We cruised the western Caribbean on Freedom of the Seas in late May. We really enjoyed the cruise. This was our 17th cruise overall and 7th on Royal Caribbean, also our 2nd cruise on Freedom. My wife and I cruised along with our 2 friends, all of us in our 50’s.
EMBARK. We live in northern Florida so drove down to Port Canaveral. We stayed in Orlando the night before and left the hotel to get to the port at 11AM when boarding commenced. It was very quick and we were in the Windjammer buffet by 1130. Good thing because by 1230 the Windjammer was very crowded. We walked around the ship until our rooms were ready at 1. We carried on our swim suits so we changed and hung out at the adult Solarium pool which was very enjoyable although crowded at times throughout the week. Lifeboat drill was at 4 and we sailed at 5.
CABINS. We had superior ocean view balcony cabins (D2) on deck 9. These are slightly larger than regular balconies so we had plenty of room. I recommend these larger rooms as you have more space to move around. Deck 9 was very quiet as we also picked our rooms away from the stairs. Our cabin steward Ralph was outstanding – he introduced himself on the first day and then we rarely saw him but the room was always ready and cleaned up.
We had superior ocean view balcony cabins (D2) on deck 9. These are slightly larger than regular balconies so we had plenty of room. I recommend these larger rooms as you have more space to move around. Deck 9 was very quiet as we also picked our rooms away from the stairs.