WOW!!!! If I just wrote that one word, others that have traveled on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas would agree. I am 27, and this is the first cruise I've ever been on, and honestly I was a little worried about spending 7 days by a pool, but it was one of the best experiences I've ever had.

The cruise we (myself, my boyfriend, and members of his family) went on left from Miami on Aug. 26, but we flew to Miami on Sat. the 25th so Sunday wouldn't be such a long day (I highly recommend doing this as we got in a good night's sleep before starting our cruise). The process of getting on the boat went smoothly, minus the fact that the machine wouldn't take an American Express card that we wanted to use as one of the credit cards attached to one of our SeaPass cards (I guess American Express never works at the terminal and you ALWAYS have to go to Guest Relations on Deck 5 to change it to that card). The staff from the start, even in the terminal, were super friendly, and it hyped me up more than I was already.

My first thought really was wow b/c of the ship's size and presence at the port. Right next to it was Carnival's Valor, which looked to be about the same size, but didn't have the same appeal. Read more