Carnival Freedom

Nov 29-Dec 5

Not much pre-cruise hype about this cruise, because publically on the social network we chose to keep everything quiet after the mailbox bandit struck in our neighborhood; better safe than sorry!

Carnival ran a promotion a few months ago for loyal travel agents and opened a few cruises for “free” to agents on a very limited first come-first serve basis. It was supposed to be open for two to three days, but was sold out in thirty-five minutes; not before I snagged a nice one though J  Ft Lauderdale to Grand Cayman and Cozumel; Five (5) glorious nights in the Caribbean.

Travel Day – Nov 29

Someone at Delta loves us because we got special frequent flyer attention  through security. Laptop could stay in the bag and we got to keep our shoes on!! Impressed Dennis and now he doesn’t mind the whole airport hassle, not bad at all.  We were pre-cleared; nice touch for Delta Frequent flyers. Kristi brought us to the airport and had to head back home for a birthday party for her niece, so we arrived at the airport a little early.  Once at the gate with two hours to spare, we just relaxed ( a strange concept that I am not sure what to do with) and then took turns watching luggage and going to find a bite for dinner.

Dennis opted for a Boars Head Sandwich, and I had Asian chicken and rice. Not great, but certainly satisfied with airport fast food. We were ready to go now, and boarded at 7:00 p.m. for an on-time 7:30 p.m. departure for Ft. Lauderdale.  The seats were extremely close together and I felt a little like Queen Latima in “Last Holiday” on her flight to the Hotel Poup.   The plane we were on at just arrived into Atlanta from Honolulu…  I cannot imagine seating the seat I was in for a nine hour flight from Honolulu – my legs would be numb.  I now know how they added extra leg room for the billable “economy comfort seats”,  they took it from all the other seats.  Not impressed L

We landed around 9:20 and made it to the hotel, Crown Plaza Cruise Port, by 10:30ish. Time to crash!

Cruise Day 1 – Nov 30^th

We awoke to bright sunshine and a warm day in southern Florida. Ate a quick breakfast in the hotel restaurant and loaded the shuttle to the pier.  There were five ships in port that day, and as we pulled up to the first stop in the cruise terminal, we saw a familiar sight, The Crown Princess, that we had sailed on last year (April 2012) with the Wamsley crew.  We love “Princess” and although I was looking forward to this cruise with Carnival, I always long for a Princess cruise – there is just something about that whole experience that makes it special.

By 11:00 a.m. we were in our room, with the Faster to the Fun package, - Room 7417 (Empress Deck) with a nice balcony and view of the other four ships in port, waiting to depart later that afternoon; Thank You Carnival, nice!  We could see the Crown Princess straight ahead, on our right, the Holland America Rotterdam and the Celebrity and pulled up close on our left, the ship my granddaughter Kayna is begging to go on, Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas.  

We went to the buffet to grab a bite to eat then back to the room to unpack and get settled in for the next five nights. Except, we have no luggage. Hmm, as a part of Faster to the Fun, not only is your room ready immediately upon boarding, but your luggage should meet you in your room. It’s been over an hour since we boarded at this point, and no luggage. We met our room steward, Tao (that’s short for something much longer, but he said call him Tao- so, suits us) and set out to explore this ship.  I love the layout.  It’s big and plenty of room. Never seemed like it has almost 3000 passengers.  This may well be one of my favorite ships.  After a call to Guest Services, our luggage showed up, around 3:30 p.m.  I unpacked, we explored more, took part in the  mandatory safety drill, then came back to the balcony to watch the other ships begin to depart. We were the next to the last one out of port, with the Oasis following us.

Dinner in the Posh Dining Room landed us at a table for 10.  A little bigger that I like when you are with strangers, because it is a little hard to talk across such a big table.  It didn’t take us long to realize that everyone at our table were travel agents. We had a private welcome aboard party for travel agents before dinner and several of us recognized one another now at our table,from the earlier party. One couple beside us hails from Lilburn, Ga. where she owