Anyone currently on Freedom?

I'm hoping with all the negative reports on freedom that the people who have posted here have reported this to the right people. It's such a shame that we all love the freedom and what has been going on is really disappointing. I will be on her in April. Haven't been on in 3 years. With each report I read I feel like maybe I made the wrong choice. I'm past the point of cancellation, so I am stuck.

I can't believe that after some people have reported what's been going on when they were on the ship that nothing has been done. Is there anything we can do? What if we take all the negative reports and forward them to the CEO. Somebody has to listen. I thought that sometimes royal trolls this site. I can't imagine all these posts wouldn't get to somebody in the corporate office.

We've been on several RC cruises and also will be on the 3/3-11 cruise. These comments are very worrying and disappointing. I too want to hear what corporates response is on your letter. We have not cruised on any other lines besides Royal and Disney and will make a decision on future cruises with Royal if our March cruise turns out below standard. You don't pay the amount of money it costs to go on a cruise at any level and receive sub standard food, service and attention to details.

We are scheduled for the 3rd as well. It is our first cruise so are hoping for a positive experience

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for the OP - did you go to the Concierge on board and let him/her know about the problems you had? Did you go to guest services while you were on board? Did you reach out to loyalty ambassador while you were on board? That you would even need to spend your vacation time on a cruise finding the people who could - and should - offer you something for the problems you encountered is time consuming, but sometimes (sadly that is what it takes....once you are off the ship you need to call C and A and resolutions.

I'm kind of bummed out by all the negativity about Freedom lately, so I sent an email to RCI Customer Support. I understand people are more apt to post when something goes wrong, and I fully believe there are many cruisers who have a wonderful time, otherwise RCI wouldn't be hitting its corporate goals and building billion dollar ships!! I am posting the responses here without comment. My hope is that the message is received, and all who are sailing Freedom in the next few months (myself included) have a relaxing and wonderful vacation. Cheers.

"Thank you for your email. We apologize for the delay in our response.

We thank you for taking the time to email us regarding this issue. Please be advised, guests who may not have had a particularly pleasant experience on their sailing, for whatever reason, are more apt to write a poor review and find fault with all aspects of their vacation. The vast majority of our guests have nothing but complimentary and exemplary reviews of Royal Caribbean International's staff, food, ships and service. We take our guests’ evaluations and suggestions very seriously and distribute Guest Satisfaction Surveys to each of our guests before they depart on the last day of the cruise vacation. In this way, if there is a generalized complaint about any of our services, it can be addressed immediately without the necessity of waiting for a review to be released.

We can assure you that our main focus has been and will always be our guests. We have forwarded your comments to our operational team for their internal review."

Is there anything we can do?

Yes. Take a break from CC and assume you will have a wonderful cruise - just like the thousands that do with every sailing.

I'm not looking to start trouble. It's very concerning when you read negative post after post about one ship. I do go into all my cruises with an open mind if i read a negative review. But the posts keep coming in and aren't good. I was on the harmony of the seas in September had an amazing time. The food was great, the ship was clean and service was outstanding. I even wrote that in my customer survey. And named the individuals who made our trip great.

I have a cruise on freedom in April. Yes reading these posts are worrisome. Some of the people who wrote these reviews have gone to guest services and written on the survey their concerns. So when someone contacts customer service and they say basically more people had positive then negative things. It seems like they are dismissing the negative reviews. It concerns me.

I did voice my concerns last night to royal. I received a text message back asking if they could speak to me. They are calling me after 1:00. I will let you know what he says.

We too sailed on the January 14-20 cruise on the Freedom. We have cruised on her 3 prior times and always loved it. This last time, not so much. We booked this cruise through Club Royale, a handicapped room for 3. Little did we know that the room we were put into had only 2 beds and no one on the ship seemed to know anything about a rollaway bed. So the first thing we did was talk to our room attendant who brought up a roll away for us on her own, without anyone's approval. At least she understood that 3 adults could not sleep in 2 single beds. However the roll away was so old and uncomfortable, we just pulled the mattress of that "bed" onto the floor and I slept there. The following day I spent over an hour trying to explain to the Guest relations officer(s) about the sleeping arrangements and their response was that there was nothing they could do and why did we book 3 people into a room with only 2 beds. I explained that I didn't do this on my own, but it was done through Club Royale, one of their employees did it! This conversation was repeated on both days 2 and 3. Guest services still said that there was nothing they could do as the ship was fully booked, so I slept on the floor for 2 more nights, when "suddenly a room opened up on deck 2. This would not work for us as I was traveling with my disabled sister and 92 yr. old Mom and I am their caretaker. So no other option was available and I continued to sleep on the floor for the remainder of the cruise.

