Fresh off the Freedom! April 20th sailing - quick review

[freedomfirst]

I just got off the Freedom of the Seas yesterday (April 20th sailing) and thought I'd 'give back' to CC with a really quick review of the trip. If anyone has any specific questions, please ask! I'll try to cover the things I wondered about before going.

 

The rooms: We had two adjoining E1 balcony rooms on deck 8, and were able to have the divider between the two balconies opened (it was so awesome!). The balcony was MUCH bigger than I'd anticipated, we really loved having all that space out there. We ordered room service a few of the mornings and really enjoyed breakfast on the balcony, and it was a great, quiet place to relax in the afternoon when things got crazy on the pool deck. Our room steward was just excellent, we didn't have any issues.

 

Water: Each of us were able to bring a case of water on, checked with a luggage tag.

 

Wine: we each brought two bottles, no problems at all.

 

The ports: Our ports were Coco Cay, San Juan and St. Maarten. We almost didn't make it to Coco Cay, as the sea was rough and the tenders couldn't connect to the ship. The captain did turn the ship around though, and the tenders were finally able to get underway - it was a slightly rough ride, but totally fine. Coco Cay was amazing - we walked over to Barefoot Beach and it wasn't one bit crowded and the sand is just perfect. The BBQ was just ok, I didn't really enjoy it (but was, of course, happy to be fed!). We also did the Eco Catamaran tour, which we really enjoyed.

 

 

 

San Juan was really interesting, but also really HOT... I live in Ontario and it snowed on my trip to the airport, so I wasn't quite adjusted to the heat yet. We did have a good tour around Old San Juan though, and enjoyed the fort. We headed back to the ship early and also thoroughly enjoyed the quieter time at the pools.

 

 

St. Maarten was great. It was a beautiful day with just a few very scattered showers and a lovely breeze. We did the tour of the butterfly farm (loved it!) and spent a few hours in the afternoon shopping in Philipsburg.

 

 

The ship: WOW!!!!!!!!!!! This was our first cruise and I was completely blown away by the Freedom. We did almost everything except the flowrider - swimming, rock climbing, ice skating, the 3D movie, mini golf...it was all excellent and really well done.

 

 

My only complaint was the pool lounger situation...it was impossible to get chairs anywhere near the pool. My daughter is 6 and setting up our stuff on the upper decks wasn't going to work, but we had a terrible time getting a chair. This issue has been discussed to death on other threads, so I won't go on about it other than to say that it was disappointing.

 

The food: Windjammer was good, nothing spectacular, but totally fine. We did have dinner at Chops one night and I thought the food was excellent. MDR food was average - some good, some just ok. The service, however, was consistently excellent! Our server(s) were wonderful.

 

Overall, we really enjoyed our first cruise!

 

Edited April 29, 2014 by freedomfirst

[debsters41]

Thanks for the report!

[mickeycrz03]

Thanks for the quick review. We are cruising on the FOS 8/31 in connecting E1 cabins on Deck 8. Hopefully we will be fortunate enough to have our balcony dividers open as well.

 

 

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[davenew]

Wine: we each brought two bottles, no problems at all.

Did you each have separate carry ons to do this?, and did you go through as a couple? :D

[P&C4/16/67]

Thanks for the review.:) We will be on her it less than 2 weeks and can't wait.:D

[jules815]

Thanks for your report and pictures.

 

We'll be sailing on FOS in September, and our eastern itinerary also makes a stop in San Juan instead of St. Thomas. Really looking forward to our cruise.

[ang73]

Thanks for your report! We are sailing on Freedom in October. First time on RCCL.

 

I wondered how you handled the pool chair situation? I know we dont want to get into another chair hog debate, but we have a young child also (7) so we will have to keep an eye on her at all times in the pool.

 

Also did she go to the kids club? Wondered if you have any feedback on it. Thanks & glad you had a great vacation! !!

 

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[slyther]

We were also on this cruise. To the poster asking about the kids club: Our 7-year old boy only went there once because we couldn't talk him into going more. He was apprehensive being around a bunch of kids he didn't know. The counselors all seemed really nice. They divide up the day into 3 sessions (morning, afternoon, evening) and you can get a kids-oriented Cruise Compass that shows what activities they will be doing in each session. It looked fun.

[mtsublueraider]

Thanks for your report and pictures.

 

We'll be sailing on FOS in September, and our eastern itinerary also makes a stop in San Juan instead of St. Thomas. Really looking forward to our cruise.

 

 

I'm actually a little confused on this.... does the port situation change? We are sailing on FOS in October and while our Eastern Itinerary says St Thomas and St Maarten.... we've been getting emails and I've actually seen a schedule that includes San Juan. I'd personally rather go to Puerto Rico, but I'm not sure what to believe. Do they change depending on time of the year?

[cruiserdudebobby8]

id like to sail on Freedom Eastern one day! CoCo Cay looks beautiful!

[mollyeilis]

I'm actually a little confused on this.... does the port situation change? We are sailing on FOS in October and while our Eastern Itinerary says St Thomas and St Maarten.... we've been getting emails and I've actually seen a schedule that includes San Juan. I'd personally rather go to Puerto Rico, but I'm not sure what to believe. Do they change depending on time of the year?

 

There was a recent post all about this confusion.

 

I had the printed booklet (got it from AAA) printed in 2013 with the 2014 cruises all listed out. In that book, Freedom shows the coco, st maarten, st thomas itinerary for most cruises except for 4 or 5 dates in 2014. I was on one that went to San Juan, it left 1/26. There are some others through the year. All the rest for that sailing, in that book, are to St Thomas.

 

But recently peoples' St Thomas itineraries are showing San Juan. Royal is no help; they say it's San Juan. But they also say it was ALWAYS San Juan, because that's what they see in their computers, and that is simply not the case. Therefore, their info that it will be San Juan can't be trusted completely.

 

Others said that their excursions offered for their cruise were San Juan, even when they thought they had booked a St Thomas cruise. Honestly I think the only way to know will be once you're on the cruise!

 

id like to sail on Freedom Eastern one day! CoCo Cay looks beautiful!

 

The itinerary the OP went on is a really good one. Enough days at sea, good ports...good times.

Edited April 29, 2014 by mollyeilis

[freedomfirst]

Thanks for the quick review. We are cruising on the FOS 8/31 in connecting E1 cabins on Deck 8. Hopefully we will be fortunate enough to have our balcony dividers open as well.

 

We asked the room steward the first afternoon, and they came fairly quickly to open it (with the key). It was really nice!

[freedomfirst]

Wine: we each brought two bottles, no problems at all.

Did you each have separate carry ons to do this?, and did you go through as a couple? :D

 

We did have two cabins, one with two adults, one with an adult and a child. I brought two in my carry on and two in my luggage.

[freedomfirst]

Thanks for your report! We are sailing on Freedom in October. First time on RCCL.

 

I wondered how you handled the pool chair situation? I know we dont want to get into another chair hog debate, but we have a young child also (7) so we will have to keep an eye on her at all times in the pool.

 

Also did she go to the kids club? Wondered if you have any feedback on it. Thanks & glad you had a great vacation! !!

 

 

We ended up setting up our stuff at the tables along the sides, and my mom tended to sit and read, so she was able to watch our things while I swam with my daughter. On one of the port days, we headed back to the ship early, and LOVED having our pick of loungers right by the pool!

 

As for the kids club, I'm no help there. I took my daughter up the first afternoon to have a look around, but she wanted NO part of it. She's an only child and without someone to go with, she felt too shy and anxious. I kind of already knew she wasn't going to go, and really, we had SO much to do together that I likely wouldn't have really liked it if she'd wanted to go!