Freedom Review. 11-23-2014 Caribbean Sailing

[CruisingWalter]

Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas review. 11/23/2014 sailing 4,358 passengers.

 

We’re 48 years old, married almost 20 years. For cuisine, I eat everything and my wife is a vegetarian. This was our fifth overall cruise and the first on Royal Caribbean. This was our third time cruising the Caribbean with the other two trips having been on the Caribbean Princess (14 days) and Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam (7 days) and our second cruise for the Thanksgiving holiday. There was a lot to like about Freedom and some things that just didn’t live up to the hype and expectations. For the first time since we’ve been cruising, we had a captain decide to leave a port 2 1/2 hours EARLY. Even the excursion operators said they’d never heard of that. It was more “Good” than RC’s slogan of “Wow.”

 

I’ve been writing technical and product reviews for over 20 years and I also write a lot of reviews for a website that gives trip advice so what I write tends to be long and pretty in depth. As you read through this you might think some areas quite negative, but you’re paying money to go on your cruise so I like to give a true sense of what everything was like for us. Honestly it’s very VERY difficult to have a “bad cruise” because after all, you’re on a cruise ship being pampered day and night by the crew. The main difference between cruises is the customer service and the quality of the food as you compare ships.

 

I’m arranging this review by topic such as Embarkation, Ship, Dining, Stops / Excursions instead of by day so you can read everything about a particular topic at once. The ship is due to go into dry dock for a major renovation in January 2015 so some things will definitely be changing on the ship after that time.

 

The Cruise Compass I’ll mention throughout is the daily schedule of activities that is generally brought to your room each evening. You can get extra copies at the Guest Relations desk on Deck 5 or at the Towel Stations on either side of the Main Pool on Deck 11.

 

I can't figure out how to get the individual photos to post in here so here's a link to my shared Shutterfly photo album with the ship and some of the items mentioned in my review. https://freedomofseas112014cruise.shutterfly.com/pictures/8

 

PreCruise Hotel:

We stayed at the Radisson “Resort at the Port” mainly because of the Park and Cruise option to leave our car at the hotel while we cruised. The hotel is a bit dated and worn, the pool area is nice. Morning breakfast looked and smelled gross so we headed over to Zachary’s next door and that was about on par with IHOP. Getting the shuttle TO the ship wasn’t too bad, a bit of a cluster, but not bad. However, the shuttle FROM the ship was a complete cluster. You’d think since the Radisson has been doing this so long they would have some sort of organizational system at the pier for the return trip. Nope, just a complete cluster with two different people doing two completely different things and frustrated people in line. We’re “one and done” with the Radisson for future cruises.

 

 

Embarkation:

The embarkation was the smoothest of any we’ve been through with a very efficient operation in the Port Canaveral terminal. Less than 30 minutes from the time we arrived at the terminal till we were on the ship.

 

However, once on board, you cannot access your room until 1pm. They actually keep all the fire doors closed preventing passengers from accessing the stateroom hallways. So whatever you bring on board with you, you have to keep and maintain it until your room is open. We found a table in the Royal Promenade next to the espresso shop and just hung out there with our two carryon bags till about 12:45pm. Then we hopped an elevator up to the 9th deck to wait for the rooms to open up. At 1:05pm, they opened the fire doors and we could finally get to the room.

 

In this instance, I do prefer the Princess embarkation where you can access your stateroom right away to at least dump off your carry ons and then head out to the pool. Our luggage arrived to the stateroom before 5pm which was nice because you are warned it could be as late as 8pm before your checked bags arrive.

 

 

The Ship:

While she was the largest ship we’ve sailed on she was also the easiest to navigate thanks to the wealth of information provided at each elevator location, inside the elevators and the touch screens located on every floor. All the elevator areas had very easy to read touch screens along with a clear description of what was on each floor and what was on each deck making it extremely easy to find where we wanted to go. The touch screens also featured a “what’s happening now” button to instantly bring up all the shipboard activities that were happening from that point forward in the day. Very simple and useful tools making it easy to find your way around the ship right from the get go.

 

She’s a pretty ship and we were very impressed with how well the common areas were maintained considering she was at the end of an 8 year run and getting ready for her first major renovation in 2 months time. It was nice to see RC wasn’t skimping on keeping up the appearance of a ship about to be renovated.

 

Being Thanksgiving week with many southern US schools on holiday the entire week, the ship carried 4,358 passengers for the week with 1,000 of them children. So it was a full ship almost 1,000 passengers over the listed double occupancy capacity.

 

The ship ran in “silent mode” for the trip meaning they kept PA silence with no overall shipboard announcements unless absolutely necessary. This was nice and kept the decks free of unnecessary chatter about everything going on in the ship.

 

We were in high winds (apparent winds 50 mph+) and rough seas (3 - 8 foot swells) for much of the journey but the ship handled that all really well. Just to give you an idea, on the final day at sea I attempted to walk forward on Deck 12 from Johnny Rockets and couldn’t do it, the wind was pushing me backwards. We were in similar seas during our Panama Canal cruise on the Island Princess which is a much smaller ship and she pitched quite a bit more than Freedom. Where you could really notice the rolling of the ship was in the pool areas where the water continuously sloshed out of the pools during especially long periods of rolling. But overall, even in the rougher seas, the ship was pretty stable and easy to walk around.

 

One very weird thing we’ve never experienced on a ship before was a smell that I can only describe as raw sewage. It was on Deck 4 for the entire trip on the Port side at the doors that lead out to the open deck outside the Arcadia Theater. We love to walk the deck in the mornings and every single day there was an area about 25 yards long right outside this door that the stench was very strong. Morning to night. I have to assume this is where the waste treatment is done on the ship and for whatever reason the smell was leaching out into the air. Four other ships, never smelled anything like this. We wondered what the smell was like for the staterooms immediately above this area.

