Carnival Freedom 8 Day 6/16-6/24 Review (With Pics)

[angel54321]

thank you! loving your review... looking forward to more ;)

[Robpuffdaddy]

Day 8 - Saturday 6/23... Sea Day

Today I started the day out with the "Behind The Fun" tour. We met at the Library on Deck 4. I originally had bought the tickets for my wife to go with me, but she was not really interested in this tour as I was. So one of our new friends Kevin heard that I had tickets to go on this tour and he was really interested in going on this tour but had not bought the tickets at the beginning of the week. So with my wife's permission I invited him to go on the tour with me. It was a win-win situation. First my wife now did not have to go and she could go out and pray to the sun gods. And second Kevin was now able to go. It was a good chane for us to see how much trouble we could get into. Well when we got to the library that had coffee and juice available. We waited for the entire group to arrive. There were 16 of us in this tour. We found out that there was another tour and 16 more people going 90 minutes later or so.

Let me start by saying that if you are going to do this tour there are a few things that you need to know.

1) The tour last over 3 hours.

2) There is a lot of walking, including some steps.

3) You need to have closed to shoes on.

4) Leave your phones/cameras and all other electronic

devices.

As we were leaving to go on the tour due to the secure areas that we were going to go to they had a member of the security team use one of those hand-held metal detectors to make sure that we were not carrying and thing we were not suppose to. (See item #4). We then headed down to the main deck and out the doors to the muster area. They start to talk about this area again and the safety of the ship. We then head toward the Victorian Theater and spoke to the stage director and got all the information about what it takes to put on the shows for the week. We got to go behind stage and see all the storage areas. We then met up with the dance captain and got to the dressing room of the dancers and see their wardrobe room. For some of you, like me, (spoiler alert) do not get your hopes up the dancers were not there.

We then went downstairs to Deck 1. We then started the portion of the area in the Crew area only. We got to go onto the deck at the front of the ship and we had a ship photographer take a group picture. We then went to the area that has the crew gym, crew laundry facility, and got to see the Ship's Brig. Yes they do have one, it is a room with padded walls that they take people that might be in trouble or need to be put in a "safe" place. We were not allowed to actually go into any of the ship's crew's cabins but we got to see pictures of what they look like inside and we got to see the size of them from the outside. For those that are sailing and have an inside cabin, after seeing what the crew lives in, you should be grateful to the size and room you have in your cabin. We then put our Scuba gear on (well not actually) and we went below the water line in the ship and went to the ships Laundry Facility. Let's just say you should be happy you do not have this much laundry to do every day. The machines they have are awesome. They have a machine that cost $500,000 and all it does is dry and fold the sheets. We then went to the Engine Control Room. We were not allowed to go to the actual engine room due to safety concerns. The Engine Control Room has all the buttons and gadgets that you would expect. I was also surprised to see so man flat screen tv's in there. The tv's were better than the ones in most cabins. We got a very informative briefing from the officer on duty there. Just be ready to get a very fast informative briefing. Study up on your Italian before hand or at least get a firm grasp of understanding English with a strong Italian accent if you want to know what he was saying. After that we then headed back to the Deck 1 and started walking down the lenght of the ship. They call it I-95. It is the main drag and it runs the entire length of the ship. We then went into the coolers and saw the meat storage areas and saw the cooler where they store all the beer and soda. We then headed up to deck 4 and it was time for the galley tour. The galley is located between the two main dining rooms. They showed us the areas where the waiters would pick up the food for each stage of the meal. We saw a demonstration of 2 crew members, one doing a carving on a watermelon and another crew member doing a carving on a bar of soap. Even though I have seen these demonstrations before it is still amazing what they can do with a piece of fruit and a knife. We then headed to the cooking prep area and the smell was amazing. We were having prime rib that night and I saw all the rib roast cooking in the ovens. We then saw the big kettles where they prepare the soups and were they were making the aujus for the roast tonight. We then headed to the area where everyone loves going to and that was the pastry/dessert area. I saw the coolers that had tray after tray full of Warm Chocolate Melting Cakes waiting for the night. They had the area with all the pies. I love the chocolate chip cookies that they have on the ship, but they passed around those lovely cookies that had just come out of the oven.

We then headed to the dining room where they had juice and water waiting for us and we were able to take a restroom break. They are very organized in this tour and found out that this was a waiting area till the next part of the tour was ready for us. Well we headed up to I believe it was Deck 6 and headed to the front of the ship. It was time for the Bridge Tour portion. Security was once again waiting for us as we entered the Bridge. There were about 4 people on the bridge and once we were there the Captain came into the room. I had met several Captains before, but what I liked about Captain Fazio was that he was very friendly and actually seemed to enjoy meeting us and answering our questions. We then had pictures taken with the captain by ourself and then a group shot. The Captain then left to go do what ever he does when he is not on the Bridge and the First Officer on duty then answered all of our questions. It was very cool to be up there. Great View. Well it better, after all our safety is its main concern. After the Bridge portion we headed up to the Sun King Steakhouse and got a to look around there. It was basically a commercial for the Steakhouse, but they did a good job selling it, but this was the last day of the cruise and it was a little late to be selling this to the people. Guess they could go, "hey lets try this tonight" Well they showed us around and then gave each of us our own carved soap sculpture. They then gave us another drink. This time we were able to not only have juice or water but they gave us champagne if you wanted it. We then came to the end of the tour, We each filled out a critique of the tour and they gave us some more swag. A bag, a hat, and a lanyard. In my opinion it was very worth the cost of the tour if you are like me and like to know how thinks work and behind the scenes stuff this is a must do. Sorry I have no pictures available for this tour. (See item #4)

[Robpuffdaddy]

I was so excited to get to talking about the "Behind The Fun" tour that I forgot to continue with my evening the night before. So please excuse that little error and let me go back in time to the night before.

Well like I said it was formal night and we went and had our pictures done again. Glad we did, cause they sure came out better the 2nd formal night that the first formal night. We usually only buy 1-2 of those pictures for the scrapbook my wife makes but we hade 3 pictures come out real good so we got the three of them. Two of them went in the book and we framed one.

Anyway we went to dinner and since it was Elegant Night I had expected them to serve prime rib that night, well I was wrong. I was a bit dissapointed cause they were not serving it. Well all was well if you remember what I had posted on my "Behind The Fun" tour on Saturday that they were cooking the ribs and so we had the prime rib Saturday night.

After dinner we made our way to the Victoriana Theater to watch the show "Ticket To Ride" The show was great. Now let me tell you that if you do not like The Beatles or their music, I would say do not waste your time going, but even if you are not fan, you still need to go see this performance. It was truly an entertaining show. I like The Beatles, so I am impartial. But the singing and dancing and the sets were just great. They also had a song that used laser lighting during the performance...Really Cool...

 

After the show went to the Casino and took them for a few more dollars. Got to love the Blackjack Tables.

 

Well I will complete my review tommorrow I hope. Not many more pics but will post a few more. Like I said if anyone has any questions of comments please feel free to leave them for me.. I will be more that happy to answer your questions

[Robpuffdaddy]

Fun Food Facts:

In one week the Carnival Freedom will serve guest:

 

2,000 pounds of prime rib 10,000 pounds of chicken

400 Cornish game hens 200 duck breast

600 pounds of lobster tail 4,000 steaks

3,000 pounds of shrimp 2,800 racks of lamb

865 pounds of veal 5,600 hot dogs

7,350 hamburgers 865 pounds of ham

1,300 pounds of salmon 325 pounds of smoked salmon

 

And for breakfast lovers:

 

65,000 eggs 2,500 gallons of juice

50,000 slices of bacon 800 pounds of link sausage

2,100 pounds of coffee 1,175 gallons of milk

4,500 bagels 3,000 pounds of butter

200 pounds of grits 10,000 small boxes of cereal

22,500 slices of bread 15,000 Danish pastries

4,800 slices of French toast 5,200 pancakes

 

Fruits and Vegetables:

 

17,250 tomatoes 19,500 potatoes

8,400 heads of lettuce 1,950 bell peppers

1,200 cucumbers 6,950 bananas

3,850 apples 1,550 melons

1,675 fresh pineapples 2,600 fresh strawberries

 

Pastries are all made aboard "from scratch" using in part:

 

