CruisinBlues

I second moki'smommy. We still do the gallon ziplock bag packing method for the kids. Something else I will add, unpack when you get into your room. It is very nice for everything to have a "home", put the suitcases under the bed, and forget about them. We take a pop up hamper, and that helps to contain all the dirty clothes.

Another second for this thought! Living out of suitcases stinks! I do that often enough on business trips!

I'll add one other thought to this... Save even more space, and avoid looking at your dirty clothes... there is usually plenty of space under the bed to leave an empty suitcase, open, and just pull it out to use it as your hamper! Then when it's time to do laundry, close it up and roll it down the hall to the laundry!

I have done 6 cruises now. 7th one is coming up next month. Each time I pack less than the time before, and I STILL never use everything I pack. I hope I can keep cruising until I get it just right! ;)

My Son-in-law who is 6 foot nine is worried about cruising on Disney. Can you tell one of the good things a very tall person could look forward to on the Disney cruise, and the bad things. And how to make the best of it.

My son is 6'8" and never had any real problems on Fantasy. One thing to note, however - if it is a concern, make sure you don't book a room on the same deck as the kids' club. Disney has deliberately made the corridor ceilings lower on that deck to make the kids feel just a little taller! Still plenty of height for most, but those low-hanging signs will be a bit lower on that deck...

For what it's worth we cruised in a group of 23 last fall on Brilliance. We had 3 tables all next to each other and were able to switch up the seating each night. It worked out great (but we were all on traditional dining)!

In order to do this "round robin" seating they asked that everyone in the party prepay gratuities so none of the wait staff would get stiffed.

I sailed in an oceanview balcony on Oasis and a Central Park balcony on Allure. My thoughts:

The ocean view was very nice. Great view of the water going by, sunsets/sunrises, etc. That was my first cruise, and there was SO much to do on the ship that I was really only in the cabin to sleep/shower/shave/change clothes so I actually spent a total of maybe 2-3 hours on the balcony all week.

The CP balcony was an interesting change. You do need to remember to close the curtains (at least the sheers during the daytime) to change in the room or you will give the folks across from you a show. Once you get past that, I actually kind of liked sitting on the balcony and listening to the musicians down below during the evening, hearing the piper up on the top deck occasionally, and of course people-watching at all hours of the day and night. On that cruise, we still spent most of our time out and about the ship, maybe 10 hours on the balcony all week.

As far as noise, I am a very sound sleeper so nothing bothers me at night, but in both cases the room is pretty quiet with the door closed (even during the day when the pool band was playing) - we were on deck 12, 2 decks below the pools. If you leave the door open, it will be noisy and get hot - the A/C only works when the balcony door is shut and latched.

No experience with Boardwalk balconies yet, maybe next time!

Hope that helps!

I have not cruised Freedom with that large a group yet (we were only 10 people on that ship) but just went on Brilliance with a family group of 24. In that case they set up 3 tables of 8 all together.

One caveat - not a big deal, but if you want to "round robin" between tables, everyone at the tables needs to prepay their gratuities. At least this was the case on Brilliance. That way none of the service staff get "stiffed" as a result of people moving around.

In my experience, any more than 8-10 at a single table starts to get very difficult to enjoy conversation (the other end of the table is just too far away!).

Have a great time! Cruising in a bigger group can be lots of fun!

I believe it has to do with trying to make it so that everyone is equal. Meaning, everyone will go to dinner with wrinkled clothes, therefor no one will feel out of place.

In all my cruises, I have never had a problem with my sleeveless t-shirts and cargo shorts getting too wrinkled! ...:D:rolleyes: Too soon? :cool:

I know you said you prefer midship rooms, but you also said you prefer a higher deck. I have to toss in a recommendation for the rooms that are forward on Deck 5. Ocean views in front of all the verandahs, if you are looking at a photo of the outside of the ship.

The motion never bothered us up there, and there are some very unique room layouts as a result of the design of the ship... We stayed in 5522 on the Fantasy about a month ago and it was AWESOME!

Hi! My Wife and I just stayed in 5522 (similar room, opposite side of the ship) May 23rd week. It was an awesome room! Lots of space, did not notice any noise. We did not mind the single bath setup, either - of course, most of our cruises have been on Royal so we are used to sharing one bath.

Fantasy is a beautiful ship! Have a great trip!

Just off Freedom about 10 days ago, soda packages were very much still available. The printed literature did not make it very clear though... Seems Royal may be trying to push the larger packages (and I cannot blame them - almost pure profit!) to those that may not know better.

I bought mine online in advance, and several others in my group bought onboard.

In case anyone ever finds this thread via the search and wonders...

The cruise was wonderful, and the answer to my particular question about the location of stateroom 8250 is... NO WORRIES! The room was very quiet! Our stateroom attendant was fantastic.

The only complaint I have is that they made me move out after 7 days! :cool:

Hi all!

Long time reader/lurker, first post...

We are on the Freedom coming up soon and were able to upgrade ourselves for a great deal from our PR room to an E1, #8250 :). Anyone out there ever sailed in this particular room? It appears very close to the forward elevator lobby, was just wondering if it is likely to be any noisier than any other stateroom in that LONG hallway that everyone has to walk past!

Thanks in advance!