Irieman

Just want to share my experience from January. Airport Taxi line was organized but about 20 minutes. Not a big deal but if you are impatient then it will raise your blood pressure. Driver was nice and flat rates a plus. For us it was to a hotel. After that, we Uber'd everywhere else and had a fast and easy experience. Timed the embarkation just right. Arrived after the initial que so from Uber to Royal Prom took no more than 10 minutes. That was about at noon. Was simply amazed!

Placing my vote for Willemstad, Curacao! A short walk across the walking bridge to the city where you have so many places to visit. Some highlights of what we did were the floating market, tasting Blue Curacao, visiting the oldest synagogue in the Western Hemisphere, strolling the streets of brightly colored buildings and taking lots of photos.

Hello all - I have two cruises, not paid in full, that I booked about 90 days ago. I really would like to move them to an agent. Anyone have success doing that after the listed 60 day window? Thanks for any advice.

Stockholder benefit.... Well, RCL stock has significantly out preformed both other publically traded cruise stock the last 10 years. Although I sold my shares to help pay my kids college tuition, It went from 30 to 70 for me. Add the dividend and I would say I was very happy with the benefits even though I never used the credit.

Well @Father4 you can see it is a personal preference. I have enjoyed this thread seeing how others make their cruising choice. For me, I guess it's a sliding scale each time. In your case I looked up the choices of your itinerary and I have a slight preference for one over the other. With the ships, I have a much bigger preference for liberty so in this case the choice of ship wins out. Two other things. 1. I've been on liberty and from a kid's perspective there's just so many awesome memories to be had. Not just going to the ice show but being able to ice skate in the middle of the ocean it's just an example that my kids loved. 2. Finally, I always give the nod to the cylinder showers as compared to the shower curtains. That's just me but I do bring that up an awful lot 🙂 No matter what you choose, I am sure your entire family it's going to have an amazing time! Enjoy

Hi @Jill. The decision to have the track at the pool deck seems worse after the Freedom and Voyager class upgrades during the last cycle. They added the panoramic rooms on deck 12 and significantly cut down the track distance by about 40 percent. Not that I am complaining because those are my favorite rooms. I am also a runner and walker so I do the deck 4 and 5 walk. I also walk some interesting routes on different decks. Get creative and find different loops all over the ship. Enjoy!!

Hello FuntoSail, they are sister ships of the Oasis class so the showers will be similar. I love the Cylindrical shape. Always feels like I am on a Star Trek transporter pad! And no, I am not going on the Star Trek theme cruise 🤣

I have been in that cabin twice and 100 percent love it. Absolutely plenty of storage and still feels and looks new compared to the other cabins. One thing to be aware of is that I prefer to have the rooms like the one in the video that are facing the side. The privacy allows you to not worry about clothing and also to look straight down at the sea. The pano rooms wrap all the way around to the front of the ship so those strolling around the helipad will have a clear look at your expansive window. 😀

Yes, that is all you have to do. We proudly wore them on our first platinum level cruise. Even for late nights walking to the hot tubs. 😀

I love the new rooms added to deck 12 of the Freedom and Voyager class ships. As @twangster said, they are updated and the access to the outside decks are wonderful. I also like the outside breakfast stroll to the Windjammer especially on port days. The only noise I heard on my Freedom cruise last month was the staff draging deck chairs above us at 7 in the morning. It happened twice. Nothing at all from the daily use. Honestly, it sounded like they had stacked them high and then dragged them to store. It was annoying at the moment but I would book the same 12 deck room everytime! Enjoy!

Yes it goes so fast but I am thankful for the opportunity to cruise and visit different parts of the earth. Plus I always spend time making a video of the trip which keeps me in the moment. With that said, walking off the ship is such a terrible feeling. Then I snap out of it cause it's time for the great suitcase hunt!

@Nay, I am just a few weeks off of Freedom and would like to suggest the main dinning room as a nice breakfast option on your last morning. We were in group 2 (shore excursion) and needed to be at our location by 7:45 - easily seated at 7am with a table for two - service was fast and the food was delicious. I believe the menu was limited but my french toast and eggs were far superior than the Windjammer equivalent. Have a wonderful time and let us know about your cruise when you get back!

I asked the Technical director on Oasis last September and without an official answer, he listed off the licensing agreement for Cats is coming to an end and that at drydock, the sound board is being changed out. All point to a new show. Also stated, big production shows only change in drydock because the sets are so huge. I believe we were told the backdrop space goes up to deck 9 or higher.

The sunset cruise sounds wonderful. As for beaches my one experience was taking a taxi to the furthest beach north of the ship trying to get away from the tourists. What happened is we ran into the local crowd on one of their holidays. I will post photos that include the name of the beach. It was beautiful but as you got away from the crowds there were some rocks to navigate to get into the ocean. A plus was you can walk to the famous light house. A shorter $15 taxi ride will get you to Eagle beach which has low rise hotels fronting it. It's large and sandy and looked great from the road. Just to the north of it is Palm Beach which has the high rise hotels, restaurants and nightlife on the strip. You may also want to post in the shore excursion area cause there is beach after beach in Aruba that all have a slightly different vibe.

Final Thoughts Having been now waiting in the airport for 8 hours, I feel that I have been reflecting enough for my final thoughts through my firsts. 😀 My firsts My first time to the ABC islands and they shined. Caruaco, Bonaire, and Aruba did not disappoint. All beautiful but different: Caruaco more urban, Bonaire small town feel and Aruba tourist and sandy. First time renting a car. Fun but more to think through. First time being Platinum. Yes, we made sure to get the bathrobes and marvel at each other. As noted, wore them to the hot tubs at night. Yes, newbie loyal to Royal move bit who cares! First time using a taxi and flagging down any ride back to the port. So as you see it took 5 or so cruises for us to break free of RC booked shore excursions First time attending an art auction and buying art. Note that my intial post said we are not art auction folk... You just never know until you attend. It wound up being a highlight! First post cruise excursion. Again, not planned and turned into a highlight. Also a good bargin cause of the transfer to the airport. First time booking two cruises at once. Blessed that we can do that. Talking about being blessed You probably noted that I tend to use "we" in my posts. I am blessed with the most amazing cruise partner for me and that makes these adventures that much more special. I know we have just begun to explore all the places we can go via Royal and I will look forward to every one of them! One more This community had really helped us plan out this trip. I know there is so much to track down for our next cruises such as Cuba, all inclusive resorts in Cozumel, etc. I want to thank all who share their knowledge because it makes a difference! Next blog is Cuba in September unless a really good deal shows up 😉 YOLO