Day 2 - Departure from Port Miami
Day 2 - Monday May 25
We woke up about 7:00, which is odd because it was 6:00am to our bodies still used to US central time but we did go to bed pretty early. We made our way down to breakfast with my mom and LT joined a little later. The breakfast was the usual Hampton Inn continental affair. Nothing great but did the job. We made it back up to our room about 8:45 and tried to chill a bit but we were all excited.
We called a Lyft XL to hold the 6 of us along with the 5 large pieces of luggage and were on our way to the port about 10:15. We debated what time we wanted to head over as our boarding time was in the first group at 11. Leaving the Blue Lagoon area, we made smooth sailing through Miami and only started to slow down when we got to the port tunnel. The 5 year old was rocking a blow up booster seat for the first time and was loving life! The Freedom of the Seas was at Terminal AA so at the very end of the port but our drive was very adept and was able to somehow skip a lot of the traffic once we got to the port. He was dropping us off at 10:45! We left our 5 large pieces of luggage with the porters and went on with just a few backpacks of import things and swim gear.
The terminal was surprisingly quiet and the staff was already all setup for the crowds. We easily got checked in and our passports all checked by 10:53. We strolled along the hallways with a few other people and got right onto the Freedom at 11:00! We made our way to our muster station to get that taken care of first. We then looked at each other wondering what to do next, we didn't expect to be on the boat this early so we just started to explore as we made our way toward Adventure Ocean.
We wanted to check out Adventure Ocean to see if our daughter would like it. She was at a very odd age as AO was divided into two main kid groups, the 3-5 and the 6-12. While she was squarely in the 3-5 camp, she was a bit old for the smaller kid activities there. Nevertheless, we toured the area and got her registered. We then headed up to the Windjammer buffet for lunch. Windjammer is the massive buffet on the ship and one of the two main places to eat (that is not an extra charge specialty restaurant). We enjoyed trying the different foods and enjoyed ourselves. Our daughter loved the employee that was reminding everyone to wash hands before entering the buffet. Washy washy before yummy yummy was a saying the entire trip!
After lunch, we saw the Splashaway Bay splash pad area right outside the Windjammer entrance on the 11th deck. From what I saw about the ships, it seems like this splash pad on Freedom is right up there with anything in the fleet and our daughter agreed. We got her changed and E and I found loungers while she enjoyed it. There were a few other kids but this really was prime time for it! We found that on the sea days, the ship moving along caused a good breeze on the top decks and there was always a crowd of kids on Splashaway Bay (though it was big enough to handle it). This afternoon while still in Miami and on the ship this early was a perfect time for her to enjoy.
Now we spent a lot of thought before the trip on if we should get the drink package. After looking at it 7 different ways, we just couldn't bring ourselves to spend the ~$65 per person per day on the package ($65 was as low as we saw it). But we did get the non-alcoholic package. This covered everything besides alcohol (so fresh squeezed juice, milk shakes, specialty coffee, mocktails, etc). Especially for a 'family' cruise, this worked out very well. We really enjoyed many of the mocktails (the mojitos and the Pina coladas were great this way) and mixed in some alcoholic drinks too. The room bill was about $175 for drinks, all being alcoholic ones, for the entire trip for us. Each day there was a 'drink of the day' that was a good bit cheaper than normal and also 'happy hour' margaritas in the late afternoon.
We went over to the Lime & Coconut bar and had our first drinks and read a bit while she played in Splashaway Bay. One of the free soft server ice cream machines was also by Splashaway Bay which we also hit frequently. The other 3 went to explore a bit more and messaged back that the rooms were ready around 1:00. We eventually pulled our daughter out of the splash pad about 2:00 and headed to our room on the 8th deck to clean up. Our suitcases were already there!
We had room 8600 and had its connection with 8602 with my mom it (and technically our daughter too but she stayed with us). LT had the room on our other side in 8598 and enjoyed not having a connecting door to a 5 year old! But we did open the sliding doors on all three balconies to make one big balcony for all 6 of us to enjoy!
