FREEDOM AT LAST!! Semi-live Report 5/26-6/2

[davekathy]

5 minutes ago, bballmomma said:

 Yes I am talking about the Key.

Crystal clear now. 

[EeyoreRN]

On 5/29/2019 at 6:30 PM, bobmacliberty said:

Looking forward to this.  We just got off Freedom last Sunday (did the ABC Island itinerary) and the real world sucks.  Maybe I can be on the ship a little longer through your review.

 

If you happen to be staying overnight at the end of the cruise, I also suggest eating at Oceano.  It's right on the beach in Condado.  Excellent meal and perfect service.  

 

We did not stay a night post-cruise, but Oceano is definitely on the list for next time. One regret is that we didn't have more time to explore Condado.

 

On 5/29/2019 at 6:54 PM, bobmacliberty said:

 

And I hope you have a better internet experience than we did.  Horribly slow with lots of drops.

 

No we did not, hence not being able to continue the live posts!

 

On 5/30/2019 at 9:01 AM, sellwingri said:

We used Ellis for a private tour in January and loved him!  We’ve been to San Juan several times and wanted to see something different and he obliged, taking us to the other side of the island.  We’re sailing from San Juan again in December and reached out to him but he’ll be visiting family at home (Jersey, if I remember correctly) so he refers us to a friend, Albeny.  I’m sure he’ll be fabulous as well.

 

We loved Ellis and will use him again next time. Glad to know he offers a backup.

 

On 5/30/2019 at 9:22 AM, Reginaldvanpelt said:

We were on the same cruise as you and had the same experience. Internet was almost useless.

 

I gave up trying to post anything to CC by day 2. Was able to keep up with FB and e-mails but that was it.

 

On 5/30/2019 at 12:52 PM, BNL1213 said:

 

We had the same, with Ellis being unavailable for a tour, so will be using Albeny in about 3 weeks.  I am looking forward to it!  

 

Great to know he has a backup!  We will be back for more ASAP!

[EeyoreRN]

On 6/1/2019 at 7:03 PM, lazydayz said:

I can’t wait to hear how your cruise went. Safe travels home tomorrow. 

 

Thank you!  Can't wait to share how it was...GREAT!!! CAN'T WAIT TO DO IT AGAIN!!

 

On 6/2/2019 at 8:38 AM, hapster85 said:

On 5/29/2019 at 6:54 PM, bobmacliberty said:

 
And I hope you have a better internet experience than we did.  Horribly slow with lots of drops.

Guessing poor internet is why the OP has been MIA all week.

 

Exactly!  We were able to keep up with news from home. FB and FB Messenger worked ok, but not always from our corner aft cabin. Uploading anything to CC was impossible.

 

On 6/2/2019 at 8:47 AM, jimbri said:

Enjoying your review and photos!

 

Thanks! I got more, unfortunately not live, but I'll do my best to update.

 

On 6/2/2019 at 2:12 PM, davekathy said:

...or having waaay to much fun to bother with CC. 

 

Haha, it was AMAZING, but I did TRY to bother with CC for first 2 days, then just gave up.

 

On 6/3/2019 at 2:04 PM, mchin said:

I hope you had an awesome time on Freedom last week.  I have two questions for you:

 

1.  Did you pay the resort fee at Hilton?  Haven't seen or heard yet if they reinstituted that yet, and

2.  Would you confirm the second formal night is day 6?  Trying to make some last minute plans before we sail in three weeks.

 

Thanks!

 

We DID have an AWESOME time, thank you!

No, we did not pay the resort fee at the Hilton. Yes, the second formal night was day 6. I will get to posting the Compasses as soon as I can!

[EeyoreRN]

On 6/3/2019 at 4:00 PM, davekathy said:

Formal evening was night 6 on both our 3 March and 10 March 2019 Freedom cruises. 

 

On 6/3/2019 at 6:08 PM, bobmacliberty said:

 

Same for our 19 May cruise.

 

Yes, same!

 

On 6/4/2019 at 9:07 AM, umpisoccer said:

This question might have already been asked but do you have to pre book reservations to entertainment on the Freedom of the Seas ship? 

 

No. 

