Overall- a good time with family and friends on the Freedom. We were a group of 21. Embarkation was quick we were asked to not show up until 2pm but showed up around 11:30am. I had three ,carnival gift cards, presented them at check-in they weren't sure how to enter them so it slowed down the process slightly. Overall not much of a wait.
The ship is nice, there are 2 dining rooms one for your time dining and one for the scheduled time dining. Our group thought we had a scheduled time but somehow it hadn't happened. New showed early at e chic dining room and they seated us together so it all worked out. The ship is a little gaudy but it seems to work after all we were there for fun.
The service was good, our room steward was very nice and helpful as were the wait staff and the front desk staff. Our statement was hard to follow with the credits for the gift cards and onboard credits but again they were helpful in explaining it all so that I felt comfortable. The sail an sign kiosks were also awesome to help track on board spending, you could add cash to your account if you had a cash account at the kiosk instead of standing in line at the desk.
Loved the balcony,liked the easy access to the lido area BUT this is a very noisy room. We could hear carts and footsteps all night long and early in the morning as set up began. We definitely would not choose this room again (we booked thru a travel agent as part of a large group) others in our group complained of overhead noise and for those in the interior rooms in that area a pretty strong vibration.