Freedom Review - Newbie reviewer here

[luvabargain]

Hi everybody! Or maybe that should be a Hey Y'all - for all the Texans out there.

 

I'm doing my very first cruise review, so please be kind. Nah, it's ok - I'm tough. I just got off the Freedom on Saturday June 13th and want to do this while it's still fresh.

 

I'm planning on doing a diary type of review, and I'm going to warn you right now - I can get really long winded. I mean, really!

 

The happenin's were mine, and the opinions are strictly my own.

 

I plan on doing a day by day review and then post my overall review and opinions on certain things at the end - so maybe if you don't want to read through all the crap, I mean cruise diary, you can cruise on to the end when I've finished. I'll be posting some pictures and food porn as well. I think I will also post different parts in the appropriate forums, such as our excursions and such for those who are looking for information on that kind of stuff.

 

I am not going to drag this out, ain't nobody got time for that. I'm hoping to finish it within the week. I will try!

 

I've got to get some stuff together and will probably start posting the review tomorrow.

[Cruisin4fun_vacationtime]

Sounds like a good, detailed review coming up. Very much looking forward to it!

[hfj17002]

I'll be on the Freedom June 27th, my 1st cruise also. Thanks for the review. I always ask everyone that just came off the Freedom, how did the ship ride? Did it rock a lot? Thanks again.

[bkcoogler]

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and experiences. I'm going on the Freedom in February and excited to be back on a Conquest class ship.

[Hac Ptui]

First timers on the Freedom July 18th, here. I'm anxious to hear your opinions. :)

[Gecko7]

I leave this Saturday, Will there be a review before i leave?:D

[Kcalcote2015]

I leave Saturday too !! Would love to read it before hand !

[LambKnuckles]

EXCELLENT!! I'll keep checking back to find out more and more of your cruise!!

 

Thank you for writing one.

[luvabargain]

Ok - here goes!!!

 

Goodbye hot South Texas - Hello.......Galveston!

June 5th - Pre-Cruise day

Galveston bound early.

Who we are:

There are 4 of us - Myself, Melissa (or Mel or Lis or Lissa for short), my husband Chad, Son Derek (20) and daughter Micki (17) - names have not been changed.

 

We made it to Houston area around noon, it's about a 5 hour drive for us from South Texas. Derek made a request for Chipotle so we stopped there. It was my first time eating there, in fact, only Derek had eaten at one before. Micki and I had the tofu and it was really good.

Ok, the little back-story here is that we passed up the LAST chipotle for many miles and were almost to the bridge to Galveston when my son Derek discovered that there were in fact - NO Chipotles on the island. I had told him I really doubted that there was. Listen to your Mama - Kiddo! We had plenty of time to spare so we backtracked to the nearest Chipotle which was in Webster. What we do for our kids!

In Galveston we stayed at the Tremont House by Wyndham. OMG - prices for hotels on the weekend in Galveston in June are BRUTAL! When I was researching even the Motel 6 was over $100 (at least, I think it was the motel 6). I researched Hotwire and found a deal for the Tremont House for $185 pus taxes/fees. The going rate for that night I believe started at $305. I knew it was the Tremont on Hotwire b/c of the amenities and star level. I was going to just book a cheaper hotel in Webster or Texas City, but hubby said no, just to book on the island, we might as well go fancy and splurge, so splurge I did.

We checked to see if it was possible to check in early but they weren't ready for us. They took my # and said they would call when ready, and I was able to go ahead and at least check in and then we left to look around town. This was only our 2nd time in Galveston and the 1st time we didn't stay long or overnight. I had to make a pit stop run at walmart which happened to be on the touristy beach side of the island. We looked around in that area, but also in the area of our hotel which was right by the port. We found where the Freedom would be docking as well as our parking. In the meantime I got a phone call that our room was ready. We headed back to the hotel and parked on the street. I wanted access to the car and didn't want to pay for valet parking. It was cool using the pay by phone meters. So easy.

