Freedom of the Seas -- review of 10/4-11 sailing

[Podie]

I was also on this cruise and I would recommend avoiding the Windjammer on the first day's lunch at all costs. I ate lunch at Cafe Promenade and Sorrento's also had a nice selection, and all of it is free.

 

Park Port Canaveral (across the street from the Radisson) had a special pre-pay so my total was only $42 for the 7 days. It's a little higher now, but they're good as is Park & Cruise before the port.

[ommax2]

Excellent! Can't wait to read more!

[SimonTemplar]

Day 2 on "the big ship" dawned and we looked out of our large, round window in the bedroom and beheld CocoCay. And that was as close as we would come to beholding CocoCay. Disappointing for all of us because we had schlepped the girls' excavation equipment onboard and they were all set to create sand castles, sand boats, sand trains, and sand bridges. We tuned in channel 41 and listened to the captain explain to Casey, our cruise director, that the wind and waves would not allow the tenders to safely navigate from the ship to the island. We also listened to the reasons why we would not be stopping at CocoCay on our way back from St. Maarten because of time limitations. The good news? We would arrive at St. Thomas earlier on Wednesday.

 

In 2009, DW and I had enjoyed our relaxing time on Norwegian's Great Stirrup Cay, the island right next door to Little Stirrup Cay (or CocoCay), and we were all set to request a CocoCay cabanaette and ride a golf cart to our clam shell. Alas, we missed the boat. Literally.

 

So, an extra day at sea instead of an expected lovely day in the Caribbean surf, on a Caribbean beach, and a few stolen moments to attempt to follow Miss Marple's deductions in A Caribbean Mystery. We were disappointed, but we hoped that our girls and the rest of our party would not be too disappointed.

 

After breakfast in Windjammer, we went to the photo gallery to search for ourselves among the hundreds of prints, which is my least favorite activity onboard, but we were considering purchasing the photo package and that made the scanning of professional photos a necessary activity. The girls were thrilled to help and overjoyed whenever they spotted any of our prints. Their enthusiasm made photo hunting better.

 

Another trip to the H2OZone followed and, if possible, it was chillier than the day before. And windier. And a lot busier. The lazy river for youngsters was full, but the girls had a reasonably good time kicking along in their floaties.

 

After lunch, we spent about an hour in our cabin watching one of the DreamWorks movies repeated each day, but I can't remember if it was "Monsters vs. Aliens" or "Megamind." A good time to point out that briefly watching "The Mentalist" in German can be fun. Would have been even better if it was the episode in which Jane corrects the impression that he is the "po-po" with "I'm a po-po consultant." Ich bin ein po-po berater.

 

More later!

[Clarea]

Enjoying the review.:) Minor point, Coco Cay is in the Atlantic.

[MisterMom]

I was on this sailing (and from Atlanta), too! So great you're doing a review so I can self-medicate my post-cruise depression. LOL

[SimonTemplar]

Enjoying the review.:) Minor point, Coco Cay is in the Atlantic.

 

Bob, thank you for the gentle correction.

[SimonTemplar]

Dinner in Leonardo's went much faster on night 2, and Miss Pauline and Miss Rose had fruit and rolls available for the girls immediately after we arrived. Thank you ladies!

 

The menu was Saffron, DW had the shrimp ravioli and proclaimed it delicious. Thing 2 likewise proclaimed her grilled cheese yummy. I liked the bittersweet chocolate soufflé.

 

After dinner, we had pictures taken with Po, and then crossed over to the Morgan car to have a photo with the captain. Captain Ron may be taller than Po, and we did not use the photo op to plead for a short detour to CocoCay on Saturday.

 

After our snap sessions, it was time to put the girls to bed and prepare for our Rook session. But nothing prepared us for the poor cards we were dealt. We drowned our sorrows in champagne, a gift from our travel agent, and dreamed of private islands and better cards.

 

Day 3 tomorrow!

Edited October 16, 2015 by SimonTemplar

[APDMOM]

Glad you came back to continue. I am enjoying your humor!

