Cheapo dad's trip report on Freedom of the Seas

[CruisinCrow]

Thanks for your excellent review! I found it because we are going on Independence of the Seas next month and there aren't many IoS reviews with pictures. I thought the ships might be similar enough. Your pictures are great and your commentary is even better. I totally agree with you about the MDR photographers and pirates. Also, the quote about Holland America being for old people and their parents was hilarious. :)

[Jasperdo]

I really enjoyed your Road Trip photos and discussion. As much as I enjoy cruising, my real passion is getting in the car and going on a road trip. I've driven to the four corners of the United States: Homer, Alaska; San Ysidro, California; Key West, Florida; and Acadia National Park, Maine. (Not on the same trip of course.) I've driven in all 50 states, including renting a car on two of the Hawaiian Islands. Drove the entire length of the Alaska Highway, most of the Trans Canada Highway, numerous cross country trips across the United States from the West Coast to the East Coast. Been on more Interstates than I can count, and hundreds of back roads all over the country. It's been a lot of fun ... I've been very fortunate.

 

Getting back to your cruise, I'm continuing to enjoy your witty commentary and fabulous photos. I haven't been on a Freedom Class ship yet, but I'm surprised at how similar they look to the Voyager Class ships. Even though we cruise on Princess mostly these days, I really like Royal Caribbean as well.

[cgolf1]

Hard for me to suggest what you should do on your vacation. It’s your call on what you like to do.

 

Guess part of it depends on how prepared are you for RCI? Meaning how much time have you spent in reading the various trip reports and reading the daily questions/postings from other cruisers to have a vague idea on what’s what? If you are somewhat prepared, then maybe you won’t need to go to the Figure out the Freedom talk as they tell you what deck is what and where you can get free pizza and snack on the RP.

 

I got nothing out of it myself other than knowing where the ship might docks as there would be 3 RCI ships in port that day but than I am 9+ anal scale person so I knew about the basic stuff beforehand . My family got more out of it as they are not CC people so they got to see some pics of the ship. Just know the talk is 80% ad and 20% actual info.

 

As for port talk, it’s 95% sales info on the various stores and 5% info. Yes, if you read my previous post on day 2, you will see we went to the port talk and they had raffle but we didn’t win. If that’s important to your wife, go ahead and attend. Bring something to read in case you get bored as they talk about Diamond International/Del Sol/Tanzanite stones/more diamonds and so on…

 

Thanks Harry, we are going to skip both, since your trip report has been a great learning experience for us:)

 

Really your pictures of the badlands and devils tower, we drove through the badlands and stopped briefly at devils tower on a trip to see family and we now want to go back and explore for a few days and do the trip right.

[harryfat1]

Hey Cheapo dad!

 

I'm an NCL cruiser who's taken a meander over to these boards to learn a little about the Royal experience as we are considering trying a RCI cruise in 2018. I've got my eye on the 'probably-to-be-named-Symphony-Of-The-Seas-previously-known-as-Oasis-4' (catchy name) if she sails a maiden season in Europe like Harmony did.

 

Your review has been not only entertaining but also helped me see a little of what sailing on Royal would be like, so thanks for all the info and pictures! Your comments about the Epic did amuse me- she may have a square butt but she's a charmer really, I promise! :p

 

Now I've spent the last few days reading through this review, I need to go and read your Allure one too!

 

Hi,

 

Thank you for the kind words.

 

I have sailed with 5 different cruise lines but have yet to try NCL as many years ago I read not so great review about NCL but nowadays I have read with their newer ships, they now are a very solid cruise company. One day we will give them a shot.

 

My Allure review is somewhat outdated as it’s 2 years old and some of the stuff has been changed so don’t read it so much for technical stuff but just for entertainment/eye candies to look at some of the photos. If you scroll up a bit, look for Fletch’s signature link as he is doing the Allure trip report currently from his 2016 cruise.

 

They’ll soon release the 2018 cruise schedule so you can start you pre planning once you know for sure you are going on Oasis 4. These mega ships have a lot of activities going on and if you go on a port intensive cruise on one of them, don’t expect to get much sleep as you will be spending a lot of waking time between seeing the ports and exploring the ship.

[harryfat1]

Thanks, Harry. Since I'm also "over the oceans", I think I qualify :)

 

About ropes ....

 

DH is a high tech guy (has over 15 US patents in his name), but his is fascinated by the high tech ship meets low tech ropes -- they still tie the ship with ropes, and of course, I'm getting my fair share of ropes pic.

 

Since I'm myself a low tech gal ...

 

Impressive with all those patents. Thank him for me as I am sure those patents, directly or indirectly, have made our world a better place.

