Freedom 4 Night from Galveston Review 2/6 Sailing

[cruisintex85]

This is my first Cruise Critic Review. Well, my first one to write. I have read MANY. We (my husband and I) went on the 2/6 sailing on the Carnival Freedom from Galveston for a quick getaway to Cozumel and back. This was my first Carnival cruise so I thought I would share my thoughts, some photos (mostly of food), and the daily schedules (which actually survived my husband's daily purge of all paper in our stateroom). First some background about us to give some context to our opinions.

 

My husband, Nick, is 31 and I am 30. We are both native Houstonians and LOVE our city. I am a somewhat newly licensed attorney and he is a somewhat newly licensed architect. We have a cocker spaniel named Annie who we treat like a child (but we really do know better). We have only been on a few cruises before. I have cruised twice on Royal Caribbean in 2005 and 2007 when I was in high school. I went on the Regal Princess grand Mediterranean cruise with my mom in 2014 after I took the Texas bar exam. Nick and I went on the Emerald Princess last year for a New Year's cruise from Houston with his extended family. Thus, most of my comparisons are to Princess as I honestly do not remember the specifics of RCL well enough to comment on with accuracy today.

 

We had been talking about taking this cruise for awhile when we finally decided to book this date kind of on an impulse. I had just finished a horrible trial at the beginning of December and was needing a short escape. I used a website that lets travel agents send you bids for the cruise you want and we found a "too good to pass up" deal on an inside room. We booked this trip less than a month before it left which was a test for my type A personality but I managed somehow.

 

We also jumped on this because we really like Cozumel. Last winter we went there on the Emerald Princess and visited Mr. Sancho's where we had a blast. We wanted to go back and try Nachi Cocom so we could decide which was better. We are taking my mom on a birthday cruise next December on the Celebrity Reflection and needed to have a final verdict, lol (clearly we are not loyal to a cruise line :rolleyes:).

 

Ok, with all that said, I am going to try to figure out pictures and start the review! Also, if you have any questions about Houston or Galveston please don't hesitate to ask. I actually interned for a semester during law school in Galveston and have seriously scoped out the island (which I think is way underrated!).

[Star24K]

Jumping on board and can't wait to read your review!

[Cruisetex]

The 2/6 Freedom sailing? You mean 2/4 through 2/8? Freedom sailing? We were there and am interested in what you though of this particular cruise. Looking forward to your review.

[cruisintex85]

The 2/6 Freedom sailing? You mean 2/4 through 2/8? Freedom sailing? We were there and am interested in what you though of this particular cruise. Looking forward to your review.

 

Lol, yes that is what I meant. Apparently I went on my own cruise. Do you know how to change the title?

[cruisintex85]

PARKING

 

So the cruise is less 30 than days out. Fortunately we don't need airfare or a rental car, but we do need parking and an excursion for Cozumel. I browsed some reviews on parking options and decided on Park-N-Cruise right across from the terminal. Literally, it was right across from the terminal. No waiting on shuttles or shlepping our stuff across Galveston. Some people were dropping their bags off then parking, but we were fine just carrying them across the street. We had pre-booked the outside option and we parked and were in the terminal in 5-7 minutes. The inside spots did look a little tight. I would 100% use them again mostly to avoid waiting on shuttles. I booked this 3 weeks out.

 

FASTER TO THE FUN

 

I logged into my new account on Carnival 3 weeks out and lo and behold faster to the fun was available. I read on these boards where a bunch of people didn't think it was worth it for Galveston and I decided to get it anyway. Super glad I did. Nick gets um, fussy, in lines/crowds so I figured this could help avoid unnecessary grumpiness. Also, we were both planning on going into work Monday when we got back into Galveston and this would allow us to get off the ship first-ish. I would 100% do this again as it definitely let us avoid some delays. We also benefitted from it at Guest Services where we had to visit twice due to a credit card mishap (totally my fault, not theirs).

 

COZUMEL

 

Last time we were in Cozumel we spent the day at Mr. Sancho's. It was great. Could it be "greater"? I suspected yes. We went to Mr. Sancho's last time because it was a holiday cruise and there were 3 ships in port (including the Allure) and Nachi Cocom was booked. I had also read some mixed reviews on Nachi so I had dragged my feet on making the booking. Nick was all about going back to Mr. Sancho's. He loved the coconut shrimp and the beach. I didn't find the food there to be that great (read: nachos with the fake cheese sauce:eek:). Nick is new to beach vacations and I am not, so I was pretty sure he would be happy with the beach anywhere.