 

On 6/4/2019 at 9:13 AM, Biker19 said:

No, because you can't.

 

Right.

 

On 6/7/2019 at 12:12 PM, jeanneful said:

Hope all is well!!! Looking forward to your full review!

 

Thanks for sticking with me...full review coming up!

 

On 6/7/2019 at 1:21 PM, bballmomma said:

 You can't pre-book on Freedom but I don't know that you would need to. There was always plenty room available when we went to a show. I used reserved seats once for the Comedy show but would have been just fine finding our own seats.

 

On 6/7/2019 at 3:04 PM, davekathy said:

But not on the Freedom. Unless you are talking about the reserved seating section in the theater or studio B for diamond plus, suites, key and pinnacle. 

 

On 6/7/2019 at 3:10 PM, bballmomma said:

 Yes I am talking about the Key.

 

Confirming, we could not pre-book seats without the key, but never had trouble finding seats in any of the major entertainment venues. We walking in about 10 minutes before each show and found really good or perfectly fine seats for the 3 of us without fail.

[EeyoreRN]

I'm BACK!  Quick update before I backtrack into the details...the cruise was AWESOME!!! 

 

The ship is GORGEOUS and has something for everyone, and fellow passengers were just as fun/respectful as we have encountered on any of our other vacations (we had read many reports and reviews that the ship is old and tired and the passengers are loud and rude), but we did not encounter any of this. Did the carpet in our hallway (deck 7 aft) and some furniture in public areas need replacing? Yes! Did we hear an occasional boom box? Yes! But these were minor issues and in no way affected our enjoyment of our vacation.

 

Food was fine to outstanding, depending on the venue. Windjammer was fine, dining room very good, specialty restaurants in many cases much exceeded our expectations! Bar service was exceptional, drinks were delicious and prompt (except in dining room, but I will get to that in the detailed analysis).

 

Entertainment was good, varied and plentiful, we often had to make choices what to do because so much was going on. Every event we attended was at least somewhat entertaining if not great.

 

The ports, what can I say? I have to go back to them all.

 

Finally, the SERVICE on this ship was so over the top exceptional I barely know what to say. Every individual we encountered at each level of service bent over backward to ensure that every passenger had the best vacation possible. We were blown away by the smiles and service! 

 

I will get to my full report over the next few days/weeks but please feel free to ask questions!

 

Dina

[EeyoreRN]

I left off at our last evening in San Juan, which was Saturday, May 25, and I will get back to there, but first I want a little feedback. My husband is scanning the Compasses so I can share them, and I'm trying to determine which format is best for CC.  I have PDFs which include the 4 pages together and JPEGs for individual pages. Here's my scientific experiment.

CC Day 1 0526001 (1).pdf

 

 

 

Looks like the PDF link works, everyone OK with the PDFs?  Thanks!

Edited June 9, 2019 by EeyoreRN

[cruising_kelly]

1 hour ago, EeyoreRN said:

I left off at our last evening in San Juan, which was Saturday, May 25, and I will get back to there, but first I want a little feedback. My husband is scanning the Compasses so I can share them, and I'm trying to determine which format is best for CC.  I have PDFs which include the 4 pages together and JPEGs for individual pages. Here's my scientific experiment.

CC Day 1 0526001 (1).pdf 12.55 MB · 4 downloads

 

 

 

Looks like the PDF link works, everyone OK with the PDFs?  Thanks!

The PDF’s open perfectly!! Thank you!

[EeyoreRN]

Back to Saturday, May 25... 

 

After a few hours enjoying the little beach and pool, we went up to the room to shower and get ready for another evening in OSJ.  We started our walk maybe around 4:30 or 5 pm and instead of meandering this time, we took a serious hike. Our intention was dinner and Pina colada samplings.  Maybe tapas in a few places. 

 

I was so wrapped up in the scary part of the story that I forgot to mention that the previous night on our walk home, it was Joey's turn to step in gum.  Here are just a few examples of San Juan street gum!

 

And scenes along the way to OSJ on Saturday...

 

I am obsessed with this church

 

It took about 45 minutes to get to Barrachina. We were hoping to eat dinner here, as it popped up high on the list for gluten free friendliness per the app that Emma uses to find safe fare.

