Our Cruise on the Carnival Freedom w/ Lots of Pics

[Homer714]

My family and I are taking this cruise next month (25 days from now...yay!) to renew our vows for our 20th anniversary. I just have a few questions. Are there 2 formal nights, and also what to do in Ocho Rios. I'm not sure if Dunns Falls is for us, and I'm trying to find alternatives. Any help is appreciated.

 

the family and I will be there with you! I will tip back a few colds one in honor of you guys!!! :D

[jessiesgirl2013]

Thanks, Homer..we are looking forward to a great cruise :)

[GAMOM4]

We never got off the ship in Ocho Rios for this sole reason. We were in Ocho Rios in 2007 and as we were leaving Dunn's River Falls the vendors continued to grab me and pull at me. I have no interest to get off the ship there.

I honestly don't think it's much better. We heard people coming back to the ship saying they wish they had stayed onboard

 

 

That is one of the things I am so afraid of ... my comfort level is very low around things like that.....all my friends say Jamaica is wonderful...of course they have only been to all inclusives and never on a cruise....I do want to at least get off the ship..we are trying to decide between doing the sky lift up the mountain with bob sled and "possibly the zip line...never did that before" or doing a tour with Moby Dick tours where we go to the falls and then tubing and then eat there....I thought about the cool runnings tour through Carnival...but after reading all the reviews about how it was a total sales pitch almost the entire way ther and back I am just not sure :(

[Homer714]

my pictures are taking forever to load onto photobucket so i will continue to upload them tonight and then start to post them into my review tomorrow.

 

I know you are all waiting inpatiently......hehe

 

:D :eek: :)

Edited March 20, 2013 by Homer714

[jessiesgirl2013]

Thanks, I'm going to check the Bobsled out :)

[funinthesun1964]

Did you do Dunns river falls? Have they cleaned up the straw market at the top?

 

That was a disaster the last time we were there. Some local wanted to pull my wife and daughter into his "store" and wanted them to go in and see charlie. I don't know what or who Charlie was but they weren't going. :confused: I actually had to get between them and threaten the guy to move out of the way.

 

My reason for never going back to Ocho Rios.

 

 

No, we didn't do Dunns River Falls, it looked like it could be dangerous, I have balance issues and thought I would fall and possibly break a hip :eek: We decided to book an excursion for a plantation tour. After the plantation, the tour also included Dolphin's Cove (I think this was the name of the place), where a lunch was provided. There was a small beach there also. Only problem was we had downpours that day.

 

In my review below, I have photos of the tour in Jamaica if you or anyone else is interested.

 

Since we booked this excursion, we really didn't have anyone harass us or anything like that. I have heard the stories before about the pushy Dunn River Falls vendors.

Edited March 20, 2013 by funinthesun1964

[wrigley80]

OK it is time to get this photo review started.......

 

We live in northern Illinois so like we always do we flew out the day before our cruise. We flew out of Midway Airport with a stop in Atlanta en route to Fort Lauderdale. Now let me start out and say this way the travel day from hell :mad: If things could go wrong they did :rolleyes:

 

When our 12:00 pm flight from Chicago arrived in Atlanta we looked at the Departure flight board and saw that our connecting flight to Fort Lauderdale was delayed by almost an hour. Not much you can do about that.

 

'

Me on our flight from Chicago to Atlanta

 

I was so ready to leave the snow, ice, and bad roads of Illinois behind

 

When our flight from Atlanta took off en route to Fort Lauderdale we thought it was going to be about an hour flight......oh my was I wrong. Our flight from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale took almost 3 hours.....that's right I said 3 hours. There was so much air traffic around the Fort Lauderdale airport that we had to fly out over the ocean for almost an hour. It was hot in the plane and I was so ready to be on the ground and off this freaking airplane. We finally arrived at the Fort Lauderdale airport at 9:00 pm.......we were supposed to arrive at 6:30 pm.

