Freedom 6 day Western Carribean 3/4 - 3/10 with pics!

[DemonPeeves]

For our land tour we stopped by the 7 mile beach, drove past the governor's house and made our way to the turtle farm.

 

 

The giant turtle pond o' lovin:

 

 

 

 

Younger turtles:

 

 

 

Wee bitty babies!

 

[DemonPeeves]

After about 40 minutes at the farm, we ventured off to Hell!!

 

 

That's really all there is to Hell. You have about 15 minutes here to view Hell, buy some stuff and mail postcards that will be postmarked from Hell!

 

Then we were off to the Tortuga Rum cake shop. Nom nom nom!! They did let you sample quit a bit and I have to recommend the banana flavored. Oh yes!!

 

Outside the shop.

 

After the rum shop, we were dropped off next to where we pick up the tenders. We completed the tour around 1pm and still had 2 hours before we had to be back on the ship. We decided to just get back on now and avoid any crowds later.

 

Bye Grand Cayman!!

 

On the itinerary for the evening from the Fun Times:

 

Passenger Talent Show

Mega Deck party on the Lido deck and Mexican Buffet at 11:30pm

 

Movies showing tonight were Tangled and then a Maroon 5 concert.

 

Kiss the towel animal good night and then its up early for Jamaica tomorrow.

 

[abisha]

Fantastic review! I'm lovin it! DH and I will be on her next month and cannot wait. What time would you say would be good to snag some kind of lounge chair on serentiy deck in the morning?

[DemonPeeves]

Fantastic review! I'm lovin it! DH and I will be on her next month and cannot wait. What time would you say would be good to snag some kind of lounge chair on serentiy deck in the morning?

 

Thank you! You know, as far as deck chairs go, if you want a good one, get there early. The first sea day, we got 4 good ones around 7am. I saw them start to fill up by 8am. There was a huge flow of people coming up to the deck at 8:30 and some of them were having a hard time finding chairs. They had to head up to the top decks further from the pool.

 

The second sea day, we got there at 7am and the bottom chairs were already taken. We actually saw some people laying on them with their bed comforters on them. I didnt know if they slept there all night or what but I did think that was a bit crazy. Ha! Second sea day we got chairs on deck 10, first row close to the glass barriers over looking the pool. They were great!

[DemonPeeves]

We arrive at Jamaica at 7:30am. Our excursion, the Cool Runnings sail and Dunn's River Falls, wasnt set to start until 8:30am, so we grabbed some breakfast before we got off the boat.

 

Ocho Rios Jamaica:

 

 

 

Our Cool Runnings boat waiting for us all:

 

 

A little after 8am, they let us start getting on the Cool Runnings. They were serving punch but no alcoholic beverages just yet.

 

 

Sailing out towards the falls!

 

 

[Cupcrazy]

Great pictures Melissa! Thanks so much for sharing.

[DemonPeeves]

It was not a long trip to the falls, but it was a smooth ride and very pretty.

 

 

 

 

When we arrived to the falls, we had to put our aqua shoes on. You can rent them from them if you need. You cannot wear flip flops or go barefoot or wear sneakers. The boat also let you keep your belongings inside the boat. After we got off, it docked away and waited for us. We had 1 hour and 15 minutes to climb the falls and then return to the boat.

 

Let's go!

 

We were all broken into groups and had a specific tour guide to take us up the falls. We had #24, Juan. He was pretty funny! He thought that holding hands was stupid so he said we only had to in the beginning for the steep climb but then we didnt have to. Yay! He also helped us to take pics along the way and pointed out calm pools and the water slide areas. Here we go...

 

 

 

[DemonPeeves]

You can tell as the falls start, there are a lot of people and you feel like you're on top of each other.

 

 

As you go up, you all begin to separate and space out. It makes it a lot easier to take pics and enjoy the pools of the falls.

 

 

 

 

A mini slide:

 

 

[DemonPeeves]

 

 

 

 

Yay! We did it!

