FREEDOM OF THE SEAS- 1st Timer, Family Review (3/22/15- Eastern Caribbean)

[cant_w8_2_cruise]

Just returned from our first cruise (well, technically, my 2nd- Went on Disney's BIG RED BOAT in the 8th grade ;)) on Freedom of the Seas, Eastern Caribbean route, March 22-29th, 2015.

 

I spent A LOT of time perusing cruise critic to prepare for this trip and learned A LOT from reviews, so I wanted to give back to those who are preparing their own trips. :D

 

It was myself, my husband, our two kids (11 and almost 9), My Mom and my Sister and her husband. We had three rooms, two interior and one balcony.

 

I will try to break things up into categories and add pictures, some to show the ship and ports, and some for fun.

 

I'll start with our pre-cruise stay. We flew into Orlando on Saturday before our cruise. Looking at the port boards, I found information on Fly, Snooze and Cruise packages.

 

We chose the Comfort Inn and Suites for several reasons: It was economical, one block from the beach, and offered transportation to/from airport, parking for my mom who drove down from PA, transportation to port, nice free breakfast, drink coupons and free tokens for the kids for the arcade.

 

When we booked the package, we had to speak with one specific person at the hotel who books these packages. We were also a little confusing, as we wanted 2 rooms, 7 people total, 6 who needed transportation from the airport and 1 who need parking. She put together 2 packages for us. The 6 who were flying, came on 2 separate flights, so when we scheduled the transportation, she told us to only list the one flight that came in last and left first. Then we were told to call a specific number when we got our baggage and they would tell us where to go. Originally the two flights were scheduled to come in 3 minutes apart, but our flight from MN came in almost 1/2 hour early. We got our baggage and waited for my sister's flight to come in (on time) and then we thought we'd grab some food since we got in right around noon and had a 45 minute ride to the airport. When we were walking toward the food court, I thought I would call to get the ride. When I looked at my phone, I had missed 7 calls (7!!!) from the transportation company. I called back and was told that they knew our flight was early and they were waiting for us downstairs. I explained that we had to wait for my sister, and asked if we could grab some food. We were told, NO, we had to go right now. She did not tell us where the van would be waiting, so I did have to call back and ask where the van was. I was a little disappointed that the information was lacking about the fact that they would be waiting and we had to go to the van immediately after landing and getting our luggage. The driver was nice and I explained to him (and the 2 other passengers that were waiting), that even though our flight was early, we technically had to wait for the other flight with the rest of our party to arrive. I guess I would have preferred that they asked for both flights and it would have been less stressful.

 

The trip to the hotel was uneventful. We arrived around 1pm and our rooms were not yet ready. We waited a little while and had access to one room. We dropped off our luggage and went to get food while waiting for the other room to be cleaned. The rooms were very nice, with 2 queen beds, hardwood floors and they even had a little kitchenette. The hotel was within walking distance of several fast food restaurants, a nice restaurant next door, and 2 pharmacies for picking up last minute supplies.

 

After lunch, we walked the block to the beach and enjoyed our kids' first visit to an ocean! (We're from Minnesota!). We ate dinner at the hotel next door (can't remember the name!) They had a great menu, but service was very slow. The manager compensated our wait with free desserts. :D

 

We walked back to the front desk after dinner to ask for the drink coupons and arcade tokens. The woman reached into a basket and handed me a wad of tokens, and 2 two-for-one drink coupons for the bar. The arcade was pretty pitiful. Kids didn't care, they played a few games and we played a round of pool. We ended up not using the drink coupons.

 

Breakfast was really good for a free hotel breakfast. They had eggs, sausage, breads, pastries, fruit and several waffle makers. It was busy, but there was plenty of seating, and the food was well stocked. After breakfast, they sent you with your luggage to a ball room where just outside a full size bus was waiting. The bus left the hotel at 9:30 and everyone on board was on our ship. We got to the port before they even opened the doors for oncoming passengers. By the time the bus was parked and we started getting off, we only had to wait outside for a few minutes before the port doors opened and we began the boarding process.

 

And... I will have to continue tomorrow, since it's after 11 and apparently I got a little carried away with the day BEFORE the cruise! :) More to come!!

[cant_w8_2_cruise]

Trying to add photos...

 

Kids on the beach!

 

 

 

[cant_w8_2_cruise]

I consider myself to be fairly tech savvy, but I can't get a picture to show up any bigger than the above photo. I also couldn't get it to show up when I tried the "Insert Image" button and adding the URL to the picture on Flickr. Any advice??

[Jiffymom]

Nice review so far

[sg1phileshipper]

Great start. Can't wait for the rest of it

 

Cindy

[micmacmissy]

I consider myself to be fairly tech savvy, but I can't get a picture to show up any bigger than the above photo. I also couldn't get it to show up when I tried the "Insert Image" button and adding the URL to the picture on Flickr. Any advice??

 

You have to use a site like photobucket, and then copy/paste the URL here. There is a test forum for photos and help- try that too!

[ampc007]

Thanks for sharing! could you post and of the Eastern compass ? What things did you all do in ports? TIA

[beej]

Can't wait for the next installment. Love reading about the Freedom

[LuCruise]

Thanks for doing a review. We'll be coming with our kids too so love hearing other's experiences and what they saw and did. Your pre-hotel sounds perfect. You were happy there?

 

Your kids look so sweet and like they're having fun already on the beach.

 

Looking forward to hearing more.

[Woodmnky]

Thank you for taking the time to put this together. Looking forward to seeing more.

[ddebaets]

Thank you for doing this review! Can't wait for the rest! We will be doing an Eastern, albeit not till next April, but too excited either way :-)

[cant_w8_2_cruise]

Trying another photo using Photobucket instead of Flickr...

 

When we were on the beach in Cocoa Beach we saw a Disney Ship sailing out to sea! :D

 

 

YAY! I think it's working now! See that ship way out there?? ;)

[ddebaets]

Trying another photo using Photobucket instead of Flickr...

 

When we were on the beach in Cocoa Beach we saw a Disney Ship sailing out to sea! :D

 

 

YAY! I think it's working now! See that ship way out there?? ;)

 

Looks great!!! :-)

[cant_w8_2_cruise]

So, you should know that planning vacations is like, my all time favorite thing to do. :D When the idea of a cruise for our extended family came up, I starting googling and found cruise critic fairly early on. I started researching cruise lines, prices, amenities, etc and I made a spreadsheet (I know, right??) Disney was out because of price, and for some reason I've not heard great things about Carnival, so I narrowed it down to Royal Caribbean and Norwegian. Specifically I was looking at the Freedom and the Epic. I'm sure I couldn't have gone wrong on either. Freedom inched out Epic for us because I thought the kids would like the Dreamworks characters.

 

We originally booked during a BOGO 50% off sale. BUT, I read on CC that you can get a price reduction if prices drop before your final payment. Someone on our rollcall mentioned a sale last fall and when I called I ended up knocking our price down by $1500 AND getting us a total of $400 OBC. I also did that one more time before final payment and saved another $700. I was pretty happy with that!

 

We booked a D1 balcony and two interiors (I think Cat. M? N?)

The balcony room was Deck 7, room 7376, kind of in the middle between the hump and the aft on the starboard side. The two interiors were just down the hall towards the aft. It was nice to have all three rooms near each other. We didn't bother with adjoining rooms, because the two interiors were occupied by my sister and her husband and my husband and son. My Mom, my daughter and I got the balcony room.

 

I loved having the balcony. We ended up just standing out there for sailaway, which was nice. Also, we were on the 7th deck with the library, so each day I'd grab the trivia and soduko and take it onto the balcony for some quiet time.

 

We had a room with a large bed (It was so big, I didn't bother having them split the beds for my daughter and I) and a sofa that opened into a full size bed (It's not a pull-out, it literally folds down into a full size). The only thing I didn't like was once the steward folded the sofa into a bed, he left it like that all week, which took up a lot of room and it was hard to maneuver in there when my Mom was sitting on the edge of the bed. Apparently I was too lazy to ask the steward to convert the bed everyday, but I think I would do just that if we ever had the same set-up again.

 

Our steward was OK. He was great at getting in when we weren't around and making up/turning down the beds daily. Our room was kept stocked with towels. He was pretty chatty and stopped me in the hall every time I saw him, even if I was in a hurry. He was nice, but our interactions were just a tad awkward at times. In fact, once I opened the door to look out to see if my husband was coming down the hall, and when I turned my head he was standing right there and said "Boo!" I think I jumped several feet! ;) We did get several cute towel animals throughout the week.

