A Few Thoughts on the Freedom of the Seas 11/25/18

[tlund]

My husband and I are seasoned cruisers.  We sailed the Freedom of the Seas on November 25, 2018 as our 28th cruise, RCCL's 13th cruise.  We had been on the Freedom twice before and enjoyed the ship.  This last cruise, though, was a bit disappointing.  Here are some of my comments and I'm happy to answer any questions:

 

1.  We were in Stateroom 7346 (a hump).  The hump cabins are identified as premium cabins that are bigger.  Yes, the cabin was bigger but not for space to be used.  The room was basically the same size as a regular balcony cabin up to the curtains by the patio door.  However, there was a bit of additional space past the curtains, but had no function.  The balcony was not any bigger.  My first thought was it would have been smarter to make the balcony bigger by going all the way to the curtain like other balcony cabins.  Instead, there was a little more space between the curtain and door so you can stand between them to look out but it did not add to the useable space of the cabin.  Also, we took cold showers all week because the hot water was pretty much non-existent during the whole cruise.  We had ants on the balcony that we had never experienced before.  I can understand with all the fruity drinks that are probably spilled but we never had ants before.  The cabin also never really got cold, especially at night.  I was sweating at night.  Usually I am freezing because my husband cranks the air.  Not this time.

 

2.  The cruise consisted of 90-95% of Puerto Ricans.  It affected the traffic line to the port as the majority of the passengers did not need shuttle or taxi but were being picked up by family members, meaning more cars in line.  We sat if traffic for a good 15 minutes since there is only one lane in to the port.  Most of the entertainment and food were geared toward the Puerto Rican passengers, who took full advantage of taking over the ship.  We had smokers on the balcony and in the cabins, which we smelled in the hallways.  The majority of the passengers traveled in packs, which caused significant back ups, etc. since they seemed to stop in public areas and just congregate.  They were loud, and I mean loud.  It didn't appear that Puerto Ricans speak in low tones.  Just normal conversations seemed like a bunch of yelling.  We definitely felt like outsiders and spent a lot of time in our cabin or on our balcony to get away from the loudness.  We did, however, get the chance to enjoy the pools/hot tubs in the morning of port days since a lot of the other passengers were either sleeping off their wild night before or were off the ship.  The food at the Windjammer was geared toward the Puerto Rican passengers, except for the "American" section of burgers/fries/hot dogs.  A lot of the passengers did not go to the dining room but ate all meals at the Windjammer, meaning it was quite busy and messy.  Multiple tables pushed together for big parties. 

 

We witnessed the Puerto Rican passengers that brought their own musical instruments on the cruise.  In several ports, they played their instruments with a caravan of chanting Puerto Ricans for the rest of the ship to enjoy (or not enjoy which ever you prefer).  We took a couple of videos and will post it as soon as I can figure that out.  There were many that brought their own radios and would play their music rather loudly for the rest of the passengers to enjoy (or not enjoy).  I couldn't tell you how many sat in public areas with videos or songs loaded on their phones playing them for the rest of the passengers to hear.  With all of the other music on the ship geared toward Puerto Rican music, I really didn't want to hear it while trying to read my book or napping at the solarium.

 

We have sailed out of San Juan 4 times before this cruise and never experienced this many Puerto Rican passengers.  Those cruises occurred pre-hurricane.  The cruise line must be offering them some great deals for that many local passengers to be on the ship.  It was quite obvious to me that many of them are taking advantage of the 3rd/4th free in a cabin and that the locals have sailed numerous times on the ship.  They were well prepared for Caribbean night, as well as 70's night, by the costumes that were worn.  From talking to the taxi drivers and some locals while on land, they have recovered pretty well from last year's hurricane.  Obviously, the locals have the finances to enjoy a cruise vacation and all the extras (internet, drinks, shopping) despite their government claiming the country is in shambles and that they need continued financial resources from the US.  We only noticed a few things that would indicate damage from a hurricane.  I don't know if the make up the ship's passengers is due to the lack of mainland American wanting to travel to Puerto Rico to catch a cruise or some other reason but I don't think we will be sailing out of San Juan any time soon. On a side note, we did see a lot of people removing tips from their portfolio, which is a shame because we saw the crew members working extremely hard to clean up messes that were left by these large parties.

