Freedom of the Seas (Southern) or Harmony of the Seas (Western)?

[CruisingMom-2016]

We're trying to choose between two cruises and need your help.

We are looking at two cruises - leave on the same date - and price virtually the same. Both leave on July 28.  Traveling from Philadelphia and airfare - at least as of now - very similar.

 

Freedom of the Seas - aft. cabin 9706.  Southern Caribbean. San Juan, Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, St. Maarten.

Harmony of the Seas - port cabin 9308. Western Carribbean and Coco Cay - Port Canaveral, Coco Cay, Cozumel, Roatan, Costa Maya.

 

We have previously cruised Oasis, Allure and Adventure (this past May).  We loved Oasis and Allure and also enjoyed Adventure (particularly the slides - but we did those with our kids).

I'm sure we would love Harmony - not sure about Freedom? 

 

This will be our first time traveling KID FREE - so torn between the Southern itinerary - and the newness of Harmony (but thinking we might feel bad on Harmony without our kids).  Looking forward to relaxing and also taking advantage of nightly entertainment (which we were limited when traveling with young(er) kids)/

 

Also looking for input on the cabins - particularly 9706 on Freedom. My husband is concerned about lack of breeze (and feeling humid in the room) - and sightlines over the balcony.  I'm drawn to the aft cabin and possibility of a bigger balcony?

 

Appreciate whatever input you can offer.

 

Thanks!

CruisingMama

[bouhunter]

For us a no brainer.  Southern over Western every time.

[brillohead]

I would take Southern over Western, and Freedom over Harmony.

I'd be all over Freedom right now if airfare to San Juan weren't problematic....

[Robo1098]

The southern itinerary is better for me. Having to fly to San Juan is more of an issue. If you extended the vacation for an extra day or two in Puerto Rico it seems like a better vacation.

[CruisingMom-2016]

Thanks, all.  We are drawn to the Southern Itinerary.

 

How about the aft cabin on Freedom?  9706.  My husband is concerned about not liking the balcony at the end of the ship.

[josh.vincent.180]

Freedom over Harmony and Southern over Western, of our next 4 booked cruises 2 are on Freedom, our last was on Harmony and we were completely disappointed of no pool in solarium which made ship crowded around the other pools.

 

 

The flights to San Juan are a bit tricky, but we usually fly in Southwest (2 bags free per person) the night or two prior, 1 night San Juan Airport Hotel or 2 nights to the San Juan Water and Beach Club.  The flights out depending on where you are headed is the trickier of the 2 to get a good one especially on Southwest so we usually try to scalp an American Business class for baggage.

[tinkr2]

We loved the Southern. We flew in a few days early and loved San Juan also. They put older ships on this itinerary bc its so great!

[Clarea]

Southern for us.

[young_ens]

I've been looking and have the same problem.  My pick is southern, aruba is really really nice!   I want to cruise harmony but don't really like the ports, so I will wait.  

Sounds like you have good options for flights.  My options just plain suck so far, most have to overnight in Toronto (uuggghhh).  

[M&JfromSDL]

On 11/8/2018 at 8:55 AM, CruisingMom-2016 said:

Thanks, all.  We are drawn to the Southern Itinerary.

 

How about the aft cabin on Freedom?  9706.  My husband is concerned about not liking the balcony at the end of the ship.

 

Thanks for posting this thread.  We were debating Allure Eastern vs. Freedom Southern and think we'll go with the Southern. 

 

As far as the cabin goes, we had 8712 on Freedom a few years back.  I enjoyed the larger balcony but did not like having the superstructure in the way.  There is also a bit less privacy as the cabin above can see into part of your balcony. 

