Go Astro Travel LLC

Freedom of the Seas

Overall Impression

My husband and I were honored to be invited to attend one of the Travel Agent Inaugural Sailings of Freedom of the Seas. It was an amazing experience and we can't wait to sail on her again.

Freedom is basically Voyager on steroids. It is a huge ship. In the past the ports may have been the attraction but this time I think it is the ship. I could happily stay on the ship for a week and never see a port. There is so much to do and the best part is the ship is really built to accommodate all these passengers. With few exceptions every venue had seats available. This is a family oriented ship or rather, a ship designed specifically to satisfy the full gambit of interests usually found in extended families. One of my favorite parts of the ship is the promenade. There are bars, cafes and shops, basically something to everyone. It is a great hang out for adults and kids. Once or twice a week a parade runs the length of the promenade (similar to voyager class). The difference is they have added a bridge that lowers and allows for acrobats to swing overhead. The Promenade is a wonderful venue. I just loved strolling the promenade people watching, shopping and stopping for a glass of wine at Vintages.

Bottom line - The ship is huge but it can easily accommodate it's full load of passengers. The wide variety of activities, venues and attractions will keep passengers coming back.

Category L Inside Stateroom

Staterooms

Royal Caribbean has made some nice changes to their cabins. First and foremost the new beds are amazing. Not just the mattresses have been upgraded but the sheets and covers as well. Although the cabin was a bit small (it was hard to maneuver around the bed when they beds were pushed together) as always there was a place for everything. Our cabin was a category L inside. The bathroom has been upgraded as well. There is now a shower door as opposed to a shower curtain. Ladies if you have tried to shave your legs with a shower curtain in the way, you will appreciate the new door. The towels were amazingly soft and absorbent. The closet was a bit small and you could not fit your life jackets on the top shelf with the door closed. One other problem is the location of the light switch for the bathroom was on the wrong side of the bathroom door, making it awkward to turn on the light. I did notice little extras such as the larger ice bucket and deeper refrigerator. The plasma TV was very nice although it still had trouble getting reception at times. Every cabin is wireless internet capable. Although it was really slow (we were told because of the large number of agents using the service) it was still faster than the dial up on the Voyager class ships. Bottom line: don’t come cruising to surf the internet. We did not care for the inside cabin. The lack of daylight made it difficult to wake up in the morning. However, if you don’t expect to spend much time in the cabin other than sleeping, and you can wake up without natural light these cabins will do just fine.

Royal Suite Master Bedroom

Suites

We were able to view two suites that were open for inspection:

Royal Suite – This is a beautiful suite that can accommodate 4-5 passengers. The cabin is 1406 square feet with a 377 square foot balcony. On the balcony there is a whirlpool, 2 large chaise lounges, a table and 4 chairs. The upgraded amenities include walk in closet with motion sensitive lights, beautiful double sinks in the bathroom, plasma TVs and a grand piano.

Royal Suite Living Room

Royal Suite Bathroom

Presidential Suite Master Bedroom

Presidential Family Suite – Amazing suite of cabins that can accommodate 12 – 14 passengers. The suite is 1215 square foot with an 810 square foot balcony. The balcony was beautiful with a nice size whirlpool, a bar and plenty of chairs. This suite is not quite as luxurious as the Royal Suite but very practical and a great way for friends and family to be together. This could be a really nice way for several families (or one large one) to economically upgrade their cabin choice.

Presidential Suite Balcony

Presidential Suite Extra Bedroom

Portofinos

Dining Options

Portofino – This is a wonderful Italian restaurant that is available for a $20 per person cover charge. At Portofino you can dine at a very leisurely pace on a delicious 6 course meal.

Chops Grille - If you are a steak, seafood or chicken lover this restaurant is a must. Again it is well worth the $20 per person cover charge. Notable offerings include Dungeness crab and Shrimp cake, Filet Mignon, Free Range chicken and don’t miss the chocolate mud pie.

