Carnival Freedom Review with Pictures June 18-26 2011

[hoosiergirl34787]

Day 1--Embarkation

Well, my husband Geoff and I just returned from a fantastic 8 day cruise on the Freedom. We booked this cruise to celebrate our fifth anniversary. This was our third Carnival Cruise since 2006. We live in Orlando so we really enjoy cruising since we don’t have to pay for airfare. As we drove home we both commented on how this was probably the best or at least second best cruise we have ever taken. It all started on Saturday, June 18th. Geoff and I drove from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale. We had arranged earlier to park near the cruise port. After quickly unloading the car and loading up the shuttle we were on our way to the cruise terminal where we were quickly able to see the Freedom.

 

 

It was so exciting to know that we had eight long days ahead of us. After handing over our bags and tips to the porter we proceeded to the looooooooooooong line to check in. This was the first time that we actually had to wait and this line was literally wrapped around the building outside the terminal. The good thing was that the line was constantly moving. After about 90 minutes Geoff and I were on the Lido deck, drinks of the day in hand, enjoying our first round of the Mongolian Wok.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64511090@N02/5874922973/in/photostream/lightbox/

 

Geoff and I had been on the Freedom in November 2010 so we didn’t need to spend any time getting to know the ship. We heard the announcement that the rooms were open and headed to our home on the Main Deck (2274) for the next eight days. (A note about our room—we were right next to the midship elevators, but our room was directly under the public restrooms outside of the Victoriana Lounge. Before and after each show in the lounge we constantly heard running water. It was a little annoying, but we never went to bed that early so it didn’t bother me too much. It did bother my husband. He said it would wake him up in the morning. ) Our excursion tickets for St. Thomas were already waiting for us on the table. Within a few minutes, our cabin steward, Wayan, was knocking on the door to introduce himself to us. Again, he took the time to learn our names and called us by name each time we passed him in the hallway. He was wonderful and did anything we asked of him.

 

Since our luggage hadn’t arrived yet, I decided to unpack the few things we brought on board and then take a nap in the super-comfortable beds. At 3:30 Geoff woke me up so that we could go to the muster drill. After waiting about 15 minutes we were able to run back to the room. Our luggage still hadn’t arrived, but we did pack our swim suits in our carry-ons. Geoff wanted to watch sail away from the Serenity Deck hot tubs. Hanging out at the hot tubs, we were able to get a great view of the beaches.

 

After about an hour, we hit our cabin again to see if our luggage had arrived. It hadn’t but it did arrive shortly after. We unpacked the rest of our things and got ready to head to late dining in the Posh Dining room. The first night we sat at a table for eight. Only four of the other people showed up. Our waiter, Peter, was amazing. He learned my name and my husband’s right away and whenever we saw him around the ship he would yell out, “Hey Mr. Geoff!” or “Hello Ms. Stacy!” I was so excited to have a waiter with some personality for a change. Our last few cruises the servers had been so quiet. I had also ordered bar coupons from Bon Voyage before we left. The hostess brought them to us at dinner. I had read that the servers would treat you differently if you used the coupons. I did not find this to be the case. I had no problem using them nor did my husband. However, I think that for future cruise I would just purchase Funship Dollars to give us onboard credit. It was sometimes hard to remember to bring the coupons with us al l the time. It was really nice to have prepaid half of our bar bill. After we got our drink coupons, our main entrees were delivered. We were seated close to where the servers bring out the food and our food came out piping hot. On our past cruise we were all the way in the back and our food was always lukewarm. I really think that our seat made the difference in the temperature of the food. The only complaint I had about the entire cruise was the quality of the food. There seem to be few choices since November and the choices that were offered were not very good. In fact, this is the first cruise that I actually didn’t gain weight on.

 

Once dinner ended, we decided to skip the Welcome Aboard show since we had seen it on our previous cruise. Instead, we changed into some comfortable clothes and hit the Lido Deck for the Seaside Theater. They were showing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I. We watched about half the movie and then decided to turn in for the night.

[Pepperw23]

Looking forward to your review! :) I can't see your pics though. I don't have an account. :(

[fourkittys]

I agree, very descriptive review. But I too can't access the pictures thru Yahoo.:D

[fin]

"Pictures are private".

[hoosiergirl34787]

I figured out how to post the pictures. Sorry about the first post. Here are the two photos. I will have the photos in the posts from here on out!

