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For the rest of the evening, we didn’t really have plans until 9pm, which was the ice show. Our cousins wanted to play shuffleboard, so my mom went back to the room to wash up while we stayed on deck four.

Being the Floridians we are, we used to have a shuffleboard court in our backyard--our house was built in the 50s, during the height of stucco homes, orange groves, and St. Augustine grass. Our house only has one of those now--the grass. Where we live used to be an orange grove forever ago, so when it was redeveloped, the developers “gave” each house a tree or two--we had one in the front yard and one in the backyard. Sorry for the digression...we always complain about Florida, but I do really love living here.

Anyways, all of the shuffleboard courts were occupied, except for one that didn’t have any equipment. We decided to go up to deck 12 to play ping pong, which was also taken. So we just kind of chilled by the Flowrider for a little. It was only boogie boarding, but some people were really good--one guy would throw the board forward and have it come back to him.

I went down to the Schooner Bar to grab my brother and mom who were doing some music trivia before we went back up to deck 12 to meet up with everyone else. They were actually at the ping pong tables near Adventure Ocean, and it was just so quiet and peaceful there. Being on the higher decks is always so wonderful--the breeze, lights, and the ocean air are just awesome.

Soon enough it was time to go to the 9pm ice show, Freedom-ice.com. We tried getting there early to avoid crowds, but the line to get in stretched almost all the way out of On Air. We still got front row seats, on the left side of the ice. The show was great! I liked it a little bit more than the one on Navigator, but the best thing about it was not the music or the themes but the skaters. We get annual passes to Busch Gardens in Tampa which has great ice shows, but the skating here blew that out of the water. These were definitely the best jumps I’ve seen outside of competitions. The show closed with a pretty nice standing ovation.

We were planning on watching karaoke for a little, but the lounge was really crowded and we were all tired after an early morning, so we just decided to go back to the room. But we couldn’t resist a slice of pizza and a glass of water for a late (ish) night snack.

Another towel animal was waiting for us when we got back to the room:

After washing up my mom and I sat on the balcony for a little. Personally, even though I thoroughly enjoy them, balcony rooms are not a must. I don’t spend all that much time on the balcony aside from pulling into port and at night. But I would really miss being able to go outside in your pajamas before going to bed

That’s it for day 3! Up next: a mini sea day and our first Mayan ruins!

We are sailing on FOS May 6 and I am enjoying reading your review about what we can expect and am very excited! Do you happen to have pictures of the cruise compasses for the rest of the week as well? Thanks again for your report!

Whoops! I completely forgot to upload those...once I'm done with this day I will upload the day 2 and 3 compii!

We again scored middle of the pack for the trivia. We always either know the answer for sure or have literally never heard of what they are asking for. No happy medium!

I really love the promenade decks on RCI ships. They’re so relaxing and you feel so connected to the ocean.

I miss the old menus. The options are very limited, and I kinda miss the themes.

For an appetizer I ordered the seafood cake. It was below average for the appetizers, which I usually enjoy. It wasn’t hot at all, and didn’t have that much flavor.

This picture is honestly not that good, but it just reminds me about one of the things I love about cruises. Something that is as boring as a quick run to the bathroom (when I took this pic) is made so many times better by just glancing out the window and seeing the ocean gliding by. It’s just one of those feelings only cruise can give you, just that relaxed and tranquil feel of the ocean.

I always like chicken cordon bleu, so that’s what I decided to order. It was pretty good, but the breading could have been a little crunchier and overall the dish wasn’t all that hot. I don’t know why rice was paired with it...it didn’t really go. Would have prefered potatoes.

Finally, for dessert, I ordered the lemon panna cotta. For being no sugar added, it was pretty good and didn’t taste too artificial.

Pictures are showing up perfectly now!

Really? That’s a problem! I am re-reading what I have so far on the library computers at school (not logged in on there) and pictures are showing up. Is anyone else having this problem? Try refreshing the page- have you downloaded Tapatalk? That’s what I use to upload photos.

 

I very much appreciate you reading along, your review is quite spectacular and I agree, it seems as though our experiences were very similar! Only a couple years to go until we can book cruises on our own...

Keep up the great work, I will continue to follow!

