Royal Caribbean Blog contributor Michael Poole is on Freedom of the Seas this week reporting all about his cruise experience.

Today was a sea day as we start our journey back to Florida, it’s so sad to think we are headed home. 

I didn’t set an alarm for the first time this cruise, but still woke up at 8am.  I always get my coffee at Starbucks, and blog while I’m waking up.  I noticed it was very quite this morning, I suppose everyone was still sleeping in. 

Since it’s a sea day, everyone had headed up to the pool deck.  There were many chairs being saved my pool towels, but the staff was trying hard to enforce the 30-minute rule. 

My schedule for today was to soak in the sun, get in the water, and repeat.  There were so many kids in the main pool jumping in having fun, but everyone was getting so splashed.  The pool staff kept blowing whistles at them to stop, but honestly they had over taken the pools. 

I usually don’t cruise in the summer time; due to the cost so perhaps this is the norm at summer. 

Those that have cruised before know they always have a belly flop contest and world’s sexiest man contest on sea days.  Well today the roles changed, for the first time ever they had a woman’s only cannon ball contest.  And that’s when it hit me; I’ve never seen so many people on a pool deck in my life!  I think half the ship was in the pools and around it getting ready for the contest.  It was fun seeing a different type of contest than the usual ones we have been watching for years. 

Dinner

Tonight was our second formal night and if you ask me the best dinner of the week. 

They have prime rib and lobster and boy did we have a lot of tails.  Our waiter just kept bringing the tails to our table.  

Again we had the head waiter stop by a few times to check-in on our meal, just makes dinner that much more enjoyable.  If you look at my picture you can see the amount of food on our table. 

I know I mentioned it before, but the service has just been outstanding each night. 

The Quest

Tonight was what I call the main event, The Quest!  Matt and I have talked in great detail on the podcast about the Quest being my favorite event.  If you haven’t attended the show, you are missing out my friends. 

Just to give you an idea of the show, it’s an adult game show searching for items within the team.  I’m very competitive in everything I do, so you can guess my team finished in first place! 

Cabin

In blog post from day one, I mentioned my cabin on deck 3 (3543), but didn’t include a picture.  Per the request of blog post reader Clo here is a picture of my cabin. 

I’m sorry it’s a little messy; I usually keep it much cleaner.  

My thoughts of the cabin have changed a bit throughout the week. Around 5pm each evening I can hear tables and chairs above me in Sabor, not really a big deal because I need to be waking up from my nap anyways.  

I also don’t love being forward on the ship, it seems like everything is in the aft. 

Evening

Tonight they had another pool deck party in the solarium.  I’m sorry I didn’t take my camera up to the party, so no pictures of the event. 

Unlike the last pool party this one was extremely packed.   The ship came to life tonight; it felt like everyone was out and about throughout the ship. 

The pool deck party lasted until 1:30am and then lasted until the early hours of the morning.  Sadly it was the last full night everyone had since most people get to bed early before they travel. 

Up next tomorrow is our last sea day…

Today was our last port of call in beautiful St. Maarten, docking at 8am-5pm. 

We didn’t have any plans today, so we started off with some shopping.  Once you get off the ship they have water taxi’s that will take you over to their boardwalk for $7pp round-trip. This is where all the shopping, restaurants, bars, and beach are located. 

If you are looking for a great port to shop, St. Maarten is the place.  I picked up two new lenses for my Canon 60D camera; of course I justified it for the blog posts.

Lunch

For lunch we decided to eat at a very famous restaurant in St. Maarten, called The Blue Bitch.  I discovered this restaurant around a decade ago and have lunch there every time I get to visit.  They have free wifi you just ask for the password (blueb921). 

They also have a live band playing on the boardwalk, which makes it fun while you are having lunch.  I should have inquired how they came up with the name, because it’s not wild by any means. 

For those wondering were it’s located, once you get off the water taxi turn right down the boardwalk and it’s about the 5th restaurant down. 

Swimming

After a few hours of shopping and lunch my sister and I decided to part ways from the group and go swimming in the ocean.  The price for two padded chairs and an umbrella is $15 for the day. 

The water here is so clear and the beach is very soft, talk about some combination.   We only stayed out there swimming for an hour or so and headed back to the ship.  The water taxi was at the dock waiting on us and off we went. 

