Carnival Freedom Day Five
Sea Day 2
We slept in this morning, well Di did anyway. Tim was up by 7AM as usual. We had our coffee and 6 Danish and then headed to the dining room for a very quiet breakfast. We had the pleasure of being served by our nighttime waiter; a very funny young man from St. Vincent.
After breakfast we returned to the cabin to retrieve paper work for Di’s large group so we could set up a conference room for Bingo. Only about 20 of the 72 attended bingo but they all had a great time and Di gave away some very nice prizes to her group.
After bingo we went up and had an ice cream cone and then headed to the atrium lobby for some people watching while we listened to classical music until it was lunchtime. Nothing looked appealing on the Lido deck so we decided to try lunch in the main dinning room. The main dinning room is at the aft of the ship, we got to watch where we had been. All day we have been sailing side by side with Carnivals Destiny and now we are about 10 miles or more in front of it and we are just on the north side of Cuba.
Tomorrow we will be the disembarking from the Freedom.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Yeah 'Mon we be jammin' in Jamaica!
Carnival Freedom Day Four
Ocho Rios Jamaica
First of all let us apologize for the lateness of this posting. Internet connection is very slow at times on this ship.
We arrived in Ocho Rios at about 6:45 AM. Tim, as usual, was already up and waiting on his two pots of coffee and 6 Danish. Only one glitch - Tim had forgotten to order the 6 Danish the night before. A call was placed to room service and they were delivered within 5 minutes.
After our morning coffee and Danish we went to the dinning room for a full breakfast before making our way forward and down to deck 0. We departed the Freedom for a day of shopping on Ocho Rios. This is not our first time in Ocho Rios, we have been here several times and we know how the Jamaican people can be both friendly and pushy at the same time. We have learned from past experience to say no or not interested a lot.
We walked from our ship to the two main shopping areas close by that are duty free. Tim wanted to get his Harley Davidson t-shirt from Jamaica and Di needed to pick up small gifts for her girls in the office. We also were shopping for Christmas present for our daughter. We found a store that had what we were looking for and, after a lot of talking with the store manager, were able to purchase the gift.
While we were in the small shopping mall it rained, which cooled things down a little bit. Once the rain stopped we started walking back to the ship but got distracted by a new shopping/show area. A local dance group was putting on a show and one of the shows was how Jamaican’s celebrate Christmas since the days of slavery. It was very interesting to see.
After we left the show area we stopped at a liquor store and purchase 3 bottles of local dark rum for $12.00. We also picked up a small bottle of vodka for $4.00 for the two ladies who are traveling with us from Schalamar Creek. They were very appreciative of the unexpected gift.
Arriving back on the ship we dropped our purchases in the cabin and went to the Lido deck for lunch where we were joined by one of Di’s group members. He shared his day with us and we were amused to hear him talk about being burned out from shopping with his wife. He was so tired that he had left her in town and came back to the ship to rest.
Tonight was our second formal night and, as one of the bartenders told us, we were looking good! Tim ordered the tiger shrimp and Diane enjoyed the Chanute Briean. We think we are getting to old to stay up and party with the young kids these days because it ended up being a very early evening for us. After dinner we headed back to our cabin for the night. Tomorrow is a day at sea and also our last day of cruising this year.
Ocho Rios Jamaica
First of all let us apologize for the lateness of this posting. Internet connection is very slow at times on this ship.
We arrived in Ocho Rios at about 6:45 AM. Tim, as usual, was already up and waiting on his two pots of coffee and 6 Danish. Only one glitch - Tim had forgotten to order the 6 Danish the night before. A call was placed to room service and they were delivered within 5 minutes.
After our morning coffee and Danish we went to the dinning room for a full breakfast before making our way forward and down to deck 0. We departed the Freedom for a day of shopping on Ocho Rios. This is not our first time in Ocho Rios, we have been here several times and we know how the Jamaican people can be both friendly and pushy at the same time. We have learned from past experience to say no or not interested a lot.
