NJCruisers

Tagging @JLMoran 

He brought this up not too long ago and there was some pretty good ideas in that thread.  Perhaps he can link it.

On 6/25/2019 at 4:17 PM, cloud7travel said:

For those interested, here is my YouTube video of our food photos in the Main Dining Room during our recent 9-night cruise.

As someone who plans to eat dinner mainly in the MDR this was fantastic.  It was interesting to see both the menus and then the food.  Thank you for posting!

Hello from another over packer!  I usually drive to my vacation destinations, so this cruise should be interesting.  It's just hubby and I this trip but I'm already worried about my suitcase being overweight on the return trip

I'm not someone who cruises often - that said my last cruise (almost 10 years ago) we left out of San Juan on Adventure of the Seas and we had a great time.  We chose Freedom of the Seas for our 25th anniversary cruise this coming November.  We could have easily flown to Florida for less money but we really enjoy the itinerary leaving out of San Juan.  As for rude guests, those can appear anywhere, on any vacation.  I've found most of them at Disney World.  (That's not a knock at DW.)

Please forgive my ignorance as I don't fly much (it's been almost 10 years).  I've heard that TSA can and does go through your luggage.  How does this work with the cubes?  

Thanks.  The drink package is the same as when I booked it on Black Friday but I jumped on the $10.99 a day Voom for 1 device.  I may end up cancelling it, but $76 a week isn't bad to have piece of mind for family back home.  

Not sure if this helps but my DD was recently in England & Ireland for vacation.  She flew United out of Newark round trip (she uses them for work and has the credit card) She flew Ryan air back & forth between both countries and said it was a breeze.  I only mention it because her round trip airfare out of Newark was less than $500.  Just giving you another option.  

15 minutes ago, twangster said:

People cruise out of Bayonne to avoid flying.  That's why they put up with two sea days South and two sea days North with a stop in Port Canaveral and the Bahamas.  #boring!   

Exactly!  I'm about an hour from there and I prefer to go to South in the cooler months so I'm flying to San Juan instead.  I'd love to be able to take a future cruise from there someday though.  

21 hours ago, JLMoran said:

@NJCruisers, I used that service on my Freedom cruise and the only thing I'll give you a heads-up on is that you actually have to take the suit off any hanger you may have packed it with and literally stuff it into the standard laundry bag, along with the completed laundry service form. I thought that was a bit nutty when I had brought a rather expensive suit and they wanted me to just stuff it in a bag to get even more wrinkled than it already was, but was all good in the end.

I want to say it cost about ten bucks / slightly under. Once they have pressed it and returned it to your room, it will be on a hangar and should be hung up somewhere conspicuous if it's not hung up in the closet. It will be returned in the early afternoon.

Thanks - seems weird but who knows what it will look like from being stuffed in a suitcase from the flight. 

20 hours ago, JLMoran said:

I'm in Passaic County, originally from Bergen County. Howdy, neighbor!

Ah, you're from the Taylor Ham part of the state, lol.  

I started your blog yesterday & I just finished with my morning coffee (It's nice when my boss is away.)  Really enjoyed getting a first time perspective of her & your pictures were amazing. 

5 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

It's there in my signature, @NJCruisers. Click the link for the Freedom of the Seas semi-live blog. San Juan was our next-to-last port stop, so posts covering that will be towards the end.

To save you some time, I can tell you that we visited El Morro, the old Spanish barracks nearby, and the pigeon park; I'm not 100% certain any more that the park is in the same spot as the umbrella street; I just re-checked my photos and I don't see any with those overhead umbrellas, but they show so much shade that it might be it.

In between the barracks and pigeon park, we stopped for lunch at a place called Tropical Taste. Fantastic food and mojitos, but it took forever to get our lunch (the kitchen was barely open when we got there).

Thanks - never realized links were in signatures!  We're staying in Condado the night before the cruise so I'm hoping to get at least 2 good meals in PR!   I don't foresee a sit down meal for lunch though.

Just out of curiosity - which part of NJ are you from?  I'm in Monmouth County.

23 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

Monctonguy, I was there for that window on my Freedom sailing. My strongest advice would be to eat a BIG breakfast, and then either not plan on any lunch there or just grabbing some street food for a quick bite if you want to see more than El Morro and the umbrella street (which I believe is also where you'll find the pigeon park). We had the benefit of being guided by a friend of my daughter who lives there and was able to take us by the back streets to the points of interest I had shown in my live blog, but even with her help we felt really rushed to see what we did and have time for lunch (which we started at like 11:15 or 11:30 and didn't finish until 1:15 or 1:30). If you want a piña colada or mojito while you're out and about, you can probably find a place that will sell you one in a to-go cup, but there's really no time for a sit-down meal.

