Freedom is here!

[Joanandjoe]

If I were still communting to NYC by bus, instead of driving to Westchester, I might have seen Freedom of the Seas, which arrived in Bayone at 8 a.m. this morning. The ship will be sailing from Manhattan on Saturday, the same day that our ship, the Zenith, sails from Bayonne. I don't know if we'll see her or not, especially since it's supposed to rain Saturday afternoon. If I do see it, I'll report when we get home.

We've never started a cruise in the rain, so we hope the forecast is wrong.

Some of my fellow Zenith cruisers are TAs or extra good RCCL customers, and they'll have a short preview sail of Freedom before they cross the river to Zenith.

Has anyone seen the ship yet? Will anyone be sailing on her? Huge ships are not our cup of tea, but I know that many CCers love them and will sail on them.

Here is the initial schedule for the ship:

Wednesday, May 10, 8 a.m.: Freedom of the Seas sails into New York Harbor and docks at Cape Liberty Cruise Port (in Bayonne, New Jersey).

Thursday, May 11, evening: Freedom heads back out -- this time into New York harbor where it will anchor off of the Statue of Liberty. An official handover will take place onboard at some point in the evening.

Friday, May 12, morning: Is anybody seriously going to miss the ship's debut on American national television? Set your alarm as NBC's "Today" will broadcast live, all three hours, from the ship. Afterward, the vessel will briefly head back to Cape Liberty and then mosey on across the Hudson River to Manhattan's cruise terminal.

Saturday, May 13, daytime: The ship will dock in Manhattan -- so the public can take a peak -- until 4 p.m.

Saturday, May 13, nighttime: The ship departs for a two night preview sailing; guests include travel agents, past passengers and journalists.

Monday, May 15 - Wednesday, May 17: A few more preview sailings.

Thursday, May 18, morning: Freedom of the Seas heads north, to Boston.

Friday, May 19: Freedom of the Seas arrives in "Beantown" where it will be docked at Warehouse Berths 6 and 7 through the weekend.

Monday, May 22: The ship heads south -- this time toward its home in Miami. The trip will take three days and Freedom is scheduled to arrive on....

Thursday, May 25 - Saturday, June 3: Finally! Miami. From this day onward, more (lots more) preview sailings and hometown events.

And then....

Sunday, June 4: Freedom of the Seas officially sets off on its first cruise, a seven-night Western Caribbean itinerary that calls at Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Jamaica and Royal Caribbean's private Haitian beach in Labadee.

[Suzila]

Anyone watching the Freedom of the Seas on the Today Show? They just showed the woman who has been named the Godmother of the ship christening her. She gets to cruise free for life. I'm absolutely positive I could do THAT JOB!

The ship is beautiful.

[sailingrose]

I caught a few moments of the show this morning.

A free cruise for life sounds great to me too.

She looks lovely but I'll stick to smaller ships.

[Mebert]

I've seen some brief coverage of the Freedom on television.

Suzila,

When are they going to have "Godfathers" of ships. I would love to do that job myself.

[Joanandjoe]

Actually, there is one ship's godfather, Mebert. Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii was or will be the godfather of the newest NCL Hawaiian ship. His wife was the godmother of the previous ship, but she is no longer alive.

Joan deserves a free for life cruise for raising a handicapped son; but we didn't even submit an essay. We knew that there would be people, like the winner, who had raised lots of handicapped or foster kids, or who had started a charity. There was no way Joan could compete.

I'd love free cruises for life, but not if I had to raise 17 (or whatever the number was) foster kids. It's cheaper and easier to pay for cruising.

[JoeyandDavid]

As hard as I have tried I can not get excited about this ship :undecided:

[Joanandjoe]

We get very excited about ultra large ships. The thought of them makes us want to jump up and down and scream. Ugh! However, there are CC members who like these ships, and will be sailing on them.

[JoeyandDavid]

I know Joe.........and I hope they have the best time ever.... its just not for us....

[teacp]

not a shaker for us either joey

[popsec]

I checked out the virtual tour on RCL's website...argh!......I suppose if you had small kids or teenagers it might appeal. The Millie class ships are about as big as we want to go but who knows.....