Carnival Freedom - July 5 - 13th Review

[Freedom Cruise – July 5th – 13th

We traveled on the Freedom from July 5th thru July 13th out of Fort Lauderdale. First this is our 8th cruise 6 on Carnival, one on Norwegian and one on Royal.

We had six in our group, myself (Tammi), hubby (Dave) our daughter Victoria (15) and her best friend Tabby (15) as well as my parents, Tom and Vivian.

Just a note that this is my review of my trip and I understand that my opinion may be different than yours but since this is my review; I will write it how it was for me and my family. Feel free to comment as you like as I understand that everyone’s cruise is different based on how they handle experiences. I tend to go into vacation knowing that not everything will be perfect but how I respond to issues will guide me to have a pleasant time. We are very easy going and just really enjoy being on vacation as a family.

We flew down to Fort Lauderdale on July 4th and stayed at the Springhill Suites, Dania Beach. I had read mixed reviews about the hotel but they offered a great park and stay rate from my parents since they were driving from Jacksonville. The hotel provided free shuttle from the airport to the hotel. I just had to call when we landed and they picked us up pretty quickly.

My parents met us as the hotel and check in was easy; staff was very friendly and almost of the renovation that I had read about were completed. I never saw any construction going on – just some painting that needed to be done.

The hotel was clean and very crowded; some type of family reunion was going on there and the place was sold out. It was good for a pre-cruise stay but would not stay longer.

We got to our rooms where were nice and clean and then decided to head out to lunch. There is a shopping plaza across the street from the hotel with several restaurants and shops. We ended up at TGIF’s and lunch was good but the service was great.

We then headed back to the hotel to do some swimming and watch some World Cup. Pool area is nice but small and the hot tub was not working. Again fine for one night but wouldn’t pick it to stay longer.

We ended up at The Ale House for dinner; wonderful meal and so much food for a great price; we paid less for dinner with drinks than we paid at Friday’s for lunch. There was so much food left over and it was really delicious! I highly recommend this place.

The next morning we went down for breakfast – it was a mad house so many people between the family reunion and the cruise passengers it was so busy.

The one thing that I will complain about is the shuttle service, you have to sign up the day before (at 3pm when the guy showed up) and then be ready a half hour prior to your time – no biggie but you would think that they would have the process down, but it was total chaos! So many people waiting and shuttles were late and then the later group wanted to get on the first shuttles and it was just really messy. We got to the port much later than I would have hoped and I wished I had just taken a taxi. But we got there and all was good.

Embarkation Day:

We had purchased FTTF for our 3 cabins and when we got there we were let in thru the VIP/FTTF line and there was no waiting. They checked our name and walked us to the front of the line (and the regular line was really long by the time we go there around 1145).

After check in we were walked to the front of the line again to board and took our picture and on the ship we went!

We went directly to our rooms, we had a balcony and an inside on deck 8 and my parents had a balcony on Lido deck. We dropped off our carry-on bags, soda and wine and then headed back out to grab lunch at Guy’s Burger.

I had had Guy’s on the Glory last year and really enjoyed them – they were delicious just as I remember! We had lunch and then headed back to our cabins – our bags were there so we started the process of unpacking.

It was time to get ready for the drill – this was long and hot! It was outside and so long…..on other ships we have had the drill inside, I wish they would do that on all the ships.

Once that was over it was time for a drink and to explore the ship. We headed down to deck 5 to see the new Red Frog Pub. This would become my favorite new hangout. This is where we met Melanie, from Saint Lucia. She was great and very sweet; we would see her daily during our stops into the pub to play games or just hang out and listen to music.

We watched sail away from the pub and it was relaxing, the girls and Dave played foose ball and shuffle board and my dad and I played dominoes. The RFP on the Freedom does not serve food but does have fried plantains and spicy peas – loved the plantains the peas – not so much!

We were late leaving so after sail away we headed up to our rooms to get ready for dinner – we had assigned dining at 6pm in lower Posh. Our wait team was Head waiter William and his assistant, Jeovannie. They were great all week and really enjoyed getting to know them. We ate in the dining room every night except the night we went to the steak house. We thought the food was really good and always served at the right temperature.

After dinner we decided to explore the ship and watch a movie on the big screen (Ride Along). They serve popcorn (behind the Red Frog Bar) and you can get “Dive in Blankets” at the towel hut.

It was time to head back to the cabin and relax as it had been a long day (and we are not night owls!)

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So far, nice review. Looks like a few things got duplicated, or maybe it's just my computer. Hope you enjoyed your cruise.:D

So far, nice review. Looks like a few things got duplicated, or maybe it's just my computer. Hope you enjoyed your cruise.:D

thanks, I think it was me - not sure what I did but hopefully I corrected it.

tam

Thanks for the report!

thanks, I think it was me - not sure what I did but hopefully I corrected it.

 

tam

Yep, it's all fixed. Thanks again.:D

OP, what glory cruise did you do??? I was on the glory last June too :)

Day 2 – Sea Day

Today was the first of 2 sea days; we took our time getting up and out to breakfast. We had breakfast on Lido deck and I didn’t think the lines were too bad. We all got breakfast and headed out to find chairs. We do not sit by the pool as we don’t have young kids and there is usually too much running and splashing so we choose to sit higher up but the slide. We found chairs and camped out for the morning.

Chair hogs were out but we were able to still find chairs.

The girls tried the slide and we were in and out of the pool and hot tubs. By noon it was getting very hot on deck and very crowded so we decided to go to the cooking demo at the steak house. We like to be on the deck in the morning and then after lunch find other things to do as it gets too hot and too busy. So, the girls went to the cooking demo and the guys headed to lunch. Cooking demo was good, we have been before but it was my mom’s first time and she thought it was pretty cool that she got to taste everything they made.

After the cooking demo; we went to grab lunch. It was Guys burgers for us again. (Yummy!) We headed to the Pub for games before tea time. Tea time was at 3 and we went (I don’t drink tea but love the treats).

We then decided to do the Classic Rock Trivia – this was the first time we have done trivia and it was a lot of fun; we did ok but no prize!

Tonight was the first elegant night so after trivia we decided to go and get cleaned up for dinner and the captain’s celebration.

Mom & Dad

After dinner we decided to head to the comedy club for the family friend show with Tim Young. He was pretty funny but it seems that a lot of the comics have a hard time telling jokes with kids in the audience and I noticed that a lot of the jokes the kids just did not get but he was still funny.

Walked the deck and ended up at the Dive in movie “Noah” we watched for a bit but it was really stupid, so the girls and I left and David stayed for a while longer to see if it got better (it didn’t) and decided to go walk the upper decks and get ice cream.

After that we called it a night and decided to go play UNO in the room for a bit before bed.

Tabby & Victoria - formal Night

David and I:

Comedy Show - girls being silly

OP, what glory cruise did you do??? I was on the glory last June too :)

We were on the Glory to Canada, St. John's out of Boston.....

Tam

Day 3 – Sea Day

Today was almost a repeat of yesterday’s sea day. Up had breakfast on Lido and found chairs for the morning sun fest. Chairs were harder to find today but we managed to find a few and just shared.

At 10:30 they did Bingo on the Lido deck, I have never seen bingo on the lido deck but it was fun and it was buy one get on free for 3 games (we didn’t win but it was fun)!

We had lunch on Lido and then headed to the lobby for Disney Trivia – this was fun and we did pretty good but didn’t win – the family that won knew it all – they were incredible! Then it was off to the pub for cards and shuffle board. We passed on tea time today as we were still full from lunch.

After spending time in the pub we headed to the room to relax and get ready for dinner.

We decided to hit the family friendly comedy show again and it was John McDonnell – I didn’t think he was that funny. He was more of a story teller and he really thought his stories were funny as he couldn’t stop laughing at himself.

But then it was time for the 9pm Comedy Hypnotist – Doug MacCraw, this show was one that I would say “DON’T MISS” – it was great and so funny. This guy was awesome and the audience made it so funny as he was able to hypnotize several members from the audience and they were beyond hysterical and this was in addition to the folks that he pulled on stage. Such a great show!

After the show it was time for ice cream and then off to the cabin – tomorrow would be our first Port day – St. Marteen! We had been there before but were looking forward to our tour with Bernards Tours.

Great review, can't wait for rest. We are headed on the Freedom again in September;)

Great Review!

Where did the girls get their lanyards? Are they Carnival?

I have to tell you, your review has made me so excited to be cruising the Freedom in 9 days!!!!! I know, I've been on a lot of cruises, but I promise, I'm just as excited today as I was for my very first cruise. It's an addiction, and your review has reminded me just how much I love it!!! Thanks so much for posting.:D

How was it being on the boat for 2 days?

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Great Review!

Where did the girls get their lanyards? Are they Carnival?

My mom got them for the girls - based on things they like, Victoria had the Effiel Tower/Paris and Tabby had Marilyn Monroe. She got them on ebay.

The girls loved them!

Tam

I have to tell you, your review has made me so excited to be cruising the Freedom in 9 days!!!!! I know, I've been on a lot of cruises, but I promise, I'm just as excited today as I was for my very first cruise. It's an addiction, and your review has reminded me just how much I love it!!! Thanks so much for posting.:D

I agree - I am always excited for each and every cruise - just like it is the first time!

Tam

How was it being on the boat for 2 days?

 

 

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I love sea days - they are relaxing and we divide out time in the sun and doing other family things so it was great!

Tam

Day 4 – St. Marteen

(I will post pictures separately as I cannot access my photo site from work)

Got up fairly early as we wanted to grab breakfast and watch us pull into port. We were scheduled to dock at 9am and we actually docked early. They never made the announcement that we could leave, we just was others getting of the ship so we went down to deck 0 and off we went.

Today we had booked a tour with Bernard’s tour. Beach and sightseeing. The cost for $45 per person and they pick you up at 930am at the port. We met DJ at the location outside of the pier. There was a group of 24 that were in our group. We were escorted to our bus and once settled on the bus, DJ went over the plan for the day. The first thing was that he has coolers stocked with soda and water and another one with beer and rum punch. We had a group on the bus that were partiers and were loud and drank non-stop. They were kinda annoying but they were in the back of the bus but still loud and annoying.

Our first stop was to see the views and sea urchins. We stopped and there was a guy who had sea urchins – you could hold them, touch them and he told you a bit about them. He did ask for a tip but it was cool to see and touch them.

We then took some pictures and enjoyed the view. We all got back in the bus and headed to our next stop. We were heading to Orient Beach – this is our favorite beach. We had been there before and were really looking forward to going again. During the drive to the beach DJ pointed out different sites and gave us history about the area. You could tell that he was very familiar with the landscape and proud of his town.

The beach was the highlight of our tour! We had such a great time. DJ walks you to the beach and he tells the guy that is managing the chairs and umbrellas that we are all with him and we got chairs for $5 and umbrella’s for $5 plus you get a coupon for a free drink with every chair rented. Winner winner!

The water and waves were perfect! But do be aware that part of the beach is partial nudity and sometimes the line is blurred – as we saw women in the water on the non nude side with no tops on…

We stayed at the beach for about 90 minutes and then we were off to our next stop. DJ was taking us into the city to stop for shopping/lunch break.

Again, he was very informative during out ride and on another note, he had to call to meet up with another driver to get more booze as the drinkers managed to drink the 2 large bottles of rum punch (and that stuff was strong!) and all the beer. Our options were Rose Maries where you could order lunch they had local favorites like goat, or Sarafina’s a French pastry shop that had sandwiches as well or you could go shopping at the open air market. I would have like a little more time here so we could have eaten and did a little shopping.

Everyone in my group except my hubby choose Sarafina’s (my mom is from France and I grew up over there – spending my summers there) so we were excited to get true French pastries. Well – this place was awful! First they were out of everything and it took so long that we had to get our sandwiches to go and eat them in the van. The sandwiches were nothing special and were definitely not French, just your basic sandwiches on a baguette. We then rushed back to the bus as we didn’t want to hold up the bus, hubby was already back and said that his meal of goat (yuck) was very good. It came with rice and beans – he was enjoying it!

Well others (drunk group) decided that they wanted to do both eat and shop so they went shopping then to eat and we all had to wait for them – DJ had to actually go find them.

Once that was settled we were on to our final stop – Maho Beach. This is the beach where the planes fly over the beach and people hang on the fence. I actually hated this beach, the beach area is really small and rocky and very cramped. There is no place to walk; my husband works in aviation so seeing the planes is really no big deal for us. People were hanging on the fence and it just seemed really weird. It started to pour while we were there so we hung out at the bar area under an umbrella until it passed. It was time to head back to the ship after the Maho stop. It was a great tour and would highly recommend Bernard’s. They are very friendly, professional and having soda, water and beer was really nice since it was a very hot day.

We got back to the ship around 2:30pm and on our walk to the ship the rain started again. We were going to do some shopping around the port but due to the rain we decided to just head back to the ship. They were showing the World Cup game on a large screen in the shopping area and we could see it from our balcony!

We grabbed something to eat and then went to the pool to enjoy the ship still being quiet.

Nice review so far, Tammi. Can't wait for the rest. It seems everyone is enjoying Freedom. Thanks for the photos.

Sea Urchin Stop

Our guide DJ with Tabby

The Goat lunch that David had....

Maho Beach:

Around St. Marteen

After pool time, we decided to go to the Spa and sit in the Jacuzzi and pool in there. This was relaxing and then off to the cabin to get cleaned up. We were ready for dinner early so we decided to head to the pub for a few games and pre-dinner drink.

Dinner was good as usual. We really liked the food in the dining room. There was not much going on tonight with shows. The show did not sound interest us – Getaway Production so we passed. There was not a comedy show tonight either so we just walked around and I decided to hit the casino while the rest of the group went back to the pub to listen to music.

It had been a long day so we headed back to the cabin and hung out a bit before we all went to bed. Tomorrow we would be at St. Kitts!