Carnival Freedom 6-Day Western Caribbean Cruise

[jwalk03]

OK so lunch on the Lido Deck we headed to our Inside cabin on Panorama Deck, which was ready around 130. I like staying on the higher decks for easy access to the Lido Deck & Pools, we got upgraded from the Rivera Deck cabin we had booked for only $20, well worth it!! After dropping off our carry-ons we went to explore the ship for a while and took lots of pictures most of which I've shared already. Then it was off to the Muster Drill, after the Drill we went on deck to watch sail away, as I Mentioned already we were the last ship to leave port so we got to watch several other ships sail away which was kind of cool.

 

All the people on deck for sail away

 

Then it was off to have a drink! (my girlfriend again)

 

And before we go any further let me introduce the rest of the group for this adventure:

 

from left to right: Eric & Halie, ME, Ashley and her brother Travis.

 

 

Then it was off to the Main Lounge for Gameshow Mania!

[qbanrican84]

Loving the review! Thanks for sharing, I'm so excited...will be sailing Freedom in April for my 29th Bday :)

[jwalk03]

More Gameshow Mania

 

If you yell out answers during Gameshow Mania you get "punished"

 

 

I really wanted to go on stage and play, but did not get picked. O well it was still fun.

[jwalk03]

After Gameshow Mania, Misti & I headed to the Chic Restaurant for dinner. Sorry, I didn't take pictures of the food, nor do I really remember exactly what we ate which nights. (Except for the Steakhouse, I remember that well and have pictures!, but more on that later in the review.)

 

 

 

 

Misti had 3 desserts! All very good. I had 2 of my own! Could not decide between the warm chocolate melting cake and the cheesecake, both were excellent!

[jwalk03]

After a long day of driving, and getting settled in we were beat after dinner and headed off to bed. Day 1 towel animal...

 

Tomorrow, Key West.

[mickym]

Thank you so much for this review!! As you can see we will soon be on the Freedom. I was really anxious before but when I look at your pictures I can hardly stand the wait!!! I'll start packing tomorrow.

[sweetcurves]

*sigh* I lost my cruiseginity on this ship and itinerary back in October. I miss it. Loved that ship!

[jwalk03]

Day 2- Key West

 

This was my second call on Key West. I absolutely love it there, and am always up for going back. One of these days ill take a vacation just to Key West. Misti & I had the Carnival Catamaran Sail & Snorkel Excursion planned but it was cancelled due to the weather. (it was very windy!) So since our excursion got cancelled we decided to meet up with our 4 friends and just bar hop around.

 

Last time we were in KW, we visited the southern most point & Harry Truman's Little White House so we decided to skip those things this time, but if its your first time in KW I would definitely check out both of these things. I have not done Hemingway House yet, have to do that one on my next visit.

 

Looking out on Key West from the ship

 

 

 

 

[jwalk03]

Key West is a very easy port. No tendering (though if your ship is docked at the naval base that is somewhat inconvenient, luckily Freedom was not), very easy to navigate, and LOTS to do! This is definitely a port where booking a Carnival excursion is not necessary.

 

 

 

 

 

[jwalk03]

 

 

 

 

[jwalk03]

Its NEVER too early to start drinking in Key West! So its off to Fat Tuesdays.

 

 

 

[jwalk03]

and of course right next door to Fat Tuesdays is the Hard Rock Cafe!! I'm an avid Hard Rock collector, and have visited 30 Hard Rock locations to date, and let me say that I LOVE the Key West location! It is so different from all the others. The uniqueness of this cafe makes it my favorite.

 

 

 

 

 

[jwalk03]

 

 

 

 

[jwalk03]

 

 

 

[jwalk03]

Next stop, The Original Margaritaville!

 

 

 

 

 

[jwalk03]

Next up Cowboy Bills

 

 

 

 

and then to another bar (can't seem to remember its name... wonder why at this point of the day I would forget? ;)

 

 

US 1

 

Then it was time to head back to the ship, did stop and have a frozen key lime pie on a stick on the way though, and it was excellent!

[jwalk03]

Once back on board it was off to the Lido Restaurant for some dinner, and then up Panorama Deck to watch sail away from KW.

 

After a little relaxation in the cabin it was off to the Main Show Lounge for the Love & Marriage Game. This is always hysterical! Find it in the Fun Times and make sure you attend, its definitely worth your time!

 

 

Then a little walk around on the exterior Lobby Deck. It would be really nice if this went all the way around instead of dead ending at each end.

 

 

 

Then it was off to bed for another night.

 

Sea Day tomorrow.

[jwalk03]

Day 3- Sea Day

 

We got up early to get chairs on the Lido deck for our first sea day. After securing a good spot, it was into the Lido Buffet for some breakfast. Very good, as long as you get the right things.

 

After breakfast it was back to our chairs. The weather was not too good at this point. Very overcast and very windy. and then it got even worse when it decided to rain. :( pretty well wrecked out sea day plans of laying by the pool and working on our tans all day.

