Disembarked this morning from my first RCL cruise.

[danielsumner]

Disembarked this morning from my first RCL cruise. We have cruised a couple dozen time with all the major lines, but never RCL. Left out of Pt. Canaveral on the Freedom of the Seas on October 13th. Pt. Canaveral was a charm, best departure port I’ve ever been too. The ship is nice. The shows and entertainment were top notch. Very comfortable. We had a Promenade cabin, it was a good size and the bathroom shower was the best of any ship we have ever sailed. Only problem with the cabin was it was dirty when we went to the room. Not “not made up”, but dirty as is not clean. We travel with a spray bottle of alcohol to clean with. I had a couple of filthy hand towels when I finished. Cabin steward did only the basics (change towels ect) the whole week. We had to ask for clean sheets the middle of the week. Other stewards on our deck were always cleaning away, ours only showed up to make the bed and change the towels out. It wasn’t just us, but all his cabins according to our neighbors (they approached us about how our room was). We have had good and bad stewards in the past. It’s is just part of cruising. I love to roam a ship late at night. Never saw anyone cleaning anything and it really showed. Dirty drink glasses and a plate sat on one ledge for at least two days that I knew of. Never seen this on a ship before. Food was not as good as I expected from reviews I’ve read. I would rate the food OK overall. Nothing was ever HOT when it should be and never COLD when it should. And what is the thing about not cutting the Veggies into bite size pieces. Carrots were cut into 2 inch pieces and potatoes even larger, the list goes on. For instance, potato salad was made with baking potatoes cut into three or four pieces and then mixed up. Main dining room wait staff outstanding for dinner, but for breakfast and lunch the service was just down write bad. The staff could care less. And what is it with serving coffee and tea in Mugs instead of cups in the main dining room? Windjammer you are on your own, get your own water ect. Never seen this before. Ok enough about the food. The Gym and steam and sauna were awesome. So my overall experience: Great Ship, Great entertainment, Great Gym. Food not so great, public areas and especially the Windjammer not clean.

[Thoie]

I hope you informed guest services about the cleaning problems while on board?

[Scotty G]

Disembarked this morning from my first RCL cruise. We have cruised a couple dozen time with all the major lines, but never RCL. Left out of Pt. Canaveral on the Freedom of the Seas on October 13th. Pt. Canaveral was a charm, best departure port I’ve ever been too. The ship is nice. The shows and entertainment were top notch. Very comfortable. We had a Promenade cabin, it was a good size and the bathroom shower was the best of any ship we have ever sailed. Only problem with the cabin was it was dirty when we went to the room. Not “not made up”, but dirty as is not clean. We travel with a spray bottle of alcohol to clean with. I had a couple of filthy hand towels when I finished. Cabin steward did only the basics (change towels ect) the whole week. We had to ask for clean sheets the middle of the week. Other stewards on our deck were always cleaning away, ours only showed up to make the bed and change the towels out. It wasn’t just us, but all his cabins according to our neighbors (they approached us about how our room was). We have had good and bad stewards in the past. It’s is just part of cruising. I love to roam a ship late at night. Never saw anyone cleaning anything and it really showed. Dirty drink glasses and a plate sat on one ledge for at least two days that I knew of. Never seen this on a ship before. Food was not as good as I expected from reviews I’ve read. I would rate the food OK overall. Nothing was ever HOT when it should be and never COLD when it should. And what is the thing about not cutting the Veggies into bite size pieces. Carrots were cut into 2 inch pieces and potatoes even larger, the list goes on. For instance, potato salad was made with baking potatoes cut into three or four pieces and then mixed up. Main dining room wait staff outstanding for dinner, but for breakfast and lunch the service was just down write bad. The staff could care less. And what is it with serving coffee and tea in Mugs instead of cups in the main dining room? Windjammer you are on your own, get your own water ect. Never seen this before. Ok enough about the food. The Gym and steam and sauna were awesome. So my overall experience: Great Ship, Great entertainment, Great Gym. Food not so great, public areas and especially the Windjammer not clean.

 

There are serious problems indicated here. Do you recall who the current Hotel Director is? He is responsible for all the inadequacies you have identified. Hopefully you addressed these in your Comment Card survey! We have never experienced such deficiencies on Freedom or any other RCI ship. Sorry for your poor first experience!!!

