Never been on spring break. Down to the last kid out of four. She's 14 and will be 15 next month. Told I would have a great time! It was okay when my husband wasn't freaking out about boys looking at our daughter. I had a great time and was able to relax when he was not around. My Daughter also had a great time and would have like to see the age grouping a little better. I was fine with it. My husband need to stay in the casino and we would have had a blast. other than he making everyone go to bet at 10pm every night it was great can't wait to go without him so were able to do the real stuff after 10pm. The food was great, didn't think I needed the drink pass because 748 was a steep price to pay, well after i received my bill I'll be all over the drink thing next time Read Less

I wanted to take my college granddaughter on her first cruise. I had been to these ports myself, and thought that they were ones she would enjoy. And, oh my goodness, did she ever! I was not too impressed with the food, but since we are southern and in to home cooking, that was not surprising. I love boarding with the choice time, and it was so much smoother that most boarding I have done. But, I am still undecided about "My time" dining. It has its pros and cons. All of the staff is super friendly, and eager to visit and please. The entertainment and shows were great! Especially loved the comedians, and Roddy in the piano bar! Such fun! And, if you get the chance to take the submarine excursion, it is well worth it! Yes, it is expensive for such a short time, but absolutely one of the very best excursions I have ever taken. Be sure to keep your camera ready at all times!!! I have taken this one before, and yes, I would take again. Read Less

We cruised on the Carnival Freedom. The majority of the cruisers were from Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. We had 7 days of country western music on all stages. It felt like a Donald Trump cruise rally. There was no diversity in the entertainment. We dined with another Black couple from Houston that we met on the cruise. We spent approximately $8000 on the cruise including matching Rolex watches for our anniversary. When it was time to disembark from the ship on the final day of the cruise we were stopped by cruise personnel removed from the disembarkation line and escorted to our luggage and then escorted to Customs where we were questioned by Customs officers regarding watches we purchased on the ship. It seems to me that for the money we spent on the ship Carnival would have cleared our purchases with customs already. Then the Customs officer didn't really have a valid reason for stopping us. He asked for our receipts of which was packed in our luggage, He asked to see the watches we purchased of which we were wearing. He did some piss poor calculation about paying tax that didn't make any sense. Then he said we didn't owe any tax and let us go. Its all good I had the money and will not be on your sorry cruise ship in the future. Meanwhile two days after the cruise the other Black couple that we dined with told us they were also pulled out of the line and given some bogus excuse regarding some charges for pictures. Message to all black cruisers. Carnival Freedom treats there black customers terrible. Read Less

The food on the ship was better than the past Carnival Cruises, and better than I expected. The staff was great, the ship is a little smaller than other ships we have been on but it does not feel that way. Ignore the negative reviews I do not think some people can be pleased these days. Entertainment was very good as well. There are limited pools but there are adult only areas that help with the crowding. The wait staff was very good and dinner didn't take all night long. The only issue was the tinders at Grand Cayman, when we arrived there were several other ships so the tinders were limited and it was after noon before we made it off the ship, not a lot Carvnival can do about that though Cayman needs more tinders on those type of days. I read that the rooms were only changed once a day ours was done twice everyday so not sure where that was coming from or we got lucky. Overall great cruise on a busy Spring Break week. Read Less

