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

[Jamman54]

58 minutes ago, Crusin Karen said:

I'm late to the party!  Read first part of your review weeks ago.  Spent my Friday night reading last 20 pages!!  Sure do miss cruising on spirit class and especially Spirit and Pride.  Like Patti and some others I am deaf, tho it was later in life so I'm lucky.  Right ear in 5th grade, left ear about 2 years after I graduated college.  From spinal meningitis (had it 32x) I am an exceptional lip reader and in 2005 had a cochlear implant on left side.  Because of extensive damage from meningitis I don't have "as good" results and Jamman, as you said, many sounds are "blary"  but I LOVE my CI!  As of my last cruise in 9/22 I am a solo cruiser and miss out on a ton without my Jim to "interpert" for me lol.  But it's still a magical world that cruising has offered.  THANK YOU, Jamman and Patti for another great review! 🍻 Enjoy your April countdown and our New Jersey spring time! (and the Yankee opener on Thursday!⚾

Hey Karry! Always glad to have you aboard with us. We're so sorry we didn't get the chance to sail with you and Jim as the timing never seemed to work out. He seemed like my kind of guy. Glad you are continuing to cruise. There are a lot of friendships to be made out there. 

 

We know of a number of CC members who are hearing impaired to varying degrees. Patti had lost her hearing in both ears by age 3 due to ear infections. She can get about 25% in her right ear with a hearing aid. Ryan also had a lot of ear infections as a baby, so they put tubes in both ears to drain the fluid and save his hearing. The one good thing that came out of it was with the closed captioning on the TV all the time, our boys learned to read at a very early age. They were reading the Harry Potter books in the first grade! 😀

[Florings]

Enjoyed every bit of your review and pictures.  And sad when it's over...  thanks for sharing!

[Crusin Karen]

Thanks for your nice thoughts, Jamman!  I bet if we had all cruised together, CCL would still be recovering and pax would still be telling stories lol.  I am very lucky because I could hear for so long.  I give Patti a ton of credit navigating her world growing up.  And yes, captions are a TREMENDOUS invention!!!  Everyone asks me how I can watch tv and read captions at the same time.  You just DO!!! Wonder if she's ever researched implants.  It's truly a miracle.  I don't get normal speech but combined with my lip reading it makes life so much easier.  Had mine at NYU/Langone.  Happy weekend and CHEERS to your next cruise!

 

[Bostwick girl]

I’m sure you’ve addressed it, but don’t have time to go thru all the pages now! Do you remember which night was elegant night on Freedom? I know it’s generally the first seaday evening or the next to last night. Need to make steakhouse reservations but don’t want to do it on elegant night! Thanks!

[Jamman54]

3 hours ago, Bostwick girl said:

I’m sure you’ve addressed it, but don’t have time to go thru all the pages now! Do you remember which night was elegant night on Freedom? I know it’s generally the first seaday evening or the next to last night. Need to make steakhouse reservations but don’t want to do it on elegant night! Thanks!

It was the first sea day. 😎

[Bostwick girl]

22 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

It was the first sea day. 😎

Thanks, that’s what I was thinking!

[jedi bobs]

On 3/26/2023 at 1:55 PM, Jamman54 said:

It was the first sea day. 😎

Jeff, just to let you know, your Vista 8 day southern Carribian sailing....Ann and I are now booked on it.

 

[Jamman54]

48 minutes ago, jedi bobs said:

Jeff, just to let you know, your Vista 8 day southern Carribian sailing....Ann and I are now booked on it.

 

Cool! It will be great to see you and Ann again! 😀

[tlw440]

Thanks for another great review. I still say that Carnival should pay you and Patti to cruise and do reviews of their ships. I know that both of you put a lot of effort into the reviews and it shows that it is a labor of love. I'm looking forward to reading your next endeavor.

[Jamman54]

26 minutes ago, tlw440 said:

Thanks for another great review. I still say that Carnival should pay you and Patti to cruise and do reviews of their ships. I know that both of you put a lot of effort into the reviews and it shows that it is a labor of love. I'm looking forward to reading your next endeavor.

Thanks for reading and for your kind words. Patti and I will begin our next journey on Thursday as we head to Miami to board the Celebration on Sunday.😎

[tlw440]

10 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

Thanks for reading and for your kind words. Patti and I will begin our next journey on Thursday as we head to Miami to board the Celebration on Sunday.😎

Have a safe trip and I hope you have a great cruise. 

[Jamman54]

Here is the link to our Carnival Celebration review.

 

 

Edited May 4, 2023 by Jamman54

[MistyRo76]

On 2/26/2023 at 7:16 PM, Jamman54 said:

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!!!

Jeff - Having just booked our first Alaska cruise on the Spirit, I have been searching for Spirit and/or Alaska reviews. Today, I headed straight to your signature knowing that I would most likely find a review of the Spirit and as always you and Patti did not disappoint! The Carnival website is woefully lacking in pictures of this ship and there are a lot of outdated pics on the cruise ship deck plans site (for example all of the photos on that site of the Warehouse Arcade are actually of when that space was the library or chapel). So, thank you for always keeping us so well informed and entertained! Now if I could just get you guys to add Alaska to your cruise list before summer of 2025, that would be great! 😆😀

[Jamman54]

22 minutes ago, MistyRo76 said:

Jeff - Having just booked our first Alaska cruise on the Spirit, I have been searching for Spirit and/or Alaska reviews. Today, I headed straight to your signature knowing that I would most likely find a review of the Spirit and as always you and Patti did not disappoint! The Carnival website is woefully lacking in pictures of this ship and there are a lot of outdated pics on the cruise ship deck plans site (for example all of the photos on that site of the Warehouse Arcade are actually of when that space was the library or chapel). So, thank you for always keeping us so well informed and entertained! Now if I could just get you guys to add Alaska to your cruise list before summer of 2025, that would be great! 😆😀

Always happy to be of help. Happy planning! 😃