 

ETA: what level Spanish are you in? I took 3 years of Spanish in high school and fulfilled my college Spanish requirement first semester, so I may be able to help you out if you need it. Best of luck - summer is almost here!

Thanks so much, I’m glad you’re enjoying it! It’s fun reading a report by someone on the same sailing around the same age!

It might just be my phone, which has been acting weird ever since I updated it to iOS 11.3 a few days ago. I’ll be sure to check on my laptop when I get home!

And I’m in AP Spanish Lit, it’s not even the grammar or vocab that make it difficult but it takes so much effort to write bc of the subject matter. I ended up writing it, but it was about comparing this piece about the artificially of society to this random painting of a subway [emoji854]

Only 34 days until graduation for me!

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A look down “I-95” on the ship:

We went to Sorrento’s once we got on the ship. The pizza in the Windjammer is frankly horrible so I had very low hopes for this, but it was a lot better than expected. They had a margherita pizza, which is my favorite type of pizza. The crust was reasonably thin, but the toppings were eh. I’d say it’s pretty good for cruise ship pizza.

We had a bunch of damp towels so I took them up to the pool to drop them off. I couldn’t resist a quick stop in the Windjammer so I got some fries and pasta. I was craving carbs!!

The plan for the afternoon was to walk around the ship for a little, but we were tired and just decided to rest in our rooms before dinner.

Celebrity Summit. I’ve always wanted to try Celebrity, seems like a fun, relaxed, sophisticated cruise.

We ended up leaving a little late, presumably due to the long tender line.

Bye Grand Cayman!

When we pulled out I was able to get some pics of the NCL Escape and the brand new MSC Seaside (now Oasis class isn’t the only one with a zip line at sea). I was actually looking at changing our reservation to the Seaside for this week, because it was brand new. But we decided not to because it was brand new. I’ve heard mixed things about MSC and based upon initial reviews of the Seaside I think we made the right choice. I definitely do want to try MSC one day...those Swarovski staircases though!!!

My carb cravings weren’t satisfied so before the 5pm trivia I got some more pizza from Sorrento's. Pictures like this remind me how big these ships are. Freedom isn’t the new girl on the block, but it’s crazy how fast cruise ships grew in size. The industry went from Sovereign OTS (1988) to Oasis in 20 years! That’s a 152,000 ton growth!

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We finally downloaded our pics off the disk, so here are the ones we took up to this point!

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Okay the more I read your review the more I realize how similar our experiences were...I didn’t like the 5:30 dining and were a little late in Costa Maya...don’t eat in specialty dining. And I don’t understand the 21 year old rule either, my friends and I wanted to take a cruise after the first year of college, but we need to find a 21 yr old friend :(

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Thank you for commenting on my review for this sailing ! Your review is great, I am loving it so far! I’m currently reading it instead of writing a Spanish essay...

Edit: your pictures aren’t showing on my phone. I’ll check my computer when I get home to see if they show up, but currently there are blank boxes :/

The next five photos are screenshots from my Instagram story of the line we had to wait in for the tender back to the ship. Granted, it moved reasonably well but the length was insane. It snakes back and forth at least four times over. I can guarantee every single person in these photos is waiting for Freedom...

To add insult to the injury, just as we were nearing the front of the line, the family in front of us doubled in size as they met shouted people up from further back in line. Of course they are the last ones on the tender, and the rope is closed in front of us. We did meet a nice family behind us from Parkland, FL...way to remember the real world still exists.

When we finally got on the tender, we were the first ones on. Tip: sit on the top decks! They unload the top first.

So close yet so far:

This next picture is by far one of my favorites from this cruise. Now, I didn’t know that turtles squirt water out of their noses (?) when they come up for air. So when I saw this happening it was honestly one of the funniest and cutest things. I really wanted to get a pic, so I used the burst on my iPhone to get this pic:

That was the first photo I sent to my friends when I got back from the cruise. It’s just so cute!

Once we finished looking at the different sizes of turtles, it was time to wait in line to hold a turtle. Based on reviews and photos, I was expecting to be able to wade in the pool, pick them up ourselves, etc. However, since it was so mobbed, we waited in this LONG line to be given a turtle to hold, smile for the camera, and put it back in. I mean, it was cool holding a turtle--they’re heavier than they look. But what’s not cool was not being allowed to take your own photos. And if you wanted to look at the photos they took of you, another line was waiting for you.

