Travel Log: Nassau - Freedom of the Seas - January 14, 2023

The elevators reminded me it is Saturday. Good to know as it's hard to keep track of the days when on vacation!

We were up early this morning to catch the sunrise. We found a spot on the outdoor promenade.

And then Paul went to get me coffee!

A car outside the cafe caught his attention for a few moments....

But he made it back

And he brought donuts!!!

We then went up to the Windjammer (buffet) for a quick breakfast and I will admit it was a very quick breakfast for me. I had barely sat down when I spotted the lighthouse on the edges of Nassau so I was on my feet and out the door to capture it all. (Paul finished eating and then joined me out on deck.)

It was so windy that we had two tugboats on standby, ready to assist if we needed them. Later the Captain admitted it was probably his trickiest maneuver he ever had to do. He agreed to not charge us extra for it though as he assured us it is just part of his job. We later heard from another passenger who had spoken to the captain that we had a 45 knot side wind we were fighting against.

The ship spun around to back in and more ships were waiting out at sea for their turn so we rushed back down to the helipad to watch all the action.

Paul went back to the room for a while and to get ready. The wind on the helipad kept everyone else away. While in the room, he checked the Bridge Cam on the TV and there I was!

Paul came to join me when he saw the Disney Wish was arriving. Much to his surprise when he arrived, the Disney Wish was headed back to sea. Seven ships total were scheduled to dock in Nassau on this day. Our ship successfully docked. The Disney Wish tried and gave up. The rest didn't even try after they saw the Wish struggle.

By this point, our ship had gained clearance to go ashore. It was windy and cold and I knew a lot of people aren't huge fans of Nassau to begin with so I suspected there wouldn't be a mad dash for the gangway and I was right. There was a large group of excursions to Blue Lagoon getting off but not a lot of other people. They all went left and we went right.

Parliament Square

The Queen's Staircase - built of limestone by slaves in the late 1700s

Fort Fincastle - built in the late 1700s

The Water Tower - a historical water tower built in 1928

Atlantis in the background

Treasury Department in the Bahamas

We walked past Margaritaville to check out the public beach which was small and most venues were closed due to the weather.

I had to check out the waves up close!

Between the wind, cool temperatures, and all the locals vying for the attention of the few passengers that actually made it to port this day, we only spent a few hours in port before returning to the ship for lunch.

Back on the ship, we enjoyed tacos from El Loco Fresh, a poolside taco bar and then tried to find a quiet place to relax. We made our way to the Diamond Lounge which had amazing views and was quiet, at least initially.

Then a family came in to play games and more and more people were walking in and out. So we moved out to the Crown Viking Lounge (just outside the Diamond Lounge) which was also quite busy and had a strong vibration likely from the thrusters that were helping us stay docked. So we moved on to other parts of the ship.

We also weren't getting the best cell reception from the Bahamas and so Paul activated his 24 hours of internet (another Diamond loyalty benefit) to share. The Freedom was the first Royal Caribbean ship to test out StarLink internet last year. In many areas of the ship, speeds were excellent. At one point, I did a speed test that showed 24.3 Mbps download and 3.52 Mbps upload.

Fun photo op in Boleros

Royal Promenade

Afternoon snack at Sorrento's which Paul said was really good. I enjoyed a plate of marinated olives.

We never did really find a quiet place to sit and relax on this afternoon but soon it was time to leave Nassau. So we braved the wind again and headed to the helipad. The Captain didn't waste any time getting out of Nassau.

Today's wind was so strong both for sailing and and out of Nassau, I had to hold on to the tripod to capture a time lapse video. We enjoyed the helipad to ourselves for the majority of the rest of the trip after the initial sail away from Miami!

Tugboats Rose and Sampson were at the ready again to assist if we needed it.

We actually had time to dress before dinner, pick up two glasses of wine at Vintages to bring to dinner (I learned from the wine fiasco in the main dining room that first night at dinner), and even were able to catch a bit of the sunset right before walking into dinner.