Did I book the wrong cruise?

[maxandmolly]

I'm booked on the 11/25/12 sailing of the Freedom, to Key West, Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios. The only mention I've seen on this board of the Freedom relates to the norovirus outbreaks the last several cruises. The roll call thread is all but dead, with posters with only 3 or 4 posts. I think it has 15 posts total, including 3 from me, most from people who seem to have joined, posted there and then evaporated. (Yes, I joined mostly to meet people for roll call but have since expanded my participation once I realized the depth and breadth of the cc boards).

So did I book, like, a bad cruise or something? Is there a reason it was substantially cheaper than my other options? As a solo cruiser I had to make a decision based largely on price to get the ports I wanted, and wondered why it seemed so much cheaper. It was far from my first choice of departure ports-Jax, Tampa and Port Canaveral are all much closer and would have afforded me a friend to drop me off and keep my car, keeping me from paying for parking.

So, did I go wrong somewhere?

[donaldsc]

Not sure about the price but you can not judge a cruise by the roll call numbers. I have done cruises that have hundreds of roll call posts. I am now booked on an essentially sold out Alaska cruise that has maybe 10 posts.

 

So, don't be pessimistic.

 

DON

[tak81288]

I took that cruise and loved it! Roll calls are a hit and miss. As mentioned, I would never judge a cruise by a roll call or even from reviews from here. Only a small % of cruisers actually post on this board anyway. My last cruise, there were over 3500 people onboard. Only about 5 posted on the roll call.

 

Expect to have a good time.

[maxandmolly]

Not sure about the price but you can not judge a cruise by the roll call numbers. I have done cruises that have hundreds of roll call posts. I am now booked on an essentially sold out Alaska cruise that has maybe 10 posts.

 

So, don't be pessimistic.

 

DON

Trying not to be! This is only my second cruise, and on my (social services) budget, a fairly big investment. As a solo cruiser, I was hoping to find some folks to share excursions with, at least, on my roll call. I know with dining you can usually ask to get seated at a table of solos or singles-or so they say on the solo cruisers board. I just was thinking maybe I missed something. My constantly cruising IRL friend has sailed on it twice and loved it, so that's why I wasn't initially worried about it when I booked.

Thanks.

[seaside23]

I've seen a lot of sailings with low prices in late November and early December. It appears to be because it's a period of low demand for the cruise lines due to the holidays. I'd say you did a great job in grabbing that price. It's a nice ship too, from what I hear.

[maxandmolly]

I took that cruise and loved it! Roll calls are a hit and miss. As mentioned, I would never judge a cruise by a roll call or even from reviews from here. Only a small % of cruisers actually post on this board anyway. My last cruise, there were over 3500 people onboard. Only about 5 posted on the roll call.

 

Expect to have a good time.

 

Thanks! I'm just not the super outgoing, easy to meet people type, so I was hoping the roll call would be a 'short cut' or a good place to start. Maybe it will pick up before I leave. Or I'll magically turn into some super outgoing person people will flock to. Right.

 

I've seen a lot of sailings with low prices in late November and early December. It appears to be because it's a period of low demand for the cruise lines due to the holidays. I'd say you did a great job in grabbing that price. It's a nice ship too, from what I hear.

Yeah, the prices are low, but the price of mine has actually gone up $20/pp for the 1A, and it looks like there's only 1 left on the ship. It's all the way aft, next to the elevators-which is why I picked one of the ones all the way forward, and scored 2 porthole windows for the same price in the process. So I'm hoping it won't sell and they'll drop the price, so I can either get a price reduction or OBC. :D

[mar6732]

My husband and I and 6 of our friends were on this cruise May 12-19 and we had a wonderful time!

[lissa42886]

my cruise doesnt even HAVE a roll call.. so what does THAT say!? lol..

[marshhawk]

You can't tell a book from it's cover. Sometimes a roll call on CC isn't working because everyone is on the roll call on the Carnival site. Try there too. When I am on an excursion I don't feel like I am on my own anyway. You are with a group of people and they are interested in the same thing you are, so you have an automatic friend.

It's nice to know there is another crazy cat lady out there in the world too!:D

Have a great time, and Happy Sailing:)

[Andoria]

I'll be on the Legend on 11/11/12 and my roll call is pretty much dead. I'm OK with that since I'm NOT outgoing and have no desire to meet new people.

