dr martini

@Montemy2419 sadly there is no rhyme or reason to the cruise planner, as you've seen and been told by now.  it was fine to try once but I don't need to go back at any price point, honestly the snack shack food is awesome as is the pool etc.  the island is huge, if you haven't been before I wouldn't worry about the pool noise at all or use that as a reason to do the beach club - you can't hear the pool party from the vast majority of the island and can find hundreds of beach chairs in quiet spots with great views.  in fact, that's the main reason we won't be back to the cocoa beach club, I really enjoy the ability to walk around and try other spots, there are a lot of other places to eat and drink, take a walk and check things out etc. 

the already included snack shack food was as good as anything in the beach club and the small spiny warm water lobster they serve there gets wayyyyy to much play.  it's not a big deal.  it's nice, it's fine, don't get me wrong, try it out if you want.  but as with the cabanas and many other spots......no way is it worth what they charge most of the year for it.  

totally get where you're coming from, the fleet guide is out there publicly anyone can google and find it.  usually people know which time of year they're going and which country/which port (or handful of ports) they're going out of, things like that all filter the list down pretty dramatically and then go from there.  they did just redesign most of the search for a new cruise and you can filter based on those criteria all very easily.

https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/General_Info/2021-2022_Fleet_Guide.pdf

you'll also probably hear some say "a good travel agent will know this or help you find it" and that's true, but the other part of this equation to your earlier point, is "why is all the flashy stuff from the commercials and marketing materials not on every ship?" and that's just marketing 101.  General Motors has truck plants that all start with the same body frames and engines, some trucks and SUV's come out the end of the factory with really high end leather and premium features - some come out more budget friendly mid level and some as bare bones stripped down commercial work vehicles to say nothing of the used truck market and the prices all vary accordingly.  We don't see delivery vans and thirty year old trucks take up much space on their website or magazine advertisements, but they're still running, still out on the road, and they're still a Chevy. 

In the business of selling a vacation, doesn't matter if it's Florida or California, New York or Chicago, they'll all brag up their main attractions and conveniently leave out their less desirable neighborhoods/weather months etc.  It's on the tourist to use the guides and info at their disposal to figure it out.  Just how it is.

so many different crew and passengers across so many ships, some sailing multiple times a week so your mileage may vary etc etc

all that said, I really thought these made a big difference on our Freedom cruise a month ago.  we were able to find a chair when we wanted to.  my tenth cruise overall (seventh with Royal) and first time seeing these signs, I really thought they made a difference and was happy to see them.  it's at least a gesture in the right direction, a shrug, haha hey something is better than nothing and this is a nice easy, passive (mostly) non-confrontational acknowledgement of the problem.  they're also bright pink and fun and very straightforward, now let's make something like this for the (now all but defunct) dinner dress code 

IF YOU ARE NOT SURE AND ARE THINKING ABOUT ASKING, THEN NO, IT'S NOT IN THE DRESS CODE.

 

our experience on a Junior Suite out of Miami in Freedom a month ago was the same as @WAYNO can confirm, suite guest showed up on our phone's app set sail pass, showed it to the lady outside at the curb just after getting out of the cab and went up to wait in suite lounge.  really slick.

we had UDP recently for the first time after always being a late seating family, we had zero problems with reservations and in fact the restaurants were half empty or even less attended than that after 7pm or so.  one of our favorite things to do is grab coffee and desert, you are free to mix it up however you'd like!  waiters were all great, very understanding and open to whatever we wanted to do.

we walked into Giovanni's on boarding day for lunch without a reservation, no problem.  made everything else from there.

I am open water certified having done the class during college and finished my qualifying dives on a land based vacation - I would agree with most of what's here.  the class and the pool work etc are a big time commitment.  if you're ok with that taking up a lot of your vacation and know that going in then great, go for it. 

all things being equal i don't get on a weeklong cruise every year so to me, that time commitment would not be worth it to me but if it's something you really want to do and you're ok making a whole crusie your scuba cruise, then as they say, the world is your oyster.  

