Freedom of the Seas Review 1/6-1/13,2019

[SeeingTheWorldBySea]

[Bradison]

6 hours ago, SeeingTheWorldBySea said:

Thank you for reading!

Thank you reading my review! I booked through Scooter Snorkeling Antigua. The owner is Damon and he goes by Skylork here on CC. His email address is info@skylork.com. He set me us with his cousin Stanley who took us around. 

Thank you for reading, I am glad you enjoyed it and made it through all my words. Freedom is a great ship.

So happy you enjoyed my review. I will get the compasses and the inserts posted soon. 

Thank you for taking the time to read my review. It was thorough and I still feel like i could say more! As for your question, I did not pre-pay the gratuities but just had them post to my onboard account. I did not make changes to the amounts so it was $17.50 a day for my husband and I and $14.50 a day for each kid. I gave extra here and there because I really feel like the crew works incredibly hard and when you talk to them they talk about their babies back home it pulls at my heart strings. One crew member we met in windjammer has a 6 month old back home that she skypes with each day. I couldn't imagine. So maybe a few extra bucks here and there and they could take a tour off to enjoy their families. IDK. 

 

Interesting. We pre-paid our gratuities and then debated on how much or even if we should tip additionally to our cabin steward and our wait staff.  All of them did their job well enough but nothing extraordinary.  In the end we tipped them all with cash but not in the real of your tip you mentioned for your steward.  My wife is always concerned with us looking cheap while I tend to not want to waste my money.  In my mind, standard service = standard tip.  In her mind it is about the optics.  

[SeeingTheWorldBySea]

23 minutes ago, cruisegus said:

Great review. thanks do that same route next week so this was a big help.  Put note on our planner for Cosol tour (I think we are doing the same one) for wife to take Dramamine/Bonine just before as it will probably bother her, all the twists and turns.

 

Liked your recommendation for Antigua, though we are doing someone else this time i added your to my "Ports of Call" document for Antigua to further research for next time (we love the southern Caribbean out of San Juan- 3rd year in a row now)

 

Also liked your review of Silvermoon Charters  in Barbados, we do some thing similar i think with Calabaza, again very limited number on Catamaran and for us this is the 2nd time with them as DW loved the first one and its all she could talk about after the cruise.  Did check my "Ports of Call" document for Barbados and see we/I have Silvermoon listed as a 3rd option and now wonder if they should move up.  If you read this can you tell me more about the stops you made with them and the length of their tour?

 

I have to say you appear as a generous tipper, but i also take into account that you are a larger group (I assume you tipped for the whole group) and you are also staying in some GS (again, personally I think if you stay in the better accommodations you tip more. to explain when I take a limo I tip more than when I take a cab for the same distance)  Anyway it is what value each individual puts the service at.  Thanks so much for sharing.  Happy Cruising

 

Hi Cruisegus- yes have Mrs.Cruisegus take something for sure before going on the Cosol tour- it is long day of up and down the hills. We too love the Southern Caribbean itineraries and have been a few times ourselves. My husband and I did a B2B out of San Juan in 2010 when he came back from a deployment and it was amazing. I really feel like we could have easily stayed on board another week this time too.

I recall seeing the Calabaza catamaran alongside of us (Silvermoon) at a few of the stops. The first stop was to get view of some turtles. We got one lazy one that was munching something off the bottom. If you can tell from the picture this stop was a little "crowded". We weren't close to the other boats but we weren't alone either. A couple in our group chased our lazy turtle away (even though we were all told not to get to close) when he finally came to the surface so we only got a quick glimpse. I'd say we spent about 20 minutes here. The next stop was literally a few hundred feet away and this stop was longer. Again we weren't alone but it wasn't too crowded. I stayed behind just off the back of the catamaran because the kids wanted to get in the water. I was so pleased to see my 16 month old in her life vest (that I brought from home) in the Caribbean Sea! It was so cool. My husband and father went over to the shipwrecks and said they saw a ton of cool fish. From there we sailed a bit down the coast before heading back in the other direction to anchor off the shore near Sandy Lane where we had lunch and then was given about an hour to swim. We swam to shore which was actually challenging because of the currant so we didn't stay long. Getting back was much easier. After each romp in the water we were offered fresh warm water to rinse off with. We were back by 2pm- so 5 hours in total. Sailing with Silvermoon was great and we are totally going again in the future. If you go on their website a chat thingy will pop up and you can ask them questions. I did the chat a few times before booking since it is pricey I wanted to make the right choice. Calabaza gets great reviews as well so I don't think you can go wrong with a private catamaran as opposed to the ones with larger groups. 

As for the tipping everything was for the group of 8 except the $120 we gave to Max our room steward. That was for the GS and connecting balcony room. I am not sure what if any my aunts gave- and they were probably the most work for Max so they should have lol. 

