Bob_KY

Wow....tough question, really.  The room is unbelievable.  We like it better than any room we’ve ever had. I will say that the band noise has been horrible. I think that the band location and configuration is new with the amplification and I believe that there are going to be MANY complaints about the nonstop noise.  It’s bad for us but I can’t imagine how it must be for those in Central  Park rooms. I believe that there will be so many complaints that they will have to change where the band plays.  I can’t believe they will be able to keep it as it is now.  IF they solve the band noise, I would book this room every time. If they don’t, I would probably still book it.  What I don’t know is whether the noise is a problem for those in the Loft Suites too or if it’s just us on the “ends”. 
 
As I said earlier, the only downside to the suite itself is the small balcony. It didn’t negatively impact us at all so it’s not a problem for us. It might be for some 

Thanks for sharing a pic.  Beautiful couple!  
Hope you are having a fabulous week and thanks for taking us along!
 

More lowdown on refurbishments.  Joyce is so wonderful. I’m in love with her already.  She assured me that the drapes ARE new.  She said that all carpeting on the ship was replaced.  
 
Sabrina, JUST for you !  Joyce is going to take pix in 8330 for us. This is one of the suites she is Genie for, this cruise.
 In case anyone was wondering, there is a LOT of bleed over noise from the sail away deck party into our suite.  It’s WAAAY louder than anything in the ATS...even with the doors closed and locked.  It’s early so not a problem right now.  Later, it would be a definite problem. 

ISince we are docked at the downtown pier, we decided to go out into town for a while. Beside us is docked NCL Breakaway.


Out in the bay, offshore, is the NCL Escape.  She is tendering her peeps ashore with lifeboats.  Glad I’m not on Escape !
We walked down to the Plaza and decided to have a couple of beers and some chips and pico de gallo.  This was the first alcohol that either of us have had the entire cruise !  The cold Coronas tasted pretty good.  More about this, later.

At some point, Dan mentioned something about maybe getting a cheap massage.  Oh yeah....that sounded like a GREAT idea.  After finishing our beers and chips, we asked our waiter if there was anywhere close where we could get a massage. It seemed we were in luck !  No more than 20 paces down the side street was a spa.  The decision was made.  If the price was right, we were getting massages.  Trust me, this is no foo foo spa.  It’s a hole-in-the-wall place but the price seemed right.  $70 each for a 90 minute massage.  Done.  They put us in a “room” for 2.  I put “room” in quotations because it is really just 1 big room with curtains to separate the “private” areas.  Good enough for us.
I will just say up front that this was one of the best massages I have ever had.  Most masseuses hurt me.  I guess I’m just a wimp but the whole “deep tissue” thing is about as far from enjoyable as I can get.  But this lovely lady’s touch was perfect. You start out on your belly, of course, and I was really settling in...enjoying every stroke.  She did my back, neck and shoulders.  Heaven.  Then she moved to my legs....and trouble began to brew.
Here’s where the forewarning from the beer and chips photo comes back into play.  As if, by some awesome force of nature and gravity combined, the moment she started pushing “up” (towards my torso) on my legs, the beer bubbles began to be pushed up from my belly.  Had I been standing, I would simply let out a diminutive “burp” and all would have been fine....but I was laying on my stomach and those beer bubbles were trapped between my stomach and my throat.  I tried to maneuver in a way that would allow them to escape, but nopesville.  They just kept accumulating in a most unpleasant location, soon to be joined by some chips and salsa (thank you, hiatal hyneria).  It was both horrifying and hilarious at the same time.
I thought the legwork would never end.  Finally, after what seemed like hours, she whispered “turn over on your back, please”.  As soon as I moved, the loudest, most manly, horrific belch came roaring out.  It was so loud I’m sure they heard it across the street.  Dan said “are you ok ?”  I was so relieved.  I just muttered “yes, I’m fine”.
The moral of this story is NEVER drink a beer before having a massage !
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

We always bring wipes as well. On the plane I wipe down the armrest, headrest, and tray (those things are dis-gust-ing). At the hotel I usually just wipe down the remote. And on the ship I wipe down just about every surface to be safe. Rest assured though, the room stewards do an excellent job cleaning...
And remember...
 

