Fresh off the Freedom 2/13-2/21

[frazzledrazzle16]

Well we have 20+ hours of driving ahead of us, so any questions are welcome!

 

Just a few quick thoughts... We had a great cruise, although there were some big disappointments (cruise director & entertainment staff, lido food, debarkation, and the weather in general). The good definately outweighed the bad, and a huge shining point of this ship was the hard working staff. Yesterday there was a medical evac by a coast guard helicopter around lunchtime that caused a lot of chaos. We forgot how big the Conquest ships were, so it took us awhile to get used to the crowds again.... I think next time we may just stick with the spirit class ships.

[OntarioTraveller]

I do remember you posting a week or so ago.

I believe you stayed in one of the front bow cabins, how did you like the cabin and the location???

We have one of these booked, any info or pictures would be great!!

[amcjeep4life]

Stephanie, you need to tell us all about it! I followed your Miracle blogs religiously and when I saw you were doing the same cruise on the Freedom we did, I was pretty excited! I can't wait to read about how your experience differed from us. We also had some concerns with the entertainment staff, but we were blessed with pretty good weather! Can't wait to hear more, but have a safe drive home!

[092306]

I have a ridiculous question for you, actually two. when you guys went to Panama, what dock were you at? Colon or Cristobal. Whatever dock you were at, what was at the port? Was there some shops or anything like that? Sorry to hear about the weather. I am going March 13 and can't wait. What about the food? You mentioned it was a bad thing. I hope it wasn't too bad. Sorry guess I had more then two questions. Be careful getting home.

[SBNDers]

Hi Stephanie (Are you from Chicago? we're from nearby South Bend, IN). ....My wife and I will be on the Freedom doing the same route in June. What were the issues with debarkation? We plan to do self-debark, as our flight is now changed to 11:15am. I woke up this am to find our flights screwed up. Our new flight to FLL with connections in Cincinnati were arriving in Cincy at 11:50 am and our flight to FLL leaving at 11AM. No way that would work and worse yet, our flight home after the cruise was leaving at 7:45 AM.

 

Did you use independent operators for cruise excursions in Costa Rica or Panama? I guess the cruise director won't make or break the cruise, but it helps. I was on kroooz-cams a little this week and saw you docked in the ports.

 

Although it sounds like not everything was picture perfect, you made the best of it. That's pretty much how I look at things. HAVE A SAFE TRIP HOME!!!

[frazzledrazzle16]

I do remember you posting a week or so ago.

I believe you stayed in one of the front bow cabins, how did you like the cabin and the location???

We have one of these booked, any info or pictures would be great!!

 

I liked the room a lot... My sister didn't. LOL

She didn't like that it didn't have a couch, but it could be the fact that she brought 3 suitcases and didn't have as much space as we usually have with a balcony room. The location wasn't a problem at all. The forward elevators lead directly to the atrium. If we took them up we were at the main pool, and the lido restaurant was a short distance from there. It only seemed like a long walk if you didn't go to a public deck like the prominade. My sister will write a review when we get home, and she took some very clear and specific pictures of our 4j room and the handicap one my Mom and Grandma stayed in.

[amcjeep4life]

Sorry Stephanie! I realized after about 10 minutes that I had the wrong sister, although Nicole usually gives your opinion of things too! :pTell her I'm looking forward to reading her review, and don't mind a few tidbits from you either! Have a safe drive!

[frazzledrazzle16]

Stephanie, you need to tell us all about it! I followed your Miracle blogs religiously and when I saw you were doing the same cruise on the Freedom we did, I was pretty excited! I can't wait to read about how your experience differed from us. We also had some concerns with the entertainment staff, but we were blessed with pretty good weather! Can't wait to hear more, but have a safe drive home!

 

That's actually my sister's blog. She was going to (finally) finish her Disney review, but we had to leave two days early because of a snowstorm. Hopefully she will get her Freedom review going in the next few days with the tons of pictures she took.