Let’s just say the following picture was taken on total accident...my phone just so happened to be on and my dad accidentally hit the shutter button, that’s why it's such low quality!

The next part of the turtle farm was the part I was mostly looking forward to: swimming with turtles in the lagoon. Walking to the lagoon my anticipation was growing, as I saw turtles and the lagoon looked pretty inviting--it was a warm day!

However, the line to get the included snorkel gear was long. And we couldn’t find a chair. So my mom ended up sitting out (she’s not a fan of snorkeling) while the rest of us got gear. I still felt horrible about it (but I was hoping to make it up on the excursion we were taking together the next day).

This was by far the best part of the whole excursion. While it’s not as cool as swimming in a real coral reef, there were just some “Come Seek”- commercial worthy moments, like when a turtle swam next to me for a while, or when I swam through a school of fish. I got lost from the rest of the group (always happens when I snorkel), but still managed to get back on time to rinse off and make it back to the bus.

The bus ride back was pretty uneventful. Our driver gave us some more info, including the national dish...turtle stew.

Overall, this excursion was okay. It was enjoyable enough, but our group was too big to be ideal, and we felt so rushed. If it was a little less pricey, I would recommend it. But at $55 a person (on sale), it would have been cheaper and more enjoyable to do it ourselves.

Since no food was included on the excursion, we were all hungry on the way back to the ship. And not cruise ship hungry. Actual hungry! My mom and I were talking about how we can’t wait to try the pizza from Sorrento’s, grab a salad from the Windjammer, and relax in the pool.

All hopes of a timely lunch were extinguished when we got back to the port. The line was absolutely INSANE.

Look at the cute little mouth!

Smiling for the cameras:

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As we took the 40 minute drive from Pedro St. James to the Turtle Farm, our driver gave us some more cursory info about the Cayman Islands, and pointed out some sights along the way.

We passed the port area again and the NCL Escape, MSC Seaside, and Celebrity Infinity (not seen here) were all anchored.

The Governor’s Mansion:

One interesting tidbit is that Queen Elizabeth formally appoints the governor every two years, instead of elections being held!

The oldest standing house on the island:

When we arrived at the Turtle Farm, we met our tour guide for the farm itself. He was good enough, but stressed that we had to be back at the bus at 2:10 so. darned. much. It almost makes you feel rushed...at the time I was thinking maybe we could ride a taxi back and leave later, but good thing we didn’t do this...you’ll see.

After a lot of “hurrying up”, it was time for the “wait” as we were given another ten minute break to use the bathroom and buy turtle food (which we did not get). Luckily we were under a somewhat shady trellis near the turtle breeding pool, which was better than the Pedro St. James courtyard with the snippy workers…

You can see the breeding beach where the female turtles lay their eggs here:

While we were waiting I caught sight of this absolutely miserable looking employee from the MSC Seaside. I noticed her throughout the tour looking like she absolutely hated life, I felt bad for her. My mom even commented on how miserable she looked, and she isn’t as observant as me when it comes to these things! I wonder why MSC sends their own crew members on the excursions.

We first went to the hexagonal pools where the turtles were sorted out by their age. Those who bought turtle food (pellet type) could feed them too. I’m pretty glad we didn’t waste money on this, as it was about as interesting as feeding the koi fish--you just throw the food in there. I do think younger kids might enjoy it, though!

They had a few different types of turtles, but the vast majority were the typical green sea turtle.

The tour of the actual house was brief. Our guide was a very nice man, but not that good of a guide. He had a lot to say, but wasn’t very loud or good at keeping the group together, so everyone pretty much wandered around the house.

The staircase where a slavery abolition proclamation was issued:

They were setting up for a wedding in the field in front of the house:

I thought the iguanas in Grand Cayman in 2012 were hilarious, so when I saw one hiding in a tree I had to snap a pic! I had to zoom in a lot--sorry for the grainy pic but hopefully you can see the little guy!

The front of the house:

Sorry there weren’t very many pics of the house. It was a very quick tour and it was hard to get a good photo of the interior, due to our big group.

There were some cats who wandered the grounds--here’s one:

No paparazzi, please!

