Freedom from the Polar Vortex... The GDF family sails RCCL

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

Far be it for a Gator fan to come to the aid of a GA fan....but that pic is obviously Photoshopped.  Not that you didn't find several other good ones.  (And this one is funny nonetheless.

You think? Lol.

Wait your a Gator fan?

What is wrong with you?

Your a New Yorker living in Tennessee and your a Gators fan.

Do your neighbors know?

I actually just googled funny bulldawg fans picture and there were dozens of them.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Far be it for a Gator fan to come to the aid of a GA fan....but that pic is obviously Photoshopped.  Not that you didn't find several other good ones.  (And this one is funny nonetheless.

You think? Lol.

Wait your a Gator fan?

What is wrong with you?

Your a New Yorker living in Tennessee and your a Gators fan.

Do your neighbors know?

I actually just googled funny bulldawg fans picture and there were dozens of them.

Been a Gator fan since 1st grade when we spent some time in Gainesville.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

This makes me want to cruise again.

 

You should! Book today! You have my permission. 

 

Fiona looks weird.  

 

So do you. 

 

That adult hot tub is calling to me. And partly due to your trip report I can happily say I will be able to fulfill that in roughly 8 months. We paid our deposit today for this very cruise the first week in January! We have been to WDW twice in the last year and DCL was just too expensive for 5 of us so we rented out our DVC points for the year and are using it towards the cruise. Of course we will fly down two days early because there's a very real risk having a snowstorm in Boston that could detain us. So we will probably spend a night or two in WDW, so it's all good.

So thank you Kelly!!

 

Congrats on booking! That's very exciting! And I like the idea of sticking a bit of Disney at the beginning. If I had my way, that's how we would have done it too. But the beach was nice, well until Z busted his teeth. 

 

Are you going with two rooms for the 5 of you or a family suite? We did the family suite and loved how spacious it was.

 

I saw a youtube video of one of those. They're HUGE. 

 

The last time we cruised we got two connecting outside cabins. I was offered an upgrade to the suite but with three daughters we opted for having two bathrooms. This time my husband and I got a cabin with a balcony and the girls are right across from us in an inside cabin. I think if they were all still little the family suite would be great but my husband would go out of his mind now with all the hair straightening, makeup application and outfit changes that go on.

 

But so are 2 bathrooms!!!!! We saw a lot of families who had the 1 balcony, 1 inside. You would tell because they'd be going back and forth some. 

 

The food looks good at the Windjammer.  We'll probably eat all our dinners in the MDG, but I'm looking forward to the lunch buffets. 

I have a question about beverages.  On previous cruises I've been on, there were drink stations where you could get the "free" drinks.  Usually water, iced tea, lemonade and coffee.  Do they still have those?  I'm also thinking about bringing an empty water bottle to refill.  Do people do that? Do they sell bottles in the gift shop?

 

Looking forward to the ice show pics, too!

Too bad the cruise is almost over.  For us who like to read trip reports!

 

Windjammer has lots of choices. Dinner is more upscale than lunch, but there's always something for everyone. I've heard lunch in the MDR has a great salad station with every imaginable topping on sea days, but we were always at the pool. 

 

As far as free drinks, there are lots of choices... tea, coffee, lemonade, and several different flavored waters which were actually really good. Z preferred them to soda. 

 

I didn't see a lot of people with water bottles, but you could do that. I didn't see any water bottles for sale in the shop, but I didn't look either. 

 

I'm sad the report is over too. It's been fun reliving it. I have at least 2 more good posts though. 

 

I can understand that. Our girls were both not at the make-up wearing, hair needs to be just perfect stage when we went. Now if we get back on a cruise we might need to consider having two bathrooms as they will be older.

 

For your sanity! And they're often cheaper or pretty close. 

 

Having the two bathrooms on our cruise two years ago was great.  On this next one our older girls will be in separate cabins from us so we just have the two younger ones sharing our bathroom.  It's a good thing.  

 

I bet bathrooms are always a premium when the DIT crew is around. 

