Freedom 12/28-1/3 Review (lengthly!)

[LynneL]

Carnival Freedom 12/28/08 - 1/3/09

 

Our group consisted of 11 people - 4 people early-mid 50s & our kids with their friends: 6 of them in the 20-21 yr. old age group & one 24 year old. Our family members have been on between 10-13 Carnival cruises, depending on the individual. We have also sailed on Royal Caribbean, Princess & a variety of other lines, some no longer in business.

 

PRE-CRUISE: Had an uneventful, non-stop Delta Airlines flight from NY, arriving on Sat. 12/27. We had booked at the LaQuinta Suites Airport location in Hollywood at a government employee rate of $89.00 plus tax for the Sat. night. This rate was also offered to current or past military. Free transfers from airport offered. We were told to call after we received our luggage. At approx. 11:45 a.m. we called the hotel from a courtesy phone to arrange for the pick-up. The desk clerk explained that the shuttle only leaves the hotel on the hour so we would have to wait for the van, which would be leaving at noon, to drop off other hotel guests at their terminal and then they would be by for us. She estimated a 15-20 min. wait from my time of calling, which didn’t seem accurate to me & it wasn’t. They picked us up closer to 12:30. For free (of course tipped him), you can’t complain; however, if your plane arrives at say 11:15 you may want to take a cab the short distance rather wait so long. Because we were so early our room wasn’t available but the clerk was very nice in allowing us to check-in and put our luggage in a locked room.

 

LaQuinta was a very comfortable place to stay. Most guests seemed to be cruise passengers. The rooms were nice with new carpet. The hallway carpet could use replacement or a good deep steam cleaning but it wasn’t terrible. They had a beautiful pool; however, it was closed for the past week; the clerk read a statement from a paper about something pertaining to safety reasons but couldn’t really explain why it was closed. There was a nice patio area with a gazebo overlooking the water. We also walked to a strip mall that was about a 10 minute walk from the hotel. There were food places, stores such as Old Navy, K-Mart for last minute purchases & a BJs liquor store (don’t need to be a member & very cheap prices. Hard liquor only, K-Mart sold wine). When you check into the hotel ask to be placed on the list for the free shuttle to the pier the next day. We ate a nice free continental breakfast in the lobby area on Sun. a.m. (juice, donuts, cereal, waffle iron to make your own Belgium waffles, etc.). We were listed for the first 10:45 a.m. shuttle & the clerk arrange for the 11 us to be taken to the pier with one other very nice couple.

 

EMBARKATION: The van pulls you right up to where the racks are for the luggage to be loaded on the ship. The driver could have placed them right on there but, of course, the pier luggage workers would have probably broken the driver’s wrists for possibly cutting them out of tips. So, the van driver placed them in front of the rack & the pier worker slid them in, all while reminding us that they want tips. No need to remind me, I don’t want to be wearing the same clothes I boarded in for the whole week.

 

 

We went into a large waiting area & were directed to the VIP check-in since we are Platinum cruisers. On Cruise Critic I heard others mention that there was no VIP area in Ft. L. & someone else said on their first cruise they were put in the VIP so I was expecting no real perk here. The check-in at this port for this particular cruise was beyond belief! We were all checked in right away & as I looked around to see all the chairs in the room taken, a Carnival staff member directed us to follow her & took us up stairs and directly onto the ship. It was 11:15 a.m. & we were the first people on board! Never happened like that before & probably never will again so I really relished the moment as we entered an empty ship!

 

THE CRUISE: I really expected the worst decor when I read about the changing neon lights, giant blue Statue of Liberty, etc. Did it have that, yes; but was it horrible no. I thought it was somewhat a fun décor. It’s Carnival. You are never getting subdued and after my last cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas that whole subdued thing sometimes feels more dull than classy. Crown Princess was another story but that’s neither here nor there for this review. The ship had a nice, though not very large, Christmas tree and pretty traditional Christmas garland made of artificial greens and Christmas balls draped on the railings of the various levels overlooking the central ship area. There were other pretty decorations throughout the ship which were very nice, as well as a large sized menorah. .

