Just back from Freedom of the Seas 07/09/06

[GBRBEB]

OP... Would you know perchance if your sailing at full capacity...It has been posted that for the first couple of sailings RCCL was deliberately cappiing the capacity at about 3000...we are going in two weeks and I wanted to know what type of crowding if any we could expect..especially the flow rider...

[cruislovin]

We sailed July 30 on the FOS. This was the largest passenger sailing to that date, we were told. The lines for the Flowrider were VERY long - often an hour wait or more.

 

My children also experienced delays with ice skating on the sea days, especially the extra sea day we had due to Labadee being cancelled. They capped each "session" at 50 skaters and then put people in future sessions. It was a mess! We have never experienced this on 5 Voyager class cruises...

 

Tendering was also problematic. My DH and DS were on a tender in Cozumel for nearly 2 hours! Cayman did not seem to be as bad.

[Ima_HockeyMom]

As we are going on the FOS in just about 3 1/2 weeks, can you tell me what snorkeling trip you did in Montego Bay? Was it a ship excursion or did you find it on your own? How was it?

[bug18]

GBRBEB - We were on the 7/16 sailing which I think they said was at full capacity. We had no problems with crowds except for a line on the flow rider on the last sea day. In general, we did not feel crowded at all.

[GBRBEB]

thanks for the responses..."hopefully" they will have the crowding situation straightened out...

and tendering...hopefully we will not have to tender at all in Cozumel...

[CruiseAwayWithMe]

Okay, I heard that the sailings were under the capacity but I believe mine was full capacity. I didn't have trouble with any lines. We were in the grand suite, so we got to skip in front of the line to board. It said we would board at 2 PM and we boarded at 1:30 PM because we went through the suite line. The flowrider line was no problem even on a sea day. The line seemed to go quickly. If you fall then it's on to the next person. They take your pictures at the flowrider too. I got on my knees once and they shot the picture of me even though I was only up for about 30 seconds. I didn't find any of the lines to be bad. I found the tendering process to be really quick but we had tours which allowed us to get off without getting tender tickets. The tendering process was really slow in Mexico but I heard that they are suposed to be docking in Cozumel, Mexico now. They said in 4 weeks from our July 9th sailing that they would be docking in Cozumel. Overall, I found all the lines to go quickly and I was surprised how quick they went. They know how to get their people through. I don't assume you should have any major problems with lines but it really depends on your personal experience. ;) But, for me lines moved quickly and were no problem.

 

cruislovn- I was getting antsy in the Cozumel tender. We were in this tender and it was bumping up and down about 5 feet. When coming back from Cozumel, Mexico we had to wait 45 minutes for a tender to load up. It was ridiculous!! But, the cruise ship admits that the tendering process was bad in Cozumel. I couldn't stand the boat going up and down......it was more then usual too.

 

We did all of our excursions through the ship. The Montego Bay snorkeling trip was okay. Our boat that took us out there wasn't that great but it was only a 2 minutes walk from the cruise ship. The snorkeling was kinda bad because all you could see in coral with little fish. We did 3 snorkeling trips in Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and Montego Bay. Jamaica had the worst snorkeling. Grand Cayman had really good snorkelling, we went to a ship wreck and saw a lot of fish. But, the stop to Margaritaville really made the snorkelling trip much more fun. :D

 

bug18- The flowrider lines never really were that bad. But, I imagine at the peak times that it could be really crowded. A couple times someone was on the flowrider for about 5 minutes. But, only a few people. Just try not to go at the peak times, I went early in the morning like at 9 AM - 11 AM. The lines were good. Haha, Did anyone watch James Andrews do the flowrider?? He looked like he was really good, he's done it more then a few times.

[beancounterbeth]

I just read your post on another thread. See below:

 

"We did all of our excursions through the ship. The Montego Bay snorkeling trip was okay. Our boat that took us out there wasn't that great but it was only a 2 minutes walk from the cruise ship. The snorkeling was kinda bad because all you could see in coral with little fish. We did 3 snorkeling trips in Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and Montego Bay. Jamaica had the worst snorkeling. Grand Cayman had really good snorkelling, we went to a ship wreck and saw a lot of fish. But, the stop to Margaritaville really made the snorkelling trip much more fun."

