Freedom from the Mouse! Our first non-Disney cruise, and we LOVED it!

[FreezingInMichigan]

Finally, the app on my phone reads, "stop checking me every 2 hours, you leave today you psycho vacation geek!!!!"

 

Funniest thing I've read all day!!! Subscribed... haha

 

~ Sheryl

[Coolcruise02]

Great review and pictures! Can't wait for more. (from a fellow Buckeye) :D

[DrD]

I was on this cruise too. We had friends on the Disney boat and had heard about the accident the day before. If you look at the second picture OP posted of the waterworks, I think he actually captured the incident. I was walking out onto the pool deck after they pulled the child out and couldn't believe I what I was seeing. Let me see if i can include the image ...

 

 

If you look to the far left of the image in the middle you will see where the people were huddled around the child.

 

Yep that was it. I think I see myself walking over.

[MrFunInTheSun]

Great review and pictures! Thanks for taking us along with you on your cruise adventure. I can't wait to experience this ship and awe when I walk on to her in November!

[Friend100]

...I hate what DCL has done. They have virtually made it impossible for some families to sail with them. Need I say more? Keep reading!!!

 

But we all know that pricing is how DCL continues to differentiate them against others. And in fact, I think that is also the reason why the 3-5 days short cruises on DCL are popular, because even though the per diem cost is still high, the total cost for a 3-4 days cruise is relatively more affordable than a 7-days Fantasy (or Alaska, or Med ;)), as long as people continue to sacrifice that against a 7-days cruise on RCCL (ex Oasis/Allure) at a comparable price. With Magic and Wonder doing short 4-5 days cruises out of Galveston, Miami and Port Canaveral in the next fall/winter, it is not hard to find more reasonable deal as compared to Dream/Fantasy.

[Want2Cruise 701]

 

 

 

OMG!!!!! What a small world. Bottom left is my oldest son, husband and then youngest. Too bad we never met after all our roll call conversing. We sat right next to you it looks like and never even knew it. WOW!!!!!

[bdink921]

LOVE LOVE LOVE your review!!! Now hurry and finish please, I only have 4 more days until I get to cruise on Freedom!!!! We grabbed an aft balcony too 7708!!

[karajeboo]

Absolutely loving your review! Please keep it coming! We are sailing this August and can't wait.

 

Knowing me and my reviews, I won't be done by August! :D

 

We were on 1700 on April 2011:o What a big room with pole also huge balcony too...

 

Scottishwee35

 

Originally we rebooked for next June and had to take 1402, but when I switched back to April, we got 1400! The pole never bothered me at all!

[karajeboo]

Excellent review so far! Reading the part about when you first boarded brought back good memories. The first time I walked onto Freedom, all I could think about was getting up to the Royal Promenade. There is certainly a moment of awe when you see such a gigantic open space in the middle of a cruise ship!

 

We kept being drawn back there. I wanted to sit by a window and watch the sea go by, but I just loved Vintages so much that we always ended up on the Promenade!

 

Carnival ships have been fine for us. For the price we get plenty, as we are fortunate to take any Vacation we can. After a few of them though and with the recent events and cutbacks we wanted to compare for ourselves. We are not overly difficult to please, but I have found Carnival's Entertainment pretty dull our last 2 cruises as well as cutbacks in the MDR has slowed service. We went on the Breeze and loved it. Tons to do for Kids, lots to do for Adults and the complaints we had were not major but more hastle type stuff. If you do try Carnival do their more popular ships like Breeze, Magic, Dream, Liberty, etc...

 

The Dream is what I've looked at. It looks comparable and is newer. Still on our radar.

[karajeboo]

Subscribing! We cruised DCL twice last year, and I read your reviews on the other board. We had cruised Freedom (just the two of us) before Disney (with the kids). Disney was great, but I think we'll stick with Royal from now on due to price. Looking forward to the rest of the review!

 

I think if there were HUGE differences, I would go back to Disney, but there just weren't enough to justify the price, know what I mean?

 

Enjoying your review. Excellent! :)

 

Waiting for more.

 

I'm working on it! ;)

[karajeboo]

more please

 

It's coming!

 

You are giving the kind of info I like in a review. Thanks. Love seeing this ship. Would like to go on her.

 

I like to have fun as well as give definitive info...... hope you enjoy!

[karajeboo]

That is too bizarre. Did you know there was an almost identical incident on our cruise? (I was on the same cruise). It happened right in front of me, a girl became unresponsive in pool and had to be dragged out. She was breathing and didn't need CPR but the medical team took her away. Strange coincidence.

 

Dr D!!!! I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to meet! Time got away from me and I missed the Meet and Mingle! And I had no idea this happened! When was it?

