There were 31 of us on board the Freedom of the Seas for a 7-night W. Caribbean cruise (August 17-24, 2008). The oldest was 80 years old and the youngest being 2, spanning 3 generations.

Pre-cruise One third of us flew from Toronto Canada on a direct flight in the morning of the sail date, one third of us drove to Orlando, stayed there for a week before joining the last third 1 night before the cruise in Miami. 20 of us booked 4 one-bedroom suites and 1 two-bedroom suite at Hyatt Summerfield Suites close to Miami airport and were all upgraded to two-bedroom suites upon arrival. Summerfield Suites provided free hot breakfast buffet, free internet, and taking the shuttle from the hotel to the port was only $10 per person. The journey took less than 20 minutes on a Sunday morning.

Embarkation & Cabins We arrived at the port at about 11:30 a.m. Those who flew from Toronto got to the port even earlier as they took the transfer provided by RCI. We were able to get on the ship before 12:30 p.m. Our 10 cabins (6 D1 on Deck 10, 1 interior on Deck 10, 2 E1 on Deck 8 & 1 Promenade-interior family stateroom that can house up to 6 pp. on Deck 8 with over 300 sq-ft) were all great. Each of the 3 aft cabins (1400, 1402 & 1404) had a huge balcony with 2 lounge (bed) chairs, 2 regular chairs and 1 round table & plenty of room to move around (most D1 only had 2 chairs & 1 small table in the balcony). Taking afternoon naps on the lounge chairs in our own private balconies was added luxury that only suite guests would experience. Rooms were all ready at 1 p.m. but luggage was delivered close to dinner time at around 5:15 p.m. Read more