 

3.  The food variety in the Windjammer was lacking.  The food was geared toward Puerto Rican food (like rice & beans, tacos, etc) and what the cruise line would consider American food.  We were a bit disappointed in that regard.  It also appeared that the majority of the passengers preferred to eat in the Windjammer, leaving the dining room at less than full capacity and the Windjammer quite crowded.  On the port day, we did enjoy the tutti salad bar, as well as pasta station and sushi station in the main dining room.  That was our favorite meal, even though we ate at Giovanni's and Chop (which were fine).

 

4.  Although Royal Caribbean was our cruise line of choice, we have cruised on many of the other cruise lines.  We are reconsidering our thought process on whether we will be looking at Royal Caribbean as our first choice.  We are getting quite tired of the constant barrage of sales tactics.  Almost all activities on the Cruise Compass are geared toward spending money.  The wait staff inquired many times for beverage packages or specialty dining packages.  I like to enjoy myself on a cruise and not be harassed to spend my money.  I can do that pretty well on my own.  However, we have a tendency to be defiant against spending money because we are being constantly asked to do so.  Also, we are noticing more similarities to Carnival than a more upscale or classy experience.  

 

5.  The normal internet is SLOW, SLOW, SLOW, which is unacceptable these days.  It took me a half an hour just to log into my e-mails to do a little work.  They sell the surf and stream, but we have no need to stream.  I'm not sure if the stream was slow as well but the surf was just brutal.  Couldn't get much of anything done on the internet.

 

Hope my thoughts are helpful to others who are considering the Freedom. 

[sowhat]

I fully understand your views on this cruise.Agree with everything you say.

We have sailed with royal since 1995 on a regular basis,but really feel it is time to move on.

Really cannot see how they can cut back any further, definitely make you feel as it's the first time cruiser,s they want on board.

Don't know whether you are still on board but would like to say the next sailing is no better. Don't appear to have THE BAND but hundreds of very rude passengers.

Such a shame,the staff are friendly and trying their best to make the best of a bad situation.

[Nado44]

I was on this sailing too and my experience was the exact opposite. I absolutely loved the cultural aspect and would do it all over again in a heartbeat!

 

This cruise was partially chartered by a couple of salsa groups who loved to dance at all times of the day. Made for some really terrific people watching and dancing if you were so inclined to join. Puerto Ricans are clearly a fun bunch and take great pride in their island. They have also seen great tragedy given the recent hurricanes.

 

We were two doors down from your Deck 7 hump balcony. No ants or nearby smokers.

[tlund]

I disagree with RCCL chartering out large groups on a cruise that was not advertised as such.  That basically allows the ship to be taken over by the chartered groups, leaving the rest of us fare paying passengers to have to endure whatever the group was putting out there.  If I wanted to go on a salsa cruise, I would have sought that out.  Instead, I was forced to deal with these large groups of people as I had no idea a part of the ship was chartered out.  I was anticipating a relaxing quiet vacation considering how hard I work.  This cruise was far from relaxing or quiet because the cruise line decided they would charter it out.

 

Also, I don't think my take on the passengers that were on this sailing is reflective of only the fact that the ship was chartered out by some salsa groups.  If you read the reviews of this ship prior to this sailing, other passengers are making the same observations.

[tlund]

This is just an example of some of the passenger music and chanting that we had to listen to.

