Just booked!! I'm full of excitement...or is that fear??

11/29/15 - Freedom of the Seas!! Eastern Caribbean.

Two of us - we got a superior state room - balcony, deck 7, aft of ship. I think that's good... :p (don't tell me if it isn't, first cruise! :D)

Chose my time dining and prepaid gratuities. Did not use their trip insurance.

We have not decided on drink package - I'm not sure if it's worth it for the two of us, an extra $800. I'll have to research and see how much I think I will drink paying out of pocket vs package. I can always add it, right?

Soooo, no idea what else to do now. :D Flying Saturday after Thanksgiving, so I'm not worrying about plane tickets for a while, that's a surprisingly good day to fly. (knock wood)

We have to pay final payment by 9/15. Already have it, but only made deposit today- never know if we would have to cancel, it's so early.

I have to say, this is sooooooooo much cheaper than the WDW trip we just went on. :D

Anyways, any advice, anything we should know or do soon?

Excited, a little nervous, freezing (it's 2 degrees here right now)...

11/29/15 - Freedom of the Seas!! Eastern Caribbean.

 

Two of us - we got a superior state room - balcony, deck 7, aft of ship. I think that's good... :p (don't tell me if it isn't, first cruise! :D)

 

Chose my time dining and prepaid gratuities. Did not use their trip insurance.

 

We have not decided on drink package - I'm not sure if it's worth it for the two of us, an extra $800. I'll have to research and see how much I think I will drink paying out of pocket vs package. I can always add it, right?

 

Soooo, no idea what else to do now. :D Flying Saturday after Thanksgiving, so I'm not worrying about plane tickets for a while, that's a surprisingly good day to fly. (knock wood)

 

We have to pay final payment by 9/15. Already have it, but only made deposit today- never know if we would have to cancel, it's so early.

I have to say, this is sooooooooo much cheaper than the WDW trip we just went on. :D

 

Anyways, any advice, anything we should know or do soon?

 

Excited, a little nervous, freezing (it's 2 degrees here right now)...

Congrats! Freedom is a great ship, she is just going into drydock tomorrow in Freeport. Yes you can add the drink package at a later date. One thing you might want to do is keep an eye on (subscribe) your Roll Call thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2108546

Thank you!! I will join now.

I'm sitting here grinning ear to ear! :D

Stay EXCITED (not fearful)! You'll have a wonderful time! :D

LuLu

First cruises are memorable. My advice is to enjoy the planning and then the cruise itself. Don't let 'naysayers' get to you. And most importantly, cruising is addictive - so beware!!! :eek:

We sailed Indy this year right after Thanksgiving. You get the holiday feel without the holiday price!!! We loved the xmas décor and long break so much I booked Brilliance for 11-30-15 when we returned.

Keep your eye on the reviews here - the Freedom is getting some long overdue updates very soon!

No worries!

First cruises are memorable. My advice is to enjoy the planning and then the cruise itself. Don't let 'naysayers' get to you. And most importantly, cruising is addictive - so beware!!! :eek:

I second that. Our first cruise is coming up at the end of February, and I think I've enjoyed the planning part as much as the cruising part :D

Thanks everyone!

I am not going to fret about our cabin choice, most important to me was a balcony, which we booked. I really had no idea about what deck (had to look up what Foward and aft was :D), etc, so I if we don't love it as much as other locations, lesson learned for next cruise. :D

I think the my time dining was a good choice for us - although I'll have to check what time shows are at night, in case we want to see some. But we like the thought of not being pinned to a certain dinner time.

I do have to say, I have no idea if we got a good deal - $1981 total for two (superior ocean view balcony, paid gratuities) and $100 each onboard credit. Is that good? Should I be on the look out for better? We know no cruise people in "real life" so please, go ahead and be honest! :D

I didn't even think it would be decorated for the holidays, that's such a great bonus!!

I think the my time dining was a good choice for us - although I'll have to check what time shows are at night, in case we want to see some. But we like the thought of not being pinned to a certain dinner time.

Looking thru some Cruise Compasses for past sailings of the ship I'm sailing on (Serenade) it looks like, with the exception of the Welcome Aboard show and the final night show, they have two performances each night for the different dinner seatings. Not sure how it is on your ship. Might look for posts concerning your ship using the links at the top of the page. Someone may have posted Cruise Compasses from past sailings for you to look at....

You will have a blast! It's hard to say whether you got a good deal or not; it is rather "subjective". Some of us have discounts for many different things (state, senior, military...) but keep an eye out for price drops. You do this by doing a mock reservation. If you see something lower than what you paid then call RCI or your TA. But some sales are for new bookings only or for living in certain states or...see, there are a lot of factors for price.

Join the roll call and ask away! There is a lot of knowledge on these boards so take advantage of it.

Thanks everyone!

 

I am not going to fret about our cabin choice, most important to me was a balcony, which we booked. I really had no idea about what deck (had to look up what Foward and aft was :D), etc, so I if we don't love it as much as other locations, lesson learned for next cruise. :D

 

I think the my time dining was a good choice for us - although I'll have to check what time shows are at night, in case we want to see some. But we like the thought of not being pinned to a certain dinner time.

 

I do have to say, I have no idea if we got a good deal - $1981 total for two (superior ocean view balcony, paid gratuities) and $100 each onboard credit. Is that good? Should I be on the look out for better? We know no cruise people in "real life" so please, go ahead and be honest! :D

 

I didn't even think it would be decorated for the holidays, that's such a great bonus!!

You picked a great ship at a good price! The current prices are not the lowest we have seen, but with the OB credit you end up at the same price I would pay with a diamond discount. There's a lot of time before final payment = plenty of sales/pricing games. If there's a better "sale" you will read about it here.

