jmak315

I've got to be honest here - I do not see what all the fuss is about when it comes to this:

The shrimp Ravoli

Escargots

This mushroom dish was great

The aforementioned pasta that was awesome...

My next observation is going to focus on food. Some things were outstanding, some things not so much. One of the things I read about was the “homemade bread” aboard the ship. I am a lover of all things bread so this is something I paid attention to and in seven days we never encountered a piece of bread that seemed as fresh as I expected for it to be made in house daily. The exception to this (for me) was the pumpkin seed roll they offered in the main dining room for dinner. I really did like that. For all of you that talk about the Escargots appetizer (which on our sailing was substituted with scallops), those in my family who tried them, LOVED them. They come highly recommended, and again, did not disappoint. The one standout dessert that everyone in my family flipped over was flourless chocolate cake that is only offered one night, only in the main dining room and only on a sampler plate of desserts. The other two desserts on that plate (cheesecake and elderberry mousse) just paled in comparison and when we asked if we could just get more of the chocolate cake, our marvelous waiter (Ronald) delivered  I am now on a mission to find a recipe to recreate this wonderful cake. A review I read before mentioned the fries in the Windjammer – she was spot on about those – they really were some of the best fries! My kids loved the burgers and their favorite meal in the main dining room was the cheese pasta. All in all, you will find something you like to eat because the menu is ever changing and if you don’t like what is offered up, wait an hour…there’ll be a new offering LOL. Three of the people in my crew loved the sushi and met at the Windjammer nightly even after the main dining room.

The ship is just gorgeous:

Next up...food!

He didn't do just one towel animal…he did several. He even came to the room one night and asked if he could come in a do a towel animal demonstration for the kids. He showed how to make all of these! SO SWEET!

Pools aplenty - always a place to get soaked!

And my favorite place to sit at night...

I have to take this opportunity to recognize our most amazing room steward, Hilario. He was simply fantastic. He was kind, friendly, efficient and caring towards our family. When we arrived to our room, we were greeted with the dreaded (well, dreaded for me) letter letting us know the towel animals had the week off. I was looking forward to my children experiencing this aspect of cruising since this was their first cruise and I have to admit, I was disappointed. The letter explained that they currently upgrading the laundry facility to accommodate the “animal” towels. I left Hilario a little note on night one asking if he would be willing to make one animal for the children and we would use it as a bath towel the next day if the towel shortage was a problem. Well, I will let the pictures do the talking…

After much planning and anticipation, my family enjoyed a week on Freedom of the Seas. Wow – it is a beautiful ship! I have never written a review here before but after reading so many and enjoying the pictures of so many while in the planning (read: obsessing) stages of our cruise, I thought I would give back a little. This review is going to be some observations from our family of six that is made up of myself, my husband and our two kids and my parents. For my parents, this was their first Royal Caribbean cruise as they have only ever sailed Carnival before this.

Aaaaand.....We're on!

From my mom's balcony, we had a nice view of the Disney in port that day as well

Where I will start is the ship itself…my oh my, what a ship. I knew from all of my research that the ship was going to be big and she did not disappoint. This really is a beautiful ship. We had an interior cabin that had two Pullman beds and it was comfortable. The only other cruise we have ever sailed on was on the Sovereign of the Seas and we could hear everything going on in the neighboring cabins. This cabin was very quiet and our family was very comfortable in this room (1553) for the week. We loved that it was right next to the elevators and never heard any noise at all from the traffic.

Seems fair since they pay more than one fair when booking more than one person in a cabin, no?

With all the talk about soda packages, I was wondering this:

I have read that if I pre-purchase online, the cup will be waiting in the room for me when we get on the ship. This is the only thing holding me back from pre-purchase as we plan on boarding early and eating lunch with which I would like to have a lovely Diet Coke and I have read that the room might not be ready until 5:00 or sometimes later.

So is there a way to get your cup when you board rather than waiting for the room to be ready if you pre-purchase?

I would also love to know this. My family wants to do dolphins (as do I) but I am interested in the sting rays. Wanting to know if there is any way to do both.

http://www.cruisetimetables.com/

Thanks!!

Where would one find this website to check?

This is the luxury that they describe over and over in their promotional material?

Exactly! THIS is what they call answering the call of the sea "royally"? Hardly what comes to my mind.

I know what an expense this must have been for this family, and quite frankly, it is despicable that someone should be expected to sleep on a chair of any kind when that type of money is spent. This looks nothing like any sofa bed that I have ever seen before. There isn't even bedding. Only the cushions you normally sit on in a different position.

I still can't wrap my mind around the thought process of the group that decided, "Yeah! This is a great idea, let's go with it!"

I hope this works.

 

Here should be a picture of what we were told was a full size sofa bed by RCCL rep. On deck plans this is described as a pull out SOFA bed

 

 

I feel terribly sorry for this entire situation. After seeing this picture, I find it insulting that RCI would expect ANYONE to sleep on that for 7 days. Again, I am so sorry and I hope an email to the higher up's of RCCL gets the description of that chair corrected.

I will also agree :D I would LOVE a non-alcoholic frozen drink package. I love them and I have two kids that would as well!