My Review Freedom OTS 12/19-12/26 Holiday Cruise

[jeffreytg]

Shuttle: Used Coco Beach Shuttle MCO to Radisson: Called upon landing and the van was waiting for us when we stepped outside. We did the self embark off the ship and luggage valet. Cocoa Beach Shuttle has us wait about 20 minutes and then we were on our way to MCO post cruise. B+

 

Pre-Cruise Hotel: Radisson Cocoa Beach. Average, sleep number beds- bigdeal- not that comfiortable as far as I am concerned. Seafood buffet Saturday night for $29.99 per person- DW and DD pigged out on Crab Legs. We stayed Friday-Sunday and we saw the mess Saturday afternoon with people waiting for shuttle to the port. So, we called a taxi which showed up precisely 10:00 AM Sunday as ordered and avoided that shuttle mess. Additionaly, the only shuttle we would have gotten on would have been 1 PM, later than we desired. C

 

If I had it all to do over again, I'd have rened a car instead of taking shuttles and taxis.

 

Embarking: Screwed up in my opinion. We arrived by 10:15, we knew it was early but were excited to get going. We were the secod family to check in after the counters were opened (11 AM or so) and were directed by employee where to sit. We sat where we were told and then otherscame and checked in and took their seats. By the time borading started (noon or so), there were many hundreds of people in line to board. The boarding started at the opposite end of the seats from where we were told to sit. Here we wre the second family there and we ended up boarding after 100s of other people who came later than us. I dont mind waiting, but it should be first come first served. Then, I got up to the security guard and she discovered that there was no date on my sea pass card- it failed to print. So I sent my family on a head to board and I went back through the hoards boarding, stood in line to get a new sea pass crad, and then waiting in the line to board again. F

 

Food

Windjammer: had all lunches and breakfasts there. Tried Honey strung chicken- no big deal. Overall I think they did a good job as we always found something to satisfy. We had to hunt around for seating for sure, but always found a table for the four of us. B

 

Dining room- we had traditional dining on Level 3 at a table for 10 that ended up with 7 of us. The waiter was very good, assistant waiter OK, and the head waiter was seen much more than I recall seeing one on our previous cruises. Everything I ordered I liked and I never heard my family complain eihther. I have to say the lobster was tough- but its a cruise ship lobster- we did not have high expectations. B

 

Portifino- we dined there on Thursday. Everyone liked their meal and it took a full two hours. The service was very good. B

 

Kids used room service each evening at about 11 PM for snacks. The menu is sparce but just enough on it to kill hunger pains. C

 

Cafe Prominade: Loved it, great coffee (much better than that cr!p they serve in Windjammer. Had a few tasty pasteries as well and it was a good spot to just relax and people watch A

 

Sorrento's: sorry folks but what they serve is not come close to being pizza. Loved the location, but hated the pizza. C

 

Cabins- 7621 and 7623 connected Prominade view insides. Kids in one and wife and I in the other. I liked two bathrooms, and prefer these conencted cabins to a JR Suite which we also considered. This is out 4th cruise and first without a balconey, but we did not miss it as we don't sp[end much day light time in the cabin anyway and at night there isn't much that can seen from a balconey anyway. Our attendant was attentative doing what we'd expect him to do keeping the room clean. B

 

Entertainment: attended every evening show. Liked them all but the second night's broadway cover show- Yuk= Broadway. One evening the Nelson twins were the act doing covers of their father's (Ricky Nelson) songs. Another act was a magician from America's Got Talent- he was very good. Loved the ice show. The piano player in Schooner's was entertaining but could not sing in my opinion. Great playing and a real hoot, but simply hasn't the voice. Overall a B+

 

Things that bugged me:

Got sick and tired of the cruise director asking for applause. I counted one time where we had the crowd applaud the same act 4 times in a row. All the applause requests were just way over done "lets have a round of applause for the sound engineer". Come on already. I don't applaud the the taxi driver, hotel maid, or South West luggage loaders- let's just stop with all this applauding nonsense.

 

Announcements: more than I would like. We all received a cruise compass with the day's activities. I don't need a shipwide announcement at 3:00 that bingo cards go on sale at 4:00 and another at 4:00 that cards are now on sale.

