Tired ship and crew....

Freedom of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 7

Overall rating:

2.9 out of 5
Freedom of the Seas

7 Night Southern Caribbean (San Juan Roundtrip)

Sail date: June 30, 2018

Ship: Freedom of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 9670

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

Very disappointed in the overall experience. While I enjoyed my family time and experiences, we had numerous onboard instances where it took away from the overall trip. Too much didn't work or staff didn't care. Long lines for breakfast and both main dining and buffets led to so much wasted time, plus each dining hall seemed to SLOW down the process to make sure you spent 90-120 minutes eating... The buffet was bland food with not real character or direction. Those items that were "special" were devoured almost immediately and a long line formed. Chaos was the order of the day for the buffet with no available sitting if you showed up 20-30 minutes after opening. I could go on. Worst ship and cruise experience I have ever had. Over priced "Carnival" experience...

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

2 out of 5
Service and food in the main dining and buffets were not good at all. This is my frist cruise with Royal Caribbean and it will be my last. Specialty restaurants were the only saving grace to an abysmal service and food experience.

Windjammer Marketplace

1 out of 5

The buffet from hell. Seriously, I am trying to be nice. Food was adequate at best. But how the overall system functioning was atrocious. Stampede and rudeness ruled the day at every meal we ate at this place. When I say the early bird got the worm, I literally mean it. The flow and choices literally pitted people against one another to "GRAB" the best available and leave the rest of the crap to sit.

Sabor Mexican Restaurant

2 out of 5

Decent but not good selection or food quality. This is a complaint on the menu and food. This restaurant seemed to be always empty... We ate once hoping to return, but we couldn't get out of there fast enough...

Main Dining Rooms (Galileo, Isaac & Leonardo)

1 out of 5

This is a critique of the "my way" dining... LONG LINES and SLOW SERVICE. We did this once and decided not again. Think about that... IF you were not there before it opened, you were left standing in long lines while the dining staff moved slowly to accommodate you. We were at a table for over 5 minutes before we even got something to drink. Yes, we timed it. Overall, it seems not enough staff or staff just didn't care...

Sorrentos Pizza

4 out of 5

pizza was decent, but the saving grace for poor food everywhere else. The long and continuous lines should be telling the people who run this ship something is "up" with their other food choices...

Jade Restaurant

1 out of 5

To little everything. Sushi is a big hit and this restaurant put out to little and not often. When they did put something decent out, it was so little that few got to experience it...

Chop's Grille

5 out of 5

The high light of the overall ship. It saved the overall dining experience from being a complete disaster.

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5
Seemed everything was either broken or long lines to use. What was broken the ship blamed off ship vendors and out of their control.

Center Ice Rink

5 out of 5

This was a nice addition to the overall experience. Great show and talent. The only "bad" thing was how unorganized and free for all the timing and execution for kids to be able to utilize the rink.

Casino Royale

2 out of 5

About half of the machines did not work properly and each time you sought some explanation or service it was "wait" for the tech... It would also be nice if they "gave" non-smokers a decent consideration with "room". While I understand "smokers" love to gamble, so do "non-smokers". Being forced to move away from a desired slot because some chain smoker decides to watch you is just disgusting...

Entertainment

4 out of 5

Service and Staff

2 out of 5
I have taken many different cruises, four to the Caribbean, two of those from San Juan and this ship had the rudest and unattentive staff I have ever seen. Maybe 85-90% of the staff were good, but the other 10-15% spoiled the trip completely. Lazy and uncaring would be a great way to say it. I will say that I tried to see where the "attitude" was coming from and will just say that the staff from India and Phillipines were the only consistent Excellent staff we encountered.

Ship Quality

1 out of 5
Thought the ship was decent, but crowded in too many places. It seems that the designers put too much faith in their staff to keep people moving.

Cabin / Stateroom

2 out of 5

Ship tip

If you are traveling cheap, meaning interior, you will like or maybe love this ship. If you are a seasoned upscale cruiser you will most likely be disappointed.

Ports of call

San Juan, Puerto Rico

2 out of 5

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

5 out of 5

Willemstad, Curacao

4 out of 5

Oranjestad, Aruba

4 out of 5

Basseterre, St. Kitts

5 out of 5

Disembarkation

3 out of 5
Was this review helpful? 7

12 Comments

tpj2011    6 years ago

Hayfam....I’ve cruised many times, so I CAN imagine. Generally, I DO NOT let a few bad employees ruin my cruise. I will admit, however, we just finished a cruise on Freedom- still trying to get off the ship - and found the overall service lacking. Traveled with a Diamond Plus member and the decline in rewards/perks for their most loyal cruisers was shameful. This was one of our most disappointing RC cruises ever. Two more already booked - hopefully they ate better.

Hayfam    6 years ago

@Liqeuet... Why read reviews? Why are you here? And, to be completely honest, I hope that you have a great trip! @tpj2011... hmmm, I'm so glad that you decided to "offset" a personal review of my experience to reflect how you would feel about 10-15% without ACTUALLY experiencing the situation... I personally "can't imagine" someone writing a response like "I can't imagine" without having the total understanding that NO, you CAN"T imagine, unless you were there... I'm only responding to these types of responses because I think people should have a better understanding of what they are buying while not being distracted by "trolls"... The fact that someone else who responded to this review noted they had a similar experience as my family should be a fairer representation than those who just want to distract...

tpj2011    6 years ago

If 85-90% of the staff were good, I can’t imagine letting the 10-15% of the bad ones “spoil the trip completely”.

Liquet    6 years ago

I'm going in September and I'm going to enjoy myself no matter what

Hayfam    6 years ago

@mjbourbeau The site does the stars for you as you go through each experience. Personally, I would have given it 2 stars in total. But the way this site weighs each question it came up with what it did. There were things on the ship I liked, there were things on the overall cruise I enjoyed, but the overall experience was sub par due to what I noted in my review... Try reading what I wrote and thanks for your comment.

caramelcrush    6 years ago

Everyone has different experiences. I don’t let someone’s opinion affect mine. I actually have to see for myself

missnotanlines    6 years ago

Wow alot of cranky people here😤

mjbourbeau    6 years ago

Worst experience you've ever had, and you gave it 3 stars??? Makes no sense

Kimmy1228    6 years ago

Agreed....same feelings here after getting off ship

GinaJayCruisers    6 years ago

Oh wow hope it’s not too bad this is our make or break Royal Cruise! Our Harmony cruise was not so good and if we ha e same experience as then we won’t sail Royal again, we will stay with Carnival

Windjam064    6 years ago

Thanks for your thoughts. We too had a sub par cruise recently but won't stop us from trying other ships. Happy cruising!

Hayfam    6 years ago

My review is not meant to undermine anyone who "enjoyed" their time aboard the ship. This is our family's experience based on expectations and past experiences.

Other reviews of this sailing