I believe that this is our 6 or 7th cruise and third with Carnival. Our last cruise was on the magnificent Celebrity Solstice to Alaska, so the Freedom had big shoes to fill.
We are family of 5 with 3 kids ages 14, 10 and 6 and we chose this one since we live in the Pacific NW and having a shortish non stop flight to Houston as opposed to going all the way to MIA or FLL was a big plus for spring break.
We did fly out to Houston to Hobby on SW and stayed by the airport Friday night. There are a few transportation options from HOU or IAH, which take about 1 and 1.5 hours respectively. I reserved transportation with Galveston Limousine company which costed 5 of us $225 RT flying into HOU and then flying out of IAH, which was MUCH cheaper than if we went with Carnival's bus service.
average room somewhat dated but functional. Balcony is a good size but the glass was always dirty, sort of caked with salt water spots.
see my ship review, Dunn's river is pretty much all there is to do it seems.
I love this place. water/snorkeling is beautiful. see ship review. only $2 beer at the pier shop.
embarkation was smooth as we got there around 10:30 am