Cruising with an Infant, 1-7 to 1-15 Review on Freedom

[Cjess86]

I would like to start off this review by saying that it is being written as more of a diary. DH and I often read cruise reviews in preparation of our trips to gain tips and general knowledge to help our travels go smoothly. Our opinions will be given here and there but this is really just meant to be fun and maybe helpful to those who travel with their young ones. It will be long at some points so please just take it for what it is!

 

I will begin this review by disclosing that while DH and I have read countless reviews on CC, this is the first time we have actually written one. DH and I are in our early 30's and traveled with our 8 month old daughter on the Freedom of the Seas Jan 7-15 on an 8 day eastern Caribbean itinerary. We live in a suburb of Detroit with DH working as an attorney and myself in nuclear medicine at a local hospital. DH and I have been on many cruises (all with RCI besides one Carnival) and like to go about every 6-12 months if we can. We tend to be frugal travelers and try to not rack up the on-board spending. For the most part we do not eat in the specialty restaurants and we do not get any drink packages as we usually only have one or two drinks a day. We are also of the risky type that book same-day flights, excursions NOT through the ship, and departing flights before 11AM (I know our level of risk is just too crazy…………. ) With that preface in mind, on with the review!!!! I hope that you find it helpful.

 

Reasons we chose to go on this Cruise

 

Unlike previous trips, our focus in deciding on what cruise to go on, like everything now that it is the three of us, was based on what cruise would work the best with our DD. While we were excited to spend lots of time together as a family, we also wanted to be able to spend time together as a couple at the pub, in the casino and/or taking in a show. For that reason we decided that we needed to pick a ship with a nursery. Upon investigating we found out that not every ship within royal’s fleet has a nursery and that it is not clear from royal’s website what ships have one. In an effort to help save time the list of ships that DO NOT have a nursery are: Voyager, Adventure, Explorer, Jewel, and both Sovereign Class ships. As a result, all of the itineraries on those ships were ruled out.

 

Next we wanted to go on a ship with a baby splash pad so that we could introduce DD to a “pool”. The only ships that have a baby splash pad are the Oasis class (Harmony, Oasis and Allure) and Freedom Class ships (Freedom, Independence and Liberty). I have been unable to find out if Quantum class also have a splash pad, but anthem was out of contention anyway because we did not want to leave from New Jersey in January. That narrowed our list of possible ships to six. We wanted to do at least a 7 days itinerary, which eliminated Independence of the Seas. We would have been happy doing a cruise on any of the remaining ships but ultimately chose the freedom because it was the most affordable, it was an 8 day instead of 7 day itinerary, and flying into Fort Lauderdale is very convenient if leaving out of Port Everglades, whereas leaving out of Port Canaveral (Oasis) or Galveston (Liberty) involve about a 45 minute drive, which limits flight options and increases the overall headache involved with traveling with an infant. I will try to get next portion posted soon.

[famof4togo]

Going on the FOS in March and looking forward to the rest of your review !!! We are bring our child (first time cruising with a child) but he is 6 years old so a different experience with the kids club but I am very interested in knowing how that all went.....

[easyboy]

Will be following along.

[Cjess86]

Booking our Trip

 

Once we decided to go on Freedom, the next step was booking the trip. I have booked previous trips with the same travel agent website because I have found that it tends to have very good perks for booking with them (onboard credit, specialty dining vouchers, spa vouchers, pre-paid gratuities, etc.) Our initial plan was to book an interior cabin as that is what we have done for all but one of our past cruises. After monitoring prices for an extended period of time the price for an interior went down to $649 so I tried to book the trip online. Well I quickly learned that Royal will not let you book three people, as opposed to two, in just any cabin. As a result, the price that came up once I entered three guests was $749. I then called the travel agent to find out what was going on but they were unable to get Royal to honor the two person price per person, but suggested that I just make the reservation with Royal directly as they may be willing to work with me more that way. I then called Royal who explained that some cabins do not have bunk beds or a pullout, which makes them unavailable for more than 2 people. However, the agent said that because we were traveling with an infant that did not need a bed (just a crib) they could put us in the $649 per person room (it was actually cheaper than $649 because they do not charge full price for third and fourth passenger).

 

The next thing I learned is that you can book with Royal and then transfer the booking to whatever travel agent you want so that you can get whatever perks the agent is offering. After finding that out I transferred the reservation to the website I like to use so that we could get $100 obc, plus $50 obc from Royal that they were offering plus a spa treatment.