Seeing the outside of your ship for the first time in port is always fun.

Once the tender docked, our shore excursion tickets told us to meet under the red tent, which was easy to find. We got our bus stickers, and then waited just for a few minutes. The above picture of the ship was taken at 8:44, and the next picture was taken at 9:02.

The bus was a short walk from the meeting place. It was a large coach style bus, with pretty good AC! Taken at 9:08…

We were told to memorize our bus number (one) and our driver’s name (Love Joy). Soon enough we were off, first heading to Pedro St. James. We drove through the less crowded, eastern side of the island. There were a few nice houses...I apologize for the subpar photo.

When we got to the visitor center for Pedro St. James, we had a few minutes to use the bathroom before we started the tour. One of the employees there was kind of passive aggressive...we’re tourists, but still.

Our first part of the tour was to watch a movie about the history of the site. The theater was really dark and had a mockup of the house and the surrounding environment.

The movie was LONG. Basically, it took you through the history of the site, but I thought it was too in depth for the amount of time we were supposed to have on this tour. It was a twenty minute bus ride to Pedro, then the movie was half an hour long. I was kind of annoyed with the length of the movie...I wish we could have skipped it and had more time at the turtle farm (that’s another story).

The setting of the area was actually quite beautiful. I didn’t know it was on the water, so the wide vista was a nice surprise!

MORE PICS! love the review so far... keep the pics of the ship coming...

There are plenty more pics!! Thank you!

Loving your report Andy! Your descriptions and pics are spot on!

So good to hear!!

thanks for sharing the teen compass! loving the review -- I was curious how the skating was, as I'm looking forward to trying that out myself soon!

No problem! Skating was pretty fun! The rink isn’t huge and the ice isn’t perfect, but it’s still great. One of my favorite things of the Voyager and larger ships.

Thanks so much for your thorough write-ups. I'll be on this exact itinerary shortly with my girlfriend, and so your posting of the menus and Cruise Compasses are fantastic in helping us get excited to sail, and to plan our days just a little bit better.

I hope you enjoy your cruise!

Following along. I was in Ft. Lauderdale on 3/25 and went to the port area to see the ships departing. Got a very nice video of the Freedom.

Nice!! We would have waved, but we were in the dining room :(

Glad you’re having fun. I still can’t believe I’ll be boarding the Freedom in a little over 24 hours. I’m still stuck in Kentucky (plane takes off in about 7.5 hours). And it’s snowing.

Bon voyage! I’ll probably watch you guys sail away today on the webcam!

Funny someone at our table had the seafood pasta and was expecting a white sauce too.

 

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Most seafood pasta dishes are with white sauce so I don’t think it’s that out of the ordinary to expect!

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DAY 2

When I said today would be an early day, I wasn’t joking--since our excursion met in the theater at 8, we had to get up pretty early, since pretty much everyone has the idea to get off the ship early at a tender port. Our time was limited too--all aboard was 2:45 pm. So our cabin was up at 5:30, hoping to get to the Windjammer before it became mobbed.

The roughness for the night before carried through this morning. I could feel it when I was in bed, which I usually can’t! It was noticeably rough this morning in the Windjammer as well...when I was waiting for an omelet, even the chef was rocked! Luckily, the buffet wasn’t too busy, and we got in and out in a reasonable amount of time.

We got back to the room in time to see the ship anchoring in Grand Cayman. The island looked so quaint and peaceful.

Once we were ready, we grabbed our shore excursion tickets and went down to the theater, where we were met with a lengthy line.

Luckily, only one person of your party needed to wait in line, so the rest of us found a seat.

We were given color coded stickers for our tender. They called the tenders by color.

The process was somewhat efficient. Our meeting time was 8am, and we were on a tender at 8:40. They really did give priority to RCI excursion guests, as I saw people in the regular line being held back until we were on the tender.

They were using both the forward and aft doors for tendering.

By the time dinner was over, it was time for the Captain’s Reception. Our main objective was to get a picture and his signature, both of which we got! The picture turned out nicely--will upload once we download the photos off the disk!

We didn’t really have anything we wanted to do before we saw the night’s production show, Marquee, so we just hung out in my cousins room until it was time. I did run up to the pool to grab towels for our excursion tomorrow in Grand Cayman...whenever you do grab towels, they have them on the gangway...whenever you don’t, they don’t!

