Our first cruise and my first review! (a little late) FOS 11/29/15

[dreday3]

Freedom of The Seas – Eastern, 11/29/15. Our first cruise.

 

Stayed at Residence Inn Port Canaveral before the trip. The hotel was nice/clean, but we were pretty bored. The small bar at the hotel did not open until 4, so no drinks relaxing at pool. We did have a good burger at a restaurant/pub within walking distance called Preachers (I think?). Overall, would recommend staying there pre-cruise.

 

Boarding the ship- sooooo easy! We got to the terminal around 10:45 and we were on the ship by about 11:30 or so! We were group 3 or 4 boarding, I can’t recall.

 

Room – hmmm. It was ready at 1, luggage came soon after. Very clean, we thought it was spacious, loved our balcony. Bathroom was good. Overall I would say we loved it, but for some reason our room had this crazy vibration! It wasn’t from waves or weather, it was definitely a mechanical thing. We have video of my clothes just vibrating like crazy on the bed. We were laughing because if I lay still, my teeth would chatter. It seemed to only be around our room, further back it was better, and towards the middle/front it was better. Lucky us I guess! At times I would walk up a few rooms to the library to get away from it. Even our room steward commented on it. 7364 was our room. Speaking of….

 

Room Steward (am I saying that right?)- Great!!! Very friendly, got us what we needed, and appreciative of tip at end of trip. He really was a great guy.

 

Bars – we had the drink package, great service! The bartenders were fantastic. The Champagne Bar was first bar we went to when we boarded, the bartender remembered my name and my drink the entire trip and would stop and talk to me if he saw me elsewhere! Schooner Bar – also great bartenders! Fun to joke around with, they would make us “experimental” drinks each night, fantastic people. And Vintages – my favorite. We went every night before dinner for wine. They always had it ready for us, really interesting people to talk to and just generally made for the higher points of our trip.

 

Excursions:

Coco Cay – we paid the $50 for the clamshell-lounger (with water, fruit plates, towels and rafts) – totally worth it. More secluded part of beach, very relaxing, rides to and from lunch, semi-private bathroom.

 

St. Thomas – did the Secret Sands excursion. LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!! Such a beautiful beach, fun open air bus ride to and from (with a stop on top of island for pictures). Limited people on the beach, loungers for us, snacks and rum drinks and regular non-alcoholic drinks. No bars or restaurants, no water sports, but they do provide snorkels to go out to the reef. Clean bathroom with shower. Highly recommend this excursion.

 

St. Martin – we didn’t plan anything on this day, just did some shopping in town, and had some drinks. Met some fun people from other cruise lines – great day!

 

Dining:

Windjammer – Meh, it was fine? It feeds a lot of people at once and that’s the point of it, so it’s successful there. I can’t say I really liked or disliked it, it was fine.

 

Johnny Rockets – sadly, I did not like it! The fries weren’t very good and my grilled cheese was just okay. Bummer.

 

MDR – We thought it was good! I liked the sliders, the escargot, the cream of garlic soup, pot stickers, shrimp cocktail, my boyfriend like the lamb, beef something….we had some kind of pot stickers that were awesome. My pasta dish was decent, more food I can't remember. No complaints, we left each meal happy and satisfied. Our waiters, by the way, were fantastic! One thing, we had my time dining, same table every night, same time (7:30), we did feel a bit rushed. As soon as an appetizer was done, dinner would be waiting for us, same with dessert. We were out by 8:20 or so every night! Bar service was good, had my wine ready each night.

 

Chops – we loved it!!! That bacon appetizer, oh my god, so good. Great steaks, rare, just the way we like them.

 

And then we did a wine pairing dinner at Vintages on the Friday night, so fun! Fixed price. Quite a few courses. Lots of wine! There was an upcharge for Maine Lobster, but they gave it to us for the regular price.

 

Leaving ship - we did the luggage valet. Great decision! We walked off the ship about 8, waiting for shuttle by 8:45. Plenty of time for our flight, no issues with luggage.

 

Over all great cruise. Would we go again? Well, not in December. It was very windy the first few days and you couldn’t really go on the decks at night, the helipad wasn’t open at night until Wednesday. It was sort of a rockier trip – we were talking to the girl who works at Vintages and she was saying it was rockier than normal. It wasn’t too bad, until the last day. Coming back to Port Canaveral made me kind of nervous. I’m sure to other seasoned cruisers they would say it wasn’t that bad, but it was pretty rocky! We were hanging on a bit in bed. The weather was great on the port days, so that’s good. And the Friday sea day was absolutely perfect.

