Freedom Eastern Review May 18-25. Baby's first cruise!!

[chellebell91987]

First attempt at a review! The first part might seem a little longer as I had started out writing notes for our daily journeys but that quickly ended and now it’s mostly based off my memory! I can tend to be wordy. I also have to posted many pics before and hope to post them within the review at the sizes that are easy to see but not too big where you have to scroll over to see the whole thing. I will try to summarize the baby packing things we used and didn’t at the end! I also have cruise compasses but don’t know how well I can get them posted because I will have to upload pics of them and you might not be able to read them. I have read many of reviews before most of my cruises it’s about time for me to contribute!

So without further delay!!About us: I’m Michelle (26). I’m a pharmacist at a busy retail pharmacy, my husband Dan (36) is a production manager/machinist for a locally owned optics company and Levi (turned 8 months last day of the cruise). We live in Charlotte NC. I usually do all of the planning for the cruise and my husband just shows up. We were originally booked on a cruise for southern Caribbean in dec but just couldn’t wait that long! Last year was pretty hectic graduating pharmacy school and starting to work full time and having a baby. It was definitely time for a vacation! This is not our first cruise I lost count it’s in my sig, but this is our babies first cruise!! We are also pretty laid back when it comes to cruising and also did spend quite a bit of time in the room and on the balcony.

I booked the cruise late feb. with some OBC promotion ½ off deposit they were offering at the time. Like a week later they had to kids sail free so I out smarted the system and booked a new reservation and cancelled the first one. So we lost OBC of like 150 or 200 but we saved about 600 bucks off since our babies fare was now free! We cashed in our OBC on the VISA for $150. We just love aft balconies had either 1390 or 1690 on Navigator and previously 9256 on Serenade. This time 7708 came available so we took it! We have family in West Palm Beach Florida that we wanted to visit before the cruise. We were going to drive down but decided to fly so it would be “faster”. We used Southwest since they were the cheapest and getting to check 2 bags each for free didn’t hurt either! I Tried to book one of those “ affordable infant rates” for our baby granted 2 days before, but they wanted $450 for his ticket…no thanks we will hold him that’s about what we paid for the 2 of our tickets! Booked our rental car through budget about $150 for a standard size SUV.

[chellebell91987]

So finally after about 75 days our cruise was here!

Our car arrived at about 7:10 I had requested the time be changed from 815 to 730 about 2 nights before because I was afraid the security lines would be long at the gate and the traffic getting to the airport is not always all that friendly. So we got to the airport I believe a little after 8. Check in for the flight was painless. Was worried about our bags being over limit we packed a ton of stuff for our baby but we were okay. So we breezed through the family line at security we didn’t have to take our shoes off. Computers nor liquids out except for levis bottles of formula. They had to analyze them but I already knew that from flying last time a couple of months ago. So we get to the gate starving got some cinnebons and turned around saw our gate said our flight was delayed due to weather…UMMM what weather it’s bright and sunny here in Charlotte. We were to depart at 10:10 and that gate said 10:55 we decided to get comfortable take Levi out of the stroller. We set up a baracade for him to crawl around in (he just started crawling a week ago). With the free wifi I found out the flight 2 flights prior to ours was delayed due to weather up north. Boarding process different on southwest. I checked in to ours fights at 24 hours prior and got boarding numbers a43 and a44.

We picked our seats and got lucky that no one wanted to sit at the window seat in our row so we are able to spread out! We finally took off I think about 11:30 or something around there. We landed in Orlando at 1:10 (we were supposed to arrive at 11:30!!!). Grabbed our stroller and carseat from the gate check. Off to get our bags! My husband said why don’t you get the car and I get to bags. I said no way this is a huge airport we are not splitting up. Well after about 5 min of waiting for our bags I decided it was probably would be a good idea to get the car. Good thing because the stories about the long lines for the car rentals were true. So I left my husband to get the bags and I was to come back. Luckily soon after my husband got the bags off the carasoul the porter guy came over and gave us a hand and brought my husband to meet me with the bags down at the rental cars! By the time they got there I was just about done with check in. We got our car number and off we went. I paid for a standard SUV to be a ford edge or similar and we got free upgraded to a ford explorer. Good thing we got upgraded because we used all of the back row of seat and trunk space for our luggage.