 

After booking the cruise we shopped for airfare and ended up booking with southwest as they were by far the cheapest after factoring in free bags, which ended up being great since we had to pack more for DD than for my DH and I combined! We were scheduled to arrive in FLL at 9:50 A.M. on the day the cruise departed, 1/7, and we were scheduled to depart FLL on 1/15 at 8:50 A.M (Yes I know that is kind of crazy given that we are traveling with an infant and the ship wasn’t scheduled to get back into port until 6:00 A.M. but the next good flight out wasn’t until 8 pm and we did not want be stuck all day so we decided it was worth the risk, and we have not had any problem making similar flights in the past when it was just DH and I.

After getting a really good deal on airfare we decided to upgrade our stateroom to a balcony for the sole reason that we thought that we would be stuck in the room more often now that we had a baby because she would be taking naps and figured we could read on balcony while she did that. Having booked the cruise, airfare and a shuttle that provided a car seat for DD, we were all set and ready for the trip, or so we thought………….

[Cjess86]

Quick Notes on Some of What we Packed for DD

Since DD is only 8 months old she is obviously not old enough to shower or go into any of the pools other than the splash pad. As a result we purchased a small inflatable bath tub, which ended up working out great as it fit perfectly next to the shower and on the balcony (See Pics Below) We also elected to bring a small umbrella stroller rather than the full size one, which ended up being a great decision due to how tight the hallways and doorways are on the ship. We also brought diapers, wipes, formula, bottles, collapsible bottle drying rack, bottle brush, dish detergent, baby laundry detergent, baby blanket/sheet for crib, infant medicine, nail clippers, arm and hammer bags for #2 diapers, bibs, baby shampoo/body wash, large cup for baby bath, baby spoons, burp rags, toys (Like I said we brought more for her that for the other two of use combined)

Edited February 1, 2017 by Cjess86

[Cjess86]

Our Adventure to the Freedom

 

Woke up on the morning of January 6th excited that it was the last morning that we would have to go to work before our much needed vacation. DH checked-in to our flight down to FLL and we made our way to work. About midday I went online and was hit with videos of people running on the runways at FLL.

 

I will preface the rest of this section by stating that I know that the issues the tragedy at FLL airport caused to us pale in comparison to impact it had on countless people who knew someone directly affected by the events and I feel terrible that they had to go through that. With that in mind, I now move forward with the review.

 

Upon seeing what was going on I immediately texted DH to ask him if he saw what was going on. After texting back and forth we decided to monitor the situation until we got home. On his way home from work, DH called Southwest to try and get an update on the situation. At that time he was told that the flight was still scheduled to go to FLL but to call back in a few hours. Upon getting home we turned on the tv to learn that everyone was still be held at the airport. At that point we decided that we needed to make a backup plan. DH called Southwest back and after 30 minutes on hold the representative told him that he could reserve seats on a different flight without giving our current seats up without being charged. Southwest does not fly to Miami and only has two flights per day to West Palm Beach, both of which were full for the 7th. The only option left was to book an early flight to Orlando, get a one way rental car to Port Everglades, and make the 3 hour drive to the port. Thankfully there were 2 seats left on a direct flight to Orlando that was to arrive at 9:50 A.M. We reserved those seats, were able to reserve a car for $50, finished packing and got into bed hoping that we would wake up and be able to go on our original flight. Well no sooner did we crawl into bed at 10:30 then DH got a text saying that the flight to FLL was cancelled. DH called Southwest back to make sure we could exercise our hold for the flight to Orlando. After another 20 minute hold he was able to exercise the hold and pay the change fee of $200 (so much for our cheap airfare). Went to bed resigned to the fact that the next day would be an adventure.

 

Woke up the next day at 3 A.M., got the bags in the car, scooped DD up from her crib and got her into the car and made our way to the airport. No issues getting to the airport, checking in or getting through security although I will say not to fill up any bottles before going through security as they frown upon that and it increases the time it take you to get through. We luckily just had empty bottles so no issue. We got warm water from a nearby barista for DD's bottles and changed her before boarding. As we had learned from reviews, we fed DD a bottle during take-off and this seemed to help as she hardly noticed we were in the air. DD was awake and happy the entire flight till she fell asleep as we touched down in Orlando.

 

At this point we were in a hurry and split up. The car rental was in DH's name so he and DD went to get the car rental while I headed down to baggage claim. Good thing we split up as the car rental took over an hour to get as everyone scheduled to go to FLL were doing the same thing we were. We finally hit the road, ready for our 3+ hour drive at about 1145AM. After feeding DD on the go again, she conveniently napped for almost the entire drive.

 

During the drive, I called our car rental place (Budget), checking to see if their shuttle to the cruise port would accommodate DD. I was hoping their van or bus was big enough to not need a car seat. Boy was I surprised to find out that their shuttle service ends at 1PM! After finally speaking with someone at the agency, they confirmed that the shuttle was still going to end at this point in time even with all of the late arrivals due to the crazy travel day for many cruisers.

