Tmsmith

We are sailing on Freedom leaving the 17th too! My email said to arrive after 12:30 but, like others have commented,  that's just a suggestion.  We are in grand suite and concierge email says boarding begins at 11:30.

Our usual target arrival time is 11:00 and we have never had an issue boarding. 

We are cruising on Freedom in Nov 2019 and this is our first cruise as diamond.  We won a Royal UP bid and now we are in a grand suite.  We want to make the most of our trip so which lounge is better, diamond or concierge?

I concur with Bella. We are cruising out if San Juan in Nov and I found fares higher than usual.  We ended up doing one-way New Orleans to Orlando and then one-way orlando to san juan a lot cheaper than NOLA to San Juan. Granted, we have to get our bags but we broke it up to a late friday after work flight and then leave 1st thing in the morning to PR (staying a free night in Hyatt in the Orlando airport) so getting bags isn't a problem.  The total cost was 1/3 of what it would have been and we get to start vacation a little earlier.  Coming home, we did PR to NOLA but booked it later after watching prices.

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. 

Clorox travel wipes and travel size tide detergent. We clorox wipe every touch surface as soon as we get in the room (bath and balcony included). Use detergent as spot cleaner or swimsuits so we only bring 2 suits each and they are always clean.

Word of caution. We rented tux package on a B2B cruises and neither fit. Pants were 5 in too short and jacket too small.  Sent measurements from tuxedo shop so sent professional measurements.  Ruined 4 formal nights. We would not chance it for a 25th anniversary.