In the picture below, you can see all the squid (black long dots with tails I guess) if you look good enough.

 

 

 

There's two in this picture as I went over them. (The rusty copper looking creatures in the picture below)

 

 

 

 

 

Now a bigger group of them.