#1packerfan

We were on Freedom a couple weeks ago and there were pool tables in Playmakers.

Thanks for the report. Us eight girls had a great time on this cruise and a ton of laughs. 

Thoughts and prayers to everyone affected by everything that happened this week.

Safe travels Sue and Rick. I hope to see you on the ship.

We flew in this morning and are watching the Packers play tonight on a tablet in the hotel since it is only streaming.

Just now, A&L_Ont said:

There is a good chance my “Cheesehead” wife will be disappointed on Friday.

I get it for sure. If I were home I could watch it on my big screen but even if I have to watch it on my phone I will. At least I will be able to see it.

Not a fan of showing games on streaming services only.

25 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

Lisa would love to see the Packers game on Friday. It could be in our cabin TV. 

It only streams on Peacock. We are going to be in Fort Lauderdale at a hotel waiting to board Freedom on Sunday, so we made sure our tablet has it installed so we can at least watch it. May try to hook the tablet into the hotel room TV so we have a bigger screen.

Even here in Wisconsin it is only broadcast in the Green Bay area on regular TV.

There are eight of us women on this cruise celebrating my youngest sister's 60th birthday. Hopefully I see you at some point, would love to meet you. Been following along with your reviews for a long time.

56 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Our signal service out at our community (1600 homesites) is non exist with AT&T.  Have called them many times to complain.  We are not out in nowhere land!!  😡

 

 Finally found one rep with AT&T that told me he had the same issue.   He connects to home WIFI, then turns on WIFI calling.  I did that a year ago, and have great phone service from then on.  

 

Funny thing is .....I don't turn on Airplane mode...but it still works.  

I do the same thing at my house. We do not get very good cell service because we are out in the rural area so I always have my Wi-Fi calling on at home but never in airplane mode unless I'm on a cruise or overseas.

1 hour ago, bigque said:

I use a debit card but I have a “Vacation” checking account that I put money in to use on vacations be it a cruise or land based. I started that account so that if there are holds placed on the account and things like that it is not tying up my main account that I pay bills and things from. I can wait for the holds to drop off in the vacation account. In the stores or whatever on the islands if I make a purchase I use cash or a credit card. 

That is what I did for years. I had a separate travel checking account that I used strictly for vacation so as to not tie up any of my bill paying account. It worked well for us. 

I now have a credit card I use for travel but I did not for probably at least 10 years or more

If anyone on board would be willing to get me a ship model I would be willing to cash app or PayPal the funds plus shipping to send it to me. My daughter and her husband were on this ship several years ago, and he passed away 2 years ago and she is trying to get the ship models from the cruises they took together. 

Thank you so much for considering.!!

.

47 minutes ago, Denversail said:

 

Does anybody know what the cost of just the aquarium is now? We did it about 20 years ago but I cannot find any information on what it costs now. Thanks!!

September 8th Freedom, Labadee replaced with Nassau.  Was hoping for Grand Turks or Puerto Plata but will make the best of it. 

3 hours ago, Lionesss said:

Just got the email. 
 

on our September cruise Labadee canceled and going to Nassau. 
 

😔

We are on Freedom in September and got the same email.  I was hoping for either Puerto Plata or Grand Turks but oh well, we will make the best of it.

10 minutes ago, P27159 said:

Actually, it was Southwest, not Delta, but I did find out from someone on one of these boards that even nonrefundable flights do have a 24 hour cancellation window without penalty.  I believe it is a DoT regulation. I didn’t know that at the time, and none of the agents I spoke to mentioned that to me, either, or else I would’ve done that.

 

thanks for commenting, at least there are a few people here that are reasonable and are here to make knowledgeable comments, and not the crap I have seen here that are only meant to be incendiary 

If you booked with Southwest, you can cancel it anytime and get credits back on your account that never have an expiration date. I've done that many times and have credits from a couple of years ago that I'm still waiting to use.

You cannot get actual cash back but you can get credits back for future flights.

We had an issue with Viator on the first cruise from the Bahamas after the shutdown. The person was over an hour late to pick us up, we were a little worried we weren't going to get back to the ship on time. Plus they took us to a different beach than what we had booked. We pretty much lost our faith in ever trying them again, I know people give them great reviews but one and done for us.

21 minutes ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

Maybe so.  But lucked out twice? On two different cruises?  

 

As I said, that's really the only thing that surprised me from the OP.  And I agree insurance should have been purchased (we had it both times, just didn't need it). 

I had the same experience. I fell and twisted my foot and ankle on the ship (Freedom) and had xrays in Medical and was not charged a penny.  We also had travel insurance.

1 hour ago, island lady said:

 

My sister in law runs around in shorts in Wisconsin when it gets over 60 degrees.  😄 

I live in Wisconsin and I do the same thing! As soon as the snow melts I start wearing my flip flops as well. 

We just got done with a week of brutally cold weather so I would be thrilled if it was 60.

6 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

Day Minus 2 : 

 

As this was an 8-day cruise departing on Saturday, my preference is to fly out on Thursday night or Friday morning from California to Florida ahead of the sailing. However, as many have noticed, the price of airfare has been ridiculously high for 2023. 

 

I waited and waited for the prices to come down and finally had to book the airfare at a higher price than I would have expected. In order to save money, we had to fly out on a Wednesday instead of Thursday or Friday as flying out just one day earlier is a savings of $150/pp. 

 

Multiply that by 4 people, it’s a savings of $600.  Being a CFKACD, I rather fly out earlier as I’m still better off paying the extra night of hotel and having lunch/dinner in Florida and still come out ahead. Another way to look at it is I get a free day of vacation for the same amount of money paid.

 

So the decision was made to fly out on Wednesday night so I could save one extra vacation day at work and arrive in Florida on a red eye.

 

This makes it a total of a 10-night vacation.  One question I raised in my Alaska trip report was how many people are over/under packers? 

Meaning if it’s a 10-night vacation, do you pack exactly 10 pairs of underwear/socks/shirts or do you overpack with a “just in case I spill something” attitude (a +1 packer).  Or are you a minimalist with a small carry-on and only pack 7 pairs (-3 packer) with the thinking no one should be close enough to sniff your underwear so no need to change daily?

 

Back then many of the ladies ratted out their partners by saying many men are negative packers (but no mentioning of themselves). So I'm just curious if anyone here is a big + or – packer?  Being anal, it should surprise no one that I’m a +1 packer.  Always have the “what if” paranoia that I might need an extra shirt/underwear/socks somewhere along the way.

   

Would love to hear if anyone volunteers to share their packing preference?

I am a definite overpacker. Usually take a couple extra of things, even swimsuits and dinner clothes. I like choices.

And I pack for my husband as he probably would forget half of what he should bring.

I am very anal when it comes to packing, and have a spreadsheet that I just change for each cruise as needed and check things off as they are getting put into the suitcase.

1 hour ago, Dolby1000 said:

I'm enjoying your trip report, and the family pictures are turning out great. Sound like your family is having the time of the lives.

 

How did you book Paradise Beach? We are going to Cozumel in May and this sounds like our kind of day.

 

Thank You

We go to Paradise every time we are in Cozumel. I just go to their website and book the all-inclusive straight from there, and then just catch a cab at the port to go over there. Very short cab ride.

Definitely our go-to while in Cozumel.

8 minutes ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

 

I'm curious what the senior age is. When booking a cruise, RCI (sometimes) offers a senior rate to those guests that are 55 and over. I wonder if the price reduction age for the DBP also starts at 55.

We are guessing it is 65. I am 62 and my husband is 65 and it shows the 35% off for him but not for me. Same with any of the rest of our party that is over 65 versus under 65.

That said, when we book a cruise if there is a senior rate then I qualify even if he is not there because that starts at 55.

So for whatever reason the senior rate on the DBP is 65.

1 hour ago, c-leg5 said:

What do the others see in their cruise planner? 

We saw 35% off for anybody that was over the age of 65 on our upcoming cruises.  For those of us that are under 65 it was whatever the sale price was for this current sale.

So we actually had two separate prices for the two people in the cabin, one was 35% off and one was 25% off.

I just redid an excursion in Roatan for $20 pp less than what I originally paid. Also some other excursions I was watching are cheaper as well.  Unfortunately, the bev package is still the same b0go 50% off.  I am still hoping they go down more but we'll see.  

17 hours ago, firefly333 said:

If you had tried to book a time in your planner you would have seen this is normal. My time is a terrible choice imo on royal. It's only good if you want to eat later. After 6:30 pm .  .on all ships my time is like this. I'm surprised you didnt know actually. I booked my time once and not since on royal

Before covid it was so much better, they had one floor of the dining room strictly for MTD so you never had to go through everything you have to now. I still prefer my time but I really wish they would go back to the old way of doing it to alleviate all the lines.

Condolences on your loss.

Royal did the same thing for my daughter after her husband passed away. She was able to use his existing FCC on her next cruise. 

31 minutes ago, 2wheelin said:

And no one made their 4pm flights either.

Exactly.  Today it would not have mattered what time a flight was unless it is very late this evening.  So to say never book till at least noon (or 1 or 2)  or after, it would not matter in some situations, like today.  The airport will be a nightmare tonight once the ships finish docking and allow passengers to get off.  

I was injured on Freedom about a year ago and broke my foot (my fault, turned wrong and my foot went sideways) and went to medical.  There was no charge because I got hurt on the ship.  I fully expected to pay and also had trip insurance, but we asked and they said it would not cost anything.  So guessing you will not be charged for an accident on the ship.