 

Okay, this is fine. At this point in time I called RCI to see if they were maybe going to delay Freedom's departure because of the crazy travel day. Again, after finally getting a hold of someone (this was at about 1PM), they confirmed that they had no knowledge of a delayed embarkation. Getting a little hangry, I had a good feeling that we would still make it in time, but I was a little disappointed that no one had an idea of the ensuing delayed departure.

 

DH dropped off DD, myself and our luggage at the port (at about 3PM) and proceeded to return the car and ubered back to us. This all took about 45 minutes with DH successfully getting back to us at about the EXACT moment we received a text saying that departure was delayed till 9PM. At this point we just laughed and high-fived, knowing that we would have made it! As you can see DD was very impressed…..

[dizneydawn]

Wow!! What a start!!

 

 

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[mtns2sea]

Thanks for the report of your cruise. Going on the same itinerary in April. Any info on show times or daily compasses would be appreciated.

 

 

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[MikeMA]

Our Adventure to the Freedom

 

 

 

Woke up on the morning of January 6th excited that it was the last morning that we would have to go to work before our much needed vacation. DH checked-in to our flight down to FLL and we made our way to work. About midday I went online and was hit with videos of people running on the runways at FLL.

 

 

 

I will preface the rest of this section by stating that I know that the issues the tragedy at FLL airport caused to us pale in comparison to impact it had on countless people who knew someone directly affected by the events and I feel terrible that they had to go through that. With that in mind, I now move forward with the review.

 

 

 

Upon seeing what was going on I immediately texted DH to ask him if he saw what was going on. After texting back and forth we decided to monitor the situation until we got home. On his way home from work, DH called Southwest to try and get an update on the situation. At that time he was told that the flight was still scheduled to go to FLL but to call back in a few hours. Upon getting home we turned on the tv to learn that everyone was still be held at the airport. At that point we decided that we needed to make a backup plan. DH called Southwest back and after 30 minutes on hold the representative told him that he could reserve seats on a different flight without giving our current seats up without being charged. Southwest does not fly to Miami and only has two flights per day to West Palm Beach, both of which were full for the 7th. The only option left was to book an early flight to Orlando, get a one way rental car to Port Everglades, and make the 3 hour drive to the port. Thankfully there were 2 seats left on a direct flight to Orlando that was to arrive at 9:50 A.M. We reserved those seats, were able to reserve a car for $50, finished packing and got into bed hoping that we would wake up and be able to go on our original flight. Well no sooner did we crawl into bed at 10:30 then DH got a text saying that the flight to FLL was cancelled. DH called Southwest back to make sure we could exercise our hold for the flight to Orlando. After another 20 minute hold he was able to exercise the hold and pay the change fee of $200 (so much for our cheap airfare). Went to bed resigned to the fact that the next day would be an adventure.

 

 

 

Woke up the next day at 3 A.M., got the bags in the car, scooped DD up from her crib and got her into the car and made our way to the airport. No issues getting to the airport, checking in or getting through security although I will say not to fill up any bottles before going through security as they frown upon that and it increases the time it take you to get through. We luckily just had empty bottles so no issue. We got warm water from a nearby barista for DD's bottles and changed her before boarding. As we had learned from reviews, we fed DD a bottle during take-off and this seemed to help as she hardly noticed we were in the air. DD was awake and happy the entire flight till she fell asleep as we touched down in Orlando.

 

 

 

At this point we were in a hurry and split up. The car rental was in DH's name so he and DD went to get the car rental while I headed down to baggage claim. Good thing we split up as the car rental took over an hour to get as everyone scheduled to go to FLL were doing the same thing we were. We finally hit the road, ready for our 3+ hour drive at about 1145AM. After feeding DD on the go again, she conveniently napped for almost the entire drive.

 

 

 

During the drive, I called our car rental place (Budget), checking to see if their shuttle to the cruise port would accommodate DD. I was hoping their van or bus was big enough to not need a car seat. Boy was I surprised to find out that their shuttle service ends at 1PM! After finally speaking with someone at the agency, they confirmed that the shuttle was still going to end at this point in time even with all of the late arrivals due to the crazy travel day for many cruisers.

 

 

 

Okay, this is fine. At this point in time I called RCI to see if they were maybe going to delay Freedom's departure because of the crazy travel day. Again, after finally getting a hold of someone (this was at about 1PM), they confirmed that they had no knowledge of a delayed embarkation. Getting a little hangry, I had a good feeling that we would still make it in time, but I was a little disappointed that no one had an idea of the ensuing delayed departure.

