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Caribbean - Eastern cruise review

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Not worth the money cruise

Item: Freedom of the Seas
Rating: 2
Author: mtsegura77

Freedom of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

mtsegura77

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 9

Overall rating:

2 out of 5

Verified Review

Eastern Caribbean

Sail date: January 24, 2016

Ship: Freedom of the Seas

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 1378

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

i found the staff to be very pleasant and the entertainment very good. They had a wonderful nursery and child care program. The food however was horrendous and the speciality restaurants limited and lousy. Everyone in our cabin ended up sick and vomiting for 1-2 days. Also, drink packages and everything else is too overpriced compared to other cruise lines. I won't travel on RC again.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Children's Programs

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ports of call

Port Canaveral, Florida

3 out of 5

Cococay (Cruise Line's Private Island)

3 out of 5

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42 Comments

vader1168 8 years ago

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intothevoid0214 8 years ago

I believe you have to pay for bottled water. I hear people just refill their bottles with the ship's own water.

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dannette1960 8 years ago

Do you have to pay for bottled water?

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intothevoid0214 8 years ago

They give champagne at the captains formal party and I think at the art auction. If you're a drinker, get the package. If you're not really a drinker don't get the package and pay for your drinks as you get them. Either way, you don't go the whole cruise getting free drinks, it just doesn't happen.

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dannette1960 8 years ago

Back up on the free drinks. I was not aware they gave anything away free, explain.

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intothevoid0214 8 years ago

LOL

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Patrick4 8 years ago

I'm lost myself lol, 0214

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intothevoid0214 8 years ago

Wow, no comment for that last comment

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Patrick4 8 years ago

That's what I did :-) :-) :-)

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Csonnal 8 years ago

That's rule of thump lol. Take care of the bartenders and your all set.

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intothevoid0214 8 years ago

I'm sure as long as you also take care of the bartenders they'll take care of you

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Patrick4 8 years ago

I've never known anyone to have it taken away but who knows?!

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Patrick4 8 years ago

My wife is a super light drinker, we shared drinks and I bought her a few...as long as you don't abuse it...you are good, we sure were fine :-)

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Csonnal 8 years ago

Exactly

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intothevoid0214 8 years ago

You do not have to buy the drink packages on the first day In the months (or years) leading up to your Royal Caribbean cruise, you will see a ton of advertising to purchase a drink package and even on embarkation day, there will be plenty of opportunity to buy a drink package. But you do not have to buy it on day one. As long as there are at least four days left in your cruise, you can opt to purchase a drink package later in your cruise and pay a prorated amount for the package. This means on a seven night cruise, you can wait until day two or three to buy a drink package and then pay only for the remaining days of the package.

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Csonnal 8 years ago

I think that's ridiculous. Side note you can not customize which day you choose for that package to be used. You must purchase for the whole cruise time. If your on a cruise for 7 days or more, you have the option of purchasing just 4 days when u arrive at your cruise

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intothevoid0214 8 years ago

So I just read that both don't have to purchase drink package if one person does but: You cannot share the drink packages with someone else Let me be crystal clear here: it is against Royal Caribbean's rules to share the benefits of the drink package with anyone else. Period. Royal Caribbean stipulates the drink packages are solely for the person purchasing it and if caught sharing the package, you may have your drink package canceled without refund.

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Patrick4 8 years ago

Yeah, I was impressed :-)

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intothevoid0214 8 years ago

Really?

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intothevoid0214 8 years ago

No way

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Patrick4 8 years ago

No, changed it one year ago exactly, thank God

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intothevoid0214 8 years ago

On Royal both have to in the room

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Patrick4 8 years ago

On rc yes, but we have friends that cruise carnival and ncl and as of last year...both had to purchase

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lindackelley 8 years ago

no only one in stateroom

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Patrick4 8 years ago

Unless things have changed and they could have...both people in a two person stateroom have to purchase the alcohol package

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intothevoid0214 8 years ago

How is it on other cruises @Patrick4

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Patrick4 8 years ago

I guess I never saw the "drink packages overpriced" comment. At least rc only makes one person in the cabin purchase the package.

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intothevoid0214 8 years ago

You know exactly what you're paying for when you purchase the drink packages, if it's too much for you don't buy it. When I'm on vacation I drink, heavily. When I add it up it's definitely worth the purchase for me.

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davepatscruiseinfo 8 years ago

Cruised on FOS in May for 40th anniversary ant cruise was great!! Food in MDR buffet and specialty restaurants was great as well. Hope to get to go again soon. Definitely a 5 star cruise!

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sbareit 8 years ago

Been on 5 Royal Caribbean cruises. Food AWESOME every trip. People get sick because they don't wash their hands, not because of the food.

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cruisegirl43 8 years ago

We cruised in November and I love Freedom and will cruise her again. However the food in the MDR was terrible. There were 4 of us and we all agreed. Perhaps it depends on what you order but on the last night we gave up and ate in the lido so we could select what we wanted and get something different if we did not like it.

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Patrick4 8 years ago

I disagree. We cruised rc last March and the food in the main dining room was fantastic! I noticed less bar tenders and servers in theaters and clubs but food was as good as always!

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cruisesforus 8 years ago

She's correct about the food on rcl. I asked hundreds of people and they all agree it's gone down hill. The only cruise line that is said to have fabulous food is it's sister ship Celebrity cruise lines. if you're not concerned about the food the rest of the ship was wonderful

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smilyse429 8 years ago

Me too. leaving on the 14th

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lindackelley 8 years ago

I have been on 3 Carnival and 2 were very nice ships.... Sunshine impressed me the most of the three... Now I am trying RCI.

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cruzgal06 8 years ago

amen colum ! Guess I am loyal to royal out and out

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colum 8 years ago

I really wonder about other peoples expectations on a cruise. I have been on 5 RCL cruises and 1 NCL. I have constantly been blown away with the food and service on RCL. Not so much by NCL which is why I wont cruise with them again. As for "overpriced" drinks package, dont buy it if you think it's too expensive. You can buy your drinks a la carte. I have always found more than one solution to any problem on board but some people will never be satisfied.

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cruzgal06 8 years ago

Moser...do you suppose RCI as well as other cruiselines are down playing the dining experience in the main dining rooms in order to focus on the upscaling of specialty dining..after all the supposed luxury lines only offer specialty dining so really your still paying for the style with the higher price point on the cruise. I see that most new RCI ships only have specialty dining and after the fleet gets all the upgrades I think main dining will be gone.

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moser 8 years ago

after 8 royal cruises,most recently Hawaii, I have to say that the food in the dining room has gone downhill a lot. The food in Chops and the Italian one was excellent but why should we have to pay extra for decent food? if the dining room is as bad this the it will be our last with RC. We will cruise less frequently but with one of the so called luxury lines.

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smilyse429 8 years ago

I have heard such good things about Rc. I've only been on carnival otherwise. I always tend to judge for myself

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cruzgal06 8 years ago

Everyone should always judge for themselves. Although your opinion counts, its not the obviously not the only opinion out there. I too have been on other cruiselines. .but in my opinion RCI does the best job overall. We will miss you. since you will not be posting on this site again since you dislike RCI. I value everyone's opinions but make my own observations...Thank you anyway..

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smilyse429 8 years ago

well that's not good to hear, leaving next Sunday

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