[Ashland]

I will agree with much of what your experienced. We did a B2B on Sept 8th & 15th. (JS # 9628) The Sept 8th cruise was so bad I ended up having a sit down meeting with the Guest Relations Mgr. and expressed how we were not looking forward to our second week onboard and provided her with a detail list of the problems/situation/experiences we had encountered during the week. She was extremely interested and made notes and even though we got a very nice future cruise certificate, that certainly wasn't the point. Luckily the second week for us was much better.

 

We're a D+ long time loyal royal cruiser and have cruised out of San Juan several times before and had always enjoyed that itinerary. This was the very first time in all my cruises that I felt the need to complain.

 

I'm truly sad that a couple of months later you experienced a very similar (if not the exact same) situation. 

 

I will at least consider the dates I book the future San Juan itinerary...apparently the earlier in the season the better.

[prmet]

I also was on this cruise. And I am one of those puertorican who did not needed a taxi to the port. First let me clear something, the thing with the lots and lots of locals is that it was charted by a radio station for a thematic cruise, (the salsa cruise). They had concerts for them in the Studio B. We did not knew this prior to the line boarding when we saw the posters, if we have known I would had book other date. That being said, we can be loud, thats true. But I understand how you must had felt, they truly take over the ship and we that are not salseros felt akward. But not all sailings from San Juan are gonna be like this.

[Ashland]

10 minutes ago, tlund said:

I disagree with RCCL chartering out large groups on a cruise that was not advertised as such.  That basically allows the ship to be taken over by the chartered groups, leaving the rest of us fare paying passengers to have to endure whatever the group was putting out there.  If I wanted to go on a salsa cruise, I would have sought that out.  Instead, I was forced to deal with these large groups of people as I had no idea a part of the ship was chartered out.  I was anticipating a relaxing quiet vacation considering how hard I work.  This cruise was far from relaxing or quiet because the cruise line decided they would charter it out.

 

Also, I don't think my take on the passengers that were on this sailing is reflective of only the fact that the ship was chartered out by some salsa groups.  If you read the reviews of this ship prior to this sailing, other passengers are making the same observations.

It absolutely doesn't have to be a charter cruise to experience exactly what you did...Mine certainly wasn't charted (see above post).....Our cruise was absolutely "taken over" by locals .... I can't believe RCI allows musical instruments and loud personal music to be played in common areas.....especially of all places the WJ !!! Luckily we discovered eating in the breakfast over flow area was a bit better......Staff was overwhelmed and had no idea how to handle the situation when we were onboard.

Craziest onboard situation we have encountered in over 25+ cruises !!!!

[maggieq]

I have loved all our cruises out of San Juan but the one we took on adventure in May/2008.  I thought about the freedom for our winter cruise in 2019 but not so sure I would enjoy what is described above.  The freedom is the largest Rccl ship PR has had.  They want to sail as full as possible and I understand that. 

Edited December 4, 2018 by maggieq

[EeyoreRN]

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your thoughts!  Also yikes!! I have been reading many reports like this about Freedom recently. Were you able to find any quiet spaces on board?  How was the Solarium?  Any quieter bars?  Thanks!

[davekathy]

2 hours ago, prmet said:

I also was on this cruise. And I am one of those puertorican who did not needed a taxi to the port. First let me clear something, the thing with the lots and lots of locals is that it was charted by a radio station for a thematic cruise, (the salsa cruise). They had concerts for them in the Studio B. We did not knew this prior to the line boarding when we saw the posters, if we have known I would had book other date. That being said, we can be loud, thats true. But I understand how you must had felt, they truly take over the ship and we that are not salseros felt akward. But not all sailings from San Juan are gonna be like this.

Welcome to CC. Agree. We've cruised out of San Juan many times (months of March and April) and have never experienced anything like the OP and others recently experienced. We would have  been PO also and wasted our time by having to speak with Guest Relations Manager as ASHLAND did. We are looking forward to our upcoming March 2019 B2B cruise on the Freedom. We don't dwell on others opinions and experiences but do respect them and that they post about it here on CC. 

