Freedom Review w/Pics: 4/3-4/10/2011, some good, some bad, some meh.

[reallyitsmema]

 

In case you ever wondered what the minimum age was for rock climbing, it's 6, yay!! Elijah made it about 3/4 of the way to the top.

What a great picture! I love a toothless grin!:D

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

Noah flowriding. FYI, if your kid wants to use teh flowrider, here are some things to know:

 

1. You must have your seapass and theres at the booth to sign up and get a wristband.

 

2. Just because the Compass says it's open, doesn't mean it is. If someone rents it for private lessons it may be closed. This happened to us twice.

 

3. If you ride it too long without falling, the crew tries to make you fall so they can move on to the next person in line.

 

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

Give you an idea of how long the line was. There are 2 lines, one on each side, only 1 person rides at a time, so they alternate, so it really takes you twice as long to get to the front.

 

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

Here's something nobody likes to see when they get back to their cabin....

 

[Eng23]

Do you have any pictures of the new features that were installed during the drydocking last month?

[Tranquil Waters]

Noah flowriding. FYI, if your kid wants to use teh flowrider, here are some things to know:

 

1. You must have your seapass and theres at the booth to sign up and get a wristband.

 

2. Just because the Compass says it's open, doesn't mean it is. If someone rents it for private lessons it may be closed. This happened to us twice.

 

3. If you ride it too long without falling, the crew tries to make you fall so they can move on to the next person in line.

 

 

Ok, now that rates a D- for the flowrider staff! :eek::( Give Rahoul a break - bump him up to a B and give his demerit to flowrider.....:D

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

Here's a new feature.

 

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

Do you have any pictures of the new features that were installed during the drydocking last month?

 

Let's see. I already showed a pic of the cupcakes, I am about to post some of the dreamworks parade. I dont have a pic of the movie screen at the pool. I can't think of anything else. To be honest , the only real big deal is all the Dreamworks stuff.:)

[Eng23]

Oh, and by the way great review! I'm looking forward to my trip on Freedom in October! :D

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

If anyone has specific pic requests, feel free to ask and I will post if I have it.:D

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

 

King Julien is our favorite, he high fived my son during the parade.

[Eng23]

Let's see. I already showed a pic of the cupcakes, I am about to post some of the dreamworks parade. I dont have a pic of the movie screen at the pool. I can't think of anything else. To be honest , the only real big deal is all the Dreamworks stuff.:)

Okay, I was hoping for a picture of the outdoor movie screen but I was also interested in the changes to the Vintages Wine Bar and the new navigation system that replaced the old cut out ship with the "you are here" dots.

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

Shrek

 

[Eng23]

Yeah the Dreamworks characters look like fun. I liked Po the Kung Fu Panda but the Madagascar characters are cool too! :D

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

Aft JS cabin

 

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

Okay, I was hoping for a picture of the outdoor movie screen but I was also interested in the changes to the Vintages Wine Bar and the new navigation system that replaced the old cut out ship with the "you are here" dots.

 

Sorry. As for the new touch screens around the ship, they are cool, but I rarely saw anyone use them. The one thing they are good for is if you leave your Compass in the cabin, they can instantly show you one on the screen. Also good if you are lost, or are trying to find something specific.

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

Disembarkation:

 

Let me start by saying our flight to LA wasn't until 7pm, we were spending the day at the Hyatt Orlando Airport Hotel (great by the way, $80 day rate, best thing I ever did). Since we were in no hurry, we got off the ship LAST!:D

 

It was pretty painless, except for one thing. We paid cash for our Seapass account, so we closed it out on Sat. night, got our refund, all was well. Until Sun. morning. There was a bill for $14.00 stuck under our door. Apparently, the tattoo lady had forgotten to submit her bill to the account, so her $14.00 was outstanding, which meant another trip to Guest Relations for me.:(

 

No biggie. So on the way off the ship, we stopped on Deck 5, paid our $14.00 and made our way to exit the ship. Guess what, when they ran my Seapass for the last time, I got a BONG insteand of a BING. They were slow processing the $14.00, so we had to stand there for 20 minutes while 6 people figured it out. After many apologies, we were on our way. Since we were last off, getting our luggage and getting through customs took all of 3 minutes, then we loaded onto our shuttle to head for the airport hotel.

