Review: Freedom of the Seas 9/13/09 Western Caribbean

[isk8]

Freedom of the Seas Western Caribbean – Sept 13-20th

 

Just got back from our first family cruise with my four year old son. We had 6 people in our party – me (34), DH (35), DS (4), Grandma (my mom – 62), Sister (31), Sister’s Boyfriend (37??). All of us, except for DS, had cruised before. This was my first cruise with Royal Caribbean.

 

We have traveled quite a bit with DS, but it’s been weekend trips or trips to visit family. This was our first real family vacation. Also, of note, DS has high functioning autism. We did have some difficulty with him on this trip. This was due mostly to some new behaviors he started to acquire about two months ago. I think if we would have sailed six months ago, we would have had a better/easier trip. But you never know what’s going to happen with kids with autism, so you just have to roll with it.

 

 

PRE-CRUISE:

We (me, DH, DS) flew Southwest from Oakland to Orlando (via Phoenix) on the Thursday before the cruise. No issues here. We fly SWA all the time.

 

We met up with Grandma, who flew Continental from Cleveland, at the SWA baggage claim. We got our luggage right away, and eventually we found our Town car driver from Florida Town car. He was not waiting for us; we had to wait for him.

 

When I made my reservations with Florida Town car, I told them how much luggage we expected to have (one big suitcase for each of us, plus several carry-ons) and they said no problem. I also told them my son will be using a car seat, and that we will be bringing it, and they said no problem. The car that picked us up was a 2000 Town car. It was able to hold all our stuff, but not without bungie-ing the trunk and putting some bags in the back seat with us. But the big problem was the car was too old to have LATCH, and with my son’s travel car seat (Safeguard Go), it needs an upper tether. I was angry to say the least. This service was not cheap. And I did tell them I was bringing a car seat. I didn’t realize I had to specifically ask if they were driving really old cars without LATCH. I specifically brought the Safeguard Go for our travels in Florida, and now I would not be able to use it. Luckily, I had also brought a backless booster for our cab rides in the ports, so this is what my son rode in from the airport to our hotel. I was VERY uncomfortable using it because I believe kids should be in a five point harness until they are older. If I didn’t have the backless booster, I don’t know what we would have done. I guess we would have cancelled Florida Town car on the spot and found something last minute at the airport.

 

Because Florida Town car does not have LATCH in their cars, I do not recommend them for families with kids in car seats. I’m sure there are plenty of other car services in Orlando that drive post-2002 cars, and we will use one of them next time. I have also learned to ask what year car will be picking us up.

 

We stayed at the Walt Disney Dolphin Hotel from Thursday until Sunday. I was very pleased with the Dolphin. We had a lot of fun at Disney World. I won’t go into detail, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask!

 

On Sunday, the town car picked us up at the Dolphin and drove us to Port Canaveral. We arrived at the port around 11 AM. We met my sister and her boyfriend at the port. They live in Florida, so they were able to drive there.

 

 

FREEDOM OF THE SEAS:

Check in was pretty quick. There was a line for security, but after that, the lines were minimal. No line to check into Deck 9. A small line to get on the boat. I think we were on by 11:45.

 

Overall, I was really pleased with this ship. She was in great shape. I found her fairly easy to navigate, although I had some trouble locating On-Air and Studio B and the Sports Deck. I only felt crowded when I went to the Windjammer even though there were 4300 people on board.

 

We had three cabins – DH and I were in 9318, a D1 Balcony on deck 9. Grandma and DS were in 9316, a D2 Balcony connecting to us. My sister and her boyfriend were across the hall in an interior stateroom. Our cabin was great. The only complaint I had were the pillows. They were lumpy. We were able to open the partition between our balcony and grandma’s balcony.

 

A note about the balcony…I was very nervous about having a balcony with my son, but everything turned out OK. He followed all the balcony rules. The door mechanism was a little tricky, so I think if he would have tried to get out by himself; it would have taken him a while to do it.

 

I did read on the boards that because the ship is so big, you hardly felt it move. That was not the case with us. I never got sick per se, but I did start to feel queasy the first evening, so I took meclizine for a few days. So did DH. Interestingly enough, the first evening, my son said there was “steam” in his tummy and he was acting off. We took this to mean he was feeling queasy, so we gave him half a tab of children’s Bonine. He was fine the remainder of the cruise. On the final night, going back to Port Canaveral, the ship was really rocking. Both DH and I got out of bed and took meclizine again.

