Irieman

The sea day continued with dinner in the MDR, a late sunset promonade walk, a bit of music at Boleros, followed by our first ever top tier event and ending with the headliner show. For us, a busy evening! Here are my thoughts... As part of My Time dining we asked for a window seat for two. For us it is well worth it not just for the view but adds to the privacy. Most tables for two have other tables for two lined up so tight you feel like your tables run together. Our first top tier event was enjoyable with a Captains welcome and Q and A session. For the Platinum level, non alcoholic drinks and musical entertainment was followed by the speaches and awards. Very nice indeed. I am super excited for the next three ports. I have wanted to do the ABC Islands forever. My chance starts tomorrow! 0122191921.jpg

Well, not to pull latitude on you but I started my trip in Augusta Maine which was zero last night. I have gained 82 degrees on this voyage. ? The sun continues to shine today on board. Too hot for a full day of sun so we took a relaxed lunch crawl from pizza and sandwiches on the royal promonade to dessert at the Windjammer. Next we took in the ice show which is the most action packed of the few I have seen on other ships. Always amazed at the talent level! Now back behind the flowrider on a lounger watching the expanse of the ocean behind us.

Good morning from Freedom! I love life and especially on board Royal Caribbean. This is a very live photo from my perspective with a sunrise shot from our pano room. More later ?

Just a follow-up on the beach place we stumbled upon. Can't find a web site for Kontiki but this is their Facebook page. Also here are some photos...

Day 2 - On Our Own! This was our second time to St. Maarten so we figured, let's try it on our own. I was empowered by all the helpful hints from this blog so we rented a car from coastal. For those thinking about it, they range from $60 to $150 depending on the make with Jeep's on the high end. We paid in advance so after a few signatures we we're shuttled up a back road to our car. Off we went! Driving was easy but beware off, motorcycles who pass at a whim, some poor roads and very few road signs. With that in mind, driving was not that difficult. Thanks to @Matt our morning tour ended up at Merigot for some french pasteries and coffee. It was nice to walk around a bit and the vibe was nicer than Phillipsburg. Then we headed out for the great beach search. No signs had us passing by beaches I had researched until finally Orient Beach. A quick left off the main road had us drive down to the beach. There appeared to be a public parking lot with no amenities but in the distance we saw a beach club. Kontiki opened less than a month ago and is a gem. We walked in and for $30 we had two super comfortable chairs and an umbrella beach side with up class bar, restaurant and facilities. I highly recommend it as an alacarte beach destination. Back on the ship we had a relaxing evening in the main dinning room and a production show Marque. We turned Platinum this trip so for fun, we sported out bathrobes to the hot tub for a romantic late night soak. Some random thoughts - renting a car was fun but next time we will try the taxi back to Kontiki - seating front row center isn't for everyone but we love it. Freedom allows us regular folks a chance for those seats - I absolutely love the location of the panoramic rooms on deck 12. So easy to the deck chairs, gym and even a quick shot back to the windjammer. Sea day tomorrow to the abc islands.

Hello again! Sorry for the delay as my room did not work with the access code given. Had a day in St. Marrten and just met the internet guru so armed with the new code I am live again! I will use this pre dinner post to just catch you up on last night. As I mentioned, with a late embarkation, everything seemed more laid back. My time dining the first night is usually the most hectic and it was actually one of the smoothest nights ever in the MDR. I will have to see if it continues in which case I will give extra kudos to the wait staff. The sail away out of San Juan and past El Muro was beautiful at night. We will take the advice of fellow bloggers to enjoy the time at night in the various ports cause it is rather unique. The Patriot game was on the pool screen and was well attended with a good deal of passionate fans. ? The rest of my evening was low key and went to bed rather early. Just to paint a better picture of where we are coming from cruise wise, we are in a panoramic room on the 12th deck with no drink package. We may get a drink a day so it doesn't pay. We prefer to search out the more intimate parts of the ship but love all the headline shows. No gambling or art but lots of sun andr relaxation Later tonight I will share our rental car day in St. Maarten. ?