 

 

Stateroom:

Our cabin was 9662, a D2 Superior Ocean View Stateroom on the Port side behind the bump out near the aft which we booked through a big box discount warehouse website. We always book through this site as we’ve had good luck with them and get some really good shipboard credits. In this case we had $380 worth of shipboard credits.

 

Cabin was clean and functional and the balcony was plenty big. One thing we did like was that the bed was right next to the balcony so we could just lay in bed and look out at the sea in the morning. Another small thing that was nice, the shower featured solid doors instead of a shower curtain. On the ships with shower curtains, they always have a tendency to get sucked into the shower and basically stick to you while you’re showering. We always prefer to see some sort of solid doors. There was plenty of hot water and easy controls.

 

One thing missing from other ships was a direct way to contact our cabin steward. On other ships there was a card in the cabin with a direct phone extension to reach the steward. On Freedom there was no way to connect to the steward other than to call housekeeping I guess. We were never actually told, but this is my guess. When the ship arrived in Jamaica our steward was changed out and the new steward completely missed the turn down service and delivering the Cruise Compass that evening. Minor thing I know, but still something we’ve not experienced on other ships with a steward changeover. He did get it right the rest of the trip.

 

One really nice thing on RC was the ability to keep tabs on our account via the television. This is the first ship we’ve been on with that feature and it’s much preferable than having to go to Guest Relations to check the current balance on your account. It was remarkable how quickly it was updated with charges showing up minutes after we made them.

 

 

The Crew:

Some of the friendliest, easy-going crew we’ve had the pleasure of sailing with. A fellow passenger remarked that she didn’t enjoy her Princess cruise as much because she found the crew ‘cold.’ After hearing her observation, I can definitely see where she was coming from. I would call their crews more ‘stiff and professional’ vs. the laid back crew on Freedom.

 

Cruise Director Casey Pelter has a very entertaining and very useful morning show on the TV. His dry sense of humor and again, very laid back approach to the show made each episode quite entertaining. On other ships we’ve found the morning shows trying too hard to be funny without a whole lot of useful information. Between Casey and the other crew who appear on the show, they actually gave some good useful information to use each day. We also enjoyed his “silly news item of the day” taken from the world news wires. His entire staff was a lot of fun and very approachable throughout the cruise.

 

As I mentioned there were 1000 kids on board and on multiple occasions I saw crew members going out of their way to interact with the kids and make sure they knew they were welcome on board. One very cool thing is RC’s support of “Make A Wish” Foundation. They were hosting one or two families on board during our cruise which is pretty cool when you consider this was a peak season cruise. We found one of the hosted families at the entrance to the Windjammer one day being serenaded by two of the restaurant crew jamming with an acoustic guitar. That was a pretty cool sight.

 

Freedom had the best Cruise Critic meet up of any cruise we’ve been on. One of the Cruise Director staff led an official event that included raffle prizes, snacks and drinks. It was really nice to see that they recognize folks taking their time to offer advice to others is a good thing for the ships and the cruise industry in general.

 

Also have to single out the host of the Windjammer Buffet during the day. He was always dressed in some sort of costume or hat that went along with the ports or location. Always singing, dancing and just generally having a great time. The final day he had a santa hat with blinking glasses and a tamborine playing along with the music. Always putting a smile on everyone’s face as you entered and left the Windjammer.

 

 

Internet / Phone:

Freedom actually had the most reliable, fastest internet service of any ship we’ve been on. The prices are extremely high, but that’s normal for cruise ships. Ranging from about $30 for an hour of service to $190+ for service throughout the entire cruise. You can sign off / sign on to multiple devices with a single wireless account, but only one account, the most expensive at more than $200 allows you to have two devices connected at the same time. I simply went with service for the first 24 hours of the cruise and disconnected after that. I like to think the high prices for internet service are a subtle reminder to “disconnect” while you’re away. Amazes me how many people are sitting on a ship staring into their phones and tablets. One family spent the entire meal looking at their daughter’s phone at Portofino. You’re on a cruise ship for crying out loud, unplug, grab a book or just close your eyes and relax. You can reconnect when you get home.

 

Also remember to put your cell phones into Airplane Mode for the duration of the cruise unless you have international cell phone service. If you don’t, you’ll receive texts / emails etc.. at all the cruise destinations when your phone connects to local cell service and rack up international data charges.

 

 

Dining:

I eat everything and my wife is a vegetarian. We’re pretty adventurous eaters who will try pretty much any cuisine. Our favorite cuisines include Indian, Ethiopian, Italian and all things Asian. So a big part of any cruise for us is the quality and range of the food. We’re definitely not a meat and potatoes kind of couple.

 

Freestyle Coke Machines / Beverage Plan

We opted for the unlimited refills with the Freestyle Coke Machines. We honestly don’t drink soda but as Dasani Water flavors are available via the machines, we decided to take advantage of the service. The only problem is the limited availability of the machines, especially since the Windjammer Buffet is not open 24 hours. In the evening after Windjammer closes, the only two machines really available are the two outside Sorrento’s pizza so a long line can form up. If one of them is broken (as did happen) then it’s even longer. Technically there is another machine available in the arcade, but that one was out of ice the first time we tried so we avoided that one. The Freestyle machines are a great idea, they could just use a few more machines that are available 24 hours. Overall we did enjoy the service and you do get some nice cups to take home as a souvenir

 

Main Dining Room:

First off, let me recommend having breakfast in the MDR instead of the Windjammer buffet. Freedom of the Seas actually combines a buffet and the sit down breakfast to bring the best of both worlds together. The buffet has cereals, eggs, bacon, sausage, and a really nice selection of granolas you don’t find on the buffet combined with the service of the waiters and made to order items. What you DON’T get is the craziness that can be the Windjammer in the morning. My wife actually found this tip here on Cruise Critic and I’d recommend you try it too. You go all the way down to Deck 3 to enter the MDR for breakfast.