 

[hoosiergirl34787]

Day 2—Sea Day

 

I was up by 8am. I decided to hit the gym while Geoff slept in a little while longer. He wasn’t feeling too well since he was getting over a cold. I knew that the gym would probably be pretty busy at 8 and it was, but by chance I happened to walk by a treadmill when a lady was just finishing her workout. I looked around to see if anyone was waiting then hopped on for my three mile run. The gym is a pretty good size with around 12 treadmills, 5 elliptical machines, and 5 bikes. There are also weight machines and a nice open area to stretch. The ocean was pretty calm, and I didn’t even feel the motion in the gym. Usually I have to hold on to the treadmill so I don’t fall off. About 40 minutes later I was back into the room where Geoff and I decided to go to the Posh Dining Room for breakfast. I had a Belgium Waffle that was okay and some fresh fruit that was delicious. Geoff ordered an omelet and said that it was very tasty.

 

After breakfast we decided to hit the movie trivia in the Lobby. My husband is a movie fanatic and I knew that we would have a pretty good chance at getting a lot of the movies. What I didn’t realize is that Geoff really knows his movies and answered all 30 movie clips correctly. He was awarded with that coveted 24 karat gold plastic piece of ship on a stick. He was so happy. Right after trivia there was a digital scavenger hunt. I was so excited for this game. We were able to work in teams and had 20 minutes to get pictures with as many things on a list that we could. The list ranged from things like a human pyramid to the whale tale to a man wearing lipstick. The only catch was that all of your group with the exception of the person taking the picture had to be in the photo. Let me tell you, it’s a little awkward to go up to a guy with a beer belly and ask him for a photo. We had crossed off 20 items from the list before it was time to go back. We felt pretty good, but we weren’t sure how well we did. When we got back to the lobby there were already several teams checked in. As we were waiting we heard the guy in charge ask if anyone had more than 16. Well, we yelled out that we had 20 and we ended up going two for two in contests that morning. So with each of us proudly carrying a 24 karat gold plastic piece of ship on a stick we headed to the buffet to grab some lunch.

 

At this point Geoff wasn’t feeling too well so he took a couple of Nyquil and I headed up to the Lido to read my book. I decided to use my drink coupons for a frozen drink. I didn’t want the drink of the day so I tried a Kiss on the Lips. That drink was like heaven in liquid form. From that day on, I ordered nothing else but Kisses on the Lips. So two drinks and several chapters later I was feeling a little crispy from the sun. I headed back to check on Geoff. He was asleep and I decided to join him for an afternoon nap. I was only going to lie down for an hour but when I checked the clock, it was 7pm—so much for a quick nap.

 

It was elegant night and I wanted to take some formal pictures so I got Geoff up and we got ready for dinner. While I had been at the pool, the Maitre d had slipped a note under our door informing us of a table switch. We were now going to have an ocean view table a few tables away from where we sat the previous night.. I wasn’t worried since we didn’t really hit it off with our table mates the night before. What I didn’t realize is that we were being moved to a different section with different servers. It was very disappointing to be moved from Peter’s section to a new server who, by the way, never told us his name the entire cruise, and he didn’t bother to ask us our names either. In the end it worked out for the best because we really enjoyed the people that we were seated with.

That night was the only night that I really enjoyed what I ordered for dinner. It was lobster night, and I love lobster. I also had Warm Chocolate Melting Cake which was pretty tasty. Geoff ordered Prime Rib, but he said it was pretty fatty. When dinner was over we made our way to the Victoriana Lounge for The Big Easy show. I really enjoyed all the costumes and the female singer was spectacular. At the end of the show everyone was up on their feet and the cast threw beads into the crowd. We had a pretty lazy sea day and were ready for a second lazy day to follow. Back in our room, Wayan left us our first towel animal. We weren’t exactly sure what it was, but it was cute.

[readytotravel44]

I'm looking forward to your next entry. We are going on the same cruise in a few weeks. Eager to read what you do at each of the ports.:)

[gobucks_43228]

Great review so far! We sail her in a couple of weeks ;)

[TakeMeAway1001]

Great review so far~ I am not sure if it's the same Wayan but we also had a room steward who was named Wayan on one of our cruises and he was by far the best one we have had. Can't wait to read more :)

[sail-a-bration]

I think the towel animal is a stingray, but it could also a seal if you were doing an alaskan cruise:D

[NJEMT29]

cant wait for more we leave in 19 days on the 8 night cruise

[KansasK]

We will be on the Freedom sailing on Oct. 22. I have enjoyed your review and pictures. You sound like you had a good time so far! You both looked so nice on the elegant night. I like to dress up on this night and I am happy to see that someone else still does, too! I am looking forward to the rest of your review!

