Freedom July 22nd Review Lots of Food Pics

[cruisewithwife]

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Corrected video from the beginning

[cruisewithwife]

After dinner we headed to the Victorian lounge for the Welcome Aboard show. Malcom was our cruise director and you could tell from the beginning he was very outgoing and wanted to make sure everyone had a great time. They started off the show by bringing up two members to win VIP seats for the rest of the cruise at the shows. The one guy who came up known as Mr. G. They had family shirts and they were the G family. Malcom made quite the comedy routine with him.

 

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We finished watching the show and then made a stop by our room and to walk out on the balcony in front of our room. It was very windy out here.

 

Here is the video of Mr. G

[cruisewithwife]

We made it onto the ship and having FTTF we headed towards our room to drop off our carry on luggage. I had surprised DW by getting the anniversary decorations and cake package. It was a pleasant surprise coming into a room all decorated. Our room was ready and they were frantically working on all of the other rooms. Our room keys were waiting in the little box outside of our door in a sealed envelope.

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Here is the video when we entered the room

[threadcrapper]

We will be on the Freedom for the 4th of July cruise next year! Thanks for all the photos and looking forward to more

[cruisewithwife]

After relaxing on the open decks for a while we headed back to the room to get ready for brunch. In the anniversary package I had ordered we also got a cake which had been delivered. Forgot to take a pic before we had a bite oops. I thought it was very good as it had whipped frosting which is my favorite. DW thought it was good but she is not as big of fan of that frosting.

While getting ready I took a few pics out our window. I know many people are curious about the 4J rooms so here is what you see when you look straight outside.

 

We made our way down to the dining room for the Seaday Brunch. This was our first time ever with this menu.

[cruisewithwife]

The nice thing about brunch is they try to put you closer to the windows when eating. We had a table for 2 this morning and this was our view from our table.

DW started with the fresh fruit plate and cottage cheese. The melons on this appetizer were amazing, very flavorful.

I had the fried chicken Caesar salad. The chicken tasted amazing and overall it was good however every once in a while I got an anchovie taste as you could tell the dressing was made from scratch.

Then came the entrees in which DW had the funnest french toast with frosted flakes on it. For those of you who are not sure this is french toast then coated in your choice of cereal. She did say this was good but you need to eat it quickly as the cereal starts to get soggy the longer it sits. She also got her standard go to corned beef hash.

I had the steak and eggs. Wow this was one of the best steaks I have had in a while. I would recommend this to anyone.

The steak and eggs also came with curly fries and DW had a side of bacon. The curly fries were very good and reminded me of Jack in the Box.

[cruisewithwife]

I got up to take a few pics out the back as well. I could handle this view all day long.

We also had to try the desserts. DW got the banana pie. It was good and had nice banana flavor.

I had the caramelized cheesecake. It was ok nothing amazing. DW says it always looks and sounds better than it is. Doesn't have that sweetness you would expect the way it looks.

[cruisewithwife]

We headed up to the Red Frog Pub and there was minimal people so we played some shuffleboard. We played this a few times throughout the whole trip and yes DW won a few and I won a few.

We had headed up here early for the bean bag toss competition. We entered however we did not make it through the first round. You needed to get 3 points to advance with 4 bags and we got 2. It was still a fun time. DW wants to make sure everyone is aware she got 1 of the 2 points so it was totally not her fault.

After the bean bag competition we headed over to the theater for Clue:The Murder Mystery.

This sounded like a very cool event and then while sitting there we find out this is a week long event. You had to attend certain events to get more clues and on the last day they revealed who the killer was. It was interesting to watch the actors give their alibi's however we did not end up playing the whole week long. DW was able to solve the mystery just by guessing.

[cruisewithwife]

We stopped back by the room and we had a towel animal awaiting us.

After a quick stop in the room we headed to tea time. This was our first time ever going to tea time. Neither one of us drink hot tea either so this was going to be interesting. We had heard the desserts at tea time were supposed to be way better so we really wanted to try those even if we didn't drink anything. We got placed right by the window.

The first box of tea they brought was flavored and cost about $2 a bag. We politely said no thanks and then they brought the free tea bags which included green tea and lipton tea. We both tried green tea and then added sugar and tried again and we decided we were done with tea at that point.

The desserts and finger sandwiches looked amazing so we got an assortment. Two types of macaroons, a fruit tart, lemon cake, cucumber sandwich, open faced salmon sandwich, and a peach cobbler.

The cucumber sandwich was pretty good. The rest left a lot to be desired the lemon cake was hard and stale. I thought the peach cobbler was ok but DW was not a fan. Our first tea time was not amazing but we will try it again on our next cruise. We did sit and have a fun conversation with another family though and they felt very similar about the desserts.

[JohnSpo]

Great review so far. I like the idea of ordering peanut butter with the warm melting cake. I also enjoy the butter pecan ice cream. It is full of pecans. Next time I will have to give the fried shrimp with the fried rice. That looked really good. Carnival did not have the seaday brunch on my last cruise. Due to weather, our seaday was cancelled and we had a port day in Key West instead. I will have to remember to get the steak and eggs the next time.

 

Thanks for posting your review.:)

[cruisewithwife]

We headed back towards the room and watched a dance lesson going on in the atrium for a bit. Then it was off to the room to rest and prepare for formal night.

We enjoy getting dressed up for formal night. Well I guess I should say I put on a shirt and tie which is fairly dressy compared to the most at dinner.

We made our way down to take some photos and to the tasting bar. Tonight they were featuring a meatball and some cheese bread. We also opened our wine in the room and brought a glass with us on the walk to dinner and still had some left to start dinner.

