cruiselife

Recap of Bonaire and Aruba! Part 1
It's been busy doing so many things I will have to condense the two days into this one post. 
The day in Bonaire started with us watching Freedom dock on a very small pier. As I mentioned, watching the different ways each port ties up the ship has been facinating. The big Panoramic windows tilt out a good two feet so the view is enhanced in all directions. After a windjammer breakfast we headed out to a snokel and beach break at Coco beach. The snorkeling was good but the beach break was very crowded. It reminded me of some of the places in Phillipsburg St. Maarten. For us, if you have to find your row to get to your beach chair it's to crowded. Again, the fish were colorful and plentiful so it wasn't a total thumbs down. 
The best part of the day was the afternoon. After lunch on board we went into town. The street fair vendors were true island artisans and we shopped more here than the last 10 ports. The whole center of town hand a real pleasant feel and we lingered a long time. With bath salts, jewelery and gifts in town, we headed back. 
Back on board we realized that on this trip, day five was formal night.  Feeling so good from the day we posed for photos and had a delicious meal in the MDR. The Las Vegas Tenors headlined. They said they did over 50 RC cruises last year. It was our first time seeing the and we along with the crowd enjoyed the performance. Off to sleep to get ready for Aruba.
Quick thoughts - Sprinkles is broken. Oh the humanity! - I know the late leaving  ports of call effect show times but they just seem to be at very odd times. - Is it me or does the schooner bar and boleros always seem to need about double the seats when they just entertainment - freedom class ships have such an impressive profile when docked with other ships. Proud to be on her!
 

Final Thoughts
Having been now waiting in the airport for 8 hours, I feel that I have been reflecting enough for my final thoughts through my firsts. ? 
My firsts
My first time to the ABC islands and they shined. Caruaco, Bonaire, and Aruba did not disappoint. All beautiful but different: Caruaco more urban, Bonaire small town feel and Aruba tourist and sandy. 
First time renting a car. Fun but more to think through. 
First time being Platinum.  Yes, we made sure to get the bathrobes and marvel at each other. As noted, wore them to the hot tubs at night. Yes, newbie loyal to Royal move bit who cares!
First time using a taxi and flagging down any ride back to the port. So as you see it took 5 or so cruises for us to break free of RC booked shore excursions
First time attending an art auction and buying art. Note that my intial post said we are not art auction folk... You just never know until you attend. It wound up being a highlight!
First post cruise excursion. Again, not planned and turned into a highlight. Also a good bargin cause of the transfer to the airport. 
First time booking two cruises at once. Blessed that we can do that. 
Talking about being blessed
You probably noted that I tend to use "we" in my posts.  I am blessed with the most amazing cruise partner for me and that makes these adventures that much more special. I know we have just begun to explore all the places we can go via Royal and I will look forward to every one of them!
One more
This community had really helped us plan out this trip. I know there is so much to track down for our next cruises such as Cuba, all inclusive resorts in Cozumel, etc.  I want to thank all who share their knowledge because it makes a difference! 
Next blog is Cuba in September unless a really good deal shows up ? YOLO
 
 

Back to San Juan
As mentioned, we had a 6pm flight so a day ago we booked the rain Forrest tour with airport transfer. But first, one final meal at the MDR. The food was as good as ever and it was clear how much better breakfast is at the MDR. The French toast was twice as thick, soft and sprinkled with powder sugar. The omelettes were twice as fluffy and the hash browns considably better. 
After a stroll through the promonade to the star lounge for our wait to disembark. Yes there were some lines but getting the luggage and customs went smoothly. 
On to the bus for a 5 hour tour of the rain forest. As always, the tour guide makes or breaks the tour and we got a good one! Hector was informative and funny. The rain forest has rebounded well in just two years since it was heavily deforested from the hurricane. 
Our bags were at the curb as we arrived at the airport. It was a good transition day but no matter how you slice it.... We are no longer on the ship.  
Once back home I will post some final thoughts. Thanks for following along. It's a pleasure posting and I also find it a nice way to keep a journal. 
 
