~freedom review 3/5-3/12~

[almitra]

Here we go, everybody--I am a longtime Carnival cruiser (gold level at the moment), but have also cruised NCL and RCCL, so I like variety (but still have a preference for Carnival). Gonna break this up so it isn't so laborious or you can scroll to the topic you're most interested in.

 

Embarkation--easy, peasy. We drove down to the port that morning since we're only 4.5 hrs away. We parked at EZ Cruise and saved $20 off their already discounted price by walking 2 blocks to the pier. We have only 1 roller bag apiece so the savings was worth it for us. We arrived just mins after our chosen embarkation time, so we passed quickly thru everything. On the ship in about 25 mins after walking up. And yes, I ALWAYS cruise alone w/my minor child and never need any letter from his father for it, so I never bring it anymore....just sayin'.

 

Cabin--we were in 1426 (Riviera aft), "steerage" to you Titanic buffs. Fabulous room, very quiet, excellent steward. Room was cleaned twice daily and had new towel animals each night. Plenty of space for us, LOTS of closet area too. Read here about people saying their room was too hot...not an issue at all here. Plenty cool...in fact, how freezing the rooms are was actually a punchline by one of the comedians in the International Lounge...lol!

 

Ship--in beautiful condition, just kinda smoky near the casino of course. Other than that, smoking is mostly prohibited in public areas inside & even most outside. Only a few areas for smokers to go, actually. I didn't mind the layout in the least. We took 2 days to get the jist of things, but if you keep in mind that you can easily access ANY venue onboard from the Promenade (5th) floor, you will have zero problems finding your way around. Always remember that the Promenade deck is aptly named--you can truly walk the length of the ship with no blocked access from that level.

 

Dining--never have gone to "pay extra" restaurants, so no info on those even tho I hear they're very good. I was surprised to learn that you can no longer eat lunch in the dining rooms--you have to go to the luby's line, Guy's, Pizza Pirate, Fish n Chips, Red Frog Cantina or some other Lido deck eatery. Miss that immensely, but oh, well. As for dinner, we usually go early seating, but decided to try Your Time Dining for the 1st time. We liked it, but after the 2nd night of the cruise, you need to get in line by 5:25 or so to get a table without a lengthy wait as the seating is 5:45-9:30 each evening. We missed not having the same waiter every time, but you can request to be seated in a certain waiter's section if you like. I was curious about the new American Table/ American Feast Concept and was hoping it was fabulous. The food quality is still excellent onboard Carnival, but the amount of regular fare you can find anywhere is overwhelming. I DO like that they still offer 4 staple entrees (steak, chicken breast, fish, vegan) on all menus, but I've never felt compelled to order from them. I did have to do this...more than a couple times, sadly. But make no mistake, the food quality is still no less da' bomb, ya'll. Oh, and they offer "try if you dare" options too--frog legs, snails, beef tongue, etc. (((belch)))...sorry, just threw up in my mouth a little bit there. Service was pretty good and the waitstaff are so nice. They're performances after dinner are not to be missed, so please stay if you are able. :D

 

Elegant Nights--2 of these on our 7 day, obviously. Most everyone dresses up, so really good participation from the largest percentage for pax. Photo ops abound, so put on the ritz and head out to Promenade for one background after another!

 

Activities--too much BINGO in my opinion, but then again I know they're in this game to make $$. We loved the trivia every day, the bean bag tournie each afternoon at 4 in the Red Frog Pub (won a 24K gold piece of plastic ship on a stick even), and only took in the Welcome Aboard show the first night--it was good. We would've seen more shows except that we loved the comedians, save one, and his name was Tommy Drake. Sorry Tommy, we like audience interaction & he had none. The towel animal folding class was great, the shopping seminar with Brittany was fabulous as she gave away many free gifts (got one myself and my son got another). If you like raffles and giveaways, make some of those seminars. The Dive In Movie Theatre on deck is great. You can get free popcorn during all shows & there are 2 each night, one at 7 and another at 9:30 or 10. They even give you blankets to check out to snuggle up under should you be so inclined. :) I really miss not having the past guest cocktail party (now only for diamond/platinum folks), and a dedicated Captain's Welcome Aboard Cocktail Party as opposed to the newly adopted mid cruise "meet the captain" in the noisy, smoky bar attached to the casino. Yep, the times they are a changin', my friends.

