B4May

There was a big shopping mall type area right at the pier in Tortola. I didn't particularly see any liquor stores but I'm sure there was one there.

We did not see any trolleys operating while we were there. There were several excursion companies offering city tours - both through DCL and right as you got off the boat.

A few tips that we learned from this trip - Do not feel like you have to buy a photo package unless you are really wanting to stand in all the lines for the character photos. Yes, there are photographers everywhere but you really have to be intentional (get in line) to get your pictures taken. They don't walk around taking candids. They do take pictures at dinner, but they never make it to all the tables - we only got photos taken twice at dinner. Cast members are also more than happy to take pictures with your phone for you, even with the characters. If you do buy the photo package, you can get a refund if you aren't happy with the photos they took. You just have to request it at Shutters before the last night. I bought a 10 photo package but got the refund because at the end of the cruise we only had 15 total photos to choose from. They do give you Pirate Mickey bandanas on pirate night so don't feel like you'll be totally left out if you don't pack pirate outfits. Though some people go ALL OUT dressing for pirate night, which is fun to see! Look for ducks everywhere, all throughout the cruise. People bring small rubber ducks and hide them all over the ship - searching for them was one of my boys favorite activities. Next time we'll bring our own to hide as well. That's it in a nutshell. It was a great trip that we'll never forget! If anyone has questions, feel free to ask. Happy cruising!

We used Google Maps on my phone. There is also signage with the area map posted in several locations throughout the city. Old San Juan is pretty compact and easy to navigate. El Morro is the farthest out but it only took us maybe 10-15 minutes to walk there.

Onboard Activities/Entertainment - We felt like there was a lot to do on the ship, more than on other ships we'd been on in the past We thought the kids clubs were AMAZING, as expected with it being a Disney cruise. My boys loved the Marvel and Star Wars theming in the Oceaneer Club. Neither of them were really into the character meet-and-greets so we did not wait in the long lines for any of that but we did get to meet Dr. Strange randomly in the kids club, and Pluto and Daisy Duck when they were wandering the ship, so that was really fun. If you're kids aren't able to stand in the lines, I wouldn't worry about it too much because you can definitely catch the characters just out and about. The teen club had its own pool which I thought was very cool though my shy kiddo wasn't having any of that. The only drawback of the kids club was that my 9 year old definitely felt like it was hard to do all the things he wanted to because there were just so many kids in there at the same time. A lot of waiting for a turn. He only went in the evenings though, so it might have been less busy during the day. The Midship Detective Agency was a favorite of my boys, and led us to see some fun things on the ship we would have missed otherwise. We also really enjoyed the shuffleboard, mini golf the classic Disney movies on FunnelVision over the pool, and the various family trivias. The pools were just ok - pretty busy most of the time but we found a few times to get in and enjoy them. There was also a tiny splash pad/shallow pool on one side near the big pools, nice for those with younger kids. My 9 year old also really liked the two big splash pad areas - the Aqualab and Nemo's Reef, though technically he was a little too old for Nemo's. The third family pool was up on Deck 13 in the family zone, which was weirdly sandwiched between the two adult areas. It was more of a splashpad/fountain type thing and I never really saw anyone in it. Both slides, the Mickey slide for kids and the AquaDuck were super fun. My youngest went on the Mickey slide dozens of times as the line was never very long for it. The line at the AquaDuck did get long, but if you paid attention, you could get on it with a less than 10 minute wait. Our favorite was riding it at night when it was all lit up - zero line and we probably went on it about 10 times in a row. It's really fun! That's a perk of early dining and skipping the show after dinner. We only attended one show, Aladdin, which was awesome - maybe more for mom than anyone else. 😂. We had no trouble heading there about 15 minutes before the late showtime and getting seats in the balcony but I heard several complaints about the shows filling up and people in long lines waiting. The others just weren't of interest to us - a ventriloquist, a juggler, Frozen and Disney's Believe. The pirate night was really fun, along with the fireworks at sea. My only complaint is that they start so many of these things LATE. We are generally early risers so staying up for something like the fireworks that started at 10:30 pm is a stretch for us, especially when worn out from spending all day on the beach. I was really surprised that they would do this on a cruise with so many kids. There were also lots of movies to see in the movie theater throughout the cruise - many new releases including Antman: Quantumania, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Avatar: Way of Water. The only one we hadn't already seen was Avatar and my oldest and I enjoyed watching it on ship one sea day afternoon - all 3 hours and 15 minutes of it. 😳

