Freedom of the seas 20th-27th Sept 2015 Review

this was our 1st time cruising with RCI, and have to say we left feeling dissapointed.

Embarkation was ok, we was on the ship within an hour of checking in.

Stateroom, we had a family oceanview stateroom 8200, right at the front of the ship looking out to the helicopter pad. this room was huge for 5 of us with a separate bedroom area, separate living room area and separate bunk bed area. The stateroom felt very dated, as did the corridors, although our stateroom host was fantastic and worked very hard to look after us.

MDR - this was where most of our disappointment came from, food was very bland and tasted like it had been stood for a while, service was very slow with 45 minute waits in between courses. Our servers was also not very good, we was never asked if we would like a drink and when we asked they would take a good 20 minutes to arrive, desserts were the same every night and was not very good. Kids menu again same menu every night on a A4 sheet of paper, that had activities for the children to do, accept no crayons ever provided!!

Windjammer was good and the service was better then the mdr. sorrentos and promenade cafe was ok.

We chose to eat at chops grille and Sabor, both were fantastic with excellent food and service, what you would expect in the MDR.

We also had the drinks package, bar service was ok around the pool, but better inside although cocktails do see to come out of a ready made carton with a shot of alcohol added.

Entertainment - the ice show was fantastic as was the dreamworks parade, everything else was ok, most activities throughout the day was targeted to the older audience, plenty of seminars, pool activities such as dancing and bar quizzes. also felt the shopping tables of discount watches, gold and handbags was too much. been in our 30s with children i did feel a minority, and would not say it was targeted to families or young couples. such a huge emphasis on drinking and spending money around the ship, i did feel like i was on cruise with the over 50s :)

Pool areas are of a good size and plenty of room to swim or sunbathe, although i did not think the area was attractive, just seems to be railings everywhere and makes the main pool deck rather unsightly in my opinion.

Kids clubs - Our kids loved them, seemed very structured for the younger ones and the teens loved meeting new people and chilling, the flowrider and rock climbing was also enjoyed by the kids.

the ports of Coco Cay, St Thomas and St Maarten were fantastic, we did the cable car in St Thomas and a private snorkel tour in St Maarten.

overall the ship is beautiful, but some areas do look dated and tired, more entertainment options should be available for families during the day, especially around the pool areas. possibly more family style shows in the theatre. The service and food was below standard of what we was expecting and really needs to be improved. We may try RCI again in the future but for now we will look at different cruise lines.