Batty familys US Adventure - TR - NOW WIITH PHOTOS!!

[battymum]

Day 9

Another early start, our bags were packed, sadly we had to check out of Pop Century today - we were headed to Kennedy Space centre and wanted an early start.
We grabbed some breakfast at the food court - I had spoken at reception earlier about how many credits we had left, as we had skipped some meals earlier in the week, turns out we had 17 CS credits, 1 TS credit and 6 snacks - she said that they would honour each credit for a snack item, yes I had read that you could get three, but took her word that it was 1 for 1. So after our breakfast, I went and grabbed some bottles of water, packets of crisps and cake that I wrapped in napkins - all this in the midst of Pop breakfast chaos, there was much eyerolling from DH, I was being stingy again.

When I got to the counter, she grouped the items in to sets of three, and said that was what I could have for each credit.
I couldnt be bothered getting anything else, so let anything leftover lapse.

We hit the road and headed for KSC - this was interesting, but again it was too hot to enjoy a lot of it, we grabbed some lunch, and got back in the car to head for Cape Canaveral.

We went through some interesting neighbourhoods on this drive. but we found Cape Canaveral and checked into Country Inn and Suites - this place was the perfect spot to overnight before a cruise - we had a room that slept the five of us, it was clean and cheap and provided a pretty good breakfast.

We had a little nanna nap, ate the chips and cake that I had taken from Pop, before heading out to see Cocoa Beach. Now I have memories of watching I dream of Jeannie (actually it is still on..) and I thought Cocoa beach would be quite glamorous, well maybe it was 30 years ago, but we thought it was quite depressing. We went to Ron Jons surf shop and then went and checked out the beach, the boys would have liked a swim but the guy in the surf shop warned us not to go in as there were too many jellyfish about at the moment. It certainly doesnt compare to Sydney beaches.

We couldnt find anywhere that looked appealing to eat, so grabbed some McDonalds and headed back to our room. (I hate how we always grab McDonalds when I dont have anything planned.)

 

[Caroline NZ]

Great detail in your trip report. What is coming through to me from reading everyones reports is that the heat / humidity can be really draining. I hope that when we go one day that we wil be able to cope with it.

 

[battymum]

Oh Caroline, I dont like to be too negative around here - but the heat just sucked the life right out of me, it really was draining - I thought we would cope better being Aussies - if I went back, it wouldnt be in September - although I did appreciate the low crowds (maybe they all knew)

 

[battymum]

Day 10, 11, 12,13,14,15, 16

Well I figured all you Disneyaholics didnt need a day by day rundown of our cruise.

But suffice to say - we loved Freedom of the Seas, the food, the fun, the swimming, the food, the shows, the food, the beds, the hot tub, the teen club

I wish we had taken this cruise before our Disney leg, it may have given our bodies a chance to relax into the different timezone.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Day 10, 11, 12,13,14,15, 16

Well I figured all you Disneyaholics didnt need a day by day rundown of our cruise.

But suffice to say - we loved Freedom of the Seas, the food, the fun, the swimming, the food, the shows, the food, the beds, the hot tub, the teen club

I wish we had taken this cruise before our Disney leg, it may have given our bodies a chance to relax into the different timezone.

We might be Disney-holics but we all like to travel and see new things (even if I get seasick!).

If you wanna share, I'll be here lurking from the sidelines...

 

[aussietravellers]

Day 10, 11, 12,13,14,15, 16

Well I figured all you Disneyaholics didnt need a day by day rundown of our cruise.

But suffice to say - we loved Freedom of the Seas, the food, the fun, the swimming, the food, the shows, the food, the beds, the hot tub, the teen club

I wish we had taken this cruise before our Disney leg, it may have given our bodies a chance to relax into the different timezone.

We might be Disney-holics but we all like to travel and see new things (even if I get seasick!).

If you wanna share, I'll be here lurking from the sidelines...

Me too. We had a massive storm this afternoon, lost power for hours, its just come back on and the foxtel isn't working. Called them, its down because of the storm, hope to have it fixed by Tuesday. WHAT??? NO TV UNTIL TUESDAY! They had better have it fixed by then as it's Real Housewives of NY Tuesday night I can't miss that.

Anyway long story short. No TV for days to come, No power for hours.... I'd love to read your TR of the cruise too if you want to share I'll be lurking from the sidelines too

 

[OziJo]

Battymum, I am learning so much from your TR in regards to travelling with teenagers. Up until now the shopping outlets have only been a maybe but after your report I think we will definately be making that trip. Could you please tell me where the outlet is you got all those shoes.

Oh Caroline, I dont like to be too negative around here - but the heat just sucked the life right out of me, it really was draining - I thought we would cope better being Aussies - if I went back, it wouldnt be in September - although I did appreciate the low crowds (maybe they all knew)

This is why I'm glad we are going in January.

Thank you so much for your detailed report.

 

[battymum]

OziJo -
You have to spend at least half a day at the outlet mall - there are two, they are both called Premium, one is closer to the Universal Parks, and the other closer to Disney - I thought they were pretty much the same, although the one near Disney didnt have any surfwear stores.

I see your teens are girls, my DD16 was the one who bought most of the shoes, I think she bought 6 pairs for herself. I think she is quite fashionable and feminine, but she is a jeans and sneakers type, one of those pairs of shoes is a high heel for her formal, that we bought later in the trip, she is going to have to practice wearing those!! -But she likes Vans and converse and bought a couple of pair of Addidas - the surfwear was better and cheaper for boys, but she bought a bikini and a couple of dresses. But if they are into sportswear, like Nike or Addidas, it is soo much cheaper.

 

[battymum]

We might be Disney-holics but we all like to travel and see new things (even if I get seasick!).

If you wanna share, I'll be here lurking from the sidelines...

Well, you asked for it,

Sunday morning we woke up at Country Inn, although we couldnt see from our room, when we were dressed and went down the corridor, we could see the beautiful Freedom of the Seas docked at the port. This ship is MASSIVE!!!!, yes the Disney ship was docked next to her, and to be honest, I think she was a little prettier, with her black hull, but we were booked on Freedom and couldnt wait to board.

We had some breakfast at Country Inn and packed our things into the car - DH dropped the kids and I and our luggage at the port, while he returned the car. They really have a quite efficient process at the port, you drive up to the drop off area, and the baggage handlers meet you at your car. As we were from overseas we didnt have luggage tags, but they are able to issue them to you straight away - when he asked how many we needed and I said 10 - I got quite a look, like I was not serious.

So they loaded up our bags on their cart and DH took the car, he was a little apprehensive about splitting up, but I assured him we would not get on the boat without him. He had our passports, so we couldnt anyway. I said we would meet him near the main entrance to the terminal - I had hoped we could sit inside, but you cant get in unless you have all your documentation, so we had to wait outside, for what seemed like ages.

Again with the heat, but here in Aus, rarely is it that hot when you are on the coast, it is always a bit cooler by the sea, not in Port canaveral, -

There was an endless procession of shuttle buses dropping off, eventually DH turned up on the Budget one. He had to fill the car up with fuel before he dropped it back and said he couldnt work the pump at the gas station as you need to prepay with a card or something, so had to take it back and pay the premium price Budget charges.

So we made our way into the terminal and the embarkation process, this was no fun, but we had no problems, (I was a little nervous, as I had booked using a US travel agent, and had since read that you shouldnt do this, I think it was a scare tactic from Australian travel agents) We were soon making our way to the ship.

You arent allowed to your rooms until 1:00pm - so with 3500 people all wandering aimlessly and with their carryon luggage - I had wondered what we were in for - we made our way to the buffet, along with everyone else, finding a table was difficult, but we had some lunch and then we could go to our room.

Our rooms were beautiful, we had booked two interconnecting balcony cabins. We could open up the divider between the balconys, making one large area.

This whole process had taken its toll and I had quite a headache, so took some Advil and had a little nap, we hadnt even left the port, and I was in bed

We had to get up shortly before sailaway, as you are required to go and gather under your allocated lifeboat for an emergency muster.

We headed back to our room and left port canaveral, waving from our balcony. Our luggage turned up - all 10 bags, again more looks, but I dont think they realised it was for 5 people in two cabins - we unpacked what we would need for the week (not 17 pairs of sneakers)- and managed to hide the bags under the beds.

We had 6:00 dining, so showered and dressed and made our way to the main dining room. We met our waiter and his assistant, who would serve us all week. The assistant, Elvis was extremely nervous, and later in the night revealed to us it was his first time!!.

We loved eating in the main dining room, it was a great learning experience for our kids, as although we occassionally eat out at fine dining places, we dont take them.

 

[OziJo]

Thank you Battymum. My DD15 will be in heaven with both sneakers and heels. DD13 wants sneakers and DD18 who has a size 11!! foot will be looking for anything that fits and is nice. For DH and me sportswear. Also any sportswear that doubles as dancewear would be good too. Did you notice any dance wear outlets? I'll have to look into that.

Yes practice in heels is a must! My DD18 wore heels to her Yr 12 Formal and they hurt so much she needed to take them off but was told by someone from the function centre to put them back on again!!