Ports of Call/Excursions - If there is anything I want to impart in this review, it is to not get caught up in the frenzy for booking DCL excursions, or be totally heartbroken when the excursion you are set on is sold out. In all of our cruising, we have rarely done a ship excursion - they are just too pricey compared to non-ship options. I know people worry about missing the ship if something happens, but in my experience, just pick a reputable operator or DIY so you can control the timeline and you'll be just fine. We visited Tortola, BVI and had THE BEST beach day by just DIYing our own excursion. We had a leisurely morning, and walked off the ship with no lines and no crowds around 10 am. There were many taxi operators at the end of the pier just waiting to transport people so we grabbed one and headed out. I had done research before the trip and wanted to avoid the crowds so we went to Brewer's Bay Beach for $24pp round trip, about a 20 minute drive. It is a gorgeous uncrowded beach with one open air bar and grill, Nicole's. You could rent chairs or snorkeling equipment there as well. We found a shady spot under a palm tree and had the best day just hanging out, swimming, having drinks at Nicole's, etc. There were maybe 20 other people on the beach with us all day. Our driver asked us what time we wanted to be picked up, and she was right on time at 2:30 pm. She was also super knowledgeable about the island and pointed out all kinds of interesting things on our drive there and back. So basically we got a private tour of the island for $100 + tip. The boys were tired so we took them back to the ship to relax in the room while we walked back into Road Town to the famous Pusser's Road Town Pub for a drink. It was maybe a 10 minute walk, the Painkiller was fantastic, super friendly bartender - a great way to end the day! In Puerto Rico, we docked in Old San Juan in easy walking distance of the downtown area. We visited both Spanish forts, El Morro and Castillo San Cristobal. $10 pp, kids are free and one ticket gets you in to both. We stopped at Barrachina, the birthplace of the pina colada, for a to-go drink while we were walking around downtown - we did have to wait here for about 20 minutes to get the drinks. There is also a cool little pigeon park that my boys enjoyed as well as lots of opportunities for shopping, dining, etc. So another great day spent for less than $100 total. Our last stop was Castaway Cay, Disney's private island. There is lots to do here, but it is very spread out so be prepared for A LOT of walking. I got around 20,000 steps on this day alone, but we did participate in the 5k race as soon as we got off the ship. That was super fun if you are a runner! You complete it on your own, no set start time and you get a medal at the finish. The course is not well marked though so be prepared to improvise if covering the whole distance is important to you. We also had not booked anything in advance at Castaway Cay and had no trouble getting activities. We rented SUPs (30 minutes for $16 ea), an innertube ($13 for the whole day) and my boys had fun on the waterslides. We had planned to snorkel but ended up not doing it - I thought it was pricey ($34 each for the equipment) and heard several people say they didn't see much. Lunch was included but be aware they shut down at 2pm - we almost missed it because we were paddleboarding from 1-1:30. All in all, we had three excellent port days by just winging it! It can be done! Pic below of the stunning Brewer's Bay.

Yep - thank you WorkingForOBC! As I understand it, DCL discounts are very rare so we felt really fortunate that it happened to be available on a cruise the week of my kids' spring break AND the itinerary was for two ports we had not visited. I had to jump on it.

