This was my first time on a Freedom class ship and actually thought it had a less crowded feeling than a Voyager class. At any rate, this was reunion cruise for about 14 of us that have cruise before, and no matter what, this cruise would be filled with many great memories. I am Diamond and this was my 27th cruise overall, about 14th with RCI.
Embarkation was a bit of a nightmare. There was a boarding delay, and when I arrived, the line was out the door of terminal 25 and around the building. Dropping off luggage before parking was basically just handing your bag to one of the porters who lined it up with the rest of bags overflowing into the street. Departure was even delayed because of the issues in loading the bags. Luckily, a port person came up the line after about 15 minutes and said my friend and I could go to the priority line, and that processed much faster. The whole process was about 50 minutes to get on board. I actually always have better luck at Port of Miami than Port Everglades. I did tell them I had a bottle of wine in my bag, and they didn't care. I think the new policy is now fairly well known by the security people.
After stopping in my room - a JS aft on deck 10 - and it's a long walk, met my friend in the Windjammer. The layout and food is the same (or so it seems) as Voyager class. A fairly good selection and it was good quality. We then ran into a group of our reunion friends by the Squeeze bar by the H20 kids zone. To me the most noticeable difference from a ship like Navigator is the H20 zone and the divider from the rest of the pool with the big screen TV. Muster was delayed because of the departure delay, but all of that went smoothly. I like the interactive ship guides very much.
The walk in closet, full bathtub, very comfortable bed, larger balcony, and nice seating area make this a great choice.