Basketball on Freedom

[plan2go]

For those whose kids have played basketball on the Freedom...is it advisable to bring our own ball?

 

Is it fairly easy to get some play time or is it often crowded? Our boys are 8 and 11 and we are going the week after Easter (Spring break).

 

I figure they may just need a little extra physical activity on sea days :)

[WindsorFred]

No need, it may get crowded some days.

[lglancy]

My DH lives on the basketball courts during our cruises. He always brings his own ball, just in case. There have been some times when he has had to spend a great deal of time searching out where to get a ball, and the hours at the stations that hand them out can be limited. My advice would be to bring your own, just to save the hassle. On most cruises he has had the court mostly to himself, and met some great people out of those that did join him on the court. We did take a spring break cruise last year, and he was very disappointed in the time he was able to get on the court. It was FULL of kids at all times, and it was impossible to get into any kind of true game at any point in the week. This is the only cruise we have experienced this. That being said, if your kids simply want to shoot around and "play" as opposed to get into a serious game, they should have a great time with a bunch of other kids. We found that the only way for the adults to be able to get on the court or play a game was to stay on the ship while in port. (This was on a RC cruise, BTW.) Also note that the court on the Freedom has a giant skylight that sticks up in the middle of the court. Unfortunately it is a rather worthless court. As another side note, we were very concerned about how our cruise experience would be, being spring break. Our standards and expectations were low, and we ended up having just the best cruise ever. Enjoy.

[plan2go]

Thank you lglancy. I appreciate the spring break perspective. We are planning to enjoy whatever comes our way! Since we are driving, adding one basketball to the car shouldn't be a big deal. :)

[chipq]

My son, age 11 last cruise spent loads of time on the BBall court with a few other kids he met in the youth program. The basketballs they have available for check-out were not in the best of condition. The kids when they played usually had 4 on 4 or 5 on 5 pickup games.

 

http://luv2cruise.blogspot.com