Edited December 4, 2018 by davekathy

[tlund]

24 minutes ago, EeyoreRN said:

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your thoughts!  Also yikes!! I have been reading many reports like this about Freedom recently. Were you able to find any quiet spaces on board?  How was the Solarium?  Any quieter bars?  Thanks!

Unfortunately, the Solarium was not very quiet with the cantilever hot tubs being used and people passing through regularly.  It was a little quieter on port days if you choose not to get off the ship in the morning.  By the afternoon, the pool deck and solarium were packed.  You might be able to enjoy the Viking Crown before 8:00 or so as they have a DJ for late night parties and they also conduct certain activities like the silent disco there.  The Schooner bar didn't seem too crowded as it didn't seem like the locals liked trivia, etc.  You might find some quiet time on the outer promenade on 4.  We didn't see too many people sitting out there.  There is a small place on the starboard side (I think) outside of the gym right off the solarium.  There is a door that you have to enter and then there are chairs there for you to lounge.  It is not open to the outside so it could get a bit stuffy in there.

[Ashland]

17 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Welcome to CC. Agree. We've cruised out of San Juan many times (months of March and April) and have never experienced anything like the OP and others recently experienced. We would have  been PO also and wasted our time by having to speak with Guest Relations Manager as ASHLAND did. We are looking forward to our upcoming March 2019 B2B cruise on the Freedom. We don't dwell on others opinions and experiences but do respect them and that they post about it here on CC. 

My situation with the Guest Services Mgr. (I didn't seek her out) was that when my 2nd week started I sent back the onboard guest survey and apparently Miami sent it to her. She then contacted me onboard and requested a meeting with me. I did reschedule it a few times onboard to when it ended up being more convenient for me personally.

[Tahina cruising]

I’ve experienced a cruise with the majority being locals out of San Juan before. But it was on Adventure of the Seas in December. My last cruise on Freedom of the Seas out of San Juan on November 4th was not like that at all. The most variety of people I’ve ever actually seen. On our mostly locals cruise, the biggest problems were the buffet, trying to get to dinner in the main dining room through the large groups and they would sit on the stairs and be loud. My cabin was near the stairs. Every morning at 6:30 am, before my friend and I were awake, a young one would be running down the hall yelling. It was somewhat stressful but I had prepared myself in case my last one was like that. Now hopefully my cruise in October isn’t like that. On Freedom of the Seas out of San Juan.

[Wilson]

Sorry that you experienced problems. Sailed Freedom in Oct with zero issues. Like it so much we are returning this weekend and have booked it next year for New Years Eve. 

[prmet]

Another thing with what you said about the food. We ate all our meals in the windjammer and the food was NOT puertorican, yes one night there was tostones (fried plantains) but the meals were american. Tacos are not puertorican cuisine, theyre mexican.

[prmet]

And we found a lot of quiet places on board. The hoard was always together.

[fridaythe13th]

It will be interesting to see what January brings!  

[The Fun Researcher]

A pet peeve of mine is the general lack of care for one's negative impact on those around you.  Have some self awareness.

 

Chanting, playing your own music loudly in common areas, and taking over areas of a ship are all part of that.  Sorry you had to experience it OP.  😞

 

Dan

[WisconsinFan]

Wow. I am sorry that you didn't have a good experience on Freedom. We will be sailing on her this April. I have a PR co-worker who I adore, whose first language is Spanish and who still has a home on the "Island." I agree that some folks can have too much fun when they are in large groups, but as another poster said it might have been a chance to get a little more exposed to the culture. I have seen large, good old mainland US families do the same thing.

 

I am glad you were able to express your concerns to the staff. People should not be blocking the stairs or the hallways would concern me, music and dancing not so much- especially if they invited me to participate 🙂 A smile can go a long way.