Dining - This is where the biggest differences between lines are apparent, IMO. Disney does not have "anytime" dining like many other lines, and we really missed it. We had early dining at 5:45 pm and depending on what we did that day, sometimes it was easy to get there, sometimes not. One evening my husband and I went alone because the boys had both fallen asleep from our busy day and one evening we skipped it altogether. The problem with skipping is that there is only one other place to eat, Tow Mater's Grill, that is open during dinner time. The buffet is closed, pizza is closed, the sandwich place is closed. You can order room service 24 hours but we were disappointed in the limited choices available. McGill's Pub was also available with a limited menu and at an additional cost; also most of the time this is an adults only venue. We were also disappointed in the quality of the food from the dining rooms - we really only had one or two meals that we were impressed with. Enchanted Garden was our favorite for the ambiance and one of our best meals was there. We also enjoyed the entertainment at Animator's Palace, but again, the food was mediocre at best. The Cruisin' with Crush show during dinner there was really fun, and both my boys loved the animation show on the second night there. A few tips - there is no need to arrive early to your dining time; we saw all kinds of people lined up for the dinners but we always arrived right on time (or even 5-10 minutes late!) and walked right in. You can order Mickey ice cream bars from room service at any hour, which we did several times during the cruise. Also, ordering room service the night before to bring coffee and a couple breakfast pastries for the kids when we woke up was really awesome and made our mornings stress-free. Overall, the best thing about any of the restaurants were the desserts - we often ordered one of each to share at the table. We've had MUCH better food with many more options on Norwegian.

Cabin - We had an oceanview stateroom in the forward area of deck 6, category 8A. There are only a few cabins of this specific category and they are awesome if you can snag one. They are HUGE with two enormous porthole windows. Big enough for my 9 year old to stand in. We normally book balcony rooms but saved money by going with oceanview and didn't miss the balcony at all. There are several video tours of these staterooms online if you want to check them out in detail. This category doesn't have the split bathroom so if that's important to you, look elsewhere. We've never had a split bath on any cruise so thought the standard bathroom set up was fine. It was nice to have the tub/shower combo, though we didn't use it. Deck 6 forward was out of the way and quiet, except for the vibration and noise when docking. We were always awake by the time it happened so not a big deal for us, but if you are a late sleeper you might want to avoid this area.

Check-In/Embarkation/Pre-cruise Transportation - Disney's check-in process is the worst I've ever experienced. Staying up until midnight (11pm CT) and then having the website/app constantly freeze, not save information, etc. was unbelievably frustrating. It took me nearly two hours to complete everything. There has to be a better way. Everyone tells you to fly in the day before but we always fly in the day of the cruise without issue. This time was no different. We took an early flight, landed at MCO just after 9 am, picked up our luggage and took the Disney transportation to the port. Disney transport is more expensive but worth it to not have to worry about a port arrival time. We arrived at the port just before 11 am. You do however still have to wait for your boarding group to be called before you can actually board the ship. Hence the need to be online at midnight for check-in. 😓 Check in at the port was easy and efficient, no waiting there. We were in boarding group 9 so had to wait about an hour to board, but the cruise terminal is comfortable so waiting wasn't bad at all. We were on the ship just after noon. The actual boarding is where the Disney magic begins - my kids really enjoyed hearing our last name as we walked in to the atrium. You don't get your ship cards until your room is ready at 1:30 pm. We had plenty of time to get lunch and explore the ship before then. Think about what you'll carry on with you since you'll be stuck with it for the first few hours. Backpacks worked well, especially if you plan to bring wine or beer onboard.

We are just back from our very first Disney Cruise on the Fantasy, a spring break trip for our family of 4 - my husband and I with our two boys, 14 & 9. Our itinerary was Tortola, BVI / San Juan, Puerto Rico / Castaway Cay. We have been on 6 other cruises together in the past, both on Carnival and Norwegian. TBH, I likely never would have spent the $$$$ for a Disney cruise without the Disney+ discount deal, but I'm glad we did. Overall, we had a great time! Disney is very different from any cruise we've been on in the past - in some great ways and some not so great ways. I'll try to highlight all the differences I noticed and share some tips we learned over the past week. Feel free to ask any questions you may have and I'll try to answer them if I can. TL;DR - I think DCL is a one-and-done thing for us; we will definitely cruise again but didn't feel the extra value was there for such a premium cost over other lines. I like to separate my reviews into sections to make them easier to read, so stay tuned for more posts with specifics in this thread.

Thanks, that is helpful! I found another resource online that has a list of the lines with cabins that hold 5 people. Will share it here in case anyone else is interested - https://www.militarycruisedeals.com/are-there-any-cabins-that-hold-5-people/

I personally never thought I'd pay the premium for a Disney cruise, but these discounts seem too good to pass up. We ended up booking a 7 nt in a Family Deluxe Oceanview on the Fantasy for spring break with the kids sailing free. Came out to right at $200 pp/ per day which seemed like a great deal to me (for Disney anyway)! What other deals are you guys snagging?

