FREEDOM OF THE SEAS- 1st Timer, Family Review (3/22/15- Eastern Caribbean)

[ACruiserinFL]

I think I might have seen your BIL in the pool area. I remember someone asking a guy if he had a relative named ____ because he looked just like him and the guy (that looked like your BIL) said he gets that comment a lot, about looking like someone.

[cant_w8_2_cruise]

I think I might have seen your BIL in the pool area. I remember someone asking a guy if he had a relative named ____ because he looked just like him and the guy (that looked like your BIL) said he gets that comment a lot, about looking like someone.

 

Yeah! I think something like 3 or 4 people said that to him on the cruise! I know I was there in St. Maarten when someone said something about he could at least be someone that she knew's brother. Weird!

[A2Mich]

Loving your review and the great pics. We're boarding FOS in a little over 2 weeks and are super excited, yet a bit nervous, as we've never sailed RCI or a ship this large

[cant_w8_2_cruise]

Loving your review and the great pics. We're boarding FOS in a little over 2 weeks and are super excited, yet a bit nervous, as we've never sailed RCI or a ship this large

 

Thanks! I don't think you have anything of be nervous of! The ship is huge, but not overwhelming. Everything is pretty easy to find, I thought. And this was my first cruise as an adult! :)

 

You will have a blast, I'm sure!:D

[cant_w8_2_cruise]

Night 2 dinner was the Saffron Menu and the first Formal Night. We tried taking a family picture in the library, but the lighting was weird and it didn't turn out very well... so I'll spare you. ;)

 

First, my thoughts on Formal night: Don't Stress! I bought my 11 year old a suit at a second hand store, and he looked handsome! But, he didn't need to wear a suit, and neither did my husband. You will fit in whether you are wearing a full tux, or just a nice shirt and tie. Women wore mostly cocktail dresses, with some more formal gowns. Even some nice pant suits. I did see a guy walk in wearing a t-shirt and he ate the same food as everyone else, so... don't stress. :D

 

Our assistant waiter was ready with the same drinks we had the night before and he was quite convincing every time he brought around that tray of beautiful rolls. ;) This was the first night I tried the chilled fruit soup, and I immediately declared that I'd have one every night! They were all great, but this night was Banana Rum and it was my fave of the week. For dinner, my daughter and I had the Artichoke-filled crepes. Yum! Very rich. My son decided to try things he'd never had before so he ordered the Roasted Duck. When it came out it was seriously a half of a duck! My son was a little overwhelmed with where to start, but our waiter, Kingsley took over and cut it all up for him and he went to town. He really liked it, but it was a bit much and he felt really bad that he couldn't finish it.

 

The show tonight was Marquee, the Broadway style revue with the "Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers"!! It was also Captain Ron Holme's Welcome Aboard toast. They had Champagne or non-alcoholic fruit punch. We really enjoyed the show. They had a nice mix of older and newer Broadway songs and some great dance numbers. I could see why frequent cruisers wouldn't want to watch it over and over, but for my first time, I was impressed.

 

Here's a pic from the theatre balcony

 

After the show we ran into King Julien!

 

 

Up Next- Day 3, at Sea!!

[Chatterb]

Thank you for posting such a detailed review! We are sailing on our first cruise may 24. I'm like you as to wanting to be as informed and organized as possible. This is all very helpful!

[cant_w8_2_cruise]

This was the day for our Cruise Critic Meet N Mingle. It was scheduled for 10am at the Olive & Twist. Before the cruise, I was excited for the M&M. We had over 100 people signed up! However, once I got on the ship, I wasn't that amped up for it. I was on the cruise to hang out with my family that live in different states, not to necessarily meet new people. I did want to put some faces to names of folks on here and also, I thought we should go just in case we won anything! I also wanted to kids to meet some of the other kids in the roll call, so they would be more interested in the children's activities. I was kind of bummed that it meant we didn't really have time to do anything else that morning. My BIL, sister and Mom didn't go, since they weren't actually on CC. My husband and I took the kids, and there were only about 25 people there! And no kids. They gave out some prizes for about 5 minutes, and that was pretty much it. I did win 30 minutes of free internet (which I ended up using the last night to print everyone's boarding passes for the trip home). It seemed to me that people were already sitting with people they knew or came with, so we basically got up and left after 10 minutes. No offense to my fellow cruisers, it just wasn't what I was expecting. I hope you all made lasting friendships and made plans to cruise together again! ;)

 

