arahsay

James Brown, will be the guest guitarist in the Pub

Funny - we were just on the Sept 10th sailing. James Brown was the guitarist in the Pub and I swear he was the same guitarist that performed in the Pub on Freedom when we sailed 10 years ago. Guest! LOL

I've not experienced this or seen it reported from any RC ship.

I just returned from the Sept 10th sailing and other than Evian brand bottled water, all our drinks were included in the Deluxe Drink Package at every bar and restaurant we went to including Johnny Rockets and Sabor.

My husband and I were on the same cruise. Other than the condition of our stateroom and room steward, we agree with everything you said. We definitely noticed a decline in overall service on the ship.

My husband and I sailed on the Sept 10, 2017 7-night Western Mediterranean cruise on the Freedom of the Seas for our 20th wedding anniversary. This was our fourth time cruising, our third with RCCL, and second time sailing on the Freedom. We opted for late dining at 9 PM. We were placed at a table for eight with two English speaking guests from England, two 100% Spanish speaking guests, and two empty seats. It was tough to try to interact with the table mates from Spain and was honestly kind of awkward so we only ate in the dining room twice. The Formal Nights were day 2 and 6 and the themes were Secret Agent and White Night with a party on the pool deck. Other themed nights were Caribbean and Disco with parties on the promenade, the same as on our last sailing on Freedom 10 years ago. We didn’t see any of the shows because they were also the same as our last sailing. Also, the formal picture process had changed that some pose stations that used to be set up around the ship were now considered custom settings that required reservations. This included the black & white and head-shot type poses that were some of the best pictures we’d had taken on prior sailings, so this change was a bit disappointing. We assumed they now involved additional fees, but didn’t ask so we may be wrong. Each night on the Promenade there were costumed Dreamworks characters for meet and greet’s and the usual daily super-sale watches and jewelry available for purchase. The only Mediterranean specific souvenirs we saw in the shops on board were a few logo t-shirts. We thought it was odd that they were selling many items branded with other Caribbean ports on a Mediterranean cruise such as key chains with the word Cozumel.

As this was our first time flying overseas, we didn't know what to expect in a foreign airport and going through customs. The walk from the plane arrival gate at the Barcelona el Prat airport to passport control was 10-15 minutes. Passport control was quick and our luggage was just arriving as we entered the baggage claim area. Customs was as simple as walking through a doorway for passengers with nothing to declare. The arrival area was very crowded and it was now that we remembered that we paid for the RCCL transfers when we booked our flights on Air2Sea but we didn’t receive any info from them or RCCL on where to go. We wandered around until asking for help at the Information office so head to the left when you exit the customs door! We eventually found staff holding RCCL clip boards for each ship who checked our names off a list (because we hadn’t received transfer vouchers), and tagged and took our luggage. After 50 or so guests were gathered, we were lead to an adjacent room where we completed health forms and actually went through the embarkation check-in process and received our sign and sail cards. Once on board, we went to our stateroom, had lunch in the Windjammer, and relaxed on the pool deck until about 5:00 when we headed back to the room, unpacked the luggage that had arrived, and decided to have dinner at Sabor. Sabor was delicious, but probably not worth $30 per person. If you go, go hungry! We were given chips and guac, our choice of two starters (we picked chicken wrapped jalapenos and cactus fries), two entrees (we got bbq tacos and fish tacos), and the dessert platter to share. I also had a glass of sangria.

We decided to upgrade from our usual balcony room to a junior suite and having the larger sized shower and balcony was wonderful. But as far as I could tell, that's where the perks end. The junior suite didn't qualify for any of the other perks such as the reserved seating on the pool deck. The signs there stated the area was for concierge suite guests only. We sat in this area upon returning to the ship each evening with no problems until the last day - the day at sea - when we were told to leave because only gold colored sign & sail card holders were allowed. A staff member explained that the sign meant that only platinum crown & anchor holders and those staying in the presidential suite receive a gold card. Note to Royal: maybe the sign should say this instead.

