Mini Freedom Review

[sunexpress]

Background Information:

 I am a long time lurker/reader. This is my 11th cruise -7 on Carnival- 3 on RCL, and one on Disney. This is our first cruise post pandemic. We will be on the Mardi Gras in July.

My husband and I (early 50's) prefer to cruise on Carnival. We live outside of Orlando and typically cruise out of Port Canaveral. 

We cruised on the Freedom Dec. 28-Jan. 2. The cruise was at full capacity. 

 

Embarkation:  I purchased FTTF and had an arrival time of 10:30-11:00. We arrived at just about 10:30- parked in the designated parking garage, got in the FTTF line and proceeded inside the terminal. Just a note about the parking garage - there are signs that say you have to have your parking ticket with you and pay before you depart (at machines), which caused some confusion. You do not have to have your ticket with you to pay at a machine - you can just pay when you leave.  We went thru security quickly and upon entering the waiting area prior to boarding we were lined up beside our luggage (we carried on), and stood there while a K9 walked around the passengers luggage. I later found out it was for bombs/explosive devices.

We sat in the waiting area about 5 minutes, and then we were called to board. We were on the ship by 11 am. The rooms were ready at 1:30. Previously when I had FTTF,  rooms were ready upon boarding. We went to Lido which was not crowded yet and had a quick bite to eat - which included Funfetti cheesecake :).

Embarkation went smoothly. 

We had Muster Station D located on the 4th deck- we went straight there, took less than 5 minutes.

There were a few calls before sail away "reminding" people to go to their muster station.

We sailed away on time - I believe it was 4:30. 

 

Dining: We had my time dining (Chic Restaurant)  and sat at the same table every night. We had an exceptional wait staff, and dinner took about 40 minutes every night. I used the Hub App to check in and had no issues. No complaints about the food. I always found something to eat. The food came out quickly and was hot.

We ate at the Steakhouse on the second night, and thought the food was well prepared. We ate in the MDR (Posh Restaurant) for breakfast a few times, and service was slower than dinner, but still in a timely manner for us. No complaints about the food. We didn't really eat at the buffet, but it appeared to have a good variety. We had a burrito, guys burger and pizza - we went at less than busy times, so we didn't have to wait long - but I did notice longer lines at peak times, especially on the sea day.

We didn't have the drink package - I am not a big drinker, so it wouldn't have been worth it for us. There seemed to be adequate bar/wait staff when we did order drinks. We spent a lot of time on Serenity, and never had to wait long for someone to come by to take drink order. 

 

Room:

We had a balcony room 9294 (Lido Deck). I have mixed feelings about this room. We loved the location - it was at the end of the hall, 30 second walk to lido deck. 

We could occasionally hear music/activities on the Lido, which didn't really bother us, but there was some kind of periodic banging noise in the middle of the night that would come and go. We could never figure out exactly what it was. It wasn't enough to keep me from booking this room again, but it may bother someone else.

Our room steward was Matthew - he did a great job. No complaints. He did mention he had both sides of the hall, and usually did the rooms between 8 am - 1 pm. He stated he usually didn't start at 8, but more like 9 - and to contact him if we needed anything.

He didn't really give a choice with am/pm service - which didn't matter to us, but it may to someone else.

The room itself was a typical conquest class balcony room- I did notice some wear and tear and some rust on the balcony, but overall the room was in good condition. 

 

Ports:

Nassau - we have been many times, did not get off the ship.

Half Moon Cay - Having FTTF we had priority tender boarding. We did not have an excursion, just enjoyed the beach. We did not eat the lunch provided - just went back to the ship for lunch.

Grand Turk- Did not have an excursion, just walked around and ate/drank at Margaritaville and sat by the pool.

We had beautiful weather the whole cruise.

 

Debarkation:

Having FTTF we had priority Debarkation. We had to wait in the theater until time to Debark, which was about 7:30 am. We were off the ship by 7:45 - did facial recognition - took about 10 minutes total to walk off. We paid 109 dollars for parking.

 

Random Thoughts:

The ship was full, but honestly did not seem overly crowded. There were a ton of kids/teens - they all seemed well behaved, did not notice any bad behavior. We did see kids in the hot tubs. There was always a line at guest services. The one time I went, I used the FTTF line which took less than 2 minutes. We saw the 3 shows - thought the singing was above average for a cruise ship - of course its cruise ship entertainment, so we know what to expect - but felt the singing was not too bad lol . We enjoyed the violin players and Acoustic sounds with Morgan. We went to one Comedy Show, and didn't really care for it, so we didn't go back. We have enjoyed the comedy shows on previous cruises. Technical difficulties for Deal/No Deal, so that did not occur. In its place was some audience participation games, which turned out to be fun. Also went to Love and Marriage.  Cruise Director - James Love - he was OK. 

There were tons of activities on board and the ship seemed well staffed. The ship is older, but was clean, and I saw crew constantly cleaning. 

We did not attend the NYE deck party on Lido - but could hear it from our room. I am not one that likes to be in overly crowded places. I did hear it was really crowded and not much room to move around, so am glad we didn't go.

We mainly used this cruise to relax, (we slept more than at home lol) to spend time together and to get back into cruising.

We had a wonderful time - it was a great cruise, and I would cruise on the Freedom again. Of course not everything was perfect,, but we had a great time.

The staff certainly worked hard.

 

[bambam]

Hope you enjoyed the “ice cream” by James. Lol

we sailed on Freedom in October and you described her perfectly. Nice review!!  Thxs

[sunexpress]

18 minutes ago, bambam said:

Hope you enjoyed the “ice cream” by James. Lol

we sailed on Freedom in October and you described her perfectly. Nice review!!  Thxs

Yes he made the ice cream reference 🙂

Thank -you for reading!