Carnival Freedom Review (6/18-6/26)

[Goldengirl470]

Welcome to my review of our amazing cruise on the Carnival Freedom! I know there are very few reviews about this ship and this itinerary especially. I hope you enjoy! But first some introductions…

 

WHO: My family of four from South Florida including me, my husband and my twin 16-year old girls. This was our 12th cruise and our 6th with Carnival. It’s also the second time doing this exact itinerary/ship.

 

WHAT: Carnival Freedom 8-day Eastern Caribbean Cruise

 

WHEN: June 18th- June 26th

 

WHERE: St.Thomas, Antigua, Tortola, and Nassau

 

WHY: Ehh, who needs a reason?!

 

More to come, very soon(:

[Lucille Bluth]

I am excited for your review! I am in the beginning stages of planning our next cruise and am considering the Freedom. Can't wait to read more.

[NJEMT29]

we leave in 11 days cant wait

[Flutterbugs]

We're doing this itinerary in Oct. Can't wait for your review!

[TakeMeAway1001]

Absolutely cannot wait!

[Goldengirl470]

Welcome Everyone! Here's the first day, more to come tomorrow!

 

 

After much planning, packing, and cruisecritic stalking, the day had finally come! We left our house a little after 10:30 for our short 20 minute drive to the pier. We had a friend drop us off and pick us up to avoid the ridiculous price of parking at the port.

 

Embarkation was quick and painless. Everyone we encountered was very nice and accommodating, even the porter!

 

As we were getting on the ship, we looked down to see our luggage getting on too! YAY! We made our way up to the lido for lunch and by the time we finished, it was 1:30 – time to go to our rooms!

 

I absolutely loved our rooms. They were down a middle hallway on deck six, so there was a lot less hallway noise (but we did get noise from the Casino). We were close to both the forward stairs and mid-ship stairs. And our room steward was probably the best we’ve ever had. He was always so nice and personable when we passed him in the hallway. He did a great job with our room. And he refilled our samples every night (which past room stewards never have). When I lost my tennis bracelet later in the week, he searched the room high and low for me.

 

Before sail away and that dreaded muster drill, we walked around the ship to re-familiarize ourselves with it. The serenity area was new since our last trip, so the girls and I walked up to check it out. When we stopped to take a picture we got kicked out since my girls weren’t 21 (even though we clearly weren’t staying long and no one else was around). This didn’t really bother me; I know the rules. But the next 2 sea days, we encountered kids younger than mine using the serenity hot tubs and being obnoxious.

After a quick and painless muster drill, it was sail away time. We watched from deck six, forward. This little deck is where we would spend a lot of time all week.

 

The clouds came out for sailawayL

 

We returned to the room to finally see our luggage. The girls decorated their door.

 

We unpacked, cleaned up for dinner and headed to the Chic dining room for early seating. We had a great table (a booth for four) on the balcony level so we could see everything going on. Our wait team was great tonight too, but sadly their service went downhill for the rest of the week.

 

After dinner we headed to superstar live karaoke, then the welcome aboard show (same ole, same ole – but still good). Then we went to bed. We had an early day of sun- worshiping to look forward to the next day…. Or so we thought!

[Cupcrazy]

This is an itinerary I'm looking at. Can't wait to read the rest or you review and see the pictures

[brickergirl]

Yay! Thanks for posting a review! I've got 11 Sundays to get through until it's my turn to sail away.

[JD4Nati]

We leave on the same itinerary in 11 days! I can't wait to read more.

[belkin]

Great review so far. We will be doing this same cruise on 12/3.

[Goldengirl470]

For everyone taking this cruise in the future, I'm jealous. The ship is one of my favorite, and the ports are absolutley amazing. If anyone has any questions, especially about the ports, feel free to ask!

:)

[whendoweleave?]

This looks like it's gonna be a good one! :D

[TakeMeAway1001]

For everyone taking this cruise in the future, I'm jealous. The ship is one of my favorite, and the ports are absolutley amazing. If anyone has any questions, especially about the ports, feel free to ask!

:)

 

I can't wait to read the rest of your review, two of the ports are new to us :) Hope you come back soon~

[gobucks_43228]

Looking forward to more!!! 9 days and we are off on her!!

