Too Much Ship, Not Enough Time - the Freedom to do it all
We had a fairly smooth ride from Orlando across to Port Canaveral. From the highway you can easily see all of the massive buildings and launch towers of Kennedy Space Center. I can only imagine what it must be like to see a shuttle launch from here. Guess time is running out for that experience.
We were pretty much on board the Freedom of Seas by 12:30pm and headed up for what would be our first of many meals in the Windjammer Cafe. This cafe is a bit different than others we've encountered in that it is technically split into two areas - one called Jade that throughtout the week for lunch or dinner included a variety of Asian, Indian, and other eastern dishes (many of which were superb) - and the other half was the Windjammer which served your typical salads, burgers, sandwiches, hot dogs, pizza, chicken strips, and other comfort foods and then had areas that featured different hot selections daily (turkey and potatoes, nacho bar, baked chicken, pastas, and many other great choices). Compared to our other two Royal Caribbean ships (Victory of the Seas and Majesty of the Seas), this Windjammer was in the aft of the boat and did not feature outdoor seating (too hot anyway). But it had a nearly 180 degree view of the ocean and/or passing islands and was very cozy. Talk about an operation.
They allowed us into our staterooms at 1pm and we finally found our way to rooms 2282-2286 (we split 3 rooms between the two families with kids with 2284 in the middle and featuring bunk beds for the kids). The biggest gripe of Freedom of the Seas (and there are not many - this was by far my favorite ship yet) was that access to the rooms was by one of two elevators - except those of us on the 2nd deck where 90% of us had to use the aft elevators even though our rooms were more than half way towards the bow. So we finally figured that out and made it to our rooms. Typical in size, the Freedom's staterooms offered a few upgrades compared to previous ships such as far more functional closets (they are tiny, so more function is critical), a flat screen TV that can pivot for viewing from various spaces in the room, and curtains that can divide beds from the "living area" of the room incase someone wants to sleep while others stay up to watch TV or come and do (very handy with kids!). In other words, these rooms were very function for a family of four especially if you had the option of bunk beds. (Those were really awesome too).
Day one pretty much means figuring out the ships layout, taking the kids to the kids program to get oriented (they wouldn't allow Maria as we figured), finding your way to the dining room at dinner to meet your waiter, assistant waiter, head waiter, and anyone else who hopes to claim a tip from you. You meet your cabin steward and they get to know your habits so they can keep your stateroom cozy but not interfere with your day. You figure out the pools, how to get pool towels, where the shops are, where the theater(s) are (there are 3 on the Freedom!), etc. We found the movie theater pretty quickly and found out that it was playing about 10 different movies throughout the week. The kids were excited about seeing "Up".
I was excited to see an entire lounge dedicated to watching World Cup matches throughout the day. Then at night it became a karaoke lounge with private booths where you could sing and be video taped. This ship just about has it all, and quite frankly depending on your interest, you could take an entire week long cruise and never worry about getting off the ship.
Freedom features three different pool areas - the adult solarium, the central pool and hot tubs, and the kids themed H2O Zone full of splash areas, lazy river, hot tubs, a 5' deep pool, water cannons, and buckets ready to tip and soak you at any moment (okay so it takes about 10 minutes for the bucket to fill and tip). Clearly this area was a daily favorite.
Swimming not your thing? How about a state of the art fitness center with panoramic ocean views? The gym offers classes throughout the morning - unfortunately many cost money and many are part of a week long program that costs more money. Freedom features a boxing ring in the fitness center where various boxing and other mixed martial arts classes are taught. Otherwise the gym is filled with a variety of treadmills, elipticals, stair masters, free weights, stationary bikes, rowers, etc. Just upstairs on the 12th deck is the jogging track where 4.5 times around is one mile of some of the best scenery you'll ever have while jogging. The 39 mph head winds on the first day made this a bit more of a workout than I had planned. Oh well, when jogging wasn't in the cards because of winds or the tremendous heat, the gym or even the 9 stories of stairs from my room on deck 2 to the gym or cafe on deck 11 got me a good workout (as did carrying the kids every once in a while.).
