Just Back from Freedom Eastern Cruise

[EviesCruisin]

We did not need water shoes. CocoCay is a coral island and the beach when you first get off is rocky. If you walk to the Coconut Willie's beach near the watersports it was not rocky. There is a bathroom right there and it is not far from the food. Near the straw market (right off ship) there is a bridge that is a shortcut there and it's like a 2 minute walk. Or you walk around and it's like 4 minutes. Very close. We just had my daughter wear sandals for the walk (Tevas) and the sand itself was fine. We could have kept walking to Barefoot Beach which I think is even nicer, but we preferred to be a bit closer since we had a stroller and a kid in tow.

 

AZDCruiser,

 

We're sailing next week with our 3.5 year old. I'll let you know what I find out if I can remember.....

 

To the OP, a quick question, did you feel the need to have water shoes? Did you go in the water at Cococay or anywhere else?

[ltzol]

We did the St. John Coastal Cruise of National Park Beaches through the ship. It was EXCELLENT! The crew was awesome. The boat pulled up right to the dock right by the ship. The boat had an inside area with wooden booths plus an outdoor area with benches and upper deck with seating. The boat had a restroom as well as a bar with drinks (sodas, waters, beer, snacks) for purchase.

 

The Captain (Jack) narrated the whole way there and pointed out various sites and made recommendations on things to do. From Cruz Bay private ferry dock it was easy to take a cab; we went to Trunk Bay. On the return trip home, we saw the sunset and had some delicious complimentary rum punch.

 

It was $52 for adults, $30 (or so) for kids and free for our infant. Really a great tour and not overly crowded or anything like that.

Thank you so much! This is exactly the information that I was looking for :)

[EviesCruisin]

I tried to post some pictures from the nursery, Aquanauts, CocoCay and St. John. I can't figure out how to do them one by one on here.

 

Here is a slideshow of our cruise for anyone interested. Lots of pics from the Dreamworks, H2O Zone. First stop is CocoCay then St. Thomas (we went to St. John - many pics of our ferry ride and Trunk Bay) and then St. Maarten (private tour with Bernards). The beach we are at is Le Galion ("The Kids Beach").

 

Edited February 19, 2014 by EviesCruisin

[pumpkinfish]

They DO serve Starbucks coffee at Cafe Promenade. There is a separate "line" for drink orders. They have Cafe Americano, White Chocolate Mocha, Caramel Macchiato, 3 flavors of frappuccino - mocha and various other flavored syrups for other lattes as well (vanilla, raspberry). It was good and part of the Royal Replenish ($20 day package) and I think the $65 package too. I had read it included a tall or grande only but I got ventis no issue all week.

 

You can add up to 6 people who can pick up your child. They ask you to use their legal name ( I would assume the name on their cruise card ). It is no issue to have another family member taking your child off the ship as long as they have their SeaPass to scan. My parents often carried my kids through the line and were not questioned. We were not far away but they have a different last name and were not stopped or anything.

 

Regarding the pack and play - our room was a bit larger (300 sq ft) and there was plenty of space. My parents had a balcony cabin and it would have fit as well. You could have the room steward take it down during the day (or you could do this). We had a balcony room on a prior cruise and did this each night. For naps we just laid our 15 month old (at the time - now 4) in the middle of our bed. I'd get the pack and play (reserve via e-mail access desk) and if you don't need it, they could remove it - but if you ask for it later, they may not have enough on board to accommodate.

 

The nursery doesn't have a daily compass, they just have general rules & open hours. The daily thing is for the older age groups (3-5, etc). Each time you drop your child off they will ask you about what they may need (nap, food, play, etc) and you get a sheet showing what they did, ate, drank, diaper changes, etc. The staff was really nice.

 

Thank you for the detailed responses! I appreciate it! I'm going to go check out your pics now ;)

[AandBmom]

We did not need water shoes. CocoCay is a coral island and the beach when you first get off is rocky. If you walk to the Coconut Willie's beach near the watersports it was not rocky. There is a bathroom right there and it is not far from the food. Near the straw market (right off ship) there is a bridge that is a shortcut there and it's like a 2 minute walk. Or you walk around and it's like 4 minutes. Very close. We just had my daughter wear sandals for the walk (Tevas) and the sand itself was fine. We could have kept walking to Barefoot Beach which I think is even nicer, but we preferred to be a bit closer since we had a stroller and a kid in tow.

