We are a couple ages 45 and 52 with no children. We usually cruise with my family. Ideally it is my whole family- parents, brother, sister-in-law and two nieces. A cruise is a great way to get away and spend some time together, but with plenty to do for everyone so we aren't always right up on each other. This time though, it was a gift for our 20th anniversary, and we cruised by ourselves. It is the first cruise we have done by ourselves since our honeymoon. While it was nice to reconnect, it was very different and felt a little lonely to be honest. I think we would probably prefer to cruise with friends and/or family in the future. Our honeymoon was on Majesty in 1995. Our next two cruises were on Mariner of the Seas in 2006 and 2008. Then we took two cruises on Celebrity Solstice, one in 2010 and another in 2012. We decided to try Freedom this time, as the travel is a little shorter to Port Canaveral from our home in South Carolina. We drove down the day before the cruise.

We did participate in a Roll Call/Meet & Mingle for the first time this cruise (well I participated more than my husband. He was reading and relaxing on the first day). Thanks to BillOh for putting that all together and to Malmj for our great Facepage. It was nice to meet some fellow cruisers and find out a little about everyone else's experiences.

We stayed at the LaQuinta on Atlantic Avenue (not the Oceanfront one) and got a package that offered 40% off of parking at the port. Great value. It is an older hotel with lots of great astronaut memorabilia. The staff was helpful and friendly. The lobby was a little dark, but the room was great. It was very clean and bright. Getting around and finding the room may be a challenge as the hotel map was a bit confusing. Nonetheless, we found our room, put our things away and headed over to Titusville for dinner at Dixie Crossroads. Yummo! Read more