 

Aren't sea days wonderful?  So fun and relaxing!  Looking forward to your ice show pictures.

 

Yes, I love sea days! I'd like to do a cruise with more of them someday.... a transatlantic maybe? :)

 

Ok. Thanks. I never knew that bit of college football trivia.

I guess Georgia fans are to good to wear jean shorts. Jorts.

 

Are you OK Ray? Have you gotten crankier now that your buddy Lou isn't around?

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Hey Ray. You need to use a real computer and look at your tag...which points to your signature. LOL

 

That is epic. 

 

Go ahead and make fun of my jean shorts, Jorts.

At least we don't have...

THE FIRST FAMILY OF GEORGIA

 

They are a total embarrassment. I'll admit that, even though I've never watched the show. I've seen enough clips to be horrified. 

 

You guys may not wear Jorts. But maybe you should.

 

Pants of any kind on that guy would be nice. 

 

Oh wait. You guys do wear Jorts.

I could do this all day!

Besides it raises the reply count.

 

Did TCD and Dave pay you to do this? 

 

I love sea days.

It's 5 o'clock somewhere. So it's always beer 30.

The grill at the outside pool was used a lot by our group on our last cruise. Carnival Magic, I think.

So did the Ice cream machine. One sea day my nephew(15 yrs old at the time) was running around all day with kids he had met on board and they tried to see how many ice cream cones they could eat on that day. At dinner he said he wasn't feeling good and went back to his cabin. We found out the next day that he was in his cabin getting sick.

Great picture all around but I love the ones from the adult hot pool. Did it have a glass floor in it?

 

Sea days are the best! 

 

An outside grill would be good. I will say going inside wasn't a HUGE pain, but it did require getting dressed. 

 

I guess there IS such a thing as too much ice cream, huh? 

 

The adult hot tubs are nice! There are two (one on each side), and they do not have a glass floor. There are cabins under them. 

 

Ok just one more!

I only trying to get you to 400 replies.

 

This one is the best because whoever made it can't spell. I wonder where they went to school? 

 

This makes 399 replies and I just wanted to be fair. Ok not really I don't believe in being fair, it's just a great picture and shows what kind of Jorts not to wear.

 

I think he's wearing his mom's jorts. 

 

Far be it for a Gator fan to come to the aid of a GA fan....but that pic is obviously Photoshopped.  Not that you didn't find several other good ones.  (And this one is funny nonetheless. 

 

Thanks for the help, Dave. 

 

You think? Lol.

Wait your a Gator fan?

What is wrong with you?

Your a New Yorker living in Tennessee and your a Gators fan.

Do your neighbors know?

I actually just googled funny bulldawg fans picture and there were dozens of them.

 

What is wrong with Dave? That might make me hit 1,000 posts. 

 

BTW, great hijack! 

 

Been a Gator fan since 1st grade when we spent some time in Gainesville.

 

child abuse 

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

Are you OK Ray? Have you gotten crankier now that your buddy Lou isn't around?

I guess you haven't heard. Lou left me with very specific instructions.

Crankiness is part of my duties. Also, I need to keep the snarkiness quote at a high and consistent level.

Please read my signature line disclaimer.

I'm Lou will be mad at me but I did try to help you out by bringing your reply count over 400

Don't I get any credit for that?

And what about the Gator fan picture?

Didn't you like it?

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

Dang you KFK!!!!

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

I guess you haven't heard. Lou left me with very specific instructions.

Crankiness is part of my duties. Also, I need to keep the snarkiness quote at a high and consistent level.

Please read my signature line disclaimer.

I'm Lou will be mad at me but I did try to help you out by bringing your reply count over 400

Don't I get any credit for that?

And what about the Gator fan picture?

Didn't you like it?

 

I have blown my record out of the water... largely thanks to you. And it's not even a report about camping or Disney! Crazy! 

 

The Gator wearing his mom's jorts was funny. 

 

Can we call you Lou Jr. for the next week?

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

Can we call you Lou Jr. for the next week?

Ha! Ha! Ha!

Now get off my lawn!!! And stay off the buses!!!

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

Ray, you are going to need to stop posting comments on the Trip Reports.

We all know Lou doesn't read them.

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

Ray, you are going to need to stop posting comments on the Trip Reports.

We all know Lou doesn't read them.

Who says I'm reading them?

Does anybody have any apple pie?

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

I need brain bleach.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

This has turned into quite the snarktastic trip report.  

 

What was it about again?

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

This has turned into quite the snarktastic trip report.

What was it about again?

Bob. Everything is always about Bob.

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

Bob. Everything is always about Bob.

Yeah but it's that knucklehead Dave's fault.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Ha! Ha! Ha!

Now get off my lawn!!! And stay off the buses!!!

 

There you go. You're playing the part well. 

 

Ray, you are going to need to stop posting comments on the Trip Reports.

We all know Lou doesn't read them.

 

OK, but not mine!

 

Who says I'm reading them?

Does anybody have any apple pie?

 

Good point!

 

I need brain bleach.

 

We all do!

 

This has turned into quite the snarktastic trip report.  

 

What was it about again?

 

I'm not even sure!

 

Bob. Everything is always about Bob.

 

That's right!

 

Yeah but it's that knucklehead Dave's fault.

 

You are good at playing Lou. I'm kind of scared. 

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

I'm breaking this into 2 parts because I'm over the photo limit but want to post the whole show at once. 

 

Saturday, April 5^th continued

 

Let’s head to the ice show! The ice show is the only show on the Freedom that you have to reserve in advance. I reserved it online a few months before the cruise. They also hold some seats for onboard reservations.

 

I arrived about 30 minutes early, and there was already a LONG line.

 

 

Jason was a little behind me. That wasn’t a problem because they were just scanning sea pass cards. Here are some pictures he took looking up from the line. The promenade is the floor above us, and you can see the promenade staterooms too.

 

 

 

Once the line started moving, it went quickly. Of course, you still have people who didn’t realize they were supposed to make reservations even though it said that in the Compass and at a sign in front of the Studio B, and there had been written announcements online and in the Compass about making reservations.

 

Those people stood to the side to wait for no shows.

 

Z and I were going to get seats and some jerks pretty much pushed us out of the way and then “saved” the entire row. Nice. We found some seats that weren’t as good and sat down. But I noticed this fairly large section reserved for suite guests. There was one on the other side too. It was about half full. This one had no one in it. I politely asked the waiter what would happen if they didn’t fill it. He said he would find out. Then, he came back and told me that I could sit there if it didn’t fill up. It didn’t. So I got to move. So take that a-holes who pushed me and my little kid out of the way. I got great seats, better than yours!

 

 

This was my view.

 

 

I’m going to go ahead and say it… This show was awesome! Basically they went through different periods of time and had lots of different songs and costumes. Plus, the fact that the skaters were doing tricks on a small rink that has some ocean movement is incredible. I’m sure the pictures won’t do it justice, but here we go.

 

They don’t allow flashes, so Jason took these with his DSLR.

 

They had a lot more skaters on the rink at once than I was expecting.

 

 

 

 

It was cool to watch them use these ramps to do tricks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hippies!

 

 

 

 

 

This couple was really fun to watch. Apparently she was a special guest. Their song was a “magic show” where she changed her costume about 20 times…. Sometimes while spinning in the air. It was awesome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see it happening in this picture.

 

 

 

 

 

Then there were pirates.

 

 

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

They pulled a few kids from the audience to ride around in these.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I highly recommend the ice show. There are lots of different acts, music, etc. There’s something for everyone, I think. The audience really enjoyed it!

 

Up next, we make our millionth trip to the hot pool, and Jason and I go to Portofino for our anniversary date!

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Isn't it just amazing how these skaters perform on that moving floor!  The costumes, the lighting, the effects, everything is great.   I highly recommend it too.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Great pictures.  The ones with the skater in mid air are cool. 

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

Great pictures!

Yeah for getting better seats than the rude people who pushed you and Z out of the way.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

The ice skating show looks great.  I wish they would bring it to the Disney Cruise.

