Carnival Freedom Review

4.5 / 5.0
1,366 reviews

1st Time Cruise Disapointment New Years Cruise

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Freedom
User Avatar
Catergirl32
First Time Cruiser • Age 40s

Rating by category

Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
Service
Cabin

Additional details

Sail Date: Dec 2007

My husband and I decided to take a 2nd honeymoon 8 years later! Everyone we talked to said cruising was the BEST way to take a vacation. We decided to take the New Years, Eastern Caribbean Cruise on the Carnival Freedom because it was a brand new boat and we couldn't wait. After you read our comments below you will understand why we probably won't cruise again ESPECIALLY with Carnival.

CARNIVAL PERSONAL VACATION PLANNER We went through a Carnival Cruise Line Personal Vacation Planner and he pushed the "extra big" corner room "2470" which was big and had 2 large windows however it was located on the 2nd floor in the Aft part of the boat. When I found out the location of this room I called the "vacation planner" and asked him if we should up grade to a balcony room in the middle of the boat and he "assured" me that I would love the spacious corner room. This room was horrible! Put it this way, the sea was so rough on one of the nights they cancelled all shows and activities but we had to sleep down there. It was so violent mooring up to the dock in the mornings that we had glasses fall off the vanity and shatter. Then when you thought the stern thrusters were done at 6:30am and everything quit shaking the winches fired up for the next 15 minutes until the ship was secure. When we were not mooring it was so violent from the waves and the wagging of the ship we would wait until 2am to go to bed because we would get nauseous. But the constant humming of the engines and propellers would gently drift us off to sleep. After talking to many other guests who had cruised before they all laughed because they new better than to be put that far back and be that far down on the boat. Being that we booked this all the way back in May we feel the "Carnival Vacation Planner" took advantage of us and ruined our first vacation in eight years.

TRANSPORTATION/PORTERAGE Once we got to Miami I found it comical, that unless you had ten dollars in your hand, no one spoke English or embarrassed you because you did not tip enough. Here is an example on how Carnival is condoning such practices. We paid to have Carnival pick us up at the airport and drop us off at the cruise terminal. First every other cruise line had a big sign in the air to show who they were with, but not carnival. She was leaning up against a pillar until a few of us found her and told the rest of your guests where she was. We then got on a Grey Hound bus and started the trip to the terminal all the while being reminded at least three times how it is customary to tip the driver. The driver let us know this in case we forgot when we arrived at the terminal. The driver required us to stay on the bus while he unloaded - for "safety reasons". All the driver did was pull the bags off and set them in front of the dolly. The "safety reasons" was the porter wanted his cut of the tip to move the bags another six inches on to the dolly. When I did not tip the porter enough (he felt) he stood there with his hand out and embarrassed me in front of other guests. I just walked away praying that my bags showed up to my room. Some of our bags showed u at 1:30pm and others showed up at 8:30pm. All the while we were frantic we didn't tip the porter $20 to do his job and now her bags were gone. Great first 12 hours to our vacation. After the cruise we weren't taking any chances and decided to self disembark and took a taxi back to the airport even though we pre paid through Carnival for the bus back to the airport we had enough.

Cabin Review

previous reviewnext review

Find a Carnival Freedom Cruise from $239

Any Month

Get special cruise deals, expert advice, insider tips and more.By proceeding, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

© 1995—2024, The Independent Traveler, Inc.