LIVE From 10/15 Freedom of the Seas "Crown & Anchor" Cruise

[ocmdcruiser]

Thanks for all the positive feedback. Any thoughts on things to do in Miami will be D/W, D/W, and her BF. Dont know weater to rent a car, or use shuttle service. Maybe go to keywest for the day.

 

It's D/D college graduation vacation so would like to make the best of everything. we will arrive in Miami on thursday so we have plenty of time.

 

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

also we have enjoyed all cruise critic posts, and advice. At one time we thought we were the only ones hooked on cruising but we see that is not the case. Always good when positive thought are shared.

 

:cool:

[glgolfer]

Drove home with no problems. For those that live in Florida, stopped for dinner at the Rusty Fox in Clermont. Contrary to some reports that it was not so good anymore, it was great. Our waitress said they had some problems with different cooks for a while, but Steve was back and everythig was excellent.

 

We found both good and bad about the Freedom. Will post our opinions in the next day or two after we get unpacked and get thru some meetings.

[emerald777]

Can I just say - I LOVE THE FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Some of those exclamation marks are for Laura). What an awesome ship, full of awesome people!! This was by far the best cruise ever! I made some wonderful new friends, including my long lost twin - Jan #1 and reconnected with old friends.

This trip was all about the ship, so I didn't do much (if anything) on the islands, but tried to see/do everything onboard. We had something to do from early morning till late night. I'll do a review later, but wanted to jump in here and just say thanks to everyone who made this a trip to remember!!!!!

[BillyMetz]

Anybody who might want to respond back let me know what you thought about the debarkation. I was just notified today by American Airlines that my return home flight from Miami after our cruise on FOS has been moved up earlier. That is the only flight unless I want to wait in the airport until that evening. We plan to use the self debarkation (carry our own luggage off the ship), but I am still a bit anxious about catching a 11:25 flight. It was originally 1:37 when I booked it. A full two hours earlier now. Most other reviewers say with self debarkation we should have no problem. Do you agree?

[bargainshopper]

Anybody who might want to respond back let me know what you thought about the debarkation. I was just notified today by American Airlines that my return home flight from Miami after our cruise on FOS has been moved up earlier. That is the only flight unless I want to wait in the airport until that evening. We plan to use the self debarkation (carry our own luggage off the ship), but I am still a bit anxious about catching a 11:25 flight. It was originally 1:37 when I booked it. A full two hours earlier now. Most other reviewers say with self debarkation we should have no problem. Do you agree?

 

we were on the FOS for the Oct 8-15 sailing. We had a 2:30 pm flight booked. However becuase we were off the ship by 8:15 am, we took a cab to the airport and flew standby on a 11:20 AM flight home. Ifyou do the self debarkation, you should have no problem catching the 11:25 flight. OTOH, if they don't clear the ship early enough, don't think you can leave the boot at 6:30 am.

[Cruise Miriam]

Hi, everyone. I want to be back on the ship!! It's COLD here in Chicago! What a wonderful week! I have to say this really was the most fun I've ever had on a cruise. Thanks to Laura, all the hosts and old and new friends! My only regret is that I didn't have enough time to visit with everyone I'd wanted to see! For me this was supposed to be a time to rest. Well, I did rest a bit -- here and there. I was just having too much fun!

 

I'll post more thoughts in a day or two. Now it's time to ice my foot and elevate it again.

 

One thing that really surprised me this morning was how early disembarkation began. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE being able to check my bags at the port. They arrived safely in Chicago. Not standing in line to check in at the airport was pure heaven. My color was called at 6:45, but with the pier check-in, we decided to have breakfast in the dining room then disembark. I was still at the airport by 8:15 -- a taxi was just right there waiting for me.

 

Note for HostKaren.... do you remember Tori and Joe from our Adventure cruise four years ago? I ran into them a few times during the week and wish I'd had more time to catch up with them.

 

Thanks to everyone for making this past week one of the best of my life!!

[DFWJenny]

Glad to see positive response to the Freedom. We go next week. Any idea if there will be a Halloween costume party? I have to work while I'm there, so I 'm very interested in cell phone coverage on this ship. Any info will be helpful.

 

We have Sprint and had no problems with our cell phones. We had pretty good reception on the ship and on every port except Labadee.

 

Have a wonderful trip. Wish we were there again!

