Freedom of the Seas Diamond Lounge Review

[gmacruiser418]

:( I'm sad that Amit is off the FOS. We really appreciated his service and he did such a great job remembering us cruise to cruise. Rahul has been great too. Not sure if we've met Willie, we'll see who we have in Sept. when we sail again.

[truffles2]

Looks like Willie won't be there in Sept. We miss him about every other year.

[SherriZ366]

It is my understanding that the waiters rotate in and out of the DL. They work a regular bar and then rotate into the DL. Ours was very good on our May 6 sailing.

Agree our waiter -- Atanas -- was fabulous. And of course, Rahul is an outstanding Concierge. He has been our concierge about 4 times and with 3 more FR cruises, we hope he will be our concierge again and again.

 

Rahul really handled the overflow well -- he had designated table for us just outside the door in the Viking Crown and made sure that we were served our drinks and had them refreshed.

Edited June 19, 2012 by SherriZ366

[biguntx]

Great review.

 

Very helpful!

[justfred]

Until you hit the magic Diamond Plus number sail on ships that have a Diamond Lounge. You will have all the perks of a suite without being in a suite. We had the CL lounge yanked from us right after we turned Diamond. Thankfully we sail on longer cruises so when they went to the point system we actually benifited. Our 11 night cruises counted more than the one 3 night cruise we have taken.

 

Hi, sorry for just butting in, we find all of this DL topic very interesting, like you we were kicked out of the DL when they decided to moved the goal posts and we got very angry at the time, since then thankfully we have just got to D+ for our next cruise so we get to use the CL if we choose.

 

Mikekool

Just for your info we have recently returned from a Splendour Venice cruise and it now has been fitted with a brand new DL & CL on deck 5 each side of the Top hat lounge and they both have picture windows so you get a great sea view, the CL is a bit larger than the DL so maybe RCCL are listening to our concerns !

 

Christine & Pete

[Artemis]

We are just off the Freedom’s 6/24 voyage, so I thought I would update this thread with a few things that are new and/or I simply misunderstood going in!

 

• The Diamond Lounge concierge is now Verdine Leotaud. She will be there an estimated three months while Rahul is on vacation.

• Evening hours are now 4:30-8 to mesh with the 5:30 main and 8 second seating times.

• During the evening hours, all beverages are complimentary, including mixed drinks.

• You may not leave the lounge with stemware, but they are happy to make you a “to go” drink in a disposable cup.

• The only beverage available 24/7 is coffee (from a fancy coffee machine that makes regular, espresso, cappuccino, etc.).

 

We really appreciated two perks outside of the lounge that are reserved to Diamond, Diamond Plus and Pinnacle guests:

 

• At breakfast and lunch, if you get your food in the Windjammer, you may take it to Chops Grille to dine there. A Chops waiter will provide beverage service. This was a lovely option for those times when the Windjammer felt especially crowded and noisy! (There are fewer dining venues on FOS than on some other ships, so the Windjammer receives heavy traffic. Chops is conveniently located at the entry to the Windjammer and is only open for dinner.)

• When returning from a tender port, you may go to the front of the line to board a tender. We sailed the Western Caribbean itinerary, and this was a huge plus at the end of our day on Grand Cayman, as the tender queue was extremely long and not shaded!

 

Thanks, OP, for starting this thread. I was happy to find it when we were anticipating our FOS cruise and hope this update will help those who are looking forward to their own Freedom voyage!

[Lindypops]

Has anyone ( Diamond) been on Voyager and used the diamond lounge?

If so where is it?

Thanks

[Scotty G]

I am pretty sure what you are mentioning is a top tier event and it only happened once during the cruise.

 

On ships without a dedicated Diamond Lounge they have a seperate area in the MDR for Diamond and above where they have a daily breakfast and you get the specialty coffees that are typically available in the lounge

 

On Monarch last month the Diamond regular breakfast area had been done away with. They are providing a Continental breakfast as you would receive in a Diamond Club. We did not partake of that.

[BecciBoo]

O.K. let me get this straight...in December on Mariner we had breakfast EVERY morning in the designated D,D+ MDR area and were able to order off the MDR menu, i.e. Eggs Benedict. Do you mean that is no longer an offering????:(

And now the Mariner will just have one breakfast in VC during the whole week? And did this include Eggs Bene?

If that is so, I will be so disappointed. Guess I'll have to grab my cappuccino and run right down to the MDR for breakfast.

[BecciBoo]

When I told the bartender on the Brilliance that I don't like La Terre, he said to me you should have told me, I would have given you another one. To make a long story short, after the 2nd day they ran out of La Terre and start pouring an Italian Chardonnay which was very nice btw.

 

The wine steward on Mariner told us that La Terre is actually a Robert Mondavi wine. We love it.

[closecruiser]

Did I read this right, Diamond or above can skip to the front of all others waiting for tenders to go back to the ship? Is there a special line marked for Diamond members and above??

[peteukmcr]

O.K. let me get this straight...in December on Mariner we had breakfast EVERY morning in the designated D,D+ MDR area and were able to order off the MDR menu, i.e. Eggs Benedict. Do you mean that is no longer an offering????:(

And now the Mariner will just have one breakfast in VC during the whole week? And did this include Eggs Bene?

If that is so, I will be so disappointed. Guess I'll have to grab my cappuccino and run right down to the MDR for breakfast.

Yes, as Mariner now has a Diamond Lounge in the Viking Crown, they will be serving a continental style breakfast and the separate area of the MDR will no longer offered. Only on ships that do not have a Diamond Lounge (as when we sailed on Adventure) do they offer the separate dining venue.

