Spring Break cruise review 3/9-3/16 Carnival Freedom Galveston

[Quilcruisers]

Hello friends, 

 

‘We are back from our spring break cruise and I want to share information about the cruise. I write these reviews for a couple of reasons, one is to help others who might have questions and two, because I love to cruise and this helps keep me sane until my next cruise.  

 

‘This cruise was just my son and I.  My son is 15 and we were originally booked on the 4 day cruise but once we found out our friends could not join us, we booked what we prefer, 7 days. Last year we went to Orlando for the week and had a great time.  For many years, I worked through Spring Break and stayed home until the weekend, when we would try to cram activities in before going back. Three years ago, I started taking vacation during spring break week and last year I decided we would travel instead of stay home. 

 

‘My husband did not take vacation around this time, he took some time off in February and worked around the house. He was used to us traveling with my friend and our 2 teens, so he had to get ready for this.  I booked the trip back in November, inside cabin since my son is not picky. I was trying to get the most economical trip, since this time is year is more expensive.  Makes me wish I would have taken him out of school in the earlier grades instead of waiting until high school.  Oh well, too late. My son was quite surprised that we were going without anyone else, we always travel with other people. Sorry, just you and me kid.  He still enjoys spending time with me at this age, but I promised I would let him enjoy his cruise like he wanted, with a few demands. He is a pretty good kid so he did what I wanted him to do most of the trip, we really had a great time. 

 

I thought about flying somewhere like San Juan or even California to catch a different cruise hut the cost was incredible, so I stuck to our normal departure port, Galveston. I have cruised the freedom many times and love the size of the ship.  The ports were the same ones we did back in August on the Breeze, just in reverse.  I think I really like the way the ports were arranged.  

 

‘’We had 1.5 days at sea, then Cozumel , Roatan and Belize , then 2 days at sea on the end.  I love sea days. 

 

‘Well, on to the review: 

 

‘I worked all week but did laundry and got all of my errands out of the way before Friday. As much as I tried, I still had to work on Friday and was unable to pack anything until Saturday.  I am particular about making sure my son has the right outfits and things, he is 15 and will sometimes not plan appropriately, like the time he got to the beach and didn’t have any swimwear, or the time I didn’t help him with his elegant night outfit and he showed up with a white t-shirt in all of our pictures.  His famous words, “I know I packed it but I can’t find it anywhere “. I ask him to lay out his clothes, underwear, swimwear and everything he is taking and I will do an inspection before it goes into the suitcase.  He is growing very fast and his clothes will sometimes fit on Monday, but not fit the following Monday.  I printed out a checklist for him to pack and since we were going for 7 days and intended to do a lot of water activities, I had to make sure he had appropriate swimwear. We only planned to take 1 suitcase each and a backpack, so I pulled out the packing cubes. I often cross-pack with him or my husband, mostly because I run out of room in my luggage.  I also wanted to take a rolling cooler for my drinks and had him pack some snacks for the cabin.  

 

‘’We do not check any bags with the porters, so I make sure we have everything in 3 suitcases and with the cooler, each of us can roll 1 bag. The packing cubes help to keep everything separated and helps me to unpack and organize the cabin as soon as I get there.  I roll everything into the cubes and then stuff it all into the suitcase.  It always frustrates me to have overly packed bags at the beginning , but I am a work in progress .  We take our stuff to the cabin as soon as we get there. I also try to have everything unpacked right after we eat and right before muster.  

 

‘I was going to drive us and park at the port but my sister offered to drop us off.  I don’t like to inconvenience people to have to pick us up but she lives close and asked to take us.  Well, then my husband said he would take us.  No argument from me, he is not a morning person so I worried about him getting us sat when we returned but turns out I didn’t have to worry about that.  More later.....

 

i normally like to get to the ship around 10am, but this time, the ship was just coming out of dry dock so boarding was a little later. I think we were leaving at 6pm instead of 4pm.  We left home about 1130am and ran into a little traffic.  We got to the port about 115pm and walked aboard the ship at 145pm. The port was not crowded, nor was the ship.  In fact, the most crowd I observed was on the lido deck as we sailed away.  No big crowds all week.  This is what I like about the Freedom.  

 

We were in cabin 9252, an interior cabin and a great location.  I originally booked on deck 2, but received an upgrade offer for 28.00 to move to the lido deck about a month before the cruise.  

 

Pictures coming soon .....

 

 

 

[BoDidly]

I'm in for the long haul 👍 

[Quilcruisers]

Thanks for joining, first day pictures are here:

 

my my son ate 15-17 burgers while on the cruise   There is no way my system could handle that but I have to have 1 the first day  

 

Atrium between our cabin and lido deck. 

 

‘This is the most crowd I encountered on the whole trip.  I know the ship was full, but it never felt that way. We had a pretty good sail away party. We had muster after sail away party, which was different and hard to get people to stop partying to muster but they did it. 

 

Our cabin and my son with the bags. I had the rolling cooler so it wasn’t in the picture but that was our 4th bag. We each had a backpack for our electronics. we are both geeks, so we had video games, iPads, headphones, etc. 

 

 

He was thinking,  ‘here she goes with the million pictures.”

 

Sail away party, so long Galveston 

 

[willdra]

Great start! I’m looking forward to the rest! 😍

[Quilcruisers]

First sea day, Sunday, 3/10/19

 

I know I have said it a time or two, but I loVe ❤️ sea days ! The excitement of having nothing to do but so much to do is very thrilling to me.  

 

‘’Once we got in our cabin on Saturday, we met our room steward, Ronnino, and he asked about cabin service. I told him the morning service would be fine, and we are pretty low maintenance , just plenty of ice in the cooler and towels. And I reminded him that my son is not allowed to tell him, “we’re good” because he will ...lol.  He laughed and went on his way.  I was able to unpack everything, my son chose the closet shelves and I took the drawers and had 1 closet without shelves for my hanging clothes. I had wine that I brought, sodas, Red Bull and some snacks. We also ordered 1 case of water, should have ordered 2, but we made it work. My son is 15, an athlete and eats and drinks like it’s his last time doing so.   He sucks down so much water and drinks everything two at a time.  

