Freedom 6/7 Review w/ pics

[Moondawgie]

Nancy, can I please have a copy of the Compasses also:

jguard121 - websites @ yahoo.com

Leave out all the spaces. Thanks a million.

[dololie]

Could you email me the compasses. We are going in Sept. Take the xx out of my address
[email]dololie@xxyahoo.com[/email]

thanks

[Kim4]

[quote name='KirstyGee1978']Hi Kim

Great review, we are going on the Western Caribbean on Liberty with a 2 year old!

Can I ask you about the Passion Island tour? On the RCI website it says you get there by Catamaran, when you got a ferry, did the internary change?

Did your 2 year old like Passion Island?

Kirsty[/QUOTE]

oh, my two year old LOOOOOOOVED Passion Island. She played in the sand almost the whole time. I was worried about the food (you never know if a 2 year old is going to go for blackened mahi mahi) but she did great with the sliced fruit and veggies and chips. She ate a bit of my mom's BBQ chicken, but not too much. There's a trampoline there too that she loved, as well as the swingset. She even liked the showers, and thought those were fun.

There's no way what we rode on could be considered a catamaran. I consider a catamaran to be something with two hulls with webbing in between the hulls with a big mast and a sail or two. Maybe I'm incorrect?

What we rode on to Passion Island was very similar to a tender boat. There were bench seats on the top and on the bottom with a big stinky diesel engine spewing black smoke out the back.

I'm not sure of how the itinerary could be different -- we got off the Freedom, met up onshore, and went to the boat for the 45min - 1 hr ride to Passion Island. We stayed at Passion Island for about 3 hours and then we rode back.

[Kim4]

[quote name='Astona']Did the spa have a steam room, sauna and mineral bath in it ?[/QUOTE]

I didn't get to the spa, I'm sorry -- but I think I remember reading that there was a steam room.


CRUISINGCPA -- I don't know what time the Flowrider opened, I'm sorry - perhaps you can get a copy of the Day 1 Compass?

ken_nyc -- you are welcome, I have learned so much from this board, and it saved me so much money, I wanted to be able to help someone else. Plus, I like thinking about and remembering my cruise! :)

MCazer -- I remember seeing something in the Compass about the Amazing Race, or maybe they called it the Ultimate Race. I didn't participate, though. It sounds like lots of fun.

[HazyDavey]

Could someone who received an e-mail with copies of the compasses please forward to me? Thank you.

mwafb AT yahoo DOT com

[vavasmom]

[quote name='pinkmonkey14']Wait got one more question about the ship? Can a 14 year old use the H20 Zone with the mini lazy river and the colorful things? :)[/quote]
Yes your 14 year old can use the H2O zone. The one pool is 5 1/2 feet deep. My 13 year old (taller than I am) used it some and I tried the "lazy river" as one of those things we missed the first time on Freedom (as the mother of a 13 YO, I am much older than your 14 YO). Also walking through the fountans was great way to cool off.

[QTMichele]

I really enjoyed reading your review and drooling over your pictures! :D I especially loved the info you shared about the children's activities. We'll be on the Freedom in Janaury - I'll be bringing my three children (ages on cruise: turning 10, 6, and 14 months). I would love to hear how you handled your toddler and get any advice you may have about a toddler and cruising on Freedom. Also, did you do any of the "new" things RCI has for the little kids (Stroller walks, toy lending program, in cabin babysitting, etc.)? I would love to know more about that as well.

Thanks again for the great review and pictures!!!

[catrip1024]

Thanks for posting all the info Kim!

I am going on my first cruise on Sunday and can't wait. Our schedule is exactly the same as yours.

Since you went with kids, can you tell me how dinners work? I have a 10 year old and I'm not sure what to do with his clothes. Will he go to all dinners with us? Can he just wear dress pants and a tie for formal night? Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated!!

Thanks!
Carla

[cruisinmom1]

Thanks for the review. The photos are awesome!!

[FLCruiseFan]

Nice Review...Thanks!

[knuckles]

Could you email me the compasses. We are going in July. Take the xx out of my address
[EMAIL="commish101@xxaol.com"]commish101@xxaol.com[/EMAIL]

Thanks

[Kim4]

[quote name='QTMichele']I really enjoyed reading your review and drooling over your pictures! :D I especially loved the info you shared about the children's activities. We'll be on the Freedom in Janaury - I'll be bringing my three children (ages on cruise: turning 10, 6, and 14 months). I would love to hear how you handled your toddler and get any advice you may have about a toddler and cruising on Freedom. Also, did you do any of the "new" things RCI has for the little kids (Stroller walks, toy lending program, in cabin babysitting, etc.)? I would love to know more about that as well.

Thanks again for the great review and pictures!!![/QUOTE]

Hi Michele -- you will have a great time on your cruise. I'm really happy that we chose the Freedom for our cruise. I posted on the Family board some very specific toddler tips that I had after going on this cruise:
[url]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1005821[/url]

I didn't do the stroller walk. I had two little ones, but I didn't bring a double stroller. Also, I was disappointed about the toy lending program. When I was at the playgroup on the first sea day, one of the other mothers asked about it (maybe she's here on Cruise Critic too!) and the AO staff member didn't know anything about it. She said she'd ask her manager. I didn't hear anything else about it -- so maybe she was able to lend the toys out after all, I don't know.