@SuperPlanner the most 'formal' night and fanciest menu will be on your sea day, however the itinerary falls.  there is a great archive including some recent 4 night cruise compasses listed here 

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compass

we did not dine in the main dining room except for breakfast on our last day so I'm sorry, can't help you there.  however, the menus did all show up on the Royal phone app for main dining room and every other restaurant after checking in about a month before our sailing.  if you can't wait until then you can try to google around i'm sure somewhere here or on cruise critic someone's posted them.

the four nighters are very laid back.  we were just on a four nighter on freedom and the only place anybody was dressed up were the specialty restaurants.  collared shirts and pants for guys was pretty fancy, I don't know if I saw anyone wearing a tie.  it's different for ladies, there were a lot of interpretations of what exactly is a dress, sundress, swimsuit coverup etc.  i would always rather be a bit more dressed up and be a bit too casual but boy, there were some folks who were letting it all hang out haha.  live and let live i guess.

We just sailed in a junior suite on Freedom out of Terminal A in Miami a couple weeks ago, check in on the phone app as soon as you can for your sailing- we got a 10:30 AM boarding time and your digital set sail pass will say suite guest on it.

Have that ready to show (take a screenshot of your pass as digital cell service on the port island is not great until you're able to get on ship Wi-FI, it's a lot of devices in a small area kind of like a stadium on game day) as port staff will check that outside the terminal before you even get inside to put you in the correct line.  When we arrived just after 10 there was no line, a nice lady showed us in towards a separate elevator to the right of the normal escalators and stairs that go up towards the famous propellor lobby.  that elevator will take you to the suite boarding area which is awesome, there's no waiting in line just a bunch of comfy chairs and couches where you're told to sit and relax, the staff will come around to you to finalize your boarding and check everything, there's snacks and waters available, it's really slick and we were onboard before 11am.  That was our first suite experience of any kind with Royal and we loved it, will definitely be doing it again.

 

they will absolutely have NCAA tournament games on in playmakers.  there are obviously a ton of games that weekend so can't guarantee they will have every single one showing, but they will certainly have the top seeds and more popular schools' games.  we were just on freedom a couple weeks ago and loved playmakers, it's absolutely huge and their food is really good too.  covered in TV's, you can see they had NFL games and highlights shows, soccer, covered the trip in a live blog in another part of the message boards here.

 

from one food business professional to another let me tell you, you'll be just fine, they have recovered from last year's more severe supply problems and the main bars have every standard and many high end options to cover what you're looking for all served by very experienced professionals, most of whom are not running back and washing dishes and stocking towels and doing the napkin wave parade.  At bars like schooner bar and in the pub and in the other mainstays along the centrum and other public areas there are pros who do nothing but sling drinks and make all kinds of cocktails all day, everyday with no break, for contract after contract.  

others here are right, strike up a conversation, find out what the bartender likes, where their previous contract was, which bars and ships they prefer...it's one of my favorite things to do on board.  

Just had a casino royale free cruise for 2 people in ocean view room, paid to upgrade to a junior suite along with the usual taxes/fees and can confirm my wife and I both got the double points on that sailing.

currently no cigar club on symphony or any other oasis class.  google is your friend, as is searching here. 

cigarette smoking is allowed in the casino and there are dedicated spaces to smoke up top on pool deck.

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2022/05/27/here-where-you-can-smoke-royal-caribbean-cruise

 

We've taken a cab to cockleshell bay, reggae beach I believe the exact area was called and will be back again.  like a lot of nice little coves around the caribbean, very laid back beach bar, some music, food, nothing extravagant and not a ton of services but that's what your time back on the ship is for right?  we love hole in the wall spots, but expect things to move on island time, as long as you know what you're getting into you'll have a great time.  

What a whilrlwind!  I knew the four night would go too fast and the week home catching up and recuperating flew by even faster!  We had an amazing cruise overall and it was a great experience in our junior suite, I can see how the full level suite life becomes the way to go, especially on the newer and bigger classes.  I will say though, however, we absolutely loved Freedom and loved chatting with the staff, all around we heard the same story, a lot of crew with repeat contracts on Freedom and other Freedom/voyager class ships, many of them said the same things my wife and I would say about Oasis class - it's just a lot.  That can be a good thing, but there are just so many options, even on a full week long cruise, you might only make it to a venue once, even if you really like it you're out catching other shows and venues, seeing other places and never make it back to the spot you first liked!  It's a good problem to have, I suppose, but it was remarkable hearing many crew say the same thing, they really like the balance and size of Freedom.

