Right now I
may be a little less critical of a cruise since they have been shut down due to
the COVID pandemic and it has been 2 years since my last trip. My wife and I
took a six night trip aboard the Carnival Freedom with stops at Half Moon Cay,
San Juan and Amber Cove. I must admit, it was great to be cruising again, even if
things were not back to pre-pandemic levels.
I was told our ship was just under
50% full so that also has some bearing on our overall satisfaction, because we
didn’t have to wait in lines or fight to get seats or lounge chairs at the pool
like you normally do on a full ship. There were a lot of precautions being
taken (see my “Back to Cruising” article) and we both felt good about being
able to cruise safely. We observed the staff cleaning and disinfecting
everything and, were very impressed with the attention to cleanliness.
To start out, the check in process
was a breeze; we were given a check in time which was being strictly enforced, unlike
cruises prior to COVID, and that made the check-in process flow a lot smoother.
From the time the Uber dropped us off at the cruise terminal, it was only 15
minutes until we were already on the Lido deck getting lunch.
This ship is one of the mid-size
ships for Carnival, holding roughly 3000 cruisers. It has a children’s water
park, 2 water slides (for kids of any age), several bars (a sports bar, a piano
bar, the Alchemy bar (where you tell them what flavors you like and they mix up
drinks based on that), and several others. They also have 2 swimming pools and
several hot tubs; there is a nice casino, a theater, and the adults’ only “Serenity”
area.
We thought the food on this ship was
very good, with a nice variety to choose from. In addition to the two main
restaurants, we had great choices on the lido deck like the buffet, the
Mongolian Wok, the Blue Iguana Cantina and of course Guy’s Burgers (with the
best burgers at sea). We also discovered, right above the buffet area (on deck
10), a BBQ place that offered pork, beef and chicken and we really enjoyed all
three options there. They also have the standard, all day pizza and soft serve
ice cream options, and all of these are included in the price you pay for the
trip.
The entertainment was very good and
included several main theater shows like 88 Keys and Heart and Soul; these are
Broadway type shows that are packed with music and dancing. There were also
traditional activities like the Mega Deck Party full of line dancing on the
pool deck under the stars, the Halloween Costume contest for those who wanted
to dress up, the Dive–In movies; we enjoyed popcorn and fresh air while
watching “Hocus Pocus” in lounge chairs on the pool deck, an ice carving demonstration
where they took a 3 foot block of ice and carved it into a dolphin in less than
15 mins while everyone watched, several really funny world famous comedians and
the always funny “Love and Marriage” show; similar to the newlywed game from TV
but with a little more suggestive questions and answers.
We had an aft balcony room because
when we booked, they had this on sale for the price of an interior room. I’ve.
always wanted to try a back balcony room, but I must say I was a little
disappointed with it. The balcony was not as roomy as I had expected it to be,
with one chair and a lounge chair (would have been nice to have two loungers so
my wife and I could have relaxed out there together). I also assumed I would
get to see dolphins when we were pulling into and out of ports, but never saw
anything except water. The sun beats directly down on the back of the ship and
there was no breeze back there at all for the entire trip so, neither of us
could stay out there for more than about ten minutes at a time. It was nice to
be able to just walk out of my room and see the wake from our room (one of my
favorite things to do when cruising is watch the wake), but I don’t think it
will be worth the extra money to get the rear balcony in the future.
With the COVID protocols in place,
wearing a mask every time you entered a food area, an elevator, left your room
to attend a show or go to the on board shops proved to be a challenge; we often
found ourselves leaving the room and turning right around to go back to get our
masks. We always had to have a mask in our pocket because, if we were sitting
at the pool and wanted to walk to the back of the ship, we had to go through
the food court and put the mask on just to walk through that area. It took us
until the last day to figure out a routine for that, but hopefully as time goes
on that will not be necessary.
Overall, this was a wonderful trip
and we were very happy with Carnival and the Freedom ship a well. The
entertainment was very good, the food was above par, the ship was nice, the
crew was very nice and we were happy to be back on the ocean again. If you have
been thinking about taking a cruise, there is no better time than now and, as
Carnival says, “Welcome back to Cruising”.
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