Please share your experience Freedom with little ones!

[JENANDGENE]

We are thinking about booking Freedom 7-night Western caribbean after our week in Disney this coming November. It id my husband, myself, and 3 children ages 6,4, and 2.

 

Please share your experience cruising with little ones!!

 

Good? Bad? Are they too young?

 

Has anyone stayed in the interior family staterooms? Opinions??

[newbiecruiser09]

You may get more (and kinder, friendlier) responses if you post this on the Family Cruises board. There are a lot of folks there who have a TON of experience cruising with little ones. One thing I do know is that unless the kids are potty trained, they cannot swim on the ship. Have a great trip-Disney and a cruise, I'm jealous!

[jerin]

One thing I do know is that unless the kids are potty trained, they cannot swim on the ship.

F-Class ships actually have a Baby Splash Zone with special filtration just for the under-3 crowd.

 

OP, definitely check out the Family Cruising board. There are lots of BTDT parents of small cruisers.

[crusinmama06]

Great choice of ship class - our favorite. :D We've been on Freedom and Independence. My review of Independence is here...and since it is identical to Freedom, you can see what that ship would look like...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=923729

 

Your youngest will be too young to participate in Adventure Ocean (must be 3 and potty trained) - however, you can take that child to the 45 minute sessions of the Royal Tots.

 

I have both the Adventure Ocean and the Royal Tot schedules at the link in my signature. Just click on it, then Royal Caribbean Adventure Ocean

 

And the cruise critic Family Board is here, come on over and join us...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=49

[newbiecruiser09]

F-Class ships actually have a Baby Splash Zone with special filtration just for the under-3 crowd.

 

OP, definitely check out the Family Cruising board. There are lots of BTDT parents of small cruisers.

 

 

OOPS, sorry, forgot about the splash zone. Thanks for correcting me.

[jerin]

OOPS, sorry, forgot about the splash zone. Thanks for correcting me.

Lots of ships don't have them. It's definitely a factor to consider when choosing a cruise with that age group IMO. My own kids are past it, but I picked Liberty so that my 15 mo old niece would have that area to play in.

[VillaHappy]

We were just on the Freedom last month - LOVE HER! My 6yo dd is now addicted to cruising! Your two oldest can go to Adventure Ocean, the kids program. They have programs for 2 year olds, but you stay with them. :D

[mojomanny]

I am sure you will have an awesome time. My son has cruised three times since age 6, he has done Disney Magic, Mariner of the Seas and Freedom of the Seas. He always had a great time!

 

I hope the compasses and info I have posted will help you with planning your trip. You can view at the link in my signature

 

Steve

[Jiffymom]

My two favorite ships are RCCL and Celebrity. But honestly I would think Disney would be best for children that young. We took my granddaughters age 5 and 3 on Disney, oh they loved it. I would never go on Disney without children just way to many children for my liking but we sure did have a ball on Disney with the girls. I just told myself this ones for the girls...

[QTMichele]

A perfect ship for your family, I would think. :) I took my kids this past January - they were 10, 6 and 14 months at the time. There were so many things to do that we couldn't do it all. Seriously. I was concerned about my 14 month old and things to do, but he was great. He loved the baby splash zone too (and the water was warm there).

 

We had 2 sets of connecting promenade cabins and 1 junior suite for our party - wish I could give you advice/experience on the family suites. I will say that Royal may allow you to put your youngest in a cabin for 4 since he/she is 2 (I know they allow this for under 2, but I'm not sure if it INCLUDES 2 year olds). We had the 2 cabins and it was wonderful to have the extra space/bathroom. I've seen lots of pictures of the family staterooms - they look nice too - and have a tub, which is great for the little ones.

 

Check out my review of the Freedom in my signature... lots of photos. :)

[JENANDGENE]

My two favorite ships are RCCL and Celebrity. But honestly I would think Disney would be best for children that young. We took my granddaughters age 5 and 3 on Disney, oh they loved it. I would never go on Disney without children just way to many children for my liking but we sure did have a ball on Disney with the girls. I just told myself this ones for the girls...

 

I contemlated this, however our SEVEN day cruise on Freedom is about comprable in rice to what THREE days on Disney would have been....

 

It's just out of our price range.....

[mandaleigh]

We have taken our son on 2 cruises... the Norweigian Dream and the Liberty of the Seas. He just loves being on a ship, but he loved the Liberty.

 

His favorite hang out places were the H2Ozone, minigolf and watching people on the flowrider.

 

He enjoyed going to the kids club, be prepared to bring home lots of "school-like" art projects.

 

We would never do a Disney Cruise due to the cost, it's unbelievable! Although, I think your Freedom Class ships have plenty to offer to keep your little ones busy.

 

Have you decided what to do it port? We are doing western in June if you'd like some ideas of what we have planned.

[javma]

My first CC post after lots of lurking. You inspired me to respond! :)

 

Although I can't speak about the FOS, a few years back we took our daughter (almost 3 at the time) on the Navigator of the Seas, and stayed in an ocean-view family stateroom. It was a great family vacation, and the family stateroom with the separate sleeping area was perfect for us. We are taking our now 3 kids (6, 3 and 11 months) on the Oasis next month (4/17) and we cannot wait. We had wanted to book a family stateroom but they were sold out, so we have two adjoining ocean balcony cabins, which I think will be terrific.

 

There is so much to do on the ships--I think the Freedom is an excellent choice!

 

We had contemplated going on Disney, but my kids wanted to go on the Oasis (and would have been happy on a Freedom class, too)--they can't get enough of the photos of the H2O zone and the mini golf! And mom and dad are happy that we can leave all 3 kids in the kid's programs if we want a few hours of adult time; the Oasis is the unique ship that allows that for the babies.

 

Have a great vacation!

[JENANDGENE]

We have taken our son on 2 cruises... the Norweigian Dream and the Liberty of the Seas. He just loves being on a ship, but he loved the Liberty.

 

His favorite hang out places were the H2Ozone, minigolf and watching people on the flowrider.

 

He enjoyed going to the kids club, be prepared to bring home lots of "school-like" art projects.

 

We would never do a Disney Cruise due to the cost, it's unbelievable! Although, I think your Freedom Class ships have plenty to offer to keep your little ones busy.

 

Have you decided what to do it port? We are doing western in June if you'd like some ideas of what we have planned.

 

Absolutely.... we are thinking of just kind of "winging it" as far as the ports... lots of beach time!

 

My first CC post after lots of lurking. You inspired me to respond! :)

 

Although I can't speak about the FOS, a few years back we took our daughter (almost 3 at the time) on the Navigator of the Seas, and stayed in an ocean-view family stateroom. It was a great family vacation, and the family stateroom with the separate sleeping area was perfect for us. We are taking our now 3 kids (6, 3 and 11 months) on the Oasis next month (4/17) and we cannot wait. We had wanted to book a family stateroom but they were sold out, so we have two adjoining ocean balcony cabins, which I think will be terrific.

 

There is so much to do on the ships--I think the Freedom is an excellent choice!

 

We had contemplated going on Disney, but my kids wanted to go on the Oasis (and would have been happy on a Freedom class, too)--they can't get enough of the photos of the H2O zone and the mini golf! And mom and dad are happy that we can leave all 3 kids in the kid's programs if we want a few hours of adult time; the Oasis is the unique ship that allows that for the babies.

 

Have a great vacation!

 

 

I hope you both have GREAT vacations and I would LOVE to hear about your experiences with the kids when you get back!!!!

 

:) :)