[RaiderFaninNM]

THANKS for the review as Freedom is on a SHORT list for us next year in May, this 8 day cruise, I wait the rest of your posts.................:D

[spideyfam]

Thank you for posting a review of our favorite ship!!

[Yvonne]

I'm enjoying reading your review, as we will be on the Freedom ourselves in 7 l-o-n-g months. :) Wondering why they moved you to a different table in the dining room? Did they ever tell you the reason? If it happened to me I would be wanting to know! :) It seems like they would have to ask people if they minded getting moved. :(

[hoosiergirl34787]

I'm enjoying reading your review, as we will be on the Freedom ourselves in 7 l-o-n-g months. :) Wondering why they moved you to a different table in the dining room? Did they ever tell you the reason? If it happened to me I would be wanting to know! :) It seems like they would have to ask people if they minded getting moved. :(

 

They said a family was split up so that they needed the table. They wrote a note on the card saying we would have a window seat which was really funny since it was always dark when we were eating.

[hoosiergirl34787]

Day 3—Sea Day

 

Once again I work up fairly early to hit the gym. This time I went about 9am and there were some people, but I had no problem getting on an elliptical machine. After the gym Geoff and I hit the Lido Deck for a quick breakfast. I wanted to spend the day in the sun reading my book so we attempted to find two chairs on the Serenity Deck. We were surprised to find two on the upper level near the hot tubs. There we spent the day reading, sunning, and drinking Kisses on the Lips and Jack and Cokes. When it got too hot we hit the water slide to cool off. There was hardly any wait and the water was very refreshing. Eventually we moved out of the Serenity area and closer to the big screen to listen to the band.

 

A full day in the sun always makes me want to take a nap. We headed back to the cabin and I ordered room service—a BLT and giant piece of chocolate cake. Both tasted pretty good. Then it was time to get ready for dinner. Before dinner we hit the Meiji Sushi Bar. The sushi was delicious the first time we tried it, but later in the week, it started to have that fishy smell about it. At dinner, I ordered grilled chicken off of the Spa Menu. It tasted okay. Geoff had the ribs and said they were also very fatty. For dessert I ordered an apple puff pastry with caramel sauce while Geoff ordered the cheese plate. We were both very happy with our choices.

 

 

After dinner we went to the Jump Jive and Wail show in the Victoriana Theater. The music and costumes were again very entertaining. Since we would be arriving in St. Thomas at 7am the next morning we decided to turn in after the show.

[hoosiergirl34787]

Day 4—St. Thomas

Finally the first port had arrived. Geoff as looking forward to this port since we would be scuba diving. I was looking forward to hopefully seeing sea turtles. I was up at 5:30 am to hit the gym. We grabbed a quick breakfast of fruit, hard boiled eggs, bacon, and milk before heading back to the cabin to pack our gear. We were off the ship and waiting with our tour group by 8am. Before leaving I had researched dive tours but most were the same price as Carnival so we decided to book with Carnival for this excursion. This would be the only excursion we did with Carnival.

 

On the pier we met our dive masters and signed off on the waivers. There were about 18 people doing the tour and they divided us into two groups. Each catamaran had about 9 people. Our main dive master was Jim and he was very organized and thorough. We rode out to the first dive site, Buck Island Marine Sanctuary. I was so excited since I had read on Cruise Critic that this is where the sea turtles congregate. However Jim informed us that the turtles had been around for a week so he wasn’t sure if we would be able to see them. Our second dive would be near by on a wreck. The ride out to the dive site was very rough. I was on the verge of becoming sick when we arrived suited up and were in the water. Once I was in the water my sea sickness subsided. The first dive we spent time on a reef. There were many fish, pretty coral, a lot of sea urchins and sea anemone. The highlight of the dive was this loggerhead turtle that swam right towards us. We ended up about 60 feet down for 38 minutes.

The second dive was on an old agricultural freighter that had been broken into three pieces by a hurricane. The highlight of the wreck dive was the nurse shark hanging out under the wreck. Again this dive was 38 minutes and the depth was about 40 feet.

 

 

 

After the second dive, we headed back to the pier. The return ride was so much smoother. The boat let us off right near the Havensight Mall. We returned about 11:40 which was nearly an hour sooner than scheduled. I felt that since we arrived so early we could have easily spent 15 more minutes on each dive. I did feel very comfortable with the dive outfit, but felt like we were ripped off when it came to time. Since we paid for a four hour tour, I expect a four hour tour not three.

