KiwiGal117

When you check in your room card will be either silver

Or gold, indicating your suite status and that will get you into the suit waiting area

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You are my heroes! I’d

Love to do a last

Minute sometime. Amazing how quickly you can get it all done though! Does Owen know yet?

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We did the spring 4 day. While Nanaimo was nice - you are right - not much there itself to draw people. We talked to some old timers having coffee near the port and they told us how much was spent on building the pier to attract cruise ships and as of May - only 3 ships had visited. Another observation - none of the local businesses knew a ship would be in port and many had to scramble to get in extra staff to accommodate. That seems like a fail on the part of the tourism and port people.

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Completely agree with the OP. We found it a fabulous choice.

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Just tell your hubby that it was cheaper than another cruise[emoji51]

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That's too bad it's not part of the Refreshment package. My underage son would be all over that, but obviously can't buy a Deluxe package.

I’m sure you would have heard if there was a problem. Remember how many people are on this ship - including employees. Chances are good it isn’t your relative. But I get why you are worried.

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Thanks for doing this - we are considering this (or a similar) itinerary for 2021 - long time away but always looking for good information!

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So happy to see another of your cruise reviews APDMOM! My husband and I also have 1 son - around the same age I think. So I always take notes and find your tips to be so helpful! We are on Symphony next. No particular plans for Adventure at New England - but it’s all on a bucket list!

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Where is the like button??!!

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I agree - go to Aix. We actually booked a ship tour and you could walk with the guide or just wander around yourself as they told us what time to be back for the return. Not as cheap as doing it yourself but if you are nervous about DIY then this is a good solution- it wasn’t very expensive as I recall.

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We used global entry and walked straight through - no wait at all. I can’t say what happened with the Mobile passport app though.

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Fab! Thanks for sharing!!

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We did this same itinerary on Harmony in 2016 and did not have to hand over passports. I believe because all ports are EU.

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On our Freedom cruise in March the employee at the Next Cruise desk said the contract with Port Everglades was up and it wasn’t being renewed. I assume from that RCI was choosing not to renew but I could be wrong...

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I checked in today and my reservation was locked. I had to call and they unlocked it. I had gone in on Friday to check in but realized I needed some more info from my friend. So I went out of the reservation. It seemed that if you don’t click the “exit reservation and view website” button it will lock. It wasn’t a huge deal and it was fixed quickly. Just make sure you have all your information ready to go and you should be able to avoid this.

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We have skipped one port on each of our last two cruises. It is nice to have the ship "to yourself". Next year we are on Symphony, with several of the same ports as our Freedom cruise this year. I don't anticipate getting off the ship in those ports. I could see doing a full 7 day without disembarking...

We did this a few weeks ago - we did self disembark arriving at the end of the line around 6:20 (line was huge!) but we have NEXUS cards so priority immigration line - we were waiting in line at Starbucks after security at 7:45. But as another poster noted it may depend on what airline.

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Florence is quite far from La Spezia. When we were there on Harmony in 2016 we did a tour of Cinque Terre. Well worth it!

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It's a discount based on the onboard price, not what you were seeing in your Cruise Planner before the offer. Or, voodoo math as indicated above!! Frustrating isn't it?

The linked article didn’t specify. Just thinking if I had $64,000 to treat my family to a 1 week vacation, we sure wouldn’t spend it on a ship with 5500-6000 other passengers

.

I was thinking the same thing!

Hi APDMOM! Imagine my delight when I wandered over from the RC boards and found your review! As soon as I saw it of course I remembered that you mentioned you would be going. Thanks for the great info - we just got back from a Freedom cruise and your review of yours was so helpful! Thanks again! I hope we meet on a ship one day!

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We were on the cruise just prior - arrived at the port around 10:15 - no wait whatsoever - straight through security, and up to a check in desk, sat a few moments downstairs, then moved upstairs and sat a few more before boarding. All in we were about 30 minutes from dropping luggage to stepping onto the ship with no lines at any point. OP just hit that bad spot of arriving in the thick of it, as he admitted. But 30 minutes I didn't think was bad, but then I wasn't standing in line at all.

Also, that port aft elevator wasn't working either. It did slow things down, but once I remembered, I just used the starboard side. We took the stairs as much as possible.

My picky Italian husband liked the pizza on Freedom last week - as did the rest of our party. The crust was not cardboard at all and the sauce was definitely not ketchup. It is a thin crust

Pizza but this was definitely made on the spot and we thought it was good! Maybe not NY pizzeria good, but better than many of the US pizza chains.

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We arrived around 10:30 at Civitavecchia for our Harmony Cruise in 2016 and we were on board by 11. As that was an interporting cruise they offered a late departure option in the excursions section of our cruise planner.

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