Carnival Freedom Review w/ Pictures (January 2014)

[navybaby1113]

The line for dinner was all the way to the theater at 5:40pm. Thankfully we got in really quickly after they opened the doors. We asked for the same section again tonight and got seated immediately.

 

For starters, I ordered the ceasar salad and the shrimp cocktail. DH ordered the bing cherry soup.

 

 

 

For our entrees, we both ordered chateubriand. Delicious as always, but I do wish they would add more bernaise to the plate.

 

 

For dessert I ordered the WCMC and DH ordered the baked alaska.

 

 

After dinner we went to the lounge to get a sea for the show and the lounge was already packed! We got stuck in one of the seats on the far left. It was a horrible view of the stage. Thankfully we had seen the show before.

 

After the show we hung out at the piano bar until the 11pm comedy show. While we were sitting in there we noticed security kept popping his head in the door and looking through the windows. He was carrying a picture of someone. I hope he found who he was looking for.

 

We went to the 11pm comedy show and he was pretty funny. We decided to stay for the 11:45pm show. About 10 minutes before that show started, they made an announcement that it was going to be the same show as the 10pm one and the majority of the people in the lounge left. I wish we would have too because the comedian was horrible. He was extremely rehearsed and just couldn't engage the crowd.

 

I wanted a snack, so I went up to the lido to check out what they had. Apparently they don't have the small late night snacks any more. They actually opened up the grill and served hamburgers, hot dogs, fries, and such. Not a fan.

 

Went back to the room and were greeted by this inappropriate bunny.

 

[navybaby1113]

Saturday, February 1 (Sea Day)

Woke up around 9am and went to trivia. Then headed to the Sea Day Brunch for breakfast. We waited about 10 minutes for a table for two.

 

I ordered blueberry pancakes, bacon, and hashbrowns. DH ordered an omelette.

 

 

I also ordered chocolate brownies for dessert and they were horrible. Really dry and nasty. The churros that used to be on the menu were way better.

 

Went hung around the ship for a while and then went back to the room to pack. We received our FTTF debarkation information and our zone 1 luggage tags. We were asked to meet in the dining room annex at 7:30am and to put our luggage out by 11pm tonight.

 

Brad hosts a special trivia every cruise. The questions are really random and hard. We were sadly beat out by 1 point. One of these days we'll win!

 

We rushed to lunch after trivia because the buffet was scheduled to close at 2:30pm. It was packed! The buffet and the chocolate extravaganza were pretty meh. Didn't really enjoy anything.

 

We went to a couple more trivias and then went back to the room to get ready for dinner.

 

{Apparently this is where I stopped journaling on this cruise, so the details from here on out might be a little sketchy. Sorry}

 

We stopped by the Taste Bar on the way to dinner. Tonight's offering was one I had never seen before. It was from the Comfort Kitchen and it was a little ham and cheese sandwich with tomato soup. This was absolutely delicious and I could have eaten 5 of them.

 

 

When we got in line for dinner, I noticed there were a couple more ships sailing with us, so I ran outside to take some pictures.

 

 

 

 

[navybaby1113]

We asked for the same section in the dining room again and got seated immediately. We were seated in the dark section again, so the pictures aren't so good. I'm so glad that the dining was 1000 times better the second half of the cruise.

 

For a starter I ordered the ceasar salad and DH ordered the mango cream soup.

 

 

DH ordered the mac n cheese for his entree. I ordered the prime rib and asked for a smaller portion of mac n cheese. Well, he brought me a full plate of mac n cheese. There was no way I was able to eat all of that.

 

 

 

For dessert we both ordered grand marnier souffles.

 

 

Tonight's dinner was very enjoyable. We got to talking to the table next to us. The wife was a retired teacher and the husband was a retired principle. My DH is a teacher, so he really enjoyed talking to them. We hung around for a little while after dinner to chat.

[navybaby1113]

After dinner we went to Country Music Trivia in the lounge. We got maybe half and thought we had no chance in winning. Well, apparently everyone else knew jack about country music because we won by a landslide. :D So, total of 4 ships on a stick this cruise!

 

DH saved our seats in the lounge while I ran down to put our luggage outside of our room. On the way back, I stopped at the lobby bar and ordered a Twilight Zone.

