crusinfamof4

Hey, my fam and I sailed on the Dream in 2011 and there were lots of food choices and you can get room service at any time. Our two teens order room service all the time.

Don't worry about there being other teens. In Nov 2012 we were on the Fascination, during election week. I was so nervous my boys wouldn't have any other kids their own age-they were 16 & 13 at the time, but surprisingly, there were a lot of teens. And the Fascination is smaller, so I was so relieved. They still talk to some of the kids they met on the ship.

And I worried until the minute we boarded there wouldn't be enough and I would be the worst parent, making them miss school and then being bored on the ship. When we were waiting to board, I saw teen after teen after teen and I was very happy and surprised!

Have a great cruise!

We got priority tender, however, we missed the first tender-too many people had priority that morning, so we were in line to board and there were too many, so we had to wait for the next tender to pull up. Not a big deal, but when you are first on the tender and have to wait for it to fill up, it takes time. Regardless, we had a blast.

As I had read on here, we got a cabana further away from the action. We had # 14 and it was great!!!!! No one came up and used our shower or took our chairs, nothing. It was really like we had the beach to ourselves-especially once the people next to us left in cabana 15. Great time!

Hello, our son is 14 and has been in Circle C since he turned 12, each cruise he likes it more and more. This last time was the best-we were on the Freedom-I make him go to orientation in Circle C and he makes friends. He is shy like me, so it's hard for him. But he always makes friends. He is super upset this next cruise, he will be in Club O2 and it's just not the same closeness as Circle C (our oldest is in Club O2). She will have a blast and will make friends. Both of our boys, regardless of club, each have friends they still talk to from the cruises.

Our youngest ate with his friends on the nights he didn't want to eat with us, they ate in the buffet, but they didn't do an organized dinner as they were older-14.

We most always cruise in August. So I start there. Then I begin looking at embarkation ports. I don't fly, so FL ports for us. I always begin with Port Canaveral to see what ships are leaving and dates, then the ports. Last year we sailed out of Port Everglades as the one leaving out of Canaveral didn't have the ports we wanted and the one out of the Everglades had the exact ports my DH had been dreaming to go to.

We love anytime dining, wouldn't do anything else. And we always get a table to ourselves :)

I have ones from August 2013-Grand Cayman, Ochos Rios, and Key West. Just let me know and I will try and scan them in.

We do it at check in, when we first get our sail and sign. We usually allow the boys $35 per day, the youngest-14, will spend it all and then some, we replinish his amount usually by the 3rd day. Our oldest-17, barely spends anything so it works out to be the same by the time it's all said and done.

On the Freedom in August, our oldest was in Club O2, whenever we would pass the club, we would rarely see the teens in the club, but in the areas surrounding the club-which was next to the arcade and the disco. At night it would be tight confines with the disco and then Club O2. We did find the kids stayed together, but just outside the club.

I cannot remember, but is there a meet and greet for the 18-20 yr olds sailing? Our son is already worried about our unplanned 2015 cruise and how he will meet people his own age. Also at 18 he can use the casino right? Thanks in advance!

I agree with the previous posters, the real party is up on Lido. There's also a balloon drop in the atrium (at least there was on our two New Years cruises) that is a lot of fun for everyone.

 

But there is one point I want to bring up, if you are mature enough to have a 17 year old daughter you will probably not enjoy the music in the "disco" anyways. My wife and I love all kinds of music and one of our favorite places to spend time on a boat has always been the "disco" but things are changing fast. They do a wonderful 10pm - 11pm theme hour (Country, 70's, Michael Jackson, etc) and there is usually a bunch of folks dancing during that hour, but at straight up 11pm they start with very hard core rap/R&B. The DJ actually clears the floor with their musical selections.

 

 

Cheers!

Our son was 14 on the Dream and he was able to go into the club at 10 pm for the Michael Jackson hour. Each cruise since, he has not been allowed in the club. He is a HUGE MJ fan and wins dance contests all the time, but he has not been allowed in the clubs at 10pm, which has upset us. He is looking forward to 2015 when they won't be able to tell him no.

We just did this cruise in August, except ours was 6 days. We loved this cruise, it was our top. In Grand Cayman we did stingray city and snorkeling and LOVED every second. In Jamaica, there was a tropical low so it ruined our beach time. You will love the Freedom, the CD and his crew are great, we, including our teen boys, had a great time. We were on deck 7-empress, balcony, it was great. Just basically everything was great!

