Jill

Sailing on Freedom in March and looking for a dinner option since they don’t have as many specialty restaurants as the big ships. Doing a 3 night dining package with return trips to chops and Giovanni’s. That leaves 2 nights open and trying to avoid main dining room and saw the dinner theatre. 

Thoughts? Experiences?

Anyone know if it will be different? My Black Friday says only 7 more hours left. Is cyber Monday starting tomorrow, Sunday? And will the discounts be different? 

Does the  WOW sale (around Christmas) historically have better deals? 

Sailing Freedom in March

Thank you!

Do you think a 10:45 flight is ok? We plan to take our own bags off versus putting them outside the night before. I just assumed that a 6am arrival would give us enough time to disembark and get to the airport. 

When this cruise is completed we’ll be Diamond. Will that expedite our disembarkation? Now I’m worried we’re cutting it too close. Lol 

Sailing on Freedom end of March to Southern Caribbean.  Haven't been there in over 20 years except for St Maarten, 3 times in the past 7 years.  What are your favorite excursions?  Which ones to avoid?

St Kitts/Nevis

Antigua

St Lucia

Barbados

I changed our Freedom cruise to 3 weeks later.  No fee was charged but the price of the cruise was higher because we were now in spring break season. OBC remained the same.

On ‎8‎/‎31‎/‎2018 at 2:01 PM, jce2 said:

Yea, I am waitng for April 28-May 5 for my Liberty cruise.  They just this week released thru April 7th and announced they will release thru June 7th on September 27th.  However, i should point out that this latest release was originally scheduled for August 16th and then was slipped to the 30th, so it is possible that the next date might slip a week or two as well but i doubt it

 

As of today, September 25, Southwest was showing through April 7.  We just booked our air from Orlando to San Juan for our March 31 cruise on Freedom. $399 round trip.  We had travel funds though from canceled flights to NC during Hurricane Florence, so all we had to pay was $40 for our cruise flights.

On ‎7‎/‎30‎/‎2018 at 11:12 AM, JLMoran said:

Someone here commented a while back that in terms of percentage of passengers on any given sailing, less than 10% (might have been closer to 5%) actually buy the deluxe package. So if Royal is happy whatever small percentage they're getting per sailing, I wouldn't count on lower pricing any time soon.

Lol, guess hubby and I are in that less than 10%!  Last cruise on Oasis last March, we got the deluxe at 30% off.  As long as we had 4 drinks and 2 bottles of water, we broke even.  We easily consumed that and then some. Works for us!  Our Freedom cruise March of 2019 is only showing 10% off deluxe, so I will sit and wait for Black Friday or around Christmas.

Thanks for the tips.  Were leaving out of San Juan next March on Freedom and we might fly in the day before.  In the past we've flown in the day of, but that makes for a really long day. We've done that twice but we also were in our late 20's, now we are mid 50's! lol

I want to say it's around Christmas.  I'll just have to make myself go to the website once a week. 

I can't remember when this is.  I want to say around Christmas?  We're booked on Freedom at the end of March and I want to catch the 30% off sale as it's their biggest discount of the year.  Last year I saved over $800 on our Oasis cruise when I called to make final payment, the rep said the fares had dropped and gave me a refund!

We've done Eastern Caribbean 3 times on Oasis.  Twice in March and once the first week of May.  Disclaimer: I do live in Florida so I get cold easily! lol

March can be a bit nippy and windy.  May was GLORIOUS! Beautiful weather!

OK, I think we'll just go ahead and try it.  I booked it last night.  I'll already have all our shows booked prior, so if they can't accommodate easily, I'll  jump up and down and cause a scene! ;) This will be our third time on Oasis and the main dining room leaves little to be desired. By booking the package, it saves quite a bit, especially with 4 of us.

Thanks Matt. I read the blog and just have one more question for anyone that has done this:

Did anyone have any issues trying to schedule their reservations to coincide with the shows they had booked?  That's my fear is that I won't be able to get a dinner reservation(s) that allows us time to get to our show(s).

We've always made reservations for the specialty restaurants individually.  Thinking of doing either the 4 or 5 night package this time around.  How exactly does it work?

I know the first night they put you in one but what about after that?  Do I have to make actual reservations once on board at each individual location?  What if they don't have times available that coordinate with the shows we have booked? 

The savings are quite good going the package route.  Just don't want to be relegated to eating at 4:30 or 10:30!

On 4/27/2017 at 4:15 PM, bcarney said:

Royal should keep the small ships, and deploy them at smaller ports - you know, the ones that Carnival manages to make a profit from.  New Orleans, Mobile, Charleston, Jacksonville Fl, etc. and build a customer base that way.  Many people (like me) are just about done paying for the high cost of flying (family of 4), and it's to the point where I have to choose whether or not to cruise based on the cost to get to the ship in the first place.