 

Nick finally gave in to me booking Nachi Cocom when he realized they gave you beer in bottles versus the plastic cups at Mr. Sanchos (it's the little things folks). The crowd control factor also got him (it was pretty crowded when we were at Mr. Sanchos). Still not sure which one to do, I dragged my feet and ended up booking Nachi Cocom while Nick was driving us to Galveston. I will give our conclusions on it (and pictures!) when I get to that day.

 

SHIP EXTRAS

 

Before we left for the cruise, about 3 weeks out, I also booked the steakhouse and chef's table. I was surprised they did the chef's table on such a short cruise, but was pumped they accepted my booking. I booked the steakhouse for the first night to take advantage of the half price wine. I had seen the reserve list somewhere and knew that at 50% off there were some serious deals to be had. I booked the steakhouse through the cruise planner on the carnival website and the chef's table through sending an email to the steakhouse manager. Both were responded to approximately 5 days later.

 

Finally, I bought a package of 12 bottles of water through the onboard shops. This was a steal at apx $3.00 compared to what was being charge on board. I did this about 2 weeks out.

 

Day 1 starts next with pictures and "Fun Times" (promise! I am waiting on Nick to get everything uploaded)

[jandjtexas]

Can't wait to hear about your time at Nachi. Going there for the first time in a few months.

[besito20]

We will be in Nachi next month! Looking forward to the rest of your review! :)

[cincicruisers]

Looking forward to your review.

[whaletaillover]

Good start to your review,we sailed the Freedom last Sept. and will be on her again for the Oct.1,2016 cruise.We loved the Freedom.The crew was amazing and super friendly.We have been to Nachi Cocum 5 times and loved it and I hope that you liked it also.

[The Phoenixx]

99 days and we can hardly wait. Looking forward to the rest of your review!!

[cruisintex85]

Ok, sorry about the delay. Nick had to teach me how to get the pictures going and then work got crazy. Here we go!

 

Day 1: Embarkation

 

You would think booking a cruise less than a month out would really cut back on how slow time seems to count down before you leave, but you would be wrong. Those few weeks seemed to last forever!

 

We woke up Thursday morning, finished packing and decided to go to our favorite local spot, Common Bond Bakery, for breakfast. If you stay in Houston before your cruise I highly recommend checking it out! It is a really cool space designed by an architecture firm in the Cinque Terre in Italy (Nick’s #careergoals). I was angling to grab breakfast in Galveston at the Sunflower Café, but we couldn’t get it together early enough.

 

 

After breakfast, we headed down I-45 to Galveston! Here are some pretty terrible pictures going over the bridge. The second one on the right you can see the pyramid for Moody Gardens.

 

 

 

After about a 45 minute drive we were rewarded with our first view of the ship!

 

 

So back in 2013 I interned during the winter semester for the federal judge in Galveston. I made the drive 3 times a week and got to watch many ships sailaway from the top floor of the Courthouse Post Office building (where the court was located). This is where the idea planted that I needed to take a cruise from Galveston. Ironically, I actually watched outside and waived bon voyage to those on the ill-fated Triumph voyage.

 

We parked the car at Galveston Park-n-cruise at about 10:30 and were in the FFTF line at about 10:37. We got through security, checked in, and were waiting to be called by 10:50. We probably got called sometime after 11:00 (we didn’t wait more than 20 minutes) and were on the boat in no time!

I have heard people complain about the Galveston port but they were organized that day. It was more chaotic than the Houston port we left from last year, but not unmanageable. In the end the two ports boiled down to approximately the same thing, a big room with chairs to wait in. Galveston did involve more walking around to get to the waiting area though while Houston was essentially just one big room. If you had mobility issue Galveston might be more of a hassle.

[cruisintex85]

Day 1 continued:

 

As mentioned earlier we quickly parked and made it through check and joined the masses waiting to get on. Once boarding started they boarded weddings, platinum and vips, travel agents, then FFTF. Once called we were on the ship in minutes.

 

Here is a picture from the ramp.

 

 

We walked on board to level 3 in the atrium area. The décor is, um, overwhelming. There is a lot going on. Lots of patterns and colors and all not necessarily complementary of each other. I get that this was the Carnival style or look, but this ship isn’t that old. I remember the year 2006 and I am pretty sure this didn’t look good then either. However, I had seen pictures before I booked so I knew what I was getting into – and actually in person it is not as bad as in the pictures I had seen, it just makes the ship feel darker and more crowded in my opinion.