[cruisinfanatic]

Disembarked this morning from my first RCL cruise. We have cruised a couple dozen time with all the major lines, but never RCL. Left out of Pt. Canaveral on the Freedom of the Seas on October 13th. Pt. Canaveral was a charm, best departure port I’ve ever been too. The ship is nice. The shows and entertainment were top notch. Very comfortable. We had a Promenade cabin, it was a good size and the bathroom shower was the best of any ship we have ever sailed. Only problem with the cabin was it was dirty when we went to the room. Not “not made up”, but dirty as is not clean. We travel with a spray bottle of alcohol to clean with. I had a couple of filthy hand towels when I finished. Cabin steward did only the basics (change towels ect) the whole week. We had to ask for clean sheets the middle of the week. Other stewards on our deck were always cleaning away, ours only showed up to make the bed and change the towels out. It wasn’t just us, but all his cabins according to our neighbors (they approached us about how our room was). We have had good and bad stewards in the past. It’s is just part of cruising. I love to roam a ship late at night. Never saw anyone cleaning anything and it really showed. Dirty drink glasses and a plate sat on one ledge for at least two days that I knew of. Never seen this on a ship before. Food was not as good as I expected from reviews I’ve read. I would rate the food OK overall. Nothing was ever HOT when it should be and never COLD when it should. And what is the thing about not cutting the Veggies into bite size pieces. Carrots were cut into 2 inch pieces and potatoes even larger, the list goes on. For instance, potato salad was made with baking potatoes cut into three or four pieces and then mixed up. Main dining room wait staff outstanding for dinner, but for breakfast and lunch the service was just down write bad. The staff could care less. And what is it with serving coffee and tea in Mugs instead of cups in the main dining room? Windjammer you are on your own, get your own water ect. Never seen this before. Ok enough about the food. The Gym and steam and sauna were awesome. So my overall experience: Great Ship, Great entertainment, Great Gym. Food not so great, public areas and especially the Windjammer not clean.

what major lines?

[ladyff1481]

What deck were you on? We will be on deck 8. 2 weeks from today we leave on our 1st cruise. I am a little bit worried about what you've written.

[Lionesss]

Wow so sorry to hear about the conditions on the Freedom.

I hope you noted all of this on your comment card.

I had a couple issues on our last Allure cruise and noted it on my comment card.

RCI contacted me for further information, which I readily supplied.

Hope your next cruise is better.

Sea Ya

[danielsumner]

what major lines?

 

We have sailed on Carnival, NCL, Princess, Costa, Celebrity and Holland.

[wallie5446]

Sad to read, we were on Freedom in Oct 2011 and it was one of our best in 25 years of crusing sad to hear she has dropped.

[torpeedo]

I really hope you mentioned the cleaning issues on your survey . I hate dirty cabins also and have had my share of them, even in suites. If you didn't, it's not to late, call crown and anchor. No excuse for dirty cabins. :mad:

[Merion_Mom]

I was on Freedom last month and did not experience any of these problems.

 

Not an argument; just a statement.

[renech]

We've been on the Freedom several times since it's one of my favorite ships. We've never had an issue with a cabin attendant not cleaning to an acceptable standard.

 

I'm glad to hear you had a good time overall, but yes, the poor performing cabin attendant is unacceptable and needs to be addressed. I hope you filled out the comment card, but if not, you can always still send an email. Sorry to hear this was your experience with such a great ship, but don't let it dissuade you from trying it (or another RCL ship) again. :)

[reallyitsmema]

Thanks for sharing your comments. Seems the Freedom must have had a complete staff turnover since we were on it at the end of August. We found the WJ staff to be very helpful, as usual. We never had to get juice or coffee once all week long, someone always asked as soon as we sat down. Sometimes we were actually asked by two people who were working the same area. Our steward was just ok. Had issues getting towels but that seems to be an ongoing laundry issue on that ship.

 

As far as breakfast and lunch service in the MDR, that is notoriously slow. Dinner waiters were the best we had other than an assistant waiter who was new and was still figuring things out.

 

As far as cleanliness, we did not see any issues. The ship was actually having an inspection as we boarded. They passed with flying colors according to the head sous chef who gave us our galley tour at the end of the week.

[DonnaK]

There is no way I would "suffer" through a week in a cabin that was not adequately cleaned. I sure hope you brought up these issues when you were on the cruise! I would have been complaining quite persistently until the situation improved, because uncleanliness is a serious issue.

