Carnival Freedom - July 5 - 13th Review

[stormynow]

Great review and a wonderful family.

[092306]

Really enjoyed your review and pictures! Glad you had a great time!

[tammi0916]

Great review and a wonderful family.

 

 

Thank you!

 

Tammi

[tammi0916]

Day 8 - Last Sea Day

Well the last sea day is always the saddest! We slept a bit later today and took our time getting up and out to breakfast. We decided to do the brunch in the dining room today and we ended up sitting with 2 other couples and really enjoyed chatting with them about their vacation. I have always liked to sit at tables with others to get to know different people during the cruise.

Brunch was good and very relaxing. We then hit the pool deck for a bit more relaxing it was crowded but we did find a few chairs and my mom and dad joined us and then after a bit it really got hot and crowded so we decided to hit the pub for some games and margarita’s for mom and me!

Mom, dad and I went to the free cruise drawing, we had gotten tickets at the gold party – I guess this used to happen on all cruises now only a few still have it. You get 10 tickets for $20 but if you bought them at the gold party you got 20 tickets for $20. The drawing was in the comedy club and they were going to play bingo afterwards so it was really crowded. I was glad they finally did the drawing before they started bingo. Mom and dad stayed and played bingo after we did not win the free cruise. Maybe next time.

I headed back to the cabin to start the daunting task of packing everything back up to get off the ship. I am an admitted over packer and not just clothes – I bring everything you could possibly need when you are out in the middle of the ocean. I gave up the fight a long time ago and just live with it now. J

So since I basically had 2 cabins to pack, I got started and managed to get quite a bit done before we needed to get ready for dinner.

Tonight was much of the same, dinner – saying thanks and good bye to our wait staff. They were excellent and we all tipped them extra for all they did to make our dinners enjoyable.

Then we headed to the pub to say good bye to Melanie and thank her for her help in my game. My game was that I have a friend that I met on a cruise several years ago and we have been friends ever since. We have cruised several times since then together and have visited each other at our houses. Well she was getting on the ship when I got off so I wanted to play the game “surrender the booty” with her – for those of you who have not heard of it – it is when you leave a gift on board in a hidden location and then text the recipient clues to find it. I had been trying to figure out where to hide something that no one would find but could not think of anywhere good. I was going t go to the cabin she was going to be in and see if the current occupant’s would let me leave it in there but was worried that the room steward would find it and put it in lost and found. Then since we had become friendly with Melanie, I asked if she would help us (I of course gave her a big tip for her help!) and she was really excited to be part of the game.

I had purchased a $10 gift card from Carnival and that was going to me my gift for Michelle (my friend) I wanted to buy her a drink to start her cruise off right and since we were not able to cruise with her (hubby had a golf tournament that he had already committed to that week) so I took a bunch of close up pictures of items in the Red Frog Pub and would text them to Michelle telling her she had to locate these items to get another clue….I started sending her clues before she boarded and it was a fun game going back and forth. She is platinum and her plan was to be the first in the RFP to get her free beer. She was and when she got there she started sending me pictures of the items that I had given her close up of but in the full version. My last clue was that she had to find the person from St. Lucia (that is where Melanie was from) and after a bit she sent me a picture with her, Melanie and a drink (and the gift card) saying thanks and that Melanie was a great sport. It was a fun thing to do since we couldn’t cruise together.

Ok, back to the last night. We made some rounds to our favorite places and then it was back to the cabin to finish packing….

Once all that was done, we spent the rest of the evening on the balcony watching a lightning storm in the distance – it was beautiful.

Up next debarkation and final thoughts….

[tammi0916]

 

 

 

 

The girls chilling out (Tabby with my shoes on!) while I pack....

 

Melanie the girls!

 

[tammi0916]

Victoria

 

 

Tabby

 

 

Mom and Dad

 

 

Me and hubby - Dave

 

 

The girls:

 

[tammi0916]

Debarkation and final thoughts!

We had FTTF and could have gotten off very early but we were in no hurry as we were staying an extra night in Fort Lauderdale. We got up and got all of our stuff together and headed to breakfast. We left a card and extra tip for our room steward and left some extra water bottles as we already had so much to carry. We were up on lido by 8am having breakfast. Crowds were not too bad. We hung out on lido for a bit and headed off the ship around 930am. We collected all our luggage (and there was a lot) and didn’t realize that we forgot a bag, I counted the number and had what we left home with but forgot we added one for the extra soda’s that we had (I had brought an empty rolling bag) and remembered it when we were leaving but there is no re-entry so it stayed and I learned my lesson.

We grabbed a porter to help with the many bags, this worked out great as they have a separate line for customs and it was much shorter than the regular line. Customs was quick and easy and then we were off to find a couple of taxis to get back to the hotel to pick up my parents van and head to the beach!

The hotel (Springhill Suites only had free service to the port but not back) was going to charge us $10 per person for a return trip but I had researched and a cab would only be less than $20 from port to hotel.

We needed 2 taxis since there were six of us and a ton of bags! It did cost $19.30 plus tip for each ride so it was still cheaper to take the taxi and we didn’t have to wait.

