WannaCruise

I’d argue it’s the best in the fleet. Period.

On the way!  

We were also on Adventure and was wondering the same if Freedom is set up the same as Adventure as in the photo shown above by @F1guynz ?  Is this a picture of Freedom?  This is what it looked like on Adventure and I didn't understand how the grandfather could put the baby on the rail and not know the window was there...and how the child was leaning over enough?  But thought maybe that is not the set up on Freedom and it was simply the window opening. 

That's too bad.  But looks like you got a bunch of great photos taken and the photo book done up really nicely.

Well good Moring from perfect day at coco cay. Today we are the only ship here!

Next door at NCL private island Great Stirrup Cay.

From 9:00 to 11:00 I hit the wave. Lines were super short and staff were great!
After that it was time for lunch at the snack shack. Today I got the shack burger.
The Shack Crispy Chicken sandwich.
Watermelon, Fries.

And The Brownie.

Before going to our zip line tour I got a nice seat at the harbor beach.

The Zip Line 
Ok here is a little back story to why I booked the zip line at coco cay. So about a month ago I was looking at the cruise planner and I was at the home page of the cruise planner and they had the zip line on "Sale" for $69.95 which after asking some folks. I found out that was a great price for it. When I did navigator in October the zip line was at $79.95 for it then. so I am glad I got it for the price of $69.95. So here are some photos token from the gopro. We will start at the first line. This line goes right over the wave pool and the main restrooms located at the Thrill Water Park.
 

The second line took you over the Adventure pool at the Thrill Water Park.

And the third and last one took you right over Splash Away Bay and the Harbor Lagoon. 

Over all this was a great zipline tour if you are just starting out on ziplines and you want to see the island. But I do prefer the one at Labbdee over the one at Coco Cay.

Sail away party on the Helipad.
I've always called it a Winch Pad because that's what the big letters on it say but when the Captain invites you to the Helipad, I'm going with his wording.  His ship, his rules.


Like Oasis class, the Quantum class Helipad is not open to the public.  Oasis class has often held special sail away events for Suites and Pinnacles but they are much less common on Quantum class ships.













The Hotel Director mentioned this was only the second time he has put on this event using the Helipad so it was truly special enjoying the sail away and a fabulous sunset from here.

Loyalty pays.  #Loyal2Royal

Day 8 Late
Getting up from dinner I questioned if I had truly only had one glass of wine at dinner.  Either I was rocking or the ship was.  Turns out it was the ship.
All that weather that was causing trouble in the Bahamas and putting CocoCay calls in jeopardy was also impacting us.  A strong area of high pressure and a strong area of low pressure caused a wind tunnel effect between them and that's right where we were as well as a number of other ships give or take several hundred miles.  
This sort of thing doesn't bother me, it wasn't that bad but it certainly made everyone look like they were walking funny.
We went up to the Schooner Bar to listen to some piano tunes and even the entertainer was commenting on it.  
Fortunately this motion makes me sleep like a baby and that's exactly what I did.    

Following with great interest. You always write amazing reviews and we'll be on Anthem in less than 60 days. Can't wait.

Did a quick check
First night Welcome show was at 7pm-7:40pm.  There was also a late night comedy at 10:15pm and karaoke and game show same time Night 2 had production show at at 8:15pm and 10pm Night 3 was Ice show at 9pm and Love & Marriage show later at night 10:15pm Nights 4 & 5 had Headliner on night also at 7pm and 9pm.  Quest at 10:15pm Night 6 had Farewell show at 7:15pm, Battle of the Sexes at 9pm, late night comedy at 10:15.  

After lunch it was time to hit the wave. 

Here is the desk were you sign the wavier.

My Flowrider Friend On The Wave.
Ok now it is time of a mini cabin tour of cabin 7341. The Bed.

The sink.

I think I would have more respect and feelings for him (and the family) if they would have admitted his guilt and negligence.  
The whole "not me, it must be someone else's fault" approach in the face of clear and damning evidence has influenced my view of his situation and not in a good way for him (or the family).

I leave on 2/1 & can't wait. Thanks for the pictures & info

Thanks for the post, I never know what drinks to order.  Great information.  Could you post a copy of the cruise compass if you have one.  Thanks again.

Final Thoughts
Two things I haven't commented on yet are crowds and crew.  
We've been on the largest ships including Symphony and Allure and my smallest was Grandeur (but that was awhile ago, so don't have fresh memories of it), and recently, the mid size ships of Voyager class including Adventure.  During our Adventure cruise, DH kept commenting "the ship must not be full" as nothing ever felt crowded.  At one of his comments, the crew member overheard and said "it's a fully booked ship".  Adventure isn't huge, and there isn't a ton going on at once compared with Symphony, but we had no crowd issues which was great.  The first night, even though there was only one showing of the welcome show, the theater was half empty.  I think that's because it was an awkward time of 7:15pm so people were probably still at dinner or unpacking.  But even going forward, we never had an issue getting a good seat.  
On our Grand Cayman day, you could just go to the tender if you were within the first hour, or after that you had to get a ticket that would assign you a time to get off.  We managed to make the first hour so can't comment on how the ticket system worked.
Now having said all that, I never found it that crowded on Symphony as there was just so much to do, that it spread the people around at different events and venues.  But DH isn't a crowd person so he noticed the difference.
As for the crew, they were great. Our room steward was very friendly, always saying hello when she saw us in the hallways.  I'm impressed that she make the effort to remember our names as I imagine the she has many cabins that they look after.  
We really liked our waiters at dinner.  They were a bit quiet and no magic tricks for us without our kids (ha ha), but they always had a smile and were attentive.  One night DH asked for "a" roll without seeds, and from then on, every night, our main waiter left him an additional basket of about 6 super fresh plain rolls.  And he's always smiled and said hello when we saw him in the MDR at breakfast. It's those simple things that mean a lot.
We found our CD Drew Devine pretty good.  He was funny and introduced the shows well.  DH managed to chat with him briefly after one of the shows and the top tier and he was pretty personable.  And he is from Toronto so he automatically gets a point from us!  But one thing I find different these days, is that aside from the evening shows or the Top Tier event, you don't see the CD around.  I'm pretty sure you used to see them around the ship during the day too (or maybe I'm thinking of Love Boat episodes...lol)
Rating
I will start by saying that every cruise I have been on, has been amazing.  I really love them all and really have no bad comments.  Also, when we select a ship, the criteria is different if it's just DH and I going vs our kids.  For example, Dh and I both want to try Brilliance some day, but we'd never take our kids on that one.  We stick to the newer ships or the amped ones with lots of amenities when it's the four of us.
DH comments that "Voyager class is his sweet spot".  It's not too big, not to small (and thus, he loved the lack of crowds).  His favorite ship is Mariner, but I think Adventure is way up there too.
I really enjoyed Adventure too.  If you are in the dining room, and want to go to say the theater or Imperial Lounge or Starbucks (did I mention that you can get cappacino with Baileys?  ...lol), it took no time at all.  One of my favorite activities is to walk around deck 4...up to 5 to the front....and then back down to 4 to complete the lap.  I love that feeling just watching the water, or even looking at all sides of the port we are in.  A lap on Adventure only take a few minutes.
But for me...my very favorites are still the mega ships with Symphony being my favorite.  You can't beat the amenities, the shows are amazing, and the decor of the newer ships is spectacular with the most beautiful and creative and fun art work all around.  
So my current rating so far is:
Symphony Allure Independence Navigator Mariner Adventure Voyager Grandeur Can't wait to try Anthem in March.  Will see where it rates.
We also have Harmony and Oasis booked so looking forward to trying to too!  And another Freedom class as well.  I really love the variety of ships that Royal offers.

Or its a way for them to deflect their guilt.
Horrible devastating situation.  And no money in the world will bring that little girl back.

No, it wasn't as windy, but the water was definitely choppy. A little chilly, but nowhere near Lake Ontario-in-summer frigid, if you know what I mean.
To be honest, I had stronger feelings, but I was trying to keep it PG. 
 
Cruise Compass says it was Cuddy. But in my mind I saw him as Not James Corden.