The kids really wanted to head to the pool so we suited up and went to find a spot on the pool deck. haha!! Not so easy... We eventually found some space and they actually ended up serving lunch on the pool deck that day, so we grabbed some yummy sausages and stayed by the pool for the afternoon. They had the world's sexiest man contest by the pool that afternoon. Unfortunately, everyone stopped to watch right in front of my comfy chair, and I couldn't be bothered to stand up to see just how sexy those men were... :D

 

We had reservations for the Ice Show ahead of time, however, they changed the times, so we had a note in our rooms when we arrived that there would be no reservations for any of the shows and we could go to any of them. We decided to try to catch the second show this day instead of waiting for the shows near the end of the cruise. We went back to the room to shower up and get dressed and I happened to look off the balcony and saw THIS!!!:

 

Isn't that incredible! I wish you could see how bright and vivid it was! My kids were so excited, they've never seen the end of a rainbow before!!

 

[cant_w8_2_cruise]

We really enjoyed the ice show. Since there were no reservations, we decided to arrive 30 minutes before the show started. We were able to get great seats in the middle of the front section. This was our view of the rink:

 

 

Not too shabby! However, if you want this view, DO NOT be there any later than 30 minutes. The whole rink filled up less than 15 minutes later, and just before the show started, it was standing room only and people starting filling in the aisles and stairways. (No fire code, I guess!!)

 

We really enjoyed the show. I thought they did a good job with the variety of acts (including another aerialist type act), and the small size of the rink. At one point I looked over and both my kids were on the edge of their seats!

 

A few other pics of the show:

 

 

After the show we got ready for dinner. It was the Shiitake menu. I had the Seared Beef Carpaccio and (of course!) the Chilled Mango and Pineapple soup. Yum and Yum! My husband had the Seafood Ceviche and Loved it! My BIL and son also enjoyed the Ceasar Salads. My BIL started ordering one of those in addition to another app every night. Gotta love all you can eat! For the main course, I had Pork Oscar. It says Veal on the menu from the website, but I remember it was actually pork on board. It was really good with the crab meat on top and a creamy sauce. My daughter had the gyoza and wished she had ordered two! My son (always the adventurous one!) had the Rack of Lamb. Ate every last drop! :) I don't always remember what we had for desert, but this night my husband and I both chose the warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. The perfect ending.

 

The show on night 3 was an impressionist. He started the show with a video of famous people saying how awesome he was... high expectations! ;) But, he was pretty good and funny. We liked it best when he had audience participation. He even brought like 20 kids on stage and sang Rainbow Connection as Kermit the Frog. A good show that every age could enjoy.

[Beachcampin]

 

We took some time before getting ready for dinner to walk around the ship.

I took a picture of the prop wash, but still can't tell if it has 3 pods working or not. I didn't hear anything about any issues while on board, and we made every port earlier than expected, so for all of you future cruisers who were nervous, I think it's all good now!

 

 

 

We were on a couple weeks before you and were told all three are working.

[cynthialanderson67]

loving your review cant wait for more!!

[Kruser7]

A2Mich, sounds like we are on the same cruise on the 19th!! Also enjoying this awesome reeview!! I will see you there!!

 

Loving your review and the great pics. We're boarding FOS in a little over 2 weeks and are super excited, yet a bit nervous, as we've never sailed RCI or a ship this large

 

Edited April 4, 2015 by Kruser7
typo

[A2Mich]

A2Mich, sounds like we are on the same cruise on the 19th!! Also enjoying this awesome reeview!! I will see you there!!

 

 

 

 

 

Yes we are!

[Kruser7]

You won't miss me roaming the ship with an oxygen machine in my arms!! I hope to get to say "hello" to you!! :):):) Have you been lucky to find the Cruise Compass after the drydock? I'm still searching!!

Edited April 6, 2015 by Kruser7

[A2Mich]

You won't miss me roaming the ship with an oxygen machine in my arms!! I hope to get to say "hello" to you!! :):):) Have you been lucky to find the Cruise Compass after the drydock? I'm still searching!!

 

 

No, but then again haven't really been looking for them. May search one of these evenings when I get some free time

[cant_w8_2_cruise]

Have you been lucky to find the Cruise Compass after the drydock? I'm still searching!!

 

I have all of mine, just haven't had a chance to scan them yet. I will post them here at the end of my review. I'm too lazy to look it up, is your cruise an Eastern Itinerary?

 

I'll try to write more tonight, but gotta watch my hometown boy Tyus Jones win it for the Blue Devils... :D

[A2Mich]

I have all of mine, just haven't had a chance to scan them yet. I will post them here at the end of my review. I'm too lazy to look it up, is your cruise an Eastern Itinerary?

