Carnival FREEDOM 10-5-13 Review (LOTS of Pictures)!

[cjnwildfire]

We are thinking about the Freedom for next October...Thank you soo much for this!

[brnsnbrws]

On Freedom this Saturday!

[MissKIA]

That is some long Chiropractor appointment!

 

Just teasing, looking forward to seeing more. Love your reviews!

[valancy1]

That is some long Chiropractor appointment!

 

Just teasing, looking forward to seeing more. Love your reviews!

 

LOL... it *was* a long chiropractor appointment and I've not stopped since I got home. Now that the house is quieting down I can begin again, so more IS coming. :D

[valancy1]

Bye-Bye Fort Lauderdale! See you in 8 days!

 

 

 

One of those big Royal Caribbean ships (I think it was Allure?) followed us out of port.

 

Sunset that night was pretty, I thought:

 

 

We went to the dining room for dinner and met our table mates. We got along very well! Originally, they had us at a table for two. I love my husband, we we see one another every night for dinner; it is fun to be at a big table, so they seated us on the main floor in the center--just where I've always wanted to be, so I was a happy camper.

[valancy1]

 

 

Posh Dining room (there was Posh & Chic). Posh is aft, Chic is mid-ship. Both on 3 & 4.

 

 

Dinner was sweet & sour shrimp (delicious) and my absolute favorite (since I cannot have sugar), the Diet Orange Cake. NOM NOM...

 

[valancy1]

Our first Day at Sea... we hung out at the back/aft pool on Lido.

 

 

I was happy that Security actually made sure the area was devoid of children. We didn't feel it necessary to go to Serenity Deck. Two decks forward. Decks 11 & 12.

 

We wandered around, which is one of those things we enjoy doing when the sun gets a bit hot. Oh, and while I don't have pictures, the pizza on this ship was REALLY good. Nice, thin crispy crust. YUM. I had it twice when our excursions kept us from lunch.

 

This is the Victoriana. The theater. The shows we saw were great--particularly the one about the Beatles and The Big Easy. Oh and the first show full of 40s music was fantastic, too. If you like shows, you won't be disappointed. We had, as filler, a magician who was freaky good, and then there was a hypnotist that we skipped but our friends went and said it was HILARIOUS and it was very good, so please, consider going. They didn't show it on t.v.

 

 

The first night at sea was formal night. We love elegant night. The picture takers were everywhere.

 

 

The next day, GRAND TURK!

[valancy1]

When in Grand Turk, we skip the shopping (Diamonds International there is the WORST. I've been in that shop 3 times and they have never spoken to us. Not once. Not ever. Save your shopping for other places. St. Maarten is a shopper's paradise if you've never been there before), and go left and head straight for Jack's Shack. It's a little place that is not fancy, but has some delicious jerk chicken, some conch, burgers, and Islander ginger beer among other things.

 

You can get a chair and umbrella for a small fee, they will run you a tab, but they don't take American Express.

 

Oh, and while Margaritaville is close by, TOPHER is at Jack's :D

 

 

 

 

 

 

Margaritaville

 

P.S., for those that don't know, there is a Flowrider there at Margaritaville, which you can purchase a turn to try and surf. There's a pool as well as a beautiful beach.

[valancy1]

 

 

 

Jack's:

 

[valancy1]

Ah and then there's Topher. The joy of digging, or the compulsion thereof is his and his alone. He also stands on his hind legs in the water and dives for imaginary fish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jerk Chicken & fries is roughly 11 or 12.00. The umbrella and 2 chairs, if I remember correctly is $15. We spent the whole day there and spent $42 before any tips. The food is ready around 11 a.m.

 

Another thing you can do is rent a golf cart or dune buggy outside the gate. It's just outside the cruise terminal, but it's a small bit of a hike. Nathan's is who you get them from; you can pre-reserve one or take your chances when you get there. You can go to the "town" (their prices are high) or out to the lighthouse for a nice view. You have to have $15 for the gas tank or bring it back full. The tank is under the front seat and it cost us less than $10 to fill it.

[grrl2grrl]

You are doing a wonderful job on your review! It's making the wait for my cruise on the Freedom just a bit more unbearable! "I wanna go now!" says my inner child.