 

We have about 5 weeks until our third adventure on Freedom :)

[judymag]

You're right, no window in the little bunk room, 2 round windows in the living room, and 1 round window in the bedroom. The couch is more like a futon than a pullout, but it's a better couch than any futon and a better bed than any pullout sofa. And lots of storage! 8200 was a great room for us. You do have to keep the curtains closed at night or the bridge will call you (and it could be at 2:00 A.M.) and ask you, very politely, to close the curtains.

 

 

Glad I'm not the only one who got a 2am call from the bridge re the lights I was in 7502 in September lovely view from the port hole loved weakening up and seeing coco cay sorry u didn't get to see the island

[nolagirljh]

Why can't you keep your curtain open am I missing something ?

[SimonTemplar]

Why can't you keep your curtain open am I missing something ?

 

The explanation I received was the lights from these forward cabins are distracting to the crew on the bridge.

[BillOh]

The explanation I received was the lights from these forward cabins are distracting to the crew on the bridge.

 

As an Astronomer, its easy to understand, they darken the bridge at night and use red colored instruments in many cases. They depend on their night vision. One blast of bright white light can ruin that night vision for awhile. (20-30 minutes for older people)

[SimonTemplar]

Our sailing became a little smoother as we slid past the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos. Or we were becoming more acclimated to the ship's movements. Either way, we settled in for our planned day at sea, and kicked it off once again with breakfast in Windjammer. This turned out to be our last day in WJ, because unless you arrive before 8:30, WJ is overly crowded. Get a late start and finding an open table for a group larger than 4 persons can be a chore. Navigating through the sea of humanity can also be a challenge with small kids, but we managed to steer clear of the more oblivious passengers. And here I should point out that I found the overwhelming majority of RC cruisers to be polite, alert, and considerate, and they helped to make our cruise with the girls a pleasure. Thank you!

 

DW wanted to attend the Port Shopping Show at 11:00 in Arcadia Theatre, which was somewhat informative but mostly an infomercial for Diamonds International and their "Crown of Light" and "Kabana" brands. And DW did not win any raffle prizes afterward. I will not write that it was a complete waste of time, but it was not a broadly informative session regarding a variety of shopping experiences in Charlotte Amelie. For that, I should have checked out Virtual Tourist before traveling.

 

Next up was lunch, but WJ was once again crowded. We should have tried Leonardo's, but all's well that ends well as a helpful waiter escorted us to a table in Giovanni's and we were openly appreciative of his assistance. Some of the Giovanni's staff were not pleased that WJ riff-raff were invading, but Giovanni's had plenty of open tables (does anyone pay $15 to eat there for lunch?) so be nice and share. That's what we tell the girls and that advice applies to adults as well.

 

We were planning to attend the 1:30 show in Studio B ("Freedom-ice.com, an ice spectacular"), but our lunch escapades took too long and we had to punt to the 3:30 show. That meant my dad sat through both shows, because he was waiting for us in Studio B at 1:30. Fortunately, the show is entertaining enough to be enjoyed twice. According to my dad and brother, the entertainment on Freedom of the Seas was first-rate and better than the shows presented on any of their other cruises. We can testify the ice skaters are amazing (and versatile because they we also spotted them performing in the DreamWorks parade).

 

We arrived a little after 3:00 for the 3:30 ice show, and we were greeted with a question from one of the entertainment staff: Would the girls like to ride on a pirate ship during the show? He received 2 enthusiastic "Yes!" responses and 1 slow shake of the head, which meant (1) we could sit in the front row and (2) we would spend a few minutes trying to persuade our reluctant girl to take a ride on the ice. The front row was a great place to watch the ice spectacular, and our powers of persuasion failed us but 2 of our girls had a wonderful ride in the pirate ship.

 

After a brief stop in the photo gallery to look for formal dining portraits, we went back to our stateroom to change into our "smart casual" clothes for tonight's dinner menu: Pimiento, which was misspelled as "Pimento" in the Cruise Compass. Almost everyone had the garlic tiger shrimp. For dessert, reluctant girl had strawberry ice cream (no reluctance was exhibited during the eating of said dessert) and our 2 pirates had cookies that were treated like treasure.

 

After dinner, we stopped at the Port and Shopping Desk on deck 5 to pick up our VIP shopping discount cards for St. Thomas, and then it was back to the room. The girls needed their sleep before their big day in St. Thomas.

