MarvinS

And now I have to jump in, too!  We're celebrating our 25th anniversary on Freedom in June 2020.  We're doing a B2B (eastern/southern loop followed by an ABC island loop) and very excited and looking forward to it!!!  (Especially with the newly AMPed ship!)

And now I have to jump in, too!  We're celebrating our 25th anniversary on Freedom in June 2020.  We're doing a B2B (eastern/southern loop followed by an ABC island loop) and very excited and looking forward to it!!!  (Especially with the newly AMPed ship!)

I just couldn't resist!  You think Texas is big, try Alaska!  We joke that we can split the state of Alaska in half, and Texas is now the THIRD largest state...  ?
 

I just couldn't resist!  You think Texas is big, try Alaska!  We joke that we can split the state of Alaska in half, and Texas is now the THIRD largest state...  ?
 

I just couldn't resist!  You think Texas is big, try Alaska!  We joke that we can split the state of Alaska in half, and Texas is now the THIRD largest state...  ?
 

I recently did exact excursion this last May while we are on Harmony, and have also done it on Oasis in 2017.  I'm positive it will be the same situation on Freedom.  You need to purchase this only once under one name (I just did it for myself).
You do exclusively rent out the Flowrider for your group.  Your group can be as small as one person, or as many as you dictate.  I did this for our larger group (same event; two different cruises) of about 9 active participants and another 4-5 family observers/watchers that didn't want to participate.  You get one hour of private time with two instructors to guide and help you with whatever you desire (boogie board and/or stand-up surfing).  We just rotated through everyone in our group and we each got a few turns on the Flowrider.  Prior to your designated time, you need to make sure that your waivers are signed off (can be done on the stateroom TV). Each participant will need to get a band on their wrist just before the activity from the instructors verifying that your waiver has been taken care of.  You will also need to remove all jewelry and watches.  I also recommend having a swim shirt on, and the girls should wear a one-piece bathing suit (to avoid having "accidents" and revealing a little too much when part of your bikini disappears!).  The jet stream of water coming your way on the Flowrider is pretty strong!
If you have any other questions for me on this, ask away!

When we did the Escape Room on Harmony this last May, we did complete it, but it took us 55 minutes.  The RC staff member told us only about 40% complete it within the 1 hour allotted.  There are certainly some puzzles that require multiple people to work together simultaneously to accomplish the task (one required 6 people!).  There is no way you could do Harmony's Escape Room by yourself without additional bodies in the room, so you absolutely have to communicate and work together as a group.
Booking this activity was very tedious.  It didn't appear in the cruise planner until about 30 days out (everything else became available in the planner at 107 days out), and filled up VERY quickly.  It became sold out with a week of appearance in the planner.  When it was initially released, it was available most every day of the cruise, and several times a day (5 or 6 if I recall correctly), so there was many slots daily that could be filled, and they all did fill rather quickly within just a few days of release for booking.
Overall, it was a lot of fun, and everyone in our group really enjoyed it!  I highly recommend doing it if you have the opportunity!

When we did the Escape Room on Harmony this last May, we did complete it, but it took us 55 minutes.  The RC staff member told us only about 40% complete it within the 1 hour allotted.  There are certainly some puzzles that require multiple people to work together simultaneously to accomplish the task (one required 6 people!).  There is no way you could do Harmony's Escape Room by yourself without additional bodies in the room, so you absolutely have to communicate and work together as a group.
Booking this activity was very tedious.  It didn't appear in the cruise planner until about 30 days out (everything else became available in the planner at 107 days out), and filled up VERY quickly.  It became sold out with a week of appearance in the planner.  When it was initially released, it was available most every day of the cruise, and several times a day (5 or 6 if I recall correctly), so there was many slots daily that could be filled, and they all did fill rather quickly within just a few days of release for booking.
Overall, it was a lot of fun, and everyone in our group really enjoyed it!  I highly recommend doing it if you have the opportunity!

As long as one of the kids in that separate cabin is one of your minor kids, they can be included in your single room photo package.  Just go the "photo gallery" desk once on the ship, and give them the room number of your minor child, and they will happily like their room to yours for the photo package.  I've done this three times without issue on my prior cruises, as I always put my kids in a separate nearby/adjacent room.  Do this as soon as you can once onboard, so pictures begin to be linked to your package from the beginning.  Also instruct your kids to give the photographer YOUR room number, not the kids' room to help make sure pictures are linked to you properly.
One other bit of advice is to check your photos for your portfolio once a day or so (and definitely the last night) to make sure 1)  that you aren't missing photos you were expecting (our embarkation photos were missing from ours until they I told them and they were able to add them in), and 2)  that the pictures in your portfolio are all of your group.  We frequently would get another family's pictures mixed into ours.  It was a very simple task to delete specific photos from your portfolio.
We always purchased the photo package (all-digital) BEFORE the cruise using the cruise planner.  I always checked package pricing they advertised on board, and have never seen it cheaper that pre-cruise pricing.  After the cruise (it was only 2-3 days), I got a link via email to login and download all of my photos in one big ZIP file. I downloaded over 150 pictures from our last cruise, all in one big file (it was 200MB+ if I recall)!