We loaded up the van and headed to the Marriott Beach Place in Fort Lauderdale for our last night. We were able to watch the Freedom set sail again from our balcony at the hotel! It was a great way to spend our last night of vacation.

Final Thoughts:

· We love to cruise, it fits our family and I was happy to have my parents join us, after losing both of my husband parents over the past 12 months I have realized that I need to enjoy my time with my parents when I can.

· The upgrades to the Freedom were great and we especially loved the pub as we are low key and enjoyed the games and playing Uno in there to relax.

· The ship was cool (as usual) so I always carry a light sweater with me, this really came in handy.

· We had FTTF and loved it, so worth the money and would do it again on my next cruise (if I can get it)

· The girls did not participate in the teen club, they prefer to hang out together and explore the ship. I am very comfortable with this and I find the kids in the teen club to be very “clicky” so this works for us.

· We had another fabulous vacation and got to see some very beautiful countries and we spent a lot of time together as a family.

· Time to plan our next cruise!

Happy to answer any questions!

Thanks for reading…….

Tammi & family

[tammi0916]

Hotel on Fort Lauderdale:

 

 

View from our room:

 

 

 

[Scotch Mist]

Can I ask what the address is for the Springhill hotel you stayed in? There's just too many hotels in the area to choose from! We're looking for a hotel before our cruise in September. Thanks!

 

Freedom b2b Sept 2014

Splendor Jan 2014

Breeze Sept 2013

Imagination Sept 2013

Triumph Sept 2008

Pride Sept 2007

Miracle Sept 2006

[Kao2293]

That hotel looks great! Scotchmist, I am on the cruise the week before you and we are staying at the Hilton Garden Inn in Dania FL. This one is not on the beach (we do not need it because we are only staying the night before and our flight doesn't come in until 7:00 pm) They have transportation to and from airport and to and from cruise port. Has good reviews and pretty cheap.

[Scotch Mist]

Funnily enough I was just looking at the Hilton Garden Inn and Hyatt House! Oh decisions decisions! That's me now torn between the 3 of them! There's not a huge difference in price either! We're flying from Scotland so want to have a few days in Fort Lauderdale before our cruise so we can get over our looooonnnngggg journey! :);):p:cool::D:thumbup:

 

Freedom b2b Sept 2014

Splendor Jan 2014

Breeze Sept 2013

Imagination Sept 2013

Triumph Sept 2008

Pride Sept 2007

Miracle Sept 2006

[jfond]

Nice Review - we were on the same cruise and enjoyed reading the review.

 

As for the Hotel discussion - We stayed the day before at the Hyatt Place Dania Beach and thought it was a great hotel and great location and would stay there again when in Ft Lauderdale!

[Kao2293]

Yes I have also read great reviews about the Hyatt. The question is do you want to be on a beach? And is the transportation to and from port free?

[tammi0916]

Can I ask what the address is for the Springhill hotel you stayed in? There's just too many hotels in the area to choose from! We're looking for a hotel before our cruise in September. Thanks!

Freedom b2b Sept 2014

Splendor Jan 2014

Breeze Sept 2013

Imagination Sept 2013

Triumph Sept 2008

Pride Sept 2007

Miracle Sept 2006

this is the address of the one we stayed at:

SpringSpringHill Suites Fort Lauderdale Airport & Cruise Port

 

151 Southwest 18th Court, Dania Beach

 

[Scotch Mist]

Thanks so much for the address! How far is it from the beach? We won't be driving but would like to see a bit of Fort Lauderdale whilst we're there. Did you use the bus service?

 

Freedom b2b Sept 2014

Splendor Jan 2014

Breeze Sept 2013

Imagination Sept 2013

Triumph Sept 2008

Pride Sept 2007

Miracle Sept 2006

[tammi0916]

Thanks so much for the address! How far is it from the beach? We won't be driving but would like to see a bit of Fort Lauderdale whilst we're there. Did you use the bus service?

 

Freedom b2b Sept 2014

Splendor Jan 2014

Breeze Sept 2013

Imagination Sept 2013

Triumph Sept 2008

Pride Sept 2007

Miracle Sept 2006

 

 

Don't know how far from beach as we didnt go pre cruise. I did use the free shuttle from the airport to the hotel and they were pretty fast once I called but just a note - the pick up for hotels is quite a ways down out side from baggage claim so if you have alot of baggage then you should rent one of the airport carts as the walk was really long and so hot out!

 

Tam

[tammi0916]

Nice Review - we were on the same cruise and enjoyed reading the review.

 

As for the Hotel discussion - We stayed the day before at the Hyatt Place Dania Beach and thought it was a great hotel and great location and would stay there again when in Ft Lauderdale!

 

 

Thank you, I may have to look intothat one if we get back down to Fort Lauderdale.

 

Tam

[MNcruiser117]

Great Review, I really enjoyed reading it! Looks like you had a blast! Will be on the Freedom 12-13-14 (:, so it was nice to see a more recent review with the 2.0 upgrades.