Just off Freedom in San Juan

[bballmomma]

DH and I just returned from our Freedom of the Seas out of San Juan. We stayed overnight pre-cruise at the Sheraton near the Pan Am Pier, had The Key and Unlimited Dining package. We did Sapphire Beach in St. Thomas through the ship, Marriott St. Kitts, Beach Limerz in Antigua, Coastal Pitons tour in St. Lucia through the ship and Silver Moon cruises in Barbados (best thing ever!!!!) We walked Old San Juan when we returned and stayed at the Doubletree Hilton before we flew out. DH and I don't "do" a lot on the ship so I don't have a ton of things to review like the dining rooms or pools/activities/kid stuff but if you have any general questions about the ship or the things I mentioned above, I am happy to offer insight and answer questions if I can. Short story is we loved the ship and the cruise and are looking forward to doing it again to visit the islands we missed.

Edited June 6, 2019 by bballmomma

[CruiseMomTX]

5 hours ago, bballmomma said:

DH and I just returned from our Freedom of the Seas out of San Juan. We stayed overnight pre-cruise at the Sheraton near the Pan Am Pier, had The Key and Unlimited Dining package. We did Sapphire Beach in St. Thomas through the ship, Marriott St. Kitts, Beach Limerz in Antigua, Coastal Pitons tour in St. Lucia through the ship and Silver Moon cruises in Barbados (best thing ever!!!!) We walked Old San Juan when we returned and stayed at the Doubletree Hilton before we flew out. DH and I don't "do" a lot on the ship so I don't have a ton of things to review like the dining rooms or pools/activities/kid stuff but if you have any general questions about the ship or the things I mentioned above, I am happy to offer insight and answer questions if I can. Short story is we loved the ship and the cruise and are looking forward to doing it again to visit the islands we missed.

 

Were going on the Liberty in Aug and just booked the Unlimited dining package.  What did you think of it?  Can we make reservations for the week now?  How was the Marriott in St Kitts? We will be porting there on another cruise.

Thanks!

[Clarea]

10 minutes ago, CruiseMomTX said:

 

 ...   Can we make reservations for the week now?  ...

 

No, reservations for dining packages must be made onboard.

[suzk2275a]

26 minutes ago, CruiseMomTX said:

 How was the Marriott in St Kitts? We will be porting there on another cruise.

We went to the Marriott about a year ago. We took a taxi to the resort. It was great.  We enjoyed the pool.  The beach was beautiful but the water was pretty rough the day we were there. We'd definitely go there again.

 

Susan

 

[karena1]

We have not done the Southern Caribbean in a while and so excited to go again.  We are on Freedom 9/29/19 and have 5 more booked on her.  Southern Caribbean is by far our favorite.  Can you tell me how Sapphire Beach was?  I love that beach, but the amenities out there (especially the bathrooms) have been pretty bad there.  We don't do excursions, just grab a cab and go.  We have been going to Coki since we don't like Magen's but would love to go back to Sapphire if the amenities have gotten a little bit better.  

[bballmomma]

17 hours ago, CruiseMomTX said:

 

Were going on the Liberty in Aug and just booked the Unlimited dining package.  What did you think of it?  Can we make reservations for the week now?  How was the Marriott in St Kitts? We will be porting there on another cruise.

Thanks!

We liked the unlimited dining package since we do not like the main dining room or the windjammer. We enjoy the 3 restaurants on board so dined at them each a couple times. I stopped by Chops when we got on the boat and made our reservations for all week. I highly recommend this before they have less options. We had to change a couple later in the week without problem. I would suggest not doing Chops on the first formal night. It was a mad house and it was so hot I could hardly sit there comfortably. Later in Sabor one of our waiters said never do Chops on first formal night because it is always busiest. If it had been our first experience, we would not have returned but were pleased the second night we ate there.

 

We loved the Marriott in St. Kitts. We had a great garden room off the pool. The main pools looked nice and were not crowded. The beach was really pretty and had nice places to sit with shade but didn't look like where you would want your kids swimming, more rocky off the shore.  We had good food and drinks at pool bar but they were expensive as to be expected. If you can swing it I would definitely pay the extra for a room especially being in port so long. We would go back again. It was like having our own private resort. Got a cab outside the cruise terminal and same guy picked us up when we were done.

[bballmomma]

16 hours ago, karena1 said:

We have not done the Southern Caribbean in a while and so excited to go again.  We are on Freedom 9/29/19 and have 5 more booked on her.  Southern Caribbean is by far our favorite.  Can you tell me how Sapphire Beach was?  I love that beach, but the amenities out there (especially the bathrooms) have been pretty bad there.  We don't do excursions, just grab a cab and go.  We have been going to Coki since we don't like Magen's but would love to go back to Sapphire if the amenities have gotten a little bit better.  

We enjoyed Sapphire Beach and did the ship excursion that takes you there and then to Skyline Point on your way back. It was at the Sapphire Beach resort which had a bar and restaurant. It ended up being a game changer because it poured rain while we were there so we were able to get a spot at the bar and watch the waves. I felt bad for others who did excursions that day and did not have a way to get out of the elements. 

