Labor Day on Freedom

By sailingrose

• September 18, 2010

We chose this cruise because Port Canaveral is close to home. This size ship was not something I would typically pick and I really wasn't interested in sailing on her as I am not fond of large ships. I went into this expecting nothing more than a week off.

Freedom is a lovely ship, in excellent condition. She is similar in size to Voyager class ships and in fact is only 70 feet longer. Unfortunately they did not enlarge many of the public areas to reflect the extra passengers. The worst places we encountered this were the promenade venues and the solarium. We were fortunate that there were only a few hundred children on board compared to the nearly 1500 the week before.

We had a Junior Suite on the 10th deck. It was a lovely large room however I wouldn't pick another deck 10 location because of the noise from the pool deck above. One of the brightest spots was our cabin attendant Savio, he was sweet and efficient.

I have to say this was some of the best food I have had from Royal Caribbean in a long time. I really dislike the buffets for the most part because the food is generally cold and sitting too long but I must say I was able to find hot good tasting food at lunch often especially at Jade in the Windjammer. We did not have breakfast there, we generally at in the Diamond lounge a continental breakfast. All our dinners were in the Dining room and we were able to find something to eat. The only problem in the Dining room was temperature of the soups for some reason but our wonderful waiter corrected any problems quickly. I must also say the coffee on this ship was fairly good, a first for me.

We didn't plan on getting off in any of the ports except Labadee this trip as we came to rest. Labadee, Haiti was wonderful. RCI made many great improvements in the years since I'd been there. They now have a dock and sidewalks throughout the island. Howie and I walked the entire area but returned to the ship because it was so hot.

The Captain kept us well informed each day of the conditions and of the storms that were brewing in the Atlantic. He also had a moment of silence on 9-11 for those that lost their lives on that tragic day. The cruise director Graham was a nut and was entertaining.

I can't comment on any of the shows as we didn't see any. Howie got a cold and we missed the ice show.

A few extra notes…….

The Pools aboard this ship were fresh water, a wonderful addition.

The casino was designed better then the Voyager class ships. The tables were more spread out and the non-smoking area was on one side of the room.

The gym was state of the art with every possible machine.

We enjoyed the Diamond lounge immensely, more so then the concierge lounge. We got to meet many wonderful Diamond and Diamond Plus members of Crown and Anchor. We even met people we had sailed with previously.

The Freedom treated the Crown and Anchor members well. Platinum members had a private breakfast as well as Diamond and Diamond Plus. Our Diamond breakfast was wonderful and an officer sat at each table. The Eggs Benedict was hot and delicious. There was also priority seating in the shows as well.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed this ship as much as I did. I would sail aboard her again but it would not be at a time when the children are out of school.