Pre cruise review and Freedom

[mumeof3]

So I will start by saying we are a total of 13 family members ranging from 18 and up....we Flew Southwest to MCO no issues at all even landed 20 minutes early,we did fly in One day early and stayed at Radisson at the Port in Port Carnival, we did 3 suites which gave us plenty of room and very accommodating with roll away beds....rooms are very nice but here goes my review, only one bartender at tiki bar and one person running food, long waits and the poor bartender was swamped, drinks were good and food really good then it goes down hill for a bit, child or adult has massive diarrhea in the pool, only the smart people jump out but parents did not pull kids out nore did they close the pool for over 30 minutes, sorry but I am a nurse and one of our family members is trained as he works in hotel business so he went and told several workers and front desk the ramifications if not treated correct...it took 30 minutes to finally close the pool and only closed for 2 hours needless to say we stayed away,slept well and Breakfast good but not enough staff.....will keep you posted as we leave today

[mojomorris]

"child or adult has massive diarrhea in the pool,"

 

YIKES...that sounds like a scene in a bad Adam Sandler movie....:eek:

[mumeof3]

So we headed over to port at about noon and on ship at 1:00 room was nice we have outside balcony in the back , windjammer was not too bad food was Ok, we explored the ship and yes with the 19.00 drink package Starbucks special coffees are included .... My family did the drink tasting which was a few shots before dinner😳We had 745 reservations because with a large party we wanted to stay together with some dinners.....food was ok my steak was over cooked but we will try again this week...10 off to bed

[mumeof3]

Ohhhh no I woke up with bites all over my legs .......we have a problem, I never was outside last night so my guess was bedbugs 630 am I paced the floors until I saw out cabin person but I ripped everything off and checked all over and no bugs no dust no dead bug dirt nothing so wth told them what I thought and told them I want the egg crate thing off my bed, had s family member check it out who is in hotel business and he could not find anything, went to medical center they gave my hydrocortisone cream free and will watch tonight, first stop Coco Beach over 1 hr waiting to be tendered from 10am... Nice beach but not that impressed food was ok, had a pineapple with frozen drink yummy,back to ship by 100 , grabbed my favorite cookies and to the room, I was promised room was inspected no bed bugs well we will see....

[mumeof3]

So last night was formal night, our waiters are great, we did formal pictures and headed to see the comedian he was really good, and then I headed to bed but hubby went to casino and won 200 plus my daughter won 300 at bingo.... Lucky for them as I sit and itch itch itch.....my legs are a mess but good thing no new bites...warning at Coco cay jelly fish are bad several people were stung and one little girl was in kids section and over 20 stings from what I heard last night.

So far food was good, pizza was not bad,but we are not picky eaters and we can always find something, the frozen drinks are yummy, so today is a sea day so I will keep you posted

[mumeof3]

Oops actually Day 3 was a sea day and St Thomas was day 4......St Thomas is beautiful but after a little shopping and a tour on the way to beach I was not impressed as we have been here before, by the time we got to sapphire beach it was already 2, it was rocky and water a bit chilly for me, plus all these bug bites I got were just making me misserable... We were only boat in port so beach was empty.... We heading back to boat and had Dinner with our favorite guys clif and Nick .... By this time our kids are ditching us at dinner and spending it at windjammer and no real complaints about food in any of the places..but if you have a drink package get the fresh OJ in the morning as you walk in to windjammer it's amazing , and one thing we learned never do a 745 dinner you miss every show....

Edited June 3, 2016 by mumeof3

[mumeof3]

St marten ...... So pretty once you fight you way thru the pushy people trying to get you to buy jewelry ... We looked around the town then grabbed a taxi to Maho beach.... I personally did not want to go there but no one wanted to really go with me to another beach so the plan was a pack of guys went straight there, them 3 of us went next..... Ack no beach crowded and I guess I can say I saw plans come in but not worth the 20.00 round trip plus lunch only to go back to town and just sat and swam on great bay,,,, I know it maybe contaminated but it was so nice , found out later the 3rd part of our party stayed there all day.... Back to ship

[grhunter]

Thanks for this review. Can you tell me what evening is the 2nd formal night?

Thanks!

[mumeof3]

Finally slept in..... Have to say I am loving my lox breakfast everyday and the fresh squeezed OJ, ship day and just relaxing, it rained this morning but who cares .... Swimming and hot tub for me and of course eating, I had to have gained 20 pds , it's formal night again still up in the air, kids only want to do it for lobster lol but this momma is tired of missing shows...,,..,

[mumeof3]

Thanks for this review. Can you tell me what evening is the 2nd formal night?

Thanks!

 

Day 6 on the eastern

[mumeof3]

So my family convinced be to go to the dining room last night for the formal and I am glad I did,I absolutely love our servers Nick and Clifford up in Galleo it was have dinner with this great crew or watch a show,I forgot to mention my husband and father inlaw did the Wow Tour of the ship,it was 150 a person but my father inlaw is a Navy guy and we knew he would love it,Day 7 I slept in until 830am,a few of us did the galley tour at 30 per person ,so worth it,we were told the chef from all 3 specialty restaraunts would prepare samples....hum it was a full course meal...the steak was awesome but if we knew it was a full meal I would have skipped breakfast since the tour started at 1030.... Let's say if I go to my doctor and get weighed I'm in trouble😬 All in all this day was a relaxing day and yes another dinner in dining room as my adult children wanted to see our guys one more time.....

Time to start packing,we did the valet program for luggage at 20 person....11pm bye luggage ....we managed to see the end of the last show...

[mumeof3]

I just want to cry...but Hubby said no worries...he booked another cruise next year.....I am a little nervouse between the price and its on the Allure a bigger ship but it's the only one at the time we need doing the western....I wish we could have done Freedom again😔,so up early,off to Windjammer for our last breakfast ,my last fresh squeezed Oj,we left ship at 9am made it thru customs in about 30 minutes,picked up by Coco Beach shuttle(we used them from MCO to Hotel)since a big group we paid 36pp round trip private shuttle.

All in All it was the Best Vacation ever,I really have nothing bad to say,oh and found out if you read my first day I thought I may have gotten Bed Bug bites from ship,well someone in our party met someone who stayed at same hotel in same building as we did and had bites all over,apparently it could take a few days to have reaction and mine was 24 hrs after bitten so after all the aggravation between health services and inspection of my stateroom I feel awful but now I know I am not crazy.....

sat at airport all day,flight was at 430p with 3 delays due to weather,landed about 11...and we hold our breath hoping luggage made it...and it did but soaked...Southwest left in rain for 2 hours......

Hope you enjoyed the review any question just ask and so long until next year

[dee1321]

Just wondering, you said 7:45 was too late for dining as you missed most of the shows... What time would you choose for dining on your next cruise... We like to eat around that time, but would also like to see the shows.

[mumeof3]

Most of the shows are at 7p and 9p,we were never done dinner by 930, even though we had my time dining before we cruised I called because we were a big group they only had this time available so we took it not even thinking,so that being said I think next cruise I will try to get a 530 -6 seating this way if we want to see something we will be able too,I personally think they should offer a 5p show time on sea days at least

[mumeof3]

Just wondering, you said 7:45 was too late for dining as you missed most of the shows... What time would you choose for dining on your next cruise... We like to eat around that time, but would also like to see the shows.

 

I noticed you did freedom after Oasis ,which did you prefer....we are going on sister ship Allure but like the size of freedom