All Things Freedom of the Seas!

Waterbugohio - let me know what the schedule is! We sail 8 day from FLL in Nov! :)

Yes, it is recent. Our cruise is coming up in June. I emailed the special needs email and requested toppers for our bed. They have responded back confirming a topper will be placed on the bed, so they do still do toppers on request.

 

Reauest has to be made through special needs. Got mine kadt week.

Waterbugohio - let me know what the schedule is! We sail 8 day from FLL in Nov! :)

 

The first 8 day I'm sailing is in Nov!!!

 

Don't think we will get any up to date compasses for our sailing.

Does anyone know if all the Junior Suites on FOS have a lounger on the balcony?

 

Ours did not in 2015.

Does anyone know if all the Junior Suites on FOS have a lounger on the balcony?

 

9338 did back in March.

We just booked Freedom for our fourth cruise and suprisingly enough it will be our 2nd time on this ship. As a tribute I thought Id share some little known secrets from our past experience and resurrect this thread.

 

When picking a cruise we weighed it against the Oasis, Allure and NCL Epic. Freedom won out because it has now added an 8th day on the itinerary and also had some new ports we had not yet been too - Labadee, San Juan and St. Kitts. We are most excited to visit San Juan.

 

With 4 kids there are 6 of us all together. With a 5k budget this often makes it difficult (not many rooms hold 6ppl) and expensive (paying for 6ppl) for us to book cruises. We are often found sitting at the top of the cruise webpages waiting for the scraps of sales and leftovers to fall on the ground.

 

The Family Oceanview (FO) class of cabins on the Freedom class ships are a special class of cabins that you cannot book online. They will sleep up to 6 passengers. Our first cruise on Freedom we had no clue what we were doing and booked a FO on the 7th deck. You have to call into RCI or book through an agent.

 

Our favorite thing about the FO room was the large windows and the view out the front of the ship. We also had some pretty big 8-10' swell and while I know some are adverse to ship movement we loved being bounced up and down and it made for some of the best sleep Ive had in years.

 

One little known secret to the Freedom class ships are the 2 (FO) cabins on Deck 8. These are cabins 8200 and 8500. Because of the configuration of the ship these two rooms are turned sideways. The benefit to this is that instead of being a larger single room they have a living space in the middle and 2 seperate bedrooms, one on either side. One bedroom has a set of bunks and the other bedroom has a queen sized bed. The couch in the middle living area folds out and sleeps 2.

 

The huge benfit to these two bedroom rooms is that for the size of a small suite without a balcony it is the same price or cheaper than 2 inside rooms. We just priced this cruise and with the kids sail free and 1-2 free combined special for two insides it ran about 4400 but only 3900 for the FO rooms. If we wanted a balcony and an inside it was over 5600.00

 

There are a few differences between 8200 and 8500 that you should know before booking -

8200 has a slightly larger and better laid out interior living space. While slightly smaller, 8500 has 4 windows in the rooms (1 in MB, 2 in living room and 1 in bunk room) 8200 does not have a window in the bunk room. Because of the larger space in 8200 the doorway to the master bedroom is larger and only has a curtain at the entrance. 8500 is slightly smaller but does have a real door that closes on the master bedroom.

 

The 3 downsides to these FO rooms, 1 bathroom, No tub, No balcony. But the views out the window in the front are spectacular and we were able to see the sky while laying in bed at night.

 

Some other things we learned from our cruise -

 

1. In Jan / Feb (probably Dec and March as well) it can get downright chilly at night when they play the movies by the pool. They left out towels for us to wrap up in but we wished we brought lite jackets to walk around the outside of the ship in.

 

2. If you like doing the flowrider, it can be pretty chilly at night in the aforementioned months. I wish I had brought one of my wetsuits. If I did as I would have had the flowrider all to myself for two of the nights they had it open.

 

3. The pizza shop on the promenade does have gluten free pizzas. You have to ask and they make them to order.

 

4. Its well known that the front of the ship (helipad) is open to cruisers and if you wanted to you could pull a titanic and stand on the bowsprit with your arms widespread.