Chad took a nap in the hotel while we just chilled for a while. We got bored so finally decided to walk aroud the touristy type areas nearby and see what we could find. We walked to the wharf and went to Starbucks. We couldn't make a decision on where to eat and decided to hop in the car and go over to the other side of the island to the more touristy beachy areas and see what there was. We remembered seeing a bunch of more restaurants there.

After driving aroud we couldn't decide on anything, we didn't want anything too expensive. Derek wanted a fish place but the rest of us didn't care. We had found a place online with good reviews that sounded good so decided to go there. It's called the mosquito cafe.

We went to the mosquito cafe and it was good. The service was just so-so, but the food was really good. I had the chop salad. Yum. It reminded us of west coast restaurants.

Afterward we went back to our hotel. Chad and I visited the roof top bar after it got dark. It was a neat place - cozy and perfect weather. I had a mojito which wasn't all that great, but sure was expensive. I then tried a martini that was ok.

That was pretty much it for the first day.

Thoughts on the Tremont House by Wyndham hotel:

It's in a great spot, about 2 or 3 blocks from the cruise port - very much within walking distance. It's an old hotel with lots of history and character. It's rated a 5 star, but I would actually degrade it to a 4 star. While it is a beautiful hotel, it does need some updating. They have a more modern sister hotel the Hotel Galvez on the beachy side of the island and have a free shuttle that will take you back and forth and while the Tremont doesn't have a pool, their sister hotel does and it is free for Tremont guests and they will shuttle you there and back. We didn't use this service, my daughter wanted to but we were too tired, or lazy. The beds and bedding at the Tremont were great - so comfy!

 

Our walk around the pier and port area

 

Not a great view from our room - yuk.

 

Our room right before we left. I forgot to get pictures when it was nice and clean, but you get the idea. It has a lot of character. And is spacious.

[luvabargain]

More to come later tonight.

[bkcoogler]

We went to the mosquito cafe and it was good. The service was just so-so, but the food was really good. I had the chop salad. Yum. It reminded us of west coast restaurants.

 

Mosquito Cafe is one of my favorite places to eat in Galveston, with the Original Mexican Restaurant being a close second!

[Gecko7]

More to come later tonight.

 

Thanks great start.

[luvabargain]

She's here! June 6 - Cruise day!

 

I got up at 7am, wanted to get a nice start on the day. For only having one night and only a couple of small carry on backpacks, we sure had a lot of crap to clean up. Geesh! The meter was good until 9, so we wanted to leave by then. We got out at 9:04am, so not too bad. Micki found a coffee shop online so we went there - it was called Mod and wasn't very far away. The coffee was decent and we spent about a half hour there before heading to the cruise terminal

 

Hubby dropped our luggage off with the porter and Micki and I waited for he and D to go park the car at the ez cruise parking lot where I had pre-purchased our parking. It was only $48.71 for the week for the park N walk - $20 off for walking instead of using their shuttle. It was about a 2.5 block walk. We had faster to the fun so breezed through the terminal and security and did the hurry up and wait thing. We were allowed to board around 11 right after the wedding parties and platinum/diamond members.

 

We were told since we had FTTF that our room would be ready when we boarded. Of course it wasn't quite ready, but closer to than the other rooms we noticed in our hallway. Mainly the only things left was the vacumming, wiping of surfaces and putting the overhead bed down. Our luggage all except one was waiting for us outside the door and we were able to leave those and our carry on full of allowed drinks. The steward greeted Micki and I briefly and told us to go ahead and shut the door and that he would be back later to finish and fold down the bed.

 

We met up with the guys on the Lido deck and grabbed ourselves a Guy's burger. I had the straight up and Micki had a vegetarian that took about 10 min. to cook. It was good. Not the best burgers ever like some think, but good.

 

We then explored the ship a little and then decided to go back to our room and drop some items off that we were carrying as well as unpack.

 

It took a while for us to unpack and Derek's suitcase stlll hadn't arrived. I assured him it would, but could take some time. They were still bringing in luggage and of course there were passengers arriving from the general boarding. He worried about his luggage and thought it was unfair since we had FTTF. Oh well. Eventually it came.

