Review Carnival Freedom to Panama with kids

[mpcaruth]

Awesome pics and review!! Im going on same internary in 2 weeks on Freddom. I can't wait!!!

 

I do have a question for you. Cozumel has you there from 7-330. Did the captain stay on ship time of go to Cozumel time? Reason I ask is that we will be in at 6am.....nothing is open at that time...

 

Thanks!

 

All times are ship time ALWAYS. In the case of the Freedom: EST. I recommend using a watch. We didn't have one and used our cell phones for time. The cell phones sometimes switch timezones automatically. I cannot tell you how many times we were confused about the time while on shore. In fact, in Cozumel, while I was shopping by myself I heard the horn blow - the signal that a ship is leaving. I about ?@>!@ my pants and threw up at the same time! I panicked that my time was off. Fortunately it wasn't.

[nickiford]

OMG, I am loving this review!!!!! I am on the Freedom in 8 days, first cruise, I still can't get over how huge the ship looks. Your pictures are beautiful!!!

[mpcaruth]

We are going on the Freedom next year in January. I have been looking at the hotels in the Ft lauderdale area-When did you make your reservation to get that rate? I would love to stay there, but not for their prices (385 online per night at this point). How far away is the hotel from the port?

 

I may have missed it, but what type of room did you guys have? I am looking at booking the aft wrap for this one.

 

I love reading your review as I know nothing about the Freedom. Looking forward to more

 

I booked the hotel about 5 weeks before the trip. I find that works best with Hotwire, as the hotels are getting desperate to fill up rooms. I researched the hotwire hotels on betterbidding dot com website to be confident in my pick. The Westin is about 15 minutes (traveling along Rt 1) from the port. It is located in the Hollywood area. I would definitely stay there again!

 

We had an ocean view cabin forward on Deck 1 - Riveria. In the bottom! I booked and OV Guarantee about 9 months in advance at a super low price. I was hoping to snap an upgrade to a balcony, but it never happened. Oh well, wishful thinking. Our room was great. 220 sf, larger than a balcony room and much larger than a IS quad. We had an inside last year on the Sensation and will never do that again! The bunks pulled down over the main bed - no one had their own space. In the OV on the Freedom, the couch pulls out for a twin bed, and bunk lowers down over the couch.

 

Here is a picture of the cabin with the bunk down. Please ignore the smart-alec look from DS. He gets really annoyed at all my picture taking!

Edited January 28, 2011 by mpcaruth

[statmanx]

Great review so far, I am really enjoying it. It looks like a fun itinerary.

[mpcaruth]

Day 6 – Colon Panama

We got up early for another day of excitement. We booked the Gatun Locks, Portobelo, and Beach excursion with My Friend Mario. Our tour was scheduled to leave at 7:40, however, 5 folks never showed up! So…we waited for them for nothing. Folks, I am going to get on my soap box again: If you pre-book a private excursion and choose to cancel, please be courteous and let the tour guide know you are canceling. You may think it is no big deal, but your no-show takes away precious time for others in Panama! Two other people decided not to take the tour as a result of the delay.

As it ended up, we were now the only 4 people on this excursion and had the 23-passenger bus to ourselves. So, we ended better off and got to choose how long to stay at each place. Elvis was our tour guide. The first place we visited was the Gatun locks. Our timing was perfect, as the observation deck was about empty and the Norwegian Star was passing through. We were informed that this was a record day for the canal; the Norwegian Star paid the higher ever toll: $402,000. OMG!!!!!

 

 

 

A cargo ship was also crossing the canal at the same time in the adjacent lock. We were so lucky to have seen two ships, as I had read that some folks wait around and never get to see one.

 

 

The cargo ship actually hit the concrete sidewall not once, but twice. Yhe anouncer said there was only 16 inches of clearance on each side. Wow- what a tight fight. See the concrete dust:

 

 

 

As we were leaving the lock area, the tour guide showed us the construction site for the new canal expansion. I would love to be on the engineering design team! A lot of “what-ifs” went through my head. Today I got to see the greatest civil engineering feat of modern times.

[gma5]

Love your review and your amazing pictures. Your children are so cute. Loved the pic of the monkey yawning and the sloth. You really did get some great shots.

