reallyitsmema

Guess you can't get 'em on Ebay either :(

 

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So, there isn't a list of what you have in your cabin on the first day? :eek: Bummer! :mad:

Yes, they do leave a list in the cabin on the first day but there is no way of seeing what coupons are still left on your seapass. I usually never charge anything to my seapass, my DH always signs for things. Now, with the coupons on the seapass, we have to use both cards so we use the free drink on each, the free picture, etc.

This has been my experience on three different ships over a three year period at every bar I went to. (Majesty, Liberty, and Jewel). What they do (until they recognize me after a day or two) is go to the bar gun to see if it is on there, and then fill up my cup with the can. It takes exactly 1.5 cans to fill up the cup without ice, so I bring both cups, and fill both up with three.

Yet we could not get Sprite Zero on the Jewel because it was not included in the soda package because it is in cans. Depends on the ship and the bartender.

If you have the Soda package, you can get Sprite Zero with the package at bars. They will give it to you if you tell them that you want something diet without caffeine.

 

You do not get the can as they put it into your cup, but you can get it.

Depends on the ship and the bar. The soda package includes fountain soda and soda from the freestyle machines. Soda in cans is not included in the package, though some have been able to find a bartender who will give them Sprite Zero from cans.

Freedom

August 25, 2013 through September 1, 2013

No escargot

Good question! Anyone have the 7 day menus?

Here is a link to the menus.

 

http://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/press-kit/9/culinary-press-kit/

Cruisinmama06 posted this one from August 2012. Not sure if it is still the exact one but will give you an idea.

 

Yes this is a good thing for you even tough yiu to not have too long lines up there.

 

The best thing with these TSA precheck lines is that they all are seasoned travellers and you do not have the agreviation of being hung up by someone who does not know what it takes to go smoothky througs the check.

My DH is TSA precheck and I am not. We flew through MCO for our recent Freedom cruise and they actually had a companion line beside the precheck line. He got to cruise through his line as usual and I got to go through a much shorter line, still had to take off shoes and all that, but was much quicker than the regular lines. We hadn't seen a companion line at the airports he usually flies through.

We just did St Martin on our own a couple of weeks ago. We took the water taxi downtown and did a little shopping. Didn't really get anything but at least walked around. We then grabbed a local bus for $2 pp, really a passenger van, and went to Maho Beach to see the planes come in. Unfortunately, it started raining really heavy just as we got to the beach. It was short lived but we were soaked to the skin. We got some great pictures though. I sat at the Sunset Beach bar with a cold drink and took pictures as my DH used his DSLR to take over 250 pictures in 2 hours.:eek: We then took a cab back to the port and did some shopping there.

 

Here is one of my pictures from my little point and shoot. Who needs an expensive camera.;):D

That permit is a one time only deal and costs $400!!!! Dealing with a family members DUI 16 yrs ago, never convicted, did a "Diversion Program" and License suspended for 90 days. So under Canadian law this counts as a Felony Conviction under Canada law.

Since then this person (who was 20 at the time) has not even had a traffic ticket.

We are driving into Canada thru Peace Arch/Blaine Washington next Friday. On our way for a college interview at University of British Columbia.

Official "Rehabilitation" is a months long process which involves an FBI Criminal background check, local criminal check, finger prints, and a complete copy of the file from the courts showing all detail and that the sentence and fines have ben completed. Now how the heck do you get those records from 16 yrs ago (or 40 yrs ago). The court house says those records are long gone as there was no conviction! So now we ate looking at needing an attorney to deal with the county court house who has blown off our every effort :(

 

Guess we will see next week and have made back up plans to leave the family member at a hotel while we cross the border for the admissions interview.

 

Wish us luck!

Umm, I did say anything about a permit?:confused:

 

Edit: I see you meant to quote a different poster, I get your permit comment now. Good luck.

It's not so much that Celebrity will prevent you from boarding or even if the countries on the itinerary will permit you to the leave the ship and set foot on foreign soil. The question is what will be waiting you when it returns to the USA.

 

Check out this link http://blog.galveston.com/cruising/do-not-pass-go-do-not-collect/

That blog has to do with warrants not felony convictions.

Great Funny Review! :cool: I will have to find myself an "Office" ;) for the week as I will be on there in 38 days! When I was in St Maarten in 2010 and went to Maho Beach I loved standing there while the planes casme so close overhead but I was nowhere near as bold as you to stand by the fence while they were taking off!

