Carnival Freedom Whales tail?

[kodasmom328]

Hi we took a ride down to port canaveral a few weeks ago and saw the tail on the Freedom. we looked it up and saw there was a fire, has the tail been fixed? are they just cruising around with it like that?? I was going to book but not sure… I dont want to go with it like that.  i would just book a different ship. 

Edited May 1, 2023 by kodasmom328

[mz-s]

it won't be fixed until drydock in October of this year. book a different ship if you want I guess.

[nascartim]

It's been that way for quite a few months. It should have absolutely no bearing on your cruise. If you choose that ship, I'm sure you will have a great time inspite of the minor issue. 

[shof515]

you should get used to seeing a whale tail less ship as 2 carnival costa ships will not have a tail 

[AlVNY]

Sailed on Freedom last July shortly after that fire. Didn't make any difference at all that it was not there. 

[groundloop]

1 hour ago, kodasmom328 said:

 I was going to book but not sure… I dont want to go with it like that.  i would just book a different ship. 

 

I sure wouldn't base my decision on which ship to book based on the whale tail, that'll have zero influence on the enjoyment of your cruise.  

 

With that being said, we were on Freedom for Thanksgiving last year and were very disappointed, if that would have been our first time cruising it probably would have also been our last (we've been on 15 cruises now with another 8 booked through next year).  It was extra crowded for Thanksgiving and Freedom just didn't seem to handle the crowds well, there were long lines for everything.  There was also a distinct sewage smell in the hall not too far from our cabin.  To add insult to injury we debarked at a different terminal than where we got on the ship and had to be bussed back to our cars and that was a disorganized mess (I later checked the Port Canaveral port authority schedule it looks like Freedom is the only ship Carnival does this with - the red-headed step child so to speak). 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 1, 2023 by groundloop

[kodasmom328]

7 hours ago, shof515 said:

you should get used to seeing a whale tail less ship as 2 carnival costa ships will not have a tail 

it wasnt so much that its not there but when we saw it, it was all burnt looking. sorry but i am not rich dont cruise often and when i do I dont want a jacked up looking ship. It would be my boyfriends first cruise. I will just go with another ship. 

[mz-s]

19 minutes ago, kodasmom328 said:

it wasnt so much that its not there but when we saw it, it was all burnt looking. sorry but i am not rich dont cruise often and when i do I dont want a jacked up looking ship. It would be my boyfriends first cruise. I will just go with another ship. 

 

They did a repair to the ship so that it is not burnt looking anymore.

 

If you don't want a jacked up looking ship you should probably stay away from Carnival altogether. Faded carpet, rust all over (even the bathroom door in my last cabin was rusty), dirty windows, etc., are sort of Carnival's calling cards unless you sail on a much newer ship.

[Frank12]

We've sailed her twice with the messed up tail.  It didn't affect our cruises one bit!😜

[EngIceDave]

11 hours ago, kodasmom328 said:

Hi we took a ride down to port canaveral a few weeks ago and saw the tail on the Freedom. we looked it up and saw there was a fire, has the tail been fixed? are they just cruising around with it like that?? I was going to book but not sure… I dont want to go with it like that.  i would just book a different ship. 

 

The way the ship looks is a reflection on you in someway?

 

Those people in Cozumel be goin' "Oh man, here comes Koda's mom on that ugly ship, shame."

 

LOL

[kodasmom328]

10 hours ago, EngIceDave said:

 

The way the ship looks is a reflection on you in someway?

 

Those people in Cozumel be goin' "Oh man, here comes Koda's mom on that ugly ship, shame."

 

LOL

na not a reflection of me but yall so snarky. when we saw it it was all burnt looking. someone here already said they fixed that. You funny tho. haha. bet in person there is not much to say…. I work hard I want to have a good time. i want photos, not photos with some burned up thing in the background. my choice but thanks for your info 👍🏽😉

[kodasmom328]

13 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

They did a repair to the ship so that it is not burnt looking anymore.

