Live from the Freedom of the Seas - March 18, 2012

[Daghis]

On your posted Cruise Compasses the Main Dining time is 5:30PM. For our cruise RCL is posting 6PM for Main Dining. Do you remember if 5:30 was the original plan or did they move it up one-half hour at the last minute.

They've been adjusting the early dining times for the past few cruises on the Freedom of the Seas (judging by other roll call threads). I don't know why, but I will say that the Cruise Director repeatedly advised that people who had early dining at 5:30 could very well see that night's production show at 7:00 instead of having to wait until 9:00. I don't know whether it was due to spring break with more kids onboard (that I rarely saw) or some other reason.

 

Our e doc's says boarding starts at 1:30 but have heard you can board as early as 11am which we were planning on doing. Does this sound right?

Yup... We aim to arrive around 10:30 so we can get checked in and board when they start boarding at 11:00. During this cruise, we did indeed get to board right at 11:00.

[bobcat14]

Thank you for the review we will be on the FOS in July... Really looking forward to it. We are first time cruisers and this site has helped a lot.

[rookieblue]

Thank you for the review we will be on the FOS in July... Really looking forward to it. We are first time cruisers and this site has helped a lot.

 

Freedom is the perfecct ship to go on for a first cruise! The only problem is you WILL get hooked ! hahaha Have a great time

 

Sheri

[cruzinisgood]

They've been adjusting the early dining times for the past few cruises on the Freedom of the Seas (judging by other roll call threads). I don't know why, but I will say that the Cruise Director repeatedly advised that people who had early dining at 5:30 could very well see that night's production show at 7:00 instead of having to wait until 9:00. I don't know whether it was due to spring break with more kids onboard (that I rarely saw) or some other reason.

 

 

Yup... We aim to arrive around 10:30 so we can get checked in and board when they start boarding at 11:00. During this cruise, we did indeed get to board right at 11:00.

 

Great, we are planning to taxi over from the hotel to be at the port about 10:30ish we'll still plan on it.

[dacsmom]

Thank you for that wonderful review. I will be on FOS in February and I cannot wait. I did the manatee interaction at Chankanaab in May and it was one of the highlights of my life. When a 900lb animal grabs your leg and begs for lettuce you better give it to him.

[luv2travel29]

Thanks!

 

I left my iPhone in "airplane mode" during most of the trip, although I did turn it on a couple times to see what would happen.

 

Bryan's phone (an Android model on Verizon) was left on as he wanted to remain a bit more connected than I. When traveling to a new area, he'd receive free text messages from Verizon letting him know what the international roaming rates for voice calls and text messages would be. I thought that was a really cool feature for Verizon to do. He didn't have any paid international plan active, although he did activate international service so he could roam internationally (that's not usually on by default).

 

My AT&T iPhone didn't send out any of those free text messages, so I wouldn't even know exactly what my rates were. Point for Verizon, I guess! :)

 

I will note that AT&T is free to use in St. Thomas, but Verizon customers have to roam internationally there.

 

I would suggest that DH get his iPhone enabled for international use, just in case. It's better to have it in an emergency rather than not. When I've traveled with my family, the parents had their phones enabled for international use, but not the kids. It was safer that way.

 

I'll also note that the onboard Cellular@Sea service typically does not require international service to be enabled. It's probably safer just to have the phones off while on the ship to avoid inadvertent charges.

 

thanks for the info... i've read crazy stories on the CC boards about people getting huge cell phone bills upon the return from the cruise..:eek:.. def. want to avoid that situation !! keep up the good work,loving the pics.look forward to reading more of your review!!!

[luv2travel29]

hi daghis a quick question regarding the budget shuttle... we are renting a car with budget upon our return from our cruise to go to orlando... did you have to reserve the shuttle or does budget just make periodic trips to the port and just hop on ?? this is one thing i am not too sure about.... and i am a planner and need everything in order... ;)

[Daghis]

hi daghis a quick question regarding the budget shuttle... we are renting a car with budget upon our return from our cruise to go to orlando... did you have to reserve the shuttle or does budget just make periodic trips to the port and just hop on ?? this is one thing i am not too sure about.... and i am a planner and need everything in order... ;)

Budget has at least a couple shuttles that run back and forth between their Cape Canaveral location and the port. After waiting about ten minutes, I was getting a little antsy, so I was about to call the Budget office to see whether I needed to ask for the shuttle when it happened to pull up. It ended up getting filled with other people, so we were going to wait patiently for it to drop them off and return, but another Budget shuttle pulled up a few minutes later to take us to the office.