 

Guess as long as the ropes don’t snap off on any of these ships, they will continue to use them.

[harryfat1]

 

Harry, question. At the costa maya port my wife and two teen girls are doing the dolphin swim. Bucket list for wife. I also have a three year old girl. Her and I were just going to hang out in the area and swim in the pool(5000 dollar swim lol). My question is, was there a sandy beach area near also? I am kind of limited as to what to do for a dad and 3 yr old girl. The dolphin swim is about an hour so not sure.

 

Unless I missed a few pages your cruise went to costa maya first then Cozumel? We leave April 9 and ours is Cozumel them costa maya.

 

Nice review sir!

 

 

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Hi,

 

Thanks for the compliment. Glad the info is helpful.

 

If you look at the photos of the port area, there didn’t seem to be any sandy beach area right by the pier. They looked pretty rocky near the end of the pier area. I know they have beach tours but no need to spend extra money just for couple hours.

 

Just walking past it, the pool by the cruise terminal looks pretty deep for a 3 year old and depending on how many ships in port that day, the cruise terminal can be a zoo with tons of people trying to catch their tours. One idea may be just stay on the ship with her and play at the kid’s pool area with all the orange and yellow structures from the photos I have shown previously.

 

Assuming most of the guests will be getting off the ship, you should pretty much have the whole area by yourself other than few families in the similar situation as you. Think she will have more fun at the kids play area than the pool bar at Costa Maya with bunch of adults drinking and likely loud rock music.

 

You can then either meet up with the rest of the family when they come back to the ship or you and the 3 year old can meet at the cruise terminal when your wife’s dolphin swim is done (e.g. Meet at the big Mexican flag area at such and such time when you think they will be done) and the family can walk around the cruise terminal or wait until they come back to the ship to shower and change before you all get off together.

[harryfat1]

The technical name of the place is Marriott Residence Inn Portland North/Vancouver as it's actually on the other side of the bridge on the Washington side but it's not too far from Portland. They are cheaper than Portland's Marriott. Drive a little, save a lot.

 

 

My hometown!

 

Can you help me with where you stayed in that big room on the Oregon coast?

 

Headed there in the fall this year.

 

 

Sure thing. It’s the Adobe Resort in Yachats along the Oregon coast.

 

http://www.adoberesort.com/suites

 

The room is called the Grand Suite. Can accommodate at least 8+ people. Good for big family vacations or gatherings. They have plates and tons of cookware such that you can cook up a storm if you like.

 

The 3 queen beds can sleep 6 and there’s sofas and lots of floor space for kids in sleeping bags so getting lots of people in there won’t be a problem. The web site says they have place setting for 12 people so you know they are used to have a lot of people there.

[harryfat1]

Thanks for your excellent review! I found it because we are going on Independence of the Seas next month and there aren't many IoS reviews with pictures. I thought the ships might be similar enough. Your pictures are great and your commentary is even better. I totally agree with you about the MDR photographers and pirates. Also, the quote about Holland America being for old people and their parents was hilarious. :)

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for the compliment.

 

Actually we think alike. For my cruise research on the Freedom, I went over to the Independence side to see what reviews are available to check out as they are same class ships. I also see we have both been a cruise on the Carnival Paradise. Have couple pics of her on day 5 of the cruise as we saw her at Cozumel.

 

I read that someone had a thread on why there are not too many reviews on the Independence. Maybe because the route on the Independence is shorter, people don’t do a big blown review. The Freedom cruisers have more to read from in the large number of trip reports that have been posted the past 6 months.

 

I see from your signature you have a travel blogging site. I should start one on my end somewhere down the road.

[h20skibum]

Harry,

 

DW is steady talking about a cross country road trip. I am trying to keep her away from your photos, or she will be bugging me more.

 

I enjoy cruising too much. In fact, we are sad, because I am posting from a cruise now as we wait for a comedy show to start.

 

Keep up the good work with your review.

 

 

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Edited January 19, 2017 by h20skibum

[harryfat1]

I really enjoyed your Road Trip photos and discussion. As much as I enjoy cruising, my real passion is getting in the car and going on a road trip. I've driven to the four corners of the United States: Homer, Alaska; San Ysidro, California; Key West, Florida; and Acadia National Park, Maine. (Not on the same trip of course.) I've driven in all 50 states, including renting a car on two of the Hawaiian Islands. Drove the entire length of the Alaska Highway, most of the Trans Canada Highway, numerous cross country trips across the United States from the West Coast to the East Coast. Been on more Interstates than I can count, and hundreds of back roads all over the country. It's been a lot of fun ... I've been very fortunate.

