cruzingtchr

Freedom had them on our 7/6 cruise. It was definitely a nice perk. We enjoyed most of them at the pub, and the waitress (Gabriela) recognized us nightly and knew what we planned to order. She received one of our WOW cards. :) The 3 free drinks were available from 4:30-8:00 and included:

Spirits: Bacardi Rum, Bailey's Irish Cream, Tanqueray Gin, Finlandia Vodka, Dewar's White Label Scotch Whiskey, Jameson Irish Whiskey, Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey, Jose Cuervo Gold Tequila, Courvoisier VS Cognac, and Sandeman Port Wine

Wines by the glass: St. Martin Chardonnay, Zonin Pinot Grigio, Beringer White Zinfandel, St. Martin Cabernet Sauvignon, and St. Martin Merlot

Beers: Budweiser, Miller Lite, Amstel Light, Corona, and Heineken.

We had a note with all of the info in our cabin, and we had also received an email prior to the cruise. Love the fact that they're doing this on the sea pass card instead of paper vouchers/coupons.

Quite possibly the Explorer as it was my first cruise back from an 18-year dry spell. It was also DH's first cruise ever, and it got him hooked! Our 2004 Mariner cruise was pretty special, too. DD's first cruise at the age of 4, and the staff absolutely doted on her. Plus the Stingrays were the house band, and they were awesome!

The Allure is an amazing ship from an engineering point of view... beautiful places throughout, but I still like the Voyager-class better. First cruise ever on the Freedom-class is this summer, so maybe I'll change my mind?

We've used this guy twice... had a great time both times!

http://www.jamaicaphil.com/tour-description.aspx

Not at all!

We had B2B cruise on the Allure and the Nieuw Amsterdam.

Very different ships, but both excellent. Both are unique in their own way.

The Nieuw Amsterdam outclasses the Allure in many ways, but the Allure is incomparable in size and the number of sports facilities and the scale of the shows.

Totally agree here. We were on the Allure in '11 and just cruised Nieuw Amsterdam in July on a B2B eastern/western Med. The two ships are completely different. RCI wows you with its engineering marvel while HAL wows you with a super-classy, elegant ship.

I used to cruise for the ship, but now I think I'll cruise for the itinerary. HAL's med itinerary wins over any others IMHO.

Going on the Freedom class for the first time in July only because it's a free cruise through our RCI Visa card. Planning to ditch the card as RCI has changed their Visa perks. Used our 125,000 points on a 7 night Allure cruise back in 11, and now they charge you a whole lot more... which means we probably won't be going back on Allure/Oasis for a long time... until prices come down. Voyager class ships are still my favorite over all, so we'll return to those.

Doesn't matter what I cruise on or where... I just choose to cruise! :D

What does "hand dipped" ice cream mean?

I think they mean scooping it out of tubs rather than soft-serve out of a machine? HAL's Nieuw Amsterdam had that last summer, and we frequented that area of the buffet daily and/or nightly. :D We'll be in trouble if the Freedom has it this July... ;)

What an awesome photo review! We were on the Enchantment back in '10 after her stretch but before the added Park Café, etc. I loved the atrium back then , but WOW! It looks even more gorgeous now! Looks like she is in tip-top shape. I love the big ships, but the Enchantment sure was a classy gal... would like to cruise her again some day. She still has one of the best pool decks ever! :-)

Mango Mojito from Boleros (although they usually will make them anywhere on the ship...)

We just redeemed our 4th set of 125,000 points yesterday for our upcoming Freedom of the Seas cruise. I was disappointed to find out that no longer buys you a ticket on Oasis and Allure. It did back in January of 2011 when we used them for our Allure cruise, and it was a brand new ship then. We will probably close out our card at the end of this trip and redeem as many points as we can for OBC. The last two cruises we've taken have been on HAL and Princess, and we've discovered that we'll probably book for itinerary and price from now on. We've been on the eastern,western route offered by RCI too many times now, and itching to go somewhere different.

I just booked flights today to Melbourne for the three of us and saved $100/ticket (!) over flying to MCO. We start in New Bern, NC, fly to Charlotte, and then direct to Melbourne. No extra hop for us. After the descriptions I've seen on this site about Melbourne, I'm assuming it will be very similar to our little airport here in New Bern, which I love! Only 2 airlines fly through our airport- Delta and USAirways- so it's pretty little. We also got great flight times, both arriving and returning, so it was a no-brainer for us.