Fianl payment due Sun and suddenly not as excited - HELP!

[alcie]

We booked our 7/17 FOS sailing last June and until recently I've been very excited. Reading all I can about it, looking at pictures etc. We wanted to go in the summer because of kids school schedules and our youngest turning 3 in June. But this of course means it's very expensive (we also have an interior/balcony connecting room), so I started looking at Carnival which is always cheaper - this just made FOS seem that much more expensive :rolleyes:.

 

We booked RCCL because DH and I went on one of the small Carnival ships for our honeymoon and didn't really like it. I've heard nothing but great things about FOS so I have no idea why I'm not excited other than the large amount of money I'm about to hand over :p So for those that have been on RCCL before I need some reminders about just how great it is.

[neptune18]

We sailed Freedom last August and it was the best ship we've ever been on. We had balcony connecting to inside also and that setup is great- it's like having a suite. Doing Allure in July now because we didn' think we could downsize in ships.

[mation101]

I go thru the same thing. DH is always excited about upcoming cruises, but he doesnt pay the bills.

 

I see how much we have and spend and sometimes instead of being excited about the cruise, I feel overwhelmed by the cost, and just cant get excited.

 

But is doesnt last long and DH is able to suck me back into the shear excitement of counting down the days until we are Royal cruisers and not everyday laborers for one week.

[Pomperaugrr]

Scientific Fact #72: Cruises cure apathy!

 

Enjoy your cruise. You have earned this and will not be sorry. We find RCI cruises to be worth every dollar we pay for them. They are still a great value despite what Mr. Fain might imply...;)

 

Eric

[cb at sea]

Once you're there, you'll be fine. Sometimes, I get a bit depressed before heading off on vacation.....bills to pay, plants to water, packing....and yes..the money, too! It's always turned out to be well worth it, tho.

 

Let us know how it turns out!

[SliderNc]

My future wife and I had a blast on Freedom last October doing the EC route. I don't think there was one crew member, except for the towel stand people, who never smiled and said hello. Plus, the ship is just incredible. We were looking at our pictures from this past cruise and we ended up booking a cruise on AOS next December to do a southern route instead.

 

I always become "depressed" whenever I have to hand over a large amount of money. For example, when I had to make my final payment for my honeymoon in two weeks, it was probably the most I've ever spent on a vacation and the second most amount of money that I've seen leave my checking account at one time. However, about an hour or so after that, I was super excited because of who I'm going with (my new wife) and where we were going.

 

You'll get excited again. My parents probably went through the same thing when they were paying for our cruises as kids and then they would just talk to us about it and get just as excited as we would :)

[jratliffe]

Last Summer we had the same dilemma with the FOS. My issues were the cost of two promenade cabins, and that I was not enamored with a rock climbing wall, flow rider or ice skating rink. To make a long story short we ended up on the same caribbean itinerary on the Carnival Dream. We ended up getting a cove balcony and an inside cabin for the kids for $800 less than the two FOS promenade cabins. I also fell in love with the outdoor screen and movie nights, more lively nighttime deck parties, dedicated comedy clubs and the Mongolian Wok for lunch. My family and I loved the cruise and felt we made the best decision for us. Just some thoughts to consider......

[GAPeach68]

Well as you can see, you are not alone. My husband can almost (I said almost) kill the fun of a cruise lamenting about the money. He did it last yr. and he is doing it again this yr. We sail FOS in 30 days. I keep showing him pictures on these boards and he'll be o.k. for a few days. He LOVES cruising though. We will have a blast when we go and knows it. But he also thinks a candy bar should cost a quarters so there. Make your big payment then read the boards even more to get you back excited!

 

p.s. My husband first cruised on RC 2 yrs. ago. We took the kids on Carnival last yr. and he insisted we go back to RC this yr.

[efields2]

We booked our 7/17 FOS sailing last June and until recently I've been very excited. Reading all I can about it, looking at pictures etc. We wanted to go in the summer because of kids school schedules and our youngest turning 3 in June. But this of course means it's very expensive (we also have an interior/balcony connecting room), so I started looking at Carnival which is always cheaper - this just made FOS seem that much more expensive :rolleyes:.

 

We booked RCCL because DH and I went on one of the small Carnival ships for our honeymoon and didn't really like it. I've heard nothing but great things about FOS so I have no idea why I'm not excited other than the large amount of money I'm about to hand over :p So for those that have been on RCCL before I need some reminders about just how great it is.

 

I'm guessing you've been checking for price drops since you booked last year?

 

As you can see from my signature, I have been on MANY cruises and will hopefully continue to cruise for many more years. In 2008 I spent a week in Jamaica with a bunch of my friends at an all-inclusive, and between airfare there and the price of the hotel, etc. it was almost double what my cruise this May is going to cost me. I didn't like being stuck at one place for an entire week and I'm not sure I'll ever do another all-inclusive.

 

You are going to have a blast, so don't worry!

[Rick-n-Lisa]

Mango Tango :D As soon as you board and have one of these in your hand all the excitement will return!

[crusinmama06]

You have to experience a Freedom class at least once. Then you can be like the rest of us and go back to complaining about the outrageous prices. :p

 

But seriously -- I count Freedom and Indy as the absolute BEST cruise ships for families. You will have an amazing time!

[Greghouseo]

You have to experience a Freedom class at least once. Then you can be like the rest of us and go back to complaining about the outrageous prices. :p

 

But seriously -- I count Freedom and Indy as the absolute BEST cruise ships for families. You will have an amazing time!

 

What has the Liberty done to upset you? :):):)

[Sunkissed Mommy]

It is well worth it for the family! The ships are beautiful and fun :)

[funfamilyof6]

You picked the best ship to splurge on. We will not regret your decision. We went on her almost 2 years ago and are going on her again this August for our daughter's Sweet 16 birthday. Our kids told us "It was the best vacation ever". :D

 

We just came back from an Explorer of the Seas 9 night cruise and it didn't compare to our time on the Freedom. :o

[crusinmama06]

What has the Liberty done to upset you? :):)

 

HAHAHAHA I haven't had the chance to cruise her yet. :(:p All of those rumors said it was coming up here to the North East so I held off on booking it. I expected to sail her in 2012, those dreams are crushed. :eek:

 

I'm not bitter though. Actually, yes, yes I AM bitter. ;)

[Loralie]

You picked the best ship to splurge on. We will not regret your decision. We went on her almost 2 years ago and are going on her again this August for our daughter's Sweet 16 birthday. Our kids told us "It was the best vacation ever". :D

 

We just came back from an Explorer of the Seas 9 night cruise and it didn't compare to our time on the Freedom. :o

 

Oh No!!! :eek: I will be on the Explorer in a little less than a year. What was so bad about the Explorer? Now I am getting nervous about spending my hard earned money.

 

Loralie

[marci22]

HAHAHAHA I haven't had the chance to cruise her yet. :(:p All of those rumors said it was coming up here to the North East so I held off on booking it. I expected to sail her in 2012, those dreams are crushed. :eek:

 

I'm not bitter though. Actually, yes, yes I AM bitter. ;)

 

I'm bitter, too.

[gatorfan2010]

Its worth it! Fun on the high seas is expensive but I feel it is a necessary expense. :)

[WeLove2CruiseRCI]

Yes, the thought of and seeing the money leave the account is hard, but sooo worth it!!! There is no better vacation, at least in my opinion, than a cruise!!! The waiting is the worst. Close your eyes and picture yourself on your favorite part of the ship. Feeling the rocking of the ship! That always helps me!

[funfamilyof6]

Oh No!!! :eek: I will be on the Explorer in a little less than a year. What was so bad about the Explorer? Now I am getting nervous about spending my hard earned money.

 

Loralie

 

Loralie unless the teen club is very important to you like it is us you will have a great time. :)

 

The teen club on the Explorer was terrible compared to the Freedom one, please keep in mind that we were on the Freedom 2 years ago. Two of our kids were in the teen club on the Freedom, on the Explorer we had 3 in the teen clubs. The teen clubs run from 12-14 and 15-17. On the Explorer, both of the teen clubs were run by the same people. I forget if the Freedom was run the same way. :(

 

There were A LOT of kids onboard when we cruised (almost 1200). The games were properly run on the Freedom, not so on the Explorer. The various games didn't accomodate the number of kids onboard. Most of the games were for only 25 kids. You do the math. Even if your kids were lucky enough to get in a game, no rules were followed. They let the teens play whatever way they wanted, even if it wasn't the correct way to play. The games became a joke. Our kids rarely went to any of the activities because of this. :mad:

 

The Freedom had the "Flowrider" which is a big deal for teens. It is a big deal because if there is nothing fun going on in the teen club, there is something else to do. The Explorer has the rock wall, but that doesn't keep the teens that busy. We also had of a lot of sea days, which in my opinion is not a great match when you have teens. If we would have been on the Freedom it would have been fine, but we weren't. We also find the Western Itinerary a lot more fun for kids/teens unless you are big beach people which we are not.

 

Our kids felt the kids on the Explorer were very rude. Most were from NJ/NY. They felt when we had cruised out of Port Cananeral the kids were much nicer. There were as many kids on the Freedom as there were on the Explorer. They have always made a lot of friends on previous cruises, not one this time around. Most of the teen girls were more interested in walking in packs trying to find boys that they don't know to "make out with". My girls certainly didn't fit in this crowd and even got made fun of because they didn't want to explore the ship to look for the "hotties". My 2 older girls are 15 and 14 to give you a perspective. If this makes them weird, oh well. They certainly have a lot of friends in school where we live and never get made fun of. Most of the nice kids just hung out with the parents most of the time. This is what our 3 older kids did. Our youngest (8) loved her club.