2,125 pounds of cake mixes 8,850 pounds of flour

1,750 pounds of shortening

 

And the most important facts:

 

18,170 cans of safot drinks 17,090 beers

420 bottles of champagne 2010 bottles of wine

370 liters of vodka 46 liters of gin

400 liters of rum 90 liters of tequila

[Robpuffdaddy]

For those of you that have spent the time to read my review and made it this far I have a gift for you. The recipe for the "Warm Chocolate Melting Cake"

Yield 4 servings

Ingredients

6 oz. Dark Chocolate

6 oz. Butter

4 eggs

6 oz. Sugar

2 oz. flour

 

Method:

- Melt the chocolate and butter

 

- Mix the eggs and sugar and whisk for a few minutes add the the flour

 

- Add the egg mix to the melted chocolate and mix

 

- Pour the mix in a greased mold

 

- Baked directly in the oven at 390 degrees for 14 minutes

 

Note: Make sure the eggs are at room temperature and chocolate is warm enough while makin the mixture.

 

 

Serve with ice cream and fruit garnish. Sit back and imagine you are still on the cruise.

[Lejardin]

We're still here :) and enjoying your review!!

[Robpuffdaddy]

Ok after the tour was complete I met up with my wife who was enjoying the sun on the Lido Deck. It was time for lunch so we went and had the taco bar that they had set up in the buffet area in the rear of the ship. The lines were really long in all the spots but they were manageable. After we ate that it was time for one of the highlights for the buffets for the week, the Chocolate Buffet. It was set up in the front buffet across from the Mongolian Buffet. These lines were really long, but well worth the wait. I noticed that the plates they had at the line were pretty small so I had my wife wait in line and I went to the burger grill by the pool and got the larger platter plate. We then went down the line and got a sample platter. People were saying that we had the right idea by haveing the larger plate than watching people doing their own waitress impersonation by trying to carry and balance multiple plates. After Lunch we went back out to the pool and went and soaked up the rays again. It was time for the weekly "Hairy Chest Contest". The crew made the announcement to have people meet by the towel stand to sign up, but there were only a few people that had volunteered. So they then started to ask people to volunteer people sitting next to them or to point to people that should be in it. After all the nice things I have done for my wife this week, how does she repay me, she stands up and points me out to the crew. Yes I have been blessed with a bit of chest hair, thanks Dad. Well so there we were 12 or so people ready to put on a show. Lucky me. Now that we had the contestants, they needed the judges. They first asked for and got a young college age female, then they looked for a middle aged female, then they looked for an older grandmother type. When the music started we had to walk, dance, strut our stuff on the Lido deck in front of everyone. We then walked toward the first judge (college girl) and she got behind each of us and rached around and rubbed up behind us and ran her fingers through our chest hair. Then we went to second judge and we had to basically do a lap dance on her and impress her. Then the third judge (the grandmother) had to come to each of us and get her nose in our chest and get a big whiff of us. Glad I had jsut put on suntan lotion before this. I had that nice coconut smell going. Lets say some did not and they did not impress her. Once we all did our little dance, we then got in a group and did a group booty shake. Each judge then got to pick one person to go to the next round. I was not one of the top 3 but that was ok. I got a nice Carnival Medal for my performance and I am actually glad I was not one of the top 3 because the next round to pick the winner was even worse of an embarassment to the guys and glad I was not subjected to that. Thank you again Jen for putting me through that.

 

Well after staying out there for awhile we decided to head back to the cabin and do one of the least favorite things of the week, pack to leave. The luggage did not need to be out till the evening , but we wanted to get the majority of the stuff packed before dinner, so we could enjoy our last night. One of the most important tips I can pass on to anyone that is going on their first cruise is to take your time and plan the packing of your stuff. If you are going to do self embark and carry all of your luggage off yourself then this is not for you, but if you are like me and overpack and have aa kids of luggage and you are going to put your luggage out the night before keep in mind the following.

 

1) Have a roll around bag to keep in your room for the next morning.

 

2) If you put your luggage out make sure you have your sleep wear for that night and more important, make sure you keep some clothes that you are going to wear the next morning to leave the ship. I have actually seen people leaving the ship in pajamas.