I agree with @SpeedNoodles in that seeing the northern lights in Alaska during the summer is very rare.
Having lived in Homer, Alaska for over 35 years, I've never seen them during the summer where I live (about the same latitude as Skagway; and ever so slightly lower latitude than Seward).
Here's an untouched picture I took a few years ago out my living room window taken about 12:30am (just after midnight) on June 21st.

 
I've sat out on the porch many times after midnight and easily read a book or the newspaper without lights.  You turn on your headlights to drive simply for safety sake, as you really don't need them to see.
For those that might be considering a land-cruise tour and visit Fairbanks during the summer, expect about 23 hours of daylight (the sun only dips below the horizon for a little while, and then pops back up!).  During the summer solstice (June 21st), there has been an amateur league baseball game that starts just before midnight, and usually ends between 1AM & 2AM.  There are never any lights used at any time (certainly don't need them), and depending on where you sit in the bleachers, you need to remember to bring your sunglasses, as you'll need them!    See https://www.midnightsungame.com/
 

As long as one of the kids in that separate cabin is one of your minor kids, they can be included in your single room photo package.  Just go the "photo gallery" desk once on the ship, and give them the room number of your minor child, and they will happily like their room to yours for the photo package.  I've done this three times without issue on my prior cruises, as I always put my kids in a separate nearby/adjacent room.  Do this as soon as you can once onboard, so pictures begin to be linked to your package from the beginning.  Also instruct your kids to give the photographer YOUR room number, not the kids' room to help make sure pictures are linked to you properly.
One other bit of advice is to check your photos for your portfolio once a day or so (and definitely the last night) to make sure 1)  that you aren't missing photos you were expecting (our embarkation photos were missing from ours until they I told them and they were able to add them in), and 2)  that the pictures in your portfolio are all of your group.  We frequently would get another family's pictures mixed into ours.  It was a very simple task to delete specific photos from your portfolio.
We always purchased the photo package (all-digital) BEFORE the cruise using the cruise planner.  I always checked package pricing they advertised on board, and have never seen it cheaper that pre-cruise pricing.  After the cruise (it was only 2-3 days), I got a link via email to login and download all of my photos in one big ZIP file. I downloaded over 150 pictures from our last cruise, all in one big file (it was 200MB+ if I recall)!

We used the WOW bands extensively in May of this year for our Harmony - western loop cruise.  We really liked the WOW bands, as they were very convenient.  They easily open your room door, and can be used anywhere on the ship you would need a seapass card for.  This includes checking out (and returning) towels on the pool deck, entrance into shows, and purchases from the stores on board.  We never had to remove them from the wrist for any of these.  We don't drink alcohol, so have no experience with how well they worked/didn't work with the bars.  They were completely waterproof, and could be left on the wrist while in the pools, hot tubs, etc. with no issues.  They were VERY convenient.
To get them, go to the Boleros lounge at the end of the promenade as soon as you board.  They had a desk there, and we waited in line all of 2-3 minutes.  They were $4.99 each.  They do NOT have any muster location on them, so were used universally by anyone.  On our sailing, we only had a choice of black or yellow.
These can only be used while on the ship.  You still have to use your seapass card to get on and off the ship.

We used the WOW bands extensively in May of this year for our Harmony - western loop cruise.  We really liked the WOW bands, as they were very convenient.  They easily open your room door, and can be used anywhere on the ship you would need a seapass card for.  This includes checking out (and returning) towels on the pool deck, entrance into shows, and purchases from the stores on board.  We never had to remove them from the wrist for any of these.  We don't drink alcohol, so have no experience with how well they worked/didn't work with the bars.  They were completely waterproof, and could be left on the wrist while in the pools, hot tubs, etc. with no issues.  They were VERY convenient.
To get them, go to the Boleros lounge at the end of the promenade as soon as you board.  They had a desk there, and we waited in line all of 2-3 minutes.  They were $4.99 each.  They do NOT have any muster location on them, so were used universally by anyone.  On our sailing, we only had a choice of black or yellow.
These can only be used while on the ship.  You still have to use your seapass card to get on and off the ship.

I did the Escape Room on Harmony in May with my group.  There were 9 of us, and one of the kids in my group was 11.  I was successful in purchasing the Escape Room in the cruiser planner with no problems.  When we actually arrived and signed in for the activity, the kids' ages were NOT verified or even questioned (granted, the kids all looked like teenagers, anyway).
My best guess (as others have alluded to) is that you definitely don't want younger kids that don't contribute to solving the problems.  It certainly took everyone looking for clues to solve the various puzzles.  They are just trying to keep the age up so you don't have toddlers in way, and not able to contribute and help.
Regarding the minimum of 6 people, for this Harmony Escape room, there is one "operation" that needs to be completed simultaneously by 6 different people in 6 different locations in order to open up the next puzzle (trying to not give away too much here!).
In reality, there were several slots open every day for the Escape Room to book (once it opened up about 30 days ahead of sailing), and they ALL filled up before we even boarded.  I asked someone at guest services about this, and they said it was already booked up, and even the following sailing (the next week) was also already fully booked...

While at CocoCay at the end of May (while on Harmony), our entire family (adults & kids) all had swim shirts on, and had no issues whatsoever with ANY of the slides in the water park!  I have no idea why they were banning swim shirts.
I haven't heard of any official policy or seen any signs to this effect...  I'm very much glad I DID have a protective swim shirt on, and certainly wouldn't have wanted to be in the water park without it!

I've been in room 12329 on both Harmony AND Oasis, as it's the very end room (farthest back towards the Aquatheatre) on the 12th floor.  We absolutely loved the room!  You had basically unobstructed views of the shows in Aquatheatre), along with great ocean views out the back of the ship.  On deck 12, you are under the flowrider area, so you actually can see out the back towards the ocean.  On deck 14, you can NOT see straight out the back.  Additionally, depending on which ship you are on, there are the Ultimate Abyss slides that can obstruct some of your view.  This far up (deck 12), the obstruction is very little, whereas on lower decks at the back (decks 8-9), the slides swing around closer to the rooms and block much more of your view.  Harmony and Symphony have the Abyss slide; Oasis and Allure do not (but will be getting them as they get Amped over the next year or so).
We also don't drink alcohol, so the some of the perks of a Central Park rooms are of no benefit, but I do enjoy my sodas so the Boardwalk perk was more appealing, there.

I've been in room 12329 on both Harmony AND Oasis, as it's the very end room (farthest back towards the Aquatheatre) on the 12th floor.  We absolutely loved the room!  You had basically unobstructed views of the shows in Aquatheatre), along with great ocean views out the back of the ship.  On deck 12, you are under the flowrider area, so you actually can see out the back towards the ocean.  On deck 14, you can NOT see straight out the back.  Additionally, depending on which ship you are on, there are the Ultimate Abyss slides that can obstruct some of your view.  This far up (deck 12), the obstruction is very little, whereas on lower decks at the back (decks 8-9), the slides swing around closer to the rooms and block much more of your view.  Harmony and Symphony have the Abyss slide; Oasis and Allure do not (but will be getting them as they get Amped over the next year or so).
We also don't drink alcohol, so the some of the perks of a Central Park rooms are of no benefit, but I do enjoy my sodas so the Boardwalk perk was more appealing, there.

I'm IT Manager for an electric utility, and have been with this company for over 17 years.  I am blessed to get 240 hours (30 days or 6 weeks) of annual leave (includes both vacation and/or sick days) per year.  I can carry forward up to 720 hours (90 days) to the next year.  I also get 12 paid holidays (11 federal + "Alaska Day").  I can generally schedule my time off and take it whenever I need (2-3 weeks isn't a big problem), as long as I coordinate with others in my department, so that we are not all gone at the same time!
This last May/June, I took about 3.5 weeks of vacation/annual leave, and tagged on a week-long conference for work, so was out of the office just over one month.
...and yes, being in IT, I travel with my laptop and occasionally have to VPN back into the office to approve timesheets or deal with various questions or requests as they arise.  While on a cruise, I do completely "unplug", put the cellphone in the safe, leave the computer turned off, and enjoy the cruise.  My co-workers know I will NOT be available while I'm on the ship!!!  I have great staff working for me that can handle any issues while I'm away!
Next summer (June 2020), I will be taking 2.5 weeks of vacation as we will be doing a B2B cruise on Freedom out of San Juan, Puerto Rico to celebrate our 25th anniversary.  I will then combine that travel and attend another week-long conference for work, so will be be out of the office for just over 3.5 weeks.  When traveling from Alaska, I really to combine personal vacations with trips for work (attending conferences), as the company gets to pay for the majority of my airline travel as airfare to/from Alaska can get very expensive!  I, then, just have to pay for the rest of the family to join me.

