Carnival Freedom 6 day review w/ pics

[calex1976]

Hi, this is my first review so I imagine it will take a while to put every thing down. A little background on me, I have worked on the water since I was a child. First as a commercial fisherman for a long time now I have been a captain for the past 8 years. So the I did not experience the first time amazement most first time cruisers do. I went on a cruise before many years ago, but this was my first time as a adult on board a cruise ship. My girlfriend (Lynda) had never been offshore before, so she had the pleasure of not seeing land for the first time.

 

I was actually surprised on this cruise. I expected to see drunk college aged kids running around making noise the entire trip. This was a very laid back cruise, and very enjoyable.

 

I started planning the trip 6 months ago. I have a touch of OCD so I become obsessed with planning:). I had many packing list down loaded, copies of maps for every port, and read hundreds of reviews on every thing from the ship to ports of call. I quickly realized I over packed. If your a first timer take out half the clothes and add twice the money.

[calex1976]

We stayed at the Days Inn Airport South near Ft Lauderdale. The room was great, had free parking for 28 days, and a free shuttle to the cruise port. The taxi back was $20. A Dennys and a gas station was next door, a drug store(w/ cruise essentials) was about a mile up the road. The room cost $143 a night, but with all the extras the prices was about the same as parking at the port and much less confusing for a first timer.

 

 

[navybaby1113]

Looking forward to reading your review. I love seeing other people's opinion of the same cruise I was on.

[calex1976]

I was having trouble uploading pics from snapfish, now am trying photobucket. I have a FB account, but rarely use it. Maybe this will work.

[calex1976]

 

Testing pics

[Texarribean Chick]

 

Testing pics

 

Pics work - thanks for writing the review :D

[cruisinsly]

Looking forward to your review and pictures!!

[calex1976]

These are pics of the motel. I would recommend it to anyone driving to the port. The staff was great and the motel was very nice.

 

 

 

 

We were on the 9am transport so we got to the port fairly early. Once we made it through the doors we were sent to the security booth. If you have disposable cameras they will be X-rayed. The guard refused to let us have them inspected and was very rude when I asked about it. The pics came out fine even though they went through a few X-rays. After waiting until 11:30 we were sent through the line and picture takers to the ship.

[calex1976]

Once on board we entered the lobby. Then up the glass elevators and down the hall to the Lido deck.

 

 

 

We were allowed to the room at exactly 1:30pm. The room was very nice, but extremely hot. After 6 hours a maintenance man showed up and adjusted the air, it did not help. We found out that removing the air duct cover helped a lot and our steward brought us a fan. I had heard horror stories about the bathrooms, but I thought they were fine.

 

 

Notice the position of the only plug in the room. My extra charger w/ USB ports would not plug in.

[MissKIA]

Thanks for posting your review.

 

I'm curious, why couldn't you use your plug? What was the problem?

 

 

 

 

Notice the position of the only plug in the room. My extra charger w/ USB ports would not plug in.

[calex1976]

Thanks for posting your review.

 

I'm curious, why couldn't you use your plug? What was the problem?

 

The plug I bought did not have the clearance from the counter top to the plug. If the plug had been turned upright it would have worked. But we only used it for the fan and to charge my laptop every now and then.

[calex1976]

Our first day out was confusing for us. We walked all over the ship trying to get our bearings. Once we learned our way around it was much easier. We had early dinning witch I will not do again. We prefer eating a late lunch, so at 6:00pm we were not that hungry. The food was good, but I did not like our table. We were in the very back of the MDR. The view was great, but we had a tiny table by our selves that was in between other large tables. We ended up only eating there one other night. We found the Freedom restaurant to be our favorite place to eat. We tried the Fish and Chips one time, but after being raised on fresh seafood I will never set foot in one again. We found the fried fish and oysters disgusting.

Before boarding I thought we would be staying up late and sleeping in every morning. But, the first day and every day after we were up around 6:00am. We found it relaxing to set on the Lido and sip coffee and enjoy our morning cigarets. We had many great early morning conversations up there. After a full day of exploring the ship and ports we were ready for bed by 10:30 every night. This was not the party cruise I thought it would be, and I am releaved that it was not.

[calex1976]

I love this town. I used to catch shrimp in the Keys every winter since I was very young. Key West was the main reason I booked this trip. We got off of the boat and headed straight to the Conch Train. I had already bought the tickets online a few months before. The Conch Train is about the best way to see all of Key West with the limited time we had at port.

 

Banyan Tree

 

For lunch we ate at Hog's Breath. I try to stay away from the more popular places in town, but the food and service was excellent. Also, they serve a great Rum Punch. We did the Hemingway House tour with some of our friends that live in the Keys. The tour was nice and given by a man who looked like Papa Hemingway.

\

 

A decedent of Hemingway's cats, notice the six toes.

The island is very small and easy to navigate once you learn a few streets. Duval is the main road in town, kind of like Bourbon Street in New Orleans, but much cleaner.

 

Typical Key West lots of trees and plants, A/Cs and fans, but not a heater on the Island.

[Jeafl]

Great job so far, can't wait to read the rest! :)

[joydisney]

Great start - we are tentatively planning this trip in July.

[calex1976]

Thanks every one, I took a few notes durring the trip, but its hard to put everything down. It was a great cruise. There were a few problems but nothing to ruin a vacation. I learned a lot in planning this trip and will try to pass on any information.

[cbreit]

Loving it so far Calex - sorry we didn't meet up again!

[calex1976]

Loving it so far Calex - sorry we didn't meet up again!

 

Thanks, it has been fun going back through every thing we did. With such a large ship it suprised me every time we met anyone.

[grant135]

Hope your first day back to work went well. Great review so far, hope to read more soon. If we are down your way we would love to get together. I may have some extra time next week to write a short review.

 

Jeff and Bobbi

[calex1976]

Hope your first day back to work went well. Great review so far, hope to read more soon. If we are down your way we would love to get together. I may have some extra time next week to write a short review.

 

Jeff and Bobbi

 

 

The first day back is always a killer, but it sounds like the boat has not been running much. So, maybe I will get time to finish the review. When ya'll get down this way give us a call. It would be great to see you two again, I've got better coffee than Carnival also:D.

[SMSACE6]

Im enjoying your review and photos, and looking forward to more.:)

[calex1976]

Our first day with out a port call we basically just hung out. We had made a few friends and enjoyed drinking coffee early on the Lido Deck and carrying on conversations. I have heard bad reviews of the food on board, but we could always find something to eat. The breakfast was repetitive almost always the same thing, but I did not mind too much. We spent the day exploring the ship and learning the faster ways to get around. Our room was on deck one and mid ship. It took a while to remember that we had to walk down the hall way then take the elevator to deck three to get to the lobby. If you go to deck three mid ship you are in between the two MDRs.

 

 

This was a formal night, so we dressed up and ate at the MDR. The dinner was very good, but I did not like the fact they ave taken away a few

courses. You can still order a salad with your meal, but I preferred it when you got a appetizer, salad, main course, and desert.

 

After dinner we went to a show, a tribute to New Orleans. It was fairley good. We seldom get a chance to dress up and go to a theater, so this was a nice change for us.

 

Later on we headed back to the room and packed our back backs for the Caymans the next morning. I have been using a military MOLLE back pack for years. It travels to work with me and on every vacation. I can pack every thing I need (sunglasses, spare money, cigarettes, spare lighters, camera, batteries and copies of any important documents. I found out it is much easier to pack your bag the day before while you are still wide awake. Packing in the morning while in a rush leads to forgetting things you may need:eek:. And the Caymans being a tender port you don't want to waste all day tendering back and forth.

[calex1976]

Even though I packed(over packed) plenty of clothes this is what I ended up wearing almost every day. The hat keep the sun off of me, the shirt is a fishing style shirt (very cool, fast drying, with plenty of pockets to store every thing in), the cargo shorts were great for storage(never carry a wallet in your back pocket, criminals know you are a tourist and will target you quickly), The back back is my prized possession any time I travel, and the water shoes were so comfortable I wore them the entire trip.

 

Tenders in Georgetown

The Caymans were not a third world country at all. George Town is extremely wealthy, the environment is not threatening at all. We went down to deck zero and boarded the tender, make sure you bring every thing with you(bring your own water, Carnival will "offer" you water before you disembark, but they will charge you. You disembark the tender and are herded through a line to a gathering area. If you have a excursion this is where you meet up. We were heading to Eden Rock to snorkel on our own. We hit the main road, turned right, and walked a few hundred yards down. Make sure to stop when you make the turn on the road the ships will be in the back ground and make a great photo opportunity. We found a couple and asked them to snap our picture and returned the favor.

Look for a blue building with a apple on it.

