ciera123

We use Jiffy Jeff. He is prompt, keeps in touch with you the day of transport, and has nice, large, clean vehicles.

Origianlly, yes, but after the first cruise, we were impressed enough to return for other reasons. We've cruised, Carnival, Royal, Princess, and Celebrity, and Carnival is in our top 2 favorites, overall.

Really enjoying your review! Congrats on the suite upgrade. We never get that lucky, but will be happy to cruise in the room we chose on Freedom May 17th! Thanks for sharing...

Thanks so much!

I know there are several times for the ice show on Freedom of the Seas, but is the show the same every time?

I iron everything that needs it before we leave, roll every piece and hang them when we unpack. I hang whatever we plan on wearing that night, in the bathroom when we take our showers, and the wrinkles really do come out. 😊

We like reservations as we prefer to eat early and at those peak times there can be a lengthy wait, especially for a table by ourselves at that time.

 

Just because we want to eat early doesn't always mean traditional dining works. If we have an excursion that gets back 5 -5:30 then traditional dining would be a rush. We work out what time due back to ship, allow time to wash, change get ready and we book a time that works with that.

 

That way We don't get back and start feeling like we have to rush to try to get a table, or worry about queuing up just to get on the wait list. We know the table is there and we just turn up at the time we need to be there.

 

Everyone has their own preferences, but to me making a reservation is a lot easier than trying to check in with a long line of people that have not got reservations.

 

Some ships are better than others for this, but we have experienced one ship where the queue was so bad it blocked the entrance to the restaurant for those that had reservations. I was glad I didn't have to wait in that line.:eek:

 

Op reservations are recommended for a couple of reasons. One being, like Bob stated, restaurant management and planning. Two so that if guests are particular about the time they eat, it will be easier for them to try to accommodate as close to that time as possible. If 3000 people turn up first day all trying to book dinner reservations, that is a lot of pressure on the staff in such a short period of time. If no one made reservations it would cause a big headache at best!

 

I recommend booking a reservation for as close to the time desired now. And then once on board see if they can tweak it, or put on a waiting list for that time if still unavailable.

That makes a lot sense, thanks! I totally agree with not wanting to rush after a day on port. That's why we booked MTD. Maybe I'll head over to the dining room after boarding and check to see what I can do.

That's everyone! I'll do it MY way.:)

I wasn't concerned about making reservations, until I read that they were recommended. We chose MTD for the freedom of going when we wanted. Not sure why RC would suggests them.....

That's what we'd planned on doing, but reading a Cruise Compass someone posted, it says that reservations are recommended, and gives a number to call. I just thought that maybe if we go to the dining room first thing, I could get times that weren't available on line. We've done anytime dining on Princess, but this is a first on RC...:)

I know I can make MTD reservations on line, but the times offered aren't what we want. Can someone please tell me if resrvations around 7pm will be available if we make them in the dining room soon after boarding?

Well . . . What is "said" and what is done are sometimes 2 different things. Supply and demand will always rule. And what will be too many empty cabins? What per cent?

 

I always heard that the ship costs remain the same regardless of how many folks are onboard -- food orders don't change from week to week and the crew costs remain the same. With people spending at least some money onboard it just doesn't make business sense to let cabins remain empty.

 

FYI -- just got one of the best rates I have ever had for a solo for 2 cruises in May. So much for no discounts after March.

 

Just my 2 cents:) Katherine

These are my thoughts, exactly. I think the only thing this would do is cause the costs for everything else on board to go up. They have to make money, and if they're not sailing with a full ship, they have to make up the difference somewhere. The empty cabins won't be buying alcohol, booking ship excursions, or going to the specialty restaurants. Just my thoughts...

I'm not sure if it's better to make the reservations ahead of time or not. We chose to just make them as soon as we board. You can modify your reservations on line, and you can also rearrange them once on board. As for the shows, the first night there will be 1 show, and it's usually around 9:45pm. The other main shows will be at 7pm and 9pm throughout the week. We're scheduled for the ice show in the afternoon, but I do know there's another one, just not the time.

Thanks so much for the review! We board Freedom 4 weeks from today, and I love reading everything I can. Glad you had a great trip!

We've stayed there's few nights. Very nice hotel and location. Walkway across to the beach, just down from a couple of very good restaurants, Casablanca and H2O.You'll be happy there!

We always go to Casablanca. It's across the street from the beach, and the food and atmosphere is very good. We also like H2O, which is just south of Casablanca. They're open for breakfast, too, and it's very good. An easy/inexpensive ride on the trolley to both.

so those of you who have gone to stj before, are you still doing this with a noon arrival?? That is what we originally wanted to do, but having a hard time trying to decide if worth it with the time frame.. doesn't leave much time at all for the beach once you get there does it?

Yes, but we're taking a ship excursion (St John Cruise and Beaches) and using it for transportation only. It gives us about 3.5 hours on our own.

We love St John, such a gorgeous island. We have taken the Champagne Catamaran excursion 3 times now, and it's wonderful. You board a catamaran and cruise over to Honeymoon Beach. You can swim into the beach, snorkel from the cat, or be taken in a dingy to the beach. You have about 1.5 hours to swim and snorkel, or just relax on the beach. We always see turtles, rays, and lots of fish. They put up the sails for the ride back, and point out landmarks as you sail by. The crew is so good!!! They serve drinks and cheeses, fruits and bread on the sail back. This has been one of our most favorites excursions, ever!:)

We've been to both a number of times, as we love the eastern route! In St Thomas we always go over to St John. It's an amazingly beautiful island with gorgeous beaches. Our favorite thing to do is take the ship excursion Champagne Catamaran. The crew is fabulous and the scenery is breathtaking! So much fun!!!! In St Maarten, we've done the French and the Dutch sides. We enjoyed going to Sarafina's, a French bakery with wonderful goodies and touring the island. Other times we've gone to Maho Beach to watch the planes come in. Lots of fun. Next month we're trying Dawn Beach for a relaxing beach day.

Could not agree more with the champagne cat excursion! Perfect way to spend the day!!!!:)

ciera123, Thank you so much for that! Everything looks so tasty! The link doesn't seem to have shown up though? :confused:

So sorry....Here's a link. Go to the restaurant you're interested in (these are not all available on FOTS) and click sample menu. :)

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/experiencetypes/category.do?pagename=onboard_cat_dining_options

Very nice review. Sailing on Freedom in May, so this was much appreciated! :)

I was not aware of the Island. We were sat there the first night. So just requested our waiter for Monday night. Tonight, (tues), we didn't go at our given time of 7:45. We went at 6:20. He said "your waiter is not available at this time but he will be at about 7:15.". So it seems, they noted where we wanted to sit for future seatings.

Thanks so much!

I can't help with Coki because we always head over to St John. We love Honeymoon Beach to snorkel. There are always turtles, rays and fish to swim with, plus Honeymoon (or any beach on St John for that matter) is wonderful.

Did you request Yemliha and Jason's section when you arrived at dinner the first night, or arrange it earlier? We like to take recommendations from other cruisers on waiters/waitresses at request.