Brief Freedom Eastern Review plus compasses, menus, etc.

[Arizona Laura]

We were on this cruise. It was perfect for my DD her DH and 4 grandkids first cruise. I believe there were 1400 or so kids on the cruise.

The grandkids were ages 8-15 and loved the Freedom. The seas were calm with nice breezes and temps to enjoy the balconies in the evenings.

We did a private tour with Bernard’s Tours.

Thanks for your review. I was looking for family in your pics but no luck.

Laura

[brillohead]

We were on this cruise. It was perfect for my DD her DH and 4 grandkids first cruise. I believe there were 1400 or so kids on the cruise.

The grandkids were ages 8-15 and loved the Freedom. The seas were calm with nice breezes and temps to enjoy the balconies in the evenings.

We did a private tour with Bernard’s Tours.

Thanks for your review. I was looking for family in your pics but no luck.

Laura

 

 

Laura, I think your 15yo grandkid and my 15yo son (from Michigan) hung out together on this cruise. :cool:

 

And I will also chime in agreeing that these were the calmest seas I have ever seen... all those people spent money on the little behind-the-ear patches for nothing! I was a little disappointed, actually, as I really like to be rocked to bed at night, and there was rarely any discernible motion.

[bobmacliberty]

Wrapping up...

 

Debarkation was smooth. Our Orlando flight didn't leave until after 1:00 so we were in no hurry to get off the ship. Had breakfast in the Windjammer and then made our way down to deck 4 around 8:30. After dinging out for the last time (always a traumatic experience!) we followed the line of people down the ramp in the terminal. Our number had been called about 30 minutes earlier so there were only a few bags in our area and we found our luggage easily. There were plenty of porters available and normally, paying a porter would seem like a good way to get through customs quicker as there was 1 (or 2?) lines dedicated to the porters. The line for everyone else was long but there were several customs agents working and the line moved quickly. In fact, I think we got through our line quicker than the porters.

 

We arranged for private transportation to MCO with Executive VIP Limo, to be picked up at 9:00. There was a little confusion as our driver (the wife of the husband and wife team that owns the company) tried to pull into the shuttle bus area. She was in what looked like their personal mini-van, since it had no signage. I was talking with her on the phone as she was arguing with someone that she was a commercial vehicle like the shuttle buses. Eventually, she had to come in to the normal pickup area and we found her. I was a little confused and disappointed that we were in a mini-van, but I never confirmed the vehicle type, so my bad. No problems getting to the airport or with flights home. Another successful cruise complete!

 

As I said in my first post, I'll give this cruise a B+. We had a great time at Coco Cay, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten. Our sea days were all very relaxing and the entertainment was mostly very good. A few issues in the MDR and what seemed like a slight decline in service in general kept me from giving it an A. We're already looking at our next cruise when DD17 graduates from High School next year.

[ham_bone]

 

Just as well for me as I'm not a big shopper, but DW, DD20, and DD17 had to make due with the limited stores that are at the pier. Not to worry though...they were able to find their Alex and Ani St. Maarten bracelets. :D

 

 

Thanks again for the info!

I am up in the air on the tour. we really want to see maho and wouldnt mind seeing some sights, but have NO interest in straw markets. Cant decide what to do (next WEEK!)

 

wife wants to know: Where is the shop that has the Alex&Ani bracelets & are they the exclusive ones??

Edited July 6, 2015 by ham_bone

[LuCruise]

The Sea Lion Encounter was definitely the highlight of the day. DD17 afterward said it was the best thing we've ever done on a vacation. It was just our family of 4, and trainer, and the intern/photographer, plus Remo. Remo is one of 4 male sea lions that they have. We went back into the area where they keep and train the sea lions, and the brought Remo out to meet us. He was trained to do all kinds of things with us. We did several group poses, and several one on one interactions. The trainer told us a lot about Remo and the other sea lions...where they came from, how they are trained, facts about sea lions etc.

 

 

Great review so far! (I need to keep reading as I am just at St Thomas part :-) ) Looks like your family had a blast.

So glad to see a review of Coral World as we are thinking of going there.

What awesome pictures with the Sea Lion. I assume this is extra? If so, can I ask what it cost? Looks like a great experience.

Edited July 6, 2015 by LuCruise

[bobmacliberty]

Thanks again for the info!

