Freedom from the Mouse! Our first non-Disney cruise, and we LOVED it!

[karajeboo]

We're the week before you. :)

 

:(

 

I don't know how I'm only now seeing this thread, but it's really interesting to me, for the opposite reason that you're posting it. We, too, used to go to Disney a lot (2-3 times a week for me when I lived in Orlando) and still somehow manage to love it despite legally owning Space Mountain by now, but we've always cruised RCCL and looked to taking a Disney cruise as a "someday" trip, wondering what we're missing out on. Now I'm thinking maybe that's not such an important goal, after all. Certainly Freedom has never left me wanting for anything, and reading about your experience coming to it from the other direction has been fairly enlightening.

 

And what's with all the South Carolina people around here, anyway?

 

Again, I LOVED DCL - it's what got us hooked on cruising. And after that first DCL cruise, on the Magic, we wondered, do we love Disney cruising or do we just love cruising? So after this cruise, we discovered it's the cruise we love, and that there is something out there OTHER than Disney. In fact, as co-owners of Space Mtn, lol, we have actually branched out lately, with side trips to San Francisco, Yosemite and Pebble Beach last summer, frequent stops at Biltmore House, plus Myrtle Beach, etc. Did you know it's actually possible to vacation somewhere where there are NO mice or princesses? I didn't either, but believe it or not I'm actually enjoying it.

 

With that said, I'm jonesing for a return to WDW! lol Will I ever cruise DCL again? Probably. It's not like we've banned it for any reason. We just discovered we prefer RCI at this point. There is soooooo much more to do on the ship. I felt that the activities director did a great job keeping us all busy, between watching Ally on the Flowrider and rock wall, the ice show, cupcake decorating, wine tasting, etc, during the day, it left our nights open for the shows and lounge entertainment! And the bars were NEVER crowded after dinner, unlike DCL which seems to get really crowded when the kids go to their clubs.

[alaska_planner]

i'll be a traitor and say that on our allure cruise 2 weeks ago, we felt that RCI out disneyed disney.....the service, entertainment and activities were far superior to what we've experienced on our disney cruises...

 

but as for WDW - nothing can surpass it....

if i had to live there for the rest of my life, i'd be a happy camper...admission might be the first step, but there's nothing i want to overcome.....

WDW IS the happiest place on earth! :p

[karajeboo]

i'll be a traitor and say that on our allure cruise 2 weeks ago, we felt that RCI out disneyed disney.....the service, entertainment and activities were far superior to what we've experienced on our disney cruises...

 

but as for WDW - nothing can surpass it....

if i had to live there for the rest of my life, i'd be a happy camper...admission might be the first step, but there's nothing i want to overcome.....

WDW IS the happiest place on earth! :p

 

I agree 100%! I think a good way to describe it is that RCI couldn't build a theme park to outdo Disney. So why should we assume that anything Disney touches will be the best? Yes, WDW is far and away the best! Nobody can beat that! But they are really still new to the cruising industry. And for me, they are beaten there.

[karajeboo]

Still having trouble with photobucket so I can't upload any more photos! HELP! I have deleted HUNDREDS from my photobucket account, but it's still saying I can't upload any more or it will put me over my storage limit. Any ideas?

[71Corvette]

Why not just create a second photobucket account? Also, you may be able to resize some of your photos. If they're really large files they can be eating away at your storage limit.

[karajeboo]

Why not just create a second photobucket account? Also, you may be able to resize some of your photos. If they're really large files they can be eating away at your storage limit.

 

Now why didn't I think of this? Just created a new account and will begin uploading tonight! Thank you! :D

[babyt]

Thank you for this awesome thread! We are getting ready to book our 4th (and maybe 5th as we try to decide between back to back 3/4 night cruises or a 7 night jsut becuase of some kids preferences) Disney Cruise but I'm hooked on you story and tempted to give RCCL another try. We did a few when we were younger with no kids and one with a toddler, but then switched to Disney as the kids came along. But I have one question . . . my kids will just have turned 11 and 8, and beleive 3-4 years from now they will love this one . . . but I'm thinking we should stay Disney until they are jsut a touch older??? I love all the family things we could do on RCCL, but I still want a few really exciting kids activities that draw them to the kids clubs like Disney so DH and I have a few evenings to ourselves. What do you think, should we give DCL a few more years before we switch over given our kids ages???

[karajeboo]

Thank you for this awesome thread! We are getting ready to book our 4th (and maybe 5th as we try to decide between back to back 3/4 night cruises or a 7 night jsut becuase of some kids preferences) Disney Cruise but I'm hooked on you story and tempted to give RCCL another try. We did a few when we were younger with no kids and one with a toddler, but then switched to Disney as the kids came along. But I have one question . . . my kids will just have turned 11 and 8, and beleive 3-4 years from now they will love this one . . . but I'm thinking we should stay Disney until they are jsut a touch older??? I love all the family things we could do on RCCL, but I still want a few really exciting kids activities that draw them to the kids clubs like Disney so DH and I have a few evenings to ourselves. What do you think, should we give DCL a few more years before we switch over given our kids ages???