 

We were amazed at how many kids hung out in elevators all day just to press various buttons. Why is this so much fun??:confused: We also saw a bunch of kids run past an elderly man and almost knocked him over. One of our daughters helped him pick up all of his papers that were knocked out of his hands.

 

Other than the above statements, we found the Explorer to be a beautiful ship with pretty good entertainment. We loved our waiter and the food was fine. The Explorer certainly didn't turn us off to cruising. We did learn some important rules.....

1. Try not to cruise during Spring Break

2. Try to cruise out of Florida

3. Only a lot of sea days with the Freedom class ship/Oasis/Allure.

4. Try to stick to the Freedom class, Oasis or Allure where there are more things for kids to do just in case the kid clubs are not good.

 

Our kids still had a great time, we just go to spend a lot more time with them which was a nice treat. We shared many laughs and virgin strawberry daquiris together. The poorly run teen club didn't prevent us from having a wonderful time. :D

[anniversay/grad trip]

I used to feel a bit overwhelmed prior to a family vacation...due to cost and all the things that need taken care of prior to leaving....then just before my mum died...she said...one of her regrets was that my Dad and her never took us kids on family vacations. There was always a hydro bill or phone bill to pay, or some other trivial expense. Then she said...But, you don't sit around reminicing about your paid bills, but you will talk about the times you spent together on vacation. Treasure them, make them happen...The bills will find a way of getting paid...Life is short.

[kymbakitty]

That happens to my best friend everytime she and her husband get ready to leave on vacation. It's kind of odd...but she's figured out that it's just something she realizes she has to work through and that it will pass--and it always does.

 

And it sounds like all the posters have been very diligent about saving the entire amount needed so it's not like you are doing anything irresponsible ... unless you have credit card balances or severely lacking college funds/retirement funds that are in dire need of being fed...so enjoy yourselves...you've saved up for this very thing!

 

Post reviews if you can!

 

Enjoy!!!

[crisndeefromde]

so more food for thought as you are so close to your final payment time. do what you have to do to have the best time on your family vacation. Will they have a good time on Carnival? probably Will they have a great time on Royal Caribbean? oh yes! Not sure if the Freedom has the new updates on her that they just did on the Liberty but the outside screen is great.When we were on Carnival Liberty couldn't get a seat close enough to hear what was going on or see well so even though we thought we would love this feature nah for us. Our personal experience hands down is royal caribbean. the service is first class.

If you need to watch your dollars than perhaps chose carnival but as we found the extras even down to my cookies were at an extra cost. we spent more on the carnival cruise than we do on royal and we didn't care for the drinks on carnival. personal preference and your wallet but what ever you decide have a fantastic summer and a great cruise. family time is so important.

[storm1of4]

We booked our 7/17 FOS sailing last June and until recently I've been very excited. Reading all I can about it, looking at pictures etc. We wanted to go in the summer because of kids school schedules and our youngest turning 3 in June. But this of course means it's very expensive (we also have an interior/balcony connecting room), so I started looking at Carnival which is always cheaper - this just made FOS seem that much more expensive :rolleyes:.

 

We booked RCCL because DH and I went on one of the small Carnival ships for our honeymoon and didn't really like it. I've heard nothing but great things about FOS so I have no idea why I'm not excited other than the large amount of money I'm about to hand over :p So for those that have been on RCCL before I need some reminders about just how great it is.

 

Well.... the Freedom is wonderful.....there is not doubt and really no need to talk you into enjoying that ship...you will.

However, if you feel this bad about the $$$$ perhaps you should wait until you can afford the cruise without such distress.

No sense in spending $3,000 plus thousands of $$$$ on something distressing.....In reality....if you cant afford it, the week on the Freedomn will pass in a flash and you'll be paying off the trip for years...That will not feel good either.....it will not have mattered how great that one week on the FOS was.... if your paying for for years to come.

Cruise vacations are not for every budget.

[morganboys]

We booked our 7/17 FOS sailing last June and until recently I've been very excited. Reading all I can about it, looking at pictures etc. We wanted to go in the summer because of kids school schedules and our youngest turning 3 in June. But this of course means it's very expensive (we also have an interior/balcony connecting room), so I started looking at Carnival which is always cheaper - this just made FOS seem that much more expensive :rolleyes:.

 

We booked RCCL because DH and I went on one of the small Carnival ships for our honeymoon and didn't really like it. I've heard nothing but great things about FOS so I have no idea why I'm not excited other than the large amount of money I'm about to hand over :p So for those that have been on RCCL before I need some reminders about just how great it is.

 

 

which cabins / category of cabins have interior/balcony connecting rooms? we are looking for the same on the freedom and I must be missing them on the deck plans. Let me know.

Thanks