The World's Longest Carnival Freedom Pictorial Review! Feb. 13-21

[mferris77]

I normally don't comment to rude stuff...but this is just a bit ridiculous... You noticed from the get-go that... her thread started with "The World's LONGEST..." Longest being the KEY word!

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Yes, well, what does the rest of it say? "...Carnival Freedom Pictorial Review". I don't really care, but I get their point. I clicked on the thread thinking "oh, hey, a picture-filled review!"... and the first five pages are "i'll be doing the review shortly, here's links to my blog with non-cruise-related stuff" followed by people posting about how they're eagerly anticipating the review.

 

Like I said, I don't really care, it didn't bother me, just thought it was funny that it took 5 pages of posts before the review actually started. That being said, thanks to the OP for the review and nice pics.

[sewut]

I love your reviews Nicole! We did this cruise in January. We did the dolphin swim through Carnival in Cozumel, the zipline, canal and banana plantation in Costa Rica with Okey Dokey tours, and the Embera Indian Village and Gatun locks in Panama with My Friend Mario. We had a great time and I liked the 4 sea days to enjoy the ship. We had no luck in the Serenity area either. There were chair hogs that camped there all day long. I never saw that hammock. How did you get a picture with no one in it?

 

Sewut

[Nicole721]

I am really enjoying your review and look forward to the rest of it. I am going on the Freedom in May and will be driving to the port. You said you parked at the port. Was it easy to find where your ship was docked? Also how far was it from where you parked to the entrance of the terminal?

 

Oh yeah. Port Everglades has many parking facilities, one near each dock it seems. When you drive through the first security check point, they'll direct you where to go and there are signs everywhere :)

 

We had handicapped parking, but it's really not that far from anywhere in the parking facility :)

 

We are going in August, new ship and new ports. We are soo excited!!

 

Isn't it exciting?! This is the first time we've been on a new ship and visited new ports in two cruises. It's always fun to see new things :D

 

Have a fantastic trip!!! :)

 

we are going first week of NOvember cant wait.. lovin this review!!!

 

Thanks! Hope you have a great trip! :)

[Nicole721]

Hey Nicole - A couple of questions on excursions. Do the pamphlets you mentioned give more detailed info than online and are there more excursions available at the excursions desk than are shown online. If so, thinking maybe it would be better to wait to reserve until we get onboard.

 

They do (about the general nature of the excursion itself) because they have pictures, too, but the thing is they don't have pamphlets for *every* excursion.

 

Can't hurt to wait to reserve. While we used to prebook all our excursions, we've actually booked all of our excursions onboard for at least the past three or four cruises and we've never had a problem getting what we wanted :)

 

Hi Nicole,

 

Thanks for the latest installment. I hope no one steals your pics because you do have some incredible pictures. I'll be looking forward to reading more tomorrow. I know, you'll probably be busy with American Idol tonight, so we can't expect you to stay up all night posting for us...haha.

 

You know me so well ;)

 

Working on 5.2 now. Hopefully it'll be up tonight! My friends keep luring me onto Skype and I get distracted LOL.

 

Went to Part 1 to read a review of a cruise and after scrolling waaaaaaaaaaay down I finally gave up? A cruise review of a Carnival cruise would be nice. An in depth review of the OPs life is just to much to even read.

I know people might say that if this is too long of a post, then don't read it, which is exactly what I ended up doing.

 

Alrighty then. And the point of this was...?

 

Yeah. That's what I thought LOL. With an attitude like that, I'm sure you're mighty fun to travel with, though :cool:

 

Don't like it? Don't read it. It's no skin off my nose LOL.

[Nicole721]

Nicole, I love following your reviews. You have a wonderful gift of storytelling and I always look forward to your reviews. You should work for Carnival and review all of the ships!

 

Thanks for the kind words :)

 

If Carnival wants to hire me to travel constantly, take pictures of everything and write about it, who would I be to pass that up ;) What a life that would be, eh? :p

 

@rs12065,

 

Why post flamebait, snarky comments like that? You do realize that where she really is posting this is her personal blog?

Hmmm, maybe that's why you get "An in depth review of the OPs life"

IT'S A BLOG ABOUT HER LIFE!

The reposts here are a courtesy.

 

I would add to...

"if this is too long of a post, then don't read it" -

"if this is too long of a post, then don't read it and keep quiet cause NO ONE wants to here you whine."