 

This is where our day actually got worse......we headed down to baggage claim where we waited and waited and waited. Our bags never came out. "I told my dad our bags are not here. We better track someone down to try and find our luggage." We finally found someone who could help us out. My dad walked into this little room to find out luggage....it had come in on another flight from Atlanta. Are you kidding me????? :eek:

[wrigley80]

We got our luggage and headed to the rental car center where we had reserved a car at Budget. We got to our car and couldn't figure out how to open the trunk. I just told my dad to throw the suitcases in the back seat and let's go.

We headed to dinner out by our hotel. We decided to eat at a Chili's. We ate dinner and then headed over to our hotel. I got our hotel the Bonaventure Resort and Spa in Weston through Hotwire.

We arrived at the hotel at 10:30 pm walked in to check-in and found out that they had overbooked and bumped our reservation......WHAT???? At this point I just wanted a place to sleep for a few hours. The Bonaventure had arranged for us to stay across the road at the Vacation Villages....which was fine except we arrive in the room to find out that there was only one queen size bed. I just told my dad to forget it. He could have the bed and I slept on the floor.

Let's just say that I was never so happy to see the sun come up. I got up and got ready to leave by 6:00 am.

This first day of travel was behind us and I was soooooo ready to get on our cruise.

This was Vacation Villages where we ended up staying. It is more like a retirement complex for snowbirds

 

 

[wrigley80]

We booked this cruise on the Carnival Freedom on New Years Day only two weeks after we returned from our back-to-back cruises on the Ecstasy and Sensation. We had met some friends from San Diego on the Carnival Legend in December 2011 that we regularly keep in contact with. They were on the Carnival Freedom the week before us on the 8-day itinerary. We met them the morning of our cruise at their hotel and headed to breakfast before we could head over to Port Everglades to board the Carnival Freedom

 

My dad and Cindy....(please excuse the smudge on the lens. That is only on a couple pics before I realized it)

 

Yvonne, my dad, and Cindy

 

The whole group.

By this time it was now 10:00 am and I was getting antsy and ready to head to the port. We dropped off our rental car at the Budget facility right by the port and waited for the shuttle to take us to the cruise port. It was very convenient doing it all this way.

[wrigley80]

Next Stop.....Port Everglades Terminal #19 for the Carnival Freedom.

Check-in was very convenient. My dad and I are both Platinum so we headed into the Priority line for security and then the priority line to get our sail and sign cards. This was our first cruise with Priority check-in.....it was wonderful. We got our sail and sign cards and headed up the escalator to board the ship. From the time we stepped out of the Budget shuttle to the time we stepped onboard was less than 15 minutes.

It was very quick and convenient......just what we needed after travel nightmares from the day before :p

Our first stop when we got onboard was to stop at the Atrium Bar to get our Bottomless Bubbles soda package. We do this every cruise and it is worth every penny for us

 

A freshly stocked bar is ready for a fresh supply of cruisers

 

Dad and I with our platinum cards......wow I love cruising

[CheckersMidwest]

Wonderful so far! Keep the photos coming !

Did they have a late night Mexican Buffet one night?

Edited March 20, 2013 by CheckersMidwest

[CruisinTeacher4]

Great start! I can't believe all the craziness you had before the cruise even started--I would have been stressing hard!! Way to keep positive attitude:)

[Jimmy Geegitz]

Nice start kid!! good pics!!

[SCFCRUISER]

Keep the pictures coming! My mom & aunt were on this same cruise. Maybe they are in one of your pictures!:)

[wrigley80]

Well once we had our bottomless bubbles we headed up to Lido Deck to find out where we wanted to eat lunch. We decided to go to Fish n' Chips. It was sooooo good. We were the only ones up there. It seems like a lot of people don't even know that it is up there

 

After we ate our lunch we headed down to Lido area to see what was available for dessert

 

This was looking down from the aft stairs to the lido aft buffet.

 

Warm chocolate chip cookies and a FunShip Special....it sounds like a good idea to me :p

 

This was Iputu and my dad. Iputu was a waiter that we got to know quite well in the Chic Dining Room. He was very nice and he always stopped to say Hello

[wrigley80]

After lunch we decided to head back outside to take some pictures of the ship and of other ships that were in port that day

 

The sun seekers are in full force on Day #1

 

Can you say "Monstrosity of the Seas." I have no interest in going on a ship that big :eek: The Monstrosity....ooppppsss I Mean Allure of the Seas is so big it doesn't fit in the picture

 

That ship is the Ruby Princess

 

Downtown Fort Lauderdale and the Beach front hotels.