We visited CocoCay in May while on Harmony.  In my opinion, there were only really long lines for two specific water slides:  The "tallest waterslide" ride, and the "slingshot" tube ride.  The lines for all the other water rides were very acceptable (0-15 minutes).  The "dueling demons" slide also had a slightly longer wait, but not bad at all.  I would suggest doing those two rides very first thing, and enjoy the remainder of the water park.

Just got off Harmony on a brand new itinerary:  Port Canaveral, CocoCay (2nd time this ship visits here), Cozumel, Roatan (first time for Harmony), & Costa Maya
Here are a few stray observations I had:
1)  I did NOT purchase Voom, but discovered that if I simply connected to the Harmony-Guest wifi (for the app updates and schedules), I was easily able to send/receive iMessages to anyone, including those back at home!
2)  The Stowaway Piano Man was on this sailing.  I had the privilege of riding the elevator with him!
3)  First time Harmony visited Roatan.  The captain changed our arrival / departure times.  Roatan local time was 2 hours earlier that ship time (that remained on Eastern time).  Original ship scheduled time was 8AM - 5PM (ship time).  New schedule was 9:30AM - 6:30PM (ship time).  Evidently, the local vendors didn't want to be there at 6AM (their local time / 8AM ship time) to open up shops, so the captain delayed the arrival / departure time.
4)  Got WOW bands for everyone in our group.  They worked extremely well, and could be used anywhere on the ship in lieu of a seapass card.  They also worked for entry into Thrill Waterpark on CocoCay.  Every station on the ship had portable readers that read either your WOW band or your seapass card.  This worked for everything from towel checkout to shops to entry into reserved shows & events.  You still needed your seapass card for getting off the ship, and for entry in the ports back onto the ship.
5)  The Soda cups for the freestyle machines were the same old-style ones I've seen before.   I did see a few of the new ones (with straw and looped carry handle), but didn't know where they came from.  I had a boardwalk balcony cabin, so got complementary soda cups.  Even those that were for sale on board (with various drink packages) were only the original style ones...
6)  There seemed to be professional photographers on the ship most every night, and not just formal dining nights.  I didn't recall seeing this many days with photographers and various backgrounds on prior cruises.
7)  Did the escape room (and made it out with 5 1/2 minutes to spare!).  This event was extremely popular.  Spoke with someone in guest services, and they said the escape room was completely booked within two days (all days and all sessions) of it becoming available to book on the cruise planner.  Glad I booked it as soon as I saw it available!
8 ) CocoCay - Two things: 
     A)  Plan on doing the "highest" waterslide and the slingshot ride as soon as you can.  With the volume of people on Harmony, the lines were extremely long (2+ hour wait for these two rides) past about 10AM.  The lines finally shortened closer to about 3:30PM to 4PM.  
     B)  The lockers in Thrill Waterpark were complementary to use.  Cost was included in the Thrill Waterpark ticket purchase.  You just found a open / available locker, put our stuff in, and locked it.  We could then open it and access our stuff, and simply re-lock it as needed.  I have no idea if lockers outside of Thrill Waterpark were complementary or not...
9)  Cruise Director, Marc, was excellent!!!
Overall, we had an awesome cruise!!!
 

Just got off Harmony on a brand new itinerary:  Port Canaveral, CocoCay (2nd time this ship visits here), Cozumel, Roatan (first time for Harmony), & Costa Maya
Here are a few stray observations I had:
1)  I did NOT purchase Voom, but discovered that if I simply connected to the Harmony-Guest wifi (for the app updates and schedules), I was easily able to send/receive iMessages to anyone, including those back at home!
2)  The Stowaway Piano Man was on this sailing.  I had the privilege of riding the elevator with him!
3)  First time Harmony visited Roatan.  The captain changed our arrival / departure times.  Roatan local time was 2 hours earlier that ship time (that remained on Eastern time).  Original ship scheduled time was 8AM - 5PM (ship time).  New schedule was 9:30AM - 6:30PM (ship time).  Evidently, the local vendors didn't want to be there at 6AM (their local time / 8AM ship time) to open up shops, so the captain delayed the arrival / departure time.
4)  Got WOW bands for everyone in our group.  They worked extremely well, and could be used anywhere on the ship in lieu of a seapass card.  They also worked for entry into Thrill Waterpark on CocoCay.  Every station on the ship had portable readers that read either your WOW band or your seapass card.  This worked for everything from towel checkout to shops to entry into reserved shows & events.  You still needed your seapass card for getting off the ship, and for entry in the ports back onto the ship.
5)  The Soda cups for the freestyle machines were the same old-style ones I've seen before.   I did see a few of the new ones (with straw and looped carry handle), but didn't know where they came from.  I had a boardwalk balcony cabin, so got complementary soda cups.  Even those that were for sale on board (with various drink packages) were only the original style ones...
6)  There seemed to be professional photographers on the ship most every night, and not just formal dining nights.  I didn't recall seeing this many days with photographers and various backgrounds on prior cruises.
7)  Did the escape room (and made it out with 5 1/2 minutes to spare!).  This event was extremely popular.  Spoke with someone in guest services, and they said the escape room was completely booked within two days (all days and all sessions) of it becoming available to book on the cruise planner.  Glad I booked it as soon as I saw it available!
8 ) CocoCay - Two things: 
     A)  Plan on doing the "highest" waterslide and the slingshot ride as soon as you can.  With the volume of people on Harmony, the lines were extremely long (2+ hour wait for these two rides) past about 10AM.  The lines finally shortened closer to about 3:30PM to 4PM.  
     B)  The lockers in Thrill Waterpark were complementary to use.  Cost was included in the Thrill Waterpark ticket purchase.  You just found a open / available locker, put our stuff in, and locked it.  We could then open it and access our stuff, and simply re-lock it as needed.  I have no idea if lockers outside of Thrill Waterpark were complementary or not...
9)  Cruise Director, Marc, was excellent!!!
Overall, we had an awesome cruise!!!
 

Just got off Harmony with its very stop in Roatan.  We did the Tabyana Beach Excursion and thoroughly loved it.  We brought our own snorkel equipment with us.  I would say this was the very best snorkeling off of a beach I've EVER been on in the Caribbean so far (haven't been to the ABC islands yet; that's next summer's cruises!).  Literally just a few yards wading off shore, there were fish swimming around you that could be seen even without a snorkel.  Swimming off shore just a little ways (50+ yards) there were many reefs with many dozens of different fish all around.  The farther you go out, the bigger the reefs, and the better the views of fish.  If you wanted one special snorkeling experience, I would wholehearted suggest you give this excursion a try.  It got in on a cruise planner sale for $49.99/person which included a BBQ lunch (available noon-1:30pm), and lemonade & sweet tea to drink (all day availability).   You will take about a 30 minute ride on a bus to get there.  I didn't see any nearby beaches close to the port that had any sandy areas to really call a beach.  The best beach areas on Roatan definitely require transportation of some sort away from the port.

Just got off Harmony with its very stop in Roatan.  We did the Tabyana Beach Excursion and thoroughly loved it.  We brought our own snorkel equipment with us.  I would say this was the very best snorkeling off of a beach I've EVER been on in the Caribbean so far (haven't been to the ABC islands yet; that's next summer's cruises!).  Literally just a few yards wading off shore, there were fish swimming around you that could be seen even without a snorkel.  Swimming off shore just a little ways (50+ yards) there were many reefs with many dozens of different fish all around.  The farther you go out, the bigger the reefs, and the better the views of fish.  If you wanted one special snorkeling experience, I would wholehearted suggest you give this excursion a try.  It got in on a cruise planner sale for $49.99/person which included a BBQ lunch (available noon-1:30pm), and lemonade & sweet tea to drink (all day availability).   You will take about a 30 minute ride on a bus to get there.  I didn't see any nearby beaches close to the port that had any sandy areas to really call a beach.  The best beach areas on Roatan definitely require transportation of some sort away from the port.

While on Hamony last month, we did play mini-putt golf late at night.  I don't ever recall seeing any hours posted.  We just went on and played whenever we wanted.  The only significant thing that would keep you from playing mini-putt is that the course is NOT lighted.  When playing later in the evening, the only light is spilled over from the sports court or other areas on the back end of the ship.  It made the course rather dark at times, and that alone would drive most people away from playing late at night.

While on Hamony last month, we did play mini-putt golf late at night.  I don't ever recall seeing any hours posted.  We just went on and played whenever we wanted.  The only significant thing that would keep you from playing mini-putt is that the course is NOT lighted.  When playing later in the evening, the only light is spilled over from the sports court or other areas on the back end of the ship.  It made the course rather dark at times, and that alone would drive most people away from playing late at night.