[JessandLevi]

Loving your review! We have a 3 year old son and will be on Independence for Thanksgiving and Freedom in February. This is our first time on the freedom class ships.

[SherriZ366]

Love your review also. Sounds like your girls are triplets. We have almost 4 year old Triplet Grandson and 8200 would be great. I also toured a family stateroom on deck 12. I can't remember if the bunk room had a door or a curtain. Good idea to bring a blow-up mattress.

 

Sounds like you had some of the effects of Joaquin making the seas rough that wrecked havoc on SC.

[SimonTemplar]

Love your review also. Sounds like your girls are triplets. We have almost 4 year old Triplet Grandson and 8200 would be great. I also toured a family stateroom on deck 12. I can't remember if the bunk room had a door or a curtain. Good idea to bring a blow-up mattress.

 

Si, triplets and you know what a challenge that can be when traveling (or standing still), but a lot of fun, too!

 

We booked early, so we had our choice of rooms and we wanted the room with a door. Much better than a curtain for our needs.

[SimonTemplar]

I'll write about breakfast later, because I want to jump into Adventure Ocean, shopping, and Secret Sands. The night before, we went to the Port and Shopping Desk after dinner and we signed up for Shopping Express, which means you pay $4 each and you ride into the main shopping district Wednesday morning with a lot of your fellow cruisers, shopping guru James, and his able assistant Ellie, and then you can find your own ride back, again for $4 each. We were to meet at 9:30 and proceed to our buses.

 

And before we could leave, we needed to escort the girls to Adventure Ocean for a morning of activities with the fun crew, the counselors who hang out on deck 12, aft. We arrived a few minutes after 9:00 and not one girl wanted to pass through the red gate into the land of adventure. Instead, everyone wanted to come with us. Some of this can be laid at my feet for saying we were leaving the ship and shopping on the island. Major mistake on my part! DW recovered by saying we weren't leaving the ship, we would be nearby, but we wanted the girls to play and have fun with the slides, games, puzzles, and books. After we reminded Thing 3 that this was Train Day in Adventure Ocean for the aquanauts, she was the first to skip off, and I thank the counselors for helping to persuade her, too. Thing 2, her identical sister, wasn't about to let her have all the fun, so she was next. Miss Reluctant was no longer crying, thankfully, but still took another minute or three before she went in. And then we were off to the shopping races!

 

Our ride to the downtown Charlotte Amalie was short, 5 to 10 minutes at most. We proceeded to Diamonds International, of course, for the free charm bracelet, to Effy Jewelry, to Mr. Tablecloth (based on recommendations from the CC community), and then down Hibiscus Alley to the waterfront and a magnificent view of Freedom of the Seas docked at Havensight. Photos, photos, photos, back to a jewelry store to pick up a resized ring, purchase a few items for girls, a cap for me, and then back to the waterfront for a return bus. We had just enough time to pick up girls, have lunch, change into swim clothes, and go back down the gangway to catch our Secret Sands shore excursion.

 

When we arrived at Adventure Ocean to pick up girls, no girls! No kids at all, no counselors, no one. We discovered they went to lunch a little early, and we went down a deck to WJ and there were our 3 girls having fun with their fellow aquanauts and the counselors and eating pizza. The girls were happy to see us, we were happy to see them, and we thanked the counselors for making the girls' morning an enjoyable one. WJ was deserted compared to at sea days, so we found a table, and the girls finished their lunch while we quickly ate ours. Back in 8200, we changed into swim clothes and cover-ups, grabbed our bag filled with shovels and buckets, sunscreen and floaties, and made our way to deck 1 to grab towels, exit the ship, and find our shore excursion gathering place.

 

The Secret Sands excursion was the fancy name for traveling by bus to Lindquist Beach, the scene of the ads for DirecTV that featured Hannah Davis and her talking horse. Traveling with a trio of 3-year-olds can be a handful at times, but we do receive certain compensations. For example, the price of shore excursions for the girls? $0.00. Our bus driver wasn't too happy about their lack of tickets and she stated, "They take up seats," but the driver of bus #1 talked her off the ledge.

