PHOTO REVIEW~Freedom, the 4th, and my 40th!

Hi fellow cruise addicts! I hope my photo review provides some helpful info for newbies and seasoned cruisers alike. On July 4th we cruised from Galveston, Texas to Roatan, Honduras, Belize, and Cozumel, Mexico. These are just my opinions. Take ‘em or leave ‘em, but they’re how I/we feel about our latest cruise experience :). I will add to this review as quickly as I can. I work nights at the hospital, so I need to make sure my brain is at least somewhat functional.

We were celebrating my 40th birthday (on July 8th) and my husband is 44 y/o. We left our teenage sons at home for this one (we’re talking them on the Imagination in December). This was our 7th cruise, all with Carnival, and we’re gold members. We live in California and flew to Houston/Hobby for this cruise. We had a balcony room, port side, #7336.

**Faster To The Fun (FTTF)- This was our first time purchasing this and we felt it was well worth the money. We cut the line at embarkation, although it wasn’t busy when we got there, so the time savings were minimal. Once on the ship, we had a special line at guest services where we could add cash to our account. That was another time saver, even though it wasn’t huge. Our cabin was ready as soon as we boarded at 11:30 am, but our luggage didn’t arrive until much later. It’s actually the longest we’ve ever waited for our luggage, although it still wasn’t bad. At least we were able drop off our carry-ons before heading up to the Lido for lunch. That was a nice change! We saved a TON of time using FTTF when we tendered in Belize! Many people told us that they waited 2-3 hrs, but we reported to the designated area and were off the ship within minutes, literally. When it was time to disembark in Galveston, again we saved a lot of time. While others crammed in hallways and waited in long lines, we reported to the designated area and were off the ship within minutes! Overall- Two thumbs up for the $50/cabin FTTF. I have already purchased it for our next cruise.

Just so you know what we look like, this is us in Roatan. More pics of that AMAZING excursion later!!

We flew from John Wayne Airport in Orange County, CA to Houston Hobby. This was our first time in Texas. First impressions? It's very green, flat, and the people are super nice! We stayed in a dumpy Travelodge Hotel of Gulf Freeway because it was super cheap. I knew we were cutting corners, but I didn't know we were cutting ALL of them! Oh well, we were only there for 12 hours and we saved the money for better things to come.

Leaving CA

We met a really nice lady in a roll call group and she offered to drive us from our hotel to port the next morning. Gotta love Texans! We gave her some money for her trouble and made a new lifelong friend. Thanks Niki! We even went to breakfast with her, her daughter and her mom at Dot's before we left town. We'd never heard of it before. It's a diner with huge portions. It was nice to check out Texas on the drive to Galveston. There were so many water towers with the town name on them. We don't really have those where we live. The drive was quick, maybe 30-40 minutes. We split up because we had FTTF. The terminal was spacious, cool, and had free cold water and lemonade in a few areas. That was a nice touch. I had already filled out our health questionnaires, so we zipped through the lines. We presented our gift cards to add to our Sail and Sign account and the employee was baffled. She'd never seen them before and had to have a manager come help her out. It was a slow process, but it worked out. We were on the Freedom by 11:30.

Oops, I didn't realize the pics were so huge. I'll have to figure out how to shrink them.

We usually head straight to the the Lido deck for lunch and our first drink of the day (before it gets busy), but since we had FTTF, we took our carry-ons straight to our room. It was ready, but some of our goodies wouldn't arrive until later. We had a balcony cabin on the port side, Empress Deck, #7336. It ended up being a great location! We were close to the elevators, but not too close, we had cabins below and above us, so the noise was minimal, and we faced the port in each port of call. I know that doesn't always happen, but it worked out this time. :)

#7336

Thanks for your photo review! I look forward to more:) I love the Freedom. It is the one ship that I have sailed twice and would do so a third time. I doubt though that it will be any time soon, since Galveston is not an easy port for me to get to. This is a great start to your review. Thanks again.:)

Our gold rewards were waiting for us. There was a paper with our pins, and two drink coupons to be used after 5pm on the last day. Our 2 free bottles of water, as well as some things we ordered from Bon Voyage, didn't arrive until later.

