Good entertainment and service, horrible food

Freedom of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

RP1

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 13

Overall rating:

3 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Western Caribbean (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)

Sail date: October 09, 2016

Ship: Freedom of the Seas

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 7691

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

I've been on many cruises, mostly on Carnival. While the entertainment on Freedom was excellent (excellent shows with highly talented people) as were the people and the service, the food was unbelievably terrible. We were stunned by the lazy preparation, the lack of flavor and taste, the freshness (pretty sure some of it was frozen and heated up) both in the restaurant and at the buffet. I think the strategy is just throw a lot of cheap, low grade food at people and they'll be happy. Everything is geared towards upselling you to the specialty restaurants at $30-$35 per person. The food on Carnival was Infinitely better!

Sorrento's is there pizza place. I'm not exaggerating when I say that frozen pizza tastes better. They have a Chinese buffet each night called "Jade". It's awful. It makes Panda Express look like gourmet Chinese food.

Everything on the boat is about trying to upsell you. If food is important to you, take Carnival. Royal Caribbean is very over rated.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

Ports of call

Port Canaveral, Florida

3 out of 5

Labadee (Cruise Line Private Island)

5 out of 5

7 Comments

6440707 8 years ago

I have been on rc navigator of the sea and carnival vista recently out of Barcelona there is no comparison rc is classy food good tasting be it windjammer or fine dinning great service and generous where as vista is food court mall food lousy food everyday the same and also cheapskates

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petestexasgirl 8 years ago

I have cruised both and I have to say the RCI has always been outstanding. Now I have to agree about the pizza, yeah it's not that good. But the dining room always impressed me.

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ucfgrad 8 years ago

Take the galley tour!!! All food is fresh and all pizza dough, breads and pastries are baked from scratch daily. Staff is very committed to serving a wide variety while doing their best to handle all food allergies and health issues very carefully. Difficult to please numerous passengers. The crew is served ethnic choices also. Sure do not know what else they can do to make everyone happy.

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mvh8898 8 years ago

I am not partial to any cruise line. However, when it comes to food, Carnival beats RCI hands down. You will never hear a RCI loyalist admit that though. I still feel RCI has an edge in just about all other categories.

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jojo0918 8 years ago

many cruises are not listed....agree sounds strange. We have always been pleased with the food on RC. If you are not happy with food there are plenty of staff walking around checking on you. Share your issues with the staff on the ship. They can't help your problems thru this site.

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bigcruisers2 8 years ago

Sounds fishy to me. I have never felt like that. Sounds like another cruise line employee. Just saying

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jimnkathy 8 years ago

My feeling is just the opposite. The food on Carnival cannot compete with food served on Royal Caribbean. Nothing I had on Carnival was horrible but some of it sure seemed like it came out of a can. My wife and I prefer Royal Caribbean to Carnival hands down

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