Just got home yesterday...from Freedom's June 18th-25th sailing...any questions?

[snoopy_leogirl]

Any questions? I would love to help if I can. But I want to say right off hand that it was the most unbelievable ship you can dream of. Loved every minute of it. :D I will be posting a review hopefully by the weekend.

[pearlie]

Sounds like you had fun, I sail in Oct,

Just one silly question, as i haven;t been able to find out before, do they have a " lazy river" pool?

thanks

Pearlie..

[snoopy_leogirl]

Sounds like you had fun, I sail in Oct,

Just one silly question, as i haven;t been able to find out before, do they have a " lazy river" pool?

thanks

Pearlie..

 

According to what I know, there is no lazy river pool on the ship.

[GMoney]

There is a very small lazy river pool in the H2OZ. SOme people call it the lazy donut. :)

[pearlie]

G money, you made me laff, thanks....

thanks snoopy too,

Pearlie

[hiyall804]

We will set sail on the Freedom on 10/29/06. The is only our 2nd cruise (1st was 12 years ago on our honeymoon). We had such a great time (and thus that is part of the reason why we now have an 11 year old son-lol) and this time we are taking the kids 11, 9 & 5. My in-laws mean well, but sent an article about this ship that wasn't too positive. Long lines everywhere, hard to get on and off, can be as many as 1,200 kids on board, some destinations can not support crowds of this size when the ship pulls into port, etc. Thus, I was glad to read your review. What should we not miss on this ship? Do you have kids and if so did they use the kids club activities?

 

Thanks for any information!

[GMoney]

G money, you made me laff, thanks....

thanks snoopy too,

Pearlie

 

Well I can't take credit for coining the phrase. I think superjerryw did..but it's true!

[AFT_LOVER]

Since we don't sail til 10/15 on her, I want vivid details of everything!!!!!

It just keeps getting all of us excited to get on her.

[GMoney]

We will set sail on the Freedom on 10/29/06. The is only our 2nd cruise (1st was 12 years ago on our honeymoon). We had such a great time (and thus that is part of the reason why we now have an 11 year old son-lol) and this time we are taking the kids 11, 9 & 5. My in-laws mean well, but sent an article about this ship that wasn't too positive. Long lines everywhere, hard to get on and off, can be as many as 1,200 kids on board, some destinations can not support crowds of this size when the ship pulls into port, etc. Thus, I was glad to read your review. What should we not miss on this ship? Do you have kids and if so did they use the kids club activities?

 

Thanks for any information!

 

Where is this negative article? It wasn't my experience at all...

[negc]

Where is this negative article? It wasn't my experience at all...

 

I suspect that they are talking about the TIME magazine article which had some negative comments about the size of the ship and number of passengers and crew, including a quote from Carolyn from Cruise Critic which said that you should expect long lines and crowding. It wasn't my experience on the pre-inaugural and from the posts I have read from people who were on the first two revenue sailings, it does not seem to have been a problem for them either.

[GMoney]

Gotcha - thanks Bill. It's a shame how these inaccuracies get perpetuated...

[negc]

Gotcha - thanks Bill. It's a shame how these inaccuracies get perpetuated...

I agree, and it is especially so when the person quoted is given more credence because of her affiliation with Cruise Critic. :rolleyes::(

[flippa]

HI snoopy leogirl,

 

what did you do when you were in grand cayman. Is it true that the ship time and the actual time in grand cayman is different? If so, what is the difference?

 

How long did it take to tender and get to shore in grand cayman?

 

Cheers,

Flippa.

[tezbear]

Flippa...I was on the 6/18 cruise also...Once you are in the boat, tendering only takes a few minutes...5-10 maybe.

 

I believe there is an hours difference in time and the Ship actually tells you to stay on Ship time or you might be late. Well, that night we were supposed to leave at 4pm but 78 people were missing because they didn't go by the ship's time...we ended up waiting and leaving at 5pm...the ship was rocking that night due to the captain speeding!!

[zotzer]

My in-laws mean well, but sent an article about this ship that wasn't too positive. Long lines everywhere, hard to get on and off, can be as many as 1,200 kids on board, some destinations can not support crowds of this size when the ship pulls into port, etc.

 

Oh my gosh, this was sooooo not my experience at all (and I am very averse to crowds). I don't have kids, and am not crazy about swarms of kids, and guess what? The ship does such a GREAT job of creating environments for kids that they WANT to be in, that old single farts like me barely notice that they are there! :)

 

You, your husband, AND your kids will all have a great time!

T

[abridalmaven]

Oh my gosh, this was sooooo not my experience at all (and I am very averse to crowds). I don't have kids, and am not crazy about swarms of kids, and guess what? The ship does such a GREAT job of creating environments for kids that they WANT to be in, that old single farts like me barely notice that they are there! :)

 

You, your husband, AND your kids will all have a great time!

T

I agree with Tracy, I barely notice the kids at all, we were having such a great time ourselves, it did not matter. the kids seemed to be in a world all their own.

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

Sounds like you had fun, I sail in Oct,

Just one silly question, as i haven;t been able to find out before, do they have a " lazy river" pool?

thanks

Pearlie..

 

If by Lazy River pool, you mean the pool which seems to gently force children to swim all in the same circular direction, there is such a pool in children's H2O Zone. I'd like to add how impressed I was at how diligently the staff works to keep the Lazy Pool and the rest of the H2O Zone clean.