 

Thanks for the backup, but I have thicker skin than that to let someone who clearly has nothing better to do than comment on things they don't like with no purpose :)

 

Perhaps you didnt read the TITLE it states worlds LONGEST review.. and its not even on HERE! its on her own personal blog, i do not for the life of me understand why you had to even comment... YOU chose out of your own free will to click on the outside link.. no one made you do it... she states that when she got to the cruise PART of it, she would post that review in section on here... SHEESH

 

IF YOU DONT have anything nice to say dont say it at all...

 

I for one LOVE the blog! My brother who is fresh out of the airforce is now in the peace corp in Mumbai india, and i love reading his blog every day, even the long parts about how he had a cup of coffee in a new cafe...

 

Keep it up Nicole we all love it, ot you wouldnt have had so many reviews and wonderful comments :)

 

Awww thanks! And much respect and thanks to your brother for his service :)

[brnsnbrws]

I have enjoyed reading ALL of your review thus far. The same goes for the review you wrote about the Miracle previously!

[enchanted61]

Thanks for the information about the parking at the port. Looking forward to more of your review. It helps me look forward to my upcoming cruise.

[Nicole721]

I am of the opinion that the longer the review, the more pictures, THE BETTER... Can't wait for 5.2

 

Oh, it's certainly going to get longer and have more pictures LOL. I can't help myself...I have a quick trigger on the shutter release :P

 

Amen - Keep the review coming!

 

Workin' on it :)

 

I love your review!! We're on the Freedom in a little over three weeks and I'm getting so excited seeing all your pictures!! Thanks for all the effort you put into your review:)

 

Exciting!!! Glad you're enjoying the review and I hope you have an amazing trip!

[Nicole721]

Sorry, I just started reading your blog. I started laughing at the nuts part. HOT PEANUTS are at every gas station in East Tennessee. :D I love them too.

 

What can I say? I crave the heat LOL. Only a fellow hot nut aficionado would understand ;)

 

 

Hey Nicole! Glad to see you are feeling better. I hear ya on "friggid" weather in Florida this past February. Actually, Dec., Jan. and Feb. had record breaking freezes and registered coldest weather ever in Florida. I actually live 35 NW of Orlando so it was very, very, cold here a lot of the time. It reminded me of being back home again in Massachusetts (been here in Fl for 3 years). I felt bad for the company that came to visit us from back home. I did tell them to bring their "hats and mittens". Well, glad to be reading about your adventures again.

 

It was the coldest I ever remember Florida being...and we've spent all kinds of time in Florida throughout my life! We'd actually live in Florida every winter when I was younger.

 

Still warmer than it was at home, though LOL. Silver lining and all :)

[Nicole721]

I for one enjoy reading your blog, Nicole. I 'm that you are back and writing about your experiences. I love your reviews and your experiences, so I agree...

 

Keep it coming:D

 

Will do :) Thanks!

 

I normally don't comment to rude stuff...but this is just a bit ridiculous... You noticed from the get-go that... her thread started with "The World's LONGEST..." Longest being the KEY word!

You need to get a life! :rolleyes:

Now Nicole, thanks for an awesome awesome review again!!! I never get enough... sometimes I find myself repeatedly reading your reviews... he he he... Keep up the good work hun!:D

 

Thank you, Crystal!!! :)

 

Yes, well, what does the rest of it say? "...Carnival Freedom Pictorial Review". I don't really care, but I get their point. I clicked on the thread thinking "oh, hey, a picture-filled review!"... and the first five pages are "i'll be doing the review shortly, here's links to my blog with non-cruise-related stuff" followed by people posting about how they're eagerly anticipating the review.

 

Like I said, I don't really care, it didn't bother me, just thought it was funny that it took 5 pages of posts before the review actually started. That being said, thanks to the OP for the review and nice pics.

 

I feel bad that the posts kind of get built up before I can post. These reviews take me forever to write and coordinate with the pictures just because I want to get everything just right and I have to balance it with work and family and friends. I do try to post a few times a week.

 

Sometimes, posts and comments just kind of build up. I don't mind, though, because I love the feedback. Sorry if it's annoying to you or others, but there's really nothing I can do about it except try to write faster, and I'm already doing the best I can LOL.

[Nicole721]

I love your reviews Nicole! We did this cruise in January. We did the dolphin swim through Carnival in Cozumel, the zipline, canal and banana plantation in Costa Rica with Okey Dokey tours, and the Embera Indian Village and Gatun locks in Panama with My Friend Mario. We had a great time and I liked the 4 sea days to enjoy the ship. We had no luck in the Serenity area either. There were chair hogs that camped there all day long. I never saw that hammock. How did you get a picture with no one in it?