 

The way luggage valet was handled. We signed up for it and yet received color coded luggage tags. So I stood in line at guest services and they said to just forget about them . We'll how was I supposed to knwo that- as far as I knew, they could have not noticed that I signed up for luggage valet. Then the last night after diner we came back to our rooms and we had to received borading passes and South west lugge tags in our oom. So, down to Guest Services to stand in line where I was told " We have you in teh system, your attendant should have them". So back to the to the room and a call to the attnedant to be told he will bring them shortley. They need to organize this better- tell people what will occur, what they will and won't receive, and don't send people regular luggage tags who sigend up for luggage valet. On a positive note, our luggage did arrive at our final in tact.

 

Things I liked

Although there were many teens and children on board, the shipw as less crowded than I anticipated. I don't know that I'd want to cruise during Christmas again, nontheless the ship accomodated this well.

 

I though they had a good balance of Christmas theme vs not on the cruise. Altough the cruise directer made a few defensive announcements- I guess some passengers must have been complaining that things were not Chrtismassy enough. Not everyone wants to have Christmas jammed down their throats and not everyone on the ship is from the US where Christmas has been turned into nothing more than shop and charge until you drop season. There were Pointsettas out, two christmas trees, Santa made an appearance, there was carrolling on Christmas eve and Egg Nog served outside the Windjammer on Christmas day. I think RCL did a good job here.

 

I liked the service in Windjammer. Drink orders taken and fulfilled promptly, plates cleared soon after being emptied, and great effort made to get guests to utilize hand sanitizer.

 

Overall, I give this cruise a B :p

 

Im too lazy to spell check this, but Ill answer your questions:

[cb at sea]

Next time, do give the dining room a try for breakfast....you don't have to dress up for breakfast or lunch and it's so much nicer than the buffet..no searching for seating, and all the condiments (jellys, syrups, etc...) will be on the table! Makes a good breakfast better!

[LBumb]

thanks and loved your grading system.

[chris153]

How did you like the rooms? We are in the same rooms, but on the eighth floor in August. Could you see the parade from them? How was the view of the promenade.

[jeffreytg]

Boy many typos, hope you all get the points anyway. I did leave a few things out:

 

Ports of call:

Missed Coco Cay. No big deal, I'd have liked to have made the stop, but if the seas are too rough, so be it. ALso, the ship was scheduled to go to St Thomas and then St marten, but the stops were done out of order with St Marten first. The captain made some sort of announcement about this, but as I was near the pool reading and I thought it was just another annoying announcement at the time, I missed the explanation. Something having to do with weather. We bad pre-booked our excursions and all excursions were messed up as a result of the out of order stops. All excursion charges were refunded promptly to my sea pass which we could see on the TV. Then, one of our excursions was rebooked, but on the other day. The seciond excursion was not auto rebooked as it was not offered on the new day. By the time we figured all this out, there were not any excursions left available to our likeing. So, on St marten, we simply hit the beach in Philibsburg. I'm sure the Captain made the right decision to change the schedule, but I do wonder about people who had private excursions arranged dealt with this. B-

 

Photos

They want $19.95 per photo. We had a coupon in our gold coupon book for half off a photo if we purchased a photo (saved us $10). Ended up buying 6 photos total. They offer all your photos ona CD for I beleuive $299, too steep for us. C (B for quality, D for price)

 

Casino

Took us to the cleaners but its mostly all luck so I don't blame the cruise line. Very large casino area with plenty of slot machines with a great deal of variety. Wife entered slot tournament ($25) and the top 15 made the finals, she ended up #18. The winnner received a cruise for two on Liberty OTS in December 2011. I played poker tournmant with the blinds eating me alive and no good cards, was first out in my table of 8, cost $99.00. Craps sucks with single odds most of the time and a few special occasions with double odds. Overall I rate the casino a B+.

[jeffreytg]

How did you like the rooms? We are in the same rooms, but on the eighth floor in August. Could you see the parade from them? How was the view of the promenade.

 

Our room was in a good location, but I think 8th floor is optimal at the same part of the ship. That puts you 3 floors beneath Windjammer (11th) and 3 above Prominade (5th). (we always took stairs) We were right across from the guest services desk. We attempted to watch the first parade from the room, but it is not good viewing. The windows face straight outword so a person can not look down the prominade, you can only see what is in front of your windows. For all other parades we went down to the promonade itself for much better viewing.

 

The room itself was ample. Note that the connecting door was locked upon our arrival and the room attendant had to get his supervisor to unlock for us after we requested it. Once a connecting door is unlocked, it can be closed but not locked from either side without the key (which only the supervisor has). Our kid's room was as ordered with two beds seperated and our room has one bed made out of the two beds being pushed together. I'd stay in this type of room again, I think it was a good value.