 

My husband and I are looking at booking the Catamaran Sail & Snorkel through RCCL in MoBay. I was wondering if this is the snorkeling trip you were referring to in your post? If so can you give me some more info. on it?

 

1. Would you suggest this tour?

2. How long did you stay at Margaritaville?

3. Could you have just stayed at Margaritaville and caught a cab back to the ship later?

[cruislovin]

Cruiseaway,

 

Great pictures! I like the one of Francois - we had him as the concierge on the Navigator in January 2006 and he remembered us! This time we were in the Diamond Lounge - fantastic! Did you get to see it?

[beancounterbeth]

bumping so that hopefully CruiseAwayWithMe will see my question.

[CruiseAwayWithMe]

1. Would you suggest this tour? Yes, the tour was overall great. :)

2. How long did you stay at Margaritaville? one hour

3. Could you have just stayed at Margaritaville and caught a cab back to the ship later? I'm not sure about that because we went back with our tour. You would have to get more information on that. But, you could ask the tour operater maybe.

[GBRBEB]

Okay, I heard that the sailings were under the capacity but I believe mine was full capacity. I didn't have trouble with any lines. We were in the grand suite, so we got to skip in front of the line to board. It said we would board at 2 PM and we boarded at 1:30 PM because we went through the suite line. The flowrider line was no problem even on a sea day. The line seemed to go quickly. If you fall then it's on to the next person. They take your pictures at the flowrider too. I got on my knees once and they shot the picture of me even though I was only up for about 30 seconds. I didn't find any of the lines to be bad. I found the tendering process to be really quick but we had tours which allowed us to get off without getting tender tickets. The tendering process was really slow in Mexico but I heard that they are suposed to be docking in Cozumel, Mexico now. They said in 4 weeks from our July 9th sailing that they would be docking in Cozumel. Overall, I found all the lines to go quickly and I was surprised how quick they went. They know how to get their people through. I don't assume you should have any major problems with lines but it really depends on your personal experience. ;) But, for me lines moved quickly and were no problem."

 

Thanks...

[CruiseAwayWithMe]

Your welcome. Just let me know of any other questions :)

[CruiseAwayWithMe]

Anyone else have any questions? :confused:

[SailingDeanna]

How did the excursion in Mo Bay work with Margaritaville? Was the lunch included in the price of your excursion? If so, could you order anything off the menu? Or did they have selected things you could order. Thanks.

[CruiseAwayWithMe]

The excursion in Mo Bay went great. I really liked being taken to Margaritaville, it had an added a touch to the tour. Lunch isn't included in the price of the excursion. It is actually pretty expensive there. They have a small shop to get t-shirts at. I like the design of Magaritaville, it is very colorful and tropical like. There were many different types of food to be ordered. I took a look at the menu. I remember someone got nacho chips. I looked and the cheapest thing is around $10 dollars or so. But, they serve really big quantities. We didn't order anything just watch everyone swimming and such. :)

[Rixnsd]

Oh and for the official record. My group did the first ever Offiicial Freedom Pub Crawl. We hit every bar. Signed and verified by the Captain, with photo, and signed by every bartender that served us. Quite a feat, and quite a hangover lol.

 

 

 

Nice.... i COULD OF BEEN A CONDENDER

[CruiseAwayWithMe]

Oh and for the official record. My group did the first ever Offiicial Freedom Pub Crawl. We hit every bar. Signed and verified by the Captain, with photo, and signed by every bartender that served us. Quite a feat, and quite a hangover lol.

 

 

 

Nice.... i COULD OF BEEN A CONDENDER

What sailing were you on?