 

 

You mentioned a stroller. Was it easy to get around with a stroller? Would you think a 3 year old could walk around cococay no problem? I'm still debating our stroller. How about on the ship? We don't use one at home but I'm worried about the amount of walking and her getting tired on the ship. There's also a chance that our 4 year old might hop in it sometimes when he's exhausted.

[EviesCruisin]

We brought two lightweight strollers (Maclaren and a Summer Infant 3D Lite). We used the one all the time for our 19 month old. For my 4 year old, we only used the second one to go through the airport. Most of the time it stayed in the room.

 

It was nice having a stroller that could carry a few drinks and your purse or any shopping items across down. Since you have two slightly older kiddos, I might bring one stroller and let them trade off if needed. We didn't regret bringing both strollers, as we have a bag that holds both to gate check so it didn't cause us much extra carrying.

 

My 4 y/o did crawl into my son's stroller a few times to rest. It's nice to have one for them to nap up by the pool or if you plan to go all over the ship as they do get worn out. It's a big ship and the few times we had to carry my daughter from the kids club to our room it was a bit of a hike.

 

I think a 3 year old can walk through CocoCay fine. There are paths that are not hard to walk on (or stroll on) before you pick your area to set up on the beach and get to the softer sand. There are lounge chairs and of course the beach if they want to nap.

 

One thing to consider is that bringing the stroller off the ship, you have to empty it and fold it and have it x-rayed. That was a pain that was worth it for our 19 month old but I don't think we'd have wanted to do it for our older one.

 

You mentioned a stroller. Was it easy to get around with a stroller? Would you think a 3 year old could walk around cococay no problem? I'm still debating our stroller. How about on the ship? We don't use one at home but I'm worried about the amount of walking and her getting tired on the ship. There's also a chance that our 4 year old might hop in it sometimes when he's exhausted.

[EviesCruisin]

sure! Have a wonderful trip! I'm jealous, I want to go back!

 

Thank you for the detailed responses! I appreciate it! I'm going to go check out your pics now ;)

[mickeymouse12]

Hi, Can you tell me if the ships time stayed on Eastern Standard Time? Was the time in St. Thomas and St. Maarten an hour later than ship time? Thanks, deb

[counsdr]

Hi, Can you tell me if the ships time stayed on Eastern Standard Time? Was the time in St. Thomas and St. Maarten an hour later than ship time? Thanks, deb

 

We stayed on ships time throughout the entire cruise. St Thomas and St Maarten were an hour ahead of us, but we ignored it and stayed with our ship time.

[counsdr]

Evie, so glad to see you made it home safely! We enjoyed meeting you and wish we could have gotten together more.

I'm glad you had a good time on the cruise. For me, it was my worst cruise ever. The huge group of 900+ was the main reason for me not liking the cruise. Events had to be changed and adjusted because they needed the ice rink or other venues that the ship normally used.

I was upset that the time of the Loyalty Cruisers party had to be changed from an evening cocktail party to a morning meeting that just so happened to interfere with our Meet and Mingle Party. Those of us who were entitled to attend both couldn't as they were at the same time! Poor planning by Royal Caribbean.

I will still be loyal to Royal, but I will always try to find out before booking if there is a massive group sailing at the same time!

I didn't travel with any children or grandchildren, but would be happy to answer any questions.

Cheryl

[mickeymouse12]

We stayed on ships time throughout the entire cruise. St Thomas and St Maarten were an hour ahead of us, but we ignored it and stayed with our ship time.

 

Thank you. We had an excursion planned for 1pm in St. Thomas with our arrival being noon ship time. I emailed him to change our time:)

[pumpkinfish]

sure! Have a wonderful trip! I'm jealous, I want to go back!

Ok, one last question (I think). My grandmother will be in a wheelchair. Are there paved paths at CocoCay? If so, where are they located?

 

TIA (again)

[Clarea]

Ok, one last question (I think). My grandmother will be in a wheelchair. Are there paved paths at CocoCay? If so, where are they located?

 

TIA (again)

They will allow you to use the special wheelchairs they have on the island for use on the sand and unpaved areas.

[oracer]

counsdr - To verify, you did the St. John excursion. Did you leave at around 12:00 noon or so out of St. Thomas? Once you got to the St. John's port, you stated you went to Trunk Bay, how long did you go for, did you snorkel or just lay on the beach, what time did you leave and could you go at any time or was there only one time that your excursion went back to the boat.

[oracer]

counsdr - To verify, you did the St. John excursion. Did you leave at around 12:00 noon or so out of St. Thomas? Once you got to the St. John's port, you stated you went to Trunk Bay, how long did you go for, did you snorkel or just lay on the beach, what time did you leave and could you go at any time or was there only one time that your excursion went back to the boat.

 

Meant to ask this question to EviesCrusin

[EviesCruisin]

Yes we stayed on Eastern time. In St. Thomas and St. Maarten it was an hour later - so if you do private tour at 9:30 it was 8:30 ship time. But you had more time in the afternoon than you thought before getting back on the ship.

 

Hi, Can you tell me if the ships time stayed on Eastern Standard Time? Was the time in St. Thomas and St. Maarten an hour later than ship time? Thanks, deb

[EviesCruisin]

Cheryl - it was great meeting you, too. Wish we could have gotten together more, you seem like a really nice person. The ship was just so large that you didn't ever seem to run into people more than once. The only people I seemed to run into more than once were the elevator-line-cutters and pool chair savers ;-)

 

So sorry to hear that it was a bad (or not a great) cruise for you. I know a large group can certainly impact a cruise. Perhaps because the Rocky and the Rollers and Quilters were of an older group, it helped our situation more (booking nursery hours, kids clubs, etc) by those activities not being as crowded.

 

We mostly did the beach/pool, relaxed in the afternoon then got cleaned up for dinner and got to play a little blackjack or see a show. We didn't get to do things like trivia, wine tastings, chef tables, etc. that we've done on other cruises with one or no children. But if we tried to squeeze all this in we would have been exhausted.

 

This was our first cruise on Royal so we didn't have expectations as far as what the events should have been. I've got 32 sailing days with Princess, 18 with NCL and 7 with Holland America. I think Royal Caribbean has become my favorite. HAL is my least favorite for our age & stage in life.

 

Evie, so glad to see you made it home safely! We enjoyed meeting you and wish we could have gotten together more.

I'm glad you had a good time on the cruise. For me, it was my worst cruise ever. The huge group of 900+ was the main reason for me not liking the cruise. Events had to be changed and adjusted because they needed the ice rink or other venues that the ship normally used.

I was upset that the time of the Loyalty Cruisers party had to be changed from an evening cocktail party to a morning meeting that just so happened to interfere with our Meet and Mingle Party. Those of us who were entitled to attend both couldn't as they were at the same time! Poor planning by Royal Caribbean.

I will still be loyal to Royal, but I will always try to find out before booking if there is a massive group sailing at the same time!

I didn't travel with any children or grandchildren, but would be happy to answer any questions.

Cheryl

[EviesCruisin]

Yeah, we made this mistake in St. Maarten. We got there at 8 AM and I scheduled a taxi pickup for my husband's private scuba at 9 AM. He had to mow people over to get off the ship and get to Grand Case for a 9:40 check-in time. That same day, we were a little late getting to our tour (9:30 meet time) - didn't get there til just after 10. Then I realized it's just after 11 AM and wondered if they expected us at 9:30 SXM time and then thought we were 1.5 hours late. So it's definitely good to clarify if you aren't doing a ship tour. :)

 

Thank you. We had an excursion planned for 1pm in St. Thomas with our arrival being noon ship time. I emailed him to change our time:)

[mickeymouse12]

Yes we stayed on Eastern time. In St. Thomas and St. Maarten it was an hour later - so if you do private tour at 9:30 it was 8:30 ship time. But you had more time in the afternoon than you thought before getting back on the ship.

