InfoNrs629

I am traveling on Freedom in January to those exact same ports & my reservation lists each stop as "docked".

 

Yup, that was me! Freedom does indeed offer the Teen Spa services, and they can only be booked / purchased on board. My older daughter was 17 and still needed her mom to purchase whatever she might have wanted and sign a waiver indicating permission for our daughter to have the treatment. I'd recommend visiting the spa on embarkation day and making the arrangement for your son's deep tissue massage. If you can deal with the tour, he can also get a sample of the other massage options they have (bamboo rods, hot rocks, and some kind of gourd-shaped herb pack) in case something else interests him as an add-on.
Be aware that he'll also need a signed waiver / permission form from you if he wants to use the gym. Basically, under 18 requires parental approval for any activities involving spa or gym area, whether paid or complementary.
As for the "Mommy and me" services, you can do a mom and daughter paired massage or father and son, but not mixed gender. That was the only paired service I saw, but there may be others that we just didn't inquire about (e.g., facials or hair styling).

I understand your concern.  There ARE a lot of scary stories out there about "excursions gone wrong" and sketchy parts of town, etc.  ...but I will say, that excursions booked through the cruiseline have extremely good reputations.  If the excursion company did not offer their customers a safe and enjoyable experience, Royal Caribbean (and all of the other cruiselines) would not use them and the companies would go broke without their business.
As far as Jamaica goes, just stick with a ship's excursion and don't be wandering around out in Falmouth by yourselves.  Everything will be fine. You and your children will be safe and have a great time !!  For COZ, you have nothing at all to worry about.  That is a very safe port.

I used Lyft for our ride from hotel to PE (terminal 29), still not the greatest. Our driver spoke only broken English and I got the impression he hadn't done a PE run before, given the number of U-turns we ended up making at the start of the ride.
I would just say regardless of taxi, Lyft, or Uber, clearly state "Port Everglades, Terminal 18" for Harmony, then offer up a prayer to the patron saint of all travelers that you don't get lost on the way! ?

I second this! I've seen this happen on almost every cruise.  Lol.  It makes for great entertainment for those of us walking by though....

My youngest teen (13 and 15 when we sailed) loved freedom.  It was big enough to have things to do and enough other teens to hang with and not so big you couldn't find people without texting.  Meeting up that first night in the teen center is a must for your older teen... The kids meet that night and then basically use the teen center as a meet up place.  Freedom has a ton to do and is significantly less expensive than the bigger oasis class ships... With that extra money you could spend more on the cabin.  We have never done a suite so I can't advise on that...we still squish in one cabin because we are hardly ever in our room!  Welcome to the boards and have a great cruise!  Jane 

I just sailed on Freedom as my first cruise ever back in April. I thought it was great, big but not too big. Sailed with my two girls, 14 and 17. Both felt bored on sea days, but neither could be bothered to go to the teen meetup on night 1. I have a feeling their experience would have been a lot different had they taken the time to that one critical thing.
Even with that, the older one did the rock climbing wall twice and enjoyed it; younger one did a cupcake decorating class and really enjoyed that.

Hi @InfoNrs629!  We have cruised with our 2 kids on Disney many times.  Freedom was our first cruise on Royal with the kids.  They were 12 and 16 at the time.  We have sailed on Freedom twice since then without the kids.  It is a GREAT ship!  You and the kids will have no trouble finding things to do.  The shows and ship amenities are wonderful!  A junior suite is a great choice for 3 people.  The extra space in the cabin, walk-in closet and full tub in the bathroom are great.  I have actually sailed in a grand suite on the Freedom as well, and we loved it.  I guess I would have to decide if the extra cost is worth the amenities that come with a full suite.  If the cost isn't necessarily a consideration, then I would probably go with a full suite.  Whatever you decide, you should have a wonderful trip!

We did it on our cruise last November and had a ball.  I did see a lot of families in the dining area.   We might do it again if it is offered. The food was good.  I am a self proclaimed picky eater, for lots of reasons.  They had a meat/cheese board that was passed. (not my thing)  Show was great and so was the 21 year old young lady that we (the table) finally told the waiters no more wine for her.   She had a friend with her to get her back to their room. 

If they like the game CLUE then they will certainly enjoy the dinner.  If for some reason it`s adults only there is plenty for them to do while you attend the dinner show. You might try checking on Cruise Critic or even Yelp for that matter to see the reviews on the show.  Like you stated the 3 Specialty Dinners or 1 Mystery Dinner is a hard choice.  Good luck and enjoy what ever you choose.  You won`t be disappointed.  

Yes, if its adult only they will put something in the description. But I can't say if they would enjoy it.  Depends on them but they will get a good meal out of it.

First post!  Planning to surprise my two children with a cruise next June during my son's *slim* window of opportunity to take a vacation.  They will be 17 and 10 at the time.  Traveling as a single mom with them, I'm wanting to have as much assistance as possible, so wanted to do a Suite in order to have priority boarding and luggage assistance, plus concierge service.  They both wanted to visit PR or Jamaica, so thought Freedom of the Seas from San Juan would be perfect!  Also saw this is a good ship for 'first-timers' since it's not as large as the Quantum Class (although we're not technically 1st time cruisers, only have done Disney but I think they've outgrown that and Disney ships are very limited in activities after you've done them so many times!)
Is this a good choice or is the ship too small compared to Harmony, to find activities?  Is the up price for Suite worth it or should I just do a JS (because we WILL need the extra room for sure!)
Any advice greatly appreciated!