First cruise and we had a blast!
Carnival Freedom Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 1 cruise (first)
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 31
7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Galveston Roundtrip)
Sail date: January 12, 2019
Ship: Carnival Freedom
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 8449
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
First cruise and was so blown away by the friendly staff and the amount of fun that could be had in a week. I would've been just as happy staying on the ship for the entire week!Embarkation
Embarkation was a breeze. We showed up early and were just placed into a early/late line that still moved pretty quickly. All of the staff at the Galveston Port were very polite and made us feel welcome every step of the way. There were a lot of new workers but they were still very efficient and very helpful with a smile.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
The ships main dining rooms were great! We didn't have to wait long for a private table at any of the main restaurants and the staff happily accommodated us when we requested a large table to seat our entire group of 10. We just gave them the room numbers after we had lunch, and we had new seating reservations waiting under each of our doors when we returned to our rooms to get ready for dinner later that evening. The wait staff in the main restaurants were very polite and happy and made you feel like a VIP every day! The buffet was also very good with large variety of food. Wish they would have had more drinks available other than the 3 standard juices, tea, coffee, and water. Soft drinks and power aid were available only at the bars not in the buffet. There were a large variety of restaurants. I only wish they were open longer. The burger and pizza place was open 24/7 but the other speciality restaurants had limited hours.
Onboard Activities
The pool water was way too chilly for the mid 70 degree weather we had on our cruise and the hot tubs filled up pretty quickly. There was even a water slide but it was a pain to get back up to the top once you went down. Only did the slide a few times before I was too tired to run back to the top. The Casino was very nice but the smoke almost killed it for me. They had plenty of card tables, a craps table, two roulette tables, and a bunch of slots machines and other games of chance. Beer pong tournament and bean bag (corn hole), and bocce ball tournaments were all a lot of fun and ran very well. The games were modified to accommodate numerous teams and quicker game play but they were still a lot of fun. The trivia pursuit challenge was also very fun and got us working with teams of people we didn't even know. It was a great way to meet new friends!
Entertainment
The multiple Comedy shows were great! I mean who doesn't like to laugh lol. Joe was a great host and got us all in the mood for show. There were PG rated and adult rated shows several times throughout the day and they were a lot of fun.
There were several musical performances on the main theater stage and many performances throughout the ships many smaller stages. Among my favorites were the Violin trio which played a large variety of modern songs that I didn't even know could be played on the Violin. They played beautiful music and they were all beautiful as well. (Maria) took time to get to know us and made my wife and I feel very special. There was a country singer (Victor James) which played some modern and classic country songs in the Red Frog bar and on the smaller stages and he was an amazing artist and spent time with us as at our table and got to know our group as well he was very entertaining and very polite.
There was a Drag Queen show which was more adult themed but so funny and entertaining. We laughed so hard and had such a great time.
The piano bar with Donald playing was one of our favorite nightly stops. (Donald) would play just about anything you requested and would even have guest come up to sing and play. We shut this place down more than half the nights we were on board. (I Wayan) was our waiter most nights at this location and he was the best! He was so attentive to our entire group of 10 and we never had to wait for a drink or a smile! He knew us all by name and he made us feel so special!
Children's Programs
This cruise ship wasn't set up very well for a kid's club and I'm glad I didn't bring them on this trip. There was an arcade that was pretty nice but the games weren't free or cheap and they would get old after a few hours of gameplay. There was also a kids club (H20 - Club) that was designated for teenagers but they didn't have very much to do in the club. There was a water slide outside by the pool but as I said before it was such a pain to get back up to the top it would get old fast too. The outside basketball and volleyball area was pretty nice but that was about it for kids activities at least for teens.
Service and Staff
The service and the staff were so welcoming and so polite. I say a couple of guest complaining about not getting something for nothing and basically being spoiled brats and the staff never got rude or lost their professional demeanor and they did everything they could to make those unruly guest happy.
I had absolutely loved all of the staff and couldn't help but feel so welcome and like a VIP everytime I spoke with any of the staff.
Our personal room steward Tris was a pleasure from the very first meeting and made sure we had everything we needed all of time. He gave me his personal number to call day or night if I need anything and he always answered. The room was always clean and he would leave a different towel animal on our bed everyday. We started collecting them and anxiously entered the room each day after brunch to see what he would come up with next.
The waiters and waitresses were so friendly and seemed to always remember all of our names. Among some of our favorites were; I Wayan at the Piano bar, Tingting at the Casino, Pavel bartender at Casino, Christian at the Red Frog, and Lencia at the Havana Club. They must work 24/7 because we saw them all the time all over the ship working non-stop and they were always smiling and making sure we were having a great time.
At our dinners in the Posh restaurant, Elvis and his team provided such great service and were so polite and welcoming. The food was amazing, our tummies and our glasses were always so full.