 

I have never had such problems with the time difference.I spoke with a Royal Caribbean rep today and she said our itinerary states we are in St. Thomas from 12-7 and that is local time, not ship time. So ships time on arrival will be 11am? We have a sailing at 1pm and just want to be sure we aren't arriving at 1. :eek:

Thanks, deb

Edited February 19, 2014 by mickeymouse12

[EviesCruisin]

Pumpkinfish - Not paved, they are packed down sand because they had golf carts. But you could wheel with small stroller wheels. I think you could push a wheelchair with some effort but hopefully they have those special wheelchairs or could drive her to your location. I'd email the access desk and ask them.

 

Ok, one last question (I think). My grandmother will be in a wheelchair. Are there paved paths at CocoCay? If so, where are they located?

 

TIA (again)

Edited February 19, 2014 by EviesCruisin

[EviesCruisin]

We gathered at 11:45 in Arcadia (our ship was a bit late "parking" so we didn't head down until ~12 pm) for a 12:20 PM tour start time. Our excursion online said 12 pm (actually, 11 am because that was the original arrival time for St. Thomas). We probably took 10-20 minutes to gather everyone after that and then another 5-10 minutes for the boat to pull up.

 

The ferry ride was maybe 30-40 minutes and about 15-20 minutes of a slower coastal cruise. So 45 min-1 hour total. The ride was fun and part of the enjoyment watching the beautiful waters, yachts, sailboats and resorts and homes. The ride home was nice because of the sunset and rum punch (best rum punch I've ever had).

 

Once we got to the ferry dock people split up - you had options like Trunk Bay, Cinnamon Bay, private tour, USVI National Park to hike, etc. I didn't closely watch the clock but I'd guess we left St. Thomas about 12:45 pm and got Trunk Bay about 2 PM. We had until 4:45 to get back to the Ferry dock and they said to leave by 4:15. We packed up at 3:45 to be on the safe side and we had maybe 15-20 minutes at ferry port (they had some shops and ice cream and a US Virgin Islands Visitor Center). They had lots of taxis at the beach, so you could go back anytime.

 

We had just under 2 hours at the beach. It was short, but beautiful. We didn't snorkel - we went in the water and laid on the beach. We would have had time to snorkel if we wanted to, it was a short swim out. My son doesn't yet like the sand or the water so one of us had to stay with him. The grill was closed and the snack bar closed shortly after we got there so don't plan on a big meal there. But the good thing was the crowds were dispersing and leaving as we were arriving.

 

We were at a private ferry dock not the public ferry so I don't think you could have gone back earlier as part of the tour. You could have gotten a cab to a public ferry dock and gone back but there wasn't much time as it was... and that might be more confusing than it's worth. The day went by quickly. I was worried about the long tour but it was just lovely. We got back right to the ship about 6:30 maybe? It was almost dark and the ship was all lit up and beautiful to see.

 

The tour operator mentioned that RCL had combined all the St. John excursions so everyone had to to do the Coastal Cruise. I thought the St John On Your Own / Shopping tours were just sold out but the tour operator mentioned this was the only St. John tour on that day, so everyone was continuing on for the coastal cruise.

 

This was my favorite excursion of the whole trip. Often time ship tours are crowded but this one was great. Very convenient and worth any extra money than trying to go to Red Hook for a public ferry. If you watch my video you'll see the sights along the ferry ride and the beach (Trunk Bay) to get a feel for it all.

 

counsdr - To verify, you did the St. John excursion. Did you leave at around 12:00 noon or so out of St. Thomas? Once you got to the St. John's port, you stated you went to Trunk Bay, how long did you go for, did you snorkel or just lay on the beach, what time did you leave and could you go at any time or was there only one time that your excursion went back to the boat.

[Woodmnky]

I would love to see the info from the kids club. Also can you tell me what types of kids programs were on Tv? Were there activities to do with the kids without leaving them in the kids clubs? My 3yo has some special needs and I don't know if he would be ok being left without a parent.