Unfortunately disappointing experience for a first cruise

Freedom of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Bahamas

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 19

Overall rating:

3.5 out of 5
Verified Review
Freedom of the Seas

4 Night Bahamas & Perfect Day (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: March 06, 2023

Ship: Freedom of the Seas

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 9554

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

This was our first cruise. I went with my 13 year old daughter. Unfortunately, the first night, we ate in the dining room. She had the Caesar Salad, Steak and Potato and Boston Cream Pie. I was fine, I had a different meal, but three hours later she woke up with food poisoning. I had brought covid tests with me just to be on the safe side, and it wasn't that. I never got sick, just her, with a low grade fever and threw up 11 times. Thought we would be safe by avoiding the buffet but I guess not :(. Because of this, she threw up the whole morning of Coco Cay and we could not visit this port. She was so excited, it was our first cruise and I had purchased the water park tickets(not cheap!!) but we missed out. We missed out on Taste of Royal the next day because she couldn't eat, and they didn't refund me when I canceled. Understandable I guess, but basically everything I had planned went out the window except for Nassau on the last day. The cabin was really outdated, only two plug ins in the whole room, across the room from the bed, which really wasn't a big deal, but if you use your phone as a clock at night just keep in mind you can't charge your phone next to the bed. Fridge stated it was a "cooler" and not a fridge, so any leftover food we were afraid to keep in it, mainly because of the previous sickness lol. I ended up getting ice and a cooler bag, which for the price we paid for a Junior Suite, seems kind of crazy. Arcade had less than half of the games working, so just keep in mind it is small and not much to play there. I feel stupid now, but I actually bought $100 worth of credits so that we could have a great time, but not much was working, and I don't think we went through half of them. Giovanni's was EXCELLENT and one of the best things about the cruise. Now I wish I would have bought the package for the specialty restaurants so that she didn't get sick maybe. Keep in mind, if you have younger teens(she's 13) at certain times it may be hard to go to the pool. They have a kiddie type area for young young kids, and the main pool, and a 16+ pool. When we went to the main pool on the third day, they were having a hot body contest for guys and it really wasn't appropriate for a 13 year old, so we asked the staff if we could go to the quieter 16+ area and got a firm no, so we had to leave and come back later in the afternoon after it had calmed down. I know I may sound like a Debbie Downer and I just hate that we weren't able to do anything on this cruise. I probably wouldn't go on another one based on the thousands of dollars spent to just sit in a room, or maybe would go with some girlfriends. I don't know. Bad experience....

Embarkation

4 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

2 out of 5
Daughter got food poisoning on the first night after eating in the dining room. I was okay, it wasn't COVID because I brought tests. Unfortunate start to our cruise.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5
Arcade only had half of the games working. I had purchased $100 in credits for the arcade, and the skee ball wasn't working, only one bowling game, a lot of games were not in operation.

Entertainment

We were not able to go out due to daughter's sickness

Children's Programs

3 out of 5
We were not able to go due to daughter's sickness. Arcade was lacking for sure.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
Excellent staff! So friendly

Ship Quality

3 out of 5
Ship was great, but a bit dated in cabins

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
Cabin was great, I realize that it's a ship, and most people would not be watching TV. But TV was really limited, and with my daughter being sick I was stuck there watching bad programming. No smart TV hookup for Netflix, etc. Fridge is just a cooler, two plug ins in the whole cabin away from the bed. Balcony was awesome and the bed was super comfy!

Ship tip

Purchase the specialty restaurant package. The one that we went to, Giovanni's, was amazing.

Ports of call

Miami, Florida

4 out of 5
No excursions, It was alright and boarding was really fast

Perfect Day At Coco Cay, Bahamas Did not visit port

Daughter was sick from food poisoning. We had to skip this whole port and stay in our room :(

Nassau, Bahamas

4 out of 5
It was good, we enjoyed the staff on the Lagoon the most. They were great, water was beautiful. Beach could be cleaner but not Royal's fault. Buffet was scary, we didn't eat since my girl had just gotten sick.

Disembarkation

4 out of 5
Very fast.
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