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Yes tablecloths and the "American" menu didnt seem to be in play. Still had some new varities from past cruises. Have the "Didja" ever want to try food, comfort food as well as a daily offering chicken, steak fish etc.

You can order steakhouses steaks and other entrees I believe, if memory is correct it was an additional $20.00

The best band for Rock music seemed to be the one the played out front of the casino bar. Only show that we went to was the 80s Pop to the Max. It was ok, none of the others really interested us.

Yes you can see the MDR menu, as well as check account balance, book excursions and order movies

We ordered Skyy Vodka, 1.4 Litre bottle I am pretty sure.. It was $75.00

Sorry I really dont have any info on that~

They were $8.00 round trip per person, when you walk through the welcome center there is a booth just to the right I think they were running every 30 minutes to and back.

Would like to start off by saying this is my 11th cruise with Carnival and my first time on the Freedom. Will try to be as detailed as possible as even though I have cruised alot I still get a little of useful advise from reviews and forums.

Flew in from St.Louis to Fort Lauderdale the day before the cruise. Stayed at Hyatt Pier 66 on 17th St, luckily I won't have to base the whole trip on this hotel. Started out great as the front desk staff was very friendly and pleasant. They were able to move us to a King room with a "marina view". All I will say is that the parking lot was what seemed to be a mile walk from the room, we walked into the room appeared decent at first until my wife walked in to use the restroom and there was urine on the seat and a dirty towel laying on the sink that had what appeared to be dried up blood on it. The patio table, chairs and patio itself were disgusting and didnt appear to have been cleaned for quite sometime. As we checked out front desk asked how stay was and I mentioned the above concerns and the reply was, "well thank you for staying with us".

Onto the cruise itself. Embarkation, we arrived at the port around 10:45 or so dropped off bags and into the terminal for check in. Wasnt very crowded yet at any of the lines, Platinum check we walked right up and were in the VIP lounge within about 10 minutes. Waited for about an hour and we were proceeding onboard.

Cabin, I surpised the wife with a balcony cabin after booking oceanview there was a price drop that was reasonable enough to do an upgrade. Did a to be assinged balcony GTY and couldnt have been more pleased we were on cabin 1035 on the Panorama deck. Called room service and ordered a bottle of vodka for the room, luggage showed up around 3:00 or so. Cabin is close to the front of the ship but we had no issues with movement at all. I have to say this cabin was perfectly located, down the hall a bit from walking right out to the pool area. Elevators just a short walk from the cabin and just go straight down to pretty much every area that you need to get to. Loved the location and the cabin itself. Had a very friendly and accomodating room steward, only thing was after about a a day he got names mixed up and started calling my wife by Joyce, we just let it slide and had some fun with it.

Next part is going to be a general review of the rest of the week including the ship, ports, food etc.

Overall we loved the ship and the layout of it, never seemed overly crowded in any area despite 3000 + guests. Loved the new choices for dining, Guys Burgers seemed to be the biggest draw of people and well worth the wait. Lido buffett was typical as it has been in the past alot of varities some good some bad, Fish and Chips was the least favortite very greasy and almost soggy fried fish. Dining was average to put it quite frankly we had great service just wasnt really overly impressed with any of the menu items. All seemed to lack flavor and creativity. We did have dinner in the Steakhouse ( another surprise for the wife). Food and service there was outstanding, would forsure suggest trying it out well worth the money.

The casino, we booked based on a casino offer that we had both gotten. Reduced rate with $50.00 cash for me and $25.00 for the wife. We go to the casino to redeem my got hers, they looked up mine and said "We see you are eligible for something but we dont have the amount listed please check back tomorrow". No biggie, well tomorrow came and went back to claim the cash and she says " we dont show that you are eligible for anything". Excuse me, suppose my fault for not bringing what I had gotten the mail. I will be addressing that with Ocean Players Club I suppose.

First port was Nassau, not one of our favorite places so we just walked around a bit then decided to take a water taxi over to Atlantis to walk around check it out and the casino. It was ok at best nothing to exciting to really get into.

Next we were supposed to be at Half Moon Cay, one of our favorite places but mother nature decided to drop some pretty nasty thunderstorms and due to tendering it was deemed unsafe to stay there so we had a bonus day at sea. We were compensated a whopping .13cents for port charges. I felt like a won the lottery *hint sarcasm*. Next day was our second favorite place Grand Turk, had outstanding weather spent the day at Jacks Shack love the atmosphere the beach the water the people all of it.. We are looking into going back and spending a few days there.

Final day at sea we did alot of relaxing, hanging out at the pool etc.

Overall mostly pleased with the trip, like I mentioned before we loved the cabin and the ship itself and at least one of the ports we were able to visit. Crew was accomodating and friendly, the shows we were not overly pleased with seemed to lack excitement.

If I can answer any questions feel free to ask.

They sold the Grand Suite so problem solved, I inquired about any other suites available and he said that was the last one. To the best of my knowledge they are random.. Been cruising Carnival since 2001 and today was the 1st one I got. We also are sailing on Monday...

We are on the Freedom 5 nights.. I have submitted counter offer.. Guess we will see, not feeling very confident though....

Leaving on 11th Carnival Cruise Monday and just got my 1st "upsell offer".. In balcony now, and offer Grand Suite for $450.00 more.... Would love to suprise the wife with this but just feel like money could be spent on other things while cruising... Any thoughts appreciated...

Donna, it says that -- So you should be able to buy it for yourself

CHEERS! requires all guests 21 years of age and older in the cabin to purchase the package.

We are sailing the Freedom the week before you on Sept 1. I just noticed a price drop yesterday on a balcony and contacted PVP to upgrade. It was on a GTY rate, went ahead and took the gamble. Within about 2 hours my cabin was assigned.. Panoramic Deck...

Any thoughts on this deck from others??

Just wanted to say thanks for the review. That had to be one of the best documented reviews I have read. Heading to the Freedom Sept 1st and can't wait!