Review: Freedom of the Seas - 09/02 - LONG!

[willysgrandma]

What did you experience?

We experienced just a lot of loud people, especially in the elevators, pushing on and off. We did hang out in the Solarium and it was quieter there, but it was mostly in the elevators and the Windjammer.

I felt that Americans were in the minority on the ship and perhaps it is just a culture thing that we were more quiet - I don't know. But I can't tell you how many people we spoke to complained about the same thing.

And by no means am I saying that all Americans are perfectly behaved either. On Labadee, my sister-in-law and I were sitting on the beach and saw two women starting to drag chairs to a spot. Two of the workers on the Island came up and got the chairs for them and on woman said to the other "We need to give them a dollar or two". The other woman started loudly hollering they were doing their job and she wasn't giving them a tip. She looked at one of the guys and yelled "Here's your tip - you did a good job". I felt terrible for the other woman, she looked very embarassed.

We were on one elevator with a few people and the elevator stopped and some teens started pushing to get on without allowing people getting off first to exit. A man on the elevator started yelling at the kids telling them that proper etiquette is to allow those exiting to get off first before pushing on and everyone in the elevator applauded the guy!

The cruise was magnificent, our favorite cruise so far and that was just a really minor inconvenience, trust me. I can honestly say this was as perfect a cruise as any I've been on.

What I did find amazing was that the kids on that cruise were for the most part all well behaved. I think the ship offers so much for kids to do that they are so busy they don't have time to get into trouble. We purposely book when school is in session and we booked stupidly thinking the kids went back to school that week so it wouldn't be so crowded. I was shocked to see as many kids on the cruise as there were, but I learned that many of the passengers were from South America and and the kids weren't back in school then yet. But we were so pleasantly surprised at how well behaved almost all of them were.

I've started my review, you'll see I liked it!!

[SRQfireman]

--A Word About the Soda Package--

 

Paying for the soda package, for me, is a no-brainer. I am a Diet Coke-a-holic! So it is COMPLETELY worth it for me to get this package. Plus, quite honestly, my husband shares the soda with me and no one cares. If you are a big drinker, it is worth the $6.00 per day (and 15% gratuity that they tack on). If you and your spouse are both big soda drinkers, I still think you could get away with just one of you getting the package. If you drink one or less sodas per day, it would NOT be worth it for you to get this! Since I drink an average of 60 oz. of diet soda per day, the package pays for itself ten times over!

 

Where are the opponets on this one ??? Usually this is a HOT topic here;)

[Tikibird]

Thanks for such a great review. We still have over a year but nice to know other people's experiences.

[willysgrandma]

Thanks for such a great review. We still have over a year but nice to know other people's experiences.

 

I think you'll love the ship - it was our best cruise yet. And we've had a lot of good cruises.

[ToddinVA]

Thanks for the review! I'm leaving on the Freedom tomorrow for the Western Caribbean and we are looking forward to it! :)