My first trip to Europe on Freedom of the Seas 9/3/17 with many pictures and video!

I will be doing a review of my first time overseas on the Freedom of the Seas. This review will mostly be about the ports of call and not so much about the ship, as there are many other reviews of the Freedom that I believe are pretty accurate of how the ship is.

Here is our trip itinerary, with a few days before the cruise

Sept 1st – Paris, France

Sept 2nd – Barcelona, Spain

Sept 3rd – Barcelona, Spain (Embarkation Day)

Sept 4th – Marseille (Docking in Provence)9am-6pm

Sept 5th – Nice, France (Docking inVillefranche Sur Mer) 7am-7pm TENDERING PORT

Sept 6th – Florence/Pisa (Docking in La Spezia)7am-7pm

Sept 7th – Rome(Docking in Civitavecchia) 7am-7pm

Sept 8th – Naples(Docking in Capri?) Italy 7am-6:30pm

Sept 9th - Day at sea on Freedom of the Seas

Sept 10th - Barcelona, Spain (Debarkation Day)

I will be writing about our day in Paris and in Barcelona before the cruise, as well as details of the flight from Dallas-Fort Worth airport and how the plane ride was (Room on the plane, airplane food, etc) as well as the tours we took, as well as the ports where we did not take tours and did DIY transportation and touring on our own. I will also do bullet points on observations on the actual cruise ship, cruise food, activities, etc. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask away! A lot of the information I got for my planning I received from CC, and other blogs so I definitely want to give back! I found some ports more difficult to get information on than others and spent a lot of time pre-planning and searching on the internet for "How-to" videos for touring Europe for an American couple with little knowledge of French/Italian...so don't be shy, ask away!

My first entry/review post will be about what I packed/planning stuff and will post it sometime tonight. I'm posting this topic a bit early in case people have specific questions before I begin to write it out!

Will you be adding your review to this post or on new posts? Just to figure out easiest way to find :) We are on Symphony with the same itin next May and are looking forward to hearing about your trip!

Will you be adding your review to this post or on new posts? Just to figure out easiest way to find :) We are on Symphony with the same itin next May and are looking forward to hearing about your trip!

Will be posting to this thread, so subscribe to this thread! :) And I was looking at those Symphony itineraries actually, because I can't wait to go back next year! I have a lot of stuff i want to scan and take photos of, because I know how much I would have appreciated seeing things like that hehe! But you know how it is on the last night of the cruise, you just throw stuff in the suitcase and hope you can find it later! :')

Thank you , cant wait

I am looking forward to reading your review. We will be on the Freedom for the TA next month,!

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Looking forward to you review!

Cindy

Packing and Planning

So I did a quite a bit of preplanning for this cruise and I still feel like I should have done more, but all in all, the information and tips I found on the internet were very helpful.

We are light packers and decided to do just two carryons and two backpacks and not to check a bag. I would encourage everyone to do this! If you think you can’t do it, watch some of the Rick Steves packing videos and they do help a lot! You don’t have to be as strict as Rick Steves and his other guides tell you to be, but it does give you helpful info and it’s always good to pack as light as you can. I decided to go extreme and try washing my clothes in the sink with some woolite travel detergent…and in hindsight, I could and should have packed 1-2 more outfits as washing clothes in an inside cabin was pretty miserable and I had plenty of room in my carry on for more clothes. I use packing cubes, which not only helps limit what you bring, but mine have handles on the side, so I can pull out a bag and just by looking at what color the cube is, I know what is in it.

Some SPECIFIC things I found really useful that I packed

*Clothespins We got a pack of 100 at Walmart for 1.00 andbrought like 25, super helpful in the bathroom when hanging something to dry

*Woolite travel detergent and a wrinkle releaser this stuff isunbelievable for getting out odors and handwashing stuff. I ended up not needing the sink stopper but it’s nice it was included in this set!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004SRAX/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

*Polyester or linen clothes travel bloggers were not kidding about this tip – clothes made out of polyester or linen are light weight, takeup little room in luggage, and if you hand wash them, they dry super quick either by hanging to dry are using that little hairdryer in your cruise cabin

*A good daybag this is really essential for Europe trips, as it keeps your items secure and having the right size one so you aren’t weighed down after tons of walking is key. I would agree that having a messenger bag or a cross body bag is WAY better than a small backpack because I would be afraid thieves could get into a small backpack easier, especially with crowds. I purchased this daybag

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CG1MW2Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I give this daybag a 3 out of 4 stars, as some of the stitching on the outside has started coming apart. I am returning it to Amazon to get a replacement bag, but everything else about this bag I really love. The locking zippers are great, as well as all the compartments. I kept a camera in this, as well as some other essentials with plenty of room to spare.

