Our Eastern Caribbean trip on the amazing Freedom was extended by a 5 hour detour to Nassau for a medical emergency. Captain Ron made up 4 hours and we entered St. Thomas only an hour late. A delayed departure from the port allowed us to travel out at night from the harbor. It was delightful standing on the bow in the dark pulling out. Guests in the Marriott must have enjoyed it as well as flashes from cameras could be seen from both sides of the hotel.
As my first cruise since discovering a gluten intolerance, I was concerned about the impact on that on menu selections and options. The MDR handled it great by providing me a menu the night before and I was able to write my choices and discuss options with the head waiter, Ian. Some options were not possible as many items are now pre-prepared (a change over the last dozen years on RCL), but it was fine. The Windjammer had a GF section and even Sorrento could provide me GF pizza with only a 7 minute wait time.
The reason that FOS didn't get an Excellent rating is due to issues that I think are the result of corporate changes. Mandatory tipping, IMO, has reduced the caliber of the service as the staff is no longer working for an end goal - some forget that we can/do tip extra for good service. The pre-paid beverage packages with tip included also seemed to impact the service of bar and beverage servers. I enjoyed my conversations with our cabin steward, Eton, but I missed the towel animals every night (we only got 3). I also miss activities such a s Backgammon tournaments - they spend a lot of time with trivia. A number of the shows were exactly the same as in April, '13 - including the "headliner" magician, Ice Show, and the Once Upon Time Production show.
Loved the front of the hum cabin - great view!