By 4:30 or so, we were unpacked and itching to explore again. My mom joined us and we went down to deck 5, the promenade area. We got a castaway marg and explored the main promenade area and eventually found ourselves outside on walking area on deck 4, there where we learned we were now moving! The kid and I ventured to the very back of the ship and was able to look down the Miami ship channel. The Freedom was headed down the channel toward Miami to turn around before heading back out. We were able to sit at the back of the ship and watch the other ships go by still docked. The massive Wonder of the Seas casted her lines just after we passed. Since she was already pointed towards the Atlantic we ended up following her out to sea after we turned.
We headed to the main dinning room right at 5 and met LT there. We had a table for 6 during the 5:00pm seating on deck 5 right by the windows. We chose the earlier dining time since we had a kid with us and it gave us the most flexibility for evening shows while still making a good bed time. Our weight staff at dinner was Ronnie and Abhijit. Both were fantastic but Abhjeet really treated our daughter special. Always bringing her special drinks and drawing faces with the ketchup.
We were done with dinner about 6:00pm and killed some time before the ice skating show at 7:00pm. We wondered around the ship a bit and realized how windy it is on deck when the ship is moving! About 6:30 we headed to Studio B and the ice ring in order to get a close seat so our daughter could see. On the way in, a staff member asked how old she was and then asked if we would sit in the revered seats right up front as along as she would be in the show. We said sure?
It was real neat being this close to very talented ice skaters doing jumps and lifts during the Freedom-Ice.com show! Toward the in, one of the guys doing the lifts, came and put the kid in a pirate ship that the crew pushed around the ring. A boy, about the same age, from the other side of the ring did the same. She loved being out on the ice with the skaters! People in the stands would come up to her after the show all trip and say how good she did in it!
The show was very nice! Some would say it was dated but really the story was second to how talented the skaters were and how impressive the jumps and lifts are. The show was about 45 minutes long and we headed back to the room after that. Yes we really did call it a night at 8:00pm and were in bed by 9:00, all 6 of us. Very tired from a very fun start of the trip!
- Travel to Port Miami and Board the Freedom of the Seas
- Windjammer for Lunch
- Explore the Ship and hit Splashaway Bay
- Get Settled in our Cabin
- Dinner in the Main Dining Room
- Freedom-Ice.com Ice Skating Show
We woke up about 7:00, which is odd because it was 6:00am to our bodies still used to US central time but we did go to bed pretty early. We made our way down to breakfast with my mom and LT joined a little later. The breakfast was the usual Hampton Inn continental affair. Nothing great but did the job. We made it back up to our room about 8:45 and tried to chill a bit but we were all excited.
We called a Lyft XL to hold the 6 of us along with the 5 large pieces of luggage and were on our way to the port about 10:15. We debated what time we wanted to head over as our boarding time was in the first group at 11. Leaving the Blue Lagoon area, we made smooth sailing through Miami and only started to slow down when we got to the port tunnel. The 5 year old was rocking a blow up booster seat for the first time and was loving life! The Freedom of the Seas was at Terminal AA so at the very end of the port but our drive was very adept and was able to somehow skip a lot of the traffic once we got to the port. He was dropping us off at 10:45! We left our 5 large pieces of luggage with the porters and went on with just a few backpacks of import things and swim gear.
The terminal was surprisingly quiet and the staff was already all setup for the crowds. We easily got checked in and our passports all checked by 10:53. We strolled along the hallways with a few other people and got right onto the Freedom at 11:00! We made our way to our muster station to get that taken care of first. We then looked at each other wondering what to do next, we didn't expect to be on the boat this early so we just started to explore as we made our way toward Adventure Ocean.
We wanted to check out Adventure Ocean to see if our daughter would like it. She was at a very odd age as AO was divided into two main kid groups, the 3-5 and the 6-12. While she was squarely in the 3-5 camp, she was a bit old for the smaller kid activities there. Nevertheless, we toured the area and got her registered. We then headed up to the Windjammer buffet for lunch. Windjammer is the massive buffet on the ship and one of the two main places to eat (that is not an extra charge specialty restaurant). We enjoyed trying the different foods and enjoyed ourselves. Our daughter loved the employee that was reminding everyone to wash hands before entering the buffet. Washy washy before yummy yummy was a saying the entire trip!
