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

[Goldengirl470]

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.

 

We had a great time! Did you guys experience any engine trouble? If not, I'll get to that later in my review.

 

More Review Will be up very soon:)

[Goldengirl470]

My absolute favorite part of cruising is waking up with a different view each morning. So I was ecstatic to see this bright and early on Tuesday morning:

We grabbed a quick breakfast, and headed off the ship. We had a full day planned with Sunny Liston tours. This is the second time we did this tour and I cannot recommend it enough. For 35 dollars per person, you go downtown to shop for 1,2 or 3 hours ( We chose 3 hours – DH is outnumbered), go on a 2 hour sightseeing tour and get 2 hours at the beach of your choice (I chose sapphire). With the ridiculous prices of taxis on St.Thomas, the price alone is reason to book this tour.

 

So we shopped at the vendor’s market and downtown. Some of us were tired of shopping earlier than others:

Then we were picked up by our driver, Elvis, and took on a tour of the island. Sunny Liston tours are famous for their music and the whole bus was singing, dancing and smiling the entire way up the mountain. At our first look-out point we saw this (Look how small the Freedom looks next to the Dream):

 

To Be continued…

[Goldengirl470]

We continued up to Mountain Top, which to me is a little over-crowded and over-priced. But the views are gorgeous. We could see,

The Atlantic Side of the island

And Magen’s Bay

 

And finally we were off to the beach. Sunny will automatically take you to Sapphire unless you request somewhere else. I had decided on Sapphire anyway because we went to Magens bay last time. The beach was gorgeous, but a little rocky.

 

:)

To Be Continued (Again)...

[Goldengirl470]

We got dropped off at the pier and we were all exhausted! But I somehow found the energy to squeeze in a little bit more shopping J

And we made a pit stop at MoJos (much cheaper than Senior Frogs!). I love the swings!

We got back to the ship at the same time that apparently the whole ship did. The line was loooooong! We barely had time for a quick shower before it was time for another great dinner

After dinner, we all went up to watch “Tangled” on the big screen. We love Disney! And so do a lot of other people - I was surprised at how crowded it was!

I must say there is no better way to watch a movie than with my free popcorn on a lounge chair!! So relaxing!

After the movie, we all went to bed. Another full port Day coming up…

[gobucks_43228]

Loving your review! Question: since it's our first time should we go to Megan's or Sapphire? We, too, are booked with Sunny!

[brickergirl]

So much fun! I wish we were doing the Easter Caribbean tour. It will have to be the next cruise....

 

Does the Serenity area have a hot tub?

[Jimmanknows]

Popcorn free?? I have heard they charge for popcorn for the nightly movies, free sounds good to me. We'll be doing this ship & itinerary this October, can't wait.

[Goldengirl470]

gobucks_43228 - The beaches are equally as beautiful, and I really couldn't pick one over the other. Magen's Bay is much bigger, but it was also much more crowded when I was there. And there is an entrance fee of $4 per person (I think). My only complaint was that sapphire was really rocky at parts, I kept stubbing my toe lol:)

 

brickergirl - The serenity area had 2 hot tubs:)

 

Jimmanknows - There is a sign by the bar that said popcorn was $1.75, but I saw people keep going up to the bar and the bartender just handed out the popcorn. So I walked over and got some for free. I got it one night later in the cruise for free too. But if that was the case all the time, why the sign? Definetly try to get some for free! It was yummy:)

[ratherBcruizin']

Loving your review! Question: since it's our first time should we go to Megan's or Sapphire? We, too, are booked with Sunny!

 

I've been to both and my vote would definitely go to Megan's for a first timer. :)

[JMS920]

I love you're review! We cruise on 12/3. I love seeing the Freedom next to the dream. We did the Dream last Feb. and felt it was too big.

 

Keep it coming and thanks for the review!

[Irish708]

Looking forward to the rest of your review ! We are going on the same itinerary in Sept. Thanks!

[Goldengirl470]

I love you're review! We cruise on 12/3. I love seeing the Freedom next to the dream. We did the Dream last Feb. and felt it was too big.

 

Keep it coming and thanks for the review!

 

Thank you! I totally agree with you about the dream. It's too big and they crammed too many people on it. I always felt crowded on that ship. We love the size and layout of the Freedom.:)

[Goldengirl470]

We woke up in Antigua this morning. No one could believe that it was already Wednesday! Where was our week going?! Today we just had a beach day planned so I let everyone sleep in a little. But we were still off the ship by 9:00. When we first got off the ship, it started to rain. But in true Caribbean fashion, the rain only lasted 5 minutes.

 

We grabbed a taxi to Valley Church Beach for $8pp each way, $64 total. It was a little pricey, but very much worth it. It was about a 25 minute taxi ride each way, so it gave us a chance to see a little more of the island—even though there’s not much to see.

 

By the time we arrived, the sun was out:

We rented 1 chair to put our stuff on because we figured we wouldn’t spend too much time laying on the beach. The Chair was $5. We walked the beach a lot, and the farther you went, the emptier and quieter it was. Absolute Paradise!!

 

Try a banana daiquiri from “The Nest”, It was the best and cheapest ($5) drink I had all cruise long. After about 3 hours at the beach we headed back to the ship to have lunch and shower. My best advice about this beach is to get there early. It was getting crowded as we were leaving.

 

After a few hours of relaxing on the ship, we got off to shop around the port. Avoid the vendors market, there are some very pushy people in there. After shopping, we stopped at one of the restaurants that had free wi-fi for the girls to use their phones. We saw a lot of crew members there on their laptops.

 

We went back to the ship and got ready for dinner. On the way to dinner, we found DisneyJ

 

Dinner was yummy, but tonight was the night we started to notice our wait team rushing and being less friendly. Also tonight, the magician made a stop at our table. He was very good!

 

We went to karaoke and the main show (Liar’s Club) tonight. Then we were off to bed; We had a very early day in Tortola tomorrow!

[zumbafan]

Thanks so much for your review of the Freedom--different itinerary for my crew but such a good read! I'm sitting here on the CC boards again instead of doing my paperwork!!

[babyblue78]

I was charged for popcorn on Freedom back in February..... go figure!

[darth frosty]

Great review Freedom is def a ship I would like to sail on.

[boaterette]

Nice reivew. I love the big pictures. Just hate scrolling to read the reivew. I need a bigger screen.:D

[RaiderFaninNM]

THANKS for the pics and review!

 

Freedom is our next cruise BUT you have me seriously thinking about this itinerary now....................:confused:

 

More pics!

 

 

THANKS!

[Hurricane Girl]

loving your review. We did this iten on Triumph 08' and loved it...it also stopped in San Jaun then. We are booked on Freedom 9/10 doing this iten again and we can't wait!! Happy to hear you had a great time.

[Goldengirl470]

Thursday was the day of the cruise that I was most excited for. So I didn’t mind when the alarm went off at 6AM. Everyone got ready and went up to grab something small for breakfast which opened at 6:30. We had a full day planned with Kuralu, going to Sandy Spit and Jost Van Dyke. Last time I was in Tortola, I went to the baths. Both were amazing experiences that only prove you can’t go wrong in the BVI!

 

Anyway, we were probably the first 4 people off the ship. I wanted to take full advantage of our very limited time in Tortola. A taxi driver was waiting for us, and we waited for the 4 others to join us before making our way to Sopper’s Hole (where we were leaving from). Gary (from Kuralu) arranged for the taxi, but we had to pay our own way ($72 for the four of us on top of the $110pp for the trip). This was the priciest day of our vacation, but it was really the only island where we did a big, expensive excursion.

 

Once on board, we were introduced to the crew and their dog Grommet. We sailed about an hour to Sandy Spit, a snorkeling stop. Instead of snorkeling, we just went on a swim. We had 45 minutes at this stop.

We were welcomed back on board with some great music (Kenny Chesney, Jimmy Buffett, and Bob Marley) and continued our trip to Jost Van Dyke. It took us an hour to arrive at Jost, and we had lunch before swimming in. The lunch food (quiche, cheese, and bread) and drinks weren’t very good all for the $110. But that didn’t stop us from having a great day! This was our view as we ate lunch:

 

To Be Continued…

[Goldengirl470]

We only had an hour to spend on Jost Van Dyke. It was absolute heaven! I didn’t want to leave (I think I was the last one back on the boat). I definitely plan to go back there some day. We walked the beach and stopped at the famous Soggy Dollar Bar for some painkillers. But I must say, my Nilla Killa was better than DH’s Painkiller. Then we sadly made our way back to the boat for our 45 minute trip back to Tortola.

 

We were cutting it close when we got back to the dock at 2:30 with a 20 minute taxi trip back to the ship. Everyone was supposed to be back on board by 3. We made it back around 5 till 3. But sadly, no time for shopping):

 

After watching us sail away, I think everyone just layed around and watched “Forrest Gump” until the past guest party and dinner. I was exhausted and sunned-out.

 

We were all sun-burnt:

 

 

After dinner , the girls went to bed and we went to a comedy show. Everyone was excited to sleep in the next day and have a relaxing day at sea!

[hogwildcruzers]

Your review and photos are great, I am really enjoying this....we were on this same ship and itinerary this past April and it was one of our favorite cruises......glad y'all had an awesome time!

[MRVEGAS711]

Great Review! Keep it going!

[NY cruiser 75]

I am loving your review and photos. We just decided that we want to sail on the Freedom in Augus 2012 and she will be doing a different itinerary, but still great to hear about your trip.

[Goldengirl470]

I don’t have very much interesting to report from this sea day. This was our day to recover from all the back-to-back port days. We slept in until 9 and then headed to the dining room for breakfast. I love breakfast in the dining room, but it’s nearly impossible to do with such early port days. I let the girls sleep in, and they ended up going to the buffet and beating us back to the room.

 

In an effort to stay out of the sun, I went to morning trivia (My score wasn’t very pretty), stopped by the photo gallery (Eeeek! It was PACKED) and went to the “Fab Abs” class at the gym. Somehow, we all ended up in lounge chairs, but we picked some in the shade for once. I think the only time we moved all afternoon was for the chocolate buffet.

 

Before I knew it, it was time to go get ready for dinner. Tonight was formal night #2. I normally love formal night, but no one was feeling it tonight. Dinner was pretty good, but DD did have an issue with her meal. By no means was it a big deal; I just didn’t like the way it was handled. DD ordered a flat iron steak, but she got a filet mignon instead. When she mentioned it to the assistant waiter his response was “Steak is steak”. Then he walked away so she ate it. 20 minutes later our head waiter brought her a flat iron steak, and he seemed mad when she turned it down. She wouldn’t have eaten the first steak if anyone would have simply said “I’ll bring you what you ordered.” I’ve never had a waiter respond like that before. Usually they’re so eager to please.

 

 

After dinner, we went back to the room to change, and found this. How cute is our Sting Ray?!

 

After that, we went to the Beatle’s tribute show “Ticket to Ride”. It was so good; I can’t say enough good things about it. My favorite part was the glow sticks that they handed out during Let It Be. When that show was over, we went to the Adult Comedy show with Mike Lukas. Not so good!

 

We headed to bed. We didn’t have anything really planned in Nassau on Saturday, and I couldn’t believe our cruise was so close to being over. :eek: