Folsom

About the time change: When you set the clocks ahead/back, did the times still coincide with those printed on your original itinerary before you boarded or were they an hour different?

 

In other words, is it safe to say that since my itinerary for my June Freedom cruise indicates a 9:00am arrival, that would be 9:00am EDT?

 

Thanks!

Good question,

The answer is Yes.

Here was our schedule:

Arrive Depart

Fort Lauderdale - +/- 5:30 ET

St. Thomas 7:00 AT 6:00 AT

Antigua 7:00 AT 6:00 AT

Tortola 7:00 AT 3:30 AT

Nassau 12:00 ET 7:00 ET

Fort Lauderdale +/- 6:00 ET -

All times were local and ship time. Same as original schedule published by Carnival.

We are going on the Freedom 5/19/12 and a very sorry to hear about the poor piano player.

We are big fans of the piano bar set-up. Just off the Valor on last Sat. and had a terrific

time with Brad Alexsander in the piano bar!! Sure hope powers at Carnival see the bad turn outs for Sean and maybe replace him with someone more upbeat and more into what most cruisers want to hear. John F

I have to think that they look at bar service and notice the low spending in there.

Other funny thing was, when he passed out the lyric sheets. I think the only song that I recognized was "puff the magic dragon". And that was out of 30 some songs.

-F-

We are booked in #6487 aft in September. Are the balconys really noticably bigger? Do you have any pics?

I was in 6489, so I think you will be over the 1st E in Freedom.

Yes the balcony is quite a bit bigger. Same width, but maybe 2.5 times as deep. In addition the "slope" of the glass will allow you to put your knees under the handrail.

We had 6 of us out there for sail-away and had plenty of room to walk as well as 1 lounger, 2 chairs and a table. (My wife has some pics I am sure).

When we went to our friends regular balc. it was tight having 6 and 2 stacked chairs. You will love the aft.

-F-

I wasn't trying to diminish your observation. I was in a regular side balcony towards the front of a different ship. Im sure the HVAC system varies from ship to ship.

No worries. I am sure your experience was different than mine. There are so many factors that can play into wind dynamics.

-F-

Really? This so totally different than what has been posted all over CC!!

Do you suppose it was just your ship doing this?? Gosh we have private tours booked and two of them are on "local" time and two are "ship" time. So now really confused:confused:

I can only comment on the Freedom sailing 2/25 - 3/4.

On the 1st night we moved our clocks from Eastern to Atlantic time. Then the night of the 3rd port (Tortola), we moved our clocks back to Eastern, a full day before we got to Nassau.

I agree, I saw a lot of different postings, but I can assure you this was the case on Freedom

-F-

How does the future cruise credit work?

I am sure there are threads dedicated to this topic. Search FCC or Future Cruise Credit.

Basic example is, you put $100 down, towards your next cruise and when you book, you get that $100 off the cost of the room AND $100 (7-11 day cruise,) sign and sale credit when you get on board.

-F-

Thanks for posting. I will be on the Freedom next month and very much looking forward to it. I have read so many positive reviews (don't think I came across anything negative on her so far, which is great!).

 

Glad you had a wonderful cruise experience.:)

Well, if I were to point out 1 negative, (and by no means was it a big deal) it would be the Piano player was horrible. We have had great times on other ships late into the night, singing along with the crowd. Last week we has Sean, and he is an older Gentleman, who played really old (30's, 40's and 50's) standards that nobody knew the words to. we actually made a game of it, and were laughing as he would start playing a song ans none of us had ever heard it, again and again and again. Thus the piano bar was almost always empty.

Oh and the Swingtime bar was used by smokers during the comedy shows. So it was almost impossible to stay in there listening to music, while the comedy was happening.

That being said, those were the 2 worst things I can say about the ship and would book her again in a heartbeat.

Have fun

-F-

OP very nice informative post. Need more of this on cc. IMO

My pleasure. I know when I was planning, there was a lot of conflicting advice.

Oh and I almost forgot 1 more.

10. The Freedom changes its clock to local time. So there is no "Ship Time vs Local Time". I asked this question when booking a non-CCL tour and someone told me that the Ship stayed on Eastern Time. It does not.

-F-

The only thing I disagree with is the tornado. I have personally experienced huge winds by opening the door with the balcony door open. Blew all loose paper all over the cabin.

 

Congrats on having your favorite cruise ever!

I am sure it all depends on where on the ship you are, weather outside, number of "open doors". etc. For example, we went to the "secret" spot above the bridge and almost got killed by the door being blown shut.

Also maybe the afts don't have the pressure that the sides do.

It was just my observation.

-F-

So we just got home and since I am sure others will post great reviews with pictures, I decided I would address some rumors that I had heard prior to my voyage. Please feel free to ask questions.

1. You CAN get a bottle of booze delivered to your room from room service. Not from the duty free shop but from room service. It cost the same as bon-voyage and was delivered in about 15 minutes. Don't listen to anyone who says you cannot do this.

2. There was never any Soot on the Aft-Balcony. There was a little "sea-spray" on the windy days. Not enough where you could feel it, but you had to wipe the chairs down before you sat on it.

3. It was always breezy, but never windy on the balc. We had friends who had a regular balcony and it was so windy, they could not enjoy in on the first half of the trip. Ours was always pleasant.

4. MDR - Wear what you want. You will not be over or under-dressed. we saw suites every night and we say jean shorts and tee-shirts. Not that I was judging, but I was concerned about wearing dress shorts (non Formal nights) myself. I even saw kids on formal night wearing cargo shorts and sneakers. No one is turned away.

5. There is no "magic magnet" needed to keep your door open and A/C on. We did this on a couple of occasions so we could move in and out on the balcony with drinks etc. We were not trying to cool the Caribbean, just never thought to turn off the A/C. The A/C never shut down. Oh and opening the front door, did not cause a tornado. Maybe it would have blown a tissue off of the table, but not what others had said.

6. The 2 center rooms on the aft (deck 6) are quite a bit smaller (than a regular balc.) I would guess it to be about 6"-8" narrower. Where you notice it, is the bathroom door almost hits the closet and it is TIGHT getting around the bed. Other than that, the room did not feel smaller.

7. Chair Hogs were out in force, but only on the Serenity area. At one point i walked by and there were 1/3 full of people and 2/3 full of towels. That was the last time we went up there. The rest of the ship had plenty of chairs available at all times.

8. Room Service. On the first morning it was 30 minutes late. After that the were right on time. Only issue is around lunch time, they were slow to answer the phone.

9. Robes at Buffet, yes we saw them almost every morning and maybe one time at lunch. Looks odd to me, but hey its their vacation too I guess. Oh and speaking of Buffet, the 2nd floor (deck 10) was like our own private dinning room. There was tons of space up there and seemed like no one ever figured it out. 1st floor (deck 9) would get quite crowded a peak times.

Overall this was my favorite cruise ever. The ship was very clean, never felt crowded and we were very well taken care of. This was the cleanest and least crowded (feeling) Ship I had ever cruised and for the 1st time bought a future cruise credit (Already looking at the next trip).

Questions??? Please ask

-F-