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jam19872016

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Everything posted by jam19872016

  1. We'll find out I ordered it You don't have fried foods and bacon wrapped food on your pyramid?
  2. Not sure where things went wrong especially with such a simple pleasure as fried hunks of cheese. Too greasy, stuck together, dried out, sauce was pretty much a tomato water. Usually great but took a wrong turn somewhere. Showtime
  3. Is he on deck 2? I heard a lot of complaints from deck 2 on the way over and could hear them working outside on deck 4 but none so far on the way back.
  4. If I had flooding issues I would probably be taking it a little worse. I'm hearing a number of people are having these issues. Aris was wonderful, such an expressive face and he lit up like a Christmas tree when I mentioned you 😃
  5. Very typical on a journey cruise where most people are in bed by 9pm 😆. I don't think it's going to be that long though it's already down to 10-20.
  6. Sounds like at least one of the bean counters has heard of him. The good news is it was briefly eliminated during post covid staffing crisis times and there was enough uproar it got reinstated so maybe it will remain safe.
  7. Is the Freedom ready for prime time? Short answer: No. To be fair though, this is not prime time. This is a very inexpensive repositioning cruise that most paid almost nothing for or were comped entirely by the casino. What follows is a long and negative post. If that doesn't sound like your cup of tea feel free to skip this one 🙂 First let me say my experience has been great and most of these have not impacted me, but there are some problems with the ship that in the interest of being fair, I want to discuss. Some of the complaints I've seen on our FB group are ridiculous. There are quite a few people upset about us sailing in circles off the coast of Spain on the way to Malaga. One said she even went to guest services to ask how we could have a captain who didn't know what he was doing. My goodness. Please sit down. Some are legitimate, somewhat, but at some point you need to move on. Embarkation was a mess. Some try to say it was people not showing up at their correct time causing the problem. I can't speak for later in the day, but at 12:30 they were checking times. They only allowed me through because my mom needed assistance. If it had been just me, I would have been waiting another 30 minutes. There was seating inside, there was no reason why the early people could not be allowed in until the terminal was at capacity. We were fortunate that we were able to sit since we were so early. There were not many places to sit outside, the rest had to stand and were not even allowed to stand in the shaded part. Once check in did begin, they had to take our pictures, and collect our passports, and give us a receipt for them. It was a slow process and so it took a very long time to process people. It had nothing to do with people coming early. I did see Carnival passing out water to those in the line later in the day when I went through duty free. They did the best they could and I think a lot of the problem was with the port authority and the fact that Carnival does not have priority in Barcelona. Speaking of priority, a lot of diamonds were upset they did not get priority. While I think they could have done so with 319 diamonds, they didn't and stated the wouldn't from the start. Don't act surprised now. It was not a perfect situation by any means. But at some point, let's move on and stop complaining about it constantly to anyone who will listen. The mood onboard is pretty sour and is contributing to the feeling that the cruise is a little off. The next issue is the smells onboard. On day 1 I noticed in the hall by my room on deck 7 a smell I would describe as a chemical cleaner smell lingering in the air. Nothing unpleasant, but I suppose if you have breathing problems it may effect you negatively. I heard others describing a smell of cat urine. One man boasting of yelling at the crew who said she didn't smell it to "go love yourself". He didn't say love. He wonders why he didn't get any further help on the matter. Me, I would have helped by packing his bags and giving him the boot at the next port. They have the right per the cruise contract. After a day or two the smell dissipated, and I noticed the smell that remained did begin to smell more and more like cat urine. It obviously wasn't but that was what it smelled like as it got more faint. It is nearly gone now, thankfully, and the crew have been spraying, but it is a little unplesant. Other reported smells include the poop smells that are common on cruise ships. I have not noticed that but I have noticed A LOT of closed off public bathrooms. I personally witnessed a bathroom that was in need of being closed off that hadn't been yet. It would remain closed for the next two days. I've heard of many instances of showers not draining, toilets not flushing, and no hot water. My own hot water issue was fixed pretty quick. There is only one working laundry room for the entire ship. I've heard of many flooded areas around this ship and seen sections blocked off with the blowers out. The plumbing issues seem strange coming out of dry dock but they are widespread and I am sure inconvenient to those impacted. Also not great when your in public and need to use a bathroom only to discover it is out of order. Even worse when the next one is also out of order. Many areas that were in disrepair are still in disrepair. Things like cracked glass, damage to the fixtures. Mostly minor cosmetic issues, but strange to see fresh out of dry dock. A lot are complaining to John Heald and there are some merits to some of the issues, especially the plumbing problems, but I do feel like you are taking a risk when booking a cruise right out of dry dock. Hopefully they will get most of the kinks worked out before Port Canaveral but as of right now, yes this ship is having some problems and needs some more repairs done to it to be ready for service again. Knowing this, I would not hesitate to book another trip like this. I've already been checking out both Valor and Mardi Gras in 2025. The thing I'm most concerned about would be as bad as embarking 3k on here was, how are they going to handle a ship the size or Mardi Gras?