[SD CRUZER II]

Looking forward to tour review. We just got off the same cruise as well. Always fun to see how other people perceive the same trip you were on.

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Forums mobile app

[chellebell91987]

So we are finally on our way to the family around 2:30. We wanted to take the turnpike down because google said it was faster but GPS didn’t agree so we just let to GPS do its thing because I was such a nervous wreck at this point to worry about directions. Finally made to the exit off 95 to get on the turnpike and my husband who is driving….not the best sense of directions. We grab our ticket and which freaking entrance ramp does he chose to take…..the wrong one…the one to Orlando not Miami, by the time I screamed LEFT, LEFT, LEFT he didn’t want to slam on the brakes and risk getting hit. So we were headed to Orlando. I looked up the next exit off the turnpike going north…..its 30 miles!!!! That means 30 miles up and 30 miles back!!! Ummm that’s like an hour extra! Prior to getting on the turnpike I realized I still needed to get cash from the bank before they closed so I didn’t have to rush and find a branch that was open on sat. And I was determined to go to the bank by the relatives…(why didn’t I just think of gpsing one in Orlando area I don’t know) so we really needed to get to where we were going by 6….We passed one of those no u turn authorized vehicle only opening things a couple of miles after we got on the turnpike. I said we should have took that! So the next one comes up much quicker than I expected and there my husband goes and flips a u turn. Thought we were going to hit the guardrail in the process or get rear-ended. Not cool when you are going about 80 then down to 0 in a matter of a few seconds. We didn’t hit the guardrail and luckily had only lost like 10 or 15 minutes of time.

Finally stopped at the service station because we knew we wouldn’t be able to get off for a while. I realized our turnpike ticket had fallen in between my seat. (I took over driving after we stopped). Sometime when driving I decided I needed to see how much our toll was for the exit we were getting off on. Southern blvd was to be $4.60 good because at this point I only had $10 cash!! I set the ticket on the little lift up compartment thing and kept driving well about 2 miles before where we needed to get off I couldn’t find the ticket or the money so I’m yelling at my husband waking him up from sleeping. WHERES THE MONEY, WHERES THE TICKET!!. The cash was in the cupholder. I tried searching for this ticket and I feel a corner of a paper sticking out of the compartment area and then it’s gone! The dark hole to nowhere in this explorer!! So we pull over to get this ticket out and we can’t get it. My husband stuck his fingers in the thing scrapped them all up. Still couldn’t get it. I was so worried about breaking this darn plastic compartment thing. We decided to go and I remember the ticket said something about charging maximum toll if it’s lost. So we get to the ticket counter at the exit luckily no one is behind us. We are still trying to get this ticket out. The lady was nice she said try to get it out or it will be 13.60…..13.60. remember I only have $10 this is why we need to get to the bank!!!!! The toll was supposed to be $4.60. Well she gives us a pen no luck gives us a paper clip no luck. I’m like do you take credit cards I only have 10$ It’s about 5:40 at this point. Finally someone else pulls up behind us and she says I’m really not supposed to do this but she let us go without our ticket. I said I’ll bring it back if I find it. She said no it’s too late. Finally get to the bank at 5:52…I hate arriving somewhere when I know places are about to close!!! Go in to make a withdrawal and I can’t find my ID. Back to the car to get my passport. Then the teller had the nerve to tell me “You’ve had all day why did you wait until now” Oh no he didn’t just tell me that!!! Finally I come out at 5:59 and my husband had my ID the whole time from where we had to show it to get out of the parking garage in MCO with the rental car!!!! Finally I can breathe!!! We made it to our families house and they now get to meet Levi and spend the next day with him. We should have just drove we would have arrived at the same time!! Not southwest’ fault. The flight attendants were super sweet with Levi!