 

If you don't want a jacked up looking ship you should probably stay away from Carnival altogether. Faded carpet, rust all over (even the bathroom door in my last cabin was rusty), dirty windows, etc., are sort of Carnival's calling cards unless you sail on a much newer ship.

oh well its good it’s repaired. thanks. no I dont want dirty. went on the magic when it was new. it was sooo nice. 

[CarnivalShips480]

5 minutes ago, kodasmom328 said:

oh well its good it’s repaired. thanks. no I dont want dirty. went on the magic when it was new. it was sooo nice. 

You can always just go on another ship but if you wanted to go on Freedom then go in November or after when its funnel is back to normal.

 

The insides aren't a dump like someone suggested

[dolphinsfan246]

I can 100% see where the OP is coming from. This was the Freedom the other day docked next to her sister. You can visibly see that it’s much more worn out because the smoke and soot doesn’t go out and away from the ship like the winged funnels provide. Now does this affect you’re cruise experience? Probably not BUT i can totally see why somebody wouldn’t want to bring a first timer to this ship. Not the best first impression. I understand the first available dry dock wasn’t until october but they know they can do better to at least keep it looking fresh. 

[mz-s]

7 minutes ago, dolphinsfan246 said:

I can 100% see where the OP is coming from. This was the Freedom the other day docked next to her sister. You can visibly see that it’s much more worn out because the smoke and soot doesn’t go out and away from the ship like the winged funnels provide. Now does this affect you’re cruise experience? Probably not BUT i can totally see why somebody wouldn’t want to bring a first timer to this ship. Not the best first impression. I understand the first available dry dock wasn’t until october but they know they can do better to at least keep it looking fresh. 

 

Oh I see yes that looks horrible. 

[jsglow]

13 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

Oh I see yes that looks horrible. 

Yep. But the simple reality is they don't have those babies sitting in the warehouse and don't have the drydock time.  Clearly Carnival did what they could do in short order and then put her necessarily back in service until a permanent fix could be made.

 

That reminds me.  I gotta get off this darn CC forum and get back to repairing my deck! 🧹🛠️

[mz-s]

47 minutes ago, jsglow said:

Yep. But the simple reality is they don't have those babies sitting in the warehouse and don't have the drydock time.  Clearly Carnival did what they could do in short order and then put her necessarily back in service until a permanent fix could be made.

 

That reminds me.  I gotta get off this darn CC forum and get back to repairing my deck! 🧹🛠️

 

I remember reading on here when it happened that Carnival could have a new funnel slapped on her, practically in a matter of hours, and it could surely be done at Freeport.

 

In any event it won't matter in a few months when the funnel is repaired.

 

In the meantime though it certainly looks less than ideal, but yeah what was their alternative? Conquest class is their workhorse class, they literally can't afford to have any of them go down for any longer than is absolutely necessary.

[evandbob]

I've sailed on some Carnival ships that emitted tremendous amounts of soot that fell onto the rear parts of open decks and balconies, and eventually into the sea.  Not pretty, and stinky as well.  Glad they are finally switching to less sulpher diesel fuel, or like the Mardi Gras, liquid natural gas., 

 

Seeing open flames shooting out of the ships' (or a planes) exhaust would bother me immensely as a safety issue.

Edited May 2, 2023 by evandbob

[KmomChicago]

17 hours ago, kodasmom328 said:

it wasnt so much that its not there but when we saw it, it was all burnt looking. sorry but i am not rich dont cruise often and when i do I dont want a jacked up looking ship. It would be my boyfriends first cruise. I will just go with another ship. 

They did a partial repair to remove the burned material and repainted the funnel, but they didn't fully restore the whole tail shape for now as it is decorative and does not really have anything to do with the ship operation.  They don't have replacement tails in the warehouse unfortunately so it will be some time before they can fully restore its usual look.

 

It looks okay but if the signature Whale Tail look of the ship is important you will want to pick a different ship for now.  I get it, if it were my first Carnival Cruise and I had seen whale tails all my life I might be a little bummed to be on the ship that doesn't have one.