 

On the way we passed Marmalade and realized why I couldn't get a reservation for Saturday night:

 

When we arrived at Barrachina, there was a sign on the hostess station that they were full and we're only seating guests with reservations. We were allowed to go to the bar, so we decided to start with one pina colada to split since we knew we'd be trying them from at least a few different venues.

 

 

 

[hapster85]

I was so wrapped up in the scary part of the story that I forgot to mention that the previous night on our walk home, it was Joey's turn to step in gum.  Here are just a few examples of San Juan street gum!

I don't think finding gum on the sidewalk is hardly unique to San Juan. Most places have evidence of dirty old gum spots on the sidewalk. Some places are worse than others, I suppose. Finding fresh ones, like those in your pictures, are the worst, of course.

No idea why so many people think it's ok to just spit it out wherever. I don't get why people litter in general, but anyway, hopefully your crew didn't step on too many of these annoying little landmines.

[umpisoccer]

We were wondering approximately how much a taxi will cost from the airport to the Courtyard Marriott hotel in Mirmar?  It sounds like a taxi is the only real option at 1030 pm in the evening.  Do they also charge for each piece of luggage as well as an airport fee?  Thanks.

[mesci14]

2 hours ago, EeyoreRN said:

I left off at our last evening in San Juan, which was Saturday, May 25, and I will get back to there, but first I want a little feedback. My husband is scanning the Compasses so I can share them, and I'm trying to determine which format is best for CC.  I have PDFs which include the 4 pages together and JPEGs for individual pages. Here's my scientific experiment.

CC Day 1 0526001 (1).pdf 12.55 MB · 12 downloads

 

 

 

Looks like the PDF link works, everyone OK with the PDFs?  Thanks!

Thank you for posting this!  We are very excited for seeing the rest of them!

[EeyoreRN]

1 hour ago, hapster85 said:

 

 

I don't think finding gum on the sidewalk is hardly unique to San Juan. Most places have evidence of dirty old gum spots on the sidewalk. Some places are worse than others, I suppose. Finding fresh ones, like those in your pictures, are the worst, of course.

No idea why so many people think it's ok to just spit it out wherever. I don't get why people litter in general, but anyway, hopefully your crew didn't step on too many of these annoying little landmines.

 

 

Haha yeah I know there's plenty of gum on the ground in other places.  That said, I found it so...idk...Shocking? Bewildering? Amusing? ...that in 2 days in San Juan, we had so many encounters with the stuff...starting with on the plane and again in the airport.  I can't remember ever another time in the history of our family when two of us stepped in gum inside of 2 days.  Just weird. I couldn't help but start snapping some photos.  Thankfully after Joey's encounter with the landmine on the first night, we managed to avoid stepping in the stuff!

 

1 hour ago, umpisoccer said:

We were wondering approximately how much a taxi will cost from the airport to the Courtyard Marriott hotel in Mirmar?  It sounds like a taxi is the only real option at 1030 pm in the evening.  Do they also charge for each piece of luggage as well as an airport fee?  Thanks.

 

Not sure about Miramar.  We thought the taxi fare to Condado was extremely reasonable. I know there's a charge for luggage but I'm not sure how big a bag counts as luggage. I think it's $1 per bag if I remember correctly, but I don't think we were charged. We just each had a carry on and a backpack. Have you tried asking this on the San Juan board?

 

1 hour ago, mesci14 said:

Thank you for posting this!  We are very excited for seeing the rest of them!

 

You're welcome, will have them up over the next few days.

[EeyoreRN]

Continuing with May 25...

 

We took our delicious Pina Colada on the road.  It didn't last long. We should have bought three!  I was worried now.  We couldn't get a table at Barrachina, and we were starting to get pretty hungry. I knew there would be good food and drinks at the Hotel Milano's rooftop restaurant Punta de Vista, but I was a little concerned because the place wasn't on Emma's GF friendly list. We walked back the way we had come to at least get ourselves on the waitlist for a table.  By this time it was close to 6 pm and the host told us to come back at 7:30.  No problem, time to wander around the beautiful neighborhood!

