We are back!!! Freedom of the Seas 3 Night Perfect Day Review 7/30/2021-8/2/2021

[danp2482]

I have used many reviews here to gather information about certain ships, certain cruises and get excited for upcoming cruises of my own. I have written a few other reviews and really enjoyed reliving my vacation here! I also really enjoyed the dialog with other forum members and being to provide information as well as help you all get excited for a cruise you might have coming up! The enjoyment I get from writing the reviews helped me decide to write reviews after as many cruises as I can. I planned on writing a review for our Feb 2020 Navigator of the Seas 3 day but just as I began to put some notes down, the world and cruise industry changed forever. With all the uncertainty in the world, so many people being affected and so many others disappointed by their cancelled trips, I felt the right thing to was squash that review. I'm sure like many others here, we had multiple cruises as well as rebookings cancelled as uncertainty for the cruises lines and the world continued. I even had questions about this sailing even happening but I am happy to say that we were able to step foot on one of these awesome vessels again and it was great! Getting back on one of these ships was the only vacation we really wanted to get back to. I hope you'll read along and enjoy the review. If you have questions, please feel free to ask and I will see if I can address them for you!

 

If you haven't read any of the other reviews,  let me give you a bit of background! If you have followed along before, feel free to skip to the next post! DW (Nichole) and I have been really fortunate to have completed 12 cruises! We both work hard but love to vacation and try to do it as much as we can! (Always have to have something to look forward to!) Our vacation tastes range from numerous Vegas and Disney trips (both world and land) and multiple cruises. People frequently comment on the fact that we travel to repeat destinations or same style vacations but I guess when you know what you like, you just keep going back for more. I can imagine that I'm amongst like minded individuals here!

 

In 2014, we decided that we were going to give cruising a try. We had always been interested in trying it out and seeing all the new entertainment and offerings of modern ships continued to build our interest. Not knowing if we would enjoy it and both of us being worried that Nichole may have some some sea sickness issues, we chose a 4 day cruise. Not only did we love it, but 4 days was not long enough and we found ourselves booking another cruise. The rest is history and as I've mentioned, we've been fortunate enough to complete 12 cruises across 3 cruise lines. We've landed on Royal Caribbean for our last 7 and currently really enjoy RCI and their fleet of ships.

Edited August 10, 2021 by danp2482

[danp2482]

This Freedom cruise was more spontaneous than usual. As I mentioned, we always like having something to look forward to but after 6 cancelled cruises/rebookings. We decided to wait awhile before we booked another voyage. Nicholes mother lives just outside of Ft. Lauderdale and we had plans for a July visit, I think it was April when we decided we'd book one of the weekend cruises at the end of our visit and if it got cancelled, we'd still be in Florida! The interesting part is that we had actually booked Navigator for this same weekend but when Royal brought the Freedom in early our reservation just got moved to the Freedom. We literally did nothing, Royal handled it well. They sent us an email and transferred our reservation automatically. I thought it would be a hassle when we found out it was happening but it wasn't at all.

 

As the trip got closer, we still weren't convinced that the Cruislines would even be sailing but just as summer started, the announcement of the restart was some reassurance that maybe it might happen. After so many cancellations, I said I wasn't 100% convinced we'd be getting on until I was walking onto the ship! Although, covid was a major factor that could cancel, weather could play a hand too! Nichole and I even had a running joke..."we're 2 weeks away, we haven't been this close in awhile." "we're a week away, we haven't been this close in awhile."

 

We made it down to Florida and spent a great week with the in-laws but it appeared there was an increase in media coverage about Covid and Delta variant. Nichole and I started to get nervous and she started to agree that until we walked over the gangway, we still weren't sure!

 

The rest of the week passed and even though it was on our minds, we started to think we'd be ok. Friday  morning came...it was cruise day!!!! "We haven't been this close in awhile!!"

[zanydoc]

Following...

[lazydayz]

Love the Freedom. Looking forward to your review.  

[barb in ga]

Freedom is a great ship! Tell us more, we're less than a month away from our long-awaited Symphony cruise.

Barb

[Cruise a holic]

Following- 

[danp2482]

Day 1 Embarkation Day!!

 

This is the day we'd been waiting for! Although it was only going to be 3 quick days, we planned on enjoying every second of it and could not wait to get to the one vacation we've been wanting tp return to!

 

As I mentioned, MIL lives in the Ft. Lauderdale area. We originally planned on an Uber from their house but  the insisted on taking us to the port so we lucked out there.