[karena1]

1 minute ago, bballmomma said:

We enjoyed Sapphire Beach and did the ship excursion that takes you there and then to Skyline Point on your way back. It was at the Sapphire Beach resort which had a bar and restaurant. It ended up being a game changer because it poured rain while we were there so we were able to get a spot at the bar and watch the waves. I felt bad for others who did excursions that day and did not have a way to get out of the elements. 

Did you happen to notice how the bathrooms were?  Last time we were there, they were pretty bad.  

[JessyCruises]

Thanks for posting!  Do you recall who was performing in the pub and schooner?

[bballmomma]

Just now, Canadian Disney Mom said:

Thanks for posting!  Do you recall who was performing in the pub and schooner?

 

DH and I didn't spend time at either place but there was a man with a guitar who would sing some nights in the Pub on the Promenade. We could hear him from our spot outside Vintages.  I don't know his name but he was there several evenings.

[LBumb]

We loved freedom cruise last year

[bballmomma]

9 minutes ago, karena1 said:

Did you happen to notice how the bathrooms were?  Last time we were there, they were pretty bad.  

Yes used them several times there at the beach bar area and they were nice and clean. Granted this is part of the resort there so not sure if there are other public bathrooms that are more challenging. 

[mchin]

We are sailing Freedom in two weeks and was wondering about the Wifi.  Have seen some reviews that suggested it's not very reliable.  Did you have any experience with the Wifi?

[karena1]

Just now, bballmomma said:

Yes used them several times there at the beach bar area and they were nice and clean. Granted this is part of the resort there so not sure if there are other public bathrooms that are more challenging. 

gottcha.  Yeah I am thinking of the public ones that are buy the little snack bar

[bobmacliberty]

1 hour ago, mchin said:

We are sailing Freedom in two weeks and was wondering about the Wifi.  Have seen some reviews that suggested it's not very reliable.  Did you have any experience with the Wifi?

  

Mine may have been one of the reviews that you mention, but WiFi was terrible on Freedom the week of 19 May.  Not worth the money...even for simple texting (which wouldn't work half the time).  Our traveling companions even tried to get a refund from Guest Services but were given the run around with needing to talk to the IT people.  Hopefully, that was a short term thing and it was better on this cruise.

[bballmomma]

We had no problem with the internet on the Freedom. We had whichever one came with The Key. We weren't able to upload lots of photos and it seemed like the further South we got, the slower the wifi was, but we were pleased with it. I was prepared to be disappointed based on the reviews but it worked great for us.

[CruiseMomTX]

2 hours ago, bballmomma said:

We liked the unlimited dining package since we do not like the main dining room or the windjammer. We enjoy the 3 restaurants on board so dined at them each a couple times. I stopped by Chops when we got on the boat and made our reservations for all week. I highly recommend this before they have less options. We had to change a couple later in the week without problem. I would suggest not doing Chops on the first formal night. It was a mad house and it was so hot I could hardly sit there comfortably. Later in Sabor one of our waiters said never do Chops on first formal night because it is always busiest. If it had been our first experience, we would not have returned but were pleased the second night we ate there.

 

We loved the Marriott in St. Kitts. We had a great garden room off the pool. The main pools looked nice and were not crowded. The beach was really pretty and had nice places to sit with shade but didn't look like where you would want your kids swimming, more rocky off the shore.  We had good food and drinks at pool bar but they were expensive as to be expected. If you can swing it I would definitely pay the extra for a room especially being in port so long. We would go back again. It was like having our own private resort. Got a cab outside the cruise terminal and same guy picked us up when we were done.

Thank you for the information!  I was wondering where you go to book, so it sounds like you can do it at chops or maybe the other restaurants or is there a special desk for this?  Did you book the room/day pass for the Marriott directly with the hotel?  How accessible is the resort?  We will have a wheelchair for my dad since he has mobility issues.  Thanks again!

[bballmomma]

Just now, CruiseMomTX said:

Thank you for the information!  I was wondering where you go to book, so it sounds like you can do it at chops or maybe the other restaurants or is there a special desk for this?  Did you book the room/day pass for the Marriott directly with the hotel?  How accessible is the resort?  We will have a wheelchair for my dad since he has mobility issues.  Thanks again!

 

We did them all at Chops. I am not sure if you can do them in any specialty restaurant or not. We were having lunch there so it was most convenient. We booked our "Room for the Day" directly with the hotel with a phone call. It was $150/day after rate and tax, etc. It seemed pretty accessible. There are big stairs you use to get down to the pool area and to the rooms but I believe I saw ramps as well. It is a very large, open, flat resort that I think would be accessible friendly. Our room was on first floor and was HUGE and very open, tile floors, jetted spa tub. You could definitely do the $35 day pass and save more money. You can get that by calling hotel as well. It gives you a food discount and use of everything but we really wanted a room to retreat to. I washed some clothes, went from AC to pool/beach and back. The pool has loungers that have covers on them so you are shaded.  I can't say enough good things about the place. We would do same thing again. I budgeted $30RT for the cab ride and that is what we spent. Maybe 10 minute ride, uneventful and safe.