Betsynh

Does anyone know the cost of the nonalcoholic frozen drinks these days? Wondering how many of those per day you would have to buy to break even w/ the basic package (teenagers)...

This info is already in the thread... about $4.75 + 18%... so 4-5 drinks per day would cover it. We also drank water and limited soda. Definitely worth it.

We were back at the ship around 12:30pm, which was earlier than what I had thought from the literature. We did the "tree top" which is the regular... not the extreme. The extreme started in a different location on the mountain and their zip lines were much higher and a lot longer. If you're in great shape, that could be great, too. We all finished at about the same time, but their bus wasn't waiting there, so they had longer to hang out at the end point before heading back.

Not being familiar with Orient Beach, I'm not sure whether a trip there would have worked. The farm was on the French side of the island, about a 25 minute drive from the ship.

I’ve been gluten-free for four years due a wheat allergy, and am always a little hesitant preparing for a cruise because I hate feeling “high maintenance”. Having just gotten off Freedom (Eastern 4/19), I can honestly say that RCCL has continued to improve the quality and availability of its GF dining options.

We picked Main Dining Room 1st seating, as I prefer to have consistent waiters who know in advance that I’m GF. Randy, our head waiter, was fantastic and went out of his way to make sure I had everything I needed. Given that the dessert options didn’t meet my chocoholic needs, I jokingly begged Randy to ask the chef to make me a flourless chocolate cake. Much to my delight, the last three nights of the cruise I had amazing flourless chocolate cake (which my tablemates said was even better than their menu dessert).

For the Coco Cay stop, I shared my concerns about the island buffet with Randy in advance, and he told me to locate the larger of the two dining areas and ask for “Ian”. They specially prepared ribs and a burger to ensure they were gluten-free. I’ve never found a normal sized GF burger roll, even on land, so sliced off about an inch of the top part of the roll so I could eat it the burger comfortably.

For MDR breakfast, Randy was also present and special-ordered GF French toast and strawberries. In the Windjammer, they had an area where I could ask for either GF pancakes or French toast, but the food was way better in the MDR. There’s also a section of the WJ with GF rice, veggies and a few other hot foods, but I didn’t try them. The fruit options were plentiful, so there was always something good to eat.

Sorrento’s, the pizza place on the Promenade, offered GF pizza crust topped with their usual offerings. It only took 6 minutes to heat. They also had romaine lettuce and cold grilled veggies with balsamic vinegar, so you could make a decent lunch out of it.

My favorite meal was at Chops. Again the wait staff was extremely helpful and the fact that the side dishes were served family style wasn’t an issue -- they just told me which ones to avoid. We also had one lunch at Sabor’s. It was more stressful because I had difficulty understanding the waiter, and had to watch my friends dig into the non-GF calamari, which is a favorite of mine.

All in all, I continue to be impressed with how well Royal Caribbean supported my dietary needs and will definitely sail them again. This is one of the many reasons that cruising remains my favorite vacation option!

We were on 4/19 Eastern itinerary. We didn't have any on-board credits, but one of our dinner companions did some research since he was having difficulty, as well. Apparently, there was some kind of computer glitch between the "land" and the "ship" initially, which didn't transfer credits appropriately as we sailed... add to that a fairly new (??) IT person on the ship and a computer system that was acting wacky, and it may explain why you had such a difficult time.

Hopefully it was a one-week thing and the folks traveling this week are having more success getting their credits. We had an amazing week, and totally agree that breakfast in the MDR was so much nicer than the WJ.

At which dock in St Thomas (Havensight or Crown Bay) did the Freedom dock on your sailing?

I actually have no idea! We hopped on a ferry to St. John so didn't do any sightseeing in St. Thomas. I can tell you that we were the 3rd of three ships in port (all docked in a straight line) and walked a very long way to get to the ferry. Per usual, there was a Senor Frogs right across the gate from the entrance back to the ship. Does that help?

The 500ml bottle of still water is around $2.

 

Specialty coffee is around $3 to $5.

 

Fresh squeezed OJ is around $4.

That sounds right, Bob... my iced mocha or mocha frappuccino would have been around $4.75 each, same with the frozen virgin cocktails.

You also have the option of buying the package while on board, so if you see yourself spending more than $22 per day, you can buy the package for the rest of the trip (at least they offered that on Freedom).

Just got back from a great week on Freedom (Eastern 4/19). Since i've never gone ziplining before, the Loterie Farm TreeTop excursion through the ship looked like a great option, so hubby and I (early 50's) signed up. I am really glad I did it, but have a few tips to offer since the cruise information was pretty scant.

