This was our first cruise and we chose Royal Caribbean because my husband's grandparents went on over 50 cruises and this was their favorite cruise line. We can see why!! We were on the Freedom and absolutely loved it. The ship was the perfect size. Our favorite spot was the solarium. We were almost always able to snag some seats in the shade (the pool chairs were really comfy), and we spent a lot of time there reading, drinking, and napping. The solarium was nice and quiet (the main pool was always pretty loud), so we enjoyed relaxing there. The solarium pool bar was right next to the pool so it was really convenient. The pool itself was a good size and had some underwater chairs and a table so you could easily sit in the pool with a drink and just enjoy yourself. We booked a balcony room, and we really enjoyed having the balcony and being able to sit outside at night. We will always book a room with a balcony - totally worth the money! We spent a lot of time at the pub (the live music they had was always a really nice way to end the day), and the drinks were great.

The food was amazing, as per usual on Royal Caribbean. This being our first cruise, we tried out Sabra. We didn't like it - so we promptly cancelled the next specialty restaurant we had reserved. We ate the remainder of the nights in the main dining. The main dining is fantastic - we had a great server who informed us that we could order 3 or 4 main dishes and desserts if we wanted. We didn't realize you could do that, but it was great to try a few different dishes if we were unable to decided what we wanted to eat. Let's just say, I think I gained 20 pounds on the cruise haha. The food is always one of my favorite aspects.

The entertainment was fantastic. We loved the shows - and we loved how we could look at the itinerary each day and just decide on a whim what we wanted to do. We really liked the Love and Marriage Game Show (always a classic). The service was also great. I can't say enough good things about the Freedom ship. We tried the Oasis on our next cruise and didn't like it...we'll be sticking with the Freedom class from now on! Perfect size and plenty of activities (even though my husband and I just laid by the pool 90% of the time we were on the ship).