Review - Freedom of the Seas - 8/10 - 8/17 , some live, some not

[mac_tlc]

Hi all,

 

We are onboard the Freedom of the Seas this week. I had a little time this afternoon, so I started writing my review and thought I would post it "live". I will probably check back in sporadically, so if there are any questions I will try to answer them, although Merion_Mom did a fabulous job last week.

 

 

FREEDOM OF THE SEAS, August 10, 2014 – August 17, 2014

 

I have written a few reviews in the past and even though this is our 25th cruise overall and 15th on RCCL, there are a few “firsts” on this one. Most notably, this is the first cruise for our 2 year old grandson. Our entire group consists of 6, me (54), DW (55), DS (19), DGS (2), and his Mom and Dad. We have adjoining JS’s , cabins 1300 and 1302. I searched a bit for some info on these cabins and didn’t find anything, so I will relay as much info as possible.

 

Pre-Cruise:

The journey to Port Canaveral for the six of us was a bit complicated, as we flew from CT to FL on four separate days. My son was first, flying down on July 27th with his cousin to spend a week at Disney World. My wife, daughter and grandson them flew down on August 3rd, picked up my son and went to our house in Orlando. I arrived on the 7th and my son-in-law arrived on the 9th. Everyone arrived when they were scheduled, although a few Southwest delays are typical – at least for us.

 

We rented two cars for the group, since my wife was here earlier than I was. They were one-way rentals to be dropped off at Cape Canaveral.

 

Day 1 – Sunday, August 10th

 

We left the house at about 9:30AM, it is about a 40 minute ride to the Port. We dropped off 4 people and all of the luggage at the ship –arriving there about 10:30AM. It was a lengthy wait to drop off, since there were still folks getting off from the prior cruise. For a big terminal, they were really restricting the flow of cars to drop off. Finally, about 11, we dropped off the four and my daughter and I drove to Dollar to drop off the rentals and catch the shuttle. They were somewhat understaffed and one gentlemen was doing all the rental returns and he was the shuttle driver. About 11:40, we boarded the shuttle with about 25 other people. At least we were all heading to the same ship. As is the case in Florida in August, it was HOT, and the grandson had seen enough of the outside of the cruise terminal by then and was longing for some AC. Proceeded in and upstairs, now it’s around 12:15pm. LLLOOONNNGGG lines abounded, we were lucky enough to use the suite check-in line and by about 12:40 were on board.

 

Cabins 1300 and 1302 are mid-ship, starboard side. The extra space in the JS was really convenient for the pack-and-play for the grandson, and still allowed sufficient room to store the luggage, stroller, and car seat (in the closet). The adjoining door is located right next to the TV, and is a little narrower than a typical door. Hopefully I will upload some pix to my FLICKR account when we return and provide the link.

 

A customary trip to the Windjammer (crazy as always on day 1), and an uneventful muster drill at 4, and we were on our way to Coco Cay.

 

We had early seating – we are “old-fashioned”, I guess, have always had early seating, never done My Time or late. Especially this time with the youngster, early was a must. We had table 308, a table for 6, which is right next to the Captain’s table – great location. Dinner Day 1 was Mojo, and everyone enjoyed their selections. Since food is so subjective, I am not going to review the food. My son-in-law has a diary allergy, which we had notified RCCL of ahead of time. The waiter was very good and arranged for dairy-free selections. Before dinner had ended, my son-in-law got a menu for day 2 and made his selections with the Head waiter. The grandson was EXCELLENT at dinner – always a moment of trepidation there – and enjoyed his pizza !

 

Day 2 – Coco Cay

As scheduled we arrived at Coco Cay at 7am, the first tender leaving shortly thereafter. We lagged a little and caught a tender at about 8:45, after breakfast in the Windjammer. We all enjoyed the typical beach day, although by 12 it was getting hot and the youngster was once again longing for that AC (as were his grandparents!). For this itinerary, it is a short Coco Cay day, as the ship leaves at 2PM, give or take a little.

A little afternoon donation at the casino, which was neither smoky nor crowded, is another tradition for us. There will be more donations as the week progresses. We had eaten on Coco Cay, and after the grandson had his nap, it was time to get ready to go to the Diamond lounge.

