Deedeelynn

We will be on Freedom in April.  Can't wait !

I would not hesitate to sail on Freedom. Fabulous ship.

I last sailed her about a year ago.  She was fine then. 
She's scheduled for the Royal Amplified program in 2020.  During that time it will receive new venues such as Playmakers and new activities such as water slides.
If you have your heart set on the latest new features she won't get them until 2020 however that doesn't mean she is run down or in need of care.
I sailed Independence the month before she went in for her most recent refresh and was pleasantly surprised how much she didn't look like she needed it.  She received new features like a Skypad and water slides but lately they aren't updating cabins at all so I'd expect the same with Freedom.  
If water slides are a must then I don't think anything home based out of San Juan offers that at the moment.  This blog has a group cruise on Freedom over the holidays in December 2019 and @Matt wouldn't plan that for a ship that wasn't capable of offering a great time even if it won't yet have the absolute latest and greatest.  

@CGTLH
I need to borrow your foil hat!

Was gonna ask if the red velvet cake is good?  Going on Symphony soon and hoping to get Chops.  My husband really wants to try it.
Last time on Mariner I had Molten cake and it was very good.
The Mississippi Mud Pie looks like a winner too.  And if Red Velvet as well...oh what choices!

I just got off Anthem on the 18th of January and Chop’s had the red velvet cake! It was delicious! 

Sure, What is this doing here? Will have the Captain load cannons and we’ll have a hay day in port. Between Oasis and Anthem we should have it sunk in no time. Out numbered and out gunned. ?

Anthem had some on the NY cruise. They even had red velvet cheesecake. Did I eat all the cake?

Really?....I don't see that making sense at all...unless demand drops and they cant fill the ships.
 
That being said, I am ok if they want to drop the prices of the cruise and charge more for the add-ons...as long as if you don't pay extra for the add ons you aren't treated and feel like a 2nd class citizen while cruising.....we are heading back to Titanic days if that happens.

Agree, I think RCI moving too fast. It needs to slow down a bit on spending.

Just saw this posted over on CC as well....doesn't surprise me at all. But what does surprise me is the amount of money this must cost and how much higher cruises fares will have to go to finance all this.
I like the idea of switching ships in some cases..but that sounds like it will be only for the suite guests which wont include me. And up to 10 more ships to be ordered??! I don't think that kinda demand is there...especially when all the cruise lines are building these massive ships.
I still say that at some point all this spending and increase capacity is going to come back to bite Royal. Everything goes in cycles and when it turns back down, that's a lot of islands and boats to pay for.....

Wow --- I would've been looking around for Shelly Winters & Jack Albertson .......

Morris and his wife Esther went to the state fair every year and every
year Morris would say, "Esther, I'd like to ride in that airplane."

Esther always replied, "I know Morris, but that airplane ride costs 50
dollars, and 50 dollars is 50 dollars."

One year Morris and Esther went to the fair and Morris said, "Esther, I'm
85 years old. If I don't ride that airplane I might never get another
chance."

Esther replied, "Morris, that airplane ride costs 50 dollars, and 50 is
dollars is 50 dollars."

The pilot overheard them and said, "Folks, I'll make you a deal. I'll take
you both up for a ride. If you can stay quiet for the entire ride and not
say one word, I won't charge you; but if you say one word it's 50 dollars."

Morris and Esther agreed and up they went.

The pilot did all kinds of twists and turns, rolls and dives, but not a
word was heard. He did all his tricks over again, but still not a word.
When they landed, the pilot turned to Morris and said, "By golly, I did
everything I could think of to get you to yell out, but you didn't."

Morris replied, "Well, I was gonna say something when Esther fell out, but
50 dollars is 50 dollars."

If any one has followed my posts on Voom you may have seen my 'Day 2 Voom Strategy' that involves waiting until day 2 to purchase Voom on board.  Since the price for the 'full voyage' Voom plans drop with each day passing you can save money if you can wait a day or two.
As I sit here on a 10 night cruise it has occurred to me the same strategy can be used with a drink package on longer sailings.
I've often avoided drink packages on longer sailings due to:
High cost of packages on longer sailings.  More nights equate to higher package price. Drink fatigue.  Fix or six (or more) alcoholic drinks every day, day after day, gets old. Itinerary.  Depending how many days are port days and times in port the drink package may be less desirable. On this 10 night sailing they offer the drink package on board up to day 5.  Onboard prices are higher than cruise planner advance purchase prices but under the right circumstances, it might make sense to buy it onboard but waiting a few days.
Let's look at this cruise.
Using $48 as a typical price the cruise planner deluxe drink package:
10 nights x $48 = $480 plus 18% gratuity = $566 per person.  That's too much for me.   If you wait until day 4 of a 10 night cruise there are 7 nights left. 
With an onboard price of $57 x 7 nights = $399 plus 18% gratuity = $471 per person.   A savings of $95 per person Not only do you save $95 but you avoid drink fatigue and depending on itinerary you might avoid paying for a few port days.
Where this really becomes realistic is if you are Diamond or higher because of the Diamond Happy Hour drinks each evening.  
Where it becomes even better is if you are Diamond Plus or better.  Diamond Plus receive 30% off onboard drink package pricing.  $399 less 30% is $280 plus 18% gratuity = $330.  That's a whopping $236 per person savings all by not drinking a lot for the first few days.  
How does it look for a 7 night cruise?
Cruise Planner 7 x $48 plus 18% = $396 Waiting for day 2, 6 nights x $57 plus 18% = $403 Waiting for day 3, 5 nights x $57 plus 18% = $336, a savings of $60 per person.     For Diamond Plus the day 3 price is $235 for a savings of $160 per person. At just $60 savings it's not really a great strategy for 7 night cruises, you'll save a little, but on longer cruises it can save you quite a bit more.
You do need to ask onboard which day the drink package sales will cease because that can vary from cruise to cruise.
The other gotcha could be onboard pricing which has been as high as $63 on some cruises recently.  By following live blogs here in the message boards we can perhaps get an idea for any given ship.  
When looking at a 14 night transatlantic next year there is just no way I am going to drop $826 for the cruise planner drink package.  Waiting until mid-cruise for a partial drink package might just be affordable though.  

