Middle Aged Drama Queen's Eastern Carib Review: Fun on the FREEDOM!!!

[KansCocoa]

So…Deck 12…

 

At the very front of the ship (bow, for all you technical people), there is the Freedom Day Spa. I do NOT know what it is about spas (she’s her mother’s daughter, perhaps?), but Mickey is drawn to spas like a moth to flame. Seriously…she would grow roots and LIVE in a spa, if given the opportunity. I think she’s under the misguided belief that there are Fairy Godmothers who live in the Spa and will turn you from an Ugly Duckling into a Beautiful Swan in one visit. She doesn’t realize that A. that’s not gonna’ happen, and B. it costs a small fortune. Anyway…we DID visit the spa on this cruise, and I’ll review our experiences later.

 

Leaving the spa, you encounter the upper deck of the pool area. Besides loungers, there’s an awesome Jogging Track.

 

 

 

I loved those little stick figures. Seriously. What a great idea. If you’ve ever jogged on a ship track, you’ll appreciate these, because I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been jogging along and inadvertently ran over a walker who “switches” lanes at the last minute. With that said. I NEVER went jogging. I have a very good excuse, which you’ll hear about later.

 

 

 

So simple...and yet so smart.

 

And can I say, another good idea? I am just in awe of this ship. Seriously? A water fountain on a ship jogging track?! I am in HEAVEN!!!! But drat…no more excuses to stop at the Sky Bar while jogging and pick up a little adult refreshment.

 

 

The Sky Bar is located on Deck 12. And here’s another difference I had on this ship…besides not being able to utilize the “adult” areas. I didn’t get involved with my CC Roll Call before this sailing, as I pretty much booked at the last minute. Consequently, I didn’t have any friends. (Cue the violin music, please.) If there was a Sailaway Party at the Sky Bar, I missed it. I missed my CC friends that I’d made on the Serenade. So…a tip. GET INVOLVED WITH YOUR ROLL CALL. It will really add to the cruise experience, trust me.

 

 

While we were way up on Deck 12, we noticed we could see the parking lot where our car was parked. We thought that was cool.

 

See the silver car? That's us.

 

Our car is literally, like, RIGHT THERE. That’s how close the parking is to the ship. Amazing, huh?

 

 

Heading towards the back (or aft – impressed much?) of the ship, we encounter the Kiddie Area…we’ve got the Nursery, Adventure Ocean, and the Teen Area.

 

Let’s talk kids for a minute. I am pretty positive there were children on this particular cruise…I mean…really. It’s July – no school – and the ship is pretty child-friendly. With that said…I NEVER SAW THEM! Really. I kid you not, the FOS crew must have draped all the children in Invisibility Cloaks (shout out to Harry Potter), because they were non-existent. So…either the FOS is designed especially well to hide the children…or they were flying under my radar. I’m just mentioning this because I’ve read a lot of reviews where people complain about the excessive children running around. Barbarians are bad enough, but when they’re under 4’ tall and are loud and noisy and clumsy, then it can be dreadful, for some cruisers. But, again – I never noticed them.

 

However. There WAS a group onboard who were not, unfortunately, invisible. And they were loud. And they were somewhat…annoying. We’ll talk about that particular group later.

 

 

 

Never to be seen again by us on this cruise....sigh.

 

The Teen Fuel Disco and Living Room are located on Deck 12, as well. I tried and tried and tried to convince Mickey to get involved in the Teen Club…to no avail. She claims that ALL the teenagers onboard…yes…EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM…had already buddied up into cliques before we got onboard at 11:30 am. Amazing, huh? I KNOW. So…she wasn’t about to try and break through those pre-established cliques, no matter what I tried to bribe her with. No way, no how. Therefore…I cannot review the Teen Club and activities. If I could have passed myself off as a 14-year old, I would have been there, as it looked fun.

 

 

 

Just a small part of the Monstrous Arcade...yikes. Can you imagine how much $$$ Mickey could have rang up HERE if given free reign? I shudder to think about it...

Speaking of bribes…the one thing I did NOT bribe her with was access to the Arcade, located right by the Teen area. Nope. After the debacle on the Serenade, where Mickey racked up an astonishing $220 in charges, she was BANNED from the arcade. Yes. I am a MEAN mama…and I like it. Oh, she tried to pass it off like she wouldn’t really miss it, but I could see her looking longingly at the Arcade-On-Steroids as we passed by. So sad, too bad.

