Freedom Review w/Pics: 4/3-4/10/2011, some good, some bad, some meh.

[BND]

We'll be in a GS in Oct and want a cabana. Let's just say I wouldn't be happy if I couldn't get one so... Do you know how long the current concierge will be onboard? Also, I know there's email addresses for them, but I can never remember what they are. Does anyone know? On Explorer, we were in a GS, but we never got an email from the concierge like we were supposed to. There were, however, cabanas available after we were onboard for several days (Labadee was our last port). We didn't book one, but our friends did so we were with them in theirs. We absolutely want one this time and I'd prefer to arrange it ahead of time before they all get reserved. I'm actually surprised the concierge let you have one that quickly. They usually go around the CL and offer them there before offering them to D+ and them letting others book them.

[beachgrl001]

Ahhh, my older son. Noah is 14, will be 15 in 2 weeks, and is a indoor-loving, skateboarding, video game playing grouch. If not for his PS3 being with him on the ship, the arcade, and the flowrider, he would be miserable. But he LOVED the Flowrider, had a blast in Jamaica, and he hung out mosty in the arcade.:)

 

 

lol my son will be 17 by the time of the cruise and he is the same way(except it's the ds for him lol). I dont think he would even want to go on the flow rider but he would probably enjoy watching people on it ;) I mainly wanted him to go because it would be nice to see the islands I am really excited about Jamaica! I think he would love it, I am going to keep trying...thanks :)

[beachgrl001]

Here's a new feature.

 

 

OMG soooo cute!!! My son(6 yrs) is going to love this! He picked this cruise over the Disney cruise because of the way the ship looked and the characters! Were the Characters easy to find? do they give you something that tells where they will be and when?

thanks :)

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

How was the seating on sea days? Was there open seating throughout the day for areas not near the pool?

 

Anyone know how early you have to arrive in the evenings to get a seat for the outside movie nights?

 

I never had any problems finding pool seating, however we were always at the kids area, never by the main pool.

 

There was plenty of seating to watch the big screen, mostly because it was rather cool and windy each night, not that many people out there.

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

We cruised on the Freedom last August and the food in the MDR and WJ was not good. We only ate once in the MDR and only made it half way through the meal and decided we had enough. We got up and left.

 

Fain or Goldstein (too lazy to go and look it up) made a statement on one of the recent quarterly earning calls that the price of food was rising and that those in charge had been given their marching orders to control it. The only way to control it is cut back on the quality of ingredients used. Now that the price of fuel is cutting even deeper into their bottom line (which will also cause the price of food to continue to increase), expect more cuts.

 

We now stay away from the WJ and MDR and dine in the specialty dining restaurants if possible. When I first started cruising with RCI their food was really good for a mass market line. Better than Carnival IMO but in the last couple of years it's obvious that Goldsteins bean counting ways have brought a decline in overall food quality.

 

Yes, by far, the food was my major, almost only complaint. But it's a big one. Most of the WJ food was just awful. I saw a huge drop in both quality and variety. It's like they wanted to feed people pizza and burgers for a week. No thanks.

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

Do you recall what movies were shown on the screen by the pool?

 

I am sure of the 2 we watched, Harry Potter & Deathly Hallows I, and Wizard of Oz.:)

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

I laughed so hard when I read this. I often joke that in the future my children will wonder if I ever vacationed with them since I was always behind the camera, not in the pictures.

 

I loved your idea about Rose Hall and have mentioned it to our group. (There's 19 of us in our group.) I saw you arranged your own transportation. Did you have any trouble finding a taxi for your group? I am just wondering how dificult it would be transport 19, if we will have any problems finding a taxi. At $15 per person thats $285 for transportation. I figure getting our own transportation might be cheaper.

 

By the way, loved your facebook pictures. Thanks for the review.

 

Yeah, I am in like 5 pics out of 500!! As for Rose Hall, your group will have a splendid time there. You can probably grab a few vans and be fine, there is ample transportation of all types at Falmouth, since everyone is going someplace else!!:)

 

Have a great time.

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

We'll be in a GS in Oct and want a cabana. Let's just say I wouldn't be happy if I couldn't get one so... Do you know how long the current concierge will be onboard? Also, I know there's email addresses for them, but I can never remember what they are. Does anyone know? On Explorer, we were in a GS, but we never got an email from the concierge like we were supposed to. There were, however, cabanas available after we were onboard for several days (Labadee was our last port). We didn't book one, but our friends did so we were with them in theirs. We absolutely want one this time and I'd prefer to arrange it ahead of time before they all get reserved. I'm actually surprised the concierge let you have one that quickly. They usually go around the CL and offer them there before offering them to D+ and them letting others book them.

 

I'm VERY convincing.....:p

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

OMG soooo cute!!! My son(6 yrs) is going to love this! He picked this cruise over the Disney cruise because of the way the ship looked and the characters! Were the Characters easy to find? do they give you something that tells where they will be and when?

thanks :)

 

The characters were not that easy to find, except for the times listed in the Compass for the photo ops.

 

We did official photo ops with Shrek, Alex the Lion and Gloria the Hippo. These were all listed in the Compass. The pic with Po the Panda was just luck, he passed by while we were waiting in the loooooooong line to get a tattoo. Your best bet, what we did, was arrive for the Dreamworks parade an hour early, get a table at the Cupcake shop or at the cafe, and all the characters will be inches from your seat.;)

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

lol my son will be 17 by the time of the cruise and he is the same way(except it's the ds for him lol). I dont think he would even want to go on the flow rider but he would probably enjoy watching people on it ;) I mainly wanted him to go because it would be nice to see the islands I am really excited about Jamaica! I think he would love it, I am going to keep trying...thanks :)

 

He will have a great time, even if he refuses to admit it.;)

[vinman13]

You said you spent the day at the Orlando Airport Hyatt. What was it that you enjoyed? We are spending a pre and post day at the hotel. Thank you in advance for any info.