Which lines/ships have the ability to sleep 5 people comfortably in a cabin? Are there any ships with two bedroom cabins? I'm thinking of the Family Oceanview (category 1K) on RCCL - what other lines have big rooms with separate sleeping areas like that? Or are there ships with a balcony or oceanview adjacent to a studio single? Trying to plan a cruise to Alaska for next year with my family (me, my husband and our two boys) and my single mother. We've done side-by-side balconies in the past, but that's not ideal as one of my sons has to share a room with grandma. What would you do for a family of 5? Thanks!

Around the Ship - There weren't as many hidden gem type places on the Freedom like we've found on other ships. We enjoyed the Serenity Deck when the kids were otherwise occupied - there was a tiny bar there that was never very busy. The clamshell loungers up there are way overrated - most of the time there were people sleeping in them but on the one occasion I found one empty, it was very uncomfortable to sit in because the cushion just slips out from under you. I could not understand why they were so popular. 🤷‍♀️ Serenity is a great place to have coffee and watch the sunrise though, if you don't have a balcony (or your balcony is facing the wrong way in the morning.) We did also enjoy the ping pong and pool table on Deck 11; that was the first time I'd seen a pool table on a ship so that was a fun surprise. Overall, the Freedom is looking very dated and in need of an overhaul. It's very hard to tell that it underwent dry dock as recently as 2019. I'm not sure if it was because this was a summer cruise, but it definitely had a more loud, raucous party atmosphere than I anticipated. It felt like spring break without the college kids. We still enjoyed our cruise, especially for the cheap price that we paid but we will likely look elsewhere in the future for more dining options, updated cabins, a little more upscale atmosphere, etc. I would definitely visit Amber Cove and Grand Turk again as they were easily the highlight and among the best ports we've visited on any cruise. If anyone has specific questions about our sailing, feel free to ask!

Entertainment/Activities Onboard - The shows were pretty good - not outstanding, but on par with what we've seen on other ships. Our favorite was probably 80s Pop to the Max; it was cheesy but fun and the songs we're mostly in range for the singers. 88 Keys was the "non production" show; just the singers in black on the stage, no set. The last night was Getaway Island, again cheesy with beach themed music but fun. The other show was the Deal or No Deal game show which we did not attend. We all thought the best singer we saw onboard was Morgan - she was in the bars throughout the week and was the opening act for Getaway Island. The two violin players that had shows in the atrium several times were also really great. We also really enjoyed the comedians onboard - both Julie Scoggins and Tommy Drake. We saw both PG shows as we had our 14 yo with us but both were very funny. For family activities, we enjoyed the mini golf course and the games set up in Red Frog Pub. That was kind of a hidden secret - way in the back of the pub, there is corn hole, shuffleboard, foosball, darts, and some table games. We checked out the library for the board games as well, but they only had Risk and Headbandz. I also had a really great experience in the spa. I booked the Sea Salt Body Scrub for late evening on embarkation day to kick off my trip. While it was a weird kind of side room where I had my treatment, it was one of the best massages I've ever had. The whole treatment was supposed to take 50 minutes, but the salt scrub was a half hour, and the massage after I rinsed off was almost an hour! It was heavenly. My mom also had a facial that she really enjoyed. That was our first experience with spa services onboard and we would both highly recommend them!

Yes, everything stayed open on port days. We came back to the ship for lunch at Grand Turk and were able to snag Guy's burgers with a minimal line. Another tip for the pool even on sea days is to get up early-ish and head to the pool first thing. Almost every day, the pool was fairly quiet until the DJ starts blaring music at 11 am. We usually got there around 9 am and could get loungers pool side with no problem. The boys spent a couple hours playing in the pool, doing the slides, etc. and then we'd flee when the club party started. 😄 Seriously, it was so dang loud you couldn't even have a conversation.