 

Jen

[DFWJenny]

Anybody who might want to respond back let me know what you thought about the debarkation. I was just notified today by American Airlines that my return home flight from Miami after our cruise on FOS has been moved up earlier. That is the only flight unless I want to wait in the airport until that evening. We plan to use the self debarkation (carry our own luggage off the ship), but I am still a bit anxious about catching a 11:25 flight. It was originally 1:37 when I booked it. A full two hours earlier now. Most other reviewers say with self debarkation we should have no problem. Do you agree?

 

If you do self debarkation, you shouldn't have any problems. We did the valet service and were in the first group off (white tags). We were checked in and at our gate before 10 a.m. MIA was crazy, but it helped to have our boarding passes ahead of time so we bypassed the long lines at the counters.

 

Have fun!

 

Jen

[cruiselovingmom]

I can't believe that this week has gone by so quickly. It has been an incredible vacation. The ship was awesome and so was the staff. I thought when we boarded last Sunday that the delay in boarding and the disorganization at the pier was a sure sign of what we had in store. Thank goodness I was wrong. The only other hiccup we encountered was this morning trying to get off the ship. They need a little better process. There were too many people lined up in many directions. It caused a bit of a traffic jam. But we managed to get off in one piece. (Not that we really wanted to leave!)

 

We have to encourage everyone to take advantage of the Valet baggage service. You don't have to carry around your luggage to the airport and they give you your boarding passes so you bypass the lines at the airport. $10 was a very small price to pay for this service.

 

Pete and I enjoyed meeting everyone. Look for some links to our photos in the next few days. We're at MIA right now hoping to get on an earlier flight, but it doesn't look good. Oh well, what's another 3 1/2 hours??

 

Will write more later. Need to log on the RCCL site to look into our next cruise.

 

Hope everyone has a safe trip home. We miss you already!

 

Hugs,

Jen & Texas Pete

 

Welcome home Jenny!

I posted a question for you way back on page 3 about the Marriott that I don't think you saw, I'll repost here...

 

 

#55

October 16th, 2006, 08:48 AM

 

 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by DFWJenny

We stayed at the Marriott downtown and used my Marriott Points. It was pretty nice and they have a shuttle to the terminal for $5 per person.

 

Happy Sailing!

 

Jen

 

 

Hi Jenny !

I hope you are having a wonderful cruise so far! It's so exciting reading these live reports , thank you (and all the gang!) for sharing your trip with us!

 

We are also staying at the Marriott using points on our April Freedom cruise.We paid the $25 upgrade fee for a bayview room-after reading your post I'm glad we did!

How was the $5 shuttle to the pier? Long lines? What time did you head to the ship? Did they give you some kind of "reservation" when you checked in? This sounds like an awesome deal!

 

 

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me!

Debbie

[negc]

Back home and unpacked. Now we have to repack for next week's cruise on Jewel of the Seas (12 night repo out of Boston). Hey someone has to do it, right?:D

We really had a ball, and part of what made it a great cruise was the pleasure of meeting so many folks from the Freedom thread and participating in the slot pull and many other activities. We were off the ship around 8 am (could have left earlier) and the 11 of us had our luggage and were at the airport before 9 for our noon flight. Biggest delay was the curbside check in at the airport and then the long hike to terminal A and our departure gate.

Would have enjoyed one more day at sea to really enjoy all that the ship had to offer, but the grandkids loved the Adventure Ocean program so much that they didn't even want to leave to go to the beach with their parents.

Hitting a jackpot in the casino midway through the week, meant that I actually came home with more money than I went with. LOL

Hope we sail again with many of you folks again and I am sure we will.

It was definitely a week to remember.:)

[realent]

I would like to know what everyone's favorite shore excursions were and also info on shuttles from Ft Lauderdale. We have one booked but I am not very happy with the schedule.

 

Thanks,

Nancy

[newsier]

DFWJenny -

 

Can you please explain the baggage Valet Service.

 

Thank you.

[Huntster]

fairly new to CC, we are sailing on FOS next August, so I am loving this thread. Thanks to all who are posting, it's great to read. I would love to hear more about the pub crawl. And I have to ask, what exactly IS the pink boa society ? (besides some people who have alot of fun ! )

TIA

Mic

Hi Mic. First, welcome to Cruise Critic. This is a great web site and I have made many, many new and dear friends from this site.