Once I was back on board I just walked around and explored the ship.  I came across Guinness world records certificate for the largest passenger liner in the world.  This was located right beside the R Bar on the Royal Promenade deck. 

In 2006 when the Freedom launched it was the largest ship, but we now have Oasis class, which surpass her by 70,000 gross tons.  To put that into scale for you, the Titanic was only 46,000 gross tons. 

Dinner

Tonight we headed back to the main dining room.

I just kept looking up thinking how beautiful this dining room is.  It almost made me sad to think about the new dynamic dining because this is such a trademark of cruising. 

The service in the dining room is absolutely outstanding, perhaps the best I’ve seen.  

Tonight we had an officer come over and talk to those who are sailing next week and said, “you tell me what table you want next week and I’ll make it happen.” Once again, above and beyond service from Royal Caribbean, it’s what keeps me coming back. 

After dinner all the waiters got up and danced all around the dining room and invited us to join them.  So you already know, I grabbed my little sister and off we went.  I must say, this was the first time I had danced in the middle of the dining room, but we had a blast. 

Post Dinner

After dinner we had our usual gathering at R Bar, but tonight we had the 70’s street parade.  This started at 10:30pm and they played all the classics from the 1970’s. 

I’ve mentioned this before on the podcast with Matt, but I’m ready for a new decade of music, the 1980’s. Sure I enjoy all the songs, but I think it’s time for something new, and well it’s my decade.  I’ll just have to keep cruising until they change it up, because I know it’s coming!

Everyone was pretty tired and we called it a night early, after my usual pizza pit stop. 

Up next is two sea days!  These days go by too fast when you are at sea.  Our plan is just relax and make the most of them. 

Royal Caribbean Blog contributor Michael Poole is on Freedom of the Seas this week reporting all about his cruise experience.

It’s been a few years since I’ve been to St. Thomas, so I was excited to get back to this beautiful port of call.  I didn’t have anything booked prior to the cruise, but my brother talked me into snorkeling with sea turtles and sting rays. 

The excursion cost $99 per person and last around six hours, so it was a full day activity.  The official name of the getaway is Caribbean sail to Christmas & Honeymoon Coves. 

We docked in St. Thomas at 11am and my ticket said to meet in the theater at 11am for an express departure.  It’s been awhile since I’ve done a Royal Caribbean excursion, as I usually do my own thing, but it was very organized and I was very impressed. 

We sailed over to Christmas Cove in a large sailboat, looked like one out of Pirates of the Caribbean.  The boat was pretty rocky from the wake and it took around a half hour to get there.

The guides were very informative with our gear and what we were about to see.   We saw quite a few sea turtles ranging in size and I loved when they came up for air.  The water was so clear you could see straight down to the bottom, I can’t even describe how beautiful the water is.  

After playing with the turtles for a bit, we went over where all the sting rays were, and I’m not going to lie it scared me at first.  After a few minutes of noticing they don’t bother you, I started to get a bit more relaxed. 

We were snorkeling in the water for a little over an hour then back onboard for honeymoon cove.

Our ride over to the next stop took a little over an hour and they served rum punch and went very slow.  At this point we were all just relaxing and enjoying our views. 

Once we arrived to the cove you could jump off and swim to shore or have the tender boat take you over.  Of course, I jumped off and headed over to the cove, I mean how over do you get to swim to shore in the Caribbean? 

They served a small buffet lunch and we just relaxed for a few hours.  The total excursion lasted six hours and we were back onboard at 6:30 and we left St. Thomas at 7pm. 

Cell Phones

Just a little pointer if you have AT&T cell phone service, you will get phone service at no extra charge.  I was actually able to pick up full 4G LTE, which was much faster than the ship Internet.

My brother has Verizon and it was roaming all day, so that’s one more perk of having AT&T.

Dinner

Tonight we headed back to the main dining room for dinner at 8pm. 

Freedom of the Seas is the only ship I know of that does dinner at 8pm and not 8:30 for late dinner. 

Tonight at dinner they introduced all the staff and managers on the staircase, and played more music. 

One of my favorite things about our waiter is each night he brings extra dishes we didn’t order for everyone to try.  This is just one more way Royal Caribbean goes the extra mile to ensure you have a great dining experience. 

