Voyager Class vs. Freedom Class

[Paulette3028]

Freedom was our favorite class of ship till going on Allure. After that my wife said Allure was her favorite, but I had to go back on Freedom again to refresh my memory after 7 years, and some changes. Now having been back on Freedom, and it will be 3 years since I got off Allure, I have to go try Oasis to refresh my memory there, and those ships are changing. I keep spending more money and I can't make up my mind.

 

Ah the delimna....just what Royal hopes for and more cruises for you (LOL).

 

I can't say that Oasis class is my favorite....Freedom class seems to win that award from me. We are going on Navigator again in November (she was our 1st cruise back in 2004) and know that with the addition of cabins she may be a little bit more crowded in some public areas....although we generally visit WJ at off times, so I don't expect a much difference there. I expect very little difference honesty, other than size, and hope to have a more concrete answer when I return. Or I won't and have to go on another Freedom class ship (same saga as you). I love the idea that waterslides are being put on the ships. It is the reason we are cruising Harmony, along with the fact that we got an outrageous price for a 7 day cruise for two in a balcony overlooking the Aqua Theater.

 

Has anyone recently sailed on Voyager of the Seas, and could possible tell me who the Activity Manager was on board and which sailing your were on? THANKS!

[JohnGaltny]

We have done both and, while Freedom Class is very nice, we much prefer Voyager class.

 

Basic reason is Voyager Class has almost everything Freedom does with 1,000 fewer passengers, way fewer lines and less harried staff.

 

I wouldn't turn down a cruise on Freedom class but, given my choice of equals, Voyager is our way to go.

[BillOh]

Has anyone recently sailed on Voyager of the Seas, and could possible tell me who the Activity Manager was on board and which sailing your were on? THANKS!

 

I need Royal to bring Voyager back, so I can refresh my memory there too. We had a great first cruise. I just wonder if they fixed those balky door exiting the WJ into the pool area. Lots of great memories, just that one not that bad one too.

[yj_eugene]

We have done both and, while Freedom Class is very nice, we much prefer Voyager class. Basic reason is Voyager Class has almost everything Freedom does with 1,000 fewer passengers, way fewer lines and less harried staff.

 

Totally agree. Two of the best cruises we've ever had were a B2B on the Navigator before the additional crowding was added. Went on the Freedom a few months later and was quite surprised how much more cramped and harried the feel was despite being bigger. As has been noted the Navigator and Mariner have their balconies outside the ship superstructure, so those cabins feel more spacious than their equivalents on Voyager/Explorer/Adventure. Alas, only the Mariner of its pair now exists in its original configuration, and I doubt it will ever make it back to the US without the additional crowding upgrade done, so the Voyager class I liked so well really only exists anymore for me as a memory. Yet, given the choice I'd still book a Voyager class over a Freedom class all other factors being equal.

[Hoopster95]

This might be the best thread to ask this question! It was brought up in another thread and I was talking to Bob (Clarea) about it. To make a long story short, and after a couple of hours of heavy googling (shipyard fact sheets, etc), nowhere could I find the exact widths of the Promenade.

 

Freedom Class Royal promenade seems wider, but it is 100% clear that the "chassis", or hull, is exactly the same for both Voyager and Freedom. I'm a little baffled frankly... just an illusion and I've been tricked?

 

Anyhow, the next thought I came up with is that NOS and MOS both had the cantilevered balcony cabins built on the outside of the hull, like Freedom Class, whereas the 1st 3 Voyager Class ships the balconies were within the hull. To me that means the widths of those balconies on both sides of the ship took up interior space of say at least 3 feet of width on each side, leaving more width perhaps for the Royal Promenade!

 

Does anyone here at all have any technical dimensional details of the Royal Promenades, or have a way of finding out whether in fact they are both exactly the same or not? Btw, the length of freedom Class is definitely bigger (120m vs. 110m from what I remember)

Edited August 11, 2015 by Hoopster95

[A2Mich]

This might be the best thread to ask this question! It was brought up in another thread and I was talking to Bob (Clarea) about it. To make a long story short, and after a couple of hours of heavy googling (shipyard fact sheets, etc), nowhere could I find the exact widths of the Promenade.