 

Last sea day full of surprised!
Next  Cruise -  warm and windy today on deck so we eased into the day with a Windjammer breakfast and a mid morning visit to Next Cruise. We first booked our traditional January cruise on Allure to the Western Caribbean. It will be our second time on an Oasis class ship and our second back to the Western Caribbean. Then a wave of "that's a whole year away" came over us so we booked four nights to Cuba/Key West via Majesty. The ship and Cuba will both be new. Super excited!
The Art Auction - Say what? We have never stepped into that realm on the ship but with a newly Platinum award of extra raffle tickets in hand off we went. It was a learning experience but very enjoyable.  A glass of champagne, lots of action and also rather informative made it a fun two hours. Most importantly, we learned what art we liked and are coming home with two pieces.  Who knew!!
He last evening - A final MDR led to some time at Olive and Twist which took us to the last production show, Once Upon A Time.  This particular show maybe our favorite non Broadway production on the cruises we have been on. All this led to getting our luggage out with four minutes to spare before the 11pm deadline. 
We have a flight leaving at 6pm tomorrow so yesterday we booked a debarkation day excursion to the rain forest. It's a rather good deal considering we would have to pay for two Ubers and figure where to store our luggage for 10 hours!
Stay tuned for that bounus day recap. In the meantime here are some random thoughts. 
Leaving from San Juan is a weather treat! It's been between 80 and 82 for the entire 7 days. Lows around 75.  - The freestyle coke machines had no lines ever.  Maybe the cruisers were a different make up or the price increase to $10 a day has decreased demand. We stopped buying the soda package because of price. - talking soda machines, even without the chip mug, it was a great place to get water and ice fast. - This trip went fast, really fast. 

Recap of Bonaire and Aruba. Part 2
With anticipation we pulled into Aruba for a 15 hour port of call.  After a room service breakfast we headed out early for a horseback riding adventure. Very efficiently we went from the Acadia theater to a van and was wisked away to a ranch on the Eastern side of the island. After a short but thorough briefing, I mounted Bacardi and 1 we hit the trail.  It was a blast going through Aruba's arid land scape with 20 foot high cactus.  We eventually made our way to the coast with us riding by the crashing surf as high as 20 feet.  Our stop was a beautiful beach before a ride back to the ranch. This was a five star excursion!
Back to the ship to eat and change and out we went on our own to find a beach. We took a taxi to Asanti beach which is way North in the hopes to get away from the tourists but even that was crowded. It was an Aruban holiday so that may have brought out a lot of local families. After a few hours in the sun we had to figure a way back to the ship. The taxi there was $29 at holiday rates so we contemplated public transportation but a small tour bus came by offering $5 rides to the cruise port so we hoped on. It was a tour in progress so we spent a relaxing 40 minutes learning about the island and going by all the local and tourist beaches.
Of all the Islands on this trip, Aruba is by far the biggest vacation spot. The hotel rooms alone dwarf the other stops by tenfold. That's good and bad depending on your preferred experience you want when you sail. 
All told it was 11 hours off the ship so we dragged ourselves into the windjammer for dinner. We are definitely MDR folk so we just treated it like that.  Bread and starters first, some conversation then the main course, then dessert. It was fun to set it up that way.
We finished the evening wearing our bathrobes to the jacuzzi and then reading in the solarium overlooking the lights of Aruba.
Honestly, we went to bed before the ship left and never heard or felt anything. 
Sea day today. Time to book our next cruise!
 
 

You guys sound very flexible -- thanks for your willingness to share a visit to the island with our crew.  I also sent you a private message with more info on our group.  Might also be good to know what new van Leo's got to gauge if we would all comfortably all fit -- probably, but might be worth checking out anyway! ?

On Indy and spotted a new Diamond happy hour drink menu.  Second ship in 2019 with Glenfiddich scotch offered.  
 
