Freedom of the Seas questions

[glo1196]

Ok, I have so many questions. I don't want anyone to think I am totally crazy.

 

So here is a few of them.

 

Is there anyplace I can see what the typical day for a 17 year old and 11 year old is like? What activities they may have? Times?

How much is it for them to get Ben and Jerry's ice cream? and what is it they get for the money?

 

Are formal nights formal enough for us to wear gowns? Do we rent a tux on board or do we bring a rental with us? Any suggestions where to get one? We want to really do it up.

 

We are a family of 5. We have two inside cabins side by side on the 7th floor. My daughter might want to bring a friend, and both our rooms hold 4 people, but for some reason RCCL won't let us add one to the room. Does anyone know why? And can that change if people don't make final payments?

 

We want to do an excursion where it says you have to be 12 to go on. My twins turn 12 June 2. Will I have to wait til then to make the ressie. I tried on the site and it says they are to young. I am nervous that it will be full.

 

What are the midnight different buffets? Is there a chocolate one?

 

I know I will have a million more questions. Thank to anyone who answers any of them. We are so excited. Aug 17th can't get here fast enough!

[cb at sea]

Ok, I have so many questions. I don't want anyone to think I am totally crazy.

 

So here is a few of them.

 

Is there anyplace I can see what the typical day for a 17 year old and 11 year old is like? What activities they may have? Times?Sorry--no kids, so I can't help with this one!

 

Are formal nights formal enough for us to wear gowns? Do we rent a tux on board or do we bring a rental with us? Any suggestions where to get one? We want to really do it up.

Yes! Formal means eveningwear! Gowns and tux or dark suit is the thing to wear!

We are a family of 5. We have two inside cabins side by side on the 7th floor. My daughter might want to bring a friend, and both our rooms hold 4 people, but for some reason RCCL won't let us add one to the room. Does anyone know why? And can that change if people don't make final payments?

There are more actual beds onboard than the ship allows people. If they've met the quota for "souls onboard" they won't accept any new passengers.

We want to do an excursion where it says you have to be 12 to go on. My twins turn 12 June 2. Will I have to wait til then to make the ressie. I tried on the site and it says they are to young. I am nervous that it will be full.

All ship excursions hold back a number of spots for those who don't book in advance. You can book when you board the ship, if you want to.

What are the midnight different buffets? Is there a chocolate one?

It will depend on the length of the cruise, but there should be a real buffet (with real food, and a buffet of chocolate desserts! Other nights there will be roaming waiters with trays of "munchies"!

I know I will have a million more questions. Thank to anyone who answers any of them. We are so excited. Aug 17th can't get here fast enough!

 

You'll have a great trip!

[glo1196]

Thanks :) Any ideas on where to rent the tux? We are leaving MA on the 15th which means we would have a tux for over a week, more like 10 days. Do most people bring the tux with them?

 

I am so excited about this cruise. I am driving my poor kids and husband crazy.

[sddsddean]

Personally I wear an ordinary suit for formals, as I just don't like tux's. This is perfectly acceptable. You can either bring your own tux or rent one on board. This can be pre booked via RCI website or your TA etc.

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/allaboutcruising/weddings/enhancements/tuxedoRentals.do;jsessionid=0000wiYkYVjHrzoLu0-aiC0FDkt:12hdhubrs

 

Simon

[glo1196]

Awesome! Thanks I have been looking for that exactly!

 

Another question? Since we are 5, will we be sat with anyone else for dinner? Or are we so big we would be alone. It might be nice to have another family with kids our kids ages.

[willysgrandma]

If you'd like to be seated with others, ask your travel agent to mark that you want a large table on your reservation. Then youll be seated with others.

 

You can read the Cruise Dailies on this website:

 

www.cruisedailies.com

 

Look for the papers for Freedom of the Seas -you can see for each day what activities are going on so you'll have an idea what the kids can do. There is a teen club and plenty of activities and I will bet they'll have a great time surfing!

[crusinmama06]

Ok, I have so many questions. I don't want anyone to think I am totally crazy.

 

So here is a few of them.

 

Is there anyplace I can see what the typical day for a 17 year old and 11 year old is like? What activities they may have? Times?

How much is it for them to get Ben and Jerry's ice cream? and what is it they get for the money?

 

Are formal nights formal enough for us to wear gowns? Do we rent a tux on board or do we bring a rental with us? Any suggestions where to get one? We want to really do it up.

 

We are a family of 5. We have two inside cabins side by side on the 7th floor. My daughter might want to bring a friend, and both our rooms hold 4 people, but for some reason RCCL won't let us add one to the room. Does anyone know why? And can that change if people don't make final payments?

 

We want to do an excursion where it says you have to be 12 to go on. My twins turn 12 June 2. Will I have to wait til then to make the ressie. I tried on the site and it says they are to young. I am nervous that it will be full.

 

What are the midnight different buffets? Is there a chocolate one?

 

I know I will have a million more questions. Thank to anyone who answers any of them. We are so excited. Aug 17th can't get here fast enough!

 

I have kid activitiy schedules uploaded here...

http://s204.photobucket.com/albums/bb196/cruisinmama06/Royal%20Caribean%20AO%20Compass/

 

Yes for formal night we do gowns and a tux for the hubby, we preorder it and it is waiting for us when we board

 

So the kids will be 12 by the time of sailing? They save space for each excursion for getting it onboard. But that line is horrible. See if you can't call RCCL and add the excursion before you board. Are their birthdates entered correctly? I am wondering why it won't allow it when they will obviously be old enough by the sailing date.

 

Personally we like to sit by ourselves because we like to go at our pace during dinner. The kids are always in a hurry to take off anyway. But you can request a larger table. But I wouldn't worry about them making friends with the kids at dinner. They will have more than enough time to make friends elsewhere on the ship.