Thanks! You're right, price is objective. It's great price for us, so that's what matters! :D

You picked a great ship at a good price! The current prices are not the lowest we have seen, but with the OB credit you end up at the same price I would pay with a diamond discount. There's a lot of time before final payment = plenty of sales/pricing games. If there's a better "sale" you will read about it here.

Thanks, and I think "price-watch" will be part of the fun of planning! :D

Congrats. We are on Freedom the week before you. Not our first cruise, but first in Freedom :).

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Another question- starboard or port? Does it matter which side you booked?

Our cabin is deck 7, a balcony room, and looks to be the right side of the ship (facing towards front). It's towards the back of the ship, but still on the side of ship (if that makes any sense).

Do things like this matter? I would imagine only at the ports for people watching??

11/29/15 - Freedom of the Seas!! Eastern Caribbean.

 

Two of us - we got a superior state room - balcony, deck 7, aft of ship. I think that's good... :p (don't tell me if it isn't, first cruise! :D)

 

Chose my time dining and prepaid gratuities. Did not use their trip insurance.

 

We have not decided on drink package - I'm not sure if it's worth it for the two of us, an extra $800. I'll have to research and see how much I think I will drink paying out of pocket vs package. I can always add it, right?

 

Soooo, no idea what else to do now. :D Flying Saturday after Thanksgiving, so I'm not worrying about plane tickets for a while, that's a surprisingly good day to fly. (knock wood)

 

We have to pay final payment by 9/15. Already have it, but only made deposit today- never know if we would have to cancel, it's so early.

I have to say, this is sooooooooo much cheaper than the WDW trip we just went on. :D

 

Anyways, any advice, anything we should know or do soon?

 

Excited, a little nervous, freezing (it's 2 degrees here right now)...

I hope you have some kind of trip insurance. You are traveling from Chicago in November!:eek:

I hope you have some kind of trip insurance. You are traveling from Chicago in November!:eek:

I do plan to get some and we plan to fly in the morning before, hopefully it will all work out.

Lot's of people travel from Chicago in November. It's Thanksgiving weekend! :D Winter get-aways don't have the same effect if you travel in the summer. ;)

Another question- starboard or port? Does it matter which side you booked?

 

Our cabin is deck 7, a balcony room, and looks to be the right side of the ship (facing towards front). It's towards the back of the ship, but still on the side of ship (if that makes any sense).

 

Do things like this matter? I would imagine only at the ports for people watching??

Port or starboard usually does not matter to us. The side that the ship will dock on is unpredicable, except on Oasis and Allure where they tend to favor starboard.

The only time we insist on a certain side is if we are doing a transatlantic cruise, in which case we will get the sunny side.

I hope you have a wonderful cruise!:D

We took our first cruise over Thanksgiving on Explorer. Already looking for the next cruise. We had the highly coveted interior cabin that was in the most forward part of the aft section of the ship on deck 7. Not sure of the exact layout of Freedom but on Explorer, deck 7 was 4 flights of stairs down from the pool and Windjammer and 2 flights up from the Promenade. When you are forced to take the stairs, not a bad place to be.

Just relax and enjoy yourselves.

I may be able to help you on the drink package debate. There is an amazing site that I learned about here on the boards. It is called cruise with gambee. If you click around on his site 'menus and drinks' royal caribbean' '2014 drinks list' you will see pictures of the drinks menus with prices, and then a break down of whether the packages are worth it based upon the number/type of drinks you want to try. I found it quite informative! The best news, if one of you enjoys adult beverages a little more than the other, that person can pay for the package and the other can order drinks a la cart. :p

I may be able to help you on the drink package debate. There is an amazing site that I learned about here on the boards. It is called cruise with gambee. If you click around on his site 'menus and drinks' royal caribbean' '2014 drinks list' you will see pictures of the drinks menus with prices, and then a break down of whether the packages are worth it based upon the number/type of drinks you want to try. I found it quite informative! The best news, if one of you enjoys adult beverages a little more than the other, that person can pay for the package and the other can order drinks a la cart. :p

Thanks!

I suspect this will be my most crucial decision for this trip. :p

Don't let comments by the 'critics' get to you as you read through the threads. Many 'cruise critics' have preconceived notions that tend to chip away at the excitement of going on a cruise so take all comments posted with a grain of salt.

I don't know why but we always get a balcony on the starboard side. Just habit I guess. It really doesn't matter one way or another.

Unless you are a heavy drinker, I don't think the beverage packages are worth it. We have several cocktails a day on a cruise and the beverage package would not have been a better deal cost wise.

Honestly, there has never been anything so negative on any of the 28 cruises I've been on that I would post a complaint. Sure, there are some small things that could have used some improvement but I sure as heck wouldn't dwell on those because the rest of the time on a ship or in a port is absolutely awesome! This is of course, my own opinion but I'd rather hear about what a great time you had on your cruise! I also wear rose colored glasses when it comes to cruising and I offer no apologies for that!

Enjoy your cruise!

Freedom is one of our favorite ships ever. We know people that book a cruise on her every year because they like it so much. There are other ships like her (Liberty, Independence,...) and bigger ships, but Freedom is really special in that "it's hard to say exactly why" kind of way. You are going to really like it!!!

Tom

Freedom is one of our favorite ships ever. We know people that book a cruise on her every year because they like it so much. There are other ships like her (Liberty, Independence,...) and bigger ships, but Freedom is really special in that "it's hard to say exactly why" kind of way. You are going to really like it!!!

 

Tom

I'm happy to read this. I was just reading some of the reviews on this board and man, did Freedom get slammed in December!! :eek: I think there was a mechanical problem, but the first two pages of reviews were not very good at all.

Then I stopped reading them. :p