henrysea13

1. freedom 2. freedom 3. liberty x3 4. independence x2 5. enchantment 6. majesty 7.oasis 8.carnival sunshine 9. carnival sensation it is hard to list them in order of favorite I have been on all of the freedom class several times and totally love them and of all the ones I didn't care for the carny ships take the lead followed by the oasis had a great time on the majesty but got chased into port a day early by a hurricane I am on the brilliance in oct and the adventure in nov I must say the enchantment has a special place in my heart and always will the oasis for me is too crowded from embark to disembark the crew seems to be overworked and cranky elevators for the most part unusable for the crowds of kids with no supervision pushing all the buttons even something as simple as getting a hot dog from the vendor was a 20 minute wait the buffet was choked always no seats and no one divulged the secret second buffet in the adult area didn't find it till the last day of course except for our very fine room attendant and our section chief in the MDR I never got a chance to speak to anyone they were always busy except when I went to customer service and I got to speak to an assistant mgr who was so rude and looked very wore out a ship this size in my humble opinion needs far more crew to assure that the customers have the time they pay for please understand I enjoy every cruise I go on but royal has given me the time of my life so many times that the oasis fiasco stands out to the negative

in my experience with royal lobster night is the last formal night of the cruise of course you can have lobster anytime you want in the main dining room but you have to pay extra

I was on the freedom in nov 17 and the indy jan 18 saw only 1 pool party late and no midnight buffets wish I did

no adventure does definitely have them I am booked in one in October I had one on the freedom recently its quite an experience the views are breathtaking I liken it to having a room in the Viking crown lounge my daughter says its like having a suite with no balcony we just love them very quiet I found myself forgetting the rest of the ship was there at night there is little to see unless you shut off all light in the room or another ship is passing about the only thing wrong with the room is there are only 2 electric outlets with my daughters that is lacking the pix below are taken from my cabin the pix of the room itself are file photos

this is an easy one 1.PINA COLADA 2.LAVA FLOW 3.BLOODY MARY for mornings BAHAMA MAMAS get honorable mention

I have been to Cozumel many times I love it mr sanchos is a cab ride away and a real treat 50.00 gets you all you can drink and eat search it up on the internet reservations are suggested and can be had for 5.00 although I personally now just stay in the port area there is a little cantina that has great food and drinks for cheap there is a large one but off to the side is the small one by a tree in a fenced area depicting how the people that settled the area chose the place interesting there is a plaque that goes into detail the merchants in the port will gladly negotiate prices and don't miss going upstairs I have gotten my best deals on silver up there

Jim welcome to our forum as far as room service is concerned continental breakfast is complimentary and can be ordered the night before from your cabin you will find door hang menus in the papers left for you everything else is 7.95 per order not item but per order there is a rumor going around that it will soon go to 9.95 but no proof has surfaced when Royal instituted the new charge they improved there menu greatly I have had many of the new items and they are quite tasty . I hope this helps if I can be of any help don't hesitate the freedom is one of my favorites I have sailed her a couple times and the other 2 ships in her class are a treat also enjoy your cruise

Hey Joe we have a lot in common black cats run our house and we both have redheads LOL love them both so much

I also have one in October ugh what a long wait Savor is the perfect word although I must say although I have forgotten many parts of the other cruises I will NEVER forget every minute of my first this is truly one of lifes greatest adventures ENJOY

what a beautiful day for a beautiful family on there way to the time of there lives fun fact at one time Freedom was the largest ship in the world and now for a fun tip from someone who lived in the keys for most of his life don't stand under the pelicans when there in formation like your great picture shows more pictures please

hopefully its an improvement of course it cant get much more confusing or worse

I was on the indie in January and my son purchased the refreshment package a few months before our cruise when we boarded we went to the drink package table on the promenade and inquired about upgrading to the deluxe they said no problem as long as we did it before we sailed we just paid the difference and they put a sticker on his seapass the trick seems to be before they pull in the mooring lines