 

[battymum]

Didnt notice any dancewear outlets as such, but then I wasnt looking! At both the Nike and Addidas outlets there were plenty of crop tops, aerobic gear, yoga pants that sort of stuff - I am sure there prices were good.

As for the heels, they are probably too high for someone that has never worn heels, but they matched the dress beautifully, I am thinking we might have to buy another pair or will have to buy some of those ballet flats to put in her bag! We can always sell the ones we bought on ebay!

 

[battymum]

They had announced earlier in the day that there would be a teenage meet and mingle at 8:00pm that night in their dedicated teen club area.

I said to the kids they should go, and if they didnt like it, they didnt have to stay. Well after a lot of persuasion from me, they almost dared each other to go, "come on, it will be funny" Anyone who has teenagers will understand where I am coming from, I am so glad to be free of that teenage angst.

Anyway they went along, AND LOVED IT!!!! - Their comment was, "it wasnt even awkward or anything" they had some great staff who organised a lot of fun activities for them. As US school is in, there were not many children on board, so they only had a small group, usually they split the teens into 12-14's and 15-17's so my kids would be split, but as there were not many they only had one group. They found some friends and really hit it off, basically we didnt see them for the rest of the week. They were free to come and go from the teen lounge as they wished, I was comfortable with them doing this.

I had read previously, that there was a curfew for all children under 17 of 1:00am - and had thought "who lets their kids out till 1:00am", , well guess what time my kids came in each night!!! I had laid the rules down about going into other cabins or having others come into ours - but otherwise felt that they were completely safe.

They said the curfew was quite strict, and as soon as 1:00am - they were told by any staff member they had to go to their rooms.

So this is how it went for the rest of the week, we would wake up and go for breakfast, around 10, they would still be asleep, We would meet back at the cabin at five and have dinner together, they would leave us, usually without dessert.

 

[battymum]

Day 2 of our cruise was a port day at Coco Cay - Royal Carribeans private island.

We anchored off shore and tendered to the island - this was a nice beach day - they had a great inflateable water park - but unfortunately there were too many jellyfish about for the kids to use it - I sort of resented the fact that you had to pay $20 per hour to use it - when we could go back to the ship and use the awesome flowrider all day for free!!

We had a swim, I have to say I was dissappointed with the water, although it looked beautiful and blue from the distance - up close it was almost like milk, you couldnt see your feet in 1 foot of water - it was really rocky underfoot too - but we went in, just so that we could say we had done it.

There was a pretty good BBQ lunch -

After lunch we headed back to the ship, I had quite a headache again, so took some advil and had a nap (seriously I lived on this stuff for the first week and half of our trip)

Tonight was formal night, and if you had been chatting with me on the cruise critic boards before our trip, you would know I was in quite a dilemma about this. While I easily packed cocktail wear for myself, it was harder to do for DH and the boys - in the end we decided to buy a suit in Orlando - I had bought dress shirts for the boys and they were to wear them with (new and dark, jeans).

When it came to it, I really wasnt fussed about formal night, but because we had bought the clothes we had to go. We dressed and went, what we were wearing was certainly appropriate, I was particularly worried about my kids being out of place, but they were fine, there really was all sorts - I think DH would have been out of place without a jacket though.

Tonight we shared our table with friends from Iowa we had met through cruise critic, we enjoyed their company and were glad we made the effort to go.

After dinner, the kids ditched us, and we went to the show, there were five different shows throughout the week, I cant remember which was which, but they were all top notch, broadway style productions.

 

[PrincessInOz]

YAY!! More TR to read.

You know...this cruising thing is growing on me. I just need to dose myself up with seasick pills.

Sounds like you and the kids were having a great time on board.

 

[battymum]

I really think it would be unusual for anyone to be seasick - you dont feel any movement at all - there was one night that we could see that the sea was quite rough - but you couldnt feel it.

The afternoon after Coco Cay when I was laying down with a headache, I had to get up and take all the hangers out of the closet as they were banging against each other ever so lightly, but it was hurting my head.

There were times walking the corridor, when I had to remind myself that I had only had one drink and the ground really was moving-

 

[battymum]

Day 3

Day at sea, what can I say, there is always something to do - eat, drink, swim, ice skate, boogie board, golf, rockclimb, listen to the band, learn to salsa, have your teeth whitened - OK I didnt do the last two, but I could have, if I wanted.

This was my favourite place on the ship!!

Dinner again in the main dining room, although the buffet is awesome,I am not a fan of queuing for food, and having all sorts on your plate touching each other, but thats just me, I dont know why you wouldnt choose to sit down and have your meal brought to you, given the choice, AND ITS FREE!!!

