I know this post is long overdue, but it's finally here. I posted pictures on Facebook a while ago, so this is a repeat to any facebook users, but this one has words and explanation!! YAY! (Be warned, it's a long one.)
We had such a great time on our cruise. More fun than we had imagined. We flew into Florida and encountered our first obstacle... the humidity. The Beesley's do not like humidity so there was a lot o grumbling the first evening, but we survived it and got over it quickly.
The next morning we had lunch then headed to the port. We were so excited and we were totally blown away when we saw our ship. It ws huge!! I didn't know it when we booked, but it is the largest cruise ship in the world! It was opened in 2006. We had to wait in line for a bit to get checked in, but it wasn't too bad. We got our Sea Pass card which doubled as a room key and onboard charge card and boarded the ship. When we got on the ship we didn't quite know what to do first. We got a soda then went to see our room. It was very nice and comfortable. Even after a week it still felt roomy. There's lots of cabinets and drawers to help you feel settled in. We had a balcony room on the 9th deck. We were also located right next to the stairs and elevators which we were nervous about at first, but it turned out to be a blessing. It was really convenient and so nice to not have to walk down those corrridors that go forever.
Cruise Itenerary
Day 1: Port Canaveral, Florida
Day 2: Cruising
Day 3: Labadee, Hati
Day 4: Ochos Rios, Jamaica
Day 5: Georgetown, Grand Cayman
Day 6: Cozumel, Mexico
Day 7: Cruising
Day 8: Port Canaveral
On the shuttle to the port
Royal Caribbean's "Freedom of the Seas"
Maiden Voyage: June 4, 2006
Passenger Capacity: 3,634 double occupancy
Tonnage: 160,000
Length: 1,112'
The Royal Promenade
The Arcadia Theater
Boarding the ship
Our Balcony Stateroom, Room 9542
On the pool deck
The Main Pool Deck
The "Leonardo Dining Room"
Monday... A whole day of Cruising
Today we spent the whole day cruising from Florida to our first port of call in Hati. We slept in, went rock climbing, went on the Flowrider and spent time at the pool. This was also the night of our first formal dinner. After that we went to the show.
We got a little sunburned which haunted us for the next few days.
Labadee, Hati
Labadee is a private Island owned by Royal Caribbean. The island had several palapas for drinks and snacks as well as SeaTrek water park, zip lines, snorkeling areas and hammocks hanging from palm trees.
James and I went to the far side of the island to Dragon's Breath Beach. We did a little snorkeling and a little relaxing. Royal Caribbean provided lunch for everyone which was very nice.
We got back to the boat a little early and figured that the Flowrider should be pretty empty with all the people still on the Island. With James's expert advice I did very well and even got up to my knees!!
This is the table we were assigned to eat at for the week. We were very lucky to have thes wonderful family from Japan (now living in Boston) to spend time with. The girls were so cute and a lot of fun.
Ochos Rios, Jamaica
This was so much fun!! We climbed Dunn's River Falls, a 600 foot waterfall that flows directly into the ocean. This waterfall was also featured in the James Bond Movie "Dr. No".
The tour groups had to climb the falls in a single file line holding hands. We got to climb with just the two of us and someone giving us directions and taking pictures from the side.
A little bit of Shopping in Jamaica...
This was our second "Formal Night"
Georgetown, Grand Cayman
In Crand Cayman, we went to "Stingray City." It is a sandbar where stingrays abound and swim all around you. Fisherman used to duck in here, behind the reef, to find calm water before returning to the dock. They would stop here to clean and fillet their catch. Disposing of the offal was easy, toss it overboard in the shallow water, there's no one out here and the fish will eat it! It was fat city for the rays! Years went by, and eventually some local divers realized that, not only were there were a lot of rays out there but you could get in the water with them and feed them by hand.
The water that day was really rough and it was windy. In pictures it showed the water being about waist high, today it was chest high with big waves. We got pretty tossed around out there, but we did get to see and touch lots of stingrays.
The boats all park at the sandbar and unload their tourists.
This is James petting a stingray.
This is me petting a stingray.
We bought some red snapper at the fish market next door and brought it here to be cooked. It was so good!
Cozumel, Mexico
Cozumel was a pretty relaxing day. We went downtown and window-shopped with the pushy aggressive locals, then went to paradise beach for the afternoon.
Lounging on Paradise Beach
Cruising... all day long.
We had a nice breakfast in the formal dinign room, then set out t osee the parts of the ship that we hadn't seen yet.
Yes, there was even ice skating.
And more rock climbing
Leaving the Ship & The Kennedy Space Center
We found out half way through the cruise that there was an excursion on Sunday after we got off the ship to the Kennedy Space Center. I thought about trying to go before we got on the ship, so I was so excited to find that we would be able to go after the cruise before going to the airport. Another bonus was that we had to be the first ones off the ship which meant that our luggage was first off the ship as well. I had heard horror stories about trying to find your luggage later in the day when the whole ship was getting off at the same time.
The Kennedy Space center was so neat. We learned so much about space exploration that we didn't know before. It was also just the day before the space shuttle "Discovery" was supposed to launch. It was out there on the launch pad, but we couldn't see very much of it.
Leaving the ship... so sad...
The Shuttle "Discovery". We thought about extending a day so that we could see the launch. Its a good thing we didn't because it didn't actually launch till friday.
**sigh**
It was so much fun... Lets go again!!
Sam and James playing with his new Fire Truck.
Cooper always pulls the funniest faces.
Sunday the 27th Cooper was blessed in church. It was so great to have everyone there for it. 
