belmontcrew

This area on Deck 12 is a popular gathering place for sailaways on the Freedom Class ships with its spaciousness and open-air forward views. Other than the helipad, is there any other similar open-air public space left that will give views over the bow of the ship? There may have been a very small area directly above, but I don't recall for sure.

I believe you are correct. There are some steps that go to an area above deck 12. On the Indy there is a sign that says St. Tropez with an arrow pointing up at the steps. Should be the same on Freedom. It does not show on the deck plans. It would be over the Spa.

Does anyone know if there is an exit/entrance from the new rooms on deck 12 to deck 12. It's hard to tell from the deck plans on Royal's site. I would like to assume, but wanted to see if anyone knows for sure.

Thanks.

We did our first cruise on Royal. We now have five on Royal and one on Carnival with a March cruise planed on Freedom. The only reason the March cruise was a good deal is because we are doing a Family Ocean View for six. The first two in the cabin were way over priced, but we got the next four for taxes and fees. With the current pricing structue we probably do not see any cruises with Royal in the near future. Thier pricing games are getting old and stale. We will most likely do our next cruise on Princess or NCL even if the cost is similar....just tired of feeling like I am being taken. I think it's similar to a furniture store we had in town. They had this going out of business sale with everything at 50% off. I think that sale lasted for three years. They must have had a lot of inventory.

The thing is Royal had us from the get go. We fell in love with cruising because of them. All they had to do was make us feel like they wanted our business and at times we don't get that any more. Not just pricing, but other things that have been posted on these boards before.

I would think we will sail again with Royal at some time, but they have certainly opened our eyes to other options.

We have cruised Fall Break with our kids as well. While there will be a few more kids than normal for that time of year, it is nothing like Spring Break or Summer. Many families don't travel /cruise during Fall Break due to commitments thier kids still have at school with things such as sports and band.

We have sailed on Indy two times and were allowed to have the dividers opened each time. We were never given any indication that there needed to be approval. We just asked our room steward. Last March we had three balconies opened for sail away.

Saw this thread and wanted to ask if what I found was correct.

 

I logged on " without " my C&R login and found a cruise for a total of $1834.70 with $300.00 OBC so in reality the price is $1534.70.

 

Went back in and logged in with my C&R login and the price went down to $1784.70 with no OBC.

 

So am I understanding this right? if I act like a complete new customer who has never sailed on RCCL before I can actually buy this cruise for $250.00 cheaper than a C&R member?

 

I understand the overalll price is less as a C&R member but the OBC I know I will use and if it wasn't there it would come out of my pocket at the end of the cruise anyway.

I have been looking at a couple of dates and get the same thing. Shouldn't a C&A member be able to book a cruise for somewhat less than someone who has never sailed with RCI before?

They really need to think about going to transparent pricing. If they offer a C&A discount, it should be off the price listed. Their "sales" are not really sales, and their discounts are not really discounts. It just makes people angry and confused. The prices shown when searching are often not the price available once you start a booking.

Agree100%!! I would like to think that being a C&A member with several cruises with Royal would be worth more than what amounts to $50 less than what any Joe who has never sailed with Royal gets.

The RCCL policy for MTD is, they will only seat a party of 10 at anytime. Best to do 2 tables as your service may suffer and the service of the other diners. Call 800-398-9819 for reservation assistance with the number of reservations you have.

How early can we reserve? We have a 3/15/15 sail date.

In the past we have always done early dinner. However, as we have two 7:00 PM departures and the fact that the early seating was full, we have decided to do MTD this cruise. Has anyone had a group this large for MTD and what was your experience? We have 8 adults, 2 young adults, and 6 teenagers. Will it be better two request two tables of eight next to each other or would a table for 16 be available? If we do a table of 16, should we expect a longer wait time for seating? We will be on Freedom.

Thanks for any help/advice.

I agree that if you want to buy some beers to have with your son on your balcany, go for it. On our last cruise we met a couple at the Dog and Badger that was openly buying their underage son beers. It lasted a couple of days until someone noticed and told them they needed to stop. They are not going to kick you off the ship as some want to suggest.

Well that really stinks. I guess we will need to find somewhere else to go. Thanks for the help John.

We are a group of 15 and are looking at a beach day in Cozumel. We are looking at going to Mr Sanchos. We have some that may want to do the All Inclusive, but some that will want to pay as they go because they don't drink. I found on Mr Sanchos web site where it states "we don't mix our All Inclusive Guests with Pay-As-You-Go Customers". Does this mean that our group would be sent to different areas for the day based on if you are all inclusive or not?

I hope they change soon...we are looking at a March 2015 cruise and would most likely sail something else at this time. We would like to compare apples to apples and can't do so at the current prices. We paid $3,800 last year same week for a balcony and promenade on Indy....two in each room. Same cruise 2015 for a balcony and inside (promenade not available) is $6,800. We looked at the Freedom and it is $7,500 for the same set up we had on Indy. These prices are certainly crazy right now.

Hello,

We (family of five...kids 23, 19, and 15) are looking at sailing on NCL for the first time in March of 2015. We were looking at either the Getaway or Epic, but in looking at a current post discussing the two I think we would like to try the Getaway. We have sailed Royal five times and also once on the Carnival Dream. We have never had a bad cruising experience.

We would love to hear from those that have sailed both lines with your thoughts about what each may do better, same, likes/ dislikes of both. Any info is helpful. I have tried to look at the NCL site as well as here to learn as much as possible.