[WhiteSoxFan]

If you'd like to be seated with others, ask your travel agent to mark that you want a large table on your reservation. Then youll be seated with others.

 

You can read the Cruise Dailies on this website:

 

www.cruisedailies.com

 

Look for the papers for Freedom of the Seas -you can see for each day what activities are going on so you'll have an idea what the kids can do. There is a teen club and plenty of activities and I will bet they'll have a great time surfing!

 

I agree, if you go to cruisedailies.com and click on the Compasses for the eastern itinerary they have all the OA compasses for each age group. It will give an idea what a typical day is like.

[LAKaye]

We are a family of 5. We have two inside cabins side by side on the 7th floor. My daughter might want to bring a friend, and both our rooms hold 4 people, but for some reason RCCL won't let us add one to the room. Does anyone know why? And can that change if people don't make final payments?

 

August 17th is a good six months away; I can't imagine that so much of the ship is sold out, but it is possible. July/August is the peak of family vacation time.

 

Category N on Deck 7 has a four-person capacity. I would think that you have at least one of those on your booking already because you have 5 people. What the others said about passenger capacity of the ship as a whole is true, but I can't believe that the question of a possible 6th person is hopeless.

 

Telephone RCI again and ask another agent--maybe ask two or three! Someone may be able to shuffle something around for you.

 

Leslie

[all3]

I was trying to add a 4th person to our cruise on line and was unable to. I called RCI and was told they were limiting the number in state rooms because they were reaching people capacity and still had empty state rooms. The person I talked to told me to just keep trying, which I did. Strangely enough that particular day I checked it about every hour and before the end of the day I was able to add the 4th person. I would say just keep trying and don't just try once a day.

 

Good Luck!

[uksimonusa]

August 17th is a good six months away; I can't imagine that so much of the ship is sold out, but it is possible. July/August is the peak of family vacation time.

 

Category N on Deck 7 has a four-person capacity. I would think that you have at least one of those on your booking already because you have 5 people. What the others said about passenger capacity of the ship as a whole is true, but I can't believe that the question of a possible 6th person is hopeless.

 

Telephone RCI again and ask another agent--maybe ask two or three! Someone may be able to shuffle something around for you.

 

Leslie

 

The thing is that if RCI have say 300 cabins unsold, the lower berths on those cabins, hold 600 people, if the ship is 600 people less the the maximum number of souls on board allowed, they will not let you place a 3rd of 4th person in another cabin, because if the ship does become a sell out, then they will be overloaded, and therefore have cabins they cannot sell. They would rather sell at full cost, than at the 3rd and 4th person rate.

 

As the OP has a family of 5, then getting 3 cabins, would allow the friend to travel

[jennat]

I don't know if this is correct or applicable but when we were booking Carnival last year there was a big tadoo over a triple or quad cabin...there was a definate difference between the two.....like I said, may not be applicable here but just thought..........

 

Can you ask why they won't let you add her? what do they say? I agree with the above posters....a lot of times it is who you get on the phone. San but true.

[one9marine]

glo1196, go to this site. all you want to know and more on Freedom.

 

http://www.thepreismans.com/Freedom.htm

[glo1196]

August 17th is a good six months away; I can't imagine that so much of the ship is sold out, but it is possible. July/August is the peak of family vacation time.

 

Category N on Deck 7 has a four-person capacity. I would think that you have at least one of those on your booking already because you have 5 people. What the others said about passenger capacity of the ship as a whole is true, but I can't believe that the question of a possible 6th person is hopeless.

 

Telephone RCI again and ask another agent--maybe ask two or three! Someone may be able to shuffle something around for you.

 

Leslie

 

Yes, we have rooms that can fit 4 each, and we have it set up with 2 in one room and 3 in the other room. So putting one more in either room wouldn't be a problem. I will keep trying. Should I do it, or should my travel agent do it? I figure I would be able to call more often, right?

 

Thanks for the daily compass for us and the girls! They are thrilled about them.

 

About the excursions, their birthdays are in the system correctly and I did call RCCI and they said that we had to wait. I will call again in a few weeks and ask someone else.

 

I can't believe how much info you guys have!

[Susie51]

We had the same problem on Disney. We were never able to add the extra person even though there were two extra beds. One in each room.

[glo1196]

I am worried about my 17 year old daughter. If we can't get her friend on the ship because it is full, how easy is it for teens to make friends. Anyother teen parents out there just cruise with one teen? Did it go ok? I know she will hang out with me some, but I want her to enjoy the experience with kids her age too!

[akcruz]

I am worried about my 17 year old daughter. If we can't get her friend on the ship because it is full, how easy is it for teens to make friends. Anyother teen parents out there just cruise with one teen? Did it go ok? I know she will hang out with me some, but I want her to enjoy the experience with kids her age too!

 

If your daughter is at all outgoing she will meet up with many kids her own age. With the ship already at a high capacity I am sure there will be a lot of kids her age. Make sure you go to your roll call and see who else is sailing with you. Maybe you can set up something ahead of time. We've done this in the past and my daughter has e-mailed with others before the cruise to get to know them. We are planning our next cruise and asked her if she wanted to bring a friend (she is 17 now) and her answer was no. She enjoys meeting new people when cruising and is afraid she won't try to meet anyone if she already has a friend!

[glo1196]

I posted a roll call, because I couldn't find one for Aug. 17th on the Freedom anywhere, and haven't had anyone post they are going. maybe we picked the only cruise out there without a cruisecritic member on it!

 

Thanks for all the info!

[ehfl]

Many of your questions are answered on the RCCL web site. Just check out the virtual tours of the ship, and check the various activities and programs for kids by age-group.