Carnival, Freedom

The best kept secret on the Carnival, Freedom, the Fish and Chips Cafe (If you go up the staircase, in the Lido restaurant, by the dessert island, you will find lots of tables and no crowds. Just go through the buffet line, then climb the stairs). Contrary to it's name it does not serve just fish and chips. It has fresh made bouillabaisse, ahi tuna, ceviche, and calamari. Yum! It is open only for lunch and is a delightful change. The upstairs venue affords you a quiet spot with a great view. There is a beverage center, so you don't even have to worry about carrying it upstairs. The design of the boat is something to experience. I wonder how many people leaned how to negotiate it by the end of the cruise - not many! The secret is deck 5 - the only deck you can walk front to back, so you walk down or up to 5 then through. Getting around this ship is absolutely annoying. What the designers had in mind one will never know, although it apparently had something to do with the kitchen and dining room locations, but this ship is the most difficult one that we've every encountered. Since Carnival Freedom was picked because of its itinerary, we had no expectations, thus we weren't really disappointed. The ship is, at best, unusual. That's being kind. The decorations are probably the worse that we have ever seen and frankly we had to ignore it to deal with it. It is a very ugly ship, in our opinion. If itinerary and cost are your main interest than this is a very good value. We made our own good time and ignored the issues that could really ruin a cruise. Again, no expectations going in, none missed.

The pools on this ship were a joke for the number of passengers. With 3,000 people on board the pools are way to small. On sea days we could see 25 people in the small pools and 10-12 people in each jacuzzi. The cabin safe requires a magnetic strip card ie. room key, credit card, etc. This is unfortunate if the person in possession of that card is not in the cabin when you need access to your safe. Other lines using a code are much friendlier to use. Do not think will do it again