 

Found the review today and I'm loving it!!! Brings back memories of my sailing on the Freedom last summer (with my review in my sig below - where Drama Queen goes to the Caribbean!)!

 

And I think the font is perfectly lovely - especially for those of us...um...more "mature" readers who need bigger print!

 

This killed me! No - we're not related, but we DO have similar writing styles, huh?! I'm glad to meet someone online who writes with humor! ;)

 

Are you my sister from another mister? :p I'll go check out your review later today!

[karajeboo]

Your review is great, we need more. The Allure of the seas is a great ship, try her on your next cruise, well worth the money, iknow you didn't ask, just wanted to throw that in. My four kids loved that ship and want to go back

 

We may try her in the future, next time is back on the Freedom!

 

If she had referred to her daughter as a Klingon, I would have been convinced.

 

I hope you know it was intended to be a compliment to you both.

 

Oh, if you only heard some of the things I call my daughter.... lol :rolleyes:

[UCF_Knight]

So let's talk price, shall we? I'm thinking I might take points away from DCL for this. I went ahead and priced out same cruises NEXT year. I could get the absolute cheapest room on the Disney Fantasy, inside stateroom in the bowels of the ship, and it's $800 MORE than my D1 aft balcony on Freedom. to get a comparable balcony room it would be $1600 more. Now DCL does have larger rooms, but for that much more money, sorry, can't give them a point there. Now if I want an inside stateroom in the bowels of Freedom, it's $1800 less than DCL. So just to get on the ships, in the cheapest accomodations available, I hate what DCL has done. They have virtually made it impossible for some families to sail with them. Need I say more? Keep reading!!!

 

We are going to be taking another 7 night cruise with my 2 kids in October of this year.

 

For the price of a week long cruise on the Disney Fantasy for my family of 4, I can do a week long cruise in similar accommodations on Freedom of the Seas AND have enough money left over ($2000) to buy 4 annual passes to Disney World. Guess which option I am going with?

 

My wife and I did sail on one Disney ship before we had kids. That was only because we had some friends who worked at Disney World and were able to get us an insanely cheap, last minute, cast member rate. It was an OK cruise, but certainly nothing to justify any cost difference to a Royal Caribbean cruise.

 

The staterooms were bigger than RCI, but the ship creaked and groaned like nothing I've ever heard before. It was tough to sleep at night because of all of the creaking noises in our cabin.

 

The food was not as good as Royal Caribbean except for the dinner we ate in the specialty restaurant Palo (that was fantastic). I also didn't like the fact that there were no grand indoor spaces on the ship. There was nothing like a Royal Promenade or a soaring Centrum.

 

Castaway Cay was nice, and I liked the fact that they had a dock there. I wish RCI would build a dock at Coco Cay like they have at Labadee.

 

The service we got was comparable to RCI. Nothing to distinguish it as better or worse.

 

The production shows were a little better and more involved than RCI, but I haven't been on Oasis or Allure yet to see how their Broadway shows compare.

 

If the prices were comparable to RCI or even within $100-$200, I might give Disney Cruise Line another try because my kids know and love the Disney characters a lot better than they know the Dreamworks characters. However, with a $2000 price difference I will happily go on Freedom of the Seas (which my kids LOVE) and will buy those Disney World annual passes. My girls can go visit Mickey, Minnie, and all of the princesses on land for a whole year.

Edited April 24, 2013 by UCF_Knight

[karajeboo]

I was on this cruise too. We had friends on the Disney boat and had heard about the accident the day before. If you look at the second picture OP posted of the waterworks, I think he actually captured the incident. I was walking out onto the pool deck after they pulled the child out and couldn't believe I what I was seeing. Let me see if i can include the image ...

 

 

If you look to the far left of the image in the middle you will see where the people were huddled around the child.

 

Was this while we were still in Port Canaveral? I'm glad the child was okay - do you know if they took him off the ship or if he was okay to continue on?

 

Hey nice photo of my polka dotted bag ;) That guy in the back is with my group. Hopefully we weren't being too loud and annoying :)

 

Yeah, I was trying to take a pic of that polda dotted bag and my husband and daughter jumped in the picture! ;)

[karajeboo]

I am having a blast reading your review! LOVE your sense of humor! You can keep dragging it out for the next 40 days, so it can hold me over until we board :D

 

We will have our first aft balcony...

 

40 days? You'll be lucky if I even have us out of Port Canaveral in the next 40 days!!!!! lol

 

Funniest thing I've read all day!!! Subscribed... haha

 

~ Sheryl

 

Really? Only 11 months, 13 days, 7 hours, or 347 days, or 8335 hours til my next cruise. I'll probably check it another 3 or 4 times today..... Yes, I have issues.

