Our S2S Adventure - Freedom / Spirit (with pics) - 1/7/23

[BEACH47]

Please let me know when you next adventure is, cannot wait to follow along!!

[BEACH47]

5 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

We were only in the Empire Restaurant for a few minutes before we were given the okay to debark. What an easy debarkation. We barely stopped walking. Found our luggage easily, a porter was right there to grab them, went in the passport line and through the facial recognition, and to the car in the parking garage by 7:45am!

 

We paid for our parking which was $22/day for a total of $176 and away we went, through the tunnel and out the other side. Patti got these quick shots of the ships in port today. We’ll be back here for the Celebration in April…..

 

 

 

Soon we are headed north on I-95…..

 

 

 

This is the exit for the Springhill Suites we stayed at pre-cruise…..

 

 

 

A little north of West Palm Beach we stopped for breakfast at Cracker Barrel…..

 

 

 

Once leaving Cracker Barrel our plan was to make it to the Daytona Beach Bucc-ee’s to gas up and for Patti to take bathroom pictures.  When we got there, the traffic going into and out of the place was horrific, so we just went to another gas station to fuel up. That was just crazy!

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued……

 

Edited February 25, 2023 by BEACH47

[Jamman54]

3 hours ago, SenatorsFan said:

Thanks for another fabulous review, Jeff and Patti. I'll be looking forward to your April Celebration review since we just booked a B2B for Jan. 2024! 😊

Thanks Heather! Congrats on booking that B2B! 😎

[Jamman54]

35 minutes ago, jamscckmc said:

Thanks for the double review with Patti’s great pictures! Don’t envy the 95 north drive! With all your post Covid cruises have you ever contacted it on a cruise? That’s my fear as I get back into cruising this year.

Glad you enjoyed the review. Luckily neither Patti or I have ever had Covid. 😎

[Jamman54]

37 minutes ago, Hogladyrider said:

@Jamman54....thanks to you Jeff & Patti for ANOTHER HOME RUN Review!  I hated seeing this one come to an end.  I so enjoy my morning coffee reading your reviews.

 

Being retired and being able to have the time to drive to ports as you do is the only way to go!

 

After having seen your visits to Resorts utilizing day passes that is now on my "cruise to do" list!

 

We have taken several Carnival excursions that have been great.  We are water people, we love snorkeling and the beach.  My all time favorite excursion was in Antigua, where we partied, danced, yes I even did some pole dancing after so many rum punches and we dined on a lobster feast all prepared on the boat with several stops at several beaches.  Life is so good on a cruise!

 

Looking forward to following along your next adventure!

Thanks for your kind words. It was great to have you along with us once again! 😎

[Jamman54]

21 minutes ago, BEACH47 said:

Oh that magic lighted stairway that I fell 1/2 down backwards. So lucky I was not hurt.  Love the Review it is Wonderful , thanks to Patti for all the beautiful pictures. Cannot wait until your next review.😃

Glad you enjoyed the review. We'll be back at it in April. 😎

[Indiansbaseball]

Another fun informative review 💕 !  We pulled the trigger a couple days ago and booked Bermuda on the Venezia out of NYC. I will pick your brain on some things a bit later, if you don’t mind ! 
Thanks for letting us live vicariously through you guys ! 
Jen 

Edited February 25, 2023 by Indiansbaseball

[SailawayKC]

Thanks for the nice review. Patti sure is the picture taker.

[jedi bobs]

I HATE going over the Deleware Memoral Brige becuse it is so high up. Will be going over her again in Aug

 

[LUVMYGSDOG]

On 2/10/2023 at 2:36 PM, Elsammo46 said:

I was trying to say thank you for another great review!  Sorry my phone decided to add a quote and will not let me delete it…..

Edited February 26, 2023 by LUVMYGSDOG

[luvcruzing]

Thanks, Jeff, for another great review. I know you put a lot of time and effort into doing it, and it’s very much appreciated. 

[Jamman54]

8 hours ago, Indiansbaseball said:

Another fun informative review 💕 !  We pulled the trigger a couple days ago and booked Bermuda on the Venezia out of NYC. I will pick your brain on some things a bit later, if you don’t mind ! 
Thanks for letting us live vicariously through you guys ! 
Jen 

Hey Jen! Thanks for your kind words. We'll be happy to answer any questions you may have. Happy planning! 😎

[Jamman54]

6 hours ago, SailawayKC said:

Thanks for the nice review. Patti sure is the picture taker.

 

Thanks so much! 😎

 

5 hours ago, jedi bobs said:

I HATE going over the Deleware Memoral Brige becuse it is so high up. Will be going over her again in Aug

 

 

Don't look down! 😁

[Jamman54]

5 hours ago, LUVMYGSDOG said:

I was trying to say thank you for another great review!  Sorry my phone decided to add a quote and will not let me delete it…..

No problem! Thanks for reading! 😎

[Jamman54]

3 hours ago, luvcruzing said:

Thanks, Jeff, for another great review. I know you put a lot of time and effort into doing it, and it’s very much appreciated. 

Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for your kind words! 😎

[pe4all]

Glad your debark was easy.  Ours on Spirit was not.  Once off the ship and in the upstairs part of the terminal the line stopped.  Waited 30 min. before making it almost to the front.  We only had our backpacks - 95% of the people on the line had luggage.  Found out they were only letting people use the elevator if they had luggage as a lady tripped over her suitcase and was injured on the escalator and they weren't letting anyone take luggage on the escalator because of that.  We showed the woman in charge that we only had backpacks, bypassed the rest of the line and went downstairs, where the facial Rec was not working!  Found our luggage and went through 15 minute custom line.  Our person literally glanced at our passports and let us through.  Whole process took around 45 min.  Grabbed a taxi and off to MIA we went.

[Jamman54]

33 minutes ago, pe4all said:

Glad your debark was easy.  Ours on Spirit was not.  Once off the ship and in the upstairs part of the terminal the line stopped.  Waited 30 min. before making it almost to the front.  We only had our backpacks - 95% of the people on the line had luggage.  Found out they were only letting people use the elevator if they had luggage as a lady tripped over her suitcase and was injured on the escalator and they weren't letting anyone take luggage on the escalator because of that.  We showed the woman in charge that we only had backpacks, bypassed the rest of the line and went downstairs, where the facial Rec was not working!  Found our luggage and went through 15 minute custom line.  Our person literally glanced at our passports and let us through.  Whole process took around 45 min.  Grabbed a taxi and off to MIA we went.

Wow, that was a rough one! Hopefully next time you'll have better luck! 😎

[Princess Cruiser27]

Another great review Jeff and Patti. 

[Jamman54]

20 minutes ago, Princess Cruiser27 said:

Another great review Jeff and Patti. 

Thanks Barb! 😎

[Jamman54]

Epilogue  -  Our final thoughts, ramblings, & future plans.

 

The following thoughts and ramblings are not in any particular order, nor are they in any order of importance. They are just what pops into my mind at this particular moment.

 

First, right off the top, I want to say that we enjoyed both ships and both cruises immensely. The crewmembers on both of the ships were outstanding and hardworking. The CD’s (James and Todd) were not our favorites, but they were okay.

 

This is the first time we’ve cruised in January in forever, and I don’t know if we’ll do it again. Boarding a ship wearing a jacket and long pants may be okay when cruising from New York or Baltimore in the winter, but not from Florida. We froze our butts off!

 

Another thing we decided is that we will never spend less than 7 days on a ship again. If we sail on a ship that does the shorter cruises, we will have to do a B2B to bring the time on that ship up to at least 7 days or more. Only being on the Freedom for 5 days just didn’t cut it, especially since we had a bowling alley balcony.

 

After so many cruises to many of the same ports, Patti and I have basically become cabana and all-inclusive type of people. It’s what we do, and we love to just relax. Of course, relaxing for Patti is walking around for miles taking pictures, but I make sure she gets to lounge and enjoy a few drinks. She just won’t let me take a picture of her doing that! Amber Cove and Grand Turk are some of our favorites when it comes to cabanas. We already have more booked there on future cruises. The all- inclusives we did in Bonaire and Aruba were outstanding and we would book them again, but we’re always willing to try new places just for variety if they are available.

 

You’ve probably noticed that Patti and I don’t eat in the MDR much anymore. I don’t know if it’s the same old menus or the fact that it takes so long. Prior to Covid, we ate in the MDR all the time. For many years we used to eat at the late seating, and as we got older, we switched to the early seating, and then we changed to YTD. Most of what is on the menu in the MDR is available on the Lido. The food comes from the same place, except in the MDR they plate it for you and make it look pretty. On the Lido you can take as much of an item as you want, and eat as quickly as you want, and move on to the next activity. We did eat in the MDR once on the Freedom and the experience was very good, so we may opt to try a few more meals in the MDR on future cruises. We’ll see.

