Onboard Freedom of the Seas Eastern Caribbean Now!!! 3/8/2015

[Betsynh]

I believe it was Paul Shea. As soon as I unpack i'll let you know for sure. I never made it to the Schooner Bar, as I babysat my grands every night so that my DD & SIL could go out alone. If my roll call comes back on, i'll ask if anyone went there.

Cheryl

 

Thank you so much! Our favorite was a guy who actually played the piano... the one that we didn't like basically flipped a switch with background instruments and played a little while he sang. Sort of a modified karaoke, which killed the mood for those of us that wanted to sing with a live pianist. It's so funny how different things appeal to each one of us! We'll be on board in 5 weeks!

[Betsynh]

I Google searched him and YES, it IS him! Paul O'Shea, and he has clips of videos, etc. He's exactly the kind of piano bar guy we love... So excited. Thank you again! Can't wait to check out the Schooner Bar on April 19th!

[F350Blackcloud]

Hello! It does sound like very different cruise experiences! I have a question about the internet and cell phone service.... was it worth it? Were you able to use the internet enough to justify the fee? Are you able to text over wifi on the iPhone? Did anyone use their cellphone for phone calls? Just trying to figure out the best way to stay in touch!

 

The wifi worked ok the first couple days, kept in touch with emails. The service really dropped off later in the cruise maybe because of cloud cover interrupting the satellite reception.

Cell service is only available within range of a tower. You will experience international call service fees around $2 a minute. Texts were .50 to send and .05 to receive (on my Verizon plan). I kept on airplane mode with wifi on.

[Getsmarts]

We were on the same cruise with Cheryl (counsdr). I thought I would add a few things. If you like Margaritas, each afternoon from 4 -7:30 the On-Air Bar (by the ice rink) had buy one get one free Margaritas on the rocks (not frozen) for $12 total plus gratuity. At the other bars a glass of Chardonnay $7, $6 for beer in an aluminum can, Bloody Mary for $12, Yellow Bird (the drink of the day for $10.

 

We only went to the Main Dining room 5 nights. All nights but one had shrimp cocktail on the menu. The day it was not on the menu we asked for it and they said they did not have any available that night.

 

Our son did not like some of the appetizers so our waiter brought him the "secret" fresh fruit plate which he got every night after.

 

We were supposed to be at CocoCay until 4:30 PM but had to leave at 2:30 and we still got into St. Thomas about an hour late at 1PM instead of 12 but were into the strong headwinds that Cheryl talked about.

 

I saw an officer toward the end of the cruise and asked about the azipod issue. He said it was repaired while we were in port at St. Maarten and everything was working fine now. We were still only cruising at 21.7 knots on the trip back to the port but that got us back on time and was probably the calculated speed needed for that leg.

 

Steve

[ckrobyn]

I don't believe Freedom has heated pools. If I remember correctly, the only Freedom class ships with heated pools were Liberty and Indy.

 

100% there was one heated pool on our sailing. I too thought the Freedom did not have heated pools, but she definitely does. In fact when I was in the pool that was heated, I could feel the warm water coming out of the jet. Now having said that, maybe it is not heated all the time?:rolleyes:

[Clarea]

100% there was one heated pool on our sailing. I too thought the Freedom did not have heated pools, but she definitely does. In fact when I was in the pool that was heated, I could feel the warm water coming out of the jet. Now having said that, maybe it is not heated all the time?:rolleyes:

Thanks for the update Robyn. It's hard to keep it all straight.:)

[counsdr]

Robyn, which pool was heated? The solarium was too cold to get in, the H2O zone was freezing and so was the kids pool. Of course I found the water in Coco Cay and St. Maarten too cold to swim in either, but I like bath tub temperature water!!!!

 

Cheryl

[ckrobyn]

Robyn, which pool was heated? The solarium was too cold to get in, the H2O zone was freezing and so was the kids pool. Of course I found the water in Coco Cay and St. Maarten too cold to swim in either, but I like bath tub temperature water!!!!

 

Cheryl

 

Facing the aft, it was the pool on the left.

[Ocean Boy]

I saw an officer toward the end of the cruise and asked about the azipod issue. He said it was repaired while we were in port at St. Maarten and everything was working fine now. We were still only cruising at 21.7 knots on the trip back to the port but that got us back on time and was probably the calculated speed needed for that leg.

 

Steve

 

I wouldn't describe 21.5 kts. as only. That is a good clip for Freedom class ships. Indy rarely exceeded 19 kts. the week I was aboard.