[spideyfam]

Keep it coming!! The Freedom is our favorite ship.

[laumicmah]

Fantastic review! We're going on the Glory in August, so I am reading all the Conquest class ship reviews I can find. Thanks for posting. Sweet pictures, too, by the way.

[Cruise_Q]

Love it so far...:)

[navybaby1113]

We're going on this ship (not this itinerary though) in January, so I'm looking forward to your review!

[Goldengirl470]

Sorry for the giant pictures!

 

Our day started when we met the girls at the lido buffet for a quick breakfast. None of us are really breakfast people. I know a lot of people don’t care for buffet breakfast, but we found the buffet food to be good. A quick look out the window showed an overcast sky. Yuck!:(

 

A couple clouds (or a lot of them) never stopped us from laying out, so we found chairs to set up camp. And when I say we found chairs, they were pretty much all open… so we picked some. We stayed there until about 1 to watch the master mixologist competition. Where do I sign up to be a judge for that?! The sun did finally come out around 11, so my girls went down the slide. You have to do it at least once during your cruise!

 

We grabbed lunch at lido then headed inside. I think we just bummed around the rest of the day, and spent some time up at our secret deck. My girls went to the country line dance class, which they said was good! They’re dancers who love country music, so it was perfect for them.

 

We got ready for formal night. I love formal night! I love dressing up and seeing everyone else in their formal attire.

 

Dinner was delicious as always! Sorry for no food pictures! We returned to our room briefly and found this:

We went to 2 comedy shows tonight: Al Katz (family) and Smiley Joe Wiley (Adult). Both were very funny in very different ways! These 2 comedians were much funnier than the two we would see later in the week. But, we loved the punch liner club and spent lots of nights here!

 

More to come tomorrowJ

[Kangapong]

I love reading your review… we are sailing on the Freedom in October – our itinerary is the “Exotic Western Caribbean”, but it is nice to know what to expect onboard. Do you happen to have any photos of your cabin? They would be much appreciated! :)

[crusin4funtimes]

This looks like it's gonna be a good one! :D

 

 

I agree, more please:)

[gubbs74]

I want to share my thanks for your review as well. My family and I are planning our next cruise and we are looking at the Carnival Freedom and Valor for next spring. Can't wait to read more!!!

[Goldengirl470]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! Glad you're enjoying the review. I'll have the next part up for you tomorrow, and then we get to do my favorite part of the cruise: Port Days!! I can't wait to share the gorgeous ports with you!:D

 

 

KangaPong - No room pictures, I'm sorry! I always intend to take room pictures, but never remeber to.

[Goldengirl470]

I won't even make you wait until tomorrow. I have the next part done already!:)

 

 

We woke up to another beautiful day at sea… and I was happy to not see a cloud in the sky! Over breakfast at the lido buffet, we decided that there would definitely be some sun-worshiping going on later that day.

 

But first, we had a private bridge tour arranged by a friend of mine who works for carnival. We have been on bridge tours before, and Captain Luigi was by far the most informative and personable Captain we have come across. Instead of being rushed off the bridge, he answered every question that we had. I took a peek at the weather forecast for St.Thomas while we were up on the bridge…. Looks clear and sunny! Yay!

 

Look at that View!

 

Our bridge tour was at 10:30, and we were up by the pool by 11:30. The chair hogs must have all slept in today. We found chairs right above the main pool on deck 10. We lounged around in the sun for a few hours and grabbed lunch at the grill.

 

The girls went to the disco dance class, and reported that it was fun but really crowded! I met up with them for the cheezy-but-always-funny “Game of Love”. I’m happy to report some new questions! As a side note, the cruise director Ryan was very entertaining. He kept everyone laughing the entire cruise!

 

We spent some more time on deck before returning to the room to get ready for dinner. Dinner was once again delicious and entertaining.

 

 

We did the usual again tonight: karaoke and a comedy show before heading to bed for our early morning in St.Thomas. Everyone was excited to be in port tomorrow, and St.Thomas is one of our favorite islands!

[Fishon28]

Sounds like you were having fun!!

 

We did the 6 day Freedom the week after you. The crew was fantastic and seemed to be in good spirits.

 

We were in and out of the dining room in 45-60min every night.