 

 

 

DH dropped off DD, myself and our luggage at the port (at about 3PM) and proceeded to return the car and ubered back to us. This all took about 45 minutes with DH successfully getting back to us at about the EXACT moment we received a text saying that departure was delayed till 9PM. At this point we just laughed and high-fived, knowing that we would have made it! As you can see DD was very impressed…..

 

 

Hi Jess could you tell me the model stroller or supply a link? We are going on the Freedom in April with our son Who will be 8 months and that looks great. Thanks

 

 

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[Cjess86]

Yes

I looked at the stroller and i believe it is the Babies R Us brand. It has a nice sun shade and the back reclines, sorry I can't be more specific

 

 

 

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[Cjess86]

 

 

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[Cjess86]

 

 

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[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[scubarn1]

Following, I'm on the same itinary in March. Thanks for posting the daily planners.

[Cjess86]

Day 1

 

Finally to the actual review of the cruise!!! Thank you for your patience. Upon arriving at the port we made our way into what is usually the line to check-in. Well unlike every other cruise we have been on, the building was a ghost town and we had our choice of numerous people available to check us in. The staff told us that it had been a very slow day because of the FLL situation. After checking in we made our way directly to the room. We are pretty go-with-the-flow type of people and don't complain much, but I was disappointed with the cleanliness of our room. Our toilet specifically was obviously not cleaned. Our beds were also separated and there was no pack-n-play for DD despite requesting one at the time we booked. I let our room attendant know in hopes that after muster, or at the latest after dinner, our room would be ready for the week.

 

After muster, which was shortly after we got to our room, we headed to the nursery to 'register' DD. The nursery staff that we met was very nice and they explained that we could check out a bag of toys to take with us, which is a very nice amenity that RCI offers for families. We also reserved several chunks of time to drop of DD as space is limited. RCl only allows you to book 16 hours up front to allow everyone a chance to book some time. We did not want to block off that much time so it was not a problem for us. After the nursery we proceeded to dinner.

 

Our table was all the way to the far end of the dining room on deck 3 and was next to window. Very nice table. We were seated with a very nice Canadian couple and their 5 year old daughter. Appetizers were just okay but DH and I both thoroughly enjoyed our entrees (prime rib and horseradish encrusted salmon). We knew this was our favorite dessert day as we indulged in blueberry peach crumble (with extra vanilla ice cream) and carrot cake! YUM! Dinner did take a little longer tonight (about 2 hours), which it often does on the first night. We were just fine with it as long as DD stayed happy, which she almost always did.

 

Final note about dinner: Prior to the cruise we had heard lots of feedback about RCL changing menu by taking away many nicer items and replacing them with cheaper alternatives. One example was replacing the prime rib with a striploin steak. Well I guess RCL had received enough backlash because the two times the striploin was on the menu we were told that it was not available but that prime rib was the replacement. In addition, escargot and shrimp cocktail were also available every day despite only being on the physical menu one or two times.

 

Got back to the room just before 8PM and room was sufficiently cleaned and beds put together; however, no pack-n-play. I spoke with our attendant yet again and she actually stated that it was okay if we didn't get the pack and play till tomorrow. I explained to her that DD is a (paid for!) passenger on this boat just like anyone else and she needs a bed. It is unsafe for her to sleep in bed with us and she needed something with sides to keep her safe. At this point in time, DH had to go to guest services. Fabio from guest services was very helpful and amazingly a pack and play was found on another floor and we had it by about 845PM. We were actually able to put the pack and play between the bed and balcony to give us some extra room. Pack-n-play had a very hard piece of cardboard basically as a mattress so we put a towel under that to provide a little bit of a softer place to sleep while still keeping it safe. We tried to stay up for the Lions play-off game (they still suck), but to no surprise they were down early and we gave up before 10PM. Ships engines probably started around 930PM. Although we did not make it to the welcome aboard show, we heard that it was very good.

[Cjess86]

 

 

 

Here's a pic of the nursery. Note that they had a couple cribs in a cubby to the right. This room was specifically for 6mo-3yrs as there were other rooms for each age group. Upon arrival they checked food and diaper status and put a sticker with DDs muster station and room number on her back. They also gave us a phone.

 

I also included 2 pics of the room so it could be seen how we set up the pack n play inside a little 'tent' to not only save space but give her darkness.

 

 

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Edited February 3, 2017 by Cjess86

[Cjess86]

DAY TWO - AT SEA

 

DD slept well in her tent - up at 615. We were up to the WJ by 715 - food was pretty good. I always enjoy WJ because I can get a little bit of everything, DH prefers MDR because he likes everything fresh and custom ordered. I will say that the WJ did have some fried eggs that were fresh and plated as well as the omelet station.

