kevpeirce

Thanks everyone! 221 more days of dreaming about this trip for us. We’re excited for the suite, aft balcony(even with the so called obstruction), and our first freedom class ship. We loved the amped features on Oasis and the kids splash area on freedom actually looks better. It will be tough to compete with Oasis playmakers being right next to the carrousel and the hot dog stand, but overall I wouldn’t be surprised if we have a new favorite ship after this. 

Well finally pulled the trigger and scored a junior suite with an aft balcony on freedom ots on the sept 29th eastern Caribbean sailing! We’re in 7412 which seems like a good room for our first jr suite. I think we get priority boarding and double crown and anchor points if I’m not mistaken which was our big push to do it. Anyone have any tips or hidden gems on freedom? It will be my wife, two boys(second cruise for both even at 2 and 4) and myself. The biggest downside I see at this point is there’s going to be a walk to get to the elevators. 

Definitely carry a bathing suit on and grab a spot in the solarium, it’s warm, there’s a bar and great views sailing away! We left the first weekend of may back in 2019 so weather should be similar!

Haven't done Oasis yet(34 days) but have done Anthem and Harmony and hands down we would choose Anthem. Especially sailing from Cape Liberty with the enclosed areas for cold weather.

12 hours ago, Jkaczano said:

If this was Oasis on Saturday 8/27 - maybe if people weren’t such selfish asshats taking pictures instead of clearing the pool deck the first 2 times the captain asked them to, the helicopter wouldn’t have had to hover for over 30 minutes.  

There’s likely some extended conversation between flight crew and on board medical staff as far as treatment to the patient, the history of the current medical event and proper packaging of the patient for transfer and transport. Not saying that’s the only cause for that time but depending on the emergency could add time for the flight crew on scene. 

2 hours ago, Kirsten said:

I was wondering this myself.  I am gluten free and can have wine, Truly, any hard liquor (vodka, tequila, rum, whisky, etc), club soda, regular soda, and many of the liquers, so I don't really see how being gluten free would affect the ability to have the DBP.

Mixers, liquor and beer all can contain gluten. Cross contamination is also an issue with bars. A lot of this also depends on if you’re celiac, have a sensitivity to it or if you’re doing it as a diet. 

We’ve done this for our last 3 cruises since my wife’s gluten free and can’t drink many of the drinks, it’s a fairly easy process and if there is something she wants we just pay for it accordingly. 

No you do not but you’ll need to call to order and the other person has to get the refreshment package. 

We have Port Canaveral so we will get service there, but I know on Anthem when we went we were "connected" to the ship wifi but didn't have the internet package. At that time I believe it was a loop hole through the type of messaging the app uses that allowed iMessages to work as well, it would be nice if that does if not we will try paying for the messenger in the app.

Definitely will check out the vlog! Were you able to accomplish facetime and messages without the internet package? I should've clarified that in my original post, our previous experience was imessage working without having the internet package. We're very excited to take the boys, especially our 2 year old who asks every day about "big boat", we do plan some adult time whether the boys are with their grand parents or adventure ocean. It looks like there is an hourly fee as theyre both under 3.

We're sailing on Oasis out of Cape Liberty on 10/16 with our boys and my parents(in their own cabin). My wife is gluten free and we're trying to get an idea of whats available on Oasis for her, does anyone know what "hidden" gluten free items are on Oasis? We found out Anthem had gluten free bread in 270 and sorrentos does a gluten free pie on Anthem and Harmony. We found the windjammer to be difficult on Harmony at prime times so those hidden places helped a lot on Anthem. Second question is does iMessage still work with the wifi on certain ships and if so is Oasis one of those ships? The final question is does anyone have any tips for cruising with young children? We have a boardwalk balcony and our boys will are 2 years old and a 10 month old. 

Spoke with reps again today as we changed our room and paid our gratuities for the 10/16 sailing on Oasis. This is the most information that I've been able to get from anyone so far. I was told this week 8/7-8/14 is a trial period for the CDC to conduct testing and there will be an official policy update out 9/30 after the data is reviewed. The rep claims the goal is to allow everyone to cruise regardless of vaccination status. As my wife and I are unvaccinated we were again reassured that we would receive a 100% refund as it is a change to the company policy. Obviously this is word of mouth so may not be 100% accurate but I'm somewhat inclined to believe this.

44 minutes ago, Pooch said:

Do not think 2 pack & plays will fit in an interior room.  
Common break even for DBP is thought to be 5-6 alcoholic beverages plus a few non alcoholic per day.
 Documents are not uploaded in the Cruise Planner.  You do that at 90 days out on either website or in the app.
 I would not take the word of a random phone rep for ANYTHING about health protocols.  If you have concerns, wait until the new protocols are announced officially then make your decision.

We're 70 days out so I feel like I should see this on the website and it is not there as of now. As far as the rep, she did say the official release will confirm it but could not give a date that would be released but did say as of right now we would be able to go. She did say it would likely be released tomorrow as the new policy takes effect.

Oh and one more question, what is parking at Cape Liberty running for a week? I think it was $70-75 when we went on our 5 night to Bermuda in May of 2019.

Quite a bit has changed as my wife and I haven't sailed since before covid, mainly being were now bringing our boys(2 and a half year old and a 10 month old). We're booked for an inside cabin on deck 8 and my parents are in the room next to us. A lot hangs on the full new policy which according to the person I spoke with today will likely be released tomorrow, big thing will be vaccinated status as of today we were able to book it and go unvaccinated, according to her the list of countries has not yet been finalized other then Alaska, Canada and Bermuda. She stated that if that changes when this policy is released we would get a full refund. Not sure how things have been for others when booking but there was nothing about being vaccinated during that process and nothing shows on cruise planner for uploading documents. Some other questions are has anyone squeezed 2 pack and plays into an interior cabin or crib and pack and play? Are the deluxe drink packages normally $98.00 per person per day now currently on sale for $77.99? This is double what we paid the last time we went and significantly more than the refreshment package. Does anyone have a drink price list for Oasis or breakdown of how many drinks per day was needed to break even? A quick look I found the old articles but that was prior to these prices I'm seeing now. Also found out the hard way no entertainment can be booked prior to boarding, not a huge fan of that but I get it. Sorry for a bit of a run on story there, really only had the 3 questions and we're excited to hopefully get back to cruising.

I had the same situation happen to me, the slots and blackjack have been on my phone but have not been played or even collecting chips for that fact. When I stopped I had just over 100,000 loyalty coins and when I logged in last night I had 374,000. 2 hours later I'm over 380,000 and downloading their other 2 slots games.

The news also mentioned this lawsuit this morning in the Philly area, they said the families attorney is exploring a suit against the cruise line but local officials are also exploring charges against the grandfather as well.

1 minute ago, CGTLH said:

When I was on Anthem they wouldn't allow the shake function. Recall being to the robots at the time were having an issue keeping the lid shut or kept using the wrong one.

When we sailed a month ago the one robot frequently spilled when filling the cups, occasionally even dropped the cup in sideways and would still try to fill it leaving a drink 3/4 full, hopefully they had the drink package.

2 hours ago, Jjohnb said:

It can, we sailed on the Empress out of Phila to Bermuda (Hamilton & St George) several times a few (well many) years back.  That was one of our favorite itineraries, much nicer than sailing into the generic Naval dockyard.  If they can no longer sail to Cuba maybe they can use the Empress for the Phila to Bermuda run again!

Where in Philly did this dock?

Not really a question just found it a little odd that some sites show it as 1 day in port and others show 2 days.

For the upcoming sailing on the 5 night Bermuda cruise on Anthem I was curious who would be in port with us. When I looked this up crew center, cruisett, and cruisetimetables all have us there only on Monday 5/6 from 0900-1700. Hopefully the information is just incorrect as we were scheduled to be there Monday 0900 until Tuesday 1700.

Just got this lovely message for this Saturday on Anthem, luckily it says boarding will be between 11:30 and 3. I suppose a half hour later than I wanted to be on the ship wont be too bad and maybe if were lucky they'll be able to board earlier than 11:30

We had bid on upgrades however the prices have dropped so much we booked a balcony for the same cost of royal up and as of yesterday the prices were even lower then what we booked at.

14 hours ago, Mrs. RoyalMoyal said:

Gluten free in 270 - yes, I witnessed a woman who had a sandwich prepped with gluten free bread, she was polite and firm when she inquired about it. My sister has this requirement, so I notice when gluten free if offered. 

In the way back of the Windjammer, yes - even cookies. Macaroons...

Awesome! We didn't have the best luck finding things on Harmony.

2 minutes ago, DonnaLB said:

I'm beginning to wonder if you work for Royal Caribbean.  Clearly, I didn't know these things and again I don't think it was unreasonable to expect a guest departure officer to direct me to the right person. Nor do I think it unreasonable for RC to have ticketed my flights correctly in the first place and to have provided meal vouchers. Anyway, my purpose in writing in this blog was to warn other passengers like me who only cruise occasionally and do not know these things. I've hopefully succeeded in providing that warning. Enough said. I'm done with this message board and done with RC.  

Clearly you didn't catch on, Royal Caribbean likes to purposefully mess up flights so their guests have no other option but to take another cruise on one of their ships