Too Many Passengers, Bad Cruise Line

Item: Freedom of the Seas
Rating: 1
Author: krisallfrey

Freedom of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

krisallfrey

Contributor Level: Second Mate

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 3

Helpful Votes: 36

Overall rating:

1 out of 5

Verified Review

6 Night Western Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: February 12, 2017

Ship: Freedom of the Seas

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 1278

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

The food in the main dining room was cold on most nights. The ship was way over booked with more than 5300 passengers. The crew was overwhelmed by the number of passengers. We also learned that Royal Caribbean is giving third parties personal financial information of the purchases you make on the ship. I take my privacy very seriously and will probably never sail on another Royal Caribbean Cruise due to this breach of trust and flagrant violation of US Privacy Laws. The pier staff at Port Everglades were very overwhelmed. We were flagged by US Customs because of fraudulent reporting by Royal Caribbean to US Customs. The Royal Caribbean Employee made it her mission to almost yell that we are being detained by US Customs on 4 different occasions while escorting us to Customs. The Royal Caribbean Employee was also trying to separate our family do to the mistake they made in reporting to customs. They offered no apology for the whole ordeal and no one in their corporate office will even speak with us about the incident. It simply appears that Royal Caribbean has grown to big and no longer cares about individual passengers just their bottom line. I would suggest looking at other cruise lines and avoiding Royal Caribbean at all cost.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Cold Food in Main Dining Room.

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

1 out of 5

Staff was overwhelmed by the number of guest and it affected almost all of the staff.

Ship Quality

1 out of 5

Not enough seating in public areas for the number of passengers that are sailing on the ship.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

We stayed in a Grand Suite. Great room attendant.

Ports of call

George Town, Grand Cayman

3 out of 5

Costa Maya (Mahahual), Mexico

3 out of 5

16 Comments

krisallfrey 7 years ago

in fact we have booked a Cruise on MSC for Feb 2018 and we booked on Carnival for Feb 2019. we have a group of 30 booked right now on the MSC Cruise. We have a group of over 100 booked on the Carnival Cruise. These are the same people that we went on with RC in 2015 and 2017. The whole group decided to not go on any future RC Cruises and to try other cruise lines. Will let you know how it works out.

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JohnsonL 7 years ago

Krisallfrey, you suggested taking other than Royal Caribbean cruises at any cost. Are you going to follow your own suggestion? That would mean that you stay off Royal Caribbean and Celebrity cruise ships. I would like to read your honest reviews from other cruise experiences, good or bad.

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krisallfrey 7 years ago

Let's clear up a few misconceptions based on assumptions of some comments. we are Emeralds in the RC Crown & Anchor Society. We have never had a problem with RC until this cruise. We contacted RC two days after we got back from the cruise and have recieved no response from their customer service department or their executive office. When we did our declaration we did as a family of four so we were allowed $3200.00 of duty free purchases and we were not even close to that. We were not even half that amount. Ships capacity is based on the number of rooms X two people per room. it is recognized as the industry standard for a cruise ship. This is called the capacity but it is not the total number of passengers on the ship. Many rooms will accommodate four passengers. As for Cozumel we went in at the International pier for RC. There was only one way to walk out of the compound as all entrances and exits were guarded by security personnel. when you finally get to the exit for passengers there is a Taxi Stand with ropes set up to wind the lines around. I have never had a problem getting a Taxi in Cozumel until this trip and I believe it specifically had to do with the pier we came in on.

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Valkyrie661 7 years ago

Question, how can you bring aboard 5,300 passengers when the boat max capacity is 3,634, I honestly think you have the wrong ship.

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raineywife 7 years ago

I agree with your statement about food not being hot. in April 2016. The Windjammer and main dining food was never hot. I do realize it was a trek from the kitchen to our table however I felt it should have been warmer. walking from station to station does make food warmer by the time you get ti table. thats why i set up my drinks napkins and silverware first, then go get my food cold stuff first, then hot.

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gpruch600 7 years ago

As a retired Customs officer I can tell you that you were probably flagged due to your financial transactions onboard the ship. Years ago the cruise and airline industry signed a memorandum of understanding with Customs and Immigration to assist them in identifying passengers for a more thorough inspection. This was an effort to eliminate fines that were levied against the companies for illegal activities that happened on their ships or planes. Not that I am saying you conducted illegal activity it was the amount of financial transaction that was reason behind the inspection.

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Connie60 7 years ago

absolutely love RCL....we always eat in the Windjammer, food is great and hot. cant have an overbooked cruise, everyone needs a room to stay in per international laws. sounds like you tried to get away with stuff and cgot caught. This will be our 4th cruise and definitely not the last!!!!!

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willwork4cruz 7 years ago

Overbooked, do you mean there were passengers on board without a room? I would like to know the whole story of your experience.

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kknorr0320 7 years ago

FYI I believe ALL cruiselines do this.

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kknorr0320 7 years ago

Royal Caribbean is required to report certain large purchases to customs. It sounds like you got busted trying to avoid paying duty on some big ticket item. Obviously it's not a violation of any law.

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RandieW 7 years ago

you can't fit more people on a ship than it can hold. they may have had all rooms booked, but then it is to capacity and that is normal

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migrose 7 years ago

wow I never had a problem with RCCL. maybe u r not the cruising type. do yrself a favour and stick to land vacations in the future.

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msselenarg 7 years ago

I sailed on FOS in the past and the crew was amazing, service was impeccable and our dining experience good.

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msselenarg 7 years ago

Wow I have taken several RC cruises and thankfully have never experienced anything other than a good time. I hope you have better experiences in the future.

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capttrips 7 years ago

We have been on 25-30 cruises , mostly with RCI, and have never encountered anything like you mention here, or any of your other reviews. It's called a chill pill.

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MulletChamp2024 7 years ago

I'm surprised that this is your first cruise and your first review.

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