Freedom B2B 1/10/16 & 1/17/16 Review!

[aloha43]

Our Freedom 1/10/16 & 1/17/16 review….

 

On 1/10/16 we started our trip as new Emerald members and changed to Diamond at the beginning of the second leg on 1/17/16.

 

From the day we booked our Family Reunion we had a countdown of 726 Days. There were 11 family members, in 6 rooms….3 Junior Suites on the hump and 3 Balconies….ages ranging from 14 to mom’s age, which she would kill me if I announced her age on here. :eek:

 

A cruise is the absolute BEST way to have a reunion…..we can all retreat to our rooms or activities if need be, have amazing dinners catching up, no one has to entertain, cook, or clean up after.

 

We went through Go Port Canaveral to transfer us from the Orlando Airport to Cocoa Beach. We stayed at The International Palms Hotel (Wonderful, beautiful experience right on the beach). The package deal included transportation from the airport to hotel, to/from the port and back to the Hilton Garden Inn at the Orlando Airport. They were a bit delayed on the airport pick up, but other than that, it was a great way to “not worry” about the details of the transportation to and from.

 

Port Canaveral embarkation was very easy. From the time we arrived at the port until to the moment we were safely on the ship, was about 45 min.

 

 

Ship Pros….

 

All of the meals were REALLY good except the fish. It didn’t matter what kind of fish we ordered, it was very “fishy”. Our waiter Jon Jon, and assistant waiter Lincoln were great! Jon Jon was very personable and kept the lobster flowing until we couldn’t eat another bite! The artichoke spinach dip from room service and the molten chocolate cake in the main dining room were to die for!

 

The ship overall was in good shape. We had 9338, center hump Junior Suite. This was the absolutely perfect room size and location. The beds were comfortable (with foam overlay requested). The rooms were clean. The Stateroom Attendant was Sugi, and he kept very good care of us.

 

The Freedom Orchestra, Ice Show, Comedian and Casey Pelter (The Best Cruise Director EVER!) were all outstanding!

 

We really enjoyed the three free drinks per day for Diamond status! This was a really nice benefit….but remember to please tip for the free drinks. They do the same for you, but RCI doesn’t automatically deduct tips for freebies.

 

 

Ship Cons…..

 

There was a very, very overcrowded feeling, especially on the Royal Promenade and at the buffett. My husband called the sales on the Promenade “Buzzard Tables”! It was scary.

 

The gift shop was not stocked and seemed smaller than any other ships store. They were out of the model ships, had been for months…..and they didn’t carry any logo T-shirts any larger than a medium. A small bottle of Nyquil was $17.99.

 

Julia, the Crown and Anchor Ambassador, was very unenthused and un-friendly. We changed to Diamond in the middle of our back to back. On the first leg we went to C&A (waited an hour) to make sure the changeover went easily for the next leg.

(As per instruction of a C & A email before my trip began) First we didn’t get our Emerald pins…..had to do the waiting game again to get them. Our sea pass cards were wrong on the second leg. Back in line. Sea pass cards were re-issued. Then the new card didn’t work on the Diamond lounge…..in line again. We didn’t get our Diamond pins….well, back in line. Each time Customer Service told me to go to Julia, back at C&A again…..like Groundhog Day.

 

Both of the karaoke booths were broken. We were really looking forward to using them. Also, most of the Adult Karaoke was really late hours; we wish it were scheduled earlier.

 

The music around the ship was kind of disappointing. The Billy Joel/Elton John guy could Play Piano but not so good of a singer. The live DJ in the Promenade was too loud, boomy and scratchy, in my opinion defiling the original songs of others. On prior cruises there were more live acts including piano, violins, flutes, etc.. Maybe they are gearing towards teen-agers with their style of music, and maybe I am just too old. :D

 

The 3D glasses were scratched and we were only hearing parts of the dialog in the Movie.

 

 

Ports: First leg

 

Coco Cay…..missed due to rough weather.

St Thomas…..We did the RCL Christmas Cove/Honeymoon Beach Snorkeling & Beach excursion. It was amazing!

St Maarten…..We scheduled a private tour which we decided not to do, grabbed a cab and headed for Maho Beach to watch the planes. It was MUCH busier than I had ever imagined it could be……my mistake. It turned out the cab drops you off, walk about a block to the Sunset Grill and Bar…..so packed that people were eating….standing up, and so many people that there was not an inch of sand accessible, or walkway, or roadway. It was ridiculous. Then we found out that the next big planes wouldn’t be in for 2 hours. So we jumped back into a cab and headed away from that mess, and back to the safety of our busy cruise ship, and some shopping in port…..LOL.

 

 

Ports: Second Leg

 

Labadee…..What can I say about Labadee? In the Captain’s own words…. “We came, We saw, We Left”. When we docked, we were met with Haitian Protesters in boats offshore. They had an election coming up, so they were protesting, banging and clanging and holding up signs. The Captain announced our intent of departure, changed course and got out of there. But not before seeing a lot of people waving them the finger on behalf of all of us who missed our port.

 

Grand Caymen……We did the RCI Turtle Farm/Trip to Hell Excursion. Hell? We only had 20 minutes to explore, get our passports stamped in Hell, and shop for any souvenirs’ before we were herded back onto the bus to the Turtle Farm. We walked for about 45 minutes as a group while someone talks about the turtles and shows us some turtles in tanks. After, we were free to roam…..but only had about 90 minutes to hold a turtle while wading with them, explore the rest of the farm, or go eat lunch at the Restaurant On Site. Not enough time, seemed way too rushed. Two people didn’t make it to the bus on time, and they actually left for the ship without them.

 

Jamaica…..We shopped as much as we could shop and then returned to the ship. Activities were expensive and really long.

 

Cozumel…..Very rough waters, our Three Snorkel Excursion was cancelled. Went shopping again. Not as expected. We try to look at the bright side of life and decided that all new future cruises will be great, because we got all of the bad port luck out of the way on this trip.

 

Our return flight was cancelled due to the NE US storms, Direct flight from Florida to San Francisco, with no storms at either end…..go figure.

 

We called the end our trip our "Comedy of Errors", laughed it off and still look forward to our next cruise. Now we need a vacation to recover from the vacation……

 

On to the planning of March 2018!!

[Clarea]

Thanks for the feedback.

 

Sorry to hear about the problems with the LA. Our experience with the Loyalty person has been mixed. It seems some of the best moved over to sales when the split was made, and the new LAs are still learning.

[cincicruisers]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review.

[Keith1010]

I enjoyed your review.

 

Keith

[loeytalldog]

Thanks for sharing! Enjoyed reading your review!