FOS Review 10/6 to 10/13

[TNIris]

Hi everyone!

 

We're home from the Freedom!

 

Wanted to give an honest review of our Freedom of the Seas trip. I'm going to give you the good, the bad....and there was no ugly, so I won't have to go there. But I hope I don't get flamed for my honesty...when I posted about there being no towel animals before we set sail, I had comments like "Just go to the class and make them yourself". :rolleyes:

 

Okay, so here we go!

 

Embarkation was pretty painless, we parked at Park N Cruise (parked there last year as well, and I'm pretty happy that they now park your car for you!!) Got to the pier about 1pm, waited in line for about 15 minutes, check in people were super nice, and on the ship we went.

 

Got to our room (balcony 7630 and window 2368), and found the letter saying there would be no towel animals that week. BOOOO! They said it was because their washer and dryer was broken, but honestly, couldn't they have made them from the towels in the room? It was my mom's first cruise and I was really dissapointed for her.

 

The food was o-kay. I've cruised with Disney and Carnival before, and I thought their food was better. HOWEVER, I have to have a disclaimer that I eat low-carb, so maybe the potatoes, bread, and pasta were good, but I wouldn't know it! :D The sugar-free deserts were hit and miss. The sugar free apple pie they had was smashing, but a lot of the deserts they had were a gelatinous substance, which was weird. Our waiter was Frances and he was superb. We had the 8:00 seating. I only ate at Windjammer once, but it was good. We ate all of our meals in the main dining room. The Tutti salad bar was very good! Also, their sugar-free chocolate chip cookies are YUMMY! I could not even tell that they were sugar-free!

 

The shows were OUTSTANDING!!! Beat Disney and Carnival on that one!

 

And I can't remember ANY of our past cruise directors from any of our previous cruises, but Richard Spacey was DA BOMB!!! I laughed so hard at the Love and Marriage Show that I cried!

 

Customer Service was slightly lacking. When I asked our stateroom attendant (Valerie-good at cleaning rooms, but not personable at all, which is okay, at least we had a clean room!) about the $25 laundry special, she replied "the washers are broken, didn't you read the letter?" I told her I had read the letter, but it didn't say anything about not having the wash and fold service, and my 16 year old was out of clean clothes, because he had been playing a lot of basketball. She informed me we could use the "per item" laundry service, which was much more expensive. I'm confused, are the washers broke, or aren't they? They're broken for the cheaper laundry, but not the expensive? :confused: I went down to Guest Services to talk to them, and they said I would have to talk to the Deck Supervisor. He came down, and said, "Didn't you read the letter?" At that point, I wanted to scream, "YES, I READ THE $&$& LETTER!" He said he would have to check into it and get back with me the next day. I went back to Guest Services, and this time got a supervisor, who said they would do the $25 wash and fold. On Disney, none of this would have transpired, and if it had, they would have not charged me the $25. But anyway! The laundry got done, which is the main thing! My mom's room attendant in 2368 was Greg, and he was so, so sweet, in fact, I think my mom wanted to take him home with her! :D

 

 

The ship was shiny and clean all over!

 

We did the Sea Safari Snorkel/Beach ship excursion in St. Thomas, snorkeled with sea turtles, that was AWESOME!!!! They also took us to Honeymoon Beach for 30 minutes, but I wasn't too impressed with that. I could have just kept right on snorkeling!!

 

In St. Maarten, we did the Bernard's tour, that was very good, I would recommend that. We didn't get to see any big planes at Maho, though. :(

 

I thought the bed was pretty uncomfortable. It was a very hard bed. So if you like firm mattresses, you are in luck!

 

Overall, it was a good cruise, I would cruise RCI again, I would even go on the FOS again, with different ports.

[reallyitsmema]

Thanks for sharing your review. Did you end up having a ceremony for your Dad while you were on the ship?

[ryano]

Thanks for sharing your review. Did you end up having a ceremony for your Dad while you were on the ship?

 

You have the memory of an elephant! :D:p

 

 

Thanks for the review OP! I miss Freedom of the Seas! Best cruise yet!