About 2 weeks before our sail date, we received an email for 20% off the deluxe drink package. We decided to purchase it so we didn't have to think about how much we were spending on drinks. We each had a specialty coffee drink, 1-2 bottles of water (Evian brand is not included) and 4-8 alcoholic drinks each day. Most of the drinks we got were $2-5 below the $12 price point. If you get a drink package, we recommend you still check your S&S account because we were charged for my drink in Sabor and had to wait in a very long line at Guest Services to have it removed. We agree with some other members who have commented about bar and serving staff, especially on the pool deck. We definitely noticed that the bar staff, and really the majority of staff in the shops on board, lacked the enthusiasm we expected and have experienced on past RCCL cruises. Our guess is that it's probably directly related to the prepaid drink packages. The incentive for better service = more tips probably isn't there anymore. Also, many bars ran out of common alcohol or drink ingredients by day 5 or 6. We do want to give a shout-out that bartender Anthony and the other staff in the Bull and Bear pub were awesome!

We lucked out that the excursions we had in our cart online went on sale about 2 weeks before our sail date and we saved about $300. In the past we’ve always booked and paid months in advance, so maybe this is typical but it was a nice surprise for us. One time that procrastinating paid off!

In Marseilles, we took the excursion Cassis Extended Time. Our guide Bebe was fine, not super friendly,but acceptable. We had about 3 hours of our own time in Cassis. The village and views of the sea were beautiful. We strolled around the village, walked to the lighthouse, and sat on the steps overlooking the beach. Of all the places we visited, this was the one stop that we felt most outof place as a foreigner. The locals weren’t rude, but they seemed annoyed that we didn't speak French.

The next day was Villa Franche and our excursion was the Nice, Eze, and Monaco Discovery. Our guide was great and the bus driver was equally fantastic. The excursion started with a drive along the coast to Monaco. From the bus parking garage, we walked to the church where Princess Grace is buried and then to the Prince's Palace where we had about 30 minutes to walk around and enjoy the amazing views. Along the way, our guide stopped and talked about various points of interest. From there, we walked to the Grand Casino area and had about 45 minutes on our , around €12 to enter the casino floor) and watch fabulous people driving gorgeous cars before we had to make our own way back to the bus parking garage. Then, we drove to Eze. Our guide walked us up about a million steep, winding, stone stairways through the original part of village to the church. We were given the option of taking the bus to a perfume factory nearby. We chose not to go to the factory. The old area of the village is build up the hillside and is so beautiful. It was like stepping back in time 500 years and had amazing views of the sea. We wandered around the narrow walkways, purchased a few souvenirs from tiny shops build a few steps below street level, took tons of pictures, and grabbed baguette sandwiches at a cafe in the new part of the village. Some other guests were annoyed that the take away restaurant they went to charged them €4 to cut their pizza in half. When the bus arrived back with the guests that went to the perfume factory, we drove to Nice. Again we were dropped off and had 45 minutes or so on-our-own. We walked a few blocks to the beach front and sat in one of the many benches enjoying the views before and grabbing a gelato on our way walking back to the bus.

The next day, La Spezia, we did the Florence & Pisa with Smart Device excursion because it included the most on-our-own time in Florence. On the drive to Pisa, our guide discovered that only half the smart devices were programmed for use, so we opted to use our phone to find our way around. We drove to Pisa and walked to the Field of Miracles where we had about 40 minutes to take pictures of the cathedral, baptistery, and famous tower before walking back to the bus. Take a minute to watch the tourists taking pictures in crazy poses to hold up the tower. Funny! After the drive to Florence, we walked with our guide to our meeting point, a gift shop adjacent to the Church of Santa Croce, where we had about 3.5 hours on-our-own. We had pre-booked tickets for the Palazzo Vecchio to Uffizi Gallery for entry at 1:15 & bridge crossing at 2:15. Upon arriving at the Palazzo Vecchio ticket office, we were directed to the Uffizi Gallery ticket office and then directed to an adjacent building to door #3 where we received our tickets and walked back to the Palazzo Vecchio just in time for our reserved entry time. We marveled at the breathtaking art and decorations of the rooms available to view, and then crossed the Medici bridge to the Uffizi where we flew through some of the rooms to seethe most notable works of art. There are some perfect views of the Ponte Vecchio from the Uffizi corridors, and the balcony of the Uffizi cafeteria has a great view of the Palazzo Vecchio clock tower and Duomo. We took a few pictures of the replica David and some other statues outside the Uffizi and of the exterior of Santa Croce, and had just enough time for a pizza at Baldovino near our meeting point. It was an RCCL endorsed restaurant, the server was very nice, and the pizza was delicious! This was the only excursion we’ve ever been on that a guest was left behind. He made his way back to the port via a €320 cab ride. Yikes!

