Pellaz

The usual "arrival point" for Atlantis is the Coral Towers lobby entrance (you only go to the Royal Tower entrance if you are actually staying in the Royal). As of my last visit, taxis had to drop off and pick up at the foot of the hill in front of the Coral and could not go past the gate. (They may have opened up more since COVID restrictions have eased.) The Comfort Suites is immediately east of that drop-off point. Maybe 200 feet from the CSPI walkway to the gatehouse, and another 200 feet up the hill to the Coral entrance. ASK at Comfort Suites where at Atlantis you get your wristbands, because this has tended to vary. In the past it has been in the Beach Tower lobby (to the right after entering the Coral), or sometimes over in the Royal Lobby on the bottom floor (by the big aquarium windows). Get a solid answer because you don't want to be wasting any time looking for stuff. You're paying enough for the experience. 🙂

Depending on the nature of the charter and the clientele, lots of the crew will be very happy for it. Sometimes charters will go to ports that the ship doesn't normally visit and the crew gets to see a new place rather than the same old, same old. Two cases I can remember, both involving the 70K Tons charter: Royal's Majesty of the Seas going to Cozumel instead of her usual CocoCay, Key West and Nassau rotation; and twice visiting Grand Turk on Royal ships...which is normally unheard of since Grand Turk is a Carnival-built port...and a great one.

As someone mentioned earlier -- and as I hazily remembered -- Carnival DOES impose a two-drink "pause" after boarding to complete e-muster; then you can resume guzzling your adult beverages. Seems to be a workable compromise; by the time the earliest arrivals onboard are two drinks "in," the muster stations should be up and running and after e-muster, you're FREEEEE..... This has been a great, informative discussion. The drill is as much for the crew as it is for guests. Really, even more so for the crew. Checking and inspecting disaster equipment is important, too. Remember when the Majesty was inspected by the USCG and had to delay a sailing because too many of the lifejackets had rotted or decayed? 😮

No worries. I personally witnessed cruise passengers "checking in" (and then basically checking out, collecting their pink access cards) at around 10:30 or 11 am. CSPI is fully aware of what's going on with cruise passengers. It's easy money for them. I have NO idea why guests at Comfort Suites receive complimentary access to Atlantis and Aquaventure (as long as you pre-book your CSPI room by at least a day), but it can be a great deal for cruisers and an outstanding deal for a multi-day Bahamas vacation.

Yes, and there are marked entrances from the public beach into Atlantis; the main one is near the Atlantis Lagoon (and that beach is restricted to Atlantis wristband guests). Normally you will be stopped before getting too far in from the beach unless you have an Aquaventure wristband.

I generally set my stuff down by the Mayan Temple pool on the far side, near the lockers and bathrooms (coldest bathrooms in the Caribbean 🙂 ) I haven't rented a locker and have never had a problem -- everyone there is pretty casual and theft is unlikely. The Mayan Temple slides and pool open at 10 am. The Power Tower slides open at 11 am and The Current (river rapids ride) open a little before then. You must get a tube from the river ride in order to ride the Power Tower slides (except The Abyss). I've done a complete review of Aquaventure and where to go on CC's sister site, TripAdvisor, as "Pellaz2112." Enjoy!

That might be a bit tricky since many sites that book hotels may also offer cruise bookings and you cannot link to such sites on CruiseCritic. Comfort Suites is a Choice Hotel brand, so you can look on their site for rates. Not that it matters to us cruisers, but I really prefer staying at Comfort Suites rather than Atlantis, too. I've done so every November since well before COVID and one time afterward, for 3 or 4 nights. The rooms are nicer, the complimentary breakfast beats the $30 breakfast buffet up the hill at Atlantis, and the pool is open later in the evening.

Agreed about passenger safety. I've really enjoyed the "luxury" of e-muster and checking in at an inside location, but I think the chances are higher that people aren't "connecting" the casual experience with an actual disaster situation if one arises. With a group muster you DO get more of a sense of "this is where I'd need to go in case of an evacuation." If these return based on IMO/SOLAS, I DO hope I get an inside muster location rather than an outside deck. Haven't had an outside muster in several years but it was brutal on the Independence...naturally I always got the sun-blazing side of the ship. Had the same experience on our post-Concordia Carnival cruise. For once, the audience was VERY quiet and attentive. Can't imagine why....