 

On the Spirit we enjoyed our meal at the Steakhouse, and we ate twice for dinner at Bonsai Sushi. Speaking of the Spirit Class, it continues to be our favorite class of Carnival ships. We love the layout of these ships, and the fact that even when these ships sail at capacity, they never feel crowded. We have now done sixteen cruises on this class of ships, five each on the Legend, Pride, and Miracle, and now have finally sailed on the namesake vessel, the Spirit. We thought that would complete the class, but with the addition of the Luminosa we have another one to conquer. Don’t know when that will happen though.

 

It’s time to talk a little bit about the entertainment. As you may or may not know, Patti is hearing impaired, so musical acts and production shows are really just noise to her. If the entertainment is more visual, say like a magician and such, she enjoys that. There are two production shows that she really enjoys, and they are Celestial Strings, and Soulbound. Unfortunately, they are not performed on either the Freedom or the Spirit. The Playlist Production shows on both the Freedom and the Spirit were 88 Keys, 80’s Pop to the Max, and Getaway Island. The only one that I saw was Getaway Island.

 

After dinner, Patti is happy to have a drink, walk the ship, browse the shops, and then go back to the cabin to read. Myself, I like to sit at the Lobby Bar, Alchemy Bar, or Red Frog Pub, have a drink, and listen to the entertainers. I enjoyed them all. If there’s a good game on, I’ll head to the Sports Bar. I also like to head to Punchliners and watch the comedians. Over the two cruises I got to see six different comedians, and all were very good, even at the PG shows.

 

My mind has gone blank, so if you have any questions at all we’ll be more than happy to answer them for you. If I think of anything else, I’ll be sure to post it.

 

So, what’s in store for the future? In April we will be boarding the Celebration. We were booked to do a B2B, but because of commitments that were not present when we booked two years ago, we had to cancel one of the cruises. The cruise we did keep was the Western itinerary which worked out great for us since we did do the Eastern on the Freedom. Looking forward to it, and of course we will bring you all the action!

 

On September 29^th we will be boarding the Carnival Venezia from our homeport of New York City for a 15-day Journeys Cruise to Grand Turk, Aruba, Curacao, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, & St. Thomas. This cruise includes two sea days down to Grand Turk, and three sea days from St. Thomas back to New York. Perfect for us!

 

2024 is shaping up like this. We are booked on a B2B on the Vista from Port Canaveral in April to the Eastern and Southern Caribbean. We have the same Havana inside cabin booked on both legs.

 

Then on September 8^th we will be boarding the Carnival Pride in Baltimore for a 14-day Journeys Cruise to Greenland and Canada. That will be something different!

 

Hopefully we’ll get to see some of our Cruise Critic family on board the above cruises. It’s always fun to meet new friends and see our old ones!

 

Before I end this, I have to thank my wife, Patti. I couldn’t do these adventures, or these reviews, without her. She is my best friend, my rock, and a heck of a photographer!

 

Speaking of photography, the photos you see on these reviews are only a small portion of all the photos Patti takes during our cruises. If you would like to see the whole package, there is a link in my signature for our Cruise and Vacation albums. Feel free to check them out if you are so inclined.

 

So, until next time, may you have blue skies and calm seas!!!

[Guest BasicSailor]

1 hour ago, Jamman54 said:

We froze our butts off!

Always enjoy your honesty 😁

1 hour ago, Jamman54 said:

You’ve probably noticed that Patti and I don’t eat in the MDR much anymore. I don’t know if it’s the same old menus or the fact that it takes so long. Prior to Covid, we ate in the MDR all the time. For many years we used to eat at the late seating, and as we got older, we switched to the early seating, and then we changed to YTD

V ery much agree. 😉

1 hour ago, Jamman54 said:

It’s time to talk a little bit about the entertainment. As you may or may not know, Patti is hearing impaired, so musical acts and production shows are really just noise to her. I

Sorry to read this as I am a huge fan of yawls reviews. Being completely deaf without my implant I do understand Patti's world. Music just becomes noise and screeching. I've tried sign, but my middle finger just keeps getting in the way 🤣Keep those reviews coming. 

[VIFP1987]

I very much enjoyed your review! Thank you to both you and Patti for all of the hard work you put into these! 😀

[HeyJut]

Another great review and pix-and wow that zoom!

 I feel like you and Patti are old friends and hope to cruise with you someday.

[Saint Greg]

[pe4all]

Fantastic review, as always.  Looking forward to your April cruise, as our next one isn't until January - unless I can convince DH to sneak one in in September.