The 8-Day WHILRWIND Mystery Tour on the 8/15 Freedom. A review. With pics!

[elsplace2]

It's "tomorrow"!!! tap...tap...tap...hurry up and put the kids to bed so you can start writing again!! LOL....Loving the review! We'll be on the Freedom in October, although on the western side....can't wait! And can't wait to read more of your review!

[CeleBrat]

TUESDAY—SAN JUAN

 

It should come as no surprise, what with my need to be the “planner” of the cruise, that I am also the one who dictates (I mean decides in a nice way) what time we will wake up every morning. If left to DH, he would sleep until noon. And, since there’s always some sort of fun activity to do on a cruise, time is of the essence!!

 

Today, since we have set our clocks BACK one hour, I decide to cut the family some slack, and allow them to sleep in until 10am. Knowing, of course, full well that with the time change, it’s really only 9am.

 

Heheee….my little secret, because DH did not notice the little note on the front page of the Caper reminding everyone about the time change. Frankly, DH doesn’t even know where we are supposed to port at today, as evidenced by his question the night before, “Now where are we stopping tomorrow?”

 

Anyway, we wake up at 10am (really 9am) and the kids ask “what time is it? DH and I respond in unison 9am/10am!" Then I laugh because he is sooooooo not in the know. As you can imagine, we then get in the predictable debate about what time it really is, but much to my surprise, DH says, “No, you weren’t supposed to set the clocks back. That was a Caper misprint based on the fact that we were going to Mexico. John Heald announced it in the radio show.”

 

I am astounded that A) DH is actually aware of the lack of time change and B) he pays attention to the radio show.

 

Where was I during the radio show? Oh yeah---shopping.

 

YIKES!!!! I am immediately stressed out because if it’s really 10 am then the kids are going to miss out on going to the 10am activity at Camp, and breakfast is almost over. AAAAAA!

 

So, we dress like madmen and dash off to our secret upstairs aft buffet table for breakfast. The view from the 2nd floor in the buffet us amazing, especially since there are no other guests in the way. The sea water looks especially bright in the mid-morning sun. I exclaim, “Look at all that water!” DS chimes in and shares, “Yeah, it’s like we’re in a desert full of water.”

 

 

Since our activity schedule is in disarray due to the Caper/time change mishap, we decide to forgo all scheduled activities and play mini-golf instead. The Freedom course is a full 9 holes, wraps around the funnel, and is in great condition. The kids love-love-love playing mini-gold on a cruise ship because…it’s mini-golf…and it’s on the top deck of the cruise ship. So cool!

 

 

The adults, on the other hand, merely “endure” mini-golf. Because it’s on the top deck of the ship, it is ridiculously windy and nearly impossible to use any skill to hit the ball into the hole. The direction and speed of the ball is dictated by the wind, and it is not uncommon to hit a ball toward the hole yet still have it roll back to the original starting point.

 

 

And, the fact that we were playing with two young kids makes it difficult to play. They are both known for inadvertently stepping onto the course in such a way that the ball hits their foot. So annoying!

 

Following a strenuous game of golf in which no one got a hole-in-one, or two, we headed up to the front of the ship to watch the arrival in San Juan. Although we’ve been in San Juan many times, it is always fun to watch the ship slowly pull into the harbor of the island, past the majestic El Morro fort that juts out from the top of the island.

 

As we approach the island, it is a little strange to see that there are no other cruise ships in port, at all. Just like in Ft. Lauderdale, the Carnival Freedom will be anchored all by herself.

 

Our original time in San Juan was scheduled to be 6pm-12midnight, but the itinerary change granted us extra time in port, from 12noon-midnight. We would have plenty of time to leisurely make our way off the ship and sightsee.

 

But first—lunch! Do I even have to tell you where we ate? The secret 2nd floor buffet, of course. Oh yeah!

 

Our game plan for visiting the island involved 2 tasks: shopping for DH, and visiting El Morro. Now it might seem odd that DH was requesting to shop, but here’s the scoop. DH, in which the “D” stands for “dumb” in this situation, had forgotten pack more than one pair of pants for the cruise. Knowing that the cruise rule (and mine) did not appropriately allow him to wear shorts to dinner, he wanted to find a place to buy jeans in San Juan.

 

HAHAHAHA! As if!

 

I responded to his idea with, “Do you really think that there is going to be a normal shop in the midst of tourist-ville in San Juan.”

 

He scratched his head and said, “Well, yes. San Juan is part of the US, and there are jeans shops all over the USA.”

 

OK then. Off we go.

 

Exiting the ship is a bit eerie, since we have to walk through the big cruise-ship terminal with no one in it. Outside the port, there are many taxi drivers and tour operators hawking their wares. If we wanted, we could have walked onto a 3-hour tour for $20 apiece. Not a bad deal!

 

We had other plans. Off to find that jeans shop. Yeah right!

 

We head into the heart of the shopping district, just a few blocks from the port, and stop into a cute art gallery where we buy a beautiful hand-made (not mass manufactured) Christmas ornament. Really neat!

 

 

DH asks the cashier for direction to the nearest place that sells jeans, while I stand nearby giggling and shaking my head.

 

As if it’s not bad enough that DH was right about the time change fiasco, he is now also going to be right about the jeans fiasco as well. The cashier responds to DH with, “Right up the street two blocks on the left is a Marshall’s.”

 

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME?!?!?! Why are the travel gods smiling on DH so much today?!?!?!?

 

DH turns around and says patiently, “See, I told you we would find someplace to buy jeans. You just have to trust me.”

 

OMG—seriously? This is the guy who packs for a cruise 2 hours before we leave, has no idea where we are going, and if I hadn’t told him a zillion times, wouldn’t even know what ship we were on.

 

Anyway…we trudge down the street to Marshall’s. MARSHALL’S, for goodness sakes, and shop. For jeans.

 

[MamaParrotHead]

OK, THAT is hilarious. And I'm convinced both you and I, AND our DH's, must have been separated at BIRTH. My DH also packs hours before the cruise (whilst I have a PACKING CHART for everyone else, ROFLMAO :o), would sleep all day long AND, inspite of the fact we've been booked on this cruise for like a year and a HALF now, still asks me which ports we're stopping at. LOL

 

This is our first cruise with our kids, who are the coolest and whom I adore spending time with, BUT, I am DREADING the mini golf onboard, LOL.

 

I see you've sailed the Glory previously...was that with your kiddos? I'd love any tips you might have regarding Camp, the ship itself, etc.

 

Thanks, and keep up the good work!

[nol4am]

Nice review. Thank you.

[TheTravelista]

Celebrat I love your reviews!

 

All the details and pics make it that much more outstanding. You're gifted! You really have me considering a Mediterranean cruise with NCL after your review of the Gem. And your children are absolutely adorable.

 

Can't wait for the next part =)

[Mrs. Chernabog]

Hahaha. We ended up at K-Mart in St. Thomas. We bought some comforters for the children and suitcases to put them in.....the comforters, not the children. :D

[vanislandcruisers]

Loving your review:D

[chacha813]

Keep it up! Love reading your review. We set sail 9/26, western ports on the Freedom. Can't wait.:)

[Chelseaprincess]

CeleBrat,

Thanks for a great review! I love your style! Have you ever thought of writing a book about your travel experiences? It could be a great success!

Chelsea

[gaylebd]

GREAT job on the review!

 

I can't stop laughing!!

[lovethesun628]

i love your review sooo far!

[CeleBrat]

WOW! You guys are making me too popular. For the first time ever, I just had to upgrade my photo storage site, due to the large #'s of people that have looked at the review.

 

Amazing!

 

CeleBrat

[camperhawk]

WOW! You guys are making me too popular. For the first time ever, I just had to upgrade my photo storage site, due to the large #'s of people that have looked at the review.

 

Amazing!

 

CeleBrat

 

Well deserved title, Miss Popular! lol I subscribed to the thread right from the beginning of your review as I just loved your writing style and skill.

 

I am looking forward to the next installment!:)

[CeleBrat]

I never thought I would say this, but I was soon saying to DH, “Can we please get out of this clothing store?” In the mainland USA, the situation would be reversed, with DH whining, “How much longer do we have to be shopping for clothes?”

 

With white MARHSALL’S shopping bag in hand, we were finally able to leave Marshall’s and continue our day. We headed off in the direction of El Morro. Along the way, we encountered this open square that was full of pigeons.

 

 

If you were brave, you could stand amongst the pigeons and they would land on you. We were not-so-brave, although DD was somewhat brave.

 

Walking through Old San Juan to get to the fort, we couldn’t help but admire some of the neat architecture details.

 

 

 

If you closed your ears to block out the ambient noise and people speaking Spanish and just looked around, you would almost think you were in Europe, with the smashed-together buildings and small alleyways.

 

We spied this man walking up the alley with his garbage can, and couldn’t resist taking his pic. Then later in the evening, we happened to go by the same alley and snapped another pic, I think we’ll take both pics, enlarge them, and frame them to hang in our house side-by-side.

 

 

[CeleBrat]

Finally we reached El Morro! Truthfully, it’s not that long of a walk. We just took the roundabout way, with our detour to Marshall’s. AHEM. Before actually going into El Morro, we were pleasantly distracted by the SnoCone vendor, or Piragua as it’s called in San Juan. With ice that has been authentically shaved from a block of ice on-site, it was just too hard to resist buying a couple and sitting down to enjoy them. Grape and Cherry were the two flavors we chose, although there were at least 2 dozen others available as well.

 

 

The kids were mesmerized by the ice-shaving process.

 

 

After our frosty treat, we began the looooong walk across the hill toward the fort. It’s a hike!

 

 

The walk was made even longer for me, who in attempting to capture a cool from-the-distance pic, ran all the way down the grassy hill to the fort wall that edged the ocean. Long run/walk, but well worth the effort. Don't they look like Peter Pan's Lost Boys?

 

[CeleBrat]

But once there, you can’t but once again think that you are in Europe for a moment. Check out these ancient crumbling architectural details.

 

 

 

Are we in Greece...or Italy...? Nope, just the El Morro fort in San Juan.

 

 

 

[CeleBrat]

The fort is actually a US National Park structure, and the entrance fee is a few dollars ($3 I think).

 

 

Quite a bargain, as it also includes a rudimentary map and full color poster about the forts of San Juan. DS claimed it to hang in his room.

 

(Not necessarily a great pic, but thought you appreciate seeing DH, with the Marshall's bag he was carrying around. Sore subject...)

 

 

You are allowed to walk all over the grounds of the fort, including the “underground” barracks-type areas, and turret outlooks that seem to be hanging over the edge of the ocean.

 

 

The kis couldn't resist climbing to the top of the mound of cannonballs.

 

 

But it wasn't until after they had conquered Cannonball Mountain, that we turned the corner and saw this. Ooops!

 

[CeleBrat]

Although we didn't necessarily learn a lot while at the fort, we walked away having had a great afternoon exploring, and seeing so many unique and amazing sights.

 

 

 

 

In this photo, you would almost think that we are in Scotland, looking over the green fields of yon.

 

 

 

Who would've thought a crumbling old fort could hold so much beauty?

 

[mapsmom]

Once again, you have posted a wonderful review - I am trying to do the same for my recent Gem experience. Tell me- did you just start a thread and then add to it each day? How did you import the pictures from your computer? when you were done with the whole review, did you then post it as a review?

 

Thanks for the advice!! Your Gem review last year was so helpful to my family in planning this cruise that I wanted to share my cruise this year with other CC members.

[CeleBrat]

Once we were thoroughly exhausted from exploring, and soaking wet because it was hot out, we headed back out for the looooong walk down the hill to the street. Luckily, there were taxis nearby that would whisk you back to the ship for $10 total. Deal!

 

Back on-board the Freedom, we were so tired from the hot day of walking across Old San Juan, that we retired to the cabin to rest and prepare for dinner.

 

At dinner, we were unpleasantly surprised to see that our beautiful view from the table was ruined by the fact that we were parked next to the terminal. It was quite the uninspiring view.

 

 

But dinner was still good, even though we were among the very-few in the dining room that evening. The kids most-liked their candle-stick napkins.

