Freedom questions-first time cruiser.

[dodygirl]

My parents are taking my brother and nephews, my husbands, kids and I on the Freedom of the seas this November and I am wondering if anyone can answer a few questions about the Freedom or RCI in general if they are similar in the guidelines. I wonder if you can rent skates for the ice skating rink or do you have to bring them ? If anyone has checked out the Adventure Ocean program and what it is like for the kids 5 & 8 years old (safety, do I send the pop cards with them or do they supply drinks etc.). Has anyone tried the Canopy Tour in Jamaica or swimming with the stingrays in Grand Cayman ? I know, lots of questions but we are newbies to this and I am a bit nervous but so excited at the same time.:D Thanks ahead of time for your help.

[cruiseaholics]

Welcome to the wonderful world of cruising... and to Cruise Critic where there are tons of people who will be more than happy to answer any and all of your questions.

 

The only one I can specifically address, though is Stingray City in Grand Cayman. I consider it a "must do". My husband and I have been there three times and young, old and every age in between seems to have a blast! :D

 

Happy cruising!

Patty

[dodygirl]

thank you very much... yes I was advised to do the stingrays if we had a chance.. I think the kids will love it. I am very excited... and will keep checking back for posts... as I am sure I will have lots more questions as it gets closer. ;)

[pickleo]

You rent the skates at the ice skating rink; you must be wearing pants or capris though. Swimming with the stringrays was amazing (even though i spent more time in the boat- SCARY!!)- well worth the money. In regards to the Adventure Program, I do not have the answers. Enjoy your cruise!!

[mill231]

Stingray City is great, but use a local tour, not the ships. Nativeway is a good one. The boats are smaller, meaning smaller groups of people and much more interaction with the rays. Also, go early in the day before the rays are full. Do an internet search for Nativeway in Grand Cayman. I haven't did the Canopy Tour, but I did read a good review about it.

[shrimp0]

Skates: yes, you borrow them at the time you are skating. They have all sizes and helmets for safety if you want. And yes, you must have long pants on. You will also have to have an adult there at the ice rink and sign a waiver each time they go. One other thing... if I remember correctly, on the Navigator, an adult had to go on the ice with my son since he was under 6 years old. (FYI... the 5 year old will not be able to do the rock wall... must be 6 years old)

 

Adventure Ocean: My son has been in the 3-5 age group and the 6-8 age group. He LOVES Adventure Ocean!!!! It is very safe and secure. You sign the kids in and out..( you will have to write who is allowed to pick up the children.. they will not be released to anyone else). They have lots of fun activities through out the day and evening. On sea days, AO will close for 2 hours between 12-2 and every day they will close from 5-7. My son looks forward to some of the activities that are done fleet wide. You do not need to send the kids with their soda cards... as they will not be able to use them while in AO. ( the ony exception to this may be when you have the children there on port days during lunch time and they go to the Cafe or windjammer for lunch) Otherwise, they do not leave the room for snacks. They do have water available in the room for the children.

 

Excursions: We have not done the canopy tour so I cant answer that one. However, we have done Sting Ray city 3 times ( 2 times with our son). To bring the children... you will have to book the excursion with a private company. I do not believe that the ship excursions will accept children under 12. However, you will be MUCH better off doing the excursion on your own. We have used Nativeway 2 times. ( our first time we didnt know better to use a private company). Nativeway was great!!!! The first time, our son was very afraid. He was in the water for just a few minutes and then went back on the boat. We felt very comfortable having him on the boat while we were in the water. The tour guides even brought sting rays over to the boat for him and the other children who chickened out to see. They were great with the kids!!!!!! The second time he went... he LOVED it and stayed in the water the whole time!!! We are all looking forward to going back again on our next cruise!!!!!!

[superjerryw]

Do you think your parents would consider adopting me.......:D

 

Don't miss Stingray City. I recommend going with Captain Marvin - http://www.captainmarvins.com

[Schplinky]

Just to be clear, you should know there is no cost to borrow the skates.

[BillOh]

Ice skating, long pants mandatory and helmets optional?:rolleyes:

 

Years of curling has sharpened my reflexes though, if you start to fall, keep your head up above all elese.

[NYCRUISR]

In regard to Stingray City.......

A lot of people have this thing about not using the RCCL tours, preferring to use local tours for various reasons.

We had been to Stingray city once before and were doing it again from Navigator.

We booked the full day Rays/Reef / Beach break. We were the first boat out to the Rays. (They wanted food ) They were all over us..... not like the first time I was there.

On this trip, some of the crew were holding Rays up.... putting them in peoples arms etc....all the same things being done by local tours except...we were there first.

The whole RCCL tour was enjoyable and all of us in our group had a great time.

I'm sure whichever you choose local or RCCL ....particularly as a newbie.......will be awesome.

