BACK FROM FOS (Aug. 28th cruise)

[Cruisegirl6]

My overall experience aboard the FOS was FABULOUS! I have been on 47 cruises now and I will write a totally lenghtly detailed review within the next couple of days.

 

I like to eat very healthy and I expect quality/selection to be at the least very good when I dine out and I expect this on cruises also. I do not eat fast foods and I avoid local chain restaurants, my favorite restaurant is Morton's Steakhouse so on that note I must say the food overall was VERY GOOD to EXCELLENT ( there were a small handful of items which were just good which I will mention in my review). I also will say the Windjammer was excellent and the best I ever experienced on any cruise. I feel RC has improved on its buffets and feel it could not been any better.

 

Portofino's definately was so much better than Chops (I will mention about my experiences in Chops in my review but please take note that RC did care and went out of their way to speak to me on a number of occasions relating to my dining experience there and I must say CHEF MICHAEL himself came to my table in the MDR to discuss my Chops experience). RC does take things very seriously as you will see in my review.

 

Service overall was excellent (always was lol)

Ship was perfect

 

Activities in my opinion were good to very good and the shows were the same. We have been on the LOS so we have seen one of the shows already and the comedian (we did not go last night to the second comedy show) was just ok but thats not the fault of RC as it just depends who is the comedian and what they decide to talk about.

 

I must say that all cruise lines have cut down (Carnival has cut down the MOST DRASTIC) and I have noticed some cutbacks of RC but I must say that the areas where RC has cut back did not damper my cruise experience at all! I will mention this also in my review to come and RC remains to give you a quality product overall.

 

Honestly this may be the best cruise I ever had with the exception of missing Coca Cay (again lol) and ending up in Nassau. Personally I not like Nassau and tired of that place but this cruise did have three sea days and if RC gave another fourth sea day and didn't substitute a port as it did do, I feel people would complain and not be happy at all.

 

I will write my review in the next day or two, anybody with any questions feel free to ask me anytime!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dadatsea]

Great to hear good things about FOS as we are booked for 10/30/11 so it would be excellent if FOS lives up to your lofty report..:) I eagerly anticipate our cruise more now as I havent heard anyone point to Windjammer as a highlight to their cruise lately:rolleyes: I will sure be looking for your review and am Thanking You in advance for posting it.:)

[jagsfan]

Looking forward to reading it....looks like you're going to do a good one.

[Cruisegirl6]

;):)

[Go38car]

YAY! Thanks Lynda! Love your comments and point of reference. I wonder how long CocoCay will be down? Looking forward to your full review.

[Bubbis3]

I will write my review in the next day or two, anybody with any questions feel free to ask me anytime!

 

 

I am going of FOS - Eastern on 9/25. I was wondering during Embarkation, does RCI have a seperate line to check in for C&A members? I know they have one for suite guests but I'm not sure if they offer it to loyalty members? And if they do offer it to C&A members, do you have to be at a certain level to use the line? Thanks for any input you can give.

 

Carnival Festivale - 2/1983

Adventure of the Seas - 2/2004

Enchantment of the Seas - 2/2006

Radiance of the Seas - 2/2008

Monarch of the Seas - 4/2010

Freedom of the Seas - 9/2011

[goouchjac]

Lyndmar,,,, You mentioned you had a bad experience at Chops,,last Jan. on the Freedom and the year before on the Indy we also had bad experience...We used to look forward to going to Chops,,but will not partakon our next cruise in Jan.2012...Please clarify what happened, curious minds want to know..

 

:confused:

[cruzlover]

Looking forward to your review. Did you prebook any shows and, if so, how did it work out? Also, did you watch anything on the big outdoor screen? Thanks.

 

Melinda

[Cruisegirl6]

We dined at Chops on both our LOS cruises and again on the FOS. We had more issues with this experience on the FOS and I felt it was time I said something. The way I see things is that if I explain my dislikes as well as the likes to RC that perhaps they will improve certain things and make them better. I definately have to say RC does indeed care about their service and food they provide. I was totally impressed on their concern about the issues I had brought up in addition it was a big concern to the Chef that he came over to our table in the dining room to ask us personally about our experiences/likes/dislikes of the food.

 

I have even more greater respect for RC and know what a wonderful cruise line RC really is. They do take pride in what they provide to their passengers.

[lovevacadays]

Looking forward to reading your review. So nice to hear you had a wonderful cruise.

[lrn2cruise]

I am totally with you on the Windjammer! I thought the fresh food was excellent. I loved the salad bar. The fruit was so sweet and just perfect. It was fun to come in from the pool and get a bowl of fruit salad in the afternoon.

