Freedom of the Seas Review

good value for the money

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Freedom of the Seas
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First Time Cruiser • Age 80s

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Sail Date: Jan 2010

This was our 10th cruise out of Port Canaveral and our 19th overall. Check in and check out are usually the most trying on our nerves, but this time it was easy, compared to the size and capacity of the ship. On this cruise there were 700 kids and overall capacity of 4350. We had an inside cabin, with the typical space. The bed did not fit the room. We had to crawl over the lower corners to get over the desk or couch. There is no longer any candy at night, which we did not need. As on other cruise lines, the daily newspaper is gone, but the "Compass" is issued at night for the following day. It was cool for sail away; Coco Cay had about 15 knots winds and about 70 degrees. There was a crowd to get on to the tenders. A crew member said to wait until about noon for the crowd to slow down. At St Thomas we were one of three ships at Havensight pier and there were one or two ship were at Crown Bay. Weather was generally good with a brief shower. The same was true at St Maarten. We had been at both these stops, so we did not take part in the shore excursions. I did ice skate 3 times. There is free open skating on Tuesday, Thursday night, and almost all day Saturday. I did not participate in the Flow Rider, but you can reserve some time, for a charge, or be part of the group, at no charge, to either stand up surf or lie down on the buggie board. We did participate in Trivia and Sudoku Challenge. There is also a daily sheet for both in the library starting about 9 AM We had early dining (6 PM), with a fine waiter, James. The crew was constantly checking to see if we were happy with the food and service. It was fine, but the menu choices were good, but limited. We were out by 7:20 - 7:30. We went to a few of the shows. The most disturbing part of the whole trip was the reserving of the seats in the Arcadia Theater. One man had his arms over seats on both sides. Another woman was sitting on the side aisle seat and all 8 seats to the wall were empty. We kindly excused ourselves to climb over her to find out she had her cane on the arm rests to reserve all the seats! Others were standing up looking to the rear for their friends. The show was for Beatlemania with about 95% of the seats taken at this time with 20 minutes to go. RCI has to enforce the rules. Princess, for example, has a crew member at the bottom of each aisle to help seat people. The Captain's party is on Monday night between the dining hours and is held on the Grand Promenade. This is also where the two parades are held along with other activities. There are no midnight buffets, but a Freedom Fest is held around noon on Saturday. Tickets for the ice shows are available at 9 AM on Tuesday for the three or four shows. Of course there is no charge and are very easy to obtain - show lasts about 45 minutes. Getting off the ship - Of all the ports, Canaveral is by far the easiest for us to get off. There are sufficient Customs officers, and the bags are on moving carousels. Express starts at 6 AM. We did exit from the forward part of the ship as most people were at the aft areas. We were at the middle of the pack for checked luggage and were off the ship at 8:15! Overall, this is great value for the money and so much to do.

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