Disappointed

Freedom of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

mllively

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 8

Overall rating:

2 out of 5

Eastern Caribbean

Sail date: April 03, 2016

Ship: Freedom of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 1604

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

It seemed like everywhere you went, something was being added to your bill. Gratuities are automatically added on, which is not told to you until after the cruise is booked and yet there were additional gratuities on every drink that was bought. I believe that the cruise industry should have to be like the airlines are now, the price quoted on the web should include the port fees, taxes and the gratuities to actually see what you will have to pay.

The excursions that we chose were very good, however one excursion that we wanted to do because it was advertised on the tv in the rooms on the ship turned out to not exist on the advertised island. Items that were supposed to be included on another of our excursions, also were not included.

Ship rules state that no drinks, other than 2 bottles of wine per cabin, were allowed to be brought onto the ship, and we followed those rules, but yet we saw people bringing on cases of water and soda. This wouldn't have been a big deal, but for the fact that to buy a case of water on the ship was $69! That is almost $6 per bottle! Photographers were everywhere and they did take some nice pictures, but those were $24 each. I am sure that they would sell a lot more pictures if the prices were more reasonable.

On the positive side, the staff on the ship were outstanding. We had excellent service from our cabin attendant and all of the wait staff in our restaurant.

We were also celebrating my granddaughters 13th birthday on the cruise and we made arrangements to take her to one of the specialty restaurants on the ship and made prior arrangement to have a piece of cake as part of the celebration. Dinner came and went, and no mention was made at all. We then went to our normal restaurant the next evening and again planned ahead for some special consideration for her, and that also did not happen. As we left the restaurant, we questioned the hostess, who saw that it was requested. She was apologetic, but it was too late then.

I don't believe I would cruise again on this line.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

1 out of 5

Children's Programs

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Cabin was nice and our cabin attendant was outstanding! He took care of us extremely well!

Ship tip

Plan on spending a LOT more than the cruise itself!

Thumbs up

12 Comments

keylempi 8 years ago

Sounds like a lot of people didn't take the time to explore the cruise line website or any other info. That's on you. All this info is easy to find if you only take a little bit of time and do the research.

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spiegeje 8 years ago

The crew work hard and deserve to be paid. Added gratuities is well known in the cruise industry and available on the RC website. You just have to be observant to know how it is structured.

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jeffcloud 8 years ago

Royal Carribean. Freedom of the Seas. I will add the staff was fine, the shows were fine, My steward for my room was very friendly and attentive. Had a little problem first day where we needed our bed separated into two beds and I ended up separating it myself at about midnight because nobody came to do it. After the first night the room was straightened twice a day.

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Patrick4 8 years ago

Jeff, what line and ship?

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jeffcloud 8 years ago

I'm on my last day of this 7 day cruise as I type this comment. It was my first cruise I ever took also. The whole thing has felt like one big scam. I prepaid gratuities and I don't drink alcohol. Every channel on the damn tv is trying to get you to pay for some crap. Prior to sailing we linked reservations to my brother and his wife so we could dine together and they screwed that up. My brother had an on board $250 credit from a previous cruise they tried to screw him out of. He had to fight tooth and nail and finally got it back. The whole cruise felt like one of those 90 minute time share condo presentation sales pitches to get you to buy something.

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Patrick4 8 years ago

You chose acupuncture on a cruise ship...think about that :-) Buy a picture package. Again, I have never paid extra gratuity through 5 rc cruises. You were naive...you learned and it won't happen again. Cheers!

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dannette1960 8 years ago

I prepaid gratuities and purchased a drink package. I have no problems tipping, and so with several wait staff over and above my prepaid grattuities. What I dont like is being forced to pay additional grattuities because the cruse line under pays their staff. Pay a decent wage and have one all inclusive price. Inforce the rules to everyone or do not have them. (Bringing beverages on board.) If there was one price excluding liquor people would feel more fairly treated.

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Patrick4 8 years ago

Simple fix, pre pay gratuity and purchase a drink package...I have never had extra charges through 5 rc cruises!

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randy110 8 years ago

I do prepaid gratuity, but also tip bar, and room steward, that's just me, I feel that they are under paid for what they do, and give up their families to try to make a decent living, but never any problems with extra charges on my ship tab. Before one cruises, they should do extensive research and compare ship for ship and cruise line for cruise line and ask lots of questions. My philosophy is "QUESTION EVERYTHING ".

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dannette1960 8 years ago

I agree there were alot of extra grattitudes. I had an acupuncture treatment by a MD on board. It did not work left me brused and in more pain than I was. The MD said I needed 3 more treatments and charged me for them with a 18% grattitudity. It was a scam! Beware of all the pain seminars on the boat they all lead to a sales pitch for some product. Shame on me for falling for it. I had to go to guest services to get the charges removed and the grattitudies. I did pay for one treatment because I was gullible enough to fall for it. Pictures were way over priced!!!! I was disappointed with the food in the dinning room. It was never hot. We had the sam 3 vegetables everyday sliced carrots,broccoli, mashed potatoes. They wait staff were amazing and went out of their way to make up for the food problems. I also saw people carring cases of water and soda on board. I resented this because I followed the rules and purchased a drink package. If you are not a soda drinker dont bother. The soda machines are not real convient either.

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CENSORED 8 years ago

The gratuity added to your sea pass account each day are for your cabin steward, waiter, assistant waiter, and head waiter. The bar servers do not receive any of that. You could have prepaid them when you paid for the cruise do they would not show up daily on your account.

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petersen 8 years ago

My wife had birthday when we last year sent on the Seranade, the evening before i asked the waiter for the possibility of a cake and no problems, it was delivered to our table, so we had it with our Coffee. Royal again.? Can't see why not. About grattitudes, it is clearly stated on their website that there is a fixed amount for each passengers a day, as there are on all Cruise ships.

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