It's time and I am jazzed! I start this blog on the front sun deck area up front deck 12. It's my second blog and hope to share enough info to help others and just maybe entertain. We embark from San Juan in about 5 hours which has lent itself to be a very relaxed time. We arrived at the port at noon and from handing the bags to the porters to walking on board was ten minutes max. I assume we slid in right after the call of all those that were waiting for the ship to be cleared to board. The windjammer seemed quieter possibly again because there is so much time before the muster drill. No sense of a rush to get food before they close. We are coming back to Freedom from our first trip on an Oasis size ship. Honestly I was surprised that my first impression was that this ship seemed small. I remember how I thought Freedom was gigantic just last year. Well, not to fear, after walking around during the past few hours, it is feeling large again. Plus it helps being next to the Disney Wonder which is a good deal smaller. I will recap the full day later but will leave you with some pre departure thoughts. - San Juan airport was very busy with the taxi line being about a 30 minute wait. No Uber from the airport. - We stayed at a nice boutique hotel, the San Geronimo, but it's more european style than American. It is less than a mile to the port and about a mile and a half to the center of old San Juan. - fortunate enough to have been here for the San Sebastian festival in old San Juan. Good music and fun but very crowded. Hope you enjoy following and feel free to ask questions. I will try to track the answers down!

We loved our one time in St.Kitts last January. We split the time with us exploring via a morning walk around town. The best stop was the national museum . It was well done and reminded us of the ruthless colonization of all of the islands. Afterwards we did ATV excursion through RC. The views we're amazing and they let us speed enough to make it interesting. Enjoy!

Congrats! I sail on Sunday but my adventure begins Friday with a flight to Florida, pick up the love of my life and then we fly to San Juan... to Freedom ?

I will be live blogging starting next weekend. I had a blast doing it in September on Oasis. Very excited not having much of a specific plan for our day at Saint Maarten. I do know that we will head to the French side to start in Marigot. Then off to some beaches and some views. Who knows so stay tuned!

I was in St.Maarten on Oasis in September but only did a beach day in Phillipsburg, Great Bay Beach. Yes, you could see upper floors still without windows but the street level stores and restaurants along the beach were humming with activity. I can give you a much better report as I am back there January 21st on Freedom. This time we have a car rental for the day and plan to go around both sides of the Island.

Thanks for the suggestions from dinner to the beach. Needles to say we hit the two week countdown and am super excited. Also fun to see at least two others here on the same cruise!

Also on the 20th sailing Freedom - Always wanted to embark from San Juan and sail the southern Carribean. Happy New Year to everyone! ???

Excited to be going on Freedom of the Seas, January 20th, 2019

We are heading back out on Freedom January 20th and have noted a 9pm and 8pm departure from Aruba and Curacao. We have daytime excursions set but looking for any advice for things to do in the late afternoon or early evening in either location. Also looking forward to live blogging. I had a blast doing it this past September!

Have an amazing time! We will be with you in spirit. I have 88 days until I am back on the high seas.

Welcome! It's a wonderful slippery slope. I cruised once a year for three years, now every six months, and now moving to Florida so weekend cruising access is next up. Of course, there is the multi times a day check in here to see what everyone else is doing!

I have used it with great success. I do suggest spraying what you need the first night as you hang them up and then, if needed, again the second night. The formula is online so you can mix up your own batch if you prefer.

RC could reposition a Radiance Class ship in the future. That would be a slightly larger ship and something different for those repeat customers. No idea if it makes business sense but just throwing out possibilities... that fit under the bridge. ?

So happy for all of you. Still glowing over my fantastic Sept. cruise... Probably another few weeks and I will be in full cruise withdrawal and You Tubing the wash your hands video!!

It's a 45 day dry dock so I am leaning to a lot of changes. The Sky Pad seems to be a signature "look" of the amplification so I expect that to be on the sports deck. Probably where the mini golf is located. (Golf gets moved often.) Also, as I mentioned on another thread, I believe Cats has used up all if it's nine lives and a new show will be installed.