[Aussiegrlfl]

When did they do the pub crawl, my husband said he needs one.:D

[gailc]

We are going on the Freedom this Nov. Our friends have never tendered before. We're hoping the docks are operating in Cozumel by then or we'll be tendering 3 times!

 

Is the Freedom Pub Crawl done the same day or do you have the whole week to do it? We did a Bar Crawl on Princess a couple years ago. We had the week to go to all the bars which was harder than it sounded, but we made it.

 

From what I've read, Formal Nights are Mon. & Thurs. What night do they serve Lobster?

 

Have enjoyed reading about your cruise!!

 

Gail

[CruiseAwayWithMe]

There was a pub crawl on our sailing but I didn't participate in it. :p But, I remember some details about it. The pub crawl was actually only one day, it was on a sea day, Saturday coming back to Miami. It was not the whole week from my understanding.

Friday is lobster night. The waiter really acted like he wantted a tip at the end because he was cutting everything up. :rolleyes:

By November, the docks should be up and going. I've heard that the docks are going to be up in September, so I don't think you should worry. You still have to tender in Grand Cayman and Haiti but it was very smooth tendering there.

[LV2CRUZDASEA]

Oh and for the official record. My group did the first ever Offiicial Freedom Pub Crawl. We hit every bar. Signed and verified by the Captain, with photo, and signed by every bartender that served us. Quite a feat, and quite a hangover lol.

 

Do you remember the cost for the Pub Crawl? or do you just pay for each drink at each bar? There is about 20 of us that would like to do this on the Freedom in Oct. Thanks!

[terboo]

CruiseAwayWithMe do you have to get tickets for the ice show?

 

How much are soda cards for the western 7 day?

 

Sailing freedom 10/14/2007.

terrie

[caribbeanfever]

CruiseAwayWithMe, isn't it hard to believe that it has been 5 weeks sunday since we got back from our July 9th cruise! We didn't do the meet and mingle thing since there were 9 people in our group and we were sooo busy.

 

We took our 25 and 21 yo daughters and almost 19 yo son(our 23 yo daughter and her husband couldn't get away since she got accepted to Midwestern Univ for Phys. Asst. school and started in June) along with both sets of our parents.

 

We did the Passion Island excursion in Cozumel with everyone, and a two-stop snorkel with a third stop that included lunch in Grand Cayman and a river tubing excursion in Jamaica with just us and our kids.

 

Haven't planned our next vacation yet, but see that you are going with your parents on the Liberty next July-I'm jealous.

[CruiseAwayWithMe]

Yes, you have to get tickets for the ice show. They hand them out at specific locations around the ship. It will say in your cruise compass. We got our tickets from Francois, the concierge, and we got tickets to go anytime we would like. I have no idea how much the soda cards are because we got all of our drinks from the concierge lounge or the buffet usually.

 

Our meet and mingle group was very small. I find it hard to believe that 30ish people signed up because there was only like 12 people there. Haha, the guy that hosted the meet & mingle was so fake, he pretended to be on cruise critic everyday. He said that he goes around the boards and reads about Freedom of the Seas. He was like you probably heard Once Upon a Time was good...... But, we talked to him and asked his screen name on cruise critic and he said he didn't have one. Yeah, it's hard to believe it's been more than a month since Freedom of the Seas.

Here is the guy that pretended to be the cruise critic fanatic, lol. Happened to shoot a picture of him when he wasn't looking, oops.

 

BTW, was anyone at Bingo on the 4th day of the cruise? I won $206 on day 4 (surf night) on the cover all bingo game. It was the session from 5 PM to 6 PM. Our dinner was at 6 PM and I stayed to the end. I ended up winning. I got two numbers in a row! In the B colum then the I colum or I probably would have lost. Guess who the Bingo dealer was?! The guy in the picture at the cruise critic meet!

Me holding the winning bingo card and the ever so popular Royal Caribbean key chain :)

[terboo]

How much are the coupon books and are they worth the purchase?

terboo

Freedom 10/17/07

Promenade Room, Deck 7:) :)