Freedom Review 3/16 (Anytime dining, boxing rings and Men in Speedos)

[skipop]

Just off Freedom last Sunday. A first cruise for me and my two kids (ages 10 and 12) and fourth cruise for the wife. AFter the day by day discussions, Ill add specific comments on various items at the end.

 

Pre Cruise. Before we even landed in Ft. Lauderdale, the vacation began with excistment. As we were about to touch down at FLL, approximately 30 feet or so off the ground, our plane aborted the landing at the last moment and accelerated like a dragster back into the air. Nobody knew what happened for 5-10 minutes until the pilot finally came on and announced that another plane had entered the runway while we were landing. Nothing like starting off a vacation with a severe adrenaline rush.

 

Stayed our first two nights in Hollywood, Florida at the Westin Diplomat. Loved the hotel, especially the pools, and had a great time in Hollywood. Had a great meal at Las Brisas on the Broadwalk, which we highly recommend.

 

Sunday, Embarkation.

 

Embarkation was fairly smooth. we arrived at the port around 11:30 and were in the windjammer by 12:20. (Gotta tell you, I was not that impressed with the honey stung chicken despite the reviews on this board.) We splurged a little this trip and went for a Grand Suite (1578). To quote Bill & Ted, the location and the stateroom were "most excellent." The only downside to the room/location is that you can absolutely hear deck chairs moving around from the pool deck. The sound is muffled, but noticeable nonetheless. Didn't bother us as it wasn't that loud, but I can see it annoying the heck out of some people.

 

We had made Chops reservations through the conceirge just before the cruise, so we spent our first day wandering and learning, rather than running around making reservations. Bought the soda cards for everyone and, as we had been warned on these boards, we basically lost money on the deal. I went into the fitness center to look around, wound up talking to a fitness instructor and to my wife and kids' surprise signed up for three sessions with a personal trainer. My reasons for signing up were simply that I had spent months before the cruise getting into shape and I didn't want to take a step back. Met our room attendent (Edy), who was absolutely top notch. He was one of our favorite employees on the entire ship.

 

Sunday night was our first "My Time Dining" experience. Had the first seating been offered later than 6:00, we would opted for that option, but I knew we'd be perpetually late for 6:00 and, somewhat reluctantly, opted for "My Time."

 

We had made reservations for 6:45 and were immediately seated when we showed up at the reserved time. Throughout the week, we tested My Time Dining by trying different dinner times, showing up without reservations, requesting tables and a specific server, etc. In m opinion, it was a terrific success. We never had a wait time, didn;t ned to make reservations and loved meetng the different servers everynight. All of them were excellent and gave no indication whatsoever that they were bothered by being in the My Time wing. I know the frequent cruisers will cringe, but I would opt for Any Time dining on every cruise. We enjoyed it that much.

[GrayeeB]

Glad to hear. I also opted for mytime dining. I wanted to be able to decide day by day. Did you do formal nights and were others dressed for formal night also. I wanna do the dress up but dont wanna be outta place. lol

[pmfan]

Thanks for writing a review.:)

[skipop]

Having computer issues and will have to continue the review tomorrow.

 

As to the question, yes, we did the formal night thing as did most everyone else. There were no more "t-shirt clad" diners in My Time, than there were in the traditional side. So, you would feel more out of place by not dressing up.

[nyc gal]

myself and my daughter(11 years old) also enjoyed fos and we also lost money on the soda cards however fos never charged us for it on my final bill, i was so glad .......anyway we also did anytime dining showed up at various times and received excellent service everytime. we never had to wait for a table . i must also say that in reading different reviews about the food in the dining room every night the food was very good!!!!!!!!:)

[Disneycrazymom]

How did you transfer to Miami from FtL? What time did you leave the hotel to get to the dock at 11:30? We have the same arrangement in June. Flying into FtL and cruising on the Freedom. Thanks!:D

[skipop]

How did you transfer to Miami from FtL? What time did you leave the hotel to get to the dock at 11:30? We have the same arrangement in June. Flying into FtL and cruising on the Freedom. Thanks!:D

 

We went from Hollywood (just south of FLL) to Miami and the trip took about 30 minutes.

