Freedom 2013 - Embarkation Day

We woke early, and had the buffet breakfast at the hotel. It was okay, although it was nice eating poolside. Afterwards, we went for a walk around the grounds, and enjoyed looking at the turtles in the pond.

The World's Greatest Husband with Breakfast Al Fresco

We decided to leave around 11:00am, so we got everything ready and checked out. The front desk kindly called us a cab. In my last post, I think I mentioned the new flat rate system. It worked out to our advantage, kind of, this time. The cited price was $15 (usually the metered fare from slightly more distant port is around $12). Okay, it's not worth the hassle to argue, and it turned out the drawbridge was up when we got there, so the wait would have probable made the fare over $15. However, I handed her a $20, and she left immediately, without any pretence of making change. I know what you're thinking, but she didn't help with the bags, so a 33% tip was definitely not warranted. On the other hand, you have to give credit for big ones to someone who can rack up a $750 bar bill by herself on a 4 day cruise and is willing to admit it. I certainly couldn't do it and wouldn't brag about it if I could.

Our first look for this cruise at our Beautiful Ship

The line to go through security was very long. It took more than a half an hour. Of course, after we had gotten through, we noticed a second shorter screening area around the corner of the building. Once that was out of the way, it was smooth sailing, so to speak, through check in, and onto the ship.

We wandered a little, and then made our way to Sorrento's for the no-crush lunch. The pizza there is good, and it is never as busy as the Windjammer.

Sorrento's was not busy

We wandered about a bit, and stopped at Bolero's for a beverage, and then went up to the pool deck to walk around outside. Soon, it was time for our stateroom to be ready, so off we went to have a look.

The sofa is large

The bed is large, and comfortable.

The front Balcony cabins have an extra bubble on the balcony

The theme for this trip seems to have been wildlife, for me. While I was looking down from the balcony, I saw a manatee. Later, looking down, I saw a sea turtle and a jellyfish. Sadly, I couldn't get my camera up quickly enough to catch the turtle.

We hung out in the Solarium for a while, and then got dressed in time for muster drill. Our station was in Pharaoh's Palace.

At sail away, we were supposed to meet people from our Facebook cruise group, but we only met a few. They were nice, though. After this, was dinner. We went to the main dining room, and discovered that our table was for two. We don't mind table mates, but this was okay, too. The service was a little rough the first night, but we believe it was because there were latecomers in our section who weren't sure they wanted to be there, and kind of threw things into an uproar.

We spent a relaxing evening, and enjoyed the sunset and moonrise from our balcony.

Freedom of the Seas 2013 - Day 1 (Travel)

We flew WestJet to Orlando. I did the upgrade to nicer seats and "free" meals. It is not very expensive to do so on WestJet, but the seats aren't as nice as first class on other airlines, and don't have the fancy meals and unlimited drinks. The luggage service was fairly efficient, and we didn't have to wait long after we landed to find our bags.

At Baggage Claim

Our driver, from Spaceport Transport, met us at the luggage area, and things went fairly smoothly to the hotel (Country Inn & Suites near the port). We got a whirlpool suite, since they are not expensive.

The Whirlpool

Window View

The hotel is not expensive, and includes a free hot breakfast, but it does not have some of the amenities we are accustomed to, such as a bar, and onsite restaurant. Both of which we would have had if we had stayed at our normal Radisson. But, the pool area was under renovation, so we decided to try something different. I believe we will go back to the Radisson in the future.

I had done some research before this trip, and decided to try one of the restaurants which face the port and ships sailing out. I chose Rusty's because it has a "pirate" theme, and outdoor seating. It is nice enough, and we had a good view of the ships du jour. We arrived during happy hour and treated ourselves to some cheap, but tasty, raw oysters.

Rusty's

Suitable for Happy Hour

We spent some time here, relaxing and watching the ships sailing out.  There was a Carnival ship, and the Disney Fantasy. We were just on the Fantasy last December, but none of the pictures we took of it this time turned out very well.

Carnival ship sailing away

There were a lot of birds at Rusty's, and almost as many signs admonishing you not to feed them. This is very important, since feeding them causes them to become a nuisance instead of an entertaining guest.

Pelican

 

We had dinner at Rusty's, and I would have to rate the food as fair to good. Andrew's mahi mahi sandwich was very nice, but the Cajun scallops were small and disappointing. Next time, I think I will have the fish.

