Great cruise. Select excursions were not worth the time.

Freedom of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern

jmaull51

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Reviews: 3

Helpful Votes: 86

Overall rating:

4.2 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Southern Caribbean (San Juan Roundtrip)

Sail date: May 19, 2019

Ship: Freedom of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 8640

Traveled as: Large Group

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

Smooth sailing throughout. We will not return to the Aruba or Curacao ports. Took and excursion at Bonaire and would recommend. Every port has significant amount of jewelry stores. So if jewelry is your intent then you will be in heaven. A lot of great on-board activities! Some of the good adult activities were later at night so don't plan to sleep early. Unfortunately, this may cramp your early morning excursion times.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Dining room assigned table was incorrect and took more than 1 day to rectify.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Casino. movies, games, shows.

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Children's Programs

No children traveling with us.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

All people we came in contact with were pleasant, communicable, gave off the feeling that we were most important.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Everything was fantastic, except the ship's elevators. It took an excessive amount of time to get elevators going in thee direction we were traveling. This was due to all elevators trying to reach the same floor going in the same direction. If one bank of elevators was always "up" and another always "down" quite possibly the excessive wait time could be significantky reduced.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Very comfortable and clean.

Ship tip

Plan on walking the steps up and down to the floors you want unless they change how elevators operate. Also be very aware of what the excursions will actually entail. One excursion called for Jepp transportation, we got wood seatson the back of a modified small toyota. Very uncomfortable.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

San Juan, Puerto Rico

5 out of 5

Oranjestad, Aruba

3 out of 5

The beaches nearby the resort hotels are great. Outside of these areas are not so nice. A lot of baron and undeveloped land. If you are looking to observe the undeveloped areas of the island then excursions may be your best way.

Thumbs Up 0

Willemstad, Curacao

3 out of 5

Just like Aruba the only nice spots of the island are nearby the resort hotels.

Thumbs Up 0

Kralendijk, Bonaire

4 out of 5

Bonaire provided a more interesting trip outside the nearby resorts. Visit the salt production areas and learn the history regarding this invention and process of salt production.

Thumbs Up 0

Philipsburg, St. Maarten Did not visit port

Been to St. Maarten previously.

Thumbs Up 0

Disembarkation

4 out of 5

1 Comment

Other reviews of this sailing

Second leg of our Back to Back

Magnificent Caribbean Cruise

Best Cruise EVER!