Would like to start off by saying this is my 11th cruise with Carnival and my first time on the Freedom. Will try to be as detailed as possible as even though I have cruised alot I still get a little of useful advise from reviews and forums.
Flew in from St.Louis to Fort Lauderdale the day before the cruise. Stayed at Hyatt Pier 66 on 17th St, luckily I won't have to base the whole trip on this hotel. Started out great as the front desk staff was very friendly and pleasant. They were able to move us to a King room with a "marina view". All I will say is that the parking lot was what seemed to be a mile walk from the room, we walked into the room appeared decent at first until my wife walked in to use the restroom and there was urine on the seat and a dirty towel laying on the sink that had what appeared to be dried up blood on it. The patio table, chairs and patio itself were disgusting and didnt appear to have been cleaned for quite sometime. As we checked out front desk asked how stay was and I mentioned the above concerns and the reply was, "well thank you for staying with us".
Onto the cruise itself. Embarkation, we arrived at the port around 10:45 or so dropped off bags and into the terminal for check in. Wasnt very crowded yet at any of the lines, Platinum check we walked right up and were in the VIP lounge within about 10 minutes. Waited for about an hour and we were proceeding onboard.
Panorama deck forward, great balcony room and great location for ease of getting around the ship.