 

Getting back to your cruise, I'm continuing to enjoy your witty commentary and fabulous photos. I haven't been on a Freedom Class ship yet, but I'm surprised at how similar they look to the Voyager Class ships. Even though we cruise on Princess mostly these days, I really like Royal Caribbean as well.

 

Hi,

 

Thank you for the kind words.

 

Very impressive in having been to all 50 states. That’s one of the bucket lists for my wife and I. Hard to do it when kids are still in school and we’re both working. Just not enough vacation time to take off for so long from work.

 

The RCI veterans will tell you there’s technically not too much difference between the Voyager class to the Freedom class. Freedom is longer and has few more things here and there but not an overwhelming wow difference between the two. But if you jump up to the Oasis class, that’s a totally different ball game.

 

I see we share few cruise ships in common from the past – Carnival Jubilee/Holiday and Star Princess and Mariner of the Seas.

[harryfat1]

Thanks Harry, we are going to skip both, since your trip report has been a great learning experience for us

 

Really your pictures of the badlands and devils tower, we drove through the badlands and stopped briefly at devils tower on a trip to see family and we now want to go back and explore for a few days and do the trip right.

 

You’re welcome. I was hesitant to suggest whether or not to go to those events as I don’t know what’s important to you folks and we all only have so many vacation hours on each cruise so make sure you spend it the way you see fit.

 

It was like 98 degrees when we got to Devil’s Tower in the afternoon. We walked up to the base, which is like couple hundred feet of climb and there’s a trail that goes all the way around it. With the heat, we just said forget it and turned back to the AC of the van.

 

Base of the Devil's Tower to give people an idea on how massive this thing is up close

 

 

 

Check out the lines that form the grooves of the Devil's tower

 

 

 

 

Mt. Rushmore

 

 

 

 

More Badlands

 

 

 

 

Go check out Jewel cave if you guys are there

 

 

 

 

Bison walking next to our car

 

 

[harryfat1]

Harry,

 

DW is steady talking about a cross country road trip. I am trying to keep her away from your photos, or she will be bugging me more.

 

I enjoy cruising too much. In fact, we are sad, because I am posting from a cruise now as we wait for a comedy show to start.

 

Keep up the good work with your review.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

Yeah, I will dig into the archives this weekend for the other road trip pictures to share. Not enough time on weekdays.

[harryfat1]

OK, moving on. We went back to the cabin to shower and changed out of the clothes from the jungle and full of mosquito repellent smell. That night they had the second set of performance for the ice show for people that missed it initially. Since we already watched the show on day 2, we had the rest of the night to just walk around the ship.

 

As it’s getting close to the end of the cruise than the beginning (Boo!), it’s time to start buying whatever we wanted from the shops (visiting uncle Bob in prison) and looking at the pictures we took (visiting crazy aunt in basement). They had some “guess the diamond contest” at the shop (just another way to get people to go into the store). Somehow my wife got 3 raffle tickets and the contest was to guess which one was the real diamond choices A , B or C. No, I don’t care about the contest so I didn’t take a picture of 3 rings in the contest.

 

Anyway, being the practical people that we are, we selected choices 1 through 3 in the 3 tickets we had so we are sure to have one valid raffles entry. I told the family that if we only had one entry, pick the ugliest one as that’s likely the real one. The real shiny ones typically are not. It’s the reverse psychology thing I learned from watching Indian Jones and the last Crusade. Remember what cup he picked from the movie and the reasoning and apply the same logic (I know Fletch with his super trivia brain is ready to answer this in 0.1 millisecond)…

 

Winner must be present to win at 10 PM. So we had time to kill. We thought about playing miniature golf at night as we haven’t been on top deck at night time yet so we walked up stairs to check out the scenery.

 

Few pics as we walked around the ship

 

To show you what a crappy photographer I am, I don’t even remember taking this picture while on the ship. Then after coming back, realized I should have stepped back a little more to get the rest of the circle as it looks pretty nice if I had gotten the entire circle. Oh, well.

 

 

 

 

You need to buy 4 to get 1 free? That doesn’t sound like a big sale

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just love these pretty stairs

 

 

 

 

 

Elevators

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

So we got outside on deck 12. Whoa, Nellie. It was super windy upstairs with the ship sailing northward toward Cozumel. Golf wouldn’t be much fun at the time. It’ll have to wait until next day.

 

Walked around and took some night pics of people on Flow rider.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Realized we never made it to the top to see the wedding chapel so we did that.

 

 

 

 

Here is the VCL. Nice view of the area below. I believe there’s also the lounge for the Diamond and above members here somewhere. Peasant level cruisers like us need not apply. So we just sat at the VCL and looked outside and be mesmerized by the various colors of the pool area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mykitteh]

I'm super excited for next month-great review :D

[Jasperdo]

Very impressive in having been to all 50 states. That’s one of the bucket lists for my wife and I. Hard to do it when kids are still in school and we’re both working. Just not enough vacation time to take off for so long from work.

It took me quite awhile to reach that milestone. Work and kids got in the way for me as well. I wasn't able to complete my 50 states quest until after I retired. The last state on my list was North Dakota, and finally got there three years ago. And you're still a young'un, so I'm sure you'll finish that bucket list long before I was able to. Happy traveling!

[JamesEM]

Here is the VCL. Nice view of the area below. I believe there’s also the lounge for the Diamond and above members here somewhere. Peasant level cruisers like us need not apply. So we just sat at the VCL and looked outside and be mesmerized by the various colors of the pool area.

 

 

 

 

 

The Diamond Lounge is located behind the door that is located in the upper right had section of the photo.

[CruisinCrow]

I see from your signature you have a travel blogging site. I should start one on my end somewhere down the road.

 

You definitely should! It's a lot of fun. Actually I got the idea from Cruise Critic. I wanted to have a place to put my reviews with pictures like I do here.

Edited January 19, 2017 by CruisinCrow

[harryfat1]

As it was closer to the 10 PM raffle, we made our way downstairs. And of course, we didn’t win.

 

 

Couple more pics of top deck

 

 

 

 

 

 

By then, they were getting the area ready for the 70’s street dance party. Same thoughts crossed my mind as I hear various songs they are playing in preparation and said “I know that song and that one and that one from school”.

 

Erma Bombeck once wrote a book, “If you start look like your passport picture while on vacation it’s time to go home”. Using that same analogy, if you start to know most of the songs from a cruise ship, you are no longer a spring chicken. But then I comfort myself by thinking RCI caters to the baby boomer generation so I’m good in that I am part of the middle age target audience. It’ll be a sad day years from now when HAL start to play old disco songs I know from the old days – wonder what YMCA will sound like with a live orchestra or how many senior citizens like yours truly can even lift our arms over our heads to do the Y-M-C-A on HAL. Maybe we will just have hands by our sides and do the I-I-I-I or if our old joints locks up when we raised our hands, then it’ll be Y-Y-Y-Y as we can’t lower our hands fast enough and just stayed up there…

 

The 70’s party schedule has a 10:30 start with the singers on the bridge to kick things off. So everyone congregates to that bridge. And then the dance party starts 15 minutes later. The natural inclination is to just stand by the first set of performers and wait for the second set to start.

 

Ha, Nope.

[harryfat1]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[disneykins]

Enjoying your report Harry. Followed your Allure report before our Allure cruise. We're going on the Freedom in March so I'm taking lots of notes. Is there still a Viking Crown Lounge on Freedom? I thought they were all being converted to Diamond Lounges.

 

Liked the detour into South Dakota. Did this trip in my teens with parents driving to California. Recognized a lot of places we did, Rapid City, Mt. Rushmore, Cheyenne, Custer National park (camped there), Wall Drug. Always wanted to do the trip again with my kids but we got into Disney and cruising so land trips were replaced.

 

Tony

[rkkunk]

Harry, just to interject about the port area and the dolphin swim there.

While we did not do the dolphin swim there, we did walk past the area on our way back to the ship after our excursion, as I love dolphins and wanted to see them. The area there is pretty small ( as you probably know) and pictures could be taken quite easily of people that you know if they are doing the dolphin swim. There was also a rope bridge above the area that you could walk across.

Don't know if the person whose family will be doing this might want to try to hang out with the younger daughter and try to snap a few pictures or if that would be something that he thinks wouldn't work out. There were tons of people watching when we came back in the afternoon.

 

 

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[956wenbrook]

Harry, just to interject about the port area and the dolphin swim there.

While we did not do the dolphin swim there, we did walk past the area on our way back to the ship after our excursion, as I love dolphins and wanted to see them. The area there is pretty small ( as you probably know) and pictures could be taken quite easily of people that you know if they are doing the dolphin swim. There was also a rope bridge above the area that you could walk across.

Don't know if the person whose family will be doing this might want to try to hang out with the younger daughter and try to snap a few pictures or if that would be something that he thinks wouldn't work out. There were tons of people watching when we came back in the afternoon.

 

 

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That would be me and thank you.

 

 

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[southnam]

Hi Harry. Enjoying the report as we will be on FoS next month. My second time on Freedom. I so wish they kept it as a 7 day Cruise though.

 

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