Ports - Grand Turk This was by far the highlight of the trip for us. Grand Turk is phenomenal. Yes, the port was busy with the Mardi Gras there again (seems these two ships are on the exact same itinerary this summer, with the Mardi Gras always being just a little ahead of Freedom). We again didn't rush off the ship. The ship docked early but we still ate a leisurely breakfast, this time at the buffet since most people got off early at this port, before leaving the ship around 9 am. We explored the port a bit and then walked down the beach just past where all the loungers are set up, a little farther away from the main busy area and found a totally uncrowded stretch of beautiful beach and clear turquoise water. We just brought bottled water and our towels from the ship to sit on and we had a great time playing in the ocean. The beach is crazy crowded right there by the pool but less than a quarter mile away it's beautiful and peaceful. Jack's Shack is a cute little beachside bar area near where we were sitting also. A little after noon, both boys were tired so we headed back to the ship for lunch and to let them rest. We finally got to try Guy's burgers since the lines were manageable. It's a short pier and an easy walk at Grand Turk, so my mom and I decided to go back into port to do some shopping after lunch. Lots of great shops and some cool sights like a monument highlighting Grand Turk as a splashdown area for NASA. We spent zero dollars at Grand Turk besides shopping and had a great time - for families on a budget, that is just awesome and puts any port at the top of my list.

Ports - Amber Cove Both ports on this itinerary seemed to have a lot to do, so we didn't book any excursions in advance and that proved to be a good choice. We wanted more of a chill vacation without a bunch of planned activities and that's exactly what we got. Amber Cove is beautiful, with a huge port area, big pool, kids splash area, lots of activities, food options and shopping. We docked mid morning and we didn't rush to get off the ship. We had a leisurely breakfast in the dining room, changed into our swimsuits and headed off ship around 11 am. No lines and we just walked right off. The port area was very busy with the Mardi Gras docked also, but we found loungers without problem and spent several hours in the pool, on the slides, in the lazy river and the kids area. We also walked up to the Sky Bar for a few snacks and drinks. Lots of steps but worth it for the views - photo below. That's also where the zip line takes off from, it was $20 for unlimited rides which I thought was very reasonable and looked super fun. If you are looking for somewhere quiet and away from the loud party music of the pool, there is a path down towards the bungalows that leads to a little bar over the water. There was hardly anyone there, so it was a nice place to stop for a drink and just take in the views. There were hammocks near this area also that weren't very busy. The only thing is port is lacking is a nice beach area but if you are going to Grand Turk the next day you'll get the most beautiful beaches ever so you won't miss it here...

I'm glad you asked because that's a big change that I wasn't aware of before this cruise - the Fun Times and the dining menus are no longer printed, everything is on the Hub app so I couldn't really take any pictures. The only printed menus are in the glass display case outside the dining rooms - there are none once you are seated. Just a QR code on your table. And when the wait staff comes by, they want you ready to order all three courses right then. I missed having the printed Fun Times. The Hub app is kind of annoying when trying to see kids activities - you have to filter by each age group to see the kids club schedules. I do have some pictures from the ports that I will share when I do that part of the review.

Dining - This is where Carnival is really struggling right now. I don't think our cruise was sold out but due to the limited dining options, the lines were LONG. For everything. I assume it's due to staffing issues, but they only had one buffet open at lunch until 3:30pm and in the evenings, from 5:30 to 9:30. Every evening the line on both sides was about 30-50 people deep from the time they opened until 8:30ish. And after you waited 30 minutes in line, there weren't many choices and the food was lackluster. The best places for quick dining were the Deli and Guy's burgers, if you could catch them at an off hour to not wait forever. We managed to get Guy's for late lunch one day when we came back early from the port and it was really delicious. Breakfast was slightly better as they had both buffets open, but still not as many choices as I remember from the past. The line was long for the omelette station too but pro tip: the Sushi window had omelettes in the morning, and there was rarely a line there. The one dessert bar also had limited choices, usually 3-4 cakes or pies, plus two choices of cookies. Ice cream was still 24 hours, but they never seemed to have all the ice cream machines open at once so it was a bit of a seek and find figuring out where to go and when. The one in the aft, near the adult pool is the only one open at night. Much better experience in the dining room. We had Any Time dining and I liked being able to check in on the Carnival Hub app and then being notified when our table was ready. We never waited more than 20 minutes for a table. We were very happy with the choices and the wait staff was excellent. Room service is an extra charge now (I think it used to be free, you just tipped the staff?) but it was never available any time I checked the Hub app. Nor was advance ordering for the Seafood Shack. Pizza Pirate near the adult pool was good and open all the time, but due to limited choices elsewhere, the line for it was always really long also. One tip if the lines are long is to try to catch the BBQ restaurant on the second level above the buffet. It was only open for lunch but there was never a line and the food was ok. We went there on embarkation day and were the only ones up there. Bottom line, we didn't starve but it just wasn't the stellar dining experience I've had on many previous cruises.

