We embarked on our cruise 09/29/2018. We had been on to other cruises with Carnival, the triumph and the magic. Those cruises were wonderful and we had a great time. When we 1st boarded the freedom we noticed that it seemed like we were back in the seventies and eighties on that cruise ship. I paid for the Internet on the cruise $97 never received Internet at all. The TV's are very outdated. It stated we would have cable on board we did not. We had pre recorded movies on the TV and at certain parts during the movie it would stop you would see a play button on the TV screen and another movie would start playing so we never really got to finish a movie. All they played was CNN for your news that really sucked it was like being on a democratic cruise ship. All we listen to was crapy rap music. I don't know what they're talking about when they say you will be checked any drugs found you will be arrested that is a lie. Dam near everybody on board was smoking marijuana so it makes you wonder do they really check here. There were so many drugs on board that no matter what deck you were on you could smell marijuana in your room on the balconies everywhere. The food O let me tell you about the food. It was the worst food that I have ever had on a cruise ship being from Texas I didn't expect it to always be barbeque of course but I felt like on the cruise ship they were making us become vegan. Everything was fish salad being kurds it was disgusting. The ship really needs to be updated. Our state room the walls look like they had been punched somebody was in a fight the room smelled musty and the closets smelled florabel. We kept having to spray perfume and Cologne in the closets in in the room. The beds felt like you were sleeping on rocks it was horrible. The lady that host carnival cruise ship on board would never shut up over the speaker she was always interrupting movies interrupting your sleep and was very annoying. I will never cruise carnival freedom again they really need to update that ship. They need to give people options on the TV when they say you have cable then give us cable. The only thing that I can say that was good about that ship was the staff that works there they were very friendly nice and always had a smile on their face. Read Less

We have 12 cruises under our belt. Most of them have been with Carnival. This is the first out of Galveston as we like to try different ports. The ship is not as glamorous as the newer ones but it was in good repair and suited our needs. I actually prefer the smaller ones. If you are driving to Galveston the parking garage is literally right across the street from the terminal. I have to start out by saying DEDY our stateroom steward is the best we have ever had. He was always pleasant and very efficient. We do pay our gratuities in advance but bring extra cash for extra service like this. We had early dining. The meals were good. My husband tried several different steak dinners and said they were all perfect. Our service team was not up to par. Nothing horrible but not as attentive as usual. We saw the stage productions and they were entertaining. Cruise director Brad was great. One night we went to the comedy show and he was funny. A couple we met at dinner went to the later show and said it was so vulgar they walked out, So if you don't like that type of humor stick to the early family show. All and all the hubs and I had an enjoyable trip. Read Less