 

 

KID STUFF:

My son enjoyed Adventure Ocean. He wasn’t begging to go, but when we suggested it, he thought it was a good idea. I think he went on four separate occasions for a few hours each. On our next cruise, I will utilize the kids’ club more. I was expecting grandma to spend more time with DS than she actually did, and this was one reason I didn’t use AO a lot the beginning of the week.

 

We did three family activities – 2 Family Disco nights in the Crypt and the Family Talent show. DS loved the Disco nights. The first night, he won a medal for being the best dancer. The second night, he won a pet from Pets at Sea (think Build a Bear) from a Macarena contest. The family talent show was fun. The Aquanauts (3-5 years) danced and played instruments to a song. The older kids sang, danced, and did soccer tricks. The Family Disco was one of the highlights of our trip.

 

Another highlight was the H2O Zone. It was awesome! DS and DH loved it. There were only 300 kids on our cruise, so the H2O Zone was never really crowded. We also played mini-golf once. DS made it though 4 holes, then he was done!

 

 

ADULT STUFF:

I only made it to one production show, the Welcome Aboard show. It was good. The comedian was funny. The couple that did an aerial show was very good. Unfortunately, we did not make it to the ice show. My sister said it was good.

 

DH and I had one morning to ourselves while DS was at AO. It was the morning we were docked in Jamaica. We went into the cantilevered whirlpool and the adults only solarium pool. Both were practically empty and very enjoyable. I then went to the gym to workout. Excellent gym. Very nice equipment. DH went to play basketball. He had fun, although some of the basketballs needed air.

 

On two nights when DS was in AO, we went to the casino, the wine bar, the champagne bar, and Olive or Twist. We enjoyed these venues. The casino was pretty crowded, and so was Olive or Twist, but the wine bar and the champagne bar were empty. The wine bar had a nicely edited wine list.

 

On our last sea day morning while DS was in AO, DH and I went to Trivia. It was fun. We did poorly. A lot of the questions were British themed. Of course, the British couple won.

 

I went to the spa twice for massages. The girls were nice and the massage was satisfactory. Not the best I’ve had, but not the worst either. And the girls were not pushy with the products.

 

One night, DH, Sister, Boyfriend, and I went to Chops while grandma took DS to Sorrento’s. The food in Chops was better than the food in the dining room. The service in Chops was not good. The dining room service was much better. For example, we ordered a cocktail when we sat down. I told our server that we wanted to enjoy our cocktail before we ordered. He went away, and came back 5 minutes later to take our order. The place was empty (we went at 6pm), and in fact, it never was full the entire night. So I don’t know why he was rushing us. And it seemed like the assistant was new. And wine was a complete afterthought. The servers could not tell us anything about the wine list. Chops was fun because we didn’t have to worry about DS. But, it in no way compared to the last specialty restaurant DH and I went to on a cruise – The Olympic on Celebrity’s Millennium. Chops was like going to a chain steak house. A bit better than say Outback, but not as good as Ruth Chris’. I would still recommend going to Chops if you like steak, but just know that you are not getting a gourmet experience.

 

 

DINING:

The dining surprised me. I was really expecting bad food, but in fact, the food was totally fine. We ate in the main dining room for dinner every night except for the Chops night. I enjoyed almost everything I ate. Was it excellent…no. But it was satisfactory. Our waiter was really great. He was great with DS. And DS was not his best in the dining room. We did have an issue with our table. We requested a table for 6 (mostly because of DS…I didn’t want anyone slowing the pace of the meal or having to put up with him if he acted out), and we were placed at a table for 10. No problem, my husband waited in line to change it. It was changed, we were confirmed for a table for six. The first night in the dining room, we had a table for 8. Two empty chairs. We asked the head waiter to make the table for six, and she said no problem for the next night. Well, the next night, it was still a table to 8. Apparently, two other people we supposed to be sitting with us even though we had confirmed a table for six. The two others never showed up anyway, so we had 2 empty chairs. It was difficult to talk to everyone. Anyway, the head waiter was annoyed at the situation (not at us), so she said no matter what happened, she would make a table for six and if the other two people showed up, she would deal with them. So by the fourth night, we had a table for six.

 

For lunch, we tried to go to the main dining room when it was open. The salad bar was tasty, as was the turkey burger. But, they have the same menu everyday. I found this odd. We did have to go to the Windjammer for lunch on the first day and one other day. I am not a fan of casual dining on the ship, but Windjammer was not bad. It was crowded. The food was fine for a buffet, and I actually really enjoyed the carved roast pork and the cappuccino cake.

