A great time....until debarkation

Carnival Freedom Cruise Review

mdeff

Contributor Level: Second Mate

76 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 3

Helpful Votes: 47

Overall rating:

4.9 out of 5

5 Night Eastern Caribbean (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)

Sail date: October 10, 2022

Ship: Carnival Freedom

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 7380

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

Except for debarkation, had a wonderful time. The service was up to the usual standards, and for post COVID-19 that is a big improvement. James Love was a great cruise director.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Embarkation went very smooth. We had a check in time of 1030, bit due to shuttle to the port issues, didn't arrive till about 1130. We were wisked in due to having a member of our party being in an electric scooter. Zipped to passport check. Zipped through security. Boarded the ship. Did the new Muster station briefing and then up to Lido for Guy's Burger and an adult beverage by 1215

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

The only thing that was off was the lack of the usual tropical pre sail away music. They didn't start that till about 3.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ship tip

If possible, do not have a matching return date with Mardi Gras. Their priority seems to be the shiny new ship at the expense of this one.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Amber Cove (Puerto Plata), Dominican Republic

5 out of 5

Did the Puerto Plata City sights with Beach stop excursion. Good tour guide, but not a lot of things to do or see in town. The Beach stop was longer than expected when described as a "stop". Great Beach. Great service. Warm water. We were at port next to Mardi Gras. Heard stories that the cruise center beaches had all the chairs gobbled up by the MG guests. Glad we were on a better beach.

Thumbs Up 1

Grand Turk Island

5 out of 5

Island Highlights and Beach excursion. Learned Great history of Grand Turk. Stopped at a museum which normally isn't included but this tour did include it. Beach was Governor's Beach, great service and again we didn't have to compete with MG guests at the cruise center Beach or pool.

Thumbs Up 1

Port Canaveral, Florida

5 out of 5

Stayed at Days Inn Cocoa Beach and took the shuttle to the port. Shuttle is contracted by the hotel and our driver had bad information from his corporate, so that caused a delay in getting to the port.

Thumbs Up 0

Disembarkation

1 out of 5

Disembarking was the most haphazard and inefficient of the 14 cruises that I have been on. 1. The last of the self Debarking passengers didn't get called until 9:30. 2. They scheduled a test of ALL elevators during debarkation. 3. When they finally called the luggage zones, they called 1-10 all at the same time. 4. The lines inside the port were long and slow moving. 5. The Park Port Canaveral shuttle service was even more disorganized than Carnival Freedom. As a luggage zone 4 passenger, I wasn't at my car until noon. Horrendous. Based on comments from the shuttle driver, terrible debarkation is routine for Freedom. It certainly was today.

7 Comments

Other reviews of this sailing

It was okay…

It was good.

Lovely trip! Best vacation we've had with kids in tow!