I’m sorry for no food porn, I was locked out of my cabin and didn’t have time to get a new key before dinner. 

Post Dinner

After dinner each night my group, plus some new friends we have met meet up at the R Bar.  

This bar is new to Freedom of the Seas and replaced the Champagne Bar in January during her dry dock. 

I usually spend a lot of time at the pub, but I’ve just loved going to the R Bar each evening.  They are known for fresh cocktails, I’ve been having an old fashion each night and they are just perfect.  The décor in this bar is very intimate and creates a great vibe for a romantic drink before or after dinner. 

Dancing Under the Stars

Tonight was the Dancing Under the Stars Party on the pool deck from 10:30pm to 12:00am.  This is always one of my favorite events during the week to dance under the stars. 

Only problem was almost no one showed up!  I couldn’t believe how empty it was on the pool deck, mostly just teenagers.  I’m not really sure what caused the party to be a flop, maybe everyone was just so tired from being in St. Thomas all day. 

The bar closed down at midnight and I decided to call it a night... well after my late night pizza, that is. 

That’s all from St. Thomas; tomorrow we visit my favorite port St. Maarten.  

Royal Caribbean Blog contributor Michael Poole is on Freedom of the Seas this week reporting all about his cruise experience.

Today was our first of three sea days, I love just relaxing around the ship and enjoying some pool time in the sun. 

I made an appointment for the Next Cruise office right when I got onboard for today at 9:30am, to book some future cruises.  

My advice is to always book the first appointment of the day, as the staff always seem to run over.  We didn’t get helped until 10am and it took around an hour. 

I booked the Allure for next summer and Harmony for Spring 2017.  One of the perks from booking onboard is you get on board credit for the current cruise or the future cruise.  Also, you are only required to put down $100 deposit for the booking, which is nice for a sailing almost two years away. 

Pool Deck

After booking the cruise we headed up to the pool deck for some fun in the sun! 

I actually skipped breakfast, as I was still pretty full from dinner.  The pool deck was packed, but then again it was a little after 11AM on a sea day. 

We all jumped in the pool to cool off and they started the belly flop contest shortly after.  This is a fun activity to sit back and get entertained poolside. 

I noticed a lot of children in the pool most of the day, the pool staff was trying to control them the best they could, but they were everywhere. 

The captain actually mentioned our sailing is the most people to ever sail on Freedom of the Seas, 4,440 guests onboard.  My brother and I laughed because the same thing happen to us this past spring on the Oasis of the Seas. 

Lunch at Johnny Rockets

For lunch we headed to Johnny Rockets, this is an upcharge restaurant at $5.95 per person. 

We were a group of seven, so we had to get two tables, but it didn’t take too long. 

The staff started dancing to the music once we arrived, so I thought I would be fun to grab my little sister and dance with them!  She was so embarrassed, but who cares we are on a cruise right? 

I ordered the smokehouse burger, but just asked for a single burger to save room for dessert. 

One of my favorite desserts on a cruise ship is their world’s famous apple pie and ice cream.  This is one of those must try items when you dine at Johnny Rockets. 

Dinner

Tonight was a special evening because we were celebrating my grandmothers 75th birthday.  She loves Mexican food so we thought what better than having dinner at Sabor. 

The cost for dinner here is $25 per person and let me warn you the food just kept coming. 

Since we had a larger group at dinner he just brought all the starters out, and we didn’t mind.  For the main course I order the pork belly tacos and they were amazing, my brother actually said, “I’m ordering those next week”.

We had pre-arranged to have a cake for my grandmother and it was $13.  The service was absolutely outstanding the whole evening, even the chef came out to see how we were enjoying our dinner.  The restaurant is very small, but wasn’t full during our dinner. 

After dinner we headed to the R Bar, where we pull 10 chairs together for our group! 

That wraps up our first sea day, up next is St. Thomas!  

Royal Caribbean Blog contributor Michael Poole is on Freedom of the Seas this week reporting all about his cruise experience.

You may recall me from the Labadee vs Coco Cay podcast, that I’m a huge fan of Coco Cay.  To me this is what paradise looks like blue waters, hammocks under shaded trees, and chicken’s walking around like they own the island.  I know there is not a lot excursions to do in Coco Cay, but to me that’s what makes it special, you just relax. 

Since we are traveling in-group it takes a while to get everyone together, so we didn’t get off the ship until 10am. 

Okay, so if you listen to the podcast, you will know I’m a big fan of the tender boats and the ride over.  Well not on Freedom of the Seas, it took us almost an hour to get from ship to shore.  We did arrive at 7am and departed at 3pm, so it was a shorter day in Coco Cay. 

Today I had booked the Aqua Park with my sister, I had played on it a few years ago and wanted to revisit.

All I can say about this park was, holy cow!  There were around 100 kids out there with a few adults.  I was worn out within a few minuets of being out there, but it sure was a blast. 

I actually lost my water camera in the water, I was kind of freaking out because it’s brand new.  I went to the check-in stand and asked for some snorkeling equipment, and after 15 minutes of searching I found it!

After the aqua park we headed back to the ship since it was almost last call for a tender ride at 3pm.  Once I got back on board I headed to the schooner bar for some trivia, and well I just blogged. 

Pre Dinner

Tonight was formal night so everyone was very nicely dressed and this just happens to be my favorite night. 

One recent change is they no longer have the captain’s reception on the Royal Promenade; it’s almost hard to believe.  They now have the reception in the main theater, without free champagne. 

Before the show they hosted a Make a Wish auction on WiFi, drink packages, bridge tours, ect.  Around a half hour in they started the welcome aboard show. 

Dinner

Tonight was our first time in the main dining room and we had a table for 12.  They had live music playing from the staircase and the passengers were really getting into the music. 

For dinner we all order the filet of beef and it was so tender, quit possible the best I’ve ever tasted. 

That about wraps up our day in Coco Cay, up next is sea day!  

Royal Caribbean Blog contributor Michael Poole is on Freedom of the Seas this week reporting all about his cruise experience.

Pre Cruise

I arrived to Cape Canaveral around 1:00pm, so we had the whole afternoon ahead of us. 

For lunch, I wanted to head down to the restaurants on the water and watch the cruise ships sailaway.  We ended up going to The Grill on the water; it had live music and right beside the new terminal 1.  If you are looking for a fun way to start the vacation, I would suggest their patio on Saturday afternoons. 

Hotel

There was a group of 20 staying at the Radisson resort at the port.  The best thing about this hotel is the location, its right across the street from the pier; we could actually see the Freedom.  They have a beautiful swimming pool, tennis courts; only downfall is the layout of the resort. 

More often than not, I was lost I couldn’t find my room, very few signs directing you where to go, but we managed.  Also a good perk of this hotel is 0.2 miles from hertz rental car. 

This morning I dropped the car off at 7am, and walked back to the hotel and it took less than 10 minuets.  If you can grab a good rate on the rental car, this might be the best way to travel the 45 miles to Cape Canaveral. 

Embarkation  

We arrived to the pier at 11:30am and there was no line until we made it to the check-in desk to receive our sea pass cards, but didn’t take more than 15 minutes.  The terminal is beautiful with such a modern look, though it does not feel larger than the one Oasis of the Seas is currently using in Fort. Lauderdale. 

By noon, we were walking onboard and headed straight to the Windjammer for the signature first meal. 

It didn’t feel that over crowded that it usually does on day 1, and we were able to get a table for our group, which is 11 people. 

Cabin

The staterooms are ready at 1:00pm and I’m in an inside cabin, where the nightclub used to be on deck 3. 

The cabin is actually great, if not the best inside cabin I’ve had.  I’m sorry I haven’t taken pictures yet, but I will. 

Everything has that blue theme color, where the other inside cabin’s have the green tint.  It looks like the cabins on the new Quantum ship.

I would book this cabin again if I was returning to the Freedom, it’s 3543. 

Pre Dinner

Before dinner we went to vintages for some wine, it’s located on the royal promenade on deck 5.  They did have a shortage of almost every wine we asked for, they said the guest on Saturday night wiped them out and they would be restocked on Monday. 

Not a big deal, but we actually ran into the same issue at the new R Bar.  They couldn’t make a few drinks because they were out of everything, including bottles of water that are included in the drink package. 

