We were on Carnival Freedom at the end of September 2024 and here are a few things I'd love to share!
We visited Nassau, Princess Cay and Grand Turk.
Getting on/off the shift at all ports was a breeze, even the water shuttle we were able to get through fairly quickly without a long wait. I feel that Carnival worked hard to keep people moving and they did a great job! Other than day 1, we never had a wait for elevators either!
Nassau: It's Nassau, not a fan of this but it's a vacation stop!
Princess Cay: Loved the beach but very rocky and you can get injured if you aren't careful.
Grand Turk: Loved this port, donkeys everywhere, beaches, friendly people--just watch out for your stuff and leave nothing unattended (local warned us that others on that island don't mess around and will snatch a bag left sitting).
Food: We had no issues with the food anywhere. Is it 5 star, nope, but for mass produced amount of food, I think Carnival did great! Literally all week the only time we had a line for food was once at Guys and it still lasted maybe 10 minutes and Pizza Pirate, again, maybe 5 minute wait. I think they did a great job on this ship of having food prepared and ready to go. We ate the MDR most nights and lido one night. I did observe one girl asking for "fresh" food even though there was still plenty and then demand staff to go check other lines to get her requested item. I think people who expect that level of treatment are possibly the ones complaining about the food and anything that they get has to be fresh and first person getting the food.
We did the Sea Day Brunch since I heard it was a must do and while for us, it was good to do once, it'll likely be the last one we do. We didn't think the food was anything better than the buffet and the mozzarella sticks were really bland! I also asked for sugar free syrup and was still delivered regular syrup and didn't get the hashbrowns I had ordered and again, server never made it back to check on us once the plates were delivered.
Room Steward: Always a good experience--room was cleaned 1x per day, still did towel animals, fresh towels even when I hung them to reuse and kept the sand off the floor!
Dining Staff: Overall, it was ok but definitely the worst out of all our times on a cruise. Night one, we never got a drink refill even though our glasses were empty and never stopped to check to see if we needed anything or if our order was ok. Night 2, a little better but even with assigned dining, we sat almost 40 min before he took our order. Yet, we did observe other tables come in after, their orders were taken before ours and had their main entree before we had our appetizer. Third night, no complaints, the service was almost to past cruise experiences. The fourth night, when food came out, one of the sides was missing from the main dish and while we were eating, the waiter came and picked up some of the empty dishes and took the 1 side dish that hadn't been finished yet lol. And then there was a bout of possible food poisoning from something in the MDR that night (most likely the appetizer).
Differences from past, I am used to coming in and having water poured immediately and bread served right after, never having to ask for refills (only one night did we not have to ask). Getting coffee was a chore and in the past, once your ordered coffee once, they always had it available after and that wasn't the case this time (ended up bringing our own coffee from Lido, problem solved 🙂 ). Overall, not the best but everyone is entitled to having an off time. One other thing that was different, I attempted to order a main dish as an appetizer and was told I can't do that and could only order from the appetizers so I skipped the appetizer that night.
Entertainment was really good. There isn't a big music/dance show every night, but there is still plenty of things to do or not do! We loved all the options, especially the comedy show and the violin ladies that played in the Atrium!
Layout of the boat is really weird and takes some getting used to. I don't enjoy walking through the casino to get from one side to the other! Somehow we did pictures in front of the black back drop one night and ended up being Dreams Studio which we weren't aware of but loved the photos and got them for a good price, no pressure to share, just showed us what was taken in a slide show and then knew our budget and went from there.
Changes, yes, the menu is on a phone and it does take time to get a paper one if you request it. Fun times is delivered to your room but I did enjoy that being on the phone so I could get alerts of things coming up vs constantly checking a paper copy and watching the clock. Elegant night was on night 3 vs night 2 on this cruise also. There was a LOT of ship movement felt on this ship and we had no storms or rough waters so not sure what that was about. Also, the random photos they take throughout the cruise, a majority of ours were never displayed, saved us money in the long run and good thing we ended up with the Dreams one after all!
We had a great vacation, will continue to cruise Carnival but also think we will branch out and try a few others, not because of anything Carnival has done, but to change it up so there is some novelty to it!
