What a horrible excuse for a cruise

Carnival Freedom Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 0
Helpful Votes: 36

Overall rating:

1 out of 5
Verified Review
Carnival Freedom

8 Night Eastern Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: July 16, 2011

Ship: Carnival Freedom

Cabin type: Balcony

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 13 years ago

Review summary

This was my 8th cruise, and, by far, this was the worst one I have been on. The cabin smelled horrible (smelled like cigar smoke and exhaust), and after voicing my concern 4 times, they finally sent an engineer who fixed it in about 30 minutes. Why was this not done from the beginning? The "evening shows" were amateurish as best. They were posted to begin at a set time, but the the ship's "fun crew" was so busy trying to sell "just one more ticket for bingo" that they were consistently 20 minutes late every night except the last night when they were over 45 minutes late starting. There was no information to be found on-board about the ports of call EXCEPT for the shopping opportunities for the stores that had a commission back to Carnival (it was even stated in the fine print). There were SO MANY photographers set up in the Promenade deck that it was almost impossible to walk through. I was actually afraid for my safety because the equipment blocked free movement in case of an emergency.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Entertainment

1 out of 5

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Ship Quality

1 out of 5
Room and hallways smelled horrible.

Cabin / Stateroom

1 out of 5
Room smelled

Ports of call

Tortola, British Virgin Islands

5 out of 5
Again took a taxi to a local beach ($14 each way). Chair free for the day--rented snorkeling equipment for $10 all day) Snorkeling right from the beach. Great food--the guy actually made frozen drinks using a blender he had running off his car battery! While we were there, 3 different "Sail and Snorkel" from the ship stopped here to disgorge the folks from the ship for a 40 minute snorkel.

Nassau, Bahamas

5 out of 5
Hilton Day Pass = $45 which gave you run of the property, a $30 voucher for lunch/drinks and a free chair and towels. Easy walk from the ship.

St. John's, Antigua

5 out of 5
Took a local taxi to one of the beaches ($16 round trip)---secluded with about a half dozen people on it. Rented beach chairs and umbrella for $6 for The people on the ship sponsored trips were loudly complaining about how crowded the beaches were

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

5 out of 5
Booked the tour through Orbitz and it was great. The people who booked through the ship were not as happy. They felt rushed all day.

Pros: The destinations

Cons: The overkill on photographers.

Recommends Carnival Freedom? No.

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