 

Highlights from Day 3, our sea day, include the sushi making class in the morning and actually getting a pair of chairs on the top deck in the afternoon!  It's been posted elsewhere but Freedom of the Seas has bright pink seat covers throughout the ship that stand out on the blue lounge chairs asking folks not to save seats and behold and by golly, they actually work!  Great improvement from previous cruises, thank you Royal!

We started the day steaming at a brisk 30 knots according to our map channel in the stateroom and we could feel it on the balcony after previously doing 9-12 knots the first couple days.  It's one of the great things about these 3/4 day cruises to CC and Nassau, not far to go and generally smooth seas.  After coffee and fruit with a few pastries out on our balcony ordered from room service that we ordered every evening for the following morning, we took a walk out on the promenade with the Palm beach/FLL/Miami skyline out to our right, I had seen enough of that around the forums and news sites to guess that there had been a medical emergency and, sure enough, the captain made an announcement around 9AM that we had an ALPHA ALPHA ALPHA code type call in the previous night and the wind and other conditions were too strong for a helipad landing, we were close enough and would be taking a gentleman back to Miami but it would not affect our itinerary, never heard any other details.  We chatted with one of our favorite bartenders about it and he either played it cool or genuinely didn't know that we were going back at all until the captain made the announcement, which makes sense, they don't need to get everyone excited over something that won't affect us much after all, it was our sea day. I also did not realize that on many or even most medical emergencies that Miami Fire and Rescue comes out to meet the ship and we avoid having to steam all the way into port to dock etc etc.  

We watched the passenger exchange just in time to walk into Izumi on deck 4 at 10 for our class.  The sushi making class was full, the instructors were very patient and obviously very skilled, it was a really fun activity and a lot of food, plenty enough for our lunch and well worth the $30-ish per person we paid.  I would highly recommend it if you're a sushi fan.  If you're not a fan, then don't do it (we had a couple people absolutely over the top worried about various food allergies and tastes and preferences and to those people I would love to say, please just sit it out next time and let the rest of us enjoy instead of interrupting every 5 min.  We have some limited diets and those with conditions in our family, it's nobody's fault and it's unfortunate and they have a tough time certain places, but they also don't have to make it everybody's problem either).  Anyway, +1 on the class. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent up top as I said on some comfy loungers with a view of the Atlantic with the usual bellyflop competition and reggae band in the background, so great to feel a cruise at full staffing with full range of activities going on, truly felt just like many others pre-covid.  For dinner we returned to Izumi for the Hibachi and it was fine, the food was good although I should mention that we found during the sushi class that supply chain issues and seafood sourcing in general was very tough, not just for Royal but for the whole world right now, they used to have dozens of different sushi and seafood options and on this sailing had less than five.  In any case our meal was entertaining, we knew that going as just us two we would be paired with whatever spot they have open but we had fun with it, met another couple our age who had a very similar approach to cruising and hung out with them in the casino later that night, had a lot of laughs and some late night nachos at playmakers which were awesome!  Really impressed with the food there and just the whole venue overall.

 

Day 4 Nassau -

Our final day we did the Pearl Island Escape with Snorkel, overall we really enjoyed it and it's gorgeous, but cannot recommend it to everybody and I'll explain that a bit later.  The boat ride out was great after getting past all the usual herding cats that is necessary with any group tour and we rode our large water taxi out of the industrial always under construction and not very clean port of Nassau.  It's well documented plenty of other places that Nassau isn't the most glamorous destination, so we were looking forward to a little boat ride and something else outside of the busy town.  The ride to Pearl Island took about a half hour and it was a perfect, just perfect day, mostly clear with a few fluffy clouds and a high in the low 80's forecasted.  Exactly why we all take trips like this.

The island is larger than we expected, you never know from youtube videos and tripadvisor etc, some things you just have to see in person to understand and it was very beautiful spot, maybe 25 yards at the widest and maybe a hundred yards long?  The very northeast end of the island was closed off and still had work going on, it was unclear if it was repairing damage from a storm or building new spaces.  The island itself just had a lot of highs and lows, depending on your preferences and what you want or expect.  Having traveled the islands plenty before, we knew to keep our expectations low and go with the flow.

