This was our eighteenth cruise with RCCL. We found a good deal on a stateroom and decided to book the Freedom of the Seas. We should mention that we are Diamond members in their loyalty program. We sailed from Port Canaveral. Things started well as our luggage was taken to our stateroom before we sailed. Great! While waiting for our room to open (they restrict you from going to your room until 1 PM) we decided to go to the Windjammer for a buffet lunch. Lunch was (in a word) horrible! We became concerned as we have found that the food quality on the RCCL has been going steadily downward. The same evening we ate in the Main Dining room found the service to be excellent while the menu seemed to be limited and the food was not that good. The following morning breakfast was just terrible! Powdered eggs with salmon bits mixed in? Really it was terrible!

As the cruise progressed the food improved! The FOS has a promotion (I assume other RCCL ships do as well) where you can purchase three nights in a specialty restaurant for $70/person. We felt that was a good deal. Chops was excellent as usual and we ate there twice and Giovannis once. As usual we enjoyed Coco Cay and felt they did a good job with the luncheon served on shore. Next stop was St. Thomas and found that we were disappointed (nothing to do with the ship). Just seemed like nothing was going on nor were there any good deals. St. Maarten was our last stop and we enjoyed it as usual, always fun.

On this cruise we discovered a new procedure on the FOS....if you take a towel from the attendant at the pool, he/she will scan your sea pass card. Likewise they will scan your card when you return your towel. IF YOU DO NOT RETURN YOUR TOWEL(S) THERE WILL BE A $25.00 CHARGE PUT ON YOUR BILL. Be careful! Just one other negative item to report on the FOS, the music was horrible compared with other ships we have sailed on. No dance music on the 4th deck, only a guitar player. Even the pool band was weak.We had more music on the Navigator of the Seas (a smaller ship) than on the FOS! Read more