LIVE from the Freedom of the Seas! - Nov 12, 2016/ 8 night Eastern Caribbean

[ckrobyn]

Thanks so much for the info on Giovanni's and your thoughts on the new menu. We had heard from my dd's friends that they were not really happy with the MDR on their Freedom cruise 2 weeks ago. We are considering the 5 night dining package at this point. I AM sad about the filet in Gio's but I will live. We were really turned off by both food and service in Chops on our last Freedom cruise but maybe it has improved.

 

 

 

Thanks for the heads up about Chops, we are considering it for later in the week [emoji15].

 

Our service in the MDR is very good, and I can always find something on the menu, I'm just sorry that they seemed to have taken away some long standing guest favorites.

 

 

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[ckrobyn]

Your live review is fabulous! We will be on the February sailing with you. I'm not too happy about that new menu though. Maybe there should be a protest [emoji12]

 

 

 

Thanks for the compliment, glad you are enjoying it!

 

Hmmmm, a protest??? I wonder how effective that would be? LOL [emoji52]

 

 

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[ckrobyn]

Good morning and welcome to beautiful Labadee!!! The clouds are burning off nicely and it looks like it promises to be a mostly sunny day!

 

 

We are going to enjoy breakfast in the WJ shortly before we head ashore. Labadee is one of my favorite ports [emoji3] There are no other ships visiting with us today which will be even better! [emoji106]

 

I forgot to mention that the Freedom has new poolside loungers! They are amazing, and the kind that are solidly mesh. If you spent any time at all on the old loungers, you know that either it is missing a slat, or after a few hours your but is sinking [emoji15] I'm giving the new and improved loungers 2 thumbs up!

[emoji106][emoji106]

 

 

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[villager70]

Good morning and welcome to beautiful Labadee!!! The clouds are burning off nicely and it looks like it promises to be a mostly sunny day!

 

 

We are going to enjoy breakfast in the WJ shortly before we head ashore. Labadee is one of my favorite ports [emoji3] There are no other ships visiting with us today which will be even better! [emoji106]

 

I forgot to mention that the Freedom has new poolside loungers! They are amazing, and the kind that are solidly mesh. If you spent any time at all on the old loungers, you know that either it is missing a slat, or after a few hours your but is sinking [emoji15] I'm giving the new and improved loungers 2 thumbs up!

[emoji106][emoji106]

 

 

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Hi Robyn: we are doing a 6 day & 8 day back to back on dec. 4th. Can you give me the 2 formal on the 8 day. I know the second but not sure of first. Also the cruise planner is showing a $28.00 charge for chops. This is a big reduction and just wondering if it is correct. Bob

[belmontcrew]

Here is the menu for Day 2 dinner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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For the Saffron menu, the Starter and the Dessert menu's are the same. It is good to see the Escargot and Shrimp Cocktail back. I wonder if it will be on the menu every night from here on or just select nights.

 

Classics: No Manhattan Strip Steak so I am guessing it is gone for good. Maybe this is what they are serving now at Giovanni's in place of the Filet.

 

Main Courses: Gone are the Roasted Duck and the Filet of Beef Tenderloin. They have been replaced by a Rosemary Roasted Half Chicken and a Seared Sirloin Steak. My daughter will not be happy that the Duck is gone and this will be a major disappointment. It was her favorite meal of the week. The Pan-Fried Fillet of Barramundi is now a Pan-Fried Silver Corvina. I am not that familiar with either (had to google both). I am going to go out on a limb and say the Silver Corvina costs less and is thus more appealing to Royal.

 

After two nights I would say I am not crazy about what I have seen so far.

Edited November 14, 2016 by belmontcrew

[ckrobyn]

Hi Robyn: we are doing a 6 day & 8 day back to back on dec. 4th. Can you give me the 2 formal on the 8 day. I know the second but not sure of first. Also the cruise planner is showing a $28.00 charge for chops. This is a big reduction and just wondering if it is correct. Bob

 

 

 

First formal is on the 2nd night

 

 

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[ckrobyn]

Hi Robyn: we are doing a 6 day & 8 day back to back on dec. 4th. Can you give me the 2 formal on the 8 day. I know the second but not sure of first. Also the cruise planner is showing a $28.00 charge for chops. This is a big reduction and just wondering if it is correct. Bob

 

 

 

I think the planner is offering a discount before you board. I'll double check the price at Chops and let you know..