Service was very slow to nonexistent, the island is naturally gorgeous but the manmade elements are all quite aged or currently under construction, the boat you take out to the island is very full to capacity and very dated.....being out at the mercy of the wind and the water all this is certainly understandable, if you have a relaxed island attitude and are good with walking over rough surfaces and prepped for a little adventure etc then great, go enjoy, but if you aren't in great shape and don't want to be out in the sun all day, out in the water, if your group is on the older or younger ends of the spectrum, it might be a tough day.  Bar service was painfully slow, we had a lot more luck at the tiny bar at the end of the island where they just had a few liquors and beer on ice as opposed to waiting for every group of 5 at the bar who wanted 5 different blended frozen drinks, the food was very low end (paper plates, fried fish) but we were in for this, we didn't plan on eating much and had been eating too much for a few days straight!  It was nice to just chill and enjoy the view. 

There were two boats back and the first one to return to the port area was absolutely packed, I think that speaks enough to what those folks thought of the day but we loved it and were the last ones to board the later return water taxi.  We spent our honeymoon in a small Mayan coast fishing town, we knew the deal and had been around that vibe before and had no problem with it, we were there for the sun and the swimming but there seemed to be a lot of confused or upset customers who didn't really know what they were getting into.  Snorkeling was also kind of a disaster, they didn't have a good head count on equipment and were always going back to a supply shed for more gear, they made everyone wear a life jacket which is kind of cheesy in 10 feet of water, but I suppose after seeing the mix of people they have to work with I can understand where they're coming from.  Reef had some parrotfish, clown fish, small rocks and clumps of coral.  Not world class, but hey, better than an afternoon in my office with snow out the window!

The afternoon brought just a few grey clouds in the distance and while we never got any rain, we did get to see a nice sized waterspout across the small cut next to another little island.  Having visited family in Florida a lot over the years we had seen them before and weren't scared as some were, but certainly remained aware and in respect of nature - it's like a rainbow or a great sunrise, who doesn't appreciate something so beautiful and unique?!  Weather in the caribbean and bahamas is predictably unpredictable, on warm days the heat rises off the land, creates clouds that head over the water and little showers pop up and dissipate all afternoon.

Final night dinner we returned to Giovanni's Table, which for my vote was hands down the best restaurant on the ship.  Best vibe and decor, best menu with a bit of variety and freshness for every course, best wine list (although I do with Royal had more by the glass options for the deluxe bev holders) and just best experience we have had on a royal ship outside of maybe 150 central park a few years ago.  It was outstanding.  Back to the schooner bar and the casino and just like that, we were back in Miami.  

As our flight options weren't great I chose a 1:30 out of Miami instead of trying to push it with a 9 or 10am and be in a big rush.  We had our final breakfast in the main dining room, our first time in there and it was great.  I do feel a little bad almost for not eating there earlier, but as I said earlier this was a splurge and we won't always be doing the unlimited specialty dining.  It is so much food!  And just like the deluxe bev package, one does feel the need to keep squeezing every bit of benefit out of the package because it's paid for and there's so much to see and do and eat!  Definitely need to get back on the bike and hiking trails now that we're home but we truly enjoyed it and I am glad we tried it out.  In the future I will probably just go with one night at a specialty restaurant or look for a chops +1 type deal, I don't think we need that kind of indulgence every night.  

We loved Freedom and were absolutely reaffirmed with our choice as we booked this cruise largely out of our love for Navigator.  Freedom is a slightly larger and I think slightly better ship, mostly just because the slightly larger size gives her a few more venues and options.  We were so very relieved to see that our experience with staffing and activities etc etc on Symphony in March of 2022 was the exception and not the rule, Royal had things back to our expectations on this sailing and we loved it.  The newly built junior suites on deck 11 are amazing as well, when Freedom changes home ports to Fort Lauderdale and gets off the 3/4 night Nassau/Perfect day cycle we will absolutely be back on her again and look forward to booking one of those staterooms again.  For now, it's back to cutting wood and plowing snow.  Oh well.  Trips like this are why we work.  Top highlights have to be the Hilton Bentley on South Beach, Giovanni's Table, Playmakers, the Lime & Coconut and the PDCC Snack Shack!  Can't wait to be back, thanks for reading along.

Don’t have a ton of time to type this all up, just going to drop some photos from yesterday and I think you smart people will figure it out.