 

Back to sea day,...I always bring my workout clothes, I love walking the track outside and if I have to, I will work out in the gym.  I mostly use the gym for the massive showers and to use the sauna either after my workouts or right before dinner.  

 

‘’I went to the track and got my workout in.  My son, who was still sleeping, said he would join me later to get breakfast.  

 

This is was my lido lunch.  I didn’t want anything heavy at the time.  Fried rice, fish and Mac and cheese egg roll. 

 

 

this was the audition for the lip sync battle.  Always a good time !

 

 

 

This is me relaxing in between events. I was up dancing, reading, listening to music and the best part of all, it was closer to go to my cabin to use the restroom than the restroom on the lido.  

 

This is the newly refurbished sports square   This just happened at dry dock. We were on the freedom in October and I can’t recall it being here so I assume.....

 

pretty nice , look who I found as I did my walk around the track  (gray shorts)

 

I cant say that I ever went to the sun deck, but here it is  

 

I know I have never come to the sun deck because I didn’t realize the smokestack was accessible from the basketball courts.

 

when I went on my restroom break, he was there.

 

view of the lido deck from the sun deck 

 

I love the ocean.  

 

 

Pictures before my workout 

 

At some point, I went inside to get dressed for dinner. I showered in the spa every day. The shower /spa was just 4 flights up (deck 11) and I made sure to wear my Fitbit , I hit 10,000 steps usually by noon each day.

 

This was the first elegant night. 

 

Thanks to me, he didn’t have to wear b-ball shorts or sweats to dinner. Thanks “helicopter mom”. I still have to “nudge” him to dress appropriately for the occasion. 

 

‘’We had to get a pager for dinner. We book YTD now, and usually go  right as the peak dining time begins. Not intentional, but that is what has been happening.

 

Great time to take pictures before we eat . 

 

My baby boy 

 

Our banner , everyone asks who is the kid in the banner, it’s my son . He was about 5-6 years old and we were in Progreso at the time. 

 

‘’We had a nice table upstairs on the 4th floor . I didn’t wear walking shoes, but I made it work . I wore my five minute 👠.

y 

 

yummy lobster , shrimp and risotto  . We met the nicest people on this cruise. I do not know a stranger but even my son was talking to our neighbors. Two brothers cruising together. We talked all through dinner. 

 

 

After dinner, we went back to the cabin and I changed clothes, and shoes and went to the casino.  My son started to sneeze a lot and was also stopped up and I realized I left OTC cold meds at home.  We went to see if the store had some reasonable OTC cold meds. Of course they did, and 17.99 later, we had a bottle of NyQuil.   It hurt my feelings especially knowing we had some at home that I meant to pack.  He just needed one dose and he was fine the rest of the week so it was worth it to have him get rid of the crud. 

 

After the casino, I went to the Alchemy bar and had a couple of drinks. I met another gentleman from Spring, TX which is not far from us.  We talked a bit and about 1130, I went back to the cabin. 

 

‘’We had no plans for Cozumel, but I wanted to get up early and get breakfast, hit the track and walk off so I could look for some liquor for a coworker.  My son was already in the cabin playing games and watching TV (and eating). I gave him the NyQuil and he talked for about two minutes and was knocked out. 

 

I checked in with my husband, read a little more, played my words with friends and went to bed. 

 

This machine was very good to me on this cruise.  

 

‘Before dinner 

 

My strapping young lad.  He is on the swim team, and swims 5 days a week, which somewhat explains his appetite. 

 

Very windy outside 

 

Edited March 25, 2019 by Quilcruisers

[louanne93]

What a great review so far. You have done VERY well with your son. He seems like a fine young man! 

[Quilcruisers]

Thank you !

[Quilcruisers]

On 3/24/2019 at 10:00 PM, louanne93 said:

What a great review so far. You have done VERY well with your son. He seems like a fine young man! 

Thank you !

[Quilcruisers]

We were in Cozumel on Monday.  We have been to Cozumel many, many times since we mostly sail from Galveston. 

 

I got up and went to the track to get my workout done and out of the way. My son was given instructions to get some food, put on clothes and be ready to go when I get back.  I have never left him on the ship when I went to port. I always have visions of seeing the whale tail leaving with me hanging off the side if they ever tried to leave with him on the ship and me on the dock.  Same dream that people have about missing an important meeting or showing up at work in pajamas.  Yeah, that dream. 

 

My son met me upstairs as I was finishing up so I left him to go to my dream restroom (the gym) to get ready. 

 

‘’Once I came back, I wanted to show him the sun deck and smokestack up close. We took these photos: 

 

 

After 8,252 pictures, we finally exited the ship. There was no rain the entire cruise until the very last day. I was so happy, I don’t think I ever cruised with not one day of rain in port. 

 

 

‘I wanted a super close picture, but maybe not this close. 

 

It was another windy, but pretty day. 

 

We we were parked next to the Celebrity Infinity, my friend at work has tried to get me to sail this line, and I looked them up, but keep coming back to Carnival.  Maybe one day. 

 

 

Someone offered to take our picture and told me this was proof that my son hugged his mommy.  Lol.  

 

I love over the statues at the port.  

 

 

Another picture on the ship.  

 

 

These paintings were a new addition since we were last on the Freedom. This was inside the basketball court. 

 

 

‘View of our ship and Celebrity. This view of the water never gets old.  

 

‘’We walked around Cozumel and looked in some of the shops.  I was looking to get cash because I didn’t get any before we left.  I failed to get cash the night before because I didn’t want to pay 6.00 to the ATM and didn’t want to pull it from my credit card via casino play. So what do I do,,,,, I wait until we get to Mexico and attempt to draw cash.  The fee to do this was 44.00 USD. Umm, no....

