Carnival Freedom 8/3-8/11- Loved it!

We had a fantastic time on the new 2.0 Freedom! This was the first time we sailed on a Conquest-class ship, and I really enjoyed it.

Pre-cruise: We stayed at the Sleep Inn Suites in Dania. Aside from the super convenience of a Walgreens only steps away, I didn’t think much of the hotel. It was sufficient for a night’s stay I suppose. They did have pretty decent shuttle service to/from the airport and to the cruise port. Shuttle service to the cruise was $5pp. Free back and forth to the airport. Didn’t have to wait long for it the two times we used it.

Embarkation: I received the infamous email about arriving to the port later but like many, I ignored it. Lesson learned. Next time I won’t. The boarding was in fact delayed and we wound up waiting in a very crowded terminal for almost 90 minutes after arriving around 10:45. I have to say it was pretty ridiculous the way some of the people who had FTTF were acting. Just belligerent. One lady threatened to sue Carnival. Seriously?? We purchased FTTF too and although boarding was delayed, they did call for us after Plats, Diamonds, and Suites. This same lady carried on so much that they let her go through with the folks in the lounge, which I thought was a bit much. I found out later that evening when looking at my account on the t.v. screen FTTF had been refunded. The guest services line was packed after the delayed embarkation, and I wouldn’t have wanted to work at that desk. I actually would never want to work in guest services. Lol.

Food & Drink: I’m not much of a foodie. I like a good meal like the next person, but I don’t really take food pics or stress over meals. I will say Guys Burgers is worth the hype. My eleven-year old took in at least one a day and declared Guy Fierri should open up a burger joint in our hometown! I thought the meals in the MDR were good. Better than last year on the Sensation. My favorite was the Panko crusted shrimp. Had it both nights it was offered on the menu. We found Fish & Chips on the first day and would visit up there many more times during the cruise. Blue Iguana Catina was pretty good. Nothing to write home about but good. I thought every desert I tried was horrible. Didn’t like any of them. We ordered room service several times. I love that option and that it’s free! I blew about $10 tipping room service during the week. Not bad. And the order never took more than 25 minutes.

DH and I enjoyed the Red Frog Pub and Blue Iguana. We didn’t make it to the Alchemy Bar until day 3 and by then little clicks had formed. The first night I went, the bartender ignored me for 10 minutes while she laughed and talked with friends she made. I waited patiently and finally asked if I could get a drink. Can’t remember what I ordered but it was sooo good. It’s a drink they light up when scraping cinnamon at the top. I tell ya it was good! But I only went back one more time.

Ports: This trip called on St. Thomas, USVI; Antigua, San Juan, and Nassau. Really enjoyed St. Thomas. We hopped on a tour for $20 each in San Juan, which was fine. Had been there before. By the time we got back to the ship, it was pouring raining. Didn’t stop me from going to Cold Stone Creamery across the street. Yum! Then after a quick stop to CVS, we headed back onboard.

Nassau was Nassau. Been there so many times. We wound up going to Cable Beach for a few hours and then back to the ship. We got there @ 1:00pm on Sunday and a lot of things were closed. In St. Thomas we hit Coki Beach, which was crowded but nice. Antigua was by far my favorite port. I’ve already done a review on the port of call page, which you can see here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2086455

Cabin 9200, category 6K: Ever since learning about these rooms, I just had to have one. I was originally booked in one on the Sunshine and had to switch because of date conflicts. I made sure to pick another ship that had these rooms. With the Freedom coming out of drydock, not many people in the general public knew about these cabins so it was relatively easy to get one of the only two on the ship. The Carnival rep I spoke with initially said the Freedom didn’t have these rooms and they didn’t show on the Carnival site (not sure if they do now), but I got it and it was worth every effort and penny spent. Actually the price was pretty good. I’ve attached a link below with some pics.

http://s1314.photobucket.com/user/dance4me16/slideshow/Freedom%20cruise%20August%202014/cabin%209200%20by%20cruizinisthebest

If you notice in them, there is one shade always down. Ok so when we get to the room, the first thing the steward says is that there is a problem with the shade with one window. Whatttt you mean girl??? I’ve been sweating this cabin for months! Well turns out it was broken. Off the track and couldn’t be fixed. Maintenance came in twice and tried. One time we were in the room and then they stopped. Later we were told that the blind was under a warranty and that Carnival couldn’t touch it. Ohhh k. So that meant the entire 8 days we had a 6K room with a 6J view!:rolleyes: I admit I was a little bent out of shape, but because of how nice guest services was, I was never angry towards them. In the end they gave me a decent OBC to my S&S account for the broken blind and I got a letter with 10% off my next cruise. I will say the room was fantastic aside from that. Lots of room even for the 4 of us. Two small coffee tables, two chairs, lots of closet space, two night stands. Plenty of room for us (and we don’t pack light). After the first night, the steward kept the couch out as a bed. With the amount of space and that awesome view, it will be hard to stay in any other cabin type from now on. It was a real treat. All of the new rooms in that forward section are nice. The 6Js were roomy too. I took a couple of pics of my neighbor’s room as she did mine.

