Lovestotravel

No smoking on balconies, but not everyone complies.  On our last cruise, we could smell cigarette smoke (slightly).

I am sure that you will enjoy your balcony. We never sail without one now. Even with everything that you have read here it is still a great space to be able to go outside and get fresh air or look at the views and normally noise etc are not a problem at all. most people are pretty respectful. We especially love the balcony because we keep the door open some at night. The ocean waves sounds and the breeze are fantastic for sleeping :)
Enjoy!!!

If you've got neighbors that are a little more talkative, while you're wanting to enjoy the view more peacefully, a good set of headphones is great for balcony relaxation. ?

Balcony areas are somewhat private, depending on the area, if you have a balcony that is near a room that is on a "hump" then the individual on the hump will be able to see quite a few balconies due to how they stick out from the side of the ship.  Not only that but if you have someone that is nosy they can simply hang over the balcony railing a bit and look around.  They are a little private but not as much as you think.  I would not advise leaving anything that is expensive on the balcony as well.....while you have most that will respect your stuff sitting out, if you have someone that is absolutely crazy enough you can easily get on the rail swing over and grab what happens to be on your balcony and then jump back over.  There is no smoking on the balconies but that does not mean that it does not happen.  I have been on a couple of cruises that you could smell someone upwind that was smoking, it has not happened a lot but it definitely has happened.  Hope this helps!!  Have a great cruise! 
 

Balcony area is not totally private.  You will definitely hear your neighbors and the partitions do not go all the way to the ground nor to the bulkhead, so there is a gap.  Smoking is not allowed on any balconies.  If you are at the railing you will see neighbors, above below and next to you.  As far as valuables, I would not leave anything of value out there.  I normally only leave a bathing suit or towels out there.

We sailed on Freedom a couple of summers ago.  The balconies are "semi-private" at best but we enjoyed ours.   We didn't really see a lot of people unless we were right on the rail, but very easy to hear people as noise seems to travel from neighboring balconies (even the ones above or below you).   

We went to Surfside beach afterwards.  They are also on FB - there is another place down the beach called Reflections.  We rented 2 chairs and an umbrella for $15. The beach is not as nice as Eagle, but it was fine for what we wanted.  We went to Barefoot Aruba for dinner afterwards and I can't say enough good things about it.  

@NJCruisers you are spot on about the Facebook page, that is where you go to get all the free pictures they take of you.
Really I cannot say enough good things about our Trikes Aruba experience, my wife had such a good time she made me book Trikes Cozumel as well this past November
 

Also, Trikes Aruba has a Facebook page. I stalked that quite some time before I booked it!

I have also done Trikes Aruba and looked at the web site for the other tour and a lot of the sites they list we stopped at.  What we did not do was stop to swim.  Also you will be driving the trike and there will not be other guests with you on the trike, max capacity is 3 where as the Jeep web site says jeep holds 8 to 10 passengers, unless purchased as private.
Anyway we had a fantastic time on the Trikes and it is one of the few excursions that we will do again, it was that good

We just did the Trikes Aruba tour and really enjoyed it.  I wrote a review of Freedom in the discussion board if you want to see my write up, I don't know how to link it.  I have never done the other one so I can't comment on which is better.

I agree 100%!  I was SHOCKED at how rude other reviews were (not from this site!), in their lack of cultural sensitivity.  It was very clear to me that THEY were the rude ones!  LOL!  

I agree 100%!  I was SHOCKED at how rude other reviews were (not from this site!), in their lack of cultural sensitivity.  It was very clear to me that THEY were the rude ones!  LOL!  

Thank-you for this!  We are on FOS next May. and on the "other site" there are some pretty harsh reviews, mostly centered around how there are so many "rude" Puerto Rican's on board, and "too much Spanish". Well, I find that statement super rude!  We are really looking forward to the cultural experience, both on AND off the ship!!  Thanks for confirming that.  I also enjoyed all of your other reviews and it is helping me to determine excursions! Thanks again!

Rude people come in all nationalities unfortunately. Yes, announcements are in both languages but honestly the English versions seem like they are longer so I'm not sure why so many people feel the need to complain about that. With the exception being the the muster drill, both were about the same length.  
Several times we encountered people who clearly didn't speak English and they greeted us with a very friendly Buenos Noches! and we simply replied back in English Good night to you as well! and there were smiles all around. 
I'm sure as long as you do your research on where you want to go you will have an amazing cruise as well!

