Fair or less on Carnival Freedom

Item: Carnival Freedom
Rating: 3.9
Author: mychuckiebaby

Carnival Freedom Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

mychuckiebaby

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 43

Overall rating:

3.9 out of 5

7 Night Western Caribbean (Galveston Roundtrip)

Sail date: September 01, 2019

Ship: Carnival Freedom

Cabin type: Balcony

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

The Carnival Freedom needs a lot of improvements and could be managed better. Trying to board the tender for Grand Cayman we went down to level 2 where the elevator ended then were herded back to midship dock and down many steps and a steep stairwell to board the tender. It appeared that the 70 club was a waste of space. Never saw anyone in there. Carnival needs to find better English speaking personnel to make announcements. Couldn’t understand most of what they were saying.

Embarkation

3 out of 5

Very good as we selected early boarding and the lines were not long and moving fast.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Wait staff was excellent in the restaurants and entire staff in all dining areas was the same. Mongolian was great but the cooking area needed better ventilation. Smoke everywhere. It appeared that opening times in the buffet areas was never the same each day.

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5

Both pools were so over crowded in the evening that often timed there was standing room only and at times not even that. Jacuzzi’s were over crowded in the evening and the temperatures did not appear to have temperature regulated. I nearly blistered my feet in the serenity starboard side jacuzzi on Friday night and Saturday morning it was nearly empty and the port side jacuzzi was cool. The aft jacuzzis were fine but over crowded. It was quite obvious that there is just not enough of these areas for the number of passengers onboard.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Fair or less entertainment!

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Excellent, especially the room stewards. I think that they worked nearly all day and night. Waiters and all staff in the restaurants and buffet areas were excellent or better.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Cleanliness was awesome. Design has a lot to be desired. No access from forward to aft on decks 3 and 4. Had to go to deck 5. Not enough room in pools, theatre and deck 5 retail areas especially when they had tables set up for sales and when Pixels set up for photo shoots.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

Cabin 8461 was very small compared to side cabins like we usually have. We paid extra for that cabin as it was advertised as an extended deck. It appears that in order to extend the deck, they had to reduce the room size. We had to turn sideways to navigate around the bed. Cleanliness was excellent. We did not have hot water for more than one shower and that one shower had to be before about 8:00 AM. I complained to the room attendants every day and they advised each day that they had contacted maintenance. On the fourth day of the cruise I went to the customer service desk and they called maintenance while I was there. Later that day I noticed a string of five service personnel working in an area above the ceiling in the hallways near our cabin. Later that day and the rest of the cruise we had hot water. Unacceptable.