My family of 4 including children ages 7 &10 cruised the Freedom over Christmas. My children have never cruised and my husband & I have only cruised Princess. We chose carnival because of price and reputation of being family-friendly. We had 2 connecting cabins with balconies and it was terrific.

Embarkation day went very smoothly. It took less than 1/2 hour. I was very impressed since it was peak holiday season. Our cabin was ready exactly when they said it would be and our luggage was there earlier than expected. A+ for embarkation.

The ship's decor is very gaudy and dark in the lobby area. We didn't quite get the motif they were after. The cabins were typical. They did have a lot of storage which was nice. They provide hair dryers, but they don't work very well and we had 2 cabins & they both were bad. The balconies seemed smaller than what we've had on Princess, but still a nice thing to have. Our cabin steward was great and we looked forward to the towel animals we would get each night for turn-down service. Read more