I booked this as a last minute getaway and picked Freedom of the Seas as I wanted a 7-day cruise with four ports and had been WOWED with my Allure of the Seas cruise earlier this year, so I decided to choose Royal Caribbean. This was my sixth cruise this year and 26th overall, so it’s obvious I like to cruise! I booked a solo cabin and was meeting friends onboard. You get double points for booking a solo cabin which was also very appealing to me.

I flew in the morning of the cruise and took Cortrans shuttle from Orlando airport to the port. I highly recommend them-$20pp/$40 round trip. I was well aware of Freedom’s propulsion problems, particularly the previous voyage stopping in Nassau to have propeller blades removed. From reading here on Cruise Critic, I also knew how those guests were compensated. I figured if we dropped a port or had shortened port times, we would be given OBC and/or a percentage off a future cruise like previous passengers had been given. Boy, was I wrong!!

I started the check in process at around 12:15 and thought it was pretty unorganized and chaotic. Maybe it was the time I arrived and my lowly gold status, but it took almost one and half hours to check in, winding through the long line. We were given a letter at check in describing our shortened port times, which was disappointing. They should have communicated this to us earlier so those who had made private shore arrangements could have adequate time to cancel or change their plans. The port times were shortened a minimum of 2 hours at each port. While disappointed, I still had a positive attitude and was determined to enjoy the trip. Read more