Freedom of the Seas

The FOS is a fabulous boat!  Loved Cruise Director Casey and his morning show!! Staff was great from the dining experience (Any Time Dining) to stateroom attendant. This was the first time with ATD. We liked the flexibility of the dining experience (don't forget to make your reservations).  We also went to Giovanni's Specialty Dining.  Again another great experience.  It was quiet fine dining.  A requested change with Royal would be to revise the TV stations. Coverage was scarce.  Even though we are on a cruising vacation, at the end of the day, winding down at night with a cocktail,  we like to catch up on National News, but the stations: 3 of them were repeat sitcom comedies, 3 of them were repeat cartoons, 3 of them were shopping, 2 were National News (CNN & Headline News), and 10 or more stations were in Spanish!  We took advantage of the VOOM internet services which was a lifesaver but the connection was a bit slow.  Also, trying to view our "Account On-Line" we had to "wait in the que" for more than 10 minutes to review our account. Even though it may take a while, use this option to book your excursions rather than wait in line at the Excursion Desk.  The tickets will be delivered to your room and you can enjoy other facilities on board.   On the Ports of Call.  Grand Cayman was great. Remember this POC is tendered. Allow about 20-30 minutes from boat to port and port to boat. We shopped and then took a 1 hour Island Trolley Roger Tour. Glad we took the later tour which gave us plenty of  morning shopping time. We were not impressed with Roatan (Taybana Beach Resort) POC.  It was a bumpy 30 minute van ride there and the beach "resort" was not what we expected.  "Local" vendors were everywhere on the shoreline and security officers were there as well.  A little disappointed at that Port of Call. Otherwise Costa Maya, Mayan Ruins, (the 4 hour tour) was great.  The tour guide (Daniel Jr) was informative and awesome.  Glad we did the 4 hour excursion since it was VERY HOT!  Bottled water was provided when you entered the bus and again after the tour was over and you returned to the bus.  A must see.  At Cozumel, my husband finished his PADI Scuba Certification course with a 2 tank dive.  He thoroughly enjoyed his experience.  We were disappointed that we were only in Cozumel until 3:30.  It seems as though we should have been able to stay longer since we had one cruising day on Saturday arriving back at port on Sunday. We were cruising by Key West on Saturday around supper time and it doesn't seem like it would take 12 hours to make it back to Port Canavaral.