We are going on this cruise next Feb 2012 so its great to see what is awaiting us.

Thanks for posting.

Martha

[dannymissy]

What a wonderful review! First, what a lovely family! How fun for your sun to get to have such a memorable birthday.

 

This is the first review for this itinerary I have read, and you have totally sold me! I'm going to have to tell Dan that this is our next one for sure. My parents want to do this one too, so maybe in a year or so.

 

My heart melted when I saw the little sloth and his stuffed animal. So cute! And the baby monkey too...too much for this sentimental mother's heart!

 

Can't wait to read and see more!

[SMSACE6]

Loving your review! I did this cruise last September and loved the ship and the itin. I travelled solo this time, but love hearing about things from your perspective, younger folks than me and travelling with kids. Thanks for taking the time to post and love your photos.:)

[oncruisecontrol]

Wow. What a great review. Your Paanama Canal pictures are very impressive.

[AryMay]

How cool to be able to see two huge ships going through the canal at once! Probably much more interesting from your vantage point than if you were actually on the cruise ship passing through the locks.

[Jacquelyn11]

Really love your review so far! Thanks for taking the time so the rest of us can enjoy it too!

 

Thinking of changing my current booking to this ship in June. We live near Atlanta and the recent snow days have already taken out our "President's week" break. Just afraid of more that would push the end of school up to June and possibly effect my son's HS graduation! :eek: Plus I work nights and had to flip my week so I'm currently scheduled to work my cruise week! :( We will also be driving from Dallas, GA to Ft. Lauderdale. We are Hilton Honors members so we will most likely stay at the Embassy Suites and leave our vehicle there.

 

Wanted to know how much time you spent at the JRC? BTW, you have a great "eye" with your camera shots! :) We want to do this and either the zipline or arial tram tour. Have been reading up on the tour operators and JJ sounds pretty good.

 

Looking forward to your 'ending'! Let us know when you post the Dailys from the trip!

 

Jacquelyn :D

Edited January 30, 2011 by Jacquelyn11

[mpcaruth]

Day 6 - Panama Continued

 

We left the canal and headed back trough town towards Portobelo. My daughter became facinated with the public transportation system: the buses were each uniquely painted in vibrant colors. She took many pictures, but I didn't mind as it kept her occupied during the 30 minute travel time.

 

 

 

In Portobelo we visisted the Black Christ Church and the fortress. These were interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To Be continued...

[mpcaruth]

Day 6 - Panama Continued

 

I will add a few more photos of Portobelo reflecting the culture of the town. It is the oldest town in Panama and was discovered by Christopher Colombus. I enjoy going to foreign countries to see the culture of other people. The town did not meet American stardards of a quaint little town. The people were friendly and I didn't not feel unsafe or threatened in any way.

 

We walked around the streets for a short while.

 

 

My kids got to play with this pet monkey (yes it is legal to have monkeys as pets - or so I was told)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another bus in Portobelo:

 

 

 

 

A picture of the outside of the Black Christ Church:

 

 

We then headed to Playa Langosta (Lobster Beach) for a few hours of beach fun...

Edited January 30, 2011 by mpcaruth

[mpcaruth]

Day 6 - Panama Continued

 

We had the best time at Playa Langosta (Lobster Beach)! I tried my darnest before the cruise to get somone to post information on a beach by Colon, Panama on the Panama board, but never had any luck.

 

 

The beach was actually a "beach club" for the locals. All fees were included with our My Friend Mario Tour. We even had a table with a reed umbrella reserved for us when we got there. Elvis, our tour guide stayed with us nearby in case we needed Spanish intrepretations.

 

 

 

The beach was not a typical awesome Caribbean beach, as the water was not Caribbean blue and the sand was not powdery white. It remineded me of a Florida waters. The beach area was in, what I call, a cove with very, very mild waves and shallow depth out to a few hundred feet. Perfect for children. In fact, school was out in Panama for the dry season, and the beach was full of local families.

 

 

 

My kids had a blast with the local children, even though we did not speak Spanish and they did not speak English. My kids taught them "High Five" and they played volleyball in the water. Honestly, this was one of the highlights of my vacation. The children there was so friendly and happy, and so intrigued with my children. Life at its most simple form, with no worries.