[Cyndi03]

Thank you so much for doing this review! We leave tomorrow to sail on Saturday on the Freedom. I am salavating reading this!

[valancy1]

Thank you so much for doing this review! We leave tomorrow to sail on Saturday on the Freedom. I am salavating reading this!

 

Cyndi, I will do my best to get some more pictures on here for you TODAY then so you can salivate... next up (after the end of Grand Turk stuff) is the Steakhouse. Nom Nom! :D

[valancy1]

Here is a view of Margaritaville as we were coming back to the ship after a terrific day on Grand Turk

 

 

Grand Turk has free internet at the juice bar in the shopping area and Jack's Shack has it, too, in their gift shop. I heard from someone on the ship that used the one at the juice bar and they said they got "hacked". So just be protected if you choose to use.

 

We went to the Steakhouse on Grand Turk night. Since we left port at 3, that gave us plenty of time to relax and get ready for the evening. WARNING: Serious food porn is about to be displayed.

 

These were the "compliments of the chef" offerings:

 

 

 

Beef carpaccio:

 

Portabello Mushroom starter:

 

Ahi Tuna Tar Tar:

[valancy1]

French Onion Soup:

 

Shrimp Cocktail (looks so much prettier here than in the dining room):

 

Lobster Bisque. It has a crouton in it, which disappointed my husband because he has a gluten intolerance.

 

The salad wedge:

 

Spinach & bacon salad. This was mine. Was it ever yummy!

 

Caesar Salad:

[valancy1]

Um, Steak... Hello! (we all got the same kind of steak) RIB EYE.

 

Even the fruit for dessert was pretty:

 

 

Day Three, San Juan

 

This day ended up being a bit of a mix weather-wise. Cloudy and sunny. We were thankful when the clouds were there; giving us a bit of break from the unrelenting sun.

 

Anyway, if you have never visited San Juan and you are about to, you do NOT want to miss coming into port if you can at all help it. You slowly sail past the old fort and it is a site to behold. I took a bunch of pictures and will just share a couple (P.S., everyone and their brother was up on the deck (PORT SIDE) so go early to get a good gawking spot):

 

 

 

The one thing that always gets my attention in San Juan are the blue cobblestones, so I took a picture of them:

[valancy1]

We visited when the National Parks were closed so I was a bit disappointed as I am a National Parks pass holder and also carry a National Parks passport and so wanted a stamp in my passport from both the forts and St. John. Neither happened this trip.

 

But we decided to walk around San Juan and head over toward the Fort as we did see people roaming around on the grounds as we sailed into port.

 

So the following pictures is a montage of our 9.25 miles of walking that day... (23,000 steps on my fitbit!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[valancy1]

Some information about San Juan for those of you who don't know...

 

There are free trolleys that you can ride around the old town. You don't get narration or anything like that, but you can easily get maps from the Information place that show where the trolleys go and hop on and off for free. Makes a tour really economical and however you would like to do it.

 

We waited for one and it was quite crowded (I say "sardine can") and so we just chose to walk. In the end it was probably better for us anyway (ha).

 

Around 4 p.m. we were at the old fort and saw a ship way off in the distance. We knew it was a Carnival ship because of the whale tail but didn't know which one. Many came to watch it sail into port.

 

 

 

 

 

I saw a flash of green (birds flying) and got this shot of a wild parakeet:

[valancy1]

A word about evening fun.

 

If you have cruised before, you know there are all sorts of activities planned for the evening. I will list some of the offerings here just because it is on my mind and I take advantage of it at the time.

 

Comedy. The Freedom does have a Punchliner Comedy Club (Promenade, Deck 5 Aft); however, I didn't like the timing of the shows. We could never get in. The first one was at 7:30 and we were getting ready for dinner then. The next was at 10:00 pm and by the time we got there from dinner the place was standing room only. We *tried* to stay up to get the late night stuff, but we either couldn't or we just didn't want to hear the F bomb for the R-rated ones.

 

I am not sure who will be on your sailing, but I am told that Eddie Capone was hilariously funny.

 

Broadway shows: You do NOT want to miss the one featuring songs from the Beatles. In no way should you miss it. You also don't want to miss the one called "The Big Easy", which was the last night of our sailing. The first show that we saw was 40's big band music and dance and it too was top notch.

