After last summer’s experience on Royal Caribbean’s Rhapsody of the Seas, I wanted to experience one of Royal Caribbean’s more typical ships and visit their private island – Perfect Day at Coco Cay. A group of my colleagues were also looking to sail, so we booked a group on Royal’s Freedom of the Seas on a 4-night Bahamas and Perfect Day sailing from Miami.
Freedom of the Seas is one of Royal’s “Freedom Class” ships. The largest passenger ship in the world when it was built in 2006, it is now a medium sized ship by Royal’s standards.
To give you an idea, Rhapsody of the Seas is 78,491 tons and accommodates 1,992 guests.
Royal’s largest ships – the “Oasis Class” ships – are 220,000 tons and accommodate 5,402 guests.
Freedom of the Seas is 154,407 tons and accommodates 3,782 guests.
Day 1 – Pennsylvania to Florida
When cruising, I always advise my clients to arrive at their departure port at least one day prior to their cruise to ensure they make it to their ship on time. I had taken my own advice and booked an early morning flight to Miami from Newark the day before our ship was set to sail. We woke up at 2:00 am to head to the airport to a notification that our flight was cancelled. After doing some searching for other flights and finding nothing available for days, we decided to get in the car and start driving to Miami.
It was a good thing we did because when I was finally able to get in touch with Jet Blue the earliest flight available wasn’t until Tuesday – the day AFTER our ship left Miami.
I also always recommend purchasing travel insurance. Although we received a full refund for our flights, we had pre-paid for parking at the airport and booked a hotel in Miami both of which we missed the cancellation window for. These expenses should be reimbursed by our travel insurance.
We drove all day stopping only for gas and bathroom breaks and made it as far as Jacksonville, FL before we decided to stop and get some sleep.
Day 2 – Miami, Florida
We woke up at pretty close to our normal time, enjoyed the included breakfast at our hotel and got back on the road for the rest of the trip to Miami. We arrived at the port around 12:30 and boarded the Freedom of the Seas!
Once on board we completed our mandatory safety drill, got E registered for Adventure Ocean (the kids’ club) and had lunch. By then, our stateroom was ready and our bags were even there so I got us all unpacked and organized for the week.
I had booked an Ultra Spacious Oceanview cabin. This is a pretty unique cabin, there are only about 8 of these on the ship and it was perfect for us! This cabin can sleep up to 6 guests (although I think 6 people sharing the tiny bathroom would be really tough). With just the 4 of us, it meant that we each had our own sleeping area – with separating black-out curtains and our couch stayed a couch the entire trip and gave us plenty of space for hanging out. While I would have enjoyed a balcony, it was well worth the trade-off for the extra space!
These cabins are located all the way forward on the ship. This means you feel a little more movement than you would in the middle of the ship and we felt a lot of vibration when the ship was turning or docking. This could be problematic if you suffer from motion sickness, but it did not bother us at all. Miami, the Bahamas and Perfect Day are also all very close together meaning that the ship is never moving very fast. We may have felt more movement if we were on an itinerary that involved more distance (New York to Bermuda, for example).
We had a little time before we had to get ready for dinner, so we went up to the pool deck to watch us sail out of port. There was no sail away party or celebration, I believe because there was some light rain and storms in the area. The boys didn’t care though because they got their first of MANY “free” ice cream cones!
By the time we did all that it was time to get ready for dinner and walk around the ship a bit.
We chose to eat in the main dining room each evening with my colleagues, which was super fun. When I travel with my colleagues it’s usually just us – it was fun to finally get to know their families who I’ve heard so much about but never met in person!
Royal Caribbean has recently revamped their main dining room menus. The main dining room now features a themed menu for each night of the sailing. There was always a fish option, a meat option, vegetarian/vegan options and a kids’ menu that does not change from day-to-day. Tonight’s menu was the “Welcome Aboard” Menu and included items like crab cakes, fried chicken and warm apple crumble. I have found that the Indian/Indonesian option on the menu is always delicious, so I opted for that and was not disappointed!
There are several specialty restaurants on the ship available for an additional charge, but for a short trip with a 5 year old, it wasn’t worth the extra money for us; we stuck with the Main Dining Room every night.
After dinner we were all exhausted, so we headed to bed!
Day 3 – Nassau, Bahamas
When planning this trip, we had decided that we would stay on the ship while in Nassau to hopefully enjoy the amenities with lower crowds. My 12 year old and I had already been to the Bahamas and there wasn’t much interesting to us with a 5 year old in tow. I also knew that on such a short itinerary the pools would be packed on our one sea day.
This was great. We slept until we woke up with no alarms, enjoyed breakfast at Windjammer (the buffet) and spent most of the rest of the day in the pool or the splash pad. It was a fun and still somewhat relaxing day.
Tonight was “dress to impress” night and the menu in the main dining room was “A Taste of Italy”. I went with the lasagna, which was just ok. By now, our waiter knew some of our preferences, so as soon as we sat down he would bring a rainbow salad (fruit plate) and veggie sticks to E to keep him occupied while we waited for our meals.
Day 4 – Perfect Day at Coco Cay
We truly did have a “perfect day” at Coco Cay. I had pre-booked a Breezy Bay beach bed to give us a “home base” for the day. With kids of such different ages, I thought the kids might be in different places all day and wanted us to have a place to meet. These beds are also located between the beach and the pool, so I thought it would be a good place for us to be able to go back and forth.