There is one thing we found kind of annoying this time. The taxis seem to have instituted a flat rate system, instead of metered fares around the port. They did not have this two weeks prior when I was there to go to the Bahamas. Also, some of the cab drivers seem to be taking advantage of this. The driver to the restaurant wanted to charge us $10 for the 2 minute ride. When we protested, he knocked it down to 8, which is still too much. The driver on the way back charged us $6.  I am not a fan of this. More about cabs tomorrow though.

2013 Girls' Weekend - Part III

The next morning, we slept in a bit, and awoke with Coco Cay off the starboard bow. When we were ready, we headed off on the tender. After carefully selecting our home-base on the snorkel beach, we did our various equipment rentals, and headed into the water. There were a lot of fish.

My goggles kept fogging up, so I decided to take a break at this point.  I divested myself of my gear, and decided to go back in since the water temperature wasn't terrible. The only problem with the snorkel beach is that it is very weedy- so I was in for no more than 5 minutes when I was stung by a sea louse. I can take a hint. The first aid hut has a spray bottle of vinegar for these little mishaps, so you can just grab it and self serve. They also have seasick pills, ibuprofen, acetaminophen and antacids, that you can help yourself too.

After this, I decided on a nice read, so I rented an umbrella for our encampment. A lovely young gentleman put it up for us, which was good since we were almost decapitating people with the thing.

We headed back in good time, and got cleaned up. Dinner was good as always, and the late night comedy show was entertaining. We got our suitcases sorted, and sent them out in the hall after being notified that our debarkation tour had been cancelled. Pro-tip: the notification that you have voicemail on this ship sounds like someone is dialling your room and quickly hanging up.

We did not have to get up that early in the morning, since we had the second-last luggage tag number. It was still before 9:00am that we were off the ship though.  I'll spare you the details of the transportation comedy. We still managed to get to the airport in plenty of time to get checked in and have a leisurely lunch at On the Border. Dos Equis Amber on draft -- yum!

And back to Canada. Thanks for reading, here are a few bonus pictures:

2013 Girls' Weekend - Part II

Day 2's port of call was Nassau, but we didn't get there until noon, so the morning seemed to call for a leisurely breakfast, and visit to the Solarium. We did find the Wind Jammer was hideously crowded, in spite of the on-deck barbecue (huge lines). I mentioned later to our head waiter that a sit-down option would be nice. He said there would be one the next day (we were on Coco Cay then).

Nassau is not my favourite port of call, and I didn't really care if we got off the ship or not, but the others were game, and it never hurts to get the value for those port fees. We did stumble into the really loud section, though. There was some sort of parade going on for the candidates for Miss Nassau, and they seemed to feel victory would go to the loudest. But, just up the street from Senor Frog's, we found a lovely little bar that I would recommend to anyone. They even had free wifi.

I had underpacked, and Amary was looking for souvenirs for the grandkids, so we went into a few stores, but it wasn't long before we were back to the ship.

We had a bit of a rest, and then began to get ready for formal night. Disclaimer: I love formal night, I even bought a new gown recently for this and my upcoming cruise on the Freedom of the Seas.

After the Captain's reception, we went to the Schooner Bar again for the piano player, and had a hoot. Then off to the room, a little earlier for me, and a change into something less... elegant.

2013 - Girls' Weekend on the Enchantment of the Seas - Part I

This year, the cast of characters was me, my friend Jane, and my sister-in-law Amary. The plan: fly to Orlando on the 22nd, check in to the Radisson, enjoy a day at their facilities, then embark on the Enchantment of the Seas for a 3 day cruise to the Bahamas, the following day.

The start was simple enough; Amary and I met Jane at the airport, and flew down to Orlando. The flight was WestJet, and they kept apologizing that the TV's hadn't been installed on the plane, yet. We didn't care, and the flight was fine, although, I think you get a little more room on Air Canada. The flight was a little late taking off ("paper work"). We were met at the airport by our driver, and driven to the Radisson. The ride was fine, and the check-in was a breeze. The pool renovations had already started, so parts were a bit more unsightly than we were accustomed to, and the waterfall was turned off. Aside from that, it was fine.