Meals in the dining room were hit or miss. We had My Time dining everyday at 5:45. Service from our waiter and his assistant was great, except for 1 night when we were assigned a different area of the dining room, with different staff. That dinner was so long that we did not even order dessert as it was nearly 8:30, after starting at 5:45 and we did not relish waiting an eternity for a scoop of ice cream.

However this did not sour us on the Freedom and we will be sailing on her in April. She's our favorite ship and we'd really like to give her another chance to WOW us!

I'm not looking to start trouble. It's very concerning when you read negative post after post about one ship. I do go into all my cruises with an open mind if i read a negative review. But the posts keep coming in and aren't good. I was on the harmony of the seas in September had an amazing time. The food was great, the ship was clean and service was outstanding. I even wrote that in my customer survey. And named the individuals who made our trip great.

 

 

 

I have a cruise on freedom in April. Yes reading these posts are worrisome. Some of the people who wrote these reviews have gone to guest services and written on the survey their concerns. So when someone contacts customer service and they say basically more people had positive then negative things. It seems like they are dismissing the negative reviews. It concerns me.

 

 

 

I did voice my concerns last night to royal. I received a text message back asking if they could speak to me. They are calling me after 1:00. I will let you know what he says.

I went through this exact thing last year. I was in here reading so many negative things about the Freedom. We booked the 8 night in a suite and it was $$$$. I was so disappointed and kept beating myself up for choosing this ship as we had friends we invited to join us. I wasted too much time worrying. We had an amazing cruise. It was perfect. We ate in the MDR every night and had excellent service. The food was great. The shows were great. The ship was beautiful. So this year........ I’m not going to let this worry me. We are taking two of our adult kids on their first cruise and another who has been on one cruise with us and we will be making our own fun! And the best part is after this cruise we are three nights away from being diamond [emoji4]

I’m not sure about others but we always have fun with the dining room staff. I’m friends on Facebook with several waiters and even a head waiter that had so much fun with us he was at our table every night. My husband is very outgoing and has a great sense of humor and he makes friends everywhere. We always treat the staff like a friend and not someone who is there to serve us. They work really hard and are far from their family for months at a time. Sometimes things are out of their control. For whatever reason the Windjammer opened late I’m sure it was in the best interest of the guests. Waiting in line for lunch would not bother me. I’ve often waited an hour at a restaurant for a table. I probably would have said let’s hit the pool till the crowd dies down. I’m not going starve.

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We too sailed on the January 14-20 cruise on the Freedom. We have cruised on her 3 prior times and always loved it. This last time, not so much. We booked this cruise through Club Royale, a handicapped room for 3. Little did we know that the room we were put into had only 2 beds and no one on the ship seemed to know anything about a rollaway bed. So the first thing we did was talk to our room attendant who brought up a roll away for us on her own, without anyone's approval. At least she understood that 3 adults could not sleep in 2 single beds. However the roll away was so old and uncomfortable, we just pulled the mattress of that "bed" onto the floor and I slept there. The following day I spent over an hour trying to explain to the Guest relations officer(s) about the sleeping arrangements and their response was that there was nothing they could do and why did we book 3 people into a room with only 2 beds. I explained that I didn't do this on my own, but it was done through Club Royale, one of their employees did it! This conversation was repeated on both days 2 and 3. Guest services still said that there was nothing they could do as the ship was fully booked, so I slept on the floor for 2 more nights, when "suddenly a room opened up on deck 2. This would not work for us as I was traveling with my disabled sister and 92 yr. old Mom and I am their caretaker. So no other option was available and I continued to sleep on the floor for the remainder of the cruise.

 

Meals in the dining room were hit or miss. We had My Time dining everyday at 5:45. Service from our waiter and his assistant was great, except for 1 night when we were assigned a different area of the dining room, with different staff. That dinner was so long that we did not even order dessert as it was nearly 8:30, after starting at 5:45 and we did not relish waiting an eternity for a scoop of ice cream.

 

However this did not sour us on the Freedom and we will be sailing on her in April. She's our favorite ship and we'd really like to give her another chance to WOW us!

I’m very sorry this happened to you. It is not acceptable. They accepted payment for three guests and they are responsible to provide a bed for each one. You certainly should be compensated for this terrible inconvenience.

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This sounds like a very different ship than the one I was on last spring. And I hope it isn't what I find when I am aboard again this coming spring.

We are on Freedom now. The ship is spotless and well maintained. The staff has been wonderful across the board. Most helpful group of employees ever. We had a small plumbing issue that was immediately fixed. Love this ship with the exception of their food offerings. I am far from a foodie so for me to complain, it means something. Selections in main dining are lacking, often repetitive, and poor quality -especially the beef. Tough as nails - even the 2nd attempt. There were several nights I struggled picking an entree. At lunch one day I was disappointed how fast they shut down the tutti fruity salad bar even though the doors were still opened. Nothing was refilled. Your choices were meager. Great ship, great staff, great fun but disappointing food. You won't go hungry though. Oh.... The expanded room service for $7.95 plus gratuities was pretty unappealing to me. Just an odd mix of offerings.