 

‘’I immediately ended that transaction but ended up using my debit card at the 7-11 to buy a few things. I wanted cranberry juice as a mixer and didn’t want to keep paying on the ship, and we also got a few snacks to take back.  I looked for the Vick’s vaporub and they had it but nowhere that took cards.  Believe it or not, I didn’t die, I went without my beloved Vick’s the rest of the cruise.  

 

Once we got back on the ship, I ate lunch and relaxed in the cabin for about an hour and then got changed to get in the pool.  It was pretty empty as it was still early, about 1pm or so and so hot outside. I got my travel mug, my iPad to read and went to the pool. 

 

I got this cup from some of my business partners at work.  So cute, this cup was all over the ship. 

 

 

‘Look who joined me.  He wanted to just frolick around the pool for a change as he does not get to play in the pool at school, it’s all work.  

 

After the sun went down, I got out of the pool, and went back to the cabin for a nap. We had been looking at the menus on the hub app and decided not to go to the dining room.  

 

‘’Since we had a late lunch, we decided to order room service. After I ate, I went to shower and went to bed as we had an early day the next day. We wrote out a room service menu for breakfast as our wake up call the next morning.  My time was off because we had daylight savings time and the mix between ship time and port time, so I was alllll confused.  

 

‘’The room service items we bought were good.  We paid for firecracker shrimp, chicken tenders and a basket of fries.  The chocolate cake and cookies are free. 

 

 

 

‘Next day....Belize 

 

[Quilcruisers]

We were in Cozumel on Monday.  We have been to Cozumel many, many times since we mostly sail from Galveston. 

 

I got up and went to the track to get my workout done and out of the way. My son was given instructions to get some food, put on clothes and be ready to go when I get back.  I have never left him on the ship when I went to port. I always have visions of seeing the whale tail leaving with me hanging off the side if they ever tried to leave with him on the ship and me on the dock.  Same dream that people have about missing an important meeting or showing up at work in pajamas.  Yeah, that dream. 

 

My son met me upstairs as I was finishing up so I left him to go to my dream restroom (the gym) to get ready. 

 

‘’Once I came back, I wanted to show him the sun deck and smokestack up close. We took these photos: 

 

 

After 8,252 pictures, we finally exited the ship. There was no rain the entire cruise until the very last day. I was so happy, I don’t think I ever cruised with not one day of rain in port. 

 

 

‘I wanted a super close picture, but maybe not this close. 

 

It was another windy, but pretty day. 

 

We we were parked next to the Celebrity Infinity, my friend at work has tried to get me to sail this line, and I looked them up, but keep coming back to Carnival.  Maybe one day. 

 

 

Someone offered to take our picture and told me this was proof that my son hugged his mommy.  Lol.  

 

I love over the statues at the port.  

 

 

Another picture on the ship.  

 

 

These paintings were a new addition since we were last on the Freedom. This was inside the basketball court. 

 

 

‘View of our ship and Celebrity. This view of the water never gets old.  

 

‘’We walked around Cozumel and looked in some of the shops.  I was looking to get cash because I didn’t get any before we left.  I failed to get cash the night before because I didn’t want to pay 6.00 to the ATM and didn’t want to pull it from my credit card via casino play. So what do I do,,,,, I wait until we get to Mexico and attempt to draw cash.  The fee to do this was 44.00 USD. Umm, no....

 

‘’I immediately ended that transaction but ended up using my debit card at the 7-11 to buy a few things. I wanted cranberry juice as a mixer and didn’t want to keep paying on the ship, and we also got a few snacks to take back.  I looked for the Vick’s vaporub and they had it but nowhere that took cards.  Believe it or not, I didn’t die, I went without my beloved Vick’s the rest of the cruise.  

 

Once we got back on the ship, I ate lunch and relaxed in the cabin for about an hour and then got changed to get in the pool.  It was pretty empty as it was still early, about 1pm or so and so hot outside. I got my travel mug, my iPad to read and went to the pool. 

 

I got this cup from some of my business partners at work.  So cute, this cup was all over the ship. 

 

 

‘Look who joined me.  He wanted to just frolick around the pool for a change as he does not get to play in the pool at school, it’s all work.  

 

After the sun went down, I got out of the pool, and went back to the cabin for a nap. We had been looking at the menus on the hub app and decided not to go to the dining room.  

 

‘’Since we had a late lunch, we decided to order room service. After I ate, I went to shower and went to bed as we had an early day the next day. We wrote out a room service menu for breakfast as our wake up call the next morning.  My time was off because we had daylight savings time and the mix between ship time and port time, so I was alllll confused.  

 

‘’The room service items we bought were good.  We paid for firecracker shrimp, chicken tenders and a basket of fries.  The chocolate cake and cookies are free. 

 

 

 

‘Next day....Belize 

 

Tuesday, Belize 

 

‘’we placed the placard on the cabin door to order room service / wake up call since we had to meet in the theater for 745am. 

 

‘’We ordered bagels, fruit, cereal and croissants for 630am the next morning. 

 

 

‘Carnival has rebranded their shore excursions, “carnival adventures”. I booked the cave tubing in advance after many reviews and comparisons. I chose this tour because I heard it was difficult to hear the tour guide if the group was too big, also read many reviews about people getting left behind on the trails, not being able to keep up, etc . This tour said there would only be a group of 8 people at a time. It also said the bus ride would be 1.5 hours and this was true. 

 

We met in the theater at 745 to get ready for the tenders to be scheduled.  The theater was full and there was a young lady that was announcing the tours. People were arriving at all different times but she very patiently announced the departures.  She made sure everyone was aware that the tours may sound the same but to pay attention to your specific tour name printed on your ticket.  Some included lunch, some didn’t.  For example, our tour included lunch and the cave tubing but there were others that had cave tubing, zip lining and lunch, and some that didn’t include lunch. 