 

5. You can see into the teens club from outside through the windows and the teens wont notice you unless they are standing right in the window. Call us creepy but we spied on our kids a few times just to see what they were up to and who they were hanging with.

 

 

Looking forward to our next cruise on the Freedom.

 

 

-Sean

Edited June 25, 2016 by wilmingtech

Does anyone know when the cabanas on coco cay become available for suite guests? Thanks.

Great thread! We are going on the freedom in a few week. We are also going to Disney the week before, aka way too much luggage!! I have those big hard case suitcases. Are the beds raised off the floor? If so will a big hard suitcase fit under there?

 

Also, my husband doesn't like dressing up at all. Can you order your food to go on the formal nights?

We are in room 1700 on the freedom, think it's back of the ship. Heard the balcony is pretty big. Can loungers and chairs fit out there? Also, is there a lot of motion? We are going with a 6 year old and 13 month

 

Thanks

We are in room 1700 on the freedom, think it's back of the ship. Heard the balcony is pretty big. Can loungers and chairs fit out there? Also, is there a lot of motion? We are going with a 6 year old and 13 month

 

Thanks

You will have a huge balcony, that can fit both loungers and chairs. With regard to the motion, it's not predictable.

Edited August 8, 2016 by clarea

Any new reports on the beds???

 

We have pads requested, but just curious

We are in room 1700 on the freedom, think it's back of the ship. Heard the balcony is pretty big. Can loungers and chairs fit out there? Also, is there a lot of motion? We are going with a 6 year old and 13 month

 

Thanks

 

You will have a huge balcony, that can fit both loungers and chairs. With regard to the motion, it's not predictable.

 

We were in 1400 back in 2012 and loved it. There should be a lounge chair, some chairs and a table on your balcony. Motion was not a problem for us.

 

Freedom of the Sears, Aft Balcony Cabin 1400, from October 2012 by Richard Huntington, on Flickr

Edited August 8, 2016 by rhuntington3

89 days! I still cant make dinner reservations for specialty restaurants.

Oops wrong board

We are in room 1700 on the freedom, think it's back of the ship. Heard the balcony is pretty big. Can loungers and chairs fit out there? Also, is there a lot of motion? We are going with a 6 year old and 13 month

 

 

 

Thanks

 

 

We were in 9708 and loved it didn't feel any motion back there.

Hi! It's been a while since sailing on Freedom... until next month. Are the Windjammer, Sorrento's & Cafe Promenade still about the only places to get a lunch on Day 1? Kind of would like to go to Sabor if it's open. If not, Windjammer it will probably be.:)

 

Thanks.

Hi! It's been a while since sailing on Freedom... until next month. Are the Windjammer, Sorrento's & Cafe Promenade still about the only places to get a lunch on Day 1? Kind of would like to go to Sabor if it's open. If not, Windjammer it will probably be.:)

 

Thanks.

Those 3 are the only places reported to be open at lunchtime on day 1.

Hi! It's been a while since sailing on Freedom... until next month. Are the Windjammer, Sorrento's & Cafe Promenade still about the only places to get a lunch on Day 1? Kind of would like to go to Sabor if it's open. If not, Windjammer it will probably be.:)

 

Thanks.

 

Hey Fred, enjoy Freedom, will it be all 3 of you on this cruise? If not, enjoy Freedom's Solarium that I like better than Oasis :D We did love Sabor on Freedom, its not in such a high traffic area and seemed a little more laid back. Are you guys doing East or West?

Those 3 are the only places reported to be open at lunchtime on day 1.

That's what I figured. Thank You!

 

 

Hey Fred, enjoy Freedom, will it be all 3 of you on this cruise? If not, enjoy Freedom's Solarium that I like better than Oasis :D We did love Sabor on Freedom, its not in such a high traffic area and seemed a little more laid back. Are you guys doing East or West?

