Freedom of the Seas October 15 Med Review

Its been nearly 2 months since my cruise and I thought I would just briefly (I hope) give you a review of our cruise. Any questions please feel free to contact me. Ok here goes :

We stayed for 2 nights in theHotel Continental in Barcelona. Nexttime I would choose another hotel. Thehotel was right on Las Ramblas and so the location was perfect but (and this ismy opinion) I thought it could do with a spruce up. I know some rooms have been recently refurbished and despite me e mailing the hotel several times to check we had a room over looking Las Ramblas and also requesting a refurbished room, we only had the room overlooking Las Ramblas. There are probably a lot nicer hotels forless money and the only good side to this was the location. The hotel offers and purports to offer, 24hour food all day with wine and beer. Yesit does, but only white wine no red but it served our purpose. The food…………….. um well let’s just say was pretty muchinedible although some people seemed to be enjoying it.

Prior to arrival, we purchased the Hop on Hop off bus tickets for the Saturday and took the red route (about 2 hours) around the city. You are given earphones to plug into your seat to hear a commentary of landmarks etc. We then got off and hopped on to the blue route bus to take us to La Sagrada Familia as we had purchased online tickets for 2.30 pm. The cathedral was amazing, we also purchased the Tower tickets taking us up to the top of the cathedral but a rather long walk down which had to be done quite slowly as it was fairly narrow and could be dangerous if you lost hold. It was pretty crowded but enjoyable.

One thing of note was that when we were on the red route bus it took us down to the port terminal but also along the seafront where we spotted a Italian restaurant (La Trattoria, I seem to recall) and we said we would eat there that evening as most of the food places in and around Las Ramblas were tapas bars and neither of us really wanted tapas for dinner. We did in fact get a taxi from the hotel to this restaurant and it was really very nice and plentiful. Both my husband and I prefer Italian and our only complaint was that the portions were far too large! We then walked back to our hotel stopping at a couple of bars for a night cap.

Sunday morning, the day we board the ship arrived and wewent out for breakfast. We found alovely little café in Las Ramblas and had a really nice English cookedbreakfast. Then back to the hotel tofinish packing and to check out. We leftthe hotel about 12.30 and got a taxi to the Port.

On arrival at the Port there was a hive of activity which seemed a it chaotic but we left our bags witha porter and I noticed two very large entrances one without any people and the other really really full of people trying to get into the terminal. Me being me took the virtually uncrowded entrance and walked straight in and placed our luggage of the scanner and then joined the queue for the check in. For some reason, we were called forward to an employee whodisengaged the rope barrier and secured it behind us………….and then walked us to an empty check in desk. I have no idea why (we are not diamond members nor booked into a top suite or anything like that) but that was a really nicestart to the cruise. Perhaps he thought I or my husband were famous!!!!!!!:D

Anyway, we had our photo taken and happened to bump into our friends who were joining us for the cruise and who were just finishing checking in. We then boarded the ship andwent straight to the sky bar for a couple of drinks. Then to the cabins to unpack.

Then to fire drill and then thebar and then change for the evening. I know the fire drill is a must and we jumped to attention so tell me why there are people who feel they need not attend because at each station the crew have a list of cabins etc that they tick off their sheet and they were calling out to see if some passengers had not "checked in with them". So off goes a crew member and comes back with these other passengers. We were standing there for ages and ages.... And then.... those late passengers wouldn't get into line they just stood there until a crew member pretty much said they had better get into line as he was responsible for them if in the unlikely event we had to evacuate the ship. He further said that unless they got into line he would have no choice to reported to the Captain who could ask them to disembark! I just don't get it. Why do people think they are above everyone else?

Main Dining Room – we ate heretwice – the food was very very good, nothing to complain about but it took atleast 2 hours from sitting down to leaving. We had Leo and his assistant serve us and although we were in a cornerwith a window the whole dining experience seemed to be rushed. By this I mean, people coming, people goingand the waiters, their feet did not touch the ground and although we were a bitout of the way but from where I was sitting everything seemed chaotic (I shouldhave really sat with my back to everything and probably would have had a more relaxingexperience).

Giuseppe’s – we ate here once onmy husband’s birthday. Now……. That wasso different from the main dining room. Much more quieter and calmer, no one was in a rush and made for abetter dining experience. The food wasvery good.

Windjammer – we ate dinner/supperhere 4 times during the cruise. We also hadbreakfast - the food was on a par with the main dining room, plenty of it and Iwas very selective on what I ate. Onenight I had a piece of steak – in fact it was better than the main dining room…….