[skipop]

Day 1. At Sea.

Awoke Monday morning and opted for breakfast in the Dining Room to allow my son to feed his eggs Benedict addition. He’s the only kid I know that basically has an entire diet of either eggs Benedict or chicken strips. That’s the functional equivalent of a wine lover drinking only Chateau Laffite Rothschild or MD 20-20. At 10:30 left for our Meet & Mingle. Everyone was extremely nice, but we never ran into any of them for the rest of the cruise. Also, we had to leave at 10:45 so my son and I could be in the Family Basketball Tournament. Did a little Flowrider for the first time and ate lunch at Johnny Rockets. It was my first time at Johnny Rockets and it was disappointing to me. Even the shakes were a bit of a let down.

At 5:00, it was off to my first personal training session. We began the workout on some kind of medieval torture device called the “PowerBlock” (or something like that). Basically, it’s a machine with a 2 foot diameter, round platform. You climb on the platform and do various exercises (squats, push ups, etc.) while the platform shakes like Charo after 30 Espressos and standing out in sub-zero temperatures. In 30 seconds, I was sweating, crying, panting and was looking for the priest for last rights. It was awesome. After 16 minutes of wonderful torture, we moved on to other exercises to finish the session. I cannot speak highly enough of my personal trainer and our sessions. The trainer was knowledgeable, encouraging, personable and able to read me like a book when it comes to how much effort you have to give. While it will sound odd, the sessions were one of the highlights of the cruise for me.

Dinner was formal night and, for the most part, everyone dressed. You had the occasional t-shirt clad diners but, for the most part, people were well dressed. Now, about the food. There are obviously mixed opinions on the quality of the food in the dining room. From my perspective, I evaluated the quality of the food relative to the number of meals being prepared. In light of the fact they were preparing over a thousand meals or so a night, I think the quality of the food was outstanding and consistent.

Day 2. Labadee (or not)

Around midnight on Day 1, the seas were pretty rough (although you could barely feel it on Freedom. However, at Midnight, the captain came on to announce that there was a ship in distress and that we had to stay there until the coast guard arrived and took control of the situation. The coast guard came at 3:30 in the morning and the ship was apparently fine.

Unfortunately for us, the waves were too rough to tender and we spent an extra day at sea. For us, this meant a little more Flowrider, pools and walking about. At 5:30 I had my second training session for the week and, once again, was politely beaten to a pulp (which is what I had wanted).

Dinner was terrific and, that evening, my daughter went to the kids club for the first time. Now, I had read on these boards many times that people’s kids “never wanted to leave the kids club” and immediately identified such posters as morons. Well, add me to the moron club. My daughter loved it and looked for any opportunity to go back to the kids club. My son, however, took a while to appreciate the kids club. As he was 12 years old, he was lumped into the 12-14 year age group which, for most of the week was really a 12-17 age group as the various older groups converged in the Living Room most nights. He seemed a bit hesitant looking in at all the significantly older kids and we didn’t push him in. Later in the week, however, they were having a Guitar Hero session and, being a fanatic, went on undaunted. As it turns out, he met a lot of older kids and they were incredibly nice to him despite being 5 years is senior. So, after that night, he went back several times, but never had the love that his sister had for the kids club.

[skipop]

Day 3. Jamaica.

Awoke on Day 3 to an incredibly rainy day. We had arranged for a tour with Marva Shaw to see Dunns River Falls, tube down the White River and go to Reggae Beach. Since it was raining, I went to the concierge to pick up the “complimentary rain gear” they offer as one of the suite perks. The concierge said, “Sorry, I only had four and I just gave them to another woman. But I’ll make a note to myself to get more.” Gee. ... Thanks. While on the subject of the concierge, this was a big disappointment for us. Our concierge really didn’t have a lot to offer and never went out of his way to do anything. Example, my wife likes to have a diet coke with breakfast. When we asked for a diet coke on the first day, he spent five minutes explaining how he couldn’t open the refrigerator until the afternoon. Then, he begrudgingly gave us a diet coke (even though we never protested his initial (and long winded) “no.”) You would have thought that we asked him to throw someone off the ship for us. Basically, from our standpoint, the concierge and the suite perks were not worth much. Loved the room, but the perks were basically worthless.