Read Less

We chose Carnival Freedom because its in Galveston and we live in Houston. Our kids are 19 and 21 and we couldn't believe we never got around to taking a cruise. So we booked for spring break week March 10-17th. We were supposed to check in to the ship with our luggage between 1:30 and 2:00pm. Someone told my husband it doesn't matter if your a couple of minutes late, so we arrived about 2:20. Well....we were told they closed the luggage department and were on our own to get our bags up and into our rooms. But wait? Did they say "into our rooms?" I had read to pack a bag with extra clothes and a swimsuit because we would be waiting a couple of hours to get inside our room. NOT! We rolled right into our rooms and into the vacation spirit. We had two rooms side by side and were able to extend our outdoor balcony, which was also a nice treat. The ship was very clean and decor was somewhat Vegas-ish. Colorful and fun! Getting off and on the ship for our activities was never an issue. We had to stand in line to get off maybe 2 or 3 minutes. It all went every smoothly. Our first excursion was Cozumel. We went with a group to a private beach house to snorkel and relax. It was outstanding. The staff provided a full lunch and we had a private bartender. It was 18 and over, which for us was great as our daughters are 19 and 21. We snorkeled a little, tanned and just relaxed. The second stop was Belize. We did the sharks and sting ray swim. Our boat staff was outstanding and so much fun! They gave us rum punch after our swim and we were also taken to a wonderful restaurant for an amazing lunch! But we did have to pay extra for the lunch .There were lots of people on this excursion, but they divided everyone up nicely in different boats with different crews. The ride out to sting ray area was 45 min. It was a gorgeous day and a smooth boat ride. But if your not big on boat rides, not sure how you would do. Lots of wind and sitting close to each other to fit. When we were in the water to snorkel with the sting ray and sharks, it felt a little crowded, but I honestly think it was more due to people being nervous and not wanting to stray away from the group. lol Our third excursion was Maya Key Private Island in Rotan. Wow! What a beautiful place. It is an island that also serves as a marine rehabilitation facility for seals and sharks and they have monkeys and a couple of other animals living there in cages. Included in the cost of the excursion was to go into the cages with monkeys and feed them. WARNING - After about 30 seconds of monkeys jumping around my head, I was bitten by a bunch of fire ants. It was awful and I got the heck out. We then headed out to snorkel and I cant say enough about the marine life we saw off of Maya Key. Some of the most beautiful coral and fish I have ever seen! So much fun. We were given a great lunch with fish and chicken and rice and salad. Overall a great, fun day! I wish we had known that when Carnival gets to Honduras, the cruise line owns the port there called Mahogany Bay. It is an amazing beach areas where you can swim and snorkel, kayak etc without having to book an excursion. But we will do that next time! The ship had great live music in different venues throughout and they had a comedy club and piano bar. They were both really fun. But I will warn you, the late night comedy club, which is clearly rated R is very, very raunchy. He made Howard Stern look like a nun. We didn't stay for whole show because I was grossed out on his jokes. I loved ALL the food on this boat! No complaints. If I were to compare the evening dining to land based restaurants, I would say a lot like Perry's steakhouse. Although the steak was never as good, but that is because its hard to top steak in Texas. All else was great. Each night was a different menu. The servers were all very attentive and very nice. We also booked a private meal with the chef. We got a tour of the kitchen which was super cool and were taken to a private dining room. It was seriously a culinary adventure. The sous chef took enormous pride in every morsel of food we tried. I wish I could remember specifics, but overall interesting, cool appetizers and we got to try the exclusive Wagu beef. It was over the top! This was an extra cost $75 each but so delicious and so much fun! We did have to ask for more wine as soon as the beef arrived. It seemed they were done with the pours and we were like "no wine with our beef?" So they accommodated us! Not recommended for children. Food is too eclectic. My daughter was all freaked out the whole time and afraid to try everything. lol Spa services - We booked pedicures and massages. I just want to say here that they try to hard sell so much extra stuff while you are getting your pedicure. So not worth it. And after the massage also the hard sell for extras. Wouldn't do the spa on the ship again because of that. My 19 and 21 year old daughters made lots of friends and we hardly saw them! They had a blast! I don't know much about cruising since it was our first time, but it was a perfect time on the Carnival Freedom! Read Less

Read Less

Staff were top notch, and very kind, hardworking, and helpful. The food in the main dining room was excellent. The buffet is basic, and a bit on the greasy side. Lines are extremely long for food (15-20 minutes during peek hours). The balcony rooms were comfortable and very clean. However, the ship is ugly and the décor is gaudy. It was renovated in 2014, but looks like it was last done in the 1980's. The pool areas are basic and have little aesthetic. Camp Ocean on this ship was phenomenal. We traveled with our 4-year-old and begged to go there every day. If you are traveling with kids, this is a plus. However, be warned that there isn't a ton of other stuff for kids to do on this ship. There are 1 or 2 kid shows/events, the pool, and a small mini-golf course (which is super windy being on the top deck). Over the course of a week, and 3 sea days, it was a bit of a challenge keeping our kiddo entertained. The kids club is a great option, but we didn't want to keep him there all day long. Read Less

Bus driver parked at the far end of the building.Because there porter were gone we had to carry are own luggage to the ship.Having breathing problem s made this extremely hard and husband has leg issues.. We picked a time when the potters where to be there. Carnival sent them home early. Smart move Galveston. After making to the ship they had taken down the photo set-up for boarding the ship. The only picture that I wanted. Dinning room was not that wonderful. The cabin steward was the only decent part of this trip. I'am thinking this will be my last cruise on Carnival .Every thing that I planned for went down the tube. Carnival wants to pack as many people on the ship as it can, Food has gone down in quality. Liked it a lot better when you had the same table every night. Would go out on deck a night only to deal with the drunks, And no I'am not a tea-totaler. Read Less

My wife and I had only cruised once before and it was from Miami with another cruise line. I booked this cruise a year in advance and the price never dropped from when I purchased. The anticipation was half the battle. I knew hurricanes weren't going to be a problem but the potential of morning FOG was a possibility delaying boarding. We stayed at the spring hill suites in Galveston, which was good, and woke up to a perfect day to board. We used ez parking and walked the 4 blocks to the terminal. Of course there were people everywhere, but getting on board was easy, fast and well rehearsed. The food was very good in my opinion. We had my time dining and had Jordon as our server on first day. We asked for him every night. Plan on going after 630pm as the line is bad the first hour. The food was hot when it supposed to be and well seasoned. We tried sea day brunch one day but was disappointed. I am not a big buffet guy but the breakfast options were good. I tried the evening buffet once and wasn't impressed. I really enjoyed guys burgers and the blue iguana. Hardly a line most times. I think we went to every bar on board. We enjoyed the red frog pub the best with Neal the bartender. I am somewhat of a beer snob but the thirsty frog beer is quite good. The coffee shop next door was good as well. Try the double chocolate drink in the evenings. Made with 2 shots. The excursions we had was Mr. sanchos in cozumel and the laminai in Belize. In roatan we just went shopping and hit the beach by the ship. Mr sanchos was fun but let me tell you the laminai was extraordinarily good. We experienced very few lines, the crew was respectful and took good care of us. My wife and I had a great time and would use carnival again. After speaking with several staff on board, many of them really love working on the Freedom and have been on the ship several years. Read Less