 

We were the only Americans on the beach and there was also a French family from the cruise, other than that, it was all local Panamian families. We felt so welcomed.

 

 

We ate lunch at the open-air restaurant beside the beach. I had the best calamari of my life for only $6. See my DD sneaking some as I took the photo:

 

 

 

 

We left the beach and headed back for the ship. On our trip back, we had to stop to save a potential Panamian road-kill. Awesome! A mother sloth crossing the road with a baby on her back:

 

 

 

Ship boarding time was stated to be 3:30. DH was very nervous that we would not get back in time, but Elvis said to trust him. I had read on the boards that the Freedom never leaves Panama on time, as the tours always get back late, so I was not worried. In fact, Our ship did not leave until after 6:00 PM, waiting for tours. My husband finally said, "You CAN trust Elvis". It just stinks that we were told to be back by 3:30 and Carnival knows that is not required. I would have loved a few more hours in Panama.

 

Colon, Panama from ship:

 

To be continued...

[mpcaruth]

Really love your review so far! Thanks for taking the time so the rest of us can enjoy it too!

 

Thinking of changing my current booking to this ship in June. We live near Atlanta and the recent snow days have already taken out our "President's week" break. Just afraid of more that would push the end of school up to June and possibly effect my son's HS graduation! :eek: Plus I work nights and had to flip my week so I'm currently scheduled to work my cruise week! :( We will also be driving from Dallas, GA to Ft. Lauderdale. We are Hilton Honors members so we will most likely stay at the Embassy Suites and leave our vehicle there.

 

Wanted to know how much time you spent at the JRC? BTW, you have a great "eye" with your camera shots! :) We want to do this and either the zipline or arial tram tour. Have been reading up on the tour operators and JJ sounds pretty good.

 

Looking forward to your 'ending'! Let us know when you post the Dailys from the trip!

 

Jacquelyn :D

 

 

 

Thanks! I just got my first DSLR camera in October, and I think I have a new hobby. I must get my trigger happiness from my grandmother, as show loved taking photos! I took over 1,000 photos on this vacation.

 

It may be tricky to combine the JRC and the tram or zipline. JRC is located far south in Costa Rica, but I am not sure where the others are. The JRC tour itself was only 1 hour, but they only give them certain times of the day, so timing is critical if you want to do numerous things. I suggest emailing JJ with your request for a private tour. And Yes, JJ Tours gets a big thumbs up from this family!

 

As for the Funtimes, be patient, it's coming. This review is taking me much longer that I had expected, with working full time, kids, homework makeup, ball games, etc. I do little pieces at a time, but I will eventaully get there.

[Hot Nail]

Great review. We just got off the Freedom a couple weeks ago from the other 8 day eastern/southern route. Im gonna have to try this route. It looks wonderful.

[MelAl45]

Awesome review and pictures. What kind of camera do you have?

[nybumpkin]

Love your review! Our family went to Playa Langosta with My Friend Mario four years ago when Carnival Liberty did this itinerary. No, they don't speak English - but our oldest son knew enough Spanish to go to the bar and say "Una cerveza, por favor" - and fifty cents later, he had a local brew in his hand. At fifty cents, you couldn't afford not to drink the beer.;)

 

Agree with you that this is a highlight. It's very rustic, but there's nothing artificial about this beach.

[mpcaruth]

Awesome review and pictures. What kind of camera do you have?

 

Thanks!

I use 2 cameras: A Canon Rebel T1i (DSLR) and my favorite little Panasonic Lumix DMC - ZS1 (a pocket size point and shoot with 12x optical zoom). This is my second generaration of the Lumix (1st one in the corals at Labadee - snif snif).

[nytraveller53]

This will be a detailed review with photos from our 8-day January 2011 cruise on the Carnival Freedom from Ft. Lauderdale to Cozumel, Panama, and Costa Rica. I will include lots of details on Camp Carnival and kid activities.

 

I planned for almost a year for this cruise vacation. As I am a civil engineer, the Panama Canal and Costa Rican rainforest made the ultimate field trip! We are a family of 4 and this was our 5th cruise and 4th with Carnival. My husband and I are in our upper 30’s and my kids are 8 and 10. We are big Carnival fans, which is the best cruise value for this family. We cruise in January to take advantage of the reduced fares. We drove 14 and a half hours from Virginia to Ft. Lauderdale to board this cruise. We split it up into 2 days, and it really wasn’t that bad.