[CanadaRob]

Southern for us too, flights to San Juan for us are similar to flights to FL.  Right now are also a little cheaper so Southern as a no brainer and you get to spend a day or 2 in SJ

[pepitared]

My friend and I preferred the southern itinerary BUT hated Freedom! The staff was beyond rude and unaccommadating. Our room steward was horrible and not once vacuumed. We had excursions planned and are used to receiving our tickets and info the night prior, our info was never received in our room. We asked the steward and he said “Go to guest services, I can’t help you”  For all excursions we had to go to guest services and wait in line. No matter where we went the staff seemed like they didn’t have time for us.  We vowed never to cruise RCCL again but they’re giving me a free cruise so we are giving HOTS a try and leaving from FLL. We’ve been to all the ports but I can’t imagine the cruise can be close to as bad a nightmare as FOS was. The entire ship felt dirty. The food wasn’t the greatest. Every night we ate in MDR there was food on the floor, one morning for breakfast the waitstaff told me “ whatever you want from the menu you can just go get from the buffet” I to,d him the never had the hash browns on the buffet, he huffed and puffed and said “Oh I guess I can just walk over there and get them” I asked for a milkshake as that was one of the special breakfast items, chocolate was the theme. I walked away to grab food from the buffet which is not what I wanted. My friend stayed behind and right in front of her the waiter asked his assistant if they had shakes, she said no! His reply was “ well forget her then!” Embarkation and disembarking was the best part, it was orderly and fast. 

[Ashland]

Take Freedom for the itinerary...Cabin # 9706 (although it is a connecting cabin) the views of the aft are worth it (superstructure isn't a problem once you get to those higher decks we've had #9708 right next door).

I've recently done both ships...just something about HOTS I didn't care for...not that there was really something bad about it.

Freedom is in fine condition and the crew onboard we had for our B2B this past September were just amazing.

[LuCruise]

Funny as we have Harmony booked for future and i started looking at other options for the fun of it and Freedom cruise caught my eye.  It has similar itinerary that you list, and we could get a much nicer room for only a small amount more than our Harmony booking.  For us though, the airfare to San Juan is a pain (seems like odd overnight flights and also not direct) so we dismissed it (plus we love Oasis class), but it seemed like a good option.  Not sure when you are travelling but i think Freedom is getting amped too.

Edited January 8, 2019 by LuCruise

[Wrh2016]

Southern!  Hands down.  😉. We love the aft balconies on any ship.  On deck 9 Freedom, you will be just above the super-structure.  The structure doesn’t bother us at all.  Book your flight on southwest and do it early!   Prices skyrocket quickly.  We book as soon as they are released.  Good luck!  

[dreadpirate3]

I must say that Freedom is an awesome ship. We had a terrific time on it and enjoyed the staff. I would take the negative post with a grain of salt.

[johnbob7]

5 hours ago, Ashland said:

Take Freedom for the itinerary...Cabin # 9706 (although it is a connecting cabin) the views of the aft are worth it (superstructure isn't a problem once you get to those higher decks we've had #9708 right next door).

I've recently done both ships...just something about HOTS I didn't care for...not that there was really something bad about it.

Freedom is in fine condition and the crew onboard we had for our B2B this past September were just amazing.

 

Ashland, not to hijack this thread, but we are in Cabin 9708 in a few weeks. Any insight to pros and cons of that specific space/location?

 

TIA, 

 

BobJ

[rockmom]

I had promised myself a few months ago that when the summer 2020 itineraries came out that I would book a Southern one, preferably ABC islands.  And that's exactly what I did.  We are in 9406 on Freedom, so the same aft cabin but on the port side.  I've had aft cabins on Radiance, Enchantment and Explorer, they are my favorite by far.  Never had any issue with the structure being bothersome, but I was always on a high deck. As far as privacy goes, to me that's the trade off for the amazing deck space and views.  I will say that it's more of a hike from the elevator than if you're midship, but I consider that to be forced exercise to ward off too many indulgences. 😄 

[karena1]

On 11/7/2018 at 10:37 PM, CruisingMom-2016 said:

We're trying to choose between two cruises and need your help.

We are looking at two cruises - leave on the same date - and price virtually the same. Both leave on July 28.  Traveling from Philadelphia and airfare - at least as of now - very similar.