Thank-you for this!  We are on FOS next May. and on the "other site" there are some pretty harsh reviews, mostly centered around how there are so many "rude" Puerto Rican's on board, and "too much Spanish". Well, I find that statement super rude!  We are really looking forward to the cultural experience, both on AND off the ship!!  Thanks for confirming that.  I also enjoyed all of your other reviews and it is helping me to determine excursions! Thanks again!

So here's the wrap up of my recap...
Finding the Royal Caribbean Blog was a Godsend!  I could go on and on but if you’re already here you know how great of a community this is.  I have to admit that I did go over to the dark side several times (CC). I found some useful information on the ports I was visiting.  
I saw some really terrible reviews of Freedom and I’m so glad I didn’t listen to any of them.  One of the most critical things I read over and over again was that sailing from PR meant I was going to encounter very rude people.  I won’t say we didn’t, but honestly the few that we did encounter weren’t all from PR.  I’ve seen worse behavior at Disney World.  I think there were 2 quinceanera’s being celebrated on board, and we only noticed them on the formal nights because of the beautiful dresses.  Yes, the young girls were all over the place posing for photos, but they weren’t rude at all. Heck I was all over the place taking photos of the ship myself! 
I also want to mention there was a Salsa Group on board.  They were a very large group.  I noticed signs on some of the doors leading to our room right away and thought uh oh, this could get noisy.  I have to say, they were having such a great time.  They had some private events and yes certain lounges were very crowded but there was so much to do on board that we never felt cheated.  They ranged in all ages and were very friendly.  We chatted with some of them here and there throughout the cruise. 
Yes, Freedom is showing her age a bit & I knew going in she was scheduled for dry dock afterwards. We were in cabin #7400 and the hallway carpet was very badly stained.  Not stains here and there, just really long dark spots from people constantly walking on them.  It did not smell, only one night walking back to our room there was a strong chlorine smell along the hallway but it wasn’t near our room. No idea what that was about.
The room decor was outdated, the coral and teal colors scream the 1990’s to me. Otherwise everything else in the room was great, even the bathroom.  Plenty of storage space. Our room was at the very end of the ship and it was very quiet.  We never heard any of our neighbors.
Our room attendant was great.  I swear he was a ninja.  We really only saw him 2-3 times but our room was perfect and he took excellent care of us. We saw 2 other attendants in the hallway every day and they were both very friendly.
I ended up getting the Voom package for 1 device & we shared it.  It was $77 total. Even though our kids are technically adults, my mom is elderly and I wanted to make sure we could get in touch with each other if needed.  It was nice to be able to share photos with them using the WhatsApp.  My mom loves Instagram so I would add photos to my story at least once a day and she really enjoyed that.  We did not use it to stream anything but we never had any problems with it. Totally worth it IMO.
Ultimate Drink Package - Always a debate!  I booked it for $47 pp during last year’s Black Friday sale.  I figured I had plenty of time to cancel it and I honestly went back and forth for a while.  In the end I kept it and I’m glad.  With gratuity it was $776 making it approximately $55 per day, pp. I didn’t keep track of everything we drank, that wouldn’t have been much fun.  I can say this: When we had breakfast in the MDR we took advantage of the fresh squeezed juice.  Several mornings we had specialty iced coffees. Every time (not day, each time) we left the ship we each took 1 vitamin and 1 regular water to bring with us.  Every night at dinner I had 2-3 glasses of wine and hubby had 2 drinks (perfect Manhattan’s which are pricey at home too).  During the day when we were on the ship I enjoyed plenty different frozen drinks - I alternated with virgin versions here and there.  Most days hubby stuck to beer in the afternoons and switched to Bourbon after dinner. I think I had maybe 2-3 soda’s during the week but not in the souvenir cups.  We never used those. We enjoyed going to the different lounges and trying different drinks.  Yes I know we can get any drink pretty much anywhere as long as the bartender has the ingredients, but it was fun bar hopping.  There were a few drinks I didn’t like and some that I tried that I might not have if it wasn’t already paid for.  Ending the night with a cordial was also a nice treat. I’d say we took at least a dozen bottles of water back to the room during the week as well. I like to think we did get our money’s worth, but we were totally happy with it so that’s that. 
MDR - I also went back and forth with trying specialty dining.  With the exception of our one dinner in Aruba we ate there every night.  My theory was that we had fabulous steak houses and Italian restaurants at home, there was bound to be something we would enjoy on the menu.  In hindsight, I wish I had checked the menu on our Bonaire day.  I ended up getting the steak again which was delicious, but honestly this girl was missing her macaroni!  That probably would have been a good night to splurge and go to the Italian place.  Oh well, now I know.  I truly enjoyed being served every night and the waitstaff was just great.  
Windjammer - I know everyone loves this place, heck we enjoyed it last cruise too but I just didn’t enjoy it this trip.  The 2 times we went it was jam packed and when we went for lunch the options were either something really heavy or salad.  I don’t enjoy pre-cooked burgers so that wasn’t an option for me.  I’m sure if you are a picky eater or don’t want to go to the MDR it’s probably just fine for dinner as there are so many options.
Sorrento’s - I can’t believe I’m saying this either, but the pizza wasn’t terrible.  Dare I say we kinda liked it!  When hubby saw the pizza sign his eyes lit up and I told him don’t get excited, it probably sucks.  He works in Brooklyn so he eats great pizza for lunch AT LEAST once a week.  This place became our guilty pleasure.  Several nights I brought some back to the Bull & Bear.  We liked the veggie pizza the best but the cheese wasn’t bad either.  
Sabor - we only went here for the Guacamole class but we thought the food was fantastic.  We would gladly have a meal here again if given the chance.
The Promenade - depending on what they were selling sometimes it became quite crowded.  What’s the deal with watches?  It seemed like they were constantly selling them! I’m totally not a watch person so I didn’t pay too much attention.  People seemed to be going crazy for the t-shirt sales too, none of them really appealed to me all that much though.  I originally planned to get a Freedom of the Seas Spirit Jersey, but I didn’t like that the front was completely blank.  I thought it should have an anchor or at least the RC logo in the upper left chest or something.  I ended up with a super comfy hoodie instead. Also, I thought that balloon party was crazy. All the popped balloons all over the place, this from a company that doesn’t allow plastic straws? Weird.
Spacious Ocean View Room -  I thought it was great.  The window was very big and we didn’t miss having a balcony.  I would much rather use the money saved towards other things, such as the drink package or excursions.  Also, we had to factor in the flight to PR. We could have afforded one, but I chose book this instead.  We did agree that we could never do an interior room and probably wouldn’t want one overlooking the Promenade, just not our style. 
My “Something New Every Day” was just for me and just for fun.  
Pre Cruise PR:  Mofongo - loved it
Cruise Day: Escargot - hated them
At Sea: Souffle - not a fan
Aruba: Rode a motorcycle - loved it
Curacao: Walked on a floating bridge - very cool
Bonaire: Rode on a Catamaran & got to see a sea turtle while snorkeling - awesome
At Sea: Baked Alaska - loved it
St. Thomas: Conch Fritters - delicious
I’m pretty sure I covered everything.  I know I’ve said it several times but we absolutely loved this cruise. Although I don’t see us cruising every year, we definitely plan to go on another one in (hopefully) the next 2-3 years.  
Freedom didn’t have many reviews when I was looking so that’s the main reason I decided to write this.  Also, I’m going to print it and keep it so I can look back on it some day.  
Thanks for reading and if you have any questions feel free to ask.  
 

