Our Carnival Freedom awesome vacation, May 20-27th!!!!

Here it is....yeah, I am going to start my Trip Report.

Just a little bit about us.... me (Robin) and DH (Ron) are a former military family living in Albuquerque NM. DH retired from AF after 21 years, and now works as a contract employee at the AF base here, now making 3x the money he did as enlisted. And he deserves it. For that reason, we have been able to travel and enjoy ourselves more than we did just a dozen years ago when we could barely afford one vacation a year. We have been active scuba divers for 17+ years, and that is where most of our travel vacations and money went... Three years ago, DH had a surgery to repair an injury which meant no diving for awhile so we decided to try out cruising. Being divers, we had always thought cruise ships were for drunks and old people... but we were wrong. Our first cruise was Oct 2014 and we were hooked on the first day. Now here we are, 7th cruise is in the books, and it was possibly our favorite so far.

DH and I haven't really been active divers for past 3 years, only doing 1 day diving back in 2015 on the Freedom at Grand Cayman. We were planning to dive last cruise, in March, and that was the purpose of booking it...but his doctor said no and we couldn't get a refund. So we wnet on that Magic cruise, and snorkeled instead --- and hated it. Last month, however, his doctor cleared him, and he immediately said.... Let's go Diving!

I was very skeptical about it, not sure if his hip and knee would be good for multiple days of diving like we used to do prior to cruising, so I decided we should do a cruise istead...to try out diving for a few days and see how he felt. I also wasn't sure about diving myself since my knees have been bothering me and sore after those last dives and snorkeling.

We booked a cruise just 6 weeks after our last cruise! Carnival Freedom out of Galveston, May 20-27th. This was going to be perfect for it. We have been to all ports several times, and we have done dozens of dives at Cozumel and Roatan so it was familiar diving for us. We thought two days of diving, with a day off in between would be just what we both needed to assess if we were hard-core divers still, or if cruise diving was our future. It sucks getting old.

We got a balcony room (there were less than a dozen left when we booked) since we needed a place to let dive gear dry after our dives. Yes, we brought an entire suitcase full of our dive gear, BCs, fins, masks, etc. and our regulators/dive computers in our hand carry bag. All the stars were aligning for a great dive trip!

Another great thing is that we can fly from Albuquerque to Houston on Southwest for points, and direct 2 hour flight. Easy Peasy! So airfare booked, cruise booked, shuttle booked. And it was the week before our 32nd anniversary, so that made it a great time, with not so many kiddos onboard like the spring break cruise in March.

....to be continued.....

Following!!

Saturday -- Travel and Embarkation Day!

Flew direct from Albuquerque to Houston on Southwest! We arrived at 10am, grabbed our luggage, and signed in at the Carnival shuttle bus desk. They were ready to board the bus within 15 minutes, and we were off to Galveston. Yeah!

After 45 minute drive, we arrived at port. Yikes, thousands of people and luggage everywhere. We went into the building and joined the check-in line that wound around and around and around...finally reaching the first check-in station. It took over half an hour to this point, then we joined the lines for security, and another 30 minute wait until we reached the next desk. There we received our Sail-and-Sign cards and told to proceed to the ship...what? No sitting in the lobby? Oh yeah, it was now after noon and already hundreds of people were already onboard the ship.

We were on the ship in another 15 minutes, then carried our carry-on bags up the stairs to the Lido deck for lunch. The Old Fashioned BBQ was our first stop, as the Lido buffets, Guys Burgers, and Blue Iguana were all packed. The BBQ place is upstairs from the Lido, just look for the big blue statue of Liberty and walk up those stairs. Replacing the old Fish N Chips, this place was almost empty! We walked up and ordered, and the lady behind the counter filled up our plates. It was good, actually loved the chicken, beans, and cole slaw, the beef and pulled pork were good, potato salad good, too. They don't have a big selection of sauces, but that was something they hopefully fix.

