Just off the Freedom today. 8 night review.

We just got off today from the 8 night sailing on the Freedom. First time sailing on Royal Caribbean, two previous cruises were on Princess and Celebrity. It was a combination of the good with the bad I'm afraid.

The food in the dining room was mostly decent. We had a few very good meals, and some bad. The windjammer cafe was horrible, period. But the food we ate at Sabor was excellent. So just charge more and have better quality food......its obvious their kitchens can produce it. Enjoyed the entertainment, especially James Brown in the Bull & Bear, the shows were ok.

We did not care for the Promenade concept, and felt that we were at The mall of America. Too much selling of jewelry, purses, art, you name it. Too many people on board for that size ship....waiting in line for everything.

The first 4 days the weather was awful, 45mph winds, rain....outside decks were closed. We missed Labadee due to the weather, raining in San Juan, but the last 4 days the weather improved. Realize the ship has no control over weather.

The ship itself was beautiful and very clean. The staff terrific and very personable, the beds extremely hard.

I don't think we will sail with Royal Caribbean again due to the food quality and their style of ships. My 23 year old son preferred our last two cruises even though the demographic on those ships was much older.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Forums mobile app

I find it so frustrating and ridiculous that the beds are so damn hard. How is that a vacation????? arrgggggg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Totally agree.....another pet peeve is getting handed a receipt for every drink you order even though you have a drink package. We ended up giving each waiter a $1 when we ordered a drink...the receipts stopped coming. Also getting nicely dressed for dinner, and eating with others who have t-shirts on.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Forums mobile app

Totally agree.....another pet peeve is getting handed a receipt for every drink you order even though you have a drink package. We ended up giving each waiter a $1 when we ordered a drink...the receipts stopped coming. Also getting nicely dressed for dinner, and eating with others who have t-shirts on.

 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Forums mobile app

Sorry to read about your experience. We just came off the Allure this morning and considered booking your cruise because we loved the itinerary. Have to agree with the food and the mall feel of the Promenade. I remember Promenade sales on previous cruises but nothing like what we experienced on Allure.

We did the same cruise on February 18th. It was the best cruise we have ever been on! The food in the dining room was very good every night. Our bed had an egg crate and it was fine. Nobody ever pushed us to buy anything. We enjoyed every show we saw. We had a blast dancing almost every night until the wee hours. We made some wonderful new friends. We loved every port and had great excursions we booked ourselves. The staff was excellent. We absolutely loved our waiter in the MDR. The ship never felt crowded to us. I do not have one complaint. I would love to go on this cruise again. We are doing the six night next year with our adult children. Only 349 more days!! Love this ship!! We have sailed in all three Freedom class and we love RCI. We noticed that the majority of people dressed up for dinner.

Too bad the quality of food and the ship did not live up to our expectations.

Thanks for the feedback.

We just got off of Freedom too, and I think it must be personal preference. I love the Promenade concept. This size ship is the sweet spot for us.

We agree about the Windjammer, but it is buffet food, so we don't expect much. In the dining room (we went 5 nights), several of the meals we ordered were excellent, others were very good.

We would sail Freedom again. We had a great time. [emoji846]

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I think they areslowly killing the Promenade concept with the constant selling and blocking the way with the various kiosks.

I think they areslowly killing the Promenade concept with the constant selling and blocking the way with the various kiosks.

I agree. It seems to be slowly turning into a neighborhood garage sale atmosphere. I thought our food in the dining room was improved from the last cruise and the Windjammer is always expected to be buffet food, some good and some questionable.

I just go toff of this sailing on Freedom too. First of all it was the worst weather that I have ever encountered in the Caribbean but that is just part of the risk of traveling. If we had to miss one port I am glad it was Labadee. I never much cared for being penned up there anyway. That was better than missing any of the other ports. I thought the beds on the ship were very comfortable and with the motion of the ship I slept great.:)

The Windjammer food I thought was good but there was very little variety. It was pretty much the same choices day after day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The pizza at Sorrento's for the first time in awhile was not bad. Now, "was not bad" is in no way a synonym for "good" but at least it was not bad. We never stepped foot in the MDR this cruise or for the last several.

The entertainment was hit and miss. The Ice show was excellent. One really good comedian and one not so good one. The production show was done well for a RCI singers and dancers show. These shows just seem so bad compared to what you get on the Oasis class ships. The magician was fair. Maybe he was better than fair for the parts that I fell asleep through but the parts that I saw... fair. One of the musical acts was absolutely excellent.

Always enjoy the Royal Promenade but what I really found annoying is the the Captain, during his announcements, would put in plugs for sales that were going on. Come on Captain, leave that kind of stuff to other staff. That is well below what is expected of you and not what I want to hear in the captain's report.

