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SURPRISINGLY AWESOME

Carnival Freedom Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 5
Helpful Votes: 265

Overall rating:

4.2 out of 5
Carnival Freedom

7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Galveston Roundtrip)

Sail date: June 16, 2018

Ship: Carnival Freedom

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 7307

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

We have sailed many times, and aboard Carnival's larger, newer ships (Magic and Breeze). We booked the older, smaller Freedom this time to get a change of itineraries within Galveston Port's limited offerings, and worried that it would be less enjoyable. WRONG! The Freedom turned out to be nicer, cleaner and better food than the bigger ships. Our usual Grand Suite was bigger than the others' and classy, not gawdy like those were. While still not as good as RCL, cruising the Freedom was very enjoyable, had outstanding service and care, and was smooth-sailing and comfortable with fewer misbehaving kids (and adults) than the other two ships. Great Cruise!

Embarkation

5 out of 5
Amazing, but have to admit that Priority Embarkation/Debarkation featured with Suites is the reason. On and off in no time with no lines.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
Better food than the Magic or Breeze (although not as great as RCL). The added-cost Steak House was amazing and worth the charge.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5
Not as many offerings as the larger ships, but still fun. Things like the bean Bag competitions were great but Bingo at Carnival is always a waste of time.

Entertainment

4 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
All service and staff members were efficient, courteous, enthusiastic and friendly. As good as on any ship or cruise line.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
We were apprehensive about sailing a ship smaller/older than the Breeze and Magic, but were amazed at how clean, maintained and comfortable it was.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ship tip

Prepare to be surprised at how clean and well-kept the ship is despite being a decade old and not the biggest Carnival class.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Galveston, Texas

3 out of 5
Nothing special - Galveston's port is kind of beat-up and the beaches, unlike Florida's sugar-sand, are as brown as the Bay's water is dirty.
Thumbs Up

Key West, Florida

4 out of 5
It's OK, but also not very special if you've been there before.
Thumbs Up

Freeport, Grand Bahama Island

2 out of 5
Surprised and disappointed about how beat-up the port was nearly a year after the Hurricanes. It was obvious.
Thumbs Up

Nassau, Bahamas

3 out of 5
The immediate port area was in good shape despite the 2017 Hurricane, but Atlantis is as big a high-priced tourist trap as ever.
Thumbs Up

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
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6 Comments

DebandMarkC    6 years ago

We enjoyed the Carnival Freedom last February had a real good time very nice ship
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shariberry16    6 years ago

Glad to hear, I will be on this ship in September!!
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tkaye    6 years ago

Freedom is my favorite
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lmajel    6 years ago

I didn’t at all too small for me
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sarahpetty    6 years ago

We liked the Freedom too.
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IkeDeb    6 years ago

Great
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Other reviews of this sailing

Good times for this 1st time Carnival cruiser!
We had a great time on this cruise!! Man Tara was our server for dinner and he was AMAZING!! We looked forward to seeing him each day. Rodrigo was our room service attendee and he was also AMAZING!! They were the best’! They truly made our trip perfect!
Carnival Freedom, Fantastic Fun