Have a wonderful cruise- safe travels. Have a coconut cookie from the cafe for me-I totally wish i filled a ziplock full of them before departing. 

[cruisegus]

thanks for the quick reply.

I did look as Silvermoon's web site right after i read your post, i would have to agree sounds like itinerary for them and Calabaza are almost the same length, turtle encounter, ship wrecks with a more private beach experience of their choice (i wouldn't doubt they either have there territory staked out or they coordinate so all don't show up at the same spot - professional courtesy)  I would not hesitate to recommend either, of course my preference goes to my guy, but if either is booked which can happen with the guarantee of low numbers the other would work fantastically.  Again thanks for all the info and enjoy future cruises.

[SeeingTheWorldBySea]

12 hours ago, Bradison said:

 

Interesting. We pre-paid our gratuities and then debated on how much or even if we should tip additionally to our cabin steward and our wait staff.  All of them did their job well enough but nothing extraordinary.  In the end we tipped them all with cash but not in the real of your tip you mentioned for your steward.  My wife is always concerned with us looking cheap while I tend to not want to waste my money.  In my mind, standard service = standard tip.  In her mind it is about the optics.  

Well one thing to point out is that the tips were based on service to 6 or 8 people. The biggest one which was the stateroom steward was for 6 people occupying 2 cabins. So if you break it down a bit and say that the $17.50 per person per day is split among how ever many crew whether it be 10 or 100 it comes out to mere cents. Even the $120 we gave only breaks down to about $2.50 per person per day extra. I can't even buy a morning coffee for that amount. I am not advocating for more tipping or saying one thing is right over another. When my husband and I first started cruising we didn't tip extra then it became maybe $30 more at the end of the week. Now we always travel as a group of 6 so I tend to be a bit more generous. I too sometimes worry about looking cheap but the reality is you're never going to see the crew again so who cares if they think you are cheap or generous. Do what you want to do. 

[mchin]

Great review!  We are sailing on Freedom in June 2019.  We too have a large party, 13 family members.  I booked the Villa Suite.  One thing of note from your review is the lack of free WiFi for suites.  Neither myself nor my DH will miss it, but some in our party may be a bit disappointed since they stay connected.  Oh well.  Glad to hear you didn't have any issues with loud/obnoxious passengers as has been shared in other reviews.

 

Thanks for taking the time to share your week with us!

 

[SeeingTheWorldBySea]

23 hours ago, mchin said:

Great review!  We are sailing on Freedom in June 2019.  We too have a large party, 13 family members.  I booked the Villa Suite.  One thing of note from your review is the lack of free WiFi for suites.  Neither myself nor my DH will miss it, but some in our party may be a bit disappointed since they stay connected.  Oh well.  Glad to hear you didn't have any issues with loud/obnoxious passengers as has been shared in other reviews.

 

Thanks for taking the time to share your week with us!

 

Woah the villa suite nice. I'd love to hear about it and see some pictures of you're willing to share. Enjoy it!

[lanord]

Thanks so much for this review.  Our family group of 16 were also on this sailing to celebrate my FIL's 90th birthday.  We had a wonderful time; the weather was gorgeous.  It was fun to see your photos of places we didn't see or from a different perspective.  Happy cruising! 

[BobbyD]

Thanks for the review!  I've been on Freedom twice and am booked again in March '20.  Same itinerary as you.  Do you know when it will be refurbished/refreshed?

[mchin]

18 hours ago, SeeingTheWorldBySea said:

Woah the villa suite nice. I'd love to hear about it and see some pictures of you're willing to share. Enjoy it!

Sure thing!  Definitely not many reviews including this suite so I'm happy to share when we get back.

[DISFANS3]

Awesome trip report. We will be on the same cruise in March also doing the  same Excursion, still undecided about Antigua. Thanks for the info. 

[EeyoreRN]

11 hours ago, BobbyD said:

Do you know when it will be refurbished/refreshed?

 

January 2020...at least, I believe that is the "unofficial" plan. She will be all spiffed up for you!

[EeyoreRN]

Thanks for the compasses!  They help give an idea when to plan for meals so we can catch shows, and what generally to expect on board.

[BobbyD]

11 hours ago, EeyoreRN said:

 

January 2020...at least, I believe that is the "unofficial" plan. She will be all spiffed up for you!

 

Great!  Thank you.

[Ahmne]

Thanks for this great review and the cruise compass! We are on this itenerary with kids in March. 

[Btank]

On 1/22/2019 at 1:57 PM, SeeingTheWorldBySea said:

 

Is anyone still here after all of this?

 

 

Yes, and mny thx for the great review!  We'll be on Freedom on 12th May, and you gave me some helpful information.

 

      --bruce T.

[Crash1965]

Great reviw thanks for posting, if you are moving to Texas try the Liberty out of Galveston it had a amazing refit and tons of things for kids