 

The MDR was my biggest complaint. Not the food per say, but the hassle of getting there. The appitizer was like, 3-5 bites, the main dish, maybe 10-15 bites, the dessert-10 bites and you are done. I had to wait for tea and bread, etc. It just was not worth our effort. the main waiter was so worried about us being happy though. He came to our table and asked what he could do. He offered to take DS to AO himself! It was nothing personal to the wait staff. They were fine. Just not our cup of tea to dress up with all the foo foo.

[Cruisegirl6]

Irn: I agree and they had a large variety of different types of foods and honestly I think the Windjammer has improved, in fact with the amount of people they need to serve there, I feel they could not offer any better regarding on the quality/selection/variety it was all perfect.

 

MDR we dined there four evenings (we were suppose to dine two evenings in Chops but had issues there and only dined there once and Portofino's we dined there twice), I have to say appetizers were small portions but that is good as I like to try different things and generally get 2-3 appetizers each evening in the MDR. You can always ask for a second of anything you wanted.....I feel the portions were sufficient and totally compatible to the other cruise lines I have taken they are in line with all of them as far as portion sizes.

 

We never waited for bread in fact I cannot have gluten and immediately getting to my dining room table gluten free bread was given to me. Desserts I believe have improved, yes the portions are small but thats with every cruise line, again, you can order as many as you like. I agree with the smaller portions as cruise lines have so much waste when it comes to food. The steak I feel was perfect I believe the NY Strip was at least 10 ounces, perfect size.

 

Our service overall in the MDR was perfect! I am used to eating at fine restaurants and I must say they were in line with fine restaurants as far as the service.

 

About dressing up, on formal nights we did not dress up we wore nice pants and shirt/blouse so did others, there were few people in tuxes/gowns, suits, dress shirts down to polo shirts and ladies wearing pants and blouses, there was a bit of everything, and never ever did I feel out of place not dressing formal so I not understand why you felt the way you did.

[rcrdale]

Can you please tell me if they still have the 70's night and a Caribbean night? If they do, what nights were they. My DW and I had a blast on our first cruise dressing up for the different nights. Our grown sons will be with us this time and I would really love to embarrass them by dressing up again.

[fairweather]

Looking forward to your review. Things change regularly in the industry and from ship to ship. It's good to hear RC is interested in responding to customer concerns when presented in a constructive manner.

 

I personally think offering smaller portion sizes is a responsible and even a smart thing to do. There are so many good choices offered among the various appetizers, soups, salads, entree, and desserts. Many people like to order their favorites but would like to try something new on occasion. Why make the passengers so full they can't enjoy their meals or take away from the chefs' opportunity to experiment and be creative?

 

I have found that the food is usually fine on any cruise line if you keep your expectations realistic. Some items will not be as good as others on certain nights. Besides, everyone has differing tastes.

 

RC seems to strike a better than average balance most of the time. They are dealing with a banquet type-situation with so many people at a sit down dinner at one time. In my experience the RC waitstaff and kitchens perform at a much higher level than you get at most hotels or large catering operations. With the advent of MyTime dining a new challenge has been added to the mix as well.

 

With RC I have always felt pampered and given special attention to both my needs and my palate. I hope they can continue to provide that degree of quality at a reasonable cost. Cruising is a such a wonderful alternative to the average vacation in so many ways. Dining is a big part of that.

 

So, I'm really interested to hear about your experience with the specialty restaurants. Since RC is now expanding the number of alternative dining experiences on most ships, I want to hear how they handled input from loyal patrons regarding quality.

[proudpatriot07]

When I went on the FOS in May (same cruise itinerary, but we made it to CocoCay), the food portions did seem small, but it was fine for us... we liked being able to sample several different entries. One guy at our table ordered 3 different things each night for the main dish, I don't know how he ate it all but he did. I guess if you wanted a bigger portion just order two of the same entree? Seems like food portions are good to cut back on because people do waste a lot of food.

 

Our dinners did seem long and we had to wait... part of that was probably because our table had 10 people total (I like big tables), so others were out of there before we were even served dessert. But our waiter had several different tables. Maybe they have staff cutbacks or something?

 

We still had a great experience- FOS is such an amazing ship!

[39august]

There has been no "Caribbean" night for a few years. Yes, there was a 70's party on this Freedom sailing.

[Cruisegirl6]

Still didn't get to my review just finished loading the refrigerators up with groceries but I will do it by tomorrow evening for you all.

 

They had the 70's party one evening and I have not seen Caribbean night in years, no they did not have that.

 

I will never cruise Carnival again due to its lack of variety/selection/quality of food...I must say Carnival cut down the most drastic of cruise lines and I am so glad to report RC has not done this, the food is very good to excellent still. I will mention about the specialty restaurants in my review by tomorrow evening.