 

 

Since outside activities were out we checked our Funtimes for some indoor fun. We found Twisted Scattergories which sounded like it would be fun, it was just ok. There were way too many people packed into the room they had it in and it was not organized very well. A giant game of Scattergories is a really fun idea, it just wasn't executed very well.

 

After that was over we decided to check out the casino for a while. Everyone else went to play slots, but I hate slots so I hit the blackjack table. Given that it was a sea day and the weather was crappy I figured the casino would be packed, but it really wasn't. I had trouble finding a blackjack table with more than 1 or 2 other people, and the craps table was completely deserted. Too bad, I find table games more fun with a larger group to share the winnings (or sorrows) with. After a couple hours, i had won around $50, and decided to head back to Lido deck for an afternoon snack, and over to the fun shops to buy some liquor to take home. If you have never had Sheridan's i highly recommended it! Its very good and not available in the US, so take advantage and have some on board (a take some to-go!)

 

Then we headed back to our cabin to get ready for the evening. It was our first formal night after all.

[jwalk03]

After getting all dressed for formal night it was off to the Chic Restaurant for dinner. This was the longest we had to wait for ATD, but the wait was only about 15 minutes, very reasonable in my opinion.

We decided not to stop and pose for any of the photographers, the pictures are just so expensive to buy on board and it’s such a pain to even find any of your pictures in the photo gallery. I hear some ships are using facial recognition software now so you can find your pictures that way, which is an excellent idea because the current system of hunt and peck sucks!

 

 

 

 

Dinner was excellent. You should never skip dinner on formal night, because its usually the best menu of the week. I do remember that I had spaghetti carbonara as an appetizer that was phenomenal, the baked alaska was also good, but not as good as the warm chocolate melting cake!

[jwalk03]

After dinner it was time for the Punchliner Comedy Club in the International Aft Lounge. I highly recommend getting to the comedy shows at least 30 minutes early to get a seat. If you miss out on one night's show don’t freak out though, it’s the same 2 comedians for 6 days, just go to a show later in the week. Also it is extremely rude to show up late and when you can’t get a seat to simply stand in front people that arrived on time and block them from seeing the show. If you can’t get a seat come back for another show, or if you want to stand for the show, please stand along the walls or at the bar area, not in front of people's seats!

We saw both comedians adults only shows, (sorry I can't comment on the family friendly shows as I didn’t see either of them.) Both comedians were very funny, sorry I can’t remember either of their names. It would be nice if they rotated the comedians in port so that by the 5th or 6th night it’s not still the same 2 guys doing the same 2 shows over and over again, but still. I think on some ships/intermarries they do this, but it most only be on longer ones because they certainly did not on this one.

 

Overall I would say the Punchliner comedy shows are good, a few tweaks would be nice, and maybe they should consider doing a show or 2 in the main theater as the smaller Aft lounge always seemed packed for the shows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tonight's towel animal:

 

 

Tomorrow: Grand Cayman

[Cupcrazy]

Thanks for sharing your pictures!

[wrigley80]

Thanks for the review.....we booked the Carnival Freedom today

[jwalk03]

Day 4- Grand Cayman

I was very concerned that we would miss this port because of the weather. The ship the night before was rocking and rolling big time!! At one point during the night the room was moving so much i almost fell out of bed! IT was by far the roughest night I have ever seen on a ship!

Luckily my fears were wrong and we arrived in Grand Cayman as scheduled. It was still very overcast but the waves and wind had calmed down quite a bit.

First it was up on deck to take some pictures of Grand Cayman.

 

 

 

 

After a few photos it was off to the Lido deck for a quick breakfast. All very good as usual. I love the breakfast buffets! (Maybe it because I rarely eat breakfast on a day to day basis because I like to sleep till the last possible moment!) One of these cruises I am going to have to try the room service, but I just can’t ever pass on the breakfast buffet!

After breakfast it was down to Deck 0 to board a tender boat. It was about 830 and there really was not a line to board at all. I always hear horror stories of long waits and ticket times and such for tendering, I found it to be a very smooth and easy process, at least this time. Maybe if you just get up and relax a little and don’t worry about being on the very first tender boat at 7AM sharp it makes for a better experience.

The ride over to the island was quick, and it was over to the shopping plaza shops while we wait for our excursion to begin.

 

[jwalk03]

 

 

 

 

 

[jwalk03]

We took the Carnival excursion to Tiki Beach.

 

 

 

 

It was absolutely pouring down rain on the way to the beach! Not what you want to see when you are riding on the bus to a beach day!! It was also still raining when we got there, so we just sat in the covered bar area with everyone else for about 30 or 45 minutes while it poured! Luckily it cleared up and was absolutely gorgeous the rest of the afternoon, so weird that it can be so dark and gloomy, and then so bright and sunny in such a short period of time in the Caribbean.