 

Freedom of the Seas - aft. cabin 9706.  Southern Caribbean. San Juan, Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, St. Maarten.

Harmony of the Seas - port cabin 9308. Western Carribbean and Coco Cay - Port Canaveral, Coco Cay, Cozumel, Roatan, Costa Maya.

 

We have previously cruised Oasis, Allure and Adventure (this past May).  We loved Oasis and Allure and also enjoyed Adventure (particularly the slides - but we did those with our kids).

I'm sure we would love Harmony - not sure about Freedom? 

 

This will be our first time traveling KID FREE - so torn between the Southern itinerary - and the newness of Harmony (but thinking we might feel bad on Harmony without our kids).  Looking forward to relaxing and also taking advantage of nightly entertainment (which we were limited when traveling with young(er) kids)/

 

Also looking for input on the cabins - particularly 9706 on Freedom. My husband is concerned about lack of breeze (and feeling humid in the room) - and sightlines over the balcony.  I'm drawn to the aft cabin and possibility of a bigger balcony?

 

Appreciate whatever input you can offer.

 

Thanks!

CruisingMama

with those choices I would do Western on Harmony as we are not fans of the ABC islands.  Now if your Southern route was STT or SMX, Antigua, St Lucia, Babados would chose that any day of the week.

 

[SeaCrawler13]

Freedom Over Harmony every time! 

[Ashland]

5 hours ago, johnbob7 said:

 

Ashland, not to hijack this thread, but we are in Cabin 9708 in a few weeks. Any insight to pros and cons of that specific space/location?

 

TIA, 

 

BobJ

No problem...we loved this cabin. There is a Bose sound system and DVD player...we got movies from the Concierge or you can more than likely hook up a Firestick or your laptop to see movies. The large balcony was amazing especially for our room service breakfasts...Enjoy this cabin we've had it on Liberty & Independence....Obviously a favorite !!

[Hokie79]

We just did Freedom in December. Went on Freedom the year before when it was in Ft Lauderdale.  We really liked this class of ships.  

 

We absolutley loved the itinerary and Old San Juan.  

 

The ship was showing a few a few signs of age though.  We were on deck 8 aft and could smell sewage in the halls some and had issues a couple times with our toilets being able to flush.  In Studio B during an ice show we could smell sewage during part of it too.  Otherwise the ship looked good and had no issues.

 

The passenger mix was very different then sailings out of florida.  There were a lot more pushy and rude people then we have ever seen before on a Royal cruise.

 

Windjammer was much worse then normal, very repetitive and food not warm a lot of the time.  MDR was much better then normal.  Fast service and good food with great servers.  

 

We would definitely book this cruise again for the islands but would probably wait a while to take our kids back on this trip.  

[bobmacliberty]

We had a similar decision (newness of Harmony vs. southern itinerary on Freedom) for this coming May and chose Freedom.  I really want to try both Harmony and Symphony (have not sailed either yet) but the allure of the ABC islands won out.  Will be our 3rd time on Freedom and really enjoyed the first 2.  We stay mid-ship so I can't help with aft cabin opinions.

[JustUs275]

We stayed in 9706 (aft balcony) on our first Freedom cruise and we really liked it. To date, it's been our favorite cabin and favorite ship. Yes, it's quite a hike to get to the aft cabin, but that's ok as I will need the exercise to work off the extra calories! The balcony was larger (we had 2 loungers, 2 regular chairs plus a table) and we liked it much better than side balconies. Now, that was an Eastern itinerary in February, and we were very comfortable napping on that balcony. LOL I am this || close to booking that same cabin on Freedom again for a Southern itinerary for Nov 2020. I'm assuming temperatures will be warmer so we will see if the aft balcony is still comfortable. I'm glad to read that she's scheduled to get amp'd early next year...expecting it will be similar to Independence which we are sailing on in March.

Edited January 16, 2019 by JustUs275