Freedom of the Seas Review
Back to Back Cruising; East and West Caribbean on Freedom of the Seas
Rating by category
Additional details
For our 10th & 11th cruises we decided to do a back to back - coming from western Canada we like to spend more than a week in the sun and make the flight costs more worthwhile, and we wanted to see some islands we hadn't before. These were our 3rd & 4th on Royal Caribbean, but our first on Freedom class.
One thing we noticed was how similar Freedom was to Explorer of the Seas which we were on in November. It looked very similar from the deck plans, but on board it is striking how similar these 2 classes are with freedom basically being a longer version with more passengers and a few extra public areas. Despite the ship running with about 4300 passengers for both cruises we were on, it didn't feel crowded with the exception of the Windjammer on a couple of occasions, on embarkation day and in the morning before a couple of ports. Then there was a line just to get in, so the place was of course packed and a little chaotic.
Overall we enjoyed the ship, but decided for us that the smaller Explorer was better mostly because the extra public areas on Freedom are aimed at kids, and we don't have any. We could however see how for a family this ship would work very well - the large splash park and DreamWorks characters interacting with passengers made for a very family oriented atmosphere.
Cabin Review
Superior Oceanview Stateroom with Balcony
We were very happy with our cabin. Everything was in good condition, and our steward Mart was fantastic, fun to chat with and efficient at getting his work done. We spend on a balcony because we spend a bunch of time in our room and it was a good place to be.
We travel in an aft location on ships quite often, and the vibration felt in the cabin on this ship was not the worst or the best we've experienced, I'd place it a little more vibration than average - but it doesn't particularly bother us.