Hey Bill, it's 4 of us this time, MIL is going too. We have connecting cabins in the new section so looking forward to that. It doesn't mean I won't be using the Solarium either... she so loves going to Adventure Ocean during sea days. ;)

 

We're glad to get back to a ship with a full menu Sabor instead of what is offered on Oasis. So many more entree choices and the atmosphere feels a lot more like a specialty restaurant. IMO the Sabor on Oasis doesn't feel much different or better than Rita's on Allure. Not that there is anything wrong with that necessarily, I just think they can do better w/Sabor on Oasis.

 

We're doing the three C's itinerary this cruise: Cayman, Coz, Costa.

 

You all have a great time on Majesty!

That's what I figured. Thank You!

 

 

Hey Bill, it's 4 of us this time, MIL is going too. We have connecting cabins in the new section so looking forward to that. It doesn't mean I won't be using the Solarium either... she so loves going to Adventure Ocean during sea days. ;)

 

We're glad to get back to a ship with a full menu Sabor instead of what is offered on Oasis. So many more entree choices and the atmosphere feels a lot more like a specialty restaurant. IMO the Sabor on Oasis doesn't feel much different or better than Rita's on Allure. Not that there is anything wrong with that necessarily, I just think they can do better w/Sabor on Oasis.

 

We're doing the three C's itinerary this cruise: Cayman, Coz, Costa.

 

You all have a great time on Majesty!

 

Oh, that must be after Freedom moves to Port Everglades? We will probably revisit Freedom in the future on these 8 day or longer cruises.

I found Sabor much more relaxing on Freedom. we enjoyed our lunch there on Oasis, but our waitress had 8 tables and was hustling. She was our waitress and made the Guac for all her tables. On Freedom one guy was doing all the guac freeing our waiter to be more attentive. We went on a sea day and there were only 5 tables occupied. This was when Sabor was new on Freedom and they offered a $25 flat rate and insisted we try everything, it was great.

 

Anyone know what movies are currently playing on FOS? Thanks :)

Oh, that must be after Freedom moves to Port Everglades? We will probably revisit Freedom in the future on these 8 day or longer cruises.

I found Sabor much more relaxing on Freedom. we enjoyed our lunch there on Oasis, but our waitress had 8 tables and was hustling. She was our waitress and made the Guac for all her tables. On Freedom one guy was doing all the guac freeing our waiter to be more attentive. We went on a sea day and there were only 5 tables occupied. This was when Sabor was new on Freedom and they offered a $25 flat rate and insisted we try everything, it was great.

I enjoyed Sabor on the Oasis. We went on boarding day for lunch and I think there was only one other table. I will be looking forward to trying it on the Freedom next year. Lots of sea days to try new things on a Trans-Atlantic!:)

I enjoyed Sabor on the Oasis. We went on boarding day for lunch and I think there was only one other table. I will be looking forward to trying it on the Freedom next year. Lots of sea days to try new things on a Trans-Atlantic!:)

 

That was probably a good idea. When we boarded Oasis we went out to Sabor to make our lunch reservations for the sea day that was our anniversary. It was open, but nobody was eating there yet. Maybe next time.

Oh, that must be after Freedom moves to Port Everglades? We will probably revisit Freedom in the future on these 8 day or longer cruises.

I found Sabor much more relaxing on Freedom. we enjoyed our lunch there on Oasis, but our waitress had 8 tables and was hustling. She was our waitress and made the Guac for all her tables. On Freedom one guy was doing all the guac freeing our waiter to be more attentive. We went on a sea day and there were only 5 tables occupied. This was when Sabor was new on Freedom and they offered a $25 flat rate and insisted we try everything, it was great.

 

For me, the Sabor restaurant on Freedom/Navigator felt like an upscale Mexican restaurant whereas the one on Oasis felt more of a chain, like Moe's. I agree that the service and atmosphere is more relaxed on Freedom too. Can't wait, I hope it's just as nice as last time!:)

 

So do you know if Majesty going to stop @ CocoCay this weekend?

So do you know if Majesty going to stop @ CocoCay this weekend?

 

I believe Enchantment is supposed to stop Saturday and Majesty on Sunday. But, yes, the island is supposed to open Saturday Freedom was supposed to be there last Sunday, so it will be 2 weeks before she is back.