Anyone currently on Freedom?

We are just off the Freedom last Saturday and we along with all at our table were disappointed with the main dining room. At our table were gold members, diamond plus and we are platinum.

We did not see a dedicated drink person at the beginning, or end of meals. Bread is no longer served by the assistant. Our waiter never bothered to learn our names. Coffee wasn't offered at the end of the meal and due to the new menus the resetting before desert was gone. In a nutshell all the formalities and extras that made the main dining room special have pretty much been scrapped. What wasn't scrapped was the photo people trying to take pictures. The food was about the same but was just quickly served as the waiter ran to serve the next table

Actually we found the service in the windjammer to be friendlier with staff removing plates, asking if more drinks or coffee was needed or handing out cookies.

I hope this isn't fleet wide as we have rhapsody booked next January.

This was the exact situation we experienced on Freedom January 20th - 28th. Worse MDR encounter so far.

The lack of servers and the earlier late dining really effected the crew. I heard they moved late dining back to 8pm. Is this correct??

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This was the exact situation we experienced on Freedom January 20th - 28th. Worse MDR encounter so far.

 

The lack of servers and the earlier late dining really effected the crew. I heard they moved late dining back to 8pm. Is this correct??

 

 

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I don't believe dining times have changed as we had early 5;30 dining and theatre shows were 7 and 9. On two nights tablemates were able to catch the 7pm show. This was the 1st time I have filled out a negative post cruise questioner

We are just off the Freedom last Saturday and we along with all at our table were disappointed with the main dining room. At our table were gold members, diamond plus and we are platinum.

We did not see a dedicated drink person at the beginning, or end of meals. Bread is no longer served by the assistant. Our waiter never bothered to learn our names. Coffee wasn't offered at the end of the meal and due to the new menus the resetting before desert was gone. In a nutshell all the formalities and extras that made the main dining room special have pretty much been scrapped. What wasn't scrapped was the photo people trying to take pictures. The food was about the same but was just quickly served as the waiter ran to serve the next table

Actually we found the service in the windjammer to be friendlier with staff removing plates, asking if more drinks or coffee was needed or handing out cookies.

I hope this isn't fleet wide as we have rhapsody booked next January.

This review perfectly sums it up for us as well. My wife actually said to me, why are there people walking around in the windjammer with trays of water, juice etc, but you can’t get a drink at dinner in the MDR!.? Sad

This was the exact situation we experienced on Freedom January 20th - 28th. Worse MDR encounter so far.

 

The lack of servers and the earlier late dining really effected the crew. I heard they moved late dining back to 8pm. Is this correct??

 

 

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I am booked on March 11 cruise. late dining in MDR is 8 pm

The comments I have been reading about the MDR service has me rethinking booking specialty dining - or just filling up on hors ds in the CL.

I am booked on March 11 cruise. late dining in MDR is 8 pm

The comments I have been reading about the MDR service has me rethinking booking specialty dining - or just filling up on hors ds in the CL.

We had long lines waiting to get in every night as the 530's were still eating.

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Ours also said 8pm. When we got to the cabin.....we got a notice saying 730pm.

 

We had long lines waiting to get in every night as the 530's were still eating.

 

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yikes... that is so not good... I will make a call during daylight hours and see if I can find out more on time for my cruise....

We sailed January 20th and 28th, the first week late dining was 7:30 pm then changed for the second week to 8:00 pm due to insufficient time between first seating and second. The rolls where in a basket on the table when you arrived. The worst thing I saw, in the area where we were seated) where quite a few passengers (70 to 80%) would not arrive on time for the late seating up to 45 minutes late causing disruption and difficulty for providing service for those tables affected. I felt sorry for the waiters that had to deal with this situation, even the head waiter had to start taking menu orders and serve meals for the late arrivals. I can say we received excellent service both in the MDR and Windjammer.

I sailed the Freedom on 1-20-2018 and experienced the exact opposite. Windjammer never ran out of food. Food in Windjammer was good. Food in the MDR was very good on the nights I ate there. Dinner at Chops was excellent. Dinner in Sabor was very good. I did notice a lack of drink servers in the pool areas. Servers in the dining room were good although I must say they are very busy. Staff in the Windjammer were fine, I was always offered coffee and doughnuts in the mornings and on the two nights I ate dinner there the food was fine and there was plenty of it.

Hi ENG23. Just notice you were from Va. beach. Retired NPD 30 years in 1990. Live in Villages Florida Now. Many friends and family retired Norfolk Fire. Were on Freedom BTB in Nov and dec and return on Feb.25th & April 8. Bob

We sailed January 20th and 28th, the first week late dining was 7:30 pm then changed for the second week to 8:00 pm due to insufficient time between first seating and second. The rolls where in a basket on the table when you arrived. The worst thing I saw, in the area where we were seated) where quite a few passengers (70 to 80%) would not arrive on time for the late seating up to 45 minutes late causing disruption and difficulty for providing service for those tables affected. I felt sorry for the waiters that had to deal with this situation, even the head waiter had to start taking menu orders and serve meals for the late arrivals. I can say we received excellent service both in the MDR and Windjammer.

