Carnival Freedom Review- Eastern Caribbean

[PaulMedik]

 

 

 

After a smooth and graceful sailaway from St Martin we were up to cruising speed for a while when I noticed we accerated quite a bit and you could see the increased prop thrust in our wake;

 

 

Bryson came out with a tray full of various items and said that he heard some announcements about an emergency of some sort and that we were going to be stopping in St Thomas;

 

 

As we continued full speed ahead to St Thomas I took a long range shot of the Caribbean Princess as she made it out to sea;

 

 

I also experimented more with the panorama mode;

 

[PaulMedik]

We sailed in to a beautiful sunset;

 

 

The seas were extreemly gentle compared to our first three days. Our increased speed made for a visible wave out to the side;

 

 

 

 

 

After watching the sun set Karen and I went up to the Lido buffet for dinner. I had some roast, fruit, Bitter and Blanc with vanilla sause and of course warm chocolate melting cake smothered in vanilla sause;

 

 

Later that night we approached St Thomas and after meeting up with the pilot boat we quickly approached the dock and an ambulance came along side and entered via the gangway on deck zero and removed a pax along with several family members. I have some clear shots, but I didn't upload them to webshots;

 

[bluejeans]

Paul, great review. We will be doing this itinerary the 26th of this month. I see you are in WV. Me too, only in the western part. :)

[PaulMedik]

After fifteen minutes or so another ambulance came on the pier and repeated the process for a second pax;

 

 

Both pax were waving as they exited the ship on the stretcher. The second pax was setting up on the stretcher;

 

 

After loading the patient, the ambulance pulled outside of the pier area and parked there with luggage on the pier behind them. When we left the pier and as we lost sight of the pier area, the amblance was still setting there with it's lights flashing. The hospital is in sight of the pier so I'm not sure why they chose not to load and go;

 

 

 

 

We heard many versions of what happened to the pax, and many of them I knew weren't true based on what I saw as they were taken from the ship.

 

After we left St Thomas I got to see the shamrock area on the hillside for a second time in as many days. Ya never know when you'll see something that you didn't expect to see for a while. :)

[inco]

Really enjoy your pix Paul and thanks for sharing your vacation with us.

 

While the Princess is soooo much bigger and I guess not too shabby inside you lose the wraps on the back end. Interesting design though and maybe one day knowing more about it will matter.

 

And now back to our regular Freedom moments....

[PaulMedik]

Our next two days were Days at Sea. I was sunburned to a crisp on my shoulders, lower legs and feet so I spent even more time in the shade of our deck. The sun in St Martin is very intense and I thought I was under our umbrella far enough, but I guess I wasn't.

 

After a lazy morning Fred called and was on his way up when he ran into an inebriated Karen coming back to our room. She had bought a DOD in a funnel cup so Britt could have the cup and the drink was a little more potent than she expected;

 

 

After visiting with Fred briefly at our cabin we went down to his cabin to get some pics;

 

 

Suffices to say that the 1A Fred had is as big as our 9A and has a great view as well with the two large windows;

 

 

After checking out Fred's cabin, Fred, Wendy and Kathy came up to check out our balcony;

 

 

It was a perfect day for cruising;

 

 

Karen didn't last long after her funnel cup DOD;

 

[PaulMedik]

 

Thursday night was our second formal or 'cruise elegant' night;

 

 

 

After the dinner the boys had us pose for a few more pics;

 

 

I'm surprized the Carnival photogs don't have us pose like that.

 

Deck 3 outside of the lobby was peaceful as usual that night;

 

 

[PaulMedik]

Couples were dancing in the lobby to the sounds of classic hits;

 

 

Ron Pass was entertaining the piano bar crowd as Elvis;

 

 

Later on we returned to the room and the towel animal appeared;

 

 

Bryson got some pics of the midnight buffet;

 

 

 

 

[homeschool mom]

Are you trying to tell me they have the Bitter N Blanc AND the Chocolate Melting Cake on the Lido buffet? :eek:

 

Those were my favorite on the Conquest when we took our first crusie in Dec. We ate in the dining room every night. I walked about the buffet just to take a peek some nights, I didn't think we were missing any thing special. Boy was I mistaken. We'll be on the Ecstasy in Nov, I'll have to look closer at the dessert bar.

 

Really enjoying your review with pictures.:)

[PaulMedik]

Are you trying to tell me they have the Bitter N Blanc AND the Chocolate Melting Cake on the Lido buffet? :eek:

 

...... :)

 

 

 

homeschool mom,

 

Yes they did! They kept them in trays of hot water so they were just like the dinner.

[themnms]

awesme review..thanks so much..and all the balcony pics are fabo!! We booked cabin 7440 for our med cruise and cant wait

 

Mel

[CRUZ-AHOLIC]

Pics are great, Paul...keep 'em comin!

 

I finally finished my pictorial review, link is below if you haven't checked it out yet.

 

Saw your pics of Sunset Beach Bar...we were there around noon. Reminded me about DH's silliness there...he was standing on the beach, watching a jumbo jet rev up to take off across the street--I guess he didn't really think about it, but before he knew it the wind blew his cap off into the ocean! When he came back to the bar and told me the story, wet cap in hand, I just shook my head....:D

 

Cindy

[finoky]

Paul, what an awesome review. Pics are wonderful. Thanks so much for posting.

