Long overdue Sept '09 Freedom mini review with a few pictures

[alreadypacked]

I'm going to try my hand at a review here (previously, I have only written reviews in the member reviews section of the CC website).

 

This review is long overdue, as I sailed this cruise on 9/12/09, but I just took another Freedom cruise (2/21/10) and figured I'd better get this Sept review written first.

 

I went on this cruise with my sister and our close friend--the 3 of us cruise together every year in one triple occupancy inside cabin:

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Our cabin steward was Harry from Guyana. He was very pleasant and did an excellent job. We tipped him $10 to remove the contents from the mini bar so we could use it as a refrigerator. It really isn't very cold, but it kept my friend's wine a mite cooler than if it was just sitting on the vanity in the room.

 

Our main dining room servers were Maxsim from Belarus and Nur from Indonesia--they were excellent. We sat at a large table with a total of nine people. Our table mates were excellent.

 

The food was very good, as always. Here's a few pictures:

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We thoroughly enjoyed the entertainment on the ship. The big production shows were excellent, as was the guest talent show--one lady sang a Whitney Houston song and brought down the house. She got a standing ovation. We really loved the piano bar singer, Josh. He always made sure everyone got their songs played and he took very few and very short breaks!

[Handsome58]

review....

[alreadypacked]

Lido Restaurant:

 

I loved the Mongolian Grill, but you have to get there when they first open to avoid waiting in a long line--one day I waited 35 minutes before I had my food.

 

I also enjoyed the Tandoor station very much. It's quite spicy, but oh so good.

 

I felt that the regular buffet section food was not quite up to the standard of my previous cruises, and this is my 8th Carnival cruise. The food seemed more like homestyle buffet in comparison to previous cruises. There was some type of rice, vegetable, and meat each day, but very basic.

 

I find that the pizza has a much thicker and bready crust than a few years ago, so I personally I don't care for the pizza as much, but it's still makes for a decent late night snack. The deli station is very good.

 

The Lido staff was very good and promptly cleared off tables for the next person.

[serene56]

ooo i CANT WAIT TO GET TO THE mONGOLIAN GRILL

[alreadypacked]

The cruise director was Wee Jimmy. He was very energetic and entertaining, but I did find him a little annoying. I'm not saying he wasn't a good CD, just not my cup of tea.

 

We did not care for the Lido deck jumbotron. I prefer to just hear the live Calypso/Reggae band on sea days. After our first sea day, we moved to the port side rear section of Deck 10. This was a great spot to lounge because it offered both shade and sun.

 

San Juan

We just did a walking tour on our own around Old San Juan and by the forts. My friend and I had been there before, so we knew our way around pretty well. It was my sister's first time in Old San Juan, though she has been to Puerto Rico before. Afterwards, we went to Senor Frogs--the food isn't so great there, but it's loads of fun.

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Antigua

 

We hired a taxi driver named Cordell to take us to Dickenson Bay Beach. The taxi was $4 pp each way. This is now one of my favorite Caribbean beaches. The sand was white and fine like powdered sugar. The water was calm and blue and shallow. We paid $14 for an umbrella and $5 each for chairs. We arranged for Cordell to pick us up at 3pm and he was right on time.

 

After he returned us to the port area, we ate a late lunch at a restaurant called the Comissioner grill. It was delicious.

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St. Thomas

 

We went to Morningstar Beach--I had been there in 2002, but it seemed so much better than I remembered this time.

 

There was hardly anybody there and we had a nice server who was from Connecticut who has lived in St. Thomas for 15 years. It was great talking with her.

 

Our taxi driver was a nice older gentleman named Justin Christopher, and he happened to mention that he lives on Tortola, but takes the ferry over to work in St. Thomas. We told him that we would be on Tortola in a couple days. He said he would meet us and pick us up. We said ok, but thought, "yeah right...we'll never see him again." More on that to come.

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Tortola

 

When we arrived in Tortola, we went to the information desk outside the gate at the port to ask where we would go to get a taxi. The person there directed us to a dispatcher wearing a red tie. This gentleman said to us, your driver is over there and pointed. We turned to look, and it was none other than our driver from St. Thomas, Justin Christopher. We couldn't believe it!