We walked from our ship to the two main shopping areas close by that are duty free. Tim wanted to get his Harley Davidson t-shirt from Jamaica and Di needed to pick up small gifts for her girls in the office. We also were shopping for Christmas present for our daughter. We found a store that had what we were looking for and, after a lot of talking with the store manager, were able to purchase the gift.
While we were in the small shopping mall it rained, which cooled things down a little bit. Once the rain stopped we started walking back to the ship but got distracted by a new shopping/show area. A local dance group was putting on a show and one of the shows was how Jamaican’s celebrate Christmas since the days of slavery. It was very interesting to see.
After we left the show area we stopped at a liquor store and purchase 3 bottles of local dark rum for $12.00. We also picked up a small bottle of vodka for $4.00 for the two ladies who are traveling with us from Schalamar Creek. They were very appreciative of the unexpected gift.
Arriving back on the ship we dropped our purchases in the cabin and went to the Lido deck for lunch where we were joined by one of Di’s group members. He shared his day with us and we were amused to hear him talk about being burned out from shopping with his wife. He was so tired that he had left her in town and came back to the ship to rest.
Tonight was our second formal night and, as one of the bartenders told us, we were looking good! Tim ordered the tiger shrimp and Diane enjoyed the Chanute Briean. We think we are getting to old to stay up and party with the young kids these days because it ended up being a very early evening for us. After dinner we headed back to our cabin for the night. Tomorrow is a day at sea and also our last day of cruising this year.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Turtles here, turtles there. Turtles Everywhere!
Live from Carnival’s Freedom.
Day 3 in Grand Cayman
Today we rose to the noise of shore tender boats just below our cabin at about 6:45 this coincided with delivery of our two pots of coffee and Danish. After a quick cup of coffee and a shower we were off to breakfast in the Posh dinning room. Instead of a table for two today we were seated at a table for 10. We introduced ourselves to all and asked where our tablemates were from. Most were from the same traveling group and were from Kansas City. One other couple was from Davenport Florida, a neighboring community from Di and myself.
After breakfast we met Di’s co-worker Todd and his wife Jennifer at the Victoriana Lounge to obtain our tender tickets so we could go ashore. The trip ashore took about 10 minutes. As we powered away from the Freedom we noticed that there were a total of 5 cruise ships in port.
Once on shore we found a taxi to drive us to Boatswain’s adventure park which is the old turtle farm expanded to a bigger park. We Started out viewing 500 lb turtles in a tank and then walked around and saw the Predators reef and viewed sharks from above and then moved to view the sharks and lots of other fish through glass. The rest of the park included a swimming lagoon. We also were able to pick up and hold several turtles of varying sizes. We have more than enough photos of turtles to last us a lifetime.
If you visit Grand Cayman this is a must see site.
On our way to Boatswain’s we stopped in ‘Hell’; this is actually old coral that is no longer under water. A British officer in the 1800’s said that looks like Hell and the name stuck.
We called a taxi for the ride back to George Town and passed along the famous 7-mile long beach. Once arriving back in George Town we parted ways with Todd and Jennifer to go shopping on our own. We spent some time in different stores looking for Christmas presents but did not find what we were looking for. We did find the Harley Store so Tim could add a Harley shirt from Grand Cayman to his collection.
We walked back towards the pier and decided to have lunch in Senior Frogs. Lunch was a huge platter of Nachos and cheese with chicken and beef with a nice cold bottle of local beer for Tim. We got back to the tenders just in time to board one of the last ones heading back to the Freedom.
Now, are you ready to have your mouth water? As promised we will tell you about dinner from last night. We arrived in the Sun King supper club early but were seated right away. We were presented with the meat selections for the evening, which included prime rib, filet, Lamb and lobster. We chose the filet and lobster combo with the steak well done for Di and medium for Tim. We didn’t know what the appetizers were, but they were tasty! And of course we needed to get in our veggies, which was in the form of a very good salad. When the main course arrived we were very surprised at the tenderness of the meat and how sweet the lobster was. If you know Tim then you know he can eat a lot. And he could not finish the steak. For dessert Tim had a cheesecake and Di had an apple chocolate torte, both of which were ok.