 

Thanks everyone!!!

Edited January 25, 2016 by dreday3

[cindy_k]

:D Thank you for the excellent trip report! Its awesome to see that you had a good time.

 

I go in 4 more weeks. I'm hoping the weather is a little better. :p

[SheehanDJ]

We went in October, I thought the Freedom vibrated a lot too, my DW didn't notice until I pointed it out. Vibration wasn't in our cabin (thankfully) but I'd notice it in certain bars and venues. Worst was the Viking Crown, only went up there for the Meet & Mingle, vibration was horrible, never went back. It didn't really detract from our cruise, but I did notice it.

 

"...the cream of garlic soup..."

 

I ordered a cup of this ate it and ordered a bowl :)

[Clarea]

Great trip report, thanks. Weather is usually better, Florida has been having a spell of cool weather lately.

[jaminvermont]

Thanks for your report. We head out March 6th on FOS. I'm considering the luggage valet. Did you do walk off or were you given a time? I'm trying to decide on a time to book our transfer. We're in no hurry, as we have a 2:00 flight out of MCO. My shuttle times are 9:00 or 9:45 that I'm considering...

Any thoughts on that?

[dreday3]

We went in October, I thought the Freedom vibrated a lot too, my DW didn't notice until I pointed it out. Vibration wasn't in our cabin (thankfully) but I'd notice it in certain bars and venues. Worst was the Viking Crown, only went up there for the Meet & Mingle, vibration was horrible, never went back. It didn't really detract from our cruise, but I did notice it.

 

"...the cream of garlic soup..."

 

I ordered a cup of this ate it and ordered a bowl :)

 

That soup was great! :D

 

Great trip report, thanks. Weather is usually better, Florida has been having a spell of cool weather lately.

 

Some people were saying that December is usually a little windier and rockier than other months...if we cruise again, we'd probably go in May and maybe try the Western...and maybe one of the "big" ships.

[dreday3]

:D Thank you for the excellent trip report! Its awesome to see that you had a good time.

 

I go in 4 more weeks. I'm hoping the weather is a little better. :p

 

Have fun!!! I'm sure the weather will be good! :)

[NOSaints1]

We live in Ontario and its +3 degrees today, weird for January

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[dreday3]

Thanks for your report. We head out March 6th on FOS. I'm considering the luggage valet. Did you do walk off or were you given a time? I'm trying to decide on a time to book our transfer. We're in no hurry, as we have a 2:00 flight out of MCO. My shuttle times are 9:00 or 9:45 that I'm considering...

Any thoughts on that?

 

Hi! We had no assigned time. We had a pick up around the same time for a 12:55 flight out of MCO, no issues!

[Cruisingthesuitelife]

Thanks for taking the time to do a review, sounds like overall you had a great first cruise. :)

[CaribbeanCrush]

Nice review!

[captainmayi]

When you ate at Johnny Rockets do you recall if the price included beverages? Thanks

[CookieDiva]

Great review! We're taking our first cruise in 10 weeks and it's the Eastern trip on the FOS. Getting excited.

A couple of questions -

How was your mattress? Much talk recently of overly firm mattresses.

 

Who did you use to transfer to MCO? And how much was it? We are renting a car to get to PC before the cruise, but since we intend to use Luggage Valet are considering just using a transfer service. Our flight isn't until 2 pm and we don't want to rush off of the ship.

 

Thanks for the tip on the clamshell loungers in Coco Cay. Can you book these before the cruise?

 

Is the Secret Sands excursion through RCI or a private company? Had you ever been to St Thomas before? Would this be good for a complete island newbie? As in - will we see any of the island? Any opportunity to shop?

 

St. Martin - had you ever been there before? Did you have any interest in seeing the planes land over Maho Beach? We're thinking that we'd really like to see that.

 

TIA for your answers!

Edited January 25, 2016 by CookieDiva

[dreday3]

When you ate at Johnny Rockets do you recall if the price included beverages? Thanks

 

I don't remember, sorry.:(

[dreday3]

Great review! We're taking our first cruise in 10 weeks and it's the Eastern trip on the FOS. Getting excited.

A couple of questions -

How was your mattress? Much talk recently of overly firm mattresses.

 

Who did you use to transfer to MCO? And how much was it? We are renting a car to get to PC before the cruise, but since we intend to use Luggage Valet are considering just using a transfer service. Our flight isn't until 2 pm and we don't want to rush off of the ship.

