CruisingMomMN Posted March 24, 2023 Report Share Posted March 24, 2023 Hi everyone! We booked the November 23, 2024 8 day sailing on Freedom of the Seas. About three weeks ago I went to check pricing for my brother and noticed that it was no longer listed on the website. When I filter, the only cruise for that time frame is a 6 day on November 3. I have been patiently checking and lurking on the boards, but today I ended up calling and was told it was closed for “inventory maintenance”. I know in the past this has meant a ship change for your ship or another ship possibly needing to move customers to your ship. Another Facebook group member had posted that they called about their December 2024 sailing and were told that Freedom was going to be going in for maintenance at that time. Has anyone heard anything else? I’m mostly concerned because our sailing is a holiday week and we know Royal isn’t always timely about notifying us of changes/cancellations, and since we are a family of 5 and booked in a suite it might be challenging to find something comparable on a short time frame. Just trying to be proactive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampurp85 Posted March 24, 2023 Report Share Posted March 24, 2023 This is going to be a wait and see. If you have the funds, maybe book a refundable cruise around the same time. Otherwise you have to wait and see if they are just moving things around, a charter, a change in itinerary, etc. CruisingMomMN 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruisingMomMN Posted March 24, 2023 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2023 Thanks for the suggestion. You can’t do a refundable deposit for a suite, is that correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FionaMG Posted March 24, 2023 Report Share Posted March 24, 2023 Hi @CruisingMomMN and welcome to the boards. I have a booking on FOS at that time too (December 7th) and noticed the exact same thing. In my case, I'm not particularly worried since I booked it refundable as a place holder and almost certainly will be changing it anyway but I totally understand your concern. When I originally booked I did notice that Freedom was blocked for the month of January 2025, so when the December sailings dropped off (apart from the one over Christmas), I did wonder if they might have decided to bring forward whatever it was they were planning to do then. Given the circumstances and if your budget allows you to pay out a new lot of 5 deposits, @Ampurp85's suggestion might be well worth considering. At least that way you would lock in an alternative sailing that would suit you, rather than waiting it out and potentially getting left high and dry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FionaMG Posted March 24, 2023 Report Share Posted March 24, 2023 6 hours ago, CruisingMomMN said: Thanks for the suggestion. You can’t do a refundable deposit for a suite, is that correct? Ah, yes, you're right. Not for full suites anyway. I think you can for junior suites and also the panoramic (no balcony) suites that exist on a few ships. CruisingMomMN 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Posted March 25, 2023 Report Share Posted March 25, 2023 Her last dry dock was 2019 when she got Amp’d. 2024 is when she’s due again for maintenance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhoCruiser Posted March 29, 2023 Report Share Posted March 29, 2023 My travel agent has us holding group space for 50 cabins on the 7 December 2024 voyage on Freedom, and has heard nothing yet on any changes. If they are doing a cancelation or a switcheroo we'd damn well better come out of it at least as good as we went into it or I'll pitch holy hell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelp1446 Posted March 29, 2023 Report Share Posted March 29, 2023 10 hours ago, WhoCruiser said: My travel agent has us holding group space for 50 cabins on the 7 December 2024 voyage on Freedom, and has heard nothing yet on any changes. If they are doing a cancelation or a switcheroo we'd damn well better come out of it at least as good as we went into it or I'll pitch holy hell. I have this sail date booked as well. Judging by your name and the number of cabins on hold, Is this now a "Dr Who" fan cruise ??? (if it happens) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolly Ogre Posted March 29, 2023 Report Share Posted March 29, 2023 Well crap!!...I have the 12/7/24 sailing booked and I did it thru next cruise. I booked it specifically for those dates and itinerary. It is still showing on my cruise planner as active. Nothing from my TA as of yet. WAAAYTOOO and michaelp1446 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelp1446 Posted March 29, 2023 Report Share Posted March 29, 2023 1 hour ago, Jolly Ogre said: Well crap!!...I have the 12/7/24 sailing booked and I did it thru next cruise. I booked it specifically for