Just back from Oct. 14 Freedom cruise!

[39august]

This was a great cruise experience over-all. Here are just some of my observations. Embarkation was fabulous! They have reinstated priority boarding at Miami, at least for this cruise. Certainly hope RCI keeps it up for all Miami cruises. We were at the pier at 11 AM as usual. Line began moving inside in about 1 minute. As always, lines moved quickly. After we checked in, we were handed orange tags saying "priority". Others were given group numbers for boarding. There was a separate priority boarding waiting area. We waited maybe 10 minutes and were called to board first. We were in the Windjammer at 11:35! It is obvious that RCI expects these early arrivals, as this is the first time I have seen the WJ open before noon. Also, the maitre'd was in the 4th floor dining room for seat assignment changes from 11:30 to 3:30. We changed our table for 6 to a great table for 2 by the port side windows. We were blessed with a very attentive, friendly and efficient wait staff. Debarkation was also a relative breeze. Since we are Diamond, we had white colored luggage tags, the first group called off after Express and tour groups. We were called about 7:30 and at the airport before 8:30. Now, just some random thoughts. Many people had a hard time finding the sports bar. It is on deck 3 called On Air. Our E1 cabin seemed a bit larger, but there was less storage space due to the flat screen TV and some wasted space. No problem for us, but might be for those who overpack. Tho' we have experienced some soot on Voyager class balconies, we were surprised at how much was on our balcony. Our robes even had black spots on them after sitting outside! Didn't really bother us, but we were careful to wipe off lounges and chairs, wore flip flops out side and wore either our robles or old tee shirts that we didn't care about getting soot on. The flow-rider was a hoot to watch. I also thought the H2O zone looked well designed and intriging for youngsters. If you want the sauna or steam room, they are located inside the gym locker rooms. There was never any action in the boxing ring when I was at the gym, but the gym is great! Never was crowded for me. The Diamond Lounge has one wall of glass, so in my opinion, it is much nicer than the Concierge Lounge on Freedom and Voyager class ships. The concierge, Juan Diego, is very gracious. He had ice show tickers on his desk the first night and we could pick up what we wanted. (By the way, the ice show tickets were given out on the Promenade the next morning and I saw tickets still availbalbe at noon, long after the advertised time to pick them up.) The ice show was a less than stellar experiences. I spoke with several other folks who have seen many other ice shows, and we all agreed that this was the weakest we have seen. Not to say it wasn't worth watching, but I was surprised that RCI doesn't have the best ice talent on this ship. Maybe on the Liberty? So far the best ice show I have seen is Planet Ice on Explorer. The production shows were A+. Best talented cast I have seen. I also greatly enjoyed the Bull and Bear entertainer, Scott. He sang a lot of soft rock, folksy music like Jimmy Buffet and Eagles. I thought the magician was just OK. We did enjoy that the music in the WJ was mostly jazz and easy listening or soft rock. Not the irritating rap type that we suffer thru on some other ships. Freedom has done away with midnight buffet. Too much food and crew time was wasted as few people were showing up for these. Too many other options on this ship for food. We did eat at Chops, which is now $25 pp. Yes, the steaks were very good, but no more so that those we grill at home, just bigger than we usually eat! The lobster bisque seems to be the same as that served in the dining room, with the addition of several nice sized chunks of lobster meat. I was dissapointed in the crab and shrimp cake. It was pretty tastless. ( I frequently eat Dungeness crab, so I know what it should taste like!) The creamed spinach and the mushrooms side dishes were very good. And the mud cake was fantastic!! Also the service was fantastic. An enjoyable experience, but we won't do it again. I also enjoyed the art work on this ship. It is pretty different from others. It was nice to see LA Cindy, whom we met 2 years ago on Navigator. She recognized me immediately. How do they do this? Anyway, I enjoyed a bit of chit chat with her at the Welcome Back party and when I signed up for Liberty May 3, 2008. I also did a "Next Cruise" for some future booking. Love that on board credit! Freedom was a very good cruise.

[cot427]

Thanks for the review.

 

It was on her the week before you, the 7th. I had the exact same thoughts you did. Embarkation was a breeze and they reinstated the priority orange tags. The windjammer was open early, debarkation was easy too, the entertainment was the best ive seen yet, and Cindy was the nicest person onboard, always a pleasure.

[39august]

I forgot to mention that I spoke with a couple of people who were trying the open seating dining. Both thought it was going well, but both said that they were encouraged the first night to make reservations for the rest of the week. One lady was given a choice of only 7 or 7:30. She was advised that if she did not have a standing reservation, she could expect a wait period. So, that doesn't really seem like "open" seating. Tho' I wouldn't mind having a reservation. BUT, how is that different from traditional dining? And concerning the soot, I believe only the aft balconies have this problem.