Great review.  We also went to Paradise Beach this past December.  It's a great option with the choice of the $3 entry fee + $10 food.  And the pool is great plus the beach. We also had a very windy day.  Luckily I was dressed in my Toronto clothes (we're also from there) in my sweatshirt material cardigan and then covered my legs with the towel..but was determined to have some beach time.  Looks like at least the air wasn't as chilly for you?
It shows you how tastes are different.  Once Upon a Time is one of my favorite "Royal old style production shows" (i.e. non-Oasis class shows written by Royal).  I liked how they mixed the fairy tales with the known music.  
Lol... I like your Quest reaction.
Btw...who is your cruise director?

I have managed to get price drops with FCC involved but you need to keep detailed notes.  I keep every invoice, before FCC, after FCC, after price drops, after cabin changes, etc.  Using them I can build a complete timeline of the transaction.
The trick with looking for price drops going forward is to know what your cruise cost was before FCC reduced it.  That is the magic number to use when comparing current pricing.  If the cruise cost $1,000 and you applied a $200 FCC the $1,000 remains the benchmark to use for price drop comparison.  
If you do try to claim a price drop you have to be very persistent on mentioning the FCC.  "Before my FCC was applied this was my cruise fare and now it's cheaper".  If they push back tell them to remove the FCC and make it available for another cruise, then adjust the price.  This usually causes them to apply the price adjustment since they know you will get it one way or another and removing the FCC, adjusting the price, re-applying the FCC is more work for them.  
Yes, you can move FCC after you have applied it.  As long as another sailing qualifies for the dates involved you can have them un-apply an FCC and apply it to a different sailing or just return the FCC to it's unused status and keep it like that for a week or more.    

The other reason to keep detailed notes about FCC is because you never know what's going to happen.  
When the crane fell on Oasis my cruise was cancelled.  I had used an FCC for that cruise.  With detailed notes I was able to get the original FCC reinstated plus get the full refund offer and new FCC for the full amount, not the FCC reduced amount.  Without detailed notes you end up having to accept whatever their wonky calculator comes up with.

Yes, I just found this out about a month ago.  I had a FCC that took longer to process than usual.  Because I didn't apply it until a few days before final payment, I would have missed final payment if I waited for the FCC to be applied.  In the end, I had to pay final payment and then wait for a refund back onto my CC after the FCC was applied.  All worked out but it made me nervous.

Here's a truly bizarre FCC rule that few know about.  You can actually apply an FCC to a paid-in-full cruise.  I thought maybe I was misunderstanding when my Michelle first told me this but she actually applied our (much maligned) Oasis FCC to a future cruise that had already been paid in full.  The full value of the FCC ended up being a credit on our credit card.  I was very surprised that they actually allowed this, but they did.  So while they say that the FCC has no cash value, it actually CAN be, in a way...it can go to your CC as a credit.  ALMOST the same as getting cash back.

Ditto the comment above...what a lovely family photo!  
Really enjoying your review.  We have two kids and I know how precious these years are with these kind of family trips.  
DH and I were Independence last December (in the Ben & Jerry cow-but room) and really enjoyed the ship.  

Your cruise is almost here. Enjoy!
Looks like you're having lots of fun pre-cruise.

Costa Maya routinely takes three ships or four smaller ships.  Lately there has been construction material at the end of the pier so probably limited to three ships at the moment.
However not all ships can use all berths so it's possible their designated position wasn't available.  
I've been delayed arriving into Costa Maya before while we waited for an older ship without azipods to attempt to dock.  It was an MSC ship and it took them forever to reach the pier fighting the winds.  Once they were secure we popped in with ease, the magic of azipods working in our favor.  
Allure's propulsion issue impacts top speed which she can still make just with a lot of vibrations.  She wouldn't need full power to dock, that's more of a finesse operation but if she did need full power briefly she could do it.
In the case of Anthem in Antigua the high winds were causing us to be at an angle in the narrow channel leading to the port.  The "crab" angle was such that we used the entire width of the channel eliminating any safety margin.  Two other ships, one NCL and one Princess didn't even try in Antigua, they just sailed past.  Anthem tried to make it but had to call it off as we approached the narrowest part of the channel.  Captain Srecko and the CD recorded a video that explained in detail the attempt and challenge that caused us to skip.  It's the first time Anthem has had to skip Antigua.