those dates and itinerary. It is still showing on my cruise planner as active. Nothing from my TA as of yet. Booked through Next Cruise as well for the same reasons. Reached out to TA, she was not aware but checked and saw new bookings were not available. Waiting game now... rjweber3 and Jolly Ogre 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhoCruiser Posted March 29, 2023 Report Share Posted March 29, 2023 5 hours ago, michaelp1446 said: I have this sail date booked as well. Judging by your name and the number of cabins on hold, Is this now a "Dr Who" fan cruise ??? (if it happens) Yes, while we have not yet publicly announced the dates are itinerary, and probably won't for a while because we are still actively promoting this year's voyage in October, we are in fact making plans and currently contacting potential celebrity guests of honor for this particular date and itinerary. As always, it will be bookable only through our official travel agent in order to be part of our group. If this itinerary does in fact get changed canceled or modified in any way we will have to wait and see what is offered to us before making any firm decisions ourselves. michaelp1446 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FionaMG Posted March 29, 2023 Report Share Posted March 29, 2023 25 minutes ago, WhoCruiser said: Yes, while we have not yet publicly announced the dates are itinerary, and probably won't for a while because we are still actively promoting this year's voyage in October, we are in fact making plans and currently contacting potential celebrity guests of honor for this particular date and itinerary. As always, it will be bookable only through our official travel agent in order to be part of our group. If this itinerary does in fact get changed canceled or modified in any way we will have to wait and see what is offered to us before making any firm decisions ourselves. Oh wow, what a headache for you! Fingers crossed it won't come to that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhoCruiser Posted March 29, 2023 Report Share Posted March 29, 2023 3 hours ago, FionaMG said: Oh wow, what a headache for you! Fingers crossed it won't come to that. Hopefully everything will turn out okay in the end. Brought it to the attention of my travel agent a couple of hours ago and he said that they had already noticed it and contacted Royal Caribbean asking about the issue. He says that Royal Caribbean's "revenue department" is telling him that "the ship is still sailing" but they are "simply cleaning up computer systems." I remain a bit skeptical for now, and will believe it when I see it return to the system. For what it's worth, on the cruise planner my own personal booking remains listed, even though when I do a general search the only departure for Freedom for the entire month of December that comes up in the Royal Caribbean search is the 29th of December holiday voyage. Time will tell. In the meantime, in an incredible coincidence, the very next email I received a couple of moments ago is from Holland America informing me that bookings are now open for their 2024 to 2025 Caribbean season, so as a precaution I will take a look at what THEY have on offer. I seriously would consider them, and the only reason I did not previously was because they did not yet have schedules open up to that time period. If Royal doesn't take care of us properly, somebody else may well be getting the business, as the voyage we are currently holding space on was the only one in the entire Royal Caribbean inventory that ticked all the boxes I was looking to fill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FionaMG Posted March 29, 2023 Report Share Posted March 29, 2023 1 hour ago, WhoCruiser said: Hopefully everything will turn out okay in the end. Brought it to the attention of my travel agent a couple of hours ago and he said that they had already noticed it and contacted Royal Caribbean asking about the issue. He says that Royal Caribbean's "revenue department" is telling him that "the ship is still sailing" but they are "simply cleaning up computer systems." I remain a bit skeptical for now, and will believe it when I see it return to the system. For what it's worth, on the cruise planner my own personal booking remains listed, even though when I do a general search the only departure for Freedom for the entire month of December that comes up in the Royal Caribbean search is the 29th of December holiday voyage. Time will tell. In the meantime, in an incredible coincidence, the very next email I received a couple of moments ago is from Holland America informing me that bookings are now open for their 2024 to 2025 Caribbean season, so as a precaution I will take a look at what THEY have on offer. I seriously would consider them, and the only reason I did not previously was because they did not yet have schedules open up to that time period. If