 

The road to Lindquist Beach was hilly, bumpy, and curvy, and the riders at both ends of the benches needed to pay attention to ensure they stayed on their seats and in the bus. Some very nice sights along the way, however, and after 20-25 minutes, we were on a beautiful beach. All the girls wanted to do was dig, dig, dig in the sand because it was high tide and the waves were a bit much for them. DW and I enjoyed a few minutes together, then I tagged out and the grandparents went into the surf. Thing 1 was digging in the sand and singing, "I am never going to get wet ever again," over and over. I think she almost meant it.

 

After almost 3 hours on the beach, it was time to pack up, which I left to DW while I tended to bathroom time with 3 girls who wanted every speck of sand washed away at the shower. Uh, no, girls. By the time we returned, everyone was on the bus and waiting for our final 4 passengers. That would be us. My apologies, fellow cruisers!

 

The girls had so much sand in their suits (yes, even after all the washing off) that our plan to make in to the MDR around 6:00 was in jeopardy. We had related to Miss Pauline the night before that we would not be able to make it at 5:30. Would 6:00 be okay? She said yes, but we weren't ready before 6:30 because everyone needed to wash off the sand. We opted for dinner at Windjammer, and that turned out to be a great decision. Not too many fellow diners, a good choice of tables and food, including sushi, and everything tasted as good as MDR food. Or we all very hungry, which was certainly true. And tired. Early to bed for everyone after a great day on St. Thomas.

[SherriZ366]

Si, triplets and you know what a challenge that can be when traveling (or standing still), but a lot of fun, too!

 

We booked early, so we had our choice of rooms and we wanted the room with a door. Much better than a curtain for our needs.

DD &SIL will have to look at 8200. The door would be good with the boys -- although they are good about going to bed unlike their mama. Did your girls do any Ocean Adventure activities?

 

Loved how two wanted to be in the ice show and the third girl did not want to be. We get that a lot as one of our boys has to ease into an activity but then aces it. Our guys are total fraternal.

Edited October 18, 2015 by SherriZ366

[SimonTemplar]

DD &SIL will have to look at 8200. The door would be good with the boys -- although they are good about going to bed unlike their mama. Did your girls do any Ocean Adventure activities?

 

Loved how two wanted to be in the ice show and the third girl did not want to be. We get that a lot as one of our boys has to ease into an activity but then aces it. Our guys are total fraternal.

 

The girls visited Adventure Ocean the first day to check it out with us, they were there for Train Day while we were in Charlotte Amalie, and they were there for Chef Day while we were in Philipsburg. The counselors were great and we could have dropped them off at AO more often, but we enjoyed spending time with them on the ship and on the islands.

 

When we first found out we were having triplets, we went looking for info regarding why and discovered that fraternals run in families, but idents happen randomly. Somehow, we were marked down for both.

 

If this will be the grandsons' first cruise, be prepared to be one of the sights: we were asked quite often if the girls were triplets. We really should consider selling t-shirts ("I saw the triplets!") but we received so many nice comments and compliments. All of the attention can be a negative, but our experiences with fellow cruisers and the crew were all positive.

[SherriZ366]

The girls visited Adventure Ocean the first day to check it out with us, they were there for Train Day while we were in Charlotte Amalie, and they were there for Chef Day while we were in Philipsburg. The counselors were great and we could have dropped them off at AO more often, but we enjoyed spending time with them on the ship and on the islands.

 

When we first found out we were having triplets, we went looking for info regarding why and discovered that fraternals run in families, but idents happen randomly. Somehow, we were marked down for both.

 

If this will be the grandsons' first cruise, be prepared to be one of the sights: we were asked quite often if the girls were triplets. We really should consider selling t-shirts ("I saw the triplets!") but we received so many nice comments and compliments. All of the attention can be a negative, but our experiences with fellow cruisers and the crew were all positive.

That's interesting about Fraternal running in families. My brothers are identical twins and there are other identical in the extended family. Our boys are fraternal but are not the result of family heredity -- my daughter's fertility specialist told her that her uncles being twins probably would not affect her outcome. Are all your girls all fraternal or are two identical twins?

 

I like the the idea of the t-shirts. Triplets are show stoppers. Noticed that you referred to your girls as Thing 1, Thing 2 -- our boys had shirts with their Thing designation but they outgrew them.