 

We did the “My Time” dining so we had flexibility to show up anytime. When we did use the dining room, they sat us at the same table for 2, Table 61 to be exact on the 5th deck, which sits right next to two of the main bussing stations in the dining room. This was a main thoroughfare for all the carts of food and cleaning to go past. So dinner was more of being in the middle of all the hectic activity and listing to all the banging of plates, utensils, etc… than actually enjoying a relaxing meal. We’ve sat in similar areas on other ships and it wasn’t nearly as distracting or loud as this one.

 

First Dinner was very good. It was the “saffron dinner” with that spice serving as the theme. I started with a salad with crisp prosciutto and for the entree went with the Cortina special which is a mild fish. It was perfectly done and very moist. My wife had an artichoke crepe which she really enjoyed. For dessert I went with the chocolate souffle with espresso creme, which was ok. Not great, just ok. She loved her lemon meringue pie.

 

Second Dinner, not so good. It was the “portabello dinner” supposedly centered around that mushroom. I stared with the meatball appetizer which was terrible. Rubbery flavorless meatballs that were somewhere between a Swedish meatball and an Italian meatball. The waiter told us, “yeah, that’s how they always prepare them.” They were supposed to have mushroom inside, but instead there was a sliver of mushroom draped over them. I ate part of one meatball and left the second one in the plate. My wife started with the Jalapeño soup and she said it was actually pretty good. For the entree I went with the Sea Bass and Tiger Prawns. The fish was completely dry and flavorless. The “tiger prawns” were two of the smallest shrimps you’ve ever seen, not prawns by a long shot. My wife went with the quiche which was ok. Not great, but ok. The wait staff did apologize, but we gave up on the dining room after the second meal.

 

I also have to point out that RC does not enforce the dress codes in the main dining room which is disappointing. I understand some people want to wear gym shorts and t-shirts to dinner, but go to the buffet. If a dress code is smart casual, that means slacks and at least a polo shirt for the men and a skirt or pants for the women. We watched entire families, kids, parents and grandparents be seated with shorts, t-shirts, hoodies and sneakers, like they just walked in off the beach. So really it’s “come as you are” to the main dining room so long as you’re not wearing a bathing suit. This is probably why RC is getting away from main dining rooms in their newer ships and quite honestly, gives me more reason to just skip the main dining rooms in the future. Why bother bringing appropriate clothes if the staff doesn’t care that we took the time to follow the dress code.

 

Windjammer Buffet:

The buffet is NOT 24 hours like many other cruise ships, it has set hours of operation. Check the schedule or check the daily Compass for hours.

 

For some reason a lot of people simply stop and start at the very beginning, but the buffet is spread out over a lot of stations that wrap all the way to the back of the room. My suggestion is to walk the entire space before you start lining up to get what you want. Very good salad bar around each side, in the back section you’ll find hot dogs, hamburgers, the carving station, international flavors and desserts. All in all, many good options to choose from and everything seems to be quite fresh. The french fries are actually some of the best I’ve ever had. Consistently hot and crispy. All of the Indian dishes were quite spicy and hot. At night there were usually since nice assortments of cheeses including blue and provolone and often a Mediterranean section which included roasted red peppers, prosciutto and mozzarella cheese which were all good tossed on the salad. One standout for me was a Paella that showed up one evening.

 

As with all buffets there are weak spots too like the sushi in the Jade portion of the Windjammer. Just not very appealing with not much flavor and very mushy rice. The sushi we found on the HAL Nieuw Amsterdam was much more flavorful and the rolls were more like we get at sushi restaurants. The egg salad is just a watery goopy mess. Most of the baked pasta dishes were dried out and not very good.

 

But overall, the buffet has good options and after we gave up on the main dining room, this is where we did most of our dinners. Definitely recommend this buffet for lunch and dinner, just try to eat off hours if you can, paying attention to the actual operating hours. At least if something is not great, you can put it aside and try something else.

 

And speaking of “not great” the ice cream they will serve one evening is probably the worst I’ve ever had. No clue the brand as I didn’t recognize the logos, but the vanilla and chocolate both were a bit crystalized and completely flavorless. Don’t bother with it, pay a little extra money and hit the Ben and Jerry’s if you want some decent ice cream. The kids however will eat it up.

 

This is one of the locations of the Coca Cola “freestyle” machines where you can make your own drinks by mixing various flavors together. The machines are on either side of the first section of the dining room.

 

Portofino:

We tried Portofino twice during the cruise, the first time as part of the Mystery Dinner Theater on the first night. Their take on a minestrone soup is completely unique in my experience with it primarily broth based with fresh diced vegetables tossed in. Quite tasty. The meal was extremely good as I went with the filet mignon which was perfectly seasoned and cooked. My wife went with the noodles and mushrooms and said it was quite good.

 

The second meal we went on Thanksgiving Night to do an alternative to the turkey dinner in the dining room. My wife asked for the antipasto appetizer but had the meat put onto a separate plate for me while I went with the beef carpaccio. All were excellent. She really enjoyed the minestrone so she ordered that again as a starter. For the main course she went with the pesto pasta dish and I went with the lamb chops. Both outstanding.

