Freedom of The Seas Eastern - May 1 - Review

[fishmom]

I have been formulating this review in my mind over the past several days, including while on the ship on the last sea day. I had debated posting one at all, since I can’t really give any new information that probably hasn’t already been shared. However, I also am the kind that will read everything I can about the ship I am about to sail on with excitement and anticipation building as the day to embark inches closer. So I figure this will help others as they too are getting ready for their cruise, whether it be on Freedom of the Seas, or some other ship within Royal.

A quick intro: My husband and I are in our late 50’s, our children grown and we have no grandchildren as yet. This was our seventh cruise overall, but our first with RCCL. Previously we have sailed with Celebrity, Princess and Holland. Also a first for us was to travel with others, as my husband’s 2 brothers and their wives were also on the cruise with us. Among us was one cruise virgin, and his wife had only been once many years before. Spoiler alert: By the end of the week they were talking about their ‘next cruise’.

We had scheduled the cruise back in November during the Thanksgiving weekend special, so had received some great perks with the reservation, which included a generous OBC, a complimentary dinner at Chops, and the addition of Voom internet gratis. All that was left was to figure out what we wanted to do at each of the Eastern Caribbean port stops, with fingers crossed that we would get to stop at CocoCay. But that is what helps to make the time pass, the planning right?

So here are my general thoughts, memories and observations:

 

The ship/stateroom: We had a ‘Deluxe Ocean View with Balcony’ on deck 8, mid-ship, on the starboard side. Our room attendant was Karen. She was efficient, but we couldn’t seem to figure out her schedule. It seemed to be different every day. We would try to stay out of the room during the morning and return around 11. But a couple of times the room hadn’t been serviced yet. Or we would be on the balcony in the late afternoon and she would arrive. But that is nit-picky, because we have had the same experience on other cruises. When someone else is doing the cleaning, it always feels a bit awkward trying to keep out of their way. The first day upon greeting, she asked if we had any requests. We asked for additional hangers, a couple of wine glasses and a bucket of ice. All were in place within a few hours. We never had any other needs, but I am sure she would have been happy to have taken care of them.

Freedom is the largest ship we have been on to date. This was the first ship we have been on without mid-ship elevators or stairs. So we got a lot of walking in. The elevators were slow, and didn’t handle the surge of passengers well at all during peak periods, such as after a show or during the dinner hours. It would seem like only one elevator was functioning. I am not opposed to taking the stairs, but the other problem was that the public areas around the stairs would be crowded as well. There were definitely times when I was very aware of the 3500-4000 on board. I think especially during the first couple of days as everyone became acclimated to the layout of the ship. Once we got our bearings, we finally got where we could figure the best route to the theater or up to the pool.

That said, I really liked the Promenade. It was a great way to connect from one end of the ship to the other, with shopping and people watching part of the deal. And though our room showed a bit of wear, I thought the Dining room was beautiful. Also, the public venues like the bars and the theater were very nice. All in all, FOS seems very clean and well maintained. The ships I have been on in the past have all been 10 years old or so, and as such show the fact that they are a vessel that gets exposed to abuse by the sea air and by passengers on vacation. Freedom is no exception, but I think in general was probably in the best shape of any. That reminds me. On Tuesday, the first sea day, we were out on the balcony when we heard a voice. I am pretty sure they had knocked first, but we didn’t hear because we were outside. Maintenance was there to work on our door lock. We had noticed that the dead-bolt didn’t latch easily and you had to pull the knob just right. We had not reported it, but evidently either Karen or a passenger before us had. It was great that they were on the job to address the issue.

The Voom internet is pretty fast, if you have the right type of device, I think. I have a Kindle tablet that is a couple of years old, and it had some challenges getting connected and presenting web pages. But, when I connected my new Samsung S7, it was really fast. My husband has the S6. So we used our phones to check e-mail, Facebook, etc. Since we were taking a lot of pictures with our phones, it was really more convenient anyway. On a cruise I like to stay unplugged as much as possible anyway, so it was a nice perk that was added, but I won’t be paying for it unless I find it necessary.

 

Dining: First of all, I know that food taste is subjective. However, what has been said –negatively- about a couple of items is pretty much right on. Scrambled eggs. Awful. Even though I had read here about the poor quality, I tried them the first morning because they looked ok. And you do have to taste for yourself. But UGH. Once and only that time did I eat them for the rest of the trip. After that it was either an omelet or the ready-made fried eggs. The second item is the chaos that is the Windjammer café. Oye. The layout does not help the flow at all. And with the number of passengers on board, it felt like you were always fighting for whatever little bit of food was available. So after a couple of times at attempting a lunch or breakfast there, we pretty much avoided the buffet altogether. I think the other lines have Royal beat here, because we have been pretty comfortable eating at the buffet for whatever meal or snack we were looking for when not in the dining room.

BUT, on a positive note, we found the dining room for the evening meals excellent. We had second seating in Leonardo’s. Our server was Sanderson and his assistant Marvin. While we may not have been his favorite, he did an excellent job of making us feel that way. He both took and dished out the humor and harassment offered from our table. He immediately picked up on the fun vibe that our table had on the first evening from the 3 brothers traveling together. He would take our orders for our preferences for our appetizer, entrée, etc., and then proceed to bring plates of whatever else he thought we should try. Sincere hugs and kisses were handed out the last night of the cruise.

We had a meal at Johnny Rockets for lunch and were quite satisfied. You can order how much and whatever you wanted from the menu for the price, which also includes a soft drink. (No need for a beverage package to get it). Service was a bit slow, but our server was so sweet and we enjoyed talking to her for a short bit when time allowed. My husband and I did not order a shake, but his brother and sister-in-law did. They were disappointed and said that it was very thin in consistency. Could have been timing. I had planned to try Ben and Jerry’s instead, but we ended up always being full or busy. We did grab an ice cream from sprinkles one day.

As previously mentioned, we had a free meal at Chops courtesy of our TA. It was nice to be in a quiet place for a change of pace. My husband and I went on Thursday evening without the rest of the family. The steak was really good, as well as the sides. We were satisfied instead of stuffed. It was a very pleasant experience. But…we missed Sanderson!

 

Quick Beverage Package Observation: We did not buy a package until day 6, Friday. We had took 2 bottles of wine on board, and one brother also took 2 bottles for us. So this provided the wine at dinner for 4 days. We purchased by the drink for our other needs, which was either the Drink of the day or whatever we thought sounded good. Otherwise, the tea and flavored water met our needs. So it only amounted to a few drinks each day. On Friday morning, the Compass listed a 2 day Ultimate package at $115, plus gratuity. A modest savings over the regular price. We went immediately to the Café Promenade to purchase and then started to try to get our money’s worth! A coffee and a bottle of water from the café. Filled up the provided cup at the soft drink station. A beer at lunch. Another bottle of water in the afternoon. You get the picture. It is nice to have, but I think for us just 2 days was perfect. Allowed us to sample everything and not pay a whole lot for the week. There was no drink card offered or any other package special. But as others have noted, YMMV.

Entertainment: I would give FOS the highest mark among all the ships we have been on in regards to on board entertainment and activities. Really enjoyed the comedians and the magician, as well as the Freedom singers and dancers. We have saw some really bad talent on board ships, and it was great to have some that were worth the time! We did not attend the final night’s show, as we were getting packed and didn’t want to have to rush to get there and then to dinner. But we did go to the ice show during the day that day, and like it as well. The Love and Marriage game was great entertainment, and I think it is the Cruise Director that helps to make it go so well. Among the activities, we participated in trivia a couple of times, had a lot of fun with the selfie scavenger hunt, and in the evening watched one night of Karaoke and another night of another game that involved singing. We even tried the rock climbing wall one day.

There was a nice variety of things offered each day throughout the week. There were the usual seminars from the Spa listed in the Cruise Compass. I attended the ‘Ladies Pamper party’. It was a nice way to sample the Elemis products, and there was not really much of a sales pitch involved. They also offered a $99 special with a sampling of 75 minutes of different spa services, from a facial to a neck massage among them. So I went ahead and took advantage. It was a great way to start the day the next morning.