So we've covered eating, swimming, sleeping, and working out. How about shopping, lounging, or theater? The middle of the ship on deck 5 is the Royal Promenade filled with a variety of shops, pizzerias, ice cream parlors, etc. Deck 4 features an art gallery, the photo studio, and the casino. Deck 3 feature the karaoke bar and "Studio B" which is an ice rink/theater. Four or five times during the week, an ice capades style show is offered here. Seating is limited so you must line up to get tickets (included in your cruise fees). The show was WELL worth it and every entertaining. The ice theater is very intimate so even the cheap seats are only 5 or 6 rows back from the ice! When the show is not on or the dance team not practicing, Studio B is opened up for the passengers to try their hands at ice skating on the open seas. We never made it down for that - one must have long pants (yah right) and balance (nope) to do this. Of course there are a number of bars on the ship, some way up on Deck 14 where you have a commanding view of the entire ship. There is also the resident disco aptly named "The Crypt" as it is dead center in the ship and sealed off from any window views. You enter on Deck 4 but have to decend to Deck 3 to partake in the dancing. The entire room has a very Gothic theme and made for a fun experience during the Family Disco sessions.
Deck 7 features a pretty robust library that includes board games that you can check out. Way up on Deck 12 is the entire kids club section called "Ocean Adventure". Alyssa really had a blast here and her activities ranged from arts, to dancing, to talent shows and more! Near this area is the rather large arcade and the Johnny Rockets cafe where for a small cover charge you can pig out on burgers, hot dogs, and milkshakes.
Aft on Deck 12 is the sports area featuring a full length basketball court (where they had also set up nets for some mini soccer games), the climbing wall, the mini golf course, and the every popular Flow Rider surfing and boogie board wave machine.
Pretty much every nook and cranny of this ship is used and features an activity of some sort during the day. Classic ship activities like trivia and name that tune occur in many of the ship's lounges or bars (there is a piano bar!). Bingo takes place daily as do slot and poker tournaments in the casino. Poolside you'll have a mix of belly flop, sexy legs, and other odd competitions throughout the week. I heard there was a family scavenger hunt, an "ultimate race" competition where teams had to conquer the Flow Rider and the Climbing Wall among other things, battles of the sexes, newlywed games, etc. I honestly think it is much harder to do and see all on this ship in one week than it is to do and see all at Disney World's expansive resort area. And that's even without getting off the ship!
Point being, this was by far the best ship we've been on. There was so much for us and the kids - just a shame Maria was not quite old enough for the kids program. With Freedom having two identical twins in the Liberty and Independence of the Seas, we know we'll be back on board one of these ships in the not so distant future.
We had a fairly smooth ride from Orlando across to Port Canaveral. From the highway you can easily see all of the massive buildings and launch towers of Kennedy Space Center. I can only imagine what it must be like to see a shuttle launch from here. Guess time is running out for that experience.
We were pretty much on board the Freedom of Seas by 12:30pm and headed up for what would be our first of many meals in the Windjammer Cafe. This cafe is a bit different than others we've encountered in that it is technically split into two areas - one called Jade that throughtout the week for lunch or dinner included a variety of Asian, Indian, and other eastern dishes (many of which were superb) - and the other half was the Windjammer which served your typical salads, burgers, sandwiches, hot dogs, pizza, chicken strips, and other comfort foods and then had areas that featured different hot selections daily (turkey and potatoes, nacho bar, baked chicken, pastas, and many other great choices). Compared to our other two Royal Caribbean ships (Victory of the Seas and Majesty of the Seas), this Windjammer was in the aft of the boat and did not feature outdoor seating (too hot anyway). But it had a nearly 180 degree view of the ocean and/or passing islands and was very cozy. Talk about an operation.
They allowed us into our staterooms at 1pm and we finally found our way to rooms 2282-2286 (we split 3 rooms between the two families with kids with 2284 in the middle and featuring bunk beds for the kids). The biggest gripe of Freedom of the Seas (and there are not many - this was by far my favorite ship yet) was that access to the rooms was by one of two elevators - except those of us on the 2nd deck where 90% of us had to use the aft elevators even though our rooms were more than half way towards the bow. So we finally figured that out and made it to our rooms. Typical in size, the Freedom's staterooms offered a few upgrades compared to previous ships such as far more functional closets (they are tiny, so more function is critical), a flat screen TV that can pivot for viewing from various spaces in the room, and curtains that can divide beds from the "living area" of the room incase someone wants to sleep while others stay up to watch TV or come and do (very handy with kids!). In other words, these rooms were very function for a family of four especially if you had the option of bunk beds. (Those were really awesome too).
Day one pretty much means figuring out the ships layout, taking the kids to the kids program to get oriented (they wouldn't allow Maria as we figured), finding your way to the dining room at dinner to meet your waiter, assistant waiter, head waiter, and anyone else who hopes to claim a tip from you. You meet your cabin steward and they get to know your habits so they can keep your stateroom cozy but not interfere with your day. You figure out the pools, how to get pool towels, where the shops are, where the theater(s) are (there are 3 on the Freedom!), etc. We found the movie theater pretty quickly and found out that it was playing about 10 different movies throughout the week. The kids were excited about seeing "Up".
