CruisingCatherine

I also did not need to bring any evidence for prescriptions. I did leave all of my pills in their original bottles as did my father. No one asked anything about any medication.

Just off the Freedom yesterday. I can answer some questions for everyone.

 

1. Current Cruise Director is Richard Spacey. VERY funny man!!

 

2. Life Jackets are NOT required for the Muster Drill.

 

3. Ice Show tickets are being given for everyone except Diamond, Diamond Plus, and I believe suite guests. Your Concierge/Diamond Lounge access card is all you need.

 

4. Formal nights are the first Sea Day and Grand Cayman night.

 

5. According to the personell at Chops there are no age restrictions on Chops reservations now. Children are allowed at anytime and are now charged the full $25 fee. This upset me as I was not told of the change in fee and paid $25 each for my kids to have the mud pie and some french fries.

It has been so long since someone used this thread I thought it was gone forever.

 

Happy Planning!!

Did you happen to see which car rental companies are right at the tender pier?

[quote name='nzdisneymom']Wow - thanks for the quick pictures - I just showed the boys~ looks like the Living Room is a place for their age group! And I loved the peek into Johnny Rockets.

Which leads to another question -- can we have their Sea Passes where they can charge but only up to a certain limit? That way if they want to grab lunch or shakes at Johnny Rockets, they don't have to find us? I absolutely don't want them to have unlimited charging priviliges, but was just wondering about that.

Thanks again for the pics![/quote]

Yes you can put a limit on their cards. I don't think you can make it a per day limit though. I put a $50 on my kids card and when it was gone...it was gone. Great budgeting lesson.

Fran,

 

I love living in Nashville! In the short time I have lived here the changes are amazing. It is so much more than people think. We have a brand new symphony hall, an incredible art museum, ballet, every kind of music club you can imagine, a great zoo, a science museum, broadway shows, ect... There is so much to see and do. Many people think of Nashville in the way you see in an old country music movie.

If you scanned in the compass, why not upload it to something like photobucket and post the link and then everyone can view it without giving out email addresses and cluttering up this thread.

 

Because most of the time the uploads on sites like photobucket, wbshots, smugmug..ect.. do not give you a clear full size printable copy of the compass. If you are able to print it, most of the time it is too small or not clear enough to read.

 

Many people, like myself, are avid planners. We like to have everything arranged ahead of time, like in room babysitting, so that we can relax and get the most out of our vacations.

Caterine.......I'm trying to scan/send the first one now......let me know if you get it.

Fran

 

Got it and it looks GREAT!!!

Catherine..........we are going on the 6/21 Freedom. That is western. I'll post them, if you like when I return.

 

Do you have the compass yet? If so, my e-mail is cruise_addicts at hotmail dot com I REALLY appreciate you taking the time for this.

You could have made it bigger ...

 

The biggest thanks I can offer is coming your way!!!!!

 

 

So true!!!!!!!

Catherine..........we are going on the 6/21 Freedom. That is western. I'll post them, if you like when I return.

 

 

The biggest thanks I can offer is coming your way!!!!!:D:D:D

I am in desperate need of the new cruise compass for the Freedom. I have the old ones prior to the ship moving, but I really need the new ones. I want to make reservations at Chops and I need to try and plan when I will need in room sitting so I can request this the first day on board. Can anyone post these or agree to post these when returning in the near future? I hate to beg but...ppppplllllleeeeaaaassseeeeee!!!!!:D

Would it be smarter to buy your own snorkel gear if you plan on snorkeling on more than one island? Also, is it a hassel to carry around this gear on the islands? Can you take it back to the ship after you are done with snorkeling?

We are going on the East Carr. Route with Cococay, St. thomas, and St maarten.

 

We purchased our own equipment after our initial cruise. We cruise a lot and love to snorkel, so in the long run we save a lot of money. We also saw the "sanitizing" for the mouthpieces on our first cruise. This consisted of about 25 sets of snorkel gear getting dumped into a trash can full of supposed sanitizer that had spit, dirt, and debris floating around in it. Grossed me out!!!:eek: We found a really nice snorkel gear bag that will hold both sets of gear, sunglasses, sunscreen, money, ect.. Kind of looks like a mini backpack. Would definitely recommend purchasing your own.

:( My husband & I just got back off the Navigator. I am still going through withdrawls and wish I were back on the ship. It was his first cruise and now he is addicted as well. We are very excited to be going on the Freedom with our two children, unfortunatley cant go till next year. Our kids are so involved with sports this is the only other time during the year we can travel. Love your pictures and would like to hear more from you guys about Freedom!! :) I want this next cruise with our children to be the best vacation memories they have ever had.

