Carnival Freedom Halloween Cruise 10-27-13-11-3-13 Review!

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Here is my review of the Halloween cruise on the Carnival Freedom 10-27-13 – 11-3-13. First I will say this cruise was very affordable even for a balcony cabin on Empress deck. We paid about 1,500 for myself, and my wife and started our cruise out with 236 dollars in credit after price drops. Early Saver does help folks! You will see many good things about this ship and ports along with pictures and possibly even some food porn. I will also let off one or two minor gripes but please realize they were minor. I rate this cruise a 9.9 out of 10 and that is simply because no matter what there has to be room for improvement somewhere! We also signed up and participated in the Party with Marty group which was formed here on cruise critic and also on facebook, so some of the events were a result of that and wow how awesome some of those were.

 

Day 1.

We stayed at the Hampton North cruiseport and while it was a clean hotel etc, there were issues as we were 2 couples and were told when we booked months ago we had a 2 bedroom with 2 kings. When we arrived we had one very large bedroom with two king beds side by side. This was weird I have never seen a room like this before. We complained as we like one another but did not intend to spend the evening listening to one another’s snore etc. The hotel was nice and lowered the rate a bit we were happy. (Another horror story is to come later). We received emails saying not to show up at port due to coast guard stuff until 1:30pm but We had faster to the fun purchased and I decided we would go at 10:30am. We arrived and right past security and in we were. What a breeze. It did take a moment at security while they opened up my 12 packs of pop to inspect them for booze. I wasn’t smuggling any so it just took a couple of minutes , but just so you know port everglades will open your 12 packs of pop and tape them back so don’t try to smuggle beer in them like the guy in front of me was lol. The process was fast and flawless and we were onboard the ship just after diamond platinum peeps about 11:40 am our room was ready as advertised and our luggage was there before 1pm minus 1 bag (of course the important one with all my clothes) which the porter forgot to tag as ftf. My missing bag made it about 5pm. We looked over our cabin and began the unpacking process then off to the lido buffet for lunch. What a spread and we loved it all. We got our bottomless bubbles and our cups. We were glad to get the tumblers on the fascination last year they ran out fast we couldn’t get them. Night one we went to dinner and met our wait staff. We ate a wonderful meal as always and got amazing service. We had anytime dining but we loved the service so asked to sit with the same crew each night and for the most part even had the same table each night. We went to the party with Marty meet and greet and got to meet some of the folks that I had been talking to on cc for months! That was nice. We decorated our door for Haloween nothing crazy just fun. Met the room steward gave him my starte tip of $10 and my requests of extra ice each day for the week and an empty fridge so I could use it. He complied and was very nice! After dinner there was no towel animal which upset the wife a little she looks forward to these. But after night one they came like clockwork. We spent some time exploring the ship and chilled out on our balcony a little. Then we went to bed to get ready for Key West on day 2 of the cruise!

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Day 2.

Up early We wanted to get into port and start enjoying the day. This was the day after fantasy fest ended so they were still cleaning up a bit from the party but overall it wasn’t bad. The first thing we did was walk down to the Schooner Warf Bar for breakfast and drinks lol. It is Key West booze and breakfast go together there! I had the best breakfast I believe I have ever eaten. I got a western omlet and added the salsa and sour crème they provided and this was not a mistake the best salsa on the planet made right there fresh! After the breakfast and a drink we walked to Kermits Key Lime shop and browsed and purchased a few things. We then visited a cigar store and several other shops along the way having fun as we walked to the Southern Most Point. We got to the point and took our photos there but were just beat and did not feel like walking anymore. So we hired a pedi taxi to take us back to the ship he charged 15 bucks but we also tipped him 15 for taking all 3 of us as it was a chore! Lol We are not the smallest people on the block and he did not even bat an eye. His name was Ninja and he was very nice. Next time I am there I believe we will do the hop on and off train it actually looked fun and we could hear the info being given out when the drove by us. We got back on the ship and watched the dock runners coming in as we were ready to pull away. Always fun to do! People don’t be late! Get back to the ship before it is leaving! We got back on and at some point went to the games in the Victoriana lounge, my wife was on a game show and so was I. We then went to the piano bar and enjoyed Marty Ghast! What a blast he was so funny and so much fun to sing along. We did Dinner and it was of course amazing with amazing service. We tried the comedy club but it was packed and no seats we got tired of standing so we left. I cannot remember but I believe this was the night that we went to the Ticket to Ride show about the Beatles! WOW!!! What a show not to be missed. In fact all 3 shows on this ship were great but the Beatles one is the best. We did the pool and went to the spa pool as well on this day really just exploring the ship. (we explored all week and still never saw it all!)

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Day 3 Sea Day/Elegant Night

We got up and had breakfast on lido it was good as usual. We explored this ship looked for one of the bungalow things on serenity almost impossible to get one but we did get one of the two hammocks for a couple of hours and then I gave it to someone looking for a place and we left. We went to Victoriana lounge and played more gameshow type games, Minute to win it ( 60 seconds or less as they called it) was awesome! I placed second! We visited the casino and lost 40 bucks within like 4 minutes so we left with the agreement we would not go back lol. We did the hairy chest contest and my wife was a judge. I also had a buddy compete in it. What a blast. Enjoyed the Pizza which is amazing now! (It was good before but the changes are awesome!) The hotdogs on the grill are also very good. We swam some, the wife did the waterslide a bit. We watched the party going on in lido. We went and saw the Latin beat band and they rocked! We got dressed up and did the elegant night. We then went and played the adult games at 11:30 in the Habana bar. WOW what fun! And my team won the adult games as well and got a bottle of champagne. It did not taste good but it was free! Lol. We went to bed to get up early for our shore excursion in Grand Caymen!

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Ok taking a break going to post more tomorrow night!

[icemanoneaatl]

Hey- we are on the freedom in a few weeks- thx for the review and pictures. Looks like y'all had a blast.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[djcass4199]

We were on the Freedom for Halloween too! If you saw the Santa Claus and the 12 elves, that was us!

 

It was a GREAT cruise!

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I will be adding more review and pics and yea we met Santa! He was with party with Marty right? We got our pic with him as you all were loading up to leave lol ;)

 

 

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[djcass4199]

I will be adding more review and pics and yea we met Santa! He was with party with Marty right? We got our pic with him as you all were loading up to leave lol ;)

 

 

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Yup! We were in the piano bar Party with Marty almost every night. What a great cruise!

 

The gentleman that was Santa is my father in law.

Edited November 9, 2013 by djcass4199