CathyCanada

If you have My Time dining, you can pre-book your dining time for every night and bypass any lines or wait (other than a couple of minutes if there are people checking in ahead of you). Loved the Anthem, we sailed her in April and I have to say that the main dining room food was excellent.

Enjoy!

Does anyone know which suite (if any) would accomodate 6 people.....4 adults, 1 teenager and one 12 yr old. If more than one, which would you recommend?

Was there a particular ship or class of ship that you were looking at? Pretty much across the fleet, the Royal Family Suite Staterooms can hold up to 8. On the Oasis class and newer, there are 2-bedroom Aqua Theatre Loft Suites (8) and Royal Loft Suites (6).

I can't really recommend one as I have not stayed in them, I like my own personal space. :cool:

Hope that helps

Considering the number of people who talk throughout the presentation, doing something a little different may actually grab their attention. That being said, after watching this I hope the actual Muster Drill movie is better than the trailer.

The upgrade offers are being rolled out to include all ships in the fleet this year, so you may not get an offer depending on the ship. If you are booked with a TA, their agency has to opt in to the Upgrade Advantage program for you to be eligible to be offered an upgrade. If they are, then the email goes directly to you.

The process is kind of like a silent auction bidding program and there is a meter that shows how strong or weak your offer is. I know people that are very happy with it.

Also you can only bid up 2 categories from what you are booked with. For example, if you book an inside, you will not be offered a Suite or the Haven, it would just be for a balcony.

Personally I love the new program.

I was glad to see our local newspaper acknowledge this today as well.

Thank you to all of the veterans!

Really enjoying your review and pics, Fletch, thanks!

My vote for best kept secret on FoS:

 

Vintages does a wine pairing dinner pretty much every night. The food is a selection of the MDR menu, but they do some very well thought out (and fairly generous) wine pours for each course. If memory serves, it was about $50/person plus gratuity, but it was very enjoyable, and the wines were very good. You sign up for it at Vintages, on the Promenade.

Totally agree! The 3 sommeliers there were terrific. Most ships have "wine experts", but this was the first ship since a cruise on Oceania where I found an actual sommelier let alone 3 of them!

Great Promenade, great crew...one of my favourite cruises (out of 50) was on the Freedom last year.

I have to agree with Bill that I have never felt crowded on my 3 Oasis cruises, other than coming out of the muster drill, but that happens on every ship. ;)

As for being nickel and dimed, I think that is based largely on your preferences. You don't have to get drink packages and can get a soda package if you wish. You just have to do the math and decide what would work for you. That goes for the alternative dining as well. The dining room food is great, but do your homework and find out all you can about the alternative restaurants to see if that may be something that interests you and plan for it.

I have found the pre-cruise hotel prices to be on the high side and book my own hotel as well as air. If you are not a researcher, use a good travel agent.

Hope that helps and good luck in your planning.

It's funny that you should post this as I am going through this dilemma myself and I HAVE sailed on both ships several times!

Oasis has great entertainment and a wide variety of it (as well as different dining venues). We do enjoy the Schooner Bar but have yet to find a half-decent piano player in there on 3 cruises. But we also love the Rising Tide Bar.

Freedom has a smaller ship feel to it and has a great Schooner Bar and wonderful wine pairing dinners in their Vintages. Freedom is also the ship that RCCL likes to roll out new things on because they have such a great crew.

While you can fly into Orlando, it is an hour to the port, so there is an extra cost incurred there.

As for Grand Cayman, it is a tender port so you do lose time there. It is a beautiful island and I love it anyway (as I do most Caribbean islands).

Good luck in your choice, I'm still working on mine!

Great video and awesome surprise!

Could someone tell me the price of the Classic Package?

By Classic Package, do you mean the non-premium drink package? If so, that is called Select and is $40 per day.

Also fresh squeezed orange juice from the Windjammer IS included and I apologize again for repeating much of what has already been posted.

Just glanced through some of the pages but it's official, listening to webinar now. Biggest change is not everyone in the stateroom has to get it. Fresh squeezed orange juice IS offered in the $20 per person package as well as specialty coffees. Premium $55 per person per day includes cocktails up to $10 value, frozen cocktails, beer, premium wines up to $12 value, non-alcoholic cocktails, 500 ml bottled still water and Fountain soda package with cup. Select package is $40 per person per day includes beer, wine by the glass value up to $8, non-alcoholic cocktails, and the Fountain soda package with cup. Ultimate packages is virtually unlimited including all that is included with the premium with no $$ limit and is $65 per person per day. A 20% discount off of select premium wines are offered with the Select, Premium and Ultimate packages.

Sorry if I am repeating info, just don't have time to read through all 7 pages. :)

I'm another "roller" and have put upwards of 30 things in there (including shirts and shorts). When it came back, some was in the bag but most of it were on plastic hangers. :cool:

And yes, it can be wrinkled because it is a wash and fold, not wash and iron, but we have never had any major issues with it, very convenient!

Loving your Diary and thanks for the info on Nachi Cocum, always looking for different things to do in Cozumel.

Sorry you missed the Royal Palms, we love it there!

Looking forward to more...

I'm still trying to get past the part where you said you were 60-something and then seeing your first picture?? You look great and thanks for the awesome pictures, Freedom is one of our favourite ships and just love Labadee! Will actually be spending my birthday this month in Labadee on the 16th! :D

Great review!! I have no idea what transpired in earlier reports but I absolutely love your humour! It's funny that you called the Solarium Bar your office because we have always said that Vintages is ours.

Did you get to the Schooner Bar at all? I know James Barr who was playing there and he is excellent.

Thanks for the great review. Sailed the Freedom last Sept and then again in April and had one of the best time in the 45 cruises that I have taken. on her.

Also LOVE Kory Simon, met him on Vision in 2008 and then reconnected on the Freedom last Sept. He's on the Royal Princess right now unfortunately. James Barr is on Freedom now and we loved him on the Epic. Sailing on the Oasis Sept 14th (4th time) and hope the Schooner Bar player is better than the past 3 times. :rolleyes: