Carnival Freedom Cruise

After a day and a half heading South,  Shane and I finally arrived in Fort Lauderdale.  We stayed the night at the Westin overlooking the beach (for free!! Gotta love rewards points!).  We had Primanti's sandwiches for lunch and drove to West Palm in the evening. 

Our view from our room at the Westin!  Gorgeous!!  I could SO live in Fort Lauderdale!

After we checked out the next morning,   we headed to the aiport to pick up Kathy and Joe.  First order of business was to eat lunch at P.F. Changs!!!  Yum!!!!

We all love P.F. Changs!!!

After lunch,  we headed to Port Everglades to board the Carnival Freedom!  Check in was relatively quick and we were checking out our staterooms in no time!  We did the safety drill and then we all went to the Lido deck to watch the boat sail away.  

We had a booth for 4 every night which was nice.

We gambled a little after dinner and then went to watch the evening show.   We stayed up long enough  to have a midnight snack then it was off to bed.  Key West in the morning!!!

We had breakfast in the room this morning then met Kathy and Joe on the exit deck to go into Key West.  We  did some souvenir shopping along Duval Street. 

We rented an electric car for the rest of the day and cruised around! 

                  All of us at the Southernmost Point of the US!

We returned the car and headed back up Duval Street and shopped some more. 

We got some pictures of the boat on the way back!

So did Kathy and Joe!!

After a little rest,   we met back up for dinner on the boat and then went to the show. 

We ended up in the piano bar after the show and we had soooo much fun!  He was playing the BEST music ever!   Kathy was having a good time with her dirty martini's too!! 

Shane was having a little too much fun getting it all on tape!! 

We found our first towel animal that night!  How cute!

              Happy 25th Wedding Anniversary,  Kathy and Joe!!

We had breakfast in the room again.  Shane loved getting FREE room service!  We played bingo,  went to the shore excursion and port talks,  played the slots and napped all day.  We even ordered room service for lunch!  Very relaxing day! 

We met Kathy and Joe at the Captain's reception for free drinks and then off to dinner!

All of us at the Captain's reception. 

                  Free drinks!  The whiskey sour wasn't too bad!!

Joe bought Kathy a rose for their anniversary.  The waiters sang to them too!!

Tonight was also Lobster night!!

I had to get a picture of these 2 all cleaned up!  Shane doesn't wear a jacket EVER!!

We shopped in the Atrium and then went to see the show.  It was early to bed tonight because we both had shore excursions in the morning to Grand Cayman!

Our towel animal of the night!!

After a room service breakfast,  we headed to the lounge to meet our shore excursion group and get on the tender that would take us to Grand Cayman.  We were going to the beach.  Kathy and Joe's shore excursion left a little later and they were going snorkeling and swimming with the stingrays!

Grand Cayman is gorgeous but the water was really cold!!

I snorkeled alot and Shane relaxed on the beach.  I saw a stingray and a lot of fish!  We took a bus back to town and ate lunch at Paradise overlooking the ocean and the cruise ships. 

The Jolly Roger docked in Grand Cayman.

We did some shopping and Shane got his passport stamped.  He was sooo excited.  That was his first stamp. 

           We took some pictures then headed back to the boat.

Kathy and Joe did some shopping before their shore excursion and had some lunch.  They had a great time petting and swimming with the stingrays! 

They made some friends too!!

Kathy and Joe on their way back to the boat!

We all met for dinner that night on the ship and discussed our day!!  We had a great time in Grand Cayman!

The boys with Ruslana,  our bartender.  She was soo sweet!

We went to the show and had a few drinks!  There was a deck party later on that night but we were too tired to stay up for it!!  All these activities were wearing us out!!!  Definately getting old!!!

Our towel animal of the evening!

Ocho Rios, Jamaica tomorrow!

We were going on a shore excursion together today to climb Dunn's River Falls! 

We boarded the Cool Jazz and headed to the falls!

Kathy,  Joe and myself climbed up the falls in a chain of people.  It was a little harder than I expected be we had soooo much fun!  Shane decided to pass on the falls and wait for us on the beach.

The boat turned into a big dance party on the way back to cruise ship!  Including free rum and coke!!

We change our clothes and headed into town to do some shopping.  Kathy and Joe ate lunch at Margaritaville.  Shane and I went back to the boat for lunch.  We all got passport stamps too!!

Kathy and Joe made a stop at the Harley store!

Ocho Rios was really pretty from the ship but it wasn't somewhere that I would want to stay long term!!

As the boat headed back out to sea,  we got ready for dinner.  It was formal night again! 

Shane and I at dinner.

Every night,  the waiter put on a show for us!

We went to the show and we were all soooo tired from our fun day!!  We went to see a late night comedian too.  We were so glad that we could sleep in in the morning because we needed it!!

My favorite towel animal of the trip!!

Today was a day to relax!  We went to the dembarkation talk and played in the casino a little bit.  We also did some last minute shopping in the Atrium shops.  After several naps (and, yes, I said several!!!),   we went to dinner.

They both ordered ribs and said they were good!!

We went to the show and had some drinks.  The fruity drinks were really good!!

Kathy and Joe headed to bed after the show and Shane and I played bingo.  After cashing out at the casino,  we headed to bed too! 

No new towel animal tonight.  He left the monkey hanging. 

We all got off the boat during self assist dembarkation this morning so we were one of the first ones off the boat.  That was nice!  We were in the car by 7:30 AM.  Since we had most of the day before Kathy and Joe's flight left,  we decided to go to South Beach. 

We ate lunch at the Cordova Hotel and did some souvenir shopping. 

Collins Avenue!

After checking out the beach,  we headed back to Fort Lauderdale and ate lunch at Primanti's again!  Soooo good!!  I can't wait to go back!!

We dropped Kathy and Joe off at the airport after lunch then we headed north!!!  After a night's stay somewhere in Georgia,   we made our way home!