My family just got back from sailing on the Freedom of the seas. We have only sailed with Princess before but wanted to try "The big boat"! Ages ranged from 13 yrs to 67 yrs old. We flew to Ft Lauderdale instead of Miami because it was much cheaper. We stayed at the Hilton Garden INN. 5 minutes by complimentary shuttle to the hotel. Great Choice. Clean and we got a suite to sleep 6 for $150.00. I booked a private shuttle to take us to the Miami port(40 minutes). Fort Lauderdale shuttles. Wouldn't book them again. They were very late both ways. Embarkation LONG, LONG lines. We got there at 1 pm. Got onto the ship about 2:15. Balcony room on Deck 6. Perfect spot. Main shopping and restaurants were on deck 5. Room was ok. Nothing special. Couldn't get the comb through my daughters hair, the shampoo provided must not have conditioner in it. But I don't sweat the small stuff. We had connecting rooms which was perfect. Kept the door to the rooms and the balcony open and it was like having a bigger room. The muster drill was TORTURE. It was held outside, people were crammed together, almost on top of one another. In the hot sun ,with with the life jacket on mind you. My mom almost fainted. It was awful. Seriously awful.

Food was fine. Dining room and buffet were fine. We chose open seating which was great. When you wanted a reservation you just called and then you could be seated whenever. Entertainment was top notch. Ice show was great but standing in line for over an hour to get the tickets was a pain, then standing in line to get a seat in the theater... Next time I would go to get tickets about 20 minutes prior to the stated time instead of an hour like I was advised. People were crazy in the lines, arguing, being rude, stressed they would not get a ticket or a good seat. The comedian Rondell Sheridan was awesome, the other comedian fell off the stage and broke his arm. The Farewell show and Once upon a Time were great. Newlywed show... Just wonderful. The cruise director Richard Spacey was the best I have ever seen, hysterical.You cannot beat the entertainment. Go to every show you can, you wont regret it! Pools were VERY crowded all them time. If you want to lay out by the pool where the games and action are then plan on getting up at the crack of dawn to "reserve a seat". Otherwise you will not get one. If you want to surf on the flow rider plan on STANDING in line again. Rock Wall??? Stand in line..Get the picture? So the question is...Is bigger better? Not for me and my family. We all decided we would like to not be stressed out standing in line. Even if that means giving up some of the action. Other reviews stated that they never felt like the ship was crowded. I disagree. It was crowded everywhere. Waiting for the elevators was an everytime occurrence. Then people would crowd into the elevators even when it was obvious that not another body could possibly fit! Get ready to be "Cozy". You had to leave 10 minutes prior to your destination time if you wanted to get there on time. Or plan on running up 8 flights of stairs! The alcohol policy was discouraging as well. Princess let us bring wine of our choiceon board, we would have some on the balcony. Not RCL. Strictly enforced. Ice skating rink was really something fun and different. We enjoyed that.

If you wanted to dance than you better be ready to stay up late. All the dancing took place at 10 pm or later. We are in our 40's but I don't want to START the party at 10pm! WE were very disappointed with that. Disembarkation was completely out of hand. They called almost all the colors at once and the line to just get off the ship was at least an hour. STANDING in line!!! Then you get to go to another line for customs. People were tired crabby and upset which made this even worse. RCL really needs to re look at the way this is done. The only Port or Shore excursion that I wanted to mention is St Johns beach. I have never seen more beautiful water ,even in Hawaii. Don't miss it.But when they advertise the shore excursion being 4 hours they fail to mention that includes travel time. It took us 1 hour to get to the beach, spent maybe 2 hours on the beach, 1 hour back. We were back to the ship by 1 pm. Bummer. Next time I would arrange it myself so I could spend the day on the beach. Overall we had a nice vacation. But couldn't help to compare it to our other cruises on Princess. We all decided we would do Princess again if we go on another cruise. Bigger may be better for others, but not for us. Wall to wall people and long lines is not my idea of relaxing on vacation. This cruise was geared more to the young 20 crowd that likes sports and action and late nights. Feel free to email with questions. mkb03@netzero.com Mary B