Freedom Itinerary Advice

[skymars]

Hello all, I need some opinions! I will give you a little background first to perhaps help you out. My first cruise was on the Glory in 2004 as a high school graduation gift and I fell in love with cruising! Since then I've cruised on RCCL Sovereign, Enchantment, and Navigator. Somehow I kept getting cheaper rates on the five night Royal cruises vs Carnival, but my last cruise on Royal was a little blah so I decided I definitely need to spice things up with a Carnival cruise. ;) Now on to my boyfriend.. he has never cruised before and is very apprehensive about it. We have been together two years and I just now FINALLY talked him into a cruise so I want to get it right!

 

I've been looking at the Freedom for a long time now and now that it's getting the 2.0 upgrade it's hands down the ship I want to be on. So now on to what I need help with..sorry for the rambling! There are two different 5 night itineraries in September..one includes Nassau, Half Moon Cay, and Grand Turk. The other includes the ports of Ocho Rios and Grand Cayman. If you were taking a nervous first time cruiser which would you choose? The prices are fairly similar and the ports really don't make a difference to me. I am just so torn because I want to make the best possible choice to make my boyfriend my new cruise buddy :confused: Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Disconnections]

If you're planning on spending a lot of time at the beach, go with the Half Moon Cay and Grand Turk itinerary.

[TeresaJ]

Honestly I don't think you could go wrong with either itinerary. Love half moon cay and Grand Cayman for beach days. I have never been to grand turk but it seems nice!

 

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[skymars]

Thanks for your input!

Edited April 23, 2014 by skymars

[ibcruiseing]

Grand Turk and HMC hands down!

[MrBanana1240]

Just got back on Sunday. Beautiful ship and crew. You will love it.

 

Do the one to grand Cayman and Jamaica. Both great places. In grand Cayman do the stingray city tour and in Jamaica do the dunns river ( heard it's nice) and/or river tubing adventure. Had a blast last week.

[rdevine10]

Depends on your cruising style. If you are a hang at the beach person I would def choose the half moon, grand turk one. If you are a more action adventure person I would choose the Ocho Rio/Cayman one.

 

If you like to mix it up and do both, we just got off the Ocho Rios/Grand Cayman one. We did sightseeing & Fort Zachary taylor in key west. Grand Cayman was our beach day (awesome) and in Ocho Rios we did bobsledding & dunns river falls (this was the highlight of the trip).

 

Freedom was fun, but we prefer the spirit style ships. :)

[caribsun]

I would do the 3 port itinerary.

[bjd2]

If you take a first timer to Half Moon Cay and Grand Turk, they will be come addicted too! JMHO. Have a great cruise whatever you decide!

[wb3690]

Grand Turk and HMC hands down!

 

I LOVED Grand Turk. I would definitely choose these two ports.

[grumpyjr88]

I haven't been to HMC or GT yet, but I can vouch for Jamaica and Grand Caymen...they both have loads of awesome activities. Take him to see the sting rays in GC (they are wild and not kept captive.) He will never stop talking about it. Jamaica is just beautiful and there are lots of activities for every person. Last time, we went to a hummingbird sanctuary and a humming bird sat on my finger!

[skymars]

Thanks everyone.. sorry it has taken so long for a response, but working two jobs has taken over my life! This cruise isn't going to pay for itself though :p

 

So I think I'm leaning more towards the Nassau, HMC, and Grand Turk itinerary. To everyone who has been there, what did you do? I've been to Nassau a couple of times, but HMC was cancelled on my last Carnival cruise and I've never been to Grand Turk. Boyfriend and I are both very laid back, but not total beach bums either. I would definitely like to spend a few hours on the beach (maybe get massages?!), but we would like to find something else to do as well. Thanks again!

Edited April 24, 2014 by skymars

[jimbo5544]

If you're planning on spending a lot of time at the beach, go with the Half Moon Cay and Grand Turk itinerary.

I agree.

[kelkel2]

I would do the 3 port itinerary. HMC is a great beach day, sleep in, let the lines wind down, grab some breakfast and head on down off the ship. Enjoy some beach time and then head back. Never been to Nassau and Grand Turk but I know both of those ports have a ton of options. Do you want beach? Do you want an excursion? etc... I would for sure go with the 3 ports. IMHO more sea days are great but if he is a stir crazy kind of person he may get bored on the ship...or if he doesn't want to lay out all the time he may get bored. You know him better than we do, so ultimately you have to make that call based on what you know about him. But if I were making the decision for a first time cruiser I would pick the 3 ports unless I knew they were the sleep in type that would want to have an extra sea day to relax more than an extra port.

[hlb76]

We are doing the Nassau, HMC, Grand Turk trip on Freedom in Oct. I'm so excited to see all the upgrades to her.

 

I would choose the 3 port hands down over the other. These are my thoughts.

 

- three ports might be nice if he finds he is not a fan of sea days

 

- HMC and Grand Turk you can do on little to no money if you dont mind the beach. I know you said you are not beach bums but HMC is beautiful you could certainly walk or rent bikes to explore this piece of heaven. Grand Turk I think you can find cheap tours as well. Though I have never left the cruise area. We just hit the beach or pool area for a while. If we get bored we head back on the ship and find something to do. Quick easy walk back off and on. This year we will venture down the beach to Jacks Shack for a few cocktails and food.

 

-HMC is beautiful!

 

- I do love Grand Cayman and swimming with the rays

 

-I dont care for Ocho Rios - though if you have never been you must do and climb the falls at least once in your life.

 

- HMC is lovely!

 

-I'm not a fan of Nassau either but if you need to go stretch your legs you can get off and walk around or find and AMAZING snorkel tour - Stuarts Cove

 

- HMC is truly paradise!

[jzad]

Hello all, I need some opinions! I will give you a little background first to perhaps help you out. My first cruise was on the Glory in 2004 as a high school graduation gift and I fell in love with cruising! Since then I've cruised on RCCL Sovereign, Enchantment, and Navigator. Somehow I kept getting cheaper rates on the five night Royal cruises vs Carnival, but my last cruise on Royal was a little blah so I decided I definitely need to spice things up with a Carnival cruise. ;) Now on to my boyfriend.. he has never cruised before and is very apprehensive about it. We have been together two years and I just now FINALLY talked him into a cruise so I want to get it right!

 

I've been looking at the Freedom for a long time now and now that it's getting the 2.0 upgrade it's hands down the ship I want to be on. So now on to what I need help with..sorry for the rambling! There are two different 5 night itineraries in September..one includes Nassau, Half Moon Cay, and Grand Turk. The other includes the ports of Ocho Rios and Grand Cayman. If you were taking a nervous first time cruiser which would you choose? The prices are fairly similar and the ports really don't make a difference to me. I am just so torn because I want to make the best possible choice to make my boyfriend my new cruise buddy :confused: Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

Grand Turk is absolutely amazing! Thats why we picked the Freedom 5 night in October

[hlb76]

Jzad. .. when in Oct? We are on the 13th! !!

 

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[jzad]

[ QUOTE=hlb76;42555269]Jzad. .. when in Oct? We are on the 13th! !!

 

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Same!!

 

 

 

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[hlb76]

JZAD... woo hoo... have you joined our inactive roll call or group on the social media site??? I know they are not real active but I'm hoping more join and I make new friends.

 

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