Carnival Freedom 4/16-4/23/16 Review

[VitaminDLover]

Hello to all my readers! Lol, just kidding! I'll be lucky if anyone even reads this review...it's my first. Take it easy on me! I'll start by posting my blog entries prior to the cruise during the planning stages then I'll move on the the actual cruise portion. Hopefully you can take something from it even if it's minor. When we first started looking at this cruise I was quite disappointed that there weren't many reviews on the Freedom, so I'm hopeful that someone somewhere will learn something from this! Here we go...

[O2Cool]

We are booked on the Freedom in October, so I will be really interested in reading your review!

[jimbo5544]

Look forward to reading your review, enjoy doing it, I have found that it keeps the cruise fresh and is fun reliving it.

[seamusdad]

I cruised on the,Freedom twice in 2015 . A 7 day in June and 4 day Halloween cruise. Two very different cruises but had a great time on both. Looking forward to reading about your,experience.

 

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

[nc350]

Super excited to read this review! We go next March :D

[The Phoenixx]

Sailing in 30 days!! Looking forward to your review.

[ratpackx5]

Following along

[Clarea]

Following.:)

[Kkross]

On freedom in September :)

[Keith1010]

Will follow your review.

Keith

[WeBCruisinAgain]

Our first time on the Freedom will be for New Years Eve, looking forward to your review.

[VitaminDLover]

Freedom Cruise Blog

 

History-Hi, I’m Tiffany and I LOVE to cruise! Jay, my husband, and I went on our first cruise in April 2011 and I’ve been ready for more ever since. A little background, I am 31 and Jay is 34, we both work full time jobs, and we have two precious children. My personal opinion is that cruising gets us the biggest bang for our buck so to speak. I love that we are able to visit other destinations and countries and are able to form an opinion on how we feel about it without having to book a “whole” vacation to one destination. Jay isn’t as enthusiastic about cruising as I am therefore I’m leaving him behind next time! Lol!! Enough about that lets get down to the planning…this is the blog I kept prior to our cruise and I will follow that with my review of the cruise!

 

265 Days- We are headed out AGAIN!! My best friend visited from Houston today and she & her husband (Jessica & Mike) have convinced my Husband that we should go cruising again next year. Ahh! I’m so excited!! I text our good friends (Brittney & Shane) to let them know that Jay said yes and we are all ready to get booked. Jessica and Mike are actually booked on the same itinerary we just got back from so they are just changing their booking.

 

260 Days- We are officially booked! This is a first, but we booked through a travel agent. Hopefully he does well and can gain our future business. He was able to get us an OBC that booking directly through the cruise line doesn’t get us!

 

253 Days- I booked our first excursion today…parasailing in Key West, FL! This is something Jessica and I have always wanted to do and everyone else is on board with going as well. The men may just end up riding the boat, but if that happens then the women will get two turns up in the air! Woohoo!

 

250 Days- This is just a monumental day as we are doing 50 day countdowns until we hit double digits!!

 

241 Days- We have decided to stay in Galveston on Friday night (the night before our departure.) I made our reservations this morning at Harbor House, the only hotel in Galveston you can see the Cruise Terminal from. In the past we just make the 1 hour drive in from Houston the day of departure, but decided we wanted to explore down in Galveston the afternoon/night before.

 

229 Days- I sent off an email today for Steakhouse reservations. We are hoping for night 3 after being in Key West, FL that day. Here’s hoping it’s early enough that we get the requested date and time. UPDATE: Within 30 minutes I got back our confirmation for the exact date and time we asked for. I’m so excited since we haven’t ever done the steakhouse before!

 

198 Days- Life has been so busy with soccer season that I completely forgot to update at the 200 day mark! We are officially in the 100’s!

 

150 Days- Woohoo!! The next time I update we will be in the double digits! With Thanksgiving fast approaching and then Christmas rounding out the year time is flying right by at this point. The first of the year will bring Jay’s birthday in January, Valentine’s Day in February, our Son’s birthday and spring break in March, and then we’re off!

 

128 Days- We’ve decided that due to hearing about recent break-ins of cruise passenger vehicles left at park and stay hotels that we would just rather be safe than sorry. Today I booked our parking with “Galveston Park N Cruise.” We used this same company last time we departed from Galveston and love that there is an indoor secured parking lot.

 

120 Days- We have booked our excursion in Nassau. We are going on the “SUB Underwater Adventure” where we will ride the scooters and snorkel. This is something that Jess & Brittney have wanted to do for quite some time! Can’t say I’m not excited too!