 

For breakfast, we did room service every morning except for one. The menu was really limited, but it served its purpose. One morning, DH and I went to the main dining room. Again, I thought the menu was limited. I had eggs benedict. It was fine.

 

We had trouble with drinks for my son. You can only get juice at breakfast. So if my son wanted juice in the afternoon, we had to buy it from the bar. To get around this, we ordered extra juice from breakfast room service and kept it in the fridge. I found this annoying. He drank milk at lunch and at dinner.

 

 

PORTS:

Labadee: Our first stop was Labadee. We got off the ship fairly early. My son wore a life vest we brought from home on the tender. We went to the second beach, which I think was Barefoot Beach. We took a cabana toward the rear of the beach with a nice view of the ship and water. The beach was lovely. The water was OK. There were jellyfish, so you had to be careful. Also, DH, DS, and I got bit by something in the water. It stung and left small red marks on me, and it actually made DS cry and left three welts on his back. Both the red marks and the welts disappeared by the time we left the beach. We spent about two hours here. There is an Adventure Ocean area with a water park. My son did not use it, but it looked cool.

 

Ocho Rios: I stayed on the boat all day. DH, DS, Grandma, Sister and Boyfriend did get off the ship in the afternoon to browse the stores near the dock. It actually stormed while they were on land, but luckily, they were in a café at the time.

 

Grand Cayman: Today, DH, DS, and I went to Royal Palms. DS wore his life vest on the tender again. A ships’ officer walked by as we were putting the life vest on him and commented to us that we were very smart for bringing it for DS. Once on land, we walked to the bus depot. The bus depot is on the far side of the main street, so make sure you cross the street at a light near the dock. The bus was a van type of vehicle. No seatbelts. It did have high backed seats similar to a school bus. It dropped us off at the entrance to Royal Palms. Royal Palms was lovely. The water was fantastic. We ate lunch at the Reef Grill. We got there early, and it was very empty. By the time lunchtime rolled around, it was quite crowded. We left right after lunch. We grabbed a taxi right outside the door. The taxi was a van similar to the bus. No seatbelts. The bus was actually cheaper and more comfortable than the taxi. They crammed as many people as there were seats in the taxi.

 

Cozumel: We went to Nachi Cocum today. We took a taxi. No problem getting a taxi with seatbelts for my son’s backless booster. We told the taxi guy we wanted to ride in a car, not a van, and no problem. Nachi was really great. The beach/water was not as nice as Royal Palms, but we still enjoyed it. Having a pool was a plus. All food and drinks were included. Food was fair. Nothing special. DS was the only kid there. We met several people from the two Carnival ships that were in port.

 

Coming home from Nachi was an issue. First of all, it was raining. Then the taxi that they sent for us was a van. We specifically asked for a car because the seatbelts in a van are incompatible with the booster. They then sent a hatchback. Again, the seatbelts were incompatible with the booster. We asked them to send a sedan, just like the one that brought us here (this was all the same red and white taxi company). The guy said they only had vans and the hatchbacks, even though we just rode there in a sedan. Frustrating. Anyway, the third car they sent was another hatchback. And this time, the seat belts were held together by bungie cords. So we asked them to send a Jetta or a Nissan sedan. They finally sent a Jetta, which worked out fine. I tried to explain to the taxi guys why the seat belts in the vans and hatchbacks would not work, and they thought I was a lunatic. And they did call me some not nice things in Spanish, but I ignored it and pretended I didn’t understand them.

 

 

POST-CRUISE:

Getting off the ship was easy. We had an early color for our tags, but we just stayed in our cabin until we were ready to exit about 8:15AM. My son cried when he saw the crew waving good-bye on the TV channel. It was so sad! We got off the ship quickly, so we had to wait about 20 minutes for the town car to come. Same issue again with not having LATCH and not enough room for our stuff. Our flight home was fine. MCO – AUS – OAK.

 

 

WEIRDEST THING THAT HAPPENED:

