Carnival Freedom 6 Day Review with Pictures 01/22/2012

[lovestocruise19]

That kitty was super cute! I'm going on this cruise in 116 days for my honeymoon! It will be my second cruise. I plan on going to the Hemingway House just to see the kitties! :) I love your pictures and can't wait to read more of your review. Was the walk to Southernmost Point pretty doable?

[navybaby1113]

That kitty was super cute! I'm going on this cruise in 116 days for my honeymoon! It will be my second cruise. I plan on going to the Hemingway House just to see the kitties! :) I love your pictures and can't wait to read more of your review. Was the walk to Southernmost Point pretty doable?

 

Yea, the walk was doable. It's about a 3 mile round trip. Not too bad if you're in decent shape. Make sure to bring tons of water, because it was warm enough in January to two Floridians. I couldn't imagine doing it in a warmer month.

[DOTTE]

Great review. We did this same itinerary last Sept and doing it again this Oct. Can't wait.

[NeuroQueen]

Really enjoying the review! I went to FSU in the dark ages and LOVE Tallahassee! GO NOLES!!! Can't wait to read the rest!

[navybaby1113]

We knew we wanted to reach Mile 0 of US 1, so we continued walking down Whitehead Street until we reached the sign. It is the most stolen sign, so I was happy to see that it was actually there while we were visiting.

 

 

We walked back to Mallory Square. At this point I was getting tired, so we decided to head to the Key West Toy Factory to enjoy their air conditioning and take some pictures.

 

Even if you don't have kids, I highly recommend you check this place out. It's located in a shopping "mall" in Mallory Square and is very cool!

 

 

 

 

[navybaby1113]

After we were done at the toy factory, we headed back to the ship.

 

 

It was lunch time, so went up to the lido deck to grab some food. The buffet today was Caribbean. I grabbed a couple things off the buffet (shrimp and calamari fritters, rice and beans, and fried plantains) and DH got Mongolian. I didn't really care for the items I grabbed, so I ate some fish and chips again.

 

 

For dessert we shared a slice of key lime pie and some other creamy dessert and DH had a piece of strawberry swirl cheesecake, that he said tasted more like jello than cheesecake.

 

 

 

I started getting a headache, so I took some medicine and laid down for a little while. We fully intended to head back out to Key West to get a slice of Kermit's key lime pie, but I slept until about an hour before sailaway. Since we didn't know exactly where we were going, I didn't want to risk missing the ship.

 

Instead, we went to sports trivia and DH won our first ship on a stick of the cruise!

 

 

After trivia, they had a bean bag toss in the lobby. DH got to the finals both times, but sadly didn't win.

 

Edited February 1, 2012 by navybaby1113

[navybaby1113]

We started sailing away from Key West, so we went up to the secret to watch us leave.

 

 

Went and took a shower and then got ready for dinner. We went around 6:30pm tonight and were seated immediately. We had Ketut as a server tonight and it was fabulous!

 

Here are the menus for tonight, borrowed from Zydeco Cruiser's website.

 

 

[navybaby1113]

I apologize in advance for the pictures. We were seated in horrible lighting and I don't like to use flash in the dining room.

 

For an appetizer, I decided to try the chips with salsa and guacamole. The chips were Tostitos from a bag and the salsa tasted like salsa from a jar. The guacamole also didn't have too much flavor. Now I love chips and salsa from the grocery store, so I still enjoyed this dish. I feel like they had the opportunity to do more with it though.

 

DH ordered the chicken quesadilla as an appetizer and enjoyed it. This is the second cruise he has ordered it on.

 

 

 

For an entree, I decided to try the flat iron steak, even though I heard such horrible things about it lately. The inside was cooked a perfect medium, but the outside had a charred flavor to it. I just cut the edges off, added some salt and pepper, and it was a pretty good steak.

 

DH decided to try the gourmet burger for dinner. That thing was huge! On the menu it sounds like you can choose what you want on it, but Ketut said they were made with everything on them, so DH just picked off all the mushrooms and onions, which he wasn't terribly happy about.

