Freedom Review! Dec 14-20

[dst]

I am seeing the photos and I am impressed with the selection of purchases at Publix :D

[crsnfun]

Sunday, December 14

Cruising today!!

We got up around 8 am....still groggy from the chaos of the night before. Stacie has norecollection and doesn't even remember me leaving the room at 1 am!

We make our way down to the lobby for breakfast. Boy was it busy!

After eating and grabbing a to-go cup o joe, we head back upstairs for showers and to get ready for our transportation.

We checked out and found that our ride was already waiting for us. He packed our luggage in the van while we paid. Total bill was around $107. Not bad for a sleepless night! :D

 

We hopped in the van...the only 2 and off we go towards Port Everglades!

The ride was just as said...about 20 minutes or so.

Kind of interesting because, on the other side of the highway, police had about 10 miles of freeway closed off. We asked the driver what was going on and he said that every year, the police shut down the freeway and they collect toys for children for Christmas. It was quite a production...people literally had their vehicles parked on the median, chairs pulled out and everyone just kinda sat and watched.

We came around the corner and the driver said "There she is...that is your ship!"

Stacie's eyes lit up and I got that warm fuzzy feeling. You know that feeling where you are excited and nervous and you feel like that big ship is sitting there waiting just for you!

The traffic was crazy getting to the port but, the driver made his way through the crowd and dropped us off. $50 later, we were there!!

I was a little nervous as there were SO MANY PEOPLE! We couldn't tell who was coming and who was going....

Oh, and there was just one tiny little problem. You see, we opted for the Edocuments so, we did have our luggage tags but, Stacie was convinced that if we stapled the paper luggage tags on our bags, they would surely get ripped off in the process of moving them to our room.

So, there we stood, luggage and all, trying to figure out what the heck we were supposed to do!

I asked several people who, eagerly directed me to someone, anyone else who could tell me what to do!

Finally, one of the porters when to a guy and got a stapler so, we were able to secure our luggage tags! We tipped him $10 for 3 bags.

We walked through the big double doors where we were asked for our documents and ID's. The gentleman welcomed us with a big smile! After we were officially in the terminal, we were directed to a walkway which said "VIP's Only". I stopped dead in my tracks..."We are not VIP" I told the guy. He said "Of course you are...everyone is VIP on Carnival!" What a great response!

We continued on, got to the next group of people where everyone was unclipping, emptying pockets and pushing their bags through an xray machine. We followed right along.

We got to the check in area and I could tell Stacie was nervous. You see, her and I have traveled quite a bit and, I have to say that our most recent trip to Niagra Falls, Canada ended with a good laugh. She always gets nervous when she leaves the country. When we traveled through customs in Canada, she insisted on telling the woman everything we would be doing for the next 3 days, including where we were staying, what concert we would be seeing and how long it had taken us to get there! I told her to relax! They don't care! Yet, still, everytime we cross that border, she gets stiff as a board and stutters!!!

Check in was a breeze....we waited in line, presented our Fun Passes, birth certificates and ID's. We also, unsuccessfully, tried to give the woman $400 as we thought that was where we set up our sail and sign cards! She smiled and said "I don't get the money, Sweetie"...well, too bad for her...she could have taken the money and had a $400 bonus and we would have never even known!

Once again, ushered to the next group of waiting folks....Diane, the woman directing us where to go really needed a microphone! She pleaded with us to put on our comment cards that she needed one. She informed us that "After those BIG double doors open, you will know that it is almost time to board!" Yeah!

Sure enough, after about 20 minutes, open, they did!

We were sent to yet another room where we waited to have our Embarkation photos done and a picture for our sail and sign card.

This was it...the moment we had been waiting for...as we walked across the gangway, all the worries and hustle and bustle of the holiday season were left behind....VACATION AL LAST!

[dst]

Anna: How much fun, Is that a picture of you or your partner in crime :)

 

I have taken lots of cruises and I still get that little excited feeling when I see the ship, I guess that's why we still cruise

 

Keep it coming...................

[crsnfun]

That would be Stacie!

Here she is again....

 

[crsnfun]

Here are a few pictures of the ship as we walked around...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[crsnfun]

Why am I only seeing white boxes with red "x" in them? I could see the ones before but not the new ones:(. Do you have a link to your photos that I can view? Please!!!!:D

 

I will post the link to Kodak Gallery when I have them all uploaded. Should be by the end of the day!

 

:)

[Ivy1908]

Thanks! Can't wait...we will be on the Freedom in 87 days! Yay:D

[Hank1468]

Great review so far! Keep it comin'!

[crsnfun]

After we were on this ship and getting ourselves familiar with everything, Stacie noticed that people were walking around with trays of drinks! She could not resist....2 DOD's coming right up!

 

[tiffytutu99]

it looks pretty overcast and chilly that first day, no?

 

thanks for the review! keep it coming! :D

[gypsyrose]

Loving your pic review. Merry Christmas Eve and keep it coming. :D

[crsnfun]

it looks pretty overcast and chilly that first day, no?

 

thanks for the review! keep it coming! :D

 

No, not really...we wore sunglasses..it was about 75 and beautiful!

:)

[DarthGrady]

Looking good so far!

[crsnfun]

When we got on the ship, we decided to do 2 things.