 

 

I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was going to tell you about this thread......you beat me to it. You go girl!!! 156 Days.:D

New cruisers requested website info so I am bumping this.

One of the entertainers had a heart attack and died on the CB last week.

 

We were on this sailing as well. It makes sense that it was an entertainer as the production show was cancelled later that evening for "health/illness".

We set up private tours at almost every port. Most tours allow up to six people. Our group had a total of three and we found another group of three. This meant for a private guide the cost was around $100-$125 each, compared to the ship cost of $200-$300. We were able to see more and to customize our tours. I would highly recommend this.

 

We took off on our own in Monaco and Eze. Would highly recommend this. The train station is a short walk down the waterfront. Train runs often and stops at the base of Eze and in the heart of Monaco. No problems and not scary at all.

Carol,

 

My biggest advice is to use the private guides that are recommended on these boards. We managed to see twice as much as anyone we were able to speak to about their excursions. Going to Europe for us was a once in a lifetime trip and we didn't want to miss a thing. The cost, because we shared with three other women we met through CC, was half the cost of the others we spoke too. In Marseille we booked a guide because the cost was actually cheaper than many of the ship offered excursions and we really wanted to see Aix en Provence, Casis, and Marseille. None of the ship excursions offered all three. There was so much to see in Rome, Florence, and the Amalfi Coast that we decided to book a private guide for these ports.

 

My other largest piece of advice. Spend a few days in Barcelona before or after the cruise. This was actually my favorite city. It is clean, elegant, has the most friendly people, lots of stuff to see, the tourist bus is wonderfult, and Las Ramblas is not to be missed. I actually did not expect to like Barcelona at all and I was shocked at how much I loved it. I want to go back there and spend a whole week with the family.

 

Not too be missed:...EVERYTHING!!!:D

David in Florence. I would have been very upset to have missed this.

Changing of the guards in Monaco. I did miss this and was sad.

We did not visit EZE but wished we had when we heard everyone talking about it on board. In Rome don't skip the Vatican. It is amazing. Don't miss a drive down the Amalfi Coast or Pompeii. Also take time to enjoy the culture. Walk the streets and have lunch at an outdoor cafe. There is nothing like it.

 

We also love a balcony and I had the same question you have. Would it be worth the money with such a port intensive cruise. Enjoying my coffee and breakfast while I watched us pull into ports told me that I made the right decision. The views are beautiful. Relaxing after a busy day with a cup of coffee while we pulled out of port and watched the coast go by just reinforced that opinion.

When we took our trip to Europe one of the most frustrating thing to me was not being able to locate websites through my search engines. I think it may be more difficult because of the language barriers. I decided to post all of the sites I found in order to help all those super organizers, such as myself, with their trip planning. I am very happy that it is helping others!!

 

jst4fun715:

I found the tourism sites very helpful. Particularly the ones on Barcelona and Monaco because these were the only ports we did without a guide. I also was very happy with the Monaco site because I was able to order tourist guides for free from the site. These sites helped a great deal because it included a detailed brochure on the various attractions in Monaco as well as maps and bus schedules. I also found the train schedule for our Nice stop to be very helpful. It allowed me to plan when we needed to leave the ship in order to make the train and the time we needed to leave Monaco in order to make it back. I was very pleased with the hotel we chose and all of our guides.

 

Hope this helps. If you have any additional questions just let me know. I am always willing to help.

I was poking around on the Europe thread and noticed a lot of new people and a lot of questions flying around. I thought I would bump this up for all the newcommers.

 

I also just realized that I neglected to put my FAVORITE GUIDE'S webiste on my original list. It is http://www.seesorrento.com/index_eng.html This is Marcello who does private tours in and around Naples. You won't be dissapointed if you book him!!!

 

Sorry Marcello if you see this!

Mary Jane,

 

Thanks for adding this website! It is a wonderful tool to help plan a trip to the area.

I am sure that there are others who have found links to add to this thread!

 

What are you waiting for.....add your info!! :D

I know that there are a lot of new people planning their European Cruise. I thought I would bump this back up for those that have not seen it before.

Andy M

 

Great Info!!!! I didn't have anything for Venice!

I haven't gotten to use any of my information yet.......but......I cruise in 5 days. I will give everyone my recommendations when I return!!