PPPJJ-GCVAB Posted March 14 Report Share Posted March 14 4 hours ago, Cactus527 said: I can confirm that spacious balcony rooms have more than enough room for a yoga mat and doing yoga. In fact, I've done this in interior rooms too, but bumped into things. I'm happy that I didn't bump into anything today. Love how you are using your cup clip in the room! I would never have thought of that…thanks for the idea! Cactus527, jbrinkm, Sweety and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asquared17 Posted March 14 Report Share Posted March 14 2 minutes ago, PPPJJ-GCVAB said: Love how you are using your cup clip in the room! I would never have thought of that…thanks for the idea! heck yes!!! get your (bezos) money’s worth!!!!! PPPJJ-GCVAB, Sweety, Cactus527 and 1 other 1 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshleyDillo Posted March 14 Report Share Posted March 14 1 hour ago, Cactus527 said: YOU GUYS. I went and did my free play in the casino and I WON BIG! It's so big that the machine said it would be applied to my account and I couldn't cash out with the cashier. In all seriousness, is there something I need to do in order to get the 35¢ applied to my account? Is there something I need to do with this ticket? If I really wanted to, I mean. I've never heard of this before. I would put it back into the machine and add a $20 bill and then cash out and go to the cashier. I'm leaving no pennies behind! Cactus527, MaryS, Ampurp85 and 2 others 1 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus527 Posted March 14 Author Report Share Posted March 14 44 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said: I've never heard of this before. I would put it back into the machine and add a $20 bill and then cash out and go to the cashier. I'm leaving no pennies behind! Brilliant! I may go do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus527 Posted March 14 Author Report Share Posted March 14 1 hour ago, PPPJJ-GCVAB said: Love how you are using your cup clip in the room! I would never have thought of that…thanks for the idea! I actually even had it on the side table last night while I was laying in bed. It keeps the top of the side table clear! asquared17, Sweety, PPPJJ-GCVAB and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus527 Posted March 14 Author Report Share Posted March 14 1 hour ago, asquared17 said: heck yes!!! get your (bezos) money’s worth!!!!! DAMN STRAIGHT! asquared17 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus527 Posted March 14 Author Report Share Posted March 14 Balcony hack (if you have one): it's big enough to make into your own private sun lounging area. PPPJJ-GCVAB, Lovetocruise2002, JohnK6404 and 5 others 5 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampurp85 Posted March 14 Report Share Posted March 14 Hmmm I always say I am going to pack my yoga mat one of the days I do a longer sailing. But it's the extra thick kind, so I leave it behind and use the extra blankets and sheets stored under the bed. But now you have given me an idea about the balcony when I have one. Sweety and Cactus527 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus527 Posted March 14 Author Report Share Posted March 14 7 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said: Hmmm I always say I am going to pack my yoga mat one of the days I do a longer sailing. But it's the extra thick kind, so I leave it behind and use the extra blankets and sheets stored under the bed. But now you have given me an idea about the balcony when I have one. I actually had that thought too after I got the towels down. The yoga mat would totally fit out there! Sweety 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrinkm Posted March 14 Report Share Posted March 14 3 hours ago, Cactus527 said: Balcony hack (if you have one): it's big enough to make into your own private sun lounging area. There are people who set up hammocks on their balconies. Sweety and Cactus527 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus527 Posted March 14 Author Report Share Posted March 14 This is for all you ELF fans out there. I managed to get there right before they closed at 6pm. I then took the contents of my chicken burrito and dumped it on my nachos. It was DIVINE. And a Painkiller to sit with now for sunset! JohnK6404, MaryS, asquared17 and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus527 Posted March 14 Author Report Share Posted March 14 I also saw the stew pots brimming over with people. Pretty sure I counted 25 in this one... Ampurp85, Lovetocruise2002 and PPPJJ-GCVAB 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus527 Posted March 14 Author Report Share Posted March 14 5 minutes ago, jbrinkm said: There are people who set up hammocks on their balconies. That's a great idea. Maybe future me will do this! jbrinkm and Sweety 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCSC Mike Posted March 14 Report Share Posted March 14 19 minutes ago, Cactus527 said: chicken burrito I guess I'll have to re-try this along with the quesadilla next week. They were both so bad on Wonder in June I gave up and only made tacos. Sweety, Cactus527 and PPPJJ-GCVAB 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PPPJJ-GCVAB Posted March 15 Report Share Posted March 15 I was just checking out Cruise Mapper and it’s so funny to look at Freedom’s meandering route off Miami’s coast! Cactus527 and asquared17 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus527 Posted March 15 Author Report Share Posted March 15 3 hours ago, OCSC Mike said: I guess I'll have to re-try this along with the quesadilla next week. They were both so bad on Wonder in June I gave up and only made tacos. It was good! 1 hour ago, PPPJJ-GCVAB said: I was just checking out Cruise Mapper and it’s so funny to look at Freedom’s meandering route off Miami’s coast! I swear