Live from the Carnival Freedom !!!

[PaulMedik]

Fred,

 

Watch out for Sveltvina at the BlackJack table. She just took my first $100 donation! She did advise me several times that I should switch tables; that's how bad my luck was!:mad: It's bad when the dealers feel sorry for you...

[cathyoo]

Ahh, Fred you are a sweetie to share your experience in the moment. Sounds like your trip is off to a wonderful start. Enjoy every minute. Very jealous of your Platinum status. I'll be too old to enjoy it by the time I get there. Probably in 2014

[ellen9974]

Thanks Fred for all the updates.....I hope Cathy enjoys the 1a....can not wait to see the photos....I will be in a 1a in December......Have a great cruise

[anyothername]

So where do you get this "Grilled Tuna on White with extra Mayo and extra Tomatos" at on board?

[Hurricane Girl]

I want to Thank You!!! for doing this...we sail in May on Triumph and reading all of your posts and seeing your pics. and videos has got me so excited about our trip. I hope that you guys have a wonderful time!!! I know that you will, who doesn't on a cruise.

[Wennfred]

Day 1 cont.

 

Dinner time is at 8:15pm, maitre'd Dino did a great job getting us a booth that sat 4 and off we went. Dinner was

great, we told cathy to get the Sweet & Sour shrimp, one of my favorite and the Sirlion steak, she ate it all and

loved it. We didnt stay for desert as we were full already with all of the food we had for dinner. Dinner tonight

was great, very tasty, not bland at all.

 

We went down to the Theater, played bingo didnt win. They had a warm up bingo session at first, the cards were

10.00 for 3 and we got to play 2 games, winnings were 100.00 and 350.00, then the last bingo game was for 1000.00

dollars, those cards were 10.00 for 1 card and 20.00 for 3 cards. The Welcome onboard show was nice and Todd

Wittmer is our Cruise Director, this is a very good cruise director, we got lucky on this cruise to have him. He is

very funny and knows his job very well.

 

Our comedian tonight is Allyn Ball, an italian guy from Los Angeles, this guy is very funny, he had everyone

laughing tonight. Cathy enjoyed the show as well. Wendy went to be earily as she was all pooped out from todays

events and the sun wears her thing. Tomorrow night at Midnight Comedian Allyn Ball will perform his rated R show. I

will be there for that.

 

I had sushi tonight, don't know exactly what the heck I had to eat but I do know one of them had a slice of eel. it

ws good thou, can't wait to try tomorrows crazy Sushi surpise.

 

Todays SeaSide Theater played Tina Turner's concert at 1pm and 6pm and the movie was Evan Almighty which played at

7:45pm and 10:30pm up on Lido deck. Tomorrow they are playing the BeeGees and the movie is The Transformers.

 

T.V. Complimentary movies for tomorrow are Oceans 13 and Becoming Jane. Two great movies.

 

Its exactly midnight right now and Im off to bed, tomorrow is a nice long sea day, We will take in some of the

activities pool side and walk about the ship. I like to find that golf course up by the Funnel deck and T-off a few

balls.

 

Side note: Soft Serve Ice Cream ROCKS !!! Love the mix flavor ones :)

 

Fred

[Wennfred]

So where do you get this "Grilled Tuna on White with extra Mayo and extra Tomatos" at on board?

 

Up on Lido Deck, Deck 9... buffet area on the sides they have a Deli window, thats where you can order all types of sandwiches, the Deli closes at 11pm at night. On the other side they have the Asian window. Will take a look at what they have tomorrow. Tomorrow for lunch, I shooting for Fish & Chips and that Mongolian Grille.

 

 

Fred

[Wennfred]

Fred,

 

Watch out for Sveltvina at the BlackJack table. She just took my first $100 donation! She did advise me several times that I should switch tables; that's how bad my luck was!:mad: It's bad when the dealers feel sorry for you...

 

Hi Paul,

It was nice meeting you and your family today, thanks for the Tip in the Casino, Im already down 100.00 myself, Im done for the week LOL. See ya around tomorrow.

 

 

Fred

[CalifCruiser1]

Fred you'll pick up more internet minutes they do Happy hours on them use 1 get 1. We were on 3/22/08 You and I seem to sail 2 weeks apart I know one day we will meet up! see we do Splendor 4-12-08. They run a great poker table on this ship if you play. And the New Orleans show is excellant as is the supper club Have a great time Karon:)

[Chexmix]

Great review so far Fred. You always seem to give great reviews of everything on the ship.

 

Don't forget about your free laundry service with that Platinum card. I'm sure Wendy could throw in a few things of her mothers at well. We had three people in our room and only ONE person was platinum. They did all our laundry on the Liberty.

 

Also don't forget to get your FREE entry to the slot or BJ touraments at the casino cashier. You and Wendy both get to enjoy that :) or you could give yours to your lovely MIL.:D

[woodey]

Ok Fred Great review so far.....let me know about the wheelchair doorway....my DW is in a scooter and i pay close attention to doorways...she has a small travel scooter that enables us to get into most normal cabins but this does not sound promising for us..

[pe4all]

Fred -

Glad to see you are enjoying the Freedom so far. We loved her - can't wait to board her again soon. Make sure you catch Ron Pass in the piano bar - he is great. We are "living thru" you now - and loving every second. Quick question - when we were in the Posh dining room, Ken was the maitre'd - you said Dino was now. Do you know if Ken moved? He was great - personable, and sounded like Frank Sinatra when he sang. (I wouldn't doubt it if John Heald "took" him to the Splendor with him - they are good friends, and Ken really knew and enjoyed his job) We were hoping to get him again. Enjoy your cruise - have a dotd for us!

[pam7553]

Fred,

I just sailed on 3/22 so I feel like I am right back with you. The oriental station on Lido is now mexican food. They haven't changed the sign. Make sure you check out the noodle station and build your own soup.

I thought Allyn Ball's midnight show was awful. I expected a lot more after his first show which I enjoyed.

Pam

[readboat]

Hi Fred

I hope you are having a great time.

We are booked in 2457 in May. I have been asking for two weeks on CC how this room was and if any one had a picture, no luck.

Let us know how noisy it is back there being under the dining room. If you get a peek into 2457 let me know how it looks.

Thank You

[lgerrish]

Carnival Freedom Embarkation Day

 

Well, I have alot of info so let me get started.

 

 

At 11:45am we arrived at the new Port of Miami Cruise Terminal. The new terminal is very nice Inside, there is a long line with many people waiting to get checked in, I asked a rep where was the VIP line and they escorted us over to the next set of line, no one was there but us.

 

Security & Xray machine, we had to remove our items from our pockets of course and run our bags right through the Xray machine. When my bag went through, I was asked to remove my Laptop from the Carry-on luggage and run it through again. That only took like 30 seconds. So make sure you have your Laptop out, just like in the airport.

 

After the Xray machine we walked into another big waiting room but we were directed to go around the left and inside the VIP Lounge. The customer service was totally great, All that was needed was your FUN Pass print outs, the credit card that was used on the FunPass and you Passports, they have a bar code scanner that they use to swipe your PassPorts and it immediately locates you into their computer system. Wendy and I were given our Platinum Cards. Wendy had a nice smile, she finally made Platinum. We told them there that we had my Mother-in-Law with us and the rep said no problem wait right here, she went out and got her Sail & Sign card. That just took a minute, they greeted my MIL and told her welcome on her first Carnival Cruise. My MIL Cathy was amazed on how special they treated us, more on this later.

 

Well I hope I covered most things, if you have any questions let me know.

 

Fred

 

What a great review! We are so ready to cruise on the Freedom in two weeks. I'll be waiting to hear more.

 

We plan on getting to the port early so we can board and enjoy the ship. Wish us luck (our track record isn't very good about boarding early:eek: )

 

Thanks, Fred!

[Huey]

We were also on the Freedom 03/22/08. We loved Allyn Ball's midnight show. He is very funny - and a little different than your usual comedian. He was kind of opinionated so I could see how he is not everyone's favorite.

 

Although I loved the Mongolian BBQ, be careful! Everything except the BBQ is very spicy!! Lots of red pepper flakes!

