We had done an eastern Med cruise on Rhapsody of the Seas in October 2015 and really enjoyed it, so we decided to see what the western Med was like. We did a Barcelona city tour upon arrival before being transferred to the ship. We did a shore excursion in every port, including two on one day, and were blessed with beautiful weather every day. (The only rain we saw was when we disembarked upon our return to Barcelona.) The shore excursions were excellent. At a couple of stops - La Spezia (Florence/Pisa) and Civitavecchia (Rome) - they involved lengthy transfers from the port, but that's just the geography involved. The ship was completely full, which meant it was always a struggle to find seats in the Windjammer - on only the last sea day was there a concerted effort by the staff to help people find seats - and it almost seemed as if regular coffee was being rationed, undoubtedly due to high demand. However, on the whole the quality of the food was excellent, and better than our last couple of RCCL cruises. The Freedom is not brand new, but it is still very nice and well maintained.

My only complaint is that I was unable to purchase an airport transfer at the end of the cruise from RCCL, despite the fact that I booked my airfare through them, because I had made the reservation through a travel agent. They directed me to them, but their system showed no transfers available, although they were visible to the RCCL staff. (They had no qualms about letting me book my shore excursions directly!) One other point - if you book the Roma Express train transfer from the port into Rome, be aware that you probably will not arrive until almost 10 a.m. Otherwise, the crew we interacted with was excellent, we enjoyed talking to some of the other "critics" at the Meet & Mingle, and met two other wonderful couples who were our tablemates in the dining room.