AshleyDillo

It should be available for pre-purchasing stuff but it doesn't show sometimes until closer to the sailing. If you have a TA you can have them check on it for you and they can usually get it applied earlier.

Having just done this search for the Freedom Group Cruise, from Jax the cheapest will most likely be Southwest. And you may want to consider Orlando as the routes from Jax to San Juan all went through FLL. Orlando has direct flights.

On a Harmony sailing we ordered a bunch of stuff at 1am and it probably took close to 2 hours to get it. We ordered through the TV and got a call a few minutes later letting us know they were slammed and that it was going to take at least an hour and a half and asked if we still wanted to go ahead or cancel. Usually you can expect 30-45 minutes.

Ooh..maybe you and @Matt could work on a podcast about working on the ships or about the casino specifically!

Alamo/National/Enterprise all use the same shuttle bus from the port to the airport. I have not taken it from the airport to the port, but it is available. It is a full sized bus with luggage racks.

Yes. They will usually only have one station dedicated to the nightly theme and you will find regular, non-themed items. They usually always have a grill section with various grilled proteins and grilled vegetables as well as a salad bar and prepared salads.

I believe you can book under the US sales terms but you will lose some of the built-in consumer protection that comes with UK bookings.

And to resurrect this..I heard a rumor that Grandeur is going to Pullmantur effective 2021.

I should clarify that the food thing is a Star Class perk..didn't mean to infer that it was included with the beverage package.

She is on the balcony railing. The white "wall" are just the opaque balcony dividers. The quality of the photo and zooming in makes it appear as though she is standing on a lip on the other of her balcony.

Maybe it's an AmEx Travel thing when you book through their travel portal which effectively makes AmEx your TA.

It includes individual alcoholic drinks up to $13 (you pay the difference for any overage). I say individual because it doesn't include flights or tastings or buckets of beer where you are served multiples at once. You also get specialty coffee, bottled water, fresh squeezed oj, smoothies and juices from the spa cafe, milkshakes at Johnny Rockets, soda..basically everything that has a normal charge and isn't complimentary for everyone will be included. You also shouldn't get charged for any food that comes with a charge like the stuff at the pub or in Vintages.

Haha yep. Same with the activities that you booked. The Genie will take care of refunding you for all of that if you don't go ahead and cancel before the Cruise Planner closes. You make sure to tell the Genie that you are interested in the classes and they will definitely offer you the behind the scenes ship tour as well.

Our Genie helped a little bit on Anthem. He wasn't able to get some stuff we had asked for such as some stuff similar to what would be on a Jamie's plank (meats and cheeses and the like) because he said they weren't open at that time, which is understandable but I would think there would be other ways to source something similar. He did get some fruit and I believe chicken fingers but we put in a room service order ourselves to have delivered with a lot of the finger foods on the menu. I also went and ordered in-person a Izumi to-go order since the Genie had made it seem like delivery of that wouldn't be an option since they weren't open until shortly before the Cabin Crawl. This was in 2017, though, so near the start of the Genie program and the Genie we had is no longer with them.

October 11, 2020 on Brillance out of Boston. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/events

Thank you for this update! The RCL Blog Freedom Group Cruisers will be pleased to hear this. This will definitely make things easier for me if things don't change back again. I much prefer to be able to pay via an app than have to deal with cash or charging in a taxi.

Pretty much what @SpeedNoodles said! The group activities are optional, so I wouldn't let that keep you from doing something that you really, really want to in the ports. Fortunately the Canada/New England ports are relatively easy to navigate and excursion ideas are plentiful!

It comes in a carafe. Pours at least 2 cups, maybe 3 depending on how big of a cup. You give them a quantity when you order and usually what number you give will result in how many mugs you get with your coffee delivery. I would hope they would include enough coffee to fill all the mugs. You also need to specifically request cream and/or sugar.

RoyalUp offers can show up with absolutely no correlation to inventory. It's a way for them to gather offers in case of a cancellation. Of course if there's availability you would have a better chance if there was a room available..but there's no guarantee of that.

I would consider going through a TA to help facilitate this. They will be able to answer your questions. If you can't get your group to commit, you can also go for refundable group rates so they wouldn't have to worry about losing a deposit. I believe a group rate is also considered a promo and sometimes won't be able to be used in combination with the other discounts out there.

Whether it is worth it really depends on if you want to pay to have the going rate to have access all the food options on board for no additional charge. Take a look at the menus and see what really piques your interest. You may find there's only one specialty restaurant that draws you in..then just only splurge and eat at that one and enjoy the complimentary stuff. Playmakers is ala carte to begin with and is priced comparatively to what you would pay at a typical sports bar on land. I would say main dining room food quality is along the lines of what you might get at a banquet. It's produced in large quantities so the quality lends itself to that. They do offer steak and seafood selections in the main dining room, so you don't have to eat at Chops for steak or Hooked for seafood. But steak in the MDR is like getting a steak at Applebees whereas Chops can sometimes be more comparable to at least an Outback steak, if not the higher-end steakhouses.

When you get onboard you can make dining reservations for every night at any of the specialty restaurants onboard. Typically you are only allowed to make one reservation each evening, but you can swing by any of the restaurants any time they are open as a walk-in and see if they have availability to seat you. You can not make reservations before boarding the ship with the dining packages. That is the drawback of the reduced pricing on the package. Remember that if you were to book an individual meal at these restaurants it can cost around $40-$50 a person! At the end of the meal you usually are brought a receipt that shows $0 cost for the meal. You can chose to add an additional tip for the server if you want and this gets charged to your onboard account. Gratuity IS included with the Ultimate Dining Package, so don't feel like you HAVE to leave a tip. You can also dine at any specialty restaurant with the package any time you find it open. Each time you eat at the restaurant you will be able to order off of the menu. Typically you can order a single entree per person per visit and as many appetizers, sides, and desserts that you like. If there's space you can even pop into a restaurant just to grab dessert with the package. Some of the restaurants may even give you dessert to go if you ask! Freedom of the Seas currently has Sabor (mexican), Giovannis (Italian), and Chops (steakhouse) as the dining options. You can also eat at Johnny Rockets if you like which is a burgers and fries place. Milkshakes aren't included with the dining package but if you have the drink package they are. If you aren't sailing until later in 2020 then Sabor will be replaced with Izumi which is a sushi/hibachi restaurant. You can order up to $35 off the sushi menu per person with the dining package. If you want hibachi, you need to ask if the dining package includes that as it's up to the ship and isn't really clear if it is included across the board. There will also be a sports bar added called Playmakers that you can use the package at. Again since it's an ala carte restaurant you get up to $35 per person to order..just tell them before you order that you're using the package.

There are regular packing cubes and there are also compression ones. The compression ones can definitely help save space while the regular ones really only do if you are strategic in your packing. I like the cubes for cruises since I'm in one room for the entire trip. A land trip where I am in and out of different rooms my packing strategy is a little different in order to maximize space and not having to completely pack and unpack an entire suitcase for each night.

Hah! You are all over social media that I've seen but I have yet to see Steven chime in ? Definitely following along! It was great to meet you guys on Allure and I can't wait until 2021 when we cruise with your crew again! I know you've got other cruises between now and then..if you blog all of them we can practically watch your kiddos grow up! ?

I have never seen Diet Dr. Pepper in cans on the ship. You are allowed to bring up to 12 cans on board, though. The FreeStyle machines may have it..or they will have Mr. Pibb Zero. I'm not sure what dictates which one they get -- I know that at our grocery stores Dr. Pepper is considered a Coke product but in other parts of the state it's a Pepsi product.