 

100 Days- Woohoo…it’s finally here! With the holidays under our belt it is time to get serious. Another couple, Kevin and Nicole, have decided to join all of us as well. The girls and I have all started our New Year diets in preparation for the cruise and we even have a friendly little bet going. May the most determined lady win!! UPDATE: Jessica won January and February and I won March!

 

99 Days- Our cruise is officially paid off and we are now in double digits! I can’t believe it’s getting here so quickly! I start tanning next week to prepare for the Bahamas!

 

89 Days- This past weekend everyone going on the cruise all met up in Dallas. Shane and Brittney live right outside Dallas in Rockwall so those of us in Oklahoma drove down and Jessica and Mike drove up from Houston. We had a blast getting together and got the decorations for our doors done for the most part. While we were there Shane asked if I would help coordinate something for him and Brittney to renew their vows. Brittney lost her wedding ring a few months ago and has been very upset about it. I contacted a company in Key West (this is the port of call where I felt it would be easiest) and set everything up. Brittney has no idea that she’ll be getting a new ring and a wedding to remember (they never had a wedding originally!)

 

73 Days- Today is the day that everyone else is officially paid off! We are all set to go now it’s just a matter of waiting. Unfortunately, Kevin and Nicole didn’t book the Nassau excursion when everyone else did and now it shows as sold out. I’ll be watching this to see if anything opens up. UPDATE: Nicole and Kevin have decided not to do the underwater SUBs and they are thinking about doing a beach & ray excursion.

 

44 Days- We’ve been so busy that I forgot to update at 50 days! Everyone is in full planning mode…getting documents printed, ordering things that need ordered, Jessica is even starting to pack! The weeks will fly by now with everything going on between now and then. Can’t wait!!

 

15 Days-Packing has officially started! After picking up dry cleaning today I decided that there’s no point in cramming it all into one weekend when I can split it up. After all, I have a whole house to clean next weekend before my Mother in Law comes up to stay with the kids.

 

14 Days-Nicole and Kevin came down today so that Nicole and I could go dress shopping. We were successful and walked away with 3 dresses for her. (I’m already done!)

 

8 Days-This was originally supposed to be a really busy week for us (House foundation work) but the company overbooked and ended up not coming. This worked out in my favor so now I have plenty of time to pack and not feel rushed or like I’m in the way.

 

5 Days-I had my hair appointment today! Nails will follow tomorrow and I will officially be ready to go!!

 

2 Days-We head out after work today for Rockwall!! We are staying at Shane and Brittney’s tonight then we’ll wake up and head to Galveston tomorrow morning!

 

 

Next Up: The road to Rockwall and further on to Galveston!

[canadaman111]

Awesome reading your countdown blog. Very interesting. I would like to do one, but 650 days may be to early to start....:eek:

[VitaminDLover]

If you guys think of any questions along the way, please ask! I will make sure I read and respond to them all to the best of my ability!!

[VitaminDLover]

THURSDAY-Crazy as it may seem we both worked Thursday! We would be leaving as soon as we got off (or so we thought!)

 

The day drug on forever, but alas it was 4pm and time to head home to throw all our stuff in the truck and wait for Kevin and Nicole. They were supposed to be at our house by 5pm so that we could leave town. These are the ONE friends of ours (everyone has them) that are NEVER on time anywhere!! I am extremely punctual and it drives me crazy. So guess what happens…they’re late! SHOCKER! They finally pull up around 5:45 and we are out like a shotgun (after telling the kids goodbye.)

 

[/img]

We're here!!

 

We arrived at the hotel around 3:30pm. We opted to stay at the Harbor House hotel for a couple of different reasons. Jessica and I really wanted to be able to see the ship come in and we were likely the only two that would be up to do so and we loved how close it was to the terminal and parking. I had reserved two rooms for our stay. (Tip: When you pull in to park there is a gate and you are questioned as to your name and whether or not you have a reservation, and they will have to confirm. This was odd to me as I’ve never had to do this before.) The gentleman at the front desk upon our arrival, Glenn, was not too pleasant. For $286 a night I was expecting at least friendly service and/or a smile. Wasn’t a huge damper, but I’ve worked in hospitality before and it’s not THAT bad! Anyways, that didn’t have too much of an effect on our trip as I was on a pre-cruise high so up to our rooms we went. One of the rooms we were given was handicap accessible so it was a tad bit larger, but either way the rooms were huge. That $286 now seemed worth it. Jessica and Mike arrived a couple hours later and after getting them all settled in we headed out to dinner.