It was odd though with no clock in the room except on the phone which is not back let and can not bee seen in the dark, we never had any idea what time of day it was when we awoke at night with our curtains closed. Was it 2 Am or 10 AM? No telling, since there is no balcony window to let in sun light.

[chris153]

thanks for the room review. We usually stay in an inside, due to budget, so the darkness of room we are used too. This time I am suprising the kids with the promenade, and for the first time ever, my husband and I have a balcony, can't wait. Thanks again!!

[Poorplaya]

Loved the review, thanks for all the great information.

[catlady27]

Our room was in a good location, but I think 8th floor is optimal at the same part of the ship. That puts you 3 floors beneath Windjammer (11th) and 3 above Prominade (5th). (we always took stairs) We were right across from the guest services desk. We attempted to watch the first parade from the room, but it is not good viewing. The windows face straight outword so a person can not look down the prominade, you can only see what is in front of your windows. For all other parades we went down to the promonade itself for much better viewing.

 

The room itself was ample. Note that the connecting door was locked upon our arrival and the room attendant had to get his supervisor to unlock for us after we requested it. Once a connecting door is unlocked, it can be closed but not locked from either side without the key (which only the supervisor has). Our kid's room was as ordered with two beds seperated and our room has one bed made out of the two beds being pushed together. I'd stay in this type of room again, I think it was a good value.

It was odd though with no clock in the room except on the phone which is not back let and can not bee seen in the dark, we never had any idea what time of day it was when we awoke at night with our curtains closed. Was it 2 Am or 10 AM? No telling, since there is no balcony window to let in sun light.

 

 

Did you try the Flowrider or rock climbing wall? Those are our favorite things to do on the Freedom, well besides go to Olive or Twist :D

[riclop]

Shuttle: Used Coco Beach Shuttle MCO to Radisson: Called upon landing and the van was waiting for us when we stepped outside. We did the self embark off the ship and luggage valet. Cocoa Beach Shuttle has us wait about 20 minutes and then we were on our way to MCO post cruise. B+

 

Pre-Cruise Hotel: Radisson Cocoa Beach. Average, sleep number beds- bigdeal- not that comfiortable as far as I am concerned. Seafood buffet Saturday night for $29.99 per person- DW and DD pigged out on Crab Legs. We stayed Friday-Sunday and we saw the mess Saturday afternoon with people waiting for shuttle to the port. So, we called a taxi which showed up precisely 10:00 AM Sunday as ordered and avoided that shuttle mess. Additionaly, the only shuttle we would have gotten on would have been 1 PM, later than we desired. C

 

If I had it all to do over again, I'd have rened a car instead of taking shuttles and taxis.

 

Embarking: Screwed up in my opinion. We arrived by 10:15, we knew it was early but were excited to get going. We were the secod family to check in after the counters were opened (11 AM or so) and were directed by employee where to sit. We sat where we were told and then otherscame and checked in and took their seats. By the time borading started (noon or so), there were many hundreds of people in line to board. The boarding started at the opposite end of the seats from where we were told to sit. Here we wre the second family there and we ended up boarding after 100s of other people who came later than us. I dont mind waiting, but it should be first come first served. Then, I got up to the security guard and she discovered that there was no date on my sea pass card- it failed to print. So I sent my family on a head to board and I went back through the hoards boarding, stood in line to get a new sea pass crad, and then waiting in the line to board again. F

 

Food

Windjammer: had all lunches and breakfasts there. Tried Honey strung chicken- no big deal. Overall I think they did a good job as we always found something to satisfy. We had to hunt around for seating for sure, but always found a table for the four of us. B

 

Dining room- we had traditional dining on Level 3 at a table for 10 that ended up with 7 of us. The waiter was very good, assistant waiter OK, and the head waiter was seen much more than I recall seeing one on our previous cruises. Everything I ordered I liked and I never heard my family complain eihther. I have to say the lobster was tough- but its a cruise ship lobster- we did not have high expectations. B

 

Portifino- we dined there on Thursday. Everyone liked their meal and it took a full two hours. The service was very good. B

 

Kids used room service each evening at about 11 PM for snacks. The menu is sparce but just enough on it to kill hunger pains. C

 

Cafe Prominade: Loved it, great coffee (much better than that cr!p they serve in Windjammer. Had a few tasty pasteries as well and it was a good spot to just relax and people watch A

 

Sorrento's: sorry folks but what they serve is not come close to being pizza. Loved the location, but hated the pizza. C

 

