2014 Dec. girls' Carnival Freedom cruise

2014 Dec. 6 night girls' Carnival Freedom cruise: Key West; Grand Cayman; Cozumel

Out of the blue one day, my sister-in-law, Jane, told me that my brother said she could go on a cruise with me.  He pretty much had to say that since he was going to Vegas with "the guys".  So I didn't hesitate to start checking on cruises.  I looked for the best deal I could find with the most interesting itinerary leaving out of Ft. Lauderdale.  So after some searching, I came up with this 6 night cruise on Carnival Freedom going to Key West, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel.   The rate was  something like $700 for the 2 of us for the beginning of Dec.  It wasn't too long before my sister heard about our cruise and wanted to join us.  At that point I wasn't too thrilled with the idea of sleeping on a bunk, so found an inside category with fold down couch (it even had portholes) for just a bit more.  Then I started working on talking my daughter into going.  Even took a Halloween special that let me book an inside room for myself for something like $580---with the hopes of talking Angie into joining us.  I even caught another special to upgrade to an ocean view room for about $50 more and it included a $100 obc, so I took it.  Then I was able to get $50 obc for owning CCL stock.  My sister had sent in for the credit for her room, so this way we both got our stock obc.  Wasn't until after Thanksgiving that I finally talked Angie into going and added her to my room.  With all that settled, all we had to do was wait until Dec. 3rd to roll around and meet up with Angie in Ft. Lauderdale.  The cruise wasn't until the 7th, but airfare was cheaper going in the middle of the week and Angie lives there so we figured we could freeload off of them for a few days.  That almost worked out.  Unfortunately, or fortunately considering who's looking at it, Josh got really sick right before we arrived, so Carolyn, Jane and I stayed the first 4 nights at the Wyndham Palm Aire.

2014-Dec. 3-7  pre-cruise S. Florida stay:

2014-12-7 embarkation day:

2014-12-8 Key West:

2014-12-9 Sea Day:

2014-12-10 Grand Cayman: 

2014-12-11 Cozumel:

2014-12-12 Sea Day: 

Our time went rather quickly.  We also went to a few art auctions.  Carolyn even bought a painting---which she actually paid for, then later went and rescinded her payment.  But we had a good time visiting.  I live in St. Louis, Jane in Illinois, Carolyn in Oregon, and Angie in Florida; so it was nice having a chance to catch up.  It looked like it was going to end wonderfully and we would go back to our merry little lives.  ----Until Ken tried to check Carolyn and Jane in for their flights.  Jane's went ok, but Carolyn's said call the airlines.  She first called it from the ship.  That's when she found out her flight was changed --- to a 7am flight---obviously she missed that flight!  Josh picked us up and we went back to their house.  Carolyn spent the next 2 or 3 hours on the phone yelling at Cheap O air, USAir, AAmerican air, the whole state of Florida?!, and us.  I was happy to have the break to drive Jane to the airport for her early evening flight.  Carolyn had to buy a new flight for the next morning leaving at 7am for about $280 more dollars.  Sounds like they actually used her fare for the flight she missed and waved the change fee, but she was still demanding she shouldn't have to pay since she wasn't notified.  At this point, I was astounded that she hadn't actually checked her flights before the trip!  I assumed everyone who's flown more then once knows to do that now!  She was still on the phone when I got back.  Fortunately Angie and Josh had a Christmas party to go to so they got to escape a lot of the turmoil.   I was staying there for a few more days, so I got up at 5am and took Carolyn to the airport.   Then I needed those extra days to decompress!   

2014-12-12 Sea Day: 

Today was another day to wander around the ship and see what was going on.  Got a kick out of the towel animals around the pool.

 We had brunch in the restaurant and used our free drink coupons.  

 another angle of the Atrium.  This is about the time Jane discovered her credit wasn't any good.  She tried to buy something and it was denied.  So off to the front desk to find out why.  Even though I had put all her info in and printed out boarding passes for both of them, Carolyn used the boarding pass she had printed out before Jane was registered.  Don't know if that was the reason for the mess up, but I'm assuming it was.  At least it was an easy, albeit annoying, thing to fix. 

A really cool little place we found last year.  Got a really great hand dipped milkshake from it.  The desserts looked great, too, for a small charge, but we were always too full to try any of them.

the Red Frog Bar again.

 another Red Frog bar.  This one was by the big screen and was the place to get free popcorn at night.

 a concert shown on the big screen.

another towel creation.