 

Since this was a New Year’s Eve cruise, we were offered complimentary glasses of champagne with our buffet lunch and as we walked around the ship. This went on for quite a while and was a very nice touch.

 

Not long after boarding we had to go to the Purser’s desk because some of our Sail & Sign cards were being denied for drink purchases, then we had to spend well over an hour with one of the Purser’s named Salvino because we had to change around almost everyone’s room assignment (due to orig. having a larger group - some canceled, others added on in that room space, etc.). Salvino was unbelievably patient and kept apologizing for how long things took. We were just thankful he was being so accommodating to our request for changes. While there, I heard the abuse some passengers give the people behind the Purser’s desk. It was truly shocking. If you ever go to the desk and the Purser seems short on patience, I now know why. All in all though every passenger we did meet or that I sat with at open breakfast seating in the dining room were the nicest people I have met on just about any of my cruises. Many were with groups for New Year’s Eve and one family was on for their son’s wedding. Just a great group of very, very nice people. The initial pursers’ incidents may have been due to travel crankiness since many people had very difficult airline delays and cancellations.

 

Our room was an inside room on the Main Deck. It was small but only two of us in it so not a problem. Our room steward kept the room in excellent shape and we rarely saw him. He did introduce himself and his assistant to us on day two but for the most part did his job and kept out of sight.

 

There were a variety of restaurant options: buffet, fish & chips which was usually empty, sushi bar, walk up deli window, Mexican or Spanish type food window, usual pizza, and 2 grills - one by the main pool and another less used in the back of the ship. All in addition, of course, to the dining room option. I mainly ate beef dishes on this cruise and the meat was excellent. Very juicy and tender. On our galley tour we were told they just received new grills that sear the meat with grill marks. I loved it, the maitre d’ leading the tour said some complained the sear marks made it taste burnt. For those people, they kept the standard flat grills.

 

We had late seating and dinner took a bit of time due to the large amt. of passengers. For us this wasn’t any problem, though I heard that other people complained. Not sure where they were rushing to since you still had plenty of time for the shows. Our waiter Robert and his assistant “ViVi” did a fine job. Both were somewhat quiet but very professional and hard working.

 

Speaking of shows, we didn’t go to most of them. The first night’s show was the cruise director Lenny singing a bit, then a lot of time spent on a skit that led up to one of the passengers in the skit doing an on-stage proposal to his girlfriend, who was also in the skit. Cute, romantic but not my idea of a “show.” After that was a comedian, who was ok. There was a talented comedian juggler another night. The two shows with the Freedom dancers and singers we skipped. We went to see “Ticket to Ride,” a Beatles tribute, which I had seen two previous times but still enjoyed it this time. My kids got bored and left before the end.

 

NEW YEAR'S EVE: This was a great experience. This night was not a formal night. The night prior and the night after were, which seemed odd to me. Most people did dress very nicely. In fact, I had read on one of the boards someone mentioning that on their Freedom cruise people had worn t-shirts with sleeves cut off to dinner and most people dressed down. This was not the case on this cruise. All week people looked great. Maybe there were some that were more casual but I guess I just didn’t notice them. Even on the last night I was amazing at how many people really dressed up for dinner as if it were another formal night.

 

None of us have ever been on a New Year’s Eve cruise. Live music started up on the Lido deck at about 11:00 p.m. I believe and the place was jumping! The cruise director Lenny and his crew did a great job of getting everyone in the spirit, though that probably wasn’t difficult. People drank, danced & counted down as we watched on the big screen the ball dropping in Times Square. What I didn’t realize when we were given champagne on boarding day is that it took the place of being given champagne for the ball drop on New Year’s Eve. You had to purchase it by the bottle. That may have had something to do with the large numbers of people on deck (we were told 3,500 on board) and the logistics of getting some to everyone. However, I thought from past reviews that they would give it out on New Yrs. Eve. We did have hats and noise makers at the dining room table.

