Freedom of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

So our ship the Freedom of the Seas was lovely! The service impeccable. However, our surprise came when we realized how much money we were made to spend onboard! While we paid for our cruise and had not cruised in over a decade, both my husband and I were highly disappointed that there was literally a charge for everything! EVERYTHING! The moment we stepped on the ship we were met with specialty dining options for hundreds of dollars. Next came 3 days of pushing drink packages that we did not purchase because we would only have 1 or 2 drinks a day. Again, an opportunity to spend hundreds of dollars. Our son opted to drink water instead of the soda package. T shirts were sold, photos taken daily were sold, excursions we expected to buy, and the shops along the promenade all offered items and foods for purchase. Apparently we were out of touch from the days of lobster, steak and other delights nightly at dinner, these are again purchased through specialty dining. The main dining room food was mediocre building to better food on the last few nights. No ice sculptures, no midnight buffet and the pizza truly disappointing. The happy serendipity was that none of us gained weight on this cruise. After reconciling our onboard bill for thousands more in addition to our original booking fee, we decided the best part of the cruise was waking up in a different port each day. That is why you cruise in the first place! We would recommend RCL to family and friends but, we will tell them to expect spending a lot onboard. As far as booking another cruise, probably not...

I think my favorite part of the cruise was sitting on the deck, in the sun, and watching everything that was going on.  I also enjoyed our dinners in the dining room, being waited and having a nice choice of menu items to pick from.

This was my second cruise on Royal Caribbean. This was also the first time I took my teenage boys on a cruise. I was a little anxious about taking them at first, but they ended up have a phenomenal time! Our Junior Suite was perfect for the 4 of us. I will say that the pullout couch doesn't fit 2 adults unless they are under 5'3". 

The food was fantastic and the shows were great. I loved the show so much that I didn't want them to end.

The cruise was good...as expected.  Food in the Windjammer (buffet) was plentiful and with good variety.  Dining room dinners were good, but not outstanding.  Dining room food quality has been slipping over the past few years.  RC is obviously cutting their cost % on food there.  Smoking in the casino was a BIG negative.  I can't believe they let less than 5% of the passengers blow sticky smoke on the 95% (non smokers).  A non smoking ship, or at least a non-smoking casino, will be a requirement for us next time we cruise.  The continued ''extras'' offered are a pain...this includes ''specialty'' dining rooms (that even have their own ''extras'' once you've already paid extra to get it!), high daily internet service charge, on board tour charges and shore excursion pricing.  Overall, the service was very good...attention to detail and passenger comfort was obvious.  This excludes the casino staff however.  The dependence on Eastern Europeans in the casinos these days is baffling.  Their culture is not one of customer service or friendliness.  Theirs appears to be more cold and towards making money for the casino.

The service in main dining was great. There was a lot of sales pitches being made for other dining, spa, etc during meals, it felt like we were constantly having interruptions during meals :(. Shows were good. Food was fair, pizza place pizza was tasteless. Bar service good for the most part. Not overly impressed. 

Royal Caribbean knows how to give a good cruise but 's rep really messed us up. We were not told that the $175 from and matched by Royal Caribbean had to be used 21 days before cruise so we lost that money. Our calls and emails to our rep went unanswered. We were sent a $50 hotel voucher which their website said was invalid and still did not get an answer from this rep. Very frustrating and will not be using again.

Favorite part of the trip was the excursion called Grand Cayman in a nutshell. It was the best snorkeling! Food on the ship was very good. We had a really nice relaxing time. Our stateroom attendant Warren was awesome!

The shows were the favorite part - excellent all around

I would have drinking fountains along with water stations to fill up water bottles situated on each level - several - where there was water out of a cooler in like the pizza place - there was a sign that said no water bottles - really - so trying to make people buy them?? these should be included in the basic plan

Would have better hash browns in the dining room for sure - terrible

Would not require 2 formal nights - no problem with any other dress code

Would have a better flow at the deck that had the rock wall added - there was always a pack of people right at the entrance to that side and the entrance to the rock wall.

