Traveler1977

In your rush to select the most desirable excursions first, be aware of the fact that some excursions (including the premium ones) are often offered at multiple times. Make sure you select the time slot you want. I made this mistake. Didn’t realize it until after I had purchased all of my excursions and was reviewing my selections.

OneSixtyToOne & Peregrina651, Thank you for your responses.

The LSG app sounds like a great suggestion, but I can’t seem to find it in my phone’s App Store. Can you provide a little more information on the name of the app?

I’ve done a Virgin cruise out of Miami to the Caribbean and found that Virgin definitely caters to a younger “hipster” crowd. Their demographic target group for other destinations might be different. I will say that their restaurant venues were creative and interesting and their food was excellent. The swimming pool area almost seems like it was an afterthought, in my opinion it’s very poorly designed. Even the common areas on the ship were choppy and not conducive for relaxing. The cabin layouts are unconventional. The balconies include a hammock to sit on; while it was a fun novelty, they weren’t very comfortable to sit on for any length of time. There is probably a market for their brand, but it doesn’t include me, as I don’t plan on cruising with them again.

A couple of disappointing last minute updates. Boarding Freedom tomorrow. Hoping the decorations are up. Whether they’re up or not won’t matter, we are going to have a great time on our cruise either way.

Thanks for all the feedback.

Thanks for the responses. Something to look forward to.

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, does anyone know when Royal Caribbean decorates its ships for the Christmas holiday season? It would be nice to see festive decorations on Freedom for my upcoming cruise.

I’ve been quietly following the thread. Glad for the happy ending. Enjoy the cruise.

Getting two JD’s single malt, not a bad decision. I’ve enjoyed your review and photos. Thanks.

@DeerJod You’ve made a cruise that I was already excited about seem even better. A Jack Daniel’s single malt I’ve never seen before (and not available in local liquor stores) and Blanton’s both available on the ship makes it an even better cruise. I’m also looking forward to CocoCay and having some relaxing time on the ship.

We’ll be on the Freedom very soon. Enjoying your review, including the great photos. Any tips or recommendations you can give regarding the ship or the cruise would be appreciated. As bourbon fans, we are also drinking up your comments on that fine adult beverage.

I had two cruises on hold with a 40% discount on the total cruise just before the Black Friday sale prices were released. The BF sale is a 75% discount on the second person and a bonus savings. The pre Black Friday prices were considerably better for both cruises. Booked both cruises at the prices I had on hold. As others have said, it’s a shell game.

Vancouver, plenty of great hotels and restaurants nearby and a lot to do in the area.

In the past, being a Florida resident has gotten me discounts on Caribbean cruises out of PortMiami. Haven’t found these same discounts being applied recently. I suspect most of these discounts are only available when bookings are slow to encourage locals to sail at a discounted price. With bookings up, I’m not sure we’ll be seeing these discounts much in the near future.