Is Freedom/Liberty the cruise for me?

[LibrarianBecky]

Hi there!

 

I'd love some help/opinions. My family and I are thinking about our next cruise. It would be myself, my husband, and our 8 year old son. We've all cruised before (once on Royal, several times on Carnival), and after our last Carnival cruise, we've decided that we need to step up our game in terms of activities. We've only sailed on older ships, generally because of cost, and have found that Carnival just does not offer enough family activities for us.

I"m hoping that Royal might be a good fit for us. (Our first cruise was on the Rhapsody in 2003, which we loved.)

 

I'm looking specifically at Freedom of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas. Both look like they have a wide variety of activities that my family would enjoy. I'm leaning toward Freedom because of the 7 day Eastern itineraries. We've only ever done Western before, so Eastern would be a great change. I wouldn't be opposed to Liberty, but she only has 5 days sailings in the time period we are looking to book. More cruise days is always better, right?

 

I guess my question is--do you think either of this ships would be a good choice for a family looking for stuff to do?

 

Thank you!

[Goodtime Cruizin]

When & where are you sailing?

 

The Liberty is a mighty nice ship! She'll be sailing out of Galveston soon and we have booked a Carribean cruise in Feb 2016.

[matj2000]

Sounds like you already answered your own question.

Are you just looking for people to agree with you??

[krisko]

Your boy will love the flowrider, you can't get that anywhere but Royal. A lot of people here think it's gimmicky, your 8 year old will wanna be on it everyday.

[Clarea]

Liberty and Freedom are virtually identical, the only significant difference I can think of are the shows. I'd pick whichever fits your budget and schedule.

[CamaCama]

I love the Liberty (going in it a second time in Nov)! I think Freedom is pretty much the same... i'd go with what you can afford. If you can do 7 days on Freedom, do it!

[rhuntington3]

I've not been on Liberty but Freedom is a beautiful ship. I'd go for Freedom on the Eastern Caribbean if you can.

[Redsfan]

Sounds like you already answered your own question.

Are you just looking for people to agree with you??

 

seriously dude, do you ever stop the enjoyment of being an annoyance?

[LibrarianBecky]

I'm looking at cruises January-April 2015, so Liberty out of Ft. Lauderdale and Freedom out of Port Canaveral.

 

Yes, I probably did answer my own question...but wanted to get confirmation from people who know before I go much further in the planning process. :)

 

After reading an awesome review by Motleu on the Freedom, I did have some more questions, if anyone would like to chime in. They are:

 

1. It doesn't look like the Freedom has a waterslide. Is that correct? I do see the H2O area, but don't see a slide. (Not a deal breaker for us by any means, but wanted to check.)

 

2. How difficult is the Flowrider? My son would definitely love it--just wondering if an 8 year old would be able to actually stay upright.

 

3. Looking at some Adventure Ocean planners--is the Free Family Arcade hour just what it sounds like? Go play in the arcade for an hour for free....with every other family on board...:)

 

 

Thanks so much for the help!

[Clarea]

I'm looking at cruises January-April 2015, so Liberty out of Ft. Lauderdale and Freedom out of Port Canaveral.

 

Yes, I probably did answer my own question...but wanted to get confirmation from people who know before I go much further in the planning process. :)

 

After reading an awesome review by Motleu on the Freedom, I did have some more questions, if anyone would like to chime in. They are:

 

1. It doesn't look like the Freedom has a waterslide. Is that correct? I do see the H2O area, but don't see a slide. (Not a deal breaker for us by any means, but wanted to check.)

 

2. How difficult is the Flowrider? My son would definitely love it--just wondering if an 8 year old would be able to actually stay upright.

 

3. Looking at some Adventure Ocean planners--is the Free Family Arcade hour just what it sounds like? Go play in the arcade for an hour for free....with every other family on board...:)

 

 

Thanks so much for the help!

No waterslide on Freedom.

 

You don't need to stand upright on the Flowrider. You can kneel on the boogie board.

[dcgrumpy]

I'm looking at cruises January-April 2015, so Liberty out of Ft. Lauderdale and Freedom out of Port Canaveral.

 

Yes, I probably did answer my own question...but wanted to get confirmation from people who know before I go much further in the planning process. :)

 

After reading an awesome review by Motleu on the Freedom, I did have some more questions, if anyone would like to chime in. They are:

 

1. It doesn't look like the Freedom has a waterslide. Is that correct? I do see the H2O area, but don't see a slide. (Not a deal breaker for us by any means, but wanted to check.)

 

2. How difficult is the Flowrider? My son would definitely love it--just wondering if an 8 year old would be able to actually stay upright.

 

3. Looking at some Adventure Ocean planners--is the Free Family Arcade hour just what it sounds like? Go play in the arcade for an hour for free....with every other family on board...:)

 

 

Thanks so much for the help!

 

I know this wasn't one of your choices but have you looked into the 8 day Eastern on Independence?

 

We're doing the 7 day Eastern on Indy next summer, I wish the 8 day was an option.

[LibrarianBecky]

I did look at the 8 day Independence, but wasn't sure about the ship. I noticed it doesn't have the 3-D theater or the DreamWorks experience, which I thought my family would enjoy. It does have some nice itineraries though...maybe I shouldn't count it out.

[njmomof2]

Flowrider is based on height. Boogie boarding is 52" and stand up is 58" so that will determine which he can do. My boys love it and will stand there for the entire time to use it. Older one does stand up almost exclusively now; younger one will change it up a bit if the boogie board lines aren't too long.

 

There is no slide on Freedom/Liberty. But your 8 yo should love the rock wall, the ice skating rink, the arcade, the flowrider, the pools (including the H2O zone, which is still fun at that age), and there is plenty to do as a family.

 

I've sailed both Freedom and Liberty (we did Liberty as our first family trip...boys were 9 3/4 and almost 5.5 and they both loved it. Now if we don't sail on a Freedom class ship, they'd rather not cruise.

[Ocean Boy]

The Freedom class ships (Freedom, Liberty, and Independence) are awesome. To answer your question "do you think either of this ships would be a good choice for a family looking for stuff to do" the answer is YES!

[EatSleepCruise]

I did look at the 8 day Independence, but wasn't sure about the ship. I noticed it doesn't have the 3-D theater or the DreamWorks experience, which I thought my family would enjoy. It does have some nice itineraries though...maybe I shouldn't count it out.

 

We did the 8 night Independence of the Seas earlier this year and it was a great cruise. We do not have kids, so I can not comment on family activities, but the folks we met on-board who had children commented that their kids were having a good time. From what we have heard, the family program on RCI is top notch.

 

The ports of call on the Indy 8 night are a nice change from the typical 7 night cruise. Not sure if he will still be the Cruise Director with Quantum coming out, but Joff Eaton was great on the ship.

 

We have sailed on Freedom of the Seas too, and think this class of ship is perfect for families.

 

Have fun planning your cruise.