This trip was me and my hubby, both retired, in our mid fifties. We spent the night in Galveston the night before. Stayed at Best Western Plus, at 102 Seawall, and found out they will let you leave your vehicle there for free during your cruise. They don't have a shuttle, but Uber was only $13.00. Carnival has gone to a mailbox system outside of your room, if you preregister you go straight on the ship and pick up your room key in your mailbox. Very speedy checkin. Our cruise director was Brad, and he was just awesome!!! The shows at night were really good and were more like Broadway shows rather than Six Flag shows, if you know what I mean. This ship had a Guy's Burger, so we were good to go. The lunch buffet seemed to have the same thing every day and just didn't look all that great. Went to the breakfast buffet once and did not like it. We much preferred the Posh Restaurant brunch. The food was fresh, hot and cooked to order. They also had real OJ instead of the fake kind at the buffet. I just don't understand people that stay away from the main dining room for supper. The food is so much better than the buffet. We order whatever and however much we like so between the two of us we can try everything we want. We are not the kind of people that are going to dress up like we are going to prom at our age. For formal nights I wear a dress like I would wear to church and my husband wears a nice pair of jeans or a pair of khakis and we have never felt under dressed. We always wondered why someone would pay to go to the specialty restaurants, when there is so much free food available. One night nothing sounded good on the menu and nothing looked good on the buffet. We had a $50.00 room credit so we went to the steak house and they were able to seat us. Wow, for $35.00, you get a appetizer, an entree and a dessert. The portions are HUGE. The steaks are WONDERFUL!!! They have desserts not offered anywhere else on the ship. It was a wonderful meal and we now plan on having one meal of every cruise in one of the specialty restaurants. We closed down the ship every night with Jason at the piano bar. It was packed every night and everyone had a blast. Be sure and go to the Carnival Quest if they have it. It is a hoot. An adult scavenger hunt for those who are not easily offended. The two comics at the first of the cruise were great. Wish I had their names, much better the two that came later. I had always been told that you don't want a room in the back of the ship, but at the time we booked that was all that was available. It really was no different, maybe a little more vibration, but it didn't bother either one of us. We always get an interior room, just can't justify the price difference. Love that pitch black room, boy can we sleep good. Wish I could get my room at home that dark. On to Ports of Call. First stop, Key West. I liked more than Hubby. Rather touristy. It was super hot so we decided to take the Conch Train. Wished we had paid a little more and done the trolley. The conch train only makes four stops and they are not very close to anything, where the trolley makes more stops closer to the things you want to check out. But we did learn some neat things about Key West and we had enough time to take the tour of Truman's Little White House, which was really interesting. Next stop was Freeport, and the Glass Bottom Boat excursion. We enjoyed the ride and getting to see some pretty fish, although most of them were the same kind, but what really made this excursion was the SHARKS.They bring them right up to the boat and feed them a fish tied to the rope and we had about a dozen 8-15 foot sharks literally jumping out of the water right there at the side of the boat. It was breathtaking!!!! Next day was Nassau. We decided to have a beach day at the public beach. They say Junkaroo Beach is walking distance from the ship, but if you are in your mid 50's and not in the greatest shape it is a LONG HOT walk. The beach is very little and not nice or pretty at all. The Tiki Hut has control of it pretty much. After bartering with them for an umbrella and two lounge chairs, we hit the water. It was murky and full of seaweed. I looked up and they had tipped over our umbrella so it hid our view of our bags, so I ran up the beach and asked what was going on and they gave me some sketchy story about some one trying to take our umbrella and they were having to redig the hole. I didn't see no one messing with it but them. If I had to do over again I would go to one of the resorts, even though it would of cost me. Our three previous cruises have taken us to Cozumel and Progresso and we wanted a change so we choose this cruise to the Bahamas. I am not sure what we were expecting, but we were very disappointed. Both Freeport and Nassau were not very clean and was filled with old, dilapidated, empty buildings, which I realize that could of been due to hurricanes.. The islands themselves were not very pretty. The shops were almost all t-shirt and cheap souvenirs made in China. Ready to head back to Mexico or a different part of the Caribbean I hope this didn't jump around too much and that maybe it helps someone with their questions. Read Less

Departing port was less than 100 miles from our home, we were wanting to cruise to celebrate our 49th wedding anniversary. Leo and his assistance Eddie or his name many have been Eric, both were very attentive, professional, and accommodating. Our Cruise Director Emma Nixon was amazing, I will never forget her, she done an "AWESOME" job. Our dinning experiences were excellent, I only wish that Guy burgers offered "Turkey Burgers" I do not eat any red meat, and cranberry juice, we were told that cranberry juice was only offered in the dinning room. We failed to read all the information regarding do's and don'ts, Carnival confiscated a liter of premium liquor, 8 miniature bottles of wine and 2 packs (4 bottles in each pack) of Bailey's, an iron that was left in the luggage from the last time we used that particular set of luggage, well in my opinion when one confiscates something, that means everything, however Carnival returned the iron that had been left in that set of luggage since 6 years pass, but kept the liquor, stating it was discarded, the liquor was not confiscated it was stolen, Carnival could have returned the liquor at the end of the cruise and kept the iron which I'm sure did not work. Read Less

Very bad experience. Room was 80 degrees the whole time, we paid for WiFi that never worked, toilet randomly overflowed 3 times, bad excursion information from staff (was not accurate), and seemed very unorganized. Was not happy with boarding or all the lines. We way overpaid for the experience we received. Would not recommend carnival cruise line to anyone. The staff was fine, however when voicing concerns it took a long time to get service for the toilet. Also WiFi was never fixed I waited in like for 20 minuets 3 times and they never fixed this. I was told to give it an hour each time they went through my settings and reset. And it never corrected but was still charged. We brought eight people to cruise as well all the same floor all of our rooms were to hot to sleep this was voiced and also never fixed. Will not be back. Read Less

This cruise was selected because it fit our schedule. There were repairs in progress during the cruise, such as painting the top walking track area which resulted in the area being closed the entire week. They worked on the pool at the front of the ship on the Lido deck which resulted in it being closed the first few days of the cruise. (I do not do the pool so It does not matter to me) They were working on something else each day in an area next to our stateroom with all of the banging and noise beginning around 8:00 a.m. each morning. Not much rest in our stateroom. Our room Steward was Roy and he was excellent. We booked the Chef's Table and the people involved were excellent. All of the personnel on board were wonderful with the exception of the wait staff at the bar on the Lido deck at the aft area of the ship on the day of arrival. I stood for a long time waiting to order a drink while I was ignored again and again. Two cute ladies walked up to the opposite side of the bar from me and EVERYONE took off to serve them....I then walked over to their side and demanded a beer and a grouchy dude got me one. It is remarkable that NONE of them knew the name of the manager for that area. Do you think that is strange? No one seemed to know who they worked for or who supervised them? (That is one of the reasons I sold my Carnival stock months ago!) Read Less

