Tell me about Freedom ...

[LLSullie]

sailing June 30th, what's the scoop? Is the ship fantastic?

[big_duck]

Tell me about Freedom ...

 

Freedoms just another word for nuthin' left to lose. ;)

[tpb100]

 

Aspects of it were great, (weather was on our side) but there were some problems although overall, the ship (Freedom) was good. 1)Signage and ease of travelling around the ship: Not good, the "dissolving liquid crystal" displays that served as signs were unreadable until you got up to them. There were also "dead ends" on this ship, and many people said they were confused about where things were even after a week. 2)Decor: Mostly tacky and cheap-looking, for example the light fixtures in the cafeteria will need replacing in a couple of years. 3)Housekeeping: Ship ventilation, lighting, and cleanliness, and the decor in the theater were very good. 4)Food quality,dining room: Overall, food was good, but main courses sounded promising but execution was not; I sent some things back, especially steaks and filet mignon! (The waiter knew they were lousy, and offered to take them back when he saw we weren't finishing them. They served "American" food when we would have preferred something at least somewhat like the local cuisine, such as our other cruises with Cunard, Celebrity, and Viking did.) Desserts were better. 5)Food quality, Buffet (Freedom Restaurant): Excellent, the only problem was that some things sold out! emand was such that the staff here seemed overwhelmed. 6)Staff: Overall great, especially dining room. 7)Tours: Most guides were not the highest level (though the prices were high!), except for one (she was not only very knowledgeable, but had enthusiasm for the subject. She in a sense made ruins seem better than they were.) Note: Some tours did not include things that were important to some participants, who told the guides so. In particular, our guide in Istanbul argued with us, talking some into staying on instead of dropping them off. There also was a disconnect between guide and driver, with the ship having to wait for us for at least an hour (in Istanbul.) Theoretically, we could have spent an hour doing something more interesting than waiting on the corner for a bus.These problems were noted in our tour reviews and were reported to the Purser. 8) Tour Director: John Heald, a real ham, did "impromptu" stuff with planted audience members, such as the Chinese guy who gives his name to make it sound like a curse although we found out later that his English is fluent, and the 50-year-old black guy who acts like a love-starved doofus. These acts are repeated on all the Carnival ships, as revealed in a blog here. And Mr. Heald gives incorrect information, such as Metro lines and shuttle buses in Athens that do not exist. Much time was wasted trying to find them. 9)Last but not least: Dis-and Em-barkation: Lousy. Although we registered online, and had "Fun-Passes" printed, the check-in staff refused to honor them and forced us to fill out new forms. Also, we were lied to when trying to get onto the shuttle buses. People became separated and were told that whatever bus they were near was the only one (according to a color and number scheme depending on flights to be taken), when their loved ones were about to embark on other buses! Admittedly, these problems were either caused by Carnival using local Italian port workers rather than "Carnival" employees (embarkation), and left their own workers untrained and overwhelmed (disembarkation.)

 

 

In short, we expected more than we got, and are unlikely to go Carnival again.

[skuttduck]

The comedian said it right when he made a joke of "I'm color blind and want to go on a Carnival Cruise" and "There's a wallpaper shop in Colorado that unloaded their inventory on this ship"

 

The atrium didn't really impress me like the Liberty, and speaking of liberty, the statues and the light fixtures of "Liberty" in the dining room looked like they were made of wax. I actually would have expected to see Liberty on the Liberty, but instead I see it on the Freedom *SHRUG*

 

I did like most other parts of the ship though. The hallways have their own art nouveau. There is a different color for each floor. There is the dead ends as said previously, but I found that being on a conquest class ship prior (Liberty) and Destiny you will know the layout of this ship rather well. Dead ends are on floors 3 and 4 because of the dining rooms. Use the promenade, or the floors below with rooms to get through that.

 

I liked the look of the Victoriana lounge a lot, and both dining rooms were very nice as well. We had no problems with embarkation, and debarkation in Europe is great. There isn't that same garbage going with customs.

 

Here is another thing I noticed about the Europe itineraries. At least from August 2005 and May 2007 cruises. If you want a cruise without a lot of children this is the cruise for you. The average age seemed to be 50+ on this cruise, and my wife and I being 31 were in the minority.

 

Also I didn't notice any of that horse racing or the red/blue teams being played on this cruise either. Yes it was very fun, and I like the ship, however I think I like the decor of the Liberty slightly better. I loved all the ports, and would do this again.

[northern]

Overall we liked Freedom a lot. Especially more so after very recent Alaskan cruise on Zuiderdam. We are booking again with Carnival!

We took Carnival excursions in all ports and enjoyed them. The guides were good and some were outstanding.

Cruise director kept the ship alife.

Our steward was very efficient and took good care of us.

Dining room food great except the beef... Service was OK.

Buffet on Lido deck was good with prompt service. The guy serving omlets on Carnival had five of them done in the time that the guy on HAL would have served one person.

The entertainment was great most nights ( one hopeless exception). On Zuiderdam entertaiment was poor with few exceptions.

Enjoy your cruise, but do not count on slleping much. Europe is intense...

[winewanderer]

Are any parts of the ship really cold?

 

Last year on the Liberty in Europe the dining room was an oven while the buffet was a freezer.

 

I know some of the lounges/showroom can be cold but any comments about the ship temperature in general?

 

Thanks

[lsp]

We were on the Freedom on 4/19/07 and everything, I mean everything was awesome. Check out the roll call for "Live from the Liberty". The temperature was never cold on board, nor was it hot, the food we had was great, never had bad food. The food in the specialty dining room was great, no problems with anything being out. Our tours were good but we had all picked private guides from meeting up here about 9 months before and are doing the same with the same group on the Splendor. Our group was from Texas, Arizona, Washington, Canada, Australia & I think New Jersey. And, none of us had a complaint.

 

As for as Carnival using "locals" to work at the dock, why would they hire full time employees to work once every 12 days. I guess they could and the price of cruising would go up greatly.

 

We expected a lot and we got a whole lot more. Sorry for the naysayers.

 

Linda