 

Looking forward to seeing Mariner and her Diamond Lounge in 53 days.

[Artemis]

Hi, closecruiser, regarding front of the tender line privileges, yes, you read that correctly! We had no idea until the DL concierge pulled us out--she was working the line looking for eligible folks to inform them they could go to the front. As we walked toward the front (where they were checking sea passes), we saw a moveable sign that said something like Priority Access for D, D+ and P. But it had been placed maybe one or two dozen people away from the security checkpoint. There were a couple of hundred people in line at 3p to meet the 3:15p last tender deadline! We sure couldn't see the sign from the back of the line, and they weren't running two distinct lines or otherwise handling things in a way to make it obvious. Also, this perk wasn't on either printed list of various benefits we received from the DL and C&A on embarkation.

 

So...when you're on Freedom and make a tender call, be sure to ask and enjoy this privilege!

[copnlpn2]

So am I reading this correctly...Rahul will be on vacation when I sail on the Freedom Sept. 23???? If that's the case, it's a real disappointment to me! I've always been impressed with his service, personality and memory of past cruisers from one sailing to another.

[99florida]

On ships that have a true Diamond Lounge, there is no special breakfast for Diamond and above.

 

I beg to differ as we sailed on the Freedom and being Diamond members they still had a special breakfast (champagne/OJ) in the middle of the week.

 

Thank you RCCL for making it extra special:):)

[Puffinater]

I beg to differ as we sailed on the Freedom and being Diamond members they still had a special breakfast (champagne/OJ) in the middle of the week.

 

Thank you RCCL for making it extra special:):)

 

That was an upper tier event not the D/D+/PC breakfast that is held in the MDR each morning when there is no actual DL on the ship. Two different things.

[Artemis]

copnlpn2, Rahul may be back by Sept. 23! I had no reason to press for the date he was to return, so the discussion was vague.

 

Re: the special breakfast for D, D+ and P with officers/professional staff, yes, on this past week's FOS Western itinerary, it was held on Saturday (last cruise day - at sea), which makes sense considering we were in port four days in a row.

[audome78]

Hi, closecruiser, regarding front of the tender line privileges, yes, you read that correctly! We had no idea until the DL concierge pulled us out--she was working the line looking for eligible folks to inform them they could go to the front. As we walked toward the front (where they were checking sea passes), we saw a moveable sign that said something like Priority Access for D, D+ and P. But it had been placed maybe one or two dozen people away from the security checkpoint. There were a couple of hundred people in line at 3p to meet the 3:15p last tender deadline! We sure couldn't see the sign from the back of the line, and they weren't running two distinct lines or otherwise handling things in a way to make it obvious. Also, this perk wasn't on either printed list of various benefits we received from the DL and C&A on embarkation.

 

So...when you're on Freedom and make a tender call, be sure to ask and enjoy this privilege!

 

this was a REAL perk last week in Grand Cayman...at 92 degrees or so. Verdine found us at the back of the line and escorted us right to the front and onto a tender....awesome!

[jamon]

Thanks for all the great info...People seem to be saying that Rahul is on vacation and will return sometime in the middle of Sept....but I thought he was going to the CL during that time to replace Amit who is on vacation...which is correct????

[Debde]

We really appreciated two perks outside of the lounge that are reserved to Diamond, Diamond Plus and Pinnacle guests:

 

• At breakfast and lunch, if you get your food in the Windjammer, you may take it to Chops Grille to dine there. A Chops waiter will provide beverage service. This was a lovely option for those times when the Windjammer felt especially crowded and noisy! (There are fewer dining venues on FOS than on some other ships, so the Windjammer receives heavy traffic. Chops is conveniently located at the entry to the Windjammer and is only open for dinner.)

 

This is great!! By far IMO the best loyalty perk offered. Is this on Indy and Liberty too???

[SherriZ366]

Thanks for all the great info...People seem to be saying that Rahul is on vacation and will return sometime in the middle of Sept....but I thought he was going to the CL during that time to replace Amit who is on vacation...which is correct????

Rahul is replacing Willie who is on vacation in CL. Amit has gone to the Rhapsody.

 

Hope Rahul is on the ship on Feb. 10, 2013 when we sail on FR again.

[copnlpn2]

I hope Rahul enjoys his vacation! He deserves it, but I sure hope it's over and he's back on the Freedom when I sail Sept. 23. I don't care which venue he's working in, just so he's there!:)

[blondcat]

Was being nosey looking at this thread (I'm not diamond ~ maybe another 50 years!) But wondered if suite guests can use the same priority line for the tender boats as the diamond folks?

 

Thanks!

 

Sent from my BlackBerry 9300 using Tapatalk

[Driftwoodgal]

Rahul is replacing Willie who is on vacation in CL. Amit has gone to the Rhapsody.

 

Hope Rahul is on the ship on Feb. 10, 2013 when we sail on FR again.

 

Sherri,

 

I am not sure how often they get vacation, but I did have a very brief conversations with Rahul about when his next break would be. He mentioned on our cruise that he had gotten back from a break recently from our sailing date. So if they get one every six months you should be able to see his great smile.

 

I too think he is awesome!!

[Debde]

Was being nosey looking at this thread (I'm not diamond ~ maybe another 50 years!) But wondered if suite guests can use the same priority line for the tender boats as the diamond folks?

 

Thanks!

 

Sent from my BlackBerry 9300 using Tapatalk

 

Yes. suite guests have priotity tender.