 

Ally had just turned 11 on this cruise and she preferred it over Disney. Now she really didn't hang out in the teen club, I met some folks on CC and got emails for Ally to exchange with other kids so she really already had friends before we left. But she does that on DCL too, so she rarely spent any time in the Disney clubs either. So I guess its hard for me to say based on the way Ally meets kids on cruises. I did see a lot of kids doing various activities on RCI though. They seemed to have a lot going on for young children. I really believe that any ship you sail on during spring breaks or summer vacations will have a lot of activities for kids and there will be lots of kids on all lines during these times. Does that make sense? Where Disney has an edge I believe, is during the school year, when you will see a lot of little ones on the ships, while older kids are in school.

[karajeboo]

So after a great Formal Night, rubbing elbows with the captain, and hobnobbing with other fancy folk...... we got a great night's rest with just the right about of motion in the ocean. I think I am definitely hooked on the aft cabin though!!!! It rocked me mama like a wagon wheel, rocked me mama any way I feel..... sorry, Darius Rucker just distracted me on the radio.....

 

Up early the next morning, excited to see a new port. Labadee, Haiti!

 

Well, we weren't up as early as my inlaws, who captured this....

 

 

Guess they're not Darius fans.... cause we were still rocking.

 

But we were smart. The night before we put out our handy dandy card for room service the next morning. That would be our wakeup call.

 

Soon we were rocking AND chowing down to boost our energy for a big day on the beach.

 

 

But see, there's one more thing we like to do before we head out to port in the morning.....

 

 

 

Yes, because you just can't gain enough weight by only eating ONE breakfast! :rolleyes:

[karajeboo]

We made our way downstairs to meet Jeff's parents in front of the Bull and the Bear, but no beer just yet.... then we continued down to set foot in a new land.

 

And can I just say. WOW!

 

 

This port is beautiful. Very "real" with the locals out haggling, gravel and dirt paths, very colorful in every way.

 

 

We had decided we wanted to be on Adrenaline Beach where we could float in the water and watch the folks come down the zipline. So we walked. And walked. And walked. It was quite a haul. But hey, we're on vacation, there's no complaining!!!!

 

Soon we came across the hut where we could rent the floats, and it was still a LONG way to a quiet beach. Until Mr Haitian found US. He took our floats from us and said, "follow me." We walked behind him. And walked. And walked. He took us about as far down the beach as we could go, then asked us if we'd like the chairs and tents set up? Well of course!!!! We did tip him, but found out later that we were not supposed to.

 

I guess it doesn't bother me because I know that a couple dollars to me can probably feed his family for a couple days. And we had a GREAT spot on the beach!

 

We practically had the beach to ourselves for about an hour, the Cafe Labadee Bar was right behind us, for those afternoon Labadoozies! Quick walk to lunch and just across the courtyard from the Labadee Market. We had plenty to do for the day!

 

This was the view of our beach from the water.

 

 

This was looking down closer to the ship. So just by walking a bit further we had it to ourselves!

 

 

 

Completely unspoiled, with the mountains for a backdrop. This was the true meaning of Zak Brown's "Toes in the Water." Because we could tell already that "life is good today."

 

[karajeboo]

Soon the lazy bums all woke up and joined us on "our" beach..... But it was okay, there was more than enough room for all of us and we NEVER felt crowded at all!

 

Of course, we had better things to do than count tourists....

 

 

 

 

 

Oh yeah. Cause we all know it's 5:00 somewhere. Oh heck, who cares what time it is! We are on vacation!!!!

[karajeboo]

View of the grub tent, for lack of a better word, taken from the courtyard near the Artisans Village.

 

 

 

 

The food was almost identical to what we had on Castaway Cay (Disney's private island) and probably what most cruise lines serve on their private ports. Nothing fancy, but good barbeque grub.

 

After lunch, it was time for that Labadoozie for me and another for Ally (without the good stuff in it!)!

 

 

 

[karajeboo]

To walk off a little bit of lunch (and two breakfasts!), Jeff and I decided to walk to the other side of the island and check out Columbus Cove. This seemed to be the "family" beach, with the waterslide, inflatables out in the water, and all the other water sports. It seemed MUCH more crowded to us.

 

 

 

 

 

[karajeboo]

We took the long walk back to "our" beach, and just enjoyed the scenery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Artisans Market was ZERO hassle. Nobody bugging you. The Artisans Village was another story. As long as you keep walking, don't make eye contact, you are fine. I never felt threatened or overly harassed. I actually enjoyed the Haitian people and when you stop and think about it, they are working. They are selling their crafts just trying to make a buck or two. We even stopped and chatted with a couple.

 

[karajeboo]

This day went so fast that I was truly sad to leave. And it was only our first port!!!! But I absolutely 100% LOVED Labadee!!!!

