Freedom November 3rd Review

[ecn81126]

Summary: This was a great cruise with very little to complain about.

 

We are in our early 40's and cruised with another couple that is in their early 50's. We've cruised with them twice before and I think that having great travel partners really makes a difference in how much you enjoy a vacation.

 

Embarkation: Was swift! We arrived at noon, parked in the parking garage and walked to the ship. We checked our big luggage easily. Inside the (ugly) port we encountered no line to get our sign-n-sail cards, and within 20 minutes start-to-finish we were on the Lido deck having lunch.

 

The decor: Is pretty subdued. I was hoping for a more outlandish decorating scheme but it was okay. It did make taking indoor pictures difficult, and I ended up with a lot of dark pictures. I only have a digital point-and-shoot camera, though, so I'm sure someone with a nicer camera would get better pictures.

 

The ship layout: Not my favorite, but I got spoiled on the Miracle. We've sailed on the Glory in the past and this ship was very similar (if not the same). It didn't seem to take as long to navigate around as it has in the past, and the ship seemed pretty uncrowded most of the time.

 

The food: Was okay, not great, not the best we've had on Carnival but not the worst either. We ate in the MDR (upper level, Chic, assigned 8:15 dining) for all of our dinners except for the night we ate in the Steakhouse. We ate breakfast and lunch in the MDR (lower level, Posh) as much as we possibly could. We ate twice in the Lido for breakfast on early port days.

 

The Steakhouse: Was good, but not great. Again, I think we just got lucky/spoiled on our Miracle cruise. We had hyped up the experience to our friends, who had never been to the Steakhouse, and it didn't quite measure up to the hype. But...still a great value and well worth going! I think one reason we didn't enjoy it as much as the Miracle was because of its location. It's tucked away on Deck 10 and the windows open to the deck outside. Hard to enjoy lobster when there are people peering in the windows at you wearing bathrobes! LOL

 

The meal service: The service was fantastic. Our headwaiter Peter and assistant waiter Dorian were wonderful and very attentive. We also had great service during breakfast and lunch. A little bit of confusion when we tried to use our free drink coupons during a sea day lunch, but it was straightened out.

 

Our stateroom: We were on Panorama Deck (10), in 1048 and 1044. Both interior rooms, and both had plenty of storage space. They were clean and there was enough room to move around comfortably. We didn't really spend much time in the room, but we never do. Our neighbors on the other side were LOUD at all hours of the day and night. It sounded like they had 50 people in that room, all shouting and partying. Thank goodness for earplugs!

 

The evening shows: We all pretty good. We skipped the Welcome Aboard show and went to the casino instead. We attended the other shows (Motown, Beatles, Big Band, Legends) and they were all very well done. Usually there is a big turnout for the Legends auditions but on this cruise they had a hard time finding enough people to fill the parts. There were extra auditions held. It did make for a much funnier show but I am not sure it's supposed to be funny LOL.

 

Casino: I had a voucher for some free casino cash and they actually gave me the money in cash! I ended up spending $5 of it back at the casino and won a lot the first night and even more the second night. I ended up earning the "free drinks" card and really enjoyed that as well. We did a slot pull through our roll call but didn't win anything there. But that's okay because I played a machine and with one spin won a thousand dollars! I'm not a big gambler so I was super excited and tried to stay away from the casino after that, except to put a few dollars in and get a drink from time to time. I will add that if up-to-date games are important to you, then the Freedom is probably not your best casino choice. It seemed like all the games were old and the selection was limited...but I'm far from an expert so I might be wrong about that.

 

Atrium atmosphere: I was pleased to see that the main Atrium was in use a lot of the time during this cruise. They had dancing, music, trivia contests, ship talks etc and many people were around there. We've been on cruises where there isn't much going on in the middle of the ship so it was a nice change.

 

MUTS: We watched a few bits and pieces of movies here and there. They showed several of the Cirque du Soleil movies and some James Bond ones too. Usually there was only a handful of people watching late at night, but during the day the decks were pretty busy. Even so, it wasn't hard to find a chair if you wanted one.

 

Sushi: Free sushi bar was really yummy and never crowded.

 

Late Night Snacks: Were near the casino on the promenade deck instead of being up on the Lido deck. They had a combination of hot and cold foods and a different variety every night. It was a nice location and again, never felt crowded.

 

Chocolate Extravaganza: Was held during lunch in the Lido restaurant. Odd time for it, but it was yummy all the same.