 

The Pub Crawl / Poker Run was a complete success. About 40 plus people participated. We hit 5 different bars where our players would draw one of 5 cards to form a poker hand. The final bar was in Olive or Twist and the best hand was three Kings won by Dennis, (Carden).

 

The Pink Boa Society, (PBS), totally rocks. We are a group of friends who met on Cruise Critic roll calls and sailed to gether on Freedoms' Inaugural sailing. Many of us met up again on the Oct 15th sailing. The PBS is simply a group of friends who love cruising together. The pink boa represents our love of cruising, our escape from the mundame matters of everyday life, and is a symbol of our friendships with each other.

 

Anyone can join the PBS, and all are welcome. Pink is the official color, obviously, and the women frequently don their Pink Boas. The slot pull on the last sea day was the first ever official PBS activity, and it was a complete success. Thank you Jan for organizing this. What a great idea it was.

 

So, to sum it up, the PBS is about friends who love sailing and chatting on Cruise Critic. I'm sure you will be hearing more about us in the future. :D

[Host Dan]

Back home and in "recovery" mode! The flowrider was an absolute blast, but my arms, feet and back are paying the price! What fun it was meeting Laura, Host Mirium, Host Anne, Host Terry and companions! (Host Mirium... Cyptonight?? ;) )The Meet and Mingle was alot of fun as well, and I had the pleasure of meeting so many CC members.

The only thing I really didn't care for (other than the BRUTAL embarkation procedure, worst of any cruise) was Johnny Rockets. The company was stellar, but the food was downright inedible.

Back to the "real" world, and some "real" R and R! Till next time...

 

Host Dan

[darrencantwait]

DFWJenny -

 

Can you please explain the baggage Valet Service.

 

Thank you.

 

baggage valet service lets you check your bags in directly at the pier (after immigration/customs). It is only available for certain airlines (American being one of them), and only to passengers flying out the same day as disembarkation.

 

The cost is $10. You fill out paperwork earlier in the week and your boarding passes and luggage tags are delivered to your stateroom the night before debarking.

 

I don't know if this is a common problem, but NOBODY on our flight that used this got their luggage in New York. In fact...we STILL haven't gotten our luggage. They claim there was not enough time to get our baggage to the airport, despite it being a 4pm flight.

 

Anybody with similar experience? Just wondering if I should avoid this in the future. It really was convenient.

[Amicruzer]

Sounds like a great time was had by all. Can anyone enlighten me regarding the aft jr. suites on deck 7, it looks like the superstructure impedes the view?

Thank you

[SPARKLE10]

Hi:

 

I've really enjoyed reading all about the Freedom....I'll be on this wonderful ship in two months for their New Years Eve Cruise, which should be a lot of fun.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what slots to play in the casino? I always play, but never win. I was just wondering if there were some "hot" ones there, just waiting for me ....ha ha.

 

Thanks...

 

Happy Cruising....Sparkle 10:rolleyes:

[TNC010100]

baggage valet service lets you check your bags in directly at the pier (after immigration/customs). It is only available for certain airlines (American being one of them), and only to passengers flying out the same day as disembarkation.

 

The cost is $10. You fill out paperwork earlier in the week and your boarding passes and luggage tags are delivered to your stateroom the night before debarking.

 

I don't know if this is a common problem, but NOBODY on our flight that used this got their luggage in New York. In fact...we STILL haven't gotten our luggage. They claim there was not enough time to get our baggage to the airport, despite it being a 4pm flight.

 

Anybody with similar experience? Just wondering if I should avoid this in the future. It really was convenient.

 

We didn't get our bags either - 1:35pm flight from MIA to San Francisco. We have at least confirmed they came in on the 9:30pm flight - but they have not made it to our house yet!! This service, in theory, was great and I loved not having to check-in - but not having my luggage arrive when it sould have really sucked, especialy with a 1 year old infant!!

[SUNANDSAND]

Hello, Have been reading the many posts about your cruise and its sounds like a good time had by all. We were wondering what special gift were given to you in your stateroom , dining table , or otherwise during your trip. Also did they have any special parties for past members and a seperate one for diamond and diamond plus.

[emerald777]

Me three on the luggage! I left them at the AA valet checkin at 9:45. My flight was at 1:40 from MIA to DC, really should have been plenty of time. They were delivered to my house at noon today. The biggest pain was waiting for the extra hour till all the luggage had rolled by and then standing in the line to file a report (about 10 people in line). But even after all that, it was still worth it not to have to haul it to the airport and stand in those humongous lines to check in!