 

I'll be traveling with some family members and looking to be alone:)

[meatloafsfan]

Trying not to be! This is only my second cruise, and on my (social services) budget, a fairly big investment. As a solo cruiser, I was hoping to find some folks to share excursions with, at least, on my roll call. I know with dining you can usually ask to get seated at a table of solos or singles-or so they say on the solo cruisers board. I just was thinking maybe I missed something. My constantly cruising IRL friend has sailed on it twice and loved it, so that's why I wasn't initially worried about it when I booked.

Thanks.

 

You might find that closer to the sail date, the roll call will pick up. Keep looking and posting, you never know when you'll find an excursion buddy (I found one on the Dream when I sailed in March 2011 - I had a 16 year old and she had a 12 year old and it worked well because we both wanted to do a private excursion on St. Maarten).

[TexasRon]

We did the roll call thing on our Dream cruise and went to the event. We didn't happen to meet any people we would hang out with during the cruise at the event but it did get us in the spirit of meeting new folks.

 

Being willing to meet new people led to a lot of fun times on the ship--hanging out with people every night in the piano bar, the kids hanging out with friends and enjoying the ship, etc.

 

The roll call will be what it will be...some are bigger than others. It'll be the people you meet on board who will increase the fun. They may or may not be CC members...

[jerseyjjs]

You still have about 1/2 a year until your sailing, give it a chance.

 

Also, in my experience with roll calls is they apparently get very cliquish. Meaning, a dozen or so people only respond to the same other 11. If they're doing that online, what's it going to be like onboard? There's plenty enough to do on the ship without having to rely on a few dozen people meeting in some out of the way room in the late morning on a sea day for an hour.:rolleyes:

[Irishlinny]

my cruise doesnt even HAVE a roll call.. so what does THAT say!? lol..

I say it's time for you to START one!;)

 

OP, don't fret about the roll call. Unless there are some people who know each other from previous cruises, many roll calls don't get active until a month or 2 before the cruise. Just keep posting once in a while to keep it active and see who happens by. If all else fails, you will meet folks on the ship! We sailed the Freedom last Nov (different itinerary) and while I wasn't a fan of the decor, that was the ONLY complaint I had...good cruise with a great staff! Enjoy!:)

[Robpuffdaddy]

You did not book the wrong cruise. Never heard of a wrong cruise, well except for the Titanic. Do not worry that there are not many people on the roll call. Our roll call actually started a Facebook page and that is more active than our roll call. You might want to give that a try.

[JerseyGirlJen]

The Freedom is a great ship, in fact, I booked her again for my second cruise...it's the same cruise you're doing, but I'm going 12/9. The ports seem great, and I'm also cruising solo. It will be fun!!

 

Roll Calls mean don't mean anything. It's still early, so don't worry about that.

 

You will enjoy the Freedom. It's a nice ship, and the itinerary is going to be a lot of fun! :)

[navybaby1113]

We did that cruise earlier this year and loved it! The ship is great and the ports are great. You'll have a blast!

[jrmende63]

We took that same exact cruise and Loved it. We had a fabulous time. Don't judge cruises by the roll calls. Only about 1% of cruisers on the ship have ever even heard of Cruise Critic. Take the cruise ...enjoy and judge for yourself. The Freedom is a nice ship. We had a blast on her!

[atinys]

The Freedom is a great ship, in fact, I booked her again for my second cruise...it's the same cruise you're doing, but I'm going 12/9. The ports seem great, and I'm also cruising solo. It will be fun!!

 

Roll Calls mean don't mean anything. It's still early, so don't worry about that.

 

You will enjoy the Freedom. It's a nice ship, and the itinerary is going to be a lot of fun! :)

 

Ill be on the 12/9 cruise also...... this is definitely NOT a bad cruise :)

[wmjrdn4ever]

We were on this cruise on February 6 2012 and had a fairly small roll call. Friendly people though, enjoyed the cruise a lot. Thought the Freedom was better than the twin Valor we were on September 4, 2011.

[bigcraig]

You did not book the wrong cruise. Never heard of a wrong cruise, well except for the Titanic. Do not worry that there are not many people on the roll call. Our roll call actually started a Facebook page and that is more active than our roll call. You might want to give that a try.

And the Concordia

[nlktx49]

I'm going on a cruise November 5 out of Galveston, and the roll call so far is pretty slim. I'm just wondering if it will pick up as it gets closer to November. I'm sure your cruise will be fine, and you'll meet others in the MDR and other places around the ship. You can create a whole new outgoing personality for this group of strangers!

[maxandmolly]

Thanks everyone for the encouragement! I think it boils down to nervousness of being solo and ending up alone with a book the whole time. (Not that it's a bad idea on Serenity for a sea day!). But a cruise is what you make it, right?