After our bellies were full, we grabbed dessert of course!! The dessert station was at the bottom of the stairs so a quick trip down and up was all it took. We then went to check to see if rooms were ready on Deck 6. The doors were still locked, and it was 1:30pm. We opened a door and saw a steward in the halls... just 20 more minutes please, he said. Okay, off we went to walk on Deck 5 since it was just down a flight of stairs, dragging our carry-on bags still. After 20 minutes we went back up and the doors were open, YEAH! We dropped off our bags, and headed out to explore the ship some more. We had been on the Freedom 2 years ago, but it was nice to reaquaint ourselves to everything. We took some photos, grabbed soda (for me) and beer (for Ron) at the Red Frog Pub.

The Muster drill was announced at 3:45pm, and we headed to our station......ugggghhh, yes another long dreadful Muster waiting for those losers who try to skip it. Now they scan your card, so they know who is there! But the problem is, once everyone is ready to pass out from the heat, and standing outside for 20 minutes, they start announcing names of those who didn't show up and wait...and wait...announce the names again.... and wait and wait. Geez. Finally they start and it takes a whole 10 minutes start to finish, but we had been standing there waiting for 30 minutes. I really wish they could find another way to do this.

..........to be continued......

robin

A little more of the tour of the ship.....

Gym.... my DH spends most mornings here, I prefer to walk the track on top deck

I always tell people that the FREEDOM decor is something like a hippie from the 60s would design, after a hit of acid.

Lobby..... yeah, a bit of crazy inlaid wood, with mosaic of tile, with snakeskin looking wallpaper... definitely a hit of acid.

.....to be continued.....

I've been looking forward to this!! Thanks!

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There is a video on YouTube about the designer, Farcus, and how he came up with the decor. He says it is about the FREEDOM and pinnacle of each of the greatest world cultures. Yeah, I almost get it....almost.

The Babylon Casino

The Piano Bar

......to be continued.....

You're off to a great start Robin! So glad to hear that diving is back in the plans. I know what you mean about snorkeling and the only thing you think about is wishing you were diving. I had to give up diving a few years ago myself, due to back issues that continue to worsen. I even tried stem cell therapy this year for a lot of $$$ and haven't seen any improvement. So I for now I have to snorkel to get my fix. I will really be looking forward to your diving. I love how diving is exciting and serene at the same time.

CB

Very nice photos!

I'm enjoying your review. I'll have to give the Freedom serious consideration after seeing your pics.

Great review so far! Looking forward to some more pictures. We are going on the Freedom for the first time in September! :cool:

Great photos! Following.

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Great start and great pictures!!!!! Patiently waiting for more. [emoji23][emoji23]

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Once the torture session of Muster was done, the Sailaway Party on Lido began. Malcolm and his crew and Playlist crew were leading the dancing.

After awhile we decided to hurry down to the room to get ready for dinner. Our bags arrived so we took them in and unpacked quickly. The first night in the dining room is always nuts, with everyone from waiters to passengers acting like there didn't know what to do. We arrived just as the Your Time Dining room opened.

.....to be continued.....

Following. Planning on booking this cruise in Oct 2018.

I'll be on the Freedom in July, so I'll be watching this review even though I've been on it previously, in 2013, prior to upgrades.

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Enjoy seeing the pictures...we will be on the Freedom in July!

Thanks for the report.

Yay! Following! DW's family is from Albuquerque. Ever's been to Rex's burger's? They own that. Although it's small, so anyone I meet from there has never been. Sorry, I feel obliged to ask!

Your comment about the decor is funny. Freedom was our first cruise, so we thought it looked amazing. Looking back now, it certainly is strange! Malcolm was great.

Can't wait for more!

Thanks everyone..... I am still working on photos and videos...will try to get more up today!

redstapler7 - I have heard of Rex's but no idea where it is. We have so many incredible small food joints here! Haven't tried them all.

robin

Okay....onward.