[LadeeBug100]

I also used the luggage valet service. My bags were not on my flight to CLT, 3 of the 4 have been delivered to my house today. I received 1 bag that was not mine. I am certain it belongs to someone on the same flight that also did not get their luggage.

Meanwhile, my one lost bag is trying to be located. It is probably in NC where the bag delivered to my house belongs.

A lady on the flight had her luggage go to Nassau! I am not sure if she was on the cruise or not, but she did NOT use valet service, she checked her luggage in at the airport.

As far as there not being enough time to get the luggage to the airport, I do not think that is the reason. A couple that traveled with us but flew to ATL got their luggage in ATL just like they were supposed to . Their flight was 2:20pm...one hour before ours.

In my opinion the blame is at the airport. This has nothing to do with RCCL or the valet service, just ineffiency with the persons responsible for loading luggage.

[Nessa1dc]

What airlines uses this service...I have done American Airlines at the port...what are the other airlines?

[Host Anne]

Ahhhh....the beauty of residing in FL. We walked off the ship (our embarkation was a bit longer than normal but not bad), rolled the luggage across to the parking lot, loaded it in the car and drove home. It really reduces the chances for lost luggage ;)

 

Let's see if I can answer some of the questions I didn't get around to:

 

Ken Rush - he didn't mention who is replacing him on Freedom and I didn't think to ask :(

 

Jimmy Blakemore - finally got to go into the Pub and sit and listen to him on the last night. He was REALLY good! I kind of interrupted his set but managed to find out that he's on Freedom for awhile longer, then onto Mariner, Liberty and back to Freedom....sorry but he didn't give me specific timing so I can't tell you exactly where he'll be when. I'm not sure he knew dates off the top of his head. But we did enjoy listening to him immensely.

 

Our Jamaica Tour - was booked through A-Z Jamaica Planners. Here's a link to their website: http://www.a-zjamaicaplanners.com/ and a description of the tour we took. Request Paul for your van driver and Dave for you waterfall tour guide! You'll have a lovely day. And we switched lunch stops. We told Paul we would rather go so place "local" instead of a chain and he took us to a great little place that made Jamaican jerk specialities (very reasonable prices, too -- less than $10 for me and Amanda together).

 

Mayfield Falls and Margaritaville

Start your day traveling through the countryside to the beautiful Mayfield Falls and Mineral Springs where you can relax in the 22 clear pools created by these cascading falls. The natural Mineral Waters will refresh and relax you and the beauty of the area leave you speechless. After the Falls we head back to Montego Bay where a stop is made for lunch then on to Margaritaville for an afternoon of fun and games. Enjoy the waterslide and join in the many party games that make this the spot to hang out. Finish the day with a little shopping before heading back to the ship.

 

 

To the PBS - I am SOOO sorry I forgot all about the slot pull tourney on Saturday. We started watching pool volleyball and totally forgot! I promise we'll make it next time. You guys were so much fun!!!! :p

 

Hope everyone is home safe and sound and that luggage has finally caught up with everyone! Here's hoping everyone is planning their next cruise! It was terrific to meet up with so many new friends! Hope to see everyone on another cruise down the road!

[Host Anne]

On the valet service -- it's not something the airlines do....it's something the cruise line takes care of. They essentially take your bags from the ship and check them in with your airline on your behalf. The idea is that you place them outside your cabin door on the last night and then they are supposed to show up at your destination when you get off the plane.

[mimikens]

I would like to know what everyone's favorite shore excursions were and also info on shuttles from Ft Lauderdale. We have one booked but I am not very happy with the schedule.

 

Thanks,

Nancy

 

Nancy, I don't know how adventurous you are, but I did the ATV tour in Montego Bay and had a great time. I would recommend a tour in Jamaica as the shopping isn't great there but the harrassment is high. I've also done the mini jeep/snorkel tour in Cozumel, which I thought was a lot of fun.

 

I have to agree with Anne about living in Florida. I made it to 9 am church service, and home well before noon. My luggage (and dirty clothes) were with me. I have my huge stack of cruise crap that I still have to go through.

 

It really was great getting to meet so many new people. I really love cruise critic for that.