"LIVE" from Freedom of the Seas / Aug 2, 2009

[royalcruzer1105]

Thanks for the "live" broadcast. We will be sailing on her in 8 weeks! Can't wait!!

 

I will be leaving on the 27th of September. Great birthday present!

[Texas Teen]

Nice pictures of the sailaway! :D

[muzaoo]

Radio,

 

Please let us know at what time you managed to get on the ship or they started letting people to board. Official time is 4:30pm, but I've heard people boarding well before then (like 11:00am). Always nice to be one of the first ones on board.

 

Again, have a wonderful cruise!!

 

 

Dear Pete,

 

The departure time is 4:30pm, if I am not mistaken. Having sailed on the FREEDOM OTS in May, we arrived at the port at 11:30 AM and were processed through in less than 30 minutes...our cabin awaiting us. A word of note by most cruise lines suggests strongly to please be certain to be onboard NO LATER than 1.5 hours before sailing time.

I would surely hate to hear of anyone missing their cruise because the cruise line terminal refused them by being too late. It nearly happened to us in Norfolk, due to a traffic accident enroute, delaying our plans. Whew!

[pete78]

Thanks for the info!

[ritaontherocks]

Please help me out here. I have reservations there in less than 5 weeks. What is the rumor?

Don't stay at the Radisson. We were there in June and the place is a dump.

[MAZANDSTEVE]

Great pictures, enjoying this brings back great memories. Thanks:)

[LouisvilleDon]

Thanks Radio for all the great pictures. We will be on FOS on Oct.25th.

Our first Freedom class ship.

We look forward to sailing with you this week.

Have a great time.

Don

[ckrobyn]

Don't stay at the Radisson. We were there in June and the place is a dump.

 

I was originally booked at the Radisson and quickly changed my reservation after reading negative reviews on here and also on Trip Advisor. If you don't mind me asking, what makes the place a dump specifically? I am staying at the Residence Inn by Marriott which is voted #1 in Cocoa Beach on Trip Advisor :D

[Radio]

Hello everyone. . .I woke up this morning to a beautiful day ! The skies are clear, and the water is a beautiful blue. There is no rain in the forecast for today. It is a little windy, but that will help with the warm temps. . .

 

There is so much to do today, that there would be no way to see all and do all. . .

I will scan and post all of the Cruise Compass dailies when I return home.

Tonight is formal night, and the Captains Welcome Aboard reception.

 

The production show “Marquee” is also tonight (9PM and 1045PM), as well as the Show me the Money Game in Pharaoh’s Place.

There are tons of activities today. The Ice Show (Freedom-Ice.com) will be held today, as well as the “All Important” Port and Shopping Show. . .

 

There is public ice skating available today, and lots of pool games, and trivia contests today.

I love that the Casino Royale uses paper payouts, so there is no need for buckets to hold your quarters or nickels.

You can also cash in your winnings without standing in line at the Casino Cashier.

(Hmmm. . .I have not received any cash out coupons yet . . . ):o

 

There is a lot of “Live” music onboard, which is very good. I have not heard all of the musicians yet, but so far they are all very good !

 

My signal and Internet connection have been good. the speed from the Internet Cafe` is 520kbps, and the speed from my cabin (Wi Fi) is 780kbps. It is much slower than cable broadband, but not bad for a ship in open seas.

 

I have to get ready for our Cruise Critic “Meet and Greet” so I will post again later. . .

 

Thanks for the nice comments !

 

 

Radio

 

 

 

 

 

 

Early Morning from the FlowRider area

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Early Morning on Royale Promenade

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunny Day on the Pool Decks this morning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Loungers are ready for sunbathers today

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have blue calm seas today. . . I love it

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

Edited August 3, 2009 by Radio

[Cthy651]

Radio: First of all your pictures are awesome, they almost look high def, and I feel, like I am on the ship. Having sailed her, it brings back wonderful memories. Thank you also, for taking time on your vacation to post live, so that we - the arm chair cruissers - can sail along. Looking forward to the rest of the cruise.;)

[djandnic]

Don't stay at the Radisson. We were there in June and the place is a dump.

 

I would really like to hear what the issues were, as we have heard great things about this hotel. Inofmration from the Florida board has also been positive from the 'locals'. We are staying there in October before our Freedom cruise, so actual details would be helpful.:confused:

 

Radio, I always love your post!! Thanks so much for taking the time to do these. :)

[pete78]

Wow, this is great!! Love the pictures.

 

And the info about the showtimes etc..is helpful for those of us trying to plan ahead. Looking forward to the compasses as well.

 

This is a great thread; thanks so much for taking the time to give us all of this info and beautiful pics!!

[wildernesslady]

Great pictures. Thanks for taking the time to do live reports. Enjoy your sunny day.

[MAZANDSTEVE]

Lovely pictures again, I just loved watching the calm blue sea.:)

[Dizzy Moo]

Radio,

Thanks again for taking us along with you on your cruise. You always share such wonderful pictures & information.

Can you check out a 'particular' cabin that I believe is on your ship. I think it's a cabin that is decorated in a "cow" motif and is located just above Ben & Jerry's in the promenade. I would like to book that cabin some day, even with the "cow obstruction" overlooking the promenade.

 

Have a GREAT trip!