Don't stand on the beach directly opposite the end of the runway either when the planes with the tail mounted engines takeoff. We were also at Maho the same day as the OP and saw more than one poor honeymoon couple wanted people to see. They had set up directly opposite the end of the runway and when the large plane with the tail mounted engines took off, everything they brought with them was blown into the surf. The woman chased after it and dove in to get her beach bag but in the process, lost her bikini top:eek: They were able to grab everything, readjust her swimsuit and came up to the Sunset Beach Bar to try to collect themselves and dry off. I let them use our towel from the ship since theirs ended up in the ocean. Unfortunately, two of their cameras and his watch did not survive the swim. We got their email address and are sending them some of our pictures. They were going to see if their memory cards survived once they get home but they might have lost a lot of their pictures from their honeymoon.:( Luckily, they had left a DSLR camera in their cabin on the ship so they were going to replicate some of the pictures they had already taken.

After not writing a review for a few cruises due to getting sent to the principal’s office, I’ve decided it’s time to try one again. These are simply my impressions and experience on the Freedom of the Seas cruise to St. Thomas and St. Maarten from August 25 - September 1. Let’s see if I can get through this without another administrative ruler across my knuckles.

 

WARNING: DUE TO IMMATURE CONTENT, READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

There are parts of this review that will mention controversial topics like dress, kids and smoking. If you are a PC cop or a member of the Society of the Perpetually Outraged (SOPO), I suggest you stop right here and move to another thread. We don’t want anybody’s head exploding now do we?

 

Arrival Day and our First "Ralphing" :

We are lucky enough to have both a terrific regional airport and JetBlue close to us so we don’t have to fly in the day before for Florida cruises. Our normal 7:00 AM flight had us in Orlando by 9:30 and our car service had us to the port by 10:45 AM. I have always loved RCI’s boarding process and we basically cleared security and were ready to board by 11:00. This was also our first ever encounter with a "brusque" Royal employee. Apparently it is a misdemeanor for a Platinum member to sit in the Gold seating area (the Horror). Who knew, but having been suitably chastised by a very officious woman, we dragged our carryons and slunk away to the priority area we were assigned.

 

Our first little hitch was caused by our traveling party which consisted of one of my closest friends, his wife and three (count ‘em) teenagers. My friend and the three teens drove to Florida while his wife flew with us. This worked fine until he was an hour and a half later than us getting to the port. NO problem you say? Well it’s only a problem if you leave ALL the tickets with your wife and then don’t show on time so that she has to sit outside security until you get there. In my circle, we call this getting "Ralphed" and I will leave you all to imagine the gentle discussion that ensued upon his eventual arrival.

 

A Tactical Error Gets Us Trapped in the Grazing Herd.

My crew usually favors small to mid sized ships so Freedom was gonna be a new experience to us. Still, Royal has handled crowds so well that we weren’t terribly concerned about having 4,500 people onboard. This proved to be a mistake and right out of the box we paid the price for my tactical error.

Our last two cruises have been on NCL (shhh - don’t tell anyone) and we got in the habit of avoiding the buffet on embarkation day in favor of the secret MDR that NCL opens up for lunch. Thus, after waiting for the first hour with my friend’s wife, and occasionally pouring water on her to cool her temper, we boarded on our own and went looking for the open dining room.

 

OOPS, RCI doesn’t do that so the choices are (a) the Windjammer or (b) nothing. So up to the Windjammer we go just in time to get in line behind an unknown force of serious glandular eaters. I am by no means petitie or delicate but I spent a lot of time amid bison sized bi-peds who could easily fit me in their pockets. Also, when you see a pile of french fries with legs walking toward you, it can be a bit disconcerting.

 

I don’t know what, but obviously there was a crew up of Carnival proportions somewhere because this lunch removed any need for a disaster drill. After several laps around the place, we finally begged two seats at a shared table with some really nice people from Boston. I didn’t mention being a Yankee fan so we actually had a pleasant lunch while we listened to RCI staff beg people to eat and get out.

 

In six prior cruises on RCI, this was the first time I ever felt that there might not be room on this ship for all these people. I originally put it down to embarkation day madness but, as we’ll see later, this was the triumph of optimism over experience.

 

More to come a bit later.

Just to clarify why the WJ was so horrific on boarding, the ship was in the middle of a USPH inspection when we boarded at 11am. There was no food or drink available anywhere until the inspection was finished. The crowd at the WJ was huge because they didn't open until just before noon. Normally there would have been food available at both Cafe promenade and Sorrentos but they were closed because of the inspection. Once venues were actually allowed to put the food into the cases and open, things did slowly improve but it was not good for a while.

