Our family of 6 adults from Kentucky, age range of 45-83, arrived at the Renaissance Ft. Lauderdale on July 3rd, the night before sailing.  All of us are seasoned cruisers with at least 5 cruises each, some of us almost 20 cruises, this was my ninth.  The Renaissance was wonderful, great accommodations and super nice service.  I had booked through Priceline.  We took a taxi to dinner at Chima Brazilian Steak House, also highly recommended.  We booked Carnival Freedom because of this itinerary.

On the 4th of July, we headed to the port around 11 AM.  Two of us took a taxi, the other four drove and parked at the port.  This was not the easiest boarding process I have experienced especially since we had VIP boarding.  It took us about an hour to board and should have been much faster because there was some confusion with the staff but was addressed and corrected once it was recognized.  Once on board, Freedom was surprisingly pretty.  I expected the over the top gaudy I had seen on Splendor, but Freedom was pleasant.  After Splendor, Freedom is fairly modest.  We headed straight to the lunch buffet.  As always, there was plenty to choose from and everybody was happy.  I do like the options of separate stations Carnival offers, like Fish and Chips, Deli, Pizza, Mongolian grill, and I probably left out a few.

Our cabins were ready around 1:30.  We had 3 junior suites on the Empress deck.  They offered lots of space and had drawers we never used.  I was really surprised with all the storage areas.  Luggage started arriving within a few hours of getting into our cabins, just before the muster drill, mine was the last and arrived around 5 PM.  Speaking of muster drill, there was not enough time after the muster drill to get up on the top deck for the sail away, I don't even think we made it back to our cabins before we were off.  I really missed the sail away, I love to hear the horn blow.  We unpacked, got ready for dinner.  Our cabin steward, Phillip, was fine, he gave a lot of extra attention to my dad who is 83, so we all appreciated that.  We had towel animals most every night. Read more