Royal Caribbean Cruises "Freedom of the Seas" - 2006 Caribbean

We had been waiting for this one for a long time. We booked very early, over a year in advance, before the ship was completed. I couldn't pass up the chance to be on the newest biggest cruise ship ever built. We decided, once again, to drive to Miami to catch the ship. This time my parents as well as my grandmother and uncle were joining us. We had not all been on a cruise together since our wedding on Explorer of the Seas in 2001. They flew down ahead and spent the night before in a hotel in the area. We arrived by car at around noon and proceeded to check in. This year the check in went very smoothly and quickly and we were in our cabin by 1PM. From there we embarked on out tour of the ship which took a while.

Freedom of the Seas will feel very familiar to anyone who has been on a Voyager Class ship before since the Freedom Class is just a stretched version of the same basic design and layout. The length allowed them to add to the Promenade and to the pool area which now includes the H2O Zone for kids. Another notable addition is the Flowrider surfing simulator. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to try that out but it was always very busy and seemed a popular addition. Freedom also adds the cantilevered hot tubs that hang out over the side of the ship more than 100 feet above the water. I did check them out and the view was amazing. In the Promenade, they added a barber shop as well as a pizzeria. The barber shop didn't seem too popular but the pizzeria was packed all the time. The pizza here was much different and much better than what we had tasted on the other RCCL ships we had been on. I think this change was due mainly to the fact that many people on cruise message boards indicated that the pizza on Carnival ships was much better than what was available on Royal Caribbean. Obviously that couldn't be allowed since these two have been slugging it out for dominance of the waves for quite a few years now. In the gym, the addition of a boxing ring was the big news even though I didn't see it being used very often. Granted, my visits to the gym were few and far between.

The food, service, and entertainment all were very good, as expected. My only complaint was that it was the same entertainment staff and entertainers from my last cruise on Mariner of the Seas. The cruise director James Andrews, who I didn't like very much the year before, was much better but the guest entertainment was the same and did the same acts as the year before.

Our first stop was in Cozumel, Mexico. We didn't do much this time around. This was our second visit and the first time we booked a Jeep safari excursion which was a lot of fun. I wanted to book the same one again this time but I never did get around to it. Maybe next time. That night was the Welcome Back party for prior Royal Caribbean cruisers. Free cocktails and snacks are the highlight along with updates from the staff about future itineraries and upcoming new ships. The captain spoke of "Project Genesis" which is a new ship design that Royal Caribbean has already entered into a contract with Aker Shipyards to build. The ship supposedly will be over 220,000 tons and about 1/4 of a mile long with room for over 5000 passengers.

Next stop was Georgetown, Grand Cayman. Again, this was our second visit here and we just strolled around checking out the shops nearby. It was really hot that day so we didn't last long before getting a tender back to the ship to cool off. Georgetown is really nice and there are some great beaches nearby. We would have liked to check it out some more this time but the heat was crazy. We did make a quick stop at Senor Frogs for a huge margarita before heading back. We also wanted to get back because everyone with us wanted to eat at Portofino that evening for dinner and all we could get was a pretty early reservation since there were 7 of us. Portofino was fantastic, by the way.

The next morning we awoke in Montego Bay, Jamaica. We had also been here before and neither time have we gotten off the ship. There really isn't much near where the ship docks so we didn't bother. There are some great excursions available though for that stop.

Our last stop was at Labadee, RCCL's private beach. There is a lot to do here including jet ski rentals, a water park, canoe rentals, boat rides, beach buffets, etc. Or you could just sit on the beach and do nothing. That's usually our choice. While the food on shore is good, we usually take this opportunity to go back to the ship for lunch as it is pretty much deserted. We went to Johnny Rockets for lunch and used our free dining coupon included in our Crown & Anchor return cruiser booklet. The food is always free but you do have to pay a service fee since the staff there don't get the tips that the dining room staff get. You do have to pay for drinks other than water though.

Once again it was time to head home. This year we elected to do the self debarkation where we keep our bags and move them off ourselves. This was a great option for us since we didn't have too many bags. This group is one of the first called to leave the ship and we needed to get on the road early anyway. We were off the ship in a matter of minutes and on our way home. Can't wait for the next cruise.