I should clarify in regard to the passengers not arriving timely was on the January 28th sailing only.

Stuff like that is not all that hard to find.....

 

Michael Bayley CEO

 

mbayley@rccl.com

I sent an email as well as a letter. I received a call back from someone in the Executive Department who was very interested in what happened. They had opened a case and stated that they would get with management of the ship and take corrective action.

Bayley did get the shirts and pins I sent. I got another call back on that to confirm it.

So, it appears that if they do know they will at least answer you and hopefully this will not happen again to future cruisers. Tall stretch but at least we can attempt to try and take action to notify them..

Interestingly enough - the person I talked to pulled up "My Profile". I wonder what information they keep on us???

Thx!

I sent a private message to royal in their Facebook page. Received an email back. We set up a time for the next day. They did call. I expressed my concerns about the negative reviews I read. And I told him I have a cruise in April on freedom. That I was last on her 3 years ago and thought I made a mistake. He was very nice. Told him people did go to customer service on the ship when they had an issue. And something needs to be done. He told me they do monitor the boards. They have seen what we write. And they have someone looking into everything. He told me that they use the surveys at the end of the cruise. That the majority of the people didn't give negative reviews. But reading our posts they were concerned and will speak to customer service and the management on the ship. They do value our input. He also said that most of the people go on the message boards and bash them over little things. I told him I have been on these boards for years. And the comments on freedom were not bashing in any way. That there were people who have been on freedom and their other ships. They have expectations and that they did go to customer service if they had an issue when they were on board. That this was not about being negative. There were valid concerns that need to be addressed. He pulled up my account and said if I had any issues while I was onboard to message him.

So hopefully they are taking this seriously. And there will be some changes.

Maybe I’m misreading this thread, and I apologize if that’s the case, but are folks actually reaching out to RCCL to complain/express concern about OTHER people complaining about a ship on a third party message board? IE: “I have not been on this ship recently, but I am hearing bad things from people I don’t know, please advise.”

Surely I am mistaken, right?

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Latest update from RCCL regarding our issue of beds and sleeping on the floor for a 6 night cruise...

After telling my travel agent about this issue, she contacted customer relations at RCCL. They offered " an $86 credit for a future cruise or $50 OBC on our next cruise". She told RCCL that this was an insulting offer and is still pursuing this issue upwards. We really are not seeking anything, but we shall see if they offer some compensation.

Latest update. RCCL customer service responded to my travel agent's inquiry and they have offered us $600 OBC for our April 8th Freedom cruise. I felt this more than satisfies our issue. Lori

Latest update. RCCL customer service responded to my travel agent's inquiry and they have offered us $600 OBC for our April 8th Freedom cruise. I felt this more than satisfies our issue. Lori

I’m happy to hear they made it right!!

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Latest update. RCCL customer service responded to my travel agent's inquiry and they have offered us $600 OBC for our April 8th Freedom cruise. I felt this more than satisfies our issue. Lori

Excellent outcome.:)

I finally got a response to my complaints on this cruise. I was given 20% FCC and I am to contact the guest relations manager a week or so prior to our next cruise so he can arrange free specialty dining or OBC on that cruise, since we were past final payment and they couldn't apply the FCC to our upcoming symphony voyage. Seems like a fair outcome to me and I am content with their offer.

I finally got a response to my complaints on this cruise. I was given 20% FCC and I am to contact the guest relations manager a week or so prior to our next cruise so he can arrange free specialty dining or OBC on that cruise, since we were past final payment and they couldn't apply the FCC to our upcoming symphony voyage. Seems like a fair outcome to me and I am content with their offer.

The reason I contacted HQ was to notify senior management there was a problem with the shipboard management. What I want to see is corrective action so the next time I go on a ship those difficulties are a thing of the past and staff know what to do. In 80+ cruises I have never experienced the chaos I encountered on the Freedom on turnover day. Not even Carnival was that bad... I don't really care for compensation (but if offered I won't refuse :D). As a manager in both the military and government sector, I always wanted to know how my staff were doing. - not for punitive reasons, but to correct things before a fire occurs from an ember. I also rewarded those that rose above the normalcy. I even encouraged the 360 feedback program so I knew what my weaknesses were (in their eyes). Perhaps RCCL should do that with their employees. One bad manager can ruin an entire ship, especially if they are a Hotel Director or Guest Services Manager. That's one reason I won't sail on the Liberty (or the Freedom anymore). Just looking at the bigger picture.

I'm just off the 8 night Freedom cruise and, aside from a few less than attentive bar staff, encountered nothing OP has. This was my 5th cruise on Freedom and 40 something overall on Royal. Sure she's showing her age but still a great ship.

We are on the 8 night beginnng 3/3 when were the formal nights?