We like Butch a lot, but just had Brad on the Freedom and he was great. He seems like a nice decent, down to earth person. So for me, Brad has moved up to favorite. Least was Paul on the Fascination, he was awful.

Best. Dessert. EVER!

I order it every night of our cruise, except for elegant night, cause we don't do elegant night and I have to eat in the buffet that night. I just skip dessert.

That's strange about the ones who had to stand on the tenders. At both Belize and GC they strictly enforced the no standing. One girl even got called down for standing to take a photo on the top deck.

 

We're they the last tenders heading back when this happened?

No we were not on the last tender, there were still plenty of tenders waiting to go. It was awful in Belize, just awful. We even had people stand on the one in Grand Cayman and again not one of the last tenders. Maybe the times we went they just allowed the standing--of course for both tenders we were on the bottom.

Grand Cayman was def a walk in the park compared to Belize.

We had a miserable time in Belize with the tender, as such, if we sail to Belize again, we will not get off the ship. We had an excursion so the morning over wasn't bad, it was coming back. They cram you in like sardines, we were exhausted from the excursion, it was hot and we had to stand. Our son got sick and threw up and FINALLY someone let him sit. I have to say I am still pretty upset by the rudeness of the other passengers. Then people were pushing to get off once we got to the ship. I stood firm to make sure my family and I were the first ones back on. I saw we would be standing and I asked to take the next tender, they would not allow us to wait and we had to get on that one.

Grand Cayman was NOT as bad and we will happily go back there again. We had to wait once we got back to the ship as we were downstairs, but I just sat until it was time to go.

Belize was awful and our boys still talk about it!

We sailed 08/2011-never noticed any smell.

All I know is this, each week I watch the port cams, specifically Port Everglades as we are sailing from there in August. When the CCL Freedom leaves, you can hear music and people cheering on the lido deck. When RCCL leaves, its just quiet. No music, no anything. Hearing the music from the lido deck gets my DH all ready for our upcoming FAMILY cruise with our DSs :)

So you liked it? We are doing the 6 day in 69 days! First time on this ship and this port. So your cabin was not ready when you boarded? You had to wait a little while? We got the FTTF and am fully expecting the cabins to be ready when we board, which we plan to around the same time as you.

Great review! Doing the same cruise in 77 days!!!!!

I assume you and your children found the port in Jamaica to be ok? We were going to the bobsledding excursion, but my DH is afraid of heights and cannot take the sky ride to the top. So we thought about hanging out in the port.

How was disembarkation with FTTF? We have a 16 hour drive and want to be off the ship first thing.

Best by far: Butch :)

Worst, absolutely could not stand: Paul-who cares how many times you've been married and how many children you have with a random amount of women?????

We had cabana # 14 in November when we sailed the Fascination. We loved the location. Since the cabana came with chips, salsa, veggies and fruit, we did not partake in the island bbq. The restroom was just a few steps behind the cabana. The people next to us in # 15 moved with their friends, so that one was empty almost all day, as such, it was like we had the whole beach ourselves. I had read the horror stories about the lower #'s and people trying to take over the cabana. No probs :)

The price for the electric car was $103.00 for 6 hours. It is worth every penny and they are so much fun to drive around. That price of $103.00 included a $20.00 insurance waiver. Go to www.sunshinescooters.com to check them out. I had done extensive research on electric cars and they were the cheapest in Key West.

 

Thanks for your kind words about my review. My dad is my best friend and there is no other person that I would rather cruise with :) :D :)

Going on the same cruise in August, great review so far! Love how close you and ur dad are :)

So, is there parking when you have the electric car? It will be our first time in Key West and we just want to walk around and my DH wants to go to Margaretaville (sp?), I want to see the southern most part of the US, so is there designated parking? Does it cost to park? Our youngest DS hates walking and this would be a great way to get around!

Oh wow, you're Zydecocruiser!?!?!?! I love your website :) You do excellent reviews! :)

I always heard it was a party ship too. When we sailed Disney, I was like ok, nice chill people. We got home and booked our second cruise, on Carnival. I will admit, it was a great price. I looked up utube vids as I was worried, saw fights on the ship we were going on. I was super nervous, tried to get my DH to cancel numerous times. Alas, we went and you know what, it was the same people I saw on Disney, it was chill, no worries. We came home and now have 3 more booked. Of course our next one is 5 days. I have heard the shorter the cruise........