 

 

couple other random observations onboard and in our room

• room safe is broken, called maintenance and showed our root attendant right away so we weren’t blamed for it, we’ll see if/when that gets fixed 
• There are USB outlets on the vanity, which is great, but those are also broken.  Seems like someone tried to jam a plug in the wrong way maybe?  Again not a huge deal but that leaves this pretty good sized room with only two real outlets.  I have a USB hub with 6 outputs, thankfully, but we’re still short as the bathroom only has the European shaver plug only type outlet and there are no outlets anywhere else in the room.  We also requested and have a small medical fridge/freezer unit for my wife to store milk in as she’s still pumping for our youngest aka we are running this whole operation on one outlet essentially.  Not the end of the world, but annoying.  There is a usb plug on the phone and yes we’ll be using that.
• I noticed throughout the day that the pop dispensing guns at the all the bars are Saran wrapped up and not working.  They do have two liters and bottles of all necessary items around but I’m sure it’s a pain for the staff.  I asked our very friendly bartender at schooner and he laughed it off with a shrug and ‘supply chain’ type comment, we all could sure approach the world today more like that.

• Wi-Fi on this ship is blazing fast 

First order of business was to complete all the safety and check in procedures.  We had already listened to the ship horn sound and watched the short video about life jackets on our phones at the hotel earlier in the morning.  Our muster (in case of emergency) station was C8 on the wraparound promenade of deck 5, so we hung a left as we walked aboard and within the first minute had our entire check in taken care of, boom.  Just like that, let the sail away party begin.

Before heading upstairs to check out our room or the Lime & Coconut we wanted to add a few dining reservations.  The unlimited dining package has one slight trade off and I didn’t fully understand when I booked and I do see a lot of questions about online - the rub of it is basically you’re only allowed to make one reservation beforehand in the cruise planner and then have to wait until you’re on the ship to make the rest of your bookings, which can be done at any restaurant.  There are other people trying to scheme around this but I’m not going to get into that here.  We went right from our muster station and went right to Izumi where we had no problem at all working with a staff member who was right up front on their computer with access to all the specialty restaurant onboard.  Our ten minutes of work being done, it was time for a drink and our own little walking tour of the ship!

 

 

Looking at deck plans and even some of the great YouTube tours and other things online is a ton of fun and helps build anticipation to get people like myself through Midwest winters, but there really is nothing like seeing it all in person.  We chose Freedom for this vacation not because of the itinerary particularly, but for the ship as it was the newest Amplified ship of those on my casino Royale offer and because we loved our Navigator experience so much.  Main differences with Nav to Freedom’s upgrades were noticeable right away - things that blew me away were the playmakers space and the main pool deck.  Playmakers is huge on Freedom!  It really is like walking into a new flashy sports bar anywhere in the states.   We didn’t have reservations but realized Giovanni’s was open for lunch as we walked by and we swung in to check it out.  We were the only people there, rooms weren’t ready yet and we thought hey, why not?

Dining here starts with a nice pair of garlic knots and red sauce with a tiny bit of pesto, we had a couple salads and did our best to split the assorted meat and cheese tray which was huge!  Definitely made more for a group twice or thrice our size.

After lunch we walked back down deck 11 and our room was ready just before 1.

Room 1156 is a junior suite balcony that was added during the 2020 amplification by carving back some space from the spa and workout areas, Matt had a post about it that really helped set this whole mini splurge trip of ours into motion.  The room is huge, enough storage for a transatlantic or to comfortably have our two girls in the room with us.  

The balcony is very generous as well, they have removed that middle pane of glass above the handrail, there are two lounger type chairs and a small table with two matching arm chairs.  Can’t get over how great and new it all is.  There’s also a full set of three different soap, shampoo, and conditioner mounted in the bathroom shower/tub and a huge walk in closet.  I’ll have to grab some more pics there.  We took a quick half hour nap, fully unpacked and stored our bags in the huge walkin closet and below the bed and headed back out to the pool deck to enjoy sailaway with a quick stop up on deck 13 to check out the Viking crown lounge, stilled called Olive or Twist in some of the naming on Freedom.  One of my favorite areas on the Voyager class she’s nearly identical to me here, just great views and never very crowded.

Spent a long time in one of the solarium hot tubs that hangs over the edge with a great view of Miami as we sailed away.  

Cleaned up for dinner, had a couple nice drinks at the Schooner bar, looked around the casino but didn’t play anything (yet) and headed back up top for our dinner reservation at Giovanni’s.  The dinner menu is larger than the lunch and service was still outstanding.  We went with salads and Stromboli, I chose a more traditional looking pasta with a lot of garlic and capers and a hunk of grilled salmon floating on top which was phenomenal and my wife ate most of hers before I could get a great picture so it must have been pretty good!  Haha anyway trying to get as much in as we can without being ‘those people’ on our devices the entire time.