[danielsumner]

I hope that no one takes what I write as complaining. I'm just bluntly honest. Even If our cabin would have been spotlessly clean, I would have still wiped everything down. It's that I notice things others might not. I had a great time. Would I go on the Freedom again? In heartbeat if the price is right!! I just take note of things like the the floors not being clean, fingerprints on glass ect. For instance, we sat in the same area of the windjammer at least one a day. The wooden ledge next to the table by the window had the same crumbs/ bits of trash the whole trip. Something else. If there were a piece of paper/trash on the floor and a crew member whether it be the cleaning crew or senior officers they would over and pick it up and continue walking. I'm a people watcher, this didn't happen, they kept on walking except for one. I hung out mostly during the day at the champagne bar on deck 5. Bad service, but great location. If you wanted a drink you had to go to the bar and order, only once did someone come over. On the flip side of the coin is the Olive and Twist on deck 14. Awesome place, great bartenders/servers. I was there at the beginning of the cruise late. I asked for a Southern Comfort Manhattan. He didn't have any Southern Comfort. I explained how to make a good copy, half bourbon and half amaretto. The next time I walked in he came over with a real Southern Comfort Manhattan. It was waiting for me when I walked in every night.

 

I notice things others don't, I worked in a Crime Lab for over 30 years. I'm a detail person.

 

I wrote a detailed comment card, I attached a separate page.

 

I'm wondering if the have really cut back on the staff. They would bring down servers from Johnny Rocket to venues on deck 5 to help out.

[reallyitsmema]

Here is a link to the most recent CDC inspection that happened on 8/25/13.

 

http://wwwn.cdc.gov/InspectionQueryTool/InspectionDetailReport.aspx?ColI=MTg2NDAxMTc%3d-ZY45TuUnFVI%3d

 

They scored a 97.

[wwcruisers]

The best thing you can do when you encounter a dirty cabin (if the room steward isn't responsive) is to call Guest Relations and have them connect you with the Head of Housekeeping. It may take a day or so for him/her to get back to you -- but the problem will be corrected. :cool:

[cruiselvr04]

We take Clorox wipes and wipe the cabin down each time we get on a ship. Some have been really clean but most times our cleaning picks up a lot of dirt. They just do not have time on turn around day I think to scrub. Also some stewards will just do the minimum. That said we always had clean linen and did not have to ask.

 

I truthfully am a little afraid to report a steward during a cruise. I mean he/she could get back at you by using your toothbrush on something or giving you a dirty dry towel. I would detail it on my comment card if it was significant. We are not picky really and as long as we have the basics done are happy.

[danielsumner]

BTW I saved all the daily compass sheets and any information except the shopping crap. Anyone need any info from them just ask. I haven't unpacked them yet, but will tomorrow.

[papaflamingo]

We have done Freedom last 2 New Years and going this year. Hope they work these things out. I'll say that on the first FOS cruise the cabin steward was so-so. After we talked with her a bit she really perked up and her service improved. But still.....

Last year it was the waiter. She served us fine, but not "with a smile." We chocked both up to them being away from family during the holidays. Guess we'll see this year.

As for the other stuff, I didn't notice that either. Hope RCI take action on you comment card. We pay too much for insufficient service. There is also too much competition out there. They'll certainly lose business if this becomes the norm.

[crisndeefromde]

I know you noted in on your survey but i have twice had to call housekeeping because my room was not clean...I got the oh so sorry...I got called away to help and missed coming back. They would much rather you address your concerns with them then go to Guest Services and report them.

 

Worst room was on Celebrity Summit....room stewards as we had two...they were training or retraining who knows....she was hit or miss. Two ladies one bathroom...two big towels...no handtowels no washclothes....First day she asked us anything extra she could do for us...I said plenty of towels each day and ice in our bucket and need wine glasses and opener. Took till day 5 of 7 day cruise to get opener and then she knocked on our door and asked if she could have it back as it belonged to someone else. I said no problem I will go to guest services and get what i need. She fixed me...1130 at night....knock on door from a little guy and we had just finished dinner and come back to room not turned down....and little guy says oh so so sorry i didn't think you would be back yet and we forgot to do your room. Must have had 10 towels in his arms, a bucket had wine glasses and a opener and had a cart in the hall with ice. we told him he would have to wait till we changed as we were going to meet family and when we came back at 1 am...room done and apology note from this guy. never saw him before...

 

I always wipe everything down with my wipes when i get in the room. especially the knobs and also door handles and tv remote...they try to do the best they can. I do know a large crew turnover happened on Oct 6th as my favorite head waiter left to go home with quite a few others we have stayed in touch with from the explorer.

 

Hope you will try Royal Caribbean again.

[Guest maddycat]

I'm so sorry that your first experience on a RCI ship wasn't up to their usual standards. Our last three cruises have been on the Explorer and we are continually amazed by how the staff is constantly cleaning all of the public areas. The ship is always spotless. I would really be upset by the lack of cleanliness that you found on the Freedom. I'm glad that you reported all of your concerns on the survey.