Yep! Can't wait! This will be my 7th sailing...and I truly, truly wish it could be on a Carnival ship. Royal's Freedom class ships are nice, but they are sadly, sadly lacking in free/included dining options, especially compared to Carnival's Vista and Excel classes. Yes, a few. Prior sailings of 70K have had "bigger" names, though. I'm happy with the lineup, as there are some longtime stalwarts for me (Insomnium, Amorphis, Evergrey, Dark Tranquillity), lots of new names to check out, and some that were real jaw-droppers since I never expected to see them again (Melechesh, Keep of Kalessin). 60+ bands total, and we're still awaiting the final 6 or so to be announced. 😮

Cucina does indeed have the free/included lunch menu and does indeed do the pasta-bowl for lunch. Chibang! has a much larger menu than Jiji's or Mongolian Wok, but it DOES include the stir-fry bowl options as on other ships. Sit-down service as opposed to waiting in a line like the Wok. Stir-fry is one of my immediate go to's; I'm a FIEND for it. 🙂 Both were awesome, and alas, both were not open on embark day. We were brutally disappointed. (But somehow we survived. 😄 )

I've liked the fact that you don't have to visit GS on Carnival for some routine things that, in the past, I've had to stand in line for on Royal. Want to get your SeaPass card punched so you can wear it on a lanyard? Go to Guest Services. Need to look up info on your folio and it's not on the TV? Go to Guest Services, there are no kiosks for that like Carnival has. Want to get change for a $20? Go to Guest Services AGAIN. No kiosks.

We had soot on our Havana patio and pretty much the entire aft part of the ship on our Horizon cruise in October. My friend John was more annoyed by it than I was; we just decided not to leave any clothes in the uncovered part of the patio. Note that this is very wind-dependent; under certain wind conditions (sideways to direction of travel) you should experience no soot issues at all. BUT otherwise we LOVED the Havana area, and alas, we can't get a similar room on our Oct 2023 sailing. 😞 The uncrowded hot-tubs and pool, the bar servers and heavy pours, the chilled fruit service on the Havana deck twice a day.... The Havana deck staff were awesome and one of them donned a suit and goggles and helped me try to find a lady's gold earring in the pool.

Thanks for the review! Nice and concise!

As I said earlier, I was not summoned to the shipboard "naughty room" and my terrifying pair of scissors and that frightful power strip were confiscated and retained at the terminal. Now, my bag was NOT locked, so maybe that's why the items were confiscated there? An interesting thought. Thanks. Sometimes posting a link to factual info can be useful. I wish the ILA article had as much info about salaries and numbers as the ILWU article. I think the ILA has a substantially larger member roll.

I thought for sure there were, but not according to the menus I've seen. Desserts ARE offered after 8 pm. I believe Piazza Panini closes at 10 pm, unfortunately, which is an hour earlier than when the Deli closes on every other ship.

Watching a TV on one of the nicest white-sand beaches in the Caribbean strikes me as a weird way to spend your day. 😄 Great idea! I did this on our last cruise to HMC and it worked well. Made some cruise-friends onboard, too. Years ago I solicited interest -- and payments! -- from our roll call to book the Private Oasis at HMC. We had about 18 signed up....and then the port-stop was cancelled. 😮 (I got a refund, and I got it in cash.)

They might have been scheduling two tours and weren't certain as to which one you'd be assigned to. In the past I've seen one depart at 9 am and the second at 9:30, typically from the Library.

Well, no. If they deem it necessary to open your luggage at the pier and you're at Sorrento's enjoying that first slice of pizza, they're not going to wait and call you back to the pier. They'll simply break your lock, or open it if it's "TSA approved." Your presence is not required. The "porters" at cruise terminals most definitely ARE longshoremen and members of one of the two longshoremens' unions in the U.S. For the East Coast, that'd be ILA, the International Longshoremens' Association: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Longshoremen's_Association For the West Coast, that would be ILWU. Per the article they are "the lords of the docks," average salary is $171,000 for its 15,000 employees: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Longshore_and_Warehouse_Union Yes, where "multiple" = 2. 😄 Name the U.S. port -- ANY U.S. port -- where cruise terminal luggage handlers are not union members. Just one will suffice. Or, y'know, we actually read factual accounts. See above.

Careful you don't get cut on that edge.... Maybe I'm an outlier, maybe I've been spoiled - and my hearing ruined -- by loud rock and metal concerts, but I've found the singers/dancers in the shows to be at least competent, and sometimes downright great. I DO remember a guitar soloist on one of our cruises 6+ years ago who was TERRIBLE, but that wasn't a Playlist thing. When my sister and I walked onto the central Lido area, we thought we were hearing bad karaoke until we realized the perpetrator was actually being PAID. 😄

Of course, if you print your boarding passes and luggage tags in advance AND in color, you WILL be offered an upgrade or an upsell. So then you might have to reprint it all...in color. 😄 --Although printing in color is not required, it really DOES help them identify the deck because they are color-coded. We once found someone else's luggage outside our room and sure enough, they were in the same room, with a similar number, on the next deck up...but they had printed their luggage tags in grayscale.

