We, my family of 11 and 8 friends, some first time cruisers, cruised on July 17th to the 25th on the Carnival freedom. The ship was a nice looking ship, not bad. From the moment I got on the ship I just didn't feel the excitement I felt on my last year cruise on the Carnival Pride. The staff and the cruise director last year was so much more lively then this crew. The food in the dining room and on the Lido deck was horrible. Some of the bartenders were not nice and hardly ever smiled. The entertainment on the Lido deck by the pool was I don't know what you would call it but you couldn't understand one word he was singing, he was reading the words off of a sheet of paper, warbling rather than singing, stopping at times in confusion, just horrible. The big screen on the Lido deck had nothing but news and the same water scenes over and over again, what was that? especially if it's raining for two days you better forget it nothing at all going on!!!! No games except the lame hairy chest contest and the scavenger hunt really!! the entertainment in the casino lounge was horrible, sounded more like bad kareoke than anything.The evening shows at 10pm, hardly any 8:30 shows, were good though. The Casino didn't really have any great machines like the other ships did and the casino was small. The cruise director and his staff was hardly ever seen if ever only on the tv in the evening and before the nightly shows started. They say if you don't have an enthusiastic cruise director that get the people motivated than your cruise won't be as exciting as expected. Well that's exactly what happened, he was horrible. That would be Josh. Overall this was a very disappointing cruise and I feel like I threw my money away. Don't think I'll be cruising for a while!!