We had dinner at Thai Thai across the street: they have amazing things like crispy duck and lobster pad thai. They also have really good sushi.

We enjoyed a leisurely evening by the pool, capped off with perfect Irish coffees in the lobby and went to bed.

We spent the morning by the pool after a buffet breakfast, and then headed over to the pier around 11. I really love Royal Caribbean. Breeze through security, practically sprint through check in, and then straight on to the ship, before 11:30.

The Enchantment is a beautiful ship, with many attractive features, and fine entertainment options.  We had a quick look around, and then headed up to the Windjammer for the main lunch option (you could also get roast beef sandwiches in the Solarium, and snacks at the coffee shop), but mostly it was the Wind Jammer. We did find it over-crowded, and would like to suggest over-flow feeding in the main dining room.

Soon after lunch, we could go to our room. We then headed to the Solarium for a nice soak. The pool was a little cold, but it was nice and deep and fairly uncrowded. We had a wonderful woman with a good teacher voice sternly ordering children away. We thanked her. The thing I found amazing was that there were no parents visible for these youngsters.

After that, it was time to get dressed for muster drill. It is incredible to me how people can think it's okay to disobey maritime law, and inconvenience everyone else by forcing them to wait for the "no-shows". There were also a couple of eye-rolling moments where people were at the wrong station for most of the drill, only realizing when it was almost over and we had repeated our muster station number many times, that they were in the wrong place.

We went back to our balcony room for Sail-Away, leaving only briefly for another round, since room service said they would take an improbable amount of time to deliver 3 drinks. I gather the Enchantment's room service department is understaffed, because we tried to order one more time at 11:30 pm, and were informed that, not only would it take an hour, but they would charge us the late night fee because they could not deliver before midnight. We never did get room service. I am thinking this may not be practical on a 3 day cruise.

Dinner was good, and the service was attentive. And after dinner we went to the Welcome Aboard show (entertaining), and the Schooner Bar, for the sing-along piano (so fun).

Kenya Day 9 Part III and Day 10 - The Voyage Home

It was with much sadness and traffic congestion that we entered Nairobi. We were going home, and we were going to miss the beauty of Kenya, and the fantastic coffee. But first, we were scheduled to have dinner at a restaurant specialising in Kenyan cuisine - Amaica.

Us with our guide extraordinaire John

Our happy band of intrepid explorers

Dinner was very good

We can't seem to go anywhere without getting a food boob

Would recommend

After we finished dinner, we headed to the airport. Interesting system they have: you go through security with your luggage, and then check in for your flight. Then you do another security (liquids ban) before going into the lounge to wait for your flight. There are no liquids over 3 ounces allowed in this area, so it is a bit thirsty. Pro-tip: they will announce boarding when they actually mean access to this lounge. Don't hurry. Wait until the boarding time on your ticket. Have a Tusker. Have two. Mmmmm.... Tusker.

Our flight was delayed for three hours, so we really got a good look at this lounge. It was overcrowded, and very noisy since a lot of people did not seem to feel constrained to use their indoor voices. It was often very hard to hear announcements regarding our flight status.

We mostly slept on the flight, and arrived in Charles Degaulle with 5 hours to kill. Part of this was spent going through security (!? - we had just gotten off a plane), where we saw them confiscate people's water bottles and duty free. We then had to find out where are flight home was, and take a shuttle to the correct terminal (at no time leaving the secure area). We were then funnelled through a Duty Free shop (hmmmmm), before arriving in the gate area.

We still had several hours to kill, and I wanted to try the caviar restaurant in the terminal. My mom had kindly given me some Euros to this end. We found the prices inflated and the service appalling, although the caviar and smoked salmon were nice. Andrew's continental breakfast was absurdly expensive and the server threw (literally) his croissant onto his plate as an afterthought.

This is what 39 Euros buys you

13 Euros

We went to a little bar after this to get drinks. Again, the service was off. I do apologize if I got a word wrong, but at least I was trying to speak the language, and it was still comprehensible. But the server was very rude and a simple rum and juice was 15 Euros.

There was, however, one bright spot. The little bakery with the counter service. The drinks were reasonably priced, and the service was friendly. And she didn't make fun of my Canadian high school French.

It was a relief to get on the Air France flight back to Toronto. The service there was friendly and impeccable, and the food was excellent. Did I mention the bread?