Maybaybie10

Thank you for all the responses- very helpful indeed. I'm not sure they have nailed down an itinerary yet since they just made the decision to branch out and try something different. They don't have a future cruise booked right now and I think my Dad may be developing hives because of it :p...I know he's probably driving my Mom crazy right about now!

We ate at Sabor for lunch ($15) 2 weeks ago while aboard Freedom- it was amazing! We didn't know what to expect, but the food and service were 5 star. They brought a cart over and made homemade guacamole right in front of us, including peeling and mashing the avocado. The homemade salsa and homemade tortilla chips filled us up while we waited for the appetizers. They brought a sampling of all of them- so much food we had no idea where we were going to put the main course! HUGE portions (none of us finished ours) for the entrees and then they brought a big dessert sampler. If that was lunch, I can't imagine how big the dinner portions are. We were so stuffed that 5 hours later at dinner, none of us were hungry. It was the best food we ate on the ship the whole week- and for $15pp, it couldn't be beaten!

We made those lunch reservations the night before and the place was empty when we were there. I'm sure there will be room for you when you are onboard.

My parents started cruising only 4 short years ago when I decided that's what I wanted to do for my 40th birthday. My husband and I had cruised 10 years prior for our honeymoon, but my parents had never cruised before. My father really wanted nothing to do with it and my Mom was afraid of getting seasick and being in 'open water' where she couldn't see land. But being the troopers and great parents that they are, they happily embarked on Freedom of the Seas for their maiden voyage. Two days into the cruise, they had booked another one...and they were hooked. They've been on 9 in the past 4 years. Radiance, Adventure, Enchantment, Allure, Freedom, Serenade...

Dad will be 72 this year. We went on what was supposed to be his 70th Birthday/Retirement Cruise back in 2013, but he decided not to retire so he could keep earning money to keep cruising. You see that I created a monster, right?

Now my Dad wants to book another one and he's thinking of 'branching out' to try Celebrity, specifically the Solstice. I am known in my family as the Google Queen and so now I will spend a lot of time learning about a whole other line of ship, but I was wondering what everyone else thinks? I'm happy to hear good and bad in comparison to RCI. Step up? Step Down? Side step? They just made Diamond, so I'm not sure how that computes or if it computes on Celebrity, but it's not a big deal either way. They always book a balcony, so they are wondering what the best balconies are as well.

Thank you all in advance for any input you may have. I'm off to Google Google Google...:)

Thanks everyone, I'm glad to know it's not just me! Nevermind the inconvenience to have to wait for them to take my seapass (unhook it from my lanyard), run the card, print TWO receipts, wait for me to sign them, and then file theirs and watch me throw away mine is a lot of time wasted. It definitely slowed down bar service significantly, especially at busy times. Certainly not a deal breaker, but just a little gripe. :rolleyes:

Just a small little irritation from our recent cruise...

My husband and I each had a drink package (he had the ultimate and I had the replenish). I think in our 7 day cruise we must've signed what seemed like at least 100 receipts for our drinks that had a $0 'charge' on them. This seemed quite ridiculous to me. The only thing I never got a slip for was soda, but every other non-alcoholic, alcoholic, water, coffee, OJ, juice we got, we had to sign a slip. Multiply that by all the passengers with a drink package and that is a lot of wasted paper. I inquired about it once, and was told they needed to account for the product being used. Ok, I get that, but why not swipe my card, enter into the computer as they usually do and be done with it? My husband found a really great bartender about halfway into our cruise and noticed he was the only one of the 4 people working the bar to not give him a slip to sign. When he asked why, the guy told him the only reason the slips were given out was in case you wanted to add an extra tip (18% already included with package). The guy told him he felt his service should speak for itself and people had already tipped when they bought the package so he felt that giving people a slip seemed somewhat greedy and obvious as to why he was giving them the slip. (For the record, my husband tipped him quite well on the last night of the cruise). DH also bought a pack of cigarettes from the bar one night and there was a 95cent gratuity already included. I had to laugh as that's the first time ever he's paid a tip on cigarettes!

We are very good tippers, so I'm not really here to bash tipping, but was just wondering what you thought about all those $0 slips everyone has to sign upon receiving a drink.

We did Bernard's tour in 2011. It was amazing and they were the perfect tour guides. Definitely great bang for your buck and a great way to see the whole island.