I am up in the air on the tour. we really want to see maho and wouldnt mind seeing some sights, but have NO interest in straw markets. Cant decide what to do (next WEEK!)

 

wife wants to know: Where is the shop that has the Alex&Ani bracelets & are they the exclusive ones??

 

We didn't really have time for the Straw Market in Marigot. We were parked near it but by the time that we ate lunch, it was time to leave for Maho Beach. I think that's typical of the Bernard's Tours.

 

Both jewelry stores where we purchased the Alex and Ani bracelets were at the pier. In St. Thomas, it was in the Havensight Mall (possibly building #1 if I remember correctly) but I don't recall the store name. In St. Maarten, it was at a jewelry store called Little Switzerland. There are only about a dozen stores right at the pier in St. Maarten so it won't be hard to find. We were told that these bracelets were only available on the islands. If you do a search on St. Thomas on their website though, you find this:

http://www.alexandani.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=st.+thomas

Price online is the same that we paid on both islands. Still, buying them on the cruise gives them special meaning. I'd imagine that there are several jewelry stores on both islands that sell Alex and Ani, and I'm guessing there's not much leeway in pricing.

[bobmacliberty]

Great review so far! (I need to keep reading as I am just at St Thomas part :-) ) Looks like your family had a blast.

So glad to see a review of Coral World as we are thinking of going there.

What awesome pictures with the Sea Lion. I assume this is extra? If so, can I ask what it cost? Looks like a great experience.

 

Pictures were definitely extra and were not cheap at $99. You get all of the pictures that they took plus stock photos of Coral World, and you can use them any way that you want. As I said earlier, after looking at the pictures, and then looking at the "please, please, please" look on my daughter's faces, I really didn't have a choice.

[LuCruise]

Pictures were definitely extra and were not cheap at $99. You get all of the pictures that they took plus stock photos of Coral World, and you can use them any way that you want. As I said earlier, after looking at the pictures, and then looking at the "please, please, please" look on my daughter's faces, I really didn't have a choice.

 

Cool, thanks. I did see your comment that you cannot use your own camera. Not surprised they charged so much...and of course, how do you not buy them? :)

 

What I meant was...is the Sea Lion experience in itself extra?

[puffy]

bob,

Thank you so much for all the details and tips. I enjoy all your insights and reviews. We are leaving to FOS in July 26th, I have reserved the private tour with Bernard since we have 10 people. We have 6 children from age 12 to 17. What is the best way to make use the private tour ? We are not interested in shopping, but the children will like to swim, snorkel but I also want them to learn about the history of the island. Any advice ? Thanks

[90coralsps]

Just tagging along. I booked Bernard private tour for 13 (5 under 17) also on the same cruise as Puffy's cruise and was also wondering about the same thing. How much to deviate from tour 2 and how much time to allocate to each stop. TIA

[bobmacliberty]

Cool, thanks. I did see your comment that you cannot use your own camera. Not surprised they charged so much...and of course, how do you not buy them? :)

 

What I meant was...is the Sea Lion experience in itself extra?

 

Sorry...misunderstood. The Sea Lions are an extra charge. There are 2 different offerings...the Sea Lion encounter (that we did) and the Sea Lion Swim. We paid $86 per person for the encounter, which included admission to Coral World. Admission by itself is $19. The swim is longer and more expensive at $126 per person. Looks like the swim does everything that you do in the encounter out of the pool, plus extra time in the pool swimming with them. The swim is offered as a Royal excursion which I believe includes transportation. Don't know the excursion price.

[bobmacliberty]

bob,

Thank you so much for all the details and tips. I enjoy all your insights and reviews. We are leaving to FOS in July 26th, I have reserved the private tour with Bernard since we have 10 people. We have 6 children from age 12 to 17. What is the best way to make use the private tour ? We are not interested in shopping, but the children will like to swim, snorkel but I also want them to learn about the history of the island. Any advice ? Thanks

 

Just tagging along. I booked Bernard private tour for 13 (5 under 17) also on the same cruise as Puffy's cruise and was also wondering about the same thing. How much to deviate from tour 2 and how much time to allocate to each stop. TIA

 

With kids in the teen aged years +/-, I'd focus on the iguanas, Orient Beach, and Maho Beach. The iguanas are fun and interesting, and don't take too much time. I'd spend most of my time at Orient Beach and eat lunch there. I don't know if they always go to La Playa but if you do a Google search on La Playa Orient Beach you'll find lots of people saying that the food is good. There are a lot of water sports there if you want to do parasailing, jet skiing, etc. An hour at Maho Beach is probably enough because it's all about the planes, not the beach. Bernard's can time it so that you see some big jets landing and taking off in the afternoon.

