Freedom of the Seas, December 3-9

Some thoughts about our Freedom of the Seas cruise last week:

There apparently is NO dress code. Not that it bothers me one iota, but I was surprised at the men in shorts and t-shirts in the MDR on formal nights. But at breakfast one morning a man was turned away for wearing a tank top.

We were disappointed in the MDR food, both selections and quality. I know food is a subjective subject but I was served cold escargot, prime rib that was 75% fat, a scallops appetizer that consisted of two nickle sized scallops, nearly cold French Onion Soup, lamb shank that was so overcooked on one side I couldn't chew it, and my husband had the every day steak and couldn't chew it, either. I suffered from acid reflux nearly every night even though I take Prilosec for it every day.

Seating for breakfast in the MDR was so unorganized it was comical. Even with almost no tables filled, there was mass confusion on who to sit where. Twice we asked for a table for two and were seated with others anyway. Not earth shattering, but disappointing. My husband has hearing problems and gets embarrassed when people try to talk to him.

We had one of the best cabin stewards ever.

Embarcation was quick and easy. We had planned to take a swamp tour on debarcation day but the weather forecast was so bad we cancelled it. We tried to get our luggage tags changed at the Purser's Desk and the lady was both a little rude and not very helpful. She changed our #1 tags to #4 tags. That wasn't terribly productive.

We've done these ports over and over again so we stayed on board for the whole trip. Heard some good comments on tours for Grand Cayman.

The casino was OK. Didn't win but didn't expect to.

Being that you come from an area where there are very smart people, I have not doubt you are 100% correct. :evilsmile: While things may vary week to week or ship to ship, I think you are correct. Though, I will add the every day steak has been really bad for years every time I try it. I have been hearing more reports of cold food lately, something to watch for, I've not had a huge problem yet. Some of my best meals have been on Freedom, but that was last 2 years ago. Welcome back, Hope you enjoyed my favorite ship.

Sorry to hear another report of so so MDR food.

Sorry to hear another report of so so MDR food.

Sadly, I'm becoming accustomed to so so offerings, but I find the frequent use of the term COLD to be alarming. I

Sadly, I'm becoming accustomed to so so offerings, but I find the frequent use of the term COLD to be alarming. I

Yes, it makes me think that the crew is inexperienced or ill-trained.

BillOh, you are obviously a man of great intelligence, LOL.

We couldn't figure out if the cold and barely warm food was the kitchen's fault or the servers. At one point I counted 17 meals on the cart our waiter brought out. It had to have taken some time to accumulate that many meals.

That is weird. My parents are on the same cruise. They saw guests get turned away that were wearing shorts. They had the late dinner.

Was on the same cruise and we had late seating in the Isaac Dining room. Our waiter and assistant waiter were great and our food was always hot. We also did the Chef's table one night and it was spectacular.

As for breakfast in the dining room, they definitely need to get their act together on how they seat people. One day seated right away and food came out right away and hot, next day straggled in the seating, straggled in bringing out meals and foods was so so.

We had the same food issues on the Adventure in October. We were at the late seating and I don't think we got anything that was above warm, with most of it being cold.

I've been reading reviews of other ships and have heard some of the same complaints. Hopefully, whatever the issue is will get resolved. We mentioned in our survey that we were disappointed in the MDR and also mentioned it in a follow-up letter I sent about a pre-cruise issue.

Maybe the dress code difference was that we were in My Time Dining, not traditional. But on every other cruise we've been on, My Time (or Anytime or whatever) was treated the same. I think maybe the headwaiter makes the calls and some are more easy going. On one Princess Cruise my hubby tried to go in without a jacket, just shirt and tie. The headwaiter actually took him by the arm and tried to put a waiter's jacket on him. He couldn't even get he sleeve on it was so small.

Our Concierge told us although there is a dress code in MDR, that Royal has told them to no longer enforce. Shorts should not be turned away. Swimming attire, workout shorts, and men’s tank tops not permitted.

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Have noticed on the boards that some of the biggest critics are people who cruise an awful lot ... so I think they are nitpicking a bit ... we get a chance to cruise about every three years, and find it to be as good a vacation as you can get ... i think the big reason is you don't do any work, there's no dishes to wash, food to make, beds to make ... it's luxury for us middle-class folk. Yet we can say "ah, the bed's not quite right," "the bathroom is small," "the water tastes funny," "there's a stain on the carpet" just because that's our language of life. Sometimes the happier we are, the more miserable we sound. oh and I forgot "the weather could have been better" ...

Being that you come from an area where there are very smart people, I have not doubt you are 100% correct. :evilsmile: While things may vary week to week or ship to ship, I think you are correct. Though, I will add the every day steak has been really bad for years every time I try it. I have been hearing more reports of cold food lately, something to watch for, I've not had a huge problem yet. Some of my best meals have been on Freedom, but that was last 2 years ago. Welcome back, Hope you enjoyed my favorite ship.

It used to be my favorite ship too. I hope they get their act together. I was on this cruise as well and can confirm the sub par food in the MDR. Also are in chops the first night and was disappointed to see they had taken some of our favorite menu items off the menu. But the steak was fantastic.