Royal Caribbean International

...ship afloat (at the time), Royal Caribbean's Freedom of The Seas. We planned our Caribbean cruise a year in advance which upon doing so ensured we had a good choice of cabins. We chose a cabin with an outside balcony on deck 9 towards the stern of the ship, roughly two thirds back on the port side. Even though we booked in advance by a year, over four fifths of the cabins had been taken. These cruises are very popular so give yourself plenty of time ...
...Caribbean ==

Royal Caribbean was formed in 1968 with the merger of three Norwegian shipping companies, Anders Wilhelmsen & Company, I.M. Skauge & Company, and Gotaas Larsen. 1970 saw the first RC ship, The Song Of Norway make its maiden voyage followed by the Nordic Prince in 1972. The Song of Norway was the first passenger ship in the world to be stretched. The ship was cut in two and a mid section of 85 foot was added increasing ... more

My wife & I recently cruised on the biggest ship afloat (at the time), Royal Caribbean's Freedom of The Seas. We planned our Caribbean cruise a year in advance which upon doing so ensured we had a good choice of cabins. We chose a cabin with an outside balcony on deck 9 towards the stern of the ship, roughly two thirds back on the port side. Even though we booked in advance by a year, over four fifths of the cabins had been taken. These cruises are very popular so give yourself plenty of time before your intended holiday.

About Royal Caribbean

Royal Caribbean was formed in 1968 with the merger of three Norwegian shipping companies, Anders Wilhelmsen & Company, I.M. Skauge & Company, and Gotaas Larsen. 1970 saw the first RC ship, The Song Of Norway make its maiden voyage followed by the Nordic Prince in 1972. The Song of Norway was the first passenger ship in the world to be stretched. The ship was cut in two and a mid section of 85 foot was added increasing the passenger capacity to 1000 from 700. The Nordic Prince was stretched in 1980. RC went public in 1993 and began trading on the NYC stock market. A year later as the company grew and grew they constructed a six storey office building on the Port of Miami.
Today RC have six classes of ship, The newly constructed Oasis fleet, Freedom, Voyager, Radiance, Vision, and the Sovereign class. This totals 22 ships ranging in size from around 74,000 tons to 220,000 tons. These ships cover most continents with the exception of Africa and some are transatlantic.

About The Ship

Construction started in 2005 at the Aker Yards drydock in Turku, Finland. Sections of the ship were constructed in other countries and delivered to be assembled like a huge jigsaw puzzle.The Freedom of the Seas maiden voyage was on 4th June 2006. She has a double occupancy capacity of 3,634 and weighs in at a hefty 160,000 tons. She is 1,112 ft long and has a maximum beam of 84 ft. Her cruising speed is just over an impressive 21 knots which is around 25 mph. This ship was built specifically to sail on the Caribbean sea.

Ports Of Call

The ports of call are, Charlotte Amalie St. Thomas, CocoCay Bahamas, Cozumel Mexico, Falmouth Jamaica, George Town Grand Cayman, Labadee Haiti, Ocho Rios Jamaica, Philipsburg St. Maarten, and her new port of departure is now Port Canaveral Miami, previously being Port of Miami. Any of the ports of call may be changed before or during the cruise depending on weather conditions.

Preparing For The Cruise

When you book a cruise with Royal Caribbean you should note it is a cashless ship. There's no money aboard whatsoever. You will need a valid credit card that will be used for your onboard account. This account is for any purchases you make onboard for products or services outside whatever you have included in the cost of your cruise. We paid in advance all our gratuities, a champagne package, (five bottles over the course of your stay on board. (we were only on seven nights, shhhh!)), and as a treat we paid to have a romance package which included a new bath robe & slippers each, a bottle of champagne and flowers which were delivered to our room for our arrival. The package also included canapé’s and treats delivered to us on the two formal nights. Other packages can be paid for in advance and there are too many to talk of. Once you book your cruise you can view your account on the Royal Caribbean website and there you can add other exciting things to your cruise like excursions, drinks packages, gifts and so on. You don't have to fiddle about looking for excursions that coincide with your time on land as your online account only shows the ones available for your ports of call.
Normal casual attire is acceptable on board and for the two formal nights it is required that Gentlemen wear a tuxedo and bow tie or a two or three piece suit with tie. Ladies are required to wear an evening dress or gown but it doesn't have to be elaborate or flashy. As photographs will be taken on the formal nights and displayed for the entire ship to see, you can decide what is right for you regarding dress, accessories and make-up.
Obviously as part of your preparation you will need to take care of any inoculations required for the Caribbean. We didn't need anything as we travel quite a lot and are up to date. You should pack anti-sea sickness tablets as a precaution if you are not good on the water. This is not for the ship as it has stabilisers that keep movement to its minimum; it's for the boats that tender you to land. Not all ports require a tender as the ship can get close enough to most docks. Tenders are required for ports with shallow water or if the weather is a bit rough where the ship will stay farther out. Other preparations are what you would usually do going on any holiday.

On Arrival

We stayed in a Miami hotel for one night pre-cruise and our transfer to the ship was included in the holiday cost. Our driver arrived promptly and we set off to pick up other passengers. We arrived at the Port Of Miami where we were met by security who directed us into the port terminal. Think of it like checking in at an airport, all the same security checks and procedures. If you have a laptop with you it must be taken out of you bag and put through separately.
When you finally get to the desk you are asked to produce a credit card which will be registered to your cruise account. After this registration you can put the card back in your wallet and forget about it. It doesn't really matter who's card you use as long as it's one of your own of course. Although our holiday was booked in my wife's name and the online account too, it was my credit card we used. You are then issued with your own personal sea pass which you carry around at all times. This card is what you "flash" to make purchases and to all intents and purposes, it's your credit card until you leave the ship.
On embarking the ship there is no photography allowed and a security guard will be there to make sure of it. Once onboard you will go through a metal detector and your personal items through an X-ray machine. This will happen EVERY time you leave and re-board the ship. You will then be directed to the nearest elevator or stairs that will take you to your cabin. On entering the cabin, anything that you pre-ordered online will be waiting for you. My wife secretly had our room decorated with "Bon Voyage" adornments. Once you freshen up and unpack, you are free to roam the ship.

The Cabin

Our cabin was a superior ocean view state room with twin beds (converted to one queen size bed), an outside balcony, a sofa, shower & toilet, dressing table, coffee table, and lots of storage space. A safe was provided at no extra cost. A 26" LCD television with normal programming as well as a paid for movie service, was on the wall at the foot of the bed. We didn't use the TV much as there was a lot going on but we did find it useful as we were able to access our ship's account and keep track of our purchases and balances. You can also order room service through the TV as well as other services.
Out on the balcony there was a little table and two chairs. Balconies are divided by a frosted glass screen which is removable if you were to book adjoining cabins. The balconies are quite safe as the barrier is made of toughened glass with no gaps a child can put their foot in to climb on. The glass is clear obviously to avoid obstructing your view. I'm around 5'11" and the rail at the top of the barrier was about chest height.
Cabins are cleaned to a very high standard every day and you will have the same room attendant for the duration of your cruise. There's a little loudspeaker inside and outside the cabin so that you don't miss any ship announcements. You can turn off the one inside for obvious reasons.

First Look Around

After we freshened up we went for a little tour of the ship, little it was not! This thing was huge! I was dumbstruck. This lasted a few seconds when I said something like, "What the...do you....how does....looooook!". I was standing looking over what's called the Promenade. This is a central walkway within the ship which looked more like a town plaza with shops, bars, coffee houses and ice cream parlours, except way more up market, rich and dazzling. The place was spotlessly clean. There were inside cabins overlooking the promenade and elevators which did the same with all glass sides so you can see the ship in all its glory. We got in the elevator and went down a couple of decks to wander around the promenade. As you can imagine it was very busy as everyone was dying to look around so we decided to go "up on deck". This was amazing because being on top you can then take in the enormity of this floating gargantuan. Emotionally I'm as hard as nails but a little tear formed at the corner of my eye, which I blamed on the wind of course, I was just awestruck. We walked around and on the top deck alone there was a full size basketball court (which I had a little play around in), a crazy golf course, simulated rock climbing, a couple of pools and areas for kids, a running track, a gym with every piece of exercise gear imaginable and a full size boxing ring which was great for me as I'm a boxer. There was a guy there employed as a sparring partner for passengers. There was a fun thing called a Flowrider which was basically a simulated surfing platform with high pressure water shooting over it. You will see some of the things I've talked about in the pictures I've supplied.

Setting Sail

Around 5:50pm the ship sounded its horn to indicate 10 minutes to sail. We went back to our cabin to open a bottle of champagne and tuck into our chocolate covered strawberries. I am diabetic but you only live once and I thought, "What the heck, those strawberries are going down". The ship began to move away from the dock at 6pm and having an ocean view balcony I was able to not only admire the view, but take pictures of the sun setting over Miami. As we passed other ships and boats we were greeted with waving gestures from their passengers. For the first time I could look at passengers on a ship and know exactly how they were feeling, it was amazing! Once we got out into open water, which was very quick, we got freshened up and left for dinner.