 

 

Tonight's show was the Carnival Legends. It was a lot of fun. Brad made a very good Dolly Parton.

 

 

 

After the show, we went to bed. We were greeted by a "seal"

 

[navybaby1113]

Sunday, February 2nd (Debarkation Day)

 

Since we were supposed to be in the dining annex at 7:30am, we woke up around 6:30am to make sure we had time for breakfast. We finished packing the carry-ons and then went to the lido buffet.

 

After breakfast, we headed to the dining annex with all our luggage. Once we got there we found out they actually had pastries and drinks down there. That would have been nice to know.

 

We were called to debark the ship shortly after 7:30am. All the self-debarkation people had already gotten off the ship. As we were waiting in line to scan our S&S card, there was a couple trying to get off. Their card was declined at the reader. Apparently they were on the airport transfer and were told they were going to be the first off the ship. The kept arguing with the crew members until they finally walked away. I thought it was pretty cool that they code the cards so that you can't get off before your time.

 

Unlike Port Everglades, Port of Miami lines all the luggage up in different sections of the room. This was a lot more convenient than waiting for it to come around the conveyor belt. We found our luggage pretty quickly, got through customs, and were out of Miami by 8:30am. FTTF is definitely worth it if you're driving to port.

[navybaby1113]

Well, that's the end of the review. I hope you enjoyed it and I really apologize for it taking so long.

 

Please feel free to ask any questions and I'll try my best to answer them!

[imluvncruzn]

Well, that's the end of the review. I hope you enjoyed it and I really apologize for it taking so long.

 

Please feel free to ask any questions and I'll try my best to answer them!

 

Thanks for the review! It was a great cruise and one of my favorite itineraries to date!

[Delta Dear]

Thank you very much. I did enjoy your review since we will be on the Freedom for the first time in Dec.2014. Thanks for all of the photos and details.

[navybaby1113]

Thanks for the review! It was a great cruise and one of my favorite itineraries to date!

 

I agree. It was one of my favorites!

[Gingee]

Thanks

[RockNCntry]

Thanks for the Great review and pictures! Wife & I are going on the Freedom in Sept. Now I really can't wait! Was a great reveiw! Thanks again! Rick

[skidawg79]

Bright Star is a medical emergency call.

 

Are you talking about Grand Turk? If so, I've heard it's a little rocky right by the beach, but not too bad. Wear water shoes and I'm sure you'll be fine.

 

 

It's a little rocky, but smooth rocks. I went in with just bare feet and didn't have a problem. If you have sensitive feet, water shoes will be more than enough.

[CleveCruiser]

Thank you for taking the time to do such a detailed review! We will be sailing Freedom in June and appreciate the information you provided (8-day Southern).

 

Did I see you mentioned Miami? I thought Freedom was out of Fort Lauderdale's Port?

[Lulu01]

Loved the review , going on the Freedom on june 1st for our first cruise , lots of helpful info for a newbie , thank you .

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[N.FL Cruisers]

Sunday, January 26th (Sea Day #1)

 

 

I love to actually catch up on sleep while on vacation, so we stayed in bed until about 10am. We decided to head to the SeaDay Brunch. It was held in the Posh dining room (this is the aft dining room on the Freedom). We got seated immediately at a table for 2.

 

Do you remember the brunch hours and what time it ends? thanks!

Edited March 2, 2014 by N.FL Cruisers

[BeachBecky]

Do you remember the name of your dining room wait team in ATD, I will be on Freedom's last sailing before dry dock and we will be doing ATD.

 

Thank you for this wonderful picture review, I really enjoyed all you pictures and comments.

[navybaby1113]

Thank you for taking the time to do such a detailed review! We will be sailing Freedom in June and appreciate the information you provided (8-day Southern).

 

Did I see you mentioned Miami? I thought Freedom was out of Fort Lauderdale's Port?

 

The Freedom is out of Ft. Lauderdale. My last cruise was out of Miami. Maybe I mixed the two up in my debarkation section. Sorry if I did!

[navybaby1113]

Do you remember the brunch hours and what time it ends? thanks!

 

I think it was from like 9am to 1pm or something like that.