After our dive we decided that we wanted to go to the beach. I knew Megan’s Bay would be crowded since there were three ships in port this day. Instead we hired a cab to take us to Secret Harbor Beach. It was about a 25 minute cab ride and he charged us $9.00/person. Secret Harbor Beach is attached to a resort. It was a very short walk from where the cab dropped us off to the water. The beach is lined with palm trees and has a small snack bar that makes really good strawberry daiquiris. There were snorkel gear, mats, and chairs for rent, but we brought our own snorkel gear and just laid our towels on the beach.

 

 

The sand was so soft and cool to the touch. There were some large rocks in the sand, but overall it is the best beach I’ve ever been to. The best part was that there were fewer than fifty people. After having turkey sandwiches that we brought from the deli on the ship, (I know you aren’t supposed to bring food off the boat, but we did.) we jumped in the water to do some snorkeling. We were able to see coral and many fish just feet from where we left our beach towels. We spent at least an hour snorkeling before coming back to rest on the towels and get a drink from the bar. While we were waiting for our drinks, we saw several blue iguanas just hanging out in a tree.

We spent about 2 and a half hours relaxing on the beach getting in and out of the water as we liked. At one point we realized that some crew members from the ship were hanging out on the floating dock in the water. We ended up chatting with them for awhile before making our way to find a cab to take us back to the dock area.

[hoosiergirl34787]

Day 4—St. Thomas Continued

We decided we wanted to try to go to Paradise Point to take some pictures of the boat before returning to the ship before sail away. At this point it was like 3pm. We were able to grab a cab that was just waiting in front of the resort. The cab driver charged us $10/person to return to the dock area. We made one additional stop to pick up a girl from Bolongo Bay. The driver dropped us at the base of Paradise Point. We purchased our tickets for $21/person. They were actually cheaper on the ship, but we weren’t sure if we were going to make it to Paradise Points so we didn’t want to spend the money in case we didn’t use the tickets. We walked up right as the gondolas were being loaded and were in one by ourselves. It is about a seven minute ride to the top, but boy was it stifling. There was no air movement in the car and I couldn’t image being packed into the space with other people.

We arrived to the top and were directed to the lookout point. By this point, Geoff and I were both hot and dehydrated. We decided to walk up the stairs to the highest point and snap a bunch of pictures. We were able to see all three ships in port, even the Oasis of the Seas which was really tiny over at the other dock. Then we found our way down to the restaurant where we ordered two Bushwackers and a plate of nachos. The Bushwackers were excellent. They kind of reminded me of a Mudslide, but better. During my research I found coupons for $2.00 off Bushwackers so I printed them and brought them with. The Bushwackers were a little pricey so the coupons helped a little bit. We spent about an hour total at Paradise Point before heading back to the ship.

 

 

[Flutterbugs]

Enjoying your review! We'll be taking this same cruise in Oct.

[Bowman1]

Great Review - We depart on the Freedom July 2nd - We will try to catch movie trivia based on your review - Thanks:D

[brickergirl]

Thanks for the review! I'm very much enjoying it, keep posting please!

:D

[hoosiergirl34787]

Day 5—Antigua

 

Before going to Antigua I have to say I was ready to be unimpressed. I didn’t read anything on CC or in my research that gave the island the wow factor of some of the other places. Boy was I wrong. I loved Antigua and it was Geoff’s favorite stop. We started the day at 6am. I skipped the gym today and we went to grab breakfast from the Lido around 7am. After breakfast we went to the Serenity Deck to take pictures of the port. There are all these really cool boats docked in the port. Some of the boats look abandoned, but there was one that had so much character to it.

 

We were off the ship by 8am. I had booked a private tour to zipline and go to the beach. The tour guide was supposed to be waiting for us at 8:15am with a sign with our name on it. Since we were early we explored the port for a little bit. There were numerous people asking if we wanted to take an island tour by taxi. No one was pushy; when you said no, they left you alone. In fact, everyone that we encountered was so friendly.

 

After returning to the gangway, we saw our tour guide and our name on the sign. We had to wait for two other groups that had arranged the same tour. There ended up being 11 of us, but one group had seven people. The tour operator arranged for their group to ride with one taxi driver while we were sent with two other girls in our own cab. We were introduced to Bernard, who upon meeting gave us a big toothless grin. I was a little wary of Bernard at first, but within five minutes of being in his car I was totally at ease. He was so kind and knowledgeable about the island. He told us that the people of Antigua were very friendly and they always honked when they passed people on the street.

