iluvwineandtravel Posted December 26, 2019 Report Share Posted December 26, 2019 Hi All, I am sure others will blog about this one, but I thought I would join along. My track record tells me that it probably won't be quite live, but I will capture my experiences and catch up on the plane ride home from San Juan if nothing else! I have had this cruise booked for more than 2 years now after the RCL blog cruise was first announced. Despite this being our 30th cruise or so, this is our first time on Freedom Class. We initially booked a balcony cabin, and then I downgraded to an inside cabin to save money. We are the type of cruisers who enjoy a balcony, but it depends on the price difference in the cost. We are perfectly happy in an inside cabin, even in Alaska which is one of our favorite itineraries. I ended up doing royal up and getting upgraded back to an aft corner balcony a few months ago and we are thrilled with that!!! I also went back and forth on the drink package with this being a group cruise, but after weighing the pros and cons and decided to forgo the package and just depend on diamond drinks, my two bottles of wine, drinking in port on this very port intensive itinerary, and we are going to do Chef's table on new year's eve. We are typically my time dining people, but because we are with the group and in port late many days, we switched he second seating to sit with the group. That said, we also have a 3 night dining package so will likely only be eating in the main dining room 2 or 3 nights this cruise which is unusual for us. Here are the plans so far: We fly from Cincinnati/Norther KY airport very early saturday morning and arrive in San Juan in mid afternoon. We will be staying at the Hyatt house ( using hyatt points). After checking into the hotel, we will venture into old San Juan have some food and drinks and then meed up with the group. Embarkation is later than normal on Sunday. We will eat breakfast at the hotel, and then we are are heading to Bacardi for the Mixology tour. Our status with Hyatt house gives us a late 2pm check out, so we will head back mid afternoon and then head towards Freedom. The welcome aboard party is at 4:30, muster at 7pm, and then we have a 8pm seating with our 3 night dining package. Here is the proposed itinerary for the rest of the week journey. Lovetocruise2002, KathyC, Guy Gadwa and 7 others 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvwineandtravel Posted December 26, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 26, 2019 Also during the day in Aruba, we are planning to take the Arubus to the palm beach area, get off at the Hilton, walk around the beach area and then get drinks and tacos at Craft. KathyC 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WannaCruise Posted December 26, 2019 Report Share Posted December 26, 2019 Amazing time to travel as new years must be a blast. Looking forward to hearing about your cruise. Enjoy! iluvwineandtravel 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshleyDillo Posted December 26, 2019 Report Share Posted December 26, 2019 Yaaaay! See you there! ellcee and iluvwineandtravel 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted December 26, 2019 Report Share Posted December 26, 2019 Jealous!! FOMO is real! Guy Gadwa, WAAAYTOOO, Mike P and 3 others 3 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vacation Crazy Posted December 26, 2019 Report Share Posted December 26, 2019 Following along! We have an aft room(9406) for our May FOS cruise. This will be our first aft room. There is nothing like the wake view. Have a great cruise! iluvwineandtravel and Deedeelynn 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike P Posted December 26, 2019 Report Share Posted December 26, 2019 Love the special events! This gets me excited for the Thanksgiving 2021 GC! Only 696 short days away! Lol! iluvwineandtravel and WAAAYTOOO 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvwineandtravel Posted December 26, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 26, 2019 12 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said: Jealous!! FOMO is real! I will be following your blog too! Sometimes it is nice to enjoy the ship! I appreciated that on Anthem over thanksgiving! Lovetocruise2002 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Gadwa Posted December 26, 2019 Report Share Posted December 26, 2019 Following!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken23 Posted December 26, 2019 Report Share Posted December 26, 2019 It's getting real now. Some from the group are already arriving into San Juan. See ya all on Saturday. AshleyDillo, iluvwineandtravel and ellcee 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Srp431 Posted December 27, 2019 Report Share Posted December 27, 2019 7 hours ago, Guy Gadwa said: Following!!! Following as well. Enjoy the cruise, some of us are dealing w/ nasty snow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cruise Junkie Posted December 27, 2019 Report Share Posted December 27, 2019 I Will Be Following As Well. I Love Freedom. She Is Such A Great Ship!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brobbins246 Posted December 28, 2019 Report Share Posted December 28, 2019 Following! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Curtis Posted December 28, 2019 Report Share Posted December 28, 2019 Following as well, and freedom is still our favorite ship. Enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshleyDillo Posted December 28, 2019 Report Share Posted December 28, 2019 Mmmm...food at Raices. Ogilthorpe, Mike P, Guy Gadwa and 6 others 8 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvwineandtravel Posted December 30, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2019 It is now day 2 of the cruise and we are docked in saint Maartend today! We did a good tour through the ship that was great. The French side is closed to tourists today because of some protesting so we stayed on the Dutch side. There were only 8’on the tour which made the tour very comfortable with plenty of room on the bus. The first stop was the cheese stop near the port where we got to try 4 different cheeses and then they prepared homemade macaroni and cheese and we got to try 3 different versions with the various cheeses and cava. I bought some of the new Amsterdam cheese. The second stop was the fish market where we had a Johnny cake, ribs, salad, and plantains. It was a nice setting along the water. We were ahead of schedule so the driver took us for a drive around the airport, and then we went to the Carousel for our last stop for homemade gelato. We are now back on board and I am going to hit the gym for an afternoon workout before hitting the diamond lounge at 5. Dinner is at chops tonight for our first night with our 3 night dining package. I will also post some pictures from the mixology class at casa Bacardi yesterday in San Juan that we did prior to boarding the ship. Neesa, DDaley, WannaCruise and 9 others 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyC Posted December 30, 2019 Report Share Posted December 30, 2019 I think you two were just in a hot tub, yes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted December 30, 2019 Report Share Posted December 30, 2019 4 minutes ago, KathyC said: I think you two were just in a hot tub, yes? Without any context this seems a little stalkerish. JLMoran, Ogilthorpe, Guy Gadwa and 6 others 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyC Posted December 30, 2019 Report Share Posted December 30, 2019 1 hour ago, twangster said: Without any context this seems a little stalkerish. CookingYo did a hot tub scope, and it was filled with group cruisers. He went around the tub, asked everyone to introduce themselves, and tell us what they did in port today. I believe @iluvwineandtravel was one of those on the scope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvwineandtravel Posted December 31, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2019 12 hours ago, KathyC said: CookingYo did a hot tub scope, and it was filled with group cruisers. He went around the tub, asked everyone to introduce themselves, and tell us what they did in port today. I believe @iluvwineandtravel was one of those on the scope. No. We did not go to the hot tiub meet up. I walked by it on the way to the gym. It must have been Christine. She was the other group cruiser with us on the tour KathyC 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvwineandtravel Posted January 5, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2020 Jeep tour in Curacao. More photos and updates coming soon! Ogilthorpe, Guy Gadwa and JLMoran 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvwineandtravel Posted January 5, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2020 (edited) Edited January 5, 2020 by iluvwineandtravel more details JLMoran, Guy Gadwa, Ogilthorpe and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted January 6, 2020 Report Share Posted January 6, 2020 Loved reading this to relive the memories! iluvwineandtravel and WAAAYTOOO 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvwineandtravel Posted January 8, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2020 On 1/6/2020 at 1:57 PM, Matt said: Loved reading this to relive the memories! me too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisa6191 Posted January 10, 2020 Report Share Posted January 10, 2020 On 12/25/2019 at 7:18 PM, iluvwineandtravel said: getting upgraded back to an aft corner balcony Which cabin were you in? We are booked in 9404 next year. Did you take any pics of the cabin or balcony? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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