 

Freedom Class Royal promenade seems wider, but it is 100% clear that the "chassis", or hull, is exactly the same for both Voyager and Freedom. I'm a little baffled frankly... just an illusion and I've been tricked?

 

Anyhow, the next thought I came up with is that NOS and MOS both had the cantilevered balcony cabins built on the outside of the hull, like Freedom Class, whereas the 1st 3 Voyager Class ships the balconies were within the hull. To me that means the widths of those balconies on both sides of the ship took up interior space of say at least 3 feet of width on each side, leaving more width perhaps for the Royal Promenade!

 

Does anyone here at all have any technical dimensional details of the Royal Promenades, or have a way of finding out whether in fact they are both exactly the same or not? Btw, the length of freedom Class is definitely bigger (120m vs. 110m from what I remember)

 

 

Guess you'll have to book two cruises and bring your tape measure to know definitively![emoji1]

[Cuizer2]

This might be the best thread to ask this question! It was brought up in another thread and I was talking to Bob (Clarea) about it. To make a long story short, and after a couple of hours of heavy googling (shipyard fact sheets, etc), nowhere could I find the exact widths of the Promenade.

 

Freedom Class Royal promenade seems wider, but it is 100% clear that the "chassis", or hull, is exactly the same for both Voyager and Freedom. I'm a little baffled frankly... just an illusion and I've been tricked?

 

Anyhow, the next thought I came up with is that NOS and MOS both had the cantilevered balcony cabins built on the outside of the hull, like Freedom Class, whereas the 1st 3 Voyager Class ships the balconies were within the hull. To me that means the widths of those balconies on both sides of the ship took up interior space of say at least 3 feet of width on each side, leaving more width perhaps for the Royal Promenade!

 

Does anyone here at all have any technical dimensional details of the Royal Promenades, or have a way of finding out whether in fact they are both exactly the same or not? Btw, the length of freedom Class is definitely bigger (120m vs. 110m from what I remember)

 

There is a show about this and I believe I have it on CD. I can't speak for the Freedom class, but the Voyager class Royal Promenade is 9 meters wide. The ship yard would only agree to 8.5 meters, so you will note that the interior cabins on deck eight are not straight up and down. If you measure from the top of those cabins to the top of the cabin on the other side, it is 8.5 meters. If you measure from the top of deck seven across it is 9 meters.

 

If memory serves me correctly (no guarantee that it does) buy the time they built the Freedom class, the ship yard was willing to go straight up, but I don't remember if the Freedom class is nine meters or ten meters wide.

Edited August 11, 2015 by Cuizer2

[Clarea]

...Anyhow, the next thought I came up with is that NOS and MOS both had the cantilevered balcony cabins built on the outside of the hull, like Freedom Class, whereas the 1st 3 Voyager Class ships the balconies were within the hull. To me that means the widths of those balconies on both sides of the ship took up interior space of say at least 3 feet of width on each side, leaving more width perhaps for the Royal Promenade!...

The Royal Promenade starts on deck 5, where there are no staterooms, and therefore no balconies hung on the outside of the hull. In other words, I don't think the balconies on the outside of the hull have any effect on the width of the Royal Promenade. I do think the balconies on the outside of the hull make those staterooms larger.

[rudeney]

In other words, I don't think the balconies on the outside of the hull have any effect on the width of the Royal Promenade. I do think the balconies on the outside of the hull make those staterooms larger.

 

I agree. And here's an interesting bit of information. I compared the sizes of the deck 10 staterooms between Explorer, Navigator and Freedom based on specs from rccl.com. With the Navigator's cantilevered balconies, there is more square footage in both the rooms and balconies as compared to Explorer, but Freedom is still larger. Interior staterooms are listed as the same size across all three ships (150 for standard, 256 for accessible).

 

Maybe there is more width in the Freedom's hallways or maybe the cantilevered balconies are not as deep on Navigator?