As we walked out of the ship rain gearless, we were soaked in the first 15 feet. Nonetheless, we were excited for the upcoming tour and waited over by the shelter for Marva to show up. In short order, Javia (Marva’s son) showed up and escorted us to his van. Shortly thereafter, we were joined for the tour by Lieskarl, a wonderfully fun couple (and CC poster) with two of the cutest girls you’ll ever meet. In short, Javia was terrific, the Falls were great (the rain ended and skies cleared after the Falls) and river tubing is an absolute must. After tubing, Javia took us for lunch at a small restaurant (where Marva came by to meet us) that was terrific. Running out of time, we had to skip Reggae Beach and settle for a beach closer to ship. I can’t recommend Javia and Marva highly enough. Jamaica wound up being our favorite port thanks to their tour.

[KayentaJane]

Hmm... Seeing then "Men in Speedos" part of your title, I saw a couple of them... they were wearing matching speedos. The young kid in the tie dye speedo was my cousin (if you saw him). He did some fool thing and got that speedo taken away from him.

[skipop]

Days 4 and 5. Cayman and Coz

The original plan for the Cayman Islands was to rent a car and make it over to Rum Point. Unfortunately, by the time we got off the boat, we simply didn’t have enough time to accomplish the above. So, we went to Plan B, which was a cab to Sea Grape Beach. Apparently, as you’ll see below, I’m in the minority on Sea Grape.

Overall, Grand Cayman was the biggest disappointment for me on the cruise. I had always wanted to go there and see the famed Seven Mile Beach. What I saw when I got there was an endless series of fast food chains and stores on one side of the road and scattered hotels on the left. By the time you got to the beach, the beaches and water were beautiful. However, the entire Seven Mile Area was not what I thought it would be. It was like a regular US city on one side of the road and a pretty beach on the other Now, to be fair, my disappointment is probably due in part to the fact that I had built this island up in my mind over the years. Also, I’m the sure the rest of the island is much prettier, but we never saw it. Further, the main reason to go to the Cayman’s is for the snorkeling and diving, in which we did not partake. So, in some respects it was like we went to a famed steakhouse and ordered the chicken dish.

As for Sea Grape, I was completely underwhelmed. The staff was surly and basically barked at everyone on the beach all day. The beach was fine, but not picture postcard perfect. The food was adequate at best. Worse, we were invaded after 30 minutes by another cruise ship group (which cruise line shall remain nameless) that consisted of societal rejects. Nothing spoils a nice beach day like sitting under a shady tree on the beach and looking out over a belch contest (for hours on end). In the party world, there are two kinds of groups, the people that can party hard in the wildest bars and the people that get kicked out of those bars. I have no problem with the first group but, unfortunately, we were subjected to the second group. So, next time on Grand Cayman, we’re charting a boat or taking an organized tour on the water.

Dinner Wednesday night (which I forgot to mention in the previous post because I had my days of the week confused) was Chops Steakhouse. This was by far the best meal we had on the ship but the frequent postings on CC of “this is not only the best meal on the ship, but the best steak house there is” set this place up for disappointment. The meal was excellent and is highly recommended, but I don’t fell it was quite in the same category as well known steak houses. One of our servers, however (Jerome), was absolutely fantastic. While we never had any bad waiters, Jerome was head and shoulders above the rest. If you book Chops on Freedom, ask for his table.

We did have one glitch Wednesday. On Wednesday night, the ship offered a one-time deal on laundry. You can fill up a bag they supplied with clothes and have it laundered for “only” $20. One warning, you don’t get the clothes back until Friday so if you send all your underwear, you’re going “commando” the next two days. The glitch? When the clothes cam back on Friday, they were all dyed a light blue (even though we had not washed anything blue). As a result, I’m now the proud owner of some stunningly light blue briefs.

