Cheap Cruise Holidays & Latest Cruises Deals
Thursday 9th Feb 2012
Sign up to our newsletter for all the latest cruise news, reviews, photos and answers...
The Tale of Two Cruises |
|
| |
|
Reviewed By: Green, Chippenham ,Wilts.. on 9th Mar 2010
|
| Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean Cruises |
Times cruised before: 10+ |
| Cruise Ship: Freedom of the Seas |
Sailed:
November,
2009 |
| Destination:
Caribbean
|
Age: 56-65 |
| Cabin: Balcony |
|
The Tale of Two Cruises
In November 2008 my wife and I flew Thomson from Bristol to Barbados for a 2 week Western Caribbean cruise on board P & O Ventura.
We have always wanted to try an ‘all American’ cruise, so last November 2009 we took advantage of a Thomas Cook offer and flew Virgin from Gatwick to Orlando for a 2 weeks Caribbean cruise on board RCL’s Freedom of the Seas, from Port Canaveral. It was in fact, 2 x 7 day back-to-back cruises. The first week in the Eastern Caribbean, the second Western.
I will not detail the 2008 cruise, as that was well documented at the time, but I will compare.
Firstly – the flights. In 2008 we flew Thomson Premium from Bristol, and 2009 flew Virgin economy from Gatwick. I documented at the time that we both thought the Thomson Premium a waste of money. Of the two flights, we thought that Virgin won ‘hands down’. Comfortable seats, good service with delightful staff. Well done Virgin.
The hotel we stayed in at Orlando was near the airport and of a high standard. The organisation to the hotel and from there to the ship was very good. They even provided a special breakfast for cruise passengers.
Secondly – the ships. We would choose Freedom of the Seas any day. Again, I have previously documented that the Ventura cruise was the only one of many that the ship felt overcrowded. Too few public spaces for the number of passengers. We have cruised on both Independence and Freedom of the Seas, and on neither did we feel overcrowded. Bigger ships, more passengers, but more public space to ‘spread out’ in. The facilities on Freedom are superb. Beautiful main restaurant and entertainment centres, from the theatre to the putting green on deck.
Where P & O win ‘hands down’ is in the quality of service in the main & speciality restaurants and the food generally. The service on Freedom, although very polite, was more ‘laid back’, even to the point of serving after dinner coffee in mugs because they had ‘run out’ of cups & saucers. This on the Gala dinner night did not impress our fellow cruisers, who were both 1st timers. The quality of the food was fine but it lacked imagination & variety. The entertainment by the ship’s company was of very high standard on both ships, but guest entertainers were of a much higher standard on Ventura. Perhaps this could be an unfair comparison as we have never quite fully understood or appreciated American humour.
It was fortunate that on Freedom, we only duplicated one port – St. Maarten, from those we visited with Ventura. Although I personally am not a ‘beach person’, much preferring to see some of the country rather than a strip of sand, especially if there is only 1 day at the location. Labadee on Haiti and Coco Cay in the Bahamas were excellent stops. They are both RCL resorts and are more than large enough to accommodate everyone without overcrowding. Their facilities are excellent, unlike Catalina Island, the beach resort stop with Ventura, this we thought was a waste of a day,too restrictive and therefore crowded, although other passengers loved it. All a matter of personal taste.
There were far fewer ‘sea days’ with Ventura and therefore more islands visited, which was a big plus, but those we visited with Freedom were very interesting, especially Cozumel, where we took a mainland excursion. Grand Cayman and US Virgin Islands were also lovely. The only ‘downer’ was Jamaica. Dunns River Falls and the Shaw Park Gardens were both well worth visiting, but everywhere we went, we were continuously pestered for money, either for cheap, trashy souvenirs or taxi trips. We got very fed up with this, and began to feel intimidated, it did rather spoil our enjoyment of a lovely island. One taxi driver on being told several times that we did not want his $5, $4, $3, $1 taxi back to the ship as we wanted to walk, then offered to walk us back for $2!! Unfortunately visiting again is a very definite NO NO.
The big let down with the Freedom cruise was the back-to-back element where we returned to Port Canaveral. Nothing in itself wrong with that, because RCL arrange very interesting excursions such as an Everglades airboat trip or a day at the Kennedy Space Centre, both very well worth doing. U.S. Immigration insist that everyone disembarks and then re-embarks, meaning we had to endure again the private security staff in the cruise terminal, who were almost totally made up of retirement aged, officious females, many complete with ‘attitude’. These are to be avoided if at all possible!!! ‘Have a nice day’ came nowhere near these ladies...........
On the second week we found that the menu/food and entertainment were carbon copies of the first week, this was very disappointing. If RCL are going to promote back-to-back cruises they should ensure that they have more than a 7 day cycle in operation. During the second week we only used the main restaurant once, choosing to go to the self-service restaurant for more selection. For some strange reason on the second week our complete table of guests was moved to another section of the restaurant, which was a great shame as the service was nowhere near as good, another reason for our deciding to use the self-service restaurant.
We did keep the same cabin and steward, which pleased us, as she was excellent.
Americans seem to have a propensity for shopping and RCL provide staff and talks specifically designed to promote shopping at their port stops. Why they go on cruises heaven knows......
We were very glad we have experienced an ‘all American’ cruise and it did have many plus points, but like the Ventura cruise, we will not be repeating either.
We have before, and since, and will continue, to use P & O. Overall they do provide a much better service. Perhaps though Carnival should stop adapting ‘off the shelf’ Italian built ships and design ships more specifically for the markets they serve.
As a general point, but worth mentioning, whether it coincided with the now near domination of the cruise market by American companies or not, but it is a pity that cruise companies like Carnival & RCL are putting more and more emphasis on taking your money, and less on providing a quality service.
|
| Quality of Food |  |
| Quality fine,but lacked variety and immagination | | Entertainment |  |
| Ships own entertainers excellent.Guests not so good. | | Shore Excursions | |
| Everglades airboat trip and Cape Kennedy Space Centre both excellent.On the Islands grab a taxi,they are used to tourist you see more and it is much better value. | | Staff | |
| Our cabin steward.Prompt on requests,polite with humour and a nice personality. | | Children's Facilities | n/a |
| | Onboard Activities | |
| | Cabins | |
| | Overall Rating | |
|
Receive a FREE copy
of Fodor's
Complete
Guide to
European
Cruises
|
|
Previous Cruise Reviews