 

So we did all the packing. I helped the cabin stewart by taking down most of my decorations that I put up. We then got dressed for dinner and headed to have a drink before dinner. We then did dinner and went to the casino for a bit and went and watched Sherlock Holmes out at the Sea Side Theater for a bit. We skipped the Carnival Legends show, one of thos been there done that before. Same cast of characters and the singing was not that good. We had gone and seen the try outs during the week one night and knew it was not going to be spectacular. We went and dropped in to see if Sean got any better in the piano bar, was I thinking a miracle was going to happen? Nope, still sucked and still no one in there. We decided to turn in around midnight. Knew we had to get up early. Not that we wanted to, but we knew they wanted us too.

[Robpuffdaddy]

Well here I am the last day of the cruise. We arrived back into port at around 5:30 in the morning. I woke up because I could tell we were not moving any longer. I got up and looked out the window and thought I lived in and was from the Sunshine State. Well not today. I woke up to being in the middle of Tropical Storm Debby. It was raining and the wind was blowing a bit. So I went back to bed. We were in not rush to get up and get going this morning. We were taking the train back to Tampa and it did not leave till around 12:30. So we were in no rush to get off the ship. Especially when I saw the weather. We had made plans to meet some friends in the dining room for breakfast. They were in no rush either. It was great to just sit back and take our time. This was the first breakfast we had in the dining room all week. I prefer the Lido Deck for breakfast, but this was a nice change. We spent over an hour jsut sitting there drinking coffee and stuff. We got the idea that the dining staff wanted us out of there when they started to remove everything off of the table. We then decided to head up to the adult pool area in the aft of the Lido deck. They had the retractable roof closed and was nice and dry in there. It was not that crowded in there becase most people were in the areas near the food. We jsut hung out for another hour or so until it was finally time for us to leave the ship. We did not want to cut it to close that we would miss the train.

Due to the weather the ship did a good job getting the passengers off the ship safely. They went at a pretty slow pace at first to get the groups off so there was not a backup and exposing to many people to the weather as you got off the ship. There was an area about 25 feet or so that was not in a covered area that you had to walk to to get to, so if it was raining you would wet. Then you were totally covered to go to the building where the luggage was. Fortunately it was not raining at the time we got off so we stayed dry, but like all tropical systems, it comes in bands. There were some heavy periods of rain that morning. Since I had so much luggage we got a porter to assist us. We went the the pile and found our luggage with no problem. If you have black luggage like almost everyone does, do yourself a favor and get some type of neon colored luggage tags or yarn to attach to your luggage handles. Made it a lot easier to find our bags. With all the luggage collected we made our way to the line to go through customs. Here is where I got worried a bit to see how strict they wre going to be with bringing over my allotment of alcohol back with me. The line moved real fast. Got to the counter and the guy asked for our ID and Birth Certificate, and our customs form. He looked at it and said thank you. That was it, piece of cake. We then headed out the building and grabbed a cab and headed to the train station. Total it took only 15-20 minutes from Lido Deck to the cab. We headed to the train station and had plenty of time to spare. Could have had another cup of coffee on the ship but all is well. Well we got on the train and started heading back home and the skies just opened up. It rained so much. I am so glad that we took the train instead of driving home, because if I had driven I would have crossed the state at Alligator Alley and driven up I-75 toward Tampa and would have dealt head on with the blunt of the storm. While we were on the train the train makes several stops at stations along the way, but we stopped at an area for about 30 minutes or so. I was wondering why and thought it had to do with the weather, which it did. When we came upon two railroad crossings we noticed that the train gates were missing and police officers had road flares on the ground to warn drivers to stop for the train. We found out that about 10 minutes before we had got there a tornado went through and snapped the gates and caused some other damage in the area. Well other than that we made it safely home.

Well I think that concludes my review. I am sorry it took a month to get it done, but I have been busy at work and actually getting ready to go on vacation again on Friday. I am taking the family, including my boys to spend the week in Gatlinburg, TN with some friends and then head to Stone Mountain, GA for a few days.

Like I said before, if you have any comments please feel free to leave them for me or if you have any questions please feel free to ask. I will be more than happy to answer them and to help you in any way.

[SASA13]

Excellent review, thank you for doing this, and the pics are great :)