Freedom of the Seas Western Caribbean review April 15-22

[keyarra]

About us- We are a family of 5 ranging in ages 1-40. We are from the Seattle area.

 

Post Cruise- We flew in Thursday night and stayed at the Wyndam Bonnet Creek resort. It is the only non-Disney resort on the Disney properties. It is a time share but we just said no thank you and turned the ringer off the phones. Great resort. Lots of pools, 2 lazy rivers 2 waterslides, 2 splash parks, a playground, mini golf, and great pool bars. We had a 2 bedroom apartment overlooking the pools. It was great.

 

Embarking- Very easy. We arrived to the port a little after 11am. We were on the boat by 11:30am. We received the kids muster station bracelets and off we went to get food. We headed to the Windjammer and it was busy. We all used hand sanitizer and off we went. 10 seconds later my 7 year old daughter starts screaming. She had too much sanitizer and it splashed up in her eye. I grabbed a complete strangers water glass and started pouring it in her eyes. Staff surrounded us instantly and took my husband and daughter off to rinse her eyes out. The other staff found us a table and a high chair. Thank goodness it was the only time any of us needed medical attention. After food we went to the ocean adventure club to get all 3 kids signed up. The ages are 7, 5, and 1. More on ocean adventure and royal babies later. After this we went to our rooms. We had 9396/9401. This was perfect for our family of 5. All 3 kids slept in the interior and us in the balcony. Our room attendant was Colin and he was awesome. We were messy but with 3 kids it was hard not to be. We all changed into swim gear and headed to the pools. We stayed at the pools until muster drill. I think it took 15 minutes for the drill and then back to the pools for sail away. After the party we changed and went to dinner. We had my time dinning and went at 6pm. Our waiter was Alicia and asst. waiter was Jason. Both were AWESOME!! My girls went to the ocean club every evening after dinner so Alicia would rush their order to have them down stairs by 6:30. After tonight the ocean adventure club would pick kids up and take them to kids club. It was awesome. After dinner we explored the ship and went to bed around 10. Yep we were party animals.

 

Day 1- Sea Day- It was windy but sunny. We woke early cause we had the character breakfast. The girls loved it. We spent a lot of time by the pools. My girls found the free ice cream rather quick and shared with their baby brother as often as I would let them. We ate at the Windjammer for lunch. We also had the meet and mingle where we met all the people we had been talking to online for up to 8 months. We also did a slo pull. We had a blast. It was formal night too so we got all dressed up and hit the town.

[keyarra]

Day 2 – Labadee- We had a hill top cabana on Nellies beach. We had access to barefoot beach which is where we parked ourselves. The cabana was a bit of a waste for us as we would have used it more if it was on the beach. Still it was worth it for the taxi all over the island and for the beach access. The baby and daddy spent 2.5 hours napping in the cabana. We had the unlimited pass for the coaster. It was $40 before the cruise and was worth it. One ride on the island cost $20. My girls dragged me on it 12 times.

[keyarra]

Day 3- Falmouth- we went to the port area and did some shopping. We also took a tram tour of Falmouth. We left the girls on board for this. We had some yummy jerk chicken and some great drinks in port. I really hope the port brings in more money for this area.

[keyarra]

Day 4- Grand Cayman- For me and the two younger kids we went to 7 mile beach for 2.5 hours while my hubs and oldest went to the sting rays. All had fun. We met back up at the port and headed out to lunch. We all headed back to the ship where naps happened all around. We heard 2 people almost missed the boat this day and have a huge gas bill from Royal. Gas for 3 tenders one to bring the passports to shore, one that brought the couple to the boat and then the tender who brought the passports back. We heard this from 2 gals that had dinner with the Captain.

 

 

[keyarra]

Day 5- Cozumel- We hit the sports deck and did the rock wall and flowrider. I wiped out and had to have the machine turned off. We all laughed. Then we went to Playa Mia- We did not book this on ship just went on our own. $30 cab ride and 2 adult admissions + 2 kids cost us $180. We did the best package for the adults then the $19 for the kids. Had to do it all over again I would have gone elsewhere. It was a great beach but the food could have and should have been better. Drinks were good though. My hubs also paid for him and my oldest to go snorkel for an hour. I think he paid $60 and ended up with a private tour and a great guide for snorkeling. Tonight was also formal but we skipped it. No one felt like dressing up.

[keyarra]

Day 6- At sea- very windy and raining. It was the first time the ship felt crowded. No worries we had fun and even hit the pools at one point. There was a talent show for the kids club and both girls participated. Oldest “danced” to miley and my 5 year old did the chicken dance with the aquanauts.

Day 7- disembarking- Very easy we were group 10 and scheduled to get called at 7:45am. Our group was called at 8:15am and we were through customs by 8:35am.

Food- Dining room rocked it. They always had hot yummy food. Staff was great with the kids. Windjammer was buffet food. It was good. Nothing great but still good. Jade always had yummy Asian food. We did not eat at chops or Portofino’s. The pizza place was a huge hit. The free fruit cups there fed my son a lot. Ben and Jerry’s was yummy and so was the cupcake place.

 

Staff- Always friendly and helpful. Always remembered my kids…not sure how they remember but they do. It made them feel special.