We were planning on using the babysitting program, but my mom ended up being tuckered out by 9:00 every night, so the two little ones slept in her cabin with her while my older two either were with us for the show, or they went to Adventure Ocean. We took our two big ones to the "Once Upon a Time" show, it was really really good. We didn't bring them to see the comedian -- you just never know what a comedian might say, and my kids are really little. We did bring them to the magic show too, they really enjoyed that.

[Kim4]

[quote name='catrip1024']Thanks for posting all the info Kim!

I am going on my first cruise on Sunday and can't wait. Our schedule is exactly the same as yours.

Since you went with kids, can you tell me how dinners work? I have a 10 year old and I'm not sure what to do with his clothes. Will he go to all dinners with us? Can he just wear dress pants and a tie for formal night? Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated!!

Thanks!
Carla[/QUOTE]

My kids went to all the dinners with us. For my son (who is 6) I brought a bunch of polo shirts. He wore those with cargo shorts during the day (when he wasn't in his swimsuit) and I brought dress pants for him to wear to dinner. For the 2 formal nights, I brought 2 nice dress shirts and 2 ties. I didn't feel like he was underdressed at all since he didn't have a coat on. In fact, he got quite a few compliments from the other passengers. My one year old was in a dress shirt, tie, and vest too...he was adorable....no bias from me, though of course. I brought a couple of other nice collared long sleeve shirts for dinners as well. That was more for mess purposes, though...many times the polo shirt didn't make it through lunch without a stain and I wanted to bring a clean shirt for dinner.

We thought it would be a drag to dress up for dinner, but it was really fun, even with all the kids. They enjoyed it, and they knew they were somewhere special since they were all dressed up with all the adults.

[Mel8730]

Love your pictures! Thanks for sharing. Will be on FOS August 2. First time with RC and can't wait :)

[MAZANDSTEVE]

Love the review and photos, thanks.:)

[bluecruisin]

Loved your review and pics. I'd also like you to send me copies of the compasses. [EMAIL="bluecruisindiane@XXXyahoo.com"]bluecruisindiane@XXXyahoo.com[/EMAIL] Thanks!!

[QTMichele]

Thanks for the details! I'm off to read your thread on the family boards!!! :)

[nlcentralchmps03]

Wonderful review. I was on this cruise too, and had a great time.

I would also like to suggest the sail and snorkel catamaran tour in Cozumel. It was by far the best "bang for buck" excursion I have ever done.

[FigmentsKiss]

Great review. Thanks for all the info. Headed over to the family board now to see what you wrote there. Will be doing the Western in November with 17 other family members and my (then) 18 month old and am trying to plan what I will need for her.

Also, if you don't mind e-mail another set of compass scans I would really love them [email]RaeKim75@xxxaol.com[/email] (you know what to do with the xxx :-) )

[TheWog]

Great review and pictures. Thank you for sharing.

[nunk]

Kim4-

Thank you for your review! It was very detailed, which gave us insight about that cruise and the ports since we might book that one for May. I had a couple of questions about the excursions you chose because they sound like something we might like to do too!

Jamaica: The Marva Shaw tour sounds like the best excursion so far for this port, however I did not see it on the RCCL website, so I am guessing you booked it on shore. Where was the area you booked it at? Was there a small limit to how many could participate? Do we have to get off the ship and book it right away before anyone else? After we do the tour, you said he would take us anywhere else we wanted to go? (Coffee, etc.)

Cozumel: Paradise Island sounds perfect! And I did not see this one on the website, so I know you also must have booked on shore. Do they have multiple tenders going out at different times that would enable us to not have to get off the ship right away? Where was the area where you booked it? (Close to the ship?)

Thank you so much for the info-
Nicole

[QTMichele]

[quote name='nunk']Jamaica: The Marva Shaw tour sounds like the best excursion so far for this port, however I did not see it on the RCCL website, so I am guessing you booked it on shore. Where was the area you booked it at? Was there a small limit to how many could participate? Do we have to get off the ship and book it right away before anyone else? After we do the tour, you said he would take us anywhere else we wanted to go? (Coffee, etc.)[/quote]

Nicole - I hope you don't mind me jumping in, but I've used Marva before and wanted to give you more info about her. She is awesome!!! She is so professional and warm - definitely an ambassador for her country. :) You can find her website at knowjamaica.com, or check out the posts about her over at the Jamaica boards. If you book a tour with her, please tell her Michele said hello. :)

[pjpurple6]

HI,

When you dock at Cozumel, the compass mentioned the ship is one hour ahead of Cozumel so when you get off the ship , my friend said they go by cozumel time, I booked a tour at 11.00 cozumel time.

Was it ship time or Cozumel time? If it is indeed cozumel time, I might miss my tour!

Thanks.

[HazyDavey]

I am bumping up my request. Can anyone who has received the Freedom Western Caribbean Compasses out of Port Canaveral please forward to me as well?

Please send to mwafb AT yahoo DOT com or [email]mwafb@xxxyahoo.com[/email] (as others have noted, please remove the xxx for the actual email address).

Thank you.

[knuckles]

Just curious - did anyone get these compasses emailed to them?

TIA