Live From The Carnival Freedom: Crossing the Atlantic for a New Whale Tail

[jam19872016]

Hello everybody.

 

It will have been 137 days since my last cruise but finally a gangway is in my near future. And oh what an adventure this is going to be. It will span a total of 56 days, five different cruises over two cruise lines and two continents, plus five days in Barcelona.

 

The first two segments are your basic five day Caribbean cruises on Carnival Freedom starting on September 11. Grand Turk, Amber Cove, and some stops in the Bahamas. It will be my first time in Nassau since the opening of the new port area so I plan to check that out. It will also be my first time in Princess Cay so I may check that out as well but will probably not do anything but wander in either of those ports.

 

I am traveling with my mom on this trip and we have separate rooms for these first two legs. I have purchased Cheers! for the first five days and hope to get good use of it. I'm not a big drinker but it is my first vacation in a while so hope to let loose. If I make it to 15 drinks, you probably won't hear about it because I'll be to intoxicated to post about it 🙂 .

 

During the second leg I will probably still enjoy a few nights of cocktails but will use my carryon bottles of wine, free casino drinks, maybe buy a small wine package at dinner, and purchase the rest as I go. I have $500 OBC on each of these first two legs but for the second leg I want to use it on some casino time. Cheers! and Wi-Fi ate almost the whole $500 for the first trip. Ouch. But at least it was house money, it is the only way I could justify the cost to myself.

 

After that, the cruise, and review, will transition to a much slower pace as we move from short cruises to my first Transatlantic experience on September 21. A wonderful 13 day crossing to Barcelona with a stop in Bermuda along the way as well as a few stops in Portugal and Spain.

 

I made an itinerary of the trip to print out to give to my mom for a nice visual. If I can find a way to post it on here I will do so since it will be easier than listing all the places we will be going.

 

I will not have my own room for the remainder of the trip and my mom is an early riser so I will be turning in early most likely from here out. I suspect the whole ship will be shutting down earlier at this point 🙂 . I hope to continue the live for the crossing, but if Wi-Fi is inadequate I am going to have to request a refund and unplug. I truly hope that is not the case but when I was on this ship in January, it wasn't great. Fingers crossed.

 

My mom has some mobility challenges so while I would like to do some exploring in Bermuda and Europe, we have nothing planned and will play it by ear on a day by day basis. I have researched each port and have many ideas in mind for some easy excursions and I may go off on my own in a couple ports I'm most excited about, like Florence and Rome, but we will see.
 

[jam19872016]

We arrive in Barcelona on October 4 where we will spend five days at a hotel exploring Barcelona. I'm looking at some nearby cities to possibly explore also since we will have time to be a little more immersive. It will again depend on my mom's energy level.

On October 9th we will board Cunard's Queen Elizabeth for a 14 day Mediterranean cruise. Never in my wildest dreams would I imagine myself booking a trip on Cunard. It seems way too formal and stuffy for me. But for the price, I could not pass it up. Fourteen days was just $899 pp. I was looking at seven day trips on even Royal and MSC for almost that cost. Nothing else out of Barcelona was as cheap as Cunard, by a lot, so I bit the bullet and booked it.

 

As a customer I'm excited to try a premium line for that cost. As a shareholder, the low fares Cunard has to charge is a little concerning.

 

Bonus, I'm able to claim my shareholder credit for the first time since all my Carnival bookings are casino rates. 

 

I will post a few thoughts about that part of the trip here, but not a full live. I may try one on the Cunard board Wi-Fi willing. The internet reviews on the ship are terrible, but they just got Starlink installed so maybe it will be working by then.

 

After that cruise I immediately embark on the Freedom on October 23 for her return to the states with a shiny new whale tail. I again hope to live review the crossing Wi-Fi willing.

 

I hope you will follow along with me and if you have any questions about the ship, Transatlantics, or anything you think I might know or be able to find out please feel free to ask and I will do my best to help out.
 

[jam19872016]

Here is a link to a review I did of my b2b2b2b on the Spirit last year so you can see what you are getting yourself into. Like that one, this trip will have way way too many food pics, scarce details on ports of call (hopefully a little more though since I really do want to try and explore Europe) and the potential for Wi-Fi outages to cause chunks of time to go unreviewed or posted recorded in front of a live studio audience instead of actually live.
 

 

 

[jam19872016]

Don't talk to strangers:

 

 

I realized I didn't introduce myself. I'm John, 35 from Florida. I don't think I have ever shared my name on here before, no going back now 🙂 . I will turn 36 at some point during the trip. I'm not big on celebrating birthdays so the exact date will remain a mystery 😄 .  

 

With me is my my mom, Mom, who is 67 also from Florida.

[LuvCruiSun]

Looking forward to following your long adventure! Thank you for sharing!

[jam19872016]

19 minutes ago, LuvCruiSun said:

Looking forward to following your long adventure! Thank you for sharing!

Happy to do it! Thanks for following along.

[Jamman54]

We'll be following along! This will be quite an adventure! 😎

[jam19872016]

The itinerary:

 

My mom wanted a visual aid to help her remember where she was going so when her friends asked where she was going she could tell them where. I did some googling and found a template to use that let me create the following. It's not perfect, but it works for its intended purpose created by an amateur lol.

 

The times seem to be traveling times, which is completely irrelevant and not indicative of how much time we are in each spot. It also doesn't take into account the fact I'm on a ship, so the line doesn't match my route. The ship will almost certainly not being crossing land 🙂. Like I said, amateur.

 

Edited to add its kinda hard to see. Sorry about that, its bigger on my screen and in print. May have to get out the magnifying glass for this one 👀

 

 

 

Edited September 6, 2023 by jam19872016

[jam19872016]

9 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

We'll be following along! This will be quite an adventure! 😎

Thanks for following along! I am super excited for this unique trip.

 

Looking forward to reading your Venezia review, I'm eyeing the repo down to Port Canaveral next year with a few days in New York at the beginning. 

[KarmaCruisers]

Is the freedom really finally getting its tail fixed?

[jam19872016]

15 minutes ago, KarmaCruisers said:

Is the freedom really finally getting its tail fixed?

Yes indeed! For the longest time I think we all just assumed it was going to happen but I don't recall it being stated anywhere. But a couple of weeks ago John Heald did confirm that she would be getting a new tail while in Spain during her drydock.

[Jamman54]

48 minutes ago, KarmaCruisers said:

Is the freedom really finally getting its tail fixed?

The whole purpose for scheduling the TA's was to fix the whale tail. 😎

[Gumbo4Life]

Sounds like a great trip!  We will be on the Freedom with you but are coming back on the Pride out of Rome on Oct 28.  Happy sailing!

[cynt]

WOW! What a vacay! ENJOY! ENJOY! Happy early birthday ! Party like a rock star! 

[balcony bound]

What an awesome trip! Following along, what a great adventure.

[jimbri]

Looks like a great trip.  Enjoy!

[jam19872016]

Five days to go!

 

I'm off work today. Packing is done which is usually a last minute item but I'm so excited I knocked that out last weekend. I do have a few errands to run today but other than that its a hurry up and wait kinda day.

 

I see Lee is a thing now. Its too soon to worry yet but I am definitely keeping an eye on it. My cruise may become a western itinerary which if that's the worst that happens I am okay, but its path is a little too close for comfort. I understand the risk of booking during hurricane season and I accept all that comes with it, but living in Florida has me worried for my property. We'll know a bit more the next few days, fingers crossed.

[jam19872016]

9 hours ago, Gumbo4Life said:

Sounds like a great trip!  We will be on the Freedom with you but are coming back on the Pride out of Rome on Oct 28.  Happy sailing!

Nice I bet that will be fun also. I'm excited for the opportunity to explore Europe without the hassle of flying.

4 hours ago, cynt said:

WOW! What a vacay! ENJOY! ENJOY! Happy early birthday ! Party like a rock star! 

Thanks! 

[jam19872016]

4 hours ago, balcony bound said:

What an awesome trip! Following along, what a great adventure.

Indeed 😁 Thanks for following along.

2 hours ago, jimbri said:

Looks like a great trip.  Enjoy!

Thank you!

[pe4all]

Looking forward to your review!  Loved Barcelona when we were there pre-cruise a few years ago on NCL.  Freedom is one of our favorite class of ships.  So glad she is finally getting her tail!

[cmukid87]

We will be getting on the Freedom right when you get back!  I hope you take good care of her.

[jam19872016]

12 minutes ago, pe4all said:

Looking forward to your review!  Loved Barcelona when we were there pre-cruise a few years ago on NCL.  Freedom is one of our favorite class of ships.  So glad she is finally getting her tail!

Im excited for Barcelona and having the opportunity to spend a few days there. It will also allow the port days there to become ship days.

 

I love the Freedom but dream class is my favorite. Can't wait to see her brand new tail.

 

Just now, cmukid87 said:

We will be getting on the Freedom right when you get back!  I hope you take good care of her.

I'll try but make no promises 😀.

[balcony bound]

26 minutes ago, jam19872016 said:

 

 

I see Lee is a thing now. Its too soon to worry yet but I am definitely keeping an eye on it. My cruise may become a western itinerary which if that's the worst that happens I am okay, but its path is a little too close for comfort. I understand the risk of booking during hurricane season and I accept all that comes with it, but living in Florida has me worried for my property. We'll know a bit more the next few days, fingers crossed.

I hear you! living in Florida and leaving home during a hurricane or potential storm is always nerve wracking and is hard to do.  It doesn't help that forecasting is...well...not reliable.  Definitely safer on the ship, but that worry about home is difficult.  Look at as evacuation without the traffic, that might help.

[princess76021]

Thank you for doing this! 

Have a fantastic time!

Hugs from Texas!

[jam19872016]

Just now, balcony bound said:

I hear you! living in Florida and leaving home during a hurricane or potential storm is always nerve wracking and is hard to do.  It doesn't help that forecasting is...well...not reliable.  Definitely safer on the ship, but that worry about home is difficult.  Look at as evacuation without the traffic, that might help.

 

Exactly. I want to be as far away as possible. Last year I was on a Panama Canal cruise when the hurricane hit. People actually flew home from Cabo to their homes in Florida.

 

Then the wifi went out. It was nerve racking not knowing what was going on but it was the safest place to be.