 

Afterwards there was a late night buffet with a breakfast one starting at 1:30. I didn’t go to either of those. After spending New Year’s Eve on a cruise it will be hard to ever go back to anything other!

 

PORTS: Our first port of Key West. We’ve never been there before and I was surprised at what a nice place it was. The fun sculptures by the art museum were great. There was much more to see & more stores than I expected. We originally planned on the Trolley Tour but only two in our group took the tour and the other nine of us decided to walk to the Point marker. It was a nice walk, maybe 2 miles from the ship. I imagine in the summer it would be hot to do but on this beautiful 80ish degree day it was great. After reaching the marker we walked over to the beach and sat for a bit. There is a bar and you can rent chairs for $5. We also walked past the lighthouse and Hemingway’s summer house. We didn’t go into either. Both had admission fees. The two that took the on and off Trolley tour didn’t really feel like it was worth the $29 fee. They mistakenly thought admissions were included in that, which they weren’t, and they didn’t get off at any stop because there were very long lines of people waiting to get back on the Trolley so they were afraid to give up their seats.

 

Next port, Grand Cayman. Prior to the cruise we booked a tour with Captain Marvin. It was the two hour snorkel and Stingray City tour, but it was actually longer than that. Very worth the $35. per person cost. Everyone should go to the Stingray City at least once. If you can just pet the soft underside of the rays you will get past the idea of how strange and large they look swimming up to and rubbing on you.

 

New Year’s Day we docked in Jamaica. Wasn’t too rough for the adults in our group but the kids had a tough time with this one due to late night partying. We booked ahead with Peat Taylor tours ($25 pp transportation cost). Peat sent Peat Jr. to meet us at the pier. He was waiting in a holding area with the van and all we had to do was ask a pier rep. to page him, which they did. Peat Jr. dropped us a Dunn’s River Falls, where we climbed with a guide ($15 pp Admission to the Falls). I had done the Falls a number of years back with my kids but it was during the month of August. We didn’t use a guide then and had no problem. The falls were much faster moving this time. It was a lot of fun and we all made it to the top. Peat Sr. came back for us at the appointed time.

 

One thing to note, so many people had said about how frightened they felt by the vendors in that area and how aggressive they were. We had a totally different experience. Of course everyone wants to sell you something but to each person I just said, “No thank you” or maybe mentioned how beautiful their work was (which many were) and added “thank you, I just don’t have room in my luggage for that but have a nice New Year.” They all wished the same and we went on our way unbothered. There were a couple of things I was sorry I didn’t talk price on but I just didn’t feel like doing the whole haggling thing. We did buy the video on the Falls climb but upon viewing it at home, I don’t feel it was worth $40. Very shaky, freezes in spots, and all you hear is the videotaper saying “Ya Mon” over and over and over again. Oh well, not a huge loss.

 

Peat also took us through Fern Gully and had a gentleman walk those who wanted to walk into the forest a bit to hear about the different plants. I really had full trust in Peat so not concerned about walking a bit with this other man. It was an experience to see a man and woman living in this little shack along the path with no basic amenities. Peat basically left us “be the boss” in his words, as to where we wanted to go. We let him be our guide & he took us to a nice look-out point, though some roads not usually traveled by tour buses and brought us to the shops near the ship that we briefly visited. I’m sure we could have done more but we were all tired from the night before. Peat Taylor was a very nice, fun guide who kept us entertained with his singing and left us with good positive thoughts and wishes for the New Year.

