Day 1 Leaving Fort Lauderdale

Today we are boarding the ship in Fort Lauderdale Florida. After driving around for hours (or at least a half an hour) we found the rental car return place. One of the two shuttles has broken down so we are in for a long wait. It was hot and sticky outside I don't really know how else to describe it. It is Florida after all and you know what they say "The only thing worse than chlamydia is Florida" haha just a little movie humor. Anyway after standing in line sweating to death and also meeting some interesting people we finally got on a shuttle and made it to the port. 9 Ships in port today so it is very crowded. We got through the security and boarded the ship and I thought it was pretty impressive. The Carnival Freedom is the ship we are on. As we walked through the lobby it was loud and exciting with lights and people everywhere. We made it to our state room which is on the 7th floor the Empress Deck room 384. Our room is a stateroom with a balcony and I actually have to say its pretty spacious. We unpacked a little and went for some lunch on the Lido Deck. Lunch was about a 7 out of 10 in my book. The buffet had things like chicken, fruit, potatoes, desserts and things like that which were pretty basic but can't complain. They also had the Deli open where you can order sandwiches and wraps and the grill was open with hamburgers, hot dogs, fries and chicken tenders. There was a lot going on out by the pool as it was getting ready to leave. The DJ was out there and people were hanging out and dancing and it was pretty cool to just lay back and relax. After we set sail we walked around and discovered the ship a little bit. In the theater they had some kind of trivia going on so we sat and watched that for a while and then went to sit on our balcony. One bad thing about our particular balcony was we were so excited to get to sit and chill in our own space and watch the sea which is why we paid extra for the balcony but unfortunately on both sides of us we had smokers so the smell was enough to make us go back inside. It seems every time we wanted to go out our smoking neighbors were out there too and they were friendly enough but it isn't very desirable to sit outside for a few minutes and come back in smelling like the casino so keep that in mind if your trying to decide whether or not to get a balcony. If smoke doesn't bother you then it is well worth the view and privacy! Anyway after a busy day of loading the ship and unpacking we got ready and went to dinner. We opted for the your time dining because you don't have to commit to a certain time to eat and also don't have to wait for your table mates to be served. This option worked out very well for us and we never had to wait in line more than 3 or 4 minutes to get a table. The wait staff in the dining room is very friendly and very attentive. The options on the menu are pretty good and there are several things to choose from. You get a starter a main course and a dessert so the meals are very filling. After dinner (which takes about an hour and a half to two hours) we went and watched the welcome show in the theater. Hennie our cruise director talked a little about what to expect on the cruise and the show was pretty entertaining and well put together. After the show we walked around the photo gallery and looked at the pictures they had taken of us boarding the ship. The pictures cost $10 or a few dollars more for the big ones. There was several things going on including shows, the casino, the on deck movie and plenty of places to hang out for people of all ages. My 17 year old  brother really enjoyed the O2 club which was a supervised hangout for sailors 15-17. After all that excitement we headed back to our stateroom and decided to hit the hay.