I have seen the same buildings all day from my balcony!!!!! PPPJJ-GCVAB 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus527 Posted March 15 Author Report Share Posted March 15 Sunset was AMAZING tonight. If you zoom in kind of close, you can actually see the Miami skyline underneath the sunset. MaryS, asquared17, Lovetocruise2002 and 3 others 3 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus527 Posted March 15 Author Report Share Posted March 15 Have you ever checked under your bed to see what's there? After last month's news about the RC employee getting arrested who hid under people's beds, I decided to get down on my hands and knees and check out how much room there actually is under there. Yes, a person could hide under there. What's actually down there on a regular basis though? I discovered blankets and towels! So if you're ever needing either, look under your bed. Ampurp85, MaryS and Sweety 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus527 Posted March 15 Author Report Share Posted March 15 I procrastinated all day about packing, and then I had to throw everything together really quickly after sunset. I managed to get the suitcases out there at 9:58 p.m. Whew! I realize they don't usually pick them up until after 11:00 p.m., but I wanted to make sure I met the deadline on the piece of paper they gave. OMG THEY LITERALLY JUST TOOK THEM. 11:04pm. Do I have to go? Do you think if I just stay in my room and refuse to leave they'll let me stay? PPPJJ-GCVAB, MaryS, JohnK6404 and 3 others 1 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampurp85 Posted March 15 Report Share Posted March 15 I always look under the bed because I use the extra blankets for my yoga. Once they didn't get the luggage until 3am. Cactus527 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted March 15 Report Share Posted March 15 5 hours ago, Cactus527 said: I also saw the stew pots brimming over with people. Pretty sure I counted 25 in this one... eww Cactus527 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus527 Posted March 15 Author Report Share Posted March 15 7 hours ago, Ampurp85 said: I always look under the bed because I use the extra blankets for my yoga. Once they didn't get the luggage until 3am. I imagine with collecting bags from all over the ship it takes awhile. If the bags can't even get off until after 6am, 3am still send like plenty of leeway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus527 Posted March 15 Author Report Share Posted March 15 Good morning from Miami! I got to listen to a balcony party from 12-12:30am complete with yelling and loud music. Someone from RC must have come to talk to them because it was very abruptly silent. I woke up on time to see us come into the port and do the full turn around to come back to Terminal A. We fully docked at 6:32am. And now, it's time for one final meal in board: The Key breakfast. I forgot to snap a shot of the menu, but it's your standard MDR breakfast menu. I'm taking the RC shuttle to the airport at 8am. I'll probably update with some more random thoughts as the day progresses. It's sad that this cruise is done! My next one isn't until September on Allure (also out of Miami). asquared17, jbrinkm, JohnK6404 and 6 others 6 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCSC Mike Posted March 15 Report Share Posted March 15 1 hour ago, Cactus527 said: It's sad that this cruise is done! Said every cruiser ever unless you have a B2B and it's only the 1st leg, lol. Thanks for the blog and safe travels! PPPJJ-GCVAB, Cactus527, Sweety and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweety Posted March 15 Report Share Posted March 15 Safe travels. You are rested for your conference. PPPJJ-GCVAB and Cactus527 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PPPJJ-GCVAB Posted March 15 Report Share Posted March 15 10 hours ago, Cactus527 said: Have you ever checked under your bed to see what's there? After last month's news about the RC employee getting arrested who hid under people's beds, I decided to get down on my hands and knees and check out how much room there actually is under there. Yes, a person could hide under there. What's actually down there on a regular basis though? I discovered blankets and towels! So if you're ever needing either, look under your bed. So I did just that when we were on our family cruise in July. My youngest grandson wanted to sleep in our room because he was tired of his brother bugging him all night. They didn’t have that nice separate space type of pullout bed and his brother is a real prankster, etc. Anyway…I found the “extra” blankets and sheets nicely packaged under the bed. Well, the next day our very awesome room attendant pulled me aside to say those packages weren’t for us but were meant for the following cruise! Apparently once we leave our rooms on final day they have such little time to make up all their rooms for the incoming cruisers that these packages save time for them! He told me to just call and he would be happy to supply us with sleeping material for our grandson. I felt so bad that I had messed up his routine! Mind you he was very pleasant about it but I could tell it had bothered him. Cactus527 and Sweety 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PPPJJ-GCVAB Posted March 15 Report Share Posted March 15 It’s been great following along with you. Your pictures are amazing especially those last ones of Miami in the early morning! So colorful…just gorgeous! I’m happy you had a relaxing pre-conference cruise! Safe travels! Cactus527 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geezer Of The Seas Posted March 15 Report Share Posted March 15 9 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said: eww I will see your "Eeewww" and raise you 1 "GROSS"!!! Would much prefer watching a Code Brown cleanup like