FO Cabins 8200 & 8500 on Freedom Class Ships

[wilmingtech]

This is a Fantastic little known tip about the Family Oceanview rooms on the 8th floor on Freedom Class Ships.

 

We took a ride on Freedom of the Seas in March and had room 8500. It's one of the best deals on the ship for families with 3 or 4 kids that don't want to splurge on 2 rooms.

 

Unlike all the other FO rooms that sleep 6 on the freedom class ships, the two family oceanviews at the front on the 8th floor have a bedroom seperate from the livingroom as well as another bunkroom that is quite bigger than other FO rooms.

 

So you get a masterbedroom, livingroom and a bunkroom. The layouts are not widely known and most TAs and Royal reservatons are unaware of this different layout. The cost for these (2) FO rooms is the same as all FO rooms in the Freedom Class.

 

The differences between 8200 and 8500:

8200 has a larger door to the master so has a curtain instead of a door

8200 has a larger living room

8500 has a door that latches shut on the master bedroom

8500 has 4 windows instead of 3

 

We have a family of 6 so we struggle with cost saving options when trying to book a cruise. On our last Freedom Cruise we booked during the Kids Sail Free promo for a March 2017 sailing and got the family oceanview for 3900 all taxes included (2 insides on the same sailing with the same deal was 5200).

 

If you have the money get a balcony and an inside, and while two bathrooms with 2 insides are nice, we prefer to have windows instead of inside rooms. The gym is upstairs at the front of the ship and you can run up there to use the showers and bathrooms if you need to but we usually manage well with a single bathroom (and 3 of my 4 are teen girls).

 

It is at the front of the ship (movement) and far away from the food areas so those may be some considerations.

 

They also now have family oceanviews up top (deck 13?) with full length glass walls that sleep 6 but we have not looked into the cost or availability of these 2 rooms on a cruise.

 

The Family Oceanview rooms are not listed on the website and you will have to call to book one.

 

-Sean

[kdtkdt]

This was very helpful. We will be in cabin 8200 for 22 days on Explorer of the Seas in October 2018 with mom, dad, 6-yo twins and 3 yo. Any tips or recommendations? Thank you!