Here is some of what I have so far:

- NCL charges a $15/ bottle corkage fee. Two bottles per room

- If my 19 year old wants to be able to drink adult beverages, we can give consent to do so.

- No formal nights unless we want to on our own. I was surprised my kids said they would miss the opportunity to get dressed up for dinner.

- If any of the kids want a soda card for the week, if we ask on board they should be able to purchase without the entire family having to do so.

- No problem bringing soda or water on board

- Even though it is free style, can/should we make reservations before boarding?

- I thought I read on the NCL site that they recommend getting back on board in port an hour before departure. Is this correct or is 30 minutes OK.

- how are the chair hogs?

- Lines for the water slides?

- there is a buy 5 get 1 on beer

- Beer selection did not look as large as it is on Royal. No Ultra, Bud products...not that it matters, or Red Stripe and others. Blue Moon looks like it is about $1 more on NCL.

- No, smoking on Balconies starting November 2014.

- Balconies are smaller on NCL unless you book the larger size.

- Does NCL have dodge ball or volleyball on the sports court?

Anything else would be great, from activities, shows, fun in the casino. As an example, we learned Indy has a Mexican buffet starting late afternoon on Sea days. Anything like this would be helpful.

Are there any promotions that usually happen certain times of the year? We just started looking a few weeks ago and I could smack myself for not booking for the 3rd-4th sail free promotion. If we book now, how do price drops work? If we book and a great promotion becomes available later, can we cancel and re-book the new promotion?

Thanks.

I'm not at all surprised by that.

 

My friend and I have had issues with our e-mail addresses and phone numbers getting messed up in our profiles. He'd get my e-mails, I'd get e-mails for him, various combinations. They have his phone number in my profile, and each time I try to change it online, it reverts back to his number the next day.

 

I've not been receiving e-mails lately, so I guess it's worth a call to see what I can find out...

Similar situation with us. We booked with friends the past two years. Both times my friends get my email confirmation that my cruise is paid in full. I called C&A and all I am told is they don't know why it is happening. They show my correct email in their system.

They also had this as a rental. I don't know the cost, but the gentleman's wife said he had it for a full hour. I am not sure if he had done this before, but by the time he was finished, he was getting good.

View of Nevis.

Inside the bar. They have tables in here for lunch, or they will bring your food to your chair the eat on the beach.

This is the beach at Reggae from the end of the dock. The water if very calm.

This is the beach area to the left of Raggae. I believe I have read that the beach is about two miles in length.

Cab fare is $7 per person each way. We have gone the past two years and have had a blast. Each time, we were required to wait until they had enough people to fill up one the the taxi vans (10-12 people). Your driver will ask what time you need to be picked up and will drive back out to get you. We found this to be very convenient. We go to Reggae Beach Bar, but there are a couple of others to choose. I am not sure if the others serve food.

This info is for the Raggae area:

The first year we left the port at about 8:00 and were the first people to arrive at Reggae. It took awhile, but by afternoon there were a lot of people there. Chairs and umbrellas are $5 each to rent for the day or you can just take a towel and lay on the sand. This year we decided to wait till about 9:00 before we left the port area. There was another ship in port before we arrived and I think many of them went to Cockleshell as many of the chairs were already taken by the time we arrived. The food there was great and they have a full bar menu, soft drinks and a gift shop.

There is also an area for beach volleyball. They have water sport rentals…Kayaks, stand up boards, and a small cat that our friends rented. I think the cost for the cat was around $35 for 45 minutes. The water is very calm and you have an awesome view of Nevis in the distance. I noticed some people snorkeling around the small pier/dock that is there. I did not notice if they have rentals for snorkeling gear. I will also post some pictures.

The March 15th sailing had Frozen and The Hobbit. I am not sure if there were any others. We went to watch The Hobbit, and found it difficult to hear the dialog. We went a couple of nights later to watch basketball and it was so loud you did not want to stay for very long.

We had three on Indy last year.

Selling or offering? Where they really charging for hotdogs?:confused:

Offering....and they are very good. Thay have dogs, cooked brats, and spicy sausage. They come on a hoggie style bun, no hotog buns. Ketchup, mustard, sauerkraut, and peppers are available. The attendant that worked the hotdogs on Indy was great.

Neither my husband nor his sister were pulled aside because of their wine. My husband had one bottle and she had two. I, on the other hand, got sent over. The fellow pulled it out and checked the seal but never made any type of notation anywhere. We arrived at the port shortly before the doors were opened and were some of the first in. Interesting how different people on the same cruise were handled so differently.

I agree. We were on this cruise and took four bottles of wine as we had two rooms booked. They asked why we had four, but did not ask us to show our set sail for both rooms. We are not pulled aside and logged in either. We had another family traveling with us who had two bottles in their checked luggage. Luggage was delivered to their stateroom very early in the day...no trip to the naughty room.

We just returned from the March 15th sailing. I took 12 Diet Mt Dews and my wife had an 8 pack of Hawaiian Punch...all were plastic bottles. All but 2 were in our checked luggage and all made it through. We did the same thing on Indy last year and it was allowed.

I had expected the two that were in my backpack to be checked, but they did not even look to see what it was. Last year, they pulled me aside to make sure the bottles were sealed.

We always take a soft sided cooler and have our room attendant keep it with ice.

I would certainly give it a try.

Good luck. You will have a great time.