 

A note on the Chef’s Table dinner. In the brochure they show this as a single table inside what looks like the Portofino Restaurant. In reality, it’s served in the first section of the Windjammer Buffet right outside the Portofino that’s roped off and it’s three or four tables in a horseshoe arrangement. We saw two of these dinners happening as we walked through the Windjammer and in my mind it cheapens the whole idea of spending extra on an extravagant meal. While you’re enjoying a meal with the chef, you’re seeing and hearing all the activities of the buffet. Even though they have that one section closed off, you’re still in the buffet area next to the Coke Machines and it’s not the same as being treated to a truly elegant evening of private dining in the Portofino. In my mind, they should reduce the number of attendees and move it into the back area of Portofino.

 

Vintages:

Great little spot for wine and tapas along the Promenade. This is especially great for folks who may not know all that much about wine as the bartender is extremely knowledgeable and there are multiple “flights” of wine available. The flights are three wines allowing you to essentially sample variations on a type of wine such as whites or reds. I HIGHLY recommend the dessert flight of wines. 3 wines, 2 oz. each and there’s a choice of two flights with one being all Port wines. We ordered one of each for the two of us and it was just outstanding. Each of the three ports were quite unique and got even better with each glass. The other flight was a riesling, souvignon blanc and a sparkling wine. The flights came with assorted desserts like chocolate dipped strawberries and chocolate covered cookies. Really nice way to end a meal or as a nightcap a little later in the evening. We later did a flight of white wines and when we didn’t like the second option in the flight, the bartender changed it out to another one.

 

If you order a regular glass of wine, there are items such as feta cheese at the bar included with the glass of wine.

 

Sorrento’s pizza:

Meh. We each tried one slice. This ranks with average frozen pizza from your grocery store with a completely flavorless crust which is a shame since the toppings are fresh and quite good. This is one of those cases of “if you’re not even going to try, then don’t do it at all.” Making quick, good tasting pizza is not hard, Princess has some awesome pizza available by the pools. If they would just update the crust on Freedom and maybe install real pizza ovens, they would have something with Sorrentos.

 

There are two Coca Cola Freestyle machines outside Sorrento’s.

 

Promenade Café

24 hour cafe with no charge for any of the coffee and tea located along the back wall. I found the free coffee to just not be that good, too strong and bitter to be enjoyable. Also no charge for the food items in the case. There IS a charge for any of the Starbucks coffee items and Tazo teas, and I will say the quality of what you are served depends entirely on the person who is manning the counter at that time. This is not nearly as consistent as a stateside Starbucks which is a bit disappointing since you have to pay for the coffee and the specialty drinks. I figured out which of the baristas actually knew what they were doing and would only order when I saw one of them manning the line. One hint I will give you, if the crew is the same, the women were better baristas than the men.

 

Inside the glass case inside the cafe are many dessert type snacks of which the Zeppolis are easily the best. As an Italian I can tell you these are not true zeppolis, but this variant is quite tasty with a hint of lemon. We would stop by a few times a day to grab a few.

 

Ben & Jerry’s

Somewhat limited flavors, but all of the popular favorites. Shakes, cups, cones and banana splits all available for a fee.

 

Cupcake Cupboard

We thought we were going to eat here more but the first cupcake we got was so-so and that ended us coming back here. We preferred to go over to get the zeppolis instead at the Promenade Café

 

Sprinkles Ice Cream

This is a soft serve ice cream that’s on the Starboard side of the ship alongside the main pool. Kind of an odd spot to put it since it causes a traffic jam as you’re trying to walk by. As we had 1000 kids on board the line could get quite long. Totally not worth it if there’s a line. If you just want something cold and there’s no line, then definitely grab some, it’s pretty good.

 

On the H20 pool side you can get individual flavors. On the Main Pool side you can get either chocolate or vanilla or a swirl.

 

Johnny Rockets

It took us three tries to get into Johnny Rockets. Twice at lunchtime the wait was around 1 hour so we passed. Another passenger told me she went at 2pm and only had to wait 5 minutes. We went for dinner on the last night of the cruise and walked right in. When you sit down they automatically bring you some fries and onion rings, and they’ll keep bringing you as many as you want from there. I have to say it was the best hamburger I’ve had at sea. I went with the Route 66 burger and it was cooked to perfection. My wife on the other hand went with their grilled cheese and it was very dry with what appeared to be a single slice of cheese. Not good at all. They offered to make her a veggie burger instead, but she opted to just skip that and ended up having her dinner in the Windjammer buffet. We also ordered a black and white shake (vanilla and chocolate) and it was decent, but not worth the extra charge for it.

 

 

Entertainment:

Mystery Dinner Theater:

This started out in the Olive or Twist bar and finished in Portofino with the audience being a part of the High School Reunion murder mystery event. Going in we knew it was going to be a bit cheesy based on previous reviews, but that didn’t matter to us. We just figured a few laughs and a good meal would make for a fun evening. The biggest problem with this event is that it is just too long. We were told to arrive at 6:45 which we did and the event did not end until 10:00pm. During that time, there might have been 30 minutes of actual “theater.” The mystery was revealed in three “acts.” We started in Olive or Twist with the longest scene, then before the meal was served, they did the second act in Portafinos and then finally around dessert they did the reveal of the killer. By that point at least 1/4 of the audience had left. Doing the mystery in two acts would have been much MUCH better. The meal itself was excellent as I mentioned in my Portafino review. But 3 hours for a single event on the ship was way too long, 2 hours maximum is all that is needed for this, especially for something over the top cheesy as this. Would have been nice too if the actors had actually joined the audience for dinner to carry on the “reunion” event.

 

Production Shows / Freedom of the Seas Band:

I’m not sure if these will remain after the renovation or if they’ll switch out to Broadway shows instead, but the production shows were pretty good. Excellent singers and the Freedom of the Seas band is easily the best we’ve heard at sea. I highly recommend you catch their Big Band shows in the Pharaoh’s Palace. They also did a tremendous job backing up an impressionist singer on our cruise. They were the best part of the show that evening. As with the rest of the crew, they didn’t seem to take themselves too seriously and just having a good time playing the music.

