Carnival Freedom 6/19/2010 Review with Pictures!

Hello! We just got back last night from our wonderful 8 day cruise aboard the Freedom. I am going to attempt to write a review, and I hope everyone enjoys it! So here goes:

We started out with a short 45 minute drive from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. Our plane arrived on time, and we departed to Fort Lauderdale!

Here was my view of New Orleans from the plane:

The plane was a little rough due to thunderstorms in the area. The plane had some trouble landing, and we had to circle around for a while in order to attempt to land again. It was very scary! :eek:

Once we arrived in FLL, we boarded a bus to go to our hotel for the night the Crowne Plaza. Once we checked in we put our luggage in the room and ran down to the restaurant Kiki's to eat dinner. Dinner was okay, and the service was alright. But, after a long day of travel, it was just what we needed!

Overall, the Crowne Plaza was a great hotel. It was very clean, and I loved the art deco inspirations scattered throughout!

Here are some pictures of the room:

After dinner, we went to sleep with anticipation for our upcoming days! Needless to say, I hardly slept that night :D.

Up Next: Embarkation and DAY 1!

Great start! Can't wait to read the rest!

I am so excited about your reveiw! I'll be sailing the Freedom in January...and bored out of my mind at work today. This is just what I need!

Can you give a few more details about the hotel? How was the price? Was there a shuttle to/from airport and cruiseport? Was there a cost.

Thanks! Can't wait to hear/read/see more!

We are on the Freedom on the July 17th Eastern Route. I am looking forward to reading your review. Do you recall if you were in San Juan earlier than planned. I was hoping to get in an hour early so we could take advantage and see one of the forts.

I love reading reviews....especially since I'll be on this cruise in Feb.!

I am so excited about your reveiw! I'll be sailing the Freedom in January...and bored out of my mind at work today. This is just what I need!

 

Can you give a few more details about the hotel? How was the price? Was there a shuttle to/from airport and cruiseport? Was there a cost.

 

Thanks! Can't wait to hear/read/see more!

Sure! We arrived so late at the Crowne Plaza, that we didn't get to take full advantage of the hotel. But, there was a hot tub area that overlooked the port, as well as a pool! There is a small shop that houses a starbucks, and then there is the restaurant Kiki's.

We were on a floor that was dedicated to being a quiet zone. In the room, they included a sleep mask, earplugs, and lavender sheet spray. According to the Crowne Plaza, no kids would be assigned to the floor, and any kind of housekeeping would not take place from 10 am-9 pm.

The price depends on how you book. Similar to like early saver, etc. We paid $114 for a night, but you could get it cheaper. We booked a week before we needed a room, so we cut it close!

As far as the transportation it is FREE and, the Crowne Plaza picks you up in a shuttle van from the airport and schedules a time to drop you off at the cruise terminal. Make sure to schedule your time in advance as many times there are lots of ships in the port! So the shuttle is in high demand!

We are on the Freedom on the July 17th Eastern Route. I am looking forward to reading your review. Do you recall if you were in San Juan earlier than planned. I was hoping to get in an hour early so we could take advantage and see one of the forts.

We arrived in San Juan RIGHT as they said we would. It was raining, so we didn't get to take full advantage of the port :(

But I will get to that! haha.

I hate we didn't get to meet. I'm sure we ran into each other at some point and didn't know it. Looking forward to your review!

Embarkation:

-We arrived at the Fort Lauderdale port to chaos! There were four boats in port, and all were unloading passengers. It seems to me that Carnival (as far as Fort Lauderdale is concerned) has the embarkation/debarkation process down to a science. Other cruise lines in the area, looked like a giant mass of confusion and I was very happy to not have to deal with it. Around 9:45 am, we were through security, and up to the VIP check in.

The check-in was simple, and we were told to sit in a waiting area where cookies, lemonade, and water were readily available.

The only negative I have about the terminal, is that the restrooms are very gross. I understand that many people use them, and they are hard to keep up... but I wish in my perfect world that they would have been nicer. The world is not perfect though, and I didn't let the nastiness ruin my day!

We finally were allowed to get on the boat around 11:30 am, and were guided to the lido deck for lunch.

Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the embarkation process, because pictures were not allowed in the terminal.

Anyhow, I took some pictures of the lido deck before proceeding to the buffet.

The Lido buffet offers a taste the nation selection each day, and today it was Italian. Of course they always offer salad, meat, fish, fruit, dessert, and some sort of potato.

The exciting thing about this ship was that there was a Mongolian section. It was similar to a hibachi grill in that you put your vegetables in a bowl, and then select your meat. The chefs then cook it according to the amount of spiciness you want, and you get a fresh meal within minutes!

After exploring the buffet and filling our plates, we sat down to enjoy the view and eat!

To be continued...

I hate we didn't get to meet. I'm sure we ran into each other at some point and didn't know it. Looking forward to your review!

I know! I completely forgot about the meet up time! I thought it was later or something! Did you enjoy the cruise?!? Are you going to put up a review!? If I mess stuff up feel free to add in and correct! haha.