 

DISEMBARKING: Well, all good things must come to an end and this was no different. Although we had priority disembarking, we choose to take our time and head out closer to near the end. We easily found our luggage, lines through customs were long but painless. We headed outside to find a & just saw something resembling a huge line of people waiting along wooden “horse” barriers. There were also people on the other side of the barrier sitting on the curb, others waiting in groups in the center of the lots. I asked a pier security person where were the cab line was and she looked at me as if I were speaking another language. After an awkward moment she pointed to the line and said “There.” In the lot I asked someone else since people seemed to be in various areas and was told, “Just join that huge mess that resembles a line.” After much waiting and seeing cabs dropping off people but not circling back to pick up we phoned one cab service’s number that was a repetitive # printed on the side of the cab, so easy to remember and asked about cabs being sent over for pick up. We were “disconnected,” called again and were told someone would be on the way with a van for us. No one showed. I had my husband ask a dispatcher if there were van services for large groups to be hired. He said, “Yes, $11.00 pp” At this point we said fine, $99 plus tip it is…however, he then said, “Well there are 2 groups ahead of you.” Ok, fine. He never took our name. Not sure if it required a tip to get that far.

 

My husband also asked about why the cabs were not picking up passengers waiting on this line and he said they’re not allowed to circle back after drop off. They must wait on a line to come into the pier. However, where were the cabs supposedly waiting on this line coming in? I would say in an hour or more time we saw 3 cabs pick up from this huge line, which must have had 50 or more people on line ahead of us and a large umber behind us.

 

In the end, I saw a van with no markings pull up to drop off people; however, I got the impression he was someone they just paid to take them. As he unloaded their luggage I ran over and asked would he be willing to drive us to the airport and what would he charge. He said he wasn’t a cab but for $30 he’d take us all. We quickly loaded up and thankfully gave him $40. The short of this is, make your arrangements ahead of time because I was picturing us still standing there hours later if we hadn’t gotten that nice guy to drive us to the airport. That could have put a real damper to the end of a nice vacation.

 

We flew home on Jet Blue, which as always, was a great airlines. Self-help kiosk check-in, which had no wait and someone to help you anyway. Still offers nice assortment of free snack, cans of soda, etc.

 

All in all this was a great cruise and an unforgettable New Years enjoyed by all in our group!

[cruisinbuddy]

Thanks for this, we are going on the Freedom in 6 days for a b2b.

[mld1950]

Thanks for the great review we leave on the Freedom January 25. Can't wait even more excited now. :)

[brenda90159]

LynnL,

 

Hi, I enjoyed your review and I have a question if you don't mind. I am going on my first ever cruise on Freedom with the same itentary on Feb 8-14 and was wondering if you might be able to answer a question or two.

 

I am traveling alone and I am in a wheelchair (electric) very mobile and 49 y/o female. Could you give me some idea of what it was like to get on and off at the ports of call. I am sure Key West is probably fine but I didn't know if I can get off at Ocho Rios or Grand Cayman. Was it a tender or was it a ramp that I will be able to go up/down? Did you happen to notice if there was anyone else in a chair and if there was did they get in the pool? I was told that they have a pool lift on most of the newer ships and I know the Freedom is just a little over a year old.

 

Anything else you can think of that may be of help to me would be greatly appreciated. This cruise is my Christmas gift from a friend who can't come with me but I am going to strike out and go anyway. Hate that he is having to pay the premium single rate but he insisted I go. My cabin will be an inside one and on deck 8 #8342.

 

I really enjoyed your review and had to laugh at the part about renting a beach chair for $5, guess there are some advantages to being in a chair, I always have my chair with me. LOL

 

Thanks :)

Brenda

[mld1950]

do you know what types of diet sodas they have on the Freedom?

[hcomputers]

Is anyone going on the Freedom prior to Jan 17 and plan on particiapting in the trivia contests and such? I never seem to win any of these and always lose to someone who cheats (ie. writes the answers down as they are being given then tells everyone they got them all right). So, a heads up about what they are on would help me study for them in advance.

[hcomputers]

Thanks for this, we are going on the Freedom in 6 days for a b2b.