  8. No doubt. And Carnival has a track record of under promoting something, and then claiming to eliminate it due to low demand.
  9. Always available but...only offered on sea days. On this long cruise with many sea days, only select sea days. It's also very poorly advertised, you have to know where to look to find it.. I love answering questions, especially when I know the answers...makes me feel smart 😄
  10. Yes, all pay items are separated. There are two areas in the buffet with pay for items. The sushi place, and a seafood place. There are no free items at these two stands although sometimes in the morning they will use the space for an overflow omelet line.
  11. Carnival tea is free however....they don't come around with it for several minutes and instead come around with an upcharge tea option and present it as the only option if you don't know better. The free tea takes a while to arrive. I don't recall the last time scones were served without asking. They are dreadful, and do not come with cream or jam although I suppose you could ask for it. I don't bother asking for them because I know I won't eat them. They are pretty consistently bad. The cakes are hit or miss. Some are very good, you just don't know which ones. The smoked salmon is readily available though and always quite nice.
  12. Those lunchtime cakes are included. The donuts are in a display case at the coffee shop along with some other upcharge items. They do a tea time but I won't even begin to suggest it is anywhere near the same league as Cunard's afternoon tea. It's nice that its an option, on sea days only, while other mainstream lines no longer offer it, but it really is a tea time in name only.
  13. The first time I ever heard of it on a donut was at a trendy place in South Beach about ten years ago. It was $6 (so probably $9-$10 today) and seemed absolutely outrageous both in price and what it was. I tried it and other than the price tag had no regrets. For years my former job used to provide donuts on Fridays and one of the offerings was this and I admit to indulging every Friday for years. Now it is just an occasional treat but quite good. Think of it like bacon with a plate of pancakes and syrup. It's pretty much the same thing but in handheld form. The steak, well maybe that's a cultural thing because while the donut gets some weird looks in America too, bacon wrapped steak is a delicacy 😁
  14. If I want it, I have to pay for it 🙂 Yes, unfortunately some items come with an upcharge. Most of the food is included but there are a few things that come with an extra fee. Most are reasonable and there are far fewer upcharges than RCL and the like. This one is not a reasonable upcharge, but for an occasional treat I help Carnival pay down their debt.
  15. It's obscene how much they charge but its so good. I blame Cunard, their donuts left me with a craving.
  16. Freedom is out of the fanny packs and doesn't have the new VIFP gift in yet. When I go for mine I may ask if they can take note of it and give me extra later. But then I don't know why I really care. I have so many fanny packs, and will have so many of the next gift.
  17. Money, its always money. There are plenty of environmentaly conscious things that cost money but somehow it is always the ones that save money that corporations seem to care about.
  18. I didn't notice it at the time just because I didn't spend much time outside. I do prefer the wooden decks the classic ships have over the more modern ships. Surprised QE wouldn't have the classical design.
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