New- Just Off Freedom (Aug 12th) Review & Thoughts

[kruz]

I enjoyed reading/viewing this review so very much! Thanks for taking the time to post it :)

[larka]

Really enjoyed your review. The Freedom is our favorite ship and your review did her right. Loved the pics and the new menu presentation.

[LOVEMYMO]

Wow!!! What a great review - your sense of humor coupled with great photos made it one enjoyable read for me.

Thanks so much for taking the time to write it. :)

[sunsetbeachgal]

Thank you for taking the time to write this great review...we did Eastern on the Freedom in May and just loved the ship. Interesting about the time share push at the parking lot...we used Park N Cruise and had a cracked windsheild when we returned after the cruise (this will be our last time using them!) so would have preferred a time share schpiel to that! ;)

[joeski27]

Hey thanks for posting the info and photos, specifically about Tulum. I actually started a thread in the Cozumel forum with questions about this particular excursion (the Tulum Express) but have gotten no responses. I was looking for info regarding people's experiences with the timing/duration of the that trip. While we will be potentially doing that tour off of the Allure in January, your experiences might still be relevant.

 

What I am wondering about is your experience with the duration of the tour, and if in fact it leaves/arrives back at Cozumel as advertised (6.5 hours). Now we will be arriving in Cozumel much earlier than you did (8 am), and our tour would be slated to leave at 8:30. Long story short, according to that schedule that puts us back in Cozumel around 3 pm. The Allure departs Cozumel at 7, so what we like about (and what we typically do at our ports of call) is build in 2-3 hours after the excursion to hang out in town, have some food & drink, check out a few shops, etc before taking a cab back to the ship. Based on your experience with this particular excursion, and keeping in mind the hours that Allure will be in port, do you think my plan is doable?? :confused:

[jkskrap]

Hey thanks for posting the info and photos, specifically about Tulum. I actually started a thread in the Cozumel forum with questions about this particular excursion (the Tulum Express) but have gotten no responses. I was looking for info regarding people's experiences with the timing/duration of the that trip. While we will be potentially doing that tour off of the Allure in January, your experiences might still be relevant.

 

What I am wondering about is your experience with the duration of the tour, and if in fact it leaves/arrives back at Cozumel as advertised (6.5 hours). Now we will be arriving in Cozumel much earlier than you did (8 am), and our tour would be slated to leave at 8:30. Long story short, according to that schedule that puts us back in Cozumel around 3 pm. The Allure departs Cozumel at 7, so what we like about (and what we typically do at our ports of call) is build in 2-3 hours after the excursion to hang out in town, have some food & drink, check out a few shops, etc before taking a cab back to the ship. Based on your experience with this particular excursion, and keeping in mind the hours that Allure will be in port, do you think my plan is doable?? :confused:

 

Yeah, I would say it is doable. We could have easily hit the town for an hour or so, but we were bushed and decided to go back to the ship. We were back in Cozumel at 4:45 ish, so their time estimate was just about right on the money.

 

Don't forget to feed the doggies!

[jkskrap]

Random thoughts:

 

1. This was a family cruise ship but we were never bothered by the kiddies. Just the opposite, really. The Autism of the Seas group was doing a great job. Special people taking care of special people!

 

2. The ship has wi-fi but it is 65 cents per minute if you don’t buy a package. The coupon in the C&A book (gold) is only good for packages. We thought we would get $5.00 credit each for internet use, but it is only towards a package if purchased.

 

3. You CAN use your cell phone on the ship with many carriers. I called T-Mobile and they have RCI rates by the ship. Freedom was $5.99 a minute (OUCH!) and outgoing texts were 50 cents each, incoming were 20 cents each. We turned off all of our connections until Sunday morning.

 

4. No Olympics. We were hoping to at least catch a couple of events on the cruise, but were told NBC would not sell RCI the rights.