 

This will essentially take you on a counter-clockwise drive around most of the island. You'll have plenty of time between stops to see some other sites from the bus and hear interesting islands stories from your driver. If some in your party want to do some shopping, Bernard's should be able to drop you in Philipsburg with enough time to shop a little and then take a taxi back to the ship.

 

I'd also suggest asking the same question on the St. Maarten Port board to get some other opinions.

[LuCruise]

Sorry...misunderstood. The Sea Lions are an extra charge. There are 2 different offerings...the Sea Lion encounter (that we did) and the Sea Lion Swim. We paid $86 per person for the encounter, which included admission to Coral World. Admission by itself is $19. The swim is longer and more expensive at $126 per person. Looks like the swim does everything that you do in the encounter out of the pool, plus extra time in the pool swimming with them. The swim is offered as a Royal excursion which I believe includes transportation. Don't know the excursion price.

 

 

 

Thanks. If we were to do that, we'd stick to the encounter too as my younger one is only 6 years. If that $89 includes admission then that's not bad (and less than the pictures themselves). It seems like tons of fun and very memorable.

 

 

 

Btw...we're thinking of Bernard too for St Martin day.

[Arizona Laura]

Laura, I think your 15yo grandkid and my 15yo son (from Michigan) hung out together on this cruise. :cool:

 

And I will also chime in agreeing that these were the calmest seas I have ever seen... all those people spent money on the little behind-the-ear patches for nothing! I was a little disappointed, actually, as I really like to be rocked to bed at night, and there was rarely any discernible motion.

 

My 15 y/o grandson was Kyle..into soccer. He so enjoyed friends he met.

Laura

[Beachcampin]

Thank you so much for all the info that you've posted. We go for our 3rd trip on Freedom Sept 6th & am curious if they still rent the Hobie Cat sailboats on Coco Cay still?

 

Thanks for the review OP, some great shots.

 

As for the Hobies, about a year ago we rented one and they were starting to fall apart. Maybe from abuse, but probably from just so much use. While we were out one of the rudder mounts broke. We were within shouting distance from shore and someone went to get help. I got tired of waiting and sailed in with one rudder and the other one in my lap to keep it from dragging.

 

Next time we went to Coco Cay in the fall they said they'd taken the Hobie cats out of service. We heard two stories. One blaming corporate lawyers, liability blah blah blah, teenagers and non-sailors destroying the boats. The other blaming the difficulty in obtaining parts, Though it seems like RCI's logistical juggernaut should be able to get a few hobie cat parts to a little island that they visit several times per week.

 

It's too bad because I really miss taking my kids sailing there. What I also find troubling is that their marketing department continues to market sailboats as being available there in their advertising because they are using old pictures that still show them.

[bigeagle12]

Love the review and thanks for posting menus and the cruise compasses.

 

Do you remember what time you actually got to St Thomas?

Edited July 7, 2015 by bigeagle12

[bobmacliberty]

Love the review and thanks for posting menus and the cruise compasses.

 

Do you remember what time you actually got to St Thomas?

 

The itinerary said that we would arrive at noon, but I think we actually got there closer to 11:00am. Don't know if that's normal or not. Maybe with calmer seas Captain Tor cranked up the speed a bit???

[bigeagle12]

The itinerary said that we would arrive at noon, but I think we actually got there closer to 11:00am. Don't know if that's normal or not. Maybe with calmer seas Captain Tor cranked up the speed a bit???

 

 

Thanks .. That is what others have reported too .. I hope we are early in December too .. we like to eat lunch downtown.

[bobmacliberty]

Time to close out this review (unless there are more questions) with a picture and a video. Thanks to all who followed.

 

Day 7 Sunset

 

[YOUTUBE]-lLjPzYexb8[/YOUTUBE]

Day 7 Wake

[pgold128]

Time to close out this review (unless there are more questions) with a picture and a video. Thanks to all who followed.

 

Bob? One more question.. Did you notice if there was a vibration on the ship?

I know last year it was quite noticable. we could feel it in ther cabin and also in the main dinning room.

I was wondering if what ever they did during dry dock corrected it?

thank's,.. great review..