Did not like the gratuity charged per day not knowing who it went to specifically and how it was split up - all this did was prevent giving anything more

Our servers at table 327 did an excellent job

The dining room breakfast and lunch was great 

I would recommend the cruise

Disappointed with cruise line.Com and RC! There are so many things to list that are negatives about this cruise line or at least this ship, and where we booked it through cruiseline.com 

I love unpacking once and visiting all of the fun and interesting ports. There is always something new to see and do on Royal's cruises. The ships are beautiful and immaculate. The shows are always beyond entertaining!

A very nice cruise but the food is not what is was in 2004 and all of the extra's ben & jerry's, special coffee, specialty dinning items on the dinner menu. the shows only attended 3 out of the 7 offered shows may be I am just cruised out.   

Freedom was too big and much of staff was unaccomodating. Walking track was right  in middle of sunbathing area. Food was fair. Constantly trying to upgrade.

Weather was so bad we couldn't pull in to first port Labadee and everything was handled efficiently with port taxes and excursion refunds made within hours.  We had an extended stay in San Juan and arrangements were made for another excursion while there.  Best ATV excursion ever! Did Galley brunch and tour and they booked too many - too congested and not worth the money charged. Disembarking was not good. All bags were not in place before we got there to pick up.  It was chaotic. 

Over all we had a very pleasant experience. I will touch on areas that need improvement. One being the room service. The quality of the breakfast food was very disappointing. Fake scrambled eggs, a brick of hash browns, limply undercooked bacon and no English muffin which was ordered. The next morning we just ordered coffee and toast. That came 1/2 hour earlier than requested. And no jam which was ordered. At this point we figured we were being discouraged from ordering room service. Communication between all the different ethnic backgrounds was a challenge as well. We missed a few shows, but the ones we caught were very enjoyable. True talent especially when you realize they are preforming on a floating surface. The off shore experiences were mixed. I felt I got ripped off after leaving Diamonds International. High pressure sales with promises of high quality merchandise did not pan out very well when one of the bracelets broke after one wearing. Too bad , ship took off and no way to go back. We missed our excursion at Costa Maya because of the utter confusion of the market area and language barrier in trying to find our tour meeting place. Cozemul was excellent and easy to find. Grand Caymam another excellent excursion and easy to find. We had great weather and great company. We attended a wedding in the little chapel on the ship with the Capatin. Very nice ! 

relaxing on board, wonderful crew and great service always. Excellent waiters and room attendant took care of our needs.  The theater productions were top notch, enjoyed all of them.

We were celebrating our 20th anniversary and decided to go on a cruise. The service was spectacular. The food was great and the entertainment was awesome. I have encouraged my coworkers and friends that if they get a chance to take a cruise then they should do it.

The only good food on the ship was the mexican restaurant and italian restaurant  I've sailed on the Oasis twice and the Allure once and the food is fantastic.  Stewarts are not doing a good job cleaning the rooms. Especially the bathrooms.  So disappointed.  We sailed on many ships and  I've always preferred Royal Caribbean but now not sure.  

This last trip went very well. The weather was great, the service on the ship was fantastic, the food was excellent as well as the entertainment. The ship itself is beautiful and the stops the ship made were good. Labadie is great for swimming  and the BBQ was excellent. Best bet to shop is the "flee market". Prices are marked and no haggling is required. If you like to barter go behind the shops and do your thing. Puerto Rico is always enjoyable and for $10.00 you can get a tour of old and new San Juan. St Martin and St Kitts is great for shopping and beaches. Watch the monkeys on St Kitts they will charge to take a picture with the dirty monkey's. Good shopping on the ship. Doris Swager was excellent is setting up the trip and her follow-up..    

Our dining room waiter Cesar was fabulous! Bright, personable, efficient, knowledgeable, engaged...really made a favorable impression! Overall, tho, we were UNDERWHELMED by the Freedom...apparently the ship was renovated in January 2015 adding nearly 800 more passengers without additional gathering spaces! Too crowded--Sea days most chairs claimed by 8 AM! Slow and crowded elevators, ho-hum entertainment except for ice show and production (MARQUEE). Limited places to eat; ate at Chops..poor service, so/so food, Dining room Food: c+, for some reason could only get roast beef either medium rare or medium well? How odd! Scooners Bar used for trivia at cocktail hour ... frustrating! Slow disembarkation without explanation of delay. 

This was our third cruise on Royal Caribbean and we had a wonderful time.  This was our first time cruising with young children and were very impressed with the Adventure Club and activities for children onboard.