 

1) Find our stateroom. We couldn't get in but, we wanted to know where it was. Our stateroom was 9252, on the Lido deck. PRIME location!! If you ever get the opportunity to stay on this deck, DO IT! We were so close to everything! We are both smokers and I know we can smoke in our room but, who wants that smell in such a tiny, confined space!? Plus, as you all know, the Lido deck is practically the ONLY deck that you can walk from the front of the ship to the aft of the ship without having to skip up or down a floor. We met Javier, our room steward. He was such a sweet guy. Kept us happy all week, even though we did not ask for much but a towel animal evey night and ice in our bucket.

 

Here are some pictures of our room....

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second thing we wanted to do was check and see where our dining table was. I had requested a 2 person table. The only reason for this is because I did not want Stacie to feel overwhelmed with having to meet a bunch of new people. We were in the Posh restaurant, table 324. The tables did not have numbers on them yet so, we took a quick walk through and that was that.

 

Later, after we got to dinner, we saw that we had been seated at a 8 topper table. Only 6 of us were there all week long. Our table mates were fabulous!! Turns out that Joe, Brenda, Naomi and Brad are from right around the corner in Mansfield, OH. Joe is training to be a pilot and taking flying lessons at Boltonfield, literally 45 seconds from where I work!

 

They were great people to have dinner with..I could not have asked for better people!

 

 

 

 

Dinner on the first night...

 

More to come!

 

Have a Happy Holiday!

(P.S. We DID actually eat more but, the computer would only allow me to upload 6 images at a time....don't worry, I will post more food pics later)

[Joshua 1 8]

Hello Anna, I am sailing on Freedom this spring and I am enjoying your review.

I am also from the Central Ohio area...what a small world. This is my first time to Cruise Critic and I find your post.

 

Funny thing my husband and I drove to Florida for our 1st cruise last year and we had the same discussion about whether to take 23 or 33.

[aspen36]

Hi Anna,

 

I am glad to see that you figured out the photo posting thing.:) I can't wait to read and see more of your trip. It sounds like you and stacie had a great time.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

 

Anna

My name is Anna also.:)

[DarthGrady]

Man that food looks good. Two more weeks, just two more weeks before I can get me some of that!

[JXR]

I for one love hearing what people did before the cruise. Especially what kind of hotel they stayed in, was there stores/restaurants nearby, etc .... It sure helps those of us that haven't sailed from certain port.

 

Keep on going, you are doing great ...

 

Joanne

[cancan]

Anna, love love love the review. I too want to hear all the details of the

entire trip. Thanks for posting.

[crsnfun]

Well, I sure appreciate everyone's encouragement...:)

If I tend to get long winded and want me to just cut to the chase, let me know...

 

Monday, December 15

 

KEY WEST

 

 

Stacie and I had nothing planned to do here. I have been to Key West, as has she so, we decided to do our own thing and just sight see.

 

I am not so sure this was the best idea as it was about 90 degrees!! Beautiful sunshine but, man was it HOT! We walked down, around, all across town.

 

We ended up stopping at Margaritaville because, let's face it...how can you go to Key West and not visit Maragritaville. We got some conch fritters (not as good as some others I have had) and a margarita.

 

We spent about an hour there, went next door and picked up a few souvenirs for the folks up north.

 

Then, we had this brillant idea to walk to the "Southen Most Point in The United States". It seemed like a great idea at the time but, oh, after walking for about 20 minutes in that steaming heat, we were wondering if we were ever going to make it!!

 

Finally, it came into sight!!

 

 

Once we got there, we kind of looked at each other and said "There is NO way I am walking back!"

 

 

 

After our photo op, we decided that we would hitch a ride back to the ship. Don't worry if you walk all the way there and then decide you can't make it back. There are people waiting at the end of the road for you to help you back.

 

 

We opted for a bicycle ride (?). No, we did not rent bikes. There were people that pedaled you around. Instead of it being a horse and carriage ride, there was a bicycle that someone rode and a "bench" on the back where 2 people could ride. So, for $11 plus tip, this obviously very fit, handsome man took us back to our home at sea.

 

 

[crsnfun]

Oh, I forgot to mention...there is a little bar near the dock called the "Sunset Pier"

We decided to stop for an adult beverage before getting back on the ship. Let me tell you...IF you decide to stop at this little bar, I would not recommend eating on the pier. There were birds everywhere! We got pina coladas which came with a lovely umbrella and a piece of pineapple.

Well, it was quite windy there by the water. After Stacie had finished her drink, the wind blew it over, the pineapple came tumbling out and the birds were right there to clean it up!

Of course, after they realized it was a pineapple, they didn't want it!

Beware! :D

[crsnfun]

Here are some pictures from Key West:

Of course there were random roosters around...

[Catrin]

Anna,

 

Terrific review.. and even better attitude!!

 

I think the "Diary type" of reviews are the best kind!

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

Catrin

[dst]

Anna: Keep it coming - not too winded.......yet :)

 

Love the pics of Key West, looks nice for the holidays. We are doing the 8 day in Jan so our ports are different but still love reading

 

Waiting to see/read more about the ship :D

[beach410]

Nice review, thanks for sharing and I certainly love seeing pictures from peoples cruises, so keep em coming!