4th of July on Freedom of the Seas

[Snuggss]

Hey all!!!!  We are booked on a 4 night cruise on the Freedom of the Seas departing Miami on the 4th of July.  The question I have is if there will be any sort of Independence Day Festivities onboard.  Has anyone ever had a trip on the 4th?  Might there be fireworks or anything from the ship?  That would be cool, but I can't find definitive info as to whether t here has been on previous cruises on the 4th.  Thanks to all that respond.

[klfrodo]

No. There won't be any fireworks. I believe only Disney does fireworks.

 

If I remember correctly, the MDR sings a USA patriotic song, there will be some red, white, and blue banners and decorations.

 

It's all a bit much in my humble opinion. This is an international ship, with international crew, international passengers, and sailing in international waters. 

Celebrations and fireworks to celebrate at home are expected.

[Snuggss]

16 hours ago, klfrodo said:

No. There won't be any fireworks. I believe only Disney does fireworks.

 

If I remember correctly, the MDR sings a USA patriotic song, there will be some red, white, and blue banners and decorations.

 

It's all a bit much in my humble opinion. This is an international ship, with international crew, international passengers, and sailing in international waters. 

Celebrations and fireworks to celebrate at home are expected.

Thanks for the response.  I reviewed the cruise compasses from last year after the restart and it looked like they did fireworks on the 4th with a "Fireworks Spectacular", but I wasn't sure if it was a normal thing or a one off.  

 

As far as the celebration is concerned, Since the ship ports in the US and is filled with what I would guess is an overwhelming portion of US citizens, it doesn't bother me if they wanted to celebrate the holiday.  Just like any other holiday (Christmas, Halloween, etc.) they have special events just for those although all on the ship might not participate/believe in that specific event. 

 

I would just love to see the fireworks at sea.  That would be cool in the darkness of night at sea on deck.

[orville99]

31 minutes ago, Snuggss said:

I would just love to see the fireworks at sea.  That would be cool in the darkness of night at sea on deck.

We did 10 Disney cruises before we switched to Royal (75 cruises ago), and their fireworks were very cool to see. RCL did fireworks at Coco Cay once pre-shutdown that I recall, but I don't remember if that was a "one off" for the grand opening of their theme park at sea.

 

I believe a cruise line needs a special license in order to launch fireworks from their ships, and one of the RCL ships did that on a Western Caribbean cruise a few years ago, but nothing since.

[foxgoodrich]

I'm pretty sure Disney is the only cruise line licensed for fireworks at sea currently.  We were told (aboard Disney Dream) that Disney ships are specifically built and equipped for the launching of fireworks at sea.  (And it is a great display!)  

 

We've seen it aboard Disney, but also once on a RC cruise we were close enough to a Disney ship that we saw their fireworks display from our balcony. 

 

[rockmom]

2 hours ago, Snuggss said:

Thanks for the response.  I reviewed the cruise compasses from last year after the restart and it looked like they did fireworks on the 4th with a "Fireworks Spectacular", but I wasn't sure if it was a normal thing or a one off.  

 

 

Last year the fireworks were set off from Coco Cay, with a lot of Royal ships anchored/docked in the area.  We were supposed to be on Odyssey over the 4th, but it canceled due to a lot of crew testing positive.  

Edited May 3, 2022 by rockmom

[orville99]

2 hours ago, rockmom said:

a lot of Royal ships anchored/docked in the area. 

Virtually all of those ships were in lay up mode, along with several ships from other cruise lines. When we were there in August, we counted more than a dozen ships scattered off the island.