 

You're quite lucky as Platnium. Our dining change requests were not honored. We requested an earlier seating, however, after the first night Dino just changed our table and left our same seating. It was kind of uncomfortable because after the first night, our table was within 10 feet of our last waiter. I could tell he thought we changed because of him. Which was not true - we liked him! we let him know what happened.

 

So, to answer your question - yes it is very annoying to be sitting waiting to change our incorrect dining arrangements in the dining room after 25 minutes and watching Platnium members walk right in and cut in line. I guess that being only my 9th Carnival cruise, we had to wait our turn.

 

Have fun! Hopefully the chair hogs aren't out in full force as they were for us!!!

[GB Chicago]

Laura, I was probably one of the folks waiting with you on the 22nd for the Matire D! Same thing happened to us - sat with our original folks the first night and Ken moved us to a different table but same time. I went to pursers desk and filled out another request though and we did get moved. I was really worried the folks we sat with the first night would think we didn't like them so we were sure to tell them right off we just wanted later seating. How about that second morning at sea - the ship was really rocking! Hope Fred has a bit better weather then we did. Looking at all my pictures I now realize how much it rained!

[dbrucern]

I am watching for your review and reading with enjoyment. We are on the Freedom in December 6483 and 6485. Thanks for all the info, I relay everything you have to say to my DH in Iraq so keep it coming and Thank-you.

[anyothername]

Up on Lido Deck, Deck 9... buffet area on the sides they have a Deli window, thats where you can order all types of sandwiches, the Deli closes at 11pm at night. On the other side they have the Asian window. Will take a look at what they have tomorrow. Tomorrow for lunch, I shooting for Fish & Chips and that Mongolian Grille.

 

 

Fred

 

Thanks. I realized there was a deli just didn't realize they had a tuna sandwich. Thanks again!

[Wags67]

Hi Fred...I just wanted to give you a for the love & dedication you are showing for cruising & for CC friends! You're sacrificing part of your cruisetime from your DW & DMIL to share with all of us...

Your review is awesome; I'm hooked:)

[cruisebie]

Fred-I just wanted to add my thanks with everyone else's for taking time out to do this. I love your Live review. It's like we are on the ship with you. It's the next best thing to being there! :)

[inco]

There are a lot of people out here that appreciate what your doing for us Fred. By the time our cruise rolls around I'll know this ship inside out.Thanks.;)

[Randy & Carmen]

Hey Fred......Could you go up to the Caribbean Breeze band right above the lido deck and just stand right there by the keyboard player (Wayne) and tell him I lost his email addy and if you could give him mine and have him contact me......Thanks!

 

Oh and Tell Todd, Noortje, Mouna, James, and Ron the Pianoman I said hi!:D

[PaulMedik]

Laura, I was probably one of the folks waiting with you on the 22nd for the Matire D! Same thing happened to us - sat with our original folks the first night and Ken moved us to a different table but same time. I went to pursers desk and filled out another request though and we did get moved. I was really worried the folks we sat with the first night would think we didn't like them so we were sure to tell them right off we just wanted later seating. How about that second morning at sea - the ship was really rocking! Hope Fred has a bit better weather then we did. Looking at all my pictures I now realize how much it rained!

 

 

GB Chicago,

 

We have had no rain that I know of; deck nine above the bridge was wet as if it had rained last night and the starboard side was so windy I had to crab walk to get back to the center and off that deck (Walk on hands and feet). My seven year old was with me and he was holding on for dear life. Other than wind, it's been beautiful sailing. There is a distinctive vibration on this ship, but my guess is that it's the stabilizers compensating for the wind.

 

We also had to meet with the Matrad (SP? never tried to spell that before) and have our tables changed. I met Dino earlier and didn't know what his job was... My wife and middle son were seated at a separate table from the rest of us. Dino was mad about that happening, but it was no big deal; I did tell him that since I was talking to him earlier that he had to assure my DW that I didn't arrange it! :D

[7toEleven]

Fred;

 

This is so much fun, to be on your "virtual" cruise! We were on the Freedom last May, and it feels good to be back on her again with you, Wendy and MIL!

Can't wait for your next report, and thanks so much for doing this!

 

Have fun you guys!!

 

The Murphy's