Need Advice

[skidawg79]

I need help choosing between two cruises.   Coming back to Royal Caribbean after my last 3 on Carnival.   We are looking at the 5/26 sailing on the Freedom out of San Juan (lots of ports, i did this cruise on Carnival a few years ago) or the 5/18 sailing on the Harmony out of Orlando (cococay/st. Maarten/San Juan, Cococay would be my only new port).   My biggest concern is the ship, i know the Harmony will be amazing (i was on the Oasis a long time ago) but my last cruise was on the Carnival Splendor and we were really disappointed with the condition of the ship.   I'm lucky enough to travel a lot for work, so flights/hotels before and after the cruise aren't a factor.   Mainly hoping that I'm not disappointed with the Freedom... haha.   Andy advice or suggestions?

 

I know I will have a blast on either of them, so splitting hairs at this point.....but would love to hear some advice from regular Royal Caribbean cruisers.   Thanks in advance!

[Anniversarygirl25]

Haven't been on Harmony, but I have sailed Freedom and completely enjoyed it! So much so that we are doing a B2B on her in April 2020. I'm going on Anthem in March and I have the opposite worry - will I like a ship that big?!

[skidawg79]

Thank you for your reply!   We did have a blast on the Splendor, but it just wasn't the nicest ship.   Rust everywhere, you could really see it's age.    I'm probably making more out of it than need be as there are so many ports.   Meeting with a travel agent tomorrow.   Not sure about the Anthem, but i did like the Oasis. 

[Dennis#1]

Been on both the Oasis and Freedom numerous times.  We have three back to backs on the Freedom in January 2019.  Prefer the size of the Freedom, when compared to the Oasis Class.

[Merion_Mom]

49 minutes ago, skidawg79 said:

I need help choosing between two cruises.   Coming back to Royal Caribbean after my last 3 on Carnival.   We are looking at the 5/26 sailing on the Freedom out of San Juan (lots of ports, i did this cruise on Carnival a few years ago) or the 5/18 sailing on the Harmony out of Orlando (cococay/st. Maarten/San Juan, Cococay would be my only new port).   My biggest concern is the ship, i know the Harmony will be amazing (i was on the Oasis a long time ago) but my last cruise was on the Carnival Splendor and we were really disappointed with the condition of the ship.   I'm lucky enough to travel a lot for work, so flights/hotels before and after the cruise aren't a factor.   Mainly hoping that I'm not disappointed with the Freedom... haha.   Andy advice or suggestions?

 

I know I will have a blast on either of them, so splitting hairs at this point.....but would love to hear some advice from regular Royal Caribbean cruisers.   Thanks in advance!

 

The Harmony is an experience unto itself.  Go for it.  🙂 

[cruiseguy1016]

I'd pick Freedom just because of the itinerary, the southern Caribbean ports are our favorite. Royal Caribbean does a fantastic job of maintaining their ships. I doubt you will see "rust everywhere".

[champagne123]

I was on Carnival Splendor for 15 days, round trip to Hawaii and I have been on Allure and Oasis.  Although we had an amazing time on the Splendor....there is absolutely no comparison....GO FOR HARMONY

[brillohead]

I prefer Freedom Class over anything Oasis Class.  The Solarium has shade on Freedom, and I am a redhead!!!

I also enjoy the social aspects of cruising, and Oasis Class is just too compartmentalized and spread out.  I can meet someone on embarkation and then never see them again the entire week, because all the pool areas and neighborhoods and everything is all so spread out.  On Freedom, I at least have a fighting chance of bumping into someone a second time at lunch or on the pool deck.  

The only reason I'm not cruising Freedom anytime soon is because of the airfare to SJ -- otherwise I'd be all over that itinerary in a heartbeat!

Edited October 30, 2018 by brillohead

[bouhunter]

Another vote for Freedom.  Great ship, awesome ports, the ability to spend a couple nights in San Juan pre or post cruise.  I know Oasis class are very popular, but after trying once we won't likely go back.

Edited October 30, 2018 by bouhunter

[mattb31]

Guess it depends if you're more of a port explorer or figure the ship is the destination. If you're more of a port explorer then I would 100% book the Freedom. That itinerary is pretty awesome.

 

If you want the latest and greatest in terms of ship size and technology then do Harmony. 

[EeyoreRN]

I had the same dilemma (same exact date, even), and chose Freedom for the itinerary and the chance to spend a few days in San Juan. Even though the airfare turned out to be much more expensive than I had anticipated and I thought about switching, I am way too excited to see all those islands!   That said, I have seen many negative reviews about the condition of Freedom and general behavior of people around the public areas, and they make me slightly nervous. Enough CC'ers love Freedom enough to assuage my worries. I haven't watched reviews for Harmony because we decided on Freedom. We hope to eventually try at least one ship in each class. So far we have only tried Explorer and Anthem on RC. There were good and not-so-good aspects of each ship and sailing, and I'm sure that holds true across the industry. We're focusing on the good! Maybe we will see you in May!

 

Happy sailing, whatever you decide.

 

Eeyore

[skidawg79]

Thank you everyone!  It looks like we are going to do the Freedom!  Booking it with the TA tomorrow.  It really came down to the cost of the cruise to be honest.  Harmony was over $1000 more for the two of us.  Plus with the Freedom, we probably won't need the drink package as we will be off the ship so much (yet to be determined haha)   I travel every week for work so the flights and hotels will be on points so luckily that was a non factor.   I'm super excited and we are planning on going down to San Juan on Friday morning.  Staying at either the La Concha or the Marriott Stellaris...havent decided that yet.  EeyoreRN, hope to see you on board!