The World’s Longest Freedom Review: Part 1featured

It’s so odd being home and starting another one of these. Maybe it just seems so odd because this cruise was so unlike any of our other cruises…mainly because I didn’t plan it as much as I usually do and how many unexpected circumstances we ran into. The whole thing is almost like one amazing blur. Luckily, I actually kept a journal of this trip as it was happening. And there’s the matter of the 1200+ pictures I took 😉

This part will be long and the pics won’t come until the latter end of it (and then there’s going to be a TON!), so stick with me 🙂 But please don’t steal my pictures without my permission. I know a lot of people didn’t like the tagging, so I’m not going to tag them this time, but if I find people stealing them and posting them as their own again instead of linking to them and giving me credit, I’m going to have to start tagging them again or doing reviews without pictures.

So how did this trip come to be? Well, since our last cruise, I’d constantly be casually bringing up going to St. Lucia because we missed it last year. I just really wanted on a cruise and Mom just really wants to go to St. Lucia. We even called Robert, our AMAZING PVP, a few times to price it out and get some information. At some point, Stephanie and I were seriously considering doing a back-to-back on the Triumph, just the two of us, so we could get to platinum (which we’ll reach after our next cruise). And we’d go back and fourth: Miracle, Dream, Triumph. Me and Stephanie. All of us.

And then we all got H1N1. Well, grandma didn’t get it (thankfully!!!). Stephanie and I took the nasal mist, somehow through the process of viral shedding Mom picked it up and voila…everyone but grandma was sick. And while we were sick? We really decided to go on a cruise LOL. The problem was that the cruise we wanted to go on (Jan. 7th on the Miracle) had no available accessible rooms. The price was nearly double for the cruise on the 24th, so we were considering going on the Miracle cruise to the So. Caribbean at the beginning of February or on the Dream at the same time since it was so new.

While we were looking at cruises, though, we came across a cruise on the Freedom to the Western Caribbean on February 13. The price was absurdly low for an eight-night cruise and we haven’t been to the Western Caribbean since 2005…and as an added bonus, none of us had ever been to Costa Rica or Panama, so it offered us two new places to explore. The Freedom was a relatively new ship (less than three years old) and we hadn’t been on a Conquest-class ship in awhile, so it seemed like an unexpected (and perfect) solution. We even had the Samantha Brown DVD (which is actually one of grandma’s favorite things to watch…she’ll watch it at least twice a week) to help acclimate ourselves with the ship and ease the wait. And it worked out better for us because as much as we love the Miracle, we had to break up the monotony of it all. Two Miracle cruises last year and a potential two next year. The World’s Fourth Longest Miracle Review? I don’t know if anyone would be interested in reading that 😉

I was sick with H1N1 longer than Mom and Stephanie were and we had less than two months to plan the trip. Because I was sick for so long, I just didn’t plan this trip to the degree I normally do. In fact, I don’t think I consulted Cruise Critic once for any of it (Stephanie did a bit of research into a few things and posted in the roll call once or twice), which is highly unusual for me. I think I spent more time watching Jersey Shore than I did planning this trip. I was so busy getting caught up with everything from when I was sick that I didn’t feel this trip was really *real* until we were in the car on our way to Nashville. But that story comes in a bit.

Anyways.

So that’s how the cruise came to be. We planned for our usual stops in Atlanta and Fort Lauderdale before the cruise and gave ourselves an extra day in Florida so we could rest a bit from the long drive. I booked us at an old favorite- the Intercontinental Buckhead- for both legs of our trip and at the Renaissance in Plantation while we were in Florida (using Priceline for both, but at this point, I’ve used Priceline for so many stays that in some places, like Fort Lauderdale, I can pinpoint my bid precisely to get the hotel I want). I got us a decent rate on an SUV through Alamo using the same Visa code I always use (if anyone wants the link to it, please let me know and I’ll get it to you) and I think the car ran us around $370, including tax and fees, for 13 days.

