My wife and I were on the Dec 18th sailing of the freedom of the seas with Georgetown Grand Cayman and Cozumel Mexico as ports of call. This was our 4th cruise and it was the best so far. All I can say is WOW. Royal Caribbean sure knows how to create a great cruise experience. Our 1st cruise in 2006 on the Voyager of the Seas was wonderful, and I was a little worried that the memory had grown to be super-realistic. I was afraid that the experience would live up to the memory of that wonderful cruise. However, my worries were quickly put to rest once on the Freedom. Our second and third cruises were on the Celebrity Mercury (now sold to another carrier) and the Carnival Paradise, in 2009 and 2010 respectively. After those 2 cruises I was wondering if the 1st was a fluke, because they were both fairly lame. So what has made the Royal Caribbean experience better in my experience.

1) Service: On both the Freedom and Voyager we found the staff to be MUCH more friendly and seemingly happier. This made out trip so much more pleasurable.

2) Especially on the Freedom...the shows were so much better than on any other ship so far. The performers were incredibly talented and professional. On our other cruises the shows were much more "glee club-ish". Read more