 

[/img]

Our room

 

Another view

 

Next Up: Part 2

[VitaminDLover]

[/img]

Breakfast area on 2nd floor

 

[/img]

Our group at The Spot

 

[/img]

Toes in the water

 

Next Up: Part 3

[VitaminDLover]

Pleasure Pier

 

Half of us weren’t quite ready to turn in yet so we decided to go to the restaurant downstairs from Harbor House, Olympia, and have a drink. We likely would have just eaten here had we known it was a quiet, laidback atmosphere, but had good food. Upon our decision to go downstairs for a drink I went to grab my DL (was in my back pocket to go to dinner) and it was GONE. Ahhhhh! I freaked! I am an extremely organized person and I was almost in a full fledge panic attack. Jay and I searched the truck where I had been sitting, scoured the hotel room, and looked through my purse just in case. It was gone. Keep in mind I had also sprinted across the street at dinner to the beach, I just knew it was gone and at this point it was dark outside. Surprisingly I remained calm and proceeded to call Carnival and ask if boarding with my passport alone would be a problem. The nice lady told me I would be fine. Whew! We proceeded to go downstairs (now I REALLY needed that drink!) After that drink we were off to bed!

 

Next up: Boarding day, tacos, and rum!

[CruzerDeb]

Great start to your review. I'm hooked already!

[cruzkitty]

Enjoying your Review! We will be sailing on the Freedom in October.

[VitaminDLover]

Jessica and I woke up around 5:30am. We knew from watching previously that the ship usually came in around 6-6:30. Today the Freedom didn’t come in until almost 7. Of course this happened since we were ready and waiting. We both showered and got ready leaving everyone else asleep and not even bothering the ones in the other room. We barely saw the whale tail and we headed downstairs. At Harbor House you can walk right out to the pier and see the bay. The ship seemed to take forever to get in, but she finally got close enough for us to start snapping pictures and she made her big turn not too far away. We waved to a few passengers that were out on their balconies then headed back up to the room. We both had to re-fix our hair because it was extremely windy out there. The forecast stated that there was a slight chance for scattered thunderstorms today. On our way back up we stopped by the breakfast area on the 2nd floor. This is not my idea of breakfast, but for some I suppose it works. They had 2-3 different types of cereal, some fruit, coffee, and juice. After getting back to the room Jay got up and got ready. We decided to head across the street to Starbucks. He got coffee and we both got a breakfast sandwich. Very tasty! We also ended up seeing Shane and Kevin over there.

 

The bay from the pier at Harbor House

 

The bay from the pier at Harbor House

 

She's coming for us

 

Making her big turn

 

Backing on in

 

There she is...ready for us!

 

Next Up: Part 2

[VitaminDLover]

Breakfast area

 

Seating in the breakfast area

 

You can see the Olympia restaurant from this view

 

After everyone was dressed, ready, and all packed up we were ready to head out. Nicole and Kevin hadn’t brought their soda or wine allowance so they wanted to go to Walmart.

 

The lady at checkout from the hotel was super friendly! I apologize I didn’t catch her name, but she was what I envisioned when I thought of what I expected! Great job ma’am!

 

We loaded up both trucks and headed over to the Seawall side of the island to go to Walmart. Nicole, Brittney, and I went inside Walmart to grab random things. While we were in it started to sprinkle. We were lucky that it had pretty much stopped by the time we got back out to the truck. FINALLY…we were headed to the terminal.

 

If you haven’t cruised out of Galveston since last year they have a new staggered embarkation. You must select your embarkation time when doing your online check-in. You are not allowed access to the terminal until your designated check-in time. This was actually a very easy process. We had the 10-10:30 slot. Due to our run to Walmart we didn’t arrive until 10:15, but then had to get parked after dropping off luggage. I had pre-booked our parking reservation at Galveston Park N Cruise. We use them for all our cruise parking, they are fabulous. Jay dropped everyone and our luggage off then went to park the trucks with Mike. By the time they got back over to the terminal it was right at 10:30. The lines were long since we were now in with the 10:30-11 crowd, but they moved quickly. Security was easy enough, they do open your soda boxes to ensure you didn’t sneak anything in.

 

SIDE NOTE: The person in front of Shane and Brittney had undone his Pepsi box and replaced 11 of the cans with Bud Light. When asked where his Pepsi was he responded with “I don’t like Pepsi!” Guess they know that some people don’t always follow the rules.

 

Overall, security was a breeze and we were on to check-in. The lines for this didn’t move quite as fast, but not too bad. Only downside to check-in was that we had opted to use cash for our onboard account and they wouldn’t allow us to put down a deposit. Our friends that had FTTF were allowed to put down a cash deposit, not sure if that is the reason, but it seems odd that they allow one, but not the other. Now we’re off to wait.