When I dropped the towels off at our room, our TA sent us a letter and our stateroom attendant left us a towel animal...am I allowed to post a pic? It has the name of our travel agency...

We eventually made our way down to the theater to catch the show. Initially, my dad and brother sat in the concierge section (due to their “sweet”) and the rest of us sat in a different area. However, when my dad and brother pointed us out to their concierge, she said we could come over (the concierge section was pretty empty).

Now, the show. I don’t know exactly how I feel about it. The opening number, the Cabaret number, and the finale number (Chorus Line with a kick line) were all great and fun. The rest...ehhhh. Lots of the songs are older Broadway songs that I’m not a huge fan of. I’m a fan of more modern ones like Hairspray, Chicago, and the Lion King. I know Freedom is an older ship, but even Navigator had a Mamma Mia number! However, the singers and dancers were all great, with one of the female singers EXCELLENT. Also, the set design was pretty good for a ship. I kind of wish I could see it again with different expectations.

Once the show was over I was pooped. We planned to watch karaoke, but everyone was tired and had an early morning the next day. So we just headed back to the room, washed up, watched the ocean for a little, and called it a night.

Up next: Pedro St. James and Turtle Swim excursion in Grand Cayman!

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After we had a nutritious snack of ice cream, it was time for another trivia game. This time, it was “Songs with Colors”, which means songs that have colors in the title (Purple Rain, Yellow, Brown Eyed Girl). Even with the help of my aunt, uncle, and mom, we didn’t win…

A tip: get to the Schooner Bar early for these trivia games! The venue is honestly too small for the number of people on the ship, especially in the evening. Trivia isn’t typically a standing room only event...but on sea days on Freedom, it can be!

We saw there was a “search for nations” scavenger hunt right after the songs trivia, so we hung out at the bar until it was time. Basically, it is a cruise long scavenger hunt where you have to get the signatures of various crew members from different nations. You could also get bonus points from getting signatures of the cruise director staff and the captain’s officers! Once we got the sheets, they were just like “ok good luck”! We had until the second sea day to get signatures.

With that, my cousins, my sister, and I decided to look around the ship for signatures. We went into every bar and store on the Royal Promenade, and then just started to wander around the ship, looking for any employee we could find. Time went by pretty fast, and before we knew it, it was time to get ready for our first formal night!

After a little struggle with my tie (I momentarily forgot how to it it...oops), it was time to go down for dinner! People were in various states of formality, as usual...lots of button-downs and casual dresses, a good amount of suits and cocktail dresses, and a few tuxedos and evening gowns. The crowd was decidedly more casual than the college crowd last year on Navigator.

The menu tonight in the MDR looked pretty solid...a few old favorites and some new things as well. Our waiter accidentally gave two people in our party the previous night’s menu...whoops!

I loved the beef carpaccio on Navigator last year, so when I saw it again this year I was pretty excited! However, it wasn’t as good as on Navigator...at all. It just didn’t taste as good, but I couldn’t put my finger on why...until I looked at the pictures I took last year. First, here is the carpaccio from Navigator:

Now, here is the one on Freedom:

Although they look similar upon first glance, presentation isn’t the only thing that is lacking here. There is no more asparagus, and the greens aren’t as plentiful, fresh, and varied. I loved this appetizer on Navigator...pretty disappointed! Sorry for this digression on a simple appetizer :)

Anyways, for my main I chose the seafood linguini. I thought it was going to be a white sauce, but the red sauce was still tasty. The pasta was a taaaaaad overdone, but this was probably one of the better pasta dishes I’ve had on a cruise.

Finally, I wanted to try the new creme brulee as a dessert. I wasn’t a huge fan of the old creme brulee with the banana flavor, so I enjoyed this one a lot more. I prefer my creme brulee cold and while this could have been colder, it was really yummy.

The waiters performed their little song tonight, but it was near the end of the meal, when everyone was leaving the dining room. Sadly, none of my cousins were there to see their first waiter parade, as one of them was getting a little seasick. I think we jinxed them--at the Schooner Bar, we were saying how this has been our smoothest cruise ever, there was absolutely no movement. But about 20 minutes later, the ship started rocking a little, increasing throughout the night! I think my cousin was more anxious about the motion than anything. She and I saw a man vomit profusely just outside the dining room, right on the carpet--I suspect this was enough to make anyone feel sick, only adding to her fear.