Johnny Rockets - My husband does not get the appeal of Johnny Rockets. I on the other hand love it. There is nothing better than eating a juicy cheeseburger, crisp fries and onion rings while watching waiters from all over the world line dance. It is a fun atmosphere and the food is great. There is a $4 cover charge for the food and drinks are an additional fee. I think it is worth the price for at least one time while on your cruise. Don’t forget to try the apple pie. It is amazing, one of the best I have ever had. The availability of outdoor dining is also a plus.

Main Dining Room – Galileo, Leonardo and Isaac’s make up the 3 story main dining room. One of the most notable improvements is the variety of table sizes available. Perhaps it was the sheer size of the dining room but it appeared to have a larger number of tables for two. We found the service excellent and the food very good. The variety offered something for everyone. As always it was hard to pick just one item, so I ordered several (hey this was only a 2 night cruise). I enjoyed the filet of beef, pasta with truffle and wild mushroom cream sauce, sea bass with black olive polenta for entrees. Their appetizers are still wonderful. The best of course is the escargot. Deserts were also notable. The Chocolate Banana Cream pie was fantastic, Grand Manier Soufflé was served hot but the sauce was cold. That was the only disappointment in the main dining room.

Sorrentos - Located on the Promenade Sorrentos is an Italian pizza restaurant that also offers, antipasto appetizers, pannini and Italian style deserts such as tiramisu. This restaurant is included in your cruise fare.

Chops

Main Dining room

Sorrentos

Promenade Cafe

Ben & Jerry's

Johnny Rockets Outside Seating

Ben and Jerry’s – For a small fee you can enjoy some of the best ice cream around. The offer cones, cups and sundaes. If you are an ice cream lover it is worth the price. If ice cream is not your favorite stick to Sprinkles located on the pool deck and open every afternoon, offering free soft serve ice cream.

Squeeze Juice Bar – Located on the pool deck for a fee of $5-$7 you can get a fruit smoothie and add proteins, herbs and other supplements to create customized drink to your liking. Offerings include energy, protein and fat burner drinks. Flavors include raspberry, banana, mango, strawberry, etc.

Café Promenade - Located on the promenade and open 24hrs this restaurant offers a variety of small sandwiches such as egg salad on walnut bread, fresh mozzarella and tomato on pesto triangles and ham and cheese croissant. Desert offerings include a variety of cookies as well and wonderful scones. The menu changes daily. There is no charge for the food, coffee or tea. Specialty coffees such as lattes, espressos and cappuccinos are additional.

Windjammer and Jade Buffets. - Located together in the aft of the ship the restaurants are set up in stations. Each station was duplicated on either side of the restaurant, this limited the long wait for the buffet. The staff walked around offering iced tea, lemonade, coffee, tea and water. These drinks were also available at separate stations throughout the dining area. I did miss the outside aft seating that is offered on some ships. To sit outside you needed to go outside to the pool area.

I really enjoyed the traditional buffet but Jade was more interesting. Jade offered Indian, Thai and Japanese style dishes. Some of the more interested offerings include curried eggplant in coconut milk, sweet corn and crab soup, Thai shrimp pizza and stir fried beef. The atmosphere was casual and attractive. The lunch buffets offered a wide variety of items generally at very good quality.

Breakfast Buffet – Again several stations were open for the breakfast buffet therefore reducing the wait time. When you order an omelet you are given a number so you don’t have to wait while it is being made. You can get the rest of your breakfast and then go back and collect your omelet. They offered the standard baked goods, biscuits, bagels, donuts, croissants, and my favorite brioche. The cut up fruit was standard honeydew, cantaloupe, pineapple and watermelon. They also offered a variety of breakfast meats – bacon, sausage and hand carved ham. I loved the lox (smoked salmon) as well as the fact that they offered sliced red onion and capers. As with lunch and dinner waiters walked around offering drinks. For breakfast they offered orange, grapefruit and apple juice in addition to the standard offerings. For a longer cruise I would go to the dining room at least once for eggs benedict but for the most part I think the buffet offers something for everyone.