[navybaby1113]

Do you remember the name of your dining room wait team in ATD, I will be on Freedom's last sailing before dry dock and we will be doing ATD.

 

Thank you for this wonderful picture review, I really enjoyed all you pictures and comments.

 

[BeachBecky]

 

Thank you I just printed the information to use when I go the the Dining Room:D

[GASPARTY]

Sunday, February 2nd (Debarkation Day)

 

Since we were supposed to be in the dining annex at 7:30am, we woke up around 6:30am to make sure we had time for breakfast. We finished packing the carry-ons and then went to the lido buffet.

 

After breakfast, we headed to the dining annex with all our luggage. Once we got there we found out they actually had pastries and drinks down there. That would have been nice to know.

 

We were called to debark the ship shortly after 7:30am. All the self-debarkation people had already gotten off the ship. As we were waiting in line to scan our S&S card, there was a couple trying to get off. Their card was declined at the reader. Apparently they were on the airport transfer and were told they were going to be the first off the ship. The kept arguing with the crew members until they finally walked away. I thought it was pretty cool that they code the cards so that you can't get off before your time.

 

Unlike Port Everglades, Port of Miami lines all the luggage up in different sections of the room. This was a lot more convenient than waiting for it to come around the conveyor belt. We found our luggage pretty quickly, got through customs, and were out of Miami by 8:30am. FTTF is definitely worth it if you're driving to port.

 

I really enjoyed your review, but you kept mentioning FTTF, what is this? Do you pay for this?

[navybaby1113]

I really enjoyed your review, but you kept mentioning FTTF, what is this? Do you pay for this?

 

FTTF -- Faster to the Fun

 

It is a "shore excursion" that you pay $50 per cabin. They only sell so many of them a cruise. You get priority embarkation and debarkation, immediate access to your room, early luggage delivery, priority tendering, and use of the platinum/diamond line at guest services.

[MrsMSD]

One of the perks of FTTF is that your room is supposed to be ready as soon as you board the ship. This is one of the major reasons we book FTTF is because we hate waiting around the ship with our bags until our room opens up.

 

After boarding, we headed straight down to our room to drop off our bags. Since only FTTF, Platinum, and Diamond had boarded the ship so far, all of the doors to the cabin hallways were still open so that we could easily get in.

 

 

Our usual room that we book on Conquest class ships was not available, so this time we booked an oceanview room, midship on the Riviera deck.

 

 

 

 

We are booked in cabin 1338 April 27. So these photos are perfect. just started reading your review and already can't wait to see more.

[love2cruise56]

Okay, let's get some more of this review going! I'm hoping to get through day 1 today. Might not happen though.

 

Our room steward had left our copies of our Fun Times in our room, along with our free past guest drink coupons. We glanced over the Fun Times real quick before heading to lunch.

 

We went up to the Lido deck for lunch. DH had to go straight for the Mongolian (he loves that stuff!) and I just grabbed some food off of the buffet. The theme for the buffet today was Italian. I also got some beef from the carving station.

 

After we finished lunch, we decided to try out some of the desserts. I was very pleased to see they actually had real cheesecake! This was a nice change to the normal Jello crap they have at the lido buffet. They actually had real cheesecake at the buffet every single day of our cruise. I hope this change stays because I was very happy with it!

 

After lunch, we decided to head down to the room to take a nap. FTTF was highly worth it because were napping before anyone else could even get to their rooms!

 

We were woken up around 2-ish by our bags being delivered. We went ahead and unpacked before muster. There was tons of space in the room for all our stuff and we were able to fit all our empty suitcases under the bed.

 

While we were unpacking, the Steakhouse slipped a card under our door notifying us of our reservation for tonight at 7pm. I knew that the Steakhouse experience would take about 2 hours and there were some things happening around the ship at 8pm that we wanted to participate in. I called the Steakhouse and asked if they had any earlier reservations. They moved our reservations to the first one of the evening, which was 6pm.

 

Finally we heard the announcements for muster. We waited in our room for a little while because I didn't want to be stuck in the back. Well, apparently everyone else had the same idea, because we were the second row from the back. Muster took extra long this cruise because there was a large population of french speaking guests on the ship, so every announcement had to made in both english and french.

 

 

Please explain FTTF boarding.