It is virtually always on the last sea-day, and always around 9 am. If it were early in the cruise you wouldn't be able to tour, e.g., the soda and beer cold-room because...it would be FULL of soda and beer. 🙂 Also, no cellphones or cameras are allowed. Security will "wand" you before you start, and a security officer will "shadow" the group on the tour, for obvious reasons. Booking the BtF Tour is one reason why I have always tried to get FTTF, because the tour almost always sells out...sometimes very quickly. On the newer ships, the crew-area staircases have been almost the same "pitch" as the guest-area stairs, and are fairly wide. They are utilitarian in design and appearance but not overly hazardous. However, on the Fantasy-class there WAS one "staircase" that was basically a ladder -- very steep. (I think it was from Deck A down to Deck B...it's been 11 years. 🙂 )

I'd have suggested the Cucina or Chibang, as both are free for lunch, but unless something's changed since last fall neither is open for lunch on embark day on the Mardi Gras. (We were bitterly disappointed since the pasta bowls and stir-fry, respectively, are great.) As I recall, we went to Guy's Pig'n'Anchor (outside, Deck 8 portside) for free BBQ and also to Shaq's Big Chicken, since the Lido Marketplace (main buffet) is typically jam-packed during embark. There ARE some nifty options there, though, like SeaDogs and a shawarma station. Other free/included options include Guy's Burger Joint (located above the main Lido deck on the Mardi Gras), Blue Iguana Cantina, Piazza Panini (like the Carnival Deli), Street Eats (3 kiosks on Lido deck), and possibly the Fresh Creations salad bar in the Serenity area.

Sorry, this isn't true. On my last cruise I had two terrifying articles of contraband in my checked luggage: a pair of medium-sized scissors, and a power-strip. My bag was very late getting to the cabin and when it did, there was a note inside stating those items had been confiscated. (Honestly, I didn't think the scissors would be an issue since they were shorter than the TSA blade minimum, and I thought the power-strip, not containing any surge-protection, would be okay.) The items, I was told, were not aboard the ship, but would be returned to me at the cruise terminal if I went to retrieve them. So, the cruise terminal security folks opened the bag without my being present. It was not cruise-ship personnel onboard the ship. Since it would have required a walk over to the Arrivals side of the terminal, I didn't bother retrieving them. They presumably ended up at that unclaimed baggage warehouse in Alabama...and I learned a valuable lesson. 🙂

Thanks for the info, y'all. At least it will be something different. Maybe Fish'n'Ships? It's on the Indy's pool deck and is likely NOT free. I suspect their selection of "ships" is quite poor, also. Their selection of dinghies or speedboats doubtless leaves MUCH to be desired, let alone a 44-gun heavy frigate or a 74-gun third-rate. 😉

So, I'll be going on a large music charter on Freedom OTS in about three weeks; 70,000 Tons of Metal. 60 bands, 4 stages, and they build "the largest open-air structure at sea." Previously, this charter has used the Majesty (r.i.p.) from 2011-2014, the Liberty in 2015, and then the Independence from 2016-2020. This will be the first charter sailing since COVID and we're on a brand-new ship...with a brand-new venue, El Loco Fresh. So, I'm kinda asking for about 3,000 other people since very few of them are active on CruiseCritic, or actively take cruises. In fact, only about 20-25% of our cruisers are from the US; all the rest are from Canada, Germany, the UK and then numerous other countries, and this goes for the bands and their crews as well. It's a very international cruise and quite unique. Anyway.... How does El Loco Fresh work? Do you choose your ingredients and then the burritos or tacos (I presume) are made to your specs? I'm used to that at Blue Iguana Cantina on Carnival's ships (and they're awesome, too!). Or is it more of a grab-n-go venue? Is there a toppings bar? Also, do they serve any breakfast there, or is it just lunch and (maybe) dinner hours? This might also be our first experience with any dining options at Playmakers. I realize there's an a la carte charge; what are their hours? Are the menus there standardized across all ships? I've been a little dismayed at the relative lack of dining options on the Independence over the years. Granted, Sorrentos and the Promenade Café should be opened 24 hours for us, but there just aren't that many free/included options. The WJ may also be open for us late-night (11pm - 2am) but close during dinner hours; that's how it was back in 2020. Any other insights about the Freedom vis a vis the Indy are also welcome. I'm aware that Freedom DOES have Starlink installed although actual Wi-Fi speeds have varied widely, per other threads here on CC. Thanks!