[karena1]

Puerto Rico is by far our favorite place to cruise from! Love San Juan and cruising from there.  Cannot wait to do Freedom in Sept 2019 and again in April 2020 and then B2B in Oct 2020.   Have done every ship Royal has had out of there and never had any complaints.  We love the Puerto Rican people and their spirit.  Also love the Southern Caribbean.  by far out favorite island.  

[gumboroux]

On 12/3/2018 at 3:00 PM, tlund said:

My husband and I are seasoned cruisers.  We sailed the Freedom of the Seas on November 25, 2018 as our 28th cruise, RCCL's 13th cruise.  We had been on the Freedom twice before and enjoyed the ship.  This last cruise, though, was a bit disappointing.  Here are some of my comments and I'm happy to answer any questions:

 

1.  We were in Stateroom 7346 (a hump).  The hump cabins are identified as premium cabins that are bigger.  Yes, the cabin was bigger but not for space to be used.  The room was basically the same size as a regular balcony cabin up to the curtains by the patio door.  However, there was a bit of additional space past the curtains, but had no function.  The balcony was not any bigger.  My first thought was it would have been smarter to make the balcony bigger by going all the way to the curtain like other balcony cabins.  Instead, there was a little more space between the curtain and door so you can stand between them to look out but it did not add to the useable space of the cabin.  Also, we took cold showers all week because the hot water was pretty much non-existent during the whole cruise.  We had ants on the balcony that we had never experienced before.  I can understand with all the fruity drinks that are probably spilled but we never had ants before.  The cabin also never really got cold, especially at night.  I was sweating at night.  Usually I am freezing because my husband cranks the air.  Not this time.

 

2.  The cruise consisted of 90-95% of Puerto Ricans.  It affected the traffic line to the port as the majority of the passengers did not need shuttle or taxi but were being picked up by family members, meaning more cars in line.  We sat if traffic for a good 15 minutes since there is only one lane in to the port.  Most of the entertainment and food were geared toward the Puerto Rican passengers, who took full advantage of taking over the ship.  We had smokers on the balcony and in the cabins, which we smelled in the hallways.  The majority of the passengers traveled in packs, which caused significant back ups, etc. since they seemed to stop in public areas and just congregate.  They were loud, and I mean loud.  It didn't appear that Puerto Ricans speak in low tones.  Just normal conversations seemed like a bunch of yelling.  We definitely felt like outsiders and spent a lot of time in our cabin or on our balcony to get away from the loudness.  We did, however, get the chance to enjoy the pools/hot tubs in the morning of port days since a lot of the other passengers were either sleeping off their wild night before or were off the ship.  The food at the Windjammer was geared toward the Puerto Rican passengers, except for the "American" section of burgers/fries/hot dogs.  A lot of the passengers did not go to the dining room but ate all meals at the Windjammer, meaning it was quite busy and messy.  Multiple tables pushed together for big parties. 

 

We witnessed the Puerto Rican passengers that brought their own musical instruments on the cruise.  In several ports, they played their instruments with a caravan of chanting Puerto Ricans for the rest of the ship to enjoy (or not enjoy which ever you prefer).  We took a couple of videos and will post it as soon as I can figure that out.  There were many that brought their own radios and would play their music rather loudly for the rest of the passengers to enjoy (or not enjoy).  I couldn't tell you how many sat in public areas with videos or songs loaded on their phones playing them for the rest of the passengers to hear.  With all of the other music on the ship geared toward Puerto Rican music, I really didn't want to hear it while trying to read my book or napping at the solarium.