 

We went back to the room to get ready for the flow rider but upon getting our wristbands we decided that it was a no go because of the wind. Neither DH nor I are very good when it is calm, much less when it is blowing 50 mph. Upon giving up our surfing dreams for the time being we decided to do something else we enjoy but are not particularly good at…….trivia. Trivia is held a handful of times during the day and always makes for something fun to do if nothing else is going on. It is almost always held in the schooner bar although I wish it were held in a larger venue as more times than not the schooner bar is overflowing during trivia. Well we continued our perfect record of not winning trivia and decided that we could use a nap so we headed back to the room for a bit.

 

After a short nap we made our way to the promenade for lunch. I got a sandwich from the café and DH got some pizza from Sorrentos. Sandwich was fine, nothing to get too excited about and the pizza was like it normally is, not offensive but also no better than something to fill your stomach. Seems like they could do a little better job at making pizza without breaking the bank but not holding my breath.

 

Following our quick lunch, DH went to the ice show to save some seats for us while DD and I took a pit stop to change/get some warm clothes for the ice show. For those of you whose blood pressure is rising by the fact that DH saved seats, he only had to save it for 15 minutes, he only saved one seat and we were all ready for the show 15-20 minutes before it started.

 

Ice show started at 130 and it was very good. There was no real story as they used a google search engine theme to get them from bit to bit, but, overall it was very entertaining. If anyone watched America's Got Talent last year, the show was highlighted by a special act that was two people performing super quick costume changes. Very cool seeing it live after we had seen it on tv (not sure if it was the same couple...). DD did great at the show. I was worried I was too loud so for much of it I had her ears covered, but she didn't seem to mind as she fell asleep about half way through. (See pre-show and post-show pics below)

 

Seas were rocking and rolling by this point so we just headed back to the room for relaxation before the first formal dinner. On our way to dinner we got an obligatory formal picture from one of the RCL photographer army. I had a chicken dish and DH had the New York strip steak, both of which were very good. DH noted that it was cooked medium as requested as many people on here have had poor luck with this aspect of dinner. We dropped DD off at the nursery about 730. We dropped her off in her sleeper and brought her a couple extra diapers, a bottle, pre-measured formula and a burp rag in case they needed to feed her.

 

We went to the movie and tv show game show on deck 5 which was very entertaining. Then off to the Schooner bar for a Bacardi and coke. At this point deck 12 and deck 4 outside areas were closed because of the weather. Next was the marquee headliner show, which was very good. The show was made up of famous songs from well know broadway shows. We always enjoy RCI entertainment because of the live music and great singer and dancers. There were some odd selections for songs but overall it was very well done and entertaining. Made our way to casino after the show. It was not too smoky and was a lively crowd. We love to play craps on cruises as it's a nice a low minimum bet of $5. We come with a set allowance which overall was very small for this cruise as we only made it to the casino three nights. Amazing how much we can save on entertainment with DD around. This night we made a small donation but still had a great time.

 

Tried to make it to adult late comedy at 11PM but life of new parenthood caught up with us and we decided to pick up DD at 1045 and call it an evening because we knew we were going to be up early. Once again we later heard that the adult comedy was very good.

[Cjess86]

Before

 

 

Half way through [emoji6]

 

 

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[scottygirl]

Fellow Metro Detroiter here. We have a 9:50 flight out of FLL after our Freedom cruise later this month. Anxious to see if you made your flight!

[famof4togo]

Enjoying the details review and great pics !!!

[Vikstar]

Thank you so much for doing this review with a focus on cruising with an infant. We will be cruising with our 15 mo soon and I was feeling a bit anxious about how it will work.

 

Thanks for posting pics of the Nursery. Are the Nursery staff qualified in early childhood? Also, are there any issues in walking through the Casino with a child? In Australia children are not allowed to step inside gambling establishments.

[Clarea]

... Also, are there any issues in walking through the Casino with a child? In Australia children are not allowed to step inside gambling establishments.

No problem if you are just walking through.

[Cel_cruise]

I wouldn't plan to walk thru the casino with kids until after you have assessed the smoke effect. During the day when it was closed, I don't remember there being someone to stop you but the smell could be a reason!

 

 

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[Cjess86]

We walked through several times with DD and found no problem. We could obviously smell some smoke but chose our path carefully and were just fine.

The nursery staff were all very qualified. All had some kind of degree with some even having Masters degrees. Their qualifications and a short bio are hanging up by the door.

 

 

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[Cjess86]

 

 

 

 

 

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