 

 

 

[cruisintex85]

Because we had FFTF we were able to go straight to our rooms which was pretty money. We were on deck 10 in an inside room (first for me!) just a few doors down from the forward elevators. We were technically under the entrance to the spa, but only heard above noise once or twice and always during normal hours. I would recommend this location as it made it super simple to get to the lido deck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the water we had ordered already waiting:

 

 

So the room, ok this is coming from a spoiled place because I have only been in the mini-suites on Princess in recent years, but the room was SMALL. I mean maybe a 2-3 foot clearance between the end of the bed and the desk. Because it was just the two of us and only 4 nights we were fine. However, God bless the families of 4 who stay in these rooms. I don’t think I could do it (or maybe God bless their room stewards, lol).

[Timbek2]

Looking forward to more! Enjoying it

[besito20]

Looking forward to the rest of your review and pics! Thank you! :)

[cruisintex85]

Sorry again! Got caught in a serious binge watching session of the Great British Baking Show. I had never seen it before - pretty fun!

 

Ok, where was I... So we dropped off our stuff in the room and went to explore (read: find a drink!). It was nice not having to keep up with our stuff b/c of FFTF. We did have to push through the doors when we went to our room that said do not enter until ready but no one said a word once we did and our room was set with all the docs ready. Here is the first Fun Times. Sorry if the quality is poor. I will gladly accept donations for a decent scanner, lol.

 

 

 

Also I forgot to mention that when we got on the boat they had a caribbean/steel drum group playing in the lobby. It was nice for setting the mood, I just wish they were on the pool deck more frequently instead of the DJ.

 

So we went to the lido deck and were offered the funship special drink possibly 5 times in 10 minutes. I was hoping to find one in a souvenir cup but no luck. Carnival totally missed an opportunity here, I would gladly have shelled out extra cash for souvenir cups I would eventually have sold in a garage sale (but that's not the point!) I kept my eye out for souvenir cups the whole cruise and never saw one opportunity for them. I saw others with them but they would have gotten them way earlier clear on the other side of the ship and I didn't want to chase it down. Oh well. There was an awesome disco ball one that I am particularly sore about not getting, but I digress.

 

So once I realized a cup was not in my stars I finally bought a drink from one of the roaming bartenders and officially went on cruise mode (but where were all these bartenders the rest of the week at the pool!). We explored the lido toured the buffet and grabbed a Guys Burger as the crowd started to amass.

 

Pool pre hordes:

 

 

Exploring:

 

 

You can see the courthouse where I worked in this one (the tall building):

 

[cruisintex85]

Here is a picture of the light fixture in the buffet (America!):

 

 

Buffet from level 2:

 

 

It was starting to get crowded (very) so we took our burgers and drinks to the serenity deck where it was deserted and chilled out in one of the sunbed/clamshell things. Super peaceful. Probably the quietest spot we found the whole cruise. I am glad we enjoyed this area when we did as the wind was prohibitive the rest of the cruise.

 

 

I have read lots of raves and some pans for Guy's Burgers. My husband and I are a bit of burger snobs as Houston has some excellent options. I was worried I would be disappointed in these but they were great! They were not gourmet and the toppings could have been stronger but other ships would charge you for the same things and I appreciated that these were gratis. Were they a little greasy, yes. But they were also good. Was there often a long line, yes. But it went super fast. Lighten up people, you are on vacation! We tried several versions over the cruise and always enjoyed them. Also, they are WAY better than the ones on Princess. Those tasted oddly like meatloaf and the bun was way too dense. Also, I am not a Guy Fierri (sp?) fan so if I am praising anything he does you know I am being straight with you.

[cruisintex85]

After we got tired of relaxing we decided to explore some more and confirm our reservations at the Sun King Steakhouse. We went back through the pool area and it was crowded. Carnival would be wise to offer a lunch in the MDR like Princess does on embarkation day to spread out the crowds more.

 

Here is a picture of the atrium in the Sun King. I am glad we poked our heads in when it was light outside as the space looks a lot different in day light.

 

 

After we confirmed our reservations and our chef's table reservations, we went to explore deck 5. We saw a wedding going on in one of the lounges (Nick almost walked in before noticing what was happening :rolleyes:)

 

 

We decided to check out the Red Frog Pub and the Carnival House Beer. Here are the Texas menus at the Red Frog:

 

 

 

Carnival does a MUCH better job at drink selections at Texas ports than Princess does. If you are leaving on a cruise from Texas there is most likely going to be a limited menu until you are well out of port. This is because of a little agency in Texas known as TABC and its insane rules. Ok, so I am going to seriously hate on my home state for a minute. TABC is the worst, I mean seriously terrible. One person on my law journal in school wrote her student comment (50 pages) on just how ludicrous certain rules of its are. If there is a TABC official reading this. Please fix it. Please.