Latest update from RCCL regarding our issue of beds and sleeping on the floor for a 6 night cruise...

After telling my travel agent about this issue, she contacted customer relations at RCCL. They offered " an $86 credit for a future cruise or $50 OBC on our next cruise". She told RCCL that this was an insulting offer and is still pursuing this issue upwards. We really are not seeking anything, but we shall see if they offer some compensation.

Latest update from RCCL regarding our issue of beds and sleeping on the floor for a 6 night cruise...

After telling my travel agent about this issue, she contacted customer relations at RCCL. They offered " an $86 credit for a future cruise or $50 OBC on our next cruise". She told RCCL that this was an insulting offer and is still pursuing this issue upwards. We really are not seeking anything, but we shall see if they offer some compensation.

I think it is an insulting offer too.

Currently on Freedom and service has been great. Not wild about the new menus but we haven't gone hungry.

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Currently on Freedom and service has been great. Not wild about the new menus but we haven't gone hungry.

 

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Any chance you have photos of the current menus that you can share? 🙂

I have a friend on Freedom. She has sent me the last two nights menus.

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Thanks a bunch! :)

We are sailing in April and did not realize the menus have changed. Did anyone notice if they had the cold soups on the menu ( e.g. strawberry bisque, roasted peach ), ? We really enjoyed them. Do you happen to know if the menus are on the presskit from rccl website ?

We are sailing in April and did not realize the menus have changed. Did anyone notice if they had the cold soups on the menu ( e.g. strawberry bisque, roasted peach ), ? We really enjoyed them. Do you happen to know if the menus are on the presskit from rccl website ?

I've not seen the newest menus on any of Royal's websites, only from people who have photographed them onboard.

We are sailing in April and did not realize the menus have changed. Did anyone notice if they had the cold soups on the menu ( e.g. strawberry bisque, roasted peach ), ? We really enjoyed them. Do you happen to know if the menus are on the presskit from rccl website ?

Tonight’s menu on Freedom. I see a strawberry bisque and the Vidalia onion tart that everyone seems to love. I have never tried it so I am looking forward to having it soon.

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Wow ! Thanks for the info !! So excited to see the soup ! Lobster looks good too :D

Here the menu from the first night of last week’s sailing. This was the only night I thought to take a picture (blame it on the alcohol package-LOL).

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So sorry to hear this! We are cruising on Freedom 2-25...really hope this is not going to be the norm.

I sailed the Freedom on 1-20-2018 and experienced the exact opposite. Windjammer never ran out of food. Food in Windjammer was good. Food in the MDR was very good on the nights I ate there. Dinner at Chops was excellent. Dinner in Sabor was very good. I did notice a lack of drink servers in the pool areas. Servers in the dining room were good although I must say they are very busy. Staff in the Windjammer were fine, I was always offered coffee and doughnuts in the mornings and on the two nights I ate dinner there the food was fine and there was plenty of it.

I’m finally updating my original post[emoji4]. The week improved slightly with the quality of the food. I’m not a foodie and am not as critical as some. I was still dissatisfied with the lack of staff. The majority I encountered were very nice, they just had no time to give anything extra. The dining room people were spread very thin, I felt really bad for them. Our cabin was always immaculate, but we rarely saw our attendant. We would have to hunt him down to request anything. The few times we saw him he was very nice and working hard. The couple we took with us are looking to take 10 people on an Alaskan cruise and decided not even to look at RCCL after this cruise. For what you get, I wouldn’t pay for anything above the class we were on. The prices jump up so much for the bigger ships, and I’m going to assume the lack of staff is the same. Will I try again? Of course, just with much lower expectations. We’ll see what happens next year.

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We are just off the Freedom last Saturday and we along with all at our table were disappointed with the main dining room. At our table were gold members, diamond plus and we are platinum.

We did not see a dedicated drink person at the beginning, or end of meals. Bread is no longer served by the assistant. Our waiter never bothered to learn our names. Coffee wasn't offered at the end of the meal and due to the new menus the resetting before desert was gone. In a nutshell all the formalities and extras that made the main dining room special have pretty much been scrapped. What wasn't scrapped was the photo people trying to take pictures. The food was about the same but was just quickly served as the waiter ran to serve the next table

Actually we found the service in the windjammer to be friendlier with staff removing plates, asking if more drinks or coffee was needed or handing out cookies.

I hope this isn't fleet wide as we have rhapsody booked next January.