 

We left at about 9am to get on the tender and the ride was about 20 minutes.  

 

 

‘This is a view from the tender, it was a beautiful day out. 

 

‘’We sat near the window but had to close it once we were underway as the water from the ocean was spraying up and into the window.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘There were 4 ships in port this morning, so I knew it would be busy at the port. 

 

‘We got to the terminal and madhouse, but organized chaos. They had people telling us which terminal to enter based on the stickers we had. Once in the terminal , the tour guides would corral their groups together as we started to board the busses.  

 

‘Our tour guide and driver were awesome. Auner was our guide, Andrew was our driver.  Auner was very good with historical facts and very proud about his country.  He gave us history lessons and quizzed us on facts about Belize.  He was very entertaining. We went through a series of checkpoints before we could even get on the road.  He explained Belize was originally made for buggies, bikes, mopeds and not really for busses or cars , so the roads were very narrow and had to go slow.  

 

‘The sleeping giant 

 

‘This was a picture right before we left the port area 

 

 

‘Ramada and the casino 

 

‘This was the exclusive part of town. 

 

‘We rode the bus for about 1.5 hours. Auner told us that he could only take 8 people into the cave.  The remaining group would be split up in groups of 8 and assigned to other guides once we got off the bus. 

 

 

 

‘This was the location where we went tubing. 

 

 

The ride was very scenic. I brought my iPad to read and listen to music for the drive but listened to the tour guide as well. 

 

 

Once we got off the bus, we had to board an “ice cream truck” to go across the hill. This was quite an adventure because it didn’t seem like the little truck would make it, but it did.  

 

‘Water shoes or rugged shoes are required, they had them for sale if you didn’t bring them. Of course we were prepared with shoes, goggles, and a change of clothes for the ride back.  

 

‘They had lockers for rent. We ended up renting a 9.00 locker and our stuff fit just fine. 

 

They provided life vests, helmets and the tubes. Auner split up the other groups and then took us to “gear up” . We had to walk quite a ways through the jungle, so it was quite exhausting. Once we got to the mouth of the caves, we were so happy. Auner tied our tubes together and had us get into the tubes one at a time. 

 

The caves were beautiful and the water was very cool.  It was hard to take pictures because of the crystallization and lots of shadows. I took as many pictures as I could, it was beautiful. 

 

 

 

‘This was another group in the caves.  There were many groups in the caves and since we only had 8 people, it was easy to hear our guides. 

 

‘Another group ...

 

‘My son and I were next to each other on the rafts at first, but we got out, we switched positions.  

 

 

‘We would exit the rafts and get out to explore closer.  

 

 

‘This was inside the cave. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and gave a lot of historical info about the caves and formation.  

 

 

 

 

Nice helmet. 

 

 

 

 

‘This was the end of the cave.  Our guide told us we could get out and swim the rest of the way or tube the rest.  Most of them chose to swim, the water was ice cold, so I opted to be pulled along in my tube. 

 

‘’We got out of the tubes and had to walk up the hill and through the jungle to turn in the helmets, tubes and jackets. Our guide had already told us about the food and gave us wrist bands for our lunch. 

 

There was a DJ playing music and a very lively party atmosphere when we got back to camp. 

 

 

We got in line for food and got jerk chicken, rice and peas and cole slaw.  The food was delicious. We ate quickly because soon, they were calling for our group to round up.  They had pictures and videos for sale in the gift shop if you wanted them. We didn’t buy any pictures so we headed back to the bus.  

 

Back over the hill in the little bus, to our big bus and we were on our way back to port.  The ride back was another hour and a half and I partially read, partially slept. We made it back with about an hour until we had to be back.  I didn’t want to rush, and wanted to look at souvenirs. We tipped Auner as we got off the bus as he was very good and showed us a grand time. 

 

 

‘These were ice cold and delicious. 

 

Belize cave tubing was very fun and we were exhausted after this.  Next up...the tender back and Tuesday night on the ship. 

 

‘’This was a quick video inside the cave.  

 

 

[Quilcruisers]

Belize, continued.....

 

we got back to the port with about 1 hour to spare. The lines were getting long to get s shuttle back. We walked into a few stores and bought some souvenirs.  We finally went and got frozen drinks at a little shop, mine had alcohol, my sons did not. 

 

We got in line for the tender ride back to the ship.  The ride back was so beautiful because we got seats off the back of the boat and the water was so clear. 

 

It was crowded at the port so after we shopped a little, the lines started to thin out at the Belize sign.  We grabbed some pictures here. 

 

 

‘We got in line for the tender, and ended up in some seats right off the back of the tender. 

 

‘’Great spot for taking pictures.  Me and my son.

 

 

about my drink, I just ordered out of the blue and asked for a banana margarita. I hated to do it but I had to stop the young lady and ask her to make me another kind. She had banana and coconut cream, some milk and syrup and liquor as she prepared to blend these yummy ingredients together .

 

Being doubled over in pain and sick was not in my plans for that day, or any day.  I am severely lactose intolerant so that milk was not what was up for me. 

‘She was not too happy but I apologized profusely and asked for another more carefully selected drink from the menu.  She had to get the bar back to bring more ice and people were lined up for drinks behind me when she got back. Luckily another girl came to help her. 

 

‘’We got our drinks and headed to the line for the tender. 

 

beautiful view of a ship leaving before us  

 

ahhhh, home. 

 

Tying up to the freedom. 

 

 

 

beautiful sunset 

 

this was the celebrity ship 

 

‘we got back on board, went to drop off our purchases and get food. It had been a couple of hours since we ate. 

 

‘We did not go to the dining room, we planned to go the next night as they were having crab cakes. I went to the cabin , relaxed and read a little. I might have taken a nap. I came back out and went to this show.  It was pretty good and I am in awe at how the performers stay steady with the ship rocking.   

 

After the show, there was lobby activity going on so I watched it for awhile. 

 

 

 

More ore from the show , I think this was 88 keys 

 

‘The star of the show 

 

 

 

Beautiful video of the tender arriving back home and other tenders rushing to get guests back to the ship. 

 

 

Video of the show. 

 

We we had another semi-early morning the next day , 9am this time we had to be ready to meet our shuttle for the next day. 

 

‘’Each day when we returned , our cabin was nice and clean and the beds turned down. It is so nice to take a nice hot shower and get in the bed. I still showered in the gym. I don’t think I showered in our cabin at all this trip. 

 

I wanted to to go to the piano bar but it was an 11pm start time and I knew it would put me out so late. I went to the cabin and packed to prepare for our next day, which was a beach day. 

 

Coming up.....Roatan /Honduras. 

[Joebucks]

Looks like you had a great time. Thanks for sharing!

[slyman17]

Great review so far,  looking forward to the rest! Thank you!

[Quilcruisers]

Port Day- Roatan, Honduras 

 

This was cruise day 4 (I think) in Roatan, Honduras. 

 

Last year we were here, we zip lined in the jungle. This time, I booked a nice, relaxing beach day. 

 

This beach day is the reason I still have peeling skin and my color has not returned to its natural state. Roatan is absolutely beautiful. We booked a tour through Carnival because I didn’t want to venture off alone with just cam and I. 

 

The bus picked us up inside the gates of the port and drove us through the mountains, about 45 minutes, to the beach. Driving to the beach club was .......interesting.  There was morning rush hour and construction.  The drivers, including the mopeds, regularly went around other drivers and tailgated like there was no tomorrow.  I took the last seat on the bus, a foldout seat reserved for short people, Cam was lucky to get the front seat.  

 

We had an early start to the day, about 9am and got back to the ship about 3pm. I belong to a few travel groups and often hear cruisers tell other cruisers, “when you go there, stay on the ship “.  Now, I love the ship, but I urge everyone to get off the ship and do something at least once. Depending on where you are and who you are with, you can take a taxi and explore, hire a driver, book an excursion through the ship or book one outside of the ship, but don’t get talked into staying on the ship.  A lot of these places are really beautiful and most times, the port does not reveal the beauty of some of these islands. As we drove through Roatan, you would see the most unspoiled, natural beauty, postcard perfect views. A lot of the pictures I take look like they are fake, they are real. 

 

The beach club was called Tabayna Beach and the bus dropped us off and said they had plenty of shuttles going back and forth all day. We could leave when we wanted to.  

 

Once on the beach, they showed us around, the chairs were free and plentiful and we had our own personal security guard who kept the “sales people” from selling to people as they tried to relax. They also had water toys, jet skis, parasailing and also had several guys in kayaks that work for the beach club that would take you out to “the wall”. Other people were snorkeling and they had masks you could rent. Plenty of people rented the water bikes and kayaks. The beach was very scenic and absolutely beautiful. I was able to do a lot of reading, listen to music and gaze at the clear blue water.  At one point, I joined cam as he had moved his chair into the water.  I stayed there quite some time. The only thing is that you had to keep saying no, thank you, to the people selling everything from bracelets to art to purses, T-shirts, etc. they also sell fresh fruits in little baggies. 

 

I wanted to relax but definitely something to consider doing next time. This beach had excellent drinks. The food was expensive but it didn’t matter because we packed our own snacks. All we bought was water, and split a 16.00 cheeseburger. Yes, 16.00 for a cheeseburger and 6 fries. I  bought this too soon because shortly after our food was delivered, the “empanada man” came by.  Dang! 

 

We were able to shower and change before going back. The ride back was so pretty and scenic. Anything to keep from looking at the driving. We had a pretty good driver this time and last time too. Everything is so close and so many people drive mopeds mixed in with the vans that it makes your head spin. 

 

The port area is very nice. There are things to do right around this particular port, they have the “flying chairs” and a free beach. I took some pictures from the ground and also from the ship of the port area before we took off. 

 

I like to see the sail-away and try to catch it when leaving. If you have never seen the pilot boat help the ship navigate out of the port, it is something to see.  Also, watch the pilot get off the ship back onto the boat. The pilot knows the port and the ships rely on them to navigate. Not only that, seeing the ship sail-away in the middle of a sunset is beautiful. 

 

The carnival dream was also in port that day, parked with the nose almost touching the freedom.  Kind of weird,  but ok.  There was a royal Caribbean ship ported there also, at the other port. 

 

Once we got back and had dinner, we went to play bingo. They also had a game going on, battle of the sexes or something and then bingo.  We watched the show, played bingo and then I was on my own after that. 

 

The deck party was that night and due to the high winds, it was held inside the nightclub.  I went to that party, hung around the alchemy bar, played some at the casino and then went to the cabin. 

 

All the port stops out of the way, the next 2 days would be my favorite, sea days! I love and live for sea days. I often say they could just put me on a cruise ship, travel out about 2 hours into the ocean and circle around on a cruise to nowhere and I would be happy.  I do love the beach too, so I enjoy stopping at the ports for that. 

 

Now, the pictures :

 

before,  we got a lot of sun in Roatan, I am still peeling, 3 weeks later. My sunscreen was obviously not sufficient. 

 

 

 

 

This was was a very popular photo spot. The sun was out and we had to maneuver around a lot of people. We were in Roatan this past summer and took similar pictures, but were with family then. 

 

We were the last 2 people on the bus. Since my son and I were traveling alone, I wanted to book through Carmival. Last time we were here, we booked outside of Carnival and had to take some “dodgy” treks to get outside of the port area to be picked up.  It was fine, we had a bus waiting for us then.  This time, we were picked up and dropped off inside the port area.  

 

‘’My son was “lucky” and got the front seat.  I got the “jumpseat” that folded out.  Benefits of being short-statured.

 

 

This is a view of the outside of the port area. 

 

Our driver got us to the beach in about 45 minutes . This beach was absolutely stunning. 

