Our first Cruise! Day 1

Carol | April 17, 2016 | Caribbean, Travel | No Comments

Karl and I are super excited and nervous to be going on our first cruise. We only have a vague idea of what to expect. Hopefully we’ve packed everything we need.

We’re going on a 7 night / 8 day Eastern Caribbean cruise through Royal Caribbean with stops in Cococay, Bahamas; Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas; and Philipsburg, St. Maarten. So far we’ve only signed up for a couple of shore excursions: snorkeling in Cococay, and riding a gondola to a great view spot on St. Thomas.

Our cruise itinerary. Tendered means we'll be shuttled from the ship to the island by a smaller boat. — Our cruise itinerary. Tendered means we’ll be shuttled from the ship to the island by a smaller boat.

Karl and I drove all night minus a stop to watch the new Batman vs. Superman movie, an hour and a half nap at a rest area, and breakfast at Denny’s. When driving to Florida we prefer to drive at night to avoid the harsh Florida sun that makes being in the car miserable. Pulling into the port area of Cape Canaveral was pretty cool. We could see several other cruise ships, and were super excited when we saw our own. So big!

View of Disney and Carnival Cruise ships as we drove into Port Canaveral.

We parked the car at a parking deck right next to where we board the ship. Parking the car for a week was $120. Ouch! On the bottom level of the parking deck we gave our suitcases to the luggage attendants complete with luggage tags indicating our ship and room. Then it was time to enter the building, go through security, and check in. We had to do a little paperwork but it didn’t take very long. We were walking onto the ship in less than half an hour after parking.

Our ship, Freedom of the Seas, from the 4th floor of the parking garage.

Took a picture of our suitcases for reference in case they got lost. We printed out paper tags with our room information from Royal Caribbean’s website the night before, and tied scarves around the handles to make them more distinctive.

Ship: Freedom of the Seas, Room 9693 (9th floor)

We dropped our luggage off and inspected our stateroom which was larger and nicer than anticipated. Yay!

Large closet with shelves for storage. I was impressed with how much room for storage we had in the cabin.

The shower was neat. A round sliding door allowed for more space. The shower head is vertically adjustable via a pole you can slide it up and down.

Two twin beds pushed together. The beds were quite comfortable.

Desk & T.V. – The television swivels so you can watch it in bed but every time the ship swayed it would move so Karl had to tie it in place.

Minibar: Canned drinks $2.50, large bottles of water $5.00. Yikes!

2:15 pm – Grabbed a quick bite to eat at the Windjammer, the ships main buffet diner.

3:00 pm – Attended a Newbie Meeting for People on their first cruise, or first cruise with Royal Caribbean.

Exploring the Ship

The Freedom of the Seas has many open decks and some super cool architecture. This is a view of floors 3, 4, and 5. The 5th floor is also referred to as the Promenade. It's where all the shops are. — The Freedom of the Seas has many open decks and some super cool architecture. This is a view of floors 3, 4, and 5. The 5th floor is also referred to as the Promenade. It’s where all the shops are.

A view of the elevator area. Most of the decks have a view of the promenade. So sparkly!

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5:00 pm – Back to our room for a nap!

6:00 pm – Pizza snack at Sorrentos

The Windjammer has wrap around windows with beautiful views of the ocean.

Checked out the pool deck which was really cool with three different pool areas with tons of hot tubs and cool pool designs. One for kids, one for families, and one for adults only.

8:00 pm – Dinner at Leonardo’s – This was super cool and the highlight of the day. We were seated at an assigned table (270) in a beautiful formal dining room with a couple from Kentucky. There are many different sized tables in the dining room ranging from 2 tops to 10+ so people are usually seated with other guests they don’t know but it’s cool because it forces you to be social. I was a little nervous when the other couple was first seated with us since it’s a rare experience but it was fun and I’m glad we didn’t have the table to just ourselves.

Super swanky dining room. We were seated by a beautiful window.

Walked around on the deck after diner to admire the ocean at night. The waves were a bit intense. I haven’t gotten seasick yet but the ship is swaying more than I expected it to.

9:30 pm – Back to the room to call it a night.

Next: Day 2

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