Todd W

best bet is to reach out to Royal directly. this is a fan-blog, not directly affiliated with the cruise line

Does Freedom still have a connoisseur club?

I love the way you think man! We hit 60 days out yesterday and it really kicked into high gear for me which is saying alot. I've been driving my wife nuts the last several months. Not our first cruise but will be the first time we've cruised with both her sisters and their husbands (which we all have a BLAST when we're together) along with my brother and his wife who live out of state and we don't get to see nearly enough. I came into the parking lot at work yesterday morning blasting Fruitcakes by Buffett and got parked and let it play 2 more times before i finally shut er down.

Don't let the attitude of others dictate your enjoyment of the cruise. So often we read stories of people having "bad" cruises because of things that didn't even effect them directly (how people dress, how others act, unrealistic expectations etc). A bad day as sea is better than a great day at work!

Maybe i 'm not understanding your question but if I am, they are out there, you just need to look harder. I've seen Royal sailings out of NJ that port in Florida before sailing further to the Caribbean. Also some San Diego departures stop at San Franciso as well as Seattle before finishing up in BC. I would venture to say all lines do something similar

awesome job ! My son is also a big Vlogger as well. Keep up the great work!

following along and can't wait to see more. @cruiselife my wife and I are very much like yourselves. all we've ever done is cruise out of Galveston but for 2020 we are flying to FL for our first Oasis cruise on Harmony too. Thanks for sharing!

I was playing around on the Royal app today and added in the reservation numbers of the other 2 couples for our April cruise. Being the idiot that i am, i failed to realize that the app directly linked those 2 reservations on my Royal Planner page now. Top one is for my wife and I and the bottom 2 are the other couples reservations as seen online from my RC Planner login. Not sure how i can "unlink" these or what, if any issue i may have caused. I've never done this before and just wanted to make sure i haven't screwed anything up for the other 2 couples. I'm assuming this is just a "view" function but i have access to their check in info fields and everything else now. Sort of freaked out. any help or friendly words to help ease my nerves would be appreciated lol.

@twangster we are sailing on her 4/28 for our first time. Will be the first opportunity my wife's 2 sisters and their husbands as well as my brother and his wife will all be joining us together for a cruise. We can't wait, until then, living vicariously through your great photos! Thanks again!

awesome, thank you sir!

I'll have to follow suit with our first ever cruise (Mariner back in '13 I believe. Was her last tour in the US before heading out to Asia at the time. Oh to be young and clean shaven once again lol

@WAAAYTOOO our LoS sailing is April and it dropped to $44 a few weeks back. keep an eye out, i'm guessing once you hit within 90 days that price may pop up again for you hopefully.

Galveston can handle it. while not as big as RC Oasis class, Breeze always seems to be filled up and later this year (or maybe it's moved already) Vista will be porting out of Galveston also

when are you sailing? Thats the same room and ship i'm looking at in April 4 '21

thanks everyone. sounds like this may well be possible for the other 4 people involved. Hoping they jump in on it because thats the only way we can afford it right now lol

yep i got ours on the buy one, get one 50% off a few weeks back which i think netted the cost to $49pp. a week or two ago, it dropped again to $44pp so i dropped and repurchased. Seems to be trending for people who are at 90 day mark or less before setting sail.

For me, any deal i can get is always great however if it comes with stipulations or time restrictions, i have to take them each on a case by case basis. As an example, If i'm relegated to getting a great deal for spec dining but can only use it on certain nights and/or at certain times, more often than not, i'll pass on the savings so as to not be bound by their schedule. I'd rather pay full price and go when and where I'd like. The more relaxed the stipulations are, the better chance i'll take at jumping on an offer (or putting in a bid in this case) for a package deal.

we took our 2 boys a few years back on their first cruise. they were 12 & 14 at the time and i was of course concerned about letting them have time of their own. However we found a plan that worked great for us. I made sure both kids had cheap watches before the cruise for starters. First day on the ship our plan was check back in with us ever 2 hours. We made sure they knew where we would be and where they would would be at any given time, within reason. If we changed our schedule or if they changed location, we left each other sticky notes on our cabin room mirror. The primary rule we set in place for them, if at any point you missed check-in times with us, they were going to be attached to our hip for the rest of that day as well as the next. Surprisingly, we had no issues what so ever. kids generally checked in earlier than expected and because of their extra "freedom", we found that in a lot of cases, they would find us and hang out with us for a bit. as each day proved to be successful, we would ease up on the check in times and give them a little bit more freedom. Our kids had a blast, we had some awesome, worry-free adult time and still had plenty of family time as well. system worked great and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

awesome post @twangster, thanks for putting it all in great a perspective that i've never considered before

yeah thats been my problem. regardless of what the rooms sleep, i can't plug in anything except 4 people.

i know this is very vague but does anyone have any idea what the cost for 6 people in a star class 2 bedroom aquatheater suite would run? for example I know i can price 4 on Oasis in '21 for 2,300 pp (roughly 9,700 base price before taxes and what not). I haven't reached out to MEI because i'm just trying to do some fact finding to see if it's even feasible for the other 2 couples. best case scenario given maximum advanced reservation (2ish years ahead of time)

I wonder if its too much to hope for her to port out of Florida in which case may pave the way for an Oasis class to shuffle over to Galveston for the new terminal ?

love the name as loosely translated to mean epic voyage. very cool!

House is typically bottom shelf stuff. Call is choosing the exact brand of liquor going into the drink. Glenfiddich and soda instead of a bottom shelf scotch and soda. Kettle One dirty martini instead of unknown vodka as a few examples. I would imagine from a cost perspective, CALL liquor would be much more expensive on a ship. i would certainly inquire but it really depends on what the people invited will drink.

I totally agree. i have no issues at all adding something extra, usually to keep my drinks on the stronger side. hah! I was just more concerned about my perception of the package rules which has been alleviated. I shouldn't make assumptions of anything cruise related without 2 cups of coffee first.