 

 

 

Feeling hungry???

 

Our last area to visit on Deck 12 is the famous Johnny Rockets, the delicious 50’s diner. We used our Diamond coupon from our C&A book and had lunch here one day, which I’ll talk about later….The main purpose of that visit was to embarrass my daughter, because hey? Isn’t that what Mother/Daughter trips are FOR??!!!

 

Moving on....

 

[KansCocoa]

Sherri,

 

We were on this sailing as well, if I can jump ahead, did you happen to do a private excursion on St. Maarten?

 

Yes! We did Bernard's tour...were you on that??

[Tkriger]

Yes! We did Bernard's tour...were you on that??

 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure we were on your bus with 'Sexy' as the driver. I think you and your daughter were sitting behind us (if not it was another mother and daughter there by themselves.)

[erniebert]

Yes! We did Bernard's tour...were you on that??

 

Loving the detail in your review - we're heading on our first ever cruise for our honeymoon in September! And we are hoping to book this excursion so can't wait to hear about it!!

[KansCocoa]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure we were on your bus with 'Sexy' as the driver. I think you and your daughter were sitting behind us (if not it was another mother and daughter there by themselves.)

 

YES! We had Sexy! That was us...we were on the right side of the bus, right by the door. And I had a hard time getting in and out of that seat, which you'll read about later...so if I was ever slow and held you up, I'm sorry! :(

 

But yes...that was Mickey and I!

[KansCocoa]

 

We’re now down to Deck 11…our favorite deck!

 

Really. We LOVE Deck 11…because, when you think about it, this is the ONLY deck you need to survive on a cruise ship. Yup. You’ve got the gym, the pool and the buffet. What else do you possibly need?

 

A bed? Pffffft. Just sleep on the lounger by the pool. A shower? Pfffft. Just use the gym showers.

 

If Mickey can grow roots and live in the spa, then I can grow roots and live on Deck 11 (which would take "Chair Hog" to a whole new level.)

 

Let’s start with the gym. Wait. The “Shipshape Fitness Center”, officially.

 

Who says, "Honey, I'm going to the Shipshape Center?" I mean, really...we ALL say, "I'm going to the gym."

 

 

This is at the very front of the ship, which was directly above our cabin. We LOVED the gym…lots of equipment, a HUGE area to do stretch or other classes in, and a regulation-sized boxing ring, which never seemed to be utilized and was for me, wasted space.

 

 

The Boxing Ring...with Invisible Boxers....

 

 

On the Radiance-class ships, the gym sits ABOVE the spa. This creates a noise issue in the spa, which can be disconcerting. When trying to relax during a massage, you'll be startled awake with a giant clang of weights hitting the floor above your head. The designers got smart on the Freedom, and put the gym UNDER the spa. Voila. No more noise issues in the spa. Point: Freedom

 

 

 

Leaving the gym area and heading outside, you’ll encounter the peaceful Solarium and the fancy whirlpools that jut out from the side of the ship.

 

I would have need to use this later in the trip...and it was heavenly.

 

 

The Solarium was packed – PACKED – just about every single day, and I’m sure it was because of the nice, foamy cushions to be found on the lounge chairs. This is where I'd make my bed if I were to live on Deck 11. Since I didn’t go to the Diamond Lounge before dinner, the Solarium became my refuge, of sorts, in the late afternoon...give me a Diet Coke, my Kindle, and a soft, padded lounge chair – and I was a happy girl.

 

Paradise...by the poolside...

 

 

 

Besides the solarium pool, there are three other pools located here… the H20 Zone is the Kiddie Pool, and perhaps this is where all those invisible children were hanging out.

 

Doesn't it look FUN?!

 

 

Lots of color, sculptures, fountains, water canons…it looked like a lot of fun. Here’s another shot that I took that afternoon…note the invisible children in this photo, as they’re EVERYWHERE:

 

 

 

As I can only post six photos per post (THAT sounded redundant), I have to put the rest of Deck 11 in the next post…which I’ll be sure to post…very soon…so stay posted.

 

 

[janetz]

I'm happy to hear from all of my Florida neighbors...especially Estero! Wow! You literally are right down the road from me! We love southwest Florida...it's just very laid back, and very pretty...and yes. It's hot. But that's what pools and a/c was invented for!!!

 

I'm also tickled to hear about everyone's surprises - whether they "worked" - or didn't work!!! I was BUSTING to tell her...BUSTING! But I pulled it off. Don't know if I can do that again or not, thought, as that was HARD.

 

Thanks, everyone, for stopping by and reading...more to come...more photos to come...more surprises to come...

 

 

What a great story about surprising your daughter. How did she not see you give the luggage to the porters? Cant wait to read the rest. :)

[PCWalton1]

Sherri,

Putting on the seat belt and getting ready for another exciting ride. :D We have not been on anything bigger than Voyager class, but we are heading to Allure in May. This ship looks amazing.

 

Bill

[MauiGirl55]

I LIKE that - the Gold Medal! I would sleep with it under my pillow, if given the chance!!!

 

I'm south...Lake Winnebago...the boonies of Cass County. :D

 

Can I sneak into your luggage with you on your upcoming cruise??!!

 

By all means--we'd have a BLAST! I'll be at a conference in Orlando at the Ritz Carlton for 4 days pre-cruise--have to get into party mode early, you know!;)

[Coolcruise02]

LOVED your last review; can't wait for more! :)

[Tkriger]

YES! We had Sexy! That was us...we were on the right side of the bus, right by the door. And I had a hard time getting in and out of that seat, which you'll read about later...so if I was ever slow and held you up, I'm sorry! :(

 

But yes...that was Mickey and I!

 

Dont worry, we didng notice you slowing anyone down!

 

We became the designated bartenders because we were sitting right in front of the coolers. Although I thought it was strange how much of the rum punch your daughter drank! (ha, just kidding...that stuff was super strong though).

 

Overall it was a great week, despite the hoards of unsupervised Brazillian teenagers that were always running amok.

[KansCocoa]

Dont worry, we didng notice you slowing anyone down!

 

We became the designated bartenders because we were sitting right in front of the coolers. Although I thought it was strange how much of the rum punch your daughter drank! (ha, just kidding...that stuff was super strong though).

 

Overall it was a great week, despite the hoards of unsupervised Brazillian teenagers that were always running amok.

 

I never did try the rum punch - glad I didn't, then! Since I was the designated parent (Dang...if I'd had Hubby Mike along, THEN I could have indulged!)

 

And WORD about the Brazilian groups - that's what I was alluding to in my above post about a certain group NOT being invisible and quiet. Sheesh. It WAS a great week, wasn't it? Despite not being able to go to Coco Cay...we still had a lot of fun!

[KansCocoa]

What a great story about surprising your daughter. How did she not see you give the luggage to the porters? Cant wait to read the rest. :)

 

That's when I told her we were going to try and just hop onboard at the last minute and see if they had room. She kinda' knew better - that you can't just show up at the dock and jump on, because we'd had this discussion weeks before, when we were sailing on the Serenade...so she was now very worried that someone was going to say, "NO! No cruise for you!!!" :D

[KansCocoa]

Sherri,

Putting on the seat belt and getting ready for another exciting ride. :D We have not been on anything bigger than Voyager class, but we are heading to Allure in May. This ship looks amazing.

 

Bill

 

Thanks, Bill! Bottom line - this ship WAS amazing...it has me tempted...a little...to do the Allure or Oasis. Still not sure if I can do the megaships, because of my ability to get lost...and not liking mega crowds...but I'm sure tempted!

 

Can't wait to see your photos of the Allure - I'll be looking for them! :)

[Gordo]

Sherri - So happy we found this thread -we loved your Serenade review and look forward to reading about your Freedom experience.

[erin_cruisers]

VERY happy you are writing a review of Freedom. :D since I have two cruises booked on her in September.

 

I think its a pretty cool thing to do for your daughter. ;) Keeping it a secret and all.

 

I like all the pics, and can't wait to read / see more.

[las313]

I am so looking forward to the "new" shipboard tour. Your reporting is first rate. I loved the Seranade freport.

We are in an aft facing cabin on the Explorer to Bermuda along with my DD and SIL. Celebrating our 50th anniversary in Nov.

Since your last tour, we booked a balcony on Indy in Jan for 6 nights. Along with my sister, her husband, his sister and her husband. It is a special group of New England area retired Jewish police, firemen and public officials. My DH and BIL are both retired police. Isn't Indy a sister ship to the Freedom?

Looking forward to the rest of the tour.

louise in FLA

[KansCocoa]

For ships sailing in the Caribbean, it’s important that they have the ultimate pool…and Freedom, I think, delivers. Officially, there are “two” pools – the “Main” pool and the “Sports” pool – they mirror each other and are divided by a wooden platform. The platform is used for some of the pool games & activities, such as line dancing, but if it were me – I’d make the pools a tad bit bigger. FYI: The Wooden platform can get slick when wet. And since it sits between two pools...it's pretty much always wet. I kinda' learned this the hard way...so I'm just passing on what I learned. The Sports Pool would be “laps only” swimming from 6:00 am to 9:00 am each morning.

 

This is the "Main" pool...the Sports pool is to the right....

 

The 18.5’ video screen overlooking the pool area is pretty cool, especially when used to show the Belly Flop Contest, for instance. However…when used to show a documentary on chimpanzees, it was rather a waste (yawn.) Don’t get me wrong – I think monkeys are darn cute; but while sailing along in the beautiful Caribbean, I’d rather be watching something more…tropical. Or lively. Monkeys at Sea just doesn’t cut it. More often than not, there'd be music videos showing on the big screen.

 

 

These chairs were on the St. Tropez deck area...

 

There are multi-levels of seating around the pool…and as many chairs as there are, they still fill up FAST and OFTEN. Unless I woke at the crack of dawn and participated in the great Land Rush for a pool chair, I’d be out of luck.

 

 

 

We didn't sail in a suite for this cruise, so we didn't utilize any suite benefits. However, there ARE reserved seats for the suite guests, but they are WAAAAY up on the highest deck. You are far from the pool; you're far from the bar services; and you're just...far. Some people may like that - getting away from everyone and everything; I'd prefer to be a little more on ground level, so to speak. Different strokes and all that....if I WERE staying in a suite, I don't know that I'd use this area, unless I was desperate and couldn't find another lounge chair closer to the "action."

 

 

The Sprinkles ice-cream machine was extremely popular. Lines would be long on both sides; at some point during the cruise, one side was shut down, for unknown reasons, which just made the other line doubly long.

 

 

The chocolate and/or vanilla soft-serve ice cream was delicious and cool, especially on a hot day. If you’ve got the patience to stand in line (and the lines do move quickly), then Sprinkles is worth a stop.

 

There’s a small juice bar on Deck 11, called Squeeze, but it’s so small I didn’t even know it existed until about Day 6 of our cruise.

 

If you’re interested in Scuba Diving, there’s a SeaTrek Dive Shop at one end of the pool area. I’m not into scuba, but I did see some classes going on there during the week.

 

 

 

Yum. Food. Bring it on.

 

Deck 11 also has the staple of any cruise ship, the buffet – or the Windjammer, as it’s known here. I didn’t find it much different than the Serenade’s Windjammer…although I did miss my “secret seating” in the outdoor area at the back. The Freedom’s Jammer is completely enclosed, and it was always pretty crowded. The greeter – the guy who stands at the door of the Jammer and smiles at everyone and super-stealthily encourages everyone to use the Purell hand sanitizer – was an absolute joy on this sailing. Every single morning, he’d have on a different crazy hat and/or wig, and he was a show until himself. You couldn’t HELP but smile every morning when you saw him.

 

Jade, an Asian buffet, is located right at the entrance to the Windjammer…they had some healthier choices, sometimes, for lunch.

 

 

Chops Grille and Portofino are also on Deck 11, but we never went…this will be something I’ll save to do when Hubby Mike joins me. (Still working on him.)

 

 

Decks 10 and 9 were entirely stateroom areas…We were on Deck 9, in 9202, but we’ll come back later and do a tour of our cabin.

 

 

Deck 8 is predominantly stateroom areas, with the exception of an area towards the back, the Internet area (or Royal Caribbean Online, as it’s officially known.) There were quite a few little cubbies available to sit down and pay an exorbitant fee for an extremely slow internet service.