[chellebell91987]

Pre cruise Day 2:

Levi got his first pool and park experience today. We swam in the pool and played at the park. We took family portraits with my niece so we don’t have to waste our money on the expensive ship. I think it’s the paper they print them on or something but one of ours stock to the glass we put it in and now it is ruined! Had to do the last minute shopping for water bottles if we have to make Levi’s formula and our 2 wine bottle we can carry on!

 

Are we really going to make it to the ship?!

[chellebell91987]

Day 1

Left West Palm at 8:11 to head toward the port. This time no lost tickets took the ticket lady’s recommendation and put the ticket in the visor! No wrong turns on the turnpike either. Discovered a rear ac outlet in the back of the explorer so I was able to charge my tablet while we are on our way to the port. Decided to drop our luggage off at the terminal prior to dropping off the car so we didn’t have to deal with all of our luggage on the shuttle. The parking exit at the terminal was a little confusing. Now that we have done it we know, but we did circle around like twice before we found it. Rental car office like 10-15 min away. We dropped the car off. Not too painful this time like the reviews say but 7 days later not the case. Although I gave the lady at the counter the car keys she took one and threw in it a basket and the other was left on the counter. She didn’t say anything to me. I wrote the mileage on the envelope and all. She goes off and gets a donut or some snack and comes back like 5 or 10 min later and said did I give you a receipt. I said I didn’t even know we were done!!! I said also you never took the second key off the counter (this key didn’t have a label on it so I wanted to make sure the key got with the other one didn’t need them charging me a lost key!) Good thing we dropped our bags off as the shuttle had just enough space for us with the car seat in our lap. We got back to the terminal at about 1155 or 1205 and the lines looked horrible!!! We got off the shuttle and went in the building and were able to go in a shorter line because we were platinum. Last time I sailed out of PC with Royal I was in a junior suite with my mom and it was the monarch so there was not as many people waiting to get on. This was also our first time being platinum.

We were on the ship and at the Café Promenade at 12:40 and waiting for our room to be ready. We like to go to the Café Promenade on boarding day since the windjammer can be a crazy mess up there with everyone and their luggage waiting on their cabins. On Oasis we loved going to Giovani’s and getting a nice set down lunch really avoiding the crowds! Finally it’s time to check out our cabin. Room 7708, the corner aft on deck 7. Not so big room for 2 adults and baby with all the baby accessories but huge balcony. Met our cabin attendant and asked about the pack n play. Said it would be delivered around 3. We wanted to drop off our stuff and check out the nursery. I wanted to get some pics of the nursery because after they are open to take babies you cannot take any pics. We checked out a bag of toys. They still looked like they had a bunch of fisher price toys to play with in the nursery and all of the toys in the bag were fisher price. We decided not to reserve a time yet for Levi since we weren’t sure when we wanted to drop him off. My husband wanted him with us everywhere we went.

[chellebell91987]

That's all for tonight. We are exhausted. I still have to get the pics loaded on the computer and maybe on a picture site? I have to work tomorrow but hopefully tues since I am off I can continue. Hope to be posting pics by then as well. If you have any questions please feel free to ask and I'll try to answer as best I can and I'm sure if I can't others will chime in too! Good night everyone thanks for reading!

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your review.

[chellebell91987]

test...

 

all of our luggage

 

townecar pickup

 

Levi in the middle of us. wondering why some guy was driving instead of mommy or daddy

 

Atleast we can see our luggage is waiting on the late flight too

 

Levi and Daddy on the plane

 

Crossing over the coast of Florida!!

[chellebell91987]

The rental car

 

Levi's first time in the pool

 

We've almost made it!!

 

Freedom we are coming!!

 

First glimpse

 

more ship

[chellebell91987]

 

We can see our room!!

 

 

we will be back Freedom. We just have to go drop our car off

 

Budget....be careful the sign is almost covered up with the palm tree in front of it that if you are driving too fast you might miss it!

 

more budget...wish I had gotten a pic of the craziness it was yesterday (the day we picked up our return rental)

[chellebell91987]

Most of my pics are taken with my new olympus stylus 850 (its waterproof one of the reasons I bought it for this cruise). This camera didn't do so well when I was taking pics of the ship interior with the outside light shining in so I might be using some from my husbands camera Nikon coolpix L820 and my cell phone for when we "lost" the olympus.