 

 

Club 02--my son is almost 17 and wanted so bad to be with other teens, so we enrolled in 02. Being a Spring Break Cruise there were oodles of teens aboard, even a couple from his own high school...lol! We heard you have to go the first night cuz that's when the teens form their cliques, so he did...for a couple hours. Most came in and then left saying it was boring. So he decided to try the next evening since he desperately wanted to give it another chance. He did. Almost a ghost town. :( I did see things pick up in there later in the voyage, but he was doing other things by then, so he had a wonderful vacation engaging in all the other activities. He's been active in Camp Carnival since age 6, so he loves the experience and had high hopes for the teen camp. It's ok tho--like I said, he found other cool fun things to do and we had a great cruise. They don't call Carnival the "Fun Ships" for nothing. :)

 

Weather--no, I'm not reviewing the weather, but just wanted to mention that we had uber fantastic temps the entire time save the last sea day. No problemo, just moved activities indoors.

 

Ports--Roatan was first and we had booked a private tour thru Shore Excursioneer dot com. Excellent choice that I found here on the CC boards. We went Extreme Ziplining at South Shore Zipline and Beach Break combo. It was a wonderful day and they picked us up & dropped us back off at the ship in PLENTY of time to shop some more before going back onboard. Great day!

 

Belize--suckola. We had booked Shark/Ray Alley for the most anticipated excursion since my son is going to be a marine biologist with a specialization in sharks & rays. He literally didn't care if we had to miss all other tours if he could have just this ONE. Didn't happen. In 36 years of cruising, I've never missed a port of call (even at Belize & I've been there 6 or 8 times), and we've even tendered in substantially more pitchy conditions with no problems, but Capt Marino declared he couldn't manage it so we watched Norwegian Sea offload her pax to enjoy the day ashore while we turned tail and headed out to sea so the casino and the shops onboard could open, and extra Bingo games could commence without delay. The extra one hour in Cozumel in exchange for missing an entire 9 hour port daydidn't seem like a fair trade to me, but it is what it is. Moving on.....

 

Cozumel--docked at Puerta Maya pier...but even then Malcolm (CD on our ship) admitted at the Q&A he does at the end of the cruise in the Victoriana Lounge that he was worried we'd miss that one as well because of the wind. He said the ship can even miss a docking port if the Capt fears that the wind conditions are too great & can cause a tethering line to break. We enjoyed that day snorkeling at Sky Reef and having a fajita lunch and a fabulously fun tequila tasting. Noice!

 

Cruise Director & Staff---these guys are fun, always ready with a smile, and lotsa personality. We truly adored Malcolm "Woo-hoo" the CD on Freedom, he rocks.

 

Debarkation--we did the Self Assist Option so we could hopefully get off punctually...always have and it has ever served us well. Wish it had this time. We all had to be out of cabins by 8:30 so the stewards can get them ready for new pax--no problemo at all. :) We waited on Promenade til they called us at 11:15 to head down to level 3 gangway. Bear in mind that there were many pax still not yet called when we got off. Larger & larger numbers of people were going to Lido for food since we'd been waiting for an excess of 3 hours at this point We proceeded downstairs and got into the Customs/Immigration line like we all must do & finally departed the terminal building by almost noon. To be honest, I've never departed a ship later than 9:30 a.m....dunno what happened here, so surely it is a fluke that will not likely be repeated anytime soon. :)

 

Overall Experience--we like the Freedom, we like YT Dining, we enjoyed great customer service, and would happily sail both this ship AND Carnival again. Plenty of activities to suit all ages, just need to avail yourself of them. Remember, it's YOUR vacation...what goes on in the ship, goes on the internet! (((wink)))

Edited March 13, 2016 by almitra

[Keith1010]

Terrific review. Thanks for sharing.

 

Keith

[KirkNC]

Thanks for your review.

[Clarea]

Thanks for the review.