Just off the Freedom - Review May 2015

I just got off the Freedom yesterday. This was my 3rd cruise and I have to say my favorite thus far. It was a bigger ship than the others I had sailed on. I thoroughly enjoyed the Adult only Serenity pool :) No small children to cannon ball and splashing you constantly. The 2.0 upgrades, Fish and Chips, Blue Iguana, and Guy Burgers were fantastic! I'm not a big burger eater, but I must have had 3 or 4 'Ringers' from Guy's on this 7 day cruise. The seasoned fries were most tasty as well. Over all the food was very good on the entire cruise. We ate in the main dining room every evening but the last. Our servers, Joey and Somkat, were outstanding!!! I enjoyed the Sea Bunch for the first time. I would recommend it to everyone to try at least once. The "chocolate chip" pancakes are amazing! It you like dark chocolate as I do you will like these. I will add on to this review along with some pictures.

Good to hear! I'll be cruising on Freedom in 2 weeks from yesterday!

Glad you enjoyed the Freedom! She is one of my favorite ships, and the only one that I have sailed twice on:) Thanks for the report.

Glad you had a good cruise. We will be on the Freedom in June, which will also be our 1st cruise. Can I ask how did the ship ride? Did it rock a lot. The last few reviews I read said that it rocked a lot. Thanks!

I'm having trouble getting the pics to load. I will try again later. As for the boat rocking, it did rock quite a lot. Substantially more than the other ships I have been on. I tend to get a bit sea sick in the past, so I had a lower level interior room and there was still quite a bit of movement even in my cabin at times although it wasn't unbearable. I took Dramamine as needed which helps. One night in the comedy show it was pretty bad, more than a slight rocking side to side. I also used tropical oil behind my ears. If you come prepared with some medications I think you will be just fine.

Looking forward to pics! We will be on the Freedom in June!

I'm having trouble getting the pics to load. I will try again later. As for the boat rocking, it did rock quite a lot. Substantially more than the other ships I have been on. I tend to get a bit sea sick in the past, so I had a lower level interior room and there was still quite a bit of movement even in my cabin at times although it wasn't unbearable. I took Dramamine as needed which helps. One night in the comedy show it was pretty bad, more than a slight rocking side to side. I also used tropical oil behind my ears. If you come prepared with some medications I think you will be just fine.

Ok, thanks for the info, even though I wish it was better news. We just upgraded from inside deck 2, to balcony deck 11. Hopefully the upgrade wasn't a mistake. I look forward to the rest of your review.

You're welcome. Do you get sick in the car as well? I tend to on longer rides, especially with curves or hills and if not driving. I've never had a balcony so I'm not sure if it will be a bigger difference in movement or not just heard higher up tends to. Just take the Dramamine with you and I'm sure you will be fine :) I hope you enjoy your cruise!

I was on the cruise before you and we had a ton of rocking too. But unlike most people I actually enjoy the movement so it was pretty great for me. I think the captain was going full speed ahead at some points. I'm glad you enjoyed it cause I know I definitely did. A bit disappointed that I didn't make it to any of the sea day brunches, but sea days were sleep days for me haha.

Since I also had rocking on the Freedom a few weeks ago it's starting to sound like a ship thing. That's too bad. I recommend the patch though for anyone really worried about it...I think I would have been in bad shape without it!

I just got off the Freedom yesterday. This was my 3rd cruise and I have to say my favorite thus far. It was a bigger ship than the others I had sailed on. I thoroughly enjoyed the Adult only Serenity pool :) No small children to cannon ball and splashing you constantly. The 2.0 upgrades, Fish and Chips, Blue Iguana, and Guy Burgers were fantastic! I'm not a big burger eater, but I must have had 3 or 4 'Ringers' from Guy's on this 7 day cruise. The seasoned fries were most tasty as well. Over all the food was very good on the entire cruise. We ate in the main dining room every evening but the last. Our servers, Joey and Somkat, were outstanding!!! I enjoyed the Sea Bunch for the first time. I would recommend it to everyone to try at least once. The "chocolate chip" pancakes are amazing! It you like dark chocolate as I do you will like these. I will add on to this review along with some pictures.

