Just back from FOS, beautiful ship!

[riteonglor]

Thought maybe you would like to hear a little about this gorgeous ship. Just back from 7 day Western Caribbean Cruise.

We arrived one day early and stayed at the Holiday Inn Downtown, right across from the bay market. Would stay there again, great people and hotel is older but very clean. We left for the ship the next morning at about 10:30 AM and though I thought it was way to early and we would be standing around a long time, I was delightfully wrong. It was 11:00 AM by the time we got there and all luggage unloaded. There was another couple with us whom had never cruised before and they were so excited it was fun watching them. A porter came and took our luggage away and we walked right into the terminal and waited all of 3 minutes and away we went. We were on the ship by 11:15, almost to good to be true. Eating lunch in the Windjammer by 11:30. The food was great and we ate there more then anyplace else on the ship.

We had signed up for Anytime dining and that was also very easy. Never waited once to get in and never reserved it, just showed up and got right in. They do still have lobster night and it just so fell on Thursday night the night we had tickets for the ice show. We only had an hour to eat since it was 6:00 PM when we got to Anytime dining and we asked our waitress if it was possible to be in and out in about 50 minutes. She said she thought she could get the job done and she did. The dinner consisted of 2 small lobster tail and 6 small shrimp. We had no more and got them ate and she showed up with 2 more lobster tail and shrimp for each of us. She said she just assumed we would want more and had the chef get them ready so as soon as she saw we were done with what we had she could slide some more on our plate. This lady, needless to say deserved a tip beyond our pre-paid gratuities. We were more then happy to tip her very well. We were at the ice show with 10 minutes to spare. Wow, that was service.

The ice show is not to be missed, I think its by far the best show on the ship and the couple with us agreed. We went twice as there were some left over tickets.

Our friends and us both had a JS on the hump and it was very nice, more then enough room for 2 people.

Casino is quite spacious, stopped in for awhile every night and donated money to the cruiseline. Smoke was not a problem there, yes, you could tell people were smoking in the casino but they must have good fans that take it out as it was never overbearing.

Smoker's obeyed the smoking rules and it was not a problem anywhere on the ship. We had smoker's next door to us on the balcony but the smoke just went up in the air, never was a problem on our balcony.

 

We had studied all the tours that were available through the cruiseline and when we went ashore, we hired a small van to take us to anything we thought we would like to see and its the only way to go as far as we were concerned. Less then half price of what you would pay the cruiseship.

 

Loved the ship and hated to get off, the time went way to fast. Next cruise we are going to take will probally be Panama Canal or the New England.

Comparing this cruise to our cruise with Princess to Alaska, I would have to say both ships are great. We did like the ports of call on the Alaska cruise a lot more then the ports of call on the Western Caribbean. Probally that has a little to do with our age but the Alaskan scenery would be hard to beat.

 

I guess I best also say.....as big as the FOS is, we never felt like we were in a crowd and that is amazing considering the huge amount of people this ship holds.

[CP3o]

Thanks for the review. Did they say if your ship was full or what percentage full it was?

[Angel59920]

Thanks so much for the review. I'm going on FOS in April and I can't wait. Where do you sign up for anytime dinning? When you get on the ship or before? Thanks again.

[willysgrandma]

FOS is one of my favorite two ships to cruise on. I loved her as well.

[riteonglor]

Thanks for the review. Did they say if your ship was full or what percentage full it was?

 

The ship was full. There are so many activities going on in so many different parts of the ship that its hard to believe there are that many people on board. They are spread out at so many different things that it never feels crowded, which is great.

[riteonglor]

Thanks so much for the review. I'm going on FOS in April and I can't wait. Where do you sign up for anytime dinning? When you get on the ship or before? Thanks again.

 

If you have a TA they will sign you up if you contact them and let them know that is the dinning you would like. If you booked through RCCL then call them and tell them that is what you want. You do have to pre-pay your gratuities in advance if you go with Anytime Dining. That was OK with us because we would have done that on the ship anyway. It is just one less thing to do when you get on the ship.

Have a ball in April, you will love that ship and all the people that work on it.

 

I also went to the hair salon 2 days before we got off the ship. I have short hair and decided it was getting kind of shabby looking and wouldn't it be fun to get my hair cut on the ship. It cost $50 for a cut and blow dry and I guess I would have to say I wouldn't do that again. Not a good haircut and they did not have a real friendly attitude in the salon. Tried hard to push their products and I ended up heading back to my cabin to try and redo the bad job. But, as we all know, the haircut will make or break the style and I couldn't do much to make it look better. I think my husband could have give me a better cut and that isn't saying much. OH, well, in a few weeks I can get it cut at my hair stylist.

[Angel59920]

Thanks for the help with answering my question. I might call them and ask about it. I would like to not have to rush back from the ports to try to make it in time for dinner. My DH wanted the early sitting, but then says that we can eat at the windjammer ever night. I dont think so.