Eating On Board

The Freedom of the Seas as grand and elegant as it is has a variety of specialist restaurants where you are treated and served as though you are a VIP. On the flip side though it has buffet style restaurants and there's even a Johnny Rockets, the famous American 50's diner style burger joint, on one of the upper decks. As your cruise is all inclusive, the only thing you pay for is your drinks, with the exception of Johnny Rockets which has a $4 fee per visit but is all you can eat. If you have bought a drinks package previously, this will be indicated on your sea pass which you show when ordering drinks. If you haven't bought a drinks package it can still be done on board if you change your mind. Alternatively, pay for your drinks individually and add them to your ship account. I purchased the soft drinks package for $35 and this covered me for unlimited diet coke at every establishment on the ship and at Royal Caribbean’s own private beach in Labadee. My wife opted to pay for her drinks individually. This way she only paid for what she could drink and gave her more choice of what to drink. I'm not big on drinking alcohol except Rum (more on THAT later) which is why I chose soft drinks.
There is a formal dining room where you will have a table assigned to you for your entire cruise. It's really up to you how often you use this dining room but it's recommended you use it at the very least on the two formal nights. Depending on the size of table you chose upon booking your cruise, you will be sharing with at least another two passengers. If you're a private person / family you can request to eat alone. We chose a table for four and met a nice couple from Liverpool who shared our table. As there's a lot to do on the ship and your visits to the ports of call, there's enough to strike up a good conversation and keep it flowing.
The food is abundant on board and is available 24/7 so all you night owls will be happy. Everything is laid out professionally and is constantly being cleaned and replenished. All tastes are catered for and there is a healthy collection of fruit & veg, some of which you might never have seen never mind tasted. For anyone who doesn't have a drinks package there is constant supplies of fresh iced water, iced tea and lemonade available as part of the all inclusive. Other places to eat are scattered about but are mainly on the Promenade. There you can eat as many pizza slices and pasta dishes as you want as well as sweet things like pastries, cakes and so on. There is a Ben & Jerry's ice cream parlour, I didn't use this so can't comment much other than it looked flippin’ great and was spotless. Anything you see in the restaurants is available as room service 24/7 and really, you can order as much as you want as often as you want.
You don't have to tip anyone at any time for serving you. This is done by pre-purchasing your gratuities at the time of booking which you give to your room attendant, head waiter and so on in the form of a token at the end of your cruise. If you feel you had exceptional service you can add more by applying it to your on board account.

The Service

The service on board was second to none and although I've stayed in countless hotels in many countries, THIS is the best service I've ever had. No matter who it is, a waiter, server, room attendant, or shop staff, everyone makes you feel they are there for just you alone. You are always greeted with a smile, many will stop to have a quick chat and to make sure you have everything you need. The room attendant will leave a little surprise for you every day which I won't go into as it will spoil the moment for you. Make sure you leave sunglasses or a hat or something like that on the bed before you leave, see what you find when you return. You bed is made every day and will be turned down for you every evening with a little chocolate on the pillow. The rooms are cleaned to a high standard where all the chrome is buffed to a fab shine. Waiters in the speciality restaurants are at you beck and call and will make sure you are happy at all times. I felt on one occasion the waiter was a little too over familiar and came to our table too often but maybe I was over sensitive at never experiencing such great hospitality. Don't get me wrong, I'd prefer this than having to go look for him like some restaurants I've been in.

The Entertainment

Entertainment comes in many guises with the main form of entertainment being live musical shows in the theatre. The productions we saw were a collaboration of children’s stories made into a musical. On another night it was similar with the difference being a collaboration of famous musicals. On the same stage we saw a comedian and some fancy acrobatics. The ship's entertainment officer was great and knew how to entertain a crowd. Some may know him from the internet where he did the "Evolution of Dance". He was a funny guy and wasn't afraid to dress up and make a fool of himself. Other entertainment includes a parade along the promenade, live entertainment in the ice rink and there are many night clubs, some of which go on all night and cater for the young and not so young. Even Johnny Rockets provides its own entertainment every time someone selects the song "Staying Alive" on their little table mounted "Wurlitzer" style Juke Boxes. Other places for fun would be the pools, Flowrider, rock climbing, crazy golf, basketball, or even the Gym if that's your thing. There is also a movie theater and a casino in the decks below the promenade.

Facilities

Facilities include a large gym with an aerobic studio & full size boxing ring complete with sparring partner. There are all kinds of excercise machines like bikes and treadmills and also weight machines. Outside on the main deck there is a running track, basketball court, mini golf, kids pool and an adults only pool. There are two adult whirlpools that jut out from the main body of the ship which gives great views of the water. There's an interactive water park for the kids. Other fun facilities include rock climbing, the Flowrider and ice skating. Wi-Fi is provided at a reasonable charge. Down on the promenade there is an Irish pub, Ben & Jerry's ice cream parlour, a coffee shop and pizzeria plus several places to have a drink. Night clubs and disco's go on all night and there is a also a movie theatre. Shopping is all duty free and the main sale items are perfume, toiletries and Jewelry. Clothing, shoes and accessories can be purchased too as well as beauty products and sun products.