[karajeboo]

Great review and pictures! Can't wait for more. (from a fellow Buckeye) :D

 

OH....

 

Great review and pictures! Thanks for taking us along with you on your cruise adventure. I can't wait to experience this ship and awe when I walk on to her in November!

 

I got a little weepy when we were standing outside the terminal waiting on our shuttle pickup, looking back at her and seeing our balcony just mocking us.....

[karajeboo]

But we all know that pricing is how DCL continues to differentiate them against others. And in fact, I think that is also the reason why the 3-5 days short cruises on DCL are popular, because even though the per diem cost is still high, the total cost for a 3-4 days cruise is relatively more affordable than a 7-days Fantasy (or Alaska, or Med ;)), as long as people continue to sacrifice that against a 7-days cruise on RCCL (ex Oasis/Allure) at a comparable price. With Magic and Wonder doing short 4-5 days cruises out of Galveston, Miami and Port Canaveral in the next fall/winter, it is not hard to find more reasonable deal as compared to Dream/Fantasy.

 

When I did the 4 night on the Dream I thought that was really tough to actually experience the ship in so short of a time. I know people who opt for the 3 or 4 night cruises if they've never cruised before, and that's great! I think it was a PERFECT first cruise! But once you get a taste of the cruising lifestyle, it's tough to justify the price for the longer cruises. At least DCL has nice, new ships for their shorter cruises, most of the other lines use their older ships, right?

 

OMG!!!!! What a small world. Bottom left is my oldest son, husband and then youngest. Too bad we never met after all our roll call conversing. We sat right next to you it looks like and never even knew it. WOW!!!!!

 

Were you with the people sitting across from you? They were chatting with my father in law the whole time. I think you may have been sitting next to my mother in law..... Crazy, right? No, not my MIL, although if you were talking to her I guess you could say that too! lol

[karajeboo]

LOVE LOVE LOVE your review!!! Now hurry and finish please, I only have 4 more days until I get to cruise on Freedom!!!! We grabbed an aft balcony too 7708!!

 

You MUST come back and give me pictures and a review of your cabin! We have friends looking for an aft cabin to cruise with us and I'm looking for more info! Have a GREAT cruise!

 

We are going to be taking another 7 night cruise with my 2 kids in October of this year.

 

For the price of a week long cruise on the Disney Fantasy for my family of 4, I can do a week long cruise in similar accommodations on Freedom of the Seas AND have enough money left over ($2000) to buy 4 annual passes to Disney World. Guess which option I am going with?

 

My wife and I did sail on one Disney ship before we had kids. That was only because we had some friends who worked at Disney World and were able to get us an insanely cheap, last minute, cast member rate. It was an OK cruise, but certainly nothing to justify any cost difference to a Royal Caribbean cruise.

 

The staterooms were bigger than RCI, but the ship creaked and groaned like nothing I've ever heard before. It was tough to sleep at night because of all of the creaking noises in our cabin.

 

The food was not as good as Royal Caribbean except for the dinner we ate in the specialty restaurant Palo (that was fantastic). I also didn't like the fact that there were no grand indoor spaces on the ship. There was nothing like a Royal Promenade or a soaring Centrum.

 

Castaway Cay was nice, and I liked the fact that they had a dock there. I wish RCI would build a dock at Coco Cay like they have at Labadee.

 

The service we got was comparable to RCI. Nothing to distinguish it as better or worse.

 

The production shows were a little better and more involved than RCI, but I haven't been on Oasis or Allure yet to see how their Broadway shows compare.

 

If the prices were comparable to RCI or even within $100-$200, I might give Disney Cruise Line another try because my kids know and love the Disney characters a lot better than they know the Dreamworks characters. However, with a $2000 price difference I will happily go on Freedom of the Seas (which my kids LOVE) and will buy those Disney World annual passes. My girls can go visit Mickey, Minnie, and all of the princesses on land for a whole year.

 

You completely hit the nail on the head. And I was VERY impressed with the entertainment on Freedom. I thought it would suck compared with Disney, but aside from the sets that Disney had, I found the acting and singing and dancing just as good on RCCL. In fact, I found the acts around the ship BETTER than DCL! The talent was very very good.

 

I disagree about the food, though. I found that is where DCL won. Palo definitely was better than Portofino for me, but even the MDR food won hands down for me.

 

And you're right about the creaking!!!! Never even thought about it until you mentioned it but both the Magic AND the DReam had that constant creaking!!!

 

I like how you spent that extra $2000 dollars! It's a win/win!

[DrD]

Dr D!!!! I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to meet! Time got away from me and I missed the Meet and Mingle! And I had no idea this happened! When was it?