*A travel pack of Kleenex Carry this with you in your day bag.I didn’t think I would use these as much as I did. I used to for the obvious uses, and also for when a cup of cappuccino was too hot to hold, and other various uses.

*Sunscreen Stick (I know, it sounds crazy, but I found this on Amazon and it was SO wonderful, I will definitely try it on a Caribbean sailing. I am not sure about other brands, but this one is GREAT, didn’t get burned after hours in the sun, no mess, and it doesn’t count toward the TSA 3-2-1 rule, which is AWESOME! I would say this stick, after 3-4 days of use, isn’t even halfway used up. Sorry if some of these packing tips sound like Ads, but I just can’t believe I didn’t know these sunscreen sticks existed and I was a little skeptical before using it, but it really does work!

https://www.amazon.com/Neutrogena-Ultra-Sheer-Sunscreen-Spectrum/dp/B00HNSSV3U/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

*Travel size shampoo and conditioner and other toiletries Usually this isn’t such a big deal to have both of these on a cruise, since I usually stay in a hotel pre cruise and just take the ones they give me there onto the cruise ship, but the hotel I stayed at in Barcelona didn’t have these and I forgot to pack a travel conditioner and just had a travel size name brand shampoo that I packed. If you aren't female, you probably won't care so much about this travel tip. I didn’t think I needed conditioner so I didn’t buy any, but my hair was crazy the WHOLE trip. Because I was packing light, I didn’t bring any hair tools or irons, and was going for the “beachy” look with a mousse. However, the water in the shower on and off the cruise ship was SO hard, my hair was like straw…it was that dry! So make sure you bring both shampoo and conditioner along or buy it when you arrive overseas.

*European Plug Adapter This came in handy! Some hotels may have US systems, but better safe the sorry! Our table mate ruined one of her electronics by not using one! The one below is the one we got and all is good with our electronics now!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004SY5O5K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

*Wireless AND Wired headphones I love my Bluetooth over the ear headphones, but some cheap wired ones are great if you do an audio tour and may want some headphones that don’t fall out of your ears.

*Snacks for the airplane ride I wasn’t impressed with the “meals” they serve you on the airplane, so bring some hearty snacks, for both legs of the journey!

*A good pair of tennis shoes I bought some new ones about 1 month prior to my cruise and broke them in, having a good pair of tennis shoes really helped me, as we were walking over 10 miles average each day!

*Hand sanitizer and moist toilette packets Have these in your daybag. Really handy to use when the restrooms are less than pleasant and after lunches while in port.

PLANNING

How I planned for my trip was writing down tips and tricks I learned while researching in Word document. As I accumulated information, I started to separate it by day and created a daily plan for each day with these tips. I used this info as well as having a “Visit a City” itinerary with offline maps for each day. I love the Visit a City website and highly recommend using it to pre-plan and also to use on your phone when you are at the destination, since you can download offline maps and such.

www.visitacity.com

I decided to do DIY tours in Paris, Barcelona, Marseille,and Villefranche/Monaco. In La Spezia, Civitavecchia, and Naples, I decided to shell out the cash for RCI tours. Because our roll call was dead and I was only traveling with my husband, non-cruise line tours were expensive as price appears to go by number of people in your party. So, the cruise line ended up being cheaper than most non-cruise line tours. This probably wouldn’t have been the case if we were traveling with 5 or more people. I did email the shore excursion desk prior to my tours and asked for a breakdown/timeline of the tours, which they did send me. This is helpful in getting a loose idea of when you need to purchase tickets for museums and such, as many have timed entry tickets, more on this later on in the review. Make sure if you email the Shore Excursion people at RCI, to include the number at the very end of the description of the tour you are looking at in your Cruise Planner.

Email for shore excursions: shorex@rccl.com

Next post will be a review with photos of the plane ride from Dallas Fort Worth InternationalAirport-CDG Paris Airport!

Thank you for your tips. We are experienced travelers, but I did end up adding a couple of items you mentioned to my Amazon cart!:cool:

Looking forward to more.

looking forward to you report and thanks for posting about the day bag, it looks great.