This was our second Carnival cruise and like most people I checked out the reviews on here. It does make me laugh the amount of reviewers who post negative reviews who only have one review and have recently joined CC, writing things that clearly aren't true - for example the entertainment finishing at 9pm! I suspect most of these "reviewers" haven't set food on a ship before. We arrived at the port early and were directed to an early/late arrivals line, this was moved fairly swiftly and we were on the ship within 45 minutes. We headed straight to the Lido deck and although busy we were able to grab a seat by the pool. The whole ship was spotlessly clean and staff were always out and about cleaning and tidying. On our last cruise we used the buffet for the first few days but this wasn't for us, this time we used the dining room each morning which was great. The service at times was slow but you are on vacation so whats the rush?! The dinner service was great and all the food was delicious. We ate at the steak restaurant which was out of this world, I would recommend to anyone. Cat in the Hat breakfast was brilliant for kids and big kids alike. Out little one used camp ocean and it was a battle to get him to leave to have lunch/dinner. The staff were lovely and provided a range of activities. Our cabin was on the upper deck and was spotlessly clean and serviced twice a day by our steward who left an array of towel animals. The serenity deck is great and there were always pods/beds available, the bar service was fantastic here and the different cocktails were gorgeous. Read Less

We were looking for a family friendly cruise line for our young family. First and last cruise for young family We took our 5, 3 and 1 year old on the Carnival Freedom 7-day cruise to key west, FLA, Freeport Bahamas and Nassau Bahamas. We did lots of research on shops and were looking for a vacation that would be conducive for our young family. We chose this ship because the Carnival website advertised good kids programs for kids and especially because of the baby splash pad area they advertised for this specific First I’ll start with a few positives before getting to why overall, my expectations for a family friendly vacation were not met. 1. Excellent food 2. Camp Ocean was very organized and had competent staff . When we arrived we were told that there was no water area for under 2s. Carnival does not allow non-potty trained babies in any water area. In addition to no baby water area or splash pad there was no kid pool or even a designated kid area. The three small pools on the lido deck were always packed with adults who were drinking and engaging in adult behavior, not an environment suitable for kids. Furthermore on the lido deck there is always very loud adult music playing. In the kids area, Camp Ocean, located on the very top deck of the ship, almost impossible to get a stroller to, my one year old was only allowed to play from 8:00-10:00am. Like most one year olds this time was during her morning nap. The kids The schedule The entire cruise ship schedule is not suited to kids or families. There are LGBT mixers and adult comedy shows. In all 7 days there were three “family friendly” activities, a Build a Bear Workshop (which you had to pay extra for) a movie, Peter Rabbit (PG) and the Seuss a Palooza Parade which was run by a staff member who appeared to never have worked with children before. My three and five year old were wildly unimpressed with the “parade” which involved about 100 kids walking from one area of the ship to another waving bells and other noise makers. The Dr Seuss characters, advertised on all promotional materials, were present for about 20 min total. Changing table There was one baby changing station on the entire lido deck. Food The food places were closed from 2:30-6:00 leaving young families like us out of luck For after nap snacks and early dinner times. There were also almost kid friendly options on the buffet. They had a pizza place and a deli open almost always but they were very often so crowded we opted to not stand in more lines with our children going wild. On the buffet they had melon, pineapple, apples and bananas for fruit and almost no other kids food options for picky toddlers. There are a number of adult only sections of the ship, including the very front called the Serenity deck. Being at the very front of the boat, there were many children anxious to see it but they were not permitted to enter. Putt-putt was a good family activity but it closed at 5:00, right before our kids bedtime when our family would have gotten the most use out of it. There was essentially nothing for my one year old to do on Carnival Freedom. We spent our days taking turns walking her around and letting her go up and down the stairs Excursions Our two excursions in the Bahamas were marketed entirely to families. On both of them we had to walk over a mile to get there and wait in lines for over an hour. Once we arrived at the beaches, they were so crowded we had to wAit in more lines to secure a shaded area for the kids. All in all, this did not meet my expectations for a family friendly vacation. I feel as though Carnivals explicit marketing to young families is false advertising. Next time we will pay the extra for a Disney Cruise or opt for a family centered resort. Read Less

