Tony & Bethany's 26th Anniversary Freedom Cruise Review 8/24-9/1 with pics

[SMSACE6]

I am so happy to hear that you enjoyed the shows/playlist productions.

 

I had heard so many negative comments about these shows, that I was not expecting to like them either, but was planning to take one or two in just to form my own opinion.

 

Your review and positive description makes me look forward to the evening shows once again. I will definitely take them in and form my own opinion, but it is reassuring to hear a positive take on them.

 

Thanks.

[7leagueboots]

Wonderful pictures...thanks for taking the time.

[Singer4Him]

I am so happy to hear that you enjoyed the shows/playlist productions.

 

I had heard so many negative comments about these shows, that I was not expecting to like them either, but was planning to take one or two in just to form my own opinion.

 

Your review and positive description makes me look forward to the evening shows once again. I will definitely take them in and form my own opinion, but it is reassuring to hear a positive take on them.

 

Thanks.

 

You're very welcome! Like I've said, I can't comment on all of the shows on all of the ships because I haven't been to them, but we were certainly impressed with the ones on the Freedom. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

[NCTribeFan]

Delta Dear - looks like we'll miss each other by a couple of weeks. We will eventually end up sailing together. I hope!

 

Jen Baxter - I am NOT a fan. I'll leave it at that because every time I say something about how much I really didn't like her (she was on my last Fascination cruise), people get all offended, like I've insulted their mother. I just thought she was so very annoying. I don't "do" a lot of ship activities, so maybe I won't have to be subjected too much to her schtick.

 

Love the photos! I was very disappointed that there was no Serenity Deck on Conquest. I spent a lot of time there on my last Glory cruise (to Bermuda, that Delta Dear had to cancel last minute).

 

I've actually enjoyed the production shows more the past couple of years than I used to. I had quit going to them completely and only returned when Ticket to Ride came along. Really enjoyed both The Brits and the Motown one. See, I'm a child of the 60s, so those all really appealed to me. I don't think a lot of most 80s music.

 

Being on the casino cruise, I imagine we'll have a lot of activities at night in the casino, so I hope I get to see the shows on Splendor.

[hlb76]

Delta Dear - looks like we'll miss each other by a couple of weeks. We will eventually end up sailing together. I hope!

 

Jen Baxter - I am NOT a fan. I'll leave it at that because every time I say something about how much I really didn't like her (she was on my last Fascination cruise), people get all offended, like I've insulted their mother. I just thought she was so very annoying. I don't "do" a lot of ship activities, so maybe I won't have to be subjected too much to her schtick.

 

Love the photos! I was very disappointed that there was no Serenity Deck on Conquest. I spent a lot of time there on my last Glory cruise (to Bermuda, that Delta Dear had to cancel last minute).

 

I've actually enjoyed the production shows more the past couple of years than I used to. I had quit going to them completely and only returned when Ticket to Ride came along. Really enjoyed both The Brits and the Motown one. See, I'm a child of the 60s, so those all really appealed to me. I don't think a lot of most 80s music.

 

Being on the casino cruise, I imagine we'll have a lot of activities at night in the casino, so I hope I get to see the shows on Splendor.

Mark me on the list of not a Jen fan either. Im actually really bummed she is our CD in two weeks. Im going to try and keep an open mind and hope I was missing something the first time as so many love her. She just annoyed we as well.

[watermelonqueen99]

Loving your review!

Edited September 29, 2014 by zumbagirl78

[Turbette]

Thanks! More is coming soon!

 

We went to St. Maarten, St. Kitts, San Juan and Grand Turk. Have fun on your upcoming cruise!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love reading your review since I am sailing on the Freedom 12/13/14 with the same itinerary. Did you do or have suggestions on any shore excursions?

[ch27088]

I wish the Dream had Guys Burgers...not sure why they didn't put it in when they did the upgrades. However, I'm glad they have the other things like the Serenity Deck, and Blue Iguana.

[Singer4Him]

Loving your review!

 

Thank you, zumbagirl78!!

[Singer4Him]

Love reading your review since I am sailing on the Freedom 12/13/14 with the same itinerary. Did you do or have suggestions on any shore excursions?

 

Thank you, Turbette! In St. Maarten, I had initially said that we were going to go to Maho Beach AKA Airplane Beach but when I found out that Back Street wasn't right at the port and how much the taxis at the port wanted to take us over there, we had a change in plans. We took a taxi to Philipsburg where we walked around on Front Street looking in the various shops. We wound up on Great Bay Beach. When we were ready to go back to the ship, we decided to take a water taxi even though our regular cab fare was pair for round trip. It would have taken quite a while to get back to where they would pick us up and the water taxi was right there and would drop us off at the ship. That being said, if you plan to just do Philipsburg/Great Bay Beach, I would highly recommend the water taxi. I believe the price is $7 p/p round trip or $5 p/p one way. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

 

In St. Kitts, we just walked around the port area doing some souvenir shopping (and getting a local Harley Davidson shirt for Tony :D). If we get a chance to go again, we will do the zip line there. I believe that it has to be booked though Carnival but that's on my bucket list, so I'll definitely be going that route.