 

The “Marquee” show featured Broadway classics and while the singing and dancing were both great, the song selection wasn’t the best. Featured too many ballads and some obscure song choices. “Once Upon A Time” was actually one of the more entertaining shows we’ve seen at sea period. Great songs, fun storylines with the fairy tales and really good performances all around.

 

FreedomIce.com Ice Show

Pretty spectacular show considering the size of the ice rink (yes it’s real ice) and the fact that so many skaters are choreographed on the same rink at the same time. Overall a very very enjoyable show and should not be missed by any first time Freedom cruiser. Since the ice is real, it’s a bit a cooler in this room, but I attended the show with shorts and a T-Shirt and wasn’t cold. I did trade in my sandals for socks and closed toe shoes though before we went. There were folks in the audience who did bring a light jacket with them so if you get cold easily, consider that.

 

Dreamworks Parade (Royal Promenade)

A fun parade down the Promenade featuring the Dreamworks characters from Shrek, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda. I stood directly in front of Vintages and had a great vantage point for pictures of all the primary characters as they all seemed to do featured dancing right in front of me. A word of advice, the parade literally comes from both directions so you’ll be swiveling your head back and forth. Puss In Boots makes a nice entrance on the retracting bridge in the middle. Pay close attention to the dancers and you’ll recognize the ice skaters along with the stage performers in the parade. It’s an “all hands on deck” kind of event that’s well done.

 

3D Movies (Arcadia Theater)

During our cruise they featured the Premiere of “The Penguins of Madagascar” in 3D in the main theater along with “Maleficent.” It’s pretty impressive to see a 3D movie at sea but there are two caveats I’ll point out. On the day we saw the Penguins movie, the ship was pitching and rolling due to the seas. So the 3D movie was showing us movement that was not matching what our bodies were doing moving around in the seats with the ship. So my wife got a little bit of motion sickness due to the non-matching movement and I felt a little twinge of it too. When your eyes are seeing one thing and your body is not matching the movement, this can happen.

 

Second the projection system is a bit too dark for 3D projection 3D takes more light to project properly than standard movies and I hope a new projector will be part of the upgrades in January 2015. As the movie is included with your cruise and does not require additional fees, there’s nothing to complain about, but it would be nice if they upgrade that projector to a brighter one.

 

The glasses I wore worked for the upper 2/3 and the lower 1/3 was a bit of a mess, but I just kept tilting my head to see the whole movie.

 

50’s & 60’s Dance Party (Studio B)

The ice rink also houses Studio B with the largest dance floor I’ve ever seen on a cruise ship, basically they cover the ice with a wooden floor. This is a really great party and the cruise director staff makes sure everyone has a good time.

 

Battle of the Sexes (Studio B)

Really fun, very interactive battle royale between the men and women of Freedom of the Seas. They literally split the audience between the men and women to really ramp up the competitiveness between the sexes. Prepare to get involved and have a really great time. Oh and you’re going to laugh a lot too. And men, the ladies take this game very seriously so bring your game face.

 

Love and Marriage Game Show (Arcadia Theater)

A definite “do not miss” for all adults. Generally they pick three couples, honeymooners, married 1 - 50 years and over 50 years. Then it’s a Newlywed Game type of question game show. Ask one person a question and then see if the spouse answers the same way. Cruise Director Casey Pelter did a great job MC’ing the event. Absolutely hilarious.

 

Broadway Musical Trivia (Schooner Lounge)

A quick, fun game if you’re a fan of broadway musicals. My wife and I didn’t win but we had fun. There’s a whole series of trivia games that happen in the Schooner lounge.

 

Dance Party Under the Stars at the Pool

One night during the cruise they’ll throw a big family Dance Party under the Stars at the main pool. Really well done and much more organized than other ships we’ve been on. DJ and lead “dance instructor” leads the crowd through all sorts of fun group dances. There’s also a small buffet brought out on either side of the pool. It’s a great party for all ages.

 

If You Know It, Dance It Game Show

I mention this because it turned out to be a lot more fun than we expected. In Pharoah’s Palace this turned into a big group, audience participation game show. Basically the host starts playing a particular song and either tries to get one person to jump up and start doing a signature dance move from the artist or has a group dance where everyone gets up and dances. The audience is divided into two teams and it turned into a very very fun and quite funny game.

 

Schooner Piano Bar

We heard the piano player on occasion who usually starts around 10pm. It’s exactly what you expect, a fun sing along with a piano bar singer. Depending on the crowd (and it gets packed) it can be really fun and raucous.

 

 

Stops / Excursions:

You will have to sign out towels if you are taking them ashore for beaches / pool areas. They are usually available on Decks 1 or 2 as you depart. Be sure to sign them back in when you return or you will be charged for the towels.

 

Labadee, Haiti

RC’s private area in Haiti and the really nice thing about this stop is that they have built a pier allowing you to walk right off the ship to the beaches and activities. Most other cruise lines rely on tenders to get you to their “private islands.” This was much more convenient and allows the ship to dock even when the water can be a bit rough. We didn’t partake in any of the special offers and activities like the wave runners, zip lines, snorkeling, etc… we just wanted to lay on the beach for a bit. But there is a LOT more to do on this “private islands than any of the others we’ve visited through other cruise lines. My wife had read about Columbus Cove being a nice spot to just relax so that’s where we ended up. It’s in the same area as the Aqua Park with all the various inflatable activities in the water. There was a full buffet set up under one of the oversized gazebos and a bar right close by. The convenience of being able to walk off and on the ship plus the sheer beauty of this space really made this a beautifully relaxing day.

