OSUZorba

Really Liberty is half amped. She was the first to get slides and Splashaway Bay. Still has the original gym. She is a great ship.

Yeah, I really doubt the lack of the "classics" menu will stick around along. I'm sure the kitchen is getting a ton of special requests and the surveys are going to be pretty poor. I remember when Quantum first came out there were no kids menus and IIRC no classic items. The lack of kid's menu was fixed on the first sailing and I think the Classic menu was added within a month.

Yeah, I rarely order entrees off the every night menu, but my wife does all the time. We also both order off the classic apps most nights. I'm fine with the lobster change, but ditching the classic menu seems like a very bad idea. My biggest complaint on my Disney cruises was the lack of options in the MDR. And it's not like they had 30 options, 8 options for 5,000 people didn't seem excessive.

The new cabins, such as deck 12 have the updated color schemes. All the original cabins still have their original color schemes. The cabins typically do not have major work done to them during refurbishment and I don't believe the cabins on Freedom got a refresh during her amping. So nothing was really missed with the cabins. The cabins have been in good shape on all five of my sailings on her.

This, beyond the massive price, seems like most suites have no way of dividing the "bedroom" from the "living room." In general that's the greatest appeal of a full suite to me.

This is always true. They charge more for 3 and 4 berth cabins than for 2 berth cabins. Over Thanksgiving I got 2 connecting 2 berth cabins for 3 for only $200 more than one 3 berth cabin would've been. Nice thing about full suites is they are all multiple berth so you actually get real savings with kids sail free.

Really seems like this should just be handled with a credit card reader at the face scanners nowadays. IIRC my last cruise there wasn't even an opportunity to declare anything.

Some of the aft shots show a promenade, that looks like a track, like on Oasis class. When I saw the swim up bar, I just thought "Great, 8 seats that will have the same 8 people in them all day, and give people even more excuses to pee in the pool." Nothing against the concept, I have my doubts it'll be all that nice in reality. I am really looking forward to this, I'm not usually in the "gotta jump on the new ship" bandwagon, but in the fall of 2024 DD will be 8 and probably perfect for this ship. Also I saw the water park was going to be open 9 am to 10 pm everyday, and splash away from 8 to 7 pm everyday, so much better hours than they generally have. I too think they should've made the aquadome pool a adult's pool by day. Also wonder if the Hideaway will be included.

Define older. I personally love the Freedom class. Improves on all of the Voyager's weaknesses, while keeping all of it's pros. Really has pretty much everything I care to do more than once or twice. Can't believe Freedom is 16 years old now. She had just start sailing about a month before my honeymoon/first cruise. I remember telling my wife how we'd never be able to afford to sail on her... and now one of the things I really like about her is she has cheap(er) suites 🙂

On Liberty they've done a kid's trick or treating around the ship (but they are little tight with the candy) and a big costume parade/contest on the Royal Promenade. They decorate the day of and considering it's up for one day, it is pretty good. The best thing, IMHO, is Windjammer. They have a spooky desert contest and some of them are just insane. Plus lots of carved pumpkins, etc. ETA: Some random people also bring candy and hand it out to the kids during the trick or treating. And some roll calls organize trick and treating events. This was all on 7-night cruises, fyi.

Before I ever cruised is a Suite on Royal, I also thought they were pushing a two tier service. After doing a few suites with them, I think they just want it to look that way. Most of the suite perks are just okay. The pool sitting is probably the nicest thing, if the pool is really busy, but if it isn't busy there are better seats to be had. Similar in theater. I figured out on my last cruise that there is basically no difference in what is offered in the Suite lounge and Diamond lounge, except for some extra space. Haven't done a suite on Oasis class, so that might be different, but did on Odyssey and didn't really get any major advantages.