 

 

After dinner we all went our separate ways again. DD and I headed back out for the souvenir shopping we had been denied earlier in the day, while DH and DS opted to hang poolside and watch “The Secret Life of Bees.” Once ashore, we were surprised to see that most of the stores had already closed for the evening, even though it was only 8pm. Perhaps because we were the only ship in port it wasn’t worth their while to be open? None-the-less, we found great shopping opportunities at the many makeshift roadside stands. Being in San Juan at night also allowed us to see the ship all lit-up. Which, if you think about it, was only time we would be able to the ship at night on land, as every other night we would be at sea and it would be sailing.

 

 

The reflection of the lights from the ship also made a pretty picture.

 

 

Guess what? We also saw Squidward again portside! This time he was painted yellow.

 

[CeleBrat]

Tonight was the night of the infamous deck party, complete with Mexican feast. Sadly, we weren’t able to be strong enough to stay up for its 11:30pm start. Instead, we walked through and caught the chefs as they were setting up the buffet, and got a sneak peek at what desserts really look like before they hit the buffet table. Here they were all lined up in the prep area, waiting for their turn to be taken to the buffet line.

 

 

In our cabin, we were met with yet another towel animal…and sweet dreams of a fun-filled day.

 

 

(Can I just add, that the towel animals we got throughout the week were the best we've ever had? No generic seal or stingray. These babies were detailed!)

[CeleBrat]

Once again, you have posted a wonderful review - I am trying to do the same for my recent Gem experience. Tell me- did you just start a thread and then add to it each day? How did you import the pictures from your computer? When you were done with the whole review, did you then post it as a review?

 

Thanks for the advice!! Your Gem review last year was so helpful to my family in planning this cruise that I wanted to share my cruise this year with other CC members.

 

Awww...thanks! I'm so glad to have been able to provide some useful info for someone else. Did you have a great time on the Gem? We LOVED it, and had the most magical time visiting Europe. AMAZING!!!!

 

My family laughs at my putting so much work into my reviews. I carry a notebook with me on the ship, and write own bullet points at the end of each night highlighting the events of the day and random thoughts. Then when I get home, I start putting those bullet points into a Word document, with more "meat" to it. It's a slow process, between writing the review, uploading and editing pics, then posting the review piece-by-piece. But--I really enjoy doing it--especially when someone like you says, "You helped us." YAHOO!!!

 

For the photos, you will need to use an on-line photo storage site (photobucket, shutterfly, snapfish, are a few examples). Each of those sites requires you to upload your photos, then you can edit, and use their HTML links to embed them within the review. We take over 1000 photos on each cruise, so there are lots that I have to sort through, otherwise I would overwhelm you all with them all!!

 

On cruisecritic, I start a thread (with a non mis-spelled title--WHILRED--ugh!!!!), and add pieces of the review as I get them ready. Some people will also post their reviews in the REVIEW section of this site, but it is not accessible via the message boards, and photos can't be used in those reviews. I prefer to tell the story with photos.

 

Hope that helps. Let me know if you need more clarification. Can't wait to see your finished GEM review, and relive the trip through you.

 

CeleBrat

[lsmommy]

Thank you for such wonderful reviews, I have read your other ones and I have enjoyed them also, and really want to go to Malta.

 

I do have a question for you regarding trying other cruise lines, and if your kids enjoy them all? My husband does not like to travel so I have taken my girls 6 and 8 on 2 DCL cruises alone and they have been perfect vacations.

 

I am now thinking that I should try other cruise lines, but when you travel alone with kids you don't want to be stuck on a ship that is not a good match for your kids. I know my oldest would be happy on any ship with a kids club and ice cream, but my youngest spends hours on DCL tracking down the characters and I worry that it would be hard to replace that on another cruise ship. I am doing an RCCL solo in November to get a feel of other cruise lines, but do you find that most cruise lines have lots of family activities, besides the kids clubs?

 

Looking forward to the rest of your trip .

 

Thanks again for taking the time to share.

[CeleBrat]

OK--I am off to bed for the night. But, tomorrow is one of those HOME ALONE days for me again, with everyone out of the house. So, I'm going to try and knock out 2 more days of review: St. Thomas and Tortola.

 

Good night!

 

CeleBrat

[jolyn928]

Goodnight, and thank you for the wonderful review!!! :D