Second Guessing Freedom of the Seas

We are scheduled for a 6-night Western Caribbean cruise on Freedom this spring staying in a category K interior stateroom on deck 9. Final payment is due in a couple weeks and I'm really starting to second guess our decision. Bad food. Cold food. Mattresses hard as rocks. What's going on here?

Oh, just eat in the specialty restaurants. Why? Why should I have to pay extra to have a decent meal when the price of the cruise includes dining? Oh, just bring an inflatable mattress with you to put on your bed. Are you kidding me? This is supposed to be a vacation!

So I'm reaching out to all of you experienced cruisers... are these reports scattered complaints are legitimate trends and I need to rethink not only our ship but the cruise line as well?

We left the Freedom this past Saturday. We both found the cruise very underwhelming. That said, the food was really good and we had no complaints with that. The bed was comfy too.

I will be sailing that itinerary next week. I'll report accurately how we enjoy the cruise and hope that helps you make your decision.

Some of the complaints I've seen on the boards were the same I've seen about other ships we sailed and that I did not experience.

We are scheduled for a 6-night Western Caribbean cruise on Freedom this spring. Final payment is due in a couple weeks and I'm really starting to second guess our decision. Bad food. Cold food. Mattresses hard as rocks. What's going on here?

 

Oh, just eat in the specialty restaurants. Why? Why should I have to pay extra to have a decent meal when the price of the cruise includes dining? Oh, just bring an inflatable mattress with you to put on your bed. Are you kidding me? This is supposed to be a vacation!

 

So I'm reaching out to all of you experienced cruisers... are these reports scattered complaints are legitimate trends and I need to rethink not only our ship but the cruise line as well?

Haven't been on Freedom in three years, but when we went everything was great.

Ever since we started to cruise, I always read reviews on various websites where people have to rate them, not just talking about them on a forum. If 1000+ people have rated a cruise 3.8 stars for example, it's probably a pretty decent one. There are always complainers however. I always check what the people that gave it a one or two stars were complaining about to see if there were any major issues. I remember one woman rated a cruise with HAL a one star. Her biggest complaint was that there were no chocolates on the pillow at turn down... :D

Many of the recent negatively skewed reviews for Freedom were based on the concierge and diamond lounges, neither of which we will use. Other complaints were about elevators, rude guests, and unhappy employees.

While I am polite and will speak to the employees as I would anyone, I do not expect them to put on fake smiles for me. We all have bad days, and that doesn't mean the staff is unhappy or that they are dissatisfied with their jobs.

I certainly understand the nitpickers. But that's not why I'm here. Food is subjective, but cold food is cold food. Meat so tough it's hard to chew, is not subjective. I certainly don't expect gourmet in the MDR. While restaurants like Chili's or Friday's are not my favorite, if the quality is that or better I can live with that. Now the numerous reports of people who can't sleep because of rock hard new mattresses fleet wide, is concerning.

What I can't figure out though is if these are one offs or a trend. I guess I'm looking for recent data points. Or if people found similar complaints before their cruise and ended up finding the opposite. It's been 7 years since our last cruise. While I'm excited, I'm also getting a little apprehensive.

We are scheduled for a 6-night Western Caribbean cruise on Freedom this spring staying in a category K interior stateroom on deck 9. Final payment is due in a couple weeks and I'm really starting to second guess our decision. Bad food. Cold food. Mattresses hard as rocks. What's going on here?

 

Oh, just eat in the specialty restaurants. Why? Why should I have to pay extra to have a decent meal when the price of the cruise includes dining? Oh, just bring an inflatable mattress with you to put on your bed. Are you kidding me? This is supposed to be a vacation!

 

So I'm reaching out to all of you experienced cruisers... are these reports scattered complaints are legitimate trends and I need to rethink not only our ship but the cruise line as well?

There were 4,000 other passengers that didn't write a bad review. 200,000+ passengers/year. Food is not perfect on any RCI ship, your table mates are more important. No mattress will be as comfortable as your own bed. Specialty restaurants are worth maybe one night.

I like RCI's overall product. I also stopped reading reviews a long time ago, and made a decision not to let one issue spoil my whole cruise. When I was reading reviews, I found myself looking for problems. Crews rotate, hotel directors change, etc...