Just got docked at Perfect day and listened to a pretty cheesy pop song that I don’t remember from previous trips but hey!  We’re here. Off to try out the cocoa beach club, let’s have a day.

Day 1 - Departing Miami

 

Got a quick walk on the beach down to the south point pier and back before taking a Lyft ride over the port.  Much better experience than the cab from the airport and a beautiful 80 degree day was underway.

 

While it’s true that Junior Suite guests don’t get many of the full on suite amenities and things vary from class to class, one of the best parts of the experience is the suite check in.  There was no line at all outside for Freedom Suite entry at 10:15 AM, we dropped out bags with a tip to the porters and walked right into the Gold elevators that take you to the suite checkin waiting area.  Instead of waiting in lines, diligent staff watch as you come in and come to you with an iPad to scan your checkin documents and passport.  There are also bottles of water, cookies and small sandwiches if you need a quick bite while you wait.  In the name of research I had a sliced prosciutto with cheese, my wife tried an egg salad and we split a cookie.  The sandwiches were incredible!  Just a great little thing they didn’t have to do, but yum.  It’s not a news flash to most people here but Terminal A in Miami is just a gorgeous, huge, efficient facility that really lets you start off the trip on a high note.

Just a few minutes, say by 10:40 we were all up and moving to walk aboard the ship!

 

 

Sunday - Night Zero

 We took a random cab from Miami International after grabbing our bags and I have to say, that was a mistake and I know better.  We’ve been in plenty of cabs before and are used to the rambling and chatting, the not so fresh or new vehicle, the terrible driving, helping the cabbie navigate through the concrete jungle etc but this guy has to win some kind of award for being the most big city cab experience of all time.  We survived and I will be arranging an Uber black or something a bit more polished for the rest of our trip.  Waved at Oasis as we passed by, we would see her sail away later on in the day.

 

After a pretty good amount of research combined with talking to friends and family who live in south Florida and are in the Miami area often we decided on the Hilton Bentley South Beach which is in the south point neighborhood, all the way at the bottom tip of the island.  There are hundreds of places to stay in south Florida, many certainly cheaper or closer to the airport/seaport but after being here I can say this is a new favorite.  I booked the cheapest room I could with Hilton Honors points (95,000) and had planned on tipping some cash to our check in agent upon arrival to see if any upgrades were available.  This is a lot cheaper than paying the full price ahead of time online and I just trust the staff’s opinion more than some pictures online.  A good photographer and web marketing can make things very deceiving. 

Anyway, I’ve used this trick a lot on other trips to Vegas, Key West, Chicago etc. Just slid $40 cash along with my credit card and driver’s license at checkin and asked our clerk if any rooms with a nice view were available.  She said she would work on it and call me back in the meantime the pool and other amenities were available to us.  Our $35 resort fee at the hotel came with two beach chairs, bottles of water and towels.  We changed into some proper attire we had previously put in a packing cube for the day so we didn’t have to dig through our whole bag in the middle of the lobby, grabbed a couple rum and cokes at the pool bar and headed to the beach.

This will do nicely, thank you.

 

 

Quite the mix of a crowd on the beach on a Sunday, but it made for good people watching and seeing the parade of ships sail away did not get old.  While watching, the front desk called and told me she had a few options, a tenth floor room with a great view of the city and the bay but no balcony and a ninth floor room on the corner that didn’t have a straight view out at the beach, but had a balcony and a view to the south.  Needless to say, I chose the room with the balcony and we were not disappointed.  

This is a two room suite on the corner with a full kitchen, bathroom with separate shower, tub, toilet and bidet.  The fridge came pre stocked with a selection of wine and beers, the kitchen had all of the necessary cups, plates and silverware one would need to do some basic cooking, but we were just cleaning up to head out for dinner.  When in Rome, do as the Romans and in this case being in South Point meant only one restaurant would do, and that’s the original Joe’s Stone Crab.

 We had no reservation but only waited at the bar for 15 minutes or so before being seated and had an amazing meal.  Bread, constant touches from a variety of staff filling water, cleaning the table, topping off wine, sweeping crumbs, keeping pace of service (we chose a family style large platter of stone crab claws with fried tomatoes and hashbrowns as sides.  This was how I remember the main dining room as a teenager on my first Royal cruises two decades ago but that’s a whole other story.