 

 

 

Sadly I don't have any pictures of dessert, but I ordered the WCMC and DH has the strawberry cheesecake. The melting cake was cooked to perfection. Absolutely delicious!

[greenhorncanuck]

Great review so far. We are doing the same cruise on the Valor in March. Can't wait to hear the rest.

Wondering, while we are in key west, we are thinking about going to Fort Zachary Taylor for the day. Do you know if it is walkable.

Thanks, Lynda

[navybaby1113]

After dinner, we went to 80's Music Trivia in the theatre. There were people who got perfect on this one, but it definitely wasn't us.

 

Music hadn't started in the piano bar yet, so went down to the room for a little while. This was at about 9pm and it still hadn't been cleaned up. We thought this was odd, but figured the steward was behind. Headed back up to the piano bar at 9:30pm. It smelled really smoky in there tonight, so we didn't stay long. As we were leaving, we saw a man smoking in the corner. No wonder we felt miserable in there.

 

Headed back to the theatre to watch the Newlywed Show. Absolutely hilarious! The couples read their own answers this cruise, so it wasn't scripted like some cruise directors do.

 

Tonight they did the Adult Game Show (also known as the Quest). On the Inspiration, this got extremely raunchy and some girl even got completely naked a couple of times. The Freedom was a lot more tame, but still very fun. I was kind of shocked they didn't close the doors as children could easily have walked in.

 

They did the exact same midnight snacks as they did the night before.

 

We came back to the room after midnight and the room still hadn't been cleaned. This was the first time we have never had a steward clean up our room. We debated on complaining, but decided against it as we didn't want him to get in trouble. Thankfully it never happened again. I went up to the bar and grabbed the next day's Fun Times to look over before bed.

[geneology]

DH and I are leaving for this cruise on Feb 19. Anticipation is half the fun!! Enjoying your review and pictures.

[Jimmy Geegitz]

Great Pics!

[RaiderFaninNM]

Great Review and LOVE the pics!!

 

We are on the Freedom for 8 days in June, so please continue with more of the ship pics......THANKS!

[bar10der421]

Very much enjoying your review. We have a year to wait until we sail on the Freedom. It will be our first cruise on this class, so I am definitely enjoying your ship pics. Thanks a bunch and keep them coming!!

[smax730]

I am enjoying your pictures and review! We sail on the Freedom June 24th.

[navybaby1113]

Thanks to everyone on the kind words. I'll do some more this evening!

[pcrum]

Thanks for the great review. We've also done the Freedom 6 day cruise and loved it (review in signature).

[CEK]

Loving the review and pictures. Looking forward to seeing more.

 

We'll be on this cruise next week, can you tell me what nights were elegant nights for this itinerary?

[navybaby1113]

Loving the review and pictures. Looking forward to seeing more.

 

We'll be on this cruise next week, can you tell me what nights were elegant nights for this itinerary?

 

Elegant nights were the first sea day and the night of Ocho Rios.

[laumicmah]

Enjoying your review. Love the looks of this ship...very pretty.

[calex1976]

Hi, sorry we did not meet up on the cruise. I recognize ya'll by your husbands back pack :D. Every time I saw it I told Lynda that I wanted one like that next time we travel. I need to start on my own review soon. But, have been busy since I got home. Great review, love the pics. We have 600 to go through ourselves.

[FLJIM]

Great review Navybaby. We're doing this cruise on Feb 19, so this is definitely putting me on the mood as I look out at the snow and ice.:mad: I'm in Norway, then Russia on a business trip, and we leave for our cruise 4 days after I get home.:)

Edited February 1, 2012 by FLJIM

[SASA13]

Thank you again for doing this, great job. Can't wait for more.

[navybaby1113]

Thanks for the great review. We've also done the Freedom 6 day cruise and loved it (review in signature).

 

I loved reading your review before we left!

[rgbigun]

Awesome review!! Cannot wait for the rest. We are going on the 8 day, Southern Carribean tour at the beginning of June and can't wait! Can't wait to eat the fish and chips, while my wife and daughters love the mongolian! Thanks for the awesome review and I'm waited with baited breath for the rest!:D