Just off Freedom w/ four young kids

[Kim4]

Hi everyone,

 

We just got back from our WONDERFUL family vacation on Freedom of the Seas. It was myself, DH, 5 other adults from our family, and my four kids, 8, 6, 2, and 1. This board helped me so much, I thought I'd give back a little helpful info from our trip :) I bolded the highlights so that you can just scan to what you want.

 

1. Our cabins. For a reason that doesn't really make sense to me now, we were booked in two adjacent interior cabins. Me, DH, and 2 kids in our cabin, and my mom and 2 other kids in the next cabin over. I absolutely wish we had gotten a balcony. My 2 year old and 1 year old took a nap from about 1 to 3 every day. I (or another adult) stayed in the cabin with them, watching TV during that time. A balcony to sit on would have been great. BUT -- there was a curtain dividing the beds from the other side of the cabin. That was good -- I could sit on the loveseat and watch TV and the kids could sleep.

 

Our little potty seat fit on the toilet just fine.

 

2. Food. WOW. I just weighed my one year old -- he gained 2 pounds this week. Definitely my kids ate their fair share of food off the ship!! My one year old ate the grilled chicken breast off the main menu every night. My other kids ate off the kids menu for the whole rest of the week -- pizza, ravioli, PB & J, mac and cheese. There was other things on the menu too, but that's what they ate for dinner all week. Once we asked for a fruit cup on the first night, we had 5 fruit cups waiting for us each night as we sat down. There was a bunch of familiar cereals in little boxes for breakfast -- Cheerios, Fruit Loops, Frosted Flakes, Rice Krispies, etc.

 

From a suggestion on this board, I brought disposable bibs. That was a GREAT suggestion. I used one for my one year old at every meal, and I just left them on the table when we were done.

 

From another suggestion on this board, I brought bendy straws. This was great too. They did have straws on board, but they weren't bendy straws. I know it seems like a silly thing, but milk in a fancy goblet filled to the top is much easier to get into a baby with a bendy straw than with a straight straw. It just worked much better.

 

 

3. H20 Zone -- WOW, that was great! It was a little crowded on the 2nd sea day (it wasn't great weather the first sea day). But, there were Deck Patrols there on guard. The baby area was great, and they were very careful about only letting babies in swim diapers in there. The water was warm, but I'm not sure if it was because it was 1 inch deep and it just heated up from the sun, or if it was heated. The baby zone is in the sun, but there is shade close by. The rest of the H20 Zone was lots of fun too...there was lots of area to splash and play in sprinklers -- water everywhere. There was a small deepish pool (a little over 5 feet deep) there too.

 

4. Off the ship. We went to Labadee, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. We brought 2 car seats for our tour in Jamaica. Looking back, it wasn't worth it -- we should have just left the car seats in the van and skipped the Jamaica tour. Don't get me wrong, the tour (we used Marva Shaw -- they did a great job) was really great, but it was a big pain to lug the car seats on to the ship and store them in the closet. We had 2 car seats and the stroller (the Combi one that folds up on itself) fit in the closet, by the way :)

 

We did the Passion Island tour in Cozumel. That was great, and lots of fun...but be aware that on our trip, the boat ride over there was an hour each way. My son got sea sick, and it only left for 3 hours on the beach. The ATVs weren't there when we went. They said that they had an accident with them, but I'm not sure if they are going to have those again. There is a playground and a cool trampoline. My kids all had a great day playing in the sand.

 

 

So, overall -- we had a great time, but not a relaxing time. i wasn't expecting to have a relaxing time because, hey...I have 4 kids. But, we built family memories that we shared together. My son already wants to go back. Compared to any other kind of family vacation, I'd pick a cruise every time.

 

Thanks to everyone on these boards for all your help -- I hope this post helps out someone else.

[Sky616]

Sounds like a good time all around. Did you use Adventure Ocean? If so how was it especially for the 8 yr. old? We will be on in October with our 8 yr old. What interesting things did they do with the kids?

[crusinmama06]

Ouch, they removed the kiddie ATV's from Passion Island? Yeah that's a bummer. :( I wonder what happened?

