Embarkation day is always an exciting day, and today I got to board Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas for the first time for a quick 3-night cruise to the Bahamas.
The main objective of this cruise is to explore all that Freedom of the Seas has to offer while filming a full tour of the ship for the Royal Caribbean Blog YouTube channel. However, I'll also be visiting Pearl Island in the Bahamas and trying out my first 3-night cruise, which is the shortest cruise I've been on other than a short non-revenue sailing on Navigator of the Seas.
As Freedom of the Seas visits Nassau and Perfect Day at CocoCay twice every week, I've seen the ship countless times when visiting those ports on other Royal Caribbean ships. I woke up this morning excited to get onboard and finally see the ship up close.
Embarkation
After disembarking Oasis of the Seas yesterday, I spent the night at an Airbnb in Miami Beach. My parents are joining me on this cruise, so we spent yesterday and this morning walking around South Beach and enjoying delicious food.
When I boarded Oasis of the Seas five days ago, I noticed that no one was checking boarding times. Therefore, even though we had a boarding time of 12PM, I ordered a Lyft to Terminal A at 11AM.
Just like I thought, we were able to board as soon as we got to the terminal with no problem! From arrival at the terminal to walking onboard was around 15-20 minutes.
I'm staying in an interior cabin on this cruise and my parents are in the connecting room. This is my first time experiencing a cruise with connecting staterooms and it's great! My interior room feels so much bigger when I can open a door to my parents' cabin. It's also convenient for coordinating schedules and making plans.
Pool deck fun
The first thing we did once onboard Freedom of the Seas was head to the pool deck. When Freedom was amplified in early 2020, the pool deck was enhanced with the Caribbean resort-style pool deck, which has bright colors and The Lime & Coconut Bar.
I had a classic piña colada from The Lime & Coconut to start the cruise, followed by a small lunch in the Windjammer.
We spent some time relaxing on the pool deck, which quickly got busy as more people embarked the ship. Freedom of the Seas is at nearly full capacity this weekend.
Right before sailaway I decided to climb the rock climbing wall a few times. I made my dad try it, too!
We watched sailaway from the back of the sports court on deck 12. Viewing the Miami skyline while sailing out of port was just as beautiful as last week's departure on Oasis of the Seas, and the sports deck was not very crowded.
After sailaway I took a walk on the Promenade deck, which is my favorite place to be on Voyager and Freedom Class ships. It's the most peaceful place onboard and I especially love hanging out on the helicopter pad.
Evening activities
Tonight's dinner was in the Main Dining Room. I really enjoy eating in the Main Dining Room, but I haven't eaten there much at all since I started cruising last August. I tend to eat at the Windjammer while cruising solo or at specialty dining when with a big group, but it's always nice to have a sit-down meal in the Main Dining Room.
I heard that Royal Caribbean had started to sit multiple parties together at one table, and I wanted to eat with only my parents. Therefore, I went to the dining room as soon as I got onboard to confirm that we could have our own table (I probably should have done this ahead of time but I forgot).
The Main Dining Room crew member told me we had our own private table. However, when we got to the dining room for dinner this was not the case and we found out we would be seated with strangers.
I'm not opposed to eating with other passengers, but I would much rather have a private meal. Luckily, we were able to be seated at a private table in the My Time Dining room.
My meal was really great tonight! I ordered butternut squash soup to start the meal, Indian curry for the main course, and key lime pie for dessert. If I'm being honest, I ate far too much bread earlier in the meal and I was not very hungry by the time the main course came, but it was still delicious.
After dinner my parents and I went to FreedomIce.com: An Ice Adventure, the ice skating show in Studio B. This may have been my favorite ice show yet. It focused mainly on the music and vibe of the 1970s and displaying the concept of "freedom" through costuming and music. The whole show was upbeat and extremely colorful!
As the show ended at 10:30, I called it a night and went back to my stateroom. Tomorrow we are in Nassau where we will be going on an excursion to Pearl Island.
Stray observations
It's funny how "small" Freedom of the Seas feels after my previous three cruises being on Oasis Class ships, even though Freedom of the Seas is still a gigantic vessel.
Full capacity is crazy busy compared to what I am used to! I never knew so many lines could form everywhere.
I haven't received paper Cruise Compasses on Oasis or Freedom this week.