While Cayman on Thursday was the biggest disappointment of the cruise, Cozumel on Friday was the biggest surprise probably because, again, of my expectations. I truly didn’t think I would like Cozumel before I got there. I have no idea why, I just didn’t expect to like it. We kept is simple. Went shopping for the first half of the day and then over to Chankenaab for a little lunch and the Royal Swim. The shopping area was incredibly nice (as touristy Caribbean islands go) and the store employees were very friendly, not pushy.

Chankenaab was excellent. My only regret was that we didn’t have more time to spend there. We began with lunch and found it to be very good. The Royal Swim was the highlight of the cruise for my kids and wife. Well worth the extra money over the lesser swims and the cruise ship excursion. The part where the two dolphins come up from behind you and push you up out of and across the water like superman alone was worth the extra bucks.

Thursday night was formal night and, quelle suprise, I had the lobster. The lobster was quite good and the waiter forced me (I kid you not) to take a second helping.

[hipster1]

Wonderful review!

We sailed Freedom March 2..and Im still in cruising heaven!:D

 

WE did the MyTime Dining as well and loved it!!!

 

I think the only negative for ME was that the Windjammer was not big enough for the amount of people..I would think the design would have been alot bigger to acomodate passengers..During breakfast..they had to seat people in Chops and Portofino!

[kittymom65]

Excellent review so far, I am looking forward to the rest of it!

[skipop]

Day 6 at Sea and Day 7 Disembarkation.

Before I forget (again), for got to mention my final training session on Friday night. The only reason it gets special mention is because I was in the so-called “never used” boxing ring for most of the workout. The boxing routines they put you through are terrific. It’s a great cardiovascular exercise. Of course, my arms were so sore at the end I couldn’t pick up my beer without assistance. (I’m only partially kidding about the arm thing). So, if you were in the gym at 7:00 on Friday night, that was me in the ring getting beaten up. Give it a shot, you won’t be disappointed in the workout.

Now, back to Day 6. Today was our last day at sea and was designated a pool day by us. No doubt about it, that pool is CROWDED! While you could find a chair here or there, it was impossible to find more than two together. We spent most of the day upgrading our pool chairs. We’d sit in one spot until something better opened up and then pounce on that group of chairs. After about the fourth move, we had great chairs. Saw the standard pool hog things going on, but we also saw the deck police cart away old towels. One family had four towels on lounge chairs that were not being used while they also occupied a table 12 feet away so they could play dominoes for over an hour. Pool cop came by, removed their towels when they weren’t looking and we pounced on the chairs. When they saw us sitting there and demanded we give them the chairs back, we just acted like we didn’t understand English. Very effective tool.

Saturday night was our last dinner (with my daughter leaving for kids club after the appetizer). After diner, we went to the Final show at 9:00 with LiesKarl. The show (and company) were terrific. We wished we had seen more shows during the week, but we just never had our schedules in sufficient order. (While we loved the show, the final song where the crew comes out, a few crew members at a time, and sings as one was a little too much like the ending of Dirty Dancing for my liking. I kept waiting for the Cruise Director to say “Nobody puts Baby in the corner.”)

Last Day. Disembarkation went smoothly. The schedule they handed out the night before indicated at which items the various “colors” would be announced so that that color group could leave, but the reality of calling the colors was far different. The second color called was scheduled to be called around 7:30 or so and by that time, they had already called about four or five colors. We opted to have breakfast in the dining room one last time and left the ship around 8:00. (My son was shell shocked that they didn’t offer Eggs Benedict on the last day.) Disembarkation took an hour and it was over. Took a cab to FLL, boarded our plane and then promptly sat in the plane on the runway for over two hours waiting to take off thanks to the weather. (Bad plane week, eh?)

That’s all folks. Overall, we loved the trip and look forward to the ext one. I’ll have a few other general comments in a final post tonight.

[RetireeWannabee]

He did some fool thing and got that speedo taken away from him.

:eek: So there was also nude wrestling on the pool deck?

[kkgunn]

"The concierge said, “Sorry, I only had four and I just gave them to another woman. But I’ll make a note to myself to get more.” Gee. ... Thanks. While on the subject of the concierge, this was a big disappointment for us. Our concierge really didn’t have a lot to offer and never went out of his way to do anything. Example, my wife likes to have a diet coke with breakfast. When we asked for a diet coke on the first day, he spent five minutes explaining how he couldn’t open the refrigerator until the afternoon"

 

This is so funny reading this. We were on Liberty last week and it was the case over and over. If I had an problem or issue with something, staff just told me in a very nice and polite manner that there was nothing they could do to help me. It just makes you wonder doesn't it?

 

 

[QTMichele]

Great review! Our next cruise will be on one of the Freedom ships... can't wait! I'm so glad you liked Marva - we booked her for our cruise last year - we can't say enough positive things about her and her tour! Sorry you missed Reggae Beach - it was picture postcard perfect; albeit, a little rustic. Also glad you enjoyed My Time Dining... would like to give that a try. We had late dining on our cruise, but it's too late to eat when we bring our kids.

 

Thanks again!

[IBookHePays]

Thanks so much for posting...LOL a couple times! I will remember to forget how to speak English!:D

[mkca]

Do you mind me asking how much the personal training sessions were?

Also, what was the dolphin excursion you did in Cozumel?

[skipop]

Do you mind me asking how much the personal training sessions were?

 

Also, what was the dolphin excursion you did in Cozumel?

 

The training sessions were one hour long and were $85 each or three for $209 ($70 each). That's about the same price for a trainer in DC (my home town). If you're young and in shape, it's a luxury. When you're older with nagging injuries but want a hard workout, it's worth the bucks. Trainers are great about correcting alignment issues, working around injuries, strengthening injured areas and, more basically, avoiding injuries in the first place.

 

In Cozumel, We did the "Royal Dolphin Swim" through Dolphin Discovery. You book this directly online, not through the cruise ship. If you book, realize that Cozumel time may be one or two hours earlier than Ship's time. So, don't book too late or too early.

 

Here's the link.

 

http://www.*****cozumel/

[truffles2]

Enjoyed your review. I can empathize with your missed approach before even starting the cruise. I experienced my first missed approach in Istanbul about a year or so ago and it took a while for me to "regain my composure"! :eek:

 

As for the concierge....it sounds as if he needs some more training. We have never been demanding or asked for much of anything but have always found all the staff very, very accomodating and eager to please.

[StaySea]

"The concierge said, “Sorry, I only had four and I just gave them to another woman. But I’ll make a note to myself to get more.” Gee. ... Thanks. While on the subject of the concierge, this was a big disappointment for us. Our concierge really didn’t have a lot to offer and never went out of his way to do anything. Example, my wife likes to have a diet coke with breakfast. When we asked for a diet coke on the first day, he spent five minutes explaining how he couldn’t open the refrigerator until the afternoon"

 

This is so funny reading this. We were on Liberty last week and it was the case over and over. If I had an problem or issue with something, staff just told me in a very nice and polite manner that there was nothing they could do to help me. It just makes you wonder doesn't it?

Sorry to hear this...We are leaving in 30 days for LOS and was looking forward to having some help from the concierge...did they contact before you sailded?

[skipop]

Sorry to hear this...We are leaving in 30 days for LOS and was looking forward to having some help from the concierge...did they contact before you sailded?

 

Yes, we were contacted before we sailed. Actually, the Diet Coke request and the rain gear were the only two requests we made on the ship all week. He just didn't seem to have a whole lot of knowledge to the questions we had. It was not a horrible experience whatsoever. He was fine. We just expected a concierge to be, well, more "concierge-like."

[SherriZ366]

How much of Deck 5 was used for MyTime -- all of it or half. You are only about the 3rd person to post who used MyTime so the feedback is helpful.

 

We were on the Feb. 24 FOS sailing and I know they used Deck 5 for MyTime but as we did traditional, we did not know if they used all or 1/2 of deck 5 for it.

 

Thanks!!

[bencruzN]

Skipop,

I love the way you wrote your review...funny stuff. I didn't know cruises had personal trainers, I guess for good reason (for some anyway).

 

Great Review!! Thanks