 

Sewut

 

Thanks, Sewut!

 

Stephanie and I actually ran up there to get pictures while everyone else was packing into the Lido restaurant to eat LOL. But it was SO super annoying to deal with chair hogs like that. I met someone in the pool who told me she'd watch for chairs that had been left unattended for awhile and she'd tell the Serenity attendant that "that chair" had been left unattended for xx minutes. She was going to come back in a half hour and if it was still unattended, she expected their belongings to be removed so she could use the chair. I might have to try that next time because getting ANY deck chairs, Serenity or not, was such hell all week. I'd honestly never had a problem like that before on ANY class of ship.

 

I have enjoyed reading ALL of your review thus far. The same goes for the review you wrote about the Miracle previously!

 

Glad you're enjoying it! I want to do another Miracle cruise, but Stephanie tells me I've already written that one to death LOL.

 

Thanks for the information about the parking at the port. Looking forward to more of your review. It helps me look forward to my upcoming cruise.

 

I'm glad :) If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask!

[Nicole721]

Okay, looks like this in-thread posting thing is working (so far). It's up on the blog (http://sunglassesandumbrelladrinks.blogspot.com/2010/03/worlds-longest-freedom-review-part-52.html), but here goes part 5.2!

 

When Stephanie and I got back to our room, our luggage had already begun to arrive and within 20 minutes, all of our luggage had been dropped at our door. Our room steward, Melvin, came by to introduce himself and I was very impressed with him throughout the week if for no other reason than the fact that he greeted us by name every time we saw him and he could tell the difference between me and Stephanie.

 

I don't remember why we split up for muster drill...Mom, Stephanie and grandma went together and I went to meet up with them. But I do remember this: this was the most disorganized muster drill I've ever participated in from a special needs standpoint. See, if you have a special needs guest (like grandma is since she's wheelchair-bound), you don't participate in regular muster. Instead, you're guided to a special area with your immediate party, where you are given a muster briefing by the staff. The staff didn't know where we should go and we ended up with a few other special needs families near the photo gallery, I think. No one came to show us what we should do in an emergency (we're well-versed, but still...what if we weren't and something happened?). No one was really there at all. I took pictures of the empty atrium and we left 10 minutes or so early just because we could and we wanted to make sure we could get grandma in an elevator before the rush.

 

 

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

We made a quick stop at the room and then scurried up to the Serenity area to claim a clam shell for sailaway while Mom and grandma headed for the deli to get grandma a bite to eat (since she usually naps while we're at dinner in the MDR). It was pretty low-key up there for awhile but quickly filled up. Stephanie and I got some drinks and toasted to the week ahead.

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

After Fort Lauderdale had faded into the distance, Stephanie and I met up with Mom and grandma back at the rooms to finish unpacking our luggage and get ready for dinner. I was in jeans and even though I know it's allowed for the first night, it's not really my thing. If there's an opportunity to get dressed up in some fashion, I will. It's fun for me. So I got changed and then we headed off to dinner.

 

We were assigned to the upper-level Posh dining room for traditional-sitting dinner, and we went a few minutes later to avoid the crowd. I never have and still don't understand why people go early and stand around like herded cattle when they have a table assigned to them. We arrived around 6:05 pm for dinner and all the crowds were gone and we were led straight to our table.

 

Our dining team was Bawa from Indonesia and Raphael from the Philippines and words can't express how amazing they were throughout the week. They were friendly, they were helpful and we just enjoyed them so very much. I always talk about this dining team that we had on the Pride back in 2006 (Lawrence and Lillya) that were so amazing that we hold everyone to their standard...and Bawa and Raphael? The first team since to even approach them, let alone surpass them. But this is why we do confirmed dining: the experience of getting a consistent dining team and getting to know them throughout the week.

 

Dinner on the overall was excellent. We all started with the Tropical Fruits (marinated in lime juice with a touch of tequila), which had an array of fresh fruits, artfully arranged, with little dollops of coulis. I would have preferred a stronger hint of tequila because I like the harshness of the liquor with the sweetness of the fruit, but we all agreed that it was a nice, light starter.

 

 

Stephanie really loves the soups in the MDR (and I'm sure if you ask her, she might tell you their her favorite foods onboard, which is why she'll order a hot soup almost every night despite even if she has a sunburn and it's still in the 80s out on deck) and she also had the Beef and Barley soup as a starter. It wasn't anything remarkable, but she enjoyed it nonetheless and thought it was very hearty.

