Freedom of the Seas Review

Nice ship but large

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Freedom of the Seas
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aamons
2-5 Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Feb 2014

Cruised with Country's Family Reunion (CFR) group of about 1,100. Cruise was booked through Cruises Only. Combination of apparent lack of communication between CFR and Cruises Only staff on board and ship's company lead to some not too happy experiences. Dining room table assignments (all of group was assigned to 5:30 pm seating) via on-board room key and credit card were good 1st night - great waiter. Then either CFR or Cruises Only people or dining room staff resulted in all CFR group being told at beginning of show that ended that all previous table assignments were not good any more and that when show ended a tad after 5pm) and all 1,000+ people moved to dining room at once it would be first come first seated and the new tables would be those for rest of cruise. So try and picture 1,000+ people crowding to get into 3rd deck dining room at same time. Chaos is a polite description. And we got a different table with an indifferent waiter - to be polite. We contacted dining room staff after dinner and head waiter (actually a delightful lady) got us a new table with excellent waitress next night and for rest of cruise.

Food in main dining room was excellent. Food in Windjammer was not quite as good. Only one desert serving island at all meals and they kept running out of deserts with long delays to get new ones. Carving stations were not always manned and again they ran out there also. French fries were wonderfully crisp and salads were good and plentiful. Other main problems were after shows having 1,000+ waiting for elevators and people wanting to get into shows blocking elevator doors from closing due to crowding at Arcadia entrance. Cabin (balcony) was very good and cabin steward was excellent - we did not know that towels could be folded into the animal shapes that he did - hanging orangutan (or baboon) and hanging bat were the best. Imported (not ship's company) singers were lame to poor - we walked out of show after 20 minutes. Extra charge luggage valet program (you put luggage in passageway and pick it up at destination airport) was well worth it and we will use it again. Smooth boarding of ship before sailing and smooth debarking process. People tended to put towels on deck chairs and then disappear for hours. soft serve ice cream on deck 11 was wonderful - we ate too much of it. St. Martin had 6 ships tied up at pier. Overall, pleasant cruise experience.

Cabin Review

Very nice cabin. Lots of storage space. Balcony was great, but dividers between balconies rattled a bit. Cabin steward did wonders with folding towels into animal shapes when preparing cabin for night.

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