 

Forty minutes later we arrived at the zipline company. Here we arrived just before the ship tour and were able to bypass all the lines. We quickly signed our waivers, left our valuables in a locker, and headed over to be fitted for our safety harnesses. We were with our two new friends. It took quite a long time to get into the gear, but once the safety briefing was over we were the first to hit the zips.

 

I have ziplined in Mexico before, and I found Antigua to be much prettier. The canopy was lovely to look at as I zoomed along the zip. We did eight zips total. Some were really long. One I didn’t make it to the end because I stopped myself too soon. I had to pull myself hand over hand up to the platform which was kind of difficult. I made sure from that point to ease up on the brakes. Too quickly we finished the zips. It was onto the gift shop to see our photos. We weren’t allowed to bring cameras with us so if we wanted photos we were forced to purchase them from the gift shop. They wanted $25.00 per person for all the photos and video on a CD. We didn’t really want to spend the $50.00 for both of us so we decided to pass. We then got our stuff from the lockers, took a quick pit stop in the restrooms, and found Bernard to continue on our tour.

 

Bernard drove us to Wallings Dam which was two minutes from the zipline company. Here we stopped and were able to get out and walk around. When we arrived there were only a few people and Bernard told us that many people visit on the weekends bringing their families for a picnic. It was lush around the river.

 

 

 

more to come...

[hoosiergirl34787]

Antigua--Continued

 

We arrived at Turner’s Beach and Bernard set us up with lunch. We at the best BBQ chicken and rice with some roasted vegetables and salad. I also had a rum punch with nutmeg ground on top, but it was a little too strong for me. Geoff had no problem downing both his and mine. When lunch was finished, we grabbed our beach chair and found a spot to drop our stuff. The beach was not too crowded so we were free to snorkel. The snorkeling here was not very good. A few yards off the beach the water dropped to about 15 feet. On the bottom there was mostly sea grass and sand. Geoff did find a star fish and conch to show me, but there wasn’t much else to see. Now to the left of the beach there was a point and some rocks. Geoff snorkeled over there and saw many sea urchins, but I just on the rocks watching the waves. I also was able to collect some shells to add to my shell jar at home. After lounging on the beach for a couple of hours it was time to head back to the ship. We rounded up the other girls we came with and found Bernard.

Geoff and I wanted to go to Nelson’s Dockyard and asked Bernard if he would be able to drop us off there. He said it wasn’t part of the tour but would take us anywhere we wanted.

After 25 minutes we said good bye to the girls and Bernard who left with a heft tip from us. At Nelson’s Dockyard we paid the $7.00/person entrance fee and set off to explore. I really wanted to stop at the dockyard because of the great photo opportunities. There were many yachts docked that made for lovely pictures. In addition, the buildings were old and rustic looking. We spent an hour exploring before we decided we should head back to the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

more to come...

 

 

 

 

 

[hoosiergirl34787]

Antigua--Continued

After 25 minutes we said good bye to the girls and Bernard who left with a hefty tip from us. At Nelson’s Dockyard we paid the $7.00/person entrance fee and set off to explore. I really wanted to stop at the dockyard because of the great photo opportunities. There were many yachts docked that made for lovely pictures. In addition, the buildings were old and rustic looking. We spent an hour exploring before we decided we should head back to the ship.

Getting back to the ship was an adventure. I had read on CC how to take the bus to and from the dock for only $1.50/person. The #17 bus picked us up right in front of the entrance. We had to wait about 15 minutes for the bus. We climbed aboard and took in the scenery. There was no announcing of the stops, but we knew that were were getting off in the terminal. Once off, we walked the 10 minutes back to the ship. We were able to get some really good shots of the ship from this port.

Back on board it was time for my afternoon nap while Geoff went off to check out sail away. Before long it was time to get ready for dinner. Again, I’m not sure what we ordered for dinner, but I’m pretty sure I had grilled shrimp. We skipped all the after dinner activities and headed to bed so we would be ready for Tortola the next day. As we walked by the big screen, Tron was playing. Geoff loves this movie and wanted a picture of it. Then we hit the room to see our towel friend for the evening. I called it the Bubushka Lady. We also received our invitations to the Past Guest Party for the following day. Free drinks here we come!!

 

 

 

 

If anyone has any questions about the boat of the ports please let me know and I will do my best to answer.