Hokie79

Keep in mind that there are height and age restrictions on various entertainment on board. Rock climbing was 6 years old if I recall and flowrider was 52 inches for boogie boarding and 56 I think for stand up surfing. I would check these ahead of time so as not to get your kids hope up.

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We did Freedom in November over Thanksgiving. Had a great time and probably the best service we have had on a RCI ship so far.

Great, family friendly ship with plenty to do for all ages.

We are booked on her again this December.

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My wife and I did a number of cruises when we first got married, Celebrity, Princess and HAL as well as our first on RCI. We enjoyed ourselves on each of them but they all had different personalities. We did RCI first and found ourselves comparing the other lines to RCI and wanted to go try RCI again. We took some time off from cruising when our kids were babies but started again about 18 months ago on Independence and have since done two more on Freedom and Harmony.

Overall we really like the the atmosphere and people. Always seemed like the other passengers were similar to us. To top it off, my kids have absolutely loved the kids clubs and other activities. I’m sure we will try other lines again in the future but not for the next couple years.

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I sailed on her over Thanksgiving and wouldn’t hesitate to go on her again. In fact, we are booked on her again in December. Great ship and great crew.

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I cannot find much information on this cruise with a quick search. I am looking for cruisers reviews and/or cruise compasses from a 4 night sailing on Indy. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

We did it last December. Was a great time, just too short for my liking.

Great ship and crew.

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My son has celiacs disease and has to eat gluten free. I heard they will accommodate him but does anyone know what

 

Kind of gluten free food they offer for kids?

My wife has to have gluten free as well. RCI is very accommodating and offered a wide variety of food. Harmony had a fairly good size gluten free area in Windjammer. I’m not gluten free but really liked some of the offerings there as well.

On Freedom one day at lunch we went to MDR and she wanted to order off the menu. When she asked the server about gluten free she said she would have to check. A few minutes later a chef came out, asked my wife her food preferences and made her a custom fish dish.

I would recommend telling them ahead of time but also telling them immediately upon entering the MDR or other restaurants.

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Saving would have to be more then I would lose or 400. Booking for 4 people. Also would need to be 6-12 months out, no more.

I already flipped both of my booking for this year to non refundable because the savings and OBC was too much to pass up.

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One thing to consider is that Independence is going in for dry dock soon and curious to see what kid friendly features they add.

If they add a Splashaway Bay, then some of the slides have a minimum height of 42 inches and the bigger ones were 48 inches. But they had a good sized area for kids with swim diapers. This was on Harmony do not sure if they will do the exact same on Independence or not.

There is some stuff out on the internet for the exact features they are adding. Might be worth checking before deciding.

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We will be going June 28 for our 49th anniversary and have a grand suite. We have been to Alaska before so mainly going for the ship. We're planning on going in June 2020 again for our 50th anniversary and will do either RC or Celebrity with either a 12 or 13 night cruise tour.

I am booked on this date too. My wife and I went to Alaska a long time ago on HAL who had a great itinerary. It may not be the best itinerary but the quickest way I can get back to Alaska with young kids in tow.

Can’t wait to try all the ship has to offer.

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Do they have the pirate parade for the 9 and up group? My son turns 9 in February and we sail in April.

The 6-8 group combined with the 9-11 group in November over Thanksgiving. My daughter loved it.

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Any tips and thoughts on Freedom of Seas Adventure Ocean club? What activities did your kids enjoy? My boys will be 6 and 10

My 7 year old absolutely loved the pirates parade the second to last night and the pajama party the last night. My 5 year old just generally like being there most times of day. We went in November over Thanksgiving. They both made friends the first day and would see them around the ship the rest of the cruise.

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Aw, we're on the June 21 sailing. :D

We are June 28 in a JS. Can’t get here soon enough. Last Alaska cruise was 13 years ago.

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Can you book dinner at CK ahead of time when you board? Do you do it at Guest Services? I read on the other ships topics that JS guests don't get a very good treatment at CK and being looked down by the staff. Is this also true for the Harmony? Any recent experiences. Hubby would like to eat dinner there every night but reading other topics, looks like he will be lucky if he can do it 2 nights out of 7. TIA.