Hi, Although I understand your dismay please realize that this will be just a blip on your entire cruise experience. There is so much expertise on this board I am sure that you will get plenty of advice. I would just arrive early to the port and let the staff guide you through the process. Happy cruising!!

So happy for you enjoy!! We really are not late people either. We my time dined at 5:30 and then walked or went to the schooner bar for some piano music. Most nights we had a reserved show booked at 8:30. Except for Cats, they are about 45 minutes. Anything after that was totally up to how we felt. We could call it a night, stay mellow with music in Central Park or listen to music in Dazzles. After that our big excitement was watching the captain do his 10 minute update on TV. ? Captain Claus rules!!

Recap! Back up north and a day at work already complete. Disembarking was smooth except for a lengthy line through customs. Rented a car to fly out of Jacksonville and had enough time for two beach stops. Now on to the recap... The ship. Although my posts tend to be fan boy positive it really is that I don't sweat the small stuff. Case in point was that the technical glitch prevented Come Fly with Me and that the main dining room ground to halt during the second formal night. With that said, stuff happens. So many other new things dwarfed those issues. For me the top take aways from Oasis were: 5. You can find quiet spaces among the 6000 guests. From the sun deck to the few chairs at the back of the track to Central Park, you can find space 4. Talk about Central Park, RC designers nailed that space 3. The solarium forward of the aft elevators transformed the feeling of the space compared to Freedom and Voyager classes 2. The extra width of the ship is evident on the extra space for the Royal Promanade. It makes a big difference on flow. 1. I am an explorer big time and thought I would do and cover everything within a week. Not so, I have venues and places on my list for the next time on an Oasis class ship. Port stops: Bahamas - the Segway excursion was a bucket list adventure that was worth it. Although it's packaged with beach time it is so limited just book it in your mind as a Segway event. We did it at Blue Lagoon which has an amazing history. Worth the read of the book they give you at the end of the tour. Saint Thomas - The five star tour is really two and a half stars. I hoped for a island wide tour with history and it really was a shuttle between 3 places. As mentioned, the Mehgan's beach stop was the highlight. Of course our self walking to the 2nd oldest synagogue in the western hemisphere also made the port stop worth it. Saint Maarten - We did the simple Great Bay Beach day and it was nice. It is totally a commercial beach so I guess you get what you pay for. We did meet a lot of nice people on the lounge chairs around us. Still, I think we will go off on our own to some other more isolated location. Finally, we have been a once a 0919181115.mp4 January cruiser for just a few years. This was a special trip so we opted for an inside room. I was a bit worried but we were totally fine. If we can cruise twice a year with one being inside I would gladly do it each and every year! Again, I hope this was helpful. Let me know if you have any questions from what I posted. If not, I will see you on the other threads and in 118 days, I will be back here for my January cruise out if San Juan!! Happy cruising!!

Day 7!! The weather has really been perfect. For all our concern about hurricane season it was by far the best cruising weather of my 4. All the others in January had days that were to cold or rainy. Today was the best of the best with super clear skies and temps in the mid 80's. So with Jeffrey reminding us of the hundreds of things to do we wound up doing none of them. What we did do was... - have breakfast at the Park Cafe - start the sun bathing on deck 16 close to the solarium like yesterday. - explore more of the ship and have lunch at the Wipeout buffet. - move to the sundeck to relax and read. Seriously a dozen people max there. Took some great photos! - ran five miles again around what must be the best track at sea. The evening was a nice solid meal at the main dining room followed by packing. A long relaxing hot tub soak by ourselves was in order to reflect on the past seven days. After a quick change we capped of the night at Dazzles with some music with the house band. Like many people posting on the RC Blog, I was a little worried about trying the "big" ship. For all those who may read this at some point, the Oasis class is worth doing and will not disappoint! I will get back to land and write a recap of the good and the bad in the next day or so. Thank you all who with your discussion posts have guided me to make great choices for the past seven days and those following and posting on this thread. I didn't think I would do this but am glad I shared. Enjoy a few photos from today!