This was a cruise that I did not expect to take this year. My son asked for this cruise as a gift. I anxiously obliged. After asking my friends to help us decide where we should go, we decided on an 8 Day Eastern Itinerary which started in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida but to include St Maarten, St. Kitts, San Juan Puerto Rico, and Grand Turk.

12.11.14 - My son and I took a long road trip to Ft. Lauderdale, via an overnight stop with family in Phenix City, Alabama. We made this trip as exiting and as adventurous as possible. We stopped for an hour in Gainesville, Florida where we visit University of Florida before headed Deep South however we had an additional hour delay in Orlando, Florida due to an accident. We finally arrived late in FT L at our reserved hotel. What a treat that came to be. We were offered a free upgrade to a suite with no additional funds allotted. The room was awesome even though it was only for one night. To me that was a sign of what was to come. After arriving to the ship I could tell my son was getting as excited to see how big the ship was. (This was his first cruise). Our fun started in the waiting area of the lobby of carnival after checking in around 10:30AM. He and I was volunteered to dance and won an audience. We also receive Carnival lanyards.

We stayed in the lobby about an hour and participated in the fun but then we began to board as we were Zone 2. After getting on board, the first thing we did was head to our cabin. I was surprise to find our room was ready even though our luggage had not arrived. We dropped our additional bags off and went to tour the ship and also for our first meal on the Freedom. Can you guess what that was? My son thought he had the best burgers in the World along with the Drink of the Day. Read more