First, you start and end at the same place, so you CAN bring a backpack or other things with you and they will store them safely while you're in the trees. There were about 25 or so obstacles in total, more than half being zip lines and the rest crossing cables, swinging bridges and the like. Since I'm only 5'3", there were a couple of places that were pretty challenging, but overall, we were trained well and the group was really supportive -- and I only exercise occasionally so it was manageable.

We were offered cold water, punch or punch with rum in it when we got back to the main building. Some people had packed snacks... would have been a great idea. There appeared to be a small restaurant there, but the timing didn't allow for people to grab a sandwich. After sweating profusely on the course, sitting in a restaurant wouldn't have been ideal, either.

On the ride back, the bus made one stop downtown for people wanting to shop and brought the rest of us back to the ship. I learned many hours later that there was a beach right near the ship! We were hungry, tired and sweaty by the time we got back, and ate on board and just sat by the pool. Had I known better, I would have brought snacks and my bathing suit and gone straight to the beach after, since we needed to be back on board by 4:30pm.

So proud that I pushed my comfort zone! However, if I were to do it all over again, I would have organized my day differently to get the most out of St. Marten...

You're going to have such a great time!! If you get a chance, swing by the Schooner Bar and tell Paul O'Shea that Betsy and Peter from NH are having serious withdrawal... He finishes up his gig at the end of May, I think (piano bar guy). So much fun!!

I posted my cruise compasses from Freedom Eastern 4/19 yesterday at this link if you want to see the times posted for the FlowRider... at least for Freedom:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2201998

Just off the Freedom 4/19 Eastern and I thought he was hilarious. Great wit for the times that I saw him, and good at poking fun at himself, etc. I didn't watch his morning TV show, but my friends did and really liked him.

I'm not sure how I'd describe him -- really quick on his feet for comments, easy to understand (he's Canadian), confident but not arrogant, sort of a deadpan humor kind of energy... You'll have a great time, I'm sure!

Around $60 per person.

I think we paid $69 for an hour lesson, 8 people max, minimum 4 needed. It was listed as an option under On Board Activities and we booked his preferred time slot a couple of weeks before sailing. Not sure how it works on other ships.

One big difference between Freedom & Independence as far as the Replenish and Soda packages go...Freedom has the Coca-Cola Freestyle machines with a WIDE assortment of drinks, both carbonated and not (including Dasani flavored waters, Power-Ade and lemonade). Independence doesn't have those machines. Passengers w/package wanting soda on Indy need to see a bartender to have their package tumblers filled. Soda available is limited to what the bartender has on the soda gun.

Thanks so much for clarifying! I thought they were mirrors of each other. Great to know for future planning.

Damn, the line up just got longer.;) It is nice to have another rider join the club.

 

OP, my wife would say to you, "Welcome to the Flowrider Widow Club".

 

You will start to notice soon, that you will cruise exclusively on ships that have a flowrider.

You're so right! We were joking about having to build one in the backyard. There is an indoor surfing place near us... he may have to check it out. Given that hubby is an accountant, we spent lots of time laughing about the hot, buff, tan guys lined up bonding with the pasty-white geek. He held his own, though, so I'm eternally proud! :)

I'm not sure l'll be brave enough and I've seen advice from others about going early on the cruise. My fear is that I'd wipe out badly at the start of the cruise (even on the boogie board) and be injured for the rest if the cruise...LOL 😁

I do have to share that early on in the cruise, a woman who was apparently an experienced surfer wound up injuring her foot (the rumor was that she broke it). I don't have any details, as I wasn't there at the time, but did see a woman on crutches a couple of days later watching her guy on the FlowRider... I am sure that totally stunk for both of them...

On FOS in three weeks. Thanks! Marilyn

You're going to have such a great time! Suffering from serious cruise withdrawal right now! I posted a couple of other threads about the Royal Replenish non-drinkers drink package, the FlowRider and Disembarking Early in case any of those tips apply to you.

The file was too big to attach, so I uploaded it into the media of my small biz WordPress website and linked it here. Sorry to be so complicated! When I tried to open it myself it took about a minute since it's 22 MB's.

Hope it works for your needs!

http://emptynestglassworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/FREEDOM-Eastern-cruise-compass-4.19.2015.pdf

Betsy

Just got off the Freedom Eastern yesterday. Will scan and post. GREAT time!

So.. did you make it home and got to work today?? So curious. We had a great time!

Oh great...another Flowrider junkie to make the lines even longer...:p

You're totally right. I think we will only be able to cruise on Flowrider ships in the future...

Do both people in the cabin have to have the same package?

No... you both don't need the same package. There is a soda-only package, too. All frozen non-alcoholic drinks were included in the Replenish. Royal's web site has great detailed information under their drink package section. It should be the same on Independence as it was for us on Freedom.

