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Fresh from the Freedom

TinaJ04463

By TinaJ04463,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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TinaJ04463

TinaJ04463

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Just got home today from our 6 day Freedom and we had a great time!! I'll have to write a bit at a time as I've been up since 4 and have to go to work tomorrow:(

 

Sunday

We used Carnival Air (never again, we knew better but couldn't get anything from up here in the sticks for less than $800 pp!) Carnival transfer lady met us at FLL airport at 2:30 as we came down the escalator, said she had been waiting for us and was happy to see us. We rode the bus to the port, zipped right thru embark to the ship, straight to the room-2476 aft oceanview(more on that later) and up for a quick drink before muster.

 

Muster was NOT an issue for us, but apparently there are still people out there who don't realize the rules apply to EVERYBODY. Stragglers coming in, and they don't start til they have them all there, then as the talk continued, people walking out!! HOW RUDE!! Sorry, but I do not want to babysit someone who didn't go to muster and doesn't know what to do in case of an emergency! It doesn't take that long!

 

Next went to our Meet and Greet on Deck 10 Aft, lots of people we'd met here plus most of our group of 26. We had a lively bunch of Mainers there, and we were ready to roll! Shout out to waiter Catalin, who will forever be known as CatMan Do. We girls would meow at him and he would GRIN!! Always checking that we had what ever we needed on deck.

 

Dinner was good, seating was messed up. Our group of 26 didn't show up like that in the groups, so we had 2 tables of 11, one couple sitting downstairs and the second couple upstairs for late seating. Jen fixed the time but they ended up with a table for 2. Dino was not that accomodating when I spoke to him on Monday and explained that we could fit 13 at our table as we had a little one with us who didn't take up much space, but he refused. He did bump the 2 tables to 12, so one more couple could sit with us, and the other couple he found a spot at another group's table. We made sure the upper maitre'd knew we were not happy and he (Boris) arranged it so we could have 13 at our table, so our family group was not broken up.

 

Now the room-We had the aft ocean view, nice big shelf where the window was that we put the suitcase on, more counter space than we've ever had, and a sofa, which was awesome on Idol nite. But, that first night, I put down a towel on the bathroom shelf as I'd heard the vibration was really bad. Well, it was really loud and heavy most of the night, my hubby kept waking me up in the night telling me he thought the motor needed work. I was able to sleep thru it most of the time tho. And, apparently they fixed something as until Thursday night it never happened again. We didn't even know we were moving, it was very quiet, and extremely smooth. The water was like glass, have never seen that before.

 

We are not big party people, so we turned in early.

 

More to come....

TinaJ

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misguidedangel

misguidedangel

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Hey, I was on the same ship as you. I had a good time.

 

What was your thought on Todd? I thought he was cute, good singer, but OK as a CD. I thought James could do a much better job. I used Carnival air as I flew in from Canada the day before, but I didn't have anyone there to meet me. I had to get the Holland America rep to get the Carnival rep to tell me where to go. I waited and looked but never saw the red Carnival jacket!!!!

 

We did have wonderful weather. The wind picked up leaving Jamaica and kept up the sea day. That was the only downer--WINDY as hell!!! I had to push on my balcony door to open it to go out there.

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Chigirlcruzin

Chigirlcruzin

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Sorry I missed y'all at the meet and greet!

 

I thought Todd was a great CD. Since I was in the Welcome Aboard show, I chatted with him quite a bit afterward. He was very friendly and seemed very personable and really cared that people were having fun. He's actually a Sr CD, and he'll be taking out the Dream, so he's the top dog now that John Heald's doing more stuff for the corporate offices. I also hung out at the piano bar a lot, and ran into Todd there too. Saw him out and about, and he couldn't have been nicer. Maybe it was because of this interaction that I felt he was a great CD, and I wouldn't feel the same if we had never met.

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lgerrish

lgerrish

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Great review so far, Tina! We did have a blast. As far as the CD, Todd - I thought he interacted with the passengers and announced more over the intercom last year on the Freedom, than he did this past week. (But he did give me a great kiss on the cheek on stage!)

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TinaJ04463

TinaJ04463

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We were in Key West, and in our aft cabins that was announced quite loudly as the thrusters or something made a lot of noise and vibration. It was a gorgeous day tho, so we didn't care. We had gotten tickets for Old Town Trolley online so we headed off the boat around 8:30 and wandered by the Key West Historical Museum, I had to get pics of "The Dream" and some of the other sculptures there. It was a very pretty area with lots of walking paths. My daughter in law said it reminded her of Old Orchard Beach in south Maine.

 

We caught our trolley with no problems, got off at stop 2 to check out the Pirate Soul Museum. This place was a hoot! Not a big place by any means, but interesting. Background sounds in the pub sounded like an olde English pub full of pirates, the ship sounded like a pirate battle, with shadows of fighting pirates seen on the sails. It was $15 per person, but we enjoyed it, so it was well worth the $$$.

 

Next we checked out Kermit's Key Lime Pie Factory and had the chocolate dipped frozen pie-OMG!! It was soooo good. We sat on the little patio by the pond and watched the fish swim. Also checked out Peppers of Key West, lots of sampling going on there and they were extremely friendly and knowledgeable.

 

We wandered around that area a little more then caught the trolley and saw the rest of the sights. Nothing we wanted to get off for, but I was able to get pics of Hemingway's, the Southernmost House, the Southernmost point, and a few other points of interest.

 

We were back on the boat by 2 for lunch and then I laid on deck 10 near the back pool for a while. Supper at six and this is the night I ended up sitting with our other group so my hubby could have son and daughter in law sit with him. By the end of dinner, we had convinced Boris, our upstairs maitre'd that we could fit 13 at our table and he was very accommodating! Food was good, always had shrimp or chicken and caesar salad along with my entree. We definitely didn't go hungry!

 

JR McCullum was the comedian that night, and he was hilarious. We only went to the family show, but it was really, really good! Then had a nightcap and called it a night.

 

Tomorrow: Day at Sea

Tina

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misguidedangel

misguidedangel

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OMG I had the frozen, dipped in chocolate key lime pie on a stick..YUMMY!!!!!!!!

 

I missed the first comedian, but I did catch the last comedian on the last sea day. He was funny.

 

Todd-I wish that the CD's would make themselves available for a few hours during the day to just chat and visit with the passengers. I would have loved to chat it up with him, but never saw him other that at the shows or "on duty". He seems really nice, and he is quite cute, but I never seem to be where any of them are when they are out and about...I'm usually in the wrong spot on that deck or wrong deck!!!!! As for the Dream, he is lucky to be able to take her out, I am sure he will do well.

 

I did enjoy the skit they did at the talent show--quite funny!!!!!!

 

I would love to go back to Key West. It is a beautiful port. I would stay on the trolley all the way around and the hop off on the second time around to see what I want. I had Bubba, Ms Vee, and Michael as trolley conductors. Bubba was funny!!!!!

 

One day I'd like to go on stage and embarrass myself, naturally I will be cruising solo when it happens.....

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TinaJ04463

TinaJ04463

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I think with using the big tv and doing the morning show, the CD doesn't have to be out and about as much, nor give so many announcements over the intercom. That used to drive me crazy, especially if we were in the room, because to me it sounded like Charlie Brown's mother, and I never could figure out what he was saying!

 

Forgot to mention that we had an invite to the loyalty program on Key West day, figured we'd go and check it out, if for nothing else than the free drinks. All they served was wine, and I'm already booked with a group for next year, so it wasn't any big deal.

 

First sea day, I had agreed to meet with some of the girls at 8, to get my walking in. Lots of people on the track, a few over achievers running, but most of us just doing the speed walk thing and chatting about Key West and the cruise in general. We must have been near land as several small birds were flying around. Went down to hunt up hubby and get some breakfast, I want to go hunt up some deck chairs! I long ago gave up on the notion of being near the pool, it's just not that big a deal to me. No line at breakfast, so we ate, went back to the room for the clothing change and found our spot to veg out.

 

First elegant nite was nice, went to the Captain's party for the free drinks, but was not impressed by the lack of hors d'oerves! Had the prime rib for dinner, which is unusual for me but just didn't want to tackle that nasty lobster again! I asked for medium and it was perfect! 13 people at our table but we didn't care and we weren't too crowded to have a good time. After dinner we changed back into play clothes and went to the show. We saw it last year but our son and his wife hadn't, so it was nice to go with them. Unfortunately, the place was packed when we got there and Jen was sitting behind the pole. She had found us a spot a little closer, with just room for 4, but when she got up to come holler to us, some lady came and sat with her hubby and didn't seem to get the idea that our little spot didn't have enough room for her. She acted totally oblivious to the fact that we had no room, so we ended up further back behind the pole.

 

After the show we went to the Habana bar for the boy's to smoke, then to our room, caught the tale end of Idol and called it a night.

 

Next up: Grand Cayman

Tina

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FL LuluBelle

FL LuluBelle

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Sorry I missed y'all at the meet and greet!

 

I thought Todd was a great CD. Since I was in the Welcome Aboard show, I chatted with him quite a bit afterward. He was very friendly and seemed very personable and really cared that people were having fun. He's actually a Sr CD, and he'll be taking out the Dream, so he's the top dog now that John Heald's doing more stuff for the corporate offices. I also hung out at the piano bar a lot, and ran into Todd there too. Saw him out and about, and he couldn't have been nicer. Maybe it was because of this interaction that I felt he was a great CD, and I wouldn't feel the same if we had never met.