The planning and packing process went as usual for us (well, with the exception of my lack of overplanning). Stephanie and I did our tanning. Even though we said we wouldn’t buy any new clothes for the trip (and we kept to it for the most part…mostly because my vacation wardrobe is insanely large and filled with clothes I almost never wear at home), I did get a few new things (and I resisted the urge to buy new shoes!). We all got our hair done (I always get my highlights freshened up before we travel). And as always, even though I planned on packing early, I left it for the weekend before we left. Business as usual.

But that’s where everything that’s usual and normal ended.

Traveling in the wintertime, especially living in Chicago, is always a precarious risk. Nevertheless, we never thought we’d have reason to worry because we’d never had problems traveling during the winter and because we’d been having a pretty mild winter. Besides, most of the bad weather comes in December and January, right? Weather.com only forecasts up to 10 days out, and you can bet that despite my total lack of overplanning for this trip, I was checking the weather 10 days out. And you guessed it, we were forecasted for snow.

And not only did the forecast get worse and worse as the days grew closer, we were facing the biggest storm of the season. Two days before we were supposed to leave. The original plan was to leave early Wednesday morning, spend Wednesday night in Atlanta, Thursday night and all of Friday in Fort Lauderdale and get on the boat Saturday. When the storm news came, we started making preliminary plans and we had two options: wait it out and try to leave on Wednesday as scheduled (because most of the snow would be Monday and Tuesday) or leave Tuesday. We had always wanted to visit the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville and we jokingly talked about stopping there if we got forced out of Chicago early with the snow, but we didn’t seriously give it much thought.

Then the snow was forecasted for even earlier, and on Monday morning, we had to alter our plans to try to beat the snow and leave THAT evening. Talk about a RUSH of plans. I had to change the car rental (which only set us back an extra $30 to pick it up a day early). Then, I had to book us a room in Nashville (which we decided to do because we didn’t want to risk having to switch hotels in Atlanta and it would break up the drive a little…eight hours the first day, four the second and ten the third…and because we love the Gaylord Palms and none of us had ever been to Nashville). Rack rate at the Gaylord Opryland is around $190/night (plus $18 or so for self-parking and a $15, I think, resort fee that includes use of the pool and gym, two bottles of water daily, a newspaper, local shuttle service and free wi-fi) and they weren’t having any specials that were useful to us. I didn’t want to use Priceline or Hotwire and end up at a different hotel because we were stopping in Nashville just to visit this resort, so I did what any seasoned travel planner would do: I consulted Lord Google. A simple Google search brought up a code for $90/night. I may or may not have done a Jersey Shore fist pump after finding such a great deal.

Mom was at work that day (we didn’t make the decision to leave that night until her coworkers convinced her we should hightail it out of Chicago that afternoon) so it was up to Stephanie and I to get the four of us ready to go. Mom came home at 3:00 pm and she and Stephanie went to O’Hare to pick up the rental car while I went to Target to run some last minute errands (because I’m still using the antiquated method of recording TV shows known as the VCR and I needed a blank tape to tape American Idol).

Stephanie called me frantically from O’Hare asking me what kind of car I booked because they wanted to give us a Jeep. Now, if you’ve read my previous reviews, you’ll know that we (okay…it’s mostly me) have a penchant for overpacking. The smallest car that can accommodate all of our luggage and grandma’s wheelchair is a Chevy Trailblazer, which is the car example Alamo lists on their Web site under full-sized SUV (which I booked us). A Jeep is an intermediate SUV and would barely fit us, let alone our luggage. I would *never* book us anything smaller than a full-sized SUV. Ever. So either Alamo is messing with their categories in order to force people to upgrade at a higher price or they just can’t read their reservation forms. Either way, somehow Mom got chatting with a manager and for all the trouble and confusion, they were giving us the biggest car they had on the lot right then, a once-used Buick Enclave…a luxury car…complete with rearview camera, heated leather seats and LOTS of room for all of our (ahem my) luggage…at no extra cost.