 

Thoughts and observations so far:

 

I thought that RCCL had eliminated the crazy $25 beach towel fee, but not this day. Towels were available on Deck 2 on the way to the tenders and Sea Pass cards were scanned upon pick-up and return. Can’t wait to see how many stray $25 charges I have.

 

Drink vouchers were loaded on the Sea Pass cards (3 per day, between 4:30 and 8:00pm). Drink list provided in cabin.

 

Diamond lounge available --- and full by 4:45pm. Overflow was the 7 Hearts Card Room – and was full by 5:15pm.

 

 

This is the first formal night, and staying with our “old-fashioned” preferences, we all got dressed up for dinner. Even the grandson had a suit jacket and looked rather stunning if I don’t say so myself. As I perused the dining room, I would say 80+ % were dressed up, at least somewhat. It’s not a scientific sample, since I probably only saw a couple hundred folks out of 3500. Saw more tuxedos than shorts. No judgment here, just an observation – and one that gets a lot of time on these boards.

 

The second moment of truth occurred next – when my daughter brought her son to the Royal Babies room. She had reserved two hours (@$8/hr) from 7-9). She received a phone “just in case”. I am happy to report that the phone never rang, he had a wonderful time, and was ready to go back as soon as he left. We will see if his enthusiasm lasts through tomorrow night when he s another 2 hours scheduled from 7:30 – 9:30.

 

Beach days are always tiring ones --- and our day was done about 10pm.

 

 

More later.....

[MandyMooToo]

Thanks for the review, I will be following along :)

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[rrrrall]

We go Sept of next year, excited to read your review!

 

Sent from my SM-N900V using Forums mobile app

[Debitoo]

Thank you for doing this review. I'll be aboard her in 39 days and look forward to your comments. Any little "hints" you have will be most welcome! :D

[Sherm813]

Great information. DH and I will have cabin 1300 next week. Appreciate the review.

[scotmonson]

You said that the ship left Coco Cay at around 2:00 PM. Was this time shown on your ship's itinerary or changed? I am sailing on Freedom Eastern in October and the itinerary shows leaving Coco Cay at 5:00. This is an important difference in that leaving at the earlier time would give more time for excursions in St. Thomas

[judatt]

Thanks for the review. We get on FOS the day you get off. Our 3 grandchildren are with us old folks in a rental house in Orlando this week. We drove over to the port on Sunday afternoon and watched your sail away! Our grandchildren thought that was "awesome". Our children will be flying down on Saturday to join us on the cruise. Looking forward to a great time and it sounds like you are already having a great time.

[bc_redhead]

Really looking forward to the rest of your review. We sail next month on FOS (our first cruise) so any and all information is greatly appreciated.

[dacsmom]

Thanks for posting, I cannot wait to read more. The Freedom is a favorite.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[Tropicalgal2]

Great so far! Thanks for taking the time to post. Look forward to more about your trip during the week and post. Hope you can post your photos here. :)

 

We will be on Freedom this fall and look forward to it again. Always nice to read other´s take on the ship! ;)

 

¡ENJOY the rest of your trip! :D

[tabbi_cakes]

Subscribing

[booboojoy]

have a fun cruise

[mychild]

Thanks for the review!! Can't wait to hear more.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your review, can't wait for more.:)

[casinostreer]

MORE MORE MORE!!! We're embarking as you're getting off the ship! We'll wave as you pass by. Hope you have a wonderful cruise!!

[Mary521]

Subscribing here too, cruising freedom in Dec

 

If you wouldn't mind, which dreamworks characters are on board? If u happen to catch a parade, wondering if there is a toothless character (black dragon from how to train a dragon) like there was on Allure. Want to get my niece and nephew excited about what we'll actually see. Also any more info about the nursery is welcome - my son will be 13 mo at time of sailing.

 

Not surprised about the towels. On labadee in May ppl left towels ALL over!! Very lazy folks ruining it for the rest of us!

[mac_tlc]

Hi all ..

 

Port Days and sporadic connections don't make for a "real-time" review. Here are some thought from Days 3-5. I will try to get answers to the questions posted so far and post the answers in the next day or so.