After we unpacked our carry-ons and snapped a few pics, we headed up to the Lido to try a famous Guy's Burger. Don't ask me why we didn't try one where we live, since it was practically started in our backyard ;). We only eat red meat about once a year (it's a health thing for us), but we decided that one week of eating junk on this cruise wasn't going to kill us. TMI note- It didn't kill us, but our bodies don't digest meat and fried stuff like it used to. Thank you Pepto Bismol.

Hubby, in the red, waiting in line. They were always very fast at Guy's. You could get your burger however you wanted it, even with just the patty, or you could just ask for a plate of fries.

With our first DODs :) The sold us a rum shot to add in for $2 extra.

NOTE- This might not be a big thing to most, but it was a bit of a bummer for us. You'll notice in my previous DOD pic and this pics (we wanted a patriotic drink since it was the 4th of July), that NONE of them come in the Carnival branded plastic hurricane glasses anymore. :( We later asked one of the bartenders about it and he said he doesn't know why they're gone, but a lot of people are unhappy about it. It was just a tradition for us. Oh well. Pass the rum! :)

Hubby can sniff out chocolate anywhere and he made a bee line for the buffet to grab some. He was in LOVE with their cake pops and this slab of chocolate cake (it had a special name, but I forget what it is. I think it starts with a D). NOTE- Neither of these items were offered on other days, so grab them on day 1 or you're outta luck.

We joined an online roll call somewhere other than here and one of the activities was a door decorating contest, so we decided to join the fun. It's a LOT more stuff than we usually put on our door, but it was fun to get the birthday wishes and every room steward on our floor knew my name and greeted me, no matter where I was. I also got post it note wishes from strangers. It was goofy fun.

It made the trip from CA to TX :)

I'm loving the review. We sailed on the Freedom last August and fell in love with her. I'd sail on her again in a heartbeat!

We've never decorated our door but this looks like so much fun. Where did you get the big picture to cover the entire door? Our next cruise will be with some friends who are new cruisers and they will both have birthdays during the cruise...his will be his 50th, so I'm thinking this might be something fun to do for them.

I'm loving the review. We sailed on the Freedom last August and fell in love with her. I'd sail on her again in a heartbeat!

 

We've never decorated our door but this looks like so much fun. Where did you get the big picture to cover the entire door? Our next cruise will be with some friends who are new cruisers and they will both have birthdays during the cruise...his will be his 50th, so I'm thinking this might be something fun to do for them.

Thank you :)! The big picture is from Walmart. They have all different designs. It's like a big plastic tablecloth and was about $3. We bought everything to make the wreath there too.

Thank you :)! The big picture is from Walmart. They have all different designs. It's like a big plastic tablecloth and was about $3. We bought everything to make the wreath there too.

Would it be with the party decorations or in another department?

Muster drill the usual HOT, boring necessity. This one took a little longer than others we've been on and the crew took drinks away from anyone they saw with one and help them up front until the drill was over. People were surprisingly compliant.

Time for some food porn!! :) Dinner in the Main Dining Room, Day 1. We had a table for 2 on the upper level (right by the entrance and right on the railing), Posh dining room. We prefer large tables so we can meet people, but this worked out fine too, especially when we decided to skip the MDR later (more on that soon).

I had the Cured Salmon with candied Tomato from the Rare Finds appetizer section. It was okay. Not bad, but not that good either.

I also had the Jalapeno Poppers from the Ports of Call appetizer menu. They were terrible. It was basically greasy fried cheese with no jalapeno to be found. We later discovered that this particular cruise was not a great one for fried food, in our opinion. I had a couple bites of this and hubby had one. No thanks.

Mike had the Chilled Strawberry Bisque and that was good. He also enjoyed the assorted bread that was left at our table each dinner.

Would it be with the party decorations or in another department?

I think we bought it in the party decorations aisle.

Mike had the Grilled Mahi Mahi. He thought it was okay, but a little fishy.

I had the salmon fillet and I thought it was very good. It's available every night.

We both had Ratatouille as our side dish. With the new American Table menu, you choose them a la carte. To be honest, Mike chose it because he'd never had it before and he loved the movie by the same name, lol. It was good. :)

This was also our first time without tablecloths. It was ok, but we definitely missed them. We didn't think we would care, but they do add to the look. Of course the food tastes the same, but the ambiance is a little different.

Wee Jimmy was our cruise director so that was cool. I'd heard a lot of great things about him. He was funny and sassy. We watched the show from the back of the upper level for a bit before we ducked out. We aren't fans of the audience participation shows, but most people seemed to really enjoy it.