Hi Starry welcome to our forum as a parent of a special needs wheelchair bound 17 year old at least partially on the spectrum who has been cruising for 8+years I understand your concerns and will help you anyway I can.First and foremost you have definitely picked the right cruise line they will bend over backwards to accommodate your every need beginning with a great special needs dept.8665927225 they can answer any questions you may have about the ship and its activities and shore excursion questions basically any questions about accessability you may have from embarkation to disembarkation getting to the ship early is definitely a plus because I have found that as you get towards 1p things get real hectic in the windjammer I have found that sorrentos was open a lot of times we sailed on freedom class it is located on the promenade and has pizza which my daughter prefers.check both out and see which is preferred you cant get in your cabin till about 1 p, I found after a little stroll around the ship away from the lost souls you will encounter my daughter likes to go outside on deck when you see the crew members starting to put on there brightly colored muster drill vests proceed as early as you care to your assigned station because it has been my experience that most people wait till the last minute to go to them and pack in fast and tight at least for my daughter you will see a crew member with a scan gun or a clipboard go to them and show them your seapass card and explain your situation after they check you in you can usually do as I do and go to the schooner bar and sit down they will have someone there to show you the life vest and you can hear the announcements the first bump in the road I encountered was the alarm going off signifying the drill is underway my daughter was terrified to say it is loud is an understatement I cured the problem with a personal music player and headphones playing her favorite tunes it is a great idea to search on google for the freedom videos to familiarize all with what to expect depending on the degree of your childs sensitivity you will find a much more peaceful breakfast in the dining room but it is only available from 7 to I think 9 but you will get a cruise compass everyday telling you times and such for everything I love dinner in the dining room but my daughter loves the windjammer dinners where it seems lately many of the same selections are in both and the crowd is very minimal I just got off the independence and we ate dinner in the windjammer every night the waiter took very personal care of us making sure we had the same table all the time.If your child is sensitive to darkness try to get to the shows early and get up as close as you can to the show in the middle to back of the theater it gets dark and has caused me problems in the past.i could go on and on but I don't want to bore you if you have any questions at all that I may help you with please don't hesitate to ask one last thing there is an organization named Autism on the seas they specialize in special needs family vacations they are incredible and cost is about the same as booking a cruise normally search them on google they take families with autistic children of all ages they have a tremendous amount of experience in this field my first RC cruises was with them they bring counselors with them on the cruise according to how many children or clients they have going they have pool time every day they go with you on shore excursions to the beaches they take care of the muster drill experience by bringing all the clients and families into one of the conference rooms dinner is in AOS private dining room an attached dining room to the main we have had personal ships bridge tours ice skating every type of activity you can name and every night the kids can go to adventure ocean with the AOS staff for respite giving you time to go off on your own These people are the best ive ever met and many have become great friends Royal has heavily supported this organization for years The pirate night brought tears to my eyes google them and see what you think they made the very first 2 cruises go so smoothly with absolutely no stress. once again WELCOME TO OUR FORUM

what a talent your D14 has treasure it and it will grow in leaps and bounds

WOW did you ever hit that square on the head I too feel the excitement and anticipation cant wait till JOE posts his first entry

just got off the indie recently no breakfast was soooooo dissapointed

Jl I love the black kitty looks like my house beer and black cats it don't get any better then that

I would not be surprised if it is as described here a money grab this is becoming quite common with Royal sadly, but I am not sure if it is company wide or per ship after a long conversation with a friend who is a senior cruise planner with Royal I came away with several points Royal is making a big push to turn over control of the inner workings of the parts of cruising controlled by the hotel director making it his decision what goes on when it comes to these fees and it was evident in small ways recently when I lost or someone stole my drink cup on my majesty sailing to my surprise when I went to customer service to see if someone had turned it in they tried to charge me 9.95 for a new one.Barely 2 months previous on the oasis my son lost his and was just handed a new one no charge also the drink card on different ships is differently priced with no apparent reason in view some 65 75 85 while I am sure Royal as a company still sets the hi and lows they may be attempting to create competition between the hotel ends of the cruising business.It does seem a bit early having just recently imposed the 795 penalty for room service to now raise it again and looks more like a money grab to me p.s. I agree charging that kind of money for rockets is stupid and would explain why on my last few sailings there was very few customers no matter when I walked by aside for burgers that are of the same quality free in the windjammer

bon voyage JL and family my first was on liberty what an experience new years eve cruise hope you have the time of your lives and enjoy every second I barely slept on my first but I don't recommend this. I am waiting anxiously for your blog and please don't leave anything out

see my pics above I have more if needed

I have one booked for nov on the adventure had one on the freedom they are fantastic

I can remember having a conversation with my Royal vacation planner a year before the role out of this horror and he had only one answer we are aware of the problem and working to correct it every time I went to go back to the main page from the vacation planner I would get bad request and that would cause even he could not change anything till a period of time passed if I went to check cruise prices on different sailings bad request ugh! I asked him then couldn't Royal afford to hire some it people that knew what they were doing.Iwas told these are the best in the business bullfeathers I told him. I am not IT but I can tell when there is a problem and my company always worked on single line accountability and as a previous manager in a large company I hate missed opportunities when a potential customer gets frustrated with your main method of promoting the product you are offering and goes somewhere else that is a missed opportunity and kills your bottom line my belief is they should stop nickel and diming stop spending so much time coming up with throwing ideas at the wall to see if they stick foolishness and put all there efforts into what needs to work flawlessly everytime .I love to shop and would spend time everyday looking for new deals in cruises even with the terrible but somewhat functional old web site but now that the new rube Goldberg version is out there and from the comments I keep hearing that it is mostly fixed only a small number of people are experiencing difficulty send us the things you find malfunctioning I have not been able to complete any shopping on the Royal site I say trash the entire site and start over again with fresh minds skilled minds say oops and call it a day

Thanx Rick what a great idea I will pay much attention from now on and help my cruises begin in sept oct then nov keep up the good work love this

I doubt in my opinion that all these beauties will go there is still access to the Cuba market with there inability to service the jumbo ship market and the driving popularity of this new money maker

i too need at least need one more cruise she is a grand lady I have many fond memories but refuse to sail out of mijami now that she is coming to Canaveral I am looking at a cruise in sept 18 what a technical wonder she is having been cut in half and stretched absolutely I am going to try to get one of the ceramic models of this treasure hopefully there will still be some available ;(