 

Could you tell me what the Welcome Aboard Show was all about?

Thanks, LU

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lgerrish

lgerrish

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I think with using the big tv and doing the morning show, the CD doesn't have to be out and about as much, nor give so many announcements over the intercom. That used to drive me crazy, especially if we were in the room, because to me it sounded like Charlie Brown's mother, and I never could figure out what he was saying!

 

 

I enjoyed NOT waking up to "Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey".

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Chigirlcruzin

Chigirlcruzin

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Could you tell me what the Welcome Aboard Show was all about?

Thanks, LU

 

 

Welcome Aboard show starts off with the singers and dancers doing their thing for about 20 minutes (same on all ships). Often, they are followed by a comedian (but not always as was the case on the 6 day Freedom - CD said they do have the comedian for the 8 day cruises). Then, the CD gets up, makes some jokes, and then grabs people from the audience to come up on stage to do some sort of silly game. He asks each participant questions, where are you from, cruised before, etc, and then play the game. We did the spoons game where there's a spoon attached to a rope, and the women put the spoon down their shorts and the men put the spoon down their pants. First team to get to the end wins. All participants get a bottle of champagne.

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LewiLewi Great Review Rare

LewiLewi

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We are looking at aft suites 8448 and 8455; looks like very back of ship with very large terrace. Anyone have these suites and are they noisy; vibrations, motors, etc.?

Are we better off with midship location?

Thanks for all info.

Marilyn

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arf2005

arf2005

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We are looking at aft suites 8448 and 8455; looks like very back of ship with very large terrace. Anyone have these suites and are they noisy; vibrations, motors, etc.?

Are we better off with midship location?

Thanks for all info.

Marilyn

We were in the room directly below on 7. There was a lot of vibration coming into and leaving ports, but it wasn't bad otherwise. We called it our alarm clock because it would definately wake you up if you weren't already! I sleep with a fan on though, so I probably like the noise/vibration more than some.

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TinaJ04463

TinaJ04463

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This is a great review. We are also from Maine, and considering the Freedom next January. Do you have pictures that you can post?

THX!:D

 

 

I have about 400 pics, I will start loading to photobucket this evening.

Tina

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TinaJ04463

TinaJ04463

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I've been so busy keeping up with the Mexico itinerary changes (friends on Splendor right now) that I totally forgot about GC!

 

Weather was absolutely gorgeous here! The water so far has been unusually calm, almost like glass, so I knew getting into GC would not be a problem. We went down to get tender tickets at about 8:30 in the Victoriana Lounge and were told to go directly to Deck 0 as they had 2 tenders loading and were actually ahead of schedule!

 

We went down and got some seats and went across, very painless. Went to the pier that is not across from Margaritaville, so we had to walk up the street to check out Big Black Dick. That was ok with us as we needed to find Capt. Marvin's to check in for our island excursion. We were scheduled for 10:30 so we did some shopping. Found a shop with inexpensive t shirts and such on a second floor, saw a man fall and hit his head as he was coming off their steps. Then as we came off their steps, Lynn fell too and scraped her elbow bad! Kinda scary for a minute or two!

 

Our tour with Capt. Marvin was great, our driver, Matlee was very friendly. We had to stop and pick up 4 more passengers coming off a boat and that did hold us up some. Then she was on her cell phones non stop, which was kind of a pain, and her mike didn't work all that well so she was yelling back to us about the sights. Some folks thought she was talking to us when she was on her phone and called up to her that they couldn't hear:)

 

We stopped in front of the governor's mansion and 7 Mile Beach, drove to Hell for about 15 minutes, which was plenty long enough. Then on to the turtle farm for another 20-30 minutes, again, plenty long enough for us. Then back to the pier and on for lunch by 1:30 or so.

 

After lunch Scott had his nap and I laid on the deck for a while til it was time to get ready for dinner.

 

Dinner was nice, but tonight things went very slowly, we couldn't seem to get our food in a timely fashion, and this continued thru the rest of the cruise. Personally I think this is due to the change in dining times. 2 dining rooms operating at full capacity at the same time, someone is bound to end up getting their food last. Our waiter, think his name was Yensl, hardly cracked a smile, all business all week, except when he talked to the little kid with us. His assistant, Christopher was much more pleasant.

 

We went to the Habana bar and had a couple drinks while the boys smoked and then went to our room for our Idol Party. Lynn and Ronald came over and the 4 of us watched as Lil and Anoop got cut.

 

Before I forget, I do want to mention some things from our first elegant night: Captain's Cocktail party was ok, but only served drinks, no snackies. It was held in the international lounge, and as I went in cruising for a spot big enough for our group, a lady yelled at me that the booth next to her was being held, didn't I see the drink sitting on the table? Very rude, which surprised me, as it wasn't like I went in and sat down!

 

Next: Jamaica

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