@Justice. Agree.  I bid on a GS and won.  I was notified on February 15 with a set sail date of February 24, 2019.  Moving from a JS was great.  

Michelle Cunningham, 855.444.0710.   AWESOME!  
 
[email protected]

Michelle Cunningham, 855.444.0710.   AWESOME!  
 
[email protected]

Michelle Cunningham, 855.444.0710.   AWESOME!  
 
[email protected]

DAY 2: Perfect day at Cocoa Cay
 
DRINK COUNT
Specialty Coffee
Frozen mojito
Bahama Mama x4
Shot of rum
3 glasses of champagne with dinner
Disarono on the rocks 
1 terrible drink from the mechanical bar (it must have ran out of limes and couldn’t muddle 😂😂)
 12 drinks total
 
THRILL PARK
got off ship about 0900, waited about 15 minutes to ride Devil’s Peak
No big wait on any other of the rides in the tower
Headed over to Slingshot and waited about 15 minutes
The rest of the slides wasn’t much of a wait. 
Great day! Nearly “perfect”
 
UNLIMITED DINING PLAN
this is the only not so perfect thing about Cocoa Cay. So apparently Captain Jacks on Cocoa Cay IS NOT included with the UDP! I ordered some chicken wings for the brusband thinking it would certainly be covered and well within the food credit... but alas no 😒 Seems a little weird to have a charge for something like that. 
 
Also, surprisingly Wonderland was rather a miss for us. They waiter recommended we let them pick some of the favorites for appetizers and we pick the mains. We really liked only 3 of the 7 appetizers served. They weren’t bad, just not delicious. Perhaps if we had just chosen which ones we would have preferred based on tastes, this would have been a better experience. The brusband got the pork belly and I the beef short rib. Both were good. 
 
The view and the experience in the venue was worth it since I don’t think there is another view like that on the ship. But the food was hit or miss for us. Perhaps if you’re bringing young’s ones who are picky eaters, this may not be worth your money if they don’t like it. 
 
The other thing with dinner, they came out to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to my Colombian, and forgot his name 😂😂 And not in a casual... mumble mumble something close kinda way... but as in they still tried to sing it with no clue. (They literally may have said the words mumble mumble... I’m still not sure) Lol It was no big deal... but the waiter seemed so embarrassed for clearly not knowing his name (in spite of just confirming with us both right before), that he FORGOT to pour whatever hot sauce goes on top of the chocolate dome 😂 By the time we got his attention, the sauce had cooled. He still tried pouring it, and what came next was a sad awkward moment coupled with fear and false hope. He poured ALL of the contents over the dessert and when nothing really happened... he pleaded with it. Then he tried covering up for the poor performance by saying.., I’m sure any minute now it will start melting. We were left with a half melted, Frankenstein of a dessert 😂😂 No big deal; it was still rather delicious.

I'm sorry you're having troubles.  This is a prime example of why a travel agent is so very valuable.

Okay..  51 more times shaving my head.  ....oh, that is the same as the number of days before set sail.

I found this group about a year ago when we booked our cruise.  Tomorrow morning we leave for San Juan and then we'll be on Freedom of the Seas for the 11/17 sailing.  Everyone has been so helpful with all of my questions & concerns and I really appreciate it. I'm not looking forward to the flight (I do not enjoy flying at all) but I'm so excited to go on this cruise!
THANK YOU!!! 🚢

Okay..  51 more times shaving my head.  ....oh, that is the same as the number of days before set sail.

Okay..  51 more times shaving my head.  ....oh, that is the same as the number of days before set sail.