Special request that you have to make on the first night but SO worth it at dinner the rest of the trip - Savory Bites.

How dare RCL treat those of us in steerage as equals! ?
steer·age /ˈstirij/ noun   1. HISTORICAL the part of a ship providing accommodations for passengers with the cheapest tickets.  

Perhaps some of the people in suites think enjoyment of the cruise is a zero sum game....and they can't have full enjoyment if the staff is sharing extras with people  ;).  I'm not like that.....then again....the concierge is always like "How come you don't come up to the lounge" when I am on board ship ? and I'm always like "ohh too busy" but the real reason is that it is often filled with people who complain about free bread on a cruise ?

Assuming you are docked at Pt. Seraphine and not the industrial area across the bay, just get off the ship, and walk straight through the shopping area.  When you get to the last shops, you'll see Rum Therapy on the left.  Stop there to "rehydrate".  Then continue on about 40 feet into the grassy area and there will be a wooden structure which is the brewery's tap room.  They had I think 8 styles on tap.  Actually I hesitate to call it a taproom as you kind of expect some of the brewing to take place there; this is more like a regular bar that happens to be run by the brewery.  
If you are docked on the industrial side, they have water taxis for a few bucks that will take you to Pt. Seraphine.  When they drop you off you'll be at the north side of the peninsula. Head towards the shopping area, and it will be the first structure you'll walk by, on the right if you stay on the sidewalk.  (note that they were extending the dock when I was there in November so the drop off location may have changed since then).
I looked on Google Earth to see if I could get a birds-eye view to explain, but the images there were taken before the structure was built.  If you look there now you'll see a big grassy area north of the shopping area with the red roofs - the taproom is a new wooden structure in the middle of the area, it's the only building there.
I had an IPA that was splendid, I wish I could remember the name of it, and they had a stout with Cacao nibs that was worthy of the trip.

TGfF - Thank God for Facebook.  I looked on my timeline and saw that "Naked Fisherman IPA" was one of the IPA varieties (they had 2 and both were good).  My wife liked the Passionfruit Ale as well.  

Aruba - SeaSalt, local restaurant, easy walk from cruise ship pier, all the times I've been to Aruba the ship tends to leave later than normal ports, so my wife and I went and cleaned up on the ship and then walked back to the restaurant for dinner, I don't know if it is there specialty but the Paella was amazing, for desert have the deep fried cheese cake.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/SeaSalt/@12.5164562,-70.0374469,19.09z/data=!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x8e8538cfe25a77db:0xf16a8a3e89818c2f!2sAruba!3b1!8m2!3d12.52111!4d-69.968338!3m4!1s0x8e8538bd5fa90491:0x13d4a34ebd71d20d!8m2!3d12.5169737!4d-70.0368628?hl=en

Well, then I shall be the first.  And I will report back.....

There were definitely some changes we noticed since our last cruise!!  My wife and I boarded the Enchantment last Friday at Port Canaveral.  I didn't notice if there was a D+ line through security, as we blazed through using the Suite line.  Once through that, we went to the Suite line at the counter, which was next to the D+ line.  Turns out we didn't even need to go to the counter - since we had uploaded recent photos when we did our online check in (totally different than it used to be - but it is quick and easy now!!) and the sign & sail form we printed out at home allowed us to directly board the ship.  The room keys they used to give you at the counter are now waiting for you on your cabin door, which you can get to at 1:30.  It was a little eerie having the room keys stuck on the door, but since your luggage isn't in the room, nobody could gain anything by swiping them.
That new process really did expedite the boarding process.  Kudos to RC for doing some thing new!  It was weird boarding the ship without our sea passes in hand, but total time from drop off to walking on the ship was about five minutes. 

Just heard that Port Canaveral and Port Everglades and Miami no longer have priority boarding for anyone except Pinnacle and Suites. Heard this took effect last week! Is this true? Why is Royal taking away all of the perks? Is there going to be no loyalty program going forward? I really enjoyed this perk, as it made it easy to get through security and checked in and on the ship! Guess if true, there is no need to remain loyal, will try other cruise lines that I have been eyeing. We were 13 points away from Diamond Plus, but, really what is the point?! I’m sure other perks will disappear also! Very sad! 
 

Don't you mean choosing refundable vs non-refundable? Since OBC is going buh-bye, no incentive for me to choose non-refundable. I would choose refundable. I also note that the purpose of getting rid of the OBC is to give better pricing to the clientele, which is simply not true as I have an algorithm that I always run on past, present and probable future pricing on certain cruises that do not currently offer OBC under RCCL's new policy and the initial announced offerings are slightly higher. RCCL is pulling a fast one but I, for one, am not falling for it.  Competition is getting better out in the high seas with new cruiselines and I can't wait to try them out such as Virgin Voyages.  It all comes down to what does my loyalty mean to the cruise line.

It is a $30 meal that should sell for 8 bucks at any restaurant.   There is nothing, NOTHING special about the food.  We dined Sabor on FOS and they could remove the sign and open a French restaurant in thirty minutes.   They wouldn't need to change the decor because there isn't any identifiable Mexican decor...just another room to dine in.  Everyone was oooh...and aaahing over the tableside guacamole being prepared.  I guessed they didn't get out much to Mexican restaurants.