2 PM is just WAAAYTOOO early to be leaving that port!

Can you please post the link to your live blog?  We'll be on Freedom in Nov. and we booked the San Juan on your own w/airport drop off.  We have 9:30-1:30. I'm trying to put together places we want to stop (Umbrella Street & the fountain are 2 so far).  I've been looking on Google maps & due to our short time there I know a sit down lunch is out of the question.  Was hoping for a later flight, but this was all Jet Blue offered and the price was good.

Just now, Matt said:

Yes they do and yes it can be ready by first formal night.

Awesome! 

With all this laundry talk - does anyone know if they have a pressing service for DH's suit?  Would it be ready by 1st formal night? I REALLY don't want to bring a garment bag on the plane and he nixed the tux rental idea.

10 minutes ago, l9dance said:

Thank you, very helpful. I have not been to labadee or had a cabana so I was not aware. 

I've never been there either, I just have a second job as a bartender  

19 hours ago, l9dance said:

Got it. So what sort of tip would be acceptable? 

Most people either round up their beers or tip $1 per mixed drink. Some give a larger amount at the beginning of the night.  I get it, the concert tickets can be expensive and then the price of the drinks are ridiculous but honestly we are all there mainly for tips.  

43 minutes ago, l9dance said:

I have a question on this section, the attendant does not work for Royal Caribbean and works for tips? After spending the $500+ on the cabana tips are still required is this true?

Think of it like this - if you go to a show at say PNC Arts Center - just because you paid $$$ for the tickets doesn't mean you shouldn't tip your bartender.  The server definitely doesn't see any of the money you've already paid, sadly.

@SpeedNoodles Think this is it?

I  know we are the next to last cabin in the row. 

On 4/26/2019 at 2:37 PM, SpeedNoodles said:

Cabin 9216 is way up near the front of the ship, which is why it slants. Your cabin is aft, where the wall doesn't slant. Here's where 9216 is:

Thank you so much - that makes sense - thanks for the picture.  Now to try and scope out pictures of the aft rooms.  

I just wanted to say I'm so sorry you had to make that drive.  As a fellow NJ gal I've made that dreaded car ride to FL many times and I can't imagine having to do it last minute.  

Thanks for the tip on the layout of the ship.  I still carry a map in the Disney parks and manage to get turned around.  I'll probably bring smaller versions of my cheat sheets to have on hand.

On 4/27/2019 at 9:33 AM, Tmsmith said:

They refunded the money from the rental. But, it impacted our entire dinner clothing plans. We pack just what we need and I couldn't exactly show up in formal attire when he wasn't. 

Oh man, that really stinks I'm sorry that happened.

In the meantime, I mentioned it to DH and he said he'd rather not wear a tux.  I need to look into a pressing service on the ship.

21 hours ago, MotleyCruiser said:

Best bang for your buck is to tour NASA. 15-20 minutes away. You can see it from the port. It is a lot more awesome than it sounds. All the rockets and the Space Shuttle Atlantis is there.

I agree - I went because the family wanted to go but I really enjoyed our day there much more than I thought I would.

31 minutes ago, Zacharius said:

Interesting, I've never heard of a work visa having 10 years validity, seems shocking to me. Business visa, sure, as I currently have a 10-year business visa since I am no longer eligible for (nor want) a work visa, but yeah...definitely interesting.

Yes, it's basically a sticker on a page in her passport.  It's almost all in Chinese but it's good until 2028.  She is supposed to travel there several times a year but she's only been twice so far.  

7 minutes ago, Kriazerie said:

It looks like the bottom photo is for cabin 9216. Also which ship are you looking at?

Yes,I stated that, but it's the same category so I added it to show how the wall slants in that room.  Freedom, I guess I should have mentioned it in the post itself and not just the tag.  I'll edit now.

I'm staying in a Spacious Oceanview w/o balcony on Freedom of the Seas. I was thrilled to find photos of what I thought was my room (7400) but they are confusing because obviously the 3rd is totally different from the others.  The 4th photo is a different room, but the wall is obviously slanted and the window is much smaller.  

Now I'm really trying to figure out what our room/view looks like.  

I was also trying to locate it from outside photos of the ship but that was a huge fail on my part.  

I know it's a long shot but has anyone stayed in this room?