[Mikel1733]

Couples were dancing in the lobby to the sounds of classic hits;

 

 

Ron Pass was entertaining the piano bar crowd as Elvis;

 

 

Later on we returned to the room and the towel animal appeared;

 

 

Bryson got some pics of the midnight buffet;

 

]

 

 

Paul....still enjoying your pics. You've done a great job of documenting the trip. I just have to say the picture of the towel animal reminds of Roguewaves avatar:eek:

[PaulMedik]

Thank you all for your comments. I'm gonna try and get this finished today.

 

Our final day at sea was another day of exploring the ship and avoiding too much sun or walking for me because I was still crispy. My swelling feet were funny to look at.

 

Friday was another perfect day for cruising. Our balcony had full sun in the morning so I couldn't go out there for long;

 

 

 

 

For Brunch I hit the Mexican buffet and the Fish & Chips;

 

 

 

They had specials from the ship's stores set up on Lido, out side of the stores and a few other locations;

 

[PaulMedik]

The older boys had already made their shopping trips so I took Britt to the stores and for a tour of the ship;

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have no clue where everyone was. The deck chairs were all nearly empty and the weather was perfect;

 

[mitchpam]

Once again, thank you... it was really neat to see you with Fred (I have been keeping up with his review too)...I guess sometimes reading and looking at all the cruising stuff on line can make it seem a little impersonal, but that photo really put you guys back into the "real" and not "fantasy" perspective... so glad you chose to share!

[PaulMedik]

Our last night was also our last casual night for dinner;

 

 

And the Carnival photogs were out then as well;

 

 

 

After dinner we enjoyed a perfect sunset;

 

 

 

[PaulMedik]

mitchpam,

 

Thank you.

 

 

 

Karen went to check on the boys and make sure they were settle in (As you can see the hallways were full of luggage);

 

 

They were;

 

 

Uploading the rest of the pics now....thought I had them all online.

[PaulMedik]

We opted for self assist debarkation and failed to read that we still had to be our of our room by 8:30AM. The hallways were full of cleaning crews so it was a bit tight getting our luggage through. We left our cabin at 9:30 and we were in our hotel room at Intercontinental by 10:40. Suffices to say the lines weren't bad at all;

 

 

I only took one pic in the no camera area of the terminal and it was of damage to the starboard aft section that I hadn't noticed earlier;

 

 

Our 'King Deluxe Harbor View' that we paid $536 per night for at Intercontinental had a nice view of the harbor......if you looked closely in the reflection of the windows across the street. Lesson leared here was to not book Priceline for a specific hotel / room because they assume you paid for the name your own price room and they'll put you in whatever room is available regardless of what you paid for. I'm still trying to resolve that snafu. Either Intercontinental screwed up or Priceline did.

 

 

 

If we plastered ourselves against the window we could see part of the harbor. Not near the area where the ships dock which was what I wanted a view of.

 

The Intercontinental is a nice hotel with a nice pool and nearby shopping (Bayside Market) that is hard to beat;

 

 

 

 

Not exactly a flowrider, but the boys seemed to like it;

 

[PaulMedik]

We could only imagine how nice the port view would have been from our window;

 

 

 

 

We ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe;

 

 

While we were there the Hard Rock Cafe filled up with security and celeb photogs for an autograph session by Juanes. We'd never heard of him, but our waiter said he was huge in the Latino music scene. We later saw billboards at the Carnival Center listing him as playing there. (May be spelled Juanez......not sure) I didn't take any pics 'cause I wasn't sure which one he was.

 

 

After lunch we went shopping at Bayside Market;

 

[ClerkPatsy]

We could only imagine how nice the port view would have been from our window;

 

 

 

 

We ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe;

 

 

While we were there the Hard Rock Cafe filled up with security and celeb photogs for an autograph session by Juanes. We'd never heard of him, but our waiter said he was huge in the Latino music scene. We later saw billboards at the Carnival Center listing him as playing there. (May be spelled Juanez......not sure) I didn't take any pics 'cause I wasn't sure which one he was.

 

 

After lunch we went shopping at Bayside Market;

 

 

 

Bayside Market is so .... ummm.... small. J/K! Great Job on your review. I'm totally enjoying it!

[PaulMedik]

Wasn't Zoltar the fortune teller in the movie Big with Tom Hanks?

 

 

 

 

 

 

The boys did some shopping for their teachers and friends back home;

 

 

These were from a Tom Hanks movie for sure;

 

 

We had planned to ride the Monorail which stops near the Intercontinental, but we never got a chance;

 

 

Bryson and Britt thought they were back in San Juan;

 

[PaulMedik]

Bayside Market is so .... ummm.... small. J/K! Great Job on your review. I'm totally enjoying it!

 

 

 

ClerkPatsy,

 

LMAO, sorry 'bout that. It is quite a bit larger than that. Luckily the edit feature hadn't timed out so I fixed it. :)

[2BeagleLvr]

Terrific pics! And you just had to throw one in there of me, didn't ya!

 

It was great meeting you and Karen. Maybe someday we can all Cruise again and spend time together.

 

Did you see where my crazy Husband left me to go on a 3 day Cruise without me?

 

How is your burn? I am peeling like MAD! My Mom's feet are peeling and still are swollen! Crazy!

 

Take Care!

 

Wendy of WENNFRED