Cabins- 7621 and 7623 connected Prominade view insides. Kids in one and wife and I in the other. I liked two bathrooms, and prefer these conencted cabins to a JR Suite which we also considered. This is out 4th cruise and first without a balconey, but we did not miss it as we don't sp[end much day light time in the cabin anyway and at night there isn't much that can seen from a balconey anyway. Our attendant was attentative doing what we'd expect him to do keeping the room clean. B

 

Entertainment: attended every evening show. Liked them all but the second night's broadway cover show- Yuk= Broadway. One evening the Nelson twins were the act doing covers of their father's (Ricky Nelson) songs. Another act was a magician from America's Got Talent- he was very good. Loved the ice show. The piano player in Schooner's was entertaining but could not sing in my opinion. Great playing and a real hoot, but simply hasn't the voice. Overall a B+

 

Things that bugged me:

Got sick and tired of the cruise director asking for applause. I counted one time where we had the crowd applaud the same act 4 times in a row. All the applause requests were just way over done "lets have a round of applause for the sound engineer". Come on already. I don't applaud the the taxi driver, hotel maid, or South West luggage loaders- let's just stop with all this applauding nonsense.

 

Announcements: more than I would like. We all received a cruise compass with the day's activities. I don't need a shipwide announcement at 3:00 that bingo cards go on sale at 4:00 and another at 4:00 that cards are now on sale.

 

The way luggage valet was handled. We signed up for it and yet received color coded luggage tags. So I stood in line at guest services and they said to just forget about them . We'll how was I supposed to knwo that- as far as I knew, they could have not noticed that I signed up for luggage valet. Then the last night after diner we came back to our rooms and we had to received borading passes and South west lugge tags in our oom. So, down to Guest Services to stand in line where I was told " We have you in teh system, your attendant should have them". So back to the to the room and a call to the attnedant to be told he will bring them shortley. They need to organize this better- tell people what will occur, what they will and won't receive, and don't send people regular luggage tags who sigend up for luggage valet. On a positive note, our luggage did arrive at our final in tact.

 

Things I liked

Although there were many teens and children on board, the shipw as less crowded than I anticipated. I don't know that I'd want to cruise during Christmas again, nontheless the ship accomodated this well.

 

I though they had a good balance of Christmas theme vs not on the cruise. Altough the cruise directer made a few defensive announcements- I guess some passengers must have been complaining that things were not Chrtismassy enough. Not everyone wants to have Christmas jammed down their throats and not everyone on the ship is from the US where Christmas has been turned into nothing more than shop and charge until you drop season. There were Pointsettas out, two christmas trees, Santa made an appearance, there was carrolling on Christmas eve and Egg Nog served outside the Windjammer on Christmas day. I think RCL did a good job here.

 

I liked the service in Windjammer. Drink orders taken and fulfilled promptly, plates cleared soon after being emptied, and great effort made to get guests to utilize hand sanitizer.

 

Overall, I give this cruise a B :p

 

Im too lazy to spell check this, but Ill answer your questions:

Grump grump everything seems to bother you,announcements,applause etc. WOW

[riclop]

Our room was in a good location, but I think 8th floor is optimal at the same part of the ship. That puts you 3 floors beneath Windjammer (11th) and 3 above Prominade (5th). (we always took stairs) We were right across from the guest services desk. We attempted to watch the first parade from the room, but it is not good viewing. The windows face straight outword so a person can not look down the prominade, you can only see what is in front of your windows. For all other parades we went down to the promonade itself for much better viewing.

 

The room itself was ample. Note that the connecting door was locked upon our arrival and the room attendant had to get his supervisor to unlock for us after we requested it. Once a connecting door is unlocked, it can be closed but not locked from either side without the key (which only the supervisor has). Our kid's room was as ordered with two beds seperated and our room has one bed made out of the two beds being pushed together. I'd stay in this type of room again, I think it was a good value.

It was odd though with no clock in the room except on the phone which is not back let and can not bee seen in the dark, we never had any idea what time of day it was when we awoke at night with our curtains closed. Was it 2 Am or 10 AM? No telling, since there is no balcony window to let in sun light.

Travel clocks are cheap.

[jeffreytg]

Did you try the Flowrider or rock climbing wall? Those are our favorite things to do on the Freedom, well besides go to Olive or Twist :D

 

Did not try wall nor florider, but spent a great deal of time watching the florider. It was a hoot seeing people of all different ages giving it a whirl.

Made it to Oliver and Twist one night, nice spot I agree.

