Freedom of Seas 12/18/-23/11 Review-Excellent cruise, minor areas for improvement

[mwebb]

11th cruise overall and drew comparisons to these experiences on RCCL, Carnival, & Norwegian. Picked this ship since we wanted to be home for Christmas and although usually a 7 day cruise this was a 5 day for this departure getting us back on 23rd. Overall this cruise was excellent, with only a few very minor areas areas where other ships were a bit better. Cruised with 19 year old daughter. Traveled Southwest (love them) 2 days early and rented from Budget at airport. Booked car rental online at a decent rate, but did not get the vehicle I requested and was charged $12 more then was quoted. Phone wasn't loading to pull up the email quote and wasnt worth taking the time to argue it. (Note to self-print off confirmation- normally would have done this). Pre-cruise hotel 2 nights on Priceline name your own price- Got Crown Plaza near Universal (4*) for only $60 a night-great deal.

Spent the day 12/17 before the cruise at Universal Islands of Adventure to see the Harry Potter area and anticipated long lines. Got there early and much to pleasant surprise barely waited 5-10 minutes for most attractions!

Took car back in Cape Canaveral and shuttle to port about 10:15. Outrside terminal maybe 5 minutes. Once inside observed a line of maybe 500-1000 passengers stranding in the cues. Showed "gold" boarding pass and were directed to a cue to the left and immediately up to the counter. AMAZING- no waiting. On the ship and eating lunch in no time. She was breathtaking! This is absolutely the most beautiful ship I have been on.

I had made reservations for the shows prior to departure but we decided to also do the Murder Mystery Dinner offered in Portofinos on the first night at 49.95@ thus giving us a chance to experience Portofinos. Choice of 2 entrees a seafood entree or filet and wine. Food was excellent and tablemates were fun. Acting was marginal and plot clues not well developed it still made for a fun evening that I would recommend wholeheartedly. Tomorrow- Sea Day.......

[mwebb]

Sea Day- Up on deck by 7:30 a.m. and seemed to be one of the first passengers up and moving-Unlike other ships did not observe the chair hogs and chairs were plentiful. Grabbed

coffee from Windjammer and a chair near the pool for a lovely day at sea reading,sunning and people watching. Complimentary beverages are in the Windjammer thus requiring you to go through the restaurent for a re-fill and would have preferred beverage dispensers more readily accessible to the outside areas so as to not have to put clothes over swim suit to go into the restaurent for re-fill. Had purchased the soda card for daughter for $32 with re-fillable mug. Soda re-fill machines were open pool side the first 2 days but she indicated that it tasted like cleaning solution, and then were closed the reminder of the cruise. While it was convenient not having to swipe her card for a beverage- we probably didnt get our monies worth on this as the Coke and Diet Coke didnt really taste right and would not recommend this because of that. Lunch in main dining room. Tried the tutti salad bar that I had read about on cruise critic. Chefs prepare your salad to order from items that you select and had a fabulous salad with loads of large shrimp. So yummy.

Saw Freedom Ice show in afternoon w/ reservations. Not to be missed! The RCCL pre-reservation system works and seems to cut down on the chair saving that I have observed on other lines. Those with pre reservations are scanned in using the sail cards 15 minutes before general seating.

Dinner in main dining room and met our table mates for the week. Service was professional but not as personable and engaging as I have experienced before and we were never encouraged to try other items. While food was excellent overall imho the portions were very very very small. Had the seafood brochette composed of 1 shrimp, 1 scallop and 1 bite of fish. I realize that I could have asked for an additional entree but in consideration of not detaining table mates the waiter was busy with other tables and the timing wasn't right to even ask.

Attended Marqee Production show that was a tribute to Broadway- Exceptionally well done and shouldnt be missed. Again of credit to RCCL the pre-reservation system really appeared to resolve the issue of people saving rows of seats. Also attended the late night Adult comedian which was just ok. This was one area I would give a competitor line the edge. He was funny but not laugh til you almost cry funny. Next day Grand Cayman..........

[mwebb]

Got tender tickets about 9:15 although it was announced they were distributed at 9:30and were on the 6th tender. Flow of traffic to gangway and RCCl selling bottled water from cart in hall seemed to disrupt process. Didn't have to show the tender ticket and I sensed that there were a number of rude individuals that just merged into the line from the stairwells. We had been to GC several times and just wanted a beach day. Took cab at $4@ to Royal Palms. Paid $2 admission and $10 per chair for a nice beach day. 1 frozen raspberry daiquiri and 1 Caybrew beer $17 w/tip. Plenty of van cabs outside Royal Palms when we wanted to depart to return to ship mid afternoon for late lunch at Johnny Rockets. $4.95 cover, beverages extra, but food included. Delicious burgers, shakes, onion rings and fries which made us too full to eat much dinner. From my recollection I had the fillet of beef tenderloin which was very good. Daughter and a few of our table mates however ordered the sirloin and this was the only bad food the entire cruise. I tried a bite of hers and it was horrible whereas you could not even chew it. On other cruises, servers would notice uneaten food ask about our meal or if she wanted anything else, however this was not the case with our waitress.