We were quite satisfied with our dinner in the Sun King supper club. We’ve heard that tonight’s dinner is a Turkey dinner. Tomorrow we will be spending the day in Ocho Rio’s, Jamaica. Yeah ‘Mon!
Day 3 in Grand Cayman
Today we rose to the noise of shore tender boats just below our cabin at about 6:45 this coincided with delivery of our two pots of coffee and Danish. After a quick cup of coffee and a shower we were off to breakfast in the Posh dinning room. Instead of a table for two today we were seated at a table for 10. We introduced ourselves to all and asked where our tablemates were from. Most were from the same traveling group and were from Kansas City. One other couple was from Davenport Florida, a neighboring community from Di and myself.
After breakfast we met Di’s co-worker Todd and his wife Jennifer at the Victoriana Lounge to obtain our tender tickets so we could go ashore. The trip ashore took about 10 minutes. As we powered away from the Freedom we noticed that there were a total of 5 cruise ships in port.
Once on shore we found a taxi to drive us to Boatswain’s adventure park which is the old turtle farm expanded to a bigger park. We Started out viewing 500 lb turtles in a tank and then walked around and saw the Predators reef and viewed sharks from above and then moved to view the sharks and lots of other fish through glass. The rest of the park included a swimming lagoon. We also were able to pick up and hold several turtles of varying sizes. We have more than enough photos of turtles to last us a lifetime.
If you visit Grand Cayman this is a must see site.
On our way to Boatswain’s we stopped in ‘Hell’; this is actually old coral that is no longer under water. A British officer in the 1800’s said that looks like Hell and the name stuck.
We called a taxi for the ride back to George Town and passed along the famous 7-mile long beach. Once arriving back in George Town we parted ways with Todd and Jennifer to go shopping on our own. We spent some time in different stores looking for Christmas presents but did not find what we were looking for. We did find the Harley Store so Tim could add a Harley shirt from Grand Cayman to his collection.
We walked back towards the pier and decided to have lunch in Senior Frogs. Lunch was a huge platter of Nachos and cheese with chicken and beef with a nice cold bottle of local beer for Tim. We got back to the tenders just in time to board one of the last ones heading back to the Freedom.
Now, are you ready to have your mouth water? As promised we will tell you about dinner from last night. We arrived in the Sun King supper club early but were seated right away. We were presented with the meat selections for the evening, which included prime rib, filet, Lamb and lobster. We chose the filet and lobster combo with the steak well done for Di and medium for Tim. We didn’t know what the appetizers were, but they were tasty! And of course we needed to get in our veggies, which was in the form of a very good salad. When the main course arrived we were very surprised at the tenderness of the meat and how sweet the lobster was. If you know Tim then you know he can eat a lot. And he could not finish the steak. For dessert Tim had a cheesecake and Di had an apple chocolate torte, both of which were ok.
We were quite satisfied with our dinner in the Sun King supper club. We’ve heard that tonight’s dinner is a Turkey dinner. Tomorrow we will be spending the day in Ocho Rio’s, Jamaica. Yeah ‘Mon!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Lost at Sea? Nah! We're right here!
Day two: a day at sea.
Today began as a normal day for us with 2 pots of coffee, 6 Danish and 2 orange juices at about 7:15. Tim as usual was up first and carried 1 pot of coffee to the balcony along with the 6 Danish. Di joined him about 20 minutes later and we watched the ocean go by. The air temp was about 82 degrees and the sun had just come up.
After about 30 minutes we decided to get ready for breakfast. Di walked across the ship to see if all was well with her dad and his friend Joan. She came back and called the front desk for a wheel chair for Joan because Joan needed to see the ships Dr for some pain that she had the night before. Di dressed and took Joan to the Dr and Tim followed later and the Dr told Joan to rest in her cabin the rest of the day. We then took Joan to a late breakfast and then to her cabin so she could rest. We have been checking in on her throughout the day.
Now that excitement was over we were free to roam the ship and do our favorite thing on sea day - people watch. The pool deck was very crowded with young and old alike.
For lunch Tim had a piece of Goat Cheese and Mushroom pizza and Di had the fish from the Fish and Chips grill; both were very tasty.