we did on Mariner last November. Mojito and cigar in hand....... Boy the crew is fast with the drain, clean, sanitize and refill. PPPJJ-GCVAB and Cactus527 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asquared17 Posted March 15 Report Share Posted March 15 i don’t look under the bed, but that’s only because i shove so much luggage down there that it would injure/maim any unwanted stowaways jbrinkm, Cactus527, MaryS and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted March 15 Report Share Posted March 15 9 minutes ago, asquared17 said: i don’t look under the bed, but that’s only because i shove so much luggage down there that it would injure/maim any unwanted stowaways I was just about the write the same thing. No creeper has a CHANCE in my room b/c we clean EVERYTHING out from under the bed to shove all of our $hit underneath ! We always take the spare comforter and fold it at the bottom of the bed to use when we are napping (which is almost EVERY day at some point). I can't really understand why the folded comforter seems to completely perplex the stateroom attendant. 100% of the time I have to tell them to please just leave it like it is. Don't put it inside a sheet cover...don't move it back under the bed. Just leave it folded at the bottom. One of the recent attendants began mumbling something about us invading his "kit"...so I suspect that the spare comforter is something that they use when they make up the room for the next guest. Sorry...I don't care. Just leave my nappy blanky alone ! Cactus527, PPPJJ-GCVAB, MaryS and 3 others 2 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PPPJJ-GCVAB Posted March 15 Report Share Posted March 15 4 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said: One of the recent attendants began mumbling something about us invading his "kit"...so I suspect that the spare comforter is something that they use when they make up the room for the next guest. Sorry...I don't care. Just leave my nappy blanky alone ! That was exactly what our guy called the package…his kit. But he was at least nice to us and did not call us invaders…lol! And yes, he said it is there for the next occupants. WAAAYTOOO and Cactus527 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus527 Posted March 16 Author Report Share Posted March 16 You guys are so kind! Thank you for following along. I'll post randomly as I remember things, but I wanted to put my thoughts here before I forget. I got picked up by The Key crew member promptly at 7:45am to debark the ship. Almost no line at that point, so I was off the ship within 5 minutes. Luggage was a bit wonky to get - you enter the luggage area with the last numbers there. You have to go aaaaalll the way through to get to the lowest numbers. The Key luggage was way up near the passport/birth certificate area in the section with suite baggage. Grabbed my bags, got scanned in 5 seconds (if that) because there was no line, and then was out the door of the terminal at 7:57am. What is UP with the aggressive shuttle people right at the exit doors?!? I was a bit taken aback to step out and have 4-5 of them suddenly start shouting at me about going to the airport. Looked for a RC employee, asked him about my RC airport transfer to MIA, and he pointed me into the middle island where two green buses were. Both were for the airport. The luggage is divided up into American Airlines and then Everyone Else. Since I was doing Southwest, I put my luggage there and got on the bus. It was now promptly 8:00, which is when the bus/transfer had its meeting time. Once the bus filled, we were off to the airport at 8:20. Dropped off the AA people, then dropped me (and everyone else there) off at 8:50. We would probably have been there at 8:40 without the extra stop, but it still worked just fine for my 10:50 flight. The RC recommendation was to only do this transfer if you have a flight after 12pm. So, there you have it. The $24 I spent to have a 100% assured, no-cancelling-my-request ride provided by RC was fast, efficient, and worth it. I would 100% do the transfer this way again. They also offered other times to MIA (8:30, 9:00, 9:30, maybe a 10:00?), and then transfers to FLL. I remember the FLL one says flights no earlier than 1:30pm for some reason. That one was $30. Did airport stuff, flew, transferred to my conference hotel (that's a whole other story), and am now safely ensconced in my room for a few days. Wishing I was still on a cruise ship though. Lovetocruise2002, Yesiamthere6, PPPJJ-GCVAB and 6 others 8 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GatorCruiser Posted March 16 Report Share Posted March 16 Where’s the conference ? Cactus527 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus527 Posted March 16 Author Report Share Posted March 16 Let's talk about stateroom attendants and service for a moment. In the past few years, I've done a number of RC cruises on a few different ships of varying sizes. Each time, service has been fine; in fact, my attendant on Indy was superb. This cruise, however, was just...off. I met N almost instantly when I showed up to my room on Day 1, and he wanted to know all my particulars, requests, etc. I told him: I needed drinking glasses (they were missing), a robe, and evening service. I didn't think I was asking for too much. He found the drinking glasses for me right away, and then brought the robe by about 30 minutes later. N never serviced the room on Day 1. On Day 2, at PDCC, I came back to my room around 3pm to find it serviced. Um, okay, not evening, but whatever. On Day 3, during a bathroom break from my casita around 1pm, I came back to find the room serviced. Um......? It was weird at this point. On the last day, Day 4, our sea day, I popped up to lunch from 11:45-1:00. I came back and the room had been serviced. I never saw N in person after Day 1, so