 

Serenity: Was the only place on the ship that felt crowded to me. Even with two floors, there weren't enough deck chairs on the sunny days. We ended up down on Deck 3 which was a bit shadier but much less crowded.

 

St. Thomas: We took a taxi (Muscle Man's) to Sapphire Beach and spent a few hours there. It was very uncrowded and we felt like we had the whole beach to ourselves for a few hours before a ship excursion from another line showed up. I would go back there again. It was beautiful and the snorkeling (extra fee) was fantastic. We saw a dozen different kinds of fish and sea turtles too!

 

Antigua: I was very disappointed with the "scumminess" of the port area. We had booked a private charter on a boat to go deep sea fishing. We took a taxi across the island to Nelson's dockyard. Our taxi drivers, both ways, were very informative and proud of their community, and took the time to tell us about it. The deep sea fishing was fun, we caught Barracuda and Rainbow fish, saw a Sailfish too. We booked a 4-hour charter but by the third hour we were all getting seasick so we headed back to shore early. We loved the Nelson harbor area, it was clean, historic, and no pushy people trying to sell you anything. After we got back to the port area near our ship, it was very crowded, chaotic and lots of pushy people trying to sell you stuff. We didn't like seeing the small children selling popcorn out of baggies either.

 

Tortola: We did an excursion through Carnival on this one, "Tortola by Land and Sea". We enjoyed the trip and learned a lot about the island. We also got some fantastic pictures, although the driving through the mountains made me a bit nervous. We chose a ship excursion because we were only in port for a few hours and didn't want to take the chance of missing the ship.

 

Nassau: We've been here before, and had planned to stay on the ship but decided to book a snorkeling tour instead. We got off the ship early and waited for the tour, then found out that the tour had been cancelled! It would have been nice to know that before we all got off the ship, but oh well. We reboarded the ship, changed our clothes and went to the straw market. Bought a few trinkets then headed back on board the ship. It was windy with drizzle off and on, so it was good afternoon to just take a nap and relax a bit.

 

Sea Days: There were a lot of activities available on the sea days which was nice. All four of us were able to find fun things to do and watch.

 

VIFP party: We attended the party as Gold cardholders but our friends were Red so they did not. It was pretty much the same as the Past Guest parties were. The whole show lounge was PACKED which was surprising so I can see why they are having to cut the number of guests to attend. There was one couple on our cruise that has sailed over 260 days with Carnival...kudos to them. The food/drink service during the party was very good, probably the best we've encountered.

 

Ship Shops: Didn't seem to have the big sales we've seen on past cruises. I usually purchase a few holiday gifts for my family on board but did not do so this time. Not sure why they didn't have the big sales, but I heard similar comments from other passengers.

 

Guests: There was certainly an older crowd on board. Many, many wheelchairs, electric scooters, and canes being used. Most of the guests on board were friendly, cheerful, and considerate of each other. There was also a large poker tournament group on board, but they had their own space and did not get in the way of other ship activities. They did have a few "dress up" nights and that was really fun to see. Huge groups of people dressed like pirates or like nerds. We heard there were over 100 children on board but didn't see very many of them. We had a few instances of screaming babies during shows, but most parents took them out right away. We did have the typical "press every button on the elevator" experience, but we laughed that off.

 

Medical Staff: I do want to take a moment and give a thumbs up to the medical staff on board. One evening in the casino a man was unresponsive and the medical staff was there right away taking care of the man. Later in the cruise a dock worker was severely injured and taken away by ambulance, as well as a young man on a stretcher and his family. They got them off the ship, luggage and all, in a short amount of time.

 

The Election: Because the US Presidential election took place while we were on board, they held a special "Red, White and Blue" party in the sports bar on election night. Anyone interested could attend and watch the coverage there. (We walked by at one point and it wasn't very well attended.) Elsewhere on the ship it was just fun as usual, and I was happy that the election didn't overshadow the happy vacation aspect of our cruise.

 

Debarkation: We chose to do the self-assist debarkation and we were off the ship at 7:30am. It was a LONG walk to get to the parking garage the way they had everything laid out. I hope the port gets finished soon because all the tarps/construction/noise/wind was a bit much. Customs was super fast to get through and we were on the road by 8am. It was awesome!

 

Feel free to ask if you have any questions!

[soulsistah007]

Thanks for your review!! Very insightful as we'll be on the ship in 6 weeks!

 

I have a question about the late night snacks by the Casino. I didn't know they had them there! What kind of food was it?

 

Was there lots of food/drinks coming around at the VIFP party? I noticed on our last cruise they were pretty skimpy on the amount of drinks. I think I only managed to get 2.

 

This will be my DH and I's first time on a ship with a Steakhouse so we're giving it a go especially since it's our honeymoon! Any meal items in particular you'd recommend? Are the portions a decent size?

 

Thanks :)

[ecn81126]

Thanks for your review!! Very insightful as we'll be on the ship in 6 weeks!

 

I have a question about the late night snacks by the Casino. I didn't know they had them there! What kind of food was it? They had a selection of olives, cold meats and cheeses. Also a "hot item" which one night was calzones, one night was some kind of spicy eggroll, another night was a puff pastry type thing. There was also pound cake, fresh fruit, chocolate sauce, and a variety of cookies.

 

Was there lots of food/drinks coming around at the VIFP party? I noticed on our last cruise they were pretty skimpy on the amount of drinks. I think I only managed to get 2. We sat towards the front on the left hand side. As the servers were bringing the trays in from the doorways next to the stage, it was the perfect location. They were giving out large glasses of what I "think" was rum punch, but you could place an order if you wanted something different. They brought more glasses to us while our first glasses were only half empty. The appetizers were very good. They had some type of beef "pot roast" type dish in gravy, and also what resembled tasty seasoned chicken nuggets. Also some bread/tomato/cheese things.

 

This will be my DH and I's first time on a ship with a Steakhouse so we're giving it a go especially since it's our honeymoon! Any meal items in particular you'd recommend? Are the portions a decent size? The portions at the steakhouse are very large. Two of the steaks on the menu were over 18oz. The filet mignon was 9 ounces. I ordered the surf-and-turf, which was described as a "half lobster tail and 4.5oz filet mignon". Well, the "half tail" was three times as big as the tail in the MDR on formal night! I really liked the lobster bisque. The beefsteak tomato and gorgonzola cheese appetizer was big enough to be a meal in itself. And all the desserts were over the top and huge as well. Also, they provided as much bread as you wanted, with dipping oils to go along. It would be really hard to leave hungry.

 

Thanks :)

 

I answered the above in red, feel free to ask anymore questions! Also, if you are enjoying your honeymoon make sure you let them know at the Love & Marriage show. You might get onstage!

[hartskys]

Great review - thanks :) We will be on the Freedom next month and can't wait.

 

How much did you have to spend to get the free drink card in the casino?

[SMSACE6]

Nice review! Thanks for taking the time to post your experience. :)

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review!

[mrpayroll]

We were on the same cruise. We went to piano bar several different nights and never saw more than ten people in it. I agree that this cruise seemed to have lots of older cruisers on board. We had a GREAT time.......

[Spanky My]

Many thanks as we will be on the Fredoom in May. Yours and everyones insight with a review is a good read. Lots of folks appreciate you taking the time....

[ecn81126]

Great review - thanks :) We will be on the Freedom next month and can't wait.

 

How much did you have to spend to get the free drink card in the casino?

 

You have to accumulate 1,500 points. I have no idea how much money was actually spent, as I used $5 of the free casino cash offer that I received and played/replayed the money I won. I ended up with over 4,000 points on the cruise. My husband spent over $100 of his own money and never came close to getting a free drink card or winning either, for that matter LOL. Our friend plays table games and I know he spent a bunch of money playing, but also never got a drink card. Then again, it's something that you have to be proactive about yourself. There is no fanfare or anything when you reach 1,500 points. You have to bring your sign-n-sail card to the cashier and they get you set up with a drink card. If I hadn't read about the program here, I wouldn't have known it was even a perk.

 

I forgot to add that I also got a bottle of wine one night delivered to the MDR from the casino host. That was a total surprise. I was allowed to select from six wines, three white and three red.

[Lovefuninthesun]

Thanks for the review -- nice job!

 

We were on the same cruise with you, and had a fabulous time! For us, it was our best cruise experience ever!

 

The one place I disagree with you, however, is the Steak House experience -- we thought it was wonderful and very memorable! 2nd best steak I've ever eaten (second only to a visit to Ruth Chris) and flawless service. And the escargots in the tiny brioches were exquisite.

 

>>Didn't you enjoy the elderly couple who dressed in matching outfits and ballroom-danced in full-formal attire in the lobby every evening?:)

[ecn81126]

 

>>Didn't you enjoy the elderly couple who dressed in matching outfits and ballroom-danced in full-formal attire in the lobby every evening?:)

 

We loved that couple! We were always amazed at how they managed to match their clothing so perfectly. One day they wore a yellow and green ensemble that must have taken a long time to put together...so sweet.

[mom22tinks]

Great review!