My review of the Carnival Freedom Oct. 31, 2010

We sailed on the Carnival Freedom on October 31, 2010. We absolutely LOVED this ship! We drove down the day before and stayed at the Rodeway Inn and Suites in Fort Lauderdale. It was only a couple of miles from Port Everglades and offered free parking while we were on the cruise. It wasn't a five star resort, but was perfectly fine with us. It also included free breakfast and since it was only $63.00 for the night AND parking for 7 days...we couldn't beat it! My husband and I had always wanted to visit Miami, so after we checked into the hotel, we decided to drive down to South Beach. Since Fort Lauderdale is only about 30 minutes from Miami, we figured...why not? We had already driven 11 hours, so what's another 30 minutes, right?

Driving into Miami.

South Beach

I can't even explain this one...we are DEFINITELY not in Alabama anymore! LOL!!

Great start ! Can't wait to read more.....

Good so far. Love the scenery. lol

The next morning our daughter called us from home to tell us that Carnival had left a message saying that our cruise was going to be delayed due to a medical emergency on the Freedom. The cruise ship was running several hours behind. I was definitely NOT going to complain because my heart went out to the patient and his/her family! They were having a MUCH worse day than me!

Around 12:30, we decided to go to the port to see if we could board yet. The Rodeway offers a free shuttle to the port, but we decided to call a cab because we forgot to sign up for the shuttle when we checked in the day before and we were VERY far down the list. (Suggestion: put your name on the shuttle list as soon as you check in!)

I believe that Carnival did the best they could considering the circumstances, but it was a bit chaotic at the port. I would prefer not to comment any further on the delay because it was such an unfortunate event. Please refrain from putting any negative comments on here about it. I would like for my review to be positive and don't want do dwell on it. :)

We were able to board the ship around 5:30 and headed straight to the Serenity Deck...LOVED that deck! :D

Great start ! Can't wait to read more.....

Good so far. Love the scenery. lol

Thanks!;)

I am so looking forward to your review! I can already tell that it is going to be a GREAT one!!

A little while later, we were able to go to our cabin. We were on the Panorama deck in room 1065. We LOVED this room!

Here is the view from our balcony while still in port.

We didn't set sail until after 8:00 pm, so we went back up to the Serenity Deck to take some pics of the port area while it was still daylight.

I am so looking forward to your review! I can already tell that it is going to be a GREAT one!!

AWWW, thanks!

Here's some pics of our room. Did I mention that we LOVED this room? :D I was a little worried about being so high up because I am afraid of heights, but it wasn't bad at all. Also, I get sea sick easily and I worried that this would not be a good room choice because it is in the forward section and so high up, but it was fine. We had some rough seas on the last sea day. I felt it and got nauseated in other areas of the ship, but not in our room. I'm terrible with motion sickness. I get seasick on the Lake near our house! LOL!:eek:

We are in the same room in 2 weeks. Any problems with the location? Noise, Access to rest of ship? Thanks

We are in the same room in 2 weeks. Any problems with the location? Noise, Access to rest of ship? Thanks

OH...I'm SO jealous!! We didn't have any problems with this room at all. I could hear the music from the Lido Deck at times while on the balcony, but it was never too loud. I actually enjoyed it. Access to the rest of the ship is VERY easy. You will only be a few steps from the Lido Deck as well as the elevator to get to everything else. If you walk all the way down the hall towards the front of the ship, turn right, and go out the door; you will find a deck that is on the very front of the ship. Not many people know about this deck. Shhh...don't tell anybody. I want it to still be private when we return for our next cruise. LOL! :D If you have the same Stewart as we did, you will LOVE him! He's wonderful. We were VERY spoiled by the time we got off of the ship!

I took a few pictures of the ship. I meant to take more, but just never did.

Atrium

Atrium again

Some people have said that the ship's decor is tacky, but I didn't think so AT ALL. I thought it was great! :)

more pics...

Promenade Deck

Viennese Cafe

Sushi Bar

More. please and thank you

Nice review, really looking forward to reading the rest of it. Nice pics also.

Hi disneyden! Enjoying your review of the Freedom. I had a great cruise on her the last week of September. Im loving your photos, brings back some wonderful memories.!:)

We cruised on the Freedom in Jan 09 and had cabin 1056; the location is the best....we are sailing on the Freedom again this January although we opted for a suite but I would do that deck again in a heartbeat :)

Loving the review

More. please and thank you

You're welcome. ;)

Nice review, really looking forward to reading the rest of it. Nice pics also.

Thanks! :)

Hi disneyden! Enjoying your review of the Freedom. I had a great cruise on her the last week of September. Im loving your photos, brings back some wonderful memories.!:)

Thank you. It's bringing back memories for me too. I'm ready to go again already!!

We cruised on the Freedom in Jan 09 and had cabin 1056; the location is the best....we are sailing on the Freedom again this January although we opted for a suite but I would do that deck again in a heartbeat :)

 

Loving the review

Have fun on your cruise and let me know how you like the suite!

The next morning, we were docking in Key West. We decided to rent a golf cart and tour the island ourselves. We got lost...several times, but we had a great time doing it! We enjoyed the fact that we could see what we wanted to see on "our time". It's funny, it was more $$ to rent that golf cart for 4 hours in Key West than it was to rent a Jeep in Cozumel for the ENTIRE day!! (We were supposed to go to Jamaica on the last port day, but Hurricane Tomas changed our minds. More on that later...) There were two things that I HAD to try in Key West: Conch Fritters and Key Lime Pie! The Conch Fritters were great and pretty much tasted like hush puppies to me. I ended up getting a chocolate covered key lime pie on a stick which was kinda weird, but good.

Arriving at Key West:

I love this picture of the ship.

I saw pics of this tree on another Freedom review on Cruise Critic and had to find it! I just looked so cool to me! (By the way, thanks Mike and Tracy for your wonderful review!)

Banyan tree in Key West, Florida.

More Key West photos...

Mallory Square

This old boat was in the middle of Mallory Square and I thought it was cool...

It's a cold rainy Monday in Atlanta, and we'll be on this Ship in January. Right now, there is no such thing as too many pictures.

Thanks--looking forward to more.

Loving the review so far and great pics!!! We

ll be going on the Freedom in April and the more I see of her the more I love her!! Keep the review coming!:)

Wonderful review so far! Love the pictures too!