In the end, we actually didn’t spend much time away from the bed – we really enjoyed the beach – but it was still well worth the expense ($199 plus tax). The bed also includes 2 lounge chairs with an umbrella, a cooler with ice and 4 waters and 2 floating beach mats. The kids loved the beach mats and floated and played with them for hours.
There are plenty of chairs and umbrellas available all over the island, so spending the money for the bed is definitely not necessary, but it was really nice to have our own space!
J had also asked to zipline, which I was excited to do! After checking-in and watching a safety video, they fit you into a harness and you walk up several flights of stairs to the first platform. The harness is like a hanging seat, so you feel quite secure and it’s really easy to manage. There are three different ziplines you get to experience that criss-cross across the island. You must have close-toed shoes (they have crocs to borrow if you forget) and cover-ups to zipline. The cost varies, but was about $100 per person plus tax for us.
Lunch is served on the island – in the main dining pavilions there are a variety of sandwiches, hamburgers and hot dogs, tacos, salads, fruit and several different cookies and brownies. There are also snack shacks where you can get things like french fries, mozzarella sticks, chicken sandwiches and funnel cakes! This is all included in your cruise fare. There are also bars throughout the island serving your favorite island cocktails.
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A very quick storm came through around 2:00. In the few minutes it took us to walk from the beach to the ship it had stopped raining, but we had already had enough sun for the day, so we decided to head back to our cabin and get changed.
Since we enjoyed the beach so much, we missed out on a lot of the other activities on the island – the party at the pool with the swim-up bar, two different splash pads, shopping in the straw market, and other beach areas. There is also a water park, which is an additional charge.
Tonight was “Caribbean night” and the menu in the main dining room was also Caribbean themed! We dressed in our Caribbean and best and headed to the main dining room. The menu included things like jerk pork chops, and Caribbean spiced chicken. I went with garlic butter Tiger Shrimp, which was delicious.
After dinner, E wanted to go to Adventure Ocean, so we dropped him off for about an hour while we went up to the bar on deck 14 – Olive or Twist. Although there were many places to get a drink, this was maybe the only quiet place. The other bars and lounges had loud music and lots of people.
Day 5 – At Sea
As expected the pools were packed all day, but since we had already spent a day there, we were happy to enjoy other things on the ship! Again, we were able to sleep until we woke up without an alarm and enjoy breakfast in Windjammer. After breakfast, we played a few holes of mini golf and then E spent a couple of hours in Adventure Ocean while the rest of us wandered around. Mid-morning, J and I headed down to purchase bingo cards!
One thing I dislike about Adventure Ocean is that it is not open all day. There are set hours, that don’t always accommodate the activities you want to do sans children. Josh had to pick E up from the kids club while J and I were at bingo. This ended up being fine as E enjoyed hanging out with us for the last two games and actually got to help the emcee call numbers!
After bingo we had some lunch and I wandered around the shops. E wanted to go back to Adventure Ocean, but it didn’t reopen until 2 and we also wanted to do Disney movie trivia at 2. E just ended up coming to trivia with us, which was fine, but it wasn’t his favorite lol!
After trivia, it was time to head to Studio B for ice skating! Ice skating is included in your cruise fare, but you do need to make a reservation and they do sell out. Reservations are made in the app once you’re on board. You also need to remember long pants and socks in order to skate – shorts, dresses, swim cover-ups etc. are not allowed. They provide skates, helmets and elbow and knee pads. You get about 20 minutes to skate once you’re all geared-up.
E was SO excited to skate and so proud of himself standing up on the skates. That ended as soon as he hit the ice and wiped out! He made it one time around the rink hanging on to the side the whole time and falling down repeatedly. J was a dutiful big brother and hung with him the whole time, so neither one of them really got to enjoy it too much, but they both say they’d do it again!
When that was over, E made it back to Adventure Ocean, J went to the cabin and Josh and I went to the sports bar – Playmakers – for a drink. The drink menus throughout the ship are mostly the same but there are a few differences. Playmakers had a pineapple jalapeno margarita, which was amazing, so we went for that!
Then it was time to get dressed and head to dinner for the last time. We also met up with all of my colleagues on the ship for a photo-op. This ship is so big that it was the first time I had seen one of the agents the entire trip!
The final main dining room menu was “A Taste of France”. It included things like escargots, chicken cordon bleu, etc. I had Seafood Linguine, which I don’t think was particularly French, but was yummy.
E wanted a little more Adventure Ocean time so he did that while Josh and I got more pineapple jalapeno margaritas and headed to my favorite place on any cruise ship – the promenade deck to watch the sea go by.
When we tried to pick up E he wanted to stay to finish a project he was working on, so we left him and went up to Olive and Twist again!
Day 6 – Disembark Miami, FL
All-in-all we had a great trip. The cancelled flight, missing out on the activities I had planned in Miami and 4 full days of driving definitely put a damper on the fun, but the cruise itself was exactly what I wanted it to be. For me and my family, I think this is the largest ship we’d attempt. This ship had everything we needed and was still somewhat overwhelming and overstimulating – particularly at night when the promenade was at full-blast. For us, I think more isn’t necessarily better, but that’s what’s great about cruising – there’s a ship for everyone!
