Our first cruise ever was on the Carnival Sensation out of Port Canaveral, FL last year. Being that we were new to cruising we wanted a 4 night-er just to see if we liked it. Carnival Sensation was a lovely time HOWEVER, once we set our eyes on the Freedom of the Seas docked in Port Canaveral, we knew we wanted to try the Freedom next time.

We were two families with 3 children each (ages 12 thru 16). We booked 1 balcony room (6640, 6642 -center hump) 1 inside room (6657,6655 inside cabin for 3 with the option to add a 4th if we wanted). First I would like to say that cabin 6640 on the Freedom was the best choice I ever made. It is located in the dead center of the hump on the 6th deck. One floor above the main promenade level and the 3rd level dining room where anytime dining passengers are seated. We loved the convenience of being so close to all the night time activity (just a couple of floors below). We were right across from the stairs and the elevators. Absolutely no noise issues with that - just convenience. We have re booked these same rooms for our Eastern trip next year. Cabin 6657 is located across the hall and down a bit. This is where our children slept. Although it was down a bit in the hallway, it wasn't too far at all. It was no problem for us or them to stay there.

We loved everything about the Freedom. Although our first night of cruising was through a storm, it was a bit unsettling at first to be walking on the ship without having anything to drink and your mind is saying walk straight but your body is doing something else... after a while, you got used to it and by the morning the seas were nice and calm. Our friends were right next to us in cabin 6642. It was great to have the divider on the balcony unlocked (by the staff) and we just had one big balcony together. Fabulous! One note though, the staff would not unlock it the first night due to high winds (50mph!) It was definitely howling out there... no problems though, the next day, the divider was unlocked for the rest of the trip. You can open and close it as little or as much as you want... great feature. My only complaint with the balcony was our neighbors on the other side were smokers who smoked out there quite frequently.. did not enjoy that too much but did not let it ruin my balcony experience. The showers in the cabin were tiny but the water pressure was awesome! The cabin was ultra clean and there were plenty of TV stations for those times you were so exhausted you just wanted to lay there and rest with the balcony door open. (yes, the balcony door can stay open if you want it too). I even did some cold water rinsing in the shower of some of my boys' clothes since they went through them so much playing basketball! I took some time while docked in Jamaica to hang them on the balcony to dry in the sun with the plenty of hangers offered in the closet. (I know, trashy but the laundry service took a full 24 hours to complete) we didn't have that kind of time. Needed the clothes. Just a tip in case you run out. For pre-teens and teen boys... if they like basketball, they will love this ship and make a ton of friends. We had 5 boys and 1 girl in our group and the boys made a ton of friends playing basketball. It was fun to watch them one night (yes it's lit up at night and they can play until the wee hours - or until kid ship curfew of 1am.) choosing teams to play. Read more