 

I'm still not sure what this one was supposed to be...

 

 

Pretty sure this one is a pig!

 

 

 

And our favorite, a Monkey!

 

 

The other rooms were decent sized for interiors, I thought. My husband and son had the beds separated, and I think it made it easier to navigate the room that way, since the beds were pushed up against the opposite walls. Their room attendant was fantastic. He called them by name every time he saw them, made some cute towel animals and ALWAYS folded up any clothes that were left on the bed and placed them neatly on the couch. :D

 

I'll see if my husband has any pics of their interior. Any questions about rooms, let me know!

[cant_w8_2_cruise]

Thanks for sharing! could you post and of the Eastern compass ? What things did you all do in ports? TIA

 

I did bring home all of the compasses and kids compasses. I will try to include them here at some point. I'll also include info on our port adventures. ;)

 

Thanks for doing a review. We'll be coming with our kids too so love hearing other's experiences and what they saw and did. Your pre-hotel sounds perfect. You were happy there?

 

Yes! We were very happy with the hotel. On the way there our shuttle driver mentioned the restaurant next door called "The Shark Pit". He mentioned it had a large aquarium, and the Comfort Inn had a 20% off coupon in the lobby so we ventured over there for dinner. I mentioned it earlier, but thought I'd post a few pics of the aquarium. It had a few large eels and one of them was out swimming around the tank the whole time!

 

 

 

[debsters41]

Fantastic Review! The details are well appreciated!

[ACruiserinFL]

We were on the cruise with you, glad you and your family enjoyed your trip

[geauxgirlgeaux]

Too funny - we were in 7378!

[jhen]

Which comfort inn did you stay at? I booked ours at port canaveral. Great post so far-I love being prepared!

[jhen]

How do you find out about all the price drops? I'm booked with an agent. Should I randomly call RC as a new person?

[Clarea]

How do you find out about all the price drops? I'm booked with an agent. Should I randomly call RC as a new person?

You can use Royal's website and proceed as if you are booking the same exact cruise and category. Once you see the price, you can quit the booking process.

[jhen]

Thanks! I'm a deal getter by nature.....I'd be disappointed in myself if I didn't try!

[Clarea]

Thanks! I'm a deal getter by nature.....I'd be disappointed in myself if I didn't try!

I forgot to mention that when doing your mock booking on Royal's website, be sure to check the appropriate boxes with regard to Senior, Residency, Military, Fire/Police, etc.

[breezy_carol]

Enjoying your review and looking forward to more.

[cant_w8_2_cruise]

Being a first timer at Port Canaveral, and knowing that Terminal 1 hadn't been open long, I didn't know what to expect at the port. I did know that since our shuttle left the hotel at 9:30, we'd be arriving there before most folks.

 

This was our first glimpse of the ship when we arrived!

 

 

When we arrived, the port doors weren't open yet, but by the time we were let off of the bus and made sure our bags all had the correct tags, we got in line and it immediately started moving. (Around 10:15am). We moved seamlessly through security and upstairs toward the check-in area. One thing that flustered me was that the line was moving very quickly through security and they were asking for just your identification (we had birth certificates and driver's licenses) and your set Sail pass. I had printed out the main documents, and the set sail passes for all of us and my folder was huge! If I had known I would have had just the set sail passes ready. And, somehow, from the time I passed the first agent and showed her my set-sail pass, to the time when I got upstairs to the gate agent, the first signed page of my set sail pass was missing! I was totally stressed out, but the lady that checked us in jut had me fill out a new set of paperwork with my credit card info and signatures, etc. Easy peasy! It took less than 20 minutes from the front door to sitting in the waiting area until they started boarding. They had plenty of seating in the waiting area and they had water and lemonade available.

They gave us a number as we checked in and when they called our number we could board. Of course, they started with pinnacle, platinum, etc. We had to laugh when they were calling the Crown and Anchor levels for boarding because they lady had to repeatedly remind people that they should remain seated in the seating area until their number was called. REPEATEDLY! :rolleyes:

 

Here is a picture my BIL took of the check-in area. You can see there wasn't really a line, things moved so quickly. I'm the one at the counter in the red and navy striped dress with my beach bag and sun hat on!

 

 

We were in the first group of numbers called and were on the ship in no time!