We went on voyage # 23 on Nov 5th, 2006 on the Freedom of the Seas. It is a very nice ship, but not one I want to cruise on again because the ship is designed to attract young people and families with kids. In my opinion it will compete with Carnival and Disney because of its features.

I was somewhat surprised that check-in for a ship holding over 4,000 passengers went so quickly. We arrived at the ship at about noon as as Diamond Crown and Anchor members expected to board early. The check-in went quickly but could have been even faster if they had more than one person checking Set Sail Passes at the door and opened more stations to take security photos for the Sea Pass. As it was it took less than 45 minutes.

I will not try to list all of the great new and different things on this ship as they are available on the Royal Caribbean web site. Our cabin (8560) was great, as nice as any I have had. It was very roomy and had plenty of space for clothing. The balcony was huge and only needed better chairs for relaxing, like loungers, to make it the best. I give the ship's Spa a rating of A+ for the quality and diversity of equipment and the fact that it has both a steam and sauna, plus a speed bag and a heavy bag to go with a boxing ring. Each treadmill, elliptical, stepper and bicycle had its own TV screen and you could select the channel you watched (had to use your own headphones for sound). There were plenty of pools and hot tubs, and an abundance of lounge chairs around the pools and on other decks. It was not hard to find a seat or a place to be alone. Read more