We are sailing on Freedom again in a little over a week as well and this time we are doing a circle island boat tour with Cap'n Bob in St. Maarten. The reviews for this tour can't be beat. I figure about 1500 5 star reviews can't be wrong!

We are going to Sapphire Beach on St. Thomas this time around to do some snorkeling. I haven't been there, but my parents have and they say it is absolutely gorgeous!

It's only 5:30am and and I've already been 'fooled'. It's going to be a long day! Thanks for the laugh! :p

Great review...we are sailing on Freedom in 19 days, so I'm reading everything I can in anticipation!

One quick question: Where do you sign up for the cabanettes on CocoCay? I looked under excursions for our sailing and there is nothing listed.

Also are there other lounge chairs available in the same location, so maybe my parents could sit in the shade in the cabanette and the rest of us could sit outside it in the loungers? Is the tram only for people who paid for the cabanettes?

Ok...that was technically 3 questions! :p

Thanks!!

Ewww yuck! :( I know how that feels after a 7 night Freedom cruise and and I only had a 9 hour drive! Of course Im usually up to the standard 2 or 3 am trying to get every last bit of my cruise in. :o I learned my lesson and took the following Monday OFF!

I would've loved to, however we aren't allowed to tack a personal day onto a vacation week (I work for a school). My boss is being really awesome and giving me the option anyway, but there is so much to on the Monday after vacation that I would rather not if I can help it.

Thanks for all the replies!

Great question! We'd love to know that answer, too! We are looking at a 17-18 hr drive home after the return and want to have the kids in school the next day! If we don't make it back for school, we can live with it.

We have a 22ish hour drive home and I'm trying to figure out if I can make it to work for 8am Monday morning! I'm not counting on it, but I have to plan for it if I can't. Otherwise everyone else is driving home and I'm shelling out about $600 for a flight home. Ick!:eek:

If all the stars aligned and everything went perfectly with the ship clearing customs, what is the earliest you could self-disembark (debark???) Freedom on any given Sunday?

Don't worry...I'm not trying to make a flight...just doing a little figuring about driving time...:rolleyes:

Thanks in advance...

We did Capt. Bob's in St. Marteen and it was really great. He has multiple speed boats and takes you to 4-5 different beaches, snorkeling at two of them, one with sea turtles. A delicious lunch was provided at a restaurant on one of the beaches. And they serve water, sodas and beer throughout the excursion.

We're booked with Cap'n Bob in April...we've read good things and can't wait to go!

Another vote for Bernard's...we did his tour in 2011 and absolutely loved it!!

I was wondering if you bought one of the drink packages if the drinks still show up on your stateroom account, just with a $0 charge? On our last cruise we didn't have the package and all purchased drinks showed the charge and where and when they were purchased. I didn't know if you have the drink sticker on your card if they still swiped it so the info goes into the computer or if they just looked to see that you had the sticker and gave you the drink. It would be interesting to add up all the drinks consumed at the end of the cruise and compare it to the drink package price. I have no doubt my husband will make very good use of his package, but I just thought it would be interesting to compare.

I feel like a previous poster made a good point - your mom is technically the legal guardian of her grandson at this point in time - she should have notarized papers from your brother making her legal guardian - if that is so then you might want to follow up and see if she can sign the papers for the passport.

Well that's what we thought to, but passports are different and it won't work for her to sign....we looked it all up...several times! Sigh...

Thank you, again. I called the Senator's office and was given the advice to get new forms and submit again and if it is close to sailing we can drive the paperwork to Boston (we're in Maine) to have it expedited. I wasn't the one who talked to them and Mom forgot to ask about the $$ we already paid for the passport and the birth certificate that they currently have (luckily a notarized copy and not the original). If we never submit new paperwork, what happens to the bc and the $$?? I think since it's closed loop we will just go with his BC and military dependent card and call it good- too much of a headache at this point.

Thank you all!!

Thank you...and good point about the birth certificate. Luckily when Bob went to live with my parents, my Mom got several notarized copies of his birth certificate and the passport agency only has one of them...otherwise that would have been a whole other headache!!

(Yes, the rest of us all have passports)

Ok....here's the scenario:

My nephew (we'll call him Bob) is cruising with us (my family and my parents) in April and we are trying to get him a passport.

Bob is currently living with my parents (his grandparents) while my brother is deployed overseas. He is recently divorced from my (ex) sister-in-law.

