This was my sixth cruise with Royal Caribbean. I'd been on a Voyager class ship twice before and a Radiance class ship three times before. This was my first time on a Freedom class ship.

Embarkation was very smooth. We arrived at the port at about noon and we were on board 40 minutes later. The majority of that time was spent in line for security. Once through security, there was no line at all for check-in. I used priority check-in, as a platinum Crown & Anchor member, but there didn't appear to be much of a line for regular check-in either.

Once on board, we got our soda package at Boleros Lounge on deck 9 (where we entered) and grabbed a chair while we waited for the 1pm availability of our stateroom. Read more