Caribbean Cruise
I travelled to the East coast of the USA for our family holiday this year and have lots to share so today I am writing about our fantastic fun cruise on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas!
It was a fabulous way to end our busy trip, 7 nights of great food, friendly staff, wonderful entertainment and interesting ports of call and best of all we only unpacked once! Our cruise departed from Port Canaveral, just under an hours drive from Orlando where we'd just had a fun but exhausting week at the Disney and Universal Theme Parks.
Freedom of the Seas is 1,112ft in length, has a cruising speed of 21.6 knots and has over 1300 staff to serve you! This ship has so much to do we found it hard to fit it all in, there is a surf simulator, rock climbing wall, ice-skating rink, mini golf, water park and pools. There are also kid's clubs, outdoor movies, trivia competitions, Broadway theatre style shows, bars, nightclub and casino, there are just too many activities to list them all here so let’s just say it is impossible to be bored!
This ship also has the family favourite DreamWorks characters on-board with opportunities to meet and have photos with Shrek, Fiona, Puss in Boots and many others. The ship is so large it has a grand promenade which hosts parades as well as shopping events and cooking demonstrations.
Our first port of call was the gorgeous Coco Cay Island in the Bahamas, this island is just what I imagined the Caribbean to be; white sandy beaches and stunning crystal clear blue ocean. Coco Cay is owned by Royal Caribbean and is set up with conveniences for a perfect day in the sun including on-shore BBQ, lounge chairs, drink service and floating bar. For the kids they have an inflatable water park and a water slide, there are water based activities including snorkelling and jet-skis (additional charge) and fresh water showers.
St Thomas was our second port, if you like shopping this is the perfect place to purchase designer brand watches and diamonds, the ship guarantees some vendors so you know you are getting the 'real deal'. St Thomas is also home to Magens Bay which is rated as one of the BEST beaches in the world.
Our final port was St Martin, truly a unique island, half French and half Dutch it is the smallest landmass in the world governed by two Nations. Both sides of the island have distinct cultures, wonderful beaches, food, cheap rum and shopping. The Island is also famous for Maho/Sunset beach where the planes fly directly overhead, it is often featured in movies and in youtube clips.
Sadly, all good things have to come to an end and we disembarked at Port Canaveral on our final day. We had the full day to fill in before our flight from Orlando so we booked an excursion to the nearby Kennedy Space Center and I am so glad we did! The Rocket Garden walk is really interesting, our knowledgeable guide gave us a brief history of these actual rockets of the Mercury, Gemini and Appllo Space programs, we also met a real Astronaut and had a little chat and family photo! We then took the 'behind the gates' bus tour through the fields to see up close historic rocket launch pads and the working spaceflight facilities, this was a highlight for me. This is also the home of the Space Shuttle Atlantis which is awesome to see and the rocket launch simulator is a must, this is the closest you will get to the real thing! There are lots of familiy friendly things to see and do including an Imax, displays of spacesuits and equipment and a moon rock which you can touch.
Stay tuned for my New York, Florida Keys and Disney World blogs...