The meals were always good and the service was top class - after the first night, as we walked in DH would just give the nod and he would be brought the beer of his choice.

Even in the theatre, we were there one night and ordered drinks, the next night we sat in the same part of the theatre and the server knew exactly what we wanted, Corona and Scotch and dry ginger, with a straw!! - maybe I am just a gumby, but whenever I have a drink with ice without a straw I end up spilling it, so had asked for one.

This evening they had a British music invasion party - the whole promenade was full - and the entertainers sang all sorts of British songs, think Elton John, the Beatles, etc - led by the very funny and talented cruise director Graham Seymour - it was a lot of fun, everyone was singing and dancing -

 

[battymum]

Day 4

Today we were in Port at St Thomas, part of the US Virgin islands - we pulled in about 10:30 - the Carnival Valour, and Disney Magic were already there, it was interesting to watch our huge ship parallel park between them.

Now, I had planned and planned this trip in minute detail, but had deliberately left us free this day to "wing it" - BIG MISTAKE!!!

With three ships in port, and us having never been before it really was quite hectic, there are thousands of taxis touting for your business - we were scared of being ripped off but ended up jumping in one - this took us to the main shopping area - which was just an outdoor market - a lot of tshirts, dresses - we didnt buy anything -

There were also a lot of shops selling Diamonds and jewellery, something we were not in the market for, and would be unwilling to buy without some research. But apparently they are cheap!

We jumped into another taxi and headed to Magens Bay, this is rated in the top 10 beaches of the world, it certainly was beautiful, the water was clear and warm and blue, just like I had dreamed Caribbean waters would be, (unlike Coco Cay) although the surf was a little flatter than what us Aussies are used to.

We taxied back to the ship, browsing a few shops along the way - we really needed to buy shampoo, as what the ship supplied was gross.

Dinner in the MDR again - the menu changes nightly - followed by a show and some drinks -

This may have been the night our nervous first time, assistant waiter, spilled a tray of coke on me - even though I ended up covered in coke, I felt worse for him than me - I had three managers come over and ask me if I was OK and what they could do - and what they could give me "um, free cruise please " but seriously, I didnt make a fuss, I just asked for my dress to be cleaned.

Now I could have gone and changed, but I had carefully planned my wardrobe, and that would mean wearing something twice I liked the dress I was wearing and it dries quickly, so I rinsed it out and we went for a walk up on deck - and I was good to go!!

I sent my dress to the laundry the next day. They charged me $8 and I felt cheap questioning it, but they quickly credited it.

 

[battymum]

Day 5
Another port day in St Maarten - a small island jointly ruled by French and Dutch -

I had arranged a tour with Bernards Tours , who comes highly recommended on the cruise critic boards and trip advisor -

This tour was great, we pretty much drove around the entire island and ended up at Maho Beach - where for those who dont know, planes come in really low to land at Princess Julianna airport , this was a lot of fun, and the swimming was beautiful

-

Back to the ship in plenty of time, I was really paranoid about missing the ship while we were in port -

Dinner and a show again. I think tonight was the ice skating show - yes they have an ice rink and they put on an amazing show.

They had another fun game at 11:00pm, called the Quest, where they split the room into teams and then the cruise director has a list of things that they have to bring to him - it was really funny and for adults only - DH had left me on my own for that one - so I sat quietly just watching - when they called for the team captains to bring 6 ladies bra's I shrunk in my seat, but couldnt believe how quickly everyone was ripping them off !

 

[aussietravellers]

The cruise sounds so fun! It's not something I have done before. I don't know I guess I get a bit nervous about being so far away from land crazy I know But it is something i would love to do one day.

The quest night sounded fun, don't know that I would have ripped my bra off, but it sure would have been funny being a spectator. Nightmare about the tray of coke! Poor waiter, that would be a waiter/waitresses worst nightmare I would imagine I'm glad that it didn't ruin your night or your dress.

 

[battymum]

Day 6
Sea Day

Eating, drinking, swimming - we watched the belly flop competition, it was really funny!

Sea days get very busy by the pool, and it was hard to get a lounger, especially as I like to sit in the shade, - but there are plenty of other places you could go - there were literally 1000's of lounge chairs, heck we had a balcony that we hardly used, if we just wanted to read a book -

IMO, by the pool, is where the action is.

It was amazing how the crowd dispersed, other than our embarkation day, we never felt crowded at all - there were certainly plenty of places you could go if you wanted quiet.

Another formal night tonight - Lobster tails on the menu, followed by a show and drinks.