After lunch, we saw the Splashaway Bay splash pad area right outside the Windjammer entrance on the 11th deck. From what I saw about the ships, it seems like this splash pad on Freedom is right up there with anything in the fleet and our daughter agreed. We got her changed and E and I found loungers while she enjoyed it. There were a few other kids but this really was prime time for it! We found that on the sea days, the ship moving along caused a good breeze on the top decks and there was always a crowd of kids on Splashaway Bay (though it was big enough to handle it). This afternoon while still in Miami and on the ship this early was a perfect time for her to enjoy.
Now we spent a lot of thought before the trip on if we should get the drink package. After looking at it 7 different ways, we just couldn't bring ourselves to spend the ~$65 per person per day on the package ($65 was as low as we saw it). But we did get the non-alcoholic package. This covered everything besides alcohol (so fresh squeezed juice, milk shakes, specialty coffee, mocktails, etc). Especially for a 'family' cruise, this worked out very well. We really enjoyed many of the mocktails (the mojitos and the Pina coladas were great this way) and mixed in some alcoholic drinks too. The room bill was about $175 for drinks, all being alcoholic ones, for the entire trip for us. Each day there was a 'drink of the day' that was a good bit cheaper than normal and also 'happy hour' margaritas in the late afternoon.
We went over to the Lime & Coconut bar and had our first drinks and read a bit while she played in Splashaway Bay. One of the free soft server ice cream machines was also by Splashaway Bay which we also hit frequently. The other 3 went to explore a bit more and messaged back that the rooms were ready around 1:00. We eventually pulled our daughter out of the splash pad about 2:00 and headed to our room on the 8th deck to clean up. Our suitcases were already there!
We had room 8600 and had its connection with 8602 with my mom it (and technically our daughter too but she stayed with us). LT had the room on our other side in 8598 and enjoyed not having a connecting door to a 5 year old! But we did open the sliding doors on all three balconies to make one big balcony for all 6 of us to enjoy!
By 4:30 or so, we were unpacked and itching to explore again. My mom joined us and we went down to deck 5, the promenade area. We got a castaway marg and explored the main promenade area and eventually found ourselves outside on walking area on deck 4, there where we learned we were now moving! The kid and I ventured to the very back of the ship and was able to look down the Miami ship channel. The Freedom was headed down the channel toward Miami to turn around before heading back out. We were able to sit at the back of the ship and watch the other ships go by still docked. The massive Wonder of the Seas casted her lines just after we passed. Since she was already pointed towards the Atlantic we ended up following her out to sea after we turned.
We headed to the main dinning room right at 5 and met LT there. We had a table for 6 during the 5:00pm seating on deck 5 right by the windows. We chose the earlier dining time since we had a kid with us and it gave us the most flexibility for evening shows while still making a good bed time. Our weight staff at dinner was Ronnie and Abhijit. Both were fantastic but Abhjeet really treated our daughter special. Always bringing her special drinks and drawing faces with the ketchup.
We were done with dinner about 6:00pm and killed some time before the ice skating show at 7:00pm. We wondered around the ship a bit and realized how windy it is on deck when the ship is moving! About 6:30 we headed to Studio B and the ice ring in order to get a close seat so our daughter could see. On the way in, a staff member asked how old she was and then asked if we would sit in the revered seats right up front as along as she would be in the show. We said sure?
It was real neat being this close to very talented ice skaters doing jumps and lifts during the Freedom-Ice.com show! Toward the in, one of the guys doing the lifts, came and put the kid in a pirate ship that the crew pushed around the ring. A boy, about the same age, from the other side of the ring did the same. She loved being out on the ice with the skaters! People in the stands would come up to her after the show all trip and say how good she did in it!
The show was very nice! Some would say it was dated but really the story was second to how talented the skaters were and how impressive the jumps and lifts are. The show was about 45 minutes long and we headed back to the room after that. Yes we really did call it a night at 8:00pm and were in bed by 9:00, all 6 of us. Very tired from a very fun start of the trip!
