Are you getting ready for your trip?
Yes! Partially packed! Emmett Otterton cannot come but don’t tell him!
Ladies are zooming Friday evening and here’s our agenda lol.
And as an “experienced” cruiser now I’m going all in on the extras! Magnets are ordered and I’m so jazzed for these tumblers!
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I was looking for podcasts related to Freedom of the Seas and I found an old episode of Royal Caribbean Blog that interviewed Touring Plans own @derekburgan! It was from 2019 but it was a nice review of Freedom of the Seas before it got amplified. The end summary was “it’s an awesome ship but wait for it to get refreshed” so I’m really looking forward to it now!
Derek kept calling Freedom a “small ship” on the podcast which really got Matt going about halfway through when he had to call him out on it saying “It’s bigger than every Disney ship!” (This was before Wish/Treasure.) It was very comical but makes me hopeful that Freedom won’t feel too small coming off of the Dream!
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To me, Freedom is bigger than the Dream.
Freedom: 156,271 tons, capacity 3782 (double occupancy) or 4515 max, 19 decks (15 passenger decks)
Dream: 129,690 tons, capacity 2500 (double occupancy) or 4000 max, 18 decks, (14 passenger decks)
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The Dream is like 3 ft longer than Freedom. Rather negligible, particularly since in all other ways the Dream is smaller.
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I have only been on the Oasis and the Dream and the Dream felt very noticeably smaller so hopefully the Freedom will “feel” a decent amount bigger. I actually didn’t realize that the Freedom was Royal’s biggest ship until the Oasis came along!
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I remember that podcast. We actually did a sailing on the Freedom and then one later on the Oasis. After the Oasis one we thought maybe we would like the “smaller” ships better so did Freedom again. NAY NAY. Large ships were better for us. Afterwards did Wonder of the Seas and LOVED IT. Just came back from a Princess Cruise Line sailing and will be doing an article on that experience in March.
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Which Princess ship?
I love that line so much.
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Sky Princess. Had no idea there was going to be a Jim Henson related show on the ship. That blew my mind. Overall we had an amazing time.
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It was a great episode and was super helpful for my trip!
I believe that DH and I are also “big ship” people. We took @len and Matt’s advice of our first cruise being on an Oasis class for 7 nights. But then we got spoiled. The Dream was nice but definitely felt tiny. I expect that 4 nights on the Freedom will be awesome since it will be adults only but for our next family cruise I think we want to try the Icon! So I will start saving the pennies/dollars/kidneys now! But Maybe Wonder or a Quantum could be a budget option.
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I will say that the Northern Europe cruise on the Disney Dream last August was one of the best vacations I’ve ever had.
That said, I really like a big ship. There’s just more to do, especially since Laurel isn’t a “main dining room on a schedule” kind of person. I like the idea that if I wake up at 2 am and want diner food, something’s available.
We were also on Celebrity Beyond last year. Loved the staterooms. It might be a compromise between RCCL and DCL.
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I will say that this is the reason I put down a placeholder and it is probably the only itinerary that will bring me back to DCL but I haven’t seen it again! We are going to Copenhagen this summer (land only) so we will hopefully get a taste and see what comes out for 2025.
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I would 100% recommend Tivoli Gardens for an afternoon. It’s a hoot.
Here’s some info I created for the kids (and their parents) who came with us to Copenhagen. Let me know if it doesn’t make sense.
Take train from airport to Central Station
We should arrive in Terminal 3 (SAS) (Graphic below is for the kids, who arrive in T2 on Delta)
In Terminal 3 look for signs for the train to Copenhagen Central Station.
Purchase train tickets at the machines located near baggage claim and DSB (the Dutch train company) ticket office in Terminal 3. One-way tickets cost around 40 Krone, maybe $5 USD.
Trains depart every 10 minutes. It’s roughly a 15-minute trip.
From Copenhagen Central Station it is a 2-minute walk to the hotel:
Hotel: Radisson Collection Royal Hotel Copenhagen
If you’ve not yet got a hotel, that Radisson is centrally located and easy to get to. The concierge, Michelle, is from Michigan and has been in Denmark for about a decade. I can put y’all in touch if needed.
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Thank you! Definitely makes sense. We will be at the beach for a week and then in the city for Labor Day weekend. Tivoli is absolutely on our list! I was actually planning a whole day. My boys are 5 and 8. Is that too much? We have not yet booked a hotel so I will take a look and reach back out to you.
So far my Copenhagen research consists of an episode of Somebody Feed Phil so I know I have more prep to do! I think we really want to do some bike riding and Smørrebrød eating!
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I love that different sized ships exist! And I love trying different ships and lines out.
The bigger ships are a lot of fun with a longer voyage and needing more activities.
I prefer medium or smaller sized ships just from a getting-here-to-there standpoint, but found that too small a ship kept us from getting the food choices we wanted on some lines.
I am totally a dinner at an exact time and exact staff person (though I can have that on any ship) and don’t care much for buffets. I do love walk up places for burgers and Mexican and treats.
I don’t have any cruises lined up right now. For the first time in a long time the sea is NOT calling! 
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We spent the whole day at Tivoli. It was such a fun time. I think that if you want to leave and come back the same day, that’s allowed too. Their fireworks are very cool and essentially right overhead.
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We just got off the Freedom today and it was great!!
@ryan1 are you going on the Freedom, I forget!
It definitely felt much bigger than the Dream and was a really good size for 4 nights. But I miss the Solarium and Central Park on the Oasis class.
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Nope. We will be on Allure.
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