 

The umbrellas on Fortaleza were all camouflaged instead of colored (don't tell Barbados). I was disappointed, I didn't think it looked as pretty as the photos I had seen, but it was still cool. Maybe this was for Memorial Day?

 

 

La Fortaleza, governor's residence

 

 

 

And from a different angle

 

El Convention hotel

 

And the church across the street

 

[EeyoreRN]

Still May 25...

Cats everywhere, this was my favorite, near El Convento

 

My cool cats

 

It was time for another Pina Colada and we stumbled upon this place for another

Casa Melaza!  We stumbled into this tiny place and there were two couples in there experiencing a rum tasting with an apparently extremely informed and personable bartender.  We challenged him to make the best Pina Colada in San Juan and he kindly and expertly obliged, and even served it up in a gorgeous crystal tumbler...for only $5!

We would have stayed longer and ordered more, but after a few minutes we saw how rapt all participants we're in this rum tasting and we started to feel a bit like interlopers. But let me tell you this drink was wonderful!  Emma and Joey thought it was the best Pina Colada of the trip hands down.  I thought it was delicious and for sure the best value for $5.  It was so smooth and heavier on the coconut than others.

 

We still had a few minutes to kill before dinner so we perched on this lovely fountain in Plaza de Armas. There was wifi.

 

[EeyoreRN]

Still May 25...Punta de Vista

 

We wandered back to Hotel Milano by around 7:20 and they were waiting for us. We were told to take the elevator up to the top floor and climb one flight of stairs and find the hostess up there. The atmosphere is casual and festive, with strings of red white and blue light, heavy on the blue. It was lovely up there! One thing we noticed was the bar up there was virtually empty, but had heard the host telling people they could not go up to sit at the bar because it was full.

 

I took this photo earlier in the evening when placed our name on the waitlist

 

 

 

First things first, the drinks!  Emma and Joey each chose the $5 Pina Colada.  I went for one of my other faves, a mojito, which was not on special at this time of night but it was what I wanted.

 

The Pina Colada was the worst of the trip, thin and weak, but hey, still pretty good; it's impossible to make these ingredients taste bad.  But one each was enough.

 

The mojito was great, I highly recommend!  Plenty minty, as I like it.

 

For their second round, the kids switched to Patron margaritas, which we loved.

 

We asked our terrific waiter if the mofongo is gluten free. He said no, because it's fried and they don't have a dedicated fryer...and also, "the seasoning is loaded with gluten." We couldn't really help but laugh about gluten contaminated seasoning, and this became a joke for the rest of the trip.  If you're a chef planning s menu, please consider leaving unnecessary gluten out of your recipes! Emma was pretty disappointed that she couldn't taste authentic mofongo in San Juan, but did I mention she lives in Washington Heights? There are probably 20 restaurants she can walk to from her apartment that serve gf mofongo. 

 

Anyway,  Joey and I were able to try it. I went with the waiter recommended steak mofongo with garlic sauce and Joey chose crispy pork with garlic sauce.

Steak mofongo

 

Crispy pork mofongo

 

These were huge! After I ate about 2/3 of mine, the waiter mentioned they are made from about 5 plantains each.  So I guess I ate about 3 plantains!  Plus all that steak and sauce.  The mofongo itself was kind of bland I thought, not well seasoned, but maybe that's on purpose or tradition? But the sauce and meat were all very good. The sauce was so garlicky!  I know it's garlic sauce but wow!  We kind of wished we'd ordered one with the creole sauce so we could taste more and compare. Oh well, next time. We did enjoy the dense, kind of lumpy consistency of the mofongo.

 

There weren't too many items on the menu that Emma could choose, being that most items were seasoned, lol, so she went with a garden salad and rice and beans.

She was very content with her meal, especially the beans, which were delicious, but also tasted pretty seasoned to me, too, which was worrisome, considering the supposed gluten content of the seasoning at this restaurant.  She did escape unscathed and did not experience a gluten reaction as a result of the bean seasoning so phew!

 

We were curious about the flan and the tres leches for dessert, but we kind of tested the waiter by asking how they were, and he didn't seem enthusiastic about either.  So we decided to call it a night.  