The next day was Civitavecchia where we did the Navigate Through Rome excursion. This one also had smart devices available for use. After the 90 minute drive to Rome, we arrived at our meeting point, a gift shop near St Peter’s Square, at around 10:30. We had pre-purchased the audio tour of the Colosseum at 12:30, so we took an Uber to the Forum to claim the 2-for-1 Colosseum/Forum tickets and walked around some of the Forum before heading to the Colosseum around 11:45. Plan on 30+ minutes in line for security. We picked up our headsets and spent about an hour touring the Colosseum. Then, we Ubered to theTrevi Fountain. The crowds there were insane, so our stay was short -just enough for a few pictures- before getting another Uber to head back to St. Peter’s Square. Our and our car's location in the app were not working, so we enlisted the help of a kind waiter to use our phone to give our non-English speaking driver directions to where we were. The driver had a tablet with Google translate and actually pointed out some interesting sights on our drive back to the Square. He was really cool! Rome was the only place we visited that we did feel uncomfortable with potential pick pockets. On the drive back to the ship, our guide took us past some other notable places.

The next day we were in Naples, and we did a morning excursion Exploration of Pompeii and then an afternoon excursion Ruins of Herculaneum. Each included a stop at a cameo factory that was actually just a showroom with jewelry for sale and were a waste of time. The ruins left us speechless and are both awesome and unique in their own way. Pompeii was much bigger and much busier than Herculaneum. I recommend wearing a hat or taking an umbrella as Pompeii was very hot. Our guide took us around part of the city, pointing out the brothel, store fronts, the bathhouse, city square, House of the Faun, and showed us some of the casts of bodies found in the ruins. We then had about 20 minutes to shop for souvenirs. Our guide seemed knowledgeable, but was the least impressive we had all week. At the start of the tour he gave each guest a coupon for a free bottle of water at our meeting point, a restaurant near the exit of the ruins. We had water with us, so we decided we’d wait and redeem the coupons after touring the ruins. We grabbed a few souvenirs and went to get the waters when the shop employee told us that the coupons were only valid prior to our tour. That would have been nice to know earlier. The guide also used the tour headsets he distributed as the way to keep count of guests. After turning in our headsets, he said that someone didn’t return theirs and repeatedly announced to the group that it needed to be returned. (He didn’t seem concerned at all that it could indicate that someone was lost and was missing. ) Then, he abruptly lead us back to the bus. It was strange. One complaint with Naples was the terminal. We were directed up a bunch of stairs to what looked like a small mall,down a bunch more stairs, around the outside of the terminal, and then back inside to go down a hall to re-board the ship. This left us with only about 30 minutes to eat a quick lunch at the Windjammer before running back through the same round-about up and down and through the mall to meet the excursion to Herculaneum. Our guide for Herculaneum was from the same company as Pompeii but was beyond amazing! Not only did he tell us interesting facts, he weaved a story to help us understand what the people in the town experienced 2,000 years ago. He pointed out native pepper and olive trees, he was very engaging with the guests during the tour, and sneaked us to a restricted area to see a boat that was found in the ruins. We had great views of Mt. Vesuvius from the bus on the return trip to the ship.

The morning of disembarking,we had breakfast at the Windjammer, grabbed another specialty coffee, and left the ship with our luggage at 6:45. We were again asked for our never-received transfer vouchers and arrived at the airport by 9:00.

Our flight returned to the US in Atlanta and boy were we happy that we signed up for the mobile passport! We retrieved our luggage and headed to customs where about 100 people waiting in line and using the self-serve computer kiosks for passport. We were able to walk past them all and directly to a custom’s agent for a couple questions. Then, we dropped off our luggage for our connecting flight and got in line for TSA where it took about 45 minutes to get through.

Overall, it was a great cruise and the trip of a lifetime. We thought the ship still looked great, we loved the excursions we took and all the sights we visited. We would cruise with RCCL again but might try a different line next time. Did we leave the ship with the WOW feeling we’ve had in the past? No. Maybe Royal is more concerned with the guests on the newer ships.

On a side note, we booked the cruise on Priceline because they were to give us $350 onboard credits 2 weeks prior to our sale date and we wanted to use them towards our excursions. When that date came and went, they told us they would be credited to our S&S account on Day #2, so we used them for the onboard wifi/surf package for 2 devices that was $280 for the week. The fastest speed we got was 3.8 MB at Bolero's on deck 4.