Ok that’s all for now. I will post more pics and talk about Camp Ocean, etc. later. Any questions, ask away!

Thanks for your review so far!

Dumb question: what makes a 6K special? Sorry, but I'm not familiar with them. TIA

Thanks for your review of the Freedom! I appreciate them all, the great, the good, and the not so good included. Helps me bide the time till my cruise which is three months away!:) Thanks.

Glad you had a good time!

We enjoyed the Freedom a lot when we sailed on her, and that was before 2.0.

Barry :)

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

Thanks for your review so far!

 

Dumb question: what makes a 6K special? Sorry, but I'm not familiar with them. TIA

Much bigger cabins and the sweeping forward views are the main draw. At least it was for me!;)

Thanks for the report!

Tuesday (second sea day) was the Dr. Seuss parade. Started in the Aft lounge and went through the Promenade on Deck 5 ending at the main showroom lounge Deck 3 forward. Afterwards they gathered all the kids on stage and read The Cat in the Hat with some volunteers from the audience to help act out the story. I thought it was cute!

We were on the same sailing and had a ball! Great ship and fantastic crew. Enjoying reliving it through your review! :)

Thanks for the Seuss info. Will be sailing on the Splendor soon and can't wait for our 4 year old to enjoy it. Love the Freedom too, glad you had a great cruise.

We were on the same sailing and had a ball! Great ship and fantastic crew. Enjoying reliving it through your review! :)

Yes I agree about the crew. Shout out to our room steward, Ritchell, and our MDR staff - Nmoman, Oscar, and Andre'. I wrote John Heald about them!

Thanks for the Seuss info. Will be sailing on the Splendor soon and can't wait for our 4 year old to enjoy it. Love the Freedom too, glad you had a great cruise.

Awwee she will enjoy the parade. We didn't make the brunch on the last sea day, but try to sign up for it.

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience with us. We are booked on the Freedom for the 1st time in Feb....anxiously counting down the days!

Thanks again. Kim

I am so excited for my cruise aboard the Freedom in a few weeks!! Thank you so much for writing!!

Much bigger cabins and the sweeping forward views are the main draw. At least it was for me!;)

That is an amazing room! Have to keep that one in mind.

I have 6K 9201 booked on the Freedom next year. Thanks for your review.

There were 1100 kids on this sailing!!:D 700 of them were between 12-17. Here are some pics of Camp Ocean, which was very nice. My kids enjoyed it. The biggest difference I noticed as a parent was the lack of theme night parties for an extra fee. And I was fine with that. ;)They did have the Build-A-Bear workshops 3 different times during the week. And of course Night Owls after 10pm.

Nice review and pics. Have never been on the Freedom, def. on the bucket list.

Thanks for the report!

Can you never branch out? At all?

Thanks for your review. Can't wait until 12-13-14 so I can experience it for myself.

Thanks for your review. Can't wait until 12-13-14 so I can experience it for myself.

You're welcome. I'm not a pro like some of the other reviews on here, but I hope you get something out of it. :)

A few random pics. The pool was only empty, because it was raining. Otherwise, it was always packed. Never got in it because of that reason. And yes the waiters danced 3 nights at least. I wonder if they get tired of doing that. :p

Red Frog Pub. Hubby and I hung out there quite a few times.

I try to take a pic of the bench on every ship I go on.

I take photos of the benches too!

re the Red Frog Pub; is there any particular attraction to this bar? I know on some ships there is pub food, but not on the Freedom, only the snacks. So is there anything going on there? or is it just another bar with different decor? Just have been wondering.

Thanks for your review, and photos. I am sooooo looking forward to my cruise:)

I take photos of the benches too!

 

re the Red Frog Pub; is there any particular attraction to this bar? I know on some ships there is pub food, but not on the Freedom, only the snacks. So is there anything going on there? or is it just another bar with different decor? Just have been wondering.

 

Thanks for your review, and photos. I am sooooo looking forward to my cruise:)

You're gonna have a fantastic time. As for the Red Frog, we liked it because there was a acoustic guitar player in there just about every night. We enjoy live music even though not everything he played was our favorite music style. It was nice to have a drink and have the music in the background. I also enjoyed the bartenders. One other thing for us is that we met a couple while waiting to board with the rest of the FTTF folks and we kind of just gravitated towards each other in the pub several times. For me, I enjoyed it more than the Alchemy Bar. The drinks in the Alchemy are awesome yet I'm not a beer drinker. Would think I would have enjoyed Alchemy more. But the vibe for me was much more to my liking and not clickish like the Alchemy if that makes sense. No food. Just those snacks in my pics. lol.