 

Thanks for the tip on the clamshell loungers in Coco Cay. Can you book these before the cruise?

 

Is the Secret Sands excursion through RCI or a private company? Had you ever been to St Thomas before? Would this be good for a complete island newbie? As in - will we see any of the island? Any opportunity to shop?

 

St. Martin - had you ever been there before? Did you have any interest in seeing the planes land over Maho Beach? We're thinking that we'd really like to see that.

 

TIA for your answers!

 

Mattress - honestly I didn't notice anything, but maybe ours wasn’t switched out yet?

 

We used Cortrans, they were great. $20 per person.

 

We were able to book the clamshell before the cruise. :)

 

Secret Sands is through Royal. This was our first visit to St. Thomas. You will see a lot of the island on the drive, open air bus. The beach is just beautiful. It really looks like paradise. You would probably have some time to shop when you return, we didn't leave port until 7pm. Our excursion was at 12:30 I think...4 hours-ish.

 

St. Martin was also new to us, but we woke up and just didn't feel like another beach day, so we walked into town. It's a bit of a hike, and it was very hot that day. They have water taxi's and regular taxi's if you don't want to walk. Had a nice day just relaxing with some cocktails.:p I know a lot of people really enjoy the planes though!

 

Have fun!!!

[dreday3]

Thanks for taking the time to do a review, sounds like overall you had a great first cruise. :)

 

Now that we are farther away from it, yes it was fun! :p The movement on the last day had me swearing up and down I'd never cruise again, not a fan. :D

 

But I think time of year and just some bad luck played into that, so now I'm thinking we may cruise again because you are right, overall we had a great time.:) Just maybe we will pick a cruise with more port days.

 

One more thing, we were back on ship early on the St. Martin day and sat in/by the pool with a cocktail and watched a movie. Great way to spend the afternoon.

[teacup317]

Thanks for a really great review. You've given me a couple of ideas for the excursion in St. Thomas.

[dreday3]

Some pictures....

[CruisinAg]

enjoyable review! Sounds like you had a great time! I always like reading first timer's reviews as it reminds me of that feeling on my first one. The service is what hooked me the first time around and it seems as though you had some really fun interactions with the staff.

 

Thanks again!

[Powersboyee2]

FOS has had the vibration problem for quite some time now. Before her most recent dry dock last Feb was when it was first reported if I can remember right. They had major ozipod issues was the blame of the source. I was on her a month or so after that dry dock and the ship still shook like crazy. Not so good on the fix I guess. MDR was where we noticed the most. Not bad in our room tho. 3rd deck mid-aft oceanview big window room.

[dreday3]

Some more pics...sorry, don't know why so small.....

Coco Cay

St. Thomas

Wine pairing :D

Our waiters (plus one)

[CookieDiva]

Mattress - honestly I didn't notice anything, but maybe ours wasn’t switched out yet?

 

 

 

We used Cortrans, they were great. $20 per person.

 

 

 

We were able to book the clamshell before the cruise. :)

 

 

 

Secret Sands is through Royal. This was our first visit to St. Thomas. You will see a lot of the island on the drive, open air bus. The beach is just beautiful. It really looks like paradise. You would probably have some time to shop when you return, we didn't leave port until 7pm. Our excursion was at 12:30 I think...4 hours-ish.

 

 

 

St. Martin was also new to us, but we woke up and just didn't feel like another beach day, so we walked into town. It's a bit of a hike, and it was very hot that day. They have water taxi's and regular taxi's if you don't want to walk. Had a nice day just relaxing with some cocktails.:p I know a lot of people really enjoy the planes though!

 

 

 

Have fun!!!

 

 

Thanks for all of the info! Really helpful!

[mrsbusfighter]

Great review, thanks so much!

 

I've been trying to figure out whether the beverage package also includes the wine dispenser machines (located for the most part outside of the MDR from my recollection). I know the package includes wine by the glass under a certain amount, but since there are no bartenders at those dispensers, are they still included in the bev package? (Sorry I've looked at the boards and Google-d it but came up empty!)

[Clarea]

Great review, thanks so much!

 

I've been trying to figure out whether the beverage package also includes the wine dispenser machines (located for the most part outside of the MDR from my recollection). I know the package includes wine by the glass under a certain amount, but since there are no bartenders at those dispensers, are they still included in the bev package? (Sorry I've looked at the boards and Google-d it but came up empty!)

No package includes wine from wine dispensers.