Amplified Freedom of the Seas makes debut

After receiving $116 million in upgrades, Freedom of the Seas is the latest ship to be "Amplified" by Royal Caribbean.  The transformed ship unveils new adventures from bow to stern, including The Perfect Storm duo of high-speed waterslides, a vibrant Caribbean poolscape, the cruise line’s first Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen and new, dedicated spaces for kids and teens. Now sailing, Freedom offers travelers 7-night Southern Caribbean cruises that visit a new, idyllic island each day, from Barbados and Antigua, to the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao).

Highlights:

Thrills on Deck

•  The Perfect Storm – At three stories high, guests can choose Cyclone or Typhoon to go head to head through winding twists and turns in a heart-pumping faceoff.
• A resort-style Caribbean poolscape – Featuring a whole new look, signature poolside bar The Lime & Coconut, live music and a wider variety of seating and shade with the addition of casitas, in-pool loungers and daybeds, the reimagined pool deck is where pool days become an all-day affair. The youngest of travelers can enjoy the new kids aqua park, Splashaway Bay, and adults looking for soothing downtime can head to the renewed Solarium.

Amped-up Flavors

• Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen – New to Royal Caribbean, Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen serves up a reimagined menu of authentic Italian dishes with a contemporary flair, from fresh pastas to custom pizzas hand tossed high in the air. The cruise line’s take on “Sunday supper” is complete with limoncello and a wide selection of wines.
• El Loco Fresh – Guests can enjoy a poolside fiesta of flavors, including tacos, burritos and quesadillas, at the casual grab-and-go spot. The venue is the first El Loco Fresh that includes a full-service bar with a wide selection of tequilas.
• Izumi Hibachi & Sushi – From sushi to sashimi and hibachi, Izumi offers an Asian-inspired dining experience. The menu spans a variety of hot and cold appetizers, entrees and desserts – each made to order with fresh ingredients and impeccable presentation.
• Playmakers Sports Bar & Arcade – At this hangout, all ages can have a seat at the table to catch live games on more than 100 TVs, make legendary plays on arcade classics and refuel on classic bar fare and ice-cold brews.

Adventures for Everyone

• Clash for the Crystal City – Two clans, the Yetis and Snowshifters, collide in this glow-in-the-dark laser tag adventure for control of a mystical frozen city.
• Adventure Ocean – The award-winning youth program reveals a 360-degree transformation. Its new layout encourages kids to choose their own immersive adventures across several rooms: Play Place, the whimsical space with climbable creations; Arena, where there’s friendly competition; and Hangout, a space to chill and call their own. Three- and 5-year-olds and the tiniest of travelers at 6-36 months old each have dedicated spaces with AO Juniors and AO Babies, respectively.
• Social033 – Teens will rejoice in their exclusive hangout, entirely redesigned to feature the latest in movies, gaming and music, plus a new, private outdoor deck.

The top-to-bottom transformation also adds Freedom to the lineup of ships now available on the Royal Caribbean International mobile app. Guests can check in for their cruise from their personal device and arrange Expedited Arrival, prior to setting sail, for a seamless boarding experience at the port. On board, it is an effortless transition into vacation mode with the app’s easy-to-use features such as the ability to plan activities for each day, view onboard expenses and make reservations for dining, shore excursions as well as shows, and the in-app TV remote available for each stateroom.

Freedom of the Seas getting the "Royal Amplified" treatment.

Royal Caribbean announced today that Freedom of the Seas will receive $116 million in updates as part of the cruise line's "Royal Amplified" program.  The transformation is scheduled for Spring 2020.

Some of the highlights from the press release:

All-day Thrills on Deck

Vacationers can up the ante with more ways to play joining fan favorites like the FlowRider surf simulator, mini-golf and the rock-climbing wall.

• The Perfect Storm, the heart-pumping duo of racer waterslides, is three stories of adventure that will take excitement off the charts. On Cyclone and Typhoon, guests are in for the ultimate race as they go head to head through twists and turns for bragging rights
• A reimagined poolscape comes to life with all-day Caribbean vibes, a larger variety of seating and shade with casitas, daybeds and hammocks, and the Splashaway Bay aquapark for the youngest travelers. For downtime, guests can escape to the renewed, adults-only Solarium
• The Lime & Coconut, Royal Caribbean’s new, poolside signature bar, is at the center of it all. The three-level spot serves up live music, a lineup of cocktails and a rooftop deck for a bird’s eye view of the action

Next-level Culinary Delights

Freedom’s amplification will also introduce more dining venues, spanning Italian, Asian and Mexican cuisine, tantalizing guests’ taste buds more than ever. 

• Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen is a fresh, new twist on a guest favorite. Vacationers can have their pick from authentic Italian dishes with a contemporary flair, including made-to-order pizzas hand tossed front and center, and baked in the new, in-house pizza oven. With a wide selection of wines and limoncellos on the reimagined menu, it’s “Sunday supper” Royal Caribbean style
• Izumi Hibachi & Sushi, the Asian-inspired restaurant with teppanyaki tables and a sushi bar, features a variety of hot and cold appetizers, entrees, desserts and more
• Playmakers Sports Bar & Arcade, where everybody wins. Guests can catch their home team on more than 80 TV screens, hit “play” on any one of the arcade games, and refuel with a menu of classic bar bites and ice-cold brews on tap
• El Loco Fresh will sit poolside and offer fresh grab-and-go Mexican fare, from tacos and burritos, to quesadillas, along with an array of salsas for an extra kick. For the first time, the venue will include a full-service bar with a selection of tequilas on offer

Playtime Reimagined

Adding to the roster of activities on board, Royal Caribbean will offer glow-in-the-dark laser tag adventure Clash for the Crystal City, and the debut of a floor-to-ceiling redesign of Freedom’s dedicated teens spaces and award-winning Adventure Ocean.

• Adventure Ocean takes on a whole new look after a makeover that will touch every inch of the spaces specially designed for babies and kids. The imaginative layout encourages young vacationers to venture into a world of interactive experiences, from thought-provoking exploration at Play Place to art, science and tech activities at Workshop, and friendly challenges at Arena. Kicking back is just as fun with gaming consoles and places to chill at Hangout. Babies and 3- to 5-year-olds will each have personalized areas with AO Babies and AO Junior
• Teens will rejoice at their exclusive hangout, entirely transformed to feature the latest in movies, gaming and music, plus a new, private outdoor deck

Sailings on the renovated Freedom of the Seas are scheduled to begin on March 8, 2020.  Leaving from San Juan, she will sail the Southern Caribbean visiting ports including Oranjestad, Aruba; Willemstad, Curacao; Castries, Saint Lucia; Bridgetown, Barbados; Saint Johns, Antigua; and Kralendijk, Bonaire.

Quick Review: Freedom of the Seas, March 2017

Yes, this was our third trip on Freedom of the Seas.  Freedom is a great ship so no reason not to go on her again.

For this trip, we decided to do a Junior Suite so we could bank double Crown & Anchor points, allowing us to reach Diamond Level.  The junior suite was very nice and the extra space in the cabin (included a walk-in closet and a bathroom with a tub) as well as the larger balcony were great.

No real complaints on this one.  Another great cruise on Royal Caribbean.

Freedom docked in Costa Maya

Hits:

• Junior Suite.  Lots of room, large balcony.
• Dining room service and food was great.

Misses:

• If I'm going to nit pick....the cabin safe repeatedly malfunctioned, leaving our valuables locked inside.  Had to call to have it opened a couple of times but it kept doing the same thing.  We eventually decided to keep our valuables on us the whole cruise.

Quick Reviews: Freedom of the Seas, February 2016

This was our second trip on Freedom of the Seas.  The first was when she was brand new, back in 2006.  It would be interesting to see how the ship has held up over the last 10 years.

For this cruise, we decided to go on the cheap and selected an inside cabin.  Having a balcony is nice but when you figure how little time you are actually in the cabin, it's not a necessity.  We still book balcony cabins but we also sprinkle in an occasional inside cabin to save some money.

The highlight of the cruise was that it was, unknown to us, a nerd cruise.  Yes, you heard that right, a nerd cruise.  You can read here to find out more info - JoCo Cruise.  Seeing people dressed up in kilts, fez hats, helmets, etc....on formal night......was just too surreal.  I've never seen so many grown men and women wearing computer and video game related T-shirts in my life.  It was certainly a unique cruise.

Freedom of the Seas (left) docked in St. Maarten.

Hits:

• Sabor Modern Mexican.  As much as we disliked Rita's Cantina on Allure of the Seas, we were unsure about trying Sabor on Freedom.  However, after reading a few positive reviews before our cruise, we decided to give it a try.  That was a great decision.  Sabor is very, very good.  So good we ate there 3 times on this 7 day cruise.

Misses:

•  Cleanliness, particularly in the Windjammer.  On more than one occasion we went to grab something to eat later in the afternoon and were surprised to find food/dirt from breakfast (like cereal) still on the floor and under the tables.  I know the Windjammer is always busy and it's hard for the staff to keep on top of it but I have not seen this on any other ship.

Overall, another enjoyable cruise.  For her age, Freedom has held up nicely.  She may need a bit of freshening up here and there but she's still a great ship.

Quick Reviews - Allure of the Seas, February 2015

As I mentioned in my last post, we've been on 5 cruises since the last post on this blog.  I'm going to try to do some quick bullet-point reviews here and touch on what we liked and what we didn't (if anything 😊).

Allure of the Seas - February 2015:

Allure docked in Labadee.