We had to wait for 6:00 for them to open the doors tonight and that means one thing there is going to be a show tonight.

[cruisewithwife]

Great review so far. I like the idea of ordering peanut butter with the warm melting cake. I also enjoy the butter pecan ice cream. It is full of pecans. Next time I will have to give the fried shrimp with the fried rice. That looked really good. Carnival did not have the seaday brunch on my last cruise. Due to weather, our seaday was cancelled and we had a port day in Key West instead. I will have to remember to get the steak and eggs the next time.

 

Thanks for posting your review.:)

 

Thanks. There is a good amount of pecans in it but more like crushed so it is not hard to eat. Yes the fried shrimp and the steak are amazing and I would recommend to anyone.

[cruisewithwife]

We decided to kill our time waiting in one of the lounges that was completely empty.

This was the perfect place to take pics that looked like we were having a blast dancing haha.

[cruisewithwife]

Since tonight was formal night the tablecloths were out. Here is a look at the menu.

I started with the fried oysters. I thought they were pretty good and I would get them again. DW had a bite but said she was good.

She started with the shrimp cocktail which she said was very good.

We also had the mushroom cream soup which was ok but not amazing. Could be that the soup was very hot and I was already warm.

[Shaded Lady]

NOTE TO SELF: Never look at food porn when you haven't eaten lunch! Your food looks so good and now I'm starving!

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review!

[cruisewithwife]

The magician stopped by our table. He was very entertaining. He had a tie that would raise up and a bill that he could get to fold without touching it. Then he did an amazing trick in which he took a ring from our table mate and made it disappear. After talking for a while about where it could have gone he pulled a coin purse out of his back pocket in which her ring was hooked on a ring inside it. It was pretty amazing and I have no idea how he did it.

Next I am giving you a better pic of the entree menu.

I started with two orders of the lobster tail. The shrimp was probably better tasting than the lobster. The second one was better than the first one that I had. DW had a lobster as well and she even thought the ozo stuff was pretty good.

We also both had the prime rib. This was good but not as good as I remember it before. The baked potato with all the toppings was tasty. Since I wasn't amazed with that I decided I should get another lobster haha.

Then came the announcement.....ladies and gentlemen showtime.

[cruisewithwife]

We always find it so entertaining when the wait staff does the singing and dancing at dinner.

We were sitting in the upper level so this was looking down over as the waiters were dancing on the stands below.

Below are some videos from that show.

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[cruisewithwife]

Next was dessert and for those of you who are not aware DW will let you know creme brulee is the greatest dessert ever and is only on the first formal night. So we both had that I am not as big of fan but that way she can have more if she like. I did have my butter pecan ice cream again and it was delicious/

We then received a surprise for us and our table mates as we were both celebrating our anniversaries with this cruise. They brought each couple a little cake and sang for us.

Here is the video of them singing.

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After dinner I ran up to the room as I wanted to change out of the shirt and tie into something a little more comfortable and get us a drink. When I got there I found the fun times waiting for us along with a little card that said Happy Anniversary and it had a $50 spa card and a $12 pixel gift card. Side note we did not end up using either of these.

The show tonight was 88 Keys the Rock n Roll Piano show. It opened with a pre-show with the guy who is always playing in the piano bar putting on a show. It was a good show but not our favorite.

[cruisewithwife]

After the show we headed over to the Comedy club. We watched the shows in there which were good. We then headed over to the Red Frog Pub with our table mates which we became friends with to have a drink since there was country music playing in the bar. The drink was delicious the country music was so so.

 

We visited with one of the bartenders for quite some time and it was interesting to talk to him about his home country and how long he had worked with Carnival. The pub shut down around midnight and we made our way back to the room.

We got to our room to find another surprise waiting for us.

Malcom had sent us champagne, covered strawberries, a medal and of course a ship on a stick for our anniversary.

It was time for bed as we had our first port Key West the next morning.

[alreadypacked]

Really enjoying the review and photos!

 

Thanks for posting!

[Tracyjj0]

Loving your review, especially the food photos. A little advice from me about tea. As an English woman, and from the north of England at that (Yorkshire), I was brought up drinking hot tea. My mother even used to put it in my baby bottle when I was an infant!!

 

Let me tell you something, that green tea, when taken as a hot drink, is an abomination! No amount of sugar is going to mask the awful taste ;p

 

Also, the free Liptons tea is something I would only drink in an emergency!

 

If you take a chance on trying hot tea again, do yourself a favour and select a Breakfast tea, or a lovely Earl Grey which has a delicate slightly perfumed flavour. You're welcome :D:D:D

 

Looking forward to reading more :)

[LuvtheBeach10]

Great review! We'll be on this same cruise in a month so I'm looking forward to the rest!

 

 

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[Markmom18]

I'm really enjoying your review, love the photos, thanks! Our son works on Carnival ships on the Fun Staff.. His Freedom cruise contract begins on the September 2nd sailing. I wish I could tag along with him, it's work pretty much 24/7 (minus sleep). Oh to be young again:D:D

[cruisewithwife]

I'm really enjoying your review, love the photos, thanks! Our son works on Carnival ships on the Fun Staff.. His Freedom cruise contract begins on the September 2nd sailing. I wish I could tag along with him, it's work pretty much 24/7 (minus sleep). Oh to be young again:D:D

We will be back on the Freedom over Thanksgiving. It is always fun talking to the staff members. What part of the fun stuff is he?

[LuvtheBeach10]

On the Conquest, we always enjoyed the Italian Restaurant, is there not another specialty restaurant besides the steak restaurant on the Freedom that requires reservations?