Freedom 2/13 Review

[Super27]

I'm a little behind in posting this, but I thought I'd share a quick review of my recent cruise on the Freedom. I did the 5-night itinerary out of Port Canaveral on February 13th. Ports were Amber Cove and Grand Turk. For perspective, it was me and my girlfriend cruising, this was my 10th cruise (all Carnival) and her 3rd cruise (also all Carnival). Here we go!

 

Embarkation

We had a 10:00am-10:30am arrival appointment, and arrived at Port Canaveral by Lyft at about 10:10am. The line was not very long and moved pretty quickly. Check-in was very fast, followed by the standard security check, and then they had everyone line up along a wall and walked a drug dog up and down to sniff luggage. After that it was hurry up and wait. We had to sit for probably 30-40 minutes before they started boarding. Once the boarding process actually started though, it was pretty quick. We were probably on the ship within a little over an hour of arriving at port. Port Canaveral is definitely not as efficient as Miami, but overall I have no major complaints with the embarkation process.

 

Ship in General

The Freedom is certainly not the newest ship around, but she looks good for her age. Public areas were all very clean, and everything seemed well-maintained and in good working order. The Atrium lobby is noticeably smaller than on the newer ships, but there was still a decent amount of seating. The Lido deck is also a different layout than on newer ships. The main pool deck isn't as large and there aren't as many loungers right by the pool; instead there are several "tiers" of seating areas. Personally, I like this layout better - it doesn't feel quite as crowded to me. There are also hot tubs by the main pool, which many of the new ships don't have, so that's a nice plus. The aft pool area is pretty typical for Carnival - pool, Tides Bar, Seafood Shack, Pizza, and two hot tubs. Like other ships in this class, the aft pool area has a retractable roof, and the pool and hot tubs are adults only, which they actively enforced. This was a sold-out cruise, so the pools got pretty crowded, but we always were able to find loungers on the deck above the pool level. I usually preferred to sit at the back right outside the entrance to the BBQ place, that way I could just walk inside and refill my water cup. Serenity was crowded as well, but we also always found loungers there. My only complaint about Serenity was that the service at the bar was very slow (usually only 1 bartender working) and lines got LONG. Speaking of bars, in general bar service was fast and friendly. The Alchemy Bar was always crowded, as were the two bars at the main pool. The aft pool bar was never insanely crowded when I was out there. The Freedom does have a Red Frog Pub inside on deck 5, which was never super crowded, and they often have live music, so that's a good place to hang out.

 

Food

One of the main reasons I've stuck with Carnival is the food. I have always had great meals on my cruises. However, in my opinion the food in general on Carnival has gone downhill recently. Overall, I was disappointed with the food on this cruise...

 

MDR: We had late dining in the Posh restaurant. I would describe the food at dinner as perfectly mediocre. Some of my usual favorites were just not as good as they have been in the past. The prime rib for instance - normally I think Carnival has excellent prime rib, but this time it was just not that good, kind of dry and flavorless. The short ribs were also not as good as I've had in the past, much more fatty and pretty bland. That said, there were some high points. The spaghetti carbonara was very good...not quite as good as what they serve in the Cucina on ships that have it, but still very good. Penne Mariscos was also excellent as always. Appetizers in general were also very good...the highlight of the trip definitely being the alligator beignets...they were so good we ordered a second order! Desserts were good, although the melting cakes were way overdone (i.e. not at all "melting") one of the nights.

 

MDR Breakfast: I don't bother with Sea Day Brunch anymore because the new menu is awful, but I did do the regular port day breakfast in the MDR. The food was good (highly recommend the broken egg sandwich), and the service was quick. 

 

Guy's: Burgers were excellent as always. Fries are disappointing since they took away the fresh hand-cut fries and replaced them with generic frozen ones. There are also a lot less options on the toppings bar than there used to be, and they didn't keep the trays full with what was there. I never used the toppings bar much, but I do miss the sauteed mushrooms they used to have.

 

Buffet: I did lunch a couple days in the buffet, and thought it was decent. Nothing remarkable, but not bad. Breakfast, on the other hand, was extremely disappointing. They seem to have less and less variety for breakfast. Also, none of the hot items really even looked appetizing. They had a few different kinds of benedict (which are decent when they first put them out but not so great after sitting there under the heat lamps forever), different sausages each day, scrambled eggs, and occasionally bacon. I stuck with the continental breakfast (that station never had a line) and the pastries were fine. The omelet station always had a huge line, but one thing that I thought was smart, they used the sushi bar as a second omelet station during breakfast, and there was hardly ever much of a line there. 

 

Deli: I had a caprese sandwich from the deli, and it was good. The fries were not hot but tasted okay - they are the same generic frozen fries they serve at Guy's now. They no longer serve the truffle fries, but they do have a truffle aioli that you can get to dip them in.

 

BBQ: Upstairs from the buffet is the BBQ place, which is one of the best kept secrets on the ship. It's never very crowded and there is plenty of seating up there. The food was decent; meats were nicely cooked and flavorful, and the sides were pretty good too. My only complaint was that the "house made" slaw was very bland, almost completely flavorless. 

 

Steakhouse: We did the steakhouse to celebrate my girlfriend's birthday. For appetizers, I got the tuna tartare and a caesar salad. The tuna tartare was probably the best single food item I had on this cruise, it was absolutely delicious, and the presentation is very nice as well. My girlfriend got the french onion soup, which she said was good, but they serve it so insanely hot that she couldn't really eat much/any of it until after her entree had arrived. I had the same experience on Conquest on my last cruise too. For entrees we both had the surf and turf. The lobster was decent, but I was pretty disappointed with my filet. It was cooked exactly as I ordered, but it was just not tender at all. Desserts were good, but nothing to write home about - I had the "hazelnut" cheesecake (it was fine, but I couldn't taste any hazelnut) and my girlfriend had the apple tart, which they decorated nicely for her birthday. We did do the wine pairings with our meal, which was fun and an excellent value!