Saw Headliner show- the Drifters. Show was just ok. Normally love motown and R&B and although I had looked forward to this show, it was probably pretty dated for most in the audience unless over 65.

As an aside- daughter met a very nice young man, "A.J". from South Carolina who she hung out with for most of the cruise and really enjoyed his company. Normally she loves the dance clubs. She did comment that after the club closed, the ship seemed dead and the pizza place was closed at that time unlike a competitiors ship with 24 hour pizza. Small sandwiches were available however on the Promenade or after midnight room service for $3.95.

[mwebb]

Sprinkles and overcast skies resulted in us modifying plans for the day. Shared cab into town to shop $7 for 1-4 passengers. Snack at Panchos Backyard and returned packages to ship. Then $13 cab ride to Paradise Beach. $2 lawn chair & purchased beverages made a great few hours at the beach. Did observe dispute between family of 5 and beach waiter who wanted $10@ as they did not purchase beverages or food as apparently is the Paradise Beach Policy. I did not observe this posted but does seem reasonable in light of the lovely & well maintained beach area. Policy does not seem consistently enforced as we were never pressured to spend more then what we had for our drinks. In p.m. Once Upon A Time Production Show which was awesome and the very best show I have experienced in 11 cruises.. Next day at sea. 5 days is too short.

[gelo7]

Great review.

[LBumb]

good job

[mwebb]

Had hoped for a sunny sea day before returning to cold and snow in Chicago/NW Indiana area. Although sun periodically peaked out the wind made it almost unbearable. Luggage Valet at $20pp delivers your luggage to home destination and provides your boarding passes. As SouthWest does not have a bag fee for first 2 bags this was invaluable not schlepping luggage or waiting for passes. Usually not a bingo player but when cruises do offer the win a cruise bingo on the last day I figure I would give it a shot. Normally I anticipate $20-25 but was shocked that to obtain 6 hard copy cards for 4 games was $48 and to get 3 cards and a little computer device w/30 games was $55. Ended up playing but thought the price was a bit excessive. considering the payouts for 1 winner on the first 3 games was around 180 and with 3 winners was split. Lobster night in dining room. Did order 2 and they were delicious but only about 4-5 bites in size. Played Quest in the P.M. and that is not to be missed.

 

Overall the cruise was nearly excellent and so I booked 5 cabins on FOS again for the same week next year as they were offering $100 per cabin OBC by booking on board and only had to put down a $100 deposit for one person assigned to each of the cabins. Regret was 5 days isnt really long enough but wanted to be home for Christmas.

Summary

Prettiest ship I have ever been on.

Embarkation- Excellent

Production shows-Marquee, Once Upon a Time & Freedom Ice all Excellent

Portofinos-Excellent

Breakfast,Lunch, and Dinner Main Dining Room Food- All Excellent except for sirloin

Pre-reservation System excellent

Availability of deck chairs excellent

Headliner (the Drifters) Cruise Director (Alan Brooks)& comedians- OK

Waiter & Cabin Steward- OK,

 

Minor Areas for improvement-

Food portions in Dining room very very small. Daughter reported ship felt dead after the club closed down and late night pizza not available at that time when many club go-ers would have wanted a slice. Burger from Late night room service seemed dried out. Coke & Diet Coke had an off taste like cleaning solution. Past guest party was pretty lame and boring and imho not worth attending to get a free vodka/cranberry. (On competitors line they will bring past guests what they want if not on the tray and give out door prizes)

[OhioCruiserDude]

Im glad to here everything went great. As far as the ship being dead I rather enjoy that. You should see the Freedom class ships when they have a full complament of passengers its crowded most of the night.

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

I'm very glad the OP admired the beauty of Freedom of the Seas. All three Freedom Class ships are very special.

 

I do agree with the complaint about serving sizes in the MDR. I suspect this is now fleetwide. We cruised on Oasis twice this year and each time commented on MDR serving sizes. In fact, I recall the last night a dessert that had three small but different desserts on a plate. Each choice was so small, they were each literally one bite! They were just three little mounds about thimble size. Had I known in advance, I would have ordered something else or ordered two servings.

 

I ordered the curry every night. What they brought was a quarter cup of white rice and a half a cup of curry, plus a small papadum and a very small cup of cucumber riata. Honestly, this would not be adequate for many folks, but luckily, you can eat all day and night on a cruise ship, so I guess the idea is to not fill up at dinner and just graze 24 hours a day all over the ship.

 

I was surprised the pizzeria shut down at late night on Freedom because I'm pretty sure it went until very, very late, if not most of the night, on Oasis.

 

We'll soon be on Freedom. I can't wait.