Dinner

Tonight my brother treated the whole group to dinner at Chops Grill.  The cost of this dinner is $35 pp, which includes the gratuity. 

The service was really great, especially for such a large group. 

I started out with the French onion soup and it’s so full of flavor, one of my favorite items on the new menu.  I also had the shrimp cocktail, and the shrimp were so large almost a meal within themselves. 

For the main course I had the filet mignon, with the red wine sauce.  This is always such an amazing steak, no matter what ship you are on and I would recommend everyone to try it out. 

Our waiter surprised my brother and his new husband with a desert at the end of the meal, one more reason I love Royal Caribbean so much.  Shortly after dinner we all headed to bed, it was a really long day for everyone. 

Internet Package

The cost of the Internet package for 1 device is $140 and 2 devices was $220.  This is before any crown and anchor discount. For Diamond members, it’s $40 off. 

The speeds are extremely slow; I was so spoiled from the Internet speeds on Oasis of the Seas.  When you send a text (imessage) they are pretty fast, but pictures almost can’t go through. 

Also, I cannot pick up a WiFi signal in my stateroom.

That about wraps up my day 1 on board the Freedom of the Seas, up next is Coco Cay! 

Feel free to comment below and let me know if you want to see pictures of anything onboard.  

Royal Caribbean Blog contributor Michael Poole is about to go on Freedom of the Seas this weekend and here's his preview of his cruise!

Hi Loyal to Royal Cruisers, its Michael Poole again for another live review onboard Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas. If you didn’t get a chance to read my review from March onboard Oasis of the Seas, you can click here to hold you over until sail away.

This cruise is a 7 day, Eastern Caribbean sailing, visiting: Coco Cay, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten.

This cruise is unlike any cruise I’ve ever taken because I am sailing as group; in fact it’s a wedding group. My brother Jason Poole is getting married Sunday morning at 10AM, and then we are headed to board the Freedom of The Seas around noon. We have a range from grandparents, parents, and friends we have met of previous cruises joining us. My brother is lucky enough to stay onboard for two weeks, but the whole group is just sailing on the first sailing.

Outside of this being my first cruise sailing as a group, it will actually be my first time onboard Freedom of the Seas. I still find it hard to believe after 22 cruises I’ve never found my way on one of their flag ship vessels in the fleet. With that being said, I have sailed on her sisters Liberty of the Seas twice and Independence of the Seas, so I know what to expect. However, the Freedom will be a little different since her recent dry dock in January 2015. During the dry dock they added R Bar, Giovanni’s Table, and Sabor, but removed the night club.

My stateroom is one of the recently added cabins, where the night club was on deck 3 and I’m staying in it solo, chasing those Crown and Anchor points! For those unaware, if you stay in a cabin solo you received double points and suites you received triple points.

Some of the topics I’ll be including during this live review are: the drink package vs A la carte, specialty dining, stateroom, actives off shore and general info around the ship. Please feel free to join in on the comments and I’ll respond promptly.

Sunday will be upon us shortly and I can’t wait to share my first time onboard The Freedom of the Seas with you, well virtually!

The last day of any cruise is bittersweet but I wanted to make sure I got a lot out of it today so I could go home feeling like I tried a few new things. Today is another sea day and the weather today is less than cruise like; Cloudy, windy with a cold rain.

With bad weather like this, most of the activities we're going to do are limited to the indoors. Starting with breakfast, we headed up to the Windjammer for our traditional breakfast start. Breakfast seems to have the least variety in terms of the day-to-day menu at Windjammer. Aside from what's offered in the Jade section, very little else changes.

Following breakfast we headed down to Deck 6 to see the Loyalty Officer to get our NextCruise certificates. In my opinion, the NextCruise certificates are the best value for booking a Royal Caribbean cruise and it's really the only way I book new cruises. As expected, all of the officers were busy with appointments so we simply filled out the NextCruise certificate form and dropped it off to ensure we'd be all set.

Next up I had an interview with the Spa manager on Freedom of the Seas. I'll be posting the full interview in an upcoming blog post, but it was an insightful look at how the spa works and which services are the most popular.