 

We walked back around toward the plaza to catch some wifi to call an Uber back to Condado.  I believe it was around $5 and so fast. We were beat, but excited to board Freedom the next day!

[EeyoreRN]

Sunday, May 26 Embarkation Day

 

I had set the alarm for 10 am, since we were all packed, and the only items on the morning agenda were brush teeth, don swimsuits and cover-ups, apply sunscreen, summon Uber. Well, I leapt out of bed ready to greet the day around 7:30.  This was the first of many days I would beat the alarm to the punch, which is very atypical of me, but I'm not complaining. Yellow light was streaming into the room, and I ran to the balcony and saw what we had been waiting for! Already shared these pics but I'm placing them here again for context and narrative. 

She's right there!

 

Zoomed in, this photo more accurately represents how it looked. We could also see the Carnival Fascination, which would be with us in many ports

 

Since I was up and kind of bouncing off the walls, I decided to take a walk around the hotel, on and off the grounds, to take some pics.  I was regretting that I hadn't ventured east into Condado so I finally did a little exploring.

 

The little pool on the lagoon side of the hotel, directly under our room.  Couldn't see the ship from here because foliage to the right blocked the view.

 

Hot tub

 

Same pool from the hot tub looking toward the hotel

 

Little pool bar

 

Front of the Lagoon side tower from the street.  See Denny's

 

Front of the ocean tower from the street, standing a little further east from the last photo.

[EeyoreRN]

This photo kind of demonstrates that the hotel's 2 towers are attached via a 2nd floor hallway that crosses the street.  I am standing in front of Denny's taking a photo facing west toward OSJ.

 

The beach about 100 yards east of the hotel, this was between a few other hotels

 

 

The area is beautiful but this extreme Western part of Condado appears to have been particularly hard hit by hurricane Maria and is slow to recover.  There are a few condemned buildings and others that are damaged, but also several construction sites, which is promising.

 

Someone had asked me about restaurants in walkable distance and I'd day yes, so many. There is everything from Subway to breakfast counters to very upscale looking places and I didn't go far! Locals recommended a place called Waikiki, and in my short walk I saw other places that looked inviting. If you walk a little further than I did you will find even more in the less damaged part of Condado, as there are many more thriving hotels in the area.

 

 

 

 

If none of these are to your liking, just keep walking, you get the idea.

[EeyoreRN]

Just a few more shots I loved from the hotel

 

Entering the hallway that crosses the street between the towers. This pic from the night before coming home from OSJ

 

The lighting fixtures are particularly lovely, I love this chandelier over the lobby elevator



The noodle bar that was never open when we passed.  Not sure it's open for business yet.

 

Fish tank in the lobby.  It's actually three separate compartments with different types of fish that wouldn't be compatible in same tank

 

Overall we loved this hotel and unanimously agree we would happily stay here again. The location was perfect, the pools and beach perfect for our needs for this short stay, and the staff extremely friendly and helpful.  Hip hip hooray, teo thumbs up for Condado Plaza Hilton!

[EeyoreRN]

May 26 Embarkation Day continued

 

When I got back from my walk the kids were pretty much up and ready to go. We headed downstairs around 10 or 10:30 and grabbed some coffees (and Joey got a sandwich, I think a roasted tomato and mozzarella baguette...or wait, maybe it was a bacon egg and cheese) at Starbucks. I don't have pictures from this.

 

After the coffee and Joey's breakfast we ordered an Uber and we're quoted around $4 but we ordered a larger car for $3 more to make sure we could accommodate all the bags. The ride was around 10 minutes and there was hardly any traffic.  I want to day we got to the pier a little after 11.  It was a little confusing at first as there seemed to be many people collecting luggage and it was unclear which line we should be in. When we asked someone who was collecting bags where to go for deck 7 the answer was "green.'. It took a few moments to put together that it was all color coded.  Our luggage tags were also green.

 

And can you see the colors on the beams?

 

Short line to drop off bags

 

Then we had to walk back the other way through the yellow and white sections to security

 

It looks a little chaotic and daunting but once we figured out how it worked it was super quick and lines were short. 

