Review of Freedom 9/2-9/9/12 sailing

[duncanmaria]

Very balanced and informative review. Thanks!

[rissandave]

If you want to get back into flying, ExpressJet (who i fly for) is supposed to be hiring this Fall.

[CFIGuy]

rissandave - Thanks for the heads up. I actually have a pretty good gig now (Ground Operations Coordinator), with pretty good pay. The regional industry seems to be having its ups and downs now with a lot of hiring, furloughs, and aircraft consolidation.

 

Lookingforward2 - Sorry I didn't get a chance to talk with you. I just grabbed a mat at Labadee and floated as far out as I could. After work, and having my mom, wife, and MIL with me, I needed the relaxation.

[CFIGuy]

Disembarkation and random thoughts...

 

So, as all vacations do, this one had to come to an end. We decided to do self disembarking, as we were going to try to catch a 10AM flight as this was the emptiest one of the day. Unfortunately, Port Canaveral ranks as about one of the worst disembarkations. We tried getting off the ship around 715ish. As soon as walked out of deck 4, Customs or the Port facility was not letting anyone in the building. After about a 15 min wait, they finally started letting people down. There are multiple escalators, and they apparently have a one hand rule, where you have to have one hand free. I only had one bag, but my mom had two. So, I stacked her bag on mine to get by this, but just a hassle. People take two bags up/down the escalators at the airport all day. Once we were in the building, it took a solid 15 mins to get to a customs agent. Honestly though, the inside of the building wasn't bad. The outside of the building was what was bad. They just didn't have enough "pavement" for all of the vans/buses/taxis/etc. I never noticed this problem at the other RCI ports I have been to. By the way, this is also the only port I have been to where the commercial vehicles have to pay a toll to enter the facility... After Marlene picked us up, it was a short 45 min drive to MCO. We were checked in and through security by 9AM. The security and check in lines were very short, but flight loads were also very light overall. Flight back home was uneventful, and we were home in time for the 1PM games.

 

A couple of random thoughts and questions. First is relating to the internet coupon in the C&A book. The way I read it was $7.50 credit or 15% off a package, yet when I tried to get my $7.50 credit, I was told only for packages. I have always had this applied a la carte in the past. Has anyone else had issues with this? Will probably send C&A an e-mail over this. I only had $9 in internet charges (checking flight loads home), but seems silly they have a coupon and won't allow usage.

 

We actually utilized the ships photographers on this cruise, and became friendly with one photographer in particular (although he never took our picture - wrong times or locations). He kind of steered us to which photographers to use, and his opinions definitely rang true. Our first "white screen" photo session lasted about 2 mins and produced 3 photos. Our second session with a different photographer was about 10 mins and included probably 20 photos, the majority of which were purchased by me and the moms.

 

The On-Air bar seemed pretty quiet for the week. The happy hour special did get people in for the margaritas though, especially on the evening ice show nights. I also forgot to mention the casino. We got our free keychain on the spin to win like normal. Our match play coupons ended up being zeroed out. Guess it makes up for last time when we won on all of them. The wife and I went gambling one night and lost our big stake of $5 each, her on penny slots, and me on sliders (the most evil game in the casino). Another evening, when my son was sleeping, my wife slipped downstairs and turned $5 into $35.

 

We noticed a couple of areas with a sewage smell on board the ship. It seemed to linger by the basketball court/rock wall/golf course for the majority of the week. We also had an issue in our hallway, but I think that was from a ceiling leak in the hallway that was being repaired on day 1.

 

Smoking on the ship was a non issue. I think the only places on board were the second floor of the Crypt (never went there), the Cigar bar, and the Casino. If there was a smoking bar up top, we also never made it there. There were a lot of smokers on deck 4 Starboard, but the Port side was always smoke free and empty.

 

So overall thoughts about the cruise. We had a great time, so much so, that we booked another 7 nighter out of our favorite city (NOLA) in January. While I enjoyed my pre cruise stay at the Waldorf, I would probably take a cruise out of Port Everglades instead. Part of the reason is just the 45-60 min ride there. Not a horrible amount of time, but not the 15 mins I am used to. Freedom was cheaper than Oasis/Allure, but once you add in the extra cost of shuttle or rental car (easily $200 roundtrip with gas/tolls) versus maybe 1/4 of that for FLL, it helps to bring the playing field closer.

 

As for the staff, my wife and I met a lot of nice crew members, and we did have a nice time. However, with the issues I had with others, I kind of felt like that old car rental commercial (Avis, I think). Where there motto was 'We try harder' and the commercial was what if our motto was 'We try'. That was basically how some of the interactions felt. By the way, I didn't, and don't plan to write comments in concerning these individuals, as maybe they were having a bad day or some other reason, but it did make me miss our Voyager cruise.

 

That's basically it from me. Let me know if you have any questions I might be able to answer.

[mj]

Enjoyed your review. Gosh, I envy all you folks that are close to the cruiseport like Port Everglades. 10 hour drive to Port Everglades in October for Oasis, but it will be worth it.

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the Freedom. Have not sailed on her, but loved her sister ship, the Liberty of the Seas.

[FloridaGram]

It's always interesting to hear others perspective on things. That 45 minutes is too long a drive... We live 2 hours from PC and just over 3 to FLL. So I like the drive to PC because it is "short" compared to FLL and Miami. Yes I realize you fly to get here so your overall travel time is greater.

 

Thanks for you review. Just went out of FLL on CCL 2 weeks ago and I am looking at the Freedom next, for the short drive to the port! I am sure that it will be better than our CCL cruise, not that it was bad. Great itineraries!