 

 

 

 

Nichole and I are definitely guilty of not following assigned times for boarding. During our previous sailings, regardless of our assigned time, we'd show up around 10:45 and usually walk right onto the ship. This trip, we expected things to be different, especially when we couldn't even get anything earlier than 1pm. With an hour ride down from the north, we tried to time it so we'd be getting to the port around 12:30 at the earliest. We actually arrived at 12:50 and as we suspected, early arrival is no longer a benefit...at least for now.

 

We pulled up to the curb and the porters took baggage as normal. They then directed you towards the main doors and thats when we saw the line. Masks are required throughout the entire boarding process. Rules were a little relaxed outside but once you made it in line, most everyone was following the rules.

 

 

The picture doesn't really do it justice, the line snaked around quite a bit. Before getting in line, I wanted to ask someone if we should actually be in the line because it was so close to 1pm. Sure enough, the crew member told us the line was all the early arrivals, our group had been called up and he let us into a much shorter line.

 

The lined was probably 3 or 4 short switch backs before we reached the door. This initial line is to check in and present your vaccination status. Once your vaccination status is verified the agent gives to a purple bracelet. Vaccinated guests receive these bracelets to access the vaccinated guest ares on the ship.

 

 

Once you pass that check in,  you're almost home! 

 

 

You proceed up the escalators and are greeted by the normal check in process. Passports are check, boarding paperwork is scanned, pictures taken and through security you go! One thing to note is that because the initial line is controlling the intake outside, there are no lines inside. Essentially they have just moved the lines (check in, security, etc...) outside. After security, we headed upstairs and boarding had already begun!

 

 

I was so excited to be back and you could tell that the port staff was excited we were back too!

[beachnag]

 When did you show your covid test results

 

[danp2482]

43 minutes ago, beachnag said:

 When did you show your covid test results

 

We were a sailing just before that started so we didn't have a test. They had announced 4 days or more starting the day after we left and obviously now it's every sailing. If I had to guess, it'll be at the same place you show your proof of vaccination.

[coachmike1959]

following

[danp2482]

Day 1 Continued:

 

We entered through the glass doors and we were immediately on the gang way headed to the ship! When we got onto the ship they scanned and welcomed us aboard. You could instantly feel that the crew was very happy to be back and welcoming guests on board! After being scanned onto the ship, they immediately directed us to our muster station where they did a quick safety briefing and demonstration of the life vest. I am guessing that this will be the same briefing and demo for the e muster but surprisingly, they were doing a lot of people as they got onto the ship.

 

As soon as we got on board, we were notified that rooms were ready! We usually just book an inside cabin. After doing a few balconies, we evaluated our onboard habits and decided that we don't spend enough time in our room to justify a balcony, one exception to this is when we sail on oasis class ships. We don't like being super low nor do we like being far forward or aft so we elect a Central Park balcony on those ships. Nichole had a surprise up her sleeve and the day before the cruise told me that she submitted a royal up that was accepted! We went from an interior to a balcony room! As we headed to the room, we noted how few rooms had sea passes on them or had the sanitized signs. We were staring to get curious as to what the occupancy was going to be like...

 

 

Royal up!!

 

 

After dropping our bags, we headed up to Giovani's Kitchen to have lunch using our ultimate dining package! We don't always book the ultimate dining package, we enjoy dining in the main dining room but the two previous cruises we did end up doing the UDP. The last time it was just to do something different and this time it was because we hadn't been on a ship for so long! Both times we felt good value to the package but Nichole is always stalking the prices and got a decent price both times we've booked it.

 

When we got to Giovani's we made the specialty reservations for the remainder of the cruise and then were sat at our table. This is when we met Srdjan! Every cruise we always seem to connect with at least one crew member on a higher level then just the usual pleasantries. This cruise it was Srdjan and as I talk about our experiences you'll understand why we feel that way!

 

I am usually great about taking pictures to document things but for some reason this time around I kept forgetting before we dug into something. Maybe I was out of practice, maybe we were hungry or maybe the Ultimate Beverage Package had something to do with it...

 

We started lunch with love from the kitchen (not pictured) which was essentially garlic knots and marinara sauce. Nichole got the house salad for an appetizer (also not pictured) and I also ordered the assorted meat and cheese platter.

 

 

We then shared the Italia pizza for our main course.

