Freedom 5/24/09

[wraithe]

Here's the pre-cruise review for my 5/24/09 Freedom ride.

 

We're in our room at the Residence Inn, it's really nice. I'm so happy after the disaster that we went through at the Rodeway Inn Miami Airport. Clean, secure, comfortable, so very nice. We went to a pre-M&M at the Radisson and got to meet some folks. It was a nice get together and I'm happy to say the the weather has been pretty nice today. Orlando, and Port Canaveral have had a lot of rain recently. The lakes are overfull, and there is a lot standing water around. Here's the tally so far.

 

Southwest Aitlines 5 stars - Departed on time, great crew, comfortable airplane and on time arrival. No charges for the first two bags, no charge for exit row seating, no charge for refreshments.

 

Budget Car Rental 5 stars - I was first in line at the Fastbreak counter, and they were 5 rows deep at the regular counter. I had the car before my wife had our baggage. It's a Pontiac G6, and is in really nice shape, no charge XM radio.

 

Tomtom XL 340 S 4.5 stars - It took me a while to get the new PND updated and behaving last night, but once we started driving, it's amazing. The Points Of Interest (POI) database is huge, the screen is bright and the turn by turn with street names and IQ routing is a big step up from my two year old Tomtom One.

 

Residence Inn Port Canaveral 5 stars- The room has a seperate bedroom, with a sitting room, fold out couch, and full kitchen (stove, refrigerator, microwave, and dishwasher). There's a nice gym, pool, buffet breakfast, wired/wireless internet, and a Burger King in the parking lot. I can see the entry sign for the Port from the door near my room, Wal-Mart is 4.5 miles up the road, and Patrick AFB is 12 miles up the road.

 

That's it so far. Can't wait to get on the ship tomorrow. I love P'Can, looking forward to seeing the submarine memorial as we go by on the way out to sea. More to come later.

[SherriZ366]

Here's the pre-cruise review for my 5/24/09 Freedom ride.

 

We're in our room at the Residence Inn, it's really nice. I'm so happy after the disaster that we went through at the Rodeway Inn Miami Airport. Clean, secure, comfortable, so very nice. We went to a pre-M&M at the Radisson and got to meet some folks. It was a nice get together and I'm happy to say the the weather has been pretty nice today. Orlando, and Port Canaveral have had a lot of rain recently. The lakes are overfull, and there is a lot standing water around. Here's the tally so far.

 

Southwest Aitlines 5 stars - Departed on time, great crew, comfortable airplane and on time arrival. No charges for the first two bags, no charge for exit row seating, no charge for refreshments.

 

Budget Car Rental 5 stars - I was first in line at the Fastbreak counter, and they were 5 rows deep at the regular counter. I had the car before my wife had our baggage. It's a Pontiac G6, and is in really nice shape, no charge XM radio.

 

Tomtom XL 340 S 4.5 stars - It took me a while to get the new PND updated and behaving last night, but once we started driving, it's amazing. The Points Of Interest (POI) database is huge, the screen is bright and the turn by turn with street names and IQ routing is a big step up from my two year old Tomtom One.

 

Residence Inn Port Canaveral 5 stars- The room has a seperate bedroom, with a sitting room, fold out couch, and full kitchen (stove, refrigerator, microwave, and dishwasher). There's a nice gym, pool, buffet breakfast, wired/wireless internet, and a Burger King in the parking lot. I can see the entry sign for the Port from the door near my room, Wal-Mart is 4.5 miles up the road, and Patrick AFB is 12 miles up the road.

 

That's it so far. Can't wait to get on the ship tomorrow. I love P'Can, looking forward to seeing the submarine memorial as we go by on the way out to sea. More to come later.

sounds like you are off to a good start. We've stayed at that Residence Inn two times and were more than satisfied!!! We liked the room that we just bought food at Publix and stayed in and rented a movie from the hotel's system -- figuring that we would be eating well for 7 nights. There was a Publx a few miles away going south. An older Pubix but adequate.

[jules815]

We also love the Residence Inn at PC and have stayed there twice.

 

They have rooms with 2 bedrooms/2 baths that are wonderful when traveling with teenagers!

 

Have a great time on Freedom!

[hawkfish]

THAT is a detailed report - LOVE IT! Keep 'em coming! Sounds like you are off to a great start to a fantastic vacation.!

[golf43]

thanks for the information. We are going to stay at the Residence inn in June just before our cruise. Glad to hear it is a nice hotel. Keep us informed of your trip. Enjoy, happy sailing. :)

[aucruiser]

Thanks for the pre-boarding report. How is the cruise going so far?

[luckyprincess]

OMG - isn't Fastbreak AMAZING?? My bf and I went to SeaWorld Orlando last month for a quickie vacation and the line at Budget conter was 4 rows deep at 9 pm! :eek: We followed the directions to the little Fastbreak kiosk in the garage and had our car in about 10 minutes from when we got off the plane! Love this new service - and its free, which is the best part!:)

I'm loving your review - its getting me so excited for when I'm on Freedom!!

[KLMB]

Looking forward to all your posts, on FOS in two weeks, so this is great!

[wraithe]

Back to the States, sitting at MCO (Orlando) waiting for Southwest Airlines. Give me time to get home and collect my thoughts and I'll post a review. Quick & dirty, Freedom is going to rank as one of the best cruises I've done. The ship is amazing. The crew was great, the weather was beautiful. Only way it could be better is if they'd let me stay another week for free!

[firefly4423]

have a great time and thanks for sharing that bit.

[nlcentralchmps03]

How was the new CD?

[bluecruisin]

I'm so glad to hear that you had a great cruise. One of your previous reviews convinced me to sail the ship that you were reviewing (can't remember which cruise that was though, so many cruise so little mind!) Any chance that you may have saved the daily cruise papers and you can post them???? pretty please !!!!

[Kim4]

Can't wait to read your review! We board in one week!!

[wraithe]

Sorry, it's taken me a while to get to the review, but here goes.

[wraithe]

Background information - I am a retired Navy submarine nuclear power plant operator. My wife and I both work for an atomic power laboratory now. My son and daughter are grown and live in the Charleston, SC area. They did not accompany us on this cruise. We love to ballroom dance, both smooth and Latin. I am a gear head/tech head and love learning about how things work and my electronics/computers.

 

Flights - We used Southwest Air to fly direct from PIT (Pittsburgh International, PA, USA) to MCO (Orlando International, FL, USA). I am still amazed at the number of people who still think that Southwest just uses the cattle call to board flights. Things have changed folks. To begin with, Southwest has one of the best on time records in the industry. There is no charge for the first two bags under 50 pounds, no charge for snacks/non-alcoholic drinks, or specific seats. Your boarding spot is determined by when you check in for your flight. Starting at the 24 hour before flight point, you can check in online or via your smart phone. You will be assigned an alpha-numeric "number". A1 though A15 are always reserved for Business Select, whether there are 15 people flying Business Select or not. A16 through A60 are the next numbers called, and when you get on the plane, you pick whatever seats you want, where ever you want. Then they board families with children under 4, then B1 through B60, again, you take whatever seat you want that is available when you get on the plane. Then C1 through C60. If you want a good choice, you check in as early as possible. If you check in on your smart phone, then you print your boarding pass when you get to the airport. You will not lose your "spot". I have enjoyed every flight that I've taken on Southwest, the flight attendants have sung songs to us, they make jokes, and they are generally great people. Southwest flies Boeing, which makes me happy, I

don't care for Airbus aircraft, just a personal thing, I don't think they're less safe, just don't like the passenger layouts. In addition, our local grocery store owns a convenience chain, for every $50 in groceries you buy, you "earn" 10 cents/gallon discount on gas (up to 30 gallons). It also happens that the grocery store sells Southwest gift cards, and Marriott gift cards. Hmmmm, win win situation here, I use the gift cards for airline and hotel stays and get discounted fuel to boot (not to mention the gift cards are a one size fits all gift). Overall, I enjoy Southwest's product, and I'm a happy Southwest flier.

 

Rental Car - I use Budget, simple as that. They offer reasonable prices, convenience, and decent cars. For instance, when I got to the Budget counter, they were lined up 5 rows deep (based on past experience, 30 to 45 minutes). As a Budget Fastbreak customer, I skipped the line, went to the Fastbreak counter, and was (cue trumpets here) #1 in line. I like #1. I had the car before my wife had our luggage together. Due to my exile in Pennsylvaniastan, I am slowly getting used to driving on roads that resemble driving across the surface of the Moon. It's only fractionally better than dirt roads. Florida's (my home of record for my entire career in the Navy, no state income tax) smooth, straight, 70 mph highways are such a blessing to that state. I spent a little time visiting an electronics surplus store that I used to go to often while in Nuclear Power School, then we drove to P'Can (Port Canaveral). I'll cut to the chase now, we love the Budget office in P'Can (CC5 on Astronaut Blvd.), they offer shuttle to the pier, pick you up from the pier and make life generally easy. On our return we caught the shuttle, picked up our car and drove to the airport. We even used the $10.50 option, if you drive less than 75 miles (if memory serves); just drop the car off, no need to buy more gas. If you choose to fill it, show them the receipt, and they'll take the $10.50 off.

 

GPS - I bought a new TomTom One 340 XL to compliment my 3 year old TomTom 1. With Route IQ, lane guidance and an extensive database of POIs (Points of Interest), it's really silly not to have one of these devices if you travel at all. Pittsburgh is a nightmare to navigate; I wouldn't leave my house without my GPS. Its great while driving, just key up nearby fuel, restaurants or shopping if you need something. Just too easy. Mapquest is great, but if you miss a turn, you have to figure out how to get back and start over, with a GPS, it simply recalculates your route from where you are.

[wraithe]

Hotel - We stayed at the Residence Inn Cape Canaveral/Cocoa Beach. Fantastic hotel, fantastic location (I could see the signs for the port from the security doors at the hotel); clean, neat, quiet, hot buffet breakfast and very nice personnel. See the flight info about using the Marriott gift cards. We had a disastrous stay at a Choice property in Miami, and after that, our suite at Residence Inn was heaven. We had a separate living room/dining room/full kitchen area; the bedroom/bathroom was separate. The HVAC was centrally controlled and worked very well. I can't say enough about how nice the Marriott properties are compared to what I have seen at Choice properties for the last couple years. There's a Burger King in the parking lot, Raceway fuel 100 yards away, Budget CC5 is 1/4 mile, Wal-Mart is 5 miles, Patrick AFB is 11 miles, the port is 1/4 mile. Very well located. Radisson is practically next door and we attended a Pre-M&M with our CC buddies at the Radisson pool, very nice group of folks.

 

Freedom (5/24/09 to 5/31/09) - What an incredible ship. I'm not usually one to use superlatives, but OMG, RCL could not have done better than put this beautiful ship in P'Can. We dropped our luggage off at the pier after a short wait in line, and then drove the car to the Budget office. We loaded up our carryon bags in the van and shuttled back to the pier about 11:00 a.m. We breezed through security, breezed through check in (wonderful, happy lady checked us in, joking and laughing, such a pleasure), and after a short sit down, we're on our way onboard (11:30'ish). As soon as we got onboard, couldn't help but notice the decor (Earth, air, fire water motif), and how much effort had gone into making a beautiful ship. We had an inside cabin on the 3rd deck, ready for us to occupy at 13:00). Lunch in the 'Jammer, honey stung chicken, I don't care what you say, that's when I know I'm onboard ship, they only serve honey stung chicken for sailaway lunch. I only eat one piece, but it's a staple part of my first lunch onboard. The Windjammer breakfast and lunch was consistently good, including hamburgers and turkey burgers (truly excellent). They often had my ham and cheese omelets pre-made, so I didn't have to wait for an omelet. Service was awesome, smiling, pleasant, and helpful wait staff.

 

Cabin - Our cabin was very well appointed, comfortable, clean and spacious. We had our luggage by sail away and had already unpacked our luggage and stowed the bags under the bed before muster. We met our cabin attendant, had her clean out our fridge, and put the beds together. The beds never split, and I probably slept more on this cruise than any other. Needed to recharge the batteries bad. The LCD TV worked great, and it is nice to be able to check your account easily on the TV. The safe in the closet uses a 4 number code that you choose. The shower uses the pull together doors instead of a curtain, which is nice, but I can say that we had less room to hang up wet clothing to dry than we've ever had before.

 

MDR - They assigned us to a table for two, I guess because we are in different age groups, so we got reassigned to a table for 8, and sat with a family of three with a friend from New York. We thoroughly enjoyed our table mates again. The Mom and Dad were actually first generation Haitian immigrants, the daughter is in ophthalmology school, and the friend is a second generation Eastern Indian about to enter pharmacy school. Very interesting backgrounds and a pleasure to talk with. I had mostly steak and chicken, and it was all good. The prime rib was perfect every time. My wife had various pasta dishes and chicken, and was quite happy with her food as well. The cold fruit soup appetizers and RCL Caesar salads are always great, and a highlight of my cruise. We had the Brasserie30 lunch on one occasion, the tutti salad is a pleasure and with the exception of some children that were seated close to us, the lunch dining was quite good. Our wait staff wasn't the best that we've had, but they were very good, the Head Waiter checked on us every night to ensure we were getting what we needed. Unlike another poster here, I had coffee and fixings waiting on my table every night at the beginning of dinner after asking for it once on the first night. One table of three ladies that were seated near us were consistently late every night, from 30 minutes to an hour, not only did they seat them, but they took very good care of them every night. I just can't see how anyone could fault the staff. They really go out of their way to make dinner an enjoyable affair.