 

Justin had obviously described us to the dispatcher, who was on the lookout for people fitting our description (the 3 of us together look very unique and easily stand out).

 

We asked Justin to take us to Nanny Cay beach at the Nanny Cay Marina. There are better beaches in Tortola, but we wanted something really close to the port, as this was a very short day in Tortola.

 

We suspected (and were correct) that he might not take any money from us when he returned us to the port, so I had $25 ready and slipped it into his shirt pocket when we posed for a picture with him. He tried to give it back, but I wouldn't take it.

[oncruisecontrol]

Nice review so far. Better late, than never.

[imagine8]

How did you feel the beach in Tortoal compared to Antigua?

[alreadypacked]

The Antigua beach wins hands down, but keep in mind we went to a small man-made beach at a marina in Tortola.

 

From everything I have read, Tortola does have many beautiful and better beaches. We chose Nanny Cay, because it was the closest beach to the ship. The other beaches are much farther away over mountainous roads with hairpin turns etc. I wasn't up for that.

 

We really enjoyed Nanny Cay though. It was practically deserted. Their restaurant and swimming pool were being renovated, but maybe it's back open by now.

[oncruisecontrol]

Antigua

 

We hired a taxi driver named Cordell to take us to Dickenson Bay Beach. The taxi was $4 pp each way. This is now one of my favorite Caribbean beaches. The sand was white and fine like powdered sugar. The water was calm and blue and shallow. We paid $14 for an umbrella and $5 each for chairs. We arranged for Cordell to pick us up at 3pm and he was right on time.

 

After he returned us to the port area, we ate a late lunch at a restaurant called the Comissioner grill. It was delicious.

 

 

Dickenson Bay is beautiful.

[Bigwave1129]

San Juan

We just did a walking tour on our own around Old San Juan and by the forts. My friend and I had been there before, so we knew our way around pretty well. It was my sister's first time in Old San Juan, though she has been to Puerto Rico before. Afterwards, we went to Senor Frogs--the food isn't so great there, but it's loads of fun.

 

 

What time did the ship arrive. I have read a lot of reviews that the ship arrives a little earlier than the 5 PM stated arrival time. I would really love to see the inside of the Fort. It has been a while since I have seen this.

[LANERACING]

Did you happen to get contact information for christopher, would love to grab him for our trip in September.

My address in tcmm4@hotmail.com

[LANERACING]

Sorry I mean Justin

[alreadypacked]

Nassau

 

We've been to Nassau many times, so we only got off the ship for about an hour and perused a few of the shops right by the ship.

 

With four ports of call, this cruise was a little more port intensive than we have taken recently, so we really just wanted to relax on the ship.

[alreadypacked]

Overall impression of this cruise: Fantastic!

 

This was my 8th Carnival cruise, and my 13th cruise overall. I really have no major complaints. I don't care for the jumbotron, but it certainly won't keep me from cruising--we just sit away from it now. Actually, thanks to the jumbotron, we found our new shady spot on Deck 10 that we love so much, so in every cloud, there's a silver lining! Lines at the Lido buffet during peak times can be long, but I was so glad that I didn't have to cook or cleanup that it hardly mattered!

 

I enjoyed the complimentary sushi on Promenade Deck 5 before dinner. This was my favorite spot to hang out while I was waiting for my sister and friend to get ready for dinner.

 

We couldn't have asked for better table mates at dinner. One of our table mates even sung in the Carnival Legends show--he was pretty good too.

 

Even though we were cruising during Hurricane season, we had beautiful weather every single day!

 

I was so sad when our cruise came to an end, but I was already thinking forward to the next one, as I am always planning our next cruise.

 

Here's a few more photos:

[alreadypacked]

What time did the ship arrive. I have read a lot of reviews that the ship arrives a little earlier than the 5 PM stated arrival time. I would really love to see the inside of the Fort. It has been a while since I have seen this.

 

 

I can't remember the exactly what time we arrived in San Juan, but we did get there before 5pm. I remember that I wanted to watch us sail by the fort as we approached the island, but when I got up on deck, we were almost at the dock already.

[Bigwave1129]

Thanks, I know the Freedom just returned from this route again. Maybe someone else can help.