My wife suggested we try the Make-A-Wish Foundation “Walk for Wishes” event. This is a charity event on all Royal Caribbean cruises where you can donate $10 per person and get a Walk for Wishes t-shirt, followed by a group walk around the pool deck. It was quick and fun and all for a great cause.

For lunch we wanted to try Johnny Rockets, which is a 50's style burger restaurant that may be available near you. Before I describe my experience here, let me say that I've never been a fan of Johnny Rockets on the Royal Caribbean ships because they usually have mediocre food and long waits.

This time we arrived about five or ten minutes before Johnny Rockets opened to avoid a long wait. The good news was we were the second group in line. The bad news was the first group was about 20 people or so. We were seated promptly and ordered up. Once again, I'll save my formal review of Johnny Rockets for a future blog post but let's just say my experience here was pretty much the same of every other time I've eaten at Johnny Rockets. None of the food really “rocked my world”, with the best part of the meal being the milkshake, but that actually costs extra on top of the $4.95 cover charge. I feel confident in my recommendation of skipping Johnny Rockets until further notice.

With the poor weather outside, a lot of the activities moved to the Royal Promenade. On our way back to our cabin I saw a cooking demonstration, a ice sculpture being made, towel folding demonstration and a buffet of food choices all along the Promenade. Needless to say it was crowded but it was interesting to see it all. Most of these demos could be seen in probably a minute or two but in aggregate, there's enough going on here to spend a little while.

With the poor weather, it made sense for us all to take a nap again and relax. We also needed to start packing so we got everything in order in our stateroom and packed up our stuff. It's the one thing no one ever enjoys about their cruise but all good things must come to an end, right?

Before dinner we wanted to see the Dreamworks parade because the other showing was on day one and was quite late. We got a spot on the Royal Promenade for the showing about 30 minutes early and I have to say the process is a little less than organized. We just picked a spot and hoped it wasn't in the way. In fact, the crew didn't set up barriers until a few minutes before the show.

The parade setup is a little odd in that the procession does not begin at one end and go to the other. Rather, half the parade starts at one end and the other half of the parade at the other end and it all just goes back and forth. So as a result you have to keep an eye on what's happening on either side of you.

As for the parade itself, it was okay. My daughter enjoyed it as did most of the other kids but I don't think it comes close to comparing to the gold-standard of character parades that you find at a place like Walt Disney World. Considering the individual character meets have very short lines usually, I'd recommend seeing the characters there and bypass the parade if your goal is to see the characters.

Tonight's dinner was back in the main dining room and say what you will about the main dining room, I really enjoy eating here. I like how the servers know how we like everything and we lucked out with some very good table-mates. To me, this is as integral a part of the cruise experience as the pool.

Overall, this was a great cruise for me and my family. In the last 5 years or so, cruising has emerged our favorite way to travel and this week's cruise reaffirmed that passion. Royal Caribbean is always changing but the good news is it still has, to borrow one of their marketing terms, that “WOW factor”. For me, I don't necessarily see WOW in individual instances, but rather it's when I look back on all the great memories from our trip I can't help but think to myself, “Wow, that was fun!”.

We've made memories on this cruise that I think our family will talk about for many, many years to come. Credit for that goes to the crew for constantly looking for ways to improve our vacation and it shows. I also believe that part of what makes a great vacation is proper planning ahead of time, which I think sites like this help in some small part to accomplish.

I'd like to thank everyone who has been reading these blog posts and sharing their thoughts and questions with me. It's been a great way to share in the cruise experience and I've enjoyed documenting as much of it as I could. You've all been great virtual cruise mates and I hope we can do this again some time!

Disclosure: Royal Caribbean provided this cruise for evaluation and review purposes. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.

Today was our second sea day and it was certainly the tale of two cities to say the least. Let me explain what I mean by this. We woke up around 8am or so for my wife to get her massage for the cruise. She had scheduled her hot stone massage for 9am, which was her traditional gift to herself of getting pampered. Meanwhile I had woken up but felt like a zombie, specifically just walking around feeling like I could fall asleep at any time.

I'm not sure why I was so tired but me and my daughter went up to the Windjammer for breakfast and ate a little and then returned to the stateroom to watch TV until my wife returned. When she did around 11, we eventually made our way to the Windjammer again for an early lunch but we were all feeling a little run down. After lunch we returned to our stateroom and started watching TV but very quickly we decided on a nap.