[morgan1312]

Welcome to cruising, I'm sure you'll be hooked after the first time, we've been taking our grandson on RCI since he was 3, he's 8 now and will be going on the FOS late August for his 5th cruise, he LOVES the AO program and all their activities, make sure you attend the family games they offer throughout the week, it makes your kids feel special.

 

One thing we do since he usually stays up late anyway is book late seating dinner, the first night you have to take the kids to the dining room but after that you can feed them around 6:00 (there is always somewhere to eat open and if nothing else there's 24 hour free room service), take them to AO at 7:00, get ready for dinner, have a peaceful dinner then pick the kids up by 10:00 (or later for a fee), we usually pick him up around 9:30 and bring him to the dining room for dessert, since he's in our party there is always a seat for him in the dining room. That way the other guests at our table don't have to put up with a bored child during all the courses and the waiters always make a big fuss over him since it's the end of the night and they're not rushed. we've even ordered a soup or appetizer that we knew he'd love and they keep it waiting for him. You must order these when you order your own though cause the kitchen cleans them up once that course is served.

 

Stingray city was a blast last year for him at 7, we're going back again this year. The water was about chest deep on me (I'm 5'2") so the little ones who can't swim will need life jackets which the boat will have. The depth of the water depends on the tide when you go. We took the RCI tour and had no problems. The guides let the kids touch/hold/feed the stingrays.

 

The only thing with AO during the time you're going is there may not be many kids on board, unless it's during a school break but not all schools break at the same time.

 

Enjoy your cruise, it's an awesome way to vacation.

[Nanatravel]

dody, when are you sailing on FOS in November. We have a large Roll call for Nov. 5 sailing. There will be some children, too. Please stop by. Nativeway is great for all of your age levels. Can't speak for the Canopy Tour as it's fairly new in MO Bay. Don't think the little ones will be able to do it and its scary having them so far up! Great alternate would be the Falls and tubing.

 

Enjoy planning for your first cruise - it probably won't be your last!

Bon voyage

[ghadler]

Hi Nanatravel...See you will be sailing on the FOS! Hope you write a review...remember us, Gail and Harry from the Millenium in the Med!! Just wanted to say "hi"!

[dodygirl]

Thank you all for your input on the shore excursions - I am really looking forward to it... I wonder though how safe and much or more expensive it is to book outside of RCCL ? My husband is quite skeptical about booking with an independant tour operator. :cool:

[Schplinky]

It is generally cheaper but you need to watch the clock. The ship WILL sail without you.

[emmy]

We were on the Freedom Maiden Voyager June and a group of us from our Cc roll call did the Canopy Tour..we had loads of fun...here is a bit of my review

 

June 8/06 ~ Jamaica mon

 

 

Zip lining ~ Shaggy concert ~ and the red carpet treatment by MoBay

 

 

Wow awoke and went onto the balcony to be greeted by that great sounding Jamaican music and a red carpet stretched out from the ship to welcome Freedom for the first time.

 

We had an early excursion booked on the ship Canopy Tours which is ziplining. We disembarked the ship about 8am and there was Captain Wright shaking hands as his maiden voyagers left for a fun day in Jamaica. We were led to a bus where our driver Captain K taught us the Jamaican lingo .No problem mon, ya mon and irie mon…now we were set for the adventure of a lifetime… swinging from the trees…well sort of

 

If you want to make like Tarzan and Jane then this is the adventure for you. After being harnessed up you'll glide silently across nine unique crossings through a tunnel of leaves and branches (the canopy) over rainforest and rivers. You'll reach speeds of 35 mph.

 

This was an exhilarating experience and even those with fear of heights managed to overcome them and have an awesome time. Do bring insect repellent because I found the bugs were biting although they did provide some repellant if you had forgotten like meJ I would wear a pair of comfortable shoes like runners cause the day we went it was muddy from a recent rain and you do have to do some hiking. A small fanny pack or backpack is allowed and remember to bring your camera. A hint for couples or friends going together… do not go one behind the other if you want photos of each other on your own camera. A suggestion is to put at least two people between you and split up and then when one finishes the traverse they can take a photo of the other coming across. The longest traverse is over 1000 feet long called the Inter parish Express…ya mon!

 

I felt completely safe and the guides Kisha and Dane did an awesome job with our group keeping us safe and providing some humor to relieve any tensions and anxieties we might have had. There were 10 of us in our group and happy to say we all survived and were quite happy we did this excursion.

 

Here is a link to the company the ship used for this excursion. There is more information here if you are interested in doing this one…highly recommended. They do sell t-shirts and souvenirs after and some photos of you ziplining are also available. You can buy a drink and some jerk chicken as well.

 

http://www.chukkacaribbean.com/MontegoBay/canopy.htm

 

 

Also some photos of my cruise including some of ziplining are there

 

http://cards.webshots.com/invite/pickup/118013706yBWS/album/551377671gDHgFL

 

 

 

So with that said.. I say "do it in a harness" and join 'the mile high club' these are what the tshirts say:D

[dodygirl]

great pics thank you so much. I can't wait !:D