Visiting the Ports

What an experience it is to go to sleep with nothing but miles of water outside and waking up to see a tropical island. Leaving the ship to visit the ports you are met by security both ways. you have to scan your ship's pass each time which lets the ship know if you are aboard or not. I must stress if you are late coming back the ship will NOT wait for you. Your name will be called a couple of times leading up to departure and they will leave promptly with or without you. This happened twice to people on my cruise so you have been warned.
The time you have off the ship depends on the arrival and/or departure times but it's usually on average 6-7 hrs. Any excursion you have booked will be completed in time for your departure. If you have planned to do something yourself it is best you speak to a rep who will put you in touch with reputable tour operators of even taxi drivers. Be prepared to be hassled especially in Jamaica by everyone trying to get you in their shop, at the same time!
We booked a couple of excursions, one of which included visiting a working horse ranch in Cozumel. After riding the trail with the horses and seeing some Mayan ruins we headed back to the ranch where Beer and soft drinks were provided as part of the cost and you can drink as much as you want. Tequila was an extra but I WAS in Mexico so I sucked on a lime quite a few times.
Montego Bay was probably my least favourite place and I spent the shortest time off the ship there. It was terrible, we decided to take a little bus into the main part of town and the bus, as expected, stopped at a few places that required dipping into your pocket. We arrived at a grubby little place with "shops" against a rock face and every shop was filled with the same stuff. There is absolutely no need to visit two of them. Every owner claimed he made the carvings, necklaces and trinkets. If you even look at something the owner puts it in your hand and if you touch something they pick up a bag thinking you are buying it. While you are in one shop, the owner of the next one is pulling on your arm to visit his. I got angry with one guy who was persistent in following me everywhere asking me to come to his shop. After saying about 10 times I'll be there in a few minutes I got so angry I told him to take a hike and I won't be going near his place. I had enough and waited for the next bus back to the ship. Please check your change, these people think you are stupid and when you catch them out they say something like, "I'm holding onto your change in case you buy something else". "Aye....right!"
Grand Cayman was absolutely amazing and very hot. We did a tour on mountain bikes and visited a turtle farm, a town called Hell and my personal favourite, the Rum factory where they let you sample every kind of rum they have for free...and there's a lot of them. Throw in samples of around 10 different rum cakes and you can imagine the bike ride back to the ship. What a laugh, I've never had so much fun on a bike before. I was laughing at people's hats and everything. If you purchase from the Rum place, which we did, they send it to the ship and it's delivered to your room before you disembark.
Labadee was equally brilliant and even better because the beach is owned by Royal Caribbean and is obviously populated by ship passengers and crew only. The catering staff come on the island and make all your food and serve drinks. Because it is RC owned the food and some drinks are part of your all inclusive. The beach is very peaceful and is designed for you to just relax. There are people selling souvenirs nearby but they don't hassle you and stay at their own section. There are great opportunities to get good photos of the ship which is docked a few hundred yards out.

In Conclusion

Whewww, that was a lot to write. I have to say, this was by far our best holiday yet and we've been a few places. It's a whole different experience form a normal holiday hotel and has to be something you do to believe it. Our experience is one we'll never forget for all the right reasons. The atmosphere on the ship is one of pleasure and friendliness. You feel very safe at all times and someone said to me they can let their kids do what they want without worrying.
The staff were just amazing and always happy to serve you and have a chat. The food was great and the whole experience of eating while looking out to sea or a tropical island was simply heaven.
The entertainment and facilities on board were suited to all ages and were some of the best I've seen on a holiday. The trips to the ports were fantastic and the excursions were all very well laid out and staff were professional and courteous.
The only exception was Montego Bay, which was terrible as explained. I should point out that this was not a port on our itinerary but was changed mid cruise because the new dock at Ocho Rios was still under construction. Montego Bay might have been better had excursions been planned. Our excursion planned at Ocho Rios was refunded to us at the end of our cruise.
We enjoyed ourselves so much we have booked a cruise on the Oasis of the Seas for next year, this time we are taking our 13 year old son. He's going to love it. He is more interested in the 24/7 food.

It was very hard for me to make this review shorter as there is a lot to write about so I will apologise if I have went on a bit. I hope you got a real insight into Royal Caribbean and the Freedom of the Seas by reading this.
Thanks for staying with me.

Some of the info on Royal Caribbean and their ship was taken from www.royalcaribbean.com

© LawrenceP 

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