Cabin - We had balcony cabins on the Spa (11) Deck, 1106 & 1104. Standard set up that you can see a million pictures of elsewhere. The ship is dated though, so expect that. The TV worked sometimes and sometimes it didn't. Our safe didn't work. Water pressure was a mixed bag. A couple things to note though - in the past, our Spa deck cabins have come with extra perks, like access to the special spa areas, such an indoor thalassotherapy pool, upgraded toiletries, spa robes, slippers, etc. The Freedom has none of those things. There is a small sauna and steam room and that's it. I never went in either but my mom reported that the sauna wasn't even working. The location of these rooms wasn't great either. Since it's on the top level, there isn't any roof over the balcony, something I didn't think I would mind but it ended up making the balcony mostly unusable because it was unbearably hot. This was our first cruise in the summer so my fault for not realizing that. We didn't have any issue with privacy as we were far forward enough where the glass wall prevented people from leaning over to look into our balcony. But it was pretty noisy at all hours with people moving chairs around above us, workers doing maintenance overnight, etc. Also, the lack of roof means you cannot open the partition between adjacent balconies, which we were really disappointed about. It is so nice to combine two rooms into one large balcony when traveling together. If I had it to do again, I'd book balconies on the 9th or 10th deck and probably in an aft location instead of forward.

I like to separate my reviews into sections to make them easier to read. Patience grasshopper! 😆

Embarkation - Super smooth embarkation process, probably the best we've ever experienced on any cruise. We flew Southwest from STL to MCO on the same day as the cruise departure. No problems with the flight at all, and we used GoPort as our transportation to the port. That was an easy process as well, check in at the airport, we waited about 15 minutes for a shuttle which was a huge bus and we were dropped right at the cruise terminal. There were porters there to pick up your luggage and they can help you with tags if you didn't tag yours already. One thing to note if you fly is that they ask you to take your wine out of your checked bag and carry it onboard the ship. Our scheduled embarkation time was 10:30-11:00 am and we arrived just slightly later than that so we did not have to wait at all. They were holding people who arrived before their appointment time. The lines were long but they had a ton of agents working so it moved quickly. We used the Verifly app for vaccination verification and took care of setting up our onboard accounts, heath questionnaires, etc online before arrival so the whole check in took maybe 15 minutes. You do not get your Sign & Sail cards at check in anymore, and if you use a passport, they already have your photo. They did take a photo of each of our kids since they don't have passports; we were traveling with their birth certificates. Once onboard, we explored the ship some, got lunch at the buffet and headed up to check on our rooms. When they say rooms are not ready until 1:30pm, they mean it. We weren't even able to sneak in to grab our S&S cards. My hubs was irritated by that until we figured out that you can use your boarding pass to get a beer at the bar before your card is ready. Another tip - cards come with holes now so no need to pack a hole punch or track one down from guest services for your lanyard, or wrist strap.

Hi all, we are just back from our first post-pandemic cruise on the Carnival Freedom to Amber Cove and Grand Turk, August 15-20, 2022. I always get a lot of helpful info from reviews so I'll share my thoughts here. I traveled with my husband and our two boys, 8 & 14 and my mother in two balcony cabins. This is our 6th cruise overall, and 4th on Carnival. A LOT has changed since we last cruised in 2019. Feel free to ask any questions you might have and I'll try to answer them if I can. TL;DR - this is probably our last cruise on Carnival for awhile, we'll probably stick to Norwegian or try out a different line for our next cruise to Alaska in 2023.