Family Vacation

Freedom of the Seas Cruise Review to Europe - Western Mediterranean

mcmahanbetsy

Contributor Level: Deck Hand

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 14

Overall rating:

4 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Western Mediterranean (Barcelona Roundtrip)

Sail date: June 11, 2017

Ship: Freedom of the Seas

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: 7702

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

We had a great cruise experience. Our room attendant, Ralph, was extremely pleasant and kept our room looking great. The cruise director, Mercedes, was awesome. We loved the various shows and her sense of humor.

Our only complaint was about the food, especially in the dining room. It was well below expectations in quality and the service was poor. We gave up on the dining room after a few days, as the food was not worth the long wait each night.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ports of call

Barcelona, Spain

5 out of 5

Marseille (Provence), France

5 out of 5

Villefranche-Sur-Mer, France

3 out of 5

La Spezia, Italy

5 out of 5

Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy

5 out of 5

Naples, Italy

5 out of 5

6 Comments

JohnsonL 7 years ago

If you believe a ship carrying thousands of people is going to match the preparation of an above-average land based restaurant, serving a few dozen patrons, then you're going to be disappointed on any of the large ships unless you eat in their specialty restaurants. I think that's why there's such a big difference in the food reviews. For some people the food and the service is part of a nice cruise but anyone expecting that each meal in the main dining room is the memorable experience of the cruise is not going to be happy these days.

20 years ago, or on a small luxury cruise, I think the inflated dining expectations were, or can be, met in the main dining rooms but that's just not reasonable on a big ship today for reasons including, health, cleanliness, seating volume, and costs.

The cost of food from dock to your table within the total cruise costs is also very relevant. Room + travel + entertainment + food at less than $200 a day is not going to cover a $100 meal at one sitting.

We enjoy the meals, we enjoy the service, we didn't have to cook, we didn't have to clean up afterwards. More importantly, the main dining room food is not the main reason we cruise. We do want that main dining room experience, in total to be good or very good, but we adjust our expectations within the context of the size of ship and how full the sailing.

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DanCrissy23 7 years ago

We used to be excited to go to dinner every night.. because the food was next level to what normal is. I haven't been impressed with royal MDR on the last three cruises but not totally disappointed. They just used to really go above and beyond and choices really interesting, I feel like now it's like going to a wedding basically, average to decent food but nothing exciting, now the other restaurants Sabor, Chops, etc have been Wonderful and a nice change... the windjammer is treading water too, Atleast change it up a day here or there, we were on a 9 night in March and I could have navigated the buffet on memory alone lol. Food was good just repetitious... Take a Princess cruise and you'll see what the Food quality differences are.. both Cruise lines have there perks and traits, Just Royal is slacking on the food end last few years.. I think it may have to do with what people are accustomed too also, My wife and I are mid 30s and tend to eat at nicer places so it may just be us, but I've heard plenty of others chime in over the years about it as well.

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Patrick4 7 years ago

Dan, I just don't see it. We went w a large group in March. We had sea bass, combine, salmon, lobster, shrimp, escargot, prime rib, steak, duck, chicken dishes, lamb, pork, pastas, salads.. am I missing something? We aren't diamond, but have cruised rc several times.

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DanCrissy23 7 years ago

I love RCCL, but the food has taken a real hit the last few years, Princess has the best food from our cruising, but almost Diamond on Royal so we can tough it out lol... still doing have to cook for ourselves so that makes it better haha.

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Patrick4 7 years ago

7 cruises over a long period and I've never been disappointed w the food in the mdr!

Thumbs Up 2

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GIL155 7 years ago

Gotta be glad these ships have more dining options than just the MDR.

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