 

 

Then we all piled back onto the Cool Runnings and let the rum punch flow! This boat ride back to the Freedom was one of the best boat rides ever! The seas were rough and we went straight into them. We held onto the front the catamarran and and just got soaked! It was great! The dj inside was playing a lot of music, people were trying to dance but were getting splashed and were rocking all over the place. It was great though. Everyone on this boat seemed to have a good time. If you didnt want you or your stuff to get wet, you could go inside the boat or sit on the back. We prefer front row seating and enjoyed every minute!!

[pcvtmom]

I love Cool Runnings excursion! We've done the falls with them twice and are planning on booking with them again in August. Fantastic pictures!

[cdamion]

Awesome review! Thanks for the pics!

 

I love these photo reviews!!!

[DemonPeeves]

After we got off of the Cool Runnings, we decided to head into town. You have to go through the port area, then a fenced in area where only taxis are permitted and then its into town. The vendors werent overly agressive but they definately tried to get your attention. And yes, there were many guys offering "smoke". We just smiled and said no thanks and headed to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, which was about a short 10 minute walk. This bar was the place to be, it seemed! It was already packed! We went upstairs for food and had some conch fritters and then a cheeseburger in paradise. There was a waterslide on the 2nd floor that went down into the pool.

 

 

 

 

 

Margaritaville was right on the beach. You could get a wristband from security and hang out on the beach and swim for a bit. The interesting thing was that vendors are not allowed on the beach but since no one technically owns the water, they could hang out on the waterline. So people were hanging out on the beach and the vendors would shout at you and try to get your attention. There was a security officer there with a dog going back and forth on the beach to keep them in order. We didnt see any problems while we were there. We were on the beach and then just ran and flopped into the water so no one bothered us.

 

Around 2pm, we walked back to the boat since we were set to head out at 3:30pm.

 

It was another elegant night tonight and it was the Past Guest party. There was a couple celebrating their 25th Carnival cruise. Awesome! I'm just trying to hit 5. hahahaha!

 

Tonight there was a new show, Jump, Jive and Wail and it was incredible! Zoot suits and big band music and lots of dancing. I really enjoyed it! Also on the agenda this evening was more comedy, a trip to donate to the casino and cribbage!

 

Movies were Miracle and A League of Their Own.

 

Good night towel!

 

[DemonPeeves]

Happy 40th Anniversary to Carnival Cruise Lines! And our last day at sea. Sniff sniff! Today we went up to get chairs at 7:08 and the lido deck was already full. We got chairs on deck 10 by the glass barrier over looking the pool. There were people already out there and some were sleeping on their chairs with their bed comforters. A little too excessive for me, but hey... who am I to judge? :)

 

Seeing as today was the last day at sea, the lido deck was packed. Every inch of it. I've never seen this before!

 

 

 

Now the exciting thing about today was that cruisers were the live band for the day. Jimmy and the Parrots and apparently 100 fans were on board and ready to go. They set up under the screen and played some great music!!!

 

 

 

 

 

[DemonPeeves]

Everyone was enjoy themselves and the band. It was a great day at sea!

 

 

 

 

They finished and the crowd starting shelling "One more song! One more song!" so they played another. Then after the crowd started yelling "3 more songs! 3 more songs!" But they had to stop playing. Bummer! It was like a great outdoor concert. Definately a highlight of the trip and one of the best sea days ever!

 

On the agenda tonight was Ticket to Ride (again...) so we didnt go. Instead, it was a nice of wine consuming, cribbage and watching Annie on the outside deck. Well, I was watching Annie but my husband wanted to throw something at the screen. :-)

 

We went to bed pretty late since we were planning to do the self debarkation and roll off the ship by 8am. We didnt need to pack early and set our bags out, thankfully.

[evanandsamuel'smom]

Thanks for all the great pictures! Can't wait to see it all in person just a week from today!!! Our first OV cabin!!! :D

[DemonPeeves]

Saturday morning, we left our room at 7:48 and were in my aunt's car at 8:06. It was not a problem getting off the boat at all. Yay! But that's what life is like when you're boring I guess... not like the poor guy that the dog sniffed out in line and was pulled away by customs. Oops!

