Live Review: Freedom of the Seas Feb 27-March 3, 2023

[TwoMisfits]

Thanks for all the updates, and I'm glad you found out how to get the Udi cookies.

 

I'll probably be the same for the single serve plain potato chips, b/c those and (some) pretzels are about the only salty snacks I can have with my allergies - it will be me on board trying to figure out who might still have them so I can have something "naughty" on board, while my kids go to town on fries, fried stuff, cakes, and pastries...

[omago4th]

I've enjoyed  reading you blog,   when is your TA crossing, I want to follow you again. your a hoot! love the clothes and glasses.

[CatLadyFemme]

58 minutes ago, omago4th said:

I've enjoyed  reading you blog,   when is your TA crossing, I want to follow you again. your a hoot! love the clothes and glasses.

You’re so sweet 🥰 thanks for the lovely compliment. May 1st is when we leave, all things willing. 
 

My D&D group is also thinking about Alaska of next year. If we all do it, be prepared for a HOOT.

[bluehorizonlover123]

Am loving following along on your cruise and enjoying all your pictures. You have a lovely style about you. Just wondering if their theme nights where people dress up for dinner. ie white night, caribbean night, 70s night, 80s night, that type of thing, so I know what to pack. Thank you so much and enjoy your cruise!

[pooksma]

I am enjoying reading your review. Wanted to pop in and say how much I LOVE your teal print dress! It looks fantastic on you! The octopus earrings are a huge plus!

[Jenglish711]

Hahahaha your face on Coco Cay... that's me anytime I'm outside in a NY summer, lol. Loving the dresses and the bikini! I love Anthem; as NYers we've been on her three times out of Bayonne in the winter. You've been on Quantum so you will have a good idea of layout and what to expect with the dining options... I do hope that you'll have much better food luck on the TA! 

[MJSailors]

@CatLadyFemme Hoping that you are okay and have returned home by now.

Two questions for you.

Considering your health issues,would you cruise solo again?

With all the effort put into the travel to reach the port and return home,would you take another five day cruise ?

Take care

MJ

Edited March 4, 2023 by MJSailors

[CatLadyFemme]

Oy! So sorry to have disappeared. I finally got home last night at 3am. It’s been a rough few days.  But let’s finish the cruise!

 

The last night was fairly chill. It was Italian night in the MDR. My next door friends really like the aranchini (Italian rice balls) but hated the sauce they were served with. They also all sent back their minestrone, saying it had a sauce like consistency. That said, big fans of the lasagna, chicken parmigiana, and even the sole with a lemon butter sauce. 
 

I had the polenta fritters (possibly the best thing I ate on the cruise?), another boring iceberg salad, the mushroom risotto (third and best one of the cruise but still medicore…and hardly any mushrooms, which were just button ones dumped on top. This was on the old menu and used to be much better), and some random GF veg dessert they made me. I think it was the vegan crepe brûlée from the old vegan menu. It was quite good. Then we said our goodbyes to everyone, handed out tips, and headed to pack. After this, I made my way to my second dinner like a hobbit, up at Giovanni’s. 
 

This is the newer, hipper Giovanni’s. To be honest, much less of their menu is veg friendly, but we made it work. The truffle burrata was delicious, though I preferred the heirloom tomatoes I have had at other Giovanni’s (and slices over wedges!). They found some GF slices of bread that were also definitely Udi’s, but tastier than the MDR and served that with their sauce and olives in lieu of yummy garlic knots. Again, other ships have baked their own GF rolls, so while this was nice, whole wheat bread and tomato sauce left something to be desired. Barry was my waiter and was amazing; he even noticed I didn’t love my mojito (it was waaaay to sweet) and made me a cocktail of his own that tasted like a more mature Shirley Temple. I got the 7 cheese pizza but GF (very tasty, a little too gorgonzola forward, which I can’t believe I am saying!), and the best veggie pomadoro I’ve had. I finished the pasta and took most of the pizza back to my room. All their desserts had gluten, gelatin, or both, so they made my berries and whipped cream as I had asked. However, it wasn’t fresh whipped cream; definitely frozen whip topping, and so I ate the berries out around it, as I hate the sensation whipped topping leaves in my tongue. All in all, very good meal and I would eat there again. I just wish they had not moved to more uncomfortable chairs! 
 

After this, I got my bag into the hallway, sat in the balcony for a while, ate some of my pizza, and went to sleep.

 

 

Disembarkation in the morning was SO smooth. I went down to Boleros for a wheelchair around 8:30 and was getting a taxi by 8:50. It was lovely, especially compared to my embarkation.