I finished getting us checked in online and printing our documents and Funpasses when they got home with the car. I wanted to leave at midnight, at the earliest, because we all needed some sleep (even though I slept in until well past noon) but Mom and Stephanie were adamant we leave that night. We all went into a bit of a frenzy, but our roles kind of shifted. While I was freaking out about not getting anything done all weekend and Mom and Stephanie were calm, they started freaking out and I found my place of zen. I operate best under pressure (as evidenced by the fact that I remembered both my gym shoes AND my swimsuit this time…both of which I forgot at home when we went to Disney World in August…and my nightmares of forgetting my flat iron were for naught…I remembered that, too. The victim of my forgetfulness was my towel clips this time). Mom and grandma were occupied with some last minute packing, so Stephanie and I decided to slip away to Noodles and Company for a quick dinner.

When we got back home, we packed up the car and prepped the house for our departure. I snuck away to my room to have a short little MSN chat with some friends and then I finished packing my carry ons. Before I knew it, we were pulling out of the driveway and getting on the road. A quick stop at the local McDonalds so Stephanie could get a diet Coke fix and we were on our way.

We left the house at 8:00 pm. The snow was forecasted for sometime between 10:00 and midnight, so we really hightailed it out. I spent most of the drive on my iPhone (which is like a third appendage to me…it’s literally never more than two feet away from me…even when I’m sleeping…unless we’re on a cruise). If I wasn’t mapping us, I was on MSN mobile or Tumblr (which is my latest addiction…like I mentioned above, I took my phone everywhere on our trip and snapped a few pictures just so I could post them on Tumblr on the drive home.

Now, mission one of the road trip was get out of Chicago. Mission two? Find hot nuts. See, there’s these delicious little packages of smokey heat literally called Hot Nuts. They’re fantastically delicious and insanely spicy. I haven’t been able to find them at any grocery store OR gas station anywhere near our house for over a year now (our local grocery store used to carry them up) I’ve searched all over the northern Chicagoland area. I’ve tried other brands. Nothing comes close. The last time these spicy little morsels lit up my taste buds was when I grabbed a pack on the drive home from Disney World at a gas station in Indiana. So even though it was positively frigid and the pavement was slick, when we stopped for gas the first time, I went into the gas station convenience store with my fingers crossed. And THEY HAD THEM! Naturally, I bought their entire inventory (which was only, like, five packages). Mission: accomplished. I also stopped at a gas station in Georgia on the way home to buy their inventory of hot nuts. I have 12 packages to last me until the next time we drive out of Illinois. Maybe it’s a regional thing. I have to buy my cocoa in downstate Illinois because they don’t carry it up here (that would be the sinfully delicious Hershey Hugs cocoa, but I think now I can buy it off Amazon). But I may or may not start a petition to bring hot nuts back to Chicago.

The snow started right after we drove through Indianapolis and got really bad as we were entering Kentucky. Not gonna lie…it was pretty scary at some points. The plows were out, but the snow was coming down so heavily that they weren’t helping much.

The snow situation settled a bit as dawn approached. We were hitting Bowling Green so we decided to stop at the Cracker Barrel there for some breakfast. It wasn’t open yet, so we parked in the lot and took turns resting our eyes.

We debated whether or not to dine in or take the food to go and eat in the car so we could get going to the hotel in Nashville (which was now just a few hours away) and we opted for the latter. Stephanie and I went in and placed the order and moseyed around the store, looking at all the fun little trinkets and retro candy, while we waited for our order to come up.

I hear the breakfasts at Cracker Barrel are pretty huge. The closest Cracker Barrel to us is a half-hour away, off the interstate, and we’ve never been there. In fact, the only one we’ve ever been to is the Bowling Green one, and it’s becoming like the Pelham Stuckey’s for us. None of us were all that hungry so we all ordered off the kids menus. Stephanie ordered a kids scrambled eggs plate, which came with sausage (which Stephanie didn’t like the taste of) and two biscuits. For a kids portion, it was a pretty hefty portion. Grandma, Mom and I all ordered a kids pancake plate, which came with two HUGE pancakes and one topping (Mom and grandma both got fruit toppings and I just got syrup, which came in the most adorable little travel bottle). And the best part? For the ample portions (we all probably could have shared two pancake plates), it cost less than a McDonald’s breakfast extra value meal.

We finally reached Nashville around 10:00 am and made our way to Opryland, where the resort is. You can see the Gaylord Opryland from the highway. We thought the Gaylord Palms was big, but the Gaylord Opryland is a GIANT. The Gaylord Opryland is actually the LARGEST non-casino resort in the ENTIRE WORLD! So when I say it’s huge…it’s pretty flipping huge.

When we called to confirm our reservation the day before, they said they couldn’t guarantee us a room until noon, so instead of heading to the hotel, we headed down the street to the Opryland Mills, which is a giant shopping mall. We have Gurnee Mills here (and we visited the largest outlet mall in the country, the Sawgrass Mills, in Florida a few days later) and we found it was similar…but that this was much nicer than Gurnee Mills (which is kind of seedy). Mom and grandma decided to rest in the car (which probably isn’t the smartest thing to do in an unknown area) and Stephanie and I walked around the mall a bit. We got chair massages (because anytime there’s a massage chair, Stephanie will be the first one to whip out a dollar bill), checked out some of the restaurants to think of for dinner that night and looked around a bit. At 11:00 am, we decided to just call the hotel and lo and behold, they had a room ready for us.

The rooms at the Gaylord Opryland are somewhat similar to the rooms at the Gaylord Palms. There were two queen beds, the bathroom looked the same, the general layout of the room was the same. The big difference was the lack of computer in the room (the Gaylord Palms has a desktop with unlimited internet usage in each room while the Gaylord Opryland just offers free wi-fi if you bring your own computer) and there were no doorbells for the rooms (I just get a kick out of those). The room was Nicole clean (I have mysophobic tendencies and if there’s any bit of dirt or crud in a room, I’ll find it and it’ll gross me out…I travel with Clorox wipes and disinfectant spray just in case) and was generally well-appointed, but without looking it up, I could tell that the Gaylord Opryland was likely much older than the Gaylord Palms.

We didn’t spring for an atrium-view room like we normally do, so we had a nice view of the parking lot, but it was only one day, so I didn’t have the time to miss sitting out on the balcony and looking out at the atrium.

After we got the luggage we’d need for the night out of the car and got settled in the room, I must have spent hours just wandering around the resort. While there were some clear similarities to the Gaylord Palms (I could close my eyes and just inhale and I’d think I was back in Florida), the Gaylord Opryland is more than twice the size of the Gaylord Palms. The Gaylord Opryland has this HUGE and absolutely stunning waterfall. There’s a riverboat ride. More shopping areas. More restaurants, lounges and bars. There’s more foliage and sculptures. There’s an observation deck that runs throughout the hotel so you can look down upon everything. No gators, though, but there are many koi fish ponds, just like the Gaylord Palms. Stephanie and I went around the Cascades, Garden Conservatory and Magnolia atriums while Mom and grandma rested. It was just phenomenally gorgeous. I was left speechless. And when you have no words, you take pictures (because they’re worth, supposedly, 1000 words a pop). So I did.

After thoroughly exploring the first three atriums, Stephanie and I went back to the room to get Mom and grandma and we all went to the Delta to explore that area and grab some lunch. I’ve complained on this blog before about how exorbitantly priced ALL of the dining options at the Gaylord Palms are (we’re talking $7 ice cream, $12 turkey sandwiches, $2 bagels, etc). Probably because the cost of living or vacationing is lower in Tennessee, while the Gaylord Opryland still has the signature dining experiences (like the Old Hickory Steakhouse), it also has some reasonably priced quick-service options where you can get a good meal for under $10. We all headed to Stax, where they do made-to-order burgers for $7.95, with all the toppings you want AND fries. I opted for bacon, cheddar and mushrooms. The burgers were pretty good. The fries were excellent. And you can’t beat the view we had of the river area while we were eating.