Oh, I thought of a couple other really nice things we bought for anti-theft protection, even though I never really felt "Under threat" - these were nice to have and to use

I had two of these I used in past trips and for Europe. I attach them to the side of my bra, but you can put them in the front too. I put all of the cash and my debit card in it. Even had them on in the plane ride. Really comfortable, and you forget they are there! Of course once you get to the cruise ship, you can put most of the cash away in the safe and put less in the pouch. I wore a lightweight cardigan to cover my shoulders when in churches (which I highly recommend over a t-shirt because it also covers you from sun exposure) and clothing that wasn't tight, so you couldn't see any bulge Plus, if a thief can get to these pouches, they deserve the cash they find :')

https://www.amazon.com/Pacsafe-Coversafe-Anti-Theft-Secret-Pouch/dp/B017BPND28/ref=sr_1_1?s=apparel&ie=UTF8&qid=1505248791&sr=1-1&nodeID=7141123011&psd=1&keywords=Pacsafe+Coversafe+S25+Anti-Theft+Secret+Bra+Pouch

My husband wore this as well and fit our passports and some easy access cash in it - and of course, wear it under your clothes. I saw so many people walking around with their money belts over their clothes :rolleyes: I liked these money belts better than the Rick Steves options, just personal preference and I felt like they would be more comfortable. But really, all of this was overkill in hindsight, but better safe than sorry! Plus you can use them for future trips!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N4AUFO0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Plane Ride

We left from Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport to Paris (CDG) Airport. I picked this flight because DFW airport was doing direct flights to Paris and not to Barcelona, so it cut my total travel time (in air time + layover time) down from 16 hrs to around 9! Plus, a short day in Paris was a huge bonus for me! We booked the airfare through Choice Air because it was 1/2 the price of Kayak, plus the extra insurance of getting to our destination to and from.

Our plane to CDG (Paris) was a Boeing 787-900 Dreamliner on American Airlines.

We booked economy seats, because we prefer to save money where we can and spend money elsewhere, like excursions and the like. I think we paid around 760.00 USD per person roundtrip for these tickets, which were DFW (Dallas Fort-Worth) to CDG (Paris), BCN (Barcelona) to DFW (Dallas Fort-Worth). We booked a one way flight independently for Sat. morning from ORY (A different Paris airport) to BCN (Barcelona) for around 90.00 USD per person. So all in all, not a bad deal in my opinion! Some people don't like to mention what they paid for what on their vacations, which is fine, but I will do a full disclosure of how much we paid for things because I don't mind people knowing at all! So if I don't mention a price or a cost and you want to know, ask away!

Here are some more photos of the plane to Paris (Boeing 787-900 Dreamliner)

I was disappointed about the legroom on this flight. My husband had the aisle seat in the middle row of the middle section of seats, I was in the middle (which I don't mind). I am short, around 5'2-5'3 with short legs, but it was cramped even for short little me! I would say on this plane, the legroom was standard for an new American Airlines domestic flight. The overhead bins were spacious, and the had a lot of new movies and games to play on the screen in front of you. There was even a fun little "Plane Chat" feature, where you could invite other passengers to chat with you! There is also a remote/game control that pulls out that you can use, pretty cool! They also give you a airline pillow and blanket and headsets for the screen in front of you, which were all actually not bad quality. Kept two of the airline blankets for future use - I'm a thrifty girl and I love "Free" or included things, haha

There was no food or drink menu in the backseat pocket or I would have taken photos of it. We had a 5:30pm Central flight, arriving in Paris at around 9:30 AM the next day.

So American offers a dinner and snacks, as well as a light breakfast for this international flight. The "Dinner" on the plane consisted of two choices, chicken frozen dinner or cheese pasta frozen dinner. There are some sides, some bread, some cheese and crackers, a small side salad with one type of dressing (I think a vinegarette of some sort) and a dessert. This food lives up to the hype, aka BAD. We got one of each option. My husband liked the chicken better, I liked the pasta better, but it really was all just BAD. The tray tables are so small and they give you such a variety of things, it is hard to situate yourself well enough to eat it without stuff falling off. Right after you eat, they give you more snacks and drinks, which is nice, but it would be better to have a longer break in between those. The smaller snacks are just like on a regular flight, pretzels and cookies. They have some free alcohol, house wines and maybe a beer or two. I had some wine to help me sleep, but it was not tasty haha! I would encourage you to bring hearty snacks along and depend on that. We brought some candy, one packet of jerky, and some craisins. Next time I will forgo the candy and bring more things like jerky, because candy isn't great as a single meal, not even if it is Haribo gummies :')

We did take a sleeping aid, which helped us sleep most of the way there, which was nice and helped minimize the jetlag going to Paris

Can't wait to hear about it! Traveling with Butterfly529 in 2018!