We wandered around and checked out the ship some more and sampled some of the music/entertainers in the various areas. There was something going on in every nook. This was the 4th of July and based on some comments John Heald had made, I thought there was going to be a little bit more fanfare for the holiday, but it was just like our 4th of July cruise on the Valor a while back. On this cruise they hung a huge American flag in the atrium and the staff sang a couple patriotic songs with us in the MDR. They also showed 2 movies at the Dive-In to fit the theme. We caught part of Independence Day. I love the stadium style seating for watching movies. Kids were wandering around with popcorn or swimming in the pool. Parents were watching the movie and the sunset in the background. It sounds silly, but it really was a magical moment. It was one of those, "Ahhh, I'm cruising, relaxed, and happy" moments. We brought our own glow necklaces for a meet and greet. Carnival could have made a fortune if they sold them. A lot of kids were envious.

One of our favorite things to do on a cruise is go the comedy shows. We lucked out and had EXCELLENT comedians on this cruise! We bought the DVDs from 2 of them (they all sell stuff after the shows). Mike was doubled over laughing so hard he was crying. They were dirty, but hysterical! Our favs were Jason Blanchard and Cowboy Bill. They changed their set each night, so there was fresh material. We spent from about 8:45 until after midnight in there every night (except the 2 nights where there were no comedians). Arrive early to get seats. They do fill up fast. We caught a couple PG shows and they were eh. The guys are far better when they can say whatever they want. So much fun!

Before the R shows

Our meet and greet glow necklaces

Oh, I almost forgot. We asked our cabin steward if we could remove the items from the fridge in our room. He said he would, and did the next morning. He couldn't unlock it until we were in international waters, per Texas regs. As soon as he unlocked it, we put my husbands Multiple Sclerosis injections in there. The shots with the shots. ;)

We also came "home" to find our first towel animal of the cruise, a birthday cake! :) My friends laughed that it's a bit phallic, but I thought it was sweet of him.

1st Sea Day! A few pics on our balcony before we head to breakfast and whatever else sounds good :)

Sea Day Brunch was your usual fare. Mike ordered the Eggs Benedict, but got 2 eggs. They made him the correct item after a while. Service was painfully slow, but we had nowhere to be and we had an awesome window seat the back of the ship, so we didn't really care. We heard a couple at the end of our table complaining about the french toast. They thought the Fruit Loops on it would be crushed into a crust, not whole. lol

I ordered the omelette. The waiter threw in the hash browns because he said he thought I would like them.

I forgot the pic of the lovely Niki and her daughter (who we met online). They drove us to the port. Great people :)

We went on our groups Cabin Crawl and Poker Run. We toured various types of cabins, from inside to a suite, and each participant offered some sort of snack. We offered our cabin to be on the tour, so I bought a canape tray from Bon Voyage before we left for $18. When I called that morning to "order" it (you can't pick a delivery time in advance as they are "made fresh'), the woman told me, "Oh chef can no make. Chef no have time" and hung up. I called back, "Ok, what CAN chef make?" "I call you back," and she hangs up again. She calls back, "Chef can make fruit and cheese plate." "Fine. I'll take that." I really didn't care at this point. I just wanted something to serve my guests and it was already paid for, so.... I can't find the pic of the plate right now, but it was very nice and the pineapple and brie were excellent! Everyone enjoyed it and I brought zip loc baggies to put the leftovers in our fridge for balcony time later. ;)

Well, I'll add to the review asap. Time to get dressed for my 19th wedding anniversary dinner with Mike tonight :)

Mike had the Grilled Mahi Mahi. He thought it was okay, but a little fishy.

Lol, really?! The fish was fishy? Sorry, I am absolutely LOVING your review, but that made me chuckle. :D

Great Review!!!:)

Can't wait to read the rest!

Happy Anniversary too!:)

Beautiful pics, can't wait for more!

Lol, really?! The fish was fishy? Sorry, I am absolutely LOVING your review, but that made me chuckle. :D

Lol. Yeah, the flavor was a little strong. That's usually a pretty mild fish. ;)

Great Review!!!:)

 

Can't wait to read the rest!

 

Happy Anniversary too!:)

Thank you! :)

Beautiful pics, can't wait for more!

Thank you! :) Wait until you see some of the port pics, especially Roatan. Beautiful place!!