 

Will try to post more pics tonight but I have to resize them and then upload to photobucket. With about 1,000 pics this will take me time!

[chellebell91987]

First view on the ship

 

Levi and daddy on ship

 

hanging out in the Cafe Promenade waiting for our room

 

first pic of the room 7708 (see what I mean about the light and the camera not so good)

 

already loves the bed

 

getting ready to browse the ship

[chellebell91987]

Up on deck 12 aft is the nursery

 

 

 

 

 

[chellebell91987]

 

Since our carryons were now in the room we decided to check out the h2o zone to see what the baby pool looked like

 

 

 

 

 

[chellebell91987]

 

 

 

Next we went to get more food at the Windjammer by this time is about 2 or 3 so there were not as many crowds.

 

 

Levi is already passed out

 

We decided to go to our room to see if our bags were there and to hang out there until it was time for the muster drill

 

Our bags had arrived! Time to unpack and use every bit of storage provided in this cabin. It was tight with the PNP and stroller so I put the coffee table and chair in the closet as well as Levi's car seat since we no longer needed it. We did keep the stoller unfolded the entire time because we used it frequently

 

 

Next up sailaway!!!

[chellebell91987]

Overlooking the pool deck

 

 

Got Levi dancing on the big screen

 

Passing Grandeur who was docked there in port for the day

 

We decided to head back to the room so we could further unpack and get ready for dinner

 

You can see the PNP takes up all the space in front of the couch

[chellebell91987]

 

 

Disney passing Grandeur

 

 

This is one of the pack of toys you may borrow. We only had this one the whole time but they had other themes to chose from

 

Levi enjoyed the balcony in his PNP. He just started crawling about 2 weeks ago and did not want to sit in one place. We thought this was perfect. In a normal side balcony I don't think there would be enough room for us the chairs and the PNP. Love the AFT balconies!!

[chellebell91987]

Disney is passing us

 

 

This might explain why we did not get to go to Cococay the next day. The water was already looking rough now that I look back on this pic

 

Daddy and Levi at dinner

 

We had my time dining. We love MTD. We like a table to ourselves. We had table 129. It was in a corner right next to the window. The service on the first night was a little lacking but I think that's how it is a lot on turn around day. The wait staff has to get used to us new people and figure out what we like and don't. I had brought about 15 packs of fruits and 15 vegetables of the Gerber pureed food for Levi to eat. At home I make our baby food but wasn't going to try to bring any on and though the pre-packed ones would be easier. We did bring Levi's spoons and sippie cups and bowls with us. On the first night the head-waiter came over and told us if we wanted them to puree the food they could. We just needed to tell him the night before so they would know to get it ready. Well we said sure that would be good. They gave us asparagus and sweet potato. The next night and after they gave us that plus pureed chicken and applesauce. Levi loved it. The best part was we didn't ask them each night to puree it. They just decided to make sure it was done for us. They usually brought it out right after we sat down so we could start feeding him and keep him occupied for the entire time. Half of the time Levi fell asleep in daddys arms in the middle of dinner. So I only used about 4 containers of food the whole trip. We did bring along pre mixed bottles of formula and that worked out perfect. We also brought on 2 8 packs of juice boxes we picked up from trader joes.

 

Well sorry to say we didn't make it to the show. We went to the room and fell asleep shortly after dinner....Told you we are laid back!!

[MrsCruise2007]

Love this review! We are traveling with our 5 and 2 year old on Freedom in August I am looking forward to reading any tips you have to offer!!

 

 

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[LissyTx]

Yea, so excited to read your review. We are leaving on Oasis this Saturday with our 7.5 month old so I think your info will be very relevant.

 

I WISH my daughter would drink out of the throw away bottles, but she refuses to use those bottle nipples. If I have to take and wash bottles I figure I might as well take powered formula and bottled water. :rolleyes:

 

Rather than waiting until the end, could you possibly post the baby gear you took and what was really helpful versus what you didn't use? This would be so helpful as we are trying to decide what to take.

 

Thank you!

Melissa

[chellebell91987]

Day 2: Cococay= Coconot!!