 

Arrival/Departure:

We took the first shuttle from the hotel at 10:15 to head over to the Port. We gave the porter all four of our bags, but kept a bag with us that had our 2 bottles of wine to take through security. We were able to check in pretty much right away and were directed to the seating area to await for our group number to be called. Obviously we didn’t have any sort of status, so our boarding group was not called for at least 30 minutes, probably more.

For those of you flying in to Orlando, and are contemplating arriving the same day, please do yourself a favor and go ahead and fly in the day before. Also, if you are thinking of trying to make an early connection on the day of return, be sure you have a plan B. Here is our story: We fly from Tulsa, and already know to be prepared for thunderstorms, etc. to possibly throw a wrench in travel plans. With a Sunday-Sunday cruise, we scheduled our flight for Saturday, departing Tulsa at 8:00 in the morning, with a connection through DFW and arrival at MCO at around 2:30 PM. Friday morning we received an e-mail advising of inclement weather being forecasted and offering to change flights for no charge if our plans were flexible. We let it ride. We watched the weather closely, as severe storms blew through the area Friday night. On Saturday morning we arose early and found that it was clear and looked to be a beautiful day for flying. But then came the alert that our flight had been delayed until 9:30! Which meant we would miss our connection to Orlando. I called the airline to check on a new connecting flight. It had already been arranged, since we had indicated on our reservation our cruise. I had forgotten that I had put that information in the airline reservation as our ultimate destination. We had also indicated our flights in the cruise info, so between them I think it was covered somehow. I was relieved that we had a new reservation which included adequate connection time at DFW, as all flights out of Tulsa were delayed. It was due to the weather in Dallas on Friday night which had caused late arrivals and thus the required rest time for the flight crew made the morning flights all push back. It was chaos at the luggage check-in. But we assured ourselves that we would get to our destination sometime Saturday and finally did arrive at MCO around 4:30. We got to the Hampton Inn Cocoa Beach via the shuttle somewhere between 6 and 6:30 PM. The rest of the family had already arrived, as they had come in from St. Louis.

Regarding returning to MCO…we had a late flight and were fine all the way back. HOWEVER, as we were riding the shuttle, about half way between Cocoa Beach and the airport, traffic slowed to a creep. We found out there was an accident on the eastbound side, which evidently was also affecting the west bound traffic due to the emergency vehicles. We finally made our way past the area, with only about a 15 minute delay. But we could see the traffic heading east going toward Cocoa Beach was at a complete stand-still. People were out of their cars and standing around. I would say that the line of cars was at least 5 miles long! So what you have read about the pitfalls of that one stretch of highway that connects the two is true.

 

In summary, Royal Caribbean/Freedom of the Seas offered an excellent experience. We liked the demographic on board, as it had a nice balance of families as well as the more mature. There were children on board, but I think fewer than may be during vacation periods. I have also been on a ship where I practically got ran over by the folks in scooters heading to the piano bar. It wasn’t like that, which was a definite positive. I probably wouldn’t book during a peak time for families with children, since I have a low tolerance threshold at this point in time, but I also have a lot less patience with adults who are rude and seem oblivious to those around them. I did not experience any of that with this cruise. The crew were friendly and engaged, the weather was perfect. (We got to go to CocoCay!!)

 

I envy those of you who have a cruise booked and have the count-down clock running.

[cincicruisers]

Than you for taking the time to post your review. Sounds like you had a good vacation.

[Yorkvillain]

Nice review. Thank you.

[doones2]

Thank you for taking the time to post your review. I always love reading as much as possible about our cruise ship before we cruise.

[eric.thiessen29]

Thank you for the in depth review. My family, 8 in all, board on June 19th and cannot wait anymore.

 

 

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[Engrvrgal]

Thanks for the review! I'm sailing on Freedom for the first time on May 29 with my sister. This will be my 5th with Royal though. I'm like you, in my late 50's , grown daughter on her own. I sure hope we get to go to Coco Cay also. That's the one Royal stop I've never been to. Nor has my sister, and she is now Diamond level with Royal.

We also have the same cabin class as you, on Deck 9.

So looking forward to it. The countdown is on!!!