 

I had spoken to the people at Eden Rock before we left on the cruise. They are very nice and knowledgeable. When we arrived there was a young man from England working the counter, he was great. He helped us select our gear, showed us a map of the reefs(Eden Rock and Devils Grotto are next to each other), then got us a locker. The total for masks, snorkels, fins, vests, and locker was $32 USD. Be careful in the Caymans always ask if prices are USD or Cayman Dollars. The reef was beautiful, I have dove in the Bahamas and all through the Keys. Eden Rock and Devils Grotto are two of my favorites, so far. The reefs are about a hundred yards out and come up to about ten feet of water. There are many caves and plenty of fish. The water is very salty, so diving to the bottom is difficult. For the price Edens Rock is the best snorkeling I have ever done.

 

After snorkeling we asked the guy at Eden Rock where he liked to eat. I have learned always ask a local where they eat normally you get a honest answer and end up eating a great meal for a good price. He advised us to go just past the museum to The Old Gaol Cafe.

 

The cafe was a very small cafe like you would see in New Orleans or Key West. The food and service was excellent and fairly cheap. I had the Coconut Shrimp and loved them, that's saying a lot for me, I grew up on a shrimp boat and am very hard to impress with seafood. I also had a Caybrew beer that was very good. I'm not a beer drinker at all, but it was nice knowing that I was drinking a locally made beer that is not available in America. They taste almost like a very fresh Heineken.

 

 

 

After a nice lunch we roamed around the town. There is a small craft market between Eden Rock and the business area of town, the prices were actually very cheap there and the people very friendly. If you need water or a drink it is $1 USD, much cheaper than any where else on the island. We stopped by the Duty Free store near the dock and laughed at the "cheap alcohol", the prices were twice what they are back in Alabama. I heard a few people say they found some good deals, but there were none to be found in that shop, sorry I did not get a picture of it to warn people not to waste there time. There is a Margaritaville near the dock in a shopping complex and of course about ten diamond shops. We try to stay away from the overpriced Malls while on vacation, so I have no idea what these shops had in them. The diamond shops are not worth going in for me, the dealers are very aggressive in a polite way if that is possible. We headed back to the tender dock to catch the boat back to the ship. Be sure to remember when the last tender leaves, the ship will not wait on you unless you booked through Carnival.

 

After boarding we dropped off our souvenirs in the room then went upstairs to the Lido to find some food, the lines will be very long so be patient. We spent the rest of the night hanging out with friends on the Lido deck. Then packed up for Jamaica.

[calex1976]

Sorry it is taking so long to finish this review, but work has been steady since I got back on the boat. Should be done soon though.

[calex1976]

Jamaica was the only place I bothered to book through Carnival. I was worried about doing our own thing in this country. Although this is one of the most beautiful places I have been I was not comfortable there. Although the people are nice they are hustlers. Make sure to bring plenty of $1's with you every one wants a tip. Just give them a $1 and they will leave you alone.

From the dock is a incredible view of Ocho Rios, the dock is at the foot of a mountain range. We had to meet with our tour at 9:30, knowing what I do now this is when I would have bought my rum. Instead we waited and then walked to meet our tour. I bought Dolphin Cove and Dunn's Falls for my self and Dolphin Encounter Dunn's Falls for Lynda. I have worked around dolphins my whole life and been able to pet them many times, so I did not care to do the Encounter. Having different tickets they tried to separate us onto different buses. Make sure you tell them that you want to stay together. The buses we were loaded onto were very nice all of them were authorized through JUNTA so they are official inspected buses and drivers. The ride there was nice, the driver gave some information along the way as we rode to Dolphin Cove.

Dolphin Cove was great, it is a small park on the edge of the jungle. We were greeted and given arm bands and led down to the board walks. The dolphin show was about to start, so we hung out and watched the dolphins swim. Lynda was led down with a group to the water and instructed on what they would be doing. I read that no pictures were allowed, but they never said a word as I took plenty. The encounter included touching the dolphins a few times and it doing a few tricks. The price was around $160, but she loved it. After the dolphins we walked up to the gift shop. Be sure to try the free samples of rum before you enter. After buying a few souvenirs we walked the jungle trail. There will be a few animals to look at, the guides there will ask for your camera and gladly take plenty of pictures of you with the animals (Remember they do this for tips).

After the trail you end up in Little Port Royal, it is a mock pirate town. Also there are shark shows there. We had to get moving to catch a buss to Dunn's Falls so we headed back to the gift shop. After hitting the free samples again we walked up to the buss stop. The old Jamaican there was selling cokes and Red Stripe for $1. The Jamaican Red Stripe are much better than what is imported to the States.