 

This slightly delayed recap of a port day in Curacao just shows that it was a jam packed day of fun and sun!
First off, Curacao has rocketted up the charts as one of my favorite ports. Theb15 minute walk to the city center  is as nice as I have found. Your start out along the water and go through an old stone fort converted into ships. Definitely go up the walls for a nice view of the harbor. After  that you make your across the historic floating bridge and into city center. We spent the morning on our own looking at the architecture and finding the old continuous used synagogue in the Western hemsphire. The building was first used in 1732. There was a $10 charge to walk the grounds, and visit the museum. We also had a half hour talk from the rabbi on the history. 
After a quick lunch on board we met our excursion that took us to the limestone caves. The caves where nice but the tour guide pointing out all the sites to and from the other side of the island was even more enjoyable. Ziza, our guide, was a bundle of joy and energy. The second part of the tour was a guided exploration of the city center with Ziza. The hour plus walk was the highlight of the excursion. I will let the photos speak for adventure!
Back on board we enjoyed a rack of lamb and chicken parmesan in the MDR and then had our traditional slow walk around the outside promonade on deck 4. There is something special being up on the helipad at last light. 
There was no headliner of production show tonight so it was an early night for us. We love the shows so always are disappointed when there isn't one. 
Tomorrow, err today is Bonaire and we just got cleared. Time for snorkeling! @Camilla I will get the kids area phots today!

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!
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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!

 

That is awesome! If you are interested we have reserved the famous Leo Brown to be our driver for the day in St. Maarten. @Matt has made several mentions about Leo in his blogs and podcasts so we were excited to get to have him as our guide for the day. It is just my wife and I for now, but Leo said he has a new van that has room for up to 12 people that he is very proud of. If you are looking for something to do in St Maarten feel free to join us. He mentioned that the per person rate would be much lower the more people there are, so if you are interested let me know and I will give him a call and get an updated quote! We would pay him directly in St Maarten. We don't plan to fill up the van, but we are hoping to find another couple or family to join us. If not, no big deal, I just figured I would rather ask a fellow RC Blog follower than random people on the cruise! He said he can take us anywhere we want to go and he plans to take us to the French side of the island, an authentic restaurant, a nice overlook, and all of the best beaches.
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2015/07/30/freedom-of-the-seas-live-blog-day-five-st-martin

That is awesome! If you are interested we have reserved the famous Leo Brown to be our driver for the day in St. Maarten. @Matt has made several mentions about Leo in his blogs and podcasts so we were excited to get to have him as our guide for the day. It is just my wife and I for now, but Leo said he has a new van that has room for up to 12 people that he is very proud of. If you are looking for something to do in St Maarten feel free to join us. He mentioned that the per person rate would be much lower the more people there are, so if you are interested let me know and I will give him a call and get an updated quote! We would pay him directly in St Maarten. We don't plan to fill up the van, but we are hoping to find another couple or family to join us. If not, no big deal, I just figured I would rather ask a fellow RC Blog follower than random people on the cruise! He said he can take us anywhere we want to go and he plans to take us to the French side of the island, an authentic restaurant, a nice overlook, and all of the best beaches.
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2015/07/30/freedom-of-the-seas-live-blog-day-five-st-martin

Guess we will be on the same gangway @cruiselife, just boarding a bit later than you!  ? @Scott Johns, have a great cruise! 

Well, at least you are aware! ???? 

I just told my wife last night that my #1 goal on our cruise coming up is not to eat myself into a food coma. I have never successfully gone on a cruise and not been miserable at some point from eating too much. Ordering multiple entrees/appetizers combined with sugary drinks is a terrible combination for me, but also way too delicious to pass up. The pain is real but the food is real good. But this cruise is the cruise that I'm going to control myself. Hopefully. Wish me luck...
Side Note: We purchased a 5 night dining package since this is our first Oasis class cruise. I'm screwed.

 

The three days is the time it took for his shorts to go the correct way back out of his butt.

To be fair, we're all trying to think of new things to do while docked in Nassau.....

After Shopping We Went To The Schooner Bar.

Day Three Costa Maya 
After Breakfast In The Windjammer We Got Off To Go Shopping. This Was There Frist Time In Costa Maya And My Second Time. Today We Where The Only Ship In Port.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

After We Went Shopping We Hung Out In Boleros.

 

Day Three Cozumel
 I Got Up And Went To The Windjammer For Breakfast Then Took This Great Photo.

Then We Went And Got Of The Boat. To Go Shopping.