 

 

The seas were too rough for us to make it over on the tenders. I woke up at 830 and we were still moving. I first thought maybe they had to slow down over night for some reason and we were still on our way to Cococay. (We were supposed to be there at 7:00am). Then I think I saw on TV the cruise compass they have showing on one channel was different than the one that was printed with the Cococay info. There was also a TV show running with the cruise director and captain explaining why we missed Cococay. I guess they did go over there but they said smaller boats were having trouble so they did not want to risk it. I am one who doesn't like sea days all that much. I'm not one to just lay around by the pool for hours. We already had 3 sea days now 4. We were just going to spend a few hours in the water with Levi as it was going to be his first time at a beach. My husband has never been to Cococay but I went with my mom a couple of years ago and it was too cold for us to get in the water.

 

We had room service breakfast out on our balcony this morning. Next we decided to take Levi to the open play area they have set up for the babies during 9-5 in Fuel (back behind the arcade). It is not supervised so you do have to be with your child. We did this for all of about 30 minutes. Levi wasn't too interested in the toys they had. He'd rather try to climb on his stroller.

 

We decided that our excursion in St. Thomas might be too much for Levi and we really wanted some time for just us. So we booked him in the nursery for our time in St. Thomas. The nursery staff told us that since we missed Cococay they usually try to get to the next port earlier.

 

After that I think we then went to the room and took a nap. We didn't eat in the windjammer much for lunch maybe 1 or 2 days. We probably had Cafe Promenade or the pizza place. We wanted to take Levi to his first big screen movie. Which according to the printed cruise compass said Turbo at 3:30. When we got there they were playing Gravity I think. By this time Levi was asleep so either movie didnt really matter. We watched the first 15 minutes or so and left. Maybe they played Turbo earlier in the day to have another activity for our new sea day. So then we just went to the room until it was time for dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is what they pureed for us on the second night. I think this was the only time I got a picture but they did do this plus chicken and applesauce on the other nights. I felt bad because Levi didn't really eat much out of it before he would fall asleep. We also brought those disposable bibs so we could just toss them when we were done. They did have a highchair for us at dinner. We didn't take the stroller until the last night he was in the dining room because we thought it would be a little tight getting it around all the tables to get to ours.

 

The second night was also formal night.

 

Sorry not many pics from today!

[chellebell91987]

Day 3: Another day at sea

 

Still a little rough out there. The first half of the trip was. We tried to go out on the deck 4 at some point and it was too windy I thought everything in our stroller was going to blow away!

 

We had room service breakfast again. Our meet and mingle was schedule for 1030 this morning in the Olive and Twist lounge. We never did receive an invite but I remembered from checking before we left for our trip. (This was not the first time we did not receive one also on the Serenade we never got one and that time I did not know what time it was for). I had registered for it too. We were there for a few minutes and decided to leave. We did get a nice view of the h20 zone from up there. I was supposed to host the cabin crawl but there was not much interest on the roll call board sorry for anyone who was wanting to see other cabins! It didn't look crowded so we went down there.

 

View from Olive and Twist

 

The baby splash zone was never that crowded the entire trip. The water was warm and was only a couple inches deep.

 

 

 

 

We decided to go to the art auction. I don't drink so my husband enjoys getting the free champagne for the both of us. Although they were not passing it out like they usually do. Usually we would get 2 or 3 rounds. At the time they passed it out my husband was changing Levi and I only got one. They never came around again except to collect the glass! We did end up getting a painting of the vision of the seas for a decent price. We usually never buy anything. We still have a piece of art from one of our trips a couple of years ago still in the tube it was mailed in!

 

I had made reservations for the 2:30 ice show ahead of time. In the cruise compass was a time earlier in the day where you could reserve your spot. When we got there maybe because we were one of the last to arrive there was no one taking tickets and we also did not have tickets delivered to our room. Maybe someone scanned your sea pass card before you entered. We just walked in and grabbed a seat. Levi was still asleep (he fell asleep in the art auction and woke up about half was through the ice show). When we woke up he was fascinated by the ice show. After the ice show it was back to the room. We did catch the sexy mans competition on the TV. Which is fine for us as its usually way crowded up there during those kinds of activities. Had dinner and back in the room. (maybe one day we will have a suite and can just order all of our food to the room and not have to leave our room ever...my husband would love that!!)