 

I noticed that the waiters only served 30 people in the dining room, depending upon the table size I counted the number of seats she was taking care of and two other waiters nearby and all served 30 people total. I also observed my waitress and another alternating tables in other words one evening table 1 had their appetizers first, then table 2 and three, next day she started with table 2, then 3 then 1 alternating all courses so everybody is served in a timely matter and not one particular table got presidence. I also noticed that people did all arrive the same time nobody was late to any of the tables that my waitress took care of which was very nice. My waitress and the one nearby both did an excellent job in serving the tables so that everybody was eating pretty much the same course at the same time.

[deanswife1990]

I will write my review in the next day or two, anybody with any questions feel free to ask me anytime!

 

 

I am going of FOS - Eastern on 9/25. I was wondering during Embarkation, does RCI have a seperate line to check in for C&A members? I know they have one for suite guests but I'm not sure if they offer it to loyalty members? And if they do offer it to C&A members, do you have to be at a certain level to use the line? Thanks for any input you can give.

 

 

Carnival Festivale - 2/1983

Adventure of the Seas - 2/2004

Enchantment of the Seas - 2/2006

Radiance of the Seas - 2/2008

Monarch of the Seas - 4/2010

Freedom of the Seas - 9/2011

 

I noticed that we are on the smae sailing for Sept 25. Join us on the roll call. We have a great group.

[Azspeed]

We were on the FOS 8/28/11 as well. With the exception of Chops this was one of our best cruises...we've done 43. The service was fabulous, the production shows were the best we've seen, and the ship was first class as always. My wife and I are easy going and realistic in the area of getting what you pay for. RCCI delivers ROI 99% of the time in our opinion so we rarely complain, but Chops unfortunately falls in the 1%.

Here goes...as usual we paid in advance after booking online. Nowhere is there a disclaimer that they've changed their menu. I go there for my favorites and found that the rib eye as a main course is gone and cheesecake is as well. (small stuff I know, but remember this is an extra charge specialty restaurant, and EVERY decent steakhouse in the world serves a rib eye)

The meal we were served was a disaster...onion soup was tasteless and missing onions(not a joke)...the roasted potatoes were unrecognizable as compared to the other 14 times we ate at Chops. The "replacement" steak was not as good as MTD.

The restaurant manager was made aware of our issues, and apologized with a couple of items sent to our room. That's nice, but not good enough - just charge me whatever, and let me enjoy what I wish to pay extra for.

Misc stuff...there was a 70's night - MTD was excellent in every way / seating and service was equal to any fine restaurant. We're back on RCCI New Years on the Oasis.

[ALSEAU]

I will write my review in the next day or two, anybody with any questions feel free to ask me anytime!

 

 

I am going of FOS - Eastern on 9/25. I was wondering during Embarkation, does RCI have a seperate line to check in for C&A members? I know they have one for suite guests but I'm not sure if they offer it to loyalty members? And if they do offer it to C&A members, do you have to be at a certain level to use the line? Thanks for any input you can give.

 

Carnival Festivale - 2/1983

Adventure of the Seas - 2/2004

Enchantment of the Seas - 2/2006

Radiance of the Seas - 2/2008

Monarch of the Seas - 4/2010

Freedom of the Seas - 9/2011

 

 

Bubbis3 I see you are traveling on our cruise. Feel free to join us in our roll call at this link:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1291333

[Cruisegirl6]

Azspeed:

 

We totally agree 110% with you regarding Chops. Since you mentioned your experience I will mention mine before writing my review where I was going to mention this anyway.

 

I have dined twice before in Chops on the LOS but felt perhaps Chops would be better on the FOS....NOT!! In fact it was more horrible.

 

We also paid for two evenings advanced for Portofino's and two evenings in Chops. Each time we received a wonderful table right next to the window we were pleased each time with the table. After our first evening dining in Chops which we felt was certainly not worth any extra money we had paid we all agreed (both of us are 48, I have been on 47 cruises myself, my daughter is 20 and my father in law with us he is 68) to cancel our second evening at Chops as the experience was totally horrible.

 

1- My honey, myself and father in law arrived to Chops at 6:55 for a 7pm reservation...we did not see my daughter so we told the hostess that we were waiting for her to arrive....she even picked up the phone and called her stateroom....after 10 additional minutes past we decided to sit down and figured she show up. They sat us at a table and when I looked over to the window there was my daughter already sitting at the table waiting for us! My daughter told me when she arrived she gave dads name and cabin number as the reservation was under his name...they knew she arrived sat her down and made us wait for her thinking she didn't arrive! Now any restaurant would ask for her name or mention to the rest of the party that a person in my party already arrived and is sitting at the table and then we should be walked over to the table but no.....not only was it embarrasing to us "waiting for our daughter and our reservation was at 7 and it was past 7pm" but that was totally uncalled for totally unprofessional.