[thebasketnut]

Thanks for the review. We will be on Freedom in January! Can't wait!

 

Shari

[rclcruzer]

Nice review...

We loved FOS so much. Had the best vacation/cruise so far. The most beautiful ship on the high seas!! :) (imo of course:p)

[SherriZ366]

We had signed up for Anytime dining and that was also very easy. Never waited once to get in and never reserved it, just showed up and got right in. They do still have lobster night and it just so fell on Thursday night the night we had tickets for the ice show. We only had an hour to eat since it was 6:00 PM when we got to Anytime dining and we asked our waitress if it was possible to be in and out in about 50 minutes. She said she thought she could get the job done and she did. The dinner consisted of 2 small lobster tail and 6 small shrimp. We had no more and got them ate and she showed up with 2 more lobster tail and shrimp for each of us. She said she just assumed we would want more and had the chef get them ready so as soon as she saw we were done with what we had she could slide some more on our plate. This lady, needless to say deserved a tip beyond our pre-paid gratuities. We were more then happy to tip her very well. We were at the ice show with 10 minutes to spare. Wow, that was service.

 

.

Thanks for the feedback. How much of the dining room had Anytime dining? From earlier posts, I saw that they used either deck 4 or 5 and sometimes only 1/2 the deck -- probably adjusting according to demand. As you know, you are in the experiment period (early Oct. - mid-December) and I think you may be the first AD diner that I have seen posting about the test on CC. Feedback on the experiment is very sparse!!

[nursenan]

We are going on Freedom of The Seas in April. I am also thinking about staying at the Holiday Inn.How did you get to the hotel from airport and also to the port and the cost.After 10+ cruises,we have never sailed on RC, so we are very excited about this cruise.Thanks

[riteonglor]

We are going on Freedom of The Seas in April. I am also thinking about staying at the Holiday Inn.How did you get to the hotel from airport and also to the port and the cost.After 10+ cruises,we have never sailed on RC, so we are very excited about this cruise.Thanks

 

We took a took a small van taxi from the airport, there were 4 adults and we had quite a bit of luggage. It cost $26 from the airport to Holiday Inn. We did the same from the Holiday Inn to the port, which is very close and that cost us $12.

You will love the ship, happy sailing.

[riteonglor]

Thanks for the feedback. How much of the dining room had Anytime dining? From earlier posts, I saw that they used either deck 4 or 5 and sometimes only 1/2 the deck -- probably adjusting according to demand. As you know, you are in the experiment period (early Oct. - mid-December) and I think you may be the first AD diner that I have seen posting about the test on CC. Feedback on the experiment is very sparse!!

 

It appeared to us that only 1/2 of the dining room on deck 4 was being used for Anytime Dining but we were told that could and would be changed if needed. A lot of cruiser's on the ship that we talked to were not aware they could have chose Anytime Dining and were bummed out ....said had they known... they would have chose that. I learned of this experiment on CC and it was very close to us leaving for the cruise. I had to tell my TA I had read this and wanted the Anytime Dining. She acted like she really didn't believe it was true and called RCCL. Then called me back and said, it was true so she would set that up for us. So, I'm sure there were a lot of cruiser's on the ship that did not know that was an option.

[Merion_Mom]

Thanks for the help with answering my question. I might call them and ask about it. I would like to not have to rush back from the ports to try to make it in time for dinner. My DH wanted the early sitting, but then says that we can eat at the windjammer ever night. I dont think so.

 

Angel, you are way over-obsessing about this.

 

You have four port days.

 

 

The ships sails at 4 on one day, 5 on two days, and 7 on the fourth port day.

 

You will have to be back on board half an hour before sailing time, AT THE ABSOLUTE latest.

 

That means that the latest you will be back on board will be:

 

Sunday: first day, on board around noon.

Monday: at sea, on board all day

Tuesday: back on board no later than 4:30

Wednesday: back on board no later than 4:30

Thursday: back on board no later than 3:30

Friday: back on board no later than 6:30

Saturday: at sea, on board all day.

 

I just don't see where all of your time anxiety is coming from.

[SherriZ366]

It appeared to us that only 1/2 of the dining room on deck 4 was being used for Anytime Dining but we were told that could and would be changed if needed. A lot of cruiser's on the ship that we talked to were not aware they could have chose Anytime Dining and were bummed out ....said had they known... they would have chose that. I learned of this experiment on CC and it was very close to us leaving for the cruise. I had to tell my TA I had read this and wanted the Anytime Dining. She acted like she really didn't believe it was true and called RCCL. Then called me back and said, it was true so she would set that up for us. So, I'm sure there were a lot of cruiser's on the ship that did not know that was an option.

As RCI is extending it, they will probably publicize it a bit more. I hope RCI will try to accomodate what EACH SAILING's preferences are rather than being rigid like Princess, whose ships usually have only one dining room for traditional which results in lots of traditional diners being waitlisted. Their fax to TAs says that they will send emails to passengers booked on FOS offering "My Time Dining."