 

not many pics from today either.

 

I have noticed since becoming a mom that there are changing tables in almost every place you go even in mens restrooms. But I didn't see any changing facilities in the rest rooms on the ship. Maybe I didn't look in all of the stalls but I didn't see one in all of the rest rooms I did go in. Even in the single stall restroom outside the theater on deck 4. So the first night at dinner my husband took Levi and had to get on the floor to change him in the bathroom...good thing we have a changing pad built in with our diaper bag. The diaper bag went everywhere with us. Hung on the handles of the stroller.

 

Next up our first port!!! We've never been to St. Thomas before.

[chellebell91987]

Day 4 St Thomas-Wednesday

 

We were supposed to be in St. Thomas from 12-6 I believe. Well we woke up and we were approaching the island at 8:30!!

 

approaching the island from our balcony

 

here comes the pilot!!!

 

 

 

 

 

We had booked an island tour through Sunny Liston. When Sunny replied with our confirmation time he said 11:45. I said we won’t arrive until 12!! He said just as soon as your ship gets in go to the gate and he would be waiting for us. So with the new arrival time I was worried about what time we really needed to meet him. I was worried about this the whole time after the nursery lady told us that we would probably be there early until we actually met Sunny. (almost 2 days) I was worried we would miss our tour. Should have listened to my husband he said not to worry.

[chellebell91987]

backing in right behind NCL Getaway and Disney Fantasy

 

We decided to get breakfast in the windjammer and get off the ship shortly after we docked and try to call him. Well of course I forgot to add the global plan to our cell phone service our call would not work. So we just decided to go to the gate and ask one of people working at the gate and luckily Sunny was waiting for us. He knew our ship arrived early so he was there to pick us up! I don’t know what we would have done if we just waited til 12 to get off the ship. I guess everyone had the same idea as us because within a few minutes we were off to downtown.

 

ships as we were heading downtown

 

Sunny dropped us off at downtown next to Little Switzerland. We had about 45 minutes to shop and Sunny had us meet him back at 11. Sunny did drop some people off who just wanted to go downtown and not take the tour. They were only charged $4 each to get downtown. Our tour cost $40 we had to pay a small deposit prior. We’ve been married for 4 years come July. We never got me a wedding band so we were hoping to get a band this trip. We went to Diamonds International with this little time we had and we found a set with a band and were able to have my current diamond put in a new band with diamonds around it. We told them we only had a few minutes. They said they could deliver it to the ship, we told them we would be back at 3ish to pick up the ring. We made our way back to the bus. Most of the buses are the open type safari buses which is why we didn’t feel too comfortable with Levi in our arms.

 

 

We also were giving these stickers to put on our shirt. Made it nice to see who was on our tour when we were waiting outside to get on the bus!

 

 

 

 

I don’t think I would rent a car there. The drivers are crazy and they drive on the opposite side from us here in US, but there steering wheels are on the left side like ours. Several times we would be going down a narrow sided hill and Sunny would have the horn honking to notify others we were coming. One time we had to get all the way on the side of the road to let another car through. Good thing Sunny knows what he is doing. We will definitely leave the driving up to the locals! Sunny played several songs during our tour. You can find some youtube videos of his tour like I did before our trip. We were in the very first row by the speaker and by the end of the tour my head was pounding. Was fun though! Don't know if we would do it again.

 

We stopped at an overlook and he pointed out the “free hotel” and the court buildings as well as the baseball field and old hospital. Next we made our way to the highest point on the island. We went to the banana run factory. We only had 25 or 30 min here. The lines were long to get a drink and plus we didn’t want to spend a bunch of money on drinks. We decided to buy a pint of banana rum and some cokes. The pint was under $10 I believe. I also got a rum cake. I always look at the personalized souvenirs for Levi’s name and rarely find anything. I found a surfboard that said St. Thomas and Levi!