 

For the day before the cruise, I booked a 4-star hotel on Hotwire and received the Westin Resort and Spa in Hollywood for an unbelievable price of $89 per night. Wow, was this place wonderful! We never ate at the facility, as I saw that the room service hamburger was a mere $18 a la carte. The swimming pools were wonderful and heated. Here are a few photos I took at the Westin:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 1 embarkation:

 

We relaxed at the hotel and strolled the beach until 11:00 and headed to the “Luxury Airport Parking”. I had reserved a parking space there for about ½ the port parking fees. This place was SLOW, and I would never use them again. It was about 1:00 PM before we were finally dropped of at the port. This was apparently the busiest time to board. After about ½ hour we arrived at the counter to get our Sail & Sign cards. We were then informed that the computed system had just gone down, and this brought boarding to a halt and then slow crawl. At around 3:00 we boarded the ship. I soon got over any irritation of the extremely long boarding process as soon as we boarded. Woo hoo!

 

We immediately dropped off our things to our room and headed for the Lido deck for a late lunch. It was still very busy, but we headed to the rear to get our food and up to deck 10 to eat in the upper dining area (up behind the Statue of Liberty). The food was okay – some things good, some not-so-good. There was no one in line at the fish and chips and we took advantage of this.

 

 

 

 

TO BE CONTINUED...

OMG - that hotel looks fabulous! Next time I'm cruising from Fort Lauderdale, I'll look into it!

[roudy1]

Thanks!

I use 2 cameras: A Canon Rebel T1i (DSLR) and my favorite little Panasonic Lumix DMC - ZS1 (a pocket size point and shoot with 12x optical zoom). This is my second generaration of the Lumix (1st one in the corals at Labadee - snif snif).

 

Great review...and love the photos. We will be sailing on Freedom in February 2012 same itinerary sure hope we are lucky enough to see ships transiting the canal as well.

 

I have the Lumix model just before yours and love the camera. Thinking about getting a DSLR and looking at the Canon DSI2 or Nikon D5000

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us..

[mpcaruth]

Day 6 - ending

 

It was really nice on the top deck watching our sail away from Panama. There were many smaller ships anchored nearby.

 

 

We realized we had missed the Past Guest Party. It was scheduled for 5:15 (yes, that's correct), and we were up on the deck watching the tour buses dropping off late passengers. Darn! We missed the free drinks! Not a big problem as we had smuggled Desarno in rum runners in our suitcase (stuffed in my husband’s shoes), and we carried on rum in Aquafino bottles in our backpacks. I always take the single pack dry mixes of Hawaiian Punch to mix with my rum. You can also order pineapple juice through room service.

 

We ate a late dinner at the lido buffet, and by now we are all sick of food. The deli is open until 11:00 each night and they make wonderful grilled sandwiches. The focaccia bread is very good.

 

We were exhausted from two full days in a row and just relaxed that night. No shows and no camp carnival. Just a little Chess on the sun deck.

 

 

 

 

Day 7 – Sea Day

A very typical sea day. The sun decks were full of folks and ghost folks (towels hogging the chairs). I played some mini golf with the kids before they took off to camp carnival. At camp, they did candy art, playstation, and various games.

 

That afternoon the camp had a family scavenger hunt and name that tune. The hunt consisted of a list of items to be photographed on a digital camera. It was really fun. We had to get 10 people to form a congo line on the lido deck and to get two additional people to do the chicken dance on the waterslide.

 

 

 

The kids also had to take a picture of their parents doing a hang ten:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To Be continued...

Edited January 31, 2011 by mpcaruth

[KansasScrapper]

For whatever reason I can not view your photos...

[mpcaruth]

For whatever reason I can not view your photos...

 

 

Apparently my review had too many hits for a free Potobucket.com account. It should be fixed now. This will be the last time I use photobucket!

[tiyana4]

We did this cruise on the Freedom just 4 months ago. In fact, we had the same tour operators and went to many of the same places. Thanks for the great pics! I'll bet it was amazing to see the Star going thru the canal. That would have been priceless to see!