[JamesEM]

Thanks for the review and photos, would you happen to know how much it cost to rent a taxi in St. Maarten?

[Clarea]

Thanks for the review and photos, would you happen to know how much it cost to rent a taxi in St. Maarten?

Depends where you want to go. Here is an example of some taxi rates:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=43475739&postcount=10

[love2fish]

DH & I loved Kelly's show when we were on Freedom last week. We were at the Schooner's Bar every night to see his show and then for the time he played afterwards. He's very talented and my DH commented several times that he couldn't believe how one person can know so many song lyrics from so many genres. Watching the video makes me want to be there again.

 

I have a lot of info about St. Thomas and St. Maarten, but let me quickly cover a few random bits of info.

 

Internet - We decided that it would be cruel and unusual punishment to deprive our teen daughters of internet access for an entire week. How would they survive without Instragram, Twitter, and Snapchat? The price was $20 per day for one device at a time, and an extra $10 a day for 2 devices at a time. I was only willing to pay for 1 device at a time and told my daughters that they'd need to share. We were never sure about how to log off one device so that we could log on a different device. We ended up just logging onto the second device and assumed that the first device would automatically log out. About 5 days into the trip we realized that we had more than one device with access at the same time. I verified that we were only being charged for 1 device. Not sure why this happened. Maybe it's a loophole in their system? In any case, it worked.

 

Internet speed was slow but manageable. Uploading pictures took a couple of minutes. Uploading videos to Snapchat took longer, but worked. DD17 tried to Facetime her boyfriend but they couldn't even get audio only to work. They had to settle for iMessaging and Direct Messaging on Twitter to communicate with friends.

 

Entertainment - We thought the singers/dancers/production numbers were just so-so. We really enjoyed some of the other entertainers though. Kelly Goodrich was the piano player in the Schooner Bar and he was great. He would do a themed hour most nights, dressed in a costume. One night was Billy Joel, another was Elton John, and another was Jimmy Buffet. He also did 30 Beatles songs in 60 minutes one night but we missed it. Here's a short clip of Kelly playing Rocket Man dressed as Elton John:

 

[YOUTUBE]W-b0W2b23j4[/YOUTUBE]

 

One of the comedians was Chris Bliss. He also does an amazing juggling routine sync'd to a medley of Beatles music. See a Youtube version here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfiq8Z4dBwE

 

We very much enjoyed the aerialists. Their routine in the Welcome aboard show was good, but their routine in the Farewell show was even better. A few things they did in the Farewell show had me nervous about witnessing a major fall that would not have been good.

 

The Now You See It Drew Thomas Magic Show was also very good. I'd read mixed reviews here with some really liking it and some thinking that integrating the ship's singers and dancers was too forced. Overall though, I thought his magic was very good and left me very entertained.

 

I was pleasantly surprise by the Headliner who was a former member of Foreigner. I'm blanking on his name and it's not in the Cruise Compass. He actually only played a few Foreigner songs at the end of the show and that was the least enjoyable part to me. He had a nice voice and played the clarinet, trumpet, sax, and guitar. I thought he played very well with the Freedom orchestra. My only complaint is that his "style" is a little too Vegas, if that makes sense.

[bobmacliberty]

Time to close out this review (unless there are more questions) with a picture and a video. Thanks to all who followed.

 

Bob? One more question.. Did you notice if there was a vibration on the ship?

I know last year it was quite noticable. we could feel it in ther cabin and also in the main dinning room.

I was wondering if what ever they did during dry dock corrected it?

thank's,.. great review..

 

Didn't really notice any vibration. I believe that whatever issue they had with their fixipod (or azipod...can't remember which) that was causing vibration was fixed earlier this year.

[bobmacliberty]

DH & I loved Kelly's show when we were on Freedom last week. We were at the Schooner's Bar every night to see his show and then for the time he played afterwards. He's very talented and my DH commented several times that he couldn't believe how one person can know so many song lyrics from so many genres. Watching the video makes me want to be there again.

 

We were amazed watching Kelly's hands on the monitor behind him. As I'm sure you noticed, he would frequently take one hand off the keyboard to wave it around while he continued playing with the other hand. Without looking at the keyboard, he would then drop his hand right back to where it was supposed to be to play the next chord. That may be normal for a pianist that puts in many, many hours, but it's impressive for a non-pianist to watch.