[wraithe]

Dancing - Multiple venues on this ship, Latin is served up in Boleros. We were treated to many Latin American passengers on this ship, and it was a treat to see how Salsa is really done. LOL. We danced in the flying saucer (Viking Crown lounge), and Pharaoh’s Palace nearly every night. As usual, once the band realizes that there are people who know how to dance, they'll play whatever you ask for. The band was a four piece group of what appeared to be Phillipino men, but they could do a great version (and sing) or anything from Moon River to I'm All Shook Up. We danced waltz, swing, hustle, foxtrot, rumba, bolero, and thoroughly enjoyed it. My wife attended several shows and complimented the dancers and singers extensively.

 

Diamond Lounge - Our key card for the Diamond Lounge was in our cabin on Day 1. We accessed the Diamond Lounge each evening before dinner and enjoyed an adult beverage and the company of other Diamond cruisers. Having never had a DL before, it is quite nice. It's not a deal breaker, I'll certainly still sail ships that don't have a DL, but it's a nice perk. The Concierge printed out our flight passes for us, we gave him the info and he checked us in and printed out the passes. He also gave us our luggage tags.

 

Ports - We don't do excursions, so I am not a good source of information concerning them. I will say that we had a really nice time ashore on Labadee. I'm still surprised how many people think Labadee is an island all by itself. It's actually a part of Hispaniola, the island that makes up the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Labadee is a peninsula on one end of Haiti. As such, if you visit either Labadee or Samana, you need to know that you probably won't be able to give blood in the US for a year. Malaria is still present on Hispaniola, so just be aware.

 

Conclusion - With Freedom in Port Canaveral (one of my favorite places on Earth), I can see that this is going to be a regular cruise for me in the future. Orlando is one of the least expensive places in the East to fly to, convenient to so many things, inexpensive to find lodging or food, and simply a beautiful place (IMHO). I've loved Port/Cape Canaveral since I was a kid when my Dad and Mom brought me to see a couple of the Apollo V moon shots, and just grew bigger when my ships would pull in there during my Naval career. I actually pointed out a submarine in port at the Poseidon wharfs to several people on the port side of the ship at sail away. It looked from a distance to be a British fast boat, but I couldn't tell for sure. RCL has done themselves proud with this choice of ship and home port. I won't kid anyone, I'm an RCL cheerleader, I like the product, and have enjoyed every cruise I've been on. I think the value per dollar can't be beat and I'm looking forward to the remaining 4 cruises that I have scheduled (Grandeur, Liberty, Enchantment and Oasis) through the end of 2010, and I'm already looking into cruises for 2011 (RCL all the way!).

[MLP12]

Thanks for a wonderful review of your cruise! It's nice to read about your enjoying the trip and not all of the petty complaints that others post. We will be sailing on the Freedom next week, our 7th cruise, and I can't wait. I agree with you completely in regard to RCI being a good value for the money.

[wraithe]

My wife and I both agree that as much as we love Grandeur, the Freedom cruise was probably the best one that we've done yet. Overall it was great. One thing that we did was buy one of the battery operated pushbutton LED lights (Costco), mounted a couple small disc magnets to it and stuck it on the metal frame inside the head. That way, if you needed the bathroom at night, you open the door, feel for the light and turn it on, plenty of light for the head without flooding the room with the bright flourescent light of the bathroom.

[TwoWeebles]

Thanks for your wonderful review. We are looking at this ship for next year and I am already getting excited!

[H8mundays]

Thanks for the great review. We won't be on Freedom until April but we are already getting excited. My husband is retired Navy, could you tell me where to look to see the submarine memorial.

 

Thanks

[wraithe]

Thanks for the great review. We won't be on Freedom until April but we are already getting excited. My husband is retired Navy, could you tell me where to look to see the submarine memorial.

 

Thanks

 

Watch off the port side of the ship at sail away just after you get under way. You will see the 636 (if memory serves me) sail mounted as a memorial, then you'll pass the Trident Wharf, then the Poseidon Wharf, and if you're lucky like we were, there may be a sub tied up at one of the wharfs.

[H8mundays]

Thanks so much for the info. You would think after all these years that the sight of a sub would be no big deal but we still get a thrill when we see our subs and ships. Guess it is that old Navy pride. :)

[QTMichele]

Thanks so much for a great review! Your enthusiasm for RCI and Freedom really shows in your review - and it is CONTAGIOUS!!! We'll be sailing on January 3rd - CAN NOT WAIT! Your review has me even more excited (if that's possible). THANKS! :)

[retdon]

Thanks for a great review. I have 2 questions:

Was there any dancing before dinner, if so where? We were on IOS in Jan. and could not find any "cocktail-pre dinner dancing".

 

You mention the LED light in the bathroom, is there an outlet in there? Can't you plug a night light in it? We did this on IOS.

 

Yes we agree RCI is fabulous and the service is the best we have ever had on any cruise line. We are really looking forward to FOS in Sept. and agree RCI made a very smart move in putting FOS there. Glad to have her in our backyard. Thanks for you reply, :D