4 of us were on the 8th sailing of Freedom. It smelled SO new! We are Crown and Anchor members. The ship is big and beautiful. Only in certain areas were their crowds. Photo Galleries for one. Exiting the showroom was bad. BUT, most of the time, less people than on other ships. Six teams playing trivia. 7 people on our awesome behind the scenes tour of the Arcadia Theater. 21 people at the staff captains talk on the Freedom. No one ever in the card room. 2 people in the library was a crowd. About 20 people at a jewelry talk. Fear of being crowded shouldn't be a concern. We thought the hot tubs hanging over the ship would be packed, there were 4 of us. There were many people at the 2 parades. And yes it was summer and their were kids. And yes they did run a lot. That could get on ones nerves, but to combat some of that, don't book in the summer. There were 4 pools. We took 1096 digital pictures. The tendering was slow, just deal with it.
The cabins were great. The shower door was a nice touch. There is free shampoo and soap only. The flat screen tv was nice and it rotates. Figuring out how to maneuver certain channels could be interesting. The phones had caller i.d.! The fridge was great and the stuff in it not outrageously priced. There were very helpful coupon books if you are a C and A member. 2 for 1 on a bunch of things. One night we had free picture frames in the room, one night postcards, and one night Seattles Best coffee to take home. The bedding is great but the put together beds make walking along the one side impossible. We chose an inside cabin as we love the darkness of it. There are no peephole oddly enough, so we never knew who was at the door. Our friends? Cabin steward? Just someone knocking? There were tons of hangers. Lots of little drawers for the small space. Dining Room was great. We had a table for 4, and I think we had the best waiters in 8 cruises. The typical things went on in the dining room with singing and dancing. We even tipped the piano player who never gets recognition for playing every night.
The food was just fine. Plenty of choices and always the alternates. We had early seating which is always the best, otherwise you are finishing dinner at 10 p.m. and missing the evening activities. Our main show was always at 9.