 

 

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[BillOh]

The one good thing about boarding later is we basically went straight to our cabins - mine is 9342 which is a center hump and the location is perfect

 

 

 

Great room! We booked it in 2008 and loved it. Booked it again, in 2015, but that darn upgrade fairy moved us to a JS on Deck 10, how rude! :D Enjoy.

[dpal2208]

Thank you both for your daily updates. We sail Dec 4th and haven't been on Royal for a while. We are looking forward to the change from CCL. (We are platinum on both).

 

Can either of you take a picture of the Adventure Ocean (Kids Club) daily schedule for me please? My 8 yo son will be 1 week shy of 9yo on the cruise and i hope he will still enjoy the activities.

 

Thanks in advance if possible.

 

Bon Voyage

 

Djp

[BillOh]

Thanks for the heads up about Chops, we are considering it for later in the week [emoji15].

 

Our service in the MDR is very good, and I can always find something on the menu, I'm just sorry that they seemed to have taken away some long standing guest favorites.

 

 

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I had great food and service at Freedom's Chops last year. BTW, I was just talking to my friends in Bramption, you would have been scraping ice off your windshield this morning, if you don't park in a garage.

[pinkrosesdeb]

I would love to think Chops has changed but I have read so many negative posts specifically about Freedom Chops that I was giving up hope. Our filet there was AWFUL, both mine and hubby's, neither of us finished it. And, no one asked why but we were full from the starters and sides. Most of our displeasure was the very rude person who "greeted" us and if she is gone we will give it a try again maybe.

[fletch1027]

I would love to think Chops has changed but I have read so many negative posts specifically about Freedom Chops that I was giving up hope. Our filet there was AWFUL, both mine and hubby's, neither of us finished it. And, no one asked why but we were full from the starters and sides. Most of our displeasure was the very rude person who "greeted" us and if she is gone we will give it a try again maybe.

 

We ate @ Chops on Freedom end of October and had a good experience. Both of our filet's were cooked to the right temp and were as lean as I expect a filet to be.

 

That being said, that was our first time @ Chops so we don't have previous experiences for comparison to gauge whether service & quality had gone up or down...

[over the edge]

Good morning and welcome to beautiful Labadee!!! The clouds are burning off nicely and it looks like it promises to be a mostly sunny day!

 

 

We are going to enjoy breakfast in the WJ shortly before we head ashore. Labadee is one of my favorite ports [emoji3] There are no other ships visiting with us today which will be even better! [emoji106]

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LABADEE......oh I love it there....soooooo much!!!! :p

[ckrobyn]

Good afternoon from cloudy Labadee!!! For the first time ever for me, it was overcast and spitting rain all day [emoji30] the sun just couldn't push through the heavy cloud cover. We went ashore at around 10A.M, but we decided not to venture far as the rain had just begun. Instead, we headed back to the ship and lounged around for most of the day in the Solarium. I may or may not have fallen sound asleep for an hour or so......you decide [emoji6]

 

Take a look at our sky today [emoji15]

 

 

The Captain has sounded the first horn for all aboard, so I suspect we will be underway soon. Our next port is San Juan with a scheduled arrival at 1:00P.M. Weather depending, our plan is to explore Old San Juan on foot, and of course a stop at Barrachina for a Piña Colada - after all, that is where the first one was ever made [emoji1]

 

As D+, there is usually a plate of petit fours on formal night (yesterday), but there wasn't. I think they got their days mixed up....it was delivered this afternoon....

 

 

I also received the Crown and Anchor free gift I ordered, today, because you can just never have enough towels.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[ckrobyn]

Here is the Day 3 Compass as requested [emoji3]

 

 

Tonight there is an acapella group "Edge Effect" that is supposed to be excellent, so we are planning to see the show before dinner.

 

We are thinking of dining a la Windjammer this evening....

 

 

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[ckrobyn]

I would love to think Chops has changed but I have read so many negative posts specifically about Freedom Chops that I was giving up hope. Our filet there was AWFUL, both mine and hubby's, neither of us finished it. And, no one asked why but we were full from the starters and sides. Most of our displeasure was the very rude person who "greeted" us and if she is gone we will give it a try again maybe.

