We booked this cruise very last minute. We took a suite/deluxe guarantee – which we will NEVER do again! The important facts to know are: 1. It’s a gamble, they can assign you a cabin at any time. 2. Only buy the suite/deluxe guarantee (code W) if you will be happy with the smallest suite on the ship despite paying a little more for it. With only a week to sailing, I stupidly fell for the song and dance of the suite/deluxe guarantee. The Tuesday before our sailing, they assigned us a Junior Suite, BUT, continued to sell upper level suites. Now, by assigning us the very last junior suite, that category is considered sold out. This puts us in a JS with no enhanced suite perks. Obviously there can be no upgrade to an upper level suite based on our suite guarantee if no junior suites are still for sale. They continued to advertise the upper level suites until the day before sailing. They utterly refused to upgrade us or even speak to us and as far as I know the last Owner Suite was a prize for BINGO. The suite we received was 9244. One of the smallest junior suites on the ship. It has a loveseat instead of a sofa and a slight curve to the wall that makes it smaller than the others. Was it a nice cabin? Yes, it was. Was it what I expected, hoped for and felt I was promised? No, absolutely not.
OK. With that out of the way, we sail! Fast, well organized Embarkation – it was maybe about 30 to 45 minutes from parking garage to balcony. Junior Suites on Freedom have a coffee maker, a mini fridge and HUGE walk in closet and a wonderful balcony. The bathroom sported a narrow tub with a rather fresh shower curtain. Our balcony had 2 chairs, a small table and 2 loungers. We were very near the elevator but never heard it since it’s sort of around the corner. It was a very convenient location for us. We explored the ship which we found to be really beautiful (show me one that isn’t?!) and easy to get around. Putu, our stateroom attendant introduced himself and asked if there was anything we needed. He took wonderful care of us all week - we didn't see him much but we certainly appreciated all he did.
Muster Drill and we're off. Let’s start with the food…..
One of the smaller junior suites on the ship. It has a loveseat instead of a sofa and a slight curve to the wall that makes it smaller than the others. Loved the coffee maker, a mini fridge and HUGE walk in closet and a wonderful balcony. Our balcony had 2 chairs, a small table and 2 loungers. The bathroom sported a narrow tub with a rather fresh shower curtain and upgraded shampoo/conditioners and lotion. We were very near the elevator but never heard it since it’s sort of around the corner. It was a very convenient location for us.