Great fun with a lot of great ports
Freedom of the Seas Cruise Review
Contributor Level:
Third Mate
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 3
Helpful Votes: 59
7 Night Southern Caribbean (San Juan Roundtrip)
Sail date: September 15, 2019
Ship: Freedom of the Seas
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 6570
Traveled as: Singles/Friends
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
What a great way to explore the Caribbean and visit some really beautiful islands. Definitely more of an exploring vacation than a relaxing one, but I had a great time!Embarkation
Embarkation in Puerto Rico was very fast. I'd say it took 10 minutes at most.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Really enjoyed the food, typical from what I've come to expect from Royal Caribbean.
I had dinner in the main dining room all but one night. Great service. Good variety mixed in with the standard fare that is offered every night.
Only did breakfast in the Windjammer due to the schedule & having to meet for excursions. Good buffet with lots of options. Enjoyed the Windjammer salad bar for lunch.
Dined at Giovanni's one night. Ordered the caprese salad, bolognese pasta, filet mignon, cannoli & tiramisu for dessert. Great meal!
Finally, I did the guacamole class for lunch at Sabor. They use fresh ingredients and the flavor comes through. Good food, but living in Southern California, I've had some pretty spectacular Mexican food that is tough to compete with. Megan and Alicia at Sabor were lovely and definitely add top the experience.
Onboard Activities
I give this three stars only because we only had one sea day, so I didn't have much of a chance to try everything.
I attended a couple of champagne art auctions and had a lot of fun participating in trivia at the schooner bar.
In the evenings, I did go top the Love & Marriage show as well as The Quest. Two events I try to catch on every cruise.
Entertainment
The on board activities team made everything a lot of fun.
The only shows I attended were the adult comedy night with Kivi (?) which was really very funny and the Marquee show. Marquee was great in that it highlights the big hits from a lot of Broadway shows.
Service and Staff
My stateroom attendant, Barbara, was lovely. Very attentive and always took a few minutes to chat.
Amar & Deepak in the dining room were great. Amar is very sweet and took great care of our table.
Bartenders at Schooners were fantastic - Yaya, Dean aka Tom Cruise, the whole group kept us entertained the whole week.
Ship Quality
So, I read a lot of complaints about the shop being old, in terrible condition, etc. and I have to say, some people must be really uptight. Yes, the ship is showing her age a bit, could use new carpets, but it's certainly no dump.
I really like the layout of this class, am quite familiar with it and find it easy to navigate. Everything is clean and well maintained. Overall the staff does a great job taking care of the Freedom.
Cabin / Stateroom
Very comfortable. The balcony door squeaks a bit when the ship rocks, but not enough top keep me awake.
Ports of call
I did another snorkeling excursion on a catamaran with a beach stop on St Nevis. To be fair, I'd had too much to drink the night before which made the long catamaran trip a bit painful, but the crew took care of me and had me feeling better but the middle of the trip. The whole crew was very attentive and engaged with all of us.
Snorkeling was good - not as good as St Thomas if I'm being honest - bit the beach at Nevis was absolutely spectacular!
Thumbs Up
2
Honestly, I was a bit tired after four back to back ports and thought about skipping my excursion when I woke up, but so glad I didn't.
Did the Tiami Catamaran snorkeling with Turtles. It was a beautiful day and a great crew that provided a super tasty lunch.
We got to snorkel with quite a few turtles (and yes, they will bite if they mistake your fingers & toes for food). The guides then took us to another reef with great snorkeling & lots of fish - my first time seeing a crumpet fish. This was a phenomenal way to round out the ports!
St Lucia itself is a beautiful island. The mix of lush, tropical forest and beaches is absolutely stunning.
I did an open jeep tour & beach adventure. My tour guide was Eli who wad very sweet and wanted to dip his best for us.
It was a very hot day and I was already battling a sunburn (my own stupid fault), but I was definitely uncomfortable by the time we got to the beach. We were able to purchase beach chairs and umbrellas for about $5 and a boat came by periodically selling beer, rum punch and non alcoholic beverages.
My complaint about this excursion is that ALL the fish at our cove were DEAD. Fortunately I hadn't gone to snorkel, but I was hesitant to even go in the water not knowing what killed everything.
Had a great time in St Thomas. My initial excursion got canceled and the shore excursion team on board recommended Snorkeling at XMas Cove. Beautiful place. Saw a lot of fish, a spotted eagle ray and a turtle. Highly recommend.
I went snorkeling with Sting Rays and this excursion is not to be missed. Very similar to Stingray City in Grand Cayman if you've done that, but less crowded and the guides really seemed to have a great relationship with the rays.
Anyone who likes snorkeling and/or water activities should book this excursion.
Disembarkation
The process of disembarking itself went really smoothly and was a lot easier than I have experienced on other cruises. Yes, customs is a pain, but is am unavoidable inconvenience.
On the last day, I grabbed a quick breakfast & coffee in the Windjammer until my group was called. Getting off the ship took 5-10 minutes. Customs took probably half an hour, but if you're willing to pay a porter, you can probably get through in about 10 minutes.