Wife and 2 friends just got off, enjoyed a lot. Doing again 06/13 to Key West with 2 more friends. Our first time on Freedom but nearly Diamond. Tom

Here is a video tour of the Freedom that may help you guys.

You're welcome. Do you get sick in the car as well? I tend to on longer rides, especially with curves or hills and if not driving. I've never had a balcony so I'm not sure if it will be a bigger difference in movement or not just heard higher up tends to. Just take the Dramamine with you and I'm sure you will be fine :) I hope you enjoy your cruise!

I don't have any type of motion sickness, although my wife does a times when reading in the car. My kids did a few yrs back, but not anymore. We are taking bonine, ginger products, & kids dramamine just in case. Thanks again!

I went to several of the comedy shows (evening adult versions). Overall it was good, of course humor varies from person to person. I did laugh, not as much as last year though. The first show was Ronnie Bullard. He had a few funny lines, mainly his show felt like it was vulgar, sexual humor along with dropping the f bomb ALOT as that alone would make something funny. He was my least favorite of the three I saw. Your are probably thinking I need the family version and that cussing offends me. Not really in stand up. I like Tosh ;) so if vulgar, cussing, or offensive material is funny I will laugh. Ronnie wasn't that funny to me. The next one we saw was Tommy Drake. He was my FAV. He had a lot of marriage humor, good stuff. If you are married I will bet you can relate and will find it funny. Lastly we saw Russ Nagel. He was decent. Nothing especially good or bad to comment on him.

The dancing/singing entertainment I thought was good. I'm not really a musical fan so I cannot compare it to say Broadway. But I enjoyed it. Especially the 80's pop one. If you go at least watch that one. I also saw "Heart of Soul" which also was decent for me. It has older music (I'm 38) so if you have a younger crowd they might relate to 80's better. My 18 year old daughter enjoyed the 80's somewhat, but not as much the Heart of Soul.

There were several others I missed, but the only other show I saw was Marriage one which was great! Although it depends on the contestants. We had a really funny "old" couple and the mid and newlyweds were comical too.

On our cruise we went to Mahogany Bay (Honduras), Belize, and Cozumel.

Isle Rotan, Honduras - Mahogany Bay

We didn't do an excursion, decided to enjoy the free "private" beach. We were the only Carnival ship in port the day we were there with over 3k passengers. Still we didn't have any issues in the water being crowded. The water was BEAUTIFUL! It was a very gorgeous place. We didn't have any issues finding 5 chairs together in the shade. A Carnival employee asked to help us a soon as we got there in finding some seats. There are a lot of chairs so if you aren't in the front rows your view of the ocean and beach are blocked. Not a problem for me, I wanted to be in the water not sun bathing on a lounge chair. We went to the beach a little later morning around 10:30. My daughter did the ski ride which is $14 a person for all day. She said it was worth the money and the views were great. I cannot say because I don't do heights. The price was right for her probably be it was free as I paid for it :) The walk from the boat to the beach isn't long. We saw a complete circular rainbow around the sun while we were there which was amazing. I have never seen anything like that. They also have a nice shopping area here. I would have been happy to stay here another day and skip Belize.

Belize

Did the snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. The boat ride is about 45 mins. It was a nice beach area and the snorkeling was okay. Saw about the same type amt of fish I have seen in Mexico a few times. I was expecting better. There is a lot coral and you need to be careful because of that.

Cozumel

We did the turtle cove snorkeling through Carnival. It was AMAZING! One of the best experiences of my life. It starts with a ferry ride from Cozumel to Playa de Carmen. If you get sea sick this is NOT for you probably! The waters were calm looking but this was a rough ride. I sat on the top inside (which is better than the bottom). I luckily planned ahead and took 2 Dramamine before getting on there. Even with that I rode with my head to my knees and was feeling pretty nauseous. This isn't a slight swaying like you may get on the cruise ship. It was moving me from side to side and up and down. Once off the ferry it was an excellent time. We went snorkeling in caves which was very neat. The water was literally crystal clear. Spring water was nice to get in the groove of snorkeling with. The caves themselves were beautiful ...majestic place over all. Next we did snorkeling at the beach and saw like 5 huge sea turtles. I cannot put into words how amazing this was. We were up and close to them. It was a lot of swimming. Overall probably 2 hours worth. If you can swim DO THIS you won't regret it!!!