 

Down at the other end of that crowd is security.

 

We were through security in about 5 minutes and into the hangar.  Once inside the hangar, another short line to check in, maybe 5 minutes.  For the three of us checking in maybe another 7 minute process. Then up the escalator to the ship.  We were on board before 11:30!

[EeyoreRN]

May 26 Embarkation continued

 

It was nice to check our bags )even though they were small) and board the ship with only what we needed for the day. Emma and I wore bathing suits with cover-ups that were nice enough to wear to lunch and even dinner in case our bags were late, Joey carried his bathing suit in his backpack.

 

We had a reservation for Chops lunch at 12:30. I wanted to make sure Emma would have options and we are always leary about gluten free options on the buffet on day 1. We did not have the key, but I had purchased this lunch initially for $22 pp and later rebooked for $17 and change pp. We had some time to kill first so...you know us by now, right?  If you guessed we went directly to find Pina coladas and a mojito, you'd be correct! Emmerson, the outstanding bartender at the Solarium Bar!

And you can't beat the values on the Deluxe Beverage Plan. We definitely got our money's worth over the 7 days.

 

We still had some time to kill before lunch so we decided to breeze through Windjammer to see how Freedom does its GF station...and, I confess, to make sure there were no irresistible "appetizers" available on the buffet.

 

 

Welcome aboard celebration cake on entrance

 

 

GF section port side toward aft

 

Standard, pretty unappetizing looking GF bread.

 

The menus

 

 

The food

 

 

We were happy to see that the GF station had something to offer and that there were staff members there working it, which is more than we can say for our other recent cruises. This was pretty much how it looked the other lunch and dinner times we went through there. No desserts that I can recall, but I will have to confirm that with Emma. Uninspiring bread, a stewed entree, a veggie dish and something else. Later in the week, Emma saw a man grab a serving utensil from another section and bring it over to scoop some ratatouille, thus contaminating it. You just can't rely on buffets, even when they look safe.

 

I'm glad to report there were no irresistible appetizers, and we were getting hungry, so checked in a little early for our reservation at Chops.

[crystalspin]

We are five booked for this itinerary in January 2021, with the 7-day ABC cruise following, B2B in the same Panoramic Oceanviews on Deck 12. I had to book that far out last December to get the same two desired cabins for both legs!

 

I must say I am SO RELIEVED to read that the ship and its passengers were not awful like some reviews had me fearing! Cannot wait to tell my brother and SIL, but I must wait because I am burning the midnight oil and they are asleep a time zone east of me. 

 

Now that I'm caught up reading this thread I will be reading along daily.

[EeyoreRN]

8 hours ago, crystalspin said:

We are five booked for this itinerary in January 2021, with the 7-day ABC cruise following, B2B in the same Panoramic Oceanviews on Deck 12. I had to book that far out last December to get the same two desired cabins for both legs!

 

I must say I am SO RELIEVED to read that the ship and its passengers were not awful like some reviews had me fearing! Cannot wait to tell my brother and SIL, but I must wait because I am burning the midnight oil and they are asleep a time zone east of me. 

 

Now that I'm caught up reading this thread I will be reading along daily.

Welcome aboard!  You are sooooo lucky to be doing this back-to-back itinerary, I'm sure your vacation will be magnificent! I can't wait to go back on Freedom. I would do the exact same itinerary again or the opposite. I was also so worried about the ship and its passengers, and while I do not intend to invalidate the reviews, and I'm sure those experiences were real, I just wanted to provide a different perspective and say we experienced none of that on our sailing. Happy planning!!

[EeyoreRN]

May 26, Lunch at Chops

 

The menu is very limited compared to the dinner menu.  

 

Our waitress Victoria was wonderful and brought out some glutenful bread right away.  I say these because even though it was acknowledged at every single meal that Emma is GF, very few servers really went out of their way to accommodate.  The ones who do will bring separate bread and butter without even a request.  I know if Emma had asked for it, she would have received, but she figured there would be enough food over the course of the week, so she didn't ask.

