We just returned from a totally free trip sponsored by Harrahs New Orleans
casino on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas. For video poker players,
the paytables were all 6/5 for quarters and 7/5 for $1 and up, with really
really bad deuces wild tables. Still, being an addict with some extra
money in my pocket, I played on the quarter progressive which grew very very
slowly to about $1800 or so - I'm not sure if it was ever hit. I did poorly
at quarters so switched to $1 DDB and I was shocked when I hit a $1 royal
flush. Later I was dealt Aces with a kicker at $1 level. I put a lot of
money in however over 7 days and ended up $1000 ahead, which was still better
than I'd done on previous Royal Caribbean cruises. A number of people hit
small jackpots in the $1000 range, and a few larger jackpots on various
reel machines and VP were announced at $2000, $3000, even $8000 (I think a $5
VP jackpot of some sort). With all the big players from Harrahs along, it
wasn't surprising to find a number of jackpots. Still it seemed that the
ship's payouts were a bit more liberal than previous Royal cruises.
Harrah's New Orleans is the best of the Harrah's casinos, in my opinion,
and treated us very well. I did notice that the extra gifts were cut back a
bit. In past cruises, they gave us gifts every day such as robes, slippers,
t-shirts, wine, $100 ship credit. On this trip it was more like
every-other-day, with $50 ship credit. They did give everyone a beautiful Junior
Suite or better, paid gratuities, port taxes, and we had a lot of extras like
free drinks in the casino and special check-in area for faster check-in.
Unfortunately New Orleans has switched over to Norweigan Cruise Line for
future free cruises, and NCL is giving out only Oceanview, much smaller
rooms. We will have to see how they treat us, but the next cruise (set for
fall 2009) is not being overseen by Passport Travel, so I'm expecting that it
will be nowhere near as nice. (Though they are still paying port taxes and
gratuities, and thank goodness, free drinks in the bar. As previous you
pay your own airfare and for other extras like port excursions).
Due to Swine Flu, our stop at Cozumel Mexico was canceled, resulting in
another sea day. Being at sea with limited news (CNN and Fox), led to a lot
of paranoia about the flu. Was everyone in masks elsewhere? Would our
stop in Cozumel be canceled or not? The cruise ship wasn't too good about
deceminating information either, telling us we would stop in Cozumel only a
few hours before the Royal Caribbean website said all Mexican ports were
canceled, and then waiting at least 12 hours after that to inform passengers of
the change.
At the start of the trip, hand sanitizers were no where in site, but by
mid-trip, and mid-flu-paranoia, suddenly hand sanitizers were everywhere.
Still hand sanitizers and hand washing are not 100% guarantees of getting no
illnesses, since my husband used them religiously, and was very nervous
about germs, and still he managed to pick up a bad cold (not the flu!) and
cough, while I used less precautions and remained okay.
If you are thinking about cruising, the Freedom of the Seas is really a
beautiful ship, and the personnel are very good and friendly. The
entertainment was top-notch, and included The Scintas!! (Formerly headliners at
Vegas's Rio and then The Hilton). They are now touring and doing cruise ships
(a sad comedown for this top act in my opinion). They had excellent shows,
very good lounge singers, and the best Cruise Director I've ever seen,
Richard Spacey. Spacey made his own videos which were hilarious. I really
don't like cruise directors, but this one was the best of the lot. I will
even look up any videos on UTube. He was from Britain, and even did a short
humorous video touting "limey away" product that showed up on the cruise
channel like a commercial.
Unfortunately, like most cruises nowadays, there was little to do on sea
days except gamble, swim, shop, eat, and sleep. Very few cost-free
programs. Several 2nd run movies were shown over and over on TV and the same ones
in a screening room, like "Indiana Jones", but pay TV was available. I
would very much have liked some of the music and dancing that showed up
onboard after 9 p.m. to be done during the afternoons.
Freedom has a huge atrium area that provided some excellent night-time
entertainment, including 2 parades and a big dance party with hundreds of
passengers dancing. It really is a beautiful ship with nice decorations.
Unfortunately Royal Caribbean is making various cost cutting cutbacks
though, from the old days of cruising. Now Room Service has a $4 charge from
midnight to 6 a.m. (despite being listed in brochures as "complimentary").
Don't try ordering juice anytime except breakfast, or there is a room
service charge. The midnight buffet, previously cut to 1 night, was now
completely GONE. Small printed daily newspapers, gone. I suspect the
cost-cutting is not limited to Royal C., so expect more and more extra charges and
fewer of the freebies that used to enhance cruising.
Food quality in Royal hasn't been that great over the last 4 years and 4
cruises, but seemed slightly worse. The food quality was okay to good, but
certainly not gourmet. The lobster tail people were waiting for was pretty
darn small (though you could still ask for seconds and thirds and just as
much as you want at dinner). No baked alaska or beef wellington. The
dinner menu now also contained extra choices for Filet Mignon, for a $14.95 or
so fee. The lunch menu in the sit-down dining area was especially bad,
with limited choices that repeated each day. The Royal Caribbean luncheon
extra pasta station was now replaced by a salad bar, which produced excellent
salads during the sit-down lunch. But some of the lunch food in the dining
room was so bad that we saw a number of people start to eat and then decide
to go up to the buffet area. The olive spread we loved on previous
cruises was now different, not nearly as good, and was prepared by an outside
vendor.
Prices were up for drinks onboard, such as $8.95 for the drink of the day.
Thank goodness we had free booze in the casino bar, because those drinks
were expensive. If you like soda, you can buy a package for unlimited
sodas during the trip -- a considerable savings over the per can cost.
We did like the 24 hour pizza place and sandwich place on the atrium
level. Ate a lot of pizza! They also have a 24-hour ice cream machine
poolside. Two "specialty" restaurants charge about $25 per person for Italian or
Steakhouse menus. There is also a hamburger joint, Johnny Rockets, with
good burgers and fries - but you have to pay about $4 to get in and extra for
shakes. On previous trips, people who had sailed with Royal received
coupon books for free entree to Rockets and free wine tastings, etc. But the
coupon books were cost-reduced with less good coupons and no Rockets or
tastings.
Despite spending time in the exercise room, walking up and down stairs
instead of taking the elevators, doing various sports, and eating mediocre
food, most cruisers can still expect to gain 4-10 pounds during a week at sea!
The rooms on Royal are larger than on NCL and with very comfortable
bedding. Fortunately service continues to be excellent on the cruise line, with
outstanding waiters/waitresses, room attendants, etc. Only the Windjammer
buffet seemed to fall short, with perhaps not enough staff to keep tables
as clean as they should be. Also Freedom of the Seas is a big ship, with
4000 passengers, so it was hard to find empty tables in the Windjammer
(share!). Fortunately it is so big, it never seemed overcrowded. There was a
problem with people saving seats at shows though - someone needed to make
announcements about "no saving seats!" It was annoying for me with my cane
to come 1/2 hour early and see scads of "empty" seats, only to find they
were "saved." One guy tried to save 12 seats!!!! (I sat down anyway in the
middle and motioned people over into 6 of the seats!). The really nasty
thing is that they kept holding seats until showtime, and by then, the person
they wanted to sit down couldn't even find them, so the seats remained
empty.
Freedom, like some of the other newer, large Royal C. ships, has an Ice
Skating Rink, where you can go to skate - great for kids, or watch a truly
excellent Ice Show (get the tickets when handed out or you are out of luck).
They also have a BIG rock-climbing wall, and a Flowrider - where people
can try to waterboard or surf. The surfers were wipeout city though! You
could watch the Flowrider action on TV in the room - and few lasted more than
2 seconds on the surfboards. There was a really large miniature golf
course, basketball/volleyball courts, lots of pools and jacuzzis, golf hitting
range, etc. A lot to do if you are into sports. Also Royal C. has an
excellent children's program with their own areas so the kids are kept occupied
and away from the adults. Royal C. is a good cruise line for those with
children or teens.
The casino treated gamblers well, but as usual, the machines in Vegas or
Atlantic City are a lot looser. They also had a lot of slot and Blackjack
tournaments, but prizes are quite small, despite their claiming you had "a
chance for a free cruise" or "a chance for $15,000"....the chance was very
small -- the winners did not automatically get these things (ask!). Lots
and lots of bingo onboard -- really poor game -- you are better off to take
your bingo money and plunk it onto a number at roulette.
Like most cruise ships nowadays, there are a lot of Art Auctions. If you
like the art - go to Ebay after the cruise -- you'll find the same artist
and many pieces for a lot less $.
Besides the booze costs, one expensive item onboard ship can be Internet
time. Most ships now feature some sort of WiFi access. It worked very well
on Freedom in my room. But you still have to pay, and they charge
something like 55 cents a minute, unless you buy a package of time, which cuts the
cost down to about 38 cents - but it can still add a lot of cost to your
bill.
For people going on their first cruise, one hint - don't buy the shore
excursions - you almost always can find the same excursions for sale once you
are off the cruise ship for a lot less. For example the ship charged $37
for a snorkeling expedition where you walk to the snorkeling from the ship
in Grand Cayman. We walked off to the same place, took our own snorkeling
gear - it was free. For those without gear, the place rented it for $14-16.
Tour of Grand Cayman by bus for 4 hours $35; tour by shore operators for
2 hours $10. 7 mile island beach break with lounge chair and
transportation excursion $35; bus from pier to 7 mile island $4 each way plus about $5
for a lounge chair (total $13). Of course you want to make sure you are
back to the boat before it leaves if you do it on your own. The ship will
remain to pick up its own tours, but not for random late passengers (we've
seen several standing on the dock while the ship pulls out over the years!).
Overall, if you don't get a free cruise but want to cruise, I recommend
searching the internet for bargains. If you are thinking of Royal Caribbean,
the Freedom of the Seas was the best of their vessels I've been on.
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