My husband and I recently returned from our 8 day/ 7 night voyage aboard Freedom of the Seas to the Eastern Caribbean (ports of call: San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Martens) and had a fantastic time. We previously cruised with Princess Cruises to Alaska aboard the Dawn Princess a few years ago. We enjoyed both cruises immensely. However, we will probably cruise with Royal Caribbean more in the future because of all the activities (like rock climbing and surfing) that are offered on the ship. The food was much better on Princess Cruises, but I understand that with the economic downturn all the cruise lines are scaling back the sumptuousness of their menus a bit so maybe things have changed with Princess as well.

Embarkation on FOTS was MUCH MUCH MUCH easier than any other cruise experience I have had. I cruised with my parents a few times as a kid and I have memories of standing around in a warehouse for hours waiting to get on the ship. The Alaska embarkation was similar waiting in a warehouse for a LONG time to get on board. With RC, we were through security and on the ship in a matter of minutes. Tip: Don't try to be cute and smuggle booze on in your carry-on luggage. This will slow you down. Some people have perfected ways of getting flasks of alcohol on board in their checked luggage (I guess the key is to put it in innocent looking containers and check it instead of carrying it on). The people in front of us, however, had cans of Budweiser right on top of their carry-ons and were pulled out of line so the staff could deal with them. What a waste of time!

I have to tip my hat to the folks at the Downtown Marriott in Miami, where we stayed before boarding the ship. According to our instructions from Royal Caribbean, we weren't supposed to try to get on the ship until 2:00 pm. We were going to wait in the hotel lobby until then, but the hotel's staff told us at 11:30 that we could grab a shuttle and get on the ship in the morning. We took a chance that they knew what they were doing and took their shuttle to the ship. They were right and we got to spend a couple of extra hours exploring the ship (and the soft-serve ice cream dispenser) instead of watching CNN in the Marriott's lobby! Yay! Also, another gold star for the Marriott folks, they recommended a restaurant to us called the Knife. It's an Argentine-style restaurant with fantastic grilled meats. All you can eat salad and meat is included in the price (about $26 per person) as well as a dessert and a bottle of wine PER PERSON. Talk about a great deal! Read more