Can't wait to hear about it! Traveling with Butterfly529 in 2018!

Thanks, sorry it's taking so long for the Paris entry. Trying to edit my photos that I took, along with waiting for my husband to give me the ones he took! Should be soon though, and worth the wait! After all, it's PARIS...just thinking about it makes me want to go back!

I can't wait for more! We sail on SOTS next May and your review is just what I need to hold me over!

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If you have the main dining room menus please post those. We are on that cruise leaving 9/17.

Enjoyed reading your plane ride and packing/planning posts. Looking forward to your future posts. Love your itinerary on Freedom.

I just bought a Travelon bag purely on your recommendation! Amazon just delivered it and before I've even used it I think it's amazing! My colleague saw me opening it and now she wants one too! You should become their sales rep! :-)

Great review by the way. We're sailing tomorrow, but hopefully I'll be able to keep up!

Next time I will forgo the candy and bring more things like jerky, because candy isn't great as a single meal, not even if it is Haribo gummies :')

That's fine ... if you eat it all ;)

Most countries do not allow meats through customs, and if you forget to declare them (and they find it) they can hit you with pretty large fines that you must pay on the spot. Even if you "Oh, I forgot about something!" once they start digging through your bag, they can point at the form and still fine you (seen it happen). Same goes for fruits & vegetables. Often seeds and/or nuts can be included.

Sometimes some of these are allowed if in unopened commercial packaging.

But to be safe, better to eat it all and not worry about it! The last thing you want is to be in baggage claim and have the dog walk by and sit next to your bag signaling special treatment. If you declared it on the form though, you don't have to worry. You won't get fined, worst that happens is they throw it away.

I just bought a Travelon bag purely on your recommendation! Amazon just delivered it and before I've even used it I think it's amazing! My colleague saw me opening it and now she wants one too! You should become their sales rep! :-)

 

Great review by the way. We're sailing tomorrow, but hopefully I'll be able to keep up!

you are going to have a fabulous time! My husband shot all the pictures in raw so it's taking a bit of time to edit and format them for my Paris post!

I just got my replacement travelon bag and hope the stitching doesn't come apart again! Other than that, it is a GREAT bag! I love that hidden pocket with the snap, its great for keeping your phone in there for easy access and your museum tickets!

That's fine ... if you eat it all ;)

 

Most countries do not allow meats through customs, and if you forget to declare them (and they find it) they can hit you with pretty large fines that you must pay on the spot. Even if you "Oh, I forgot about something!" once they start digging through your bag, they can point at the form and still fine you (seen it happen). Same goes for fruits & vegetables. Often seeds and/or nuts can be included.

 

Sometimes some of these are allowed if in unopened commercial packaging.

 

But to be safe, better to eat it all and not worry about it! The last thing you want is to be in baggage claim and have the dog walk by and sit next to your bag signaling special treatment. If you declared it on the form though, you don't have to worry. You won't get fined, worst that happens is they throw it away.

This is great info to know, I didn't even think about this!

If you have the main dining room menus please post those. We are on that cruise leaving 9/17.

I don't have the menus, I am sorry, but I believe they do follow the the current Oasis ones ALMOST completely. Our server told us the main difference is that there is no lobster night in the MDR, that lobster is just on sailings out of the US. They had prawns I believe on formal night, prime rib on another formal night. Also, one time for lunch I did see some shrimp or shrimp like dishes in the buffet, and once in the buffet for dinner. Other than that, looked identical to the Oasis menus we had last Sept. I will give you a little teaser, since you are leaving so soon: the food on the Freedom was AMAZING. I didn't book any specialty dining, seeing as we were in port until 6-6:30 most days. I am thinking it was due to suppliers being different than what they get in Miami/FLL sailings. The bread is SO soft and the croissants in the MDR and in the buffet are ALMOST as good as you can get them in the bakeries out in port! Breakfast on this ship is to DIE for, esp the hashbrowns and pastries...so loosen up your belt and EAT UP! :D

So excited for this thread! We booked the same itinerary for Aug 2018 on Symphony and first time to Europe. Already a lot of useful info.

