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Freedom of the Seas Eastern Caribbean June 19-26


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My family and I just returned from the Freedom of the Seas Eastern Caribbean. I am planning to write a nice in-depth review. I will say that it was an amazing week. On a scale of 1-10 smiles, I give it nine smiles. I'll explain in my review. So...stand by and give me a couple of days to collect my thoughts and notes.

 

If you are wondering if you should choose Freedom, do it :):):)

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My family and I just returned from the Freedom of the Seas Eastern Caribbean. I am planning to write a nice in-depth review. I will say that it was an amazing week. On a scale of 1-10 smiles, I give it nine smiles. I'll explain in my review. So...stand by and give me a couple of days to collect my thoughts and notes.

 

If you are wondering if you should choose Freedom, do it :):):)

 

I don't need the full review, just a simple answer....what prevented you from giving it 10 smiles?

 

We will be on her in November, and expect to have the same great time we have had on the other cruises we have been on.

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I don't need the full review, just a simple answer....what prevented you from giving it 10 smiles?

 

.

 

I'm only 90% serious when I say I wonder if I took the exact same cruise twice (via time machine) if I might give 9 one time and 10 the next. I'm 90% sure that I'm 10% fickle. This is probably why the 10's on the survey topics bother me.

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I don't need the full review, just a simple answer....what prevented you from giving it 10 smiles?

 

We will be on her in November, and expect to have the same great time we have had on the other cruises we have been on.

I give the ship a 9 because the things that used to be included are now at a cost. Two examples, we used to buy drinks that came in glasses/cups with RCCL logo, etc. Now you have to purchase the cup with your drink. Also, my wife enjoyed having sushi at what we call the pre-dinner dinner. It now costs to have sushi. Finally, the bar service around the pool on deck 12 was almost non-existent. Other than that, I loved the ship.

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Thanks for clarifying! I must have blocked it out since we can only cruise in the summer, and I'm sad she's leaving to go to Europe.

Yep, the only choice for Freedom class in the summer will soon be Liberty.

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This was mine and my wife's sixth cruise. For the first time it was us and or family. Our group included my parents (2nd cruise each,) my 21 yo daughter (2nd cruise), wife's daughter and son (their second) and our 9 yo son, his first.

 

We arrived Saturday and stayed in Cocoa Beach. After asking for recommendations on CC, I chose Cocoa Beach Shuttle and they did not disappoint. They were great. They transported us to the hotel in CCB and then to the cruise terminal.

 

We arrived at the cruise terminal at 11 am and were on board eating lunch by 11:45. Because we are eight in the group, we all had different status's. I am platinum, wife and oldest daughter are gold and everyone else their first time on RCCL.

 

I was looking forward to the short platinum line thinking our three reservations are tied together. No joy. In order to keep us together we had to use the first timer's line. I was overjoyed when we sped through. RCCL does a great job of moving you through check in. After a stop to buy lanyards, we embarked.

 

Due to rooms not being ready until 1 pm, we headed for the Windjammer and lunch. The food there is good, not the best but considering it is a buffet, they do a good job.

 

Just short of 1 pm they announced rooms were ready and we set off to settle in. My wife and I and my parents each had a balcony room on deck 8, starboard, on the hump. Our four kids had an inside room on deck 8 down the passageway from us.

 

For three cruises now we have had a room in the hump. I love the view you get both fore and aft. Even though we are near the elevator, noise is not a problem. I recommend a hump cabin.

 

Once settled, the youngest wanted to go to the pool. But first we roamed the ship and showed everyone around. Our youngest got some swim time and fell in love with the pool. He was there very chance. Not the kid's H2O Zone but the main pool.

 

We were looking forward to the sail away. We headed up to the bow for a great view and to wave goodbye to our friends and family watching on the webcam. However, it was announced we would not depart until 8 pm. They have been working above on the new scrubber plus they had divers in the water checking the propeller (so we heard.) They had contractors on board and they could not stay. So...we explored some more.

 

We had second seating in the MDR so we got ready for dinner, dad and i sat on the promenade having a drink and waited for the ladies. We all had drink packages, wife and I had the Preferred Package. Loved it. more on that later.

 

Dinner was awesome. We had a waiter, Joey, and asst waiter Jhobet, who were beyond awesome. They learned all our names and even learned I love shrimp cocktails so he had two for me every night. They were also great with the 9 yo as they had tricks and brain teasers almost every night.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed the menu every night. We encouraged all kids to try something new. The 9 yo fell in love with escargot, and coffee ice cream.

 

After dinner we swam and explored some more before heading to bed. We wanted to be on the first tender to Coco Cay in the morning.

 

As for the drink packages, buy it. Our two boys had the soda package, our girls had the next level (everything but booze,) wife and I had the preferred package. We may not have drank enough to pay for it but we were close. however, we liked not worrying about how much we had ordered. It was nice because the drinks we ordered at dinner the first night were waiting for us every night at dinner. The wife loved that.

 

Day 1 was awesome. We booked this trip over a year prior and the waiting was torture. I will say the first night was a bit rough and we rolled nicely. Made the pool fun. Caused me to wonder about our stop at Coco Cay.

 

Day 2 review tomorrow.

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Well... day 2 was our stop at Coco Cay. We were looking forward to this stop. We heard a lot about the island and were all excited. We ordered room service for breakfast and got everyone up at 7:30.

 

If you do not know, you can order room service, for free (except between midnight and 5 am.) Just hang the door hanger out the night before and order whatever you want for breakfast. We enjoy having coffee and breakfast on the balcony.

 

When we stepped outside to see Coco Cay, the weather was not on our side. You could see the waves breaking over the beaches and the captain announced we were in 10-12 foot swells. So...Coco Cay was cancelled. We did spend time on the balcony feeding the birds flying beside the ship. My dad even got one to take bread out of his hand.

 

Off to the pool. We were able to get on deck before the crowd and get good seats by the pool. however, we had to endure some rain showers but it cleared up after a while and it was an enjoyable day.

 

We spent days 2 and 3 at sea. Mainly enjoying the pool, drinking lots of rum and diet coke (me) and relaxing. Daughter number one enjoyed the Flow Rider. Son #1 spent most of his time in the teen club making friends.

 

Dinner day 2 was formal. It is fun to dress up and go to dinner. All of the family looked awesome and felt regal. We started with going to the show before dinner. The broadway shows were awesome. After dinner we went to Studio B for 80's night. That was a great time dancing and having flashbacks to high school. The wife and I and two daughters had a blast.

 

Day 3 at sea was relaxing. I think we left the pool only to get food. The wife and youngest did play a round of mini golf.

 

I encourage you to explore the ship. There is so much to offer. Almost too much to do that you can't do it all. My favorites were sitting on the promenade having a beer or glass of wine while waiting for the girls before dinner and going to the Connoisseur Club to have a cigar with my dad, and wife sometimes.

 

Tomorrow, day 4, St Thomas and Turtle Cove at Buck Island.

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Really enjoying your review - thank you. I did laugh when you described feeding the birds. On my 8/15 Freedom cruise, during Muster I was shocked to hear the Captain say "Please do not feed the birds, so they do not **** on the boat." (Funny - CC caught my misspelling and asterisked it!). I looked around, and everyone seemed to just take it in stride :-). First time in 20+ cruises I heard a Captain curse, but it was very funny!

 

Is there a mix of ages on your cruise? Any interesting entertainment? Did they add any activities to replace the missed port?

Edited by Truluv
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