[GSuitesailing]

We were on the same cruise and looked for you at the M&M but didn't see you there. Did you go?

 

I couldn't agree more about the food, the variety and quality. It was our worst cruise ever for food. Service in the MDR was barely average and the meals, below average. We ordered the Chops Filet and 2 of 3 times it was either overcooked or undercooked.

 

We did go to Johnny Rockets, the wait was 50 minutes, but the food was good. We did Portifino also, the food and the service were outstanding.

 

In the CL, there was a group of 5 who were staying in a suite, and thought they had reserved a cabana. They were told it wasn't available and a small scene was made.

 

We thought Rahul was a great concierge. He was always pleasant, professional and made himself available.

 

Realizing no trip will ever be perfect, we thought Freedom was a great ship, we had a great time and look forward to sailing on her again someday.

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

You said you spent the day at the Orlando Airport Hyatt. What was it that you enjoyed? We are spending a pre and post day at the hotel. Thank you in advance for any info.

 

Here's a pic of the hotel taken from our balcony in the hotel:

 

I've been in lots of airport hotels, this might be the best. Clean, nice rooms playing lots of good movies that I wanted to see. A nice restaurant/bar, and the best thing: they will take your luggage all the way to the check in at your airline counter. Like I said, best $80 I ever spent. We were at the hotel from 11:30am until 5:00pm, had a lovely, relaxing day before our flight.

 

As a comparison, the Miami Airport Hotel is a DUMP, and FLL doesn't even have one, at least not that I could ever find. Enjoy it, we did.:)

[GSuitesailing]

The Hyatt looks beautiful! Thanks for the info. Good to have for the future.

[vinman13]

Did you happen to use the pool at the Hyatt if so how was it?

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

We were on the same cruise and looked for you at the M&M but didn't see you there. Did you go?

 

I couldn't agree more about the food, the variety and quality. It was our worst cruise ever for food. Service in the MDR was barely average and the meals, below average. We ordered the Chops Filet and 2 of 3 times it was either overcooked or undercooked.

 

We did go to Johnny Rockets, the wait was 50 minutes, but the food was good. We did Portifino also, the food and the service were outstanding.

 

In the CL, there was a group of 5 who were staying in a suite, and thought they had reserved a cabana. They were told it wasn't available and a small scene was made.

 

We thought Rahul was a great concierge. He was always pleasant, professional and made himself available.

 

Realizing no trip will ever be perfect, we thought Freedom was a great ship, we had a great time and look forward to sailing on her again someday.

 

We weren't at the M & M because we never got our invitations.:mad:

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

Did you happen to use the pool at the Hyatt if so how was it?

 

Never saw it, too busy watching movies in the room. But everything in this place was nice, I can't imagine the pool was any different.:)

[Arch713]

Thank you so much for you review and all of the information you offered! It is greatly appreciated!

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

Thank you so much for you review and all of the information you offered! It is greatly appreciated!

 

Happy to do it, that's what CC is for!!:)

[jujucruisegirl]

How many stayed in one JS? Did the extra people sleep on pull out sofas

or pullman beds? I am just trying to figure out 1 JS for 3 adults and 1 child, or 2 balcony rooms. Love those AFTS. I am thinking about FOS

in September. thanks

[Buccaneergirl]

Noah flowriding. FYI, if your kid wants to use teh flowrider, here are some things to know:

 

 

3. If you ride it too long without falling, the crew tries to make you fall so they can move on to the next person in line.

 

 

Your son looks like he is having a great time! How long did he stay on?

When dh was on the flowrider there was a barrier in the middle so 2 people could go at the same time and he stayed on for awhile. They really tried to make him fall off? Not good!!:eek:

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

I just thought of one more point I didn't address: Freedom Class or Voyager Class?

 

This question is asked alot. I have now been on Voyager, Navigator, Mariner and Freedom. Before this cruise, when asked what my favorite ship was, I would always say Navigator, with Voyager as a close second. What do I say now??

 

Same thing. I like a lot of the features on Freedom. I love the kid's pool area, the cupcakes, the flowrider, the movie screen at the pool, and the whole Dreamworks experience. However, I still had better cruises on the Voyager class ships. And I still love leaving from Galveston, and I have kinda gotten attached to sailing with those Terrific Texans!!

 

My perfect ship would be the Voyager, with the Navigator's crew, sailing out of Galveston year round, with all of the features from the Freedom added. I can dream, right?:D:rolleyes:

[im4clowns]

 

In case you ever wondered what the minimum age was for rock climbing, it's 6, yay!! Elijah made it about 3/4 of the way to the top.

 

 

aww...he looks so proud of himself!! great pic

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

How many stayed in one JS? Did the extra people sleep on pull out sofas

or pullman beds? I am just trying to figure out 1 JS for 3 adults and 1 child, or 2 balcony rooms. Love those AFTS. I am thinking about FOS

in September. thanks

 

 

We had 2 aft JSs side by side, me, husband and small son in 1, grandma and big son in the other. My son had the full sized sofa bed in our cabin.

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

Your son looks like he is having a great time! How long did he stay on?

When dh was on the flowrider there was a barrier in the middle so 2 people could go at the same time and he stayed on for awhile. They really tried to make him fall off? Not good!!:eek:

 

 

They tried to make everyone fall if they rode too long, not just my son. They would splash them, tell them to try to do tricks, to move the line along. They finally told my son to do a barrel roll to make him fall, they did it with lots of kids. He did it successfully the 1st time and stayed up for a few more minutes. They they told him to try a double roll and he finally fell off. He was up for like 6 or 7 minutes maybe?:D