 

 

 

I'm sorry to hear this. We are thinking of a Chops dinner later in the week, but now I'm not so sure? You're comments are not the first negatives I've read.....

I still may decide to give it a go, but if it ends up being terrible I want my $$$ back!!!!

 

 

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[ckrobyn]

I have been chatting quite a bit with Drew Thomas, many of you will know him as the amazing Magician/Illusionist who has a permanent show onboard the Freedom called "Now you see it". I'm a fan of magic, and had the opportunity to meet Drew on previous sailings, and kept in touch. He is very much aware of my LIVE reports and enjoys reading them [emoji3]. This week, Drew is going to do a Livestream from his show that I can post a link to on here. I hope you can tune in to watch! The show will be on Wednesday evening and I'll post the exact times on that day.

 

Who doesn't need a little magic in their lives?!?! [emoji106]

 

 

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[irishgal432]

Here is the Day 3 Compass as requested [emoji3]

 

 

Tonight there is an acapella group "Edge Effect" that is supposed to be excellent, so we are planning to see the show before dinner.

 

We are thinking of dining a la Windjammer this evening....

 

 

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If it was the same aCapella group from last week, they were excellent. We did talk with them after the show while eating at Sorrentos. They are truly nice people.

[rjwinneberger]

I was traveling on the Freedom last week as part of a group of 16 friends and family. My Husband, stepdaughter and I ate at Chops on the Freedom Tuesday of last week and had a wonderful meal and experience. My Stepdaughter and I each had the filet and my husband had the dry aged strip. All three steaks were cooked perfectly. The started and sides were great (and the sides we ordered provided more than enough for the three of us to share). Our service there was spectacular as well.

 

I can say as of last week, that after the first night, the Escargot was back on the menu all other nights. in the MDR

 

That being said, we were underwhelmed by the food in the MDR as a whole. We ate there all but one other night (we ate Giovanni's on the first formal night with a larger group - 10 of us total - and that meal was fabulous too). The options in the MDR as Robyn has shown were definitely changed/cut back and the quality just wasn't up to what we have become used to with Royal. They did have the roasted striploin more than once, which was nice, but definitely was not the Prime Rib we have all come to know and love. Regularly our food was cold or just blah. My first lobster on the second formal night (which is always a highlight) was exceptionally fishy tasting. They brought a couple extras to our table, so I tried a second one and it was better. Still a little fishy, but better.

 

The one thing I can say is that service in the MDR was spectacular! It was some of the best we have had on Royal.

 

I will say that our group as whole has been very loyal to Royal (some subset of us has cruised with them at least every other year, as a group since 2010). We are generally VERY happy across the board with our experience. Everyone in our group had the same feelings about the service (great) and the food (meh). That being said we are not overly picky or high maintenance. We still had a great time and we still believe that a day on vacation (and especially on a cruise) is better than any day at work or any day where we have to cook for ourselves. :)

[fletch1027]

I'm sorry to hear this. We are thinking of a Chops dinner later in the week, but now I'm not so sure? You're comments are not the first negatives I've read.....

I still may decide to give it a go, but if it ends up being terrible I want my $$$ back!!!!

 

 

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There also several positive ones on the last few pages as well... :-)

 

 

 

 

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[FloatMe]

Looking forward to following along again with you Robyn! We will be on Freedom for the 1st time in April and then again in November.

[ckrobyn]

Looking forward to following along again with you Robyn! We will be on Freedom for the 1st time in April and then again in November.

 

 

 

Welcome back! [emoji41]⚓️

 

 

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[ckrobyn]

There also several positive ones on the last few pages as well... :-)

 

 

 

 

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Yes, you're right! We will probably give it a shot [emoji4]

 

 

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[iukbsn]

Hi girlfriend!!

 

 

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[happyiam]

I hope you enjoyed Edge Effect. We also had them one night. They were extremely talented and gave a wonderful show.

We ate at Chops two weeks ago. The filet was so tender you could probably cut it with your fork. I do miss the original Mississippi Mud Pie. This one was okay, but not like it used to be. The only bad part was the service. It was so slow. I thought it might be because it was the first formal night, but then there really shouldn't be any excuse. It's not like it's the first time they have done this on a formal night. Maybe it was all the tables celebrating birthdays, anniversaries and so on, that they stopped and sang to. If you do go, I hope it is one of the positive experiences!:)