We decided it was time to go exploring some more so we headed out and thought we hit everything there was to see on all the decks. We apparently missed the 02 Club which turned out to be a mistake. Later on that.

 

I had been wanting to go in the pool so we finally did - RIGHT before muster call. We only had 5 minutes in the pool when they made the announcement and had us get out. We went back to our room to get ready and then we were off to muster.

 

After muster we made our way to the front of the boat up near the Serenity deck. We got our lounge chairs to wait for the sail off.

Jen the cruise director announced a dance party below us on lido and we watched people have fun and make fool of themselves. I wanted to go and do it but my family was being party poopers. Chad finally said he would go, knowing I wanted to, so we made our way down and joined the crowd to make fools of ourselves. We had fun.

Back to the top we went to wait. And wait. And wait. We didn't set sail until after 6pm. Ugh. Jen made an announcement that they were waiting on late comers. It surprised me they would wait for them, but maybe they had purchased transportation through Carnival. We watched the Triumph pull out on time, and I was under the impression that Freedom was scheduled to leave first. We had a 4pm sail time.

After a while of watching us leave the port of Galveston, we headed to our room to get ready for dinner. We all officially met our steward whose name was Samuel. He brought us our complimentary past guests water and said he would lower the bed and get us a bucket of ice (upon my request and a tip).

 

We had Your time Dining at the Chic restaurant and John was our head (and only) waiter. For the entrees I ordered the Caesar Salad and strawberry soup. Derek had shrimp and caesar salad, I have to look up what chad and Micki had.

 

For the main course I ordered the salmon. Chad had the Mahi and Derek had a chicken plate while Micki had the pasta ratatouilli.

Dessert consisted of chocolate melting cake for me, Chad and Derek and the cheese plate for Micki. Chad also ordered the apple pie and Derek ordered the tiramisu.

 

Our dining service was extremely slow. We waited a long time for stuff and rarely saw our waiter. John was really nice and accomodating, but just really slow. I think this was true for all the diners.

 

We were supposed to go to the family welcome night at the 02 Club, but by the time we got there it was either over, or my daughter's age group just didn't participate.

 

We then tried the comedy club (me knowing from CC that it was too late to get a seat). It was the adult show, and being that Micki was only 17 I didn't want her to go, but Chad asked a crew member about it and they said she could go, that it was at the discretion of the crew members inside the club to let her stay, but probably they wouldn't mind. Thankfully it was too crowded so we left and made our way to the Lido deck for a while where they were playing a movie.

On the Fun TImes it listed the 02 Meet & Greet at 10:30, so Micki and I made our way there only to discover that we were late and the kids had all just left on a scavenger hunt. We had seen them running all over and having fun. That's when we found out she should have been there much earlier and gotten a schedule, as the Fun Times was wrong. The time was actually from 9:30-10:30, but even earlier in the day was the orientation and information.

 

Micki makes friends easily, but is shy at first and won't just walk up to people to say hi. It would have been so much better for her to have participated in the official meet and greet when everybody first was getting to meet each other and started forming their friendships.

There are a lot of activities planned so I was hoping she'd participate later. At that time there were only a couple of boys sitting there playing video games so she just followed me back to he lido deck. Later on dh and I saw a lot of teens back in the 02 club.

 

Derek and Micki took off, so Chad and I did too. We went to Scott's Piano bar for a while, then listened to a band play outside of the casino. They were fun. We tried the 70's nightclub and didn't like it - not our thing.

 

Eventually we made our way back to the room and to bed. I sat out on the balcony for a while just enjoying the ocean. The kids made it back around 1:30.

 

The bed was finally laid down when we got back - we found our cute towel animal, although I wasn't sure what it was - a duck? but no bucket of ice. I had asked for it twice.

 

I went down in the morning to get something out

of my car and to move it closer in front of the hotel

and there she was - sitting 2 blocks away! Our

home for the next week

 

Our first look inside the ship - the main lobby area.