Such a let down. Carnival used to be cruiseline if choice...not anymore! Food horrible, nothing to do. Ships entertainment is down to nothing!!! No place to sit and listen or dance to music at all! Other than 1 show each night and comedy club that was so offensive and NOT funny other than Chris, the ship closes down at 9. Literally nothing to do other than casino where they can collect more money!!! Horrible time! The good lines closed at least 30 minutes early leaving hungry people literally in line while they put up the buffet is closed signs in your face!!! The DJ was non existent! He did not say 5 wirds the entire 7 day trip! We ported next to a Royal Carribean ship and could hear the DJ and all the fun they were having!! We wanted to jump ship!!!!!! Carnival cruiseline is no longer the “fun ship”!!!! Bye Carnival and hello Royal Carribean!! Read Less

We had not been on a cruise since our honeymoon 22 years ago, and with a 20 and 12 year old, we thought it would be a great option to get away and unplug from our busy lives. We parked at EZ Cruise parking very close to the terminal and it was simple. Close enough that I could drop the family and baggage off at the terminal, park the car, and walk back. Embarkation was very easy. We paid for Faster to the Fun, and we had zero wait to get through to the ship. Our boarding time was 11:30 which ended up being perfect so we could get on board, tour the ship, grab some lunch and relax. We had heard a lot about Guy's Burger Joint and everyone, particularly our 12 yr old son was excited to try it. It did not disappoint. In fact, we probably ate there at least once every day. Our rooms were very nice. We had two balcony rooms on the Lido deck toward the front of the ship. Away from the noise and busy-ness. Our cabin steward Andy (with help from Aleck) was absolutely awesome. Very friendly, attentive and helpful. We ate dinner most nights in the MDR. We were in Posh lower for dinner, and Houston (with I-Made and Ni Luh Putu) took such great care of us every night. The food was good. Interesting choices, and portions for the appetizers were small and we ordered multiple for each person each night to try different things. We switched up breakfast, eating at the buffet a few times, going to brunch twice, room service once. All were fine. Brunch in the MDR was probably our favorite, and we went early so to get a good table near the window. We tried the sushi restaurant and seafood shack and both were good. The lobster rolls at the seafood place were a little too heavy on the mayo, but otherwise good. Mongolian Wok was decent. Blue Iguana had good tacos and burritos. All in all, we thought the food was really good. Chloe, the cruise director did a great job. We met here on the deck party the first day and she remembered our names and spoke to us throughout the cruise. She even sent some chocolate covered strawberries to our rooms, which was a nice gesture. She's a ton of fun, and did a good job of engaging with the guests and keeping everyone plugged in to what was going on. We spent a ton of time at the pool. Lots of fun activities, including the Dive-In Movies, which we attended 3 times. The bar staff on the Lido deck are super attentive and remembered my wife's name and preferences which was nice. We also played mini-golf a couple of the mornings. Small course obviously, but we had a blast and the view was amazing. I suggest if you want to do this, you do it before 10am as it gets hot and pretty busy after that. Weather was absolutely perfect on this trip. All 3 ports were enjoyable, and the water was so nice. In Jamaica we did the horseback riding with Chukka, which included a run on horseback in the ocean which was fun. Afterward we went to Margaritaville which was fun, but a little commercial for me. We did spend some time swimming and playing in the water there (they have a long waterslide from the upstairs which drops you into the ocean behind the restaurant). We wanted to go to Doctor's Cave Beach, but there just wasn't enough time to do it and make it back to the ship. In Grand Cayman we did the Stingray City trip. We picked the earliest one of the day. Absolutely wonderful time out there. The water was so clear and we all really enjoyed feeding and interacting with the stingrays. I highly advise doing this excursion. We tried to schedule shorter excursions in each port which would give us some time to experience the beaches and it worked out perfectly. In Cozumel we did the Deluxe Catamaran and Private Beach excursion which was really nice as well. At the private beach, my wedding slid off my finger while climbing up the inflatable slide in the ocean. We were short on time to get back on the boat and head back, and I was diving over and over trying to find it. One of the snorkel guides came out and within 2 minutes he had my ring back in my hands. Absolutely saved me! Could not believe he was able to find it. We attended a few of the shows (the Beach Party show, the 80's show and the 88 Keys/Piano shows. All were decent/fun, and they're short enough that it's not a big deal if you don't totally enjoy them. We also went to a few of the comedy shows (we chose the PG ones so our son could join us) and they were all great. The staff on the ship were great across the board. Seriously, we could not have been happier with this cruise. Look forward to the next one! Read Less