 

 

 

Are you my sister from another mister? :p I'll go check out your review later today!

 

Right around 12:30 or so, about 1 drink after boarding. You prob heard the "alpha alpha alpha."

 

Kid looked ok when they took her away, responsive (minimally) and not needing CPR or anything. However I suspect the girl and her family missed the cruise. I'm sure they would send her to a local ER and I doubt she'd be released soon enough to get back on time.

 

Anyone know more?

Edited April 24, 2013 by DrD

[Cruiselady1229]

I am so enjoying your review...and your beautiful pictures...we will be boarding the Freedom on Sept. 1....and we are taking my uncle with us...he has never experienced cruising before...I so excited for him just to see the ship...not, counting all the things that they have to offer...and I know he will love the ports...

 

Thanks again, for the wonderful review...that you and your family had experienced on the Freedom....:)

[brookmill18]

Great report--can't wait to hear more!!! We did our first cruise on a 3 night Dream on DCL and then did a 7 night on Oasis with extended family. DCL was great for a short, just the 4 of you kind of trip (and we tack it on to the end of a beach FL trip) but I think Oasis was our favorite trip ever! I like reading about the other classes of ships as well, since we are so new to this and not really sure what we are looking for.

 

--on the Oasis (and I think Allure) Vintages is on Central Park, so our favorite thing to do was to go there and get something outside. You couldn't see the ocean slip by, but you were outside with the moon overhead--amazing!

 

Thanks again for the report!

[UCF_Knight]

And I was VERY impressed with the entertainment on Freedom. I thought it would suck compared with Disney, but aside from the sets that Disney had, I found the acting and singing and dancing just as good on RCCL. In fact, I found the acts around the ship BETTER than DCL! The talent was very very good.

 

Yes, the technical aspect of the Disney shows is what I found to be better. The sets, lighting, wire work, and other technical elements were more involved. The shows on Freedom of the Seas are very good, though. The dancers and singers are very talented and do a great job.

 

I disagree about the food, though. I found that is where DCL won. Palo definitely was better than Portofino for me, but even the MDR food won hands down for me.

 

Well, my Disney cruise was 10 years ago and that was our impression at the time when comparing it to RCI food at the time. RCI food has certainly gone down in quality over the last 10 years (although I do like the new menus a lot and think they are a big improvement). It is possible that if Disney has stayed the same or gotten better over the last 10 years it could certainly be comparable or better today when compared with Royal Caribbean today.

 

And you're right about the creaking!!!! Never even thought about it until you mentioned it but both the Magic AND the DReam had that constant creaking!!!

 

With all of the creaking I felt like I was on the Mayflower or some other 500 year old boat. The Disney ship was the only Italian built ship I've ever been on. Maybe they don't screw them together as well as they do in the shipyards RCI typically uses in Norway and Germany where they build vessels to traverse the North Sea and the Northern Atlantic.

 

I like how you spent that extra $2000 dollars! It's a win/win!

 

I think so.

[karajeboo]

Right around 12:30 or so, about 1 drink after boarding. You prob heard the "alpha alpha alpha."

 

Kid looked ok when they took her away, responsive (minimally) and not needing CPR or anything. However I suspect the girl and her family missed the cruise. I'm sure they would send her to a local ER and I doubt she'd be released soon enough to get back on time.

 

Anyone know more?

 

I did hear that!!! Oh, so sad, I swear we didn't even board until after noon! How did that happen so quickly? Really really hoping she's fully recovered.

[karajeboo]

I am so enjoying your review...and your beautiful pictures...we will be boarding the Freedom on Sept. 1....and we are taking my uncle with us...he has never experienced cruising before...I so excited for him just to see the ship...not, counting all the things that they have to offer...and I know he will love the ports...

 

Thanks again, for the wonderful review...that you and your family had experienced on the Freedom....:)

 

I'm sure he'll love it too! It's crazy to think that the beautiful Promenade is in the middle of a ship!!! You'd never know it!

 

Great report--can't wait to hear more!!! We did our first cruise on a 3 night Dream on DCL and then did a 7 night on Oasis with extended family. DCL was great for a short, just the 4 of you kind of trip (and we tack it on to the end of a beach FL trip) but I think Oasis was our favorite trip ever! I like reading about the other classes of ships as well, since we are so new to this and not really sure what we are looking for.

 

--on the Oasis (and I think Allure) Vintages is on Central Park, so our favorite thing to do was to go there and get something outside. You couldn't see the ocean slip by, but you were outside with the moon overhead--amazing!

 

Thanks again for the report!

 

Ooooh, that would be wonderful to sit outside Vintages and people watch. We do love to people watch, and the Promenade was great for that, too!