 

5. We only bought one picture from the cruise line. It was the boarding photo for $19.99. They will take your picture anytime they can. Rather than fight it, I would recommend just smiling and letting them do their thing. There was even a photographer IN THE WATER at Nellie’s beach. He was in his regular uniform! He got a shot of our daughters but we didn’t buy it. Luckily (?) our daughters are very picky about their photos so usually it was a comment like, “I’m hideous! Don’t buy it!” and we were off the hook. The only time it kind of bothered me was at dinner when the photographer would TELL me to get up and stand behind my family for a photo. I would just say I would love to have a picture of the girls and remain sitting. TIP: Right next to the photo area are some computers where you just swipe your seapass card and all the photos show up that they have taken of you. Witchcraft, no doubt! We learned this at the end of the cruise. It’s pretty awesome – no walking around trying to find your face on the wall.

 

6. Drinks are a bit pricey – The cheapest mixed drink I had was $6.90 with the automatic tip. Most were in the $8.50 - $9.50 range. The “drink of the day” is cheaper if you tell them you don’t want the “free” glass. The tall, skinny glasses they are using these days don’t hold much! With ice, there can’t be more than 5 or 6 oz of fluid. Even with all that being said, the drinks were darn good! No regrets.

 

7. We were on deck 9 and quickly learned to take our hallway to the front or back, then go from there. It makes it easy to get to where you want to go.

 

8. We took the stairs a lot. Yes, even this “fat-boy American” took the stairs. To the point that my legs were pretty sore by day 5. It is soooooo much easier and quicker than the elevators. In what state, country or planet do people rush on an elevator before letting people off? Well, on Freedom there are many that do this! It’s comical, really.

 

9. People drink. And drink. And drink. We didn’t see any young people intoxicated, but we saw a few of us older folks totally wasted! Quite a show . . . usually walking down the Promenade.

 

10. I never saw ANYONE in the Connoisseur Club. I am not a smoker normally, but I like to buy a couple of cuban cigars, puff away and pretend I am enjoying it. On past cruises I would always have someone to gab with and drink with. Maybe I went at the wrong times? It was strange because they would have expensive scotch and smokes just out for the taking (I didn't of course), but it made me wonder about teenagers (I was one once... and BOY would it have been tempting!).

[jkskrap]

11. There are a couple of special bingo games (free cruise), but all the others are just one game with a $500.00 prize. We were a bit bummed that it is only one game. We showed up right before, paid $21* for the cards (we shared), and ordered a couple of drinks. The game was over before the drinks were half full. We would have preferred multiple games . . . maybe 5 games with $100 prize each? Just our perspective.

 

* The options are $21 or $35.

[onyourtoes]

Others have posted menus (thank goodness! I kept forgetting to take pictures).

 

Here are the options for appetizers and main courses available every night:

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Great review, but the ESCARGOT has returned? :eek: Say it has, please, please, please say it has:) Sorry, that's the gluttony in me:D

Edited August 16, 2012 by onyourtoes

[jkskrap]

Yep, it is on the new menu every night. Same with the shrimp cocktail.

[onyourtoes]

Yep, it is on the new menu every night. Same with the shrimp cocktail.

 

 

I'm not really a "shrimp cocktail" kinda girl. But escargot - mmmmm. Happy tummy:)

[zebra]

I have to say - I've read hundreds of reviews but your is the most honest, informative and entertaining. I love "The Bickersons"! It's too bad that they are a way of life, cruising or not. I enjoyed your review thoroughly ... and sincerely thank you. We will be on the Freedom in two weeks ...

[vivavegas]

Loved your review! Thank you for posting such and entertaining and informatiove review and sharing your experiences with us!:)

[copnlpn2]

Thanks for your delightful photos and cruise review. My only regret is that you didn't visit Kohunich ruins...that site is the most recently discovered and is much larger and more pristine than Tulum. When I last visited there, archeologists were still working to unearth additional sections of the ruins. And I can't praise our guide enough - by the time we left, I felt like I had grown up in the Mayan culture!!!!! Maybe you can visit there on a future trip!:)

[joeski27]

Yeah, I would say it is doable. We could have easily hit the town for an hour or so, but we were bushed and decided to go back to the ship. We were back in Cozumel at 4:45 ish, so their time estimate was just about right on the money.