The ship really did not seem crowded at all even though it was pretty much sold out. Maybe it was just my timing. I don't go around looking for problems and I never saw any all week. The ship is in great shape. The ship has a very good and happy crew. Our cabin attendant was excellent and I plan to let RCI know it. I agree with knicola above. I don't want a receipt ever time I get a drink with a package. It just comes off as asking for money. Knock it off. I always tipped for Diamond drinks and never got a receipt. I also had an excellent bartender in the Schooner bar who took good care of me with those drinks.

The worst passenger behavior I encountered this week was a guy at the coffee bar in the Cafe Promenade. The server messed up his coffee order and the guy started berating the server something fierce. It is just a dam cup of coffee dude nobody kicked your dog or your kid. Get over it. They will remake your coffee. It was really all I could do to keep from stepping in and telling this guy what an a$$ he was being. I hope this guy belongs to CC and is reading this. If so, you know who you are and I am telling you now... you are an a$$.

All on all, it was a another great cruise. I would have no issue booking Freedom again. And with the ridiculous blizzard that is coming here tomorrow I may book a lot sooner than I was expecting to.

I would also mention that terminal 29 really had its act together for this cruise. We arrived at the terminal at about 10:20. Boarding started at 10:50 and we were on the ship at 11:00. On returning home we did self assist. We left the cabin for the last time at 8:05 walked off the ship into the terminal and right to a ICE officer with zero lines from start to finish. We were at the gate for our flight at FLL at 8:50. Again, maybe it was the luck of our timing but everything just seemed to go right as far as crowds. Unfortunately, our flight wasn't until 12:45. OK, so my timing was a little off and we had to wait for the plane.:rolleyes:

I just go toff of this sailing on Freedom too. ...

Most importantly, did you find a piano you could use?

Most importantly, did you find a piano you could use?

I did and it got plenty of use, too.:):)

Thank you for the quick reviews everyone!

Thanks for the reviews. Now if we don't get caught in too much snow on our way will be in hotel near port Friday mid after noon. But from I'm seeing leaving from the Toronto area on Wednesday 4 AM and driving down I-79, US 19, I-77, I-26 and finally onto I-95 could be caught in the BIG storm :-(. Up by Toronto storm should end overnight Tuesday but looks like PA will still be getting some. Oh well as long as the highways don't get closed down we will be fine.

I was off the Freedom 8 night a few weeks ago and thought it was excellent. We ate in MDR, Chops, Giovanni's and Sabor. Honestly, Chops was our worst meal. And by worst, I mean still pretty darn good. Our room attendant was fantastic, as was our MDR staff. Even the bar waiter in MDR was great. Stopped taking my card from me after night 5 (we went to specialty 2, 3, 4), even though I was tipping him extra with my drink package. No card = no slip = no extra tip for him. On night 6, 7, 8 my chocolate martini was waiting for me at our table when I walked in.. One night in Schooner, I had a little more than I probably should (hey, I was on vacation) so I decided to switch to water. The waiter was busy, so I started to walk to the bar to get it myself. He noticed me going towards the bar, immediately came over to me and asked what I was doing. I told him I just wanted a water, he told me to sit down because it was his job to get it for me. No slip, no tip, still gave me great service. Maybe being nice and personable to the staff gets me better service. I don't know... Yeah there are people selling stuff, but it is very easy to avoid it. "No thank you" works wonders.

I agree most of the staff were excellent, some very personable! Also glad we

skipped Labadee, been there before, and didn't miss it. I thought the itinerary was great though, that's why we booked the cruise...so glad it was 8 nights considering the weather we had! We had lunch at the El Convento hotel in San Juan, and loved it. Beautiful hotel with a lovely patio!

Sent from my SM-N920V using Forums mobile app

Also would recommend the Nevis day tour. My son and husband dove with Pro- Divers on St. Kitts, so I booked a tour with the ship. I enjoyed it very much, and would love to stay on Nevis.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Forums mobile app

Thanks for the review, my family and I are sailing on the Freedom April 1st. Unfortunately, about half of the recent reviews are not favorable. The only time I noticed that the promenade was overly crowded was in the early evening before dinner and we kind of enjoyed the people watching, so, no big deal.

I have never had a bad cruise.

We were on this cruise also. The rock and roll of the waves didn't bother us at all but I know it did affect some.

Some people will complain just about anything, including the weather.

I thought all the staff was great. from boarding to getting off the ship.

The food was good most of the time. Toward the end it kind of went down hill a bit but still good. We ate at Chops and the food there was good, service was so so. Fortunately we didn't pay full price. LOVED the Chef's Table!!

About the only complaint I have is getting hit up ever where for up sales at the restaurants. I'm wondering since they raised the prices if they are not booked as they use to be..

Thanks for the review.