 

Edited May 2, 2023 by KmomChicago

[Bostwick girl]

On 5/1/2023 at 12:55 PM, groundloop said:

 

I sure wouldn't base my decision on which ship to book based on the whale tail, that'll have zero influence on the enjoyment of your cruise.  

 

With that being said, we were on Freedom for Thanksgiving last year and were very disappointed, if that would have been our first time cruising it probably would have also been our last (we've been on 15 cruises now with another 8 booked through next year).  It was extra crowded for Thanksgiving and Freedom just didn't seem to handle the crowds well, there were long lines for everything.  There was also a distinct sewage smell in the hall not too far from our cabin.  To add insult to injury we debarked at a different terminal than where we got on the ship and had to be bussed back to our cars and that was a disorganized mess (I later checked the Port Canaveral port authority schedule it looks like Freedom is the only ship Carnival does this with - the red-headed step child so to speak). 

 

 

 

 

We were on Freedom April 1, had a great cruise, no issues! We had 3 suites on deck 7. Best cabin attendant ever! We had no problems with debark, it was at terminal 6 where we started from. We will be going back May 13, so we will see how it goes!

 We had the same experience as you described on Magic last November. We embarked at Terminal 6 and the last day were told we would be debarking at terminal 3 because of an electrical issue at terminal 6 and bussed back to get our vehicles. Bear in mind we had 2 mobility scooters in our party. We are all Diamond so we’re off pretty early. It was total chaos as you said, took us over an hour to find someone who knew what to do about scooters. There was one little bus and it wasn’t even there, said it was on the way! Finally 2 of our group got on a bus and went back to 6, got the vehicles and came back to get us! We didn’t get on the road home till after 10:30 which is when we’re normally almost home. Sure hope we never have that happen again! 

[CajunOyster]

8 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

I remember reading on here when it happened that Carnival could have a new funnel slapped on her, practically in a matter of hours, and it could surely be done at Freeport.

 

In any event it won't matter in a few months when the funnel is repaired.

 

In the meantime though it certainly looks less than ideal, but yeah what was their alternative? Conquest class is their workhorse class, they literally can't afford to have any of them go down for any longer than is absolutely necessary.

 

I remember everything from "she'll be back to crossing in a few weeks" to "that damage is deep - she's headed for the scrapyard".

I don't, however, recall anyone claiming she'd get a whole new funnel that quickly 🙄

[PSU2LSU]

Was on the freedom as the first ship after the fire.  The soot would constantly fall on deck 10 and they had to constantly vacuum it up.  Never seen that on any other cruise.  

[kodasmom328]

On 5/2/2023 at 1:11 PM, KmomChicago said:

They did a partial repair to remove the burned material and repainted the funnel, but they didn't fully restore the whole tail shape for now as it is decorative and does not really have anything to do with the ship operation.  They don't have replacement tails in the warehouse unfortunately so it will be some time before they can fully restore its usual look.

 

It looks okay but if the signature Whale Tail look of the ship is important you will want to pick a different ship for now.  I get it, if it were my first Carnival Cruise and I had seen whale tails all my life I might be a little bummed to be on the ship that doesn't have one.

 

oh thats way better than when we saw it! I ended up booking in miami because of the itinerary 

[Beer knurd]

On 5/1/2023 at 7:38 PM, kodasmom328 said:

it wasnt so much that its not there but when we saw it, it was all burnt looking. sorry but i am not rich dont cruise often and when i do I dont want a jacked up looking ship. It would be my boyfriends first cruise. I will just go with another ship. 

It’s not burnt, that was repaired after the fire. I just got off a couple of weeks ago and it’s soot. The stack is an improvised design and the tail will be replaced in the fall of this year. It is a smaller, older ship but I found the staff to be among the best in the fleet.

[jsglow]

Just for an update, she's scheduled for dry dock beginning 10/4/23.  That's when she'll have her new whaletail installed.