 

When you exit the terminal, go to the right. You'll see a set of lettered sections where various shuttle services pull up. Budget comes to the "E" section.

[Lionesss]

Has the coffee on board gotten any better?

I usually get the best cup of coffee at Grand Cayman at Burger king. (lol).

Safe travels.

[Daghis]

I'm afraid that I cannot answer that personally as I'm not a coffee drinker myself. My friend who traveled with me, however, had coffee several times and had no complaints. I don't know whether that's because he's just generally agreeable or whether he thought the coffee was good.

[BrownEyedGal]

Marc,

 

Wishing You an Awesome Cruise.....we're sailing FOS 28 Oct 2012. First time on RCL/FOS. Any info re: the ship would be greatly appreciated. Costs of Soda Pkg? Is there a Wine Pkg available?

 

Also, info on Labadee & Falmouth.....& pics would be great! We've been to Caymans & Cozumel. If you have a chance in Cozumel; check out Pancho's Backyard. Awesome food & mariachi band!

 

Keep us posted!

 

Julia(BrownEyedGal):)

 

 

 

Hi, all! Thanks so much for the nice wishes!

 

I just returned from running some last-minute errands including picking up a small stapler to bring with me to use to attach the printed luggage tags to our bags on Sunday morning. Royal Caribbean reissued my cruise docs today and they include the new luggage tag page. Since I can't use the ones they mailed me since we changed cabins, I figured I'd give these new, printed luggage tags a try. I have to admit that they came out better than I was expecting.

 

 

We are staying at the Residence Inn in Cape Canaveral. It's a bit pricey, but it seems like a nice place.

 

And you didn't ask, but for others who may be curious, we're renting cars one-way (Budget via Priceline) to/from the airport/port. Given that we're arriving a day early and planning to spend disembarkation day in the area, having a car will let us enjoy our time a bit more leisurely.

 

 

We have My Time Dining, so we weren't notified about any changes. I do believe that I heard from others that it is going to be 5:30 for the early seating, though.

 

 

No, we're not bringing any beverages onboard. We both purchased the soda package, so we're set for that sort of stuff.

[Daghis]

Wishing You an Awesome Cruise.....we're sailing FOS 28 Oct 2012. First time on RCL/FOS. Any info re: the ship would be greatly appreciated. Costs of Soda Pkg? Is there a Wine Pkg available?

Thanks! I did have an awesome cruise!

 

The soda package is $4.50/day for those under 18 and $6.50/day for adults, each plus 15% gratuity.

 

Wine packages are available. There have been other threads talking about the various packages and what wines are in them. I didn't get a wine package, so I don't have any personal experience with them.

[cruiseturbo]

Thank you soooo much for this review and the cruise compasses!! We are sailing on May 13th and although we have been on the Freedom before, each cruise is a little different so we enjoyed hearing what has changed. Also got us through a little of the waiting time for the cruise to get here!! Thanks again! Really enjoyed it!:D

[BearJim]

Thank you soooo much for this review and the cruise compasses!! We are sailing on May 13th and although we have been on the Freedom before, each cruise is a little different so we enjoyed hearing what has changed. Also got us through a little of the waiting time for the cruise to get here!! Thanks again! Really enjoyed it!:D

 

We are going on May 13th too!

 

Thanks for the awesome review by the way. We have been on FOS once before, back in 09. Great ship.

[bayleygrl]

I had to reregister for this site since I haven't been on for about two years (due to health issues) and could not remember password etc. Have sailed 28 cruises and have been on FOS before. Sailing on 4/15/12 and am so looking forward to sea, sun and blue water.

Looks like FOS for this date is pretty much sold out. Did anyone get a call from the upgrade fairy? We booked JS gty and thats what we got. At the time GS and OS were still available but it looks like they are all gone.

anyone have info on Falmouth Jamaica? Thanks for info and letting me ramble.

[cruiseturbo]

We are going on May 13th too!

 

Thanks for the awesome review by the way. We have been on FOS once before, back in 09. Great ship.

 

Did you sign up for the cruise critic meet n mingle? Also have you checked out the FOS May 13th roll call?

