Quick review of the Freedom of the Seas 3/31 - 4/8

Good Morning,

Just wanted to pop in and let you know all know what an amazing time we had on the Freedom. This was our second time on this ship and about 12th cruise overall. We felt the ship was in great condition. A couple patches of wear and tear but nothing drastic. The beds could have been a little more comfortable and the Pullman was awkward and on a slant.

The most impressive part of the trip was by far the service. I can not begin to tell you how amazing I found the service. I have been in the hospitality industry for twenty years with the last eleven being in a four diamond resort. I wish I could have taken some of the staff home with me. Our room steward Rey was amazing. He was always there when we needed something. In the mornings or evenings he would keep our 8 year entertained while we finished getting things together to leave the room. We received towel animals everyday. He kept our ice filled which was a request of ours. He was just amazing.

Our waitstaff in the restaurant I found to be nice, polite and mostly efficient. There was a delay most nights but at this point I almost expect it. We never waited to be seated in My Time Dining. I enjoyed having the same waitstaff every day even with My Time.

The food was okay. Not excellent, could have been hotter. But we never went hungry.

I found the buffet staff to be excellent. Although on a couple sea days food became scarce by 10:00 AM the staff was great. Anytime we decided we needed something someone was somehow there with it. Coffee almost gone, server with a refill. Daughter finished her juice, another would show up. We were checked on by officers daily, to make sure we had everything we needed. If we asked for something like sugar free syrup at the buffet they would find us to bring it to us. We didn't have to stand there waiting.

We did eat at the Steak house and Italian restaurant and both were very good. The Filet at chops was amazing. We did the bottled mimosa Galley brunch and we found it enjoyable. The mimosas were plentiful. Food ehh.. could have had more options.

The staff at the guest service desk was always friendly and helpful.

The kids club staff was extremely nice and understanding. Our daughter has a medical condition that requires a little extra attention and they were spot on. We never had a problem, and never felt like she was an inconvenience. Which is how NCL made her feel.

Even security was helpful! Our daughter can't go through scanners and each day the same woman was there and ready to "pat down" our daughter as quickly and discretely as possible.

Everyone on this ship seemed to have a can-do attitude. It was extremely enjoyable.

Thank you for the feedback! Looking forward to our trip later this month.

We too were on the FOS 31Mar to 08Apr and concur with many parts of your review.

Cabin (Mid-ship Balcony on 7) – Perfect for what we needed. Décor a bit dated, but not bad. Had a room for kids and adjoining room for parents. PERFECT setup. Cabin was steward was good/nice.

Ship Condition – Was Good to OK, starting to show its age a bit but nothing that inhibited our cruise.

Activities – Great to Good. If you were bored on this ship it was your own fault. Family Ice Skating, Flow Riding, Rock Climbing, Mini-Golfing, Arcade time, Trivia. There was a ton to do … and we did it. Adult Activity highlights were the Adult Comedy Show and The Quest. A sign language interpreter was signing for the deaf members of the audience… I never knew sign-language / adult content could be so much fun. The Bingo is VERY EXPENSIVE and not huge prizes. Although a family tradition, probably won’t do it next trip.

Excursions – St. Kitts: Highly recommend the Catamaran Sail / Nevis Beach Getaway. It was a glorious day on the water/ beach.

St. Maarten: I’m glad we did the Maho Airplane Experience through RCCL. Traffic in and out of the port was down to one lane and was backed up 20-30 minutes each way. Arrived back in port with only 15 minutes tospare. If travelling on your own, plan AT LEAST 75 minutes each way. Once at the beach, it didn’t disappoint.

St. Juan: We did aself guided walking tour around Old San Juan. Plenty to do/see/shop and guided tours are plentiful at the exit off the pier.

Labadee: We’ve been to Castaway Cay via DCL and had high expectations – which it came close to meeting. We reserved a clamshell (for shade) and glad we did as shade was at a premium that day. The beach in front of the clamshells is VERY rocky (as others on this board have said). With younger kids, I’d go to Columbus Beach but arrive early for best spots. The Zipline was fun – glad we did it but not sure we’d do it again. Alpine Coaster was an unexpected thrill – I controlled the brake for my daughter and I and “opened it up”… had to slow down a couple of times it got so fast. Will definitely do that again. Food on the island was Fair. Nothing to write home about. Labadoozies on the other-hand, were AWESOME.

MDR Service (8pm) – Great. I cannot say enough about this. Jeannette our MDR server was the best server we’ve ever had. Nice, informative, expedient. I want her on every cruise I go on.

MDR Food – Quantity: Great (Tip - order 2 Aps), Quality: OK. The Soups come out VERY HOT. Shrimp Cocktail only has 3 pieces. Cuts of meat/chicken/lamb were plentiful. We didn't feel the need to spend hundreds on dollars on specialty restaurants.

Bar Service – Slow but not awful. The bar staff had Eeyore syndrome a lot ofthe time (even after tips).

Overall – This ended up being one of the best family vacations we’ve ever been on. The limited negatives we observed did not prevent us from enjoying this vacation one bit. As such we booked again for next Easter while on-board.

Side Notes:

• Get (and use) the Global Entry card for use on disembarkation (worth every penny). Felt like a celebrity and they routed you to the front of the queue. Saved at least 30 minutes. We were actually at the airport too early foran 11:30 am flight home. Would have madethe 8:30am flight if we had booked it.
  
• Windjammer breakfasts were insanely busy. We ended up getting the continental breakfast via room service and eating on the balcony and then snacking during the day. Just tipped the delivery person each timethey came.
  

Sounds like both your families had a good time!

Thanks for your reviews.