bigburlyjohn

After checking in for our recent cruise, we noticed that our linked reservations for the purposes of dining were no longer linked and our group of ten would not be sitting together. Once onboard the ship we immediately headed for guest relations who directed us to a station across the way where one of the head waiters was set up to answer dining questions. Upon explaining our situation, Aleksandar Stankovski immediately set about correcting our arrangement. Within just a few minutes he had our group all together for our chosen dining time. That evening both we and Aleksandar, as a Head Waiter, were surprised to find that he had been assigned to our section. Aleksandar deserves huge prompts for his professionalism, courteousness and willingness to help. As a Head Waiter should, he checked with our group to ensure our dining experience was excellent. With Aleksandar, what really impressed me was how he went out of his way to make certain that the six-month old in our group had freshly pureed vegetables or fruit from the chef. Every evening at dinner Aleksandar would ask which we preferred and where we would like to have it served. Even though we had both dinner and breakfast in the MDR, he offered to have it available in the Windjammer if needed. On the morning of one of our early excursions he even offered to have it delivered to the appropriate stateroom. Also, dining room staff members not even assigned to our table really seemed to enjoy seeing our grandchildren. At both dinner and breakfast, multiple staff members would stop by our table to see the children. Two of those whose names come to mind, but not assigned to our table, are Donovan Reddy and John Hernandez. We met both at breakfast in the MDR, John would make napkin dolls for our six-month old and Donovan even sought us out at dinner to say hello to the kids.

Tool to open windows in ocean view staterooms ;-) http://www.lowes.com/pd_420259-42268-MD-4F-K+34120_1z11pb1__?productId=50041776&pl=1

West: Cozumel - Nachi Cocom $55.00. Admission limited to 100 guest daily and includes lunch, open bar access to beach palapas, pool area with hot tub and smim up bar, etc. Search "Nachi Cocom" on your favorite search engine.

...you could probably find me hanging out at Sorento's!

Regarding dining times we are early eaters and prefer to me on a schedule so we choose first seating. Each of the three cruises we've been on, our groups have been large enough that we would have our own table. Take a large group if you can, we think it's fun when cruising with others we know.

My wife and one of our friends highly recommend the shrimp sandwich at Cafe Promenade!

My family and I recently returned from a Freedom of the Seas Western Caribbean cruise. We had a great time and would encourage everyone to try FOS. The performers and shows were excellent. The officers and staff of the FOS were super and very accommodating. The food was the best of the three cruises I have been on (although it was never bad before). My grandsons enjoyed both the DreamWorks Experience and Adventure Ocean / Royal Babies and Tots. I encourage anyone to try Freedom of the Seas, or the ship we had twice previously cruised, the Independence of the Seas. With all that said, there were some things that I found surprising on FOS that I did not encounter previously on IOS. The overall condition of FOS was excellent but not superior to IOS. In a couple locations, including in the hall near our stateroom, we could smell what we thought was sewer gas. It was not overwhelming but it was there. On deck 4 aft, the men's public restroom near the elevator door closure was missing so the door would not return closed automatically, and it was that way for the durastion of the cruise. In this restroom and some others, there was a distinct odor of urine. Mulitple times my wife and I both found empty soap dispensers in the public restrooms. In our stateroom, we had to ask that our provided shampoo dispenser be refilled. Upon entering the dining areas, the attention of the crew to ensure the use of hand sanitizer was not as prevalent as our previous cruises. Another "condition" item that comes to mind was the carpet on the bottom of one of the steps in the aft stairwell; it was hanging loose the entire cruise. Again, this was a GREAT cruise. Casey Pelter is an outstanding Cruise Director and very personable. He, the Captain and many of the other officers were ever present and readily approachable and friendly. Anyone that is considering FOS or any other RCI cruise, please do not hesitate. This was our third cruise with RCI and we have three additional scheduled, including another on FOS. I'm certain these instances mentioned were anomalies, but I wanted to get other opinions.

This was sent as a text to our mobile phones. Because we were forewarned of the delay we did not have an issue with the late boarding.

Royal Caribbean has sent a message to passengers of the 4/20/14 sailing of the Independence of the Seas that boarding will be delayed due to extra sanitization procedures.

April 20, 2014 - Independence of the Seas

Though, I mistakenly emailed reservations regarding this issue, they were kind enough to forward my communication to guest relations. As expected the answer was generic, reiterating the changes made, and that they were "driven by their quest for continuous improvement". Seems like double speak to me when they say that listening to their guests is the most effective way to create the best possible rewards program. So, if they are TRULY listening to their guests, we should see the program revert back to the previous terms shortly (don't hold your breath). Following is a copy of the "Dear John" email I received with the appropriate contact info for Royal Caribbean at the bottom: