Wonderful itinerary, decent ship
Freedom of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 59
7 Night Southern Caribbean (San Juan Roundtrip)
Sail date: June 09, 2019
Ship: Freedom of the Seas
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 7374
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
Great itinerary and loved all the islands!! I’m more of a beach person so this was the perfect cruise as there was only one day at sea!! Wish there was more Options for food available all day. Crew was nice and helpful! Definitely catered to the Spanish crowd a lot since we left out of Puerto Rico . It was definitely lively. I do wish the ship line Enforced the dress code in the main dining room For dinner. We saw People that looks so causal it looked like they did not change from their island excursion.Embarkation
Easy
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
We ate in main dining room most of the time. Some dinners were great and some, well we ordered another dish as it was not so good. Breakfast in dining was good and buffet was fine. The danishes and croissants were good! Bread at dinner except at one night was hard as a rock. The one night they were really good was when they served olive rolls. Some deserts were not worth eating but there were really good! The chocolate desserts were the best. Soft serve ice cream was good too! The pizza was subpar but if it’s fattening and not great, there was no reason to eat it! Lol why waste calories and carbs?? The drinks in the dance club were ok.. they can’t make good drinks so stick to wine and have your mojitos and rum punches on the island!! Never ate at the cafe as the food looked old ... and since the pizza place wasn’t great, we skipped it. It would have been nice to have a snack buffet after you get on the ship from a long day running around the islands as we were hungry and there was not much options. So they should work on more 24 hr options. We only ordered the free continental breakfast. Was not going to pay the additional fee and tip!!
Onboard Activities
Really not a pool person and since there so many kids in pool, even in the adult area we did not go on. My sis enjoyed the adult jacuzzi on the sea day. I enjoyed the spa! My nephew enjoyed the teen club ( we never saw him after we boarded the ship!) And he complained that he never was able to use the flow surfing activity due to very long lines. Did not go to fitness center as we walked a lot and swam on the island as there really is no time with one sea day!
Entertainment
Only show we liked was the dancing with the stars. Since We had late dinners, it was impossible to go to the theater before the door closed! So that was annoying! Wanted to see comedian but there was no room.
Children's Programs
Well according to my nephew he loved the teen club and made new friends and basically skipped a lot of dinners with us.
Service and Staff
Great waiter and staff and room stewards.
Ship Quality
Never felt too crowded and the public bathrooms were nice. Except the last morning they reeked of sewage .? Otherwise it was good.
Cabin / Stateroom
Nice size balcony and room for another chair or lounge chair vs a regular chair. Water pressure in the tiny shower was great! Wish the bathroom was bigger. Also the beds were hard and made our arthritis bother us after a night, so that wasn’t good. The room is cramped especially with 2 adults and a teen that looks like one! When they did turndown it was really challenged not to bump into everything!! So it would be nice to have a larger Room and closet! We made it work but it wasn’t easy and took longer to unpack and repack.
Ship tip
Lounge upstairs deck above the pool and have a great view of the ocean!
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Loved the large fort and old San Juan ! People are friendly and they have great food and drinks!
Orient beach is recovering and we had the best lunch at bikinis! Go there and feast on French cuisine !! Ocean was nice except for seaweed which seemed to be everywhere in the Caribbean. At least it’s not slimy or stinky!
We shopped and saw the port area and were bombarded with locals who charged you to take photos with their little monkeys! So beware! They are quick and don’t take good photos and charge $$$. We went to Nevis via catamaran tour and spent the day at Pinney Beach and loved it. Had lunch there too as we had a beach server! Beer, food, rum, water etc! Do walk over to Sunshine’s bar and have their famous Killer Bee drink!!
Loved the beaches there and this time we took a taxi further away and past Jolly beach to the Valley of the Church! Great bar there and food!!the locals are entertaining!!
We did a land and sea tour and it was great! Too much driving though so if you can go one way by land to the pitons, I recommend that! However since this was my sis and nephew’s first time in the Caribbean, I wanted to make sure they saw the inner beauty of the island ( rain forest, waterfall etc) . This tour included a small powerboat ride to Sugar Beach which sits in between the pitons and it was like heaven!! Snorkeling, volcanic mud bath , waterfall, drinks ( rum punch & beer) and a decent lunch were included. Can’t wait to visit sugar beach again!!
Bustling island but friendly and fun! We took the tour on Royal C to see the green monkeys and it did. It disappoint! Also our tour guide took us on a site seeing your and we stopped at Bathsheba and saw the wild Atlantic rugged coast and the countryside of the island!
Disembarkation
Wasn’t too bad! Wish we could stay and not rush breakfast!