[reallyitsmema]

You have the memory of an elephant! :D:p

 

 

Thanks for the review OP! I miss Freedom of the Seas! Best cruise yet!

LOL Thanks, I think.;):p I was hoping the OP would come back and tell us about her cruise after being so torn as to whether to cancel or not.

[TNIris]

I knew I was forgetting something!! :o

 

The ceremony was where RCI customer service excelled.

 

I went down to Guest Services on Sunday night and they said we had to do it on an "at sea" day, so we scheduled it for 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Al, the Guest Services Manager, and Andy, one of the front desk officers, escorted the five of us down to the 2nd floor, through the doors marked "staff only" and took us out to a little alcove where the ropes are. They read a very nice reading, and then mom tossed the biodegradable urn over. We were going so fast, it seemed....we saw it bounce once in the wake, and then it dissapeared. :( I wanted to stay there and watch forever, but I knew they needed to get back to their jobs.

 

They delivered the certificates to our room the next day, and according to the latitude and longitude, we were off the coast of the Dominican Republic.

 

I actually went to Things Remembered and had a locket engraved with the coordinates on the front of it.

 

Very, very special. My dad would have thought that was so cool!

[ryano]

I knew I was forgetting something!! :o

 

The ceremony was where RCI customer service excelled.

 

I went down to Guest Services on Sunday night and they said we had to do it on an "at sea" day, so we scheduled it for 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Al, the Guest Services Manager, and Andy, one of the front desk officers, escorted the five of us down to the 2nd floor, through the doors marked "staff only" and took us out to a little alcove where the ropes are. They read a very nice reading, and then mom tossed the biodegradable urn over. We were going so fast, it seemed....we saw it bounce once in the wake, and then it dissapeared. :( I wanted to stay there and watch forever, but I knew they needed to get back to their jobs.

 

They delivered the certificates to our room the next day, and according to the latitude and longitude, we were off the coast of the Dominican Republic.

 

I actually went to Things Remembered and had a locket engraved with the coordinates on the front of it.

 

Very, very special. My dad would have thought that was so cool!

 

That is wonderful! Thanks for sharing that :) That is SO what I want to have done with my ashes :)

[amster65]

Noticed you used Park N Cruise, is that cheaper or better than parking at the port.??

[reallyitsmema]

Having a locket made is a wonderful idea. I am glad the cruiseline helped you out.

[ryano]

Noticed you used Park N Cruise, is that cheaper or better than parking at the port.??

 

Its going to be over half of what it would cost to park at the Port.

 

Parking at the Port is 120.00 for a 7 night cruise. Park N Cruise would be about 56.00 I think.

 

The ONLY reason I park at Port canaveral is because my fee is waived.

[TNIris]

Yep, Park N Cruise is half of what the port is....like I said, we've used them 2 years in a row and never had a problem.

 

My mom, the cruise newbie, was trying to talk us into parking at the port and said she'd pay the difference but I wouldn't budge! :D

 

Now, the only thing is, last year, when we cruised with Disney, Park N Cruise was right there waiting when we got off the ship to take us back to the car, this year, we had to stand there and wait about 10 minutes, and they couldn't fit everyone on the bus. Luckily, we were one of the ones on that bus, but some people had to wait for them to come back again. Still, worth the savings in my opinion.

[LBumb]

good job

[Catz24031]

Hi, we were on the same cruise.

 

We were told the reason why there would be no towel animals was because the gentleman who trained the staff to do this was on his vacation.

[thegima]

We were on the same cruise, had a great time.

 

It's really nice they let you toss the urn into the ocean like that.. not a moment you'll ever forget I'm sure.

 

Richard was great, I actually found him funnier than the comedian. The love and marriage game was hilarious. Between the freaky middle age couple and the picture the older guy drew on the easel of his wife... Was a great time!

 

I was a little disappointed with the amount of construction/maintenance on the pool deck - it created a massive bottleneck. Then they had the entire back area by the sports court blocked off the last evening.

 

FOS is awesome, that was our second time and we already have another planned for next year. (western again) :D