Di has a group of 72 on board and she has to make sure all get together for a group photo today. This evening’s dress code is formal so the photo should come out very nice. After the photo Tim and Di will be having a romantic dinner in the Sun King restaurant. This is a specialty restaurant that has an extra cost but is well worth the money. Check back tomorrow to read about our dinner experience and our day in Grand Cayman!
Today began as a normal day for us with 2 pots of coffee, 6 Danish and 2 orange juices at about 7:15. Tim as usual was up first and carried 1 pot of coffee to the balcony along with the 6 Danish. Di joined him about 20 minutes later and we watched the ocean go by. The air temp was about 82 degrees and the sun had just come up.
After about 30 minutes we decided to get ready for breakfast. Di walked across the ship to see if all was well with her dad and his friend Joan. She came back and called the front desk for a wheel chair for Joan because Joan needed to see the ships Dr for some pain that she had the night before. Di dressed and took Joan to the Dr and Tim followed later and the Dr told Joan to rest in her cabin the rest of the day. We then took Joan to a late breakfast and then to her cabin so she could rest. We have been checking in on her throughout the day.
Now that excitement was over we were free to roam the ship and do our favorite thing on sea day - people watch. The pool deck was very crowded with young and old alike.
For lunch Tim had a piece of Goat Cheese and Mushroom pizza and Di had the fish from the Fish and Chips grill; both were very tasty.
Di has a group of 72 on board and she has to make sure all get together for a group photo today. This evening’s dress code is formal so the photo should come out very nice. After the photo Tim and Di will be having a romantic dinner in the Sun King restaurant. This is a specialty restaurant that has an extra cost but is well worth the money. Check back tomorrow to read about our dinner experience and our day in Grand Cayman!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Coming to you live from the Carnival Freedom!
Carnival Freedom day one
Carnivals Freedom is a very nice ship and we are sailing with 3000 of our closest friends.
We got on board yesterday around noon and dropped our luggage off at our balcony cabin. Since we were hungry we headed up to the Lido deck for a quick lunch before taking a short tour of the ship. The public space on board is very open and very well decorated; the atrium has been decorated for Christmas and looks very festive.
Food on the Lido deck was very tasty and with a great variety of choices of food from Asian to just a nice salad. Ice cream machines are plentiful with a choice of cones or dish. The staff on the Lido deck is very helpful and friendly.
We have the late seating so dinner was at 8:15 PM. We were directed to our table by the dinning room staff we were pleasantly surprised to find that we were in a very quiet area of the dinning room. We were the first to arrive at our table for six, followed shortly by the Huffines from Greely CO. We were soon chatting like old friend and enjoying a very good meal. We also discovered that this was their very first cruise and that they were very impressed. When we were presented with the desert menu Tanner Huffines, a young college student traveling with his parents and a friend, saw that there was a warm Chocolate Melting Cake with ice cream. After his first spoon full of this dessert the words out of his mouth were ‘Where have you been all my life’ We convinced him that he could have seconds of this mouth watering dessert.
Port of Call: Key West Florida
We woke to a beautiful sunrise as we sailed into Key West Florida at7 AM. This port of call is very different from any other that we will be at on this cruise because it still part of the United States. The shopping is very expensive but some of the shops will lower the price a little bit just to make the sale. We have been to the port many times in the past and can get our shopping and site seeing accomplished in about 2 hours including a stop at Sloppy Joes bar, a must for people watching. This trip we bought a Harley Davidson T-shirt for Tim and lots of Key Lime products for Diane. At one Key Lime store we asked how much it would cost to ship a fresh Key Lime pie. The price? $63 to send one overnight. We said no thank you.
This is the beautiful sight that greeted us this morning as we headed into Key West.
Our home for the rest of the week.Thursday, December 11, 2008
Cruisin the Western Caribbean
On Sunday December 14th Di and I will be setting sail on Carnivals Freedom for the Islands of Key West, Jamaica and Grand Cayman. We will be posting daily from the Freedom. Hopefully we will be able to upload photo's from the ports of call.
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