 

Who was your cruise director??? We had Filipe Couto. At the beginning of the week he seemed promising, but rarely saw him around because his girlfrind was onboard. That didn't bother me until the helicopter medevac yesterday, when all the outside aft decks were cleared except for the specialized crew, the coast guard personnel, the person being evacuated, and their family. Filipe was up there as well, but brought his girlfrind with him, and she stood there watching it like a spectator sport. I found it HIGHLY inappropriate and unprofessional. In regards to the entertainment staff, all but two of them were invisible the entire cruise and there was a lot of fraternizing going on between them. We even saw two Italian officers trying to hook up with passengers. I wouldn't have cared if they weren't in uniform, but they were and I definately mentioned it on the comment card.

[mississauga]

Welcome back. I have read most of Nicole's past reviews ( all excellent, BTW ) so kind of know your family's travel plans by now. LOL. I had read that your family was going on this cruise and was thinking of you the few days before your cruise. .......wondering how all that bad weather in the US was going to affect you getting to Florida. Glad you got there safely and got to enjoy your cruise.....thought we would have to wait a few weeks before we heard as it takes Nicole a few weeks to get going on her excellent reviews of your entire trip from beginning to end. You're still in Florida so it'll be a while yet so give her a nudge as soon as you get home:p

 

Have a safe trip home. At least you'll have less snow to contend with on this leg of the trip.

[frazzledrazzle16]

I have a ridiculous question for you, actually two. when you guys went to Panama, what dock were you at? Colon or Cristobal. Whatever dock you were at, what was at the port? Was there some shops or anything like that? Sorry to hear about the weather. I am going March 13 and can't wait. What about the food? You mentioned it was a bad thing. I hope it wasn't too bad. Sorry guess I had more then two questions. Be careful getting home.

 

We were docked in Colon. I actually stayed on the ship with Grandma while the rest of my family did a tour of the Gatun Locks and the San Lorenzo Fort. I heard from them and other passengers that Panama was beautiful. There is limited shopping off the pier, but it's not really the place to make some serious purchases. Cozumel was the only port to have some decent and clean shopping areas.

 

Nicole here: We were pretty dissappointed with the lido food for breakfast and lunch. In the past, we'd been impressed with the quality and selection available for lunch and this week, none of it really appealed to me (with exception to the tandoor, which had some really good naan and some tasty hummus). Taste of Nations and the Rotisserie were the same old same old and the Mongolian stir fry was just okay (it's certainly no Big Bowl or Stir Crazy. They didn't even offer mushrooms!). I ended up grabbing something from the grill, ordering room service or just skipping lunch on some days. Also, Steph and I really came to love the oriental station on our past trips, and I don't knowif it's just the Freedom or if this'll be rolled out Fleet-wide, but the oriental station was shut down all week as they transition it to a Mexican station. I don't know if it'll be the burrito bar or just daily Mexican food.

 

Breakfast on lido was downright bad most days and we took to eating more in the MDR or ordering room service.

 

Our grandma eats dinner up on lido and that was much stronger. While the Freedom lido doesn't have the same MDR desserts like the Miracle did (they had their own selections, often a few cakes, a mousse, one MDR dessert and the Chocolate Melting Cake), they did offer a LOT of the same dishes as the MDR... they even had flat iron steaks out at least twice (not cooked to order, though...they had medium rare and medium well).

 

Also, if anyone here goes on Tumblr, I have a few pics up there and over the next few days, I'll be posting some pics I took on my iPhone. So if anyone wants the link to that, let me know :)

[enchanted61]

I will be going on the Freedom in May and I am driving to the port. Did you park your vechile at the port or did you leave it at a hotel?

[092306]

Thank you for the info on Colon. I have another question for oyu about the shopping in Costa Rica and Panama. At the port areas, were there shops to get some t shirts. I am a BIG t shirt fan, and I like getting them from places I've been. Sounds dumb I know, but..... hope you can answer this. Thanks again.

[frazzledrazzle16]

Hi Stephanie (Are you from Chicago? we're from nearby South Bend, IN). ....My wife and I will be on the Freedom doing the same route in June. What were the issues with debarkation? We plan to do self-debark, as our flight is now changed to 11:15am. I woke up this am to find our flights screwed up. Our new flight to FLL with connections in Cincinnati were arriving in Cincy at 11:50 am and our flight to FLL leaving at 11AM. No way that would work and worse yet, our flight home after the cruise was leaving at 7:45 AM.

 

Did you use independent operators for cruise excursions in Costa Rica or Panama? I guess the cruise director won't make or break the cruise, but it helps. I was on kroooz-cams a little this week and saw you docked in the ports.

 

Although it sounds like not everything was picture perfect, you made the best of it. That's pretty much how I look at things. HAVE A SAFE TRIP HOME!!!

 

We're from the northern burbs. Might be passing through your way sometime tomorrow evening, hopefully after the snow blows through and gets cleaned up!

 

You should be fine with self debarkation. Our issues are with the complete lack of organization and with special assistance. The CD told everyone who wasn't using self debarkation to wait in the main lounge, on the prominade, or the lido deck. Since we were using special assistance, we verified with guest services that we should wait in the main lounge and everything should be taken care of from there. When we got to the Victoriana it was complete chaos, people were blocking the entryways and aisles, and there was no staff around to direct everyone where to go. Usually there is a separate section for special assistance but no such luck. One couple kept complaining loudly that when it was their turn they wouldn't be able to go past my grandma's wheelchair, but there was no where else for us to go!!

 

We booked excursions through Carnival. It was a good thing too b/c our tour in Costa Rica ran very late (it was almost 8 hours long when it was supposed to be 4.5) and we got back 20 minutes before the ship set sail. It was good to know that we had that safeguard in case we were any later.

[OntarioTraveller]

Thanks for answering questions!

Did you use the Serenity area? How was it?

Also, can I ask which cabins you had?

[frazzledrazzle16]

Welcome back. I have read most of Nicole's past reviews ( all excellent, BTW ) so kind of know your family's travel plans by now. LOL. I had read that your family was going on this cruise and was thinking of you the few days before your cruise. .......wondering how all that bad weather in the US was going to affect you getting to Florida. Glad you got there safely and got to enjoy your cruise.....thought we would have to wait a few weeks before we heard as it takes Nicole a few weeks to get going on her excellent reviews of your entire trip from beginning to end. You're still in Florida so it'll be a while yet so give her a nudge as soon as you get home:p

 

Have a safe trip home. At least you'll have less snow to contend with on this leg of the trip.

 

Thanks! I'll definately give her a kick in the shin for you. ;)

Snow has been our enemy driving for this trip, and it looks like it will be the same way heading back. Tonight into tomorrow there is supposed to be 8-10in... I'm pretty sure my car is going to be buried on the driveway. LOL

[frazzledrazzle16]

I will be going on the Freedom in May and I am driving to the port. Did you park your vechile at the port or did you leave it at a hotel?

 

We stayed at the Reinassance Plantation, which was a really quick drive up I-595 to the port. Our car was parked at the port... I think it cost like $120-ish???

 

Thanks for all the questions, guys! It's really making the drive go by much faster!!

[frazzledrazzle16]

Thank you for the info on Colon. I have another question for oyu about the shopping in Costa Rica and Panama. At the port areas, were there shops to get some t shirts. I am a BIG t shirt fan, and I like getting them from places I've been. Sounds dumb I know, but..... hope you can answer this. Thanks again.

 

You're welcome! :)

You can find t-shirts at the shops by the pier. I saw a few people wearing them around the ship.

[092306]

Can I also ask what tour did you do in Costa Rica? We also booked our excursion for Costa Rica through Carnival. Guess that is a good thing.