I certainly understand the nitpickers. But that's not why I'm here. Food is subjective, but cold food is cold food. Meat so tough it's hard to chew, is not subjective. I certainly don't expect gourmet in the MDR. While restaurants like Chili's or Friday's are not my favorite, if the quality is that or better I can live with that. Now the numerous reports of people who can't sleep because of rock hard new mattresses fleet wide, is concerning.

 

What I can't figure out though is if these are one offs or a trend. I guess I'm looking for recent data points. Or if people found similar complaints before their cruise and ended up finding the opposite. It's been 7 years since our last cruise. While I'm excited, I'm also getting a little apprehensive.

I have only done two cruises on Royal in the last 12 months but haven't experienced any bad food, and certainly haven't had a bad mattress. A lot of people who enjoy their cruise, don't bother to write a review. That's something I would keep in mind.

We've been fortunate to sail on Freedom multiple times over the past few years, and are considering booking a NYE sailing out of San Juan next year. A great ship, and we've always enjoyed our time onboard. While we've certainly had the occasional meal we didn't enjoy, for the most part we've enjoyed them and certainly never went hungry.

We were on Freedom this past March for an eastern sailing. I don't really have any negative memories of that cruise at all other than a half week of constant rain and high winds in the Caribbean. Even with the bad weather I have no issues with the ship itself and we are booked again for this coming April.

Have also 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" ... :)

I certainly understand the nitpickers. But that's not why I'm here. Food is subjective, but cold food is cold food. Meat so tough it's hard to chew, is not subjective. I certainly don't expect gourmet in the MDR. While restaurants like Chili's or Friday's are not my favorite, if the quality is that or better I can live with that. Now the numerous reports of people who can't sleep because of rock hard new mattresses fleet wide, is concerning.

 

 

 

What I can't figure out though is if these are one offs or a trend. I guess I'm looking for recent data points. Or if people found similar complaints before their cruise and ended up finding the opposite. It's been 7 years since our last cruise. While I'm excited, I'm also getting a little apprehensive.

We were on Freedom in September and food and service good.

Off Brilliance Monday and all well there too.

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We are scheduled for a 6-night Western Caribbean cruise on Freedom this spring staying in a category K interior stateroom on deck 9. Final payment is due in a couple weeks and I'm really starting to second guess our decision. Bad food. Cold food. Mattresses hard as rocks. What's going on here?

 

Oh, just eat in the specialty restaurants. Why? Why should I have to pay extra to have a decent meal when the price of the cruise includes dining? Oh, just bring an inflatable mattress with you to put on your bed. Are you kidding me? This is supposed to be a vacation!

 

So I'm reaching out to all of you experienced cruisers... are these reports scattered complaints are legitimate trends and I need to rethink not only our ship but the cruise line as well?

Let me tell you - the reviews the two weeks before dry dock were horrendus. It was Christmas reviews of "Tons of Kids", "Up all night from the noise" , "Ship ran out of food" , "They didnt have my favorite drink so I had to join AA", "service was horrendous".... you get the point.

Of course the cruise right before dry dock and at the holiday is probably the worst cruise you could pick to go on. Also, I was afraid that parts of the ship would not be ready post drydock and there was also a partial charter on our cruise.

But we had a fantastic time. The food was good and service was great. The ship was clean and beds were comfy (It wasnt the Wynn in Las Vegas mind you but certainly better than any non resort hotel/motel Ive stayed in)

I think you really have to look at the cruisers profiles who are reviewing and look at their previous posts. I think we all agree that cruising is not like it was last century.

The other thing you need to look at is the style of the cruiser. For example, we (family) dont like crowds or doing the popular thing. We will be at the Windjammer at 630am or 930-10am. We will never be there at 8am and stand in line with 2500 other cruisers.

So my review might be - no lines, food was fresh and hot. A cruiser at the 8am Windjammer might say the lines were forever long and there was no seating and when we got to the buffet it was empty and food was cold.

Expectations of cruisers who have been around for 20+ years tend to be higher (and for good reason) then us who have only started cruising in 2015.

Maybe all the bad reviews will lower your expectations and in the end you'll be pleasantly suprised.

-Sean

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The other thing you need to look at is the style of the cruiser. For example, we (family) dont like crowds or doing the popular thing. We will be at the Windjammer at 630am or 930-10am. We will never be there at 8am and stand in line with 2500 other cruisers.

