ShipsCarnivalCarnival Freedom Review and Tips

Carnival Freedom Review and Tips

Carnival FreedomThe Carnival Freedom is 3,000 passenger cruise ship and the last of the Conquest-class ships built by Carnival.  The Freedom currently alternates between 8 night cruises to the Southern Caribbean and 6 night cruises to the Western Caribbean sailing from Port Everglades in Ft Lauderdale, Florida.

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Cabins

The cabins on board the Carnival Freedom were a decent size.  Our balcony cabin (7409) had a flat screen TV (view restaurant menus, book/view shore excursions, several channels of information about the cruise, a channel that had a map of your current location as well as temperature and cruising speed)  2 bathrobes, a mini fridge,  safe, couch, and small table.  The bathroom was a standard cruise ship bathroom that had shampoo and soap dispensers.  There was plenty of closet space for our clothes.  There is only one electrical outlet in the cabin so bringing a power strip or small extension cord is a must. Video of our balcony cabin

Dining

There are two main restaurants on the Freedom, the Chic and Posh which are both located on decks 3 & 4. Both restaurants offer traditional cruise dining with early and late seatings. The Chic restaurant also serves passengers who opted for “Anytime Dining”.  Breakfast is served to all guests in the Posh dining room.  Dress code for dinner is “Cruise Casual”.  Although no gym shorts, basketball shorts, beach flip-flops, bathing suits, cut-off jeans, sleeveless shirts, and baseball caps are allowed, the rule doesn’t seem to be enforced.  For the “Cruise Elegant” nights, no shorts, jeans or tshirts are allowed.  Again, we saw some who wore several of these on this night and they were not turned away.

If you opted for Anytime Dining and would like a table by yourself, ask for a table for 2.  For breakfast, they will seat you with several other guests unless you request a specific table size.

The Freedom Restaurant on the Lido Deck (9) offers breakfast, lunch and dinner buffet style.  The buffet is broken up into many different stations.  Although six of the stations offer the same food, there is also a Mongolian Wok, Fish & Chips, deli,  several grills, desserts, and a 24 hour pizza station.  The Chocolate Extravaganza is served in the Freedom Restaurant near the end of each cruise.  Ice tea, lemonade, water and coffee are available 24/7 here as well. Coca-Cola products are available for purchase, the “Unlimited Bubbles” is $6 a day (plus gratuity) per adult. For dinner, several of the entrees offered in the Posh & Chic Restaurants are also served in the Freedom Restaurant.  You can view the menus for dinner on the TV in each stateroom.  There are also 4 soft serve ice cream machines located on the Lido Deck.

Other food options include Sushi (open 5pm-8:30pm on the Promenade), 24 hr room service, and the Sun King Steakhouse that has a $35 per person charge.  There is also a coffee bar and candy store to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Carnival Freedom Fun Times

Embarkation Day  Key West   1st Sea Day    Grand Cayman   Ocho Rios Jamaica   2nd Sea Day   Room Info- Room Service

Pools & Hot Tubs

There are 4 swimming pools and 9 hot tubs on the Carnival Freedom.  The swimming pools are salt water and the hot tubs are fresh water.  On the main pool deck, there are 2 swimming pools, a water slide (salt water), 3 hot tubs, and a 264 sq ft LED screen that shows concerts, live sporting events, and family movies.  There are showers next to the pools so you can rinse off the salt water after getting out of the pools.

At the back of of the Lido Deck is an adults only area that includes a swimming pool and 2 more large hot tubs.  The great thing about this area is that is has a retractable roof that is closed when it rains.

The adults only Serenity Deck has 2 hot tubs, a couple of hammocks and hundreds of loungers.  There is also a small kiddie pool near this area.

Entertainment

There is no shortage of fun and entertainment on the Carnival Freedom.  There are 3 main shows in the Victoriana Theatre.  The Big Easy is an awarding winning musical that gives tribute to the city of New Orleans.  If you are only going to catch one show, it should be this one.  The other two shows are Jump Jive & Wail (gives tribute to the Big Band Era) and Ticket to Ride (a tribute to the Beatles).

The International Lounge offers several comedians who offer both a family friendly (PG) and an 18 and up (R) shows. A few of the comedians were extremely funny while one of them told jokes that many of us already knew.  The lounge also has several nights of karaoke including some nights where you can sing to a live band that is on stage with you.

The Freedom has the standard Carnival activities such as the hairy chest competition, ice carving demonstration, scavenger hunts, many trivia challenges, and laser tag in the Victoriana.

The Babylon Casino is located on the Promenade (deck 5) and offers the usual games (blackjack, craps, poker, slots) that are found on cruise ships.  There are Texas Hold’em and slot tournaments.  Bingo is also played most days including the ever popular Bingo where you can win a cruise.

There are also several lounges where live music is played each night. Scott’s piano bar, Swingtime and the Havana Bar offer a good variety of music from what is offered on the rest of the ship.

A video arcade,  Camp Carnival, Circle “C”, and Club 02 are provided for children.  These areas were virtually empty since we sailed in September and there were very few under the age of 18 on board the cruise.

Sports Deck

The sports deck has a small volleyball court beside a small basketball court.  The 9 hole mini golf course is around the ship’s funnel.  Although the golf course is in great shape, you have to go down 3 decks to get a putter and ball.  They are available from the towel stand by the Timeless Pool.

There is also a spa, gym and salon on the Freedom.  The gym is that easy to find as you have to go through the spa/salon to get to it.  There are 2 hot tubs and a sauna located there.

The internet cafe is located at the back left of the Havana Bar.  Unless you are looking for it and know where it is located, you most likely will never see it. The ship has wifi throughout it and rates can be as high as .75 cents a minute unless you purchase minutes in bulk.  The price is the same whether you use your computer or theirs.

Overall, the Carnival Freedom is a beautiful ship that offers decent sized cabins.  We didn’t have many complaints about this ship but we didn’t think that playing “club music” in the Freedom Restaurant while we cruised the Caribbean was the proper atmosphere.

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Ben Souza
Ben Souza
Ben is a world traveler who has visited 40+ countries, taken over 80 cruises. He is one of USA TODAY's experts for their 10Best Readers' Choice Awards. His writings have appeared and been cited in various media outlets such as Yahoo News, MSN, NPR, CNN, Fox, and ABC News. Ben currently resides in Cincinnati, Ohio. Follow Ben on Instagram. Visit Ben Souza on Linkedin. You may email Ben at [email protected].
ShipsCarnivalCarnival Freedom Review and Tips
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2 COMMENTS

  1. My wife and I cruised freedom in September 2007.and seen where still having trouble with dress codes. I wrote a letter to carnival and got passed off as some kind of idiot. It made my wife and I very uncomfortable.we don’t have tons of money to drop on cruises so we saved our money so we could go every two years. But since carnival doesn’t seem to want our money we haven’t sailed with them since.we would might go back but their going to have to follow their own policies and their going to have to respect their passengers! And I mean from the top desk. Very rude people!

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