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Live from Freedom of the Seas (12/23/2017 to 12/31/2017 - Eastern Caribbean)

Rubyfisch

By Rubyfisch,
in Royal Caribbean International

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RoyalFan509

RoyalFan509

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Awesome review! I am very excited to go on Freedom in November out of SJU! Glad it was more of a positive review. The few I have read didn't get me toe excited but I am now! Glad you had a great time. We were on RC 2 weeks ago and with this weather I am missing it each and every minute!

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Rubyfisch "Live from...." Rare

Rubyfisch

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I am going to summarize my thoughts on different parts of the trip. Inevitably, this may end up as a comparison between Freedom and Serenade (the only other cruise I have been on).

 

Pre-Cruise



We booked our flights at probably the worst time (late July) for a holiday cruise, and we were rather constrained due to my work schedule. I also wanted an early in the day direct flight because of weather concerns. Our only options were Spirit or spending close to $1,000 a person. I picked Spirit - and spent the next five months being told it would be the worst travel experience of our collective lives. I found Spirit to be a thoroughly acceptable experience. They conveyed us from Boston to Ft. Lauderdale in a timely manner. Yes, the seats were kind of uncomfortable, and yes, we had to pay for checking our bags, but there were no hidden fees (a quick Google search will show you how to avoid them).

 

 

As I mentioned, the airport in Ft. Lauderdale was a zoo - we took a taxi. My preference would have been an Uber, but the guy next to me in the cab line tried to get one and that didn't go very well.

 

 

We stayed at the Embassy Suites on 17th. I loved the location (next to a really nice Publix and a wine store), and the set up was nice (I got a very exciting sleeper sofa in the living room), but otherwise - eh. It is an older property that is showing its age. The manager's reception was over crowded and not that exciting, the service at the front desk was slow and not particularly friendly, and there are nowhere near enough elevators. And I thought it was overpriced.

 

Port Everglades



 

We took an Uber XL to the port. It was a much more pleasant experience than taking a taxi cab. And likely cheaper, too. It was $17 for door to door service. I am also unsure why anyone would take the hotel shuttle (which I think was $12 per person, but don't quote me on that), unless they were traveling alone, given what an Uber costs. I had heard that Terminal 29 was a zoo, but I thought it was fine. I did find the porters to be incredibly aggressive (basically demanding a tip, even as I was taking money out of my wallet), but otherwise everyone was very nice. Just an FYI, there is a lot of walking and shuffling between lines. It seemed like we had to go through more Disney-like switchback lines that I remembered doing in Copenhagen, but all-in-all, it was painless. As I mentioned previously, we were walking onto the ship by 11:30, having gotten in the Uber at 10:55.

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Rubyfisch "Live from...." Rare

Rubyfisch

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Awesome review! I am very excited to go on Freedom in November out of SJU! Glad it was more of a positive review. The few I have read didn't get me toe excited but I am now! Glad you had a great time. We were on RC 2 weeks ago and with this weather I am missing it each and every minute!

 

I have a feeling that some of the negative comments filtered their way up to the powers that be. For instance, I had read complaints of cold food. That was never an issue for us, but our assistant waiter asked us every night if our food came out hot. And the head waiter stopped by our table almost every night to check to make sure the food and service were up to snuff.

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Rubyfisch "Live from...." Rare

Rubyfisch

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Aww to the towel critter. Can you tell me if Vintages has a Tapas menu? Are you stopping in St. Kitts? If so, do you have an excursion booked? We're trying to decide what to do on our February 17 cruise. Thanks.

 

Sorry for the delay in answering your question - according to the Cruise Compass, Vintages sometimes had food - but never when I remembered to check. Sorry about that.

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Rubyfisch "Live from...." Rare

Rubyfisch

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Food



Food is probably the most subjective thing that gets reviewed, but here are my thoughts, broken down by venue.

 

Main Dining Room



We only had breakfast in the main dining room on the second sea day (Christmas morning). We arrived shortly after it opened and were seated at once at a table by ourselves. There was a nice buffet and a menu. We all ordered over the menu. The service was fine - not particular stellar, but by no means terrible. There was a massive line by the time we were finishing up. That seemed to be the case any other time I happened by - a massive line. I have no idea how quickly or slowly it moved, but it seemed ... lengthy.



 

 

We never ended up getting lunch in the main dining room. The hours were really limited and there always seemed to be a line, so we just skimped it.

 

 

We had dinner every night in the main dining room, in the second seating at 8:00 pm. I think I prefer the 8:30 pm seating (I may be alone in this), but with it at 8:00 pm, a lot of the shows were after dinner. While the shows in general were unexciting (which I will get to in another post), I was really not interested in them at 10:30 pm. Or the showtime was 7:00 pm so it was a mad dash to dinner, which ended up not really starting until 8:15 or so as the stranglers from the shows were late (through no fault of their own).

 

 

The food was very good - not the best I have had, but consistently good. Our waiters, Robbi and Neil, were excellent. We were at a table of 10, and our food came out all at once and hot. Neil, our assistant waiter, was really great. He remembered our drink orders, both during the meal and with dessert. My ice tea glass was always filled. The head waiter stopped by our table almost every night check on us.

 

 

Also - my mother tried the brownie sundae from the kid's menu (per recommendations I saw here), and she said it was her favorite dessert.

 

Windjammer



 

Just as a general point, the service in Windjammer was so much better than on Serenade. I never would have thought that the service was bad before, but it was really great on Freedom. There were waiters circulating constantly with drinks at breakfast and lunch (including both coffee and the whole variety of juices and water). At breakfast, they went around with pastries. At lunch, it was Christmas cookies. It was really nice. We were all particularly touched that on our last sea day, one of the waitresses apparently noticed that my mother (who uses a wheelchair) always drank coffee. While my father and I were up getting food for the three of us, the waitress specifically brought her coffee, saying that she knew it was what my mother drank and that it was hard for us to juggle plates and drinks.

 

 

My father and I ate breakfast every morning. The food was quite good (the biscuits were my favorite). There was a line for omelets, but there were also cheese and ham and cheese omelets on the right hand side as you entered. We also ate lunch there basically every day as well. Again, the food was quite good, although there was not as much variety (either at breakfast or lunch) as there was on Serenade. I generally checked in on dinner, which also looked very good. There was hard ice cream every night and some days at lunch as well.

 

Other Venues



 

Cafe Promenade - the free coffee was okay. The breakfast options were somewhat limited (pastries and fruit cups). It was completely adequate, but I prefered Park Cafe. I never tried the sandwhiches during the day, but they looked fine.

 

 

Sorrentos - I was prepared for it to be terrible, based on what people had said. I think it was totally edible. There was often a line around sail away and later in the evenings as well. I didn't try any of the other offerings.

 

 

Sprinkles - sometimes, frozen dairy concotions are just what you need.

 

 

Johny Rockets - we only went there for the milkshakes. We used our buy one, get one free Gold member benefit there twice. Two milkshakes split three was was plenty.

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Rubyfisch "Live from...." Rare

Rubyfisch

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wondering about the drink package that does not come with our cruise on Feb 3rd. We keep receiving emails about deals but i am wondering if there are better deals when we get on the ship?
In terms of the full drink package, I think that is always cheaper beforehand. There was a 10 drink card available starting on day 3.

 

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

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