 

We loved San Juan but our time was just too short! We docked at 7:00 a.m. and had to be back on board at 1:45 p.m. I don't remember what time we actually left the ship but it was a short day. We went to both of the forts. I would suggest finding a trolley stop and get on because, although they aren't a LONG way from the port, it's still a pretty good walk to get to them. The Old San Juan trolleys are free to ride and the cost for the forts is $5 per person and includes both San Cristobal and El Morro. Be sure to wear good walking shoes if you do the forts!

 

Grand Turk is a beautiful island! I had booked a snorkeling excursion with White Sands and I would definitely suggest going that route if you want to do something like this. There were only a handful of people on our excursion whereas the ones with Carnival had probably 40-50 in theirs. Way too many for my taste.

 

If we ever get a chance to go back to GT, I will definitely be going to Jack's Shack. It was something that I really wanted to do this time but by the time we finished with our excursion, both of us were just ready to head back to the ship and take a nap.

 

I'll be talking more about what we did in the ports, along with a lot of pics when I get to that point in the review.

 

I hope this helps!

[Singer4Him]

I wish the Dream had Guys Burgers...not sure why they didn't put it in when they did the upgrades. However, I'm glad they have the other things like the Serenity Deck, and Blue Iguana.

 

I wish that the Dream had Guy's too. NOLA is the closest port for us so it makes it convenient to sail from there.

 

I don't believe that they had begun all of the 2.0 upgrades when they built the Dream. I could be wrong, but I believe that is why she doesn't have Guy's or a lot of the other 2.0 upgrades.

 

I'm with you, though...I'm glad they have the Serenity deck! It's nice to go and hang out there on sea days.

[Singer4Him]

After the gym and showers, we headed to get a bite to eat at the breakfast buffet. We walked around looking at the shops on the Promenade and made our way to the atrium where they were playing Trivia. I love trivia so that was right up my alley. They had three teams with about five or so people on each team. There were several different categories and you would roll a giant dye to determine what category and how many points that the team would be playing for that time.

 

While I was enjoying watching the trivia match, Tony was taking pics. Once the trivia had ended, he came and asked me to go outside on deck three, just outside the atrium. The wind was blowing like crazy! I don't think I've seen it this windy before on a cruise. We got some good shots of the water breaking at the bow of the ship; however, when we went up to the Serenity deck, it was closed due to the high winds.

 

 

 

Later in the atrium, they had the Tuxedo strawberry decorating demo/contest. This was pretty funny! They had four or five people come up and follow the step-by-step instructions to do their own chocolate covered strawberries. Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong! It was a hoot to watch the contestants trying their hand at it.

 

 

This lady knew what she was doing and won the whole thing!

 

Getting them ready to be judged by the audience

 

The final products

[Singer4Him]

For lunch today, I was finally able to get the fried oysters I had wanted the day before from Fish 'n Chips. Fish 'n Chips is only on the Conquest class ships and is located on deck 10 aft. Take the stairs by the dessert bar and you will find it. Tony opted for another burger from Guy's. At this point, let me state that we realize that a lot of the food on the ship (including Guy's) isn't the healthiest but we do NOT eat like this at home. We were on vacation and we planned to enjoy our time.

 

 

Fried oysters w/fries

 

A little German chocolate cake for dessert and representing the Alabama Crimson Tide!

Roll Tide Roll!!!

 

A selfie during trivia

 

 

Yes, it was this windy!

 

 

[Singer4Him]

As always, there was a lot of food and something for just about every type palate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Singer4Him]

 

 

Jambalaya

 

Cornmeal Crust Fish

 

Springrolls

 

Crunchy Chicken

 

 

[Singer4Him]

People enjoying a relaxing sea day

 

 

 

Carnival Freedom's Whale Tail

 

Dr. Seuss book fair set up in the atrium

 

 

 

 

 

[Singer4Him]

Eventually, we had killed enough time and it was time to get ready for dinner and the show for that evening. While I was doing hair and makeup, Tony took a few things to iron. This is something that I usually do on the very first day before we ever leave port but this time I was slacking. We were walking around enjoying the ship and I just didn't get around to the ironing. I will say that if you need to iron, do NOT try to do it on an elegant evening. There will no doubt be a line!! Plan ahead and do it either first thing that day or on a non elegant day.

 

On our way out, we ran into Eva, our cabin stewardess. We absolutely fell in love with Eva! She is the sweetest thing and would always stop and talk to us every time that she saw us. She departed the Freedom the same day that we did going home to spend two months with her family in Indonesia. I truly hope that we will get to see her again on a future cruise!

 

 

Heading to the show and dinner for the evening

 

 

Before the show, Tony wanted a latte. He ordered a caramel lattè and was able to snap a pic of the sweet lady who prepared it for him.