[Green Eyed Mom99]

We will set sail on the Freedom on 10/29/06. The is only our 2nd cruise (1st was 12 years ago on our honeymoon). We had such a great time (and thus that is part of the reason why we now have an 11 year old son-lol) and this time we are taking the kids 11, 9 & 5. My in-laws mean well, but sent an article about this ship that wasn't too positive. Long lines everywhere, hard to get on and off, can be as many as 1,200 kids on board, some destinations can not support crowds of this size when the ship pulls into port, etc. Thus, I was glad to read your review. What should we not miss on this ship? Do you have kids and if so did they use the kids club activities?

 

Thanks for any information!

 

Oh my gosh, you will have sooooo much fun!!! We were on the 6/11/06 sailing and I miss it so much. We had our 18 year old son and his friend across the hall in an inside cabin and husband and I had a balcony. So, I'm sorry I can't comment on the kids activities. But, be sure and go to the shows. We saw the Broadway tribute, Ice Show, magician, Love and Marriage and the comedian for the welcome aboard show. Don't miss the Broadway tribute, ice show and I have read where the musical show about fairy tales was fantastic as well. The comedian was funny, but wasn't impressed with magician IMO. Be sure and check out Bolero's for some saucy latin music and the piano bar, Schooner Bar, Peter Reitz, he's great. Believe me, you won't have a hard time finding things to do. Only time we noticed the crowd was immediately after shows, other than that it wasn't a problem at all. I'm sure your kids will enjoy the kids' pool area, it looked like fun and be sure and hit the frozen yogurt machine in the pool area, yummy!!!! ENJOY

[MszKitty]

Flippa...I was on the 6/18 cruise also...Once you are in the boat, tendering only takes a few minutes...5-10 maybe.

 

I believe there is an hours difference in time and the Ship actually tells you to stay on Ship time or you might be late. Well, that night we were supposed to leave at 4pm but 78 people were missing because they didn't go by the ship's time...we ended up waiting and leaving at 5pm...the ship was rocking that night due to the captain speeding!!

 

My two daughters were 2 of those 78 people that the ship waited for. And it wasn't in Grand Cayman, it was in Jamaica. They weren't late because they weren't going by ship's time. It was because the excursion they were on ran late. The tour operators were going by Jamaica time...."no problem mon!" LOL Thank goodness it was an RCCL excursion!

[Kelynj]

Well, that night we were supposed to leave at 4pm but 78 people were missing because they didn't go by the ship's time...we ended up waiting and leaving at 5pm...the ship was rocking that night due to the captain speeding!!

 

Can you please let me know about 'the rocking' did it just happen the once when he was trying to make up time or was there rocking throughout the cruise - how bad was it - did you hear of anyone complaining about feeling unwell - i was hoping that with this being a larger ship it might have rocked less than others I have been on:eek:

[MszKitty]

Well, that night we were supposed to leave at 4pm but 78 people were missing because they didn't go by the ship's time...we ended up waiting and leaving at 5pm...the ship was rocking that night due to the captain speeding!!

 

Can you please let me know about 'the rocking' did it just happen the once when he was trying to make up time or was there rocking throughout the cruise - how bad was it - did you hear of anyone complaining about feeling unwell - i was hoping that with this being a larger ship it might have rocked less than others I have been on:eek:

 

As I said on my last post, I was also on that sailing. Yes...there was a bit of rocking, but I didn't see or hear anyone complaining. And it didn't rock all night...just a couple hours or so. It surprised me to feel rocking, but honestly, it wasn't that bad.

[Bec]

Well, that night we were supposed to leave at 4pm but 78 people were missing because they didn't go by the ship's time...we ended up waiting and leaving at 5pm...the ship was rocking that night due to the captain speeding!!

 

Can you please let me know about 'the rocking' did it just happen the once when he was trying to make up time or was there rocking throughout the cruise - how bad was it - did you hear of anyone complaining about feeling unwell - i was hoping that with this being a larger ship it might have rocked less than others I have been on:eek:

 

I was on 6/11 cruise and it was wonderful!! We did feel movement at times (I am very sensitive). Mostly it would be like for a couple of seconds and then go away. Most times felt like the ship wasn't moving at all. One night tho the ship was rocking quite a bit and one of the bartenders told my dh that the captain was not using the stabilizers. I did not hear of anyone being sick (though there were 3800 people on board so who knows) and I did not get sick which was amazing since as I said I am so sensitive. It just made me tired. I took one Bonine every morning and 3 large ginger capsules twice a day starting before the trip. I also wore a "relief band" on my wrist. I believe this helped me. I also think I am finally starting to get my "sea legs".

[zotzer]

It's a haul between GC and Haiti. On the 6/4 cruise, this was the one evening when it felt like we were actually on a cruise ship. I liked it! :) It's kind of nice to actually feel like you are cruizin!

 

The only other movement I noticed was a vibration up in the Viking Crown lounge which was often present. It wasn't rocking and rolling, just vibration.

 

The captain said that he has hardly used the stablizers at all since leaving Europe. She's a smooth sailer. You have nothing to worry about.

 

T

[CruisinDawn]

HI snoopy leogirl,

 

what did you do when you were in grand cayman. Is it true that the ship time and the actual time in grand cayman is different? If so, what is the difference?

 

How long did it take to tender and get to shore in grand cayman?

 

Cheers,

Flippa.

 

From April 2nd until October 29th the ship time will be one hour past island time.

 

BonVoyage

Dawna

[sdear]

I am curious what time people are able to board the ship now that is has been out a few times now.

 

I am sure they are still adjusting to the increased passengers, but are you still able to get on early?

 

Thanks,

Sue