[anthk333]

I had to reregister for this site since I haven't been on for about two years (due to health issues) and could not remember password etc. Have sailed 28 cruises and have been on FOS before. Sailing on 4/15/12 and am so looking forward to sea, sun and blue water.

Looks like FOS for this date is pretty much sold out. Did anyone get a call from the upgrade fairy? We booked JS gty and thats what we got. At the time GS and OS were still available but it looks like they are all gone.

anyone have info on Falmouth Jamaica? Thanks for info and letting me ramble.

 

You should come join our roll call: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1383703

 

Apparently the upsell fairy has called a few of us sailing (not me), but so far the upgrade fairy has not made an appearance. There are a few of us D+ still waiting...;)

[bobgail]

I am sailing on Freedom of the Seas in August and have some questions for you. Could you please post something on the roll call for August 4, 2012 so I can communicate with you? Or just reply to this thread - that would be super!

[Daghis]

I'm still following this thread, so feel free to ask the questions here if you'd like.

[bobgail]

Great! We are traveling with our 3 sons and their wives, two teenage granddaughters and one 11 month old grandson. We have all cruised together before and are old veterans of Royal Caribbean, tho we have never been on Freedom of the Seas.

 

I am trying to coordinate our dinner schedules so as not to miss any of the shows - not easy!

 

I think I have most of it done, thanks to your posting a link to the copies of the Compass - so helpful! What I need to know is how long the Welcome Aboard Show and the Farewell Show run. They both begin at 7, and we have 7:30 reservations at My Time for both nights. If the shows run about 1/2 hour, we can make it. Do you remember how long they take?

 

Of course, any info you have will be most welcomed!

[Daghis]

The shows are definitely longer than half an hour. All the shows tended to run about an hour long. I don't recall how long those shows were specifically, but I can definitely say that they won't work with your 7:30 MTD reservations.

 

In addition, the theater is all the way on the other side of the ship, so you'd need to add 5-10 minutes to get from there to the dining room on deck 5. It should be just a few minutes, but if the show were letting out, that adds a lot of congestion right outside the theater to navigate.

[bobgail]

We have 6:30 reservations for all show nights but the first and last day because I didn't know about the welcome aboard and farewell shows. The farewell show also has a 9pm performance, so we can alter the dinner to 6:30. but the welcome aboard says one show only at 7 - so when do people eat that night? Even the 5:30s wont be out in time and if the show won't end till 8, so is everyone going to crowd the restaurants at 8? Do you remember how the first day worked?

 

Could it be that the welcome aboard show isn't a full show?

[landni]

I have a quick question about the balcony. Which side of the ship is best for viewing the while sailing? Just hoping we don't have the side that only views water. We will be in 9602.

[Daghis]

Even the 5:30s wont be out in time and if the show won't end till 8, so is everyone going to crowd the restaurants at 8? Do you remember how the first day worked?

Actually, the Cruise Director announced (repeatedly!) that if you had dinner at 5:30, you were more than welcome to come see the shows at 7:00. For smaller groups, especially with My Time Dining, it was easy to be finished with your dinner in an hour or so. You're in a larger group, so that may not hold as true for you, but it's something that you can try.

 

The Welcome Aboard show is a variety/sampler show with the Cruise Director introducing himself, an aerial act, a comedian, and probably a performance by the ship's dancers and/or singers. I don't recall exactly what all was in the show.

 

We (two of us) had dinner around 5:45 and were able to make the 7:00 show with no problems.

 

I have a quick question about the balcony. Which side of the ship is best for viewing the while sailing? Just hoping we don't have the side that only views water. We will be in 9602.

While sailing? Generally, you're going to see pretty much water on both sides unless you're passing by the coastline of an island, in which case it's going to depend on which direction you're sailing at that time.

 

While docked, however, we found that the ship docked on the starboard side, so our port-side balcony had a view mostly of the water. Ships do periodically dock on the port side, however, so you cannot guarantee that the starboard side will be facing the island.

[bluehorizonlover123]

Thank you for your wonderful review. I enjoyed seeing all your pictures and reading all your thoughts.

 

My question for you is this. Do you have to pre book the shows from home before the cruise like you do on the Oasis and the Allure. Or do you just show up for shows at the stated time.

 

Thanks for your help!!!!