Cruisinbuddy, if you are going on the Freedom in 6 days, do you plan on participating in any of the trivia contests? Is so, would you mind telling me what they are about so that I can study for them. Someone always cheats and writes the answers down when given and then says they got the all right. I want a fair shot to win. Thanks.

[rebeljohn]

Very nice review............Thanks for taking the time to post it...........

[LynneL]

LynnL,

 

Hi, I enjoyed your review and I have a question if you don't mind. I am going on my first ever cruise on Freedom with the same itentary on Feb 8-14 and was wondering if you might be able to answer a question or two.

 

I am traveling alone and I am in a wheelchair (electric) very mobile and 49 y/o female. Could you give me some idea of what it was like to get on and off at the ports of call. I am sure Key West is probably fine but I didn't know if I can get off at Ocho Rios or Grand Cayman. Was it a tender or was it a ramp that I will be able to go up/down? Did you happen to notice if there was anyone else in a chair and if there was did they get in the pool? I was told that they have a pool lift on most of the newer ships and I know the Freedom is just a little over a year old.

 

Anything else you can think of that may be of help to me would be greatly appreciated. This cruise is my Christmas gift from a friend who can't come with me but I am going to strike out and go anyway. Hate that he is having to pay the premium single rate but he insisted I go. My cabin will be an inside one and on deck 8 #8342.

 

I really enjoyed your review and had to laugh at the part about renting a beach chair for $5, guess there are some advantages to being in a chair, I always have my chair with me. LOL

 

Thanks :)

Brenda

 

 

Well Brenda, reading your last paragraph made be laugh & feel confident in saying that you'll have a great time even going by yourself. You have a wonderful sense of humor! Take the $5. from the beach chair and go into one of the great bars they have in Key West and order yourself a cocktail! Irish Kevin's looked like a fun place that would be easy to join into the fun, even if you're a non-drinker. The singer was calling us in from the street but my husband felt like my kids did enough drinking at night and didn't want to encourage them into starting in the bar in the afternoon.

 

I don't see you having any problem getting off in Key West and Ocho Rios. I do think Grand Cayman is going to be a problem. It is a port that you must tender into. In fact I wondered aloud to my husband how does he think people in chairs are assisted for this type situation and he thought they may have to stay on the ship. There was a woman who was a double amputee on the ship but I didn't see her in port. There are stairs to go down onto a platform that constantly bobed in the water while people tried to board the tender. I had knots in my stomach watching a woman with a cane getting on, while her companion carried one of those small "Jazzies" for her. There was not a ramp to get off the tender either. I would call Carnival and ask about how that is dealt with but if you do have to stay on board, you could take advantage of possible spa discounts for that time and maybe get a nice relaxing massage.

 

For Ocho Rios I would book some sort of island tour either through Carnival or privately as I don't think it is a place that a woman would want to be touring alone.

 

As far as the pool goes, I did not see any wheelchair lifts. Mostly kids seemed to use people use the pool. Never seemed crowded.

 

I'm sure your situation has been encountered by others so maybe start a thread in each of the port sections & on here asking for suggestions to make your travel the best experience. Also, go to Roll Call and "meet" others going on your sailing. Usually there is a Roll Call meeting time on the ship so you would get to meet others there. It was a wonderful gift your friend gave, enjoy it!

 

Anything else I can try to answer for you, don't hesitate to ask.

[LynneL]

do you know what types of diet sodas they have on the Freedom?

 

To the best of my knowledge only Diet Coke.

[LynneL]

Is anyone going on the Freedom prior to Jan 17 and plan on particiapting in the trivia contests and such? I never seem to win any of these and always lose to someone who cheats (ie. writes the answers down as they are being given then tells everyone they got them all right). So, a heads up about what they are on would help me study for them in advance.

 

I only went to one on the Lido deck & that was famous faces (I think it was 60 faces - old time movies, politics, etc.) shown on the big screen. They had you write them down, then they played it back showing all the answers & THEN asked who had the most correct! At least the person who was the winner didn't say they had them all right. 39 out of 60 was the highest number so maybe they were an honest group.