 

I’m honestly a bit sad we don’t have a whole week to spend here on Miami Beach and in this hotel room but Freedom will be in town to pick us soon, as I type this the other ships are making their way into port.  We checked in on the Royal app the first day we were able to and secured a 10:30am checkin time.  I never understand why people would ever try to fly in the day of or not get to the ship early, but then again we don’t get to cruise often and I am well aware we are overdoing it a bit this time around, but it’s precisely because we don’t get to travel as much now with the kiddos in our lives that I wanted to splurge and make this trip special.  Anyway, time to get packed back up.  We’ll grab a small bite to eat and some coffee and head to the port soon.  Cheers!

 

 

 

 

Saturday - Drove to and stayed at  Rose hotel in Rosemont (suburban Chicago) IL just next to the O’hare complex.  Ohare is a huge airport, obviously, and has a lot of hotel, restaurant and parking options nearby.  We live a few hours away and are constantly debating cost/benefits of taking the smaller closer airports and a connecting puddle jumper type flight vs just driving to the big airport and flying direct.  Winter weather being what it is, this time of year we usually choose to just drive to O’hare.

I’m a Hilton Honors member, the Rose seemed to be the best priced for a new-ish looking hotel in the Hilton family of brands, about $150 plus $30 for parking.  It seems to me like not brand new but more like a reclad and remodel (should I say amplified!?) of a formerly plain looking Hampton.  Booked it for the deal, I don’t know that I would go out of my way to choose it again but it’s certainly fine.  Going for a very modern look, lots of pink and black and white.  We had a single king, checked in with the app, room key and parking was through the app with our phone as a key, nice big bathroom, had a couple drinks at the bar and a bottle of wine with dinner, honestly better food than it had to be which is all one can ask anymore.  We shared some appetizers and a salmon poke bowl that I unfortunately didn’t get pictures of.

 

Parked in the O’hare ramp for Terminal 3 which American flies from.  If you don’t know, O’hare’s main parking ramp next to the airport is labeled in sections with names based on the local pro sports teams which is fun - take a picture to remember where you are!

 

We checked in on our phones the night before and got to the airport about two hours early - American was already offering $300 vouchers for alternate flights (which we weren’t eligible for as I booked us with miles and we had the morning flight we wanted) with all the other madness going on in air travel we wanted to be as prepared as possible and there was also a dusting of snow so we expected some kind of delay just for de-icing at the very least.  There was no line for TSA precheck at 6AM, dropped our bags and met our favorite bartender who is still at the same spot (nothing like knowing somebody) had a few mimosas and left Chicago on a nice big wide body Boeing 787 Dreamliner for clearer southern skies after just over an hour of delays.

 

 

i would second south beach, that's my favorite spot but still has a snack shack, nice restrooms and bar close by

the cooler looks great, reminds me a bit of the yeti-like looking stainless steel mug.  i wish i could find one of those but they seem to have been a short period of time or only certain ships?  idk.

calling the key VIP is just another revenue generator, like PT Barnum said, there's a sucker born every minute.  as one investor analysis said "We’re continually amazed and impressed at how the cruise lines get passengers to pay for the same thing twice."

T minus one week!  Nearly finished packing the big bag with our packing cubes all set, printed luggage tags, doing final little things like getting wrinkle release spray and other bathroom items bought and packed.  Also things one might not necessarily always think of like updating all the apps on our phones, charging camera batteries and spare battery packs, checking jackets we don’t often use/wear (deep winter here and we’ll be taking spring/summer type zip ups with us) pick up dry cleaning.  I like to throw a dryer sheet in the checked bags to help keep them smelling fresh band make sure we have chapstick, sunscreen, all the other little odds and ends put together.

As they say, the devil’s in the details and there are so many little things with any trip big or small that really do add up.  When we traveled more often before kids and covid these were no big deal and the necessities just stayed in the same bags but it’s been a whole different ballgame after the last couple years.  

Still haven’t booked a Chicago hotel for the Saturday night before flying out of ohare sunday early but there are a zillion options in the suburbs, not too worried about that and with work and weather who knows what time we’ll be heading in anyway.  Inching closer and closer…..

@Atricks thanks for sharing.  we'll be on her next week!  just curious do you know what capacity she's at or how things are onboard?