Chefs Wine Pairing Dinner – this tookplace on the 3rd floor elevated part of the main dining room. We were both a little disappointed in thismeal as we very much liked the food in the MDR, Windjammer and Italianrestaurants and were expecting something amazing. Not so, nothing wrong with it but we boththought that the food and the actual wine pairing could have been a lot better. In fact, both my husband and I who havecruised with Celebrity and Azamara said that we thought the food was a lotbetter on RCCL BUT the wine paring we had on Azamara beats everything handsdown. Each course on Azamara was delicious andamazing not to mention the particular wine chosen for that course. Each course was extremely innovative whereasthe RCCL wine pairing was nothing special. The presentation of each course – well, I think I could certainly havedone better and I don’t cook!!!!

Bars – we didn’t get to go in allthe bars but the ones we did I found relaxing - each bar had a different cocktail list and that was quite enjoyable havingdifferent menus. BUT my favourite wasVintages. I loved the ambience in there –very quiet. My husband and I had quite afew chats with the sommelier and tasted different wines and learnt a lot about them. We met anothercouple who enjoyed the wine bar as well. Many a night was spent sitting on the bar stools putting the world to rightswith them and the sommelier.

Entertainment – sadly and I haveno idea why but we never got to see any entertainment. Probably having too much of a good time inVintages.

Excursions – First stop Marseille– we stayed on the ship and chilled for the day. It was warm and sunny and extremely quiet –we stayed by the solarium pool catching a few rays and having a few drinks.

Villefranche – we organised atour with the ship. Unfortunately, weleft it too late to arrange a private tour as we usually do and so went withthe ship and used our ship credit to pay for this. It was very interesting learning about Monacoand its Prince and seeing the Monte Carlo Casino. Also standing on the world famous corner onthe Grand Prix. However, my recommendation would be to make sure you book a private excursion not with the ship as when there are only a few of you, the tour is more bespoke.

Florence – we organised a privatetour with our friends and another couple who unbelievably turned out to be ourwine drinking buddies. Well David was ashis wife doesn’t drink….. The journeyinto Florence was about 2 hours BUT I did fear for my life at times on theroad. My husband say next to the driver, then our friends and myself and David and his wife in the back. I said we would all swap around on the way back giving the back passengers to sit up front and when we came to go back, I offered the front to David and his wife and they emphatically said "NO" "we would rather sit in the back as we cannot see the road" so they too didn't feel comfortable but all in all we had a nice time in Florencewith a private guide who took us to all of the important sites. For my part I wouldn’t go to Florence againunless the ship docked pretty much within walking distance. I just felt it was too long to get intoFlorence.

Rome – again a private tour with2 other couples. This for us was thehighlight of our trip. Again we had aguide who picked us up in the people carrier and talked to us about the historyof Rome and dropped us off at most of the important landmarks giving us timefor a quick toilet break or coffee. We didn’t have towalk far at all, just down a little street and there was the TreviFountain. Another stop and across theroad were the Spanish Steps and all the time Max from RomeinLimo telling usabout each site. Then off to the Coliseumand going round and round the huge famous roundabout and slowing down on theroundabout so that we could gaze in awe at the buildings. Then stopping for 20 minutes right outsidethe Coliseum. Then back on to anotherplace, again driving slowly past a couple of famous small churches and explainingthe history. Then stopping for about anhour so that we could get some lunch in a little market square. Then back to the Port.

Finally, our last port of callwas Naples. Our friends had been toNaples before and suggested we take the ferry across to Sorrento. So glad we did. We had a lovely chill out day wandering thestreets then having lunch in a little café then back on the ferry to the ship. Note - check the times of the return ferry - we thought it ran every hour, not so from about 2 pm until 4.30 there is no ferry and by the time we knew we had already got down in the lift to the bottom. There is a life for 1 euro that takes you to the top of the cliff which is where all of the little streets and cafes etc are. There is not much down by the sea although you could walk up the road that vehicles use but it would be a very very steep walk I would think.

Our last day was spent at sea andafter breakfast we spent time on our corner aft balcony reading and chilling.

Up in the morning and off theship in record time into a taxi back to the airport for our journey back to theUK.

All in all we had a lovely cruiseand I can honestly say for me it was the best cruise I have been on. In fact we are looking on going on Independence of the Seas from Southampton beginning of July 2019 for my nephew's 18th birthday and are waiting for the itineraries to be published.

Any questions please feel free to ask.

Thank you for the detailed review! Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

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Thanks for taking us along on your cruise.

Excellent report, thanks!

Excellent report, thanks!

Hi

I am sorry everyone for the joined up words. I didn't check before I posted so edited it which has taken me over an hour as I also thought of some other things to add to it. However when I went to post my edited version, it threw me out saying I could only edit within 30 minutes of posting and basically I had taken too long to do so, so please forgive this version.

I enjoyed your report.

Keith