The Chic restaurant is gorgeous, in my opinion. We were seated very quickly, and given menus. Our table was for two, but as is on most ships now, the table was almost touching the table next to it. Our "table mates" were a couple of men, father and son, from Kansas City. It was their first cruise and they were both full of questions about everything. We really enjoyed chatting with them...and turns out, we would be seeing much more of them as the cruise went along.

For dinner I ordered the Mahi Mahi and a salad for appetizer. DH ordered calimari and the same entree. For dessert I got the strawberry mousse, he got the apple pie ala mode. The fish had a salsa of pineapple and red peppers which was very sweet, maybe too sweet. The rest was great. DH said the pie was just okay.

I know you have all seen the Menus, they really don't change much, with the exception of the Ports of Call part. But here they are:

.....to be continued.....

robin

I don't know why they call this a parfait....it is a mousse pie.

After dinner, we headed to the Welcome Aboard Show. The show was really good, and afterwards the Playlist singers and Malcolm all headed to the Lobby for photos and to start the Pub Crawl. If you have never done the Pub Crawl, I highly recommend it. First we had an introduction to the band playing there in the Lobby. From there we went to the International Lounge which is in the Casino. A Latino band was playing there and one of the Playlist ladies gave everyone salsa lessons while they played. It was fun! After that, we went into the Red Frog Pub where a young lady was playing acoustic guitar. Malcolm got on stage with her and sang a duet, or should I say she sang and he hammed it up with background vocals. It was funny! We had at least 70-80 people joining in on the Crawl by this time. After the song, we moved everyone over to the Piano Bar. Malcolm put a fishbowl for tips on the piano, and said anyone who got a dollar bill rolled up to land inside the bowl got 2 free drinks. (He gave away drinks at every stop.) Well, our tablemates from dinner were there and sure enough, landed the first one in....Malcolm handed over 2 huge frozen drinks. Then people kept going until two more did it... all the while everyone was singing to the songs by Bob the PianoMan. So, from there the group was heading to their next stop, which I think was the Havana bar, but we were pooped, it was around 11pm. Off we went to bed.

Just a quick mention here to our room steward, Carter, from Jamaica. What a fantastic guy. He was always available and did something special for us on Elegant night. It was just wonderful to chat with him every day.

....To Be Continued.....

Great review so far, keep it coming.

Great review, going on the freedom for the first time in September. What is the pub crawl?

We where on the same cruise. Nice rewiew so far.

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SEA Day, Sunday, May 21st

As is normal for us, we were up before 6am. Ron dressed and headed for the gym, I decided instead to go up top and walk on the track. After an hour of walking on the track, I returned to the room to change for breakfast. Ron appeared soon after, showered, and off we went to find breakfast. Our last cruise, on the Magic in March, we had tried the Sea Day Brunch but didn't find it to be to our liking. It was a lot of waiting for food for the entire table (they seat you at large tables with others) and some of the food was cold when it finally appeared. Just not for us. The Lido buffet works fine for us, as we are big breakfast eaters at home - almost always have eggs and yogurt with some sides. It is just something we always have done, since our military days when we may not get lunch until late. Anyhow, most of the people on the ship were still snoozing, so the Lido was deserted. Perfect! We got our morning omelettes, no lines, and side dishes, sat and ate as we gazed out at the ocean. Just perfect and SOOOOOOO different from March! This was already better than that cruise.

After we ate, we walked the ships decks again, to see some of the areas that we had missed the first day. The NEW Fish place is on the back deck, across from the aft pool and pizza place. The menu was interesting, different from the old FishNChips. The Pizza place had a sign up that said Closed until further notice. Hmmmmm, that is going to upset some passengers. Then we found there is Sushi-At-Sea window in the Lido. Hmmmmmm. Might have to check that out later, too. We went up top, and saw that the mini-golf was almost empty so decided to play a little game. It was very windy, so sometimes you hit the ball and the wind would take it and blow it in a different direct. LOL