Royal doesn't take care of us properly, somebody else may well be getting the business, as the voyage we are currently holding space on was the only one in the entire Royal Caribbean inventory that ticked all the boxes I was looking to fill. Thanks for this. I share your scepticism. Given that the whole of January 2025 is blocked, which I had presumed was for the dry dock, it crossed my mind that maybe they had decided to bring it forward but I can't see how that would make financial sense at it would mean cancelling two holiday cruises (Thanksgiving and Christmas), so I guess we'll just have to give them the benefit of the doubt for now. I can still see the cruise in my planner too, with tons of excursions and other extras already on sale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FionaMG Posted March 31, 2023 Report Share Posted March 31, 2023 I'm not usually one to repost unverified stuff, but under the circumstances... Somebody who regularly posts port schedules over on CC has just posted this (my underlining): "Funchal, Madeira Port Bookings (Correct as of 31/03/23) A new booking has been made for Freedom - most likely a stop on her way to dry-dock? I see she has port of origin marked as Lanzarote and a gap in schedules between 9th November and 29th December, so this seems likely. Also, the port call for Odyssey has been removed, as this is not a port on the final transatlantic itinerary. Odyssey OTS - 30th April 2024. *CANCELLED* Anthem OTS - 5th May 2024 Anthem OTS - 10th June 2024 Anthem OTS - 12th September 2024 Anthem OTS - 24th September 2024 Anthem OTS - 10th October 2024 Adventure OTS - 5th November 2024 Odyssey OTS - 10th November 2024 Voyager OTS - 16th November 2024 Freedom OTS - 21st November 2024. *NEW* Adventure OTS - 29th November 2024" CruisingMomMN 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruisingMomMN Posted March 31, 2023 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2023 4 hours ago, FionaMG said: I'm not usually one to repost unverified stuff, but under the circumstances... Somebody who regularly posts port schedules over on CC has just posted this (my underlining): "Funchal, Madeira Port Bookings (Correct as of 31/03/23) A new booking has been made for Freedom - most likely a stop on her way to dry-dock? I see she has port of origin marked as Lanzarote and a gap in schedules between 9th November and 29th December, so this seems likely. Also, the port call for Odyssey has been removed, as this is not a port on the final transatlantic itinerary. Odyssey OTS - 30th April 2024. *CANCELLED* Anthem OTS - 5th May 2024 Anthem OTS - 10th June 2024 Anthem OTS - 12th September 2024 Anthem OTS - 24th September 2024 Anthem OTS - 10th October 2024 Adventure OTS - 5th November 2024 Odyssey OTS - 10th November 2024 Voyager OTS - 16th November 2024 Freedom OTS - 21st November 2024. *NEW* Adventure OTS - 29th November 2024" Thanks for that @FionaMG. I have been trying to check the port schedules for Cadiz for the same information. Hopefully we’ll get an update sooner, rather than later. I’m not loving the other itineraries available for the same time frame Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhoCruiser Posted March 31, 2023 Report Share Posted March 31, 2023 So, not an official announcement, but it appears to confirm that we're probably screwed. Wondering how long they will wait before changing their current (apparently fictional) story?... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FionaMG Posted April 1, 2023 Report Share Posted April 1, 2023 Yes, it's not looking very hopeful. I did look at the official Madeira port schedule myself later on and the booking for Freedom is definitely there. I questioned the other poster as to the reliability of the information and they said that Madeira is usually very reliable and update their entries regularly. I did try to find listings for Lanzarote to see if I could determine the port prior to that, but wasn't able to track anything down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bilky7278 Posted April 24, 2023 Report Share Posted April 24, 2023 I just went on a google search about this and came across this post... Here it is a month since this thread was created and still nothing from Royal Caribbean. Thanks to all of you for sharing information that you've found. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhoCruiser Posted April 25, 2023 Report Share Posted April 25, 2023 Yeah, inventory maintenance, sure, and how much is that bridge in Brooklyn you'd like to sell me too? Since they are apparently refusing to acknowledge the obvious reality of what will no doubt become a major pain in the ass once it does become official, we have covered our asses and are ready for the fallout BEFORE the $#!t hits that particular fan... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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