I could never say anything to him about the weird service time. I really do prefer evening service because then I can nap and have the bed fixed before night time. Also, I mentioned about the bathroom hairs earlier. There were just various touches around the room that screamed "not clean!" throughout the cruise. There were clothing tags from someone else under the couch, random hairs (mostly head) all over, and the balcony had a thin layer of sand on it. This CAN'T be standard for this ship! I'm seriously considering saying something on the post-cruise survey sitting in my inbox, but I also don't want N to suffer negatively for being, well, a ghost cleaner! Anyone else have this kind of issue on Freedom or another ship? Or am I just picky? Lovetocruise2002, MaryS, Sweety and 1 other 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus527 Posted March 16 Author Report Share Posted March 16 5 minutes ago, GatorCruiser said: Where’s the conference ? Atlanta! Sweety and PPPJJ-GCVAB 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GatorCruiser Posted March 16 Report Share Posted March 16 3 minutes ago, Cactus527 said: Atlanta! ATLANTA, interestingly I don’t live all that far from there. Enjoy the conference! Cactus527 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus527 Posted March 16 Author Report Share Posted March 16 My FB roll call had many, many complaints about the college cruisers on board. They range from urinating in the public restroom sinks, throwing glass overboard, foul language and actions around kids, nudity on the pool deck (intentional? unintentional?), to even one person complaining that some were doing things in the public restrooms meant for stateroom beds. The bars were constantly packed, and complaints were that the college students were rude and inappropriate. My take on it is that people are people, no matter the age. Intoxication leads to all kinds of inappropriate behavior, of which I have witnessed by a wide range of ages on other ships too. I don't think it was ONLY the college kids. My only consistent issue was the guys in the stateroom next to me kept allowing their stateroom door to slam when they went in and out. Annoying, but manageable. The college guys at the table near me in the MDR were amusing but respectful. While many of the college kids were wearing next to nothing, it just is what it is. I didn't think it was better or worse than other short cruises I've done. Would I do another spring break cruise? Probably, but it will be awhile before I can due to kids and my schedule. My favorite times of year to cruise are late January and September. WAAAYTOOO, PPPJJ-GCVAB, Lovetocruise2002 and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampurp85 Posted March 16 Report Share Posted March 16 Since its now only once a day service I was told there was no more service on embarkation unless multiple beds needed to be made. I.e there was 3+in a room and berths/sofas needed to be made. My service on my S2S2S wasn't that great either. There was no way they vacuumed on Wonder and it wasn't really clean in general after the 1st day. Question, was your room wide open on embarkation day? Cactus527 and Sweety 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted March 16 Report Share Posted March 16 I've arrived at my cabin the first time to find the doors open....but normally, the door is shut. Since I always sneak in to get my keys early, then the doors are ALWAYS all wide open. I suspect, but do not know for sure, that the doors are NOT supposed to be open when you arrive. I know we are weird this way but I absolutely LOVE the once a day service and we always ask for morning service so that our room is reasonably clean all day. So far, no problem whatsoever with this arrangement. Is it spotless ? Probably not....but we are pretty clean folks ourselves so it would have to be pretty bad for us to notice. So far, that has not happened. With a VERY few exceptions, our attendant(s) has always been very friendly and efficient. I really hate to make a generalization like this....but our male attendants are, in general, better than those that are female. I do realize that female attendants are pretty scarce so it's hardly a fair proportional analysis but that is my general impression. The single exception to this rule was the absolutely WONDERFUL lady we had on OA right before the pause. I wish I could remember her name. She was incredible. So much so that we gave her a gift, along with the Genie. Ampurp85, MaryS, OCSC Mike and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCSC Mike Posted March 16 Report Share Posted March 16 3 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said: I know we are weird this way but I absolutely LOVE the once a day service and we always ask for morning service so that our room is reasonably clean all day. So far, no problem whatsoever with this arrangement. Is it spotless ? Probably not....but we are pretty clean folks ourselves so it would have to be pretty bad for us to notice. So far, that has not happened. With a VERY few exceptions, our attendant(s) has always been very friendly and efficient. We had no issues the one time we had once/day service so far and I don't expect any going forward unless we happen to get a subpar attendant (which, knock on wood, we've never have). Morning service for us as well for pretty much the same reasons. One of the only requests I ever make is for more hangers (I'm just OCD about hanging up stuff rather than using drawers/shelves) so I do like to meet our attendant on day one. We'll see what happens tomorrow. I can always call or just make do. It's certainly not going to ruin my cruise if I don't get extra hangers on day one. Sweety, WAAAYTOOO, Cactus527 and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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