 

Falmouth, Jamaica

A new pier / shopping area was built in Falmouth in a very interesting triangular layout allowing two cruise ships to be docked simultaneously with the shopping area between them. This is kind of neat preventing congestion and confusion that can sometimes happen when two ships are docked on opposite sides of the same walkway. This is a very sanitized and what I like to call “Disneyfied” version of Jamaica and Falmouth. Quaint shops, of course all the jewelry and tax free shopping along with a well organized tour embarkation area. I would not recommend venturing beyond the port area on your own, it gets rough in a hurry.

 

We did the High Tea at the Good Hope House excursion and it was extremely well managed and operated by Chukka. One VERY impressive thing that Chukka did was to send an additional van to escort one couple that could not fit on our tour bus. Instead of squeezing them into the bus, the bus driver called for an additional vehicle to come and take just the two extra passengers. He even waited until that vehicle showed up before taking us on our way. Both our tour guide and the bus driver were very entertaining not only pointing out interesting things along the way, but playing games, singing and just overall making the drive to and from the Good Hope House a lot more fun. The house itself dates from the 1700’s and is currently sitting on plantation land of approx. 2000 acres. There is a bit of an odd macabre story you’ll learn on the tour at the house, but that only adds to the fun. The tea service was very nice and they do also serve the blue mountain coffee. I love coffee, but they made the coffee a bit too strong and bitter for my tastes that day. But the food items they served with the high tea were outstanding. Small sandwiches, jerk chicken and banana nut muffins were among the items. The grounds themselves are gorgeous with a lot of photo opportunities.

 

Grand Cayman

This stop was cancelled due to the high seas. Grand Cayman requires tenders to get from / to the ship and the port master closed down all port operations due to the high winds and high seas. So the ship continued directly towards Cozumel and we all got an extra day at sea. Freedom actually updated the daily schedule to add a lot more activities to the day including two showings of the new Penguins of Madagascar movie in the Arcadia Theater. Be aware that anytime you have a port that requires tenders, these stops are subject to cancellation if the seas are too rough to operate the tenders safely.

 

Cozumel, Mexico

This was a bit of a weird one and really upset some of the passengers I met with as we sailed away. In all our cruises we’ve never had a situation where the captain decided to leave a port 2 1/2 hours EARLY. The original itinerary had us arriving around 10am and leaving at 7pm. Because we missed Grand Cayman, the ship was brought into Cozumel at 7am and the departure time was changed to 4:30pm. The early departure would have no effect on the ship based excursions but really messed up some privately booked excursions that were due to arrive back to the ship after 5pm. In particular I had been hearing a lot about what sounds like a really fun beer crawl on the other side of the island, but the passengers had to cancel out of the 11am departure time as they would have arrived back after 5pm. The excuse for the early departure the passengers I spoke to were given was that the “captain wanted to give the passengers extra time in Cozumel.” This actually makes no sense because it was about the same amount of time. But do you have any idea what is OPEN in Cozumel between 7am and 9am? Not a whole lot. So the first part of the morning was just a wasted time of the ship sitting at the pier with not a whole lot to do. In our case we had an 11am excursion booked and I had planned to just walk about Cozumel and do a little shopping afterwards. Since our excursion ended at 3:30 and got back to the ship at 3:45, we didn’t have any time. So first we missed Grand Cayman and then we got shortchanged by leaving a port 2 1/2 hour EARLY. You would think since we missed Grand Cayman, the ship would have stayed the extra time in Cozumel. I felt bad for my fellow passengers who lost out on their excursions by the move, but I guess the Captain felt as long as their own excursions were taken care of, they really didn’t care much about the private ones.

 

In our case, we did the Salsa and Salsa cooking excursion. It was quite fun, the margaritas started flowing the moment we walked into the door. Each table is set up for 8 folks and you do get a chance to have some fun and interact with your table mates. I was selected as one of the Table Captains.

 

First off, they showed us how to make two different Margaritas. All of the ingredients for the first one are on the table so you can make them along with the hosts. That one is a pretty strong margarita on the rocks. The second one is a blended strawberry margarita which two volunteers make and then they bring more to the tables. Then with the salsas, again, all of the ingredients are on the table and we learned how to make 6 different salsas. If you like drinking and eating salsa, this is definitely the place for you. They did a really good job entertaining and then at the end you learn a little salsa dancing. Towards the end of the dancing it did start to get a little warm inside the room so we just moved outside and enjoyed the breeze for the final 15 minutes of the event.

 

I will say it might have been nice if we at least made one salsa and had chips on the table before making the margaritas. We literally had 3 and 4 margaritas before any food was served so it got a little fun and interesting. :)

 

 

Pools / Sports:

In the H20 Zone and the Main Pool area, the Port (left) side of the ship is open for smoking, so if you want to ensure you’re in a smoke free zone, stay to the Starboard side in those two pool areas or go all the way up to the Solarium pool which is entirely smoke free. And be aware Freedom allows cigar smoking on deck as well, so those can be especially annoying for folks who don’t smoke.

 

As with all other ships we’ve been on, you are not permitted to reserve deck chairs at the pools but this rule is completely ignored. Supposedly after 30 minutes any reserved chairs will be cleared and other passengers allowed to use them. But we saw towels sit on or tucked into deck chairs for 2 hours or more with nobody there and none of the crew would touch them. Again, this is common across all ships we’ve sailed on.

 

One of the nice things throughout the pool areas are windows that can open so when it is very hot and less breezy, you can open the windows along the sides to allow a fresh breeze through. On some other ships we’ve been on, the areas along the windows can get quite stuffy with no fresh air moving along the sides. Windows that open are a nice touch.

