Carnival Freedom, Eastern Caribbean 2/25-3/4,

This was my 3rd cruise (Carnival Liberty 2/10, RCI Freedom ot Seas 2/11), and my wife's 4th (Carnival Triumph 3/03, and then the before mentioned 2 with me). Originally I was not all that interested in cruising. The first one in 09 was for our honeymoon and it was more of the wife's idea. Her first cruise was with her mom and sisters and she had an amazing time. I was more interested in going to some sort of resort where I could relax and lay on a beach all day. But this wasn't as appealing for her. After giving it a try, it turns out that cruising is a great fit for us. I get a sense of relaxation beyond any vacation I've had, and she gets the variety of hitting different ports and the wide selection of things to do while onboard.

But I wasn't sold on cruising right away. I had very high expectations probably because of how my wife raved about the first one. I kept hearing about this 'midnight buffet' which by 09 no longer existed. I'm also not wild about crowds which are bound to be an issue when you get 3000+ on the same boat. But overall, the experience was a good one. So the next year, when looking for a winter getaway (we live in the Twin Cities), I decided to give cruising another shot. This time I wanted to try something different, so we opted for RCI. I have to say I was very impressed with the Freedom ot Seas. The boat was much more attractive (in my opinion) than the Liberty, or the Freedom for that matter. I also thought that the entertainment was better on RCI, as well as the later-night food options (coffee shop and pizza place). After this cruise I was pretty sure RCI would be my line of choice going forward, and was very interested in giving the Allure or Oasis a try for the next cruise. Read more