 

 

We stopped by The Taste Bar again tonight to see what they were offering and also to see Vijay.

 

 

Both of these were very good!

 

[Singer4Him]

The show tonight was an illusionist, Bobby Borgia. He was very entertaining and very good. Tony always enjoys figuring out how the tricks are done but several times I would look at him and he would just shake his head saying, “I don't know.” It was an enjoyable evening.

 

Dinner in the Chic MDR was Shrimp cocktail, Chopped handpicked field greens salad for Tony, baked meatloaf with gravy and my favorite dessert (and it's not WCMC), Warm fig, date and cinnamon cake with rum raisin ice cream. YUM!!

 

Casual dinner in the Chic MDR

 

 

Shrimp Cocktail

 

Chopped handpicked field greens salad

 

Baked meatloaf with gravy

 

Warm fig, date & cinnamon cake with rum raisin ice cream. Again, I've waited a year to enjoy this. This is probably my favorite dessert but it's only offered one night.

 

 

[Singer4Him]

Anyone who knows me, knows that I do NOT dance...well, I guess I should say that I'm not good at it. When it came time for the waiters to dance, our head waiter, Taras, pulled me from our table and insisted that I join them.

 

 

I had to watch him because I had no idea what I was doing.

 

 

Needless to say, I had fun but I'm so glad that the GoPro had been left in the stateroom that night!

 

 

This little girl had some moves. She was a cutie and danced with them several nights.

 

 

After dinner, we took another evening stroll, eventually winding up on the lido deck and catching the end of the Dive-In movie for that night, Spiderman 2.

 

 

[Singer4Him]

We had planned to watch Captain America 2 but opted to go to be early for St. Maarten tomorrow.

 

 

Being silly

 

 

 

Good night, everyone! See tomorrow in St. Maarten!!

 

[Delta Dear]

Delta Dear - looks like we'll miss each other by a couple of weeks. We will eventually end up sailing together. I hope!

 

Jen Baxter - I am NOT a fan. I'll leave it at that because every time I say something about how much I really didn't like her (she was on my last Fascination cruise), people get all offended, like I've insulted their mother. I just thought she was so very annoying. I don't "do" a lot of ship activities, so maybe I won't have to be subjected too much to her schtick.

 

Love the photos! I was very disappointed that there was no Serenity Deck on Conquest. I spent a lot of time there on my last Glory cruise (to Bermuda, that Delta Dear had to cancel last minute).

 

I've actually enjoyed the production shows more the past couple of years than I used to. I had quit going to them completely and only returned when Ticket to Ride came along. Really enjoyed both The Brits and the Motown one. See, I'm a child of the 60s, so those all really appealed to me. I don't think a lot of most 80s music.

 

Being on the casino cruise, I imagine we'll have a lot of activities at night in the casino, so I hope I get to see the shows on Splendor.

 

NC TribeFan, I'm sorry we are going to miss each other, too. Yes, one of these days we will sail together. We don't have a next cruise in mind yet, though. Do you ?

 

I LOVE this review, too. The photos are stunning. I could reach right in with my fork and dig into your food porn.

 

Thanks for the Dr. Seuss Book Space photo. I know that will add a fun twist. I gather if I want photos of the children's area, I need to take those before they are open to children. I realized that after reading your post.

 

One non-Freedom related question. When you do your posts, do you have to change the font and color with each post, or is there a way to change your default settings. I always write a review so any tip about that will help. It makes reading so much easier when the poster's words are in a different color and font than those responding.

 

Keep writing. Drag it out because I can tell I am going to hate to see this one end.

 

Finally, I didn't care for Jen Baxter,either. Her voice got on my nerves. She was a bit over the top. I'm excited that we will have Wee Jimmy. Our son said he's good. No matter who the CD is though, it doesn't affect my enjoyment of the cruise.

Edited September 29, 2014 by Delta Dear

[luvdod]

I am also going on this cruise Dec13....loving your review and the pictures of Guys Burger....definitely making my mouth water!! Thanks for sharing your vacation with us :)

[Delta Dear]

Love reading your review since I am sailing on the Freedom 12/13/14 with the same itinerary. Did you do or have suggestions on any shore excursions?

 

I don't know how to do more than one quote at a time, but I see you and someone else are on the 12-13-14 Freedom with us. If you haven't joined the Roll Call, come on over. I can't remember who has joined.

[Delta Dear]

I am also going on this cruise Dec13....loving your review and the pictures of Guys Burger....definitely making my mouth water!! Thanks for sharing your vacation with us :)

 

 

 

I don't know how to do more than one quote at a time, but I see you and someone else are on the 12-13-14 Freedom with us. If you haven't joined the Roll Call, come on over. I can't remember who has joined.

[portlandpete]

Love this review! Thanks so much for all the info and beautiful photos. Congratulations on your anniversary and you and your husband are just too cute!!