We sailed on freedom on 15th November for 7 night western Caribbean. We booked this April 2008 the day they came on sale, so had a long wait. But, boy was it worth the wait. We loved our first cruise on sovereign, and was so excited to be on freedom this time. We tried to get to the port for 11.30 because based on reviews, this time should have been quick to get on board, but due to delays setting off and dropping a hire car off, we got to the port at about 12ish. We finally got in and into out cabin by 1.30pm, so it was a bit of a wait getting on board. Once on, we went straight to the cabin. We had a balcony cabin on deck 10. The cabin was lovely and more than spacious enough for 2. We settled in then had a wander around. We went to our restaurant - Leonardo's - to see where we were sat and was please to find out request had been granted and we had a table for 2. Then we explored the ship whilst waiting to get the muster drill out the way. At 4pm we had a muster drill. This went fairly smoothly and quickly and it was nice to not have to take life jackets with us. We set sail just after 5pm. We were on the second seating for dinner. We ate in the main dining room each night apart from 1 night when we went to Chops Grille. The food was always excellent and the service was exceptional. The meal we had in chops grille was the best meal of the week. Simply sensational. We both had fillet mignon with roasted potatoes topped with Parmesan and parma ham. Gorgeous. And fantastic service on top of that. We were full on the starter and main, but the waiter said to have a desert between us and then he gave us one each to take back to the cabin for later! We ate in windjammer every morning for breakfast. It was fairly busy most of the time, but we always managed to get a seat. Breakfast had a big selection to choose from and was always good. We ate in sorrento's for a snack most lunch times, the pizza was always good, and we tried johnny rockets and food and service was great in there too. To be honest, the service was fantastic from every staff member we encounted, and the food was always good. Our cabin room attendant, gregory, was helpful and gave brilliant service daily. Our waiter and assistant waiter were also fantastic. I cannot praise the staff enough. The only food we didn't like was room service. The selection was limited and wasn't particularly nice when it came. Entertainment wise. I was gutted to miss getting tickets for the ice show. On the first sea day, it said to queue for tickets, but i thought it was for that show that day, i didn't realise it was for each show that week, so we missed out on going to the ice show. The entertainment wasn't always our cup of tea, but it was certainly watchable. I fear the shows that we did miss were probably the best ones! We tried every bar, they were all good! We liked the champagne bar, but saved that for formal nights as the drinks weren't too cheap. We love the flirtini champagne cocktail, yummy! The cruise director, Richard spacey, is as funny as people say, and he does a great job with the entertainment. Ports of calls briefly: Loved them all! Faves were Labadee and Grand Caymen. Other bits: The slots in the casino were not loose for us i'm afraid! The pool deck was lovely. We always went to the adult only solarium, we never failed to get a sunbed. We loved the hot tubs off the side of the ship! Beware the swimming pool is freezing! The flowrider was fun to watch people on.

I could go on and on. For us, we had a 3 week holiday in florida, and the week on the cruise was the best bit. We were truly depressed all day the day we got off! embarkation took about an hour. wasn't too bad. We had the 7.45am time slot. We got off, picked up a rental car from dollar and then was in kennedy space centre by 9.20am. We cannot wait to cruise rccl again! Oasis next!....