Freedom of the Seas Review--Western

[descotes]

Everyone woke up around 6:30 am on Sunday to eat the free breakfast and then left around 8. The breakfast wasn’t much to talk about either. The omelets weren’t the best and there wasn’t any name-brand yogurt, just yogurt that’s in a plastic bowl that looked like it was scooped in. The eggs were watered down and the staff was just plain rude.

Two hours later we were in Port Canaveral making our way to Ron Jon Surf shop. For my immediate family, it’s a tradition for us to visit Ron Jon’s while at Cocoa Beach. We didn’t stay there for long, as we wanted to get on the ship. Since we brought our own vehicle, and one could say my parents like to save money as my brother and I are in college, they found a parking area for $7/day affiliated with the Radisson hotel. This was the same lot we used on our last cruise, but the lot did move across the street to an abandon building that the company now leases. We checked our vehicle in, and no more than 30 minutes later we were at the port getting ready to go through security. TIP: make sure to have your luggage tags on before going to the port. The luggage guys do have staplers but the men are very busy, almost like an ant colony. Going through security didn’t take a while, but the people in front of us in line tried the vodka in a case of water bottles and got busted; kind of funny if you ask me. My parents got away with it on Carnival, but didn’t want to try it with RC. The part that took the longest was getting our Seapass card, I know that there were 3,000+ people aboard, but this was one of the only times I felt the presence. We finally got on the ship around 11:30 and the room became available at 1. Good thing we packed our swim suits because we didn’t get our luggage until 6 that night, with 2 hours to spare before our 8 o’clock dinner. I can’t recall the name of our room attendant, but she was awesome. Like I said before, we had rooms 9676 and 9674, which when facing forward, was port side, although we never docked portside, at any of the ports... Each time we would head in as if our room was on port side, but then the captain decided to turn around so the bow faced out. Since we had two rooms right next to each other, we asked to have the divider between our rooms unlocked. This helped a lot when my mom needed to get the boys up in the morning. TIP: If you are one of those people that enjoys sitting on your balcony, ask for a lounge chair from the pool. Our room steward was able to grab one and it got used every day, buy one of the six of us. We were not able to remove our glass coffee table like some people have mentioned. In our room we saw our Costco amenities. Before boarding, we had an idea of what we were getting, but we got more than what we knew. Since we had two rooms, all the features were doubled.

They included (all x2 since we had 2 rooms): dinner for two to either Chops Grille or Portofino ($70 value), dinner for four to Johnny Rockets (does not include shakes), a $215 voucher (we used to pay for our gratuities), two tickets to ride Dragon’s Tail Coaster, two tickets for the Dragon’s splash waterside, two tickets for the Dragon’s water park, 2 beach floating mats, $25 beach credit to use at Labadee, one spa experience (choose from La Therapie hydrolift facial, Swedish massage or reflexology), complimentary tribute to an icon wine flight at Vintages and lastly, soda package for two guests. I’ll explain how we broke everything down later.

2 questions -- I see your cabin was a regular room wth balcony (not suite). I would love to have a lounge chair out on my balcony. I didn't realize that it would fit and they could bring one. Also how did you get all of that stuff?? When you said "they inlcuded" who did you mean?

[Yorkvillain]

Great review, I enjoyed it!

[swimducky21]

I just seen your pictures. Some like mine, others different. :)

 

We had an inner room. Did you get "chocolate's" on your bed, as you were in an "elite" room?

 

 

On Carnival we weren't in an elite room, we were in a cove balcony deck 2, but we got chocolates there. On RC we in category d1 or d2, neither elite, and didn't bet chocolates. Hope that answers your question.

 

 

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[swimducky21]

2 questions -- I see your cabin was a regular room wth balcony (not suite). I would love to have a lounge chair out on my balcony. I didn't realize that it would fit and they could bring one. Also how did you get all of that stuff?? When you said "they inlcuded" who did you mean?

 

 

We asked our room steward to get the chair and she asked her supervisor. If you want a lounge chair need to ask early (around 1) when rooms are open because the supervisor only allows so many. Keep in mind we were also aft on the ship and the balconies are larger in the aft.

 

By "they included" I mean the packages we got through Costco. The stuff that I listed was included in the packages.

 

 

 

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[ninneman]

Nice job writing this review my DD. :)

[descotes]

We asked our room steward to get the chair and she asked her supervisor. If you want a lounge chair need to ask early (around 1) when rooms are open because the supervisor only allows so many. Keep in mind we were also aft on the ship and the balconies are larger in the aft.

 

By "they included" I mean the packages we got through Costco. The stuff that I listed was included in the packages.

 

 

 

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wow. that's a lot of extras you got using Costco. That's a good deal I guess. Great review. Thanks!

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[Keith1010]

Enjoyed your review/report.

 

Keith

[ttnc4me]

Thanks for taking the time to write this all out. We will be on this ship next and love to read all we can!

[dacsmom]

I loved your review and your pictures are wonderful. The Freedom is my favorite ship.

[MouseGirl]

Thanks so much for your great review. We will not be travelling on the Freedom until over a year from now, but I found it really helpful and well written. So glad that you and your family had such a great trip.

[singingslp]

Do you happen to know which movies were playing on board? We leave Sunday. Thanks!

 

 

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Melody

[Seattle Rose]

Great review! Thanks for taking the time to write it! We will be on the Freedom in October and your review makes me wish it was sooner :)

[Robinola]

Hey there,

 

Can you take a picture of Dad in his Hawaiian G Shirt?! ha ha :D

[Jax129]

YAY! Love all reviews of Freedom. Thanks for taking the time to do it.

[LisaGoeke]

Enjoyed your detailed review, thanks. October will be our 4th time on the Freedom, also Western Caribbean, we really enjoy that ship. BTW, we're also from St. Louis and will be driving.
OH, and I think I need to start using Costco travel. You got a lot of extras by booking through them!!