Carnival Freedom Review w/ Pictures (January 2014)

[2 cruzen]

I'm feeling icky tonight, so probably won't get anything written. I'll try to be back on here tomorrow though.

 

Hope you are feeling better soon.

[navybaby1113]

Hi, which Dining Room on Freedom had the anytime dining and do you recall where the taste bar was located? Thanks

 

The Chic dining room has ATD (this is the midship dining room). The Taste Bar is located where the old sushi bar was on the promenade. It's next to the stairs that take you down to the Habana bar.

[navybaby1113]

Hope you are feeling better soon.

 

Thanks. Me too!

[wrigley80]

Love your photos of the nurse shark....and your photo of the chicken quesadilla made me hungry. That's my favorite thing to eat of anything offered onboard

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[silverlining300]

My friend and I are going on the Freedom on February 22, really excited, thanks for the pictures and info.

[Pellaz]

I did! Brad said they're adding 4 new shows, Guy's Burgers, Burrito Bar, both of the lido bars, and upgrading some other bits and bobs around the ship. He did not mention the Alchemy Bar or EA Sports Bar, so not sure if those are coming or not.

 

Shhhh. Everyone's still frantically speculating about the upgrades in the Freedom drydock thread. Wouldn't want to spoil it with (hopefully) facts. :D

 

BTW, your snorkel tour was probably through Oasis Divers. I did the snuba excursion at Grand Turk last October and I think Oasis handles most or all of the snorkel/scuba/snuba stuff for them. Our snuba excursion was a lot of fun and I'd happily do it again.

 

Really enjoying the review and the pics. Love the familiar ports and I'll be on this ship in October...after the fabled, still-no-official-word-from-Carnival upgrades!

Edited February 11, 2014 by Pellaz

[navybaby1113]

Shhhh. Everyone's still frantically speculating about the upgrades in the Freedom drydock thread. Wouldn't want to spoil it with (hopefully) facts. :D

 

BTW, your snorkel tour was probably through Oasis Divers. I did the snuba excursion at Grand Turk last October and I think Oasis handles most or all of the snorkel/scuba/snuba stuff for them. Our snuba excursion was a lot of fun and I'd happily do it again.

 

Really enjoying the review and the pics. Love the familiar ports and I'll be on this ship in October...after the fabled, still-no-official-word-from-Carnival upgrades!

 

You're right, it was Oasis divers!

[Gingee]

As you were sailing from Grand Turk, is that the free beach right by the cruise terminal (or spot).

 

How was the water in that area?

[murphy4]

thanks for this review! we are booking the Freedom for March 2015, this will be the first cruise for my aunt (70) family of 6 going.

[Arch713]

Thanks for posting another fabulous review! I was on the same cruise as you on the Liberty last year and haven't cruised since so I'm loving that I can live through your review!

 

Do you have any future cruises booked?

[Cinedan]

As you were sailing from Grand Turk, is that the free beach right by the cruise terminal (or spot).

 

How was the water in that area?

 

The beach is right next to where the ship docks! The water is warm and clear. It may be a good idea to wear water shoes, or at least be careful walking in the water because the bottom feels more like rough rock than sand. The beach and the huge swimming pool are free.

 

 

Edited February 14, 2014 by Cinedan

[Cinedan]

The past guest party was scheduled for 4:30 this afternoon in the Victoriana Theater. tracked down another waiter with Funship Specials for us.

 

 

 

 

I was at the same party! I love the Funship Special drink, had two!

[Gingee]

Beach by the ship looks good. Thanks

[navybaby1113]

Feeling better and Cruise Critic is finally working correctly, so I'll be back a little bit later tonight with more review!

[navybaby1113]

As you were sailing from Grand Turk, is that the free beach right by the cruise terminal (or spot).

 

How was the water in that area?

 

Yes, there's plenty of free beach right off of the port. I didn't swim in it, but everyone seems to love that area! There are plenty of chairs down there as well.

[navybaby1113]

Thanks for posting another fabulous review! I was on the same cruise as you on the Liberty last year and haven't cruised since so I'm loving that I can live through your review!

 

Do you have any future cruises booked?

 

Right now we don't have any cruises booked. We're waiting for the 2015 Alaskan dates to come out.

[navybaby1113]

Grumble...I'm having problems uploading pictures again. Not sure if it's my computer or what. Will get more review up as soon as possible. Sorry for the long delay!

[navybaby1113]

Time to get some more of this review done!

 

Tuesday, January 28th (San Juan)

 

We got woken up around 7:15am with a Bright Star call that got piped into our room. Fell back asleep until about 9am.

 

Decided to go to breakfast in the dining room. There was a long line! Took about 15 minutes to get through the line, but we got a table as soon as we got to the hostess stand. We were seated in the very back of the dining room and were able to see the Westerdam sailing in behind us.

 

 

DH ordered a ham and cheese omelet and I ordered pancakes with blueberries and cream, bacon, and hashbrowns.

 

[navybaby1113]

After breakfast we went up to deck to watch us sail into San Juan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[navybaby1113]

 

 

 

 

 

[navybaby1113]

We went back to the room and waited for the call to debark. As soon as we heard it we decided to leave. There was already a ridiculously huge line when we got there. Took about 20 minutes to get off the ship.

 

As we were walking out of the terminal, we got bombarded by tons of tour guides trying to get us to go on their tour. It was crazy!

 

We walked to trolley stop 14. We only waited a couple minutes before it showed up. This stop almost filled up the trolley and only a couple people could get on at stop 1. I would highly recommend walking back to stop 14 instead of getting on at stop 1.

 

We got off the trolley at Castillo de San Cristobal. We walked around the fort for about an hour and a half. This fort is huge!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[navybaby1113]

There were some great views of historic San Juan from the fort.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[navybaby1113]

Parts of the fort also face the cruise port, so you can get some great pictures of the ships.

 

 

 

[Gingee]

Freedom looks so big compared to the ship next to her.

 

What is a Bright Star call?

 

Also, the beach picture that I mentioned. The color of the water looks different. Is there rocks under the water close to the beach?

[navybaby1113]

It was getting really hot and I was tired, so we decided to head back to the ship. We went to the trolley stop, but there was no shade and there were a ton of people waiting. We decided it might just be quicker to walk back to the ship. It didn't take long at all. Maybe about 15 minutes.

 

When we got back to the main street in front of the cruise terminal, there was crime scene tape, fire trucks, and police cars all along. Not sure what happened.

 

We got back on board, showered, and then decided to grab some lunch. Nothing at the buffet looked good so I grabbed some fish and chips and DH got mongolian.

 

 

 

We also shared a few desserts.