Carnival Freedom Review- Eastern Caribbean

[sheri18]

Great pics.........the one with your 3 boys............priceless...............

[gail811]

OMG Paul.....I thought we were the only ones that spend a fortune on photos, year after year after year :D The family is beautiful!

Kevin also forgot his formal shoes this trip; $12 for the week from Formalities....what a deal!

[PaulMedik]

OMG Paul.....I thought we were the only ones that spend a fortune on photos, year after year after year :D The family is beautiful!

Kevin also forgot his formal shoes this trip; $12 for the week from Formalities....what a deal!

 

 

 

Gail,

 

We checked with Formalities and they didn't have his size. Luckily he's not at the age where small details cause problems! :) Those are his beach clogs he's wearing so I guess we broke or at least bent the cruise elegant rule.

 

I haven't looked at the final bills yet to see how much we spent, but I think it was less than past cruises.

 

 

 

sheri18,

 

Thank you.

 

 

 

I'm uploading photos now for San Juan. When they're finished uploading I'll continue with the review.

[PaulMedik]

Our day in San Juan actually was more like a sea day and then a port day. Our port time at San Juan was scheduled for 5:00PM to midnight, but we arrived in port and we were first off the ship at 3:50. I think we were first off from watching the port activity from deck nine above the bridge and then going straight down to deck 0 to get off. I don't know if they had announced we could get off yet or not because there were no lines at all when we got down to security. After we got off they were just setting up for photos and then they had to unlock the terminal building for us to get in.

 

Here's my early morning breakfast; (Really healthy huh?)

 

 

Here's a shot of my breakfast companions; (Nobody!)

 

After breakfast I headed back to my main hangout for the week;

 

 

As you can see our sun on the balcony was limited in the mornings, but by afternoon we had plenty of sun on our deck;

 

 

You can't tell by this picture, but we still had heavy seas and a lot of wind early on this day;

 

 

[PaulMedik]

Later that morning Karen and Britt were up for lunch while Britt was back from a morning at Camp Carnival;

 

 

 

The deli was open so I had a Reuben;

 

 

After lunch Karen and Britt went to the pool and Karen again commented that she had no trouble finding a chair by the pool;

 

 

 

There were also plenty of chairs outside of Panorama where we had lunch;

 

 

We then visited the ice cream station;

 

 

Britt worked hard all week on his ice cream cone construction skills;

 

[PaulMedik]

After an after lunch nap I had planned on being up on deck nine above the bridge for our arrival in San Juan before 3:00. I overslept a little so this is the first pic I got;

 

 

Later on we would explore that fort just before dark and make our way back to the port area along the road there above the ocean;

 

 

 

Looking back from the bridge along the port side, I kind of wished I'd stayed on our balcony for these pics (Our aft wrap was port side);

 

 

Britt was up on deck with me and he was still a little cautious from his previous trip up there with all the wind. It wasn't windy during our arrival into the port;

 

 

[PaulMedik]

There were several planes come in and land in San Juan and they were neat to watch from the deck;

 

 

The forward decks below us also had several spectators;

 

 

This is the port we eventually docked at;

 

 

The port beside ours has an interesting roof;

 

 

After coming in parallel to the dock we began using thrusters to take us in;

 

 

There were quite a few pax on their balconies for the port arrival;

 

[PaulMedik]

Getting closer;

 

 

 

Ropes being pulled up to tie us up;

 

 

The gangways were pulled out soon after we tied off;

 

 

We then headed back inside and while going down deck nine we passed a colorfully decorated Happy 50th door;

 

 

Catching an elevator down to deck 0;

 

 

Then getting our photo taken on the gangway involved getting back on the gangway after they set up for photos;

 

[nancydee]

Paul, I just want to say thank you!

I am loving this review and all the pics.

I am going on my first cruise in September.:D

[PaulMedik]

Inside the terminal with nobody ahead of us!;

 

 

Bryson is holding a cup of free Peurto Rican Rum that they had at the end of the terminal area. They had four tables set up full of free rum and folks telling everyone to take one in each hand as they left. The rum was delicious. I had several then asked an officer at the port exit area if it was OK to walk around San Juan with rum. He said it was no problem at all!;

 

 

After this pic we began our walk / run through the forts (Once you see how much ground we covered, you'll understand how I drank several cups of rum and worked it off!);

 

 

We got a lot of pics of the ship from various angles around San Juan;

 

 

We did pause for Karen to buy some ear rings in the street shops behind us;

 

 

[queeni]

I'm really enjoying your review! We board the Freedom on Saturday and my 11 year old asked me this afternoon if the slide would be open most of the time. I figure with 3 boys you might have an idea of how often it was open. Thanks.

[Hurricane Girl]

Thank you for all of your posts and for sharing all of the pics.!!

 

Did I understand your post correctly...did you arrive in San Juan at 5:00 p.m.? That's what time we will be getting there on our May cruise. I noticed that you went to the fort, do you remember what time it closed? That's where we are wanting to go but not sure if we will have enough time to get there before they close it. Thanks for the info.!!!

[PaulMedik]

Paul, I just want to say thank you!

I am loving this review and all the pics.

I am going on my first cruise in September.

 

 

nancydee,

 

Thank you.

 

After your first you'll be hooked!

 

 

 

The boys did pause occasionally for pics;

 

 

Another angle with the ship in the background;

 

 

 

The boys were amazed with each new area of the forts we came to;

 

 

 

Bryson with the first of his many high wall poses;

 

[PaulMedik]

One of the vents in the tunnels;

 

 

One reason I'm considering building a fort for the boys here in my back yard;

 

 

You can't really tell from this pic that we are in a tunnel, but you can tell that Bryson really enjoyed the tunnels;

 

 

Britt checking out the lights in the tunnel;

 

 

Another view of the ship from the fort;

 

 

[PaulMedik]

The boys each went through a window into separate rooms;

 

 

 

While Karen and I went down a long wide tunnel to the first floor;

 

 

 

There was also a stone spiral stairway that lead back up to the area where the boys were;

 

 

[Mikel1733]

Paul......thanks for the great picture review of your trip. It absolutely wonderful.

 

Mike

[PaulMedik]

Another view of the ship from the fort;

 

 

We still were pretty much alone in the fort at this point because the groups from the cruise hadn't made it there yet;

 

 

Karen near the exit of the spiral stair case;

 

 

 

Still not many people. Most were arriving as we left this fort and headed to the second fort;

 

 

[PaulMedik]

Paul......thanks for the great picture review of your trip. It absolutely wonderful.

 

Mike

 

 

Mike,

 

Thank you.

 

I see you also were on Premier in 1989. We have an album from our cruise on Premier on webshots. CLICK HERE. Premier was a nice cruise line. I hated to see it go.

 

 

In this pic, along with Bryson posing on another wall, you can see the second fort we visited in San Juan and the route we walked to get there. We definately got our exercise walking in San Juan;

 

 

The waves crashing against the rocks on that side of the island are beautiful;

 

 

As we were walking down out of the first fort, we began meeting the groups from the ship just arriving;

 

 

Britt ended up climbing on to a roof that he thought was part of the fort;

 

 

 

The armory in the lower level of the building they entered earlier through the windows;

 

 

I had a hard time convincing them they couldn't take those rifles out and play with them.

[PaulMedik]

 

View of the ship through the fort doors. (Not sure what Karen is snarling at);

 

 

We had walked a long way, but zoom lens brings the ship back close;

 

 

Britt wishing he could get to the other fort;

 

 

The fort walls continue like this all the way to the second fort (And Bryson ran along the wall jumping the cannon access points the entire way);

 

 

While this looks dangerous, there's at least fifteen feet of flat rock wall between him and the actual edge;

[Mikel1733]

Paul -Thanks for the link to your Premier pics.........that was our first cruise and the one that hooked us. I looked at your formal pics on the Freedom and it made me rethink my notion that we would dress down on future cruises in line with the new dress code. Your pics made me remember why we like getting dressed up on a cruise.

 

Thanks

 

Mike

[PaulMedik]

 

Bryson helping Britt climb the wall (the 'odd' fellow at the end of the wall stretching had offered to help and Britt told him to stay away from him. He was 'odd' so I was pleased with Britt's caution. I was also pleased to see Bryson watching and that he came back to help Britt.);

 

 

The cemetary as we neared the second fort caused Bryson to demonstrate how some of the men died defending the fort;

 

 

In the distance you can see the fort we were at first;

 

 

And in this one you can see how much further we had to go to the second fort;

 

 

Bryson continued his Fort wall march;

 

[PaulMedik]

Mike,

 

You're welcome.

 

It seemed like there were more people dressed formally on this cruise than on others. I honestly don't think the general cruising public gives it too much thought, and the new dress code announcements may make them more likely to dress up.

 

 

 

 

Britt had to stop and look this jump over for a while before he tried it;

 

 

He eventually got his nerve up and made it just fine;

 

 

That's Britt in the distance making an even wider jump and he didn't even slow down before it;

 

 

Another pic back toward the first fort and of the beautiful waves crashing in to the rocks;

 

 

 

Spencer checking out one of the fort view points. The ones near the forts are clean, but this one and many in between are used for the occasional weak bladder. As you can tell by Spencer's face, this one wasn't one of the clean ones;

 

[Luanne21]

I am so enjoying your review. Thank you!!

[PaulMedik]

I am so enjoying your review. Thank you!!

 

 

 

Luanne21,

 

Thank you.

 

 

The entry to the second fort;

 

 

 

This yard outside of the fort was filled with people flying kites;

 

 

 

 

[PaulMedik]

Bryson and Britt jumping off the wall;

 

 

 

Bryson exploring the walls of the fort with the sun setting behind him;

 

 

 

Britt enjoying the sunset view;