 

Don't forget to feed the doggies!

 

Nice, thanks very much for the info. Sounds like your excursion, if I'm not mistaken, spanned 10:30 am - 4:45 pm, which as you said is right about on the money for the 6.5 hour estimate. And given that we'd be leaving about 2 hours earlier than yours, that would definitely put us back in town with loads of time to spare :D

[CntPAcruiser]

Very enjoyable review with something for everyone! We were on FOS last January and loved it, even though we missed our stop at Coco Cay due to the high waves. This really has me looking forward even more to our next cruise, especially since we are trying out a junior suite for the first time. Your pics and comments were very helpful and are getting us excited! Thanks much.

[jkskrap]

Absolutely loved your review. We are doing this same cruise next May 2013, me, DD and her friend. We loved the Liberty of the Seas and I'm doing the Independence of the Seas in January with my sister. So I will have done all the Freedom class ships by next year. Loved your reference to the "Bickersons". We always encounter those people at check-in on boarding day and wonder if they are going to do that their entire cruise???? :rolleyes:

 

Missed this comment earlier and it reminded me of the first Bickerson family we encountered. Like you, it was at check-in. There were virtually no lines. Maybe one family in each. I guess the husband got into the wrong line and his wife was screaming at him, "WE ARE VIPS! WE HAVE PRIORITY! PRI----ORRRR----ITTTT--TEEEE!!!

 

Lordy. I cringed and even MY testicles retracted a bit.

 

Edited August 17, 2012 by jkskrap

[jkskrap]

Just a couple more random thoughts . . .

 

1. Make sure and close the curtains tightly in your promenade stateroom. You can see EVERYTHING that is happening across from your cabin.

 

2. The slots were very tight. We spent time every day in the casino and never saw anyone winning on the slots. I got lucky on the roulette wheel a couple of times which helped (make sure and use your $5.00 coupon if you are gold C&A or above). The kids put WAY too much money in the quarter-sliding-thing. They loved it though, so ? And most of it wasn't THEIR money.

 

3. I have read a couple of comments about the air conditioning on Freedom being inefficient, but we did not experience any problems at all. My DW kept making me adjust our cabin warmer. I am a sweating kind of a guy and I was never uncomfortable at any venue on the ship. We are from Florida, so we are used to hot temperatures and high humidity, but?

 

That's all for now. I will write a small conclusion tomorrow. Take care!

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying the review of your cruise, you made me hungry with all you wonderful food photo's. Thanks for posting.

[crusinpeg]

Random thoughts:

 

1. This was a family cruise ship but we were never bothered by the kiddies. Just the opposite, really. The Autism of the Seas group was doing a great job. Special people taking care of special people!

 

2. The ship has wi-fi but it is 65 cents per minute if you don’t buy a package. The coupon in the C&A book (gold) is only good for packages. We thought we would get $5.00 credit each for internet use, but it is only towards a package if purchased.

 

3. You CAN use your cell phone on the ship with many carriers. I called T-Mobile and they have RCI rates by the ship. Freedom was $5.99 a minute (OUCH!) and outgoing texts were 50 cents each, incoming were 20 cents each. We turned off all of our connections until Sunday morning.

 

4. No Olympics. We were hoping to at least catch a couple of events on the cruise, but were told NBC would not sell RCI the rights.

 

5. We only bought one picture from the cruise line. It was the boarding photo for $19.99. They will take your picture anytime they can. Rather than fight it, I would recommend just smiling and letting them do their thing. There was even a photographer IN THE WATER at Nellie’s beach. He was in his regular uniform! He got a shot of our daughters but we didn’t buy it. Luckily (?) our daughters are very picky about their photos so usually it was a comment like, “I’m hideous! Don’t buy it!” and we were off the hook. The only time it kind of bothered me was at dinner when the photographer would TELL me to get up and stand behind my family for a photo. I would just say I would love to have a picture of the girls and remain sitting. TIP: Right next to the photo area are some computers where you just swipe your seapass card and all the photos show up that they have taken of you. Witchcraft, no doubt! We learned this at the end of the cruise. It’s pretty awesome – no walking around trying to find your face on the wall.

 

6. Drinks are a bit pricey – The cheapest mixed drink I had was $6.90 with the automatic tip. Most were in the $8.50 - $9.50 range. The “drink of the day” is cheaper if you tell them you don’t want the “free” glass. The tall, skinny glasses they are using these days don’t hold much! With ice, there can’t be more than 5 or 6 oz of fluid. Even with all that being said, the drinks were darn good! No regrets.

 

7. We were on deck 9 and quickly learned to take our hallway to the front or back, then go from there. It makes it easy to get to where you want to go.

 

8. We took the stairs a lot. Yes, even this “fat-boy American” took the stairs. To the point that my legs were pretty sore by day 5. It is soooooo much easier and quicker than the elevators. In what state, country or planet do people rush on an elevator before letting people off? Well, on Freedom there are many that do this! It’s comical, really.

 

9. People drink. And drink. And drink. We didn’t see any young people intoxicated, but we saw a few of us older folks totally wasted! Quite a show . . . usually walking down the Promenade.

 

10. I never saw ANYONE in the Connoisseur Club. I am not a smoker normally, but I like to buy a couple of cuban cigars, puff away and pretend I am enjoying it. On past cruises I would always have someone to gab with and drink with. Maybe I went at the wrong times? It was strange because they would have expensive scotch and smokes just out for the taking (I didn't of course), but it made me wonder about teenagers (I was one once... and BOY would it have been tempting!).

 

What do you mean by scotch and smokes "out for the taking"? Complementary?

[jkskrap]

What do you mean by scotch and smokes "out for the taking"? Complementary?

 

Sorry I wasn't clear on that --- No, not free. There were a couple of bottles of scotch and cognac on a counter and open boxes of cigars. I am sure these are for sale when the area is staffed by a crew member. There were also some locked in a case.

 

One time when I was sitting & puffing, two 10-13 year old boys ran through and went out the "crew only" door and down the stairs. I thought, "Geez, since nobody is ever in here, they could have just grabbed a bottle of booze and ran."

 

If you want a quiet spot to smoke, this is the place.

[BillOh]

Random thoughts:

 

 

2. The ship has wi-fi but it is 65 cents per minute if you don’t buy a package. The coupon in the C&A book (gold) is only good for packages. We thought we would get $5.00 credit each for internet use, but it is only towards a package if purchased.

 

 

That must be new. The only time I have ever bought minutes, I think I was still gold. It was on Majesty and I couldn't find my notes with my flight time back home so I used my coupon for $5 credit and logged into orbitz and got my time, printed out and had $2 to spare. I thought I remember the wording being $5 credit or towards a package. Of course that was 2010.

[coffee1962]

That's awesome! Can't wait to hear more. What did you think of the food? As you can tell, we enjoyed it tremendously!

 

 

Thank you so much for your review. This is very, very helpful to our group sailing July 21, 2013. This will be our first time, and very much looking forward to this FOS as well as our Labadee Cabana. You did a wonderful job with the photos of the Cabana and how far it was from the water. Very detailed, and we thank you for sharing.

[gandkinFL]

Thank you so much for your great review and photographs.

We went to Tulum on our first cruise, which was 10 years ago. Our visit was very similar to yours! One difference was that our guide was very knowledgeable about the ruins and gave an interesting talk about them.

[tommymoab]

Thank you for a great review. We are not on FOS until June 2013 but your review convinced me to reserve a cabana in Labadee. Great pic's.