 

Speaking of breezy, if you enter the pool area from the rear elevators area / steps on Deck 11 you’ll pass through an automatic revolving door. Be sure to have a hold on everything in your hands because this is a VERY breezy area when the ship is in motion. I think the airflow comes down over the ship, hits the wall area around these doors and swirls, so have a good grip on everything in your hands or it might get blown away. If you’re carrying out a plate of food from the buffet, I recommend using a second upside down plate on top to keep everything from blowing away.

 

Towels are available at the Towel stations on either side of the Main Pool. You can take 2 per person usually. This is also where they keep extra copies of the Cruise Compass available so if you need an extra one, grab it here.

 

The H20 Zone

This is definitely a great attraction for the kids. The best kids pool play area we’ve seen at sea and with 1000 kids on board, it was put to great use. We were tempted to go run and play through this area too.

 

The Main Pool

The main pool area features a big screen TV where they showed a lot of music videos during the day and sometimes a movie. On the weekend and Thanksgiving day they showed all the football games there too. At night they’ll sometimes show a movie as well. It’s a loud space at times between the music and movies, but lots of chairs and space to hang out. This is also where the cruise staff will put on a lot of daily events like the Belly Flop contest, midday dancing and even an “Officers vs. the Guests” pool volleyball game. That was especially fun to watch.

 

The Solarium Pool

This is supposed to be an adults only space up front but I guess with so many kids on board, that rule was disregarded. There weren’t a lot of kids since the Solarium is so “boring” for kids compared to the H20 and Main pools, but especially on the first sea day, there were quite a few kids up front. As our cruise was so windy throughout, this is one of the areas where we could set up out of the wind. Along both outer sides of the Solarium against the windows are areas tucked up out of the bulk of the wind.

 

Hot Tubs

A unique feature on the Freedom are the cantilevered hot tubs on either side of the Solarium. They extend out beyond the ship and are a popular spot for sail aways. They’re also amusing because quite often they’re the hot tub version of the “how many people can we stuff into a phone booth” game. Very much a community experience because they are so large, expect to share the tub with a bunch of your new best friends.

 

Flowrider

We never did try the Flowrider ourselves but this is a very cool area if you’d like to try out boogie boarding. Young and old alike were out there trying their best and I will say the assistants working this area were very friendly and patient. They did their best to help and make sure each person was able to attempt to get up and have fun. This is also a great spot to just hang out and watch the fun for a while.

 

Sports Court

Full sized basketball court and they also do some soccer on here as well. Really nice court and sports area.

 

Rock Wall

We didn’t try this, but it’s a really nice rock wall and again, you can have some fun watching folks try to climb. The smaller kids are especially entertaining to watch and it’s quite remarkable how many of them get all the way to the top.

 

Running / Walking Track

Freedom has a really nice running / walking track on Deck 12 however they have squeezed so many lounge chairs on either side of the track along the main pool that passengers have no choice but to walk along the track to traverse these areas. So be aware that your running will probably involve dodging folks walking because they literally have no place to get out of your way on either side of the pool. We stayed on the walking portion of the track in these places but not everyone pays attention.

 

 

Disembarkation:

This was a relatively smooth process considering the size of passenger load for this cruise. Luggage tags with zone numbers from 1 - 30+ were delivered the night before and all luggage was due out between 7 and 11pm. There was a screen dedicated to showing the expected departure time for each zone and where to gather up. Also, all the video screens near the elevators switched over to this listing as well keeping us constantly updated on the progress. We hung out in the Royal Promenade just outside the Promenade Cafe with another couple.

 

The ship ended up being 2 hours late into port due to heavy winds and high seas and they kept adjusting the times on the video screens which was great. For some reason, immigrations held up the starting process about another hour so instead of disembarkation starting around 8:15am it started around 10:15am. We were Zone 12 and called at 10:45am. When we got out onto Deck 4 everyone was in another complete stand still for some reason. But after 5 minutes the line started moving again and eventually we got down to the luggage carousel.

 

Post Cruise Hotel:

Being that it was Sunday after Thanksgiving when we returned, we booked the Hilton Hotel right on the beach in Cocoa Beach for Sunday night. We didn’t want to drive back to Atlanta on the heaviest travel day of the year. What a beautiful hotel with an awesome outdoor bar / restaurant area and we could walk right out onto the beach. We went out that evening to watch Carnival, Disney and Freedom sail away. This will probably be our new pre-cruise hotel.

 

 

Wrap Up:

One thing we definitely learned is we will not sail again on Royal Caribbean for a major US holiday. It’s not that we don’t enjoy having the kids around, it just felt overwhelming at times with 1000 kids on board. In particular they liked to congregate along the stairwells leading to the staterooms which could be a bit of a pain trying to walk past them. We did our previous Thanksgiving cruise on Holland America which skews older and we’d probably seek out another cruise line that skews older with less emphasis on family cruising for holidays.

 

As I said in the beginning, it’s really hard to have a “bad cruise” and we definitely enjoyed ourselves on the Freedom of the Seas. Pretty ship, lots to do and a fantastic crew, especially the cruise director and staff. What’s not to love about cruising the Caribbean? It just wasn’t “Wow, I can’t wait to get back on another Royal ship” for us. In particular the food was not up to what we expected and that is a major driving factor for us to return to a cruise line. Also the Captain’s seemingly arbitrary decision to shorten the port of call at Cozumel is a concern since we tend to book a lot of private tours and if that’s standard among RC ships, it makes us a bit leery. If we had booked an afternoon excursion or something returning more towards the original posted time of departure, we would have missed out. We’ll try another RC ship at some point, most likely the Oasis or Quantum Class, but probably not for our very next cruise.

 

I hope this review has be helpful and if you are booked on Freedom of the Seas, you will definitely enjoy the ship.