[sube]

.

One thing to note, so many people had said about how frightened they felt by the vendors in that area and how aggressive they were. We had a totally different experience. Of course everyone wants to sell you something but to each person I just said, “No thank you” or maybe mentioned how beautiful their work was (which many were) and added “thank you, I just don’t have room in my luggage for that but have a nice New Year.” They all wished the same and we went on our way unbothered. There were a couple of things I was sorry I didn’t talk price on but I just didn’t feel like doing the whole haggling thing. We did buy the video on the Falls climb but upon viewing it at home, I don’t feel it was worth $40. Very shaky, freezes in spots, and all you hear is the videotaper saying “Ya Mon” over and over and over again. Oh well, not a huge loss.

 

I'm one of the posters who wrote about a bad experience with the vendors at Dunn's River Falls. I was on the cruise 2 weeks before you and even though I said, "no thank you" I was still harassed and one vendor even grabbed me by the arm. I'm glad your experience was different, but it could be because you went through that area with other people (or so it seems from your review). I had lost track of my friend and was walking through there alone, which I don't recommend.

 

My friend bought the video and only paid $30 for it. I haven't watched it yet but she also felt it wasn't worth the price for the same reasons you mentioned.

 

Thanks for the review. I agree with just about everything you said. I also didn't find the decor to be annoying or distracting. Like you said, Carnival is all about fun and I figure that's just part of it. I also stayed at the LaQuinta and thought it was fine for the price. I also wanted to add that we did a post-cruise excursion to the Everglades because we had a late flight and wanted to kill some time. I highly recommend it. Happy New Year!

[LynneL]

I'm one of the posters who wrote about a bad experience with the vendors at Dunn's River Falls. I was on the cruise 2 weeks before you and even though I said, "no thank you" I was still harassed and one vendor even grabbed me by the arm. I'm glad your experience was different, but it could be because you went through that area with other people (or so it seems from your review). I had lost track of my friend and was walking through there alone, which I don't recommend.

 

My friend bought the video and only paid $30 for it. I haven't watched it yet but she also felt it wasn't worth the price for the same reasons you mentioned.

 

 

I'm sure being alone makes you more of a sitting duck for aggressive vendors. I don't know you but also I think they can also tell if someone is not comfortable with being a bit outspoken themselves if the vendors overstep their boundries. My sister was with us the last time we visited Jamaica and wasn't at all comfortable and also always feels bad that she may hurt someone's feelings. It is almost like they sensed it and went after her full force. When she said no to braids, one took a handful of her hair and started braiding it and told her what she was going to pay. I let them know that wasn't happening and the woman's reply was "You are NOT a nice lady." As if that was going to hurt my feelings - lol. I told her I actually think most people would disagree but she was entitled to her opinion, then we moved on.

[LizaMM]

Thank you for your review!

 

I am wondering if anyone in your group went to the Piano Bar and if so, how was it?

[LynneL]

Thank you for your review!

 

I am wondering if anyone in your group went to the Piano Bar and if so, how was it?

 

No, we never made it to the piano bar. Went past one night and it seemed somewhat empty. I am not a late night person. New Year's Eve was the only night I was up until after midnight. (Of course I was the only person not b-ing & moaning when we had to be up early for tours either - lol. You pay one way or another.)

 

After dinner I tried to catch the 10:30 show in the main lounge or once the comedian had a show at that time in one of the lounges (actually late seating's show was midnight so I went to the 10:30 early seating's show).

 

We went once to the 70s club (only 70s in name, not 70s music - place where DJ Eddy is each night). It seemed that prior to midnight there was only a handfull of people in there. My kids went after midnight all the time and had a great time. Just too darn late for me and I'm sure after midnight the music would not have been my taste nor would they have wanted me in the same place with them.

[LizaMM]

Thanks for the response.

 

Glad you all had a hreat cruise!