Royal Caribbean International Freedom of the Seas

Venue Overview (5.38)

Being a buffet restaurant, the Windjammer looks a like an elegant cafeteria. There are rattan chairs with cushions throughout the dining room and the tables are dark in color. Some seating areas have roofed, round benches and tables, while the food is lined up along the wall in front of an open kitchen. The crew constantly pushes dishes out of the kitchen and fills up the buffet accordingly. In the middle of the buffet are three islands with specialty foods and a chef in the middle who is always keeping the serving pans full. One station features freshly grilled burgers and hot dogs at night, and eggs any way you choose in the morning. Several beverage stations are packed in the room, featuring fresh orange juice, other juices, water, iced tea, and coffee. Because of the Windjammer’s close proximity to the pool area, the restaurant was always packed.

Breakfast

Breakfast is offered every day from 7:30 to 11 am at the Windjammer, and we found the restaurant was usually crowded for breakfast (particularly on sea days). At the egg station you can get omelets, boiled and scrambled eggs, as well as eggs your way that are prepared by a chef to order. Bacon, potato patties, and breakfast sausages are located right next to the egg station. Another station has a variety of breads, donuts, muffins, and other pastries, while a third station features waffles, French toast, and pancakes. There’s also a selection of boxed cereals, yogurts, fruits, cold cuts, and savory Asian-inspired dishes elsewhere in the buffet line.

Lunch / Dinner

For lunch, Windjammer offers a salad bar with prepared salads such as tuna or egg salad, as well as a do it yourself salad station. Different pastas and sauces are available, as well as an Indian chicken curry, turkey and gravy, fish, and a paella-style rice and seafood dish. Another station offers sandwiches, cold cuts, burgers, hot dogs, pizza, and fries. Even though it’s a buffet, the food at Windjammer was decent, and the dishes were kept warm for a while. On sea days, lunch at the Windjammer was extremely crowded, as everybody laying out in the sun seemed to come here for lunch.

Dinner offerings weren’t much different than lunch at the Windjammer. Only the pastries and French toasts were missing at dinner, and the buffet stations had a similar set of international offerings: Indian food, pasta, burgers, mashed potatoes, gravy, grilled skewers, mac and cheese, and pizza.

Lunch at the Windjammer runs from 11:30 am to 3 pm, while dinner hours were 6 pm to 9 pm.

Dessert

The Windjammer features an entire dessert station full of sweet delights. There’s vanilla custard, jell-o, cookies, cappuccino cheesecake, tiramisu, apple pie, and cake rolls. The cappuccino cheesecake and the tiramisu are delicious, so they tend to disappear very fast. Thankfully, there was always a crew member filling the plates back up.