RCCL Freedom Class vs. Carnival Glory

[njmomof2]

We cruised RCCL Liberty last November with our kids (then 9.5 and 5) and they loved it. Older ds loved the flowrider and both loved H2O zone. We cruised Mariner in March and while they liked it, they missed those 2 activities a lot.

 

Now we're looking to book for August 09. Can do Liberty again or can consider Carnival Glory for less money. In fact, we can do a Cat 11 suite on Glory for less than doing a D1 on Liberty.

 

Can anyone tell me about this ship? I'm not as knowledgeable about Carnival and need to know if it has activities that will make up for the loss of the H2O zone and the flowrider. Does this ship have the new Waterworks/slide that I've read about? Enough to keep kids happy and occupied. Kids will be 11.5 and 7 when we cruise again.

 

Thanks for any of your thoughts.

[crusinmama06]

Ask this on the RCCL board...lol. Cruisingator has some pictures of Glory that he often posts on threads like this. I seriously couldn't sail Glory.

 

Did you look at Freedom and Independence? If you give me the date I can see what I can find out. (No I'm not a TA, just someone with wayyyy too much time on her hands...lol)

 

I know people are going to say that Glory was wonderful for kids, no problem. But it would be REALLY tough for my kids to give up a Freedom class ship for anything else.

 

Yes they have a great time on other ships. But they do miss the extras from the Freedom class. When we are booking short little get aways, I can book other lines. But when it comes to the one big cruise/year...it has to be the Freedom class.

 

Did you see this on the RCCL board entitled "An honest review of Carnival from an RCCL...." It has a pretty good comparison of a new Carnival ship. Then you can see if Carnival is for you.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=760460

[njmomof2]

Thanks Michele, I figured you'd post a response. We're looking for next August and Independence will not be back from Europe yet. We were supposed to sail her in April, but our spring break didn't coincide with our friends and our week is the one that she goes transatlantic for the summer.

 

Freedom is actually more expensive (we're looking western and it's more money for it's western cruise a week earlier than the Liberty one) which I can't figure out. So I started looking at other options and the only one that seems to have some exciting kid things was this class on Carnival.

 

I get your view...I guess I made a big error in putting my kids on a Freedom class for their first cruise! Now, nothing else will satisfy them. Really, Mariner is a lovely ship, almost exactly the same style wise, just missing those 2 things and they were unhappy. At this age, for me, it's more about them being happy and therefore I'm happy.

 

Thanks for the information.

[abitaturbodog]

Although I've never sailed on RCI, I know what their Freedom class ships offer compared to Carnival. Since your kids have already experienced RCI, it will be hard for them to have a "great" time on Carnival. I'm sure that they'll have fun, but the activities just don't compare and they will surely miss the flow rider, rock climbing, etc.

 

If you can afford RCI, even in a D1 cabin, I think that you should book with them. If cost is an issue, book Carnival and prepare the kids for a different experience and let them know that a 7 day cruise on Glory is a whole lot better than NO cruise.

 

Personally, my family has avoided RCI because of the cost compared to Carnival. I know that we can take 2 cruises a year on Carnival or Costa rather than 1 on RCI. My kids continue to choose the 2 cruises option! But for them, a cruise is not so much about the ship as it is about traveling to wonderful places. That being said, if money wasn't an issue we would book on RCI!

 

Hope this helps....

[crusinmama06]

Do you want a specific week in August? I went to the site and put "list in order of lowest price" and Freedom popped up before Liberty. Which means there is a week that is lower.

 

 

I don't know which week it is though.

 

I pulled Western Freedom of the Seas, August 30th,2009 as an example...Family of FOUR...

$4,796 - Junior Suite

$3,596 - D1 Balcony

$3,376 - E1 Balcony

$3,146 - Oceanview

$2,716 - Inside

 

August 22, 2009 Western Liberty of the Seas

$5,196 - Junior Suite

$3,996 - D1 Balcony

$3,776 - E1 Balcony

$3,556 - Oceanview

$3,116 - Inside

 

The last week of August is always cheaper because of kids going back to school

[njmomof2]

We were looking at either 8/16 on Freedom or 8/22 on Liberty. That week on Freedom in higher (my TA says that it's because the kids are starting back towards school just after that). The week of the 30th is probably cheaper since a lot of schools are back in already.

 

We usually start mid week after Labor Day, so we can't do that last cruise in August on Freedom. And I can't do the earlier one on Liberty (8/8) since I expect my oldest will be at sleepaway camp and not sure he'll be home by then. So that leaves us with the 2 mentioned above. Between those 2, Freedom JS was about $6200 w/ taxes and Liberty was about $5500 with taxes.

 

Spoke w/ my TA today from her vacation and she said that if the kids were missing the FR and the H2O zone when on Mariner, Glory is absolutely not going to satisfy them. I like the idea of a shorter cruise and giving Carnival a chance, but for a full week vacation, I think I'll have to suck it up and pay the additional money for Liberty. Of course, I have enough vacation time during the year to perhaps hit a short cruise, but with gas prices skyrocketing, I can't see a way of doing that on any sort of budget.