 

 

Day 3 – At Sea

 

We started with breakfast in the dining room, as a break from the more hectic pace of the Windjammer. The Leonardo Dining room on deck 3 was open for breakfast, with the Dreamworks character breakfast was also in the same room, but it was on the port side, while the starboards side of the dining room was used for the non-character diners. Ice-show reservations are available starting at 8:30am in On-Air (deck 3). There were two shows scheduled for today, at 2:30 and 4:30, and two more shows on Day 5 (Thursday) at 7:00 pm and 9:00 pm. We chose the 9:00pm show on Thursday. Overall a relaxing day with some mini-golf and movies thrown in for variety. There are a number of movies, both poolside on the big screen and in the Arcadia theatre. Gravity was in 3D in the theatre at 2PM, and American Graffiti was poolside at 8PM and Captain America Winter Soldier was poolside at 11pm. Tonight’s MDR menu is the ****ake menu.

 

The Diamond lounge and overflow lounges were both in use and full by 5:15, but empty quickly as main dining starts at 5:30. Of course they both fill up again before late dining.

Another donation was made tonight, a small one as my wife won a few bucks to offset my losses. Today ended around 10:30.

 

Day 4 – St Thomas

 

The arrival time in St. Thomas is noon, with a 7pm departure. That is not the most convenient time given our dining time. It was also a hot day. We have been to St. Thomas a number of times and prefer the St. John beaches, but with the grandson and time schedule, we decided to go downtown for a few hours. The taxis are convenient and $4pp one-way. My wife has been looking for a diamond ring – sort of for our 30th anniversary (actually 31 now) and sort of because ---- . We have bought a number of items at a particular jewelry store in St. Thomas for years, so we headed there. We did make a purchase and the wife was very happy with her choice. A few more hours of looking around and we headed back to ship about 3:30.

 

We were one of three ships in port today. The Disney Fantasy and the Norwegian Breakaway were also there. They departed by 4:30.

 

The grandson really like the Royal Tots club, so he has been going every night after dinner for a couple of hours. Seems very happy. Usually there are three or four others there. Tonight’s dinner menu was Pimento, one of our favorites.

 

A quick note on our use of the drink vouchers. We have been going to the Diamond lounge before dinner, but with the early dining time being 5:50, we have some time after dinner to partake of the vouchers before 8pm. It is very convenient and we have been using one or two, usually in the casino bar before showtime.

 

Which reminds me – the shows. We missed the Welcome Aboard show and the show on Day 1, which for us is rare as we usually go. But with the grandson, we were “learning the ropes” of cruising with a youngster and did not make them. On Day 3 we did go to the Headliner Show. The performer was Joey Van, a singer, comedian, and impressionist. He was very good. It seemed that even the young people in attendance enjoyed the show – even though a number of his impressions were of older people, such as George Burns, Jerry Lewis, etc. Of course he also did so more current performers such as Justin Bieber, Justin Timberlake, etc. Today (Day 4) we also saw the show. It was magician Drew Thomas. He was very, very good. A rather elaborate stage show with some great magical acts.

 

The obligatory casino visit – and a stop at Café promenade for a snack – followed the show, with the day again ending around 10:30pm (As you can tell by now, we are not going to close down any of the clubs  )

 

Day 5 – St. Maarten

 

Arrival was at 8:00am today and we were the only ship in port. Nice. For the first time, we went to Maho Beach. I have been dying to see the airplanes land and have never been to Maho. All six of us headed over to the taxi stand at the end of the pier. They did not charge for the youngster, so the fare was $9pp one-way. There was no one else in the taxi, so we had some space to enjoy the 25-30 minutes ride. We encountered a little traffic on the way near Simpson’s Bay.

 

We proceeded through the Sunset Bar and Grill and snagged some chairs and umbrellas. Price was $10/chair, if you get two chairs the umbrella is free. The area is very rocky with about 4 rows of chairs tightly arranged among the sand and rocks. The view is spectacular. The rest of Maho beach is rocky, with some parts a rather steep walk down to the water. It’s not a big beach at all and a lot of folks just sit along the edge of the road and wait for the planes. The arrival schedule is posted on a surfboard at the Sunset Bar. We arrived about 10:30 and arranged for our taxi driver to pick us up at 2:15 – after the Air France Airbus landed, which is the highlight of the day. (no 747 today).

 

The water is wonderful and the view of the landing planes is difficult to describe. We took a lot of pictures and video and hopefully will upload them after we get back home. We had lunch at the Sunset bar, reasonable prices for typical fare. Out taxi driver arrived around 2, so we proceeded back.