Overall, this dinner was pretty average for RCI. Enjoyable, but not perfect.

Up next: a pretty low-key night before our early morning in Grand Cayman!

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I'm enjoying your review and pictures

Great to hear :)

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So I have to laugh about these big ships with the pool and the skating rink...every cruise I’ve been on with both I hear this. Fl Res : why would I go to the pool, I have one at home, I’m going skating!” NE resident (or MI or ND or PA) “why would I go to the ice rink, my back yard is an ice rink, I’m headed to the pool!” :')

 

This is so true!!! The first sea day, all our cousins from MD wanted to do was to swim and lay by the pool. Coming from 70/80 degree weather, we couldn’t comprehend why someone who came from 20/30 degree weather would want to spend the day sitting by the sun instead of in the depths of the ship, in a chilled ice rink ;)

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Your mind is already made up :) There is NO WAY I would pick a Fantasy class ship over Magic. Ive been on Magic twice when she was slam full. Yeah, there are lines but you are still gonna have lines on a much older, smaller ship with many less amenities. Enjoy Elation! :)

Yes, at the beginning of this thread I was truly undecided but the dates and port work out a lot better for us on Elation, and after our experience on RCI Freedom (nice ship but too crowded as it’s more densely crowded than Voyager or Oasis classes), I really want to go on a smaller ship again.

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I'm sorry I can't answer this for sure, but I was wondering where you see reduced deposits?

I just saw it on the homepage, and it’s only a $375 deposit for the cruise I’m looking at instead of $750.

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I have been on the Magic and also been on the Elation several times and have another cruise booked on the Elation ..... I think that isn't that big of a deal between the two .... the Magic is larger .... so more crowds ..... it has more things you can pay for .... and if you are into all of that go for it ....... Fort Lauderdale is SO much farther than Jacksonville .... so for me that would be a no brainer ..... now if it is leaving out of Port Canaveral that is about an hour farther for me ...... I like the smaller ships .... I like the window seats ...... I like a closer port .... I live in Georgia ..... I loved the Magic and I have nothing bad to say about it .... but if I was going to book one I would choose the Elation..... but I know all people are different

We live in St. Pete so Port Canaveral is an easy straight shot across I-4, I hate driving all the way down to FLL/MIA.

Big things you'd miss out on if you did Elation instead of Magic:

 

 

 

-No Cucina del Capitano or Steakhouse (additional $)

 

 

 

-No Bar-B-Que, Pasta Bar, Comfort Kitchen, Tandoor, or Mongolian Wok (Free options, much less variety on Elation)

 

 

 

-No Alchemy Bar

 

 

 

-No Dive-in movies

 

 

 

-No Cloud 9 Spa or jogging track

 

 

 

There are lots of other things too, but those are the main ones in my book. That's a LOT to lose.

 

 

 

Also, as far as Elation being a "better value", it's not at all. It's $580 a day for the balcony/interior option, vs $578 a day for the Magic. Sure, Elation is cheaper, but that's because it's a day shorter.

 

 

 

In my opinion, there's literally zero debate-Magic wins hands down. However, if the extra $570 puts it out of your price range, then there's no point of having the debate I guess.

This post is super informative but I think this is why I’m leaving towards Elation...we don’t eat in specialty restaurants, use the spa, or frequent bars. And I REALLY don’t like the poolside movie screen, honestly. But the loss of free dining options is a consideration, with Guy’s and Blue Iguana there’s still more options than we had on RCI...

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Hi everyone,

With the reduced deposit sale that is being offered right now, we were looking at booking a cruise for November 2019, which is a little far out.

I was reading the T&C for the Early Saver rate and I can't figure out if you will get a refund if you cancel before final payment. I think I understand that if I pay the deposit today, but cancel before the final payment day, I will receive a future cruise credit equal to the deposit, minus $50 pp, correct?

However, if I make additional payments to the cruise before the final payment date, how will those payments be refunded? Will I receive the deposit back as the credit, and then the payments made back to the original form of payment?

Thank you!