Carnival Freedom simply exceeded our expectations for a first ever family cruise that included our oldest daughter (a rookie cruiser), our second daughter and our son-in-law and our 2 grand-kids (5 and 10-also rookie cruisers). My wife and I are experienced cruisers (at least in our opinion) with 5 previous cruises to our credit...one cruise was on the the Freedom's sister ship Carnival Glory...so we really had a pretty good idea of what to expect.
We choose Carnival and Carnival Freedom primarily for cost and the port of embarkation. With 7 of us traveling, the cost of air fare really was an impact on the trip decisions and a drive from Joplin, Missouri to Galveston was an easy alternative to the cost and hassle of air travel.
We arrived in Texas City, TX for our pre-cruise night knowing that the port was only about 15 minutes from hotel.
Everything we needed or expected....very comfortable.... and our stateroom steward, Jeffery, was at the "top of his game"...having a double balcony with one of our daughters next door in adjacent stateroom gave us a neat double balcony.
Very easy to embark...the scheduled check-in time made it a breeze...1 hour and 10 minute from check in to lunch on the Lido Deck a
Day trip to Doctor's Cave Beach...make sure that you secure the services of an approved taxi from within the confines of the port's security perimeter. Short 15 minute drive to the beach...a reasonable $6/person entry fee and $5 or $6 rental of a beach chair. Very attentive wait staff from local restaurant...reasonable price of $10 for a bucket of Red Strip and $30 for a sampler platter of true Jamaican jerk chicken and seafood....the sampler plate fed 7 of us. Beach was exceptionally clean and sand was brilliantly white...easy day to just relaz on the beach