Freedom of the Seas Review

Freedom of the Seas - Western Caribbean

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Freedom of the Seas
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crusinmama06
First Time Cruiser • Age 50s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Apr 2007
Cabin: Grand Suite
Traveled with children

Background Information - This was our 6th cruise, our 3rd with RCCL. We have been on RCCL, Disney, NCL and Carnival. We travel with our 2 children ages 3 and 7.

Pre Cruise Hotel - I wanted to try the Mandarin Oriental in Miami. We were looking for an ultra luxury hotel with balconies on the bay and THIS fit what we wanted. The room was beautiful, overlooking Biscayne Bay. The service was top notch. But be prepared to pay for the luxury. Even the PB&J for the kids was $15. Would I stay here again...probably not. It was nice to do once. But there was no place to just get simple snacks. No gift shops. No shopping around. Everything had to be ordered straight from room service which is difficult when all you want is some juice for the kids. The hotel does accept dogs up to 30lbs and there is a 1.6 mile walking track around the hotel and neighboring properties where everyone walks their dogs. So the kids enjoyed seeing all of the animals. When we arrived at 5:30pm, the room wasn't ready although check in was at 4pm. When I asked for another room, they gave us a key to a king sized bed. With 2 kids, the king sized wouldn't work. So back down to the lobby for another key for another room with double beds. If I had to do it all over again I would have picked a hotel closer to the Bay Marketplace/Mall.

Priority Embarkation - On other cruiselines, the priority embarkation was a sail through zero lines and right onto the ship. That wasn't exactly our experience on Freedom. Now don't get me wrong, it was still less than 30 minutes from arrival to getting on the ship. We walked into the terminal, there was no one in line in the Priority Suite line. We walked right up to be checked in...very quick process. THEN, we we ushered into a line that snaked up and down the terminal. This was the line to get the pictures taken for the set sail pass. So that was the longest part...waiting in that line. But after 30 minutes we were on the ship.

Cabin Review

Grand Suite

Cabin GS
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