FOS 5/8/16- A quick review

[CaptainEd]

My first "review"... Please excuse any grammatical errors etc as I did this as more of a point form fashion.

Just off Freedom of the Seas 7 day Western Caribbean cruise.

This not a full review but a quick overview of our experience.

It was fantastic!

Embarkation was a breeze, easily parked and took advantage of the 40%off voucher from the Best western inn & suites in Cocoa Beach.

We were on the ship by 11:30 having lunch in the Windjammer.

 

This was my DH and my second cruise( 1st was about 14yrs ago on NCL) and our three kids first cruise.

We had a FOV stateroom 8200 and it was perfect and roomy for our family of five.

Yes it was a bit of a walk to get to some of the venues but we needed it after all the food and drinks we indulged in.

The beds were fine... So exhausted at the end of the day I could have slept on the floor. I did feel movement, much more than I remember from our prior cruise.... I don't think it was just the location of our room as I felt it throughout the ship on Sea days as well. It settled and was barely noticeable on the sailings from island to island and was then very noticeable and a bit noisy on our return to Port Canaveral.

 

We enjoyed every aspect of the cruise!! Wish it was another day longer... I would have enjoyed another sea day at the end as it was fairly port intensive!

 

We are hooked and booked another cruise onboard.

 

We did not book any shore excursions through the ship and instead I booked them on my own and enjoyed them all.

 

We all loved Labadee... I wasn't sure I would but found it to be a wonderfully relaxing beach day. Someone walking by gave us tickets for the water slide ( they had purchased from Costco) and the kids enjoyed it! Thank you kind stranger!

We were the Only ship in port and got to Columbus cove early and easily found a shadey spot. We missed the water taxi as it wasn't well marked.

I could see this stop being less enjoyable with another ship being there.

 

Jamaica- we did a day pass to the Royalton White Sands. ( I posted our thoughts on the Jamaica board in a Royalton thread).

Only ship in port.

 

Grand Cayman - we did a snorkel, stingray city and starfish beach excursion with Native Way tours.

We all really enjoyed it... Our reservation was mixed up and we sadly missed out on beach time... We were on the water for a lot of the day but I had planned for us to spend some time chilling on the beach but we just didn't have time- disappointed however the tour was fantastic. I think I'm ruined off snorkelling anywhere else as it was incredible.

We were compensated for our lost time (without having to ask). So that was good.

One of three ships in port.

 

Cozumel- we did Paradise beach.. We had a good time

It did get crowded.

The pool was awesome.

I think I would book something quieter next time.

We had experienced the ruins before and were not looking to spend a lot of money.

I think there were 4 ships in port that day, not sure, but it seemed busy everywhere.

 

A couple of things we didn't enjoy ...

The Windjammer - the buffet area height made it difficult/impossible for two of our children to reach and get their own food.

The lines were long and at times the area was quite crowded which made the process a little stressful trying to navigate with kids in tow.

Dinner ( the food wasn't great) and we chose to eat most of our dinners in the main dining room.

 

Service and food quality was good to excellent in the MDR. We did My Time and we were lucky to have the same servers every night and a table in the same area.

 

All three kids 6,9,12 enjoyed the kid/teen club. And asked to go.

We didn't use it everyday but the two Sea days they went and the younger two went in the evenings a few nights.

We aren't gamblers so we can't comment on the casino.

We did use the gym and the track four times and find both adequate.

With three kids who wanted to be at the pool or beach all day... We didn't do a lot of the other activities on the ship. No flow rider ... But we enjoyed watching!

Rock wall was enjoyed.

We didn't ice skate... We do that every week at home and were looking to get away from anything winter!!lol

We saw a few shows... Really enjoyed Quest! What a laugh!!!

Tried Sabor for lunch! Guacamole was delish, as was everything else.

VOOM -had a one device package from our travel agent and it worked well and was fast.

 

I had the premium drink package and got my money's worth most days although it was harder on the port days so for that reason I may not get it again. I did enjoy not having to worry about a bar bill at the end. Service was pretty good.

Pool bars had a fair number of servers coming around taking drink orders.

Some longer waits at the pool bars. Didn't like that I had to sign for my drinks everytime.

I only noticed one drink package "special" for the last sea day. $57 for the ultimate package.

 

Debarkation... Was awful.

There was a family waiting area advertised on Deck 3- On Air, by studio B... Stated there would be games and cartoons for kids and staff to entertain them. We chose to go there as we had a 9:15(late) debarkation time.They had a movie playing and crayons to colour with. There wasn't any staff around nor audible announcements or assigned staff to direct guests.

The lines leaving the ship were long.

The line to clear customs and claim baggage was terribly long! I hope everyone made their flights.

I think we made it to the van by 1050!!! But we used a porter as I overpacked.... Waaaayyyy overpacked.... And therefore bypassed a lot of the crowds!

 

We will cruise again!!! Yes on Royal but I will look at other lines too... I really would like to see St Lucia and Grand Cayman again

And for some reason I can't find what I am looking for. We did see one on Anthem for April 2017 that looked great but it is pretty much sold out so we may have to wait until 2018.

 

Thank you very much for all the info on these boards. It really helped me with our planning! Especially the port of call boards!

Rebecca

Edited May 19, 2016 by CaptainEd

[CaptainEd]

And we did bring water and soft drinks on board with our checked luggage. My hubby had to pick them up from naughty room and open up the bag but after that it was all good!

[Clarea]

Thanks for the nice report Rebecca.:)

[jsinger21]

My wife and I will be on Freedom of the Seas in August. Was there any promotions for Voom of Liquor Package onboard? How much was the Premium Liquor package on the ship?

 

Thanks

[CaptainEd]

My wife and I will be on Freedom of the Seas in August. Was there any promotions for Voom of Liquor Package onboard? How much was the Premium Liquor package on the ship?

 

Thanks

 

 

That's converted to CDN$

[CaptainEd]

My wife and I will be on Freedom of the Seas in August. Was there any promotions for Voom of Liquor Package onboard? How much was the Premium Liquor package on the ship?

 

Thanks

 

 

Sorry blurry

The voom had two prices one for text and talk $12.99/day

And streaming $17.99/day

We had a one device package from our travel agent it worked amazing.

 

The premium beverage was $404.74 CDN all in.

[jsinger21]

Hi,

 

I booked mine through a US travel agent and the prices are in US dollars. I wonder if I call Royal Caribbean would they price in Canadian dollars.

 

Thanks

[Big_G]

My wife and I will be on Freedom of the Seas in August. Was there any promotions for Voom of Liquor Package onboard? How much was the Premium Liquor package on the ship?

 

Thanks

 

We were also on this sailing. There were no discounts on the beverage package either precruise or onboard. The prices were $39/$49/$59 per day. I believe the following week there was a precruise offering so your mileage may vary. We bought the BOGO internet offer precruise so I couldn't tell you if there were any discounts onboard.

Edited May 20, 2016 by Big_G