I was invited on this cruise by friends. The cabin was miserably hot! The buffet dining was less than average. The Posh dinners were amazing. However, the service and staff were impeccable. I have never met nicer, more polite people than those who work for Carnival. Nor have I seen people who work so hard and always have a smile. I was treated with such respect and it was appreciated. I was not super impressed by Cozumel or Belize but Mohogany Bay was absolutely beautiful. Debarkation process was pretty clustered. I even read about the process on the Cruise TV and it was super vague. There needs to be better instructions, we had some staff ordering us all over the place. It was a bit ridiculous and I feel the organization could have been handled much better. On the day we sailed I had a male staff member come in my cabin and open the door to the cabin and then to the bathroom while I was using the restroom!! He knocked on the door and I yelled out that I was in the bathroom, there was absolutely no need for that whatsoever and it really upset me. We paid for the cruise WiFi and it hardly ever worked. There should have been a refund for that. Just a lot of “hidden” things you’re not made aware of that seem a bit shady. Read Less

Overall, everyone had a good time.....except me, Mom. Keep in mind, I had an 18 YO, 17 YO and a 22 Month Old with me, oh and my husband. Carnival is really terrible at options for toddlers. They tout their Club Ocean, but it's not for Under 2. Now they do have a play room that is open when they are open, which was great every day to take our Daughter to and play with her, It's the Suessville they advertise. But if you need a babysitter for say, a nice dinner for just you and your husband, you're looking in the wrong place. They have the Night Owls program, on our cruise it was open 3 different nights, but only from 10pm to 1am. Who wants to move their sleeping baby and move them to Club Ocean at 10pm? Not me, and no one is even serving dinner at 10 pm. We were in the Captain's Suite, and I heard a rumor that sometimes you can get in stateroom babysitting, but not on this ship. They really need to get with the program. The other lines offer stateroom babysitting. It would be nice to have that option, instead I had to bribe my teenagers to stay in the room a couple of nights so Daddy and I could go out without the baby. Which brings me to my 2nd biggest complaint: There are only 2 baby changing stations ON. THE. ENTIRE. BOAT! On Deck 3 and on Deck 12, in Club Ocean.....Which isn't even open 24/7. Having a child in diapers on Carnival Cruises is a huge after thought of theirs. The other cruise lines offer diaper and baby needs delivered to your stateroom so you don't have to pack a million items, but not Carnival. It's almost like they really only cater to the kids that are Pre-Teens and Teens. My boys are 18 and 17, and they would not let them hang out in the O2 club. I get it, no one wants an 18 year old hanging out with their 15 year old, but they are brothers....what's the problem. They literally had no place to really hang out with kids their age until they finally started making their own arrangements to do things outside of O2 Club. The food was just average. You would think that they would really knock your socks off with the food, but it's like they don't taste what they are cooking. One night I ordered Clam Chowder, it tasted like baked potato soup, no clams. Next I ordered the Pasta Fagioli, and I swear I was eating a bowl of baked beans... there was no pasta in it. The Steakhouse left so much to be desired. It comes to a point that after the first day on board, you know what the rest of the cruise is going to be like already and you're really impressed or your depressed. The buffet was decent, for buffet food, but with a toddler, sometimes my only choices for food were Blue Iguana or buffet. I swear, her and I lived off Blue Iguana chicken tacos this whole cruise because that's all she would eat. And she's a healthy eater, but we just couldn't find anything on that boat that she would enjoy. Except the FroYo, which you know she loved. Overall, I just don't know if I'll take my kids on another Carnival Cruise. This was our 3rd overall, 2nd with kids, and until they make it a little more kid friendly, I just can't see going. I researched the newer boats, but it seems like Carnival didn't put much thought into the family aspect of those either, putting the Galley right above the Family Harbor Suites. It's so disappointing. Living in Texas, we are a little limited, and maybe spoiled that we have a port so close, but the options of cruising out of Galveston are sparse. We purchased FTTF after I couldn't find any Captain Suite Perks listed anywhere. Honestly the best thing about being in a Suite is Priority boarding, but even with FTTF, our luggage was lost on the boat until around 6 pm, which wasn't very helpful. Guest Services did refund us for the FTTF, and I understand mix ups happen, but everyone's luggage was lost except for me. A total of 6 bags just missing for 7 hours. Read Less

We all know Carnival is the Kmart of cruising, but they have hit new lows. They will now "blue light special" you over the loud speaker at anytime day or night. 10pm 4:52am. If they need you to do something or be somewhere or if they even suspect you may be asleep or spending downtime in your cabin they will be yelling over the loudspeaker for you to get out and keep spending money. The ship is old. There are lines for everything everywhere. If they could adequately handle demand with two of something plan on there being one. If you plan to drink yourself into a stupper from morning g to night you will be in good company. Plan to smell plenty of vomit. The employees are nice and will share many stories from the back home. This is the one upside. Over all though I would sum it up with this one statement - Sail the Freedom and spend a week in Hell. Read Less