 

Kara, you have one day to spend on either Labadee or Castaway Cay - we will fly you in for the day - which will it be?

 

Uh, Labadee! Thank you very much!!!!!

 

To me, Labadee was REAL, Castaway Cay is Disneyfied. Love CC, too, but after being on Labadee for a day, I appreciate the natural beauty, versus the paint, and "perfection" of Disney. Sometimes you just want to enjoy the outdoors the way it is supposed to be.

 

And Labadee was MUCH less crowded with 4000 passengers than Castaway Cay was with 2800 when we sailed on the Magic. When I sailed the Disney Dream, with about 3600 passengers, we stayed on the adult beach so I really can't speak to how crowded the rest of the island must have been.

 

Back to my rating system I think I'd give TWO points to RCI for Labadee!

 

I think the last time I gave points, the two were tied.

 

So now with 2 points for Labadee (hey, it's MY rating system I can do what I want!!! :p)

 

DCL 6

RCI 8

 

 

We made our way back to the ship, with lots of time before dinner, so we dragged our feet just as much as we could.....

 

 

 

 

So we decided to see on our afts....... oh, yeah, I went there!

 

And pout.

 

 

 

 

 

[karajeboo]

 

There she goes, our pretty little beach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What we THOUGHT we prefered about the Eastern itineraries was the mountainous islands because they were much prettier to see sailing in and out, as opposed to the sand bar that is Grand Cayman.

 

But look mom! Mountains on the Western!

 

Our next RCI cruise is in April and it's an Eastern and I'm sooooo sad because we will miss Labadee and hit CocoCay instead. A sandbar.

 

[ToddMnIT]

Ooh I am going On Freedom/Eastern in March. So I will be anxiously waiting your input on that route. Interested to see what you think of CoCo Cay.

 

Thank you for writing this up. Our first cruise was last year on Disney Magic. And it truly was Magical, but we drug our feet too long and the Disney price went way out of reach, so we did our research and decided to try Royal.

[soccerdad72]

Great report -- we're on the Thanksgiving cruise on Freedom and I'm reading every report I can find. I'm hoping our 13 year old will make a couple friends like your daughter did, but we worry that our son's a major introvert. But then, I figure he'll spend most of the first day at the Flowrider and he'll probably have a whole posse by then ;)

[mtns2sea]

Enjoying your review. I started following back in April and found it again today. We are just up the road in the Asheville area and are familiar with the Dillards deals :D. I am planning on making the drive to Port Canaveral in a day, a long day. We are looking forward to our January cruise and the rest of your review. So, do you work in the fire place industry or the travel industry? They might both be busy at the same time.

[karajeboo]

Ooh I am going On Freedom/Eastern in March. So I will be anxiously waiting your input on that route. Interested to see what you think of CoCo Cay.

 

Thank you for writing this up. Our first cruise was last year on Disney Magic. And it truly was Magical, but we drug our feet too long and the Disney price went way out of reach, so we did our research and decided to try Royal.

 

Actually you will travel the Eastern on Freedom before us! We go in April. I've done the Eastern on the Disney Magic though and we loved it. 3 seas days instead of 2 is nice, especially on Freedom. Soooo much to do!

 

Great report -- we're on the Thanksgiving cruise on Freedom and I'm reading every report I can find. I'm hoping our 13 year old will make a couple friends like your daughter did, but we worry that our son's a major introvert. But then, I figure he'll spend most of the first day at the Flowrider and he'll probably have a whole posse by then ;)

 

Are you on the roll call thread? You can probably find other boys his age and they can exchange emails. Ally was emailing and face timing a few girls and they hooked up the night before at the hotel. It made it less stressful I think.

[karajeboo]

Enjoying your review. I started following back in April and found it again today. We are just up the road in the Asheville area and are familiar with the Dillards deals :D. I am planning on making the drive to Port Canaveral in a day, a long day. We are looking forward to our January cruise and the rest of your review. So, do you work in the fire place industry or the travel industry? They might both be busy at the same time.

 

Well, I've been in the gas log/fireplace industry for 12 years, but just recently completed all my training in the travel industry. Right now, travel is my hobby but I'm hoping to be doing that full time in 3 years - that's my goal.

[soccerdad72]

Are you on the roll call thread? You can probably find other boys his age and they can exchange emails. Ally was emailing and face timing a few girls and they hooked up the night before at the hotel. It made it less stressful I think.

 

Thanks for the tip. :) I had posted on the Roll Call thread, but haven't reached out to folks with kids around our boys' ages to see if they wanted to get together on the ship. I'll have to follow up on that. :)

[debsters41]

Any more? :o

[lovetocruise75]

Yes. Looking for the completion. :p

[theatrebabe]

Wait, where's the rest?!

 

Was reading along and getting even more psyched for our FOS cruise on Sunday, but suddenly there was no more review! So sad :(