 

Then I could go and ride the AquaDuck while everyone is at the show.

 

TCD

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

The ice skating show looks great. I wish they would bring it to the Disney Cruise.

Then I could go and ride the AquaDuck while everyone is at the show.

TCD

I was thinking my DW and DD would love that show while I was at the casino. Lol.

But seriously, great pictures.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Isn't it just amazing how these skaters perform on that moving floor!  The costumes, the lighting, the effects, everything is great.   I highly recommend it too.

 

It was amazing! I went in skeptical about the hype, but it was really good. Even Jason, who "might" have been a little cranky about having a reservation and having to get dressed instead of staying at the pool liked it. 

 

Great pictures.  The ones with the skater in mid air are cool. 

 

Jason gets credit for the pictures. He did great with so much movement and low light. 

 

Great pictures!

Yeah for getting better seats than the rude people who pushed you and Z out of the way.

 

I thought about turning around and waving to them, but I refrained. 

 

The ice skating show looks great.  I wish they would bring it to the Disney Cruise.

 

Then I could go and ride the AquaDuck while everyone is at the show.

 

TCD

 

Ha ha! Good idea, but the show is worth seeing. It's offered 4 times per cruise. 

 

I was thinking my DW and DD would love that show while I was at the casino. Lol.

But seriously, great pictures.

 

Big money! Big money!

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

I think I have enough material for this update and one more short one. Maybe I’ll break up dinner, so the whole last post isn’t about leaving. The end of vacation makes me sad.

 

Friday, April 5^th continued

 

We’re going to the HOT POOL! Seriously though, Z would have just stayed there all 7 days and had a blast. It wasn’t busy at all when we returned. People were probably packing. While we missed out on some shows and some of the MDR meals, it was really nice to have the pool area to ourselves some evenings. There’s something to be said for just relaxing.

 

Z and I had the hot tub to ourselves.

 

 

 

 

So he practiced his swimming.

 

 

We had one more ice cream cone. This is the part of vacation when I get a little sad. When I know we’re doing something we’ve enjoyed for the last time.

 

 

We went back to the room to shower and get ready for Portofino. The sun was setting. You can see some boats there in the distance. We’re not too far from land at this point. Should I say something philosophical about how the sun is also setting on our trip? 

 

 

We dropped Z off at Adventure Ocean and headed out on our anniversary date. Before dinner, we had a drink at the Plaza Bar right outside Portofino’s where we were eating. I don’t have pictures and only mention it because an older lady came and sat by us and started asking us questions. She was QUITE intoxicated and couldn’t remember where she had dinner reservations. There aren’t many options, and thankfully she wasn’t going where we were. After that, we headed to the restaurant.

 

There is a cover charge for Portofino of $20-25 per person. We paid $20.

 

This menu might be slightly different than what we had, but most of it looks the same.

 

http://www.royalcaribbean-arabia.com/content/planacruise/onboardexperience/foodanddrink/specialitydiningandexperience/Portofino_Menu.pdf

 

They also had a special…. Lobster tail. Yay! When we entered, we were seated promptly. The restaurant was about half full.

 

Our meal started with bread and various spreads.

 

 

We liked the salt and pepper shakers.

 

 

We ordered appetizers. I couldn’t decide between a salad with fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, and apple or tiger shrimp risotto, so we decided we’d split the salad (saving room for the rest of the meal).

 

My salad… it was good!

 

 

The risotto… OMG! I could have eaten vats of it. It had sharp cheese in it that was awesome with the shrimp.

 

 

Jason ordered Carpaccio and enjoyed it.

 

Our waiter also brought us canapés. I guess we didn’t look like we had enough food!

 

 

Cheese!

 

 

You can see in that picture that we were seated by the window. It would have been a gorgeous view at sunset. I’ll keep that in mind in the future.  

 

I’m holding the rest of the pood forn for my next update… which will be my last… it can’t all be sad, right? 

[Beckers 1,136]

I may start skipping the end of reports, makes me sad lol!