At Brunch Ronaldo and Seychelle provided us with the best service you could possibly ask for and made us feel so welcome and comfortable. They were extremely polite, professional and provided that personal touch that made us feel like we knew them for years after they only waited on us a few times.
Ship Quality
The ship's common areas were always clean and the staff did an amazing job of picking up after everyone. There aren't any trash cans anywhere so if you have something to throw away you just leave it on a table and it'll disappear within a minute or two. The restrooms were always being cleaned and I never had an issue with cleanliness. There were several bars and clubs throughout the ship that had some form of entertainment going on at any time. It was a bit chilly for the duration of our cruise mid 70 degrees but with the wind it was too cold to use the pool. There are a lot of outside seating available and an adult area which is nice if you want to get away from the young ones. The Casino was about the only place you could smoke inside and it was VERY smoky especially at the entrance of the bar which was designated smoking. Half of the bar was non smoking but it didn't really make a difference the ventilation wasn't adequate to get the smoke or smoke smell out of the casino bar area.
Cabin / Stateroom
Since this was our first cruise we decided to spend the extra money and get a balcony room. My wife can get a little claustrophobic so I didn't want to take any chances. My friends who have been cruising before assured us we wouldn't spend that much time in the room, but after visiting my friends rooms on deck 1 with a window view and even on deck 8 with a balcony I was glad we got the room we did. Our room was larger than the other balcony rooms because it was at the end of the hallway and while it didn't look that much bigger on the ship's layout I can assure you the extra square feet made all the difference. We had 10 people in our room and still had room to spare. It was about the same size as a standard hotel suite and even though we didn't use the balcony much, the times we did use it made us grateful to have it. There was plenty of storage and seating and the bathrooms were more than adequate they even had soap and shampoo dispensers in the shower if you don't want to bring your own.
We went ahead and stocked the mini fridge with some beverages and I'm glad we did. It was nice having a soft drink or juice or even beer in the fridge for that instant gratification without having to go anywhere or call anyone especially first thing in the morning. There were USB outlets on each of the night stands which worked great for charging your phones and accessories and plenty of outlets throughout the room. We brought extra power strips but didn't really need them.
Ship tip
If you plan on stocking your fridge do it at least 24 hours prior to leaving so you can have drinks in your room when you get on board. If you think you want the internet plan, get it at least 24 hours before the day of your departure day. It's a lot more expensive after you get on board. The details on the ships wi-fi says it doesn't work with iMessage and facetime but the highest level wi-fi does. It worked just fine with my iPhone and iMessage and even facetime.
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Ports of call
We debarked from Galveston and got there the evening before the ships departure. There are numerous restaurants along the seawall and plenty of hotels as well as Walmarts and drugstores to pick up any last minute items before departure. We went a few blocks off the seawall to a restaurant called The Black Pearl and were extremely pleased with the service and the quality of the food. If you go there, get there early because it gets crowded really quickly after 5pm. We
This was our favorite stop. We didn't go on an excursion but we did rent some 6 seater golf carts and toured the island and made our own excursion. Got some recommendations from a few locals to check out The Hog Fish restaurant off the main island and it did not disappoint. After eating lunch we just walked around Duval Street which is easily walking distance from the ship. Parking can be a bit hard to find near the bars and restaurants so we got the Island tour and lunch done first then came back and walked Duval Street bar hopping and souvenir shopping until it was time to head back to the ship. Didn't feel hustled or have to worry about being kidnapped or extorted and we had wifi and local phone service. The bars were so much fun and we a had a great time walking and souvenir shopping.
There was not much going on at this port. Several cookie cutter shops and a bar no doubt set up by Carnival to sell souvenirs right off the ship. We did an excursion (VIP Sailing) sailing and beach time which were the highlight of this stop.
Had some friends who did an Island sightseeing tour all around the island and they were depressed when they got back.
Nassau was much prettier than Freeport and had much larger established shopping and restaurant area. There are also people trying to hustle you at every step. I would try to be nice only to be pressured more and more to buy something/anything. I even had someone try to hand me a small trinket which I didn't want only to have him attempt to get money from me. "It's for you my friend" which means if you take it, you'll owe him money. It seemed like every local on the street was trying to scam or hustle you. We did a boating tour of the island which was great for seeing celebrity homes and getting a history of the island. Then anchored for a while to snorkel and even went to our own private beach. We didn't go to Atlantis but heard it was fun.
Disembarkation
I was traveling with friends who were departing the ship early with deck 1 and we were on deck 8. I went to the guest services and they were able to accomodate an earlier departure with us so that we could leave with the rest of our party instead of having to wait the extra 2 hours. Getting off the ship was easy peasy and everyone on the ship's staff was so friendly and accomodating.