 

So my review might be - no lines, food was fresh and hot. A cruiser at the 8am Windjammer might say the lines were forever long and there was no seating and when we got to the buffet it was empty and food was cold.

 

 

-Sean

 

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We don't do lines well either and you will find me in the Windjammer around 6:30, too, with a wide variety of tables to choose from.:)

I was on Nov 25 8 night had a great time food was good bed was comfortable ship is well kept don' t cancel your cruise I'm sure you will have a good time. Ps on the first night in dining room my onion soup was cold sent it back every night after that it was so hot I burned my mouth but it was great.

We were on FOS is Sept, 2016. The food was fine. Cabin was as well. What we didn't like was all the smoke in the casino and the constant crowds and noise in the promenade. We're trying Celebrity Silhouette next for both those reasons No smoking in the casino and a return to a central atrium instead of the promenade.

We are scheduled for a 6-night Western Caribbean cruise on Freedom this spring staying in a category K interior stateroom on deck 9. Final payment is due in a couple weeks and I'm really starting to second guess our decision. Bad food. Cold food. Mattresses hard as rocks. What's going on here?

 

Oh, just eat in the specialty restaurants. Why? Why should I have to pay extra to have a decent meal when the price of the cruise includes dining? Oh, just bring an inflatable mattress with you to put on your bed. Are you kidding me? This is supposed to be a vacation!

 

So I'm reaching out to all of you experienced cruisers... are these reports scattered complaints are legitimate trends and I need to rethink not only our ship but the cruise line as well?

We sailed on the Freedom each of the past 2 March Breaks. Our first experience in 2016 was OK (most of the family enjoyed it - I got a gastro bug and was out of it for 4 out of the 7 days - so not my favourite cruise). We had a very bad experience with the Guest Services desk (multiple team members) that put a sour taste in our mouth and we complained to RCCL about this post-cruise.

We already had another cruise on the Freedom booked for March 2017 and considered cancelling it after our experience in 2016 with Guest Services (bad memories). We did not cancel and had probably our best cruise yet. (none of the same Guest Services agents seemed to remain that year). Food was good, service was excellent, beds were a bit firmer than we remembered but were still great. We were so glad that we decided to keep our 2017 booking and while aboard, we booked the Freedom again for March 2019. That should tell you our feelings on the Freedom - a great ship.

Wrapping up my fourth week on the Freedom and all is well. The food is good, the employees are as friendly as they have ever been. One caveat, I eat the majority of my meals in the Windjammer. Have not been in the MDR for dinner.

I guess I must be one of the nitpickers re: the food. We really, truly did NOT enjoy a single meal in the MDR. Between choices that didn't appeal to us (subjective, I know) or cold, tough and tiny portions even for a cruise ship, we were so disappointed. The ship itself was fine, most of the employees professional and even though the beds WERE very hard, that is that way I like them.

I was on the Freedom for 14 days in April . Everyone was friendly . The dining room food was good just not great . The Windjammer at night was great . On our last night they had all you can eat lobster tails and shrimp in the Windjammer . The deserts in the Windjammer were to die for . The entertainment was top notch and the beds were comfy .We had absolutely no complaints .

Was on the Freedom fall TA. In 14 days, did MDR 2 times. Very average food, small portions, slow service. We found the WJ had better food and selection. What was interesting, being in a full suite, we ordered room service for dinner with friends using selections from the MDR menu and the room service menu on 3 occasions. Food was better, warmer and faster (delivered in about 20 minutes). Room service uses a different kitchen. Also saw several diners in the MDR handing tips to the waiter early in the meal. They seemed to receive better service. Hmmm....Overall, we did enjoy the Freedom so don't hesitate. Just don't have high expectations that the MDR is "fine" dining.

Just off the Freedom on Saturday Dec 9

I will post an honest”in my opinion” review later this week.

Gotta make up time lost at work - lol

Don’t cancel your cruise....

I sailed on the Freedom this past year and the cruise was OK but not great, however may advise would be go on the cruise then you would have a prospective of what others are writing about.

If you are not happy with the food send it back and explain why and they will send you a new dish.

My PHO is a vacation is what you make of it. Do not let little things steal you joy.

Have fun!