[LUPY48]

Hey Steph and Nicole, welcome back! Looking forward to your review. We're heading out on the Miracle in May, and the time can't pass quickly enough.

[frazzledrazzle16]

Thanks for answering questions!

Did you use the Serenity area? How was it?

Also, can I ask which cabins you had?

 

We miracously managed to score a clamshell bed for sailaway. It was a really nice area, but honestly that was the only time we used it because it was always so crowded and the chair hoggers were out in full force this week.

 

We had 7203 and 7205.

[mosaic_mom]

I will be going on the Freedom in May and I am driving to the port. Did you park your vechile at the port or did you leave it at a hotel?

 

We stayed at the Reinassance Plantation, which was a really quick drive up I-595 to the port. Our car was parked at the port... I think it cost like $120-ish???

 

 

We're taking this cruise, but not until next January. :( We are driving to the port too. You can try parking at the Park N Fly nearby. They have a cruise lot. We priced the parking for the 8-day cruise at $99. They shuttle you to the pier and back when you return.

[rigldbrg]

Yesterday there was a medical evac by a coast guard helicopter around lunchtime that caused a lot of chaos.

 

How strange, I'm just off of the Liberty on Saturday, and we had a Coast Guard medivac on Friday. While no one wants to see somebody needing to be resuced at sea the process is completely amazing and awe inspiring.

[Mary49]

That's actually my sister's blog. She was going to (finally) finish her Disney review, but we had to leave two days early because of a snowstorm. Hopefully she will get her Freedom review going in the next few days with the tons of pictures she took.

 

Who was your cruise director??? We had Filipe Couto. At the beginning of the week he seemed promising, but rarely saw him around because his girlfrind was onboard. That didn't bother me until the helicopter medevac yesterday, when all the outside aft decks were cleared except for the specialized crew, the coast guard personnel, the person being evacuated, and their family. Filipe was up there as well, but brought his girlfrind with him, and she stood there watching it like a spectator sport. I found it HIGHLY inappropriate and unprofessional. In regards to the entertainment staff, all but two of them were invisible the entire cruise and there was a lot of fraternizing going on between them. We even saw two Italian officers trying to hook up with passengers. I wouldn't have cared if they weren't in uniform, but they were and I definately mentioned it on the comment card.

 

It was that noticeable WOW... Stephannie what room were you in the front? Im thinking of booking either 1211 or 6224. Thanks for the info. Mary49

[frazzledrazzle16]

Can I also ask what tour did you do in Costa Rica? We also booked our excursion for Costa Rica through Carnival. Guess that is a good thing.

 

We did the Veragua Rainforest Tram & Trails. There's like 3 different versions of this excursion that have different things included depending on what price you paid. Ours was the least expensive one, which was only supposed to include walking along some of the trails, a cable car tram ride through the canopy to the forest floor, and a snack of fresh local fruit. There must have been some miscommunication between the tour guides because our bus ended up getting the more expensive one that took us through the frog, snake, and butterfly exhibits, and a lunch (sandwiches, fruit, coffee, and juice). As I said earlier, it lasted much longer, too. The Veragua Rainforest is a privately owned land and had really nice facilities. We had the option to go to the Puma Waterfall, which we did, but just be warned that there are steep stairs to get to it. Our guide told us it was around 375 stairs. I also wanted to mention that it's an hour bus ride away from the pier, most of which is winding gravel roads. I am not usually prone to car sickness (sometimes I get dizzy if I am reading in a moving car), but this ride had me convinced that I was going to throw up if it had lasted a minute longer.

[frazzledrazzle16]

Hey Steph and Nicole, welcome back! Looking forward to your review. We're heading out on the Miracle in May, and the time can't pass quickly enough.

 

Thanks! What week are you sailing? We have already been looking for our next one and are considering the Miracle for the last week of May.