 

We didn't get to take the catamaran ride to PI because the water was too choppy. Now after reading what you wrote, I am glad we didn't. :eek:

 

Welcome back Kim, I am glad you had a great cruise.

[Kim4]

We did use the Adventure Ocean program...my kids enjoyed it. My kids weren't dying to go back to the kids club at all times -- they enjoyed all the parts of the ship. They were dying to go back to the ice skating :)

 

But, they really did enjoy the kids club -- there was a game they played quite a bit called gagaball. My 8 year old has been trying to explain it to me, but I still don't get it. There was face painting, a pirate parade, a carnival, and there were Wiis there in the explorer room. My kids were only in the kids club for 3 days since we were at port the other days. After 10pm, when there is a charge, there are different special activities going on. The last night was "trash the room night", and my kids asked to go to that the whole week!!

 

Michele -- yeah, the ATVs were gone, but it sounded like it (the accident) just happened the week or two before. They may be back. The staff there could not have been nicer. One of the crew members made it a point to learn everyone's name on the way over, and he called us all (120 of us) by our names the whole time. It was really really a wonderful day -- thanks for recommending it to us. We just wish it could have been longer :)

[bunny]

Do you have any pictures of the cabin? How did you manage the bedding with 4 people in the cabin?

[Kim4]

I'm not sure if we have any pictures of the cabins...if we do, I'll post them. We had 2 interior cabins with the pullman beds that come out of the ceiling. Myself and DH slept in the twin beds in one room. We kept the pack and play in between the beds on the floor. My 6 year old slept in one of the pullman beds that came out of the ceiling. My mom and 2 year old slept in the beds in the other room, and my 8 year old slept in the pullman bed in that room.

[loveysbydesign]

Thanks for the great review....may I ask how much it was to have 2 interior cabins and how many night the cruise was?

Just a ballpark figure would be great! we have 3 kids and may take an adult friend along so we'd have 3 adults and 3 kids...I'm trying to gauage what a good price would be for the Freedom in June...thanks!

[Kim4]

Thanks for the great review....may I ask how much it was to have 2 interior cabins and how many night the cruise was?

Just a ballpark figure would be great! we have 3 kids and may take an adult friend along so we'd have 3 adults and 3 kids...I'm trying to gauage what a good price would be for the Freedom in June...thanks!

 

 

Sure...the price (fare and port charges) was $749 for the first and second person in the room, and $449 for the third and fourth person in the room. It was a 7 night western caribbean cruise. They have family staterooms too, but I don't know how much those cost. I believe you have to contact Royal Caribbean to get the prices on those.

[loveysbydesign]

Sure...the price (fare and port charges) was $749 for the first and second person in the room, and $449 for the third and fourth person in the room. It was a 7 night western caribbean cruise. They have family staterooms too, but I don't know how much those cost. I believe you have to contact Royal Caribbean to get the prices on those.

Thanks so much- compared to those prices I guess our 1st Disney cruise on May 30th wasn't as expensive as I thought it was!:confused:

[crusinmama06]

Thanks for the great review....may I ask how much it was to have 2 interior cabins and how many night the cruise was?

Just a ballpark figure would be great! we have 3 kids and may take an adult friend along so we'd have 3 adults and 3 kids...I'm trying to gauage what a good price would be for the Freedom in June...thanks!

 

You can play around with dates, ships and cabins at www.rccl.com

 

Some weeks are cheaper than others. But yes, basically the price Kim got is the base minimum for Freedom class ships in June.

 

Now, January/February, there are some deals to be had. The Indy was starting at $349 GTY insides. So just keep an eye out and a good deal does come along. :D

[QTMichele]

Thanks again, Kim! I've really enjoyed reading your review and comments. I'm really excited to take our kids on their first cruise and your comments are making me even more so!

 

BTW, we used Marva and loved her - haven't met her son, but he's e-mailed me to 'check in' and introduce himself. :)

[balcony4u]

just wanted to add, for those who are interested, that on the freedom class ships there is a connecting balcony and inside cabin room at the aft of the ship.

 

those are the rooms we chose for our upcoming cruise. this way we get a balcony, we are not all squished into one room, and the difference in price was not that great between the two rooms and one balcony room for all 4 of us. the difference is totally worth it to us.