I was excited to see an entire lounge dedicated to watching World Cup matches throughout the day. Then at night it became a karaoke lounge with private booths where you could sing and be video taped. This ship just about has it all, and quite frankly depending on your interest, you could take an entire week long cruise and never worry about getting off the ship.
Freedom features three different pool areas - the adult solarium, the central pool and hot tubs, and the kids themed H2O Zone full of splash areas, lazy river, hot tubs, a 5' deep pool, water cannons, and buckets ready to tip and soak you at any moment (okay so it takes about 10 minutes for the bucket to fill and tip). Clearly this area was a daily favorite.
Swimming not your thing? How about a state of the art fitness center with panoramic ocean views? The gym offers classes throughout the morning - unfortunately many cost money and many are part of a week long program that costs more money. Freedom features a boxing ring in the fitness center where various boxing and other mixed martial arts classes are taught. Otherwise the gym is filled with a variety of treadmills, elipticals, stair masters, free weights, stationary bikes, rowers, etc. Just upstairs on the 12th deck is the jogging track where 4.5 times around is one mile of some of the best scenery you'll ever have while jogging. The 39 mph head winds on the first day made this a bit more of a workout than I had planned. Oh well, when jogging wasn't in the cards because of winds or the tremendous heat, the gym or even the 9 stories of stairs from my room on deck 2 to the gym or cafe on deck 11 got me a good workout (as did carrying the kids every once in a while.).
So we've covered eating, swimming, sleeping, and working out. How about shopping, lounging, or theater? The middle of the ship on deck 5 is the Royal Promenade filled with a variety of shops, pizzerias, ice cream parlors, etc. Deck 4 features an art gallery, the photo studio, and the casino. Deck 3 feature the karaoke bar and "Studio B" which is an ice rink/theater. Four or five times during the week, an ice capades style show is offered here. Seating is limited so you must line up to get tickets (included in your cruise fees). The show was WELL worth it and every entertaining. The ice theater is very intimate so even the cheap seats are only 5 or 6 rows back from the ice! When the show is not on or the dance team not practicing, Studio B is opened up for the passengers to try their hands at ice skating on the open seas. We never made it down for that - one must have long pants (yah right) and balance (nope) to do this. Of course there are a number of bars on the ship, some way up on Deck 14 where you have a commanding view of the entire ship. There is also the resident disco aptly named "The Crypt" as it is dead center in the ship and sealed off from any window views. You enter on Deck 4 but have to decend to Deck 3 to partake in the dancing. The entire room has a very Gothic theme and made for a fun experience during the Family Disco sessions.
Deck 7 features a pretty robust library that includes board games that you can check out. Way up on Deck 12 is the entire kids club section called "Ocean Adventure". Alyssa really had a blast here and her activities ranged from arts, to dancing, to talent shows and more! Near this area is the rather large arcade and the Johnny Rockets cafe where for a small cover charge you can pig out on burgers, hot dogs, and milkshakes.
Aft on Deck 12 is the sports area featuring a full length basketball court (where they had also set up nets for some mini soccer games), the climbing wall, the mini golf course, and the every popular Flow Rider surfing and boogie board wave machine.
Pretty much every nook and cranny of this ship is used and features an activity of some sort during the day. Classic ship activities like trivia and name that tune occur in many of the ship's lounges or bars (there is a piano bar!). Bingo takes place daily as do slot and poker tournaments in the casino. Poolside you'll have a mix of belly flop, sexy legs, and other odd competitions throughout the week. I heard there was a family scavenger hunt, an "ultimate race" competition where teams had to conquer the Flow Rider and the Climbing Wall among other things, battles of the sexes, newlywed games, etc. I honestly think it is much harder to do and see all on this ship in one week than it is to do and see all at Disney World's expansive resort area. And that's even without getting off the ship!
Point being, this was by far the best ship we've been on. There was so much for us and the kids - just a shame Maria was not quite old enough for the kids program. With Freedom having two identical twins in the Liberty and Independence of the Seas, we know we'll be back on board one of these ships in the not so distant future.
OMG...I can't even read this entire post.....I wanna be there soooooooooo bad! It's simply too painful to read how awesome this ship/cruise was. :-) I'm glad you all had a great time.
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