First timer here (Carnival Freedom 05-20-17)

[Grish21]

First timer here. I'm excited for May to get here. I'm gong to be going with three of my friends. What some tips for a first timer? Only one of the four going has been before, but it's been several years since he has gone.

[Woodfaerie]

Eat warm chocolate melting cake every chance you get. Everything else will fall into place and you will have a blast.

[beachgal58]

My first cruise I had a huge suitcase and carry on full. Remember, during the day, shorts n swimsuits, I take a few capris/sundress for dining room, black n navy can be worn with about anything. Take about 1/2 of what u have in yr pile. I always have an extension cord so I can dry hair at the vanity area while another person is in shower.

Carnival has laundry on every other floor. I guess they still do.

[tinman1973]

On the Freedom, go up to Deck 10. Then go all the way forward down either hallway, there will be a double set of doors to the side (left on port side, right on starboard), go through and you will find yourself on what is, IMHO, the best spot to get a view. The cool thing is that you're over top of the Captain's Suite and its balcony which happen to be over the top of the bridge wings. This section extends out the side of the ship, so you get great visibility all the way down the sides and out to the bow. This is a great spot, because not too many people know about this area. Enjoy!

[ABQrobin]

take a sweater or jacket for after dark. The AC in the dining room, theatre, comedy club, or out on deck at night is chilly.

[GeekSquad4]

A friend of DH just asked us for pointers on Facebook. Here's what I told her, word for word:

*Check out the Fun Times every night so that you can highlight what you want to do for the next day.

*Get the Hub App if available on your ship ($5/person for the whole cruise) and you can chat with your party as well as have the fun times in your pocket. You can easily check and see when things are open and when the next show or whatever starts.

*Find a good bartender/bar waiter and tip him/her. S/he will look for you all week.

*REAPPLY sunscreen! 😋

*Do something you wouldn't normally do (get picked for a game show, dance on the lido, sing karaoke...). You'll have more fun!

*If you drink, get the cheers package. It's one less thing to worry about when the final bill comes

[Sixtytwo]

Congrats on that first cruise! Be sure you know and adhere to "ship time"! Especially what time the ship sails from each port! You don't want to get back to the port and see your ship disappearing into the sunset! [emoji33]

 

 

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[Organized Chaos]

*Get the Hub App if available on your ship ($5/person for the whole cruise) and you can chat with your party as well as have the fun times in your pocket. You can easily check and see when things are open and when the next show or whatever starts.

Just wanted to clarify this a bit. The Carnival Hub app is free, for the most part. Before you get on board, all it does is offer a countdown to your cruise date. Once on board and connected to the ship's wifi (free to do to use the Hub app), it'll give you deck plans, the Fun Times, activities schedules, you can set an alert to notify you 15 min. before an activity of your choice starts, and you can check your Sail & Sign acct. In addition to all of that, for $5 for each device (that covers the entire cruise) you can get the chat feature that lets you communicate with others in your group. They have to purchase the chat feature too. From what I understand, you can send a message to one person or also multiple people in your group.

 

Set your watch to ship's time. Everything runs on ship's time, including activities/shows on board and when you're in ports of call. There will be clocks here & there, like in the elevator/stairs area, but it's always nice to have a watch handy. Most people don't recommend using a cell phone to tell time because they can automatically adjust to time zones (which won't always be ship's time), but you can use it if you're tech savvy enough to turn those settings off on your phone. If not, don't rely on it as your clock.

 

Hope you have a great time. We went on our first cruise last year. I didn't think I'd like it, but I loved it and we recently booked our second one.

[GeekSquad4]

Just wanted to clarify this a bit. The Carnival Hub app is free, for the most part. Before you get on board, all it does is offer a countdown to your cruise date. Once on board and connected to the ship's wifi (free to do to use the Hub app), it'll give you deck plans, the Fun Times, activities schedules, you can set an alert to notify you 15 min. before an activity of your choice starts, and you can check your Sail & Sign acct. In addition to all of that, for $5 for each device (that covers the entire cruise) you can get the chat feature that lets you communicate with others in your group. They have to purchase the chat feature too. From what I understand, you can send a message to one person or also multiple people in your group.

 

Thanks for clarifying! Hubby always takes care of those details, so I guess I didn't realize. He even set it up for me on my phone. ;p

[ABQrobin]

Haha......... and you want to know something funny.... my hubby and I just booked the same cruise. We had been planning to do one in late August but yesterday he came home from work and said work projects had moved, he wants to go asap. We looked at dates, and boom...booked last night. This will be our second time on the Freedom, so excited...my favorite itinerary!

[Okietwisterdan]

I am on the Freedom the week before you guys! It will be my 5th cruise, but this is the first cruise with my kids, so we will see how that goes.

[kyboymom]

We had no idea on our first cruise that they served breakfast in the MDR. So you aren't just restricted to the Lido for breakfast. We are definitely going to try the MDR breakfast when we sail out next month.

[scoggins84]

Don't stress out too much! and also... you don't need to pack everything you own. less is more. :D

[cruisemom67]

Put your swimsuit in your carryon, as you don't know when your luggage will be delivered. Walls are magnetic (so are doors), bring magnet clips to make more space/hang things on walls. We always bring those stick drink packets to add to our water as we don't like the taste of their water much. Bring your bottle of wine EACH and a wine corkscrew. If you don't like what you ordered, ask for something else. Ask for 2 (or 3 or 4 LOL) of anything at MDR. I sometimes will order 2-3 appetizers and skip the main course. We also EAT DESSERT and ALWAYS TAKE THE STAIRS (trade off for our desserts!)

[WPACKWIFE]

I was on the Freedom last week. Make sure you use the steps, the elevators were always way busy, but no problem with the steps. If you don't feel like eating in the dining room, don't. We ate almost all our meals in the Lido cafe. It wasn't nearly as crowded and you don't have to dress up. Don't stress the small stuff...and don't forget the sunscreen. Above all, have fun!

[GeekSquad4]

I am on the Freedom the week before you guys! It will be my 5th cruise, but this is the first cruise with my kids, so we will see how that goes.

 

How old are your kids? If they're Camp Ocean ages, they will love it! We gave our kids the choice to go to Camp each day on both of their cruises, and every time they were begging to go back and were never ready to leave. The counselors are amazing and make sure each kid has fun while on board. :)