 

Even though Chops is situated in just a few rooms off the side of the Windjammer, it is beautiful and tranquil inside. Our table was probably the worst in the room, against the wall close to the bus station and doors to the kitchen, but it was still nice and we didn't even notice any bustle.

 

My perfect view

Emma and Joey were thrilled to learn that their favorite wine, Beringer White Zinfandel, is available the ship. I was happy to see Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc. A toast to Freedom!

 

For appetizers we each ordered shrimp cocktail, and Joey and I both got the mushroom soup. 

The shrimp were plump and much bigger than those we'd see in MDR.

 

The mushroom soup was earthy and rich and one of the best dishes of the cruise.

 

For my main, I ordered the grilled branzino and it was delicious, but very high in calcium 😜 (lots of little bones). If this doesn't bother you, I highly recommend it. The lime served with it was dried out, probably a leftover from the previous week.

 

Emma ordered filet mignon. She said it was much better than it looked. It looks pretty pathetic in this photo, please don't judge this book by its cover!

 

Joey went with a burger, but forgot to take a photo before he dug in, so if you're squeamish about partially eaten food photos, I apologize in advance. Try closing your eyes and scrolling down now...

 

He said it was very good, though done more well than he likes. Victoria told him they only do well burgers, so he ordered knowing what he was getting. This was much better than the Windjammer burgers he'd eat later in the cruise, so in his opinion, worth the upcharge.

 

For sides, we ordered macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and asparagus.  Victoria confirmed for Emma that she could have the mashed potatoes and the asparagus, but not the macaroni and cheese...  "Because there are bread crumbs on top." Uh ok...not because of the semolina flour in the elbow macaroni? Are sure sure it's not because of the seasoning? Lol.

 

 

Notice the glutenful bread crumbs atop the delicious mac and cheese. The potatoes were good.  We never got our asparagus, but we were full anyway, so didn't bother to remind Victoria.

 

For dessert, I ordered the NY cheesecake and Joey ordered the warm chocolate cake.  Then Victoria turned to Emma and asked her what she would like.  So Emma said "there's nothing on the menu I can eat." Which reminded Victoria of the GF problem, and she said "oh right I will check with the chef." She served up a gorgeous creme brulee, which Emma loved and appreciated.

 

The cheesecake was one of the best cheesecakes I've had. Rich and creamy, perfect NY Style, how I like it. And the berries on top were plump, juicy and fresh, in contrast with the lime that came with the fish. Stellar!

 

Joey loved the chocolate cake and we would see more iterations of this same cake later in the week, which was just fine with us.  Too bad they don't make this flourless.

 

Emma's GF creme brulee

 

We enjoyed Chops lunch on embarkation and feel we got a pretty good bargain. I love avoiding the buffet in general and this was a nice treat. We would absolutely do this again!

Edited June 10, 2019 by EeyoreRN

[EeyoreRN]

May 26, Embarkation Day continued

 

When we finished our lunch it was right around 1:30, and the announcement was made that our cabins were ready. We headed straight down to Deck 7, starboard, corner aft # 7408. We couldn't wait to get into our room! It was worth the long walk.

 

For those who do not know, the corner aft cabins on Freedom Class ships have unbelievably large balconies, but are sold for the price of 5D category, because they are considered "obstructed view." I did not initially book this cabin, but booked a 5D port-side unobstructed ocean view balcony. I later learned about these corner afts in my research here on CC, and decided to find out if there was one available on our sailing. To find out the availability, I went to Royal Caribbean UK site, which offers a much more comprehensive list of available cabins than the US site. The cabin directly above it was available, as was this one, and initially I thought I wanted to one above it because it would be less obstructed. So I called my TA and had us switched to cabin 8410. Later, in looking at pictures, I realized that cabin 8410 has only a single door with an upper window pane, as opposed to full wall to ceiling double slider. I thought we'd prefer the sliders, so I called the TA and again switched us, this time to room 7408. TA Bruno was concerned about this switch, double-ensuring that I was aware that the view is "obstructed." I told him yes I am well aware, and I REALLY want this balcony. So, done! No additional cost. To clarify, this was all done well before our final payment date, when changes were still flexible. And FYI, these rooms are technically for 3 persons, and can only be booked for parties of 3, unless, I've read, very close to sail date if still available. I have read of many people booking a phantom 3rd passenger and making that passenger a no-show (yes eating the cost of the 3rd passenger) just to get this balcony.