Do you know, if the regular Starbucks on Allure is also included or not??

 

Thanks

 

Marko

Sorry, no clue. This is the highest level of Royal ship I have sailed. Others have written lots about drink packages, so I'd suggest you search "Starbucks".

I thought Starbucks was NOT included in the drink packages. Yours let you buy Starbucks?

From what I understand, if a ship has an actual Starbucks store on it, it doesn't count, but on Freedom, Cafe Promenade has a Starbucks counter and YES, they are all included.

Hubby (47) was excited to try the FlowRider. He skis, water skis and plays hockey, but never snowboarded or surfed so opted for a lesson – well worth the price. Here are a couple of tips:

Just as everyone has already indicated, go EARLY! Bring your bathing suit on board and check out the FlowRider on the first day (we didn’t, but heard it was empty). When we got there the second day, there were about 18-20 people in line. At this point, each person’s turn took about 10 seconds before they fell, so the waiting wasn’t too bad, although if you wiped out right away, it was disappointing to go to the end of the line.

Hubby’s lesson was at 7am on the first sea day with 7 others. The staff were amazing, and hubby rated it as the highlight of his cruise. By the end of the hour, he was far more confident and was able to ride reasonably well. After going back in the afternoon during the stand-up surfing session (they also offer boogie boarding sessions), the staff showed him how to “self-start”, rather than counting on a sports deck staff member to hold his hand while he gained his balance.

The ability to self-start appeared to be the ticket to joining the “Advanced Flow Rider” sessions offered between 8am and 9am each day. From that point forward we spent the early mornings at the FlowRider and then had breakfast (I was reading or filming him). There were between 6 and 8 people riding during the Advanced sessions. While their turns lasted a minute or so each, it was amazing to watch and hubby got multiple options to practice during that hour, and enough rest in between to keep it fun. There were people of all ages and abilities enjoying the FlowRider… maybe I will try it next time!

Just did my own review of how to maximize the Royal Replenish package: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2201923

We wanted a nonstop flight home after our trip on Freedom (Eastern 4/19), so booked an 11am departure out of Orlando. After reading others’ comments about how to efficiently get off the ship and get to the often crowded Orlando airport, I started to worry, so we planned strategically. Here’s what we did, and were actually having breakfast AT OUR SOUTHWEST GATE by 8:10am! It was so surprising, that I wanted to share how it all worked for other travelers.

1) Self-assist debarkation (don’t turn in your luggage but carry it yourself).

2) At 6:20am, we went down to the Schooner bar (deck 4). While people were sitting there waiting, a line was forming at the outside exit door right around the corner (by the theater entrance). We jumped in and were about 10th in line to exit. By 6:45, that line wound all the way down the hall for quite a while, so that early line up made a huge difference. Hubby watched the luggage while I ran to the Promenade for coffee. They also had pastries but no fruit (I had grabbed an apple the night before, as we didn’t want to get stuck in the Windjammer).

3) Just before 7am, the line started moving, and we noticed that a similar line was exiting from the opposite side (Boleros area). Everything was ramps (no escalator or stairs), so juggling luggage wasn’t bad.

4) By about 7:05, we were in line for customs with only about 6 people in front of us. There were enough stations open that the wait was minimal.

5) I had reserved a town car from Mears Transportation for the four of us for $141, with a pick up time of 8am. I didn’t want to wait for a shuttle or a bus to fill up when we were in a rush. I called the driver, as I had no clue where to meet him and it was still 50 minutes early. There’s a special line for pre-arranged transportation, and he was one of three cars already waiting. He had an iPad with my name on it in the windshield. He explained that they leave for pick up at 6am, so if there is any problem arriving, there is plenty of time to send an alternate vehicle. He was hanging out in the car doing paperwork when we arrived. Within seconds, we were loaded into the car and on our way.

6) Doug (the driver) dropped us at the Southwest curbside check-in (again no line whatsoever), and they also gave us our boarding passes.

7) Security was probably the longest wait (5 minutes?). We jumped in the left hand security station but picked the shorter line (on the right). DON’T!! It turned out that one snaked all the way down a long hall to join the far right security station… ridiculous! If we had waited for a few more people to have their documents checked, we would have been even earlier through the screening. There was a K-9 patrol on site, so we didn’t have to take laptops out, remove shoes, etc.

I fully imagine that lines would have been pretty chaotic had we waited an extra 30-45 minutes to exit the ship – from customs, locating our vehicle, airport, etc. Get up early, sleep on the plane! It will be well worth the time and effort if you’re heading out early.