Glad you enjoyed your first time with Royal.

[Clarea]

Nice review, thanks.

[princesslondon]

Great review, our first Royal on the FOS is in a few wks and we are really looking forward to it. Quick question, since the buffet was crowded where did you end eating breakfast and lunch? UnOrganized and chaotic buffet lines are something we too like to avoid.

[fishmom]

For lunch: One day was Johnny Rockets. Then on other non port days we grabbed something from Cafe promenade. The main dining room is also open a couple of days at lunch, but we never made it there.

For breakfast we pretty much stuck to the main dining room. They also have a buffet available there so it was still a quick alternative.

We never went hungry!

Edited May 13, 2016 by fishmom

[mumeof3]

Us too can't wait

[loeytalldog]

Thanks for sharing! Enjoyed your review! FOS is our favorite ship!

[Megan07]

Great review!! I was on this cruise. Crew was very friendly and helpful. Windjammer did get crowded. Activities and shows were great! We felt a vibration in our room-deck 6 mid ship promenade. It wasn't bad but noticeable.

 

Great cruise in my eyes!

[pm2nm]

Is each adult allowed to bring 2 bottles of wine on board? Thanks

Free black coffee in the dining rooms? Thanks

[fishmom]

Is each adult allowed to bring 2 bottles of wine on board? Thanks

Free black coffee in the dining rooms? Thanks

 

Only one bottle of wine per adult. No corkage fee in the dining room, though, which is nice. The regular black coffee is free in the dining room.

[molsonschooner]

Is each adult allowed to bring 2 bottles of wine on board? Thanks

Free black coffee in the dining rooms? Thanks

 

2 bottles of wine per cabin(750 ml size). Regular coffee is included in your cruise fare

[Nickymjw1]

Just got of the ship. Regarding Windjammer, if you are a late eater like us, crowd was fine. And it took me 3 sailings on Freedom to find out they have panini machines in the pizza place Sorrentos and the sandwiched there are for paninis. Tuna and cheese was delicious!

 

 

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[Fox23]

Lovely review, I've been writing one of the Freedom too and reading yours had made me think of all the things I probably should have mentioned in my rambling as you have a knack for focusing on what I think people would like to know. I actually found the scrambled egg ok but the food in the MDR to be poor... just goes to show that food really is a matter of opinion :) hehe.

[fishmom]

Thanks Fox23. After I posted I thought of some things I didn't mention that I had originally planned to. So you will probably cover them.☺

[jennb529]

Thanks for your review. We are also planning on the Hampton Inn at Cocoa Beach (and we're from Oklahoma too!) How did you like the shuttle service/package?

Thanks in advance!

[A2Mich]

I felt pretty much the same way on our Freedom cruise last year. As for the buffet crowds, we found it easier to simply wait a bit longer, and go to lunch around 1:00pm or a super early or bit later breakfast. We actually preferred to grab our meal at the buffet and then eat poolside! I happen to not mind powdered scrambled eggs, and actually preferred them over the fried eggs (the fried eggs were always ice cold - at least the scrambled were hot), but could be made better by adding some bacon, sausage, potatoes, corned beef hash, and hot sauce to them!

[fishmom]

Jennb the package was great. I called the hotel to give our flight info as well as my preferred puck up time to head to the port on Sunday. The staff there is very friendly and helpful. They use Cocoa Beach shuttle for airport service and a different company to take you to the ship. It was super convenient to have them make all the arrangements.

[fishmom]

Regarding the eggs I guess I lucked out on the fried as it seemed they were putting them out fresh when I got there. I imagine it is a matter of timing for the buffet but to me it still had a layout that didn't seem to handle the flow.

[DISFANS3]

Great review, we will be on the Freedom in Jan 2018...

[pixiedustgirl13]

Thanks for your thoughtful review! DH and I have a Hampton Inn reservation the night before our September 18th sailing, but not at Cocoa Beach, I think, but somewhere else close. I need to look it up! I don't remember reading anything about a shuttle service; we had planned on renting a car. Thanks again~ it's always nice to read a positive review!

[fishmom]

Thanks. That was the reason I posted... DISFAN and Pixie hope you have a great time!