Freedom Amplified

[researchfreak90]

Freedom is on her Maiden post Amplified voyage. Who has pictures and comments?

[Yorkvillain]

Follow CruiseLifeRick on IG

 

@CruiseLifeRick and@LetsTryThisPlace on periscope have some good videos too

 

 

[Sea Dog]

4 hours ago, Yorkvillain said:

Follow CruiseLifeRick on IG

 

@CruiseLifeRick and@LetsTryThisPlace on periscope have some good videos too

 

 

Totally agree with @Yorkvillain! Also check out photos from Michel A. Saleh on a certain social media page. He's on Freedom now.

[icsys]

Judging by the 'work in progress' pictures, Freedom has had a very, very extensive revamp.

[MalteseMama2]

I’m on right now. Can’t post pictures until we get home but I have to say many things have changed and she looks great! New, open suite lounge in deck 14. WJ looks like a completely different place, brighter colors, and about 12 hand washing stations on the way in.  El Loco Fresh is delicious. New carpet pretty much through out. 

[rockmom]

13 minutes ago, MalteseMama2 said:

I’m on right now. Can’t post pictures until we get home but I have to say many things have changed and she looks great! New, open suite lounge in deck 14. WJ looks like a completely different place, brighter colors, and about 12 hand washing stations on the way in.  El Loco Fresh is delicious. New carpet pretty much through out. 

Thanks for the update,  @MalteseMama2!  I'm booked in one of the new Jr. Suites on Deck 11 and looking forward to be so close to the pool, solarium, Lime & Coconut and El Loco Fresh.   We sail in 95 days and am crossing my fingers that the coronavirus doesn't shut down cruises and spoil our fun.  

[pmck]

On ‎3‎/‎11‎/‎2020 at 2:31 PM, MalteseMama2 said:

I’m on right now. Can’t post pictures until we get home but I have to say many things have changed and she looks great! New, open suite lounge in deck 14. WJ looks like a completely different place, brighter colors, and about 12 hand washing stations on the way in.  El Loco Fresh is delicious. New carpet pretty much through out. 

two thing that I like about your post... 1. we are booked on the 5/10/20 cruise out of San Juan and I know that won't be happening, so I'm happy that you got to experience the "new ship" anyway.  2. I see you're from Blacksburg VA. Both of our kids graduated ('15 and '16) from Virginia Tech.. Loved Blacksburg and miss it so much!!

 

[Smokey Mountain Tim]

All the furniture in the MDR was replaced as well. All photos taken were on kiosk only and it takes hours to have them printed. No more spin to wins, replaced by slot credit good on any machine. Slight menu change since Oct 19. Same production shows and Freedom Ice. No more pushing for 10's by wait staff, but head waiter came on day 4 asking us to rate service and food quality in both MDR and WJ and wanting feedback as to why score given.

And I can't say enough how staff handled the extra two days at sea.

[cruiseguy1016]

57 minutes ago, Smokey Mountain Tim said:

All the furniture in the MDR was replaced as well. All photos taken were on kiosk only and it takes hours to have them printed. No more spin to wins, replaced by slot credit good on any machine. Slight menu change since Oct 19. Same production shows and Freedom Ice. No more pushing for 10's by wait staff, but head waiter came on day 4 asking us to rate service and food quality in both MDR and WJ and wanting feedback as to why score given.

And I can't say enough how staff handled the extra two days at sea.

 

We were on this cruise also. I wish I could say the same. Our MDR waitress begged for 10s on two occasions and one of the servers at dinner in the Windjammer also bothered us with "the speech".

 

I loved the ship. All of the new furniture, décor, etc. look fabulous. Playmakers was a huge success. It was always very busy in there. I loved El Loco Fresh on the pool deck. I agree that the staff did a phenomenal job dealing with the extended cruise.

[MalteseMama2]

7 hours ago, pmck said:

two thing that I like about your post... 1. we are booked on the 5/10/20 cruise out of San Juan and I know that won't be happening, so I'm happy that you got to experience the "new ship" anyway.  2. I see you're from Blacksburg VA. Both of our kids graduated ('15 and '16) from Virginia Tech.. Loved Blacksburg and miss it so much!!

 

Yes, Blacksburg is a great place to live. We love it! Hopefully you will get on Freedom when everything calms down. 

[hmhanel]

Our experience was similar to Cruiseguy1016. Our waiter also made a comment on the difference between a 1 and a 10 on the survey. Apparently she felt that in the past some people filling out the survey got the two confused. I'm not sure that it rose to the level of begging for a 10 and it certainly was better than our past experience with our waiters.

 

The ship looked great and the staff was wonderful. While it was certainly disappointing for us to have the second week of our B2B cancelled, that is nothing compared to the uncertainty that the crew is facing with a halt to future sailings. Somehow I feel that this will extend beyond the original 30 days.

 

Our biggest criticism for our cruise was the food on the ship. My wife and I both thought the food was fairly bland and under seasoned. The one word that came to mind immediately was 'uninspired'. Not that we are foodies, but we just felt that the dining on our previous cruises with RCI was better than this cruise. Not that big of a deal but just our observation.

 

The last time we were on FOS was October of 2018. We had a couple of the staff say that they remembered us from our previous cruise. We were certainly impressed that not only did they vaguely remember us but they recalled conversations we had on that cruise. Finally, kudos to the staff in the Bull and Bear. They were phenomenal.

[Smokey Mountain Tim]

9 hours ago, hmhanel said:

Our biggest criticism for our cruise was the food on the ship. My wife and I both thought the food was fairly bland and under seasoned. The one word that came to mind immediately was 'uninspired'. Not that we are foodies, but we just felt that the dining on our previous cruises with RCI was better than this cruise. Not that big of a deal but just our observation.l.

Exactly. I must have mentioned this every night that I felt the food wasn't seasoned enough. And I feel the quality is degrading every year, as if they are pushing you to specialty restaurants. The addition of bananas foster as a desert item was nice.

[pmck]

13 hours ago, MalteseMama2 said:

Yes, Blacksburg is a great place to live. We love it! Hopefully you will get on Freedom when everything calms down. 

yes we ALL need something to look forward to. Right now, I think it's the end of this virus..then we'll go from there. Stay well!!