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Paris

So finally, I am starting my Paris installment! Thank you for waiting. As I previously said, we flew out of DFW (Dallas Fort-Worth) airport. We left on Thursday, August 31st heading direct to CDG (Paris) airport. I booked through Choice Air, because it was 1/2 the cost of what Kayak showed me. DFW has some direct flights to Paris and not to Barcelona, so I was able to shave a lot of travel time off our first leg by going direct to Paris and spending the night there before heading onto Barcelona on Sept. 2nd.

We bought Paris Museum Passes online before our trip and had them snail mailed to us. I think took about 1 week or so for delivery after we bought them. The link is below

http://en.parismuseumpass.com/rub-t-presentation-and-advantages-2.htm

We decided to purchase the museum pass with transit. I needed to maximize my time in Paris and I needed pass the line tickets for the Louvre and d'Orsay for certain and having a transit pass was nice. This pass would be AMAZING if you were in Paris for 2-3 days and would be an excellent value. For us, I think it was a break even sort of deal, but having all of it sorted before I got to Paris was really important to me. Upon landing in Paris, I did see one Paris Museums kiosk where you can buy the pass there in the airport.

After our long flight, which we managed to sleep through most of (thanks to sleep aids), we finally arrived in Paris at around 9:30. I was surprised at how fast we deplaned. The transportation included in the Paris Museums Pass only includes zone 1-2-3, and does NOT include airport transportation. So we talked to a tourist information employee and she pointed us in the direction of the Aerobus that would take us close to our airbnb for our one night stay in Paris.

Tickets are easy to purchase and to use here. I believe they were 11-12 Euros one way, per person for the Aerobus from the airport to the city center of Paris. That price is the same for all the areas in Paris I think. The train IS the fastest way, as you won't have to wait in traffic, and it was about a 30 minute ride

This is me, probably sleeping or close to sleeping on the train!

Paris (Cont...)

Finally, we arrived in Paris, and it was every bit as quaint and beautiful as people tell you it is! We booked an airbnb rental, as hotels during this date were pretty expensive and since we were leaving Paris at 3am, we just needed a crash pad. I tried to find a bnb for a good price in a central location. I think now, looking back, I did pretty good on the central location, but would pick a simpler apartment. The one I picked was SO cute and quaint, but lacked functionality for people who are just sleeping for a few hours. You had to climb 5 flights of stairs that kind of spiraled up and got narrower as you went. I read this in the airbnb reviews and was OK with this, however there were no lights in the stairwell, so it made leaving at 3am in the dark very...interesting haha! However, it did give me the "Local/Authentic" vibe I was looking for

Here are some pictures I took of the airbnb apartment

This couch pulled out, which we actually ended up sleeping on later.

The bathroom was really nice! The toilet operated pretty easy, which is handy when traveling in Europe I would learn.

Paris (Cont...)

Those blue and grey tiles were a DIY project, which I am not sure if it was a sticker on it or something, but it was a really neat effect. I love watching Hometalk and other DIY projects and thought that was pretty cool!

And a nice skylight in the bathroom!

This is the view from the living room window!

I used vistacity.com to make travel itineraries for all of our stops, even the ones I really didn't need it. I recommend doing this because while you think you will remember, on Day 3 of the cruise, your head will be spinning and you might even forget where you went 2 hours ago, much less where you need to go at the time. It's also nice that if you create the itineraries on your visitacity account on a desktop or laptop, you can download the app and sync your itineraries. And all itineraries, maps, various info on the app can be downloaded for offline use! This is really handy for when you do not have good 3G or 4G

Here are some screenshots of my "Paris Packed 1 Day" itinerary

Here is where we stayed on a map (Red marker) As you can see by my circles, it is pretty close to the Louvre and the D'Orsay, as well as two metro stops and Notre Dame. Although the Paris metro system is pretty difficult, at least to me. Finally, at the e nd of our day, we had a decent handle on it, but we never could figure out the two metro stops near us. We kept on getting off at the Chatelat one instead of the Chatelat les Halles one. When we asked a lady at the metro about it, she kept on saying it was the same station, but we must have kept exiting at the wrong exit. For any of you who has been to Paris, maybe you can explain this better to me. The Paris metro is similar to Montreal's, in the fact that its a PITA! Hard to explain, but the metro system is so extensive there, there are constantly trains leaving so you never have to wait long for one if you miss yours.