 

Our service was good to very good, I have to say not excellent it was as if our waiter didn't "click" with us but just did his job well but not in a friendly type manner as we have experienced both evenings at Portofino's. Portofino's help made us feel special, wanted and just a great experience but we did not have this here.

 

The menu has changed, I found out later that the creamed spinach was taken off the menu not by Chef Michael but corporate headquarters themselves, they told Chef Michael what he could not serve any longer, who knows why but creamed spinach is in all fine steakhouses such as Mortons and Capital Grill to name two. Ok, fine, there were other choices...mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes both were good but not what I expected but that was ok....the asparagus and broccolini was cooked perfectly...served "family style" so that there was waste on the table from veggies/mashed potatoes that we did not eat as some of us didn't want the asparagus/mashed potatoes and broccolini. How could they not have a baked potato with steak! Ok...fine I said.....we ordered:

 

Bread was good but nothing special

 

Father in law had the shrimp cocktail he was very content with that

 

Daughter and myself had the french onion soup it was so salty that both of us could not eat it and did mention it to the waiter immediately...the manager came over later on asking us about the soup and we said too salty.

 

My honey had the ceasar salad which was a huge chunk of romaine lettace that he had to slice himself with the fork and knife....

 

Honey had the mushroom soup and said it was good

 

Father in law had the veal he said the outside was cooked but the inside was raw and it had too much fat and he could not eat it.

 

Daughter and myself had the petite filet...it was a decent cut and tender but it had NO TASTE/NO FLAVOR! They did offer three types of sauces but the way we see it if we have to put sauce over our steak then why eat a steak!! I also have celiac disease cannot eat gluten which is in sauce.

 

Honey had the regular filet tender also but flavorless.

 

The dinner was all disappointing....my daughter had no water in her glass for over 15 minutes so she took my glass....then when the waiter noticed this he filled up her glass.

 

Creme Brulee! THE MOST HORRIBLE DISCUSTING creme brulee I ever ate in my lifetime and it is my favorite dessert! I ate four small bites and left it, horrible! I have no idea what the heck it was.

 

Honey had this chocolate mouse type dessert, it was light and very good.

 

Daughter had red velvet cake ok it was good but I have to say nothing really stuck out and nothing compared to the desserts you get in Portofino's!

 

I did mention these issues to the manager only because nothing was enjoyable....needless to say they sent the next evening a tray of chocolate covered strawberries to each of our rooms (we had three rooms). It was the right thing for them to do but as my daughter said it was to keep our mouths quiet about this experience (leave it to the young ones to think these things lol). We also received a call from the hostess who apologized about her not telling us my daughter was waiting for us...in the MDR the head waiter came up to us asking about our dining experience in Chops which we told him everything and CHEF MICHAEL himself came to our table another evening to discuss the food in Chops. He was the one who told me that headquarters was the one to take certain foods off the menu it was not his choice nor did he have a choice. He is an amazing caring chef. He felt the veal was not defrosted properly and said that somebody will answer for that, it was very nice for him to come up to us and have us address our experiences in Chops to himn. He was totally concerned. About the creme brulee he said a chemical was added to it (something to do with the flaming) and he said it was not his choice to add it but again there are things that he must abide by in headquarters.....I still not think this "chemical" was the problem as the texture of the creme brulee was not smooth it was a very odd totally white whipped creamy type thing not a custard smooth type like it should be. Wow, how could anybody mess up my favorite dessert that was a first lol

 

If anybody would like to hear about my experience at Portofino's please feel free to ask, but I not recommend Chops at all unless your one that eats alot of fast food...then maybe you like Chops.

[Cruisegirl6]

I failed to mention!!

 

We found out the next evening that we went to the dining room after Chops that our waitress said that she received a call from RC staff asking whether we are complainers.... so they do check to make sure that my complaints were real. She told them she wants us to stay on the ship for 10 weeks lol :) The head chef also asked us about the food in the MDR which we knew it was feeling us out too. But they do check into people complaining as you can see....I gather if we complained in the dining room then they would not taken us seriously.

[BeachChik]

You mentioned that you also ate at portofinos. What was that experience like? We are traveling with others and I thought me and my hubby might book to have an evening alone.

[green eyed lady]

Lynda,

Do you know if they had a win-a-cruise poker tournament on board? :D

[goouchjac]

Hate to beat a dead horse,,but as for chops,,,we have sworn off them and will not dine there anymore..:mad:..We had two bad experiences the last two cruises on two different ships and enough is enough....Don't know what happened,,,they used to be soooo good....