Booking things on Freedom of the Seas

[cruisemomof2]

My family will be sailing Freedom of the Seas in April. We typically go on Disney but thought this would be a nice ship to try. Do we have to book or make reservations to attend the evening shows and the Flowrider? As this will be our first cruise on Royal, I'm a little confused. Where would I go to make those bookings? Thanks for the info.

[C&MJ FL]

We are sailing Freedom in 3 days! So excited! As for booking things, you can go online to RCCL where you print your documents and the only thing you can reserve are excursions. You can purchase beverage packages too. When I asked RC about online reservations for shows, flowrider, etc....they only do this for the Oasis class so far.

 

Good luck and hope you enjoy your cruise!

[griffy116]

If you are talking about the regular, Vegas style shows, there are no tickets, no reservations. If you are talking about the ice show, tickets are free and you get them (I think) on the second morning. We always send a couple of folks from our party down to get in the line. The line looks horrible, but moves extremely quick. We need 8 seats so we send 2 people to get 4 tickets each, although I can't remember if there is a maximum number per person. We haven't done the FlowRider yet, but I think I saw where you sign up for the time at the FlowRider itself.

[neptune18]

You can also pre-book specialty and dining room reservations .

[cruisemomof2]

Thanks for the info. I was confused after reading some other posts.

[njmomof2]

I can give you flowrider information. My older son is a junkie.

 

The flowrider times are posted in the Compass. We like to get there on departure day, as it's not as crowded. You don't have to sign up to use the flowrider for any of the open sessions. They do sessions for boogie boarding and stand up surfing. They also have times for the most experienced riders.

 

The sign up that someone referred to is if you want to book a lesson. We did this for our son on our last cruise. It does cost but the maximum in the lesson is, I believe 8 people. And it's an hour lesson so they spend about 1/2 doing boogie boarding, 1/2 doing stand up. The sports staff are great, and really work to get you comfortable and skilled quickly.

 

Whenever the flowrider is open, you can go up. Everyone lines up either on one side (if they are using it with no net) or on both sides (if they have the net up in the middle). Then you wait your turn, do your thing, then get back on the line to do it all again!

 

If you've never done it, or have a teen, booking into a lesson is great. The sooner you get to the sports deck (after it opens...and that's in the Compass too), the better options for classes. We did it the second night (first night being arrival day) and booked it later so that we could do formal night pictures, eat and then do the lesson. The earlier in the cruise you do it, the more time you have to really enjoy the flowrider.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Oh, and BTW, the force of the kick back can cause bathing suit malfunctions. Women should wear one piece suits and boys should wear one that can be tied tightly at the waist (or attach it to a rashguard shirt). I saw a lot of guys with shorts under their suits too.