WAAAYTOOO

I was just looking at deck plans! My daughter will be disappointed! I think I got it confused with the Adventure , which we are sailing on in August!! How does @twangster keep everything straight with all his cruises?!? He is the master!! Thanks @JLMoran, have a blast on your cruise!!

Not much longer now!!  We fly out tomorrow afternoon. Will be landing in FLL about 6 PM if the flight stays on time; no delays reported so far...

Hey JLMoran - thanks for having my back!  and I'm now getting casino notices for deals  not sure if that is because Casino is
sick of me calling in or what?  lol.  Be well..l   And MEI takes it serious to help you have the best cruise at the most affordable offer
we can't always give away the farm in pricing but hope we make up for it other ways...

I've seen it many times as we drive by.  It's across the street, and maybe a half block further than El Cid.  
I thought about booking there, but wasn't sure about the beach situation.  Thanks for the info, Raye!

Back from our cruise on Liberty. I think we did fairly well but decided to be a little more lenient on our carb intake. The first night in the MDR we decided to split the Royal Cheesecake then our waiter brought another one for me, I was like what but just decided to go with it. We only ate desserts at dinner, stay away from potatoes, ate plenty of veggies (I even asked for double veggies instead of potatoes), stayed away from bread. We were in grand suite so we had plenty of drinks available from 4:30-8. The wife stuck with white wine and I stuck with long island iced tea with diet coke (I know the triple sec). We probably stayed below 100 grams which is still low carb compared to the normal American diet but much more than what we have done lately. We came back about 3-4 pounds heavier but that will come off quickly. Overall I think my wife and I did well. We also walked a lot and tried to use the stairs as much as possible.

I was reading the comments from the OP's link and realized there's always something new you need to pack in your luggage!

Joe, I feel like you are a chick that we all raised and now we're watching you learn to fly on your own !
So excited for you.  I know we are all just recalling the awe that we felt when we drove up to our first cruise ship.  Even the little ones are SOOOO impressive and when you first step foot through the Centrum and see all the shiny glass and metal.  It takes your breath away.  Freedom is a beautiful ship.  You are definitely not starting small like we did.
I know you're going to have a great time.  You have chosen VERY well with all of your options.  I think the adjoining balcony rooms are going to be WAY nicer than a suite.  There will be much more room and 2 bathrooms.  I think you've thought of everything !  ...but of course, you haven't.  There will be something that you will learn on this cruise that you will use on your next...and so on and so on.  It never ends.  I still learn something new every single time I cruise.
Wishing you fair winds and following seas.
Look everyone - our little Joey is going off on his own !
 

There's the chicken wings I have been looking for! 

I guess I emailed my agent too many questions. She seems to no longer be responding.  Fantastic. ?

Joe, I feel like you are a chick that we all raised and now we're watching you learn to fly on your own !
So excited for you.  I know we are all just recalling the awe that we felt when we drove up to our first cruise ship.  Even the little ones are SOOOO impressive and when you first step foot through the Centrum and see all the shiny glass and metal.  It takes your breath away.  Freedom is a beautiful ship.  You are definitely not starting small like we did.
I know you're going to have a great time.  You have chosen VERY well with all of your options.  I think the adjoining balcony rooms are going to be WAY nicer than a suite.  There will be much more room and 2 bathrooms.  I think you've thought of everything !  ...but of course, you haven't.  There will be something that you will learn on this cruise that you will use on your next...and so on and so on.  It never ends.  I still learn something new every single time I cruise.
Wishing you fair winds and following seas.
Look everyone - our little Joey is going off on his own !
 

Joe, I feel like you are a chick that we all raised and now we're watching you learn to fly on your own !
So excited for you.  I know we are all just recalling the awe that we felt when we drove up to our first cruise ship.  Even the little ones are SOOOO impressive and when you first step foot through the Centrum and see all the shiny glass and metal.  It takes your breath away.  Freedom is a beautiful ship.  You are definitely not starting small like we did.
I know you're going to have a great time.  You have chosen VERY well with all of your options.  I think the adjoining balcony rooms are going to be WAY nicer than a suite.  There will be much more room and 2 bathrooms.  I think you've thought of everything !  ...but of course, you haven't.  There will be something that you will learn on this cruise that you will use on your next...and so on and so on.  It never ends.  I still learn something new every single time I cruise.
Wishing you fair winds and following seas.
Look everyone - our little Joey is going off on his own !
 

FYI, I e-mailed [email protected] several months ago for a May sailing. Not only did I request a table for 2, but I requested a specific table number. We had sailed that ship last year and loved the location. I know they may change the configuration, but gave them the last reservation also.  They responded immediately saying that I should resubmit the request when down to 50 days or less. I did resubmit on Saturday (2 days ago) and today I received a reply with a copy of the confirmation from the ship to corporate. Could not have asked for better or faster customer service. Of course, we will still go to MDR upon embarkation to reconfirm.

Saw this today in a local nautical theme store.

A word of caution about tables for 2.
The vast majority of tables for 2 are in areas where they have shoved a bunch of 2 top tables so close together that you might as well be sitting with the 4 people that are on either side of you.  If you REALLY want a private table (which is pretty hard to come by, really), be sure that you tell them that you do NOT want to be sitting with tables all around you.  Tell them that you want a PRIVATE table. There are a few.  They are usually along the back wall.  You will still have tables behind and in front of you but at least they won't be sitting 4 inches on either side of you where it's impossible to have a private conversation.

Well, they do say cruising changes you in deep and fundamental ways. 
I better watch out, might come back from this cruise and find myself renamed to @MorBot!

If they aren't going to cover non-refundable deposits then it will be of limited use to me.  I am looking for a way to be able to book a suite and then cancel if I have to.

Sorry to hear that.  I actually stopped smoking with it TWICE.  It was so easy the first time that I thought I could just be a "only smoke when I drink" smoker.  That was folly, of course.  So I did it again and the second time was permanent.

Yikes !  The cure is definitely not worth it in that case !  Glad she has recovered.

You have a good point there.  I think key is you have to be okay with the cancellation fee if you want to change.  I think bigger issue is when you aren't sure that sailing will work or not, rather than the room.  
No doubt it's a pain, but the reality was suites were being gamed too much under the old system.  People were treating suites like numbers on a roulette board. 

sending you a message, too long for the Blog

I go on vacation and come back to see this "new" person @Lovetocruise2002 and wondering what happened to Sabrina! 

Hi Matt .... Followed the advice of Waaaytooo and you and emailed them to switch me to the second slot. Thanks. 

She has tried that.. I wish it had worked.  

I resemble that remark!

Sorry response took a week!  Just got back from Allure yesterday!!  What a great ship, staff and food!!!
We are very proud of him, from now until this time next year he will be very busy with college stuff.  We may have to postpone Alaska next year because his first choice is the Air Force Academy.  Freshman have to start end of May.