Not too long after we got settled here in sunny Florida, we started planning our first cruise from our new home.  It wasn't a hard decision to make as Allure of the Seas was new and hot as well as the latest "World's Largest Cruise Ship".  It was a no-brainer.

Hits:

• Overall design/layout of the ship, simply amazing.
• Tons of things to do.  From activities, to dining, to entertainment, there was always something to do.
• Aqua Theater.  Never seen anything like it on a ship.  Fantastic shows there.
• Huge selection of dining options.  Standouts include: 150 Central Park, Samba Grill, Giovanni's Table, and the Boardwalk Dog House.  Didn't know what to expect at 150 Central Park (fixed menu) but it was amazing.  We actually went twice to sample both menus.  We didn't eat in the main dining room the whole cruise.

Misses:

• Rita's Cantina.  Didn't love it.

Overall, it was a great return to cruising for us after a 5 year absence.

Freedom of the Seas makeover complete

Freedom of the Seas has emerged from drydock and has re-entered service after receiving a number of upgrades.  Many of the upgrades introduce features that have been very successful on Oasis and Allure of the Seas such as the cupcake cupboard and outdoor movie screens.

There is a lot to talk about so I'll just post the press release from Royal Caribbean detailing all the work that has been done.

FREEDOM OF THE SEAS REEMERGES FROM DRYDOCK WITH ENHANCEMENTS TO DELIVER THE ROYAL ADVANTAGE TO VACATIONERS

Freedom of the Seas returns into service this week after completing a week-long drydock at the Grand Bahama Shipyard. As part of the Royal Advantage revitalization and enhancement program, Freedom of the Seas received new dining concepts, entertainment options, children's programming and technology advancements that were introduced to wide industry acclaim aboard Royal Caribbean's new Oasis-class ships. The Royal Advantage program comprises approximately $70 million of enhancements aboard five of the world's most innovative cruise ships in 2011 to expand unparalleled onboard experiences across the cruise line's fleet. Freedom of the Seas alternates an Eastern and a Western Caribbean seven-night, round-trip itinerary from Port Canaveral on Florida's Space Coast.

"Royal Caribbean is rooted in providing our guests with incredible vacation experiences across the fleet and around the world," said Lisa Bauer, senior vice president of Hotel Operations, Royal Caribbean International. "The outdoor video screen installed aboard Liberty of the Seas in January has already been so well received that we have decided to deploy it aboard all the ships scheduled to undergo the Royal Advantage revitalization in 2011. Making the investment on these ships as a way of extending the reach of the Oasis-class innovations to more of our guests is a natural progression for the fleet as a whole and how we are delivering the Royal Advantage to vacationers."

In drydock, Freedom of the Seas received new technology enhancements, such as enhanced Wi-Fi, interactive televisions, electronic waivers for sports activities, and electronic mustering (as well as ticketing for shows later in the year) that offer greater convenience to Royal Caribbean guests on their cruise vacation. The ship also offers a new BRITTO Gallery, featuring a variety of merchandise designed by pop-art icon Romero Britto.

Other newly acquired Oasis-class signatures aboard Freedom of the Seas include:

• The DreamWorks Experience: The next generation of family programming is now available onboard Liberty of the Seas and Freedom of the Seas, as well as on Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas, with activities and shows including the DreamWorks parade down the Royal Promenade and interactive Character Breakfasts in the Rembrandt (Liberty of the Seas) and Leonardo (Freedom of the Seas) Dining Rooms with the animation movie studio's "celebrity" characters.

• 3-D Movie Screens: The phenomenon of 3-D technology adds a new dimension to Liberty of the Seas and Freedom of the Seas' Platinum and Arcadia Theaters respectively, where guests can screen newly released and long-time favorite movies in 3-D, available starting next week.

• Outdoor LED Video Walls: Measuring approximately 18.5 feet, the video screens - similar to those found in the Oasis-class AquaTheater - will overlook the main pool area, featuring movies and entertainment programs throughout the cruise for families, friends and couples to enjoy during the day and for an evening under the stars.

• The Cupcake Cupboard: A runaway hit for sweet treats aboard Oasis of the Seas, the 1940's-style shop charms guests with a broad assortment of fresh gourmet cupcakes offered daily at a la carte pricing and memorable family experiences including hands-on decorating classes; specialty cupcakes and custom cupcakes cakes also are available. Beyond its tempting and innovative menu, the specialty bakery boutique, takes the place of A Clean Shave on Liberty of the Seas and Freedom of the Seas' Royal Promenade.

• Vintages: The popular wine lounge aboard Freedom of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas features a new trendier décor where patrons can enjoy a wide range of fine wines. A new automated serving system, which will be stocked with 48 notable wine selections, offers a self-pour option for guests wanting to explore a variety of tastes and varietals.