[SimonTemplar]

We signed up for the double-decker bus tour of St. Maarten. The excursion travels all around the island, makes 6 stops, including Maho for airplane photos and Orient Bay for naturist photos, and the tour guide points out interesting features of the Dutch and French sides. This tour take about 3 3/4 hours and the stops are short -- the longest was 25 minutes, so shopping is done in a hurry.

 

We had the choice of leaving at 8:30 or 12:30, so we chose 8:30 and that was fortunate because the afternoon's weather took a turn for the worse. The 8:30 tour met at 8:15, which meant we had to get up early and enjoy a room service breakfast in our stateroom, and then take the girls to Adventure Ocean a little after 8:00. Day 5 at AO was Chef Day, and the girls created a chef's hat, played at "cooking" food, and had a great time with the counselors once again.

 

And the 8 adults in our party made it to the shore excursion corral with time to spare. We let the seniors take the top seats and the juniors sat in the comfy seats on the lower level. Our first stop was Orient Bay, and our tour guide made it abundantly clear that the afternoon tour was the one to take if you were interested in observing sunbathers at work in the buff. Our tour guide seemed to be of the mind that the spectators on this tour were mostly interested in (a) naked sunbathers, (b) where escorts could be picked up, and © celebrities. I'm much more interested in the history of places I visit, and this tour is short on history and long on name-dropping (Oprah, the Donald, Jay-Z, Michael Jackson, Chuck Norris, and a few others), but the sights are worthwhile.

 

We have noticed in the islands that many houses are works in progress. This also holds true for St. Thomas and St. Maarten, and even more so on St. Martin. Our tour guide did pass along an item of interest: electricity on the French side goes out maybe once a month, but once a week on the Dutch side.

 

Maho Beach doesn't have much of a beach, but one could swim there and find a small slice of sand for a towel. Most people are not at Maho for the beach; they are there to take photos of planes coming in for a landing and approaching mere tens of feet above spectators' heads.

 

One last stop in the main shopping district of Philipsburg and then a return to the ship for girls and the opportunity to take them down the gangway and onto foreign soil for the first time in their lives. We went to Windjammer for a relaxing lunch (port day) and could hear the girls around the corner at lunch with their counselors. They were having a fun time!

 

Our fun time with the girls was going to be more challenging because rain was closing in on us -- we could see it through the windows in Windjammer. We finished our tasty lunch, went over to the girls' table and surprised them, and they were thrilled to see us. We went down to deck 8 to our stateroom, picked up raincoats, took an elevator to deck 1, and we were soon on St. Maarten with the girls … and shopping for souvenirs. We spotted Grandpa, he gave the girls a few $$, and they promptly found island girl dolls they liked. Two of our girls are sleeping with their island girl dolls tonight.

 

We had planned on taking the water taxi to downtown Philipsburg, but the rain was too much and becoming worse, so we returned to the ship after an admonition in one shop ("You break it, you buy it!" which I translated as "Our cheap magnets made in China are worth more than your business") and spent some time taking in the sights on the Royal Promenade. We signed up the girls for a cupcake class at the Cupcake Cupboard. The 2 women working at CC could not have been more helpful or pleasant.

 

The dress was casual in the MDR, thank goodness, and the menu was ****ake. I can recommend the sticky bread and butter pudding, but your mileage may vary.

 

Day 6, a day at sea, to come!

[Biker19]

W

The dress was casual in the MDR, thank goodness, and the menu was ****ake. I can recommend the sticky bread and butter pudding, but your mileage may vary.

 

I always chuckle when I see the Cruise Critic software censor proper words that incorporate banned words.

[Clarea]

I always chuckle when I see the Cruise Critic software censor proper words that incorporate banned words.

A contributing factor was the mis-spelling. If it's spelled "Shiitake", then no problem.

[SimonTemplar]

A contributing factor was the mis-spelling. If it's spelled "Shiitake", then no problem.

 

The censoring is funny, and I did not notice the misspelling in the Cruise Compass. I just blithely transcribed it.

 

Seeing Biker19's post while drinking my morning coffee made me do a spit take.

Edited October 20, 2015 by SimonTemplar
Additional vaudeville material.

[RiotAct]

Great review so far!

 

And, I'm still trying to figure out what you meant in that last sentence about the menu :)