DARN someone beat me to this.  I am actually on this exact same cruise you are in also in Star Class.  I have already, offline, prepping some of the early post and what not.  This will be the first time anyone in my party will have been in Star Class or a suite for that matter.  I am taking my parents and my future wife on this cruise in the 2 bedroom aquatheather suite on deck 9.  From the time I have booked this my mother has told me if I couldn't afford it they would not be sad if they cancelled, she was worried about the cost.  But I have told her and my father many times that the cost is nothing for me as I wanted to thank them for everything they have done for my sister and I throughout our lives.  So I am hoping to really give them a special experience.  Plus I will be celebrating my birthday while on the cruise.

Because we have already had 33.5 inches of snow here in the Mitten State and I am not a big fan of that nonsense, I spend a lot of time thinking about upcoming cruises.  I love reading about people's experiences and living vicariously through them to pass the time.
I'm sure a lot of us have countdown to cruise apps on our phones and I've read in numerous posts "Only 623 or 17 more sleeps until we board!"  
I am currently sitting in my 6 x 8 jail cell (oops, I mean cubicle) at work looking out the window at a dull monochromatic landscape and since I am a numbers person,  I have been thinking of other milestones to use for our countdown to cruise.
Only 3 more hair appointments!

Does anyone else have a fun way for countdown or do you stick to days and/or sleeps?

Hi Nick, sounds like you had a rough experience. I'd like to point out a few things that may be helpful to you moving forward;
-- Pricing on choosing a room, and letting the cruise line do it for you differs depending on demand. Usually, but not always, letting the cruise line choose your room for you is a little cheaper. Once you have chosen a room, you should be able to change to any room in that same category and not see a price change. 
-- If you have a US based booking, you can reprice at any time before final payment date. If the booking is already past final payment, you are stuck with your pricing.
-- I would recommend in the future that you choose and book through a reputable travel agent, because they take care of everything, including the hassle of calling Royal Caribbean in the event you want anything changed. Also, using a travel agent doesn't cost anything since they are paid by the cruise line.
-- If you want to use a travel agent, you still may be able to, generally bookings have a time period 30-60 days after they are made, where you can transfer the booking from Royal Caribbean to a travel agent.
 
Hope these help, and that you aren't too discouraged, cruising is a lot of fun!

Make sure you are comparing apples to apples. What I mean, is do both quotes include taxes, fees, gratuities, insurance? MEI tends to include that by default, whereas others do not.

This pretty much says it all.  You don’t NEED a TA until you need one.

72 days to go on Oasis and it just opened up.  

72 days to go on Oasis and it just opened up.  

Talking about Freedom, pre AMP...
View wise the more favorable one will be the Diamond Lounge. This lounge was part of the Viking Crown, so one side is nothing but windows. Not knowing the number of Diamonds and above will be the factor for crowding. However, the crowds can overflow to the bar/lounge just outside the Diamond Lounge.
Now the Concierge Lounge might be more convenient location wise. However, the Concierge Lounge has no outside views. Other factor would be the number Diamond Plus and above that might opt to use the Concierge Lounge.
Service wise, might be best to give both a shot and judge yourself.

I recently took an RC cruise on an Oasis class ship.  I thought with the new design that the smoking problem would be fixed, but it was not.  Every day when entering or exiting the dining room, we had to breathe the smoke that poured out of the casino.  It entered the surrounding stairways and elevator areas as well.  It was prevalent all the way into the first section of the dining room. 
The casino functions as the indoor smoking area on the ship and is wide open to many public areas.  The smoke does not know it is supposed to stay in the casino.  On other cruise lines (Holland American) they do not allow smoking in casinos that are wide open to public areas.  It is only allowed on ships were the casino is separated from public areas.  Princess only allows smoking in the casino on some nights and then only to active players.  On RC it is a 24 hour ever day indoor smoking area that ventilates the smoke to surrounding public areas.