 

‘Entry to the beach 

 

Another picture right outside of the port. Last year, we were standing in this area waiting for our shuttle. We had a private shuttle to go zip line, and it was 12 of us with a driver that waited for us and took us to the beach after zip line. Great price, but we had to walk up the hill and outside to get to it. 

 

E

 

views while we drive to the beach

 

 

 

This was the view when we first exited the ship. 

 

once on the beach  - I removed the hat. Although it says “Belize”, we were in Roatan .

 

The nice people taking the picture said my son looked like he was on his way to the military. Lol.  I admit, I take wayyyy too many pictures.  Most times he will go along, but he complains at times. He does it anyway, to please his mama.  

 

 

‘’The water was so clear and pretty . The beach was empty when we arrived and chairs were plentiful . They had free lemonade waiting for us and told us where to go for shuttles when we were ready to leave.

 

there were other people on the bus that went on to other excursions and then would be brought back to the beach later.  

 

‘’We did cave tubing the day before and zip lining in the summer, this time I wanted to relax.  

 

Lot of snorkeling ....

 

 

It was too hot to have on shirts, so off they went. The water was really cold so I never really got in.  My son is on the swim team, so he is used to the water all year round and just plunges in.  He was happy to swim for fun, instead of for a grade.  

 

He was in serious chill mode - we both were, after all the “work” we did the day before 

 

my sweet kid, he always poses with his hands on my shoulders. The pain, from the sunburn 🥵 

 

 

this is hotel was right on the beach - I like to take pictures of the different hotels, in case we ever decide to take a non-cruise vacation . I don’t know why I would want to, but my family might....  I love to cruise and if I never took a land based trip, I would be happy . 

 

My son moved his chair to the water and a lot of other people did too. Smart move, I eventually did too. 

 

This was the “unspoiled beauty” that I spoke of.  There were so many views on the way back to the ship that were like this. 

 

This was another port 

 

 

back at the port  - we brought a change of clothes  - they had showers at the beach and I didn’t want to ride back all sandy  . Of course we brought a pound of sand back with us . 

 

Me and my son

 

the dream parked right next to the freedom , little room to spare 

 

 

close up 

 

People are so nice and offer to take your picture. I always like to return the favor.  Selfie sticks don’t work so well all the time. I do have a “gorilla “ but rarely use it.  

 

 

this was the island view from the ship, beautiful ! 

 

 

Back on the ship , later on- gender showdown

 

 

bingo - he wanted to play - we did not win 

 

 

he does still still enjoy being with his parents ....for now...

 

 

videos.  

 

 

 

Coming up...final 2 sea days ....

 

Photo of the beach 

 

My son 

 

On the way - the mopeds 😳 

 

Relaxing in the water

 

On the way there

 

On on the way back 

 

At the port 

 

At the port

 

They were reenacting dirty dancing ...hilarious 

 

View of roatan from the dock 

 

 

 

Edited April 7, 2019 by Quilcruisers

[KmomChicago]

Having fun following. I hope your son realizes he is a very lucky young man! I am running out of time with my only as well - she's 13 going on outahere.

[KimPossible1]

Great review!!  Thank you for taking the time.  We were just on a RCL in March and went to Roatan.  I think we docked at a different place than you, maybe that other dock area in your pictures.  We went to Maya Cay and it was the best excursion we have ever done.  It was only a 10 minute boat ride from the ship straight across the harbor area.   Roatan is beautiful!!! Thanks again for taking us along 🙂

[Quilcruisers]

10 hours ago, KmomChicago said:

Having fun following. I hope your son realizes he is a very lucky young man! I am running out of time with my only as well - she's 13 going on outahere.

Ahhh yes, 13 ! Yes we tell him all the time how lucky he is that we can take him places and that we choose to do so.  My parents always travelled with us but we didn’t do anything like cruising.  Mostly road trips and we had a camper. Funny, all we wanted to do was swim. As long as there was a pool, we were happy. 

[Quilcruisers]

8 hours ago, KimPossible1 said:

Great review!!  Thank you for taking the time.  We were just on a RCL in March and went to Roatan.  I think we docked at a different place than you, maybe that other dock area in your pictures.  We went to Maya Cay and it was the best excursion we have ever done.  It was only a 10 minute boat ride from the ship straight across the harbor area.   Roatan is beautiful!!! Thanks again for taking us along 🙂

Yes, I do believe that was a royal Caribbean ship in my photo.  When I was planning our summer vacation , I had the option to choose other ports but ended up choosing these exact ones.  It’s good because I have only been to Roatan, Belize one other time, now twice. The other cruise option was to coz, grand cayman and Jamaica and I have done that route more times than enough.  I love cruising so much that it does not bother me to go to the same places. Always something different to do. 

[Quilcruisers]

Thursday , Sea day 

 

I really like the way the days were structured on this cruise. 

 

1 sea day on the front, 3 port days and 2 sea days on the end. 

 

We were able to relax and enjoy the rest of the cruise with no stops. I talked to a very nice man at the Alchemy on Sunday night and turns out his daughter was a competitive swimmer.  Although she was younger than my son, we talked about swimming and he told me about his daughters workout regimen , even while on the cruise.  He said he signed up for cycling during the cruise and it might be good for my son to take it.  I had been thinking about what I wanted him to do in the summer when school is out, either have him join a summer league or something to keep him from losing what he built all year.  He is in the pool 5 days a week from August through May.  I didn’t want him to struggle when school resumed because he sat out all summer.  

 

‘When I went back to the cabin that night, I made a deal with him to work out with me and see if he enjoyed cycling.  If he didn’t, he didn’t have to go back to cycling but he had to do some other type of workout, besides the one he had been doing with guys burgers. 

 

He agreed, so we got up early and class started at 9am. It was 12.00 for each class, it would have been 29.00 for the unlimited pass but I was too late since I didn’t sign up until Wednesday. 