In November my brother signed the necessary paperwork so my parents could get him a passport. He had it notarized and sent it to us. My husband actually works for the post office and is a passport agent, so we knew what forms we needed.

We tried to get my ex sister-in-law into the post office to sign her part of the passport application, but couldn't get this done until December 30th as she's "busy" a lot.

Approximately two weeks later, my parents got a notice from the passport office saying that the pictures were not good and they needed them retaken. Unfortunately because my husband is related to Bob, he was not able to process the application and the person who took the pictures apparently didn't do a good job. My parents had the pictures retaken and sent them back in within 2 days. This was mid-January.

Today they got a notice from the passport office that my brother's signed and notarized paperwork is now more than 90 days old, so it's no good.

We sail in 6 weeks. There is no time to send my brother another form and have him send it back because it takes almost 2 weeks by snail mail from where he is...then we'd have to send it back to the passport agency and by then my (ex) sister-in-law's paperwork will be over 90 days old too.

I have advised my Mom to call the agency and see what they can do, if anything. It is a closed loop cruise, however since Bob is sailing without either parent, we think it's important for him to have a passport, even though they will have permission slips from both parents stating it is ok for him to travel with us.

Any advice would be appreciated. My Mom will call the passport agency tomorrow and I'll let you know what they said, but for now I think she is a little frazzled over the whole thing...as am I.

Thank you in advance...

Thanks for the fabulous pictures! We are in 8200 in April and you gave us a nice upclose and personal shot of "our" portholes overlooking the helipad. 47 days and counting! :)

I happen to agree with GTO Girl. Normally, I think if your cruise was cancelled because of an 'act of Nature' then I think you are out of luck and you are lucky for any compensation you might happen to get.

However, this situation is different because (at first) the cruise wasn't canceled. I believe RCI planned on sailing, but it was just delayed. If it hadn't been delayed, passengers would have been onboard on a cruise that they had paid for, but since there was no ship in port, there was no place for these people to go so they had to get a hotel room. Had the ship been in port, but delayed because of the fog, these same people would have been able to board and at least sleep on board even if they couldn't actually go anywhere- a stationary floating hotel. RCI did this on the back end of things and let the passengers that were already onboard sleep there in port for the night upon their return FOR FREE instead of kicking them off and making them find a hotel room, and I'm sure they didn't make them pay for an extra cruise night because they were stuck out to sea due to the fog. In essence, those people got 2 FREE nights onboard, while the passengers waiting to board had to shell out for their own hotel rooms. The fact that the employees at the port told them RCI would pay for the hotel rooms just adds to the argument that RCI should cover pre-cancelation hotel stays, but even without that argument I think the 'delay' versus 'cancelation' speaks for itself and those passengers should be reimbursed for expenses incurred while the cruise was 'delayed'. Once it was 'canceled', all expenses should be paid by the passenger.

Thanks! I didn't dare to do a mock booking because with my luck it would actually get charged and we haven't gotten paid yet this week!! :eek:

My husband wants the Ultimate Pkg and I want the Royal Replenish pkg.

If my calculations are correct:

Ultimate $55x7 days=$385

RR $19x7 days=$133

Total $518 x 18% gratuity= $611.24 for both packages, unless there is tax.

Would someone please be kind enough to check me on my calculations. I'm trying to plan my budget.

Thank you!

OK....my parents just reached Diamond on their last cruise. We are cruising with them again in April. Is there some free beverage they are supposed to request? They know nothing about their Diamond 'perks', so I (at lowly Gold level) keep trying to educate them! :D

Thank you...that's what I figured!

Yes...another drink package question!

I had read that you can purchase the unlimited package, but you had to purchase it for at least 4 days. If I purchase this ahead of time, can I still pick the amount of days I want and if I do, how do they determine which days I will have it? We are cruising Freedom (so Sunday- Sunday), but I really don't want it the first day as we spend that day exploring and unpacking and hubby really won't use it that day. I don't mean to sound cheap, but it will save me $65 if I don't get it for the first day, and I would like to get it paid for before we leave. $65 is $65 and with all these snow days up here, I've lost a lot of time away from work, so every little savings helps!

Another 1-2 feet of snow coming tonight. April can't come soon enough...:p

Thanks!

OOps....title should have said '6' days, not 5.