 

We waited for maybe an hour before they started boarding. Jessica and Mike had FTTF for their room, but opted to wait with the rest of us since they wanted to be in the group embarkation photo. The picture turned out great and we were headed to get on the ship!!!!

 

One of my favorite noises is the *ding* of the machine when your S&S card is swiped/scanned. This means I’m officially on vacation. Upon boarding we immediately went to the self-service kiosk as opposed to waiting in line at Guest Services to put money on our account. This was my first time using the kiosk and it was very easy and quite handy. (You can also make change and cash out your account!) After we were all loaded we headed up to drop off bags in our room if they were ready. I know you aren’t supposed to go to your room until 1:30, but we only went by to see if it was done and the assistant steward invited us to leave our bags so we took him up on his offer.

 

 

 

 

Next Up: Part 3

[VitaminDLover]

 

We immediately headed to Lido to grab drinks and lunch. My first priority was to stop and get a Caribbean Colada from the Red Frog Rum Bar. This is a drink I discovered on our last cruise and it is by far my favorite!! This cruise led me to my favorite restaurant, Blue Iguana Cantina. I LOVE Mexican food something fierce! This is where I went for lunch the first day and that’s when my love affair started! I ate here at least once a day from here on out.

 

Red Frog Rum Bar

 

Blue Iguana Tacos...AMAZING!!

 

Love being on the ship

 

After filling our stomachs and hanging out at the Red Frog for a bit we decided to wander down to see if our luggage had arrived yet. To our surprise 2 out of our 3 suitcases had been delivered! I like to unpack the first day and get our suitcases out of the way. Everyone headed to their respective rooms and we all got unpacked before muster drill. While unpacking our third suitcase arrived and we were completely unpacked and ready to take on the week. We were in room 7220, Shane and Brittney were next door in room 7216, Nicole and Kevin were across the hall in 7224, and Jessica and Mike were up on Lido in 9265. Our balconies weren’t able to be joined due to the partition blocking one of the exit doors.

 

As soon as they made the announcement for muster drill we headed down, BIG mistake. Apparently people think this is a request and don’t listen. We stood there forever waiting for people to arrive so that muster could begin. We also made the mistake of standing right underneath the horn. SO LOUD! After everyone arrived it went quite quickly and we were free to do as we wished.

Muster drill was over and we were ready to cruise! We were on the port side of the ship therefore we were facing the bay in Galveston.

 

TIP: If you don’t know how to tell the difference here’s a trick. Port, left, and even all have four letters. The port side is the left when facing the front of the ship and all the even rooms are on this side. Starboard, right, and odd are the other side!

 

We had just pulled away from the terminal and we seemed to be stopped again. After a bit we stepped out on the balconies only to see two big boats pulled up next to the ship. A bit later the cruise director come over the speaker to announce that there was a medical emergency and they were offloading a passenger. This took about an hour, but I’m glad that the person was able to get off and seek the treatment they needed. We never did hear what happened. Hopefully they’re okay!

 

Two rescue boats

 

Next Up: Part 4

[VitaminDLover]

The boat that stayed, I assume to take the passenger and family

 

Captain watching from the Bridge

 

We were now fired back up and ready to go! By now it was time to start getting ready for dinner. I don’t ever want to miss dinner in the MDR the first night as this is when you get to meet your wait staff. We chose YTD (your time dining) as we always do. We all got dressed and headed down to 3 forward to the Chic dining room. As with every night but one we were able to walk right in and our group usually had 8-10 people including the kids. We were seated in the back right by the kitchen doors in Alex’s section. Alex is from the Philippines if you’re looking for a YTD wait staff recommendation. He was absolutely fabulous! Dinner was very good, as we expected, and was received in a timely fashion. I’m sorry I don’t take my camera to dinner and take pictures of food! It doesn’t go well with my dress.

 

After dinner we decided to head back to our rooms as we had a long day today and tomorrow was a full sea day!

 

Next Up: First sea day, Elegant night, and Serenity!

[Anahita54]

I would love to see Jessica & Mike's view! My fiancé and I (at that time we will be husband and wife) have booked a Halloween/honeymoon cruise on Freedom. We are actually staying in the room (9261) next to them. I am also interested to know how the noise in that area was like. I'm sure their balcony room looks just like yours. We are so excited to go on another cruise! Hope all of y'all are having fun!!!

Edited May 5, 2016 by Anahita54

[jimbri]

Looking forward to your review.