 

 

Mom and I both ordered the Heart of Iceberg Lettuce salad (mine with blue cheese dressing and hers with Thousand Island). I thought the salad was mundane. It was nice and fresh and I love Carnival's salad dressings, but it lacked any real flavor and was in real need of some spicing up. If you're going to make an iceberg salad, why not go full-out and just do a wedge salad?

 

 

 

We all ordered the flat iron steak for dinner. Mine came out a little more rare than I usually like, but in general, as long as my steak doesn't come out blue or rare, I'm good with it. Bawa was on top of it and really thought it was too rare, but I assured him it was fine. The steak was a bit chewy for all of us and had a bit more gristle than I like on my steaks. The side of macaroni and cheese, though, was so delicious and I would have been happy with a plateful of that (and I'm sure had I asked, Bawa would have found a way to grant me that, but I was so full already).

 

 

For dessert, all three of us ordered the Creme Brulee and it was, by far, the best Creme Brulee I'd ever had onboard. The custard was nice and sweet and the caramelized top was actually crunchy (it'd always been soggy for me every time I'd have MDR Creme Brulee). I also ordered a cheese plate to split with Stephanie to go with my cup of coffee and was presented with a nice selection of cheeses (the blue and the brie were my favorites while Stephanie liked the swiss the best).

 

 

[Nicole721]

After dinner, we went to the room to see if grandma was up from her nap and we took her to dinner on the Lido deck. I was kind of sad to see no towel animal waiting for us on Stephanie's bed, but we did have them for the rest of the week so I was glad for that. We all went with grandma up to the Lido deck so she could have dinner. On the Freedom, things were a little different than they were on the Miracle. While they had a better selection of main entrees, they didn't have the MDR desserts like the Miracle did every night. They still had the warm chocolate melting cake, so grandma was pleased, but it took away the option to skip dessert and just grab it on deck later.

 

 

Grandma dined on some pork that she thought was simply fantastic and when she finished her dinner, we all went off to the promenade deck to look at the shopping. I think the shopping on the Freedom is far inferior to the shopping on the Miracle. While I like the setup of the shops, the merchandise was lacking and I was kind of sad there was no World of Good section since I like those products a lot and wanted to buy another journal.

 

After looking into the shops, we headed to the main lounge, the Victoriana, to grab seats for the Welcome Aboard show and watch whatever games or trivia they were running. When we got there, they had the band out to play music so couples could dance and there was this one elderly couple that I thought was just the most adorable thing ever. They kind of remind me of what I imagine grandma and grandpa would be if grandpa were still with us based on the stories grandma and Mom told me (he died when I was very little). We sat and listened to the music and I journaled for a little while.

 

 

 

After the dancing came free bingo, which was exactly as it sounds: a free game of bingo. It was advertised in the Capers, but I guess we missed it so we were super excited when they started handing out free bingo cards. As always when there's something for free, there are people who will try to cheat the system and there was this family who was sending their kids up to beg for bingo cards and would hide theirs when the staff came around to pass them out. The staff was wise to their game and they only got their four cards, but seriously people, come on LOL. Be happy for your game of bingo. They didn't win, anyways.

 

 

That said, neither did we LOL.

 

[Nicole721]

In between free bingo and regular bingo, they did a kind of live auction thing from the Park West people, I guess to acclimate people to what an auction is like and get people excited enough to come to the art auctions. They auctioned off a spa treatment, golf lessons, excursions, bingo stuff, a piece of art...lots of things...and while it appeared that this was an actual auction (certainly the people who thought they were bidding $110 for a $150 spa treatment thought so), to thank them for their participation, the bid winners received their prize for free. Now, if they do this on your ship, I don't advocate making sure you have the highest bid because this could have just been our ship or voyage, but there were some very happy people in the audience that night.

 

 

The Welcome Aboard show started at 10:30 pm, featuring the Carnival Freedom singers and dancers and comedian Eddie Capone. The singers were fantastic...probably amongst some of the better ones on Carnival's fleet. The dancing...a bit disjointed. Eddie Capone's comedy was mostly based on him being old and getting older. If you like that kind of comedy, you'll like his show. I thought it got old after a few minutes. We were also introduced to our cruise director, Felipe Couto and the entertainment staff: Jamie, Liz, Little John, Ben and Levi. I thought Felipe came on well, but throughout the week, we were continually disappointed with him. This was probably the most lacksidasical entertainment staff we'd ever sailed with. But the show overall was nice and fun. The show doesn't change and we've seen it a million times, but there's something special with seeing the familiar sets and hearing those beats that makes the cruise really real. We're really here...it's really happening.