The first night, I was sitting outside vintages with DS, Grandma, Sister and Boyfriend. DS was acting up. Prior to Vintages, DS and I had some pizza at Sorrento’s because DS had fallen asleep at dinner. In general, he was acting like a hooligan at Sorrento’s, and I was not happy with him. At Vintages, the ladies (me included) had a glass of wine. DS nonchalantly walked over to me, sat on my lap, and proceeded to knock over my glass of wine on purpose. After his behavior in Sorrento’s, I was mad. He’s 4; he knows not to dump a glass on purpose. So I made him sit on the opposite side of the table as me. He was still kind of lippy, so I went over to him and said we were going upstairs to the cabin. Of course he threw a fit because he wanted to stay on the Promenade with grandma. I scolded him, and told him if he continued to act like this, we would go upstairs. Anyway, he calmed down, and everything was fine. About 10 minutes later while we were getting ready to leave, a woman who was sitting inside the wine bar, came out and started yelling at me that I was inappropriate. I had no idea what she was talking about, so I told her to mind her own business. She continued to go on and on about how I was inappropriate and DS was tired and it was late (it was about 930pm). So I informed her that he was not tired because he just woke up from a 2 hour nap and it’s not late for us because we’re on Pacific Time and she should mind her own business. That still did not shut her up. She went off again about how I was inappropriate with my son. I told her she was completely rude, and she finally walked away. I guess she was drunk???? I was dumbstruck that anyone would walk up to a mother and say that. This incident totally ruined the first night of the cruise for me.

 

 

SUMMARY:

DS has been asking everyday to go back on vacation. This morning he said he didn’t want anyone else staying in our cabins. And tonight at dinner, he asked to go on the Freedom of the Seas again. This was a great experiment. I learned a lot. I’m sure we’ll cruise again, but I don’t know when. DS wound up regressing even more on the cruise. His one therapist thinks he regressed because everything was so new to him, and he didn’t know how to act. Now that we’re home, his behavior is improving. Maybe next cruise his behavior will be better since he’ll know what to expect.

 

I will do a few things differently the next cruise: 1. We’ll utilize the kids’ club more. 2. I’ll bring some toys for the cabin – I did bring books, crayons, and a dvd player, but for some reason, DS was not interested in them. We wound up buying what few toys they had in the gift shop. And DS asked DH to fly home, pick up some of his toys, and bring them back to the ship.

 

All in all, FOS was a great ship! Perfect for families. I'm really happy we sailed on her.

 

I'll post some pictures soon!

[sas80]

:eek: I cannot believe that that lady said those things to you! :eek: How totally inappropriate of her!

 

It's interesting that you mention that you felt a lot of movement on the ship. We were on Deck 10, 1400, all the way aft and really didn't feel very much movement at all....well, at least, no more than usual.

 

Since you liked the Freedom may I suggest that you consider sailing the Voyager out of Galveston? I was quite surprised with the fact that, besides the H20 zone, the flow rider and the cantilever whirlpool, I felt exactly like I was on the Voyager. The voyager tends to be a little less expensive than the Freedom and the plane ride will only be 3 hours.

 

I'm glad that you had a nice cruise. I'm sorry that we didn't have an opportunity to meet. You never did tell me what city you lived in. I think I mentioned in the roll call thread that I was born and raised in Piedmont, Ca. Flying Southwest out of Oakland, I'm wondering which part of the Oakland area you live in?

[isk8]

:

 

I'm glad that you had a nice cruise. I'm sorry that we didn't have an opportunity to meet. You never did tell me what city you lived in. I think I mentioned in the roll call thread that I was born and raised in Piedmont, Ca. Flying Southwest out of Oakland, I'm wondering which part of the Oakland area you live in?

 

 

We're in Martinez. We've been here for seven years. Before that, we lived in Walnut Creek, and before that, we lived in San Francisco.

 

We had planned on going to the Meet and Mingle, but DS was not cooperating! So we went to the H2O Zone instead. It was cloudy and windy that day, so it was empty, which was nice!

 

Were you able to visit the preschool in Jamaica??

[smoothy]

Thanks for the great review! What was up with that crazy lady, I could understand if you had backhanded your son, but she had no place interfering otherwise. She probably was drunk, nothing like liquid courage to make one brave enough to stick your nose into someone else's business.

 

Thanks also for the warning about Florida Town Car, I'll have to keep that in mind when we go next summer.

[Florida_cruisers]

Thanks for this review, we are sailing the Freedom in about two weeks to the Western Caribbean, so this really helped.

[sas80]

e\ek

We're in Martinez. We've been here for seven years. Before that, we lived in Walnut Creek, and before that, we live

d in San Francisco.

 

We had planned on going to the Meet and Mingle, but DS was not cooperating! So we went to the H2O Zone instead. It was cloudy and windy that day, so it was empty, which was nice!

 

Were you able to visit the preschool in Jamaica??

 

Ah! Mom lives in Walnut Creek, sister lives in Pittsburg, brother in Elk Grove, Grandma in Boulder Creek. I really miss Ca, and my family, but would never move back due to the state taxes and the cost of housing.

 

We did visit the preschool. Pictures are on picasa at

http://picasaweb.google.com/danthomson.com/JamaicaDonations#