 Another fun filled day---even though we were stuck on the ship all day.

2014-12-11 Cozumel:

While eating breakfast, we got a kick out of this tiny barge.  Kept watching it to see if it was going to sink.

This is a port Angie and I had been to many years ago on her Graduation reward cruise.  The port didn't look anything like I remembered.  I thought we were right by town instead of in a boarded off port area.  It did have a lot of duty free shops.
Loved the cigarette machine with all the warnings on it.

 Restaurant by the docks.

more shops

 even fake Aztec buildings.

 nicely landscaped

and lots of colorful things.

Even Christmas decorations.

 Jane posing with the Christmas tree.

 Near the taxi stand.

 Carolyn and Jane wanted to shop around.  Angie and I were looking to get out and find some real Mexican food.  We found the taxi stand and listened to their offer to take us on an island tour and to a restaurant for $25@.  Another couple was interested, too, so the 4 of us went.  I was a bit surprised and annoyed when he drove about 5 minutes and took us to a Tequila distillery.  The tour did turn out to be pretty interesting, though, even though I had been to a much bigger one in Puerto Vallarta a few years ago.

 Back on our ride through town.

 Love the colorful buildings

and the Christmas decorations.

They even have a Sam's Club.

typical side street in Cozumel.

sculpture in a round-about.

 on the other side of the island.

 We asked him to take us to a real Mexican restaurant for lunch.  Even asked him if this was the kind of place he'd take his family to.  He, of course, said yes.  Imagine our surprise when we got in there and saw Mac and cheese, fish sticks, chicken wings, pizza, bagels and cream cheese, ... !  A bus pulled up then and we quickly snuck out.  Then we had to find the driver---who was apparently with the other bus drivers probably laughing about us stupid tourists. 

He was pretty quiet from then on.  Not much of a talking tour, but  the sights were pretty---all taken while riding in the car.

 Should have gone to Coconuts.

 Another tourist trap.

shoreline.

Wouldn't mind snorkeling here.

 Looked like these places would be easy to reach by rental car.

more beautiful shoreline.

took a picture of this sign to remind me of the area in case I'm back here on another cruise someday.

Even inland had interesting views.  Reminded me of the Everglades.

 I liked how they had a "highway" and an outer road.

Where Angie and I had gone when we were here before.  A beautiful beach.  Snorkeling was so-so, but there were a lot of purple fan coral.

Originally I had wanted to go to Chankanaab National Park, but taxi ride and entrance fee probably would have been about $40@ and I knew Jane wouldn't let us pay for her and Carolyn probably wouldn't have wanted to pay that much.  Sounded like a really neat place to hang out at a beautiful beach, walk around some gardens, snorkel, get some refreshments. 

Our driver finally took us to a nice restaurant back in town and said he'd be back for us in an hour.  The place was really nice, not too expensive, food was good, but our service was terrible.  We got the distinct impression we weren't too welcome.  Even after we finally got waited on and ate, we waited forever to get our bill.   By then, we were anxious to pay and leave so we just split the cost with the other couple.  Without thinking, I gave them cash for our half .

Neat scene they had set up by the door.

 the Restaurant from the street.  Yes, our taxi driver was there and none too happy.  I guess he'd been waiting for awhile.    Then came the panic!  I realized I used most of cash for lunch (had planned to charge it) and didn't have enough cash for the taxi (no charge allowed).  Here we were begging the other couple to float us a loan and being so embarrassed!  They were very nice about it and fortunately had enough cash for us, too. 

 We went straight back to the ship and Angie ran the cash up to their cabin.  We then spent about an hour watching people come back on the ship.  It was rather interesting!  Our room was directly one floor above one of the walkways back onto the ship.  Great location to people watch.  Occassionally someone would see us and wave wildly.

on the side of the ship next to us.

Then we headed up to watch the sail away.

another beautiful evening.

 another beautiful sunset.

 We had a little convoy with this Royal Caribbean ship and a Disney ship.

 back inside we headed to the atrium for Christmas carols.

 another view down the Atrium

decorations on the railing.

 Carolers.

 and snow!!!!

Jane and I even entered the "ugly sweater" contest.
but we didn't win.

I wasn't too excited about this port, but we (at least Angie and I), had a good time.  Sure glad Angie decided to come with us!