I'd love to get a ship in Jacksonville. I don't see why RCcouldnt put a smaller ship here. I have ZERO desire to ever sail Carnival. Several friends have sailed on the one out of Jax and it was just "gross."

If they'd move our terminal closer to the ocean, we could take bigger ships.  We already are a full fledge port that brings in container ships almost as big as Oasis class. The cruise port however is further down the St Johns river and they've got to go under a bridge and the river is not as deep. 

On 4/27/2017 at 1:57 PM, JLMoran said:

I'd like to see this, too. Although from what I remember reading earlier, the problem with smaller ships when it comes to the shows is that there isn't enough space for full-time performers along with the regular staff, so you end up with crew members doing double-duty as performers and some other function (e.g., serving staff in the dining areas, bartenders, etc.). if that held, would make it very difficult to get a production like Grease or Chicago.

I'd also guess that a smaller ship makes it more difficult to get the advanced theater stages they have on Oasis / Quantum / Freedom class, where they have the fancy sliding rigs and the lifts / hoists below and above the stage. Not to mention harder to get all the lighting, sound systems, computer controls, etc.

I've kind of decided that I'll not be setting foot on an Oasis class at any time, but if I find out that one of them has gotten Hamilton as its show, we'll be booking in a heartbeat. ;)

We love Oasis class! So funny seeing the different preferences. You have to go once just to marvel that the thing can float! We've been on Oasis twice at full capacity and it never felt crowded. Our kids loved it. 

Hairspray was the show 6 years ago and it was great. When we were on last week though it was Cats. Not appealing at all.

I second Hamilton! Lol 

Our first cruise on RC was waaaaaayyyyyyy back in 1990 on Song of America. Gorgeous old ship with teak decks. It was our first cruise and was a reward trip with our franchiser.

We were hooked after that. Did Monarch of the Seas her inaugural year (first ship in the Sovereign class) in 1992, then again in 1994. She was the newest at the time. Funny how tiny Sovereign class is now. 

Took a break from cruising because of a little one at home, but decided to have a blow out cruise before we tried for baby #2. Did a 4 nighter on Sovereign in 1998.

all these ships were at the time the "newest' and greatest.  We like to sail on the newer ships.

Took a VERY long break from cruising and booked Oasis in Spring of 2011 with our then 17 and 11 year old. They LOVED it! We LOVED it! So much to do especially with 3 days at sea. 

'Just got off Oasis again this past Sunday with no kids and 2 other couples.  Had a blast! Celebrated my 50th and almost 9 months cancer free.  We booked Oasis again with same itinerary because it was a known quantity and we knew we'd have fun. 

Booked Oasis this past Tuesday for spring break this coming year as a back up plan if trip to NYC for the US Open falls through end of summer. It's a graduation trip for our youngest and she wants to go to the Open and a Broadway show.

The port was our main qualification. We're 2 hours from Canaveral and Oasisis the only thing sailing out of there. Itinerary is slightly different, so that will be nice. 

We love the Oasis class. So much to do or not to do! 

'Really want to get on Anthem class but they're in Asia. ☹️

Hubby and I are still in active mode and want a ship that has all the bells and whistles. However, I am wanting to return to the southern Caribbean and I'll have to do that on a smaller ship and fly to PR to get the ship. 

Personally I've never been overly impressed with food on RC. It's the only line I've sailed and just finished one on Oasis last week. It was our 7th. The food in the specialty restaurants is better. I try to avoid the MDR.  Ate there twice last week for dinner and it was very average. Had breakfast once in MDR and it was the best on the trip followed by Johnny Rockets.  We prefer cooked to order breakfast. I don't expect great food because when trying to feed 6700 people, there is no way to serve excellent food. Just my opinion. 

As as far as the water, we drank bottled almost exclusively except for one night when we forgot to bring bottled water back tot the cabin. Took my supplements with the tap water and it tasted fine......and I am picky about my water! 

Definately pack one item that is long sleeve. The second morning on our way to St Thomas, we encountered some showers and clouds and froze our butts off for a few hours that morning.  The wind was intense and cold. We sailed through it and then we were stripping off the long sleeves. This past Saturday we sailed through a cold front on our way back to Cape Canaveral.  The day before we were sweating to death with high temps and no wind.  Saturday morning was again cloudy, rainy and windy as heck. Once through the front, the sun came out but the temps were much lower and it stayed windy all day. 

Wondering if there was a current one out there. Specifically if they still have a '70's night.  Missed it last time and looks like it was a blast. 

I just bought 2 for our Oasis cruise next Sunday. Saved $44. 

I'm sailing next Sunday on Oasis and the Drinks+VOOM just showed up for me today. Saved $44!  A couple we are sailing with (first time RCCL'ers) did not have it show up on their cruise planner. Do they deliver the deals only to Crown and Anchor members?