This is my first review for Cruise Critic; I just arrived back from a 7 night cruise on the Freedom of the Seas. I booked this cruise directly with RCCL; this is my 4 cruise but my first with Royal Caribbean. I arrived by way of my shuttle from the hotel at 10:45 AM. Of course stop at the welcome aboard picture to add to the collection, but once I saw the picture and the background of the ship used for the photo did not have the name of the ship on it I passed on the picture. I did the normal "ship tour" to become familiar with my new home for the next (7) days, including the fantastic Royal Promenade. It is a great place, where you simply forget that you are on a ship....After 1pm I made my way to the room, and was surprised on the overall size and condition. After settling in, the security drill was taken very seriously, just like all other cruise lines, and the ship departed soon after. Navigation across the ship is really easy, as there are large touch-screens cruise compass in several places, to assisting you in finding your way around and informing about what's going on at any given moment on the ship. The layout of the Freedom was great, and as this was one of the biggest ships I've been on, it didn't seem overpopulated.

The pool areas were not crowded, as much as I thought they would be. The H2O Zone is a hit with youngsters. Flow rider and rock wall were a blast and the mini golf is quite a challenge. Ice show was fantastic and a must see.

My Time Dining, which meant that I could decide when to take dinner, which you still need to make a reservation, and was served by two wonderful waiters. I also tried the Johnny Rockets diner and I must say that the amount of food was simply overwhelming...it was a nice experience bringing me back in time...Food was good. It is worth the money. I didn't do either of the specialty restaurants, but grabbed pizza one day at Sorrento’s. Read more