@Vacation Crazy, we will be celebrating our 25th on FOS in May as well!  Depart May 31st. You? 

And now I have to jump in, too!  We're celebrating our 25th anniversary on Freedom in June 2020.  We're doing a B2B (eastern/southern loop followed by an ABC island loop) and very excited and looking forward to it!!!  (Especially with the newly AMPed ship!)

I guess FOS is the ship to celebrate silver anniversaries!  We are the week before you.  Congrats to you and happy cruise countdown!   We are soooo looking forward to it.  

Thank you!  I know it's long but I remember how I liked to read tons of stuff before my trip so I'm trying to be somewhat detailed.  We didn't go to St. Marteen this trip.  

I have enjoyed following this, as we have the same itinerary next May, except we also stop at St. Marteen.  Did you go to that port as well?  Your pics and narrative is making more excited!  We also want to do the trikes on Aruba, and maybe Woodwind on Bonaire.  Thanks for the details!

It is my understanding that the cups just let you use the Freestyle Machines. At bars, the MDR, etc. you can still utilize the soda package by presenting your Sea Pass/WOW Band.

Just show the waiter your set sail card and they will bring your pop of choice (no freestyle machines, so its only Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Fanta Orange, Diet Sprite.

It is a sad week for Galveston Cruises. Three passengers from the Carnival Vista were killed in an accident in Belize on Wednesday  during a shore excursion when their van was hit head on by another vehicle. A passenger from the Liberty of the Seas was killed during a shore excursion when the van she was riding in lost control and flipped. She was ejected through the front windshield when the van suffered a tire failure and flipped. Other members of her family were also injured in the incident. All five passengers who were killed were from the Dallas area. Please remember these families in your prayers.