Freedom OTS Trip Review - 2/16/14 (Western) - Playing “Clue” in the Caribbean!

[fletch1027]

How long was the kitchen tour?

 

The tour took between 90-120 minutes from start to finish. It began and ended in the MDR and the chefs hung around for a bit to chat with the people that took the tour if they had questions...

[fletch1027]

 

This stage of the tour was interesting because in this area they showed us how they work on keeping the dishes consistent in regards to quality and uniformity. What they do is lay out one of each of the entrées here to keep on display as an example of how each should be plated before being served:

 

 

 

 

…and Chef Barry explaining all of this to us… :-)

 

 

 

This is also where all of the cool fruit animals are prepped for display:

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…

 

 

 

 

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[fletch1027]

 

This next series of photos is probably the most impressive to me because after seeing the giant soup pots, recipes for 100, etc., we then see the prep area, and the sheer enormity of that they do several times a day starts to come together!

 

The pictures make it harder to visualize how a sea of plates and domes look in person stacked three high and many wide getting ready for soon to be cooked dinner!

 

 

 

 

 

These next 2 photos show the dessert prep area and what I believe are apple caramel desserts:

 

 

 

Also, a mixer over in dessert prep slightly larger than the Kitchen Aid we have at home :-)

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…

 

 

 

 

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[fletch1027]

 

This next area is where everything comes together. I’m not sure what the official name is, so I called it the pick-up area. What happens here is an amazing display of food service. So, as you can see from the next few photos is that the “hot line” uses photos of the entrees to show what is there and available for pickup, so as the wait staff comes through and they need like 2 roast beefs & 2 pastas, they get them from here and fill their trays. The real amazing thing is that from the time the food is plated, approved for quality control, a dome put on it, put up on the hot line, and taken for an order, the goal is for a plat to be gone for service in 2 minutes or less. With the volume of food moving through there, that is an insanely quick amount of time from plating to table! Below are the photos of this area and there is one more photo at the bottom of something that I thought was way cool as well…

 

 

 

 

 

 

This computer screen is visible at the pick-up area (and prep area also I believe), and what is does is track how many of each entrée is scheduled to be made, how many have gone out and how many are left to be made. It looks pretty much “reset” now because it is between lunch & dinner, but I can imagine it looks pretty active in the middle of a service. It also reflects the projections of how many of each entre to make based on things like historical data from previous cruises and the trending of the current cruise. It must be a delicate balancing act between not prepping too much of an entre and running out of another. I wonder if wait staffs like ours that try and talk us into extra entrée’s skew their projections? :-)

 

 

 

This brings the galley tour to an end. In summary, it was a lot of fun and very informative. I would recommend it to anyone that gets the chance to go to take advantage of it. For the cost, it is really one of the best deals on the ship!

 

 

To be continued…

 

 

 

 

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[fletch1027]

 

 

Well, that galley tour was awesome! If you don’t believe me, let the 30-40 pictures I posted back up my opinion. :-)

 

The rest of the day was spent wondering around the Freedom, knowing that we would be getting kicked off the next morning… :-(

 

We had a late lunch @ the Windjammer, and I snapped what I thought was a cool angle looking down the side of Freedom as we headed back towards port.

 

 

 

Late afternoon we had one last hurrah at trivia at the Schooner Bar, but were unable to emerge victorious. We then had a nice dinner at the MDR, and went up and watched the movie on the pool vid screen before we headed down to finish packing and put out our luggage to get rounded up.

 

Later that night, I snapped a couple of pics of the almost deserted promenade. Where’s everyone at?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…

 

 

 

 

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[fletch1027]

 

Well, this will be my last review post. As expected, it looks like not many folks stuck around during my 1+ year hiatus between Grand Cayman and Cozumel, and that’s my fault. :(

 

If anyone posts questions in the future, I’ll monitor my subscription and answer anyone’s questions they may have.

 

Day 8 is by far the worst day of a week long cruise. We get up early, get herded into breakfast, then wait to be kicked off so the ship can be swept clean to prepare for the next group of lucky cruisers that will be showing up later that day.

 

As we were being led out towards baggage claim, I looked over and saw Chef Barry out personally inspecting the incoming food delivery for the week. I thought that it was cool that someone at his level was out there taking care of things!

 

 

 

Then came the long drive back to Atlanta from Port Canaveral. It was uneventful.

 

I could stretch it out by calling Day 9 “Back to the Grind”, but I don’t want to depress anyone… :)

 

 

Sitting in Atlanta traffic Monday morning daydreaming about the next vacation!

 

 

 

Hope anyone getting this far has enjoyed the ride and got some value out of it! Until next time…

 

 

 

[Marylandteachergirl]

Even with the hiatus, this is still a great FOS review. Thank you for taking the time to do it.

 

Will you be reviewing your Allure sailing, too?

[fletch1027]

Even with the hiatus, this is still a great FOS review. Thank you for taking the time to do it.

 

Will you be reviewing your Allure sailing, too?

 

 

Thanks! I will be taking a ton of photos. I will likely do a review, but I'm not sure what type yet. Probably not a "live" review. Cruises are too expensive to spend time posting. :-)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mickev99]

Sitting in Atlanta traffic Monday morning daydreaming about the next vacation!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope anyone getting this far has enjoyed the ride and got some value out of it! Until next time…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I know that traffic well, unfortunately! Thanks for finishing and have a great time on your next cruise!

[fletch1027]

I see in your box you are in Marietta. I feel for you! I'm coming up from the south side, so as bad as mine is, I know 75 is worse! :(

 

 

 

 

 

I know that traffic well, unfortunately! Thanks for finishing and have a great time on your next cruise!

[CanadaRob]

I can't believe you finally finished this Fletch!

Found this in early '15 when I was booked for Christmas on Freedom and waited with bated breath to finish....

thanks for finishing and making me wait for your Allure review which is next up!

[mickev99]

 

I see in your box you are in Marietta. I feel for you! I'm coming up from the south side, so as bad as mine is, I know 75 is worse! :(

 

 

 

 

 

Fortunately I work from home now, but I used to work

by Perimeter Mall...nightmare. Barrett Pkwy to 75 south to 285 East. I do not miss that commute at all!!

[fletch1027]

I can't believe you finally finished this Fletch!

Found this in early '15 when I was booked for Christmas on Freedom and waited with bated breath to finish....

thanks for finishing and making me wait for your Allure review which is next up!

 

Thanks for sticking around! :) How was your Christmas cruise on Freedom? We loved our two cruises on Freedom! It will be sad when she moves down to Ft. Lauderdale. I'm sure I will love cruising on the Oasis, but if we cruise Western Carrib. again, it will be tough to sail past Grand Cayman without stopping... :(

 

I will definitely be doing a review of our Allure trip. It's also almost like a journal for me to have online to help me remember the cruises as well! This time I promise to finish it in a timely manner... :D

 

[Newfiecruiser75]

We are booked on FOS for Sept 4, 2016 and are also doing Western! Your post was great. This is not our first time cruising but it will be our first on RCL! Thank you for sharing your vacation!:D

[fletch1027]

We are booked on FOS for Sept 4, 2016 and are also doing Western! Your post was great. This is not our first time cruising but it will be our first on RCL! Thank you for sharing your vacation!:D

 

No problem - sorry for the delay in replaying - I have been off of the CC grid for a bit... :)

[preschool teacher]

Bravo! Great review...I just found it so no waiting for me.