 

Disembarkation:

 

RCCL seapass issues: C

Customs/Luggage/Porters: A+

[Geema]

When we were on Barefoot Beach on Labadee in August it wasn't really crowded. Did it seem crowded to you since it was Spring Break time?

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

And now, for The Good, The Bad, and The Meh:

 

The Good:

The cabin. The balcony. The casino. The Windjammer staff (not the food, just the staff). The cupcake shop. The entire Dreamworks project. The H20 zone, kids pool, flowrider and rock wall. Sorrentos and Promenade Cafe. The movies on in the cabin. The Dreamworks channel in the cabin (Channel 21). Embarkation, Disembarkation. The Emergency Assembly.

 

The Meh:

By the way, if you don't use the term "meh", it means just ok, could be better.

 

My cabin attendant David. He was tipped very well, in advance, and he was lackluster at best. Not bad, just meh. I wonder if he would have been worse had we not tipped in advance. Scary thought.

 

The activites: several times we reported to listed activities that never happened. Besides the Flowrider being closed when it should have been open, my husband went to 2 different activities that simply didn't happen, a 3 on 3 basketball event, and some ping pong event. My husband was very sad about the basketball, because he has a RCCL medal collection from his bball events on many different ships.

 

Adventure Ocean: My 6 year old usually loves AO, this time he went 3 times and never went back. The main problem was that they failed to do the activities they listed on the Compass. The kids up there looked bored, and my son never went back after Day 2.

 

The Bad/Annoying:

 

Towels: What a pain. Royal is so busy trying not to get towels stolen that they make it real chore to get towels. There is only 1 towel stand open, and it is at the main pool. For us, we spent our time at the H20 zone, we had to walk each time to the other side to get towels. It's a big pain in the butt. They should simply have pool towels in the room (like robes) and if you steal them, they bill you. Case closed.

 

Lack of Attention to Detail: We never got our Meet & Mingle invitations. I had to ask many times to get our pre-ordered gifts and gear delivered. Half the time David forgot to leave the Adventure Ocean Compass for the correct age group.

 

The Burning Smell: That's just not cool on a ship.

 

THE FOOD: This shall be dealt with next, in its own segment.....:eek:

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

The food:

 

Let me start by saying I'm not picky. I work, I have kids, I'm usually happy with almost anything if I don't have to cook it. Not true on Freedom. I have been hearing lots of folks complaining about RCCL's food lately. I figured they are picky, they have overly high expectations, wrong. The food on this cruise, at least in the WJ, was flat out gross most of the time. The choices were limited, repetitive, and by the time this cruise was over, I never wanted to see any of this food ever again. If I saw one more hot dog, hamburger or pizza I was going to scream!!!:eek:

 

And the pork. Royal must have hit one heck of a sale on pork, that's all they served for a week! Pork leg, pork shoulder, porkporkpork. We were all oinking by the end of this thing!!

 

I cruise at least once a year, we always eat in the WJ for almost every meal, I have never seen such a poor display of gross, tasteless, nasty food. The sushi sucked, the Indian food, while usually good, was bland and runny, and the desserts were inedible. Flat out, the food in the WJ was HORRIBLE.:mad:

 

FOOD:

WJ food: F

Sorrentos: B

Promanade Cafe: B

Room Service: C

JR: N/A, tried to go twice, both times 30-60 min. wait.

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

:DHope you liked the review. Feel free to submit any questions, I'd be happy to help if I can.:D

[BeachChik]

And now, for The Good, The Bad, and The Meh:

 

The Good:

The cabin. The balcony. The casino. The Windjammer staff (not the food, just the staff). The cupcake shop. The entire Dreamworks project. The H20 zone, kids pool, flowrider and rock wall. Sorrentos and Promenade Cafe. The movies on in the cabin. The Dreamworks channel in the cabin (Channel 21). Embarkation, Disembarkation. The Emergency Assembly.