2nd time we've taken Carnival. Both experiences have been great. Some of the people on the cruise are a little rough around the edges and seems to be more of a budget crowd, but in general all the guest are friendly and fun to be around. The ship is a little older, but plenty of things to do and the pools and hot tubs are great. The casino is way to smoky, but I think that is true of any casino on a ship. As long as they let people smoke indoors, it's going to be bad. The drinks are a bit pricey, but they are vey good. The dinner at night is outstanding. The dinner staff was amazing. They made sure they took care of me and my wife every night. The choices were pretty good variety every night. The melting chocolate cake is worth ordering every night for dessert. I would definitely recommend the Freedom for the value and fun of the ship. Read Less

We have cruised with other cruise lines This was our first Carnival. We left out of Galveston and went to Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. We were very happy with it. The crew and staff were very attentive and friendly. The ship was very clean and staff was always cleaning. The food is average. Not great. However they do have a good variety of choices. The fitness center is nice but the equipment needs service as half of the machines were squeaky. My only complaint was the excursions. In Jamaica we booked the Dunn’s River Falls. It is a 2 hour ride each way. We spent more time on the bus then we did at the falls. We were rushed once we got there. It takes 45 minutes to climb the falls. I would not recommend. We booked the stingray swim in Grand Cayman but didn’t get a whole lot of time to enjoy it as there were 22 other boats at the same time. (I counted) Must of been 200 people and were there . We were there maybe 45 minutes before being rushed back on the boat. Next we went to a Turtle swim. This excursion was very good, but again you don’t get a lot of time and didn’t get to enjoy or see all of it. Read Less

First off, this was my husband and I’s first cruise! We stayed for a week and left from Galveston Tx headed to Bahamas. The customer service was above and beyond excellent and we had an overall pleasant experience. There was a lot of variety of food included in the cruise such as the open buffet, hamburger restaurant, 24 hr pizza and etc. The hamburgers were the best tasting food and salad bar was good. They also had unlimited ice cream (machines self serve) and it was really yummy. The omelets were the best breakfast item to eat. They had serveral jacuzzi’s and a few swimming pools and water slide. They showed movies on theatre big screen outdoors under stars every night. The cruise chose great family friendly movies. They also had a lot of great free activities on the cruise as well. My husband and I went to a lip sync battle, family game show, love and marriage event, Latin dance class, country line dance, comedy shows (each night) and bingo. (Bingo was $10 a card) (all the other events were free) The customer service was above and beyond excellent. All the staff were super friendly and accommodated us so well. They were smiling and very friendly. The cruise director we had was named Malcolm and he was really professional and very funny guy. He hosted quite a few of the events and made us laugh and feel at home. The cruise also offered a cell phone package for purchase if you want internet during the cruise and my husband and I bought it and it worked great! There was a casino, sport bars and gifts shops on the cruise as well. We visited the spa for a full body massage on the last day and that was great as well! All the excursions were fun as well! We went para sailing when we stopped in Key West and went on an Atlantis tour in Nassau Bahamas. The only thing I would have done differently is bought a blanket from home cause in April for our cruise it got a little windy outside at night when we were watching movies outside under stars on deck. But they have blankets for sale on the cruise but they weren’t really long enough and I’m 5’5.... My hubby rented blankets from the ship for about $22 apiece....but you have to rent them each day....so it’s better best to save money and bring your own blanket. We got an interior room to save money and it was great. The room had a small bathroom, no window and twin beds that they pushed together. They kept coming apart (which was annoying) but it was just a small inconvenience. Overall, this experience went above and beyond my expectations and I would recommend Carnival to anyone! Read Less

Embarking was very confusing and not easy to figure out. That may just be the port of Galveston. The room steward is fabulous. His name is Edy and he has been very attentive and very cordial. He has made the trip pleasant. Our room is nice and comfortable. No complaints there. We are on the 10th level. The food has been less than stellar. The sweets are absolutely awful. It all is either flavorless or seems stable. The crescents should melt in your mouth. The pastries are just not even close to edible. I did enjoy my Guy Fieri cheeseburger however I am a cheeseburger fanatic so that may be why. Plus I was starving. We ate at our sit down place and time just once. The food took quite some time to come to the table and it was the same as they were serving in the buffet. Speaking of buffet, the line is ridiculous. I ordered a shore excursion and did not receive my tickets until after I left the ship. We kept checking our mailbox. Nothing. Went and requested duplicate tickets for a 9 am for a 10 am departure. When we returned to the ship we received the first tickets. What? We had asked Edy about them the night before. He assured us that they would be in our vox by morning. Nope. Much of the staff is unsmiling and crabby. I get why. But still, they need a little training in customer service. I have cruised only once before on a different line and it was like night and day in comparison. The smoke near the casino is just awful. I try to avoid that area at all costs. I type this review while still on board. I plan future cruises but carnival will not be my choice. This was just bleh and it should have been wowapalooza. Just my opinion. Thank you. Read Less

This was my first Carnival cruise I have always traveled Royal. The boat was tacky they didnt deliver items i had pre ordered had to ask for them when they delivered it they were the wrong item. The steak house burned my steak and did not give me my free bottle of wine. The wifi was a joke i did not get service maybe 1 day i did. We were rained out of our excursion they took our tickets and it was cut short due to rain they would not give me a refund without my tickets. We were to dock at 8 am we didnt get in till 830 and i didnt get off the boat till 11 am. I can go on and on with the problems we had. Needless to say we will never go on Carnival again. Royal is worth the few extra bucks for what you get! Read Less

We decided to try a Carnival cruise out of Galveston and picked a back to back 14 day itinerary that included a few ports we hadn't been to before. I knew not to expect too much from a Carnival cruise and as a result I wasn't disappointed. Embarkation was the best experience we've ever had in all our years of cruising. No waiting at all. Upon arrival at the cruise port around 12:30 pm we dropped off our bags, cleared security, had our ship card photo taken and then proceeded to walk onto the ship. It had been almost a year since our last Carnival cruise and there were some slight changes noted that have likely been done to cut costs. No longer do they offer the tasting bar where you could sample foods. All of the shows in the main lounge are either performed by the Playlist cast or an audience show (Hasbro and LipSync). They don't bring other entertainers on to provide a variety of entertainment. Fortunately they still have the Comedy Club which we quite enjoyed. We ate at the Steakhouse one night and were very disappointed with the quality of the food although we did enjoy the chocolate surprise dessert. Holland America charges the same price to eat dinner at their Pinnacle Grill restaurant and the quality and dining experience is so much better. Carnival's steakhouse is definitely overpriced. The food in the main dining room was moderately good and we were very fortunate to have an awesome dining crew. Food on the lido deck tends to cater to an American diet - lots of deep fried food. And after a week or so, became very boring and repetitious. Guys burgers are good to try once, but we asked for a plain bun otherwise they slather butter on the buns and grease them up on the grill which makes for a very greasy burger! I couldn't help but notice most of the people gulping down the burgers and fries probably shouldn't be eating that food!!! Our cabin stewards did a good job cleaning our cabin. The bed was terrible - I think they need new mattresses. The TV in the room was a very small, old flat screen TV with snowy reception and a poor remote. We requested bath robes which were nice. There was a lot of noise outside our cabin most nights as people tended to stay up late and party, and didn't seem to realize how noisy they were as they shouted to each other in the hallways. On sea days we liked relaxing on the Serenity deck where it tended to be quieter and we could read our books. We enjoyed renting bikes in Key West. We were very disappointed with the cruise port in Freeport where it was next to impossible to rent a taxi. Instead they only seemed to allow mini van taxis to the port and if you wanted to go somewhere they would not leave until the mini van was full. And getting back to the cruise port was uncertain. In the end we gave up and went back to the ship. In Nassau we went on a long walk over to the Atlantis resort area. The day we were in Roatan, Honduras it poured heavy rain most of the day. We did hire a taxi over to West Beach and when we got back to the port we walked around Mahogany Bay which was quite nice. We did a shore excursion in Belize City to the Mayan ruins which was fun. And another shore excursion in Cozumel where we went on a catamaran snorkeling and to a private beach. You definitely get what you pay for on a cruise ship and I think it will be awhile before I go on another Carnival cruise. I'd rather pay a little more and enjoy better food, a better cabin and more variety in entertainment. Read Less

I was a bit skeptical of my first cruise, however my experience on the Freedom was above and beyond my furthest expectations! From embarking on the first day all the way to disembarking on the last day there was never a moment that my mom, son and I were remotely disappointed. Boarding was extremely efficient and our room was super clean upon arrival. Every member of the staff on the ship was friendly and helpful. The food was delicious. We enjoyed the steakhouse on the first night and every night after we thoroughly enjoyed our meal in the main dining room. Our servers were amazing. In fact when anyone asks my 10 year old son what his favorite part of the cruise was he will tell you that his favorite part was with Gunarta and Al, our servers. Getting on and off the ship on each day of the various ports for excursions was easy and efficient. We enjoyed the experience of the excursions, 1 of which was booked through carnival. Overall a beautiful trip and wonderful experience! Read Less