[tattoos]

Look at you guys with your Platinum cards, WOO HOO. You both look so darn happy to be onboard. There are a couple of pretty good hotels in Plantation right off 595 near the Broward Mall that are a straight shot and quick ride to Port Everglades and there are some good restaurants and stores in close proximity.

 

Can't wait to see more photos and read your review. You and your Dad look great!!

 

Rose

[wrigley80]

Do we look like we are ready to begin this cruise or what???? Oh yeah we are :D

That yacht in the back is Steven Speilberg's yacht......E.T. called and he wants a ride on the yacht instead of on that damn bike :D

 

I really liked on the Carnival Freedom that there were so many places to sit outside on the promenade decks and Sun decks that was away from the hustle and bustle of loud Lido deck area. It was nice to get away from the noise. There were times that felt like we had the entire ship to ourselves

My dad and I are like two peas in a pod and so happy to be onboard a ship again

[wrigley80]

After we explored outside for a while we headed down to our cabin to put things away and to meet our room steward. We were in Cabin 7324....it was a mid-ship inside cabin. It was a perfect location. I will post some pictures of the cabin later on

 

After we left our cabin we headed out to explore some more. Our first stop brought us to the Casino Bar. The Casino Bar is all the way in the corner of the casino near the mid-ship elevators

This is the Players' Bar on Deck 5 Forward. I spent a lot of time in here checking out the scores and watching various games

 

We headed out on the Outside Promenade deck to see if any ships were getting ready to leave yet. The county Sheriff boat was patrolling the harbor where all the cruise ships were

 

I always have a fascination with draw bridges.....it stayed up for a few minutes to allow the sailboats through

[wrigley80]

Don't look at this picture too long....you may get dizzy. This was looking straight up in the atrium

 

Dad and I are waiting in the Atrium for the announcements to be made for the Muster Drill. We both have our mardi gras beads on for our meet and greet. We had our meet and greet on the Serenity Deck during sailaway but not many people showed up.

 

This is the Marine Safety and Operations handout that was given to us before the Muster Drill. I am unable to stand for extended periods of time so we were escorted by a crew member to the Library and asked to follow along while the Muster Drill instructions were read aloud on the loud speaker

[Mrsfabo]

To see more!

[put me on a ship]

Loving the review! In 39 days, that will be DH, my sister, and me!!!!:D

[SMSACE6]

Nice start to your review! I had an awesome cruise on Freedom in 2010. Looking forward to more of your review and photos.:)

[sjn911]

Thanks for your review..the Freedom always appeals to me as well as that Key West stop..so want to see and visit there ...

 

There you are in your Ron J. shirt...remembering my intro to the place in your last review.

 

So glad you are once again sharing your vacation and great friendship with your dad with us.

 

Always love the looks and reports of the Freedom...even the name..just the best, glad to hear you found quiet spots...Sarah

 

PS..How sweet of you to give dad the bed, sorry about the goof on your arrival...you are so great the way you describe the whole deal...with a great sense of humor...

 

Afraid of Jamaica too..but want to see it somehow when I get there..we are just so fortunate here...Sarah

Edited March 21, 2013 by sjn911

[a_town29]

'We had our meet and greet on the Serenity Deck during sailaway but not many people showed up.'

 

I got married during embarkation on this cruise! We were doing pictures all the way up until muster drill pretty much and still visiting with all of our cruising guests so we didn't make it to the meet and greet :(

 

I was really looking forward to meeting you though as I've lurked on these boards for awhile and have read more than one of your reviews:rolleyes: It's amazing I never saw you though as we were also on deck 7, all the way aft, but still! I'm so looking forward to reading this review! And I was definately one of the passengers wishing I'd stayed on board in Jamaica- all the hounding really is excessive and so off putting!!!