Disappointing at best

Embarkation was smooth and could have been twice as fast IF they handed out the mandatory paperwork had been handed out before reaching the check in counter as they do in all other piers - it is simply unbelievable that they don't at the pier Freedom uses since all the other piers at the same port do.

The physical design and build of the ship is well done and very functional except for a common problem on many ships, and that is that some decks don't go through from forward to aft. So one must go up 1 or 2 decks and walk through the smokey and crowded and purposefully labyrinthine CASINO - as if their motives weren't transparent The dining room is somewhat more tasteful than Las Vegas visually, but the service was excellent from the staff which is hampered by corporate stupidity. Number one of which is the corporate decision to NOT set the table with any spoons ! so when one is served Ice Tea (which everyone at our table and half the dining room were drinking) to stir in any sweetener you had to use your butter knife or some other utensil, seriously ? ? ! ! Food was plentiful for 2nds or 3rds, but many items lacked flavor and/or proper cooking. All shellfish were completely over cooked to the point of not coming out of their shells even with chiseling, Escargot did not have enough garlic (hardly any) but was somehow smothered in cheese ? ! One night the Rack of Lamb was wonderful, but the next night the Lamb Shank was overcooked, dry to the point that most opted to change it out. Most pasta dishes were inedible with the exception of the last nights Rigatoni. As to the buffet for breakfast or lunch the selections were ample and the lines seemed to function rather well with a few exceptions for the breakfast rush. One stupid Corporate (again) decision is to not have any croissants available with the breads, only to be had by the roving waiters. Now mind you all the other breads and even more elaborate pastries were out for the picking, but croissants have to be hailed like a NYC Taxi. And this brings us to the merciless nickel-and-diming by RCCL: their standard orange juice is very watered down and only available with ice (if you ask for some without it comes HOT, not warm, but hot) so "fresh squeezed" is available for $5.00 a glass - ice cream in the dining room is ONE flavor only, ditto Sherbet, even though there are different flavors different nights ! Now you know the freezers are full of each of the flavors, but RCCL dictates what you can get on any given night. I only mention these trivial things because they are TYPICAL of the RCCL Corporate antagonism towards their own customers. Another example, even with the soft drink package you get a cup you can fill yourself at machines similar to those at MacDonalds, HOWEVER rarely are these machines fully functional. And while there are 4 in the buffet, there are NONE poolside and only 2 more on the Promenade. 6 total for the whole ship. and one day of the 4 in the buffet NONE were fully functional, two had error messages from breakfast clear through to lunch and were only attended to after this customer had to bring it to someone's attention, while of the other 2, one had ice but no drinks and the other had drinks but no ice ! ! AND Coke Zero is only available through the machines, the "human" beverage places no not have it. So with your expensive soft drink package, if you want Coke Zero and happen to be at the theater, you must leave go up two floors, wade through the crowds and sales pavillions in the Promenade, find the machines and hope they are working. Ditto poolside, the customer has to go to the Buffet and fill their own mug. OR if it is after the buffet closes go yourself from deck 11 or higher down to the crowded promenade on deck 5 ! ! ! I haven't even touched on the ridiculously limited Room Service options, a couple of sandwiches (burger or hotdog) french fries, chicken bits, one salad, a soup, two desserts, for which they charge you $7.50 each order - But of course all the booze you want at a premium Johnny Rockets does descent milkshakes, but save yourself t he pain of trying the pizza place. Sorento's offers soggy, undercooked, tasteless slices. they could improve this miserable product considerably just by cooking them the correct amount of time.

Mostly (entirely) geared to the undiscerning and/or children The VERY worst aspect is having to sign out poolside towels using your cruise card then sign them back in again. this accomplishes nothing for RCCL controlling towel loss because they must assign1 through 4 employees to accomplish this using antiquated scanners and software which certainly offsets any perceived towel loss, made even more STUPID by the fact that after prime hours the towels are just out for the taking as they are on EVERY other cruise line. To make matters even worse at the beach islands, even their own, there are NO towels available at the debarking areas ! ! ! They actually tell you on deck 1 to take yourself up to deck 11 and sign out a towel ! ! ! This is nothing but the actions of a self-empowered bean counter who thoroughly dislikes people and made it RCCL policy The pools themselves are nice and large for a ship with two different temperatures.

The comedians were the best of the options along with one of the singers. The production shows were both very derivative Broadway knock-offs played to recorded chorus tracks but with a live band of 8 - pretty much standard Cruise Ship fare except that they were consistently over amplified, over reverberated and with the most unmusical key changes constantly thrown in to make the unsophisticated think they are hearing "serious" music - think the show equivalent of the "art" on auction, all dumbed down to appeal to the broadest spectrum of the undiscerning

All the staff I encountered at every level (with one exception) were professional, competent and personally concerned with your satisfaction - except in many cases they were running up against RCCL Corporate policies.

The ship over all was a good cruising machine with some maintenance exceptions most notably in the men's changing room area The basic design flaw is the fact that deck 3 is not continuous. For daily events such as dining and shows to get from one end of the ship to the other it was necessary to go up one or two decks then back down again. This gives you the options of suffering the smokey labyrinth f the Casino, or the hoards swimming around ever present sales tables in the Promenade

Giving this 5 stars for meeting or surpassing expectations. We were in a decidedly lower tier cabin, but it was large enough for two, though the twin bed layout had some minor complications. There was more than adequate storage and hanging space with shelves and drawers. The bathroom had adequate space to turn around in, though never try to fit in two people at the same time. The cabin was well tended to at least twice daily.

very smooth, uncomplicated and quick