This ship has an outdoor movie screen. We caught one movie, Into the Woods. I would recommend catching at least one movie it was good experience. They play 2 movies a day. All but the last night they were at 7:30 and 10 so if you have late dining you miss all the first shows. Last night was at 6 and 8. They also have popcorn, although it was mediocre tasting.

Sorry I cannot get pictures to upload. I get just a generic failure message. If someone knows what might be the issue please point me in the right direction and I will try again.

If you have questions, feel free to ask and I will try to answer them.

Thanks for reading my ramblings.

This ship has an outdoor movie screen. We caught one movie, Into the Woods. I would recommend catching at least one movie it was good experience. They play 2 movies a day. All but the last night they were at 7:30 and 10 so if you have late dining you miss all the first shows. Last night was at 6 and 8. They also have popcorn, although it was mediocre tasting.

 

Sorry I cannot get pictures to upload. I get just a generic failure message. If someone knows what might be the issue please point me in the right direction and I will try again.

 

If you have questions, feel free to ask and I will try to answer them.

 

Thanks for reading my ramblings.

Oh god the popcorn was so disappointing. I thought they'd have butter or something but there was only salt. One of the nights we got attacked by rain for about 10 minutes during the movie. That made things exciting haha.

As for the comedy shows I enjoyed them, we had Cowboy Bill and someone else whose name I can't remember at the moment, but they were both good. Did you have a problem finding seats or with the late comers standing in the way the whole time?

Oh god the popcorn was so disappointing. I thought they'd have butter or something but there was only salt. One of the nights we got attacked by rain for about 10 minutes during the movie. That made things exciting haha.

As for the comedy shows I enjoyed them, we had Cowboy Bill and someone else whose name I can't remember at the moment, but they were both good. Did you have a problem finding seats or with the late comers standing in the way the whole time?

Exactly no butter :) It tasted almost stale and had no flavor.

The first two we watched the first couple days of the cruise we got there early like maybe 15-20 mins and got a good seats near the front. On the last one we went to was near the end of the cruise and the same time frame but it was already packed. We stood around.after walking around...only complaint about fellow cruisers...was during this. There was a table that would easily hold 7 people with 4 people. I asked the man on the end if two of us could sit there. He said no there was a guy coming. So I waited meanwhile they announce zero seat saving policy. After the show started and was a bit into it I just walked back over and plopped down next to him in the little room that was there. LOL he scooted over then and I was able to fit another person there as well. There was still room with a couple in his group sitting sideways with their feet on the seats. So rude when it was literally a packed house people standing all around the room. So from what I could gather later in the cruise more people heard about the comedy and showed up. Even in the first few days it was packed just not as much. So if you want a seat and are picky about where go 30 mins early.

Great video. Thanks for posting!!

Family of 5 (wife, DS-18, DS-15 & DD-3) celebrating oldest son's HS graduation on the Freedom on June 20. We are starting to get excited. It's our daughter's 1's cruise, but our 8th, 6th for the boys. Our first on the Freedom. Which nights are formal nights? How were they? How did people dress? We've seen a variety on the cruises we've been on so I'm just curious about your experience on the Freedom.

Thanks for the review. We were on the cruise right after you (May 23 - 30). I didn't feel any rocking at all. The Freedom is a great ship and I am happy that she is in Galveston.

Family of 5 (wife, DS-18, DS-15 & DD-3) celebrating oldest son's HS graduation on the Freedom on June 20. We are starting to get excited. It's our daughter's 1's cruise, but our 8th, 6th for the boys. Our first on the Freedom. Which nights are formal nights? How were they? How did people dress? We've seen a variety on the cruises we've been on so I'm just curious about your experience on the Freedom.

Ours was night two and six. Food was good but only had lobster on the first one. We saw a variety of attire. Some ladies and more teenage girls had formal gowns. Saw some men in suits. Mainly most men had slacks and nice button down collared shirt or polo. Woman in somewhat casual dresses was the norm. Just don't wear shorts or jeans, swim attire, tanks and you should be fine.