bossdog421

Freedom, while not as big as Oasis, is a wonderful ship.  
She has a great Solarium, but nothing like an O-class ship.
My wife would love to go on a NE itinerary, but the best times are smack in the middle of hurricane season,
and since we live on the coast, I don't want to leave the house unoccupied.

@Matt has posted a bunch of videos. He is there today. Go check them out! They are at least on the Royalcaribbeanblog.com Facebook page. There also is a live blog with pictures posted by @bossdog421

Clean, as far as I know.  I did not touch anything to find out...?

In nearly 50 cruises with Royal Caribbean the worst thing I've encountered was a drawer with the previous occupant's underwear in it.  We found the room attendant and had it removed but never have I ever been concerned about bugs.  If there WERE bedbugs in that room at any time and Royal Caribbean was made aware of it, trust me, the entire room would have been fumigated and the mattresses tossed.

Did a next cruise deposit on the ship. Looking at either my birthday or the wife's birthday next year! I'll probably sail out of Jersey. Maybe a Canadian cruise? Such smaller ships going there though!

Here today. 2nd day they are open. It's amazing.
 
I'll post more pics here later.

Even though I miss the ship already, it's good to be home.
 
We really missed the dogs and it looks like they missed us!

My in law from florida freezing in 75 degree weather:

 
Me:

I was told we could not pick. But I do have insight if they let you pick.
 
I was in cabana 10. There are 2 sections 1-10 and 11-20. 1-5 were not ready to be occupied, 6 -10 were "ready" but there were some unfinished parts to the cabana. Little details not everyone would even notice... like the decorative ropes were only on some poles. Cabana 9 didn't have curtains... etc. I was told 11-20 were 100% but I was not over there to confirm.
 
Cabanas # 1, 10, 11, 20 will have the most view as there is nothing on multiple sides. You will also have more swim space until you are in someone else's area. However they will get the most wind (very noticable on my day where there was 20+ mph winds).
 
I would say the least desirable would be # 4, 7, 14, and 17 as they are sunk back in and you will be the backs of other cabanas on 2 different sides. I would have been unhappy in these locations. However these would also get almost no wind. While there was noticable choppy water on all sides of my cabana I could see # 7 had no chop at all.
 
All of the other cabanas would be perfectly fine.
 
This map explains what I am talking about.
 

I was told we could not pick. But I do have insight if they let you pick.
 
I was in cabana 10. There are 2 sections 1-10 and 11-20. 1-5 were not ready to be occupied, 6 -10 were "ready" but there were some unfinished parts to the cabana. Little details not everyone would even notice... like the decorative ropes were only on some poles. Cabana 9 didn't have curtains... etc. I was told 11-20 were 100% but I was not over there to confirm.
 
Cabanas # 1, 10, 11, 20 will have the most view as there is nothing on multiple sides. You will also have more swim space until you are in someone else's area. However they will get the most wind (very noticable on my day where there was 20+ mph winds).
 
I would say the least desirable would be # 4, 7, 14, and 17 as they are sunk back in and you will be the backs of other cabanas on 2 different sides. I would have been unhappy in these locations. However these would also get almost no wind. While there was noticable choppy water on all sides of my cabana I could see # 7 had no chop at all.
 
All of the other cabanas would be perfectly fine.
 
This map explains what I am talking about.
 

Did a next cruise deposit on the ship. Looking at either my birthday or the wife's birthday next year! I'll probably sail out of Jersey. Maybe a Canadian cruise? Such smaller ships going there though!

Did a next cruise deposit on the ship. Looking at either my birthday or the wife's birthday next year! I'll probably sail out of Jersey. Maybe a Canadian cruise? Such smaller ships going there though!

I was told we could not pick. But I do have insight if they let you pick.
 
I was in cabana 10. There are 2 sections 1-10 and 11-20. 1-5 were not ready to be occupied, 6 -10 were "ready" but there were some unfinished parts to the cabana. Little details not everyone would even notice... like the decorative ropes were only on some poles. Cabana 9 didn't have curtains... etc. I was told 11-20 were 100% but I was not over there to confirm.
 
Cabanas # 1, 10, 11, 20 will have the most view as there is nothing on multiple sides. You will also have more swim space until you are in someone else's area. However they will get the most wind (very noticable on my day where there was 20+ mph winds).
 
I would say the least desirable would be # 4, 7, 14, and 17 as they are sunk back in and you will be the backs of other cabanas on 2 different sides. I would have been unhappy in these locations. However these would also get almost no wind. While there was noticable choppy water on all sides of my cabana I could see # 7 had no chop at all.
 
All of the other cabanas would be perfectly fine.
 
This map explains what I am talking about.
 

Even though I miss the ship already, it's good to be home.
 
We really missed the dogs and it looks like they missed us!

Not sure if I'm going to get to the rest of the pics tonight just got home.
 
?
 
This is what we came home to... could be worse could be a couple inches of snow this time of year.
 
 
Sigh.. is it time for the next cruise yet?
 

Getting use out of that slide. Dont care how windy or cold the water is!
20200201_094021.mp4

Even though I miss the ship already, it's good to be home.
 
We really missed the dogs and it looks like they missed us!

Yes. Beach Club entrance had a check point for the entire area, then the docks for the overwater cabanas had someone standing there all day. Multiple cabana k too, they all knew us after an hour or so.
 
Some of my guests didnt come until later in the day. I let the people at beach club entrance know they were going to be late. They walked them up when they arrived. 

Here are the menus

Here today. 2nd day they are open. It's amazing.
 
I'll post more pics here later.

Thanks for sharing your epic event and exciting cruise with all of us!  You are a special husband and Dad, too!
Safe travels back home!
Michelle

Glade to see the Slide Safety Rules #1 "recommended" was NOT followed.  I know I would have also.
Daddy has to make sure the slide is safe for his daughter after all.

Thanks for the great blog!

Love the puppy pix. So sweet.