We were on this cruise, too and had an awesome time. I am looking forward to your review.

We were on this cruise, too and had an awesome time. I am looking forward to your review.

Awesome! Too bad I didn't get to meet you either!! Feel free to add!

 

The only negative I have about the terminal, is that the restrooms are very gross. I understand that many people use them, and they are hard to keep up... but I wish in my perfect world that they would have been nicer. The world is not perfect though, and I didn't let the nastiness ruin my day!

I agree. The restrooms there were yucky and old looking, which surprised me because the check-in area looks so new and nice. I remember remarking to my husband that they obviously renovated the check-in area, but not the restrooms.:(

I am looking forward to reading the rest of your review!

Day 1 Continued

For lunch the first day, I ate some chicken marsala, rosemary potatoes, the infamous potato salad, and a roll. Too many carbs, but I was on a cruise so who cares! :p

Here are some views of the Freedom restaurant:

After lunch, we decided to go around the ship and take some quick pictures before everything got too crowded. The first place I wanted to check out was the Serenity area.

I am not much of a sunbather, because as a redhead I get sunburnt so easily... so this area did not really appeal to me. However, it was nice that they had hammocks and the area overall was really nice.

Day 1 to be continued...

thanks for posting the review. love the pictures. we are sailing on the Freedom in July

Thanks for the review! I'll be on this ship on the 17th!

Love it so far the photo's are Great!!!

Can't wait to read more will be sailing Freedom in November 2010.

Thanks,

Marcy

Thanks so much to everyone for reading!!! :D

Day 1 Continued

So, as we left the Serenity area we went to the shuffleboard area to take a picture of the dome that covers the pool.

It was sooooo hot outside (being from Louisiana you would think I would be used to it! haha), so we decided to go inside and take some more pictures of the ship.

The first place we hit was the Promenade deck (aka deck 5). They had the typical Carnival shops Formalities, the jewelry and perfume store, and the Carnival gift shop. The shops on the Freedom were designed nicely because they had a lot of room to move around!

We continued walking and ran into the Babylon Casino. I really liked the layout of the casino, and at the time had definitely planned to return later on in the week.

We then walked through the club/bar area and entered into the International Lounge where they held the comedy shows, and karaoke.

Also located on deck 5 was The Meiji which was the sushi/late night snack place. The destination shopping desk, future carnival cruise desk, and coffee shop were also nearby.

We took the elevator down a floor (lazy I know, but I was on a cruise! you guys do it too! :D ), and entered into the Habana Bar.

Your pictures are so great - feels like we are there already, cruising 7/31, can't wait - thanks again for posting.

Thank You for posting! We cruise in November on the Freedom!

Your pictures are helping me get excited for our 7/25 cruise.

Thanks for the pics! We leave for the Western itinerary in Sept! How many days?;)

Kim

Day 1 Continued

The Habana Bar is a Cuban themed lounge, with cigar barstools and all! It was originally an area where you could smoke cigars (obviously :rolleyes: ), but Carnival has put an end to that.

Apparently, the art director on board told us that so many people complained about having to walk through smoke to get to the internet cafe, that they put an end to it. Although you could still smell cigar smoke, it was nice to be able to sit in and relax.

When you go to the back of the Habana bar, tucked off into the corner you will run into the Internet Cafe. The Internet Cafe has 20 or so computers and a printer so that guests can check in for flights.

We purchased the $100 dollar plan which gave us 250 minutes, plus 20 bonus minutes for the embarkation special. There was also a $55 plan with 100 minutes and 10 bonus minutes.

Any how, we then decided to walk through the Posh restaurant. It wasn't set up for dinner yet, but the staff was busy making preparations!

We then went back up to the Lido deck, and bought a coke sticker. For 50 something dollars, you get a sticker on the front of your sail and sign card where you can get unlimited cokes during the cruise.

It was almost 1:30, and soon the rooms would be ready so we went down to deck 5 to...

Still Day 1...

So, we went down to deck 5 to take a few pictures of the lobby. Now, some people bash the decor of the Freedom... saying that its dark and tacky, but I liked the decor. Maybe I'm tacky? :p

Here's a lobby shot:

After our random photo shoot, we went up to the Empress deck (deck 7) where our stateroom 7271 was located. Of course even though it was 1:33, the room wasn't ready yet... so we just hung out for a few minutes in the hallway.

We were in an Ocean Suite, which was very nice and roomy!

This was the vanity area in our room. The air conditioning vent had a weird hissing noise coming from it, and later that night I saw that the room steward had shoved a piece of tissue in it. (I have no idea how that fixed it, but it worked!)

Speaking of the room stewards... on the other Carnival cruises we had taken, they always came and introduced themselves and asked for any special requests. Our room stewards were only seen once or twice and I never learned of their names. They did a good job though, and the only complaint was that they kept giving us wet towels that hadn't been dried all the way.

We began to unpack as it was soon time for the "safety briefing."