Restless24

Thanks for your review and info :)

I'm also just off the FoS as well. Speaking of dining, I highly recommend Sabor. It is open for lunch on sea days for $15 a person. Most of the same items on the menu for lunch & dinner. It was good enough that we went there twice. They were not full on the first sea day, but busy on the second. The dessert sampler at the end was very fun.

...and thanks for the heads up about Sabor lunch on sea days. I hadn't heard about that and will definitely consider it since we'd like to hit Giovanni's and Chops as well.

This question gets asked frequently and everyone always reports that there is no limit. The bartenders can cut you off at their discretion if you're visibly drunk, but actual accounts of that happening are rare to non-existent.

Hi Cheryl, hope you're enjoying your cruise! We'll be on the Freedom next time it hits this itinerary in a couple weeks. It sounds like 2:30pm leaving Coco is the norm now after the propulsion issues so we'll know what to expect there.

I've lurked and followed along the last few live reports from Freedom so don't have many questions, but can you find out if drink menus are limited and if drink prices have increased? A few others reported pretty dramatic increases on the Explorer as of March 1st (supposedly to push drink package sales) and am wondering if it's spreading to other ships.

Thanks and looking forward to your updates :)

Luggage tags won't be of much use without the luggage to put them on :D

I don't think there is any incentive for RC to bend over backwards to accommodate people because they know they will fill the cabins regardless. I agree that many of the rooms get tied up due to configurations and number of people allowed per room, and I also agree that it can be a pain to get connecting rooms when you want them. It's even more of a challenge if you need to accommodate 4 people in both connecting rooms because there are only a handful of rooms (at most) on each deck with this configuration. The only real solution is to book early. We booked 200 days in advance to get the configuration I mentioned above; it probably wouldn't have been available if we tried to book just 2-3 few months in advance.

The pub is called Bull & Bear on the Freedom and it's the only place you'll find the expanded beer menu. You should also be able to find Sierra Nevada at most bars around the ship.

You should have no trouble finding Sierra Nevada all around the ship which tends to be my go-to choice. The English pub (on Liberty, it's Hoof and Claw) will have a bigger selection along the lines of what you can view below. Last I heard, the drink packages that include beer (Select, Premium, and Ultimate) include beers that are $6.25 or less, which will only exclude 5-6 beers. If you're a beer snob, the selection is still pretty bland, but it's enough to get most people by.

http://www.cruisewithgambee.com/royal-caribbean-drink/

Keep in mind that there is the option of the Royal Refreshment package which is $6.50 per day for adults ($7.67 after 18% gratuities). This will get you a souvenir soda cup and unlimited fountain drinks from the bar or the Freestyle fountain machines around the ship. If you will drink at least 3 sodas per day, and depending on how much you value the souvenir cup, this may be the best option. Unless you plan on drinking a lot of bottled water, fresh squeezed juice, and premium coffee, the Royal Replenish package ($19 per day) doesn't sound like the one for you.

Good info, I didn't know this. We trust our daughter to ask us before purchasing anything but will definitely keep an extra eye on the account :)

i am on deck 2..suggested i go to the port for 330...what???? like many, i will be disregarding this suggestion and will be going at my usual 11:30 time slot. thank you RCL for the suggestion!

Lol we usually plan on being there at 11:00 and end up getting there around 12:00. If we planned on 3:30 we would miss the boat.

Latest dining time for online reservations at Chops and Giovanni's is 9:30. I'm assuming other specialty restaurants are the same but I don't know for sure.

Prices for specialty restaurants are all over the place. Pretty sure Johnny Rockets is still a $4.95 cover charge which includes all you can eat food but a la carte for shakes, malts, and soda (unless you have soda card, in which case these would be free). Here is a good source for the others, although I'm not 100% sure if all are current:

http://blog.icruise.com/2013/04/royal-caribbean-specialty-dining-guide-what-is-included-vs-additional/

Edit: I saw Sabor wasn't included here. It's $25 per person

I have two daughters (aged 10 and 1) and agree with most people here. I would leave my one year old in the nursery. Even though she is sometimes well behaved at dinner, it isn't worth the stress and the potential for her ruining our meal as well as bothering others around us. We treat the specialty restaurants as an "adult night" anyway so even though I wouldn't worry about our older daughter's behavior, we probably wouldn't take her either.

Just got off the Carnival Paradise yesterday and saw that ESPN and ESPN2 were both available in our room as well as in the bars. I don't know if this is fleet wide and don't know if it's common knowledge because I can't find any threads about it and can't find any results on google about it. But if you're a sports fan and especially a college football fan cruising at this time of year, you know that in the past you could only get ESPN Deportes which wouldn't show any American football except Monday Night Football. If it's fleet wide this is great news... maybe a minor change to some but great news to me.

If you sail out of florida you can get a few different Cigar City beers which has great craft beers.

Yes...

They also added Sierra Nevada Pale Ale a few years ago to all the ships. I don't think 2.0 added to the beer selection.

...and yes.

Sierra Nevada used to be my go-to on board up until last year, but super happy to have Cigar City beers now. If you aren't from Florida and aren't familiar with them, Cigar City Florida Cracker is a witbier along the lines of Hoegaarden and Cigar City Invasion is a pale ale. Not really the same profile as Sierra Nevada, but still great for a hot day.

Hmmm. When I boarded with my family in Miami last month, I had an almost laughable situation where the screeners first separated me from my family, then insisted that I was over the limit because I was carrying on two bottles (one was my wife's; one was mine). After explaining this several times, I had to bring the entire hall to a standstill by bellowing across the room for my wife to join me to "vouch" for the second bottle. At the same time, they were working on convincing the screeners that root beer was, in fact, soda, not alcohol. It took a third screener before they found someone who would agree. I take it root beer isn't common in FL?

Funny how different some experiences can be. On our last two cruises (from Florida), we carried on "loose" soda cans in a carry-on bag, as well as a bottle of wine, and the bags were never opened. I said both times "that could have easily been beer and liquor and they never would have known". Of course, if I were to try to take beer the next time, it would surely be opened. :rolleyes:

Just curious how you obtained this information about leaving the bag.

Sounds like they physically heard the conversation since it was a cove balcony just a few feet away, as stated.

We were on this cruise with you :). Thanks for refreshing some of the good memories. Interesting that you had your grandson along. My wife and I made a point to look at how many babies we saw on the boat since she is 3 months pregnant and due in November. We know we will be going through cruise withdrawal by this time next year and have been debating taking a 6-month old along with us.

Just off the Dream on May 18th. Good news for craft beer fans, Sierra Nevada is available at multiple different bars. I ordered them from the casino bar, lido deck, and the Ocean Plaza/Lanai bar. I couldn't find any solid info on this prior to sailing so wanted to post it here in case it helps someone.

For park nn go, how about getting back to your car? Do they have a shuttle back, and is there a charge? (

We are going to use Park N Go in a few weeks, and found this from the FAQ page:

Q: Will the shuttle pick me up when I get back from my cruise?

A: Yes. Our shuttle will meet you in the same area that the "rental car" company shuttles pick-up at your terminal. The driver of our shuttle will help you load your luggage from the pick-up point onto the shuttle. Usually our pick-up points are very close to the terminal door, but it does vary by each terminal.

Here is the entire FAQ page which will probably answer any questions you could have.

http://offairportparking.com/portevg/faq-googlecruise.htm