Background Information: Hi All, This is my fourth cruise, with three of the four cruises being on Carnival (Imagination, Fascination, Freedom). We cruised from December 15-22 from Miami to San Juan, Puerto Rico, to St. Thomas, to St. Maarten and back to Miami. I and 2 other girlfriends flew from Atlanta to Miami to board Freedom. Our flight left Atlanta at 8:15 to arrive in Miami at 10:40. Once we got to Miami, we were told (by the guy that was handling the Carnival transfers) that we could not board the ship until 1:30. We didn't purchase transfers either, but he also told us that that was better for us because a taxi cab ride would only cost $24 (for up to five people), which was better than the $12/piece transfer rate. We caught a cab to the port and checked our bags in. In the meantime, we caught another cab ride to the Bayside Shopping Center and spent a couple of hours eating and shopping.

Embarkation: Embarkation was very easy. We checked in at the "new" terminal. The new terminal looked more like a terminal in an airport rather than a terminal in a seaport. They called us up to get in line by zones and this was a much better idea than just allowing everyone to flood the lines. I was on the ship in about 25 minutes from the time we entered into the terminal. GREAT! Ship Info: Freedom is the newest ship in the Conquest class. Carnival has a tendency, to me, to be a bit over-the-top with its decorations and designs. To be honest, I wasn't overly excited by the faux orange snake-skin but it also wasn't enough to make me think twice about it. The state rooms were much bigger than I remembered or expected. My cabin number was 1339 and for some reason, I didn't realize that that meant that I would be on the Riviera deck- the first floor! I have NEVER stayed on the first floor and I was a little nervous as I am a faithful dramamine user. Back to the staterooms- there were three of us that stayed in the room and to my surprise (pleasant), none of the beds were bunk beds. The room was nice. The tv was a flat screen. The only thing that I did not like about the staterooms was the fact that the bathroom always smelled like a public bathroom :-( We were three very clean females, but it always smelled un-fresh (even when our room steward- ORLANDO!!!)cleaned it. By the way, our room steward was good, not great. He did keep our room clean, but he didn't do very many towel animals and if you like that sort of thing, you might be disappointed. Orlando definitely did his job, but he did not go above and beyond.

Activities: There are so many activities to get into on this cruise ship. Actually, many times, we had plans to attend the wine tasting, art auction, etc. however, the first couple of days we spent time catching up on sleep that we sorely needed. Also, at night there were several shows, "R"-rated comedians, and such but I never went to any of those except the Tribute to New Orleans show. It was good, but I am not really one for those types of shows. My two girlfriends thoroughly enjoyed it. There was a "past-guest reception", which was great. We were sent invitations and since all three of us have cruised with Carnival before, we were all invited. The reception included a hors d'oeuvres (which were decent) and cocktails (good but not strong) and the servers kept the drinks flowing. I also found out that after cruising with Carnival for the 100th time, you "win" a free cruise with Carnival. There was actually a woman who had cruised with Carnival 44 times- Wow! It put my little 3 times to shame. Read more