 

Room Service: We ordered a late lunch from room service one day, and actually really enjoyed it! We had pepperoni pizza and chicken tenders. I love Carnival pizza, and this one did not disappoint. I was actually pleasantly surprised with the chicken tenders too...they were very lightly breaded, not at all greasy, and nicely seasoned. Service was fast, and in my opinion the price is very reasonable for the amount of food you get.

 

Cabin

We had an oceanview cabin on Deck 2 (2309). Everything in the cabin was clean and in good working order. One thing to know - there is only ONE electrical outlet in the entire cabin, over by the desk area. I guess technically there are two - there is also one above the vanity in the bathroom - but that one isn't useful for much. I really liked this cabin location; it was just forward of the mid-ship elevators, so easy access to everything, but also nice and QUIET.

 

Casino

I always spend a lot of time in the casino on my cruises, and this was no exception. For a smaller ship, the Freedom has a decent size casino. They have all the usual table games, and a decent variety of slots. Half of the slot area is non-smoking, and some of the tables are non-smoking as well. Dealers were generally friendly. That said, I was disappointed in the lack of energy and interaction from the casino hosts. Usually the hosts are out and about wandering around, particularly near the higher limit tables, and they also usually run several drawings/events in the casino. None of that happened on this cruise. I never saw any of the hosts or pit bosses interacting with any of the players, which I found very unusual for a Carnival casino. They did comp me a bottle of wine with dinner on the last night, so that was something.

 

Service

As always, the service from the crew was excellent. Our dining room team was by the best waitstaff I've ever had on a cruise. The headwaiter, Andrew, has been with Carnival for over 25 years, and it shows - he was one of the best servers I've ever had anywhere. Even on nights when we didn't love the food, we thoroughly enjoyed every dinner experience because of Andrew and his team. One thing I did notice - they did not do "showtime" every night, I think we only saw it twice during the cruise. Our room steward was also great; super friendly and did a great job keeping the room clean throughout the cruise. All around the ship, every crewmember I encountered was friendly and outgoing...I literally can't say anything negative about the crew on Freedom!

 

Entertainment

We really didn't attend a lot of shows or anything like that on this cruise, so I don't have a lot to comment on. A highlight of the cruise was the violin trio; they were really good! Although the first night they had a lot of difficulty getting their sound system set up, but once that was resolved their shows went off without a hitch. I wasn't impressed with the choices of shows offered in the main theatre. I think they changed the show rotation when the new cruise director, Gabe, took over, and none of them were very appealing to me. I did attend the 80's pop show for a bit. Keep in mind it is no longer "80's pop to the max"...it is now "Playlist in Concert: 80's pop." The difference is they no longer use any of the backdrops or props or effects - they just sing the songs and dance...pretty boring overall. It was disappointing because the 80's pop show was a lot of fun, but they had a LOT of technical issues with it on multiple ships, so I guess they've given up on it. 

 

I am not someone who chooses cruises based on the cruise director, but if I were I would probably not choose one with Gabe again. I never saw him out and about on the ship, and he just didn't come across as very genuine or enthusiastic. 

 

Debarkation

The debarkation was an absolute disaster. It started late and was totally disorganized. The stairwells were so jammed with people it was insane. Once off the ship the terminal staff moved everyone along pretty quickly, but on the ship it was by far the worst debarkation process I've experienced.

 

Overall, I will say I did enjoy my time on the Freedom. It's a beautiful ship despite not having all the bells and whistles of the newer ships. I would absolutely cruise on Freedom or another Conquest-class ship again. That said, based on this cruise and my last couple on Carnival, I've decided it's time to venture out and try another line, so my next cruise is booked on Celebrity. I'm not giving up completely on Carnival (I do have an Ultra booked on Jubilee next January), but between the cutbacks in quality and variety of food, the lackluster casino experience, and the worsening behavior I've seen lately from Carnival guests, I think I'm ready for a different experience.

[bigcstyle4]

I was on two sailings prior to yours (2/4) and agree with almost everything here. Especially the French onion soup temperature. LOL.

 

We watched the "World Works Here" show which was quite cringeworthy. Gabe was trying hard to convey how much he cared about all the nationalities and then didn't know what several of the flags were when they were coming out. They did the 80's Pop show sitting down on my sailing as well but we figured it was due to the rough seas (probably the rockiest I've ever felt in my 17 cruises).

[Bostwick girl]

Thanks for the honest review. We will be on Freedom April 1 and again May 13. We’ve been on her several years ago, but don’t remember too much about it. Looking forward to a change from Liberty much as we like her, too. Glad they’re keeping a smaller ship at Canaveral because I doubt seriously we will ever try Mardi Gras, way too big for us! Just did a couple cruises on Magic which we love, but she’s about too big.

 

[hurricane0226]

Thanks for the review also. will be on the freedom March 18th cruise. 

[Elvis1001]

Thanks for the review, very helpful to know what to expect on my March 13 cruise.

[Jeafl]

Great review, thanks for sharing!  I agree with almost all of your assessments of the food. I've never tried the Tuna Tartare though, maybe next time!

[ninjacat123]

Thanks for the great review!  My DH and two DDs will be on Freedom Jan 2024 and this review gives us some good intel. 👍

[Ebpak1174]

How early were you off the ship on debarkation day?