 

Yes, I decorated my door. The idea was to hang the

wreath on the door (it got a little smooshed) and

then hang the chalkboard on the wall next to it. The

adhesive just wouldn't stay, so we tied it to the wreath.

 

My Things

 

The Triumph docked right behind us

 

The Triumph passing us. If you were on that ship,

maybe you can see yourself?

 

[Hac Ptui]

You're off to great start!

[luvabargain]

The Triumph is on time and has surpassed us.

 

The Sail Away dance party

 

The dolphins were serenading us

 

Finally! Making our way out of Galveston!

 

Our towel duck? swan? I think swan.

 

The beautiful moon from our balcony

[luvabargain]

Food pictures to come next.

 

I'm going to post ship pictures and videos at the very end of the review.

[luvabargain]

Main Dining Room - 1st night.

 

I really wish I would have taken pictures of the menu, but I didn't. I also didn't write down what everyone had, so if I'm wrong about some of the food or you know what it is, let me know.

 

First off: Here is my first drink of the cruise and one of not many. I'm not much of a drinker. I ordered this at the Red Frog rum bar and it's a mango daiquiri. It was ok, but I think I would have preferred a mango margarita from the Blue Iguana tequila bar more.

 

Appetizers:

Cold Strawberry soup. This was probably my favorite appetizer on the ship, but sadly I never saw it on the menu again.

 

Chad, Derek and I had the caesar salad as well. I heard lots of raves about the ceasar salad, but honestly it wasn't all that great. I've had a lot better. There was very little dressing, but what I tasted of it, it was very heavy fishy tasting. Not horrible, but just ok. The others said the same thing.

 

Derek had to get the shrimp cocktail which he loved and would get every night.

 

Chad had the flatbread for a 2nd appetizer

 

We think this is the cheese poppers. Micki is vegetarian so will only stick with non meat items.

 

 

Edited June 17, 2015 by luvabargain

[luvabargain]

Derek thinks this is the smoked steak quesadilla

 

Main course:

I had the salmon with the chimichurri sauce and it was really good.

 

Chad had the Mahi, and this might have been it. He liked it.

 

Derek's chicken dish. He said it was ok.

 

Micki had the lasagna ratatouille and didn't care much for it.

Edited June 17, 2015 by luvabargain

[luvabargain]

Desserts:

 

Derek and Chad both had 2 desserts while Micki and I stuck with one.

 

Derek's Tiramisu - he said it was ok, but he much preferred the chocolate melting cake

 

 

Micki ordered the cheese plate

 

Chad, Derek and I all ordered the chocolate melting cake. It was so good, I loved it. YUM! It was very rich, though.

 

Chad also ordered the apple pie, but I can't get the photo to upload. He said it was ok.

Edited June 17, 2015 by luvabargain

[OCruisers]

"Mel" .... Totally enjoying reading your review! :)

 

LuLu

[Gecko7]

We go in 3 days and this is making me wish Saturday would hurry up and get here already.

[LambKnuckles]

YES, YES, YES... You're doing a great job!! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

 

You seem to have found new things on the menu! I never saw cheese popper before, I'll look for them!

 

LOVE the photos and the narrative!

[luvabargain]

I'll be on the Freedom June 27th, my 1st cruise also. Thanks for the review. I always ask everyone that just came off the Freedom, how did the ship ride? Did it rock a lot? Thanks again.

 

You couldn't feel it until we were coming back. The waters were smooth sailing until we left the Bahamas for the return and then it was very stormy with choppy waters and lots of lightning, thunder and some rain. The last 2 sea days it was really rocking, especially aft. I like it, it's calming for me - the rest of my family not so much.

[luvabargain]

I leave this Saturday, Will there be a review before i leave?:D

 

I'm trying, but I don't think so. LOL It's almost here for you!

[luvabargain]

"Mel" .... Totally enjoying reading your review! :)

 

LuLu

 

Thank you!

I admire those who do them a lot - they're time consuming - but fun to relive! :D