 

I'll try to write more tonight, but gotta watch my hometown boy Tyus Jones win it for the Blue Devils... :D

 

 

Yes it is an Eastern. They are on the same cruise as we are.

[Kruser7]

Thanks again for your review.. we are getting set to sail this weekend. I found a compass from back in December, I think. It was to the Western Carribbean, but I'm hopeful that it is similar!! A2Mich, I am a female. traveling with tall men in my family. We are a group of 9!! Have a wonderful time! cant_w8_2_cruise, thanks for the review again :):)

Tracey

 

Edited April 13, 2015 by Kruser7

[cant_w8_2_cruise]

Oh No! I did not want to be one of those people who started a trip review and never finished it, but life has been a little busy and I haven't had much time to write this.

 

For anyone still interested, I'll move on to Day 4- St. Thomas.

 

We started the day at the windjammer and then got the kids to go to the Adventure Ocean for the first time. It ended up being the ONLY time they went there! They had fun, but it was just like their after-school program (playing games, doing arts and crafts, etc) and for an almost 9 and 11 year old, there was SO MUCH MORE fun stuff to do on the ship than going to play games with a few other kids. I had envisioned myself having leisurely solo days by the sea, but honestly, it was a family vacation, and I didn't mind hanging out with my kids most of the time. :)

 

**A quick note about the Adventure Ocean program: We went up there on the first day during the open house to sign the kids up. We asked our daughter could be moved up to the 9-11 year olds since she was 2 weeks from her 9th birthday, and her brother was in that age group. The AO staff asked her when her birthday was (to prove we weren't lying??) and then said as long as she "behaved" and their weren't any issues, she could move up. So, for those people I've seen asking about this before, it was quite easy, even during a Spring Break cruise, to move our daughter up. The one day they attended, both ages were mixed (6-8 and 9-11) and there were still only a dozen kids in there when we went to pick them up.

 

While the kids were in AO, I headed to the pool deck to do Zumba with Belle the Activities Manager! I take Zumba classes at home so I was excited to see this option on the Cruise Compass! We did have to stand right in the middle of everyone on the pool deck!! but it was fun! There was definitely a mix of Zumba "regulars" and people trying it for the first time. The class only lasted 1/2 an hour, so after that I spent some time relaxing in the solarium. I was lying by the windows when we pulled in to port in St. Thomas. We ended up arriving early and people could get off the ship by about 11am.

 

 

We pulled in right by the Norwegian Getaway

 

 

We had originally made plans for Coco Cay and St. Maarten, but we left St. Thomas open to see what we felt like doing when we got there. On one hand, I wish we had planned something ahead of time. As first timers, it would have helped since we didn't really know what to do.

We went to the windjammer for lunch to sit down and talk about our plan for the rest of the day. We sat in the very back and had this view:

What a happy helipad! ;)

 

We toyed with the idea of taking a taxi to a beach, but for our family, it would cost over $60 round trip, and we weren't feeling it. The boys were thinking it would be great to just enjoy the ship without most of the people! My daughter was determined to get a souvenir on each island, so she wanted to get off and go shopping! The girls decided to go together and there is a decent sized shopping plaza about a 5 minute walk from the ship. It had mainly jewelry and souvenir-type shops. We found some cute stuff and headed back early to enjoy the quiet ship as well.

So, even though I kind of wished we had planned something in St. Thomas, since it was our first time there, it was nice to have a semi-relaxing day and not fill it with too much.

[cant_w8_2_cruise]

 

 

 

By the time we left port, it was dark...

 

 

[LuCruise]

Beautiful pictures of St Thomas...and sweet one of your girl. Looking forward to seeing what you ended up doing. That's one of our stops too.

[ampc007]

still here :) quick question... Our daughter will be a one day newly 12 yr old when we sail, and I would much rather her be in the younger group (9-11) then with the teens. Do you think that will be an issue from your experience? TIA :)

[cant_w8_2_cruise]

Our daughter will be a one day newly 12 yr old when we sail, and I would much rather her be in the younger group (9-11) then with the teens. Do you think that will be an issue from your experience? TIA

 

They seemed pretty flexible, so I doubt it. I have heard stories of others moving down, so I bet it will be OK, if that's what she prefers. I think moving up to that 12 YO group is quite a transition, with much less structure...

[cincicruisers]

Following along..thanks for sharing and looking forward to the rest of your review

[perfect match]

Enjoying your review. Thank you for taking the time to share it with us. I will be back to read the rest. :D

[basebare]

Thanks for this review. We are on FOS in July for our 25th anniversary! Just really starting our planning so it is great to read along. We have been to all the islands before, but always fun to see other ideas. Keep the review coming!

Patti