 

Ok, that is off my chest. Princess only had a very limited selection of drinks you could order until you were out in international waters. It was nice that Carnival had developed more extensive menus. On Princess you also had to include the first day in the drink package. I think it is much smarter that Carnival doesn't start it until the second.

 

We enjoyed the beer and tipped the bartender an extra dollar or two on top of the bill. Every time we did this the server seemed so appreciative that it made me wonder if this is against the norm on Carnival. I don't mind doing it b/c I usually tip 20% which is more than they auto tip you.

 

We decided to go back to our room and check if our bag was there before sail away. It was! Yay FFTF! We went to the balcony area at the front of deck 10 where there was only one other couple and watched us pull away. We saw Tillman Fertitta's (Landry's owner) yacht and dreamed of where we would take it. Side note: I met a guy that works on his risk mgmt team at a party and he had some awesome stories about working for him.

 

[cruisintex85]

 

 

After sail away we headed down for massages at the spa before dinner. We got a 75 minute for the price of 50 for an embarkation special. These were just ok and the facilities were pretty basic. It was super loud outside the room and hard to relax. I really could not justify the price. Way better on Princess. I would not use the spa on Freedom again. Also I do not like the "consultation" before and after the treatment. That was the same on Princess though. It is awkward and not what I am paying for. Would be more likely to book a treatment if this part didn't happen.

 

I forgot about muster. That happened right before sailaway. They make you line up on the promenade area outside and you don't need your life jacket. This was a pain as always. We survived and quickly moved on. This was exactly what I did on Royal back in high school. Princess had it inside which was nice.

[cruisintex85]

After we got ready we had a few minutes before our reservation at the steakhouse. We attempted to watch the dive in movie for a few minutes but it got way too cold/windy. They did have blankets you could check out which was nice. However, I got a little spoiled on Princess always being able to grab any towels/blankets I wanted without having to check them out. The beach towels that were provided in the room were at the end of their life cycle and were pretty torn up at the ends. Carnival could stand to circulate these better.

 

After the wind drove us away we went down to the taste bar where the Blue Iguana was featured. The bites were fun and we thought this was a fun idea. Apparently this used to be a sushi bar and the decor was still Japanese themed. I failed at getting a picture of the actual plate but it was chicken, avocado, and lime tortilla soup and marinated roasted pork.

 

 

Next came a steak feast. We loved the steakhouse and thought it rivaled the one on Princess. I might actually say it was better. The 50% off wine didn't hurt. It was half off any bottle as many bottles as you wanted. We went all in and got two bottles off the reserve list that were competitively priced at the full price amount and were a steal at half off. We drank one and ended up taking the other home.

 

This is the butter plate with a tomato confit type thing, butter and some kind of eggplant spread. All were great. For bread it was brioche or focaccia or both! More bread was continually offered throughout the meal. They also did a nice presentation with the wine and put it in a really nice decanter.

 

 

Two items were brought out to each table "with complements of the chef" It was a mini burger and a tomato based soup of some sort. I noticed that shortly after we got ours tables were just getting the soup. They must have run out of the burgers.

 

 

 

Next was appetizer. I got the the crab cake and Nick got the bisque. Both were very nice. For salad Nick got the wedge and was pretty underwhelmed. I think I skipped this course.

 

 

[uprivermama]

After sail away we headed down for massages at the spa before dinner. We got a 75 minute for the price of 50 for an embarkation special. These were just ok and the facilities were pretty basic. It was super loud outside the room and hard to relax. I really could not justify the price. Way better on Princess. I would not use the spa on Freedom again. Also I do not like the "consultation" before and after the treatment. That was the same on Princess though. It is awkward and not what I am paying for. Would be more likely to book a treatment if this part didn't happen.

 

I was on the Freedom the last week of January, and had a massage at the spa one day. I told the gal ahead of time that I wasn't really interested in purchasing any products, so feel free to skip the sales pitch. Apparently that was offensive, because she sort of acted hurt that I would suggest she would try to sell me anything! Then she proceeded to jam her elbows into my back during the massage. I told her it was too intense, please ease up a little, and she continued on the same. The rest of the massage was great, but she was definitely not very friendly, and the elbows in the back were so uncomfortable. Plus the kids club was right above the tiny treatment room, and there were several loud crashes; probably what you heard too. Not a great experience overall. We loved our day at Nachi Cocom, though! Hope you did too!

[cruisintex85]

So after a ummm.... brief... delay I am going to finish this review. I apologize for the long interlude, life got in the way.