 

 

 

When the show had finished and the theater cleared out, we headed up to the casino to get our credit from our sailaway drinks. See, if you order certain drinks, you're supposed to get a $5 match chip from the casino (which means you have to bet at least $5 to use that credit at all and you can only use it at certain tables). We ordered two Sex on the Beach drinks so we were supposed to get two $5 match chips, per our bar server. Well, the casino host told us we couldn't get the chips because the bar server gave us the wrong receipt...which was the ONLY receipt she gave us. The casino hostess told us to find the bar server and have her give us the correct receipt. We didn't feel it was worth the trouble of finding her and making her find the receipt (because on embarkation day, with all those drinks, finding one receipt must be like searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack) and we just left. Mom won $20 on the slots while she was waiting for us, so at least one of us got something LOL.

 

After the casino mishap, we headed over to the sushi bar for something they called "Midnight Bites," which was almost like a tapas area they set up instead of the late night buffet or grill. They put out things like marinated tomatoes, marinated olives, cheese cubes, fruit cookies, brownies, pound cake, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, etc every night and they had two or so other options (this night, they had shrimp ceviche and calzones). Me? I preferred the midnight grill the Miracle had. Sometimes, it's 1:00 am and you just want a plate of hot, crunchy fries.

 

 

We headed up to the pizzeria because grandma didn't like anything at the midnight bites, but the line literally wrapped all the way into the restaurant. Instead, we just went back to the rooms and ordered room service, which arrived within 20 minutes. I ordered a veggie plate and some apple juice and Stephanie and I settled into our room and watched TV.

 

 

The ship was really rocking and people were feeling it. Not me, though. The rocking of the ship gave me the best night of sleep I've had since...the last time I was on a rocking ship LOL. And since I always comment on the temperature of the room, it was PERFECT this week. A bit warm at times, but no where near as bad it was on each of my Miracle trips last year (when our room temp would raise throughout the night to the point where we'd wake up sweaty). It'd been a LONG day and even though we wanted to go to see a movie up on deck or go to the piano bar, we were much more content to go to sleep.

[Nicole721]

The Lido lunch menus for Day 1:

 

 

 

 

The Lido dinner menu for day 1:

 

[Nicole721]

The grill/pizza/deli menus:

 

 

 

[jsd4224]

Keep it coming! :)

[golfadj]

We were on the same cruise and it was an outstanding one.

 

I thought the CD was mailing in working for the week. Spent more time with his gf than playing at CD. Could not believe how many times he introduced a main act in the lounge by recorded announcement.

 

And this is someone who is an acting CD and presumably looking for full time status. I do believe he set a record for negative comments on the comment cards.

 

I thought the cruise staff was ok with one exception and possibly it was me. There was one fellow named Levi that we had a problem understanding anything he would say.

 

Also kind of surprised only a couple of late night comedy shows. Lounge rock group was very good but piano bar guy talked more than he sang so very often we got bored and left.

 

Food and service in the DR was excellent. Had an excellent roll call group and hope to sail with many of them in the future.

[sailingawaysoon]

Thanks for the latest installment. I enjoyed seeing the pics and hearing your stories. Are you saying the free bingo game had no prize? That's different. Well, I look forward to reading more soon.

[Jeans*Fanatic]

Yes, well, what does the rest of it say? "...Carnival Freedom Pictorial Review". I don't really care, but I get their point. I clicked on the thread thinking "oh, hey, a picture-filled review!"... and the first five pages are "i'll be doing the review shortly, here's links to my blog with non-cruise-related stuff" followed by people posting about how they're eagerly anticipating the review.

 

Like I said, I don't really care, it didn't bother me, just thought it was funny that it took 5 pages of posts before the review actually started. That being said, thanks to the OP for the review and nice pics.

 

Well..then you should expect both aspects of the title. Give me a break. Geez. :rolleyes:

 

 

 

 

Thank you, Crystal!!! :)

 

 

 

You are more than welcome girlie!

Okay, I am on to read 5.2... :D

[beach410]

waiting for the next installment....:D

[scm200]

:D lovely review so far, i really enjoy reading your travel-logue...its fun to read how much fun you and your family had on the Freedom, we sail in 39 days and can't wait for our 8 night cruise. keep posting and ignore the silly stupidness of people who just want to post nastyness...

[LSEA]

Excellent review as always. I know you are a freelance writer. Anything else of yours out there we might enjoy? LOVE all the photos.