Carnival Freedom Review w/ Pics - May 18th

[thechandlers99]

38 days

920 hours

5.5 weeks

 

 

till we are on the freedom!!

 

nice!!!

[Vitamin_Sea]

Did you get in port at 8am?

 

How long did it take to get off the ship?

[thechandlers99]

Did you get in port at 8am?

 

How long did it take to get off the ship?

 

Our ship docked at 8 am and we walked off at 8:30. It didn't take long at all.

[Vitamin_Sea]

Our ship docked at 8 am and we walked off at 8:30. It didn't take long at all.

 

Wow..that was fast!

 

Hope it works well for us. We have an 11am flight at Hollywood airport, 10 mins away.

[thechandlers99]

Wow..that was fast!

 

Hope it works well for us. We have an 11am flight at Hollywood airport, 10 mins away.

 

Do you mean in St. Thomas or when we got off at the end? The ship pulled back into Fort Lauderdale at 5 am. They started calling self assist passengers at 6:30 am. We chose to put our bags out the night before and had zone 1 because we were in a suite. Zone 1 was called around 7:45 and we were in our car, on the road at 8:30. If you have an 11 am flight, just let them know that and you will be given zone 1 tags as well. They are reserved for flights before 12 pm and priority passengers. If everything goes as smoothly as it did for us, you will be headed to the airport by 8:30 am.

[Vitamin_Sea]

Do you mean in St. Thomas or when we got off at the end? The ship pulled back into Fort Lauderdale at 5 am. They started calling self assist passengers at 6:30 am. We chose to put our bags out the night before and had zone 1 because we were in a suite. Zone 1 was called around 7:45 and we were in our car, on the road at 8:30. If you have an 11 am flight, just let them know that and you will be given zone 1 tags as well. They are reserved for flights before 12 pm and priority passengers. If everything goes as smoothly as it did for us, you will be headed to the airport by 8:30 am.

 

 

OK...We are scheduled to be at ft Lauderdale on last day by 8am. Flight at 11am. I hope to be off by 930 latest.

But we will ask for zone 1 tags.

[Cigar Dude]

I would like to ask you about the cabin room temps. There have been some posts about the room being too warm. How was yours? What cabin number did you have? Did you hear anyone complaining about the temperature of the rooms?

 

Now, back to your review and pictures. :D

[thechandlers99]

I would like to ask you about the cabin room temps. There have been some posts about the room being too warm. How was yours? What cabin number did you have? Did you hear anyone complaining about the temperature of the rooms?

 

Now, back to your review and pictures. :D

 

We were in cabin 7233 and the temp was all over the place. Sometimes it was freezing and other times it was really hot. The warmest time seemed to be around 5 am. I would wake up so hot I would have to kick the covers off for at least 20 min to cool off. It seemed to be cooler during the day than it was at night.

[thechandlers99]

The next port on our trip was Antigua. None of us had ever been to this port so we were excited about seeing everything it had to offer. After much research on these boards, we decided to book an island tour with Lawrence of Antigua. Our tour took place in an air conditioned van and included stops at Devil's Bridge, Block House Hill, Shirley Heights, Nelson's Dockyard and Valley Church Beach. We could have stayed at the beach for 2 hours but we were all a little sunburned from the previous 3 days that we chose to just take pictures and leave. It was so hot on that beach with very little shade or breeze and we all agreed that there was no way we could have spent 2 hours there.

 

Shirley Heights and Block House Hill are high points on the island which made for amazing pictures. Devil's Bridge was very impressive and has so much history. This tour was a great way to spend the day.

 

The cost of the tour was $40 pp which included alcohol and non-alcoholic drinks. We had to pay an additional $8 pp to get into the national park where Bloch House Hill and Shirley Heights are located.

 

We loved every minute of this tour and are thankful we decided on this option. At the end we were dropped back off at the pier and we had a couple of hours to shop before being back on the ship.

[thechandlers99]

DH and I in front of the ship in Antigua

 

 

The girls in front of the ship

 

 

Welcome to Antigua

 

 

Drinking a beer on the tour - no open container laws in Antigua

 

 

The boys on the tour

[thechandlers99]

Devil's Bridge is full of history. Google it to get the whole story, but the gist is that this is a place where slaves came to kill themselves. They would jump off the bridge and the waves would smack them into the rocks below. The wind was so strong you had to fight against it the whole time. It was a beautiful and haunting place to visit.