 

‘Being up early was good, after we finished our workout, he went to get breakfast. I went to sit in the sauna and had brought my clothes to shower and start my day. I always have a full schedule on sea days.  I wanted to check a bunch of things off my list. 

 

One thing i did did that I would never do at home, I waited in line at Mongolian wok for 45 minutes. The wait was worth it, my bowl was fabulous ! 

 

I went to the other lines and got chicken strips and some cookies for dessert.  

 

‘I had a great day of walking around the ship, watching the performers, spent a little time around the pool and did some reading. 

 

‘’I made it back to the cabin at about 3pm. We planned to go take a few photos before dinner and wanted to get to dinner early because I had a full schedule that evening. 

 

‘This day was a perfect day in that I got up and out and pretty much did everything I planned to do.  We got up and got dressed and went to the dining room to get a pager.  The dining room is usually crowded on elegant night and this night was no exception.  We got a pager and used this opportunity to take some pictures outside. Our cabin was so conveniently located, we had to ride down to the 3rd floor in the closest elevators and were right in the atrium and our dining room - Chic was right there. I cannot say enough how happy I was with our location. 

 

This was me before dinner. Those shoes were for the sole purpose of taking pictures.  

 

 

I love this part of the ship, right outside of the guest services desk on the 3rd deck

 

 

The sun was about to set - I always get sunset pictures, never sunrise although I always have plans to get sunrise. It never, ever happens.  

 

 

I don’t have to tell him to look serious or introspective, he just does it.

 

he still shows me affection, except when he is around his peers 🙂 

 

for some reason, he had headphones in almost every picture 

 

we took these while waiting - we were going to take professional photos but my shoes said otherwise. People are always so nice and offer to take your picture.

 

we walked up to the promenade, and I could sit too 

 

I love these chairs 

 

he took many many pictures of himself when he was supposed to take my picture. I had to check each time, he kept tricking me .

 

i love this menu, I didn’t get mushrooms though. It’s so tough some days to have a lot of choices. I got the crab cake (in my husbands absence), and the grilled shrimp . I usually get the fruit plate. My body can’t handle the desserts that my mind tells me to get. 

 

 

My my son got the sea bass (in my husband’s absence) , but he also got his standard chicken nuggets. He has been getting them for years in the MDR but now that he is a full grown man-child, they bring him a double portion. The carnival team is really awesome with kids, we have so many good memories of things they did to make my son feel special when he was little.

 

 

We had a very nice meal and after that, I went to the cabin to change shoes and get my headphones. I wanted to go to the casino for a bit and then to the piano bar at 11pm. 

 

‘’At the slots ....

 

I played some, chatted with other people and went to the promenade to listen to music. There were so many performers that I wanted to see but many conflicts. I never made it to a comedy show and only went to the piano bar once, but wanted to go more..

 

This was Hannah, the piano bar singer. I started out in a booth but was able to snag a seat at the piano when some people left. I stayed in that seat all night. 

 

I stayed in the piano bar until 1am. My favorite waiter from the pool was working there- Ratman (maybe that is not the correct spelling ) . After leaving the piano bar, I went back to the cabin and read a little and went to bed. 

 

 

 

 

My original seat in the piano bar 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 8, 2019 by Quilcruisers

[richbum]

Where did you get the suitcase with the ship on it? I would love something like this for my granddaughter...

[Quilcruisers]

10 hours ago, richbum said:

Where did you get the suitcase with the ship on it? I would love something like this for my granddaughter...

I ordered it online a couple of years ago from BEALL’s in Florida. I love that suitcase.  I have seen the set of them and people say they have them at Marshall’s or Ross sometimes but I never found there.  Made by “it” luggage.  They have some really pretty designs too aside from my favorite one. I refuse to check it in when I fly, I’m afraid they will damage it.  

[Quilcruisers]

Friday, final sea day and last full day of the cruise.  

 

I love and hate this day. I love it because I love sea days, I missed my husband but I could have stayed another 7 days. 

 

We did not get up early, we slept in a little. I went to the gym to shower and sit in the sauna.  Once I got back to the cabin, I started the dreaded chore of packing. In the past, we would either send our laundry out, my husband and I get 3 free bags of laundry each.  Other times we would wash a bunch of clothes as it makes it easier to pack.  This time I opted for neither. It’s somewhat of a pain to fill out the inventory sheet, roll everything up and give it to the room steward in enough time to get it back. I do like how the clothes are nice and fresh for the ride home, but I left the 45.00 credit on my account that they gave me for laundry and just piled all of our dirties into an empty suitcase.  It was a very smelly proposition, considering we had about 4 days worth of wet suits that never dried. And sandy water shoes. I always tell people to take multiple swimsuits because they never dry in the cabin unless you have a balcony and can hang them outside . 

Maybe carnival could invest in some swimsuit ringers? Those things are awesome and practically dry your suit in a matter of seconds. Oh well, I digress.  

 

I normally bring a folding dollar store laundry basket but it didn’t make the cut , so we just threw our clothes in the bottom of the closet and our swimsuits hung in the restroom the whole time. Until I piled them in with the rest.  As soon as I made it home, I dumped those clothes out and started washing them.  

 

I knew with it being the last day, I needed to get our stuff organized and we would take the first self assist debark of the morning. My husband didn’t feel well and his doctor had him on medication, so my sister would come to get us the next morning. 

 

The only reason I didn’t linger on the ship is because the crowds are insane and everyone is usually in a bad mood and rushing so I would rather get off early with the somewhat less angry early debark-ers. 

 

Once i packed our things, it was time for lunch. My “shark” had already eaten once that morning but was game to get another burger or three.  We agreed to go get lunch and meet back at the cabin to eat.  It was super cloudy outside and looked like rain. 

 

I wanted another bowl from Mongolian wok, so I stood in another 45 minute line to get it.  This time, I was out in enough time to make it to another line to get some other items and some cookies for dessert. Earlier in the week, I let my son go to the coffee shop and get a milkshake. They had really good cookies and cakes there, so I ate there for a dessert some days. 

 

Carnival has started to serve these fancy new cakes and I was able to get a slice of it after I got my bowl. 

 

Instead of going back to the cabin, I went to deck 5 and sat on the promenade and ate my lunch there while reading.  There was to be no pool time today, not a soul was outside. The promenade was busy as it is when the outside is not sunny. 

 

When I finished eating and reading, I decided to go back and take a nap.  It’s something about having a nice, freshly made bed that makes you sleepy.  I took a picture of this towel because I love the heart they leave at the end of the cruise. All of the other towel animal got crushed or broken before they had a chance.  

 

A few things I missed on this cruise: the final lip sync battle, I did not go to karaoke or the comedy club, I didn’t make it to the red frog pub, I didn’t make it to trivia, no hot tub, and I didn’t see any mention of the quest, but I didn’t make it if it was. Time goes by so fast and there are so many things to do, conflicting time slots that I don’t see how people get bored on cruises.  I also missed the cooking demonstration that I normally do on the first sea day.  It’s a great meal/snack. I did not plan to do the steakhouse, so no loss there. My son does not appreciate that type of food to spend the money.  We did not eat in the dining room as much as I would like but we did eat a lot in the cabin, just because it was sometimes easier to walk back there than to get a table. We ate a lot of meals casually, on the fly, and this was just what we wanted, a slow pace, relaxing kind of cruise with no real plans on most days.  It really did my soul good to have this kind of break. My son is 15 and I know that he will start to do more with his friends and not hang out so much with us, so I really cherish these times. I had fun with him and he said he had a nice time as well. 

 

On saturday, we got up and made our way to the chic lounge at about 745. We were at customs at 815, and at passenger pickup at 828. There was a bit of a wait at customs but nothing too bad. We breezed through the passport line and out the door, we hadn’t brought anything back to declare.

 

We got outside and it was freezing in Galveston. The port was super empty, a few incoming passengers here and there.  

 

My sister made it there about 915 and we were on the road. She had to take us home, we live about 1.5 hours away. 

 

‘As usual, I was planning my next cruise in the car.  Actually, the cruise after the next cruise. I already had a cruise planned for the summer.  So the next one would be either my birthday, thanksgiving or Christmas.  I let my husband decide, he chose to cruise at Thanksgiving. 

 

I hope you enjoyed cruising with us, these are my last pictures.  If you have any questions, let me know ! 

 

My towel animal from Ronnino “Ron” .

 

 

This was the bowl from Mongolian wok. They had shrimp and chicken the other day, but this day they had chicken and pork, so I got that, with spicy sechuan. It was very spicy like I like it.  Now, the lines are long and they have 2 chefs at the stations, somehow, I think an improvement is in order.  I think a lot of the ingredients are premade, but the meat takes a long time to cook.  Not suggesting they shortcut that process, but they will prob start to use different ingredients to speed up the process.  A lot of people wait a very long time for those bowls. It was worth it to me.  They have gotten a lot better than before.  

 

Ron left my invitation to the diamond/plat party, I have never missed this party. 

 

I took a nap and then got ready for the nightly activities. Definitely underdressed - see pictures below.....

 

The party. 

 

I saw my favorite poolside waiter, Ratman , working the d/p party. He waited on me at the pool and again at the piano bar.  Was he following me? 

 

‘’I stuck with red wine at the party. They will make whatever you like but usually have a set of drinks made for people to choose from. They also have beer and non-alcoholic drinks too as there are some kids lucky enough to be diamond or plat 

 

I had a few glasses of wine, about 4- and they had a shrimp pastry appetizer. I enjoy playing the guessing games, enjoy the video (even though it’s the same one) and enjoy meeting the staff and talking to the other passengers. I get a kick out of these parties and appreciate the fact that they have them.  

 

‘There were 2 kids there that were diamonds , one was 6 and one was 9 from different families. They were called up on stage.  

 

This was the ugly skies that greeted us on Friday. Notice all the chairs are gone and empty.  It went from a dark gloomy humid day to a sharp, crisp windy evening 

 

‘’There were a few brave people in the hot tub. My son agreed to meet me after the party on the deck to watch “Ralph breaks the internet” . We were NOT prepared for the cold. He had already checked out 2 blankets for us.  I got 2 more of the blue blankets. It was super cold outside. 

 

‘’This was the dive in movie. 

 

Wrapped up — the blue blankets were a joke. We were very near Galveston and the weather was not playing.  I went back to the cabin and got the extra emergency comforter that was in the closet and this made my night. Now, I can watch the movie. 

 

 

After the movie was over, we went inside, walked around the atrium and ran into this, a tribute to Whitney Houston. So beautiful 

 

After the tribute, my son went to the casino bar to use his free drink ticket. I saved mine so we could use them together. He has to wait until the last night.  Of course I made sure she knew to make his non-alcoholic, he does not look 15 when he walks up to you.  We handed them our cards at the same time so I didn’t want to take any chances. 

 

‘’We enjoyed our drinks and I had to cash out at the casino.  He waited on the promenade and played his handheld while I made a few spins. I actually won a little, and immediately put this cash on the bill.  

 

[Anyislandwilldo]

Very lovely review.  You're a lucky lady to be able to cruise with your young son.

[richbum]

11 hours ago, Quilcruisers said:

I ordered it online a couple of years ago from BEALL’s in Florida. I love that suitcase.  I have seen the set of them and people say they have them at Marshall’s or Ross sometimes but I never found there.  Made by “it” luggage.  They have some really pretty designs too aside from my favorite one. I refuse to check it in when I fly, I’m afraid they will damage it.  

Thank you...I will check them out!

[MEUB1112]

Great Review, my wife and I were on the Dream that week and both ships were at Roatan together. Have a Great Day!!