[shirleygallegos60]

Very much liked your review!! Was on FOS just the week before and observed pretty much the same...only its too bad you gave up on the MD, Yes the meat balls were like rubber, and the tiger prawns were not lrg. but the rest of the week was to die for!!!!!!

[mdd3145]

Thanks for the review. We will be on the Freedom on Dec. 21. This will be my 3th time on this ship and your review makes me want to start packing right now.

Edited December 2, 2014 by mdd3145

[molly361]

Great review- We will be aboard for Christmas!!!

 

We know there will be lots of kids onboard for sure:)

[bigque]

Enjoyed your review! Very well written. We did the Salsa Salsa Margarita excursion in Cozumel last year also... Love those Margaritas....They made you really feel loose when they taught you how to dance the salsa! :cool:

[CruisingWalter]

Very much liked your review!! Was on FOS just the week before and observed pretty much the same...only its too bad you gave up on the MD, Yes the meat balls were like rubber, and the tiger prawns were not lrg. but the rest of the week was to die for!!!!!!

 

On a previous cruise on Holland America we kept going back to the dining room after the first bad meal and they never got better. So we opted to not even go back. Besides they kept seating us at the same table that right in the middle of all the action. Believe it or not, it was quieter and nicer up at the buffet.

[CruisingWalter]

Enjoyed your review! Very well written. We did the Salsa Salsa Margarita excursion in Cozumel last year also... Love those Margaritas....They made you really feel loose when they taught you how to dance the salsa! :cool:

 

It was hilarious because we are both lightweights and I have no idea how many margaritas we drank, but we had a GREAT time!

[mulan1123]

I was on the sailing before you (as was Shirley) and you pretty much the same experience as I did, except not as many kids as you experienced.

 

There were a few activities that I enjoyed, such as Adult Scattegories, Dancing with the Officers, and Coffee Time with the Officers.

 

The shows were excellent, the staff nice and helpful, and the Windjammer host was awesome!!

 

It was windy on our sailing too, there was a morning where my mom and I woke up early every morning and take a walk along the jogging track but one morning it was so windy that we couldn't even walk!

 

But as Shirley mentioned, the food in the MDR was good throughout the week. Maybe the menus were different from ours (like not on the same day as yours). I had the shrimp cocktail and prime rib on the first day and the prime rib pretty much melted in your mouth delicious! I think the Portobello menu was on like day 2 or 3 on our sailing.......

Edited December 2, 2014 by mulan1123

[CruisingWalter]

 

There were a few activities that I enjoyed, such as Adult Scattegories, Dancing with the Officers, and Coffee Time with the Officers.

 

I never saw the coffee time with the officers, that would have been neat. I will say I've never seen the officers and crew so accessible as they were on this cruise. The captain and his primary crew passed by us on the outside of Deck 4 one day and we didn't even realize it was them. Very friendly and chatty.

Edited December 2, 2014 by creativegenius

[jtdlmc]

Loved your review. Great information that will definitely be useful when we go on her in 2016. Some of the info may change due to the dry dock coming up but I still cut and pasted a lot of info into my notes :) Thanks!

[mulan1123]

I never saw the coffee time with the officers, that would have been neat. I will say I've never seen the officers and crew so accessible as they were on this cruise. The captain and his primary crew passed by us on the outside of Deck 4 one day and we didn't even realize it was them. Very friendly and chatty.

 

Couldn't agree with you more. My family and I had a very nice chat with the Hotel and HR directors. And said hello to us every time we saw them!

 

The Coffee Time with the Officers was on the last day (if I remember correctly).....then they had something special on the last day where they had food, napkin and towel folding, fruit sculpture demonstrations, etc. And the senior officers were having photo ops! Which I happen to walk by with my camera, and the hotel and HR directors remember my mom and I, and wished me an early birthday (actually kinda yelled and sang happy birthday to me in the middle of the promenade as we were walking away after we got our photos taken, and did it again when we walked by to get to the MDR).....

[NewCruiser77]

Thanks, this was a really helpful review! We are planning to cruise on the Freedom for the first time next September. I know there will be a lot of changes between now and then but it was definitely interesting hearing your experience.

[CruisingWalter]

Loved your review. Great information that will definitely be useful when we go on her in 2016. Some of the info may change due to the dry dock coming up but I still cut and pasted a lot of info into my notes :) Thanks!

 

Thanks so much for the kind words and have fun!

[CruisingWalter]

Thanks, this was a really helpful review! We are planning to cruise on the Freedom for the first time next September. I know there will be a lot of changes between now and then but it was definitely interesting hearing your experience.

 

Thanks! Appreciate the kind words. Looking forward to hearing what's changed after dry dock.

[cynthialanderson67]

Great review. I like how you organized it. Wrote down some tips for our cruise next summer.

[CruisingWalter]

Reading around these forums, it appears that repairs to the propulsion system of Freedom is part of the dry dock refurbishments coming up. We did notice there was excessive vibration in our cabin the entire cruise, but as each ship is different in that regard, we thought that must be 'normal' for this ship.

 

We always get a cabin in the rear section of a ship because the engine vibration is a great help in falling asleep each evening. But now that I hear that one of the main pods is either damaged or the propellor is damaged, that explains the excessive vibration and the underwater repair team I photographed when we returned to Port Canaveral.

 

Sounds like she has been sailing with this damage for a little while now. I guess that finally explains why the Captain shortened up our stay in Cozumel. He didn't have the horsepower to get us back to the Cape in the time schedule he needed to keep.

[cb at sea]

Apparently, everyone was on the ship early for them to decide to book on out early. Had there been passengers still ashore, he wouldn't have done that!

Edited December 7, 2014 by cb at sea