Fast forward 4 hours, yes 4 hours, and we woke up at about 4:30. I guess this is where I tell you about one advantage of a cruise vacation is you can choose to do as little or as much as you want and I think running around for the last 5 days finally caught up with us because we were all pretty tired. Part of me lamented in the fact we didn't do more but truthfully I knew that we needed to relax like we did and just take it easy.

By now it was about 5pm and our evening plans were to have dinner at Portofino, the speciality Italian restaurant onboard, and to have a night out for me and my wife. We dropped my daughter off at the daycare and arrived at Portofino a little early for our reservation, which was not a problem.

This was our first time at Portofino and we were excited to try it all. The menu was mostly what I would consider to be traditional Italian fare. We had eaten at Gionvanni's Table on Oasis of the Seas and I felt like Portofinio on Freedom of the Seas was more formal than Gionvanni's. It felt upscale and I'll have more on our dinner here on a future restaurant review to dive into our experience here.

The food at Portofinos was quite good and compared to our dinner at Chops the other night, I enjoyed dinner here more. It's hard to compare the two but if I had to eat at just one, I'd lean towards Portofino honestly.

I opted for the Minestrone soup and the tuna carpaccio for my appetizers. I loved the soup but didn't enjoy the carpaccio as much just because it was heavy on citrus (oranges, limes) and didn't do it for me. A+ for presentation for both.

For entrees I chose the tuna steak and the pesto pasta. These were both really good and something I would order again.

In addition to the food, the service here was quite good and the cost here seemed to definitely be worth it. Like Chops, if you've never eaten at Chops or Portifinos, I'd definitely recommend eating at both for the experience. They offer good menus and Portofinos is slightly cheaper so hard to go wrong.

After dinner, we decided to do a bit of a bar crawl. What follows is a review of each bar we went to and what we had to drink.

Bolleros: This is a Spanish themed bar with some dancing available. We opted to go for what the bar promotes the most, which are margaritas and we were not disappointed. Bolleros seems to be the place to go for pre-dinner drinks prior to going to the main dining room. There is live music here too so it's quaint.

Schooner Bar: This is definitely a bar that benefits from some sort activity going on, such as trivia. When we went there there was nothing going on and maybe a half dozen people at the bar so as you might imagine, it wasn't that “happening”.

Bear and Bull: When we arrived at the Bear and Bull, it was like the Schooner Bar and not that exciting. They do offer a WIDE array of beers to choose from. They are all bottled (no draft beers available) but I love the selection here. Within about an hour or so, some live music started and the bar really picked up. It may have been the aggregate effect of drinking for the past couple of hours but I had a great time trying new beers and enjoying the music.

Tomorrow it's our last day on the cruise and another sea day. I've got a lot of things planned, and assuming I don't sleep all day (again), should have a lot to report!

Be sure to post your comments and questions in the comments below! 

Today's cruise itinerary was a stop at the island of St Martin, which is split between the French and Dutch. Our ships docks in Phillipsburg, which is on the Dutch side but the French side is a quick car ride.

We set our alarm for 7am to get ready to go right when we docked. In reality, by the time we got everyone ready, dressed and on our way to breakfast, we were behind schedule but it was fine. We contemplated ordering breakfast to our room from room service (it's free) but opted not to because the menu was fairly limited.

Following our “breakfast of champions”, we finally made our way to the gangway and off the ship. This was my second time in St Martin and my wife and daughter's first time. We had absolutely no plan for the island. We figured we would see where the day took us and improvise on the spot.

We decided to walk from the pier area to downtown Phillipsburg. It's a walkable distance but truthfully we could have benefited from a taxi. At any rate, once we got downtown my daughter started crying, which quickly turned into a full blown temper tantrum. We think she was just tired since we woke her up this morning but there wasn't much we could do to stop her from crying. So we decided to forego shopping and go to a beach where she could play in the water and hopefully cheer up.

We walked a little to find some taxi drivers but most drivers were uninterested in just two people. They wanted to fill their vans and maximize the fare so we got frustrated. We were about to just go to the beach in Phillipsburg when another taxi driver offered to take us. We told him we wanted to go Orient Beach on the French side of the island and he offered to take us for $20 total. Great. We piled into his van and off we went. The driver, Leo, was a nice man who said he was about to turn 50 and talked a lot on the way.