[keyarra]

Ocean Adventure- I cannot say enough good things about the ocean adventure staff. They were all friendly and seemed to love kids. My girls went every night and did lunch twice. We only stayed until 10 all nights but once when we stayed till 11pm. My oldest was torn between ocean adventure and the pools. I loved that if you had the kids done with dinner by 6:30pm and walked the kids to deck 4 dinning the ocean adventure staff was there waiting to take the kids up. They also did a kids club pirate parade. It was awesome.

 

Royal babies and Tots- Again very impressed. My son went there from 6pm-10pm every night. The 4 gals that worked there all spoiled him rotten. I allowed them to feed him dinner and snacks. He always cried for the first 5 minutes but played happily the entire time. You get a phone so they can call you or you them. They give you a written log of what your child did. Everything was on there from snacks, drinks, diaper changes, playtime, and dinner eaten. I loved it because we had a drama free dinner every night. It was well worth the $8 an hour. We decided to do this instead of the pay restaurants.

[keyarra]

Only downside for us was the 8:00-9:30 dead time if you didn’t do the main shows you were kind of out of luck. On our Carnival cruise we always had something we can do. Karaoke was sparse and started too late. No big deal we know traveling with a baby would cut into our time but I would have loved to have more options in the early evening.

Over all we think the ship was a bit too big for us. Beautiful ship though and loved our cruise. My girls loved their first cruise. I recommend this boat to anyone but if you have small kids it’s a big ship be prepared to carry your little ones.

Soda package and wine package were great. Well worth the money. We also bought the unlimited print and cd photo package before our cruise. We took home every printed picture…66 of them. They cost $20 each on board. We did most of those pictures on the first formal night to get good family pictures. Very Impressed!! Here are just a few…

[Wildcatfish]

Nice review! Thanks for sharing.

[loeytalldog]

I agree, nice review and thanks for sharing!

 

Lois

[rcprncss]

Thanks for sharing! Looks like a good time. I will be on board next. :) Looking forward to the cabana at Labadee. You said there was a taxi? Was that included in the cabana? I haven't heard of that yet.

 

Lovely family.

[keyarra]

Yep if you leave out of Barefoot beach there is a "taxi" that will take you to the market or the coaster or back to the ship area. Just tell the guys at the gate. In the Labadee section there is a picture of us on the big golf carts. They gave us a tour of the area in it. The market is huge.

[Cindylu2001]

Great review. Was anxious to find out how Freedom of the Seas was this was perfect. Thanks!

[boaterette]

Thank you for the review. Sounds like you had a good time.

[ksmdcruisin]

What a beautiful family you have! Looks like you all had a fantastic cruise. Thanks for sharing!

[Peggy13]

Good review - looking forward to the Freedom in June. Didn't know that about the photo package - will have to check it out; its so hard trying to pick the pictures you like!

[mel31]

What a beautiful family you have! Looks like you all had a fantastic cruise. Thanks for sharing!

 

I completely agree. Thanks for sharing your cruise and all the pictures. All the Best !! :)

 

Mark

[bigque]

Good review and nice pictures. I really like the pictures of the Hillside Cabana as I have one booked for my upcoming Freedom cruise and those are the best pics I seen of it yet. Thanks for sharing!

[molly361]

Great review and pics. What is the coasat for a cabana on Labadee? they look very nice

[Hoford]

What a lovely review...this has made me feel at ease with booking Freedom of the Sea's..Thank you :)

[RozisCruisin]

Thanks for sharing your experience! I absolutely love the picture of your son at Falmouth with his hair blowing back. You have the cutest family :-) Glad to hear everyone had a good time.

 

We will be sailing on FOS in a few weeks!

[njmomof2]

That picture of you on the Flowrider was with Gaga, one of the great Sports Staff. We love her and all of the staff at the Flowrider and the rock wall.

 

One question...you said you were in 9396/9401. How did you do that with 5 people? Did they allow the baby in one of the rooms since he was only 1 and used the crib? I have not heard of them allowing more than occupancy in any room (but maybe I'm wrong). Would love to know.

[RozisCruisin]

A question about the FlowRider!

Do they provide rashguards? I am afraid that my bathing suit won't stand a chance against the FlowRider! That will make for some real memories! (not the good kind!)

 

Should I bring my own rashguard/shorts? What did the ladies ride in?

Thanks again for the great info!

[keyarra]

That picture of you on the Flowrider was with Gaga, one of the great Sports Staff. We love her and all of the staff at the Flowrider and the rock wall.

 

One question...you said you were in 9396/9401. How did you do that with 5 people? Did they allow the baby in one of the rooms since he was only 1 and used the crib? I have not heard of them allowing more than occupancy in any room (but maybe I'm wrong). Would love to know.

 

I am not sure why they let the baby in. But I asked and they said yes. Maybe cause it was a pack n play and not a cot? It worked out great we wedged the crip in the mini hallway and put him to bed first. Then threatened getting tossed overboard if the girls woke him up. lol We pulled the curtain across the girls beds and yay it worked.

[keyarra]

A question about the FlowRider!

Do they provide rashguards? I am afraid that my bathing suit won't stand a chance against the FlowRider! That will make for some real memories! (not the good kind!)

 

Should I bring my own rashguard/shorts? What did the ladies ride in?

Thanks again for the great info!

 

No rash guard. I highly recommend a t-shirt and shorts. I lost my bottoms and it was one of the reasons I had trouble getting over the top of the flow rider. I decided to drown and pull them back on then go over with out them. lol.