 

Where was I, dinner! After appetizers the main course came. We both got the surf and turf option. We got the wasabi potatoes and creamed spinach on the side. I have to say I was super impressed with dinner. I think I enjoyed it more than Princess's steak house. I think the quality of the steak was better. The potatoes were probably not gourmet and were loaded with butter, but we ate the heck out of them. I had seen people complain about the creamed spinach but we both really liked it. I like it better than the creamed spinach at Vic and Anthony's so I guess it is all subjective. We also loved our server and thought it was just an overall excellent experience.

 

We got a bottle of Caymus for half off which was a deal and took a bottle of Silver Oak to go, also for half off. I would totally recommend doing the steak night on the first night as it lets you get really nice wines for substantially cheaper than available at Spec's back home. They also did a nice job serving the Caymus and used nice glasses and decanted it any everything.

 

Entree:

 

 

Sides:

 

 

 

Apparently we did not take a picture of desert. We shared the chocolate sampler which was good, but not that memorable. Also, I forgot to mention that we got to the Steakhouse for our reservations a little early and had a French 75 (me) and a gin and tonic (Nick) at the bar while we waited for our table. Both were really done well.

 

After dinner we were both drunk, full, and the ship was moving. We pretty much passed out in the room after dinner. I think we and another table closed the Steakhouse down so it was pretty late at that point.

 

Here is our towel animal, a seal perhaps? We never got a single towel animal on the Princess cruises, so this was a fun change.

 

[cruisintex85]

We slept in this morning and a quick check outside told us that is was windy and a little grey and chilly so I great morning to lay in. We finally dragged ourselves out of bed and headed to the sea day brunch.

 

Ok, warning, I know people on here love this, but it was the biggest disappointment of the cruise. First the ship was rocking so I don't know if that made it a little less pleasant but we both felt a little off about the whole thing.

 

We got a table right away and they promptly brought out the breakfast bread service. I am not a pastry person but nick said it was good, while nothing special.

 

 

After that the waiter took our order very promptly. We could never complain about the speed of service anywhere we went. I ordered the Caesar salad with jerk bacon to start and Nick got the tomato soup (which is funny as Nick "claims" not to like tomatoes). Nick liked his soup but the salad was a major fail. First it was warm, like slightly above room temperature and the lettuce tasted like the dressing had been on it a good while. It was pretty unappetizing. Also, the bacon was not "jerk" bacon, but normal bacon. So I don't quite know what was going on there.

 

 

 

Next came the entrees. Nick had the frosted flake crusted french toast and I had the macaroni and cheese with the chicken tenders added.

 

The chicken tenders were actually pretty good, but the mac and cheese was very bland and scant on the cheese. I would not recommend getting this.

 

Nick said the french toast was just ok, more gimmicky than anything. Note: we did not complain about or send anything back. I am sure they would have happily given us something else. That is just not our style.

 

 

 

We shared the banana pie for desert. It was ok, but I thought it could have been better. The ice cream was good.

 

 

Service was nice and definitely quick. However, we were super underwhelmed especially after the fabulous dinner the night before. We both agreed that would be our only brunch.

[cruisintex85]

After brunch we went back to the room and put on our swim suits and wandered around. We ended up at the rear pool as they had the roof closed but some sun was still coming through. We chilled, drank, read and people watched. Perfect afternoon on the boat.

 

 

We got pizza at some point as it is in that same area. Pizza was very good and similar to what was on Princess. Definitely better than what I remember on Royal Caribbean. The line was always super long for the pizza, but we caught it in a brief lull. I think they need to figure something out with this as the line made this pool area very congested, especially because it had seating for the buffet out there as well. With the roof closed it got pretty noisy. If it wasn't for the weather, it is not the area I would have picked to hang out in, but it was good for the circumstances.

 

After pool time we went back to the room and showered and changed for the evening. We went and got cocktails at the alchemy bar. I had the cucumber sunrise which was great! Nick had a Manhattan I think. It came with a nut, cheese, and olive plate.

 

 

At some point we ran and got the taste bar plate. It was Italian night and was a ricotta and olive oil crostini and meatball. It was good- we really like the taste bar concept.

 

 

We also played in the casino for a bit. We ended up about $50 up in the casino at the end of cruise which is a smashing success for us, lol. We played that game where the machine continually pushes the quarters off and Nick got a token for a Carnival players club hat. He would wear it around after that so people would think we were high rollers (we are NOT). It was pretty comical.

 

We had the late seating at dinner so we poked our head outside to check out what the movie was. It was Jurassic World. If the weather would have been better we would have been out there. I loved the outdoor movies on the Regal Princess cruise.

 

[cruisintex85]

I totally forgot to post the dailies. Sorry for the quality. This is the best we could figure out.