 

The Meh:

By the way, if you don't use the term "meh", it means just ok, could be better.

 

My cabin attendant David. He was tipped very well, in advance, and he was lackluster at best. Not bad, just meh. I wonder if he would have been worse had we not tipped in advance. Scary thought.

 

The activites: several times we reported to listed activities that never happened. Besides the Flowrider being closed when it should have been open, my husband went to 2 different activities that simply didn't happen, a 3 on 3 basketball event, and some ping pong event. My husband was very sad about the basketball, because he has a RCCL medal collection from his bball events on many different ships.

 

Adventure Ocean: My 6 year old usually loves AO, this time he went 3 times and never went back. The main problem was that they failed to do the activities they listed on the Compass. The kids up there looked bored, and my son never went back after Day 2.

 

The Bad/Annoying:

 

Towels: What a pain. Royal is so busy trying not to get towels stolen that they make it real chore to get towels. There is only 1 towel stand open, and it is at the main pool. For us, we spent our time at the H20 zone, we had to walk each time to the other side to get towels. It's a big pain in the butt. They should simply have pool towels in the room (like robes) and if you steal them, they bill you. Case closed.

 

Lack of Attention to Detail: We never got our Meet & Mingle invitations. I had to ask many times to get our pre-ordered gifts and gear delivered. Half the time David forgot to leave the Adventure Ocean Compass for the correct age group.

 

The Burning Smell: That's just not cool on a ship.

 

THE FOOD: This shall be dealt with next, in its own segment.....:eek:

 

How was the seating on sea days? Was there open seating throughout the day for areas not near the pool?

 

Anyone know how early you have to arrive in the evenings to get a seat for the outside movie nights?

[Cruising89143]

We cruised on the Freedom last August and the food in the MDR and WJ was not good. We only ate once in the MDR and only made it half way through the meal and decided we had enough. We got up and left.

 

Fain or Goldstein (too lazy to go and look it up) made a statement on one of the recent quarterly earning calls that the price of food was rising and that those in charge had been given their marching orders to control it. The only way to control it is cut back on the quality of ingredients used. Now that the price of fuel is cutting even deeper into their bottom line (which will also cause the price of food to continue to increase), expect more cuts.

 

We now stay away from the WJ and MDR and dine in the specialty dining restaurants if possible. When I first started cruising with RCI their food was really good for a mass market line. Better than Carnival IMO but in the last couple of years it's obvious that Goldsteins bean counting ways have brought a decline in overall food quality.

[nikki303]

Do you recall what movies were shown on the screen by the pool?

[luv2zdworld]

This is me by the way. Probably the only time you will see me, since I take all the pictures, I am rarely in one. I am standing overlooking the beautiful, fabulous Hilton Rose Hall Resort and Waterpark (our 2nd time here), where we spent the day when in port at Falmouth.

 

We got day passes which included all you can eat and drink (the best jerk chicken and patties I've had in a long time), plus use of the waterpark and facilities. I highly reccommend it for those who can't figure out what to do in Falmouth.

 

The passes were $75 for adults and $60 for kids, plus we got another cabana for $30. Totally worth it, the bast day of the cruise for us. It's about a 20 minute cab ride form the pier. More Falmouth in a sec, need to go grab some lunch.

 

I laughed so hard when I read this. I often joke that in the future my children will wonder if I ever vacationed with them since I was always behind the camera, not in the pictures.

 

I loved your idea about Rose Hall and have mentioned it to our group. (There's 19 of us in our group.) I saw you arranged your own transportation. Did you have any trouble finding a taxi for your group? I am just wondering how dificult it would be transport 19, if we will have any problems finding a taxi. At $15 per person thats $285 for transportation. I figure getting our own transportation might be cheaper.

 

By the way, loved your facebook pictures. Thanks for the review.