 

The ship scored a 97 on its inspection by the way and none of the issues that were found were in the galley so that was great to hear. The Executive Sous Chef is the person who told us this while we were on a galley tour.

My son & dil will only sail on Disney because of the nursery. I was trying to convince them to try RCI since they added the nursery.

Which ships are they on and what does everyone think of them ?

This link shows which ship has already had a nursery added and when the others are scheduled.

 

http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/General_Info/Flyers/12028421_Revit_QuickReference_Guide.pdf

Pictures courtesy of Cruisinmama06.

 

 

Does the "Splash Pool" drain water go to the same place as all the other drain water and cycle back through the system?

The Baby Splash Pool has a totally separate filtration system.

I've read in various postings that many people with a non-potty trained infant bring a small inflatable pool. The smallest we were able to find was 42 inches in diameter. Is this too big? From the 2 cruises I've been on, I know space is at a premium. Thanks.

You are really looking for an inflatable bathtub, not an actual inflatable pool. The one most people get is the inflatable duck tub.

Go to www.voyager-class.com. There should be photos from a deck six aft cabin there, if not your actual cabin.

That is the website I had linked the OP to yesterday but there are none of his particular cabin. If he looks at the center cabins that will give him a better idea as to what his view will be since he is over one from the cabin there are pictures of.

Thanks, but really want to find out opinions on the actual cabin we are staying in as their can be slight differences from ship to ship, and deck to deck.

This site is great for pictures of aft balconies but, unfortunately, it only has 3 balcony pictures of the balcony in the same catagory but beside your cabin.

 

http://voyager-class.com/pictures/cabins/aft_6-E/gallery.html

 

There is a huge difference between the deck 10 balconies the PP posted pictures of and the deck 6 balconies that are set way back in the superstructure of the ship. I would try to switch to a different cabin if one is available in that category.

 

Edit to add: I now see you are from the UK, you can't change your cabin without paying a fee unless it is a US booking.

We just got back off Freedom of the Seas and it was great. The tumbler package was amazing and I have a feeling that they swap out the tumblers every couple of weeks to prevent people from passing them around to others who are also cruising later on the same ship. Our tumblers also seem to be encoded in the bottom with information that speaks to the machines, so you can't fill anything other than a tumbler with soda. It was all very upscale and "nifty."

There is an RFID chip in the base of the cup that activates the machine. It is programmed for the length of your cruise so once your cruise is over, it will not work to start the freestyle machines. Some on B2B cruises have said the cup worked for a couple of days into their second cruise but that was about all.

I can't believe anybody here has never seen their waiter from MDR working the buffet the next day. Nobody in Food and beverage just works in one venue. Except management. Sound like a lot of people on this thread remove their tips. Sad.

Read the thread.

Unless you are in My Time dining the tips are listed as "suggested". That means you could tip whatever you want or can afford. I wouldn't give up the cruise because of it because they likely won't refund any of the costs and it could be a chance of a lifetime for you.

 

Tom

No, they aren't. They are charged to your sea pass account daily unless you have MTD.

Thank you so much for sharing your cabin with us but mostly for sharing your precious daughter with us.

[quote name='Annefran']Now that's a great idea. We love Key West. But I think the pier area can only handle the smaller ships. :rolleyes:[/quote]
I would expect a Voyager class ship in Key West in the future. When the Mariner left Galveston on the way to drydock, it stopped in Key West for a test docking and left. It passed its test with flying colors. Time will tell, though I doubt it will be an overnight stop because of blocking the sunsets.:)

There are no vaccines for malaria. People going to endemic areas take prophilactic oral medication to help protect them from aquiring the disease.

Thanks, I thought there was a vaccine along with the quinine pills. Back in a former life, I almost had to go to Ghana for work and I remember that there were a bunch of vaccines and pills that anyone going there had to take. Luckily, never ended up going and even more luckily, never had to take all that mess.

While you may be correct don't forget that there is an RCI crew that is based there - as there is on CocoCay - on a rotating, but permanent, basis. There is a residence complex just passed the straw market backside wall that houses this crew. The Haitian workers live locally - there is a fairly large city called Cap-Hatien that is about 5 miles away. The complex on CocoCay is mid-island.

Who is forgetting about the crew? The cruiseline would not have people living at Labadee or Coco Cay unless their vaccines were up to date. The thousands of people on the ship are not required to get a malaria vaccine.