 

 

 

Everything at this meal was amazing! The pizza was delicious and big enough to share. We also had two specialty beverages (don't recall the name) and also each had an off menu martini, strawberry and lemon drop, both of which were really good! Srdjan was a pleasure and was great about pointing out different things on the menu that we may like. He knew we were coming back for dinner and had already started giving suggestions on what we should try! We really enjoyed his service and he made sure to have us seated with him for dinner. We finished up lunch and headed for the pool deck!

 

 

[LuCruise]

Following along.  We were supposed to be going on Freedom in a few weeks....that is, before covid came along and changed many plans.  Thanks for your review.  Looks great so far.  Great catch on the balcony royal up!

[Jerseygirl1416]

Great start! Thanks for taking the time to post😊

[gdwest]

Did you reserve Giovani's Kitchen before boarding with the UDP?

 

 

[Cherries Jubilee]

Really enjoying this!

[danp2482]

5 hours ago, gdwest said:

Did you reserve Giovani's Kitchen before boarding with the UDP?

 

 

Not for lunch. Lunch has been walk up both times we had UDP. Our February 2020 Navigator it was Chops and this sailing Giovani's.  Sat right away both times without issue. As for the other reservations, we took care of all of them at Giovani's before we were seated for lunch. You can also use the app to make all reservations! (once you're on ship wifi) All the restaurants had tables blocked which I'm sure affects the availability but except for Chops, we had no problem getting the times we wanted.

[danp2482]

Day 1 Continued:

 

After lunch, we headed back to the room to grab our swim suits and head to the pool. Usually on embarkation day, we explore the ship and bar hop. I had asked Nichole what approach she wanted to take for this cruise and she wanted to spend some time at the pool just hanging out. Freedom being similar to Navigator aided in that decision because we didn't feel like we had to explore as much. We usually don't commit to the pool the first day due to the muster drill and not wanting to miss sail away but since muster no longer interrupts your embarkation day and sail away was so late, the pool was the winner on this sailing.

 

We headed to the solarium to get some real estate and had no problem finding some prime loungers. Solarium is currently vaccinated guests only, which didn't effect our decision but just wanted to let you all know. We stopped at the bar to grab our traditional shot! Traditionally, the first thing we do is grab a shot together after we board but Nichole was so hungry we went right to lunch. The shot ended up being the third drink! Alexandru and Ethel at the solarium bar were awesome! 2 other crew members that we continued to interact with throughout the journey! After the traditional welcome aboard shot, we grabbed another drink and headed to the loungers and pool for a bit.

 

 

 

The solarium was quiet and the main pool wasn't that much busier. The DJ was playing some great music at the main pool and he alternated with the main party band as well.

 

We ended up staying at the pool much later then we originally planned but it was a nice relaxing afternoon. We headed down to the room but before we did, we walked through the promenade and I was shocked to see how quiet it was for embarkation day. It made me start wondering, what our occupancy was onboard.

 

 

We made it to the room and met our stateroom attendant Ronald, who was also a great guy! The stateroom attendants are always such hard workers but we've really only had a few that really shined with personality and wanting to make sure we were well taken care of. Ronald was one of 3 that we can say this about! We got to our room and saw this...

 

 

 

We were a bit unsure of what entertainment would look like on these early sailings but I can attest that almost all of the entertainment feels exactly as it did to previous cruises. One thing we noted was that there was a little less "celebration" focus than usual. We didn't hear the usual "this is your vacation and it starts now" type of stuff. Also there wasn't a big deal made about sail away. There was no sail away party on deck and no real focus put on it since it was later than usual.

 

We chose to enjoy sail away from our balcony since we never really get a chance to do it! We definitely enjoyed our decision and the balcony, maybe our habits are changing!

 

[mk907]

It's  so awesome you got to try out some new routines on day 1! I am excited to get back to sailing, too and your review is truly hitting home. So much so, I can "feel" those bed sheets in your photo of the towel creation! 😄 Thank you so much and can't wait to read more. 

[Missusdubbya]

Great review so far - thank you!

[perfect match]

Thanks! Enjoying your review! 😎

[Ocean Boy]

Great read. Thanks for doing this.

[lovesthebeach2]

Following….question, how did you book the shows? 

[Biker19]

2 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

Following….question, how did you book the shows? 

When properly loaded and available, you'll have that option in the RCI app.

[lovesthebeach2]

16 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

When properly loaded and available, you'll have that option in the RCI app.

Thanks, so you mean when we get on the ship and not before?

[Biker19]

Just now, lovesthebeach2 said:

Thanks, so you mean when we get on the ship and not before?

Yes, you usually need to connect to the ship's wifi to do it.