H2O Zone

Flow Rider

Whirlpool

Solarium Pool

Boxing Ring

Whirlpool

Mini Golf

Miniature Golf

Rock Climbing

New Deck Chairs

Sports Activities- By far the best attractions of the ship are the sports activities offered.

Cantilever Whirlpools - Extremely large whirlpools basically hanging over the side of the ship. What a view! The water was very warm and at least one of the two whirlpools is open 24hrs. It was a great way to relax at 2am!

Flow Rider - I loved flow rider. I was able to ride it 3 times and would have done it longer had it been available. It was very easy to boogie board (some said it was similar to knee boarding). If we were on for longer I would have considered trying surfing. Lines were not terrible for such a huge attraction. It was even fun to watch, cheer and laugh at other participants. It’s not hard – just a matter of getting used to the balance and timing. Special note: there were several wardrobe malfunctions - Ladies secure your tops and gentlemen please tie your trunks tight!

Rock Climbing – This is the highest rock climbing wall at sea and there are 14 paths to the top - some easy and some very challenging. The staff provides head gear, foot gear, instructions and ballast –you need to provide socks.

Miniature Golf - The course was fun and challenging. We were able to get through the 9 holes in about 30 minutes.

Basketball – The full size basketball court was almost always in use.

Pools – They have 2 main pools; one is dedicated for sports activities and the other will be reserved for leisure. The big improvement was the lounge chairs. Gone are the vinyl strap chairs. Chairs are now mesh with pillows attached for very comfortable naps! There were lots of chairs and they even had the decks in a stadium seating style which allows them to accommodate more chairs in a smaller space. For those of us who like peace and quiet there were many locations on the ship that offered this. Chairs were plentiful no need to get up early to save a chair.

H2O Zone - Fantastic water park style pool equipped with squirt guns, water spouts and lots of fountains. This will be a great attraction for the younger kids.

Ice Skating – The rink is available several times a day for free skate. Don’t miss the ice shows they were a lot of fun!

Ice Show

Entertainment

I think Royal Caribbean offers the best entertainment at sea. The highlight was the new show Once Upon a Time, created especially for Freedom. The show uses popular songs to tell classic fairy tales. The sets were amazing, especially the Pinocchio set. The singers and dancers were the best I have seen.

Arcadia Theater - This is the main theater where the production and headline shows are held. The seats were very comfortable and I did not notice any obstructions. A plus is the cup holders. They could hold any glass with the exception of the beer glass.

Pharaoh’s Palace - Nice lounge used for bands such as The Sting Rays http://www.thestingrays.ca/ We had seen this group on the Voyager in September. They have a great repertoire of music and play hits from popular bands from both the past and present. Great dancing band!

Olive or Twist (Viking Crown Lounge) - Nice lounge type bar that turned into a jazz club in the evenings. Great views, especially at night. We saw the Australian Jazz Quartet and were thoroughly impressed.

Schooner Bar - Trademark Royal Caribbean lounge that offers a variety of sing along piano entertainment.

Boleros - Trademark Latin lounge offering great Mojitos and salsa music

The Crypt - The main disco, Crypt is a two story lounge that is nicely laid out comfy couches in quite corners or seats overlooking the action.

Center Ice - Theater Style lounge that has a wonderful ice show as well as several game shows. The show was amazing. The headliners were a couple from Russia. She changed her outfit more times than we could count, right before our eyes.

Fuel Teen Club

Kids Program - One of the most extensive facilities I have ever seen on a ship.

Arcade – This is a very large facility for a ship. The variety and number of machines is fantastic. They have video games for everyone. Prices started at $1 and went up to $5 for a virtual reality type game.

Adventure Ocean – Extensive program for a ages 3-17 with a special program for parents and children under age 3. Some of the more notable inclusions are the mini-bathrooms designed just for the little ones to Fuel the teen night club.

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