 

I took a cab. Do not do this. It was $80 to get me to a hotel by the airport. Lyft or Uber would have been half of that. I rented a day room at Aloft of a few hours so I could rest before my evening flight. I had hoped to make it to the pool but was just exhausted. I did get food from BarTaco (everything but the desserts are GF!) and that was very tasty.

 

 

Then the comedy of errors began. I got through security at MIA and was waiting. Plane got delayed. Then we boarded. I knew MI was having a snow storm, so looked into hotels near the Detroit airport to as not to have my partner drive in the ice to pick me up. Delayed more on the plane, but I got upgraded to Comfort+ (texted my partners that this did not bode well, as my luck is not usually lucky). Then in the jetway, more delays…and we were finally up in the air. But about an hour  in, they had to turn the plane back to Miami because they closed the airport in Detroit. Ok…we then had to circle Miami for 90 min to burn off fuel in order to land. Then we disembarked and had to wait to figure things out. They sent us away for the night, so I last minute got a $300 hotel room 😬 MrCatLady got me GF crepes from Stephanie’s Crepes and MxCatLady sent me some groceries including electrolyte water, cheese, and a cat shaped popsicle!

 

 

Originally, they rescheduled the flight to 8:25am. I woke up at 6am to get ready for this, and saw it was delayed to 7:50pm, so went back to sleep (glad I screenshoted this or would have thought I dreamt it!). When I woke up at 10:30am, I found they had un-delayed the flight and moved it to 11am. So I missed it. While I figured things out, I paused another $350 to stay at the hotel. All flights were booked out till Tuesday, due to people coming back from spring break and the ice storm.

 

 

Thank goodness for my D&D crew. One of them, the mom friend, spent hours on the phone with delta, and eventually, got me on the 6:30pm flight last night…out of Ft Lauderdale. So at 4pm, I check out of my hotel having spent only a few hours of my $350 night, and took a $50 Lyft to FLL. Get through security and am at the gate by 4:45…just in time to find out our flight is now delayed till 10:30pm. Spent several rough hours in the airport, in my mask, kids screaming (understandably, as I wanted to also! So thankful for my Loops earrings), and then it got delayed again, but this time, only to 11ish.

 

We finally took off around 11:30 (and I had a whole row free!), and we landed at 2am in Detroit. Home now with partner and cats who are happy to see me.

 

 

Thanks all for following along! Will answer any questions, and then I hope to “see” many of you on my May 1st TA on Anthem.

 

Edited March 6, 2023 by CatLadyFemme

[CatLadyFemme]

On 3/2/2023 at 11:18 PM, bluehorizonlover123 said:

Am loving following along on your cruise and enjoying all your pictures. You have a lovely style about you. Just wondering if their theme nights where people dress up for dinner. ie white night, caribbean night, 70s night, 80s night, that type of thing, so I know what to pack. Thank you so much and enjoy your cruise!

On this, the two nights people dressed for were formal and Caribbean. Longer cruises sometimes have a white night (which I never dress for as I don’t really do white) and/or a 70s night.

[CatLadyFemme]

On 3/2/2023 at 11:18 PM, bluehorizonlover123 said:

Am loving following along on your cruise and enjoying all your pictures. You have a lovely style about you. Just wondering if their theme nights where people dress up for dinner. ie white night, caribbean night, 70s night, 80s night, that type of thing, so I know what to pack. Thank you so much and enjoy your cruise!

Also thank you!!

[CatLadyFemme]

On 3/3/2023 at 8:17 AM, pooksma said:

I am enjoying reading your review. Wanted to pop in and say how much I LOVE your teal print dress! It looks fantastic on you! The octopus earrings are a huge plus!

Thank you!! Octopus (and cephalopods generally) are some of my favorite animals 💜

[CatLadyFemme]

On 3/4/2023 at 8:59 AM, MJSailors said:

@CatLadyFemme Hoping that you are okay and have returned home by now.

Two questions for you.

Considering your health issues,would you cruise solo again?

With all the effort put into the travel to reach the port and return home,would you take another five day cruise ?

Take care

MJ

SUCH a good question. I don’t think I would on purpose. Maaaybe again in this situation where it would be use it or lose it? I definitely will not be doing another shorter cruise though. I didn’t even unpack my luggage or blow up my mattress cover. With how early disembarkation is, and how late you get your luggage and settled in, it’s really only a 3 day cruise. I take that back; I might do it for somewhere cool, like if they did a shorter leaf peeping cruise, or the PNW. But given that I don’t love heat or sun, and this cruise was a ton of kids and drunk people (NOT drunk kids at least! Wait until the next few weeks of spring breakers!), and then all the drama getting home? It was worth it for the mental health benefits but physically will be a recovering for a week or two.