 

The late afternoon routine resumed – Diamond Lounge at 4:30, dinner at 5:30. Tonight’s menu was Basil – our least favorite. Don’t worry – I found something that was very good and enjoyable.

 

We all were a little more tired than usual tonight. In fact all four youngsters at the Royal Tots club fell asleep there tonight. We went to the Ice Show at 9pm. A great show and something you should not miss. It lasted about 50 minutes. After the show we all headed back to the room ---- ending the day about 10:30pm.

[mac_tlc]

You said that the ship left Coco Cay at around 2:00 PM. Was this time shown on your ship's itinerary or changed? I am sailing on Freedom Eastern in October and the itinerary shows leaving Coco Cay at 5:00. This is an important difference in that leaving at the earlier time would give more time for excursions in St. Thomas

 

The itinerary said 2PM, although the last tender left Coco Cay at 2pm. We departed about 2:30pm. Arrival in St. Thomas was noon even with the 2:30 departure from Coco Cay.

[rrrrall]

My itinerary for 2015 says leaving Cococay at 4pm and then arriving at St. Thomas at noon the next day also. Wonder why the difference?

 

Sent from my SM-N900V using Forums mobile app

[mac_tlc]

Day 6 – At Sea

 

Today was a very lazy day, with no particular event on the “must do” list. A little afternoon trip to the casino, with a short nap in the afternoon.

 

The dinner menu tonight was Jasmine, and was the second formal night. Fewer “formal” folks tonight and some shorts were spotted.  The grandson is still enjoying the Royal Tots club, but is tiring of sitting for 1.5 hours for dinner. To be expected. Overall he has been very, very good.

 

We went to the Top Tier Event tonight, where they debuted the video showing the float-out of the Quantum. Also the captain talked about the upcoming dry dock. Many of the changes have been discussed before, but one that I had not officially heard was that they are going to convert the three-level main dining room to three separate dining rooms – and go Dynamic Dining. The hotel director mentioned that one will be Silk, another Grand, and did not mention the name of the third. A couple of executives from Miami will be on board on Sunday to talk to the captain and the hotel director and discuss the changes.

 

I will give my personal reaction to the changes, and I am not in favor. I did not like the idea of Dynamic Dining when it was announced for Quantum. My guess is this will go fleetwide – and quickly. The hotel director mentioned that he thought the Oasis would get it during its drydock, and I bet all will convert as soon as they can do it. I think it’s a big money saver for them, having fewer menus that do not change daily. Time will tell --- and even though I don’t like it, we will be unable to avoid it. Time will tell. OK – off the soapbox.

 

Skipped the show again tonight and made a small donation, then watched a bit of Casablanca on the poolside screen. There were probably about 30 or so folks watching.

 

For those who are interested:

Captain – Tor Olsen

Hotel Director – Michael Rasmussen

Cruise Director – Casey Pelter

Diamond Concierge – Berty

 

One last sea day left  . . . . . more tomorrow.

[mac_tlc]

Subscribing here too, cruising freedom in Dec

 

If you wouldn't mind, which dreamworks characters are on board? If u happen to catch a parade, wondering if there is a toothless character (black dragon from how to train a dragon) like there was on Allure. Want to get my niece and nephew excited about what we'll actually see. Also any more info about the nursery is welcome - my son will be 13 mo at time of sailing.

 

Not surprised about the towels. On labadee in May ppl left towels ALL over!! Very lazy folks ruining it for the rest of us!

 

The Dreamworks parade is today (Saturday). If we catch it I will see who is here. So far we have seen Gloria, King Julien, Alex, Miss Fiona, Shrek and Puss and Boots.

[rrrrall]

Did this ship have the $1 blackjack and various specials like that for the casino? We are very very much beginners so we hit up these events just to get a feel for it on our last cruise. Lots of fun really when just learning.

 

Sent from my SM-N900V using Forums mobile app

[Mary521]

How did you handle the whole car seat issue? Trying to figure out what we can do

[Mary521]

The Dreamworks parade is today (Saturday). If we catch it I will see who is here. So far we have seen Gloria, King Julien, Alex, Miss Fiona, Shrek and Puss and Boots.

 

 

Thank you for the info!!