Freedom Review Jan 5-12 - Part II: The Quest for Relish

[bobbygirl]

Cabins

 

As I mentioned before, we booked two cabins (port, aft) on the Empress deck, one balcony and one inside. The cabins were clean and spacious with plenty of storage and good lighting. The beds were fabulously comfortable. The bathroom made an excellent use of space and there was a large two-sided magnifying mirror attached to the wall, perfect for applying makeup. There were plenty of towels and comfy robes were provided. I don’t know what detergent they use to wash their linens and towels, but it smells terrific. I got all my ironing touch-ups done the first afternoon in the self-serve laundry, but the iron leaked and didn’t get quite hot enough. Later in the week I used the washing machines (our clothes were caked with mud from an ATV excursion) and they worked fine. We enjoyed the balcony, but guests on adjoining balconies were talking loud and it sounded like they were speaking through a microphone – I guess their voices were bouncing off the partitions and being amplified. Other than that, it was very quiet and we slept like babies.

 

Fitness and Recreation, Enrichment Activities

 

DH and son checked out the gym, and said it was a fine facility with excellent equipment. They also went to a wine-tasting seminar which focused more on white wines than red. We participated in the Trivia and Bean Bag games – the kids wanted to win a “Ship on a Stick” but ended up with medals instead. They also did the towel animal seminar, which seemed to be popular with a lot of guests – the disco was pretty full. We played several games of mini-golf around the ship’s smokestack – lots of fun but quite windy. I tried to find some quieter areas on the ship and tended to stay either around the aft pool or on the sports deck. The pools were smallish (biggest pool I’ve experienced was on the NCL Spirit) and the hot tubs could have been a little warmer.

 

Dining

 

Hmmm...hit and miss, I would say, depending on our perspectives. Overall, it was a better food experience than our previous cruise on the CCL Destiny. For DH, beef is a priority and he likes it blue and melt-in-your-mouth – after a fabulous beef experience on the NCL Jewel, he was disappointed. My DD struggled with seasickness and did most her eating before supper. My DS inhaled anything that was in sight, ordered room service every day and took full advantage of the grille and pizzeria. He ordered 3 starters and 2 entrées almost every evening. As for myself, I’m the least fussy of the bunch and found something I liked everywhere. The servings were very generous, and in the Sun King, obscenely so.

 

Breakfast: IMHO, the best place to have it is in the dining room, and we ate there practically every day. Service was terrific and the food was hot. Faves: the cinnamon buns and raspberry pastries, fresh fruit, grapefruit juice, poached eggs, bacon and hash browns (yum!)

 

Lunch: again, head for the dining room. Lido buffet was too crowded and there were lines at the Pizza, Grille and Deli stations. Deli was very good.

 

Supper: We were in the Posh restaurant, 8:00 seating. Carnival seems to excel at starters. Cold or hot, soups or plated, everything we tried was wonderful (believe me; we sampled them all between us). Caesar salad was so-so, as was the spinach salad. Wedge of iceberg??? Beef was disappointing, duck was ok, but the seafood was really good. The best entrée DD & I tried was the salmon on the last night. The chocolate melting cake was too sweet for us and so we often chose fruit or ice cream for dessert. A highlight was the apple and caramel napoleon and the apple pie – truly excellent.

 

Sun King restaurant: We had high hopes, and in many ways were very pleased with our experience. Again, the amuse-gueules (appetizers) provided before the meal were exquisite and the starters were absolutely fabulous. We tried the Beef carpaccio, Crêpes vonassiennes, and the Escargots. These are not to be missed. We chose the Onion soup “les Halles” and were disappointed with its overly rich, syrupy consistency. The Caesar salad was tossed at the table and was better than the dining room version. The spinach salad was also better here. DH, DD and DS chose the 9 oz “blue” filet mignon, and I went for the Surf and Turf, “rare”. Unfortunately, the filet was very dry and even the delicious sauces provided couldn’t correct the situation. The sides were excellent. My lobster tail was exquisitely grilled – savory and tender. Presentation was creative and appealing and the service was impeccable. They even had actual towels (not paper) in the washrooms.

 

Other venues: the Meiji Sushi – a must-do if you like sushi, very fresh. My DH made several trips to the Viennese café - $2 for a double espresso (free in the dining room at supper). Room service was delivered as and when requested and no complaints here except for lettuce in the grilled cheese sandwich???

 

The Quest for Relish

 

On the last night, DH ordered the Angus burger from the alternative selections on the supper menu. He asked for relish, not an obscure condiment it would seem. This turned into a comedy of errors, with the waitresses not understanding what he was talking about. First they brought horseradish – huh? Then they went to the kitchens and returned with sliced radishes – huh again?? We gave a detailed explanation of what relish was – green sauce, tastes like sweet pickles...Finally, our head waitress came back and told us with a straight face “The green stuff only available on Lido deck”. I couldn’t help myself and cracked up. I’m still chuckling at the thought of it now...my DH wasn’t as amused, especially as our wait staff worked lunch time on the Lido deck and he figured they should have known what relish was. But we had to give them credit as they REALLY tried to find it for us, and they may have been a language issue there...or maybe no one ever orders the burger??? Needless to say, I apologized to our waitress in case my laughter had offended her. I guess you had to be there. Shades of Basil and Manuel from Fawlty Towers “too much burro uno dos tres”...

 

Bar service

 

There have been quite a few posts about invisible bar service waiters in the main dining rooms. Our bar waitress was present, prompt and attentive; after the first night she always remembered what the teens wanted with their supper and refilled as needed. I found the bar waiters to be less numerous and less “in your face” than on other cruises, especially on the Lido & Sports decks. They didn’t go around calling out “Bar service!” all the time. I had to either flag one down or get up and go to the bar myself.

 

We often sat in the balcony seats of the Victoriana, and the bar waiters were very good, recalling what we liked and anticipating our drink orders.

The drinks were good and very generous with the alcohol content – one Blue Hawaii was so strong and so blue that it seemed be mostly Blue Curacao!

 

Being familiar with the 21+ alcoholic beverage rule, I was surprised that my 18 year-old was permitted to participate in the wine tasting (he was with DH). We always order a bottle of wine and both teens were poured a glass with their supper from the first night – when we brought up their policy, the waitress said that it was up to the parents. I guess if DS would have tried to order a beer at a bar he would have been turned down, but had one with his dad in Cozumel. (FYI in Quebec the drinking age is 18.)

 

Questions? Post em' here and I'll do my best to answer! ;)

[bobbygirl]

Full review is now posted in the "Member Reviews" section of Cruise Critic.

 

Carnival Freedom Western Caribbean Jan 5-12

 

Part I: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=693413

Part II: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=693419

Part III: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=693425

[Coloradoretireescruisin]

Thank you so much for your wonderful review. We will be on the Freedom in January 09. One question: Is the Sun King restaurant the supper club?

[mjmiller]

One question: Is the Sun King restaurant the supper club?

 

yes, the Sun King is the supper club, $30pp.