[ritaontherocks]

I was originally booked at the Radisson and quickly changed my reservation after reading negative reviews on here and also on Trip Advisor. If you don't mind me asking, what makes the place a dump specifically? I am staying at the Residence Inn by Marriott which is voted #1 in Cocoa Beach on Trip Advisor :D

I'm glad you changed your reservation. We checked in after a long, tiring 8 hr. drive and were given 2 room keys which also open the gate to the parking lot. Well, neither of our keys worked so I had to go back and get 2 more. There are not enough parking spaces and people had to either park in the grass which was very wet and muddy after a heavy rain or either very far away. We were 2 females with 2 very large pieces of luggage that we were hauling around looking for an elevator in our building. There was not one. We finally after about 15 mins. of walking in 100 degree heat dragging luggage figured out that we had to use the elevators in the buildings on either side of us and then walk across a breezeway to get to our building. One of the elevators on the back side of the building had no air and was extremely hot and smelled horrible. You would NOT want to get stuck on this because you would probably suffocate. It smelled really disgusting like old sweat and stinky feet. In our room we had a wicker type chair with a cushion in it. My DD lifted the cushion because she had dropped something and was looking for it. The seat in the chair was busted!! Glad we didn't sit down. Everything in the room looked really worn out. Also, we had a problem with our toilet that I won't go into. I had called several months in advance and reserved the shuttle to the port. Our time was 11:30. When I asked at the desk, I was told no that we are on the 12:00. No explanation whatsoever. I guess they just decided to give our slot to someone else who maybe slipped them a twenty dollar bill. So I asked her to call us a cab. I wasn't waiting and glad we didn't because we met some people on board that said the shuttle was running an hour late and they didn't get on the ship til 1:30. We were at the port at 10:30 and on the ship by 11:30. The price of the cab was worth every penny. The whole shuttle chaos out in the front of the hotel was a scene I'm glad I avoided. Also when we got back to our car after the cruise, someone had apparently backed into our car in their wonderful parking lot. There were dents in the bumper that weren't there previously. I also heard that someone had a hub cap stolen upon their return. So these are just a few of the reasons that I hated the Radisson and will NEVER stay there again.

[MeeMawJeanne]

Radio, Thanks for sharing your week with us who are stuck here in the "working" world!

[WACruiser2]

Radio,

 

First of all thank you for doing this... I would like to ask one favor if you could take a few pictures of windjammer buffet of the actual food in the buffet. know one has ever taken pictures of the actual food and people have been requesting these pictures all over.

 

I know a lot of people would be in great debit to you for these pictures.

 

thanks

[Clarkk W Griswald]

Radio,

I always enjoy reading your "live" posts. This one especially, since we'll be cruising the Freedom in October. Your pictures are truly amazing!

Joan

[sailingawaysoon]

Hi Radio,

 

Love your posts and pictures. We are going back on the Freedom August 30th and can't wait. We were on the first sailaway from Port Canaveral and it was amazing how many people turned out to wave goodbye to us. Can't wait to read your review this week and see all the pics. Enjoy your time!

[HB Cruiser]

I would really like to hear what the issues were, as we have heard great things about this hotel. Inofmration from the Florida board has also been positive from the 'locals'. We are staying there in October before our Freedom cruise, so actual details would be helpful.:confused:

 

Radio, I always love your post!! Thanks so much for taking the time to do these. :)

 

I will say this for the Radisson. My friends were on Freedom in May and stayed there the night before crusing. We were on Liberty so did not get to sail with them.

 

Our friends stated this was one of the better visits for them at the Raisson, they had no problems at all. We have stayed there previously too and any small problem we might have came across was immediately taken care of by their staff. They have always shown us they care about our stay.

 

We always stay there and would recommend them for you as well.

 

NOTE: I have not read anything about the "rumor." I would try and validate that before making a blind decision.

 

Radio, keep it commin'! Your posts and pics so remind me of our Liberty cruise.

 

Tim

[djandnic]

I will say this for the Radisson. My friends were on Freedom in May and stayed there the night before crusing. We were on Liberty so did not get to sail with them.

 

Our friends stated this was one of the better visits for them at the Raisson, they had no problems at all. We have stayed there previously too and any small problem we might have came across was immediately taken care of by their staff. They have always shown us they care about our stay.

 

We always stay there and would recommend them for you as well.

 

NOTE: I have not read anything about the "rumor." I would try and validate that before making a blind decision.

 

Radio, keep it commin'! Your posts and pics so remind me of our Liberty cruise.

 

Tim

 

Thanks. The rumor, I believe, is ants and/or bed bugs. This was asked and answered on the Florida thread by a person (Preston) that lives and works in Port Canaveral (se his thread on the Florida board and do a search for Raddison). He actually talked with the hotel manager and provided his name, email address, and phone number if anyone had concerns and wanted to talk with him directly.

 

After reading the detailed reason why it was "a dump" I realized people have different standards and reasons for saying what they do. While I too would rather stay at Loews or the Ritz, there aren't any in Cape Canaveral. That doesn't make another hotel a 'dump' because they don't offer that level of service.

 

A dump to me would be dirty and/or bug / rodent infested. Having a bad parking lot, or having to carry my own luggage isn't a criteria I would use to rate a hotel a dump. But, to each their own.

 

Thanks for the response.

[roe2ship]

Radio, you have THE BEST "live from" threads on all of the CC boards.:) Your pictures are amazing! Thanks for taking the time to post your report.

 

Can you tell me the how deep the pool is at the H20 zone? And are there plenty of lounge chairs nearby for the parents?

 

Looking forward to reading more. Thanks!

[pete78]

Along the lines of the previous post, how is the pool seating situation in general in the afternoon. Is it easy to find a chair or are "chair hogs" dominating?

[nlcentralchmps03]

I love looking at the early morning pictures. I am never up to see the sky looking like that. It really is gorgeous.