Carnival Freedom
6 Day Western Caribbean Cruise - May 26, 2013
When planning our wedding, I don’t think we had any idea for a honeymoon other than a cruise. We live in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, minutes away from Port Everglades and a short drive from PortMiami. We live in the cruise capital of the world, so of course we were going to go on a cruise for our honeymoon! After looking over available cruises within our timeframe and budget, we chose to cruise on the Carnival Freedom out of our homeport of Port Everglades.
Itinerary
Sunday - May 26 - Fort Lauderdale, FL
Monday - May 27 - Key West, FL
Tuesday - May 29 - Sea Day
Wednesday - May 30 - Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
Thursday - May 31 - Ocho Rios, Jamaica
Friday - June 1 - Sea Day
Saturday - June 2 - Fort Lauderdale, FL
Pre-Cruise Planning
We had been to Key West by land before, but Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios were new ports for us. We booked a balcony cabin (a first for either of us!) for the celebratory occasion and quickly started counting down the days until embarkation.
This was the first cruise we booked on our own, instead of with friends or family, so the planning was all up to us. To learn more I looked online for all the information I could find, which is how I found Cruise Critic. To post on the message boards you need a username and that is how CruisinChandlers began.
Key West
For Key West, we chose to just walk around and explore on our own. We walked down to the Southernmost Point of the Continental United States and took pictures in front of the landmark buoy. On our way back to the ship we stopped at Irish Kevin’s to enjoy some drinks and live music.
Grand Cayman
Being fans of craft beer, we decided to take the public mini-bus to Cayman Islands Brewery for a tour and to sample some of their beers. Cayman Islands Brewery was established in 2007, the first (and only, at the time we visited) craft brewery on the island. After the brewery we headed to the infamous Seven Mile Beach. It started raining, so we decided to just get back onboard the Carnival Freedom.
Ocho Rios
The thing to do in Ocho Rios is to climb Dunn’s River Falls, a famous waterfall and one of Jamaica’s national treasures. We booked the Cool Runnings Sail & Dunn’s River Falls excursion through Carnival. The catamaran picked us up very close to where the Freedom docked and off we were to Dunn’s River Falls. The climb up the 600-foot waterfall was fun. The rocks were slippery, but you held your neighbor’s hand in a long chain of people as you snaked up the falls, so you’re safe. The water was surprisingly cold!
After the climb we walked down the stairs back to the catamaran which turned into a party on the way back to the ship. The immense Jamaican mountains made a gorgeous backdrop for pictures, so we took a picture with our hands up to show off our new wedding rings, we’re newlyweds after all! That’s when we noticed Jay’s wedding ring was missing! Remember how I said the water was cold? Cold enough that his ring must have slipped off and will forever be sitting at the bottom of Dunn’s River Falls in memory of our honeymoon and first cruise together.
After getting off the catamaran, we walked around the port area to shop and found a restaurant serving jerk chicken, so of course we had to sit down and enjoy some. When in Rome Jamaica! After lunch we got back on the Carnival Freedom to cruise back home to Fort Lauderdale. We had a wonderful honeymoon cruise and it didn’t take long to start talking about doing it again for our 1st anniversary in 2014.