• Imaginocean! Puppet Show: Conceptualized and produced by Emmy and Tony Award nominee John Tartaglia, exclusively for Royal Caribbean, this family musical geared towards children stars glow-in-the-dark underwater puppet characters will debut next month aboard Freedom of the Seas.

• Royal Babies and Tots Nursery: A huge hit aboard Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas, the nursery care program (starting next week aboard Freedom of the Seas) is expanding across all four ships being revitalized this year. Designed for babies and tots six through 36 months old, it offers parents a safe, fun and interactive vacation environment for their toddler. Royal Caribbean's trained professionals carefully maintain an optimum staff to child ratio, offering various playgroups and activities developed exclusively for Royal Caribbean with partners Fisher Price and Crayola.

• Digital Wayfinding system: Groundbreaking technology launched on the Oasis-class ships makes it easier than ever to navigate Liberty of the Seas and Freedom of the Seas. Onboard activities, real time updates, customized directions and routing, as well as ship factoids are at guests' fingertips with new plasma and LCD touch screen signs prominently placed throughout each of the ships.

The ships undergoing revitalizations in 2011 are Liberty of the Seas earlier this year, Freedom of the Seas, Radiance of the Seas in May, and Splendour of the Seas in October. Each ship will come out of service and reemerge outfitted with the most highly guest-rated features introduced on Royal Caribbean's new Oasis-class ships. Even Oasis of the Seas, the first Oasis-class ship, now boasts new features with the recent addition of the DreamWorks Experience and 3-D movies which first debuted on Allure of the Seas.

Liberty of the Seas was the first to showcase the revitalization enhancement when she arrived to her homeport of Port of Miami on January 30. Liberty of the Seas is sailing six-night Western Caribbean and eight-night Eastern Caribbean itineraries before repositioning to Barcelona for the summer season where she will debut the energetic West End musical "Saturday Night Fever" in the Platinum Theater. Starting April 16, Liberty of the Seas will join sister-ship Independence of the Seas in Europe to offer four- and five-night short Western Mediterranean cruises.

Cool Pics Of Oasis of the Seas and Freedom of the Seas In Cozumel

Check out this post from Royal Caribbean CEO and President Adam Goldstein's blog for some pretty cool aerial photos of the two ships docked side by side in Cozumel.  It's really unbelievable how much bigger Oasis looks compared to Freedom.  I don't think anyone is going to surpass the sheer size of the Oasis Class of ships for quite some time.

Here is one of the photos that best shows the size difference.

Oasis features trickling down to Freedom ships

Royal Caribbean has announced that they will be adding some of the features from Oasis of the Seas to two Freedom Class ships, Freedom of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas.  Both ships are scheduled for stops at a drydock in the Bahamas for some freshening up in 2011.  Liberty will be out of commission starting January 23, 2011 and Freedom will follow on March 6, 2011.

Along with the new paint, carpet and whatever else they change during these refurb stops, they will be adding some of the more popular features found on Oasis of the Seas.  The first of these will be the Cupcake Cupboard which has been very popular on Oasis of the Seas.  For $2.95 you can satisfy your sweet tooth with some yummy frosted cupcakes.  It will replace the barbershops on Freedom and Liberty.

Next up is the addition of a huge outdoor movie screen to show movies under the stars.  Many other lines jumped on this popular feature ahead of Royal Caribbean but they know a good thing when they see it so it was included on Oasis of the Seas.  It's been so popular that they are bringing it to Freedom and Liberty.  The 18.5 foot screen will be installed in the main pool area.

Liberty will also be getting it's own broadway shows like Oasis of the Seas' "Harspray" production and Allure of the Seas' upcoming production of "Chicago".  Freedom will continue with it's popular "Once Upon a Time" production for at least another year before being replaced.

For the kids, there will be the addition of the Royal Babies and Tots program from Oasis that provides care for children between 6 and 36 months.  Space will be limited to 12 children and there will be a cost of $8 per hour, per child.  Another feature from Oasis that is popular with the kids is the ImaginOcean family theatre show.  A combo puppet show and musical, it will be added to both Freedom and Liberty.

Finally, Freedom and Liberty will be receiving interactive touch screens in the elevator lobbies that will feature deck plans, restaurant info, and the daily activity guide all at the touch of a finger.

Royal Caribbean is holding off making any updates to Independence of the Seas because it has just started it's  first full year sailing out of Southampton, England and they would like to get a better feel of what the mostly British passengers would like to see as far as changes to the ship.

Freedom of the Seas changing home ports

According to a report on Cruise Business Review, Royal Caribbean has reached an agreement with Port Canaveral to home port Freedom of the Seas there. The date for the change appears to be May 2009. Of course, this would make Freedom the largest ship to home port in Port Canaveral. The report further states that Mariner of the Seas, which currently home ports at Port Canaveral, will be moving to the west coast.

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.