 

I have to say, all in all, this was one of the best cruises I've been on. Once you got used to the random Go Green! Go White! it was a great time!

 

Food: For breakfast we ate at the lido deck buffet, lunch was the lido deck buffet (mostly the deli) and for dinner we at in the Chic dining room. The only "bad" thing I had all week was actually a cheeseburger for lunch from the lido deck grill. It just tasted like it was grilled in dirty grease or something. So I grabbed something else and was fine. We enjoyed all of the food in the dining room.

 

Drinks: Still about $7.50 for the drink of the day. Liquor drinks like Captain and Coke are like $6 something with the tip. My favorite Hurricane Wave was about $8.03 with the tip. We did get a soda package (bottomless bubbles) for my husband for like $41 for the 6 days. It was worth it. We spent less at the bar this cruise than ever before.

 

Entertainment: Shows that we did see were really good, especially that new one for me, Jump Jive and Wail. We did do a few trivia games and men vs women games and had a great time. Anything Brad hosts is great because he's so quick witted and entertaining.

 

Room: 2276- fabulous location! I think I'd stay at that exact location again on a future cruise! We only saw our room steward a few times but our room was always clean. He was like a Harry Potter house elf! We didnt hear any loud engine noises or anything either and above us were the fun shops so there wasnt any noise from up there at night.

 

Excursions- Loved them! Would recommend both to anyone who asks.

 

What else- I am so not a fan of these particular lido deck layouts. I prefer layouts like the Miracle/ Spirit and the other 2 ships in that class. I like having 2 pools on the deck with an actual stage. Any lido deck activities were hard to view on this deck because there isnt a stage.

 

Good bye Freedom! Hope everyone cruisin on you now is enjoying their time as much as we did!!

[evanandsamuel'smom]

The center where you get off of the tenders:

 

 

Some pics of the area:

 

 

The Carnival Paradise arrives:

 

 

Now our excursion was the Explore Grand Cayman by Land and Sea. It was set to leave at 8:45 but we had to meet at 8:30am. We were got there early to just hang out. More and more people started to arrive to line up for their excursions and that's when everyone learned that all sting ray related excursions were cancelled. Our friends we cruised with were doing a sting ran excursion and were bummed they werent notified until they hit the dock. Then there was only one girl handling all of the changes. I cant believe she handled it all herself but she seemed to have it under control. Our friends decided to join us on our excursion and got their ticket changed and that was that. At 8:45, we all walked to the bus to go to our Nautilus for an undersea adventure!!

 

 

 

Curious as to why the sting ray excursion was cancelled?

[skittl1321]

Great review!

 

I can't believe how crowded the walk up the falls was. Wow.

[DOTTE]

Great review and pics!! Can't wait for our turn again.

[madaamt]

For our land tour we stopped by the 7 mile beach, drove past the governor's house and made our way to the turtle farm.

 

 

The giant turtle pond o' lovin:

 

 

 

 

Younger turtles:

 

 

 

Wee bitty babies!

 

Great Pics..

[trutojc]

Great review, September can't get here quick enough!!! :D

[NHNEV2003]

Our first cruise a year and a half ago was the Carnival Freedom 6 day trip to Key West, Grand Cayman, and Och Rios.

 

Loved your report and great pics-- brings back some gret memories.

 

Thanks!

[DemonPeeves]

Curious as to why the sting ray excursion was cancelled?

 

Apparently it was cancelled due to rough waters. I didnt see the waters where the sting rays hang so I'm not sure how bad it looked over there.

[purplebutterflychick]

Thanks for the review. Three friends and I were on the same cruise. The first for all of us. We had a great time and your review brought back some great memories.

[terri&roy]

Thanks so much for the great review. We will be on the FREEDOM one week from today and after reading your review and seeing your pictures I can't wait!