After lunch, we spent a long time just meandering and walking through the Delta atrium. It’s huge…probably the size of the entire Gaylord Palms main atrium area (if not very close to it). A large river runs through it where there’s a riverboat ride for $9 a person (I wanted to do it but no one wanted to do with with me…maybe next time). When the Delta atrium was built, they christened the river and added samples of water from 1,700 rivers across the world…including every registered river in the United States. Pretty cool, huh? Most of the shopping areas are centralized in the Delta atrium, so we poked in and out of those as we explored the area.

Mom, grandma and Stephanie went back to the room and I went off to see the spa and pool areas, just out of pure curiosity. There was a lot of artwork near the spa and I found out that there’s a ton of artwork in the Gaylord Opryland, all of it from artists in Tennessee. It’s little things like that that really fascinate me and make the resort unique. The pool area was really nice and I wish I had the time to relax and go swimming. I snapped a pic just in case anyone ever plans on visiting and is wondering what the pool is like.

We rested in the room and watched TV for awhile before deciding to head to the mall to walk around a bit and go to dinner. While we were driving over, we found out that the Grand Ole Opry is actually in between the Gaylord Opryland and the Opryland Mills. It’s so much smaller than I thought it would be! I’d love to take in a show there sometime. Maybe I’ll plan a visit to see Carrie Underwood there sometime.

The Opryland Mills wasn’t all outlets like Gurnee Mills is out by us. It has a nice mix of shops, attractions and restaurants. We stopped into Old Navy because I didn’t remember if I packed my flip flops, grandma wanted a jacket because the forecast for Florida was too warm for her winter jacket but too cold for no jacket and Mom wanted a new swimsuit cover up. Stephanie and I didn’t want to pay to get into the Stingray exhibit so we hung around the windows and watched the stingrays flop around the tanks.

We went to Tony Roma’s for dinner because Mom and grandma used to go there in Florida all the time. I thought it was just okay. I had some sort of chicken dish that was supposed to have all these caribbean-inspired flavors and was just pretty plain so I had to get some barbecue sauce.

After dinner, we headed back to the resort. We only had a four-hour drive to Atlanta the next day, so we had the time to sleep in the next morning and explore the resort a little. I (unsuccessfully) tried to convince them that we should go to the zoo (I’m dying to see some panda bears!) or the Olympic Park (which I want to visit every time we go to Atlanta and no one will go with me) and Stephanie tried to convince me that we should go to the World of Coke museum (shocker, right?). We bickered back and fourth while we watched American Idol (which I will watch anywhere and everywhere, despite the fact I was taping it at home).

Stephanie had heard that the resort has nightly fountain shows that are pretty cool, but we had already missed the Aqua fountain show. Luckily for us, there was another show, the International Waters fountain show, later that night and so we went to that. It was set in the Delta atrium and we snagged a table near where we had lunch amongst the dozens of other people who had gathered to watch the show. It was actually a really cool show, almost something like you’d expect to see at Epcot, with international music and colored lights playing along to the rhythm of the fountain bursts.

We took our time going back to the room, looking in some of the shops (Stephanie wanted a shot glass to add to her collection) and exploring random areas that we encountered on the way back to the room.

We were exhausted by the time we got to bed. While the circumstances that led to us spending the night in Nashville were stressful beyond belief and no where near ideal, I can’t bring myself to regret in any way having to leave for our trip early. Experiencing the Gaylord Opryland was truly an awe-inspiring experience…something we’ve all wanted to do. And now we’ve made a goal of visiting all of the Gaylord Resorts…which shouldn’t be too hard since there’s only two we haven’t been to 😉