[QTMichele]

How did you like the rooms? We are in the same rooms, but on the eighth floor in August. Could you see the parade from them? How was the view of the promenade.

 

I haven't stayed in that location, but wanted to add that I have stayed in a PR stateroom on the 8th deck - LOVED the location. The windows tilted outward so we could easily see the activites down below. Also, even though we were 3 decks up from all the action, it really didn't feel like we were too high up. I would imagine the 6th deck would feel like you were right on top of everything. Also, the 8th deck really feels central to everything - pool decks, Windjammer, dining room, theater, etc. It's never a major trek to get to anything. Enjoy your PR stateroom!

[catlady27]

Did not try wall nor florider, but spent a great deal of time watching the florider. It was a hoot seeing people of all different ages giving it a whirl.

Made it to Oliver and Twist one night, nice spot I agree.

 

You should give the Flowrider a go the next time if you decide to cruise on a Freedom or Oasis class in the future. It is a LOT of fun :)

[canbeme]

How did you like the rooms? We are in the same rooms, but on the eighth floor in August. Could you see the parade from them? How was the view of the promenade.

 

Hi i have just got back from the independance of the seas, we was on the 8th floor but in a balcony cabin but we could watch the parade by going to the lifts and watching from the little balcony by the lift the parade is great but oh so very loud we could hear it in the cabin and it went on till well past 11pm. the cabin steward was not much cope she had to be asked all the time to get ice and change the bed sheets and i dont think she ever had a hover on the carpet. i much prefer male stewards thay do a better job and you only have to ask them once and then they remember to do it every time.

also the balcony was the bigest i have ever had on a cruise. the shows was outstanding as good if not better than the west end. didnt rate the windgamer though to crowded and the food was not that good most offten it was cold. and trying to find a table was very hard had to walk round for ages.

sorry for poor spelling, i dont want nasty people having a go like they do on cruise .co.uk site they can be very mean and cruel.

 

regards

sue

sue

[Magellan321]

Thanks for the review.....sorry to hear that embarkation is still a mess:rolleyes:. We had the same type of problems on 10/24. We were in a group of about 10-12 (not cruising together.. just put in line together)seated by a male RC employee and told that thay were opening up our side for check-in and we were the starter row for the waiting area....then out of nowhere a female RC employee started putting everybody coming up the elevators directly in line for check in.....when we tried to get someone to help us a very rude male RC employee flipped out yelling(not joking...yelling) at us that we were trying to cut in line.... when we had been seated for well over 45 minutes waiting and watching passenger after passenger come off the elevator and go directly to check in. Needless to say he didn't get the point and it wasn't the best way to start vacation. The rest of the trip was great but nowing that this wasn't a glitch makes me wonder why they don't address the embarkation issues.

[kjkrmk]

... but nowing that this wasn't a glitch makes me wonder why they don't address the embarkation issues.

 

We live 1 hr from PC. We get to the port about 1:30 or 2:30 each time we go and never had to sit and wait. We always are able to go upstairs and right in line for a short wait and then to the counter and on to the ship. Getting there too early can cause these issues. I happen to be at the port this past Sunday to meet a friend there and noted zero lines at 2:30. No one waiting to get on.

[louise1955]

We were also on the Christmas cruise. We stayed in connecting promenade rooms on Deck 7 and thought they were perfect. My husband and I had one room and our 2 teenagers the other. They were actually roomier than I expected,especially with the connecting door open.

[trixietx]

We were on this cruise also, with our son, daughter in law and three and six year old grandsons and daughter. Our son and his family and us had jr. suites, 7712 and 7714 at the back of the ship, our daughter had a balcony room two doors down.

 

There was a little snafu boarding. I don't know if this is correct or not, but a woman off the ship told us someone had died on the ship and that was why it was taking so long. Again, don't know if this is correct.

 

We got off Allure on the 19th. at 7:30 a.m. in Ft. Lauderdale and were at Port Canaveral by 11:30. Our family flew in to Orlando on the 18th. and stayed at the Radisson in Cape Canaveral. We waited upstairs for them for probably and hour or a little more at the port.

 

We were on Freedom earlier this year and picked it for our Christmas cruise because of the large children's water park for the grandsons. The weather didn't cooperate, but you can't predict the weather. The weather wasn't good on Allure the week before and people were complaining. I don't understand, I am on vacation and will make the best of it!!

[mek]

Thanks for the review. We booked a promenade view cabin on Navigator OTS, just to do something different, (and it didn't hurt that it was a very good value as well.) Glad to know they are nice. Leaving this Sunday - yeah!:)