 

Other shows in the Victoriana Theater: There was a magician (Brian Borgia) and he was freaky good. And I'm told that the hypnotist was a riot.

 

Now that I've typed all this, it feels vaguely familiar, so if this is a duplicate or repetitive, please forgive my ADD mind (I really do have ADD & dyslexia, no joke).

 

Day Four: St. Maarten/St. Martin

 

We decided that we were going to go the cheap route and just get in a cab and wander around. We took a cab to St. Petersburg and rode back to Philipsburg. Got some water from a vendor for $1.00 and then strolled through the straw market. I bought a sarong and left it in a taxi. DRAT.

 

We took another cab (they are vans, not car type taxis) to the French side (Marigot) and another to Grand Chase where we had lunch and then back to Philipsburg. It was nice and a great and inexpensive way to see the countryside.

 

Upon our final return to Philipsburg, we strolled through some of the shops. The amount of shops there is astounding. I thought St. Thomas had a lot of stores. St. Maarten is far more, imvho. There is a place on the main drag called Friendly Liquors and they had really good prices if you like to purchase alcohol; however, if you take a picture of the price, the ship will honor it and sell it to you for the lowest price you find.

 

Here are some shots from our day in St. Maarten:

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure what "Sexy Fruits" is/are, but the sign was intriguing. LOL

[oncruisecontrol]

Your photos are very vivid. I especially like the ones of San Juan. Thanks for the food porn also.

[travlnblueberries]

On Freedom this Saturday!

 

Me too!

[travlnblueberries]

Thank you so much for doing this review! We leave tomorrow to sail on Saturday on the Freedom. I am salavating reading this!

 

Hey Cyndi03, We'll be there with you! We leave tomorrow morning for the airport

[valancy1]

Day Five: St. Thomas

 

This was the day I'd waited for for over a year. We purposely didn't do any other excursions on this trip so I could do this one. I am so thankful to my husband for agreeing to come along with me on this one. It was the absolute best day we've ever had on a cruise, and that says a lot.

 

We went for a sail & snorkel on a 50-foot sailboat with Capt. Maxine. A friend of mine found her and told me about her and that was it--I just had to do this excursion. We'd been snorkeling before in Grand Cayman, but I'd never been on a sailboat and it was never for the whole day like this one was going to be.

 

After contacting her and such, we were told to go to the American Yacht Club in Red Hook. It cost $10 per person to be driven out there and it takes about 20-25 minutes, so if you do something like this, you want to plan that into your costs and time. We had to go outside the cruise terminal and find the dispatcher of the cabs and she basically made one of the cabbies take us (they would rather do tours all day long than shuttle us on a one-time fare).

 

She was in her dinghy waiting for us at the pier when we got there. We climbed in and went out to her sailboat, Lou.

 

Having never been on a sailboat before, I was excited about that and was thankful that I'd seen sailing on t.v. to know that the boat tips depending on the sails and the wind. We motored out into the bay and then they put up the main sail and the jibe and we were under wind power. It just got better and better after that.

 

There were 2 other couples who rented a house on St. Thomas (called Fantasia that was round and at the top of a small mountain top with 360-degree views (they pointed it out as we sailed past). They were nice people and you'll see them in some of the upcoming media.

 

We sailed over to St. John. What a perfect day for sailing--the sun was out, the wind was perfect as was the water temp and the outside temperatures. We couldn't have asked for a better day to do this.

 

After we moored at the National Park, we got a guided tour by Jordan, the first mate. We saw all sorts of fish species (including barracuda), coral, and then later sea turtles.

 

Onto some pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[valancy1]

Tortola in the background:

 

 

 

[valancy1]

The next 3 or 4 images are actually movies if you click on them you can see them played.

 

 

 

 

My first look into the water after getting IN the water. The floor was about 50 feet from the surface and you could clearly see the bottom... awesome.

 

I have more movies, but the orientation is wrong, darn it. I thought I was supposed to hold it the way I did, but it was sideways. I am going to try and fix and maybe post later.

 

Below is a picture of us with the other couples at the lunch table. She put tropical flowers on all the platters and plates; it was lovely to look at.