6-day Freedom vs. 5-day Independence

[aliciam]

Hi everyone, I'm planning to book a (sort-of) last minute cruise on a Freedom class ship (haven't sailed anything larger than Voyager). Trying to decide between a 6-day on Freedom and 5-day on Independence. Independence goes to Cozumel and Costa Maya, but I can add Grand Cayman and another day on Freedom for only about $100 more.

 

I would love to visit Grand Cayman again, but the issue is airfare - it's almost double the cost for the Freedom 6-day cruise than the Independence, which is about two weeks later.

 

Which would you do? Is there much difference in the two ships? Grease on Independence also entices me. We will be traveling by ourselves, mid-40s, no children. I really would like to do Freedom and add Grand Cayman, but not sure it's worth the difference in airfare. If we flew in the day of the cruise for Freedom, we could cut costs significantly, but not sure I'm willing to do that either.

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

[atnolan94]

Personally, I would do the 6 day and just budget a couple hundred dollars for good insurance that will cover the day-of flight issue.

 

Extra day and extra port are worth it to me. But up to how much you're willing to "roll the dice" on your flight. I'm assuming FLL, if your flight is in within a couple hours of the end of boarding you'll make it with plenty of time.

 

FWIW, my allure cruise in January we are flying in from Dallas Day-Of and land at 11am in FLL and I have zero trepidation.

[Clarea]

I'd go with the longer cruise.

[FloatMe]

6th night and Ft. Lauderdale!

[JessyCruises]

Another vote for Freedom!

 

 

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[kwazi07]

If money isn't a huge issue, Freedom hands down. BUT if it is more of an issue, I'd be perfectly happy with Indy. Grease looks fun, and the ships are basically identical otherwise.

 

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[ronandcarla]

For whatever it is worth all of our cruises we fly in the day of the cruise; to us getting a room for an overnight is such an inconvenience and an added expense and we always purchase travel insurance to cover a cancelled trip; I might add our last trip was cancelled by reason of snow and airport was closed for 2 1/2 days so even going the day before it wouldn't have happened that way either.

 

Good luck to whatever decision you make.

[John&LaLa]

If money isn't a huge issue, Freedom hands down. BUT if it is more of an issue, I'd be perfectly happy with Indy. Grease looks fun, and the ships are basically identical otherwise.

 

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Freedom carries a couple hundred extra bodies since the refit. Indy hasn't done it yet

 

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[micmacmissy]

Hi everyone, I'm planning to book a (sort-of) last minute cruise on a Freedom class ship (haven't sailed anything larger than Voyager). Trying to decide between a 6-day on Freedom and 5-day on Independence. Independence goes to Cozumel and Costa Maya, but I can add Grand Cayman and another day on Freedom for only about $100 more.

 

I would love to visit Grand Cayman again, but the issue is airfare - it's almost double the cost for the Freedom 6-day cruise than the Independence, which is about two weeks later.

 

Which would you do? Is there much difference in the two ships? Grease on Independence also entices me. We will be traveling by ourselves, mid-40s, no children. I really would like to do Freedom and add Grand Cayman, but not sure it's worth the difference in airfare. If we flew in the day of the cruise for Freedom, we could cut costs significantly, but not sure I'm willing to do that either.

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

We flew in day-of for our first cruise (before cruise critic taught us otherwise). If it's a direct flight from a warm climate, you should be fine. I would not try it if winter weather could derail you. And of course full cancel for any reason insurance would be a must.

 

Another thought- can you fly in 2 days early instead of a day early? Would that help the airfare? There's plenty to do in Fort Lauderdale!

[RSLeesburg]

You should also check flights into West Palm Beach and Miami - both are fairly close to Port Everglades. WPB is maybe an hour away and I think MIA is about the same, maybe a bit closer.

 

PS: I would also go with Freedom - $100 more for an extra day seems like a bargain to me.

 

 

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[kwazi07]

Where are you flying from? If you're okay flying Spirit, if it's not more than a two hour flight you should be okay. FLL is a big hub for them.

 

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[molsonschooner]

Hi everyone, I'm planning to book a (sort-of) last minute cruise on a Freedom class ship (haven't sailed anything larger than Voyager). Trying to decide between a 6-day on Freedom and 5-day on Independence. Independence goes to Cozumel and Costa Maya, but I can add Grand Cayman and another day on Freedom for only about $100 more.

 

I would love to visit Grand Cayman again, but the issue is airfare - it's almost double the cost for the Freedom 6-day cruise than the Independence, which is about two weeks later.

 

Which would you do? Is there much difference in the two ships? Grease on Independence also entices me. We will be traveling by ourselves, mid-40s, no children. I really would like to do Freedom and add Grand Cayman, but not sure it's worth the difference in airfare. If we flew in the day of the cruise for Freedom, we could cut costs significantly, but not sure I'm willing to do that either.

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

I was not aware that Indy had Grease. When did this happen

[aliciam]

We flew in day-of for our first cruise (before cruise critic taught us otherwise). If it's a direct flight from a warm climate, you should be fine. I would not try it if winter weather could derail you. And of course full cancel for any reason insurance would be a must.

 

Another thought- can you fly in 2 days early instead of a day early? Would that help the airfare? There's plenty to do in Fort Lauderdale!

 

Thanks for the thought - i did explore that and just as expensive two days earlier.

[aliciam]

I was not aware that Indy had Grease. When did this happen

 

From what I've read on cruise critic, maybe late summer, early fall?

[aliciam]

Thanks so much for your help everyone! Sounds like Freedom is the winner hands-down except for maybe a few extra people. I'm flying from Nashville (warm weather climate), but the first flight out isn't until 9:10 (direct getting in at 12:25) so I'm not sure where the plane would be coming from.

 

There is another direct (11:20-2:30 and Freedom doesn't sail til 5:30) so I should be okay.

[candicane0104]

Thanks so much for your help everyone! Sounds like Freedom is the winner hands-down except for maybe a few extra people. I'm flying from Nashville (warm weather climate), but the first flight out isn't until 9:10 (direct getting in at 12:25) so I'm not sure where the plane would be coming from.

 

There is another direct (11:20-2:30 and Freedom doesn't sail til 5:30) so I should be okay.

 

 

We fly from Nashville also and we are taking a Spring Break cruise so you can imagine the cost of airfare. I had checked the morning SW opened the dates to cover our travel and for 4 it was $1700 yikes but by the time I got home from work they had went up $700 OMG we were panicking. A friend and I started quick searching and found it $400 cheaper to not do round trip. We will fly in to FLL but on return we will self disembark and have a rental at Port Everglades with $$$ and will drive 1 hr 30 to Ft. Myer and save $400 with a rental fee to fly back home from there. Might check there, never know. We have to drive a little ways but to save $400 even with a rental fee we can drive less than 2 hours, well worth it for us. You may want to check flights to Fort Myers to see if its cheaper that route.

Edited November 24, 2016 by candicane0104

[The Fun Researcher]

I would do another day for sure! FREEDOM!

 

Dan