 

 

 

 

Deck 7’s only public area was the library, located directly beneath the Internet area on Deck 8. Quite a huge library – and I couldn’t help but think of Brainy Brad while visiting here. He would have loved this area. We didn't use it, because we'd loaded our Kindles before we sailed. It looked like a nice area to just sit and relax and enjoy the quiet. And there WERE signs encouraging people to be quiet - just like a "real" library...well. A "land-locked" library.

 

The tour continues...

 

[gypsyrose]

OMG!! When I read your last review I thought to myself, sure wish she would sail the Freedom (since I am going in Oct)..Hoorah!! LOVING your review and awesome pictures! Will steal them for our photo album because I never can seem to get good photos without hoards of people in them. Thank you for taking the time to review this ship.

Props to you for surprising your daughter. Don't think I could have held out that long.

Keep it coming girl.......and more pictures....

THANK YOU!!!!!!!

[KansCocoa]

OMG!! When I read your last review I thought to myself, sure wish she would sail the Freedom (since I am going in Oct)..Hoorah!! LOVING your review and awesome pictures! Will steal them for our photo album because I never can seem to get good photos without hoards of people in them. Thank you for taking the time to review this ship.

Props to you for surprising your daughter. Don't think I could have held out that long.

Keep it coming girl.......and more pictures....

THANK YOU!!!!!!!

 

You're welcome! :)

 

What cruise ship should I go on next?! :D

 

I only managed to get these photos because we decided to get our bearings before heading to the Windjammer...which is where 99.9% of the other passengers were at this time. So...get there early and take your photos before the rest of the barbarians descend! :)

[KansCocoa]

I have to interrupt this review because life is getting in the way...getting ready to head out tonight for dinner and theater....

 

...tomorrow is Mickey's 13th birthday! So...we'll be doing the usual party stuff, but I promise...PROMISE...to resume this review. Bear with me. Patience, please.

 

I'LL BE BACK. (Shout-out to The Terminator)

[gypsyrose]

What?! Birthday party, you must be kidding. We are all waiting. LOL!! Go have fun. You are blessed with a beautiful family...enjoy them!!

 

Question for when you come back...what did you think of the new menu and did you by chance take any pictures of the menus?

 

Again...thank you!!

[Pushka]

Sherri, your reviews are like a never ending box of chocolates!

 

Loved your serenade review even though I have no plans to travel on it. But your story telling is what keeps me reading.

 

And now you're doing the Freedom so I can kind of re live our recent Liberty Cruise.

 

PS we did the late departure option and it was brilliant having the ship almost to yourself. The worst thing though was battling against those happy new cruises who were boarding as we departed at 2pm. You actually have to physically push past them to get off. :(

[dreamer976]

Sherri, thanks for doing yet another entertaining and thorough review. Read every word and lingered at most of the pictures of your Mediterranean review and can't wait for the rest, but actually like the inability to post it all at once . . . something to look forward to when I get online each day.

 

I can't imagine how you could keep this cruise a secret from your daughter until just about "welcome aboard" time! I once planned a surprise trip to Vegas for my late husbands 50th birthday . . . making all the plans, including getting tickets to long-coveted popular and expensive shows, phone calls made out in the garage while he napped, secretly getting him the time off from work, making sure he'd have enough of his medications beforehand, etc. When he left for work (he was on a 4pm to midnight shift at the time) the afternoon before his birthday, I frantically got down the luggage, packed for both of us, finalized all of the paperwork, and put the actual airline tickets (yes, this was back when you still had printed tickets (and no on-line check-in :() into a box and wrapped it up for his birthday, which it would be when he returned home after midnight. Yes, he was surprised, especially when I told him that all he had to do was get himself to bed as we were being picked up in about four hours for our ride to the airport. It was a total success - just wish I couldl have come up with some type of a plan that would have included actually being in the car driving toward the airport before he knew.

 

You did good . . . will be thoroughly enjoying the rest of this review along with the many throngs of fans you have generated. Keep it up, you're making lots of people smile.

[Microcruiser]

Sherri...so excited to read this review! Loved the med review and took extensive notes so I know where to begin when I finally get to go. To give you an idea of how addicted to your review I am... I'm sitting in a theatre waiting for a production that my husband is playing the drums in reading your review. Love that this cruise was a surprise for Mickey.