We were in a JS on Harmony last summer. We went up to C.K. right after boarding and made reservations for the nights we wanted without a problem. We took my two daughters two nights and went just my wife and I the other. We enjoyed it all three nights and had great servers. Wouldn’t hesitate to eat there again.

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That’s way better then last December. I struggled to even check email with surf and stream and it dropped constantly.

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We did it on harmony last summer. The JS price on the website dropped to just slightly above the balcony cabin we paid for. Had our TA upgrade us and charged the slight difference. Note that this was about 60 days out and after final payment.

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I’m excited by it. Will be a nice way to introduce my kids to Alaska. I really want to do a one way cruise one day but not till my kids get older.

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A few more comments. For those interested in Dreamworks characters, they have been very limited the last two days. I don’t think there was any today. There were maybe three or four on a sea day. No penguins or trolls to my daughters’ disappointment. I wish they would be around more then they are. Seems a bit of a waste for only a few appearances a day at most.

Christmas tree and other decorations showed up yesterday.

Great trip and great service. Would definitely take this ship again.

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How was embarkation? Any delays? What time did you arrive at the port?

 

 

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It was fast for us. We got to the port at 10:45. Right before the ship opened up and walked right on at 11.

We did hear from others that came later that they had very long lines and took over and hour.

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Freedom has had generally good WIFI this week. It does get bogged down and not as fast as what we had on Harmony though. Maybe some of it is the difference between Eastern vs Western Caribbean routes?

When it works it is great but doesn’t seem to be able to handle the capacity at times.

I got 3.91 down, 1.98 up and 200 ping from my balcony last night.

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What cabin did you have? We are sailing in January and the upgrade Fairy changed us to a JS, 7414.

Those are good cabins on the back. Quiet and extra large balcony. We did one on Independence last year and have one on Freedom.

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Thank you! Can you post the menu order? I'm trying to plan specialty dining for my cruise 12/17.

 

Have you received any invitations to any special events because you are in a JS?

Nothing special for JS except double points and larger room, bathroom and balcony. Extra large balcony being on the back. They did a Top Tier event yesterday but that was C&A not JS related.

Can’t add much for the dinner as we have not really taken the time to go to MDR this cruise yet.

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Overall great ship and crew. Very friendly. Ship is clean and in good shape. We did Independence last year and the ships are very similar.

We saw the ice show on day 2 and they were good as usual. Both of my kids ice skate and love going to see the pros.

Adventure Ocean has been great too. Both of my girls have gone for at least a little but both days. We even ran into a staff member who was on Harmony with us earlier in the year.

We have a JS on the back and I really like these rooms on the Freedom ships. Large balconies and a good bit more room then a normal balcony.

Internet has been fast and good but has had a number of times where it was hard to even check email. Good though overall.

Would definitely recommend this ship. We are actually booked on it again next year once us goes down to San Juan.

Will add more comments as we go along.

Happy to try and answer questions.

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Thank you. That helps. We’ll just need to brush up on Kung Fu Panda ;) [emoji209]

 

 

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We had most of the Madagascar cast including a few of the Penguins. Also had two of the Trolls, Poppy and Branch as well as the Shrek characters. They had a dance party one afternoon at the Aqua Theatre that both of my girls loved.

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Hello

 

We will be bringing grand-kids to the Harmony of the Seas next summer. They are 10 and 4 years old. Does anyone know if there is an Aqua Park (similar to Allure) where it has water shooting guns,canons, waterfall stuff on their Aqua Zone?

 

The 4 years old would enjoy these activties, and will be too small for the water slides on the ship. Any advice or suggestion on suitable activities for the 4 and 10 years old would be highly appreciated. :D

It is a nice water park called splashaway bay. Be aware that there are small slides there that you have to be 42 inches to go on. My dd was just slightly to short and was very limited to what she could do.

Great ship overall. You and the family will have a blast.

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The larger ships can't tender.

I thought all ships tender in Grand Cayman?

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