 

We have sailed out of San Juan 4 times before this cruise and never experienced this many Puerto Rican passengers.  Those cruises occurred pre-hurricane.  The cruise line must be offering them some great deals for that many local passengers to be on the ship.  It was quite obvious to me that many of them are taking advantage of the 3rd/4th free in a cabin and that the locals have sailed numerous times on the ship.  They were well prepared for Caribbean night, as well as 70's night, by the costumes that were worn.  From talking to the taxi drivers and some locals while on land, they have recovered pretty well from last year's hurricane.  Obviously, the locals have the finances to enjoy a cruise vacation and all the extras (internet, drinks, shopping) despite their government claiming the country is in shambles and that they need continued financial resources from the US.  We only noticed a few things that would indicate damage from a hurricane.  I don't know if the make up the ship's passengers is due to the lack of mainland American wanting to travel to Puerto Rico to catch a cruise or some other reason but I don't think we will be sailing out of San Juan any time soon. On a side note, we did see a lot of people removing tips from their portfolio, which is a shame because we saw the crew members working extremely hard to clean up messes that were left by these large parties.

 

3.  The food variety in the Windjammer was lacking.  The food was geared toward Puerto Rican food (like rice & beans, tacos, etc) and what the cruise line would consider American food.  We were a bit disappointed in that regard.  It also appeared that the majority of the passengers preferred to eat in the Windjammer, leaving the dining room at less than full capacity and the Windjammer quite crowded.  On the port day, we did enjoy the tutti salad bar, as well as pasta station and sushi station in the main dining room.  That was our favorite meal, even though we ate at Giovanni's and Chop (which were fine).

 

4.  Although Royal Caribbean was our cruise line of choice, we have cruised on many of the other cruise lines.  We are reconsidering our thought process on whether we will be looking at Royal Caribbean as our first choice.  We are getting quite tired of the constant barrage of sales tactics.  Almost all activities on the Cruise Compass are geared toward spending money.  The wait staff inquired many times for beverage packages or specialty dining packages.  I like to enjoy myself on a cruise and not be harassed to spend my money.  I can do that pretty well on my own.  However, we have a tendency to be defiant against spending money because we are being constantly asked to do so.  Also, we are noticing more similarities to Carnival than a more upscale or classy experience.  

 

5.  The normal internet is SLOW, SLOW, SLOW, which is unacceptable these days.  It took me a half an hour just to log into my e-mails to do a little work.  They sell the surf and stream, but we have no need to stream.  I'm not sure if the stream was slow as well but the surf was just brutal.  Couldn't get much of anything done on the internet.

 

Hope my thoughts are helpful to others who are considering the Freedom. 

We were on the cruise before you and had similar experiences.  I love that the Puerto Rican culture has a good time.  I respect that. By the same token when they are so loud they are interfering with others abilities to enjoy their cruise that’s not right. Isn’t there a time and place for loud noise?  We had it in the dining room at night.  Teenagers were running into the elevators before people could get off.    There were over 800 children on our cruise.  The little children were great. One  elevator became a meeting place for teenagers who were riding the elevator up and down continuously. We didn’t go to the love and marriage game because we were told it was to be in Spanish.   I honestly do not begrudge the Puerto Rican’s for having a good time on the ship.  I’m glad They did.  I nicknamed the ship “Puerto Rico of the Seas”.

Im glad that there is a ship that the Puerto Rican’s can cruise on and have a good time.  That is wonderful for them.  My comfort zone is more sedate and another ship will be better for me in the future. I can better appreciate now what it is like being a non English speaking person on an English speaking cruise.

 

it would be great if the freedom of the seas would update their list of songs in the theater.  The music was really really old and stale.

[tlund]

Just for the record to those that suggest that maybe we are not familiar with the Puerto Rican culture and if we were, we would have had a better time on the cruise, my father's wife was Puerto Rican and my father actually almost moved to Puerto Rico before he got sick and passed away.  There is a difference between understanding a culture and having to deal with 3000 people in a confined space expecting you to adopt their culture. 

Edited December 5, 2018 by tlund

[Wrunkles]

Is there a way to see in advance if a cruise is chartered out? 

[Clarea]

2 minutes ago, Wrunkles said:

Is there a way to see in advance if a cruise is chartered out? 

 

The cruise line does not publicly release that info.

 

Some have reported luck doing an internet search using the ship's full name and the sailing date in different forms.