 

We LOVED our balcony!

 

 

 

Lookin' back at ya, you wonderful ol' Condado Plaza!

 

And I could see that church with which I'm still obsessed from here too, through the porthole!

Edited June 10, 2019 by EeyoreRN

[EeyoreRN]

I want to back track just a bit to say a few words about dining arrangements (this is not about food or restaurants specifically)...this is a long post, but if you're interested in dining arrangements on Freedom of the Seas, it might be worth a read for you.

 

When I booked the reservation for the cruise a little less than a year out, I mentioned to my TA that we wanted My Time Dining. When I was switching rooms around 8 months out, I noticed that my confirmation said early seating on it, so I asked Bruno to switch us to My Time Dining. He said no problem, done. When we checked in and received our Sea Pass cards, they said 6pm and a table #, which I understood was traditional dining. No offense to anyone, but we did not want traditional dining. We didn't want to sit with other travelers for dinner. While we enjoy socializing in many other venues, we all agree that dinner is not the place. To each their own, but please understand this is not our thing.

 

So when we were leaving Chops after a very satisfying lunch, already a few drinks into our DBP (you get the picture, nothin' gonna make us unhappy now), we stopped at the podium to "fix" dining for the week. Anyway, we needed to make our reservations for our 3-night dinner package. We consider ourselves pretty flexible, not too concerned about timing as long as it's not too early (after 6) or too late that we would miss the main shows. Ideally, we wanted to make it to the MDR during formal nights, and do our 3 nights of specialty dining on nights 1 and 7, and then either 3, 4, or 5. So Angelica the hostess and/or manager at the desk at Chops easily made our specialty reservations for 6:30 for night 1 at Giovanni's Table, night 3 at Sabor, and night 7 at Chops. Then I explained to her our early dinner assignment and that we wanted My Time Dining instead, and I asked her if I could make reservations for a 3 person table in the dining room for nights 2, 4, 5 and 6. Any three person table, any time but preferably later than 6 and earlier than 8. She said she couldn't reserve us a table; our options were either show up at our assigned table no later than 6:30, or go the podium on deck 3 when we want dinner and they would do their best to accommodate us, no guarantee. Oh no! Not good!

 

We went to customer service later in the evening after sail-away (I had found a piece of jewelry and wanted to turn it in) and the agent there how to fix this dining no-reservation situation. She said the only thing to do is to speak with the dining room manager Rama after 9am the next day. After a little pleading and seeing how distressed we were about this, she sent us down to Rama who met us at the podium on 4 and explained that My Time Dining was overbooked. They can accommodate 2K but had 2.2K signed up and the first night the line for MTD had reached back to Studio B. So he explained we could come and ask for him at 6:30 and he would find us seats in the traditional dining room at a table forfeited by guests who are no-shows.

 

This worked out well for us, and we were always seated within a few minutes of showing up, and always got what we needed in terms of space and food. However, I feel that service was a little sacrificed by this arrangement. Since our servers were there for traditional dining, they had their usual customers and usual routines, and we often felt like interlopers in their sections. We'd show up looking for drinks and appetizers when they were already getting the mains and even desserts out for their other tables. And while we believe they tried their best not to make us feel bad, we sensed that they were a bit hassled by our presence. They didn't offer second rounds of drinks or coffee with dessert in most cases, for example, because we were bordering on too late and they had to get us out to clean the section for the next group. One night every table got a birthday cake in honor of RCI's 50th birthday, but we didn't get one. The little things like that not worth complaining about at the time, but wondering if there was a way we could have done better.

 

I will do my best as the review goes on to try to remember the details of our meals, but I hope this info gives you somewhat of an idea about how things went with arrangements. IDK how I could have fixed it. I guess I should have been more persistent prior to the cruise about the My Time Dining confirmation? Or maybe just crossed our fingers and gone to MTD section when we were ready? I would love your thoughts and advice if you have any to offer. I would like our MDR experiences to be stellar next time around on FOS!