manders175

My final impressions:

We had a great cruise. We love cruising and nothing happened that was so bad it would prevent us from cruising again. 

Main Dining Room: service was VERY slow every night. Food wasn't the best but was still good. 

Kids: please have adventure ocean open during dinner hours. Splash Away Bay needs opened at the same time as the Main pools, 11am on Port Days is too late when most smaller children are up early.  (we will be putting all this in our official Freedom review). 

Our room steward was great and having service only once a day did not make or break our cruise. We were asked whether we preferred morning or evening service. 

Ask any questions you have! 

We departed the ship on Friday May 12th. We did self debarkation. Windjammer opens for breakfast at 6am. Ate breakfast around 6:30 am then went back to the room to get our stuff. In line to self carry at 7:45. 

We were off the ship by 8:05am. We had a passport so was able to get in the facial recognition line. Seamless! 

I did hear that if you were in the birth certificate line it took quite a bit longer. The line did look long. 

Here are pictures of the Main Dining Room. 3 levels of dining on decks 3, 4, and 5.  Our assigned table was on Deck 4. 

Dinner tonight was Italian Night. My appetizer was the Arancini, Main Course was the Chicken Parm, and Tiramisu for dessert. My MIL had the Lasagna and my daughter had the filled of Sole. Everything was very good tonight. No complaints! 

It always amazes me how close these ships get to each other when docked. It's like walking between 2 huge buildings! 

We stayed on Chill Island and had a great day. There are no freestyle machines but there is a machine with water, lemonade, and strawberry kiwi. Food is Windjammer buffet style. 

The stroller in this pic is a beach stroller with wider tires to push in the sand. They can randomly be found around the island. There is also a team that travels around the island if you don't want to walk. 

Day 4 yesterday was Perfect Day in CocoCay! We had a great time! We followed Independence od the Seas from Nassau. Here is the Sunrise and first few pics from the ship of CocoCay. 

After dinner we headed up to Freedom Dunes for a little friendly golf competition! It was dark out so I went back up during the next day to take some pics. No elevators go to 13 in the front of the ship so up to 12 then up the steps to 13. 

Night #3 was Caribbean Night in the Main Dining Room. Finally remembered to get some food pictures!

I had the Coconut Shrimp. They were not jumbo ship nor could I taste any coconut. Basically tasted like fried shrimp. Definitely edible but no coconut taste at all. 

My main course was the Roasted Caribbean Chicken. Plate had 2 thighs and was very good. No complaints. 

For dessert had the Pineapple Sunshine Cake. Very good. Would get again. 

At the back of Deck 13 is the Flowrider, Perfect Storm water slides, sports court,  and the Rock Climbing Wall. We didn't really spend time here but a super fun area. 

Solarium Pool on Deck 11 is Adults only. There is a hot tub on each side that hangs over the ship with incredible views! The last pic is looking down from deck 12 into the solarium hot tub area. 

Pictures around the Main Pool Deck! 

We hung out on the ship today so I will post a few pics from around the ship. 

Here are Royal Promenade pics! 

Day 3! We were in Nassau today. We decided to stay on the ship as we have been to Nassau several times. Here are some Nassau pics from our balcony. 

After dinner we went to the Production Show: Marquee in the Royal Theatre. If you love Broadway type shows, Go!! It was a compilation of songs from Broadway including Phantom, Cabaret, and more. These singers and dancers are really talented! 

Here is Night #2 offerings. French night. 

Dinner tonight was Izumi Hibachi. The Main Dining Room theme was French night and that was our least favorite menu so we picked tonight for Izumi. 

Had a great time and the food was delicious as always! 

Lunch was El Loco Fresh which is complimentary and right beside Splash Away Bay. They have tacos, quesedillas, burritos, and nachos. Chicken, carnitas, chili, rice, beans, and all the sides. Was pretty good! 

Here is the rest of Splash Away Bay. Great area for kids who are potty trained. Same hours as noted above. 

Day 2, Tuesday: Sea Day! 

We got up and ate at Windjammer the buffet area for breakfast. Typical breakfast food, eggs, pastries, fruit, yogurt, cereal. 

After we planned to be at the pool. Just a side note: on sea days Splash Away Bay doesn't open until 9am. On port days it does not open until 11am. We couldn't believe ot opened that late for babies. Most of them are taking naps by 11-1pm and it doesn't make sense to put them outside at the hottest time of day. But that's just me. Lol. 

Also, there is only 1 small area for babies who are still in swim diapers. Consists on 1 slide and a few sprinklers that's it. Posting just pics of baby area here. 

Royal Babies and Tots in Adventure Ocean. We really only needed it for a dinner reservation on our 2nd night. We had reservations for Izumi Hibachi. 

Take note: they ate not open from 5pm to 7pm. Our reservation was for 5:30 so we could not take advantage. May want to keep that in mind if wanting to have a parents night out for dinner. 

A few comments about the kids accommodations. 

We brought an inflatable pool and put it in the bathroom shower since our daughter is only used to taking baths. We got our pool off Amazon. 

We did rent a pack and play for her to sleep in. They are small. Thankfully she is on the short side of else she would have been 2 big for it. Our room has the Pullman and not the sofa bed so our back up plan is we were going to turn the couch around backwards and use that as a make shift bed but thankfully we didn't have to. 

For dinner we chose set 6pm dinner. My Time Dining supposedly was not available until 6:30pm at least and our daughter is an early eater so was not an option. 

Forgot menu and food pics (I'm sorry!), but I will post the menu from the app and tell you what we ate. 

I had the crab cake and spinach artichoke dip for apps and our waiter did bring both at the same time. New York strip steak and the Key Lime Pie. Everything was good, no complaints. 

19 hours ago, Cherful59 said:

Following along.  Your daughter is adorable.  How do you like the door rather than a slider on the balcony?  I have a 4 night cruise on Freedom in June 2024 with family from ages 6 to 73.  Was on Freedom before the revamp, so I am enjoying the pictures of the ship. Hope your enjoying your cruise.

 

 

We liked the door because there is actually less light that comes in for nap time for our toddler. Also, you can prop the door open and it will stay open. 

19 hours ago, depplep said:

We were on before the revamp also. I was watching you on sail away, what are all the colorful huts around the pool area?

Those are called "Cassitas". It is a charge to rent them per day. You get private waiter service and that is your spot for the day. I believe they have charging outlets too.