More questions, answers

Though I don't respond to each of you, I am reading your comments and will try my best to answer as many questions as I can. Keep your thoughts coming! Otherwise, it gets lonely. And check out comments and reviews from other Freedom cruisers at CruiseCritic.com.

Your questions, my answers:

On food: The buffets in the casual-dining Windjammer Cafe have been quite good. I've eaten there every day for breakfast and lunch, and while I'm doing my best to stay healthy, I've tried at least bites of many dishes.

At breakfast, there's a bit of everything: Eggs made to order, pre-made ham & cheese omlettes that are wonderfully crispy, bagels, smoked salmon, fruits, cereals (hot & cold), waffles....I can't think of much that isn't there.

At lunch, there's a selection of salads, sandwiches, hot dishes (fish, pork or steak), burgers and pastas. Unlike the Voyager ships, the Jade Asian-inspired buffet is adjacent to the Windjammer, which means more food options and more food stations.

The main dining room is, as a fellow cruiser from Pennsylvania put it, average. "There's nothing that jumps out at you from the plate,'' he said. I've had seabass that was a tad dry and an herbed breast of chicken. My table mates gorged on lobster bisque, escargot, beef, duck...the variety is good, the preparations fairly sophisticated. All the food seemed to be more than satisfactory, but none evoked raves. The sugar-free desserts (I've tried them all) are actually really tasty.

In my experience, the food in the main dining room aboard Carnival's newest seven-day ships is a little tastier. So is the food in its specialty restaurants. However, both of Freedom's specialty restaurants, Chops and Portofino, have new menus, so I'll reserve comment until after I've tried them.
Crowds: Still fewer lines than expected (almost none in fact). Elevators are a bit leisurely but are rarely packed. The ship ran multiple tenders today in Cozumel so there seemed to be few problems. But remember, for the first month, Freedom of the Seas is intentionally running about 600 shy of full capacity, to get the crew up to speed, according to Royal Caribbean President Adam Goldstein.