After crossing over the French side, I saw a sign for “Le Galion”. I had remembered that name from random internet searches because it was the name of a beach in St Martin that was famous for its quiet cove that is perfect for little kids. I told Leo to go to Le Galion instead and he nicely offfered to drive us there and let us scout things out before deciding if we really wanted to go there or not.

We pulled up to the beach and I took a quick look around and it definitely looked nice enough so we arranged for Leo to come get us 2 hours from then.

Let me tell you, this is the perfect beach for families with young children who cannot swim or are not strong swimmers. It's basically a cove with a great beach that has tiny waves that is perfect for my 2 year old daughter who cannot swim but loves to be in the water.

There were beach chairs and umbrella already set up so we picked one and it cost us $15 for their use. There's also a small restaurant and bar on the beach that offers food and drinks as well as free Wi-Fi.

My daughter loved her time here and I'm fairly certain was in the water for the entire 2 hours. There's 2 docks in the water, once pretty close to land for the not-so-strong swimmers and a dock further out for the bigger kids. Nothing else in the way of toys but it's beautiful and perfect for kids. I will mention this beach is clothing optional. 98% of people here wore regular swim wear but there were probably 4 or 5 women who were sunbathing topless. I really didn't think it was a big deal and they all were together at one end of the beach so it was a moot point.

After our 2 hours (which flew by), Leo came and told us to take our time getting ready. We got all of our stuff together and got back in the car. I asked him to take us somewhere to eat for lunch where the locals go. He recommended a Guyanese restaurant back on the Dutch side where he and lots of others like to go. It sounded good to us so off we went.

We arrived at the small restaurant and Leo took us inside and talked to the owner. Leo and the owner showed us all the food available and we picked out a few things that sounded good. None of it was anything I've had before but it smelled wonderfully. We tried a little of everything including their specialty which is called roti. Roti is like a burrito of slow cooked meat, potatoes and sauce. It was delicious as was all the food we tried.

The roti

It was the perfect local food adventure that I relish in trying when I travel. After lunch our daughter was already falling asleep and we decided we had to go back to the ship for her to nap. It was only about 1pm but we had no choice really. Leo dropped us back at the pier. In total he charged us $20 to go to Le Galion and then $25 to go from Le Galion to lunch and back to the pier. I gave him a healthy gratuity above that for his time and help. He was a great help and worth every penny.

After getting back on the ship, we basically just relaxed in our cabin until dinner. We were pretty tired from getting up early and swimming so we just took it easy. The ship left St Martin and we got ready for dinner.

Quick story about dessert, there's always a special flavor of ice cream and tonight was coffee ice cream and I LOVE coffee ice cream, so I told my waiter to bring me as much coffee ice cream as he can.  He actually went to the chef to ask how much he could get me and the magic answer is 6 scoops.  Best dessert ever!

During dinner, my daughter fell asleep on my wife so we let her take a power nap and then dropped her off at the nursery for us to enjoy a little time together. Don't get excited, we're boring people.

We first went to an event for Crown and Anchor Society members that are Platinum or Emerald status. It was hosted by the ship's Captain and Hotel Manager and they shared some humorous stories and anecdotes. It was fun and quick and there were free alcoholic beverages served so it was worth our time.

Next we walked the Royal Promenade to see what was happening and for my wife to scope out the sales. We didn't buy anything but just enjoyed the walk. After we went up to the Windjammer to check out their spread. Didn't eat anything but I always enjoy just seeing what they offer.

We finally did commit to doing something when we decided to play a round of mini-golf on the Sports Deck. It's a 9-hole course and with the movement of the ship and wind, it was certainly an entertaining round of golf. That being said, we had a good time and while I wouldn't say the mini golf is a reason to book a Royal Caribbean cruise, it's great having it available to do onboard and I love having plenty to choose from.

We were all feeling pretty tired after our long day so we decided to call it a night.

Tomorrow is a sea day and we've got a few things planned but our day is fairly wide open. Tune in tomorrow to see what we end up doing!

Thanks for all the great comments and be sure to post any questions in the comments below!