 

MxCatLady just asked to confirm I am still ok going on our May cruise and I am still stoked (though we will be bringing a small roller suitcase of food with on it). Honestly, traveling *with* someone who knows me and can support access needs makes all the difference. Even just in being able to pee in the airport without having to carry all my stuff with me and lose my seat each time.

 

I am actually keynoting two conferences this summer; one in San Francisco and one in Glasgow. Neither partner is able to take that time off. I’m trying to convince a friend to go with me on each one, realizing how exhausting the travel part is when totally alone. So this was a good trial run for those two!

[perfect match]

Thanks for your review! I always enjoy traveling along with you. I’ll be looking for you on your TA as I’ll be going through my usual post cruise depression at that point having just gotten off Odyssey the week before you sail.

 

Your cats are adorable! If I didn’t know better, I’d think your black one was my late 🐈‍⬛ Carly, but unfortunately it is coming up on 3 years since she passed. We now have two beautiful tuxedo cats who do their best to keep us on our toes. 
 

[JamesEM]

Thanks for your review and photos, at times traveling can be challenging.

[sgmn]

Wow what a nightmare travelling back. 

Having worked at major international airports I'm surprised the airlines didn't do more to help with accommodation.

I hope it doesn't put you off travelling and I hope you do a blog on your transatlantic cruise

 

[Ocean Boy]

3 hours ago, sgmn said:

Wow what a nightmare travelling back. 

Having worked at major international airports I'm surprised the airlines didn't do more to help with accommodation.

I hope it doesn't put you off travelling and I hope you do a blog on your transatlantic cruise

 

When JetBlue cancelled my flight home from FLL they didn't do a thing to help with accommodations.

[FionaMG]

Thanks for sharing @CatLadyFemme. I really enjoyed following along. What bad luck at the end, though! 😕

 

We will be getting off Anthem the day you board for your TA. We'll do our best to look after her for you! 😊

[MJSailors]

@CatLadyFemme Good that you arrived home safely (finally!).

I do think that the TA experience will be quite different than what you experienced on that short cruise.

After my DH and I were on nine and ten day cruises, a seven day cruise seemed short.

It seems that some people view the short cruises as a long weekend for partying.

For the most part,passengers on a TA have a different mindset.

Hoping you enjoy your next voyage and find the time to write about it here on CC.

MJ🙋🏻

[carolinagalcruise2011]

Thank you for sharing your review! I love your outfits & especially the teal dress!😍 Do you remember where you got the dress?

I’m sorry that you had a time getting home but glad you made it home safely! I love seeing the pics of your fur babies. I have 3 cats myself and they are always happy when I come home from vacations.

[omago4th]

happy to find the follow up report. I've been checking and wondered if you didn't have travel issues, boy! did you ever have travel issues. sounds like you were a real trooper with it.

 

I've marked my calendar to check for your next cruise report, I really enjoyed your writing.

 

 I am a loyal Holland cruiser, bored at home and was looking for a report to read, so glad I chose yours.

 

 

 

[Jimbo]

Maybe I misunderstood, but you said on your return flight back to MIA, you had to circle around the Airport to burn off fuel? Was that the real reason or was it just to get an open gate?

[Ocean Boy]

33 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Maybe I misunderstood, but you said on your return flight back to MIA, you had to circle around the Airport to burn off fuel? Was that the real reason or was it just to get an open gate?

You do know that, depending in the amount of fuel aboard, a plane can be too heavy to land and either has to burn fuel off or dump it.

[Jimbo]

18 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

You do know that, depending in the amount of fuel aboard, a plane can be too heavy to land and either has to burn fuel off or dump it.

Didn't know that seems silly for planes that they are building now, you would think they could land a plane no matter what the weight is onboard and anytime.

Not making me feel any better knowing this.

 

In an emergency I want the plane getting down ASAP, not waiting to burn it off or dump it somewhere.

[martikus]

Thank you for another great review.  Love your writing style and I know your limitations and being open about them really help others.  Hope even with all the chaos it was a time to recharge.  Can’t wait for your May review.

[RedSails1968]

Nice review. What an ordeal getting home! I am hoping to enjoy Giovanni’s wheat-free on Jewel later this month.