MITSUGIRLYS FREEDOM OF THE SEAS REVIEW & PICTORIAL

[mitsugirly]

Shore Excursions

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Sorentos Pizza

 

Another place to get food all the time if the buffet and MDR is closed.

 

There was always a very long line here...but the good thing is that they moved really quickly (unlike Carnival that is so slow on making the pizzas). They also had a pop station here to get refills, which made it nice.

 

I also liked that they had a place to sit down and eat inside there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Star Lounge

 

I honestly do not remember this place or taking the picture. But when I looked it up, I assume that's what it was.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Vintages

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

On deck 7, there is a library. I only know about this place because of Kendra having a room on this deck. Otherwise, I would have never figured this out. There never seemed to be anyone in there and I thought it was in an odd place. You had to walk through it to get to the other side of the ship. I completely forgot to take any pictures of it. Oops.

 

DECK 11

 

Chops Grille. This was located on one side of the buffet area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lifes-a-beach]

The layout is very similar to Liberty.  My in-laws stayed in one of those Promenade View rooms and said it was almost completely quiet even when there was a party below.  

[mitsugirly]

Giovanni's Table

 

This was located on the other side of the buffet

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

PADI DIVE SHOP

 

I thought it was pretty neat that PADI had a dive shop on board at the pool area. You could take your classes and get certified on the cruise. I had heard of this before, but never really seen anything like it. We did find the divers doing their pool dives in the adult pool area at certain times. Pretty cool!

 

They also had masks and fins for sale as well. I thought it was funny that they actually had my mask and Sakari's fins there on display that we purchased years ago from her dive shop she goes to.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

H20 zone

 

This is a kids water park paradise! Like if there wasn't kids in it, I would have played there. So many places with water shooting up and down on you and EVEN A LAZY RIVER!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Pools

 

There were 2 pools. According to the deck plans, one was a main pool and the other a sports pool? I'm not sure the difference. They both looked the same to me. I thought it was neat that there was a deck in the middle of both of them and then several hot tubs surrounding it.

 

They played movies on the big screen here every night. Some times we'd watch them from the chairs and other times from inside the hot tub. 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Royal Caribbean does have lifeguards in all pool and kiddie areas including the adult pool. I just thought I would throw that out there for those that are wondering. They also provide life jackets as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LOL LOL LOL LOL

 

 

 

[aztekpm]

Carnival I know now have the vests and lifeguards, even when no one is in the pool, there's always someone around, plus I think NCL does now too.  

 

And I forgot one important thing... congratulations on completing your schooling and getting your Bachelors, that's a great accomplishment!

Edited May 6, 2019 by aztekpm

[mitsugirly]

Solarium

 

This was the "adult" pool and area. It had a pool in the middle, which included a bridge over the middle and also a bar in the middle with bar stools (in the water under the bridge). The pool got deep quickly and I'm really not sure why they seem to design these pools like this. Maybe because of the scuba diving course? Either way, most adults are not swimming laps but instead just hanging out and standing in the water talking to others. There wasn't much room for this unless you were hanging on to the sides.

 

It also had an area around the pool with very shallow water in it, which made it easier to hang out at and sit in the water to conversate.

 

There were signs that said no glasses or drinks in the pool area, however, I did not see but a handful of people who DID NOT have a drink in their hand and in the pool.

 

There are 2 whirlpools here as well (one on each side of the ship)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another funny sign...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I just wanted to bring this up....this is an ADULT ONLY area. However, I kept seeing a lot of teens in this area as well. I understand if you have to walk through this area if you are coming off the elevators and trying to get out to the pool deck or over to the buffet (like we had to every day because we were on the front of the ship), but hanging out...that was different.

 

Well, I found a sign that said you must be 16 years old to be in that area/pools/hottubs. Wait, what? Since when are 16 year olds considered an adult? I would have thought it needed to be at least 18! I can guarantee some of the times I walked through here the "teen adults" had taken over the hot tubs and were a little out of control with their "sounds" which included a lot of loud cursing, laughing, and so on. I can also guarantee that Sakari was more mature than a lot of them and would have been a better "fit" for the area had there been adults in the hot tub.

 

🙄

 

 

[mitsugirly]

I have to say that the bathrooms on RC are very nice and pretty darn big for the most part. I really loved them.

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Vitality Spa and Fitness Center

 

I did not even go to this area until the last night of the cruise when I was rushing to take some pictures of the ship that I had neglected to do during the week.

 

The fitness area was HUGE...like really huge! One of these days I'm going to go here and listen to some of the classes they have. At some point I need to listen to the "turn back 10 years of time" speech, the "foot and joint pain" speech,  the "how to turn your gray back into your original hair color" speech, the "fitness class for those that drink too much pop and are overweight" class and...well you get the picture. Someday...I'll be attending all of these...very very soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We started to head up the steps and a gentleman came out to help us. We told him we were just taking pictures of the area and ask if it was ok to go upstairs to the spa and take pictures. He said "absolutely" and up we went.

 

Now I did not get to have my hair done prior to the cruise and I thought I would just go to the salon onboard and have it done. But, I never did see one and figured they didn't have one. NOW...I FIND IT!! Grr

 

 

 

 

 

Then we headed over to the spa area. I wasn't there long before some ladies came out to help me and I explained I was only there taking pictures. More and more came out and they started following me around. I was getting the stank eye from them. I really felt uncomfortable and ended up leaving fairly quickly. You could tell they didn't want me in there even though they were all standing around in a room talking. They didn't have any customers and it was the last night of the cruise and most people were either packing or partying it up one last night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm sorry but their rooms reminded me of a hospital room with the lighting. There was just something about it.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

The Windjammer Cafe

 

I still get a kick out of this...some things never change.

 

 

 

 

They did have 2 pop machines here...only I found that at certain times they didn't work or were rebooting or something going on with them. Grrr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At one point Sakari come yelling at me "mommy, you have to come look at this". I knew that she had found some kind of creation that the chefs had made but I didn't really know what.

 

She came around the corner at the bread section and pointed at this....

 

Now only those of you that are friends with me on social media will understand...the others, well it's just a neat creation carved in bread. 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Ok, hubby just told me "I have reached the end of the internet and we should go watch a movie before bed". LOL

 

I guess that's my cue to get off here for now.

 

I'll finish the other decks tomorrow morning before work (if I can).

 

I hope everyone is still enjoying the review.

[mitsugirly]

1 hour ago, dreadpirate3 said:

This is where all the controls for the ship tvs are. The CD and AD film their morning show from this studio.

 

 

Oh how cool is that! So you can set there and watch them? The CD and AD have a morning show?

 

 

1 hour ago, mlshum said:

Thanks for the review!  I haven’t sailed RC in many years.  Maybe it’s time to try again.....

 

 

Yea, definitely...I love RC.

 

43 minutes ago, lifes-a-beach said:

The layout is very similar to Liberty.  My in-laws stayed in one of those Promenade View rooms and said it was almost completely quiet even when there was a party below.  

 

Really? They must really have some soundproof walls there then. It was LOUD!

 

25 minutes ago, aztekpm said:

Carnival I know now have the vests and lifeguards, even when no one is in the pool, there's always someone around, plus I think NCL does now too.  

 

And I forgot one important thing... congratulations on completing your schooling and getting your Bachelors, that's a great accomplishment!

 

Yea Carnival has the vests and I have seen the lifeguards. I haven't been on NCL for a hot minute so I had wondered if they followed suit after so many drownings.

 

Thanks so much for the congrats! I appreciate it.

[perfect match]

We got back late Saturday from our Symphony OTS Cruise, and I’m happy I only had 4 pages of your review to catch up with! We really loved Freedom, so I’m excited to see her again through your eyes. Helps to relieve my post Cruise depression, too! 

 

Our sympathy to Billy, and also the rest of your family on your recent losses. I hope your time on Freedom gave you the break you all needed.

 

Congratulations on your graduation! 🎓  I’m sure you will have no trouble filling the free time you will now have without having to spend so much time on school! 

 

Can’t wait to hear about all of your latest adventures. 

[blarko]

The ship looks beautiful! I’ve never sailed Royal but WOW! May be time to “jump ship” from Carnival for me 🤔

[LuCruise]

Wow , you take amazing photos!  Royal should hire you for their advertising!  When I think of Royal's ships, one of the first things I think of is how beautiful they are, and you've really captured that.  Except..I don't remember seeing the Mitsugirly logo around any of the other ships like that...lol.

 

How did you find Freedom compared with Carnival and NCL?  How were the activities?  The food? Entertainment?  (I'm guessing you'll get to that 🙂 ) . Loving your review.

[sandebeach]

Really enjoying your photos and review, they are great!

[bobmacliberty]

I'll second the opinion that the Promenade View cabins are not noisy.  Our kids have stayed in them a couple of times.  The only time they complained was when there was an early morning Zoomba class.  Anything that disturbs a (then) teenager before 9:00am is "annoying".  I think they are classified closer to an inside than an ocean view.

[LuCruise]

16 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

I'll second the opinion that the Promenade View cabins are not noisy.  Our kids have stayed in them a couple of times.  The only time they complained was when there was an early morning Zoomba class.  Anything that disturbs a (then) teenager before 9:00am is "annoying".  I think they are classified closer to an inside than an ocean view.

Ditto.  We've stayed in them a couple times (and have booked in the summer again).  They're actually fun to watch out the window.  I think we may have had one late night where we heard noise, but otherwise, it was fine.  They're a great alternative to a standard interior.

[dreadpirate3]

9 hours ago, mitsugirly said:

 

 

Oh how cool is that! So you can set there and watch them? The CD and AD have a morning show?

 

 

Yes! We were on Freedom with Abe Hughes, who  is great, and their morning show played every day from 6 AM -12 on one of the channels on the TV.

 

I saw you got a response on the Promenade View Interior rooms already, but people who choose inside staterooms for cost reasons love them, since they still have a window. They are very popular.

[dreadpirate3]

39 minutes ago, fyree39 said:

Haha.  I say that often enough. 

 

Great pictures and thanks for doing all of this for us.  I'm wondering if the Freedom is in the same class as the Jewel of the Seas. We were on the Jewel several years ago and I thought it was absolutely beautiful.  The Freedom seems to have that same elegance with a lot of glass.

 

Freedom class is the largest before Oasis and Quantum classes. Jewel is a Radiance class ship.