 

 

Group shot

 

 

The Bridge

 

 

 

DH and I at the Bridge

 

 

 

[uprivermama]

Great review! We're doing this itinerary in 18 days on the Freedom, so I'm soaking up the details!

 

When you say you docked at 8 am in St Thomas and were off the boat at 8:30, would you say that is the absolute earliest you could have gotten off? I've got an early excursion that I'm trying to make work timewise... Thanks and keep it coming!

[thechandlers99]

Great review! We're doing this itinerary in 18 days on the Freedom, so I'm soaking up the details!

 

When you say you docked at 8 am in St Thomas and were off the boat at 8:30, would you say that is the absolute earliest you could have gotten off? I've got an early excursion that I'm trying to make work timewise... Thanks and keep it coming!

 

Thanks! You will love this ship and the itinerary. It was great!

 

I think 8:30 was the earliest you could get off. When we got down to deck 0 there was a line of people waiting to get off. I looked like they had just opened the doors.

[lovebelle]

The next port on our trip was Antigua. None of us had ever been to this port so we were excited about seeing everything it had to offer. After much research on these boards, we decided to book an island tour with Lawrence of Antigua. Our tour took place in an air conditioned van and included stops at Devil's Bridge, Block House Hill, Shirley Heights, Nelson's Dockyard and Valley Church Beach. We could have stayed at the beach for 2 hours but we were all a little sunburned from the previous 3 days that we chose to just take pictures and leave. It was so hot on that beach with very little shade or breeze and we all agreed that there was no way we could have spent 2 hours there.

 

Shirley Heights and Block House Hill are high points on the island which made for amazing pictures. Devil's Bridge was very impressive and has so much history. This tour was a great way to spend the day.

 

The cost of the tour was $40 pp which included alcohol and non-alcoholic drinks. We had to pay an additional $8 pp to get into the national park where Bloch House Hill and Shirley Heights are located.

 

We loved every minute of this tour and are thankful we decided on this option. At the end we were dropped back off at the pier and we had a couple of hours to shop before being back on the ship.

 

 

So glad to hear this was a great tour! I am booked with Lawrence in September with my infant daughter and really wanted something with a little history and a van with AC is an added bonus :)

[freddymale]

love the review, great pics..I can almost see myself in them..have a blast...keep it up

[thechandlers99]

So glad to hear this was a great tour! I am booked with Lawrence in September with my infant daughter and really wanted something with a little history and a van with AC is an added bonus :)

 

You will enjoy it. I am not big on tours where I am at the mercy of the guide, but our driver was great and we had the best time. So glad we got to see so much of the island in such a short period of time.

[poptart]

Congratulations on those diplomas!!!

 

Really enjoying your review. We booked the freedom today for next year. We only have 562 days to wait. :eek:

[RNnNC]

I love reading reviews with pictures so I thought I would give it a try. I will be posting in spurts so please be patient as I put this thing together. If you have any questions, let me know. Here goes....

 

Background Info

About a year and a half ago, my nursing school friends and I decided to book this cruise as a graduation present to ourselves. There were 6 of us cruising - 4 graduates and 2 husbands. We graduated from Emory nursing school on Monday and set sail on Friday. it was the perfect way to relax and unwind after all that hard work.

 

 

The graduates at Bahia Cabana

 

 

From a well seasoned (not inserting number here) nurse may I say congrats to each and every one of you!

[thechandlers99]

Congratulations on those diplomas!!!

 

Really enjoying your review. We booked the freedom today for next year. We only have 562 days to wait. :eek:

 

Thank you! We we also celebrating me being cancer free for one year! We had lots to celebrate!

 

I think we have 500+ days when we originally booked too. It will be here before you know it!

[thechandlers99]

From a well seasoned (not inserting number here) nurse may I say congrats to each and every one of you!

 

Thank you so much!

[thechandlers99]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[thechandlers99]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[thechandlers99]

 

 

 

[MIZZ_K]

Enjoying your review so far, cannot wait to read more, I will be sailing this itinerary in August, I can't wait, looking forward to my first suite.

 

 

And congrats on graduating :)

[thechandlers99]

Enjoying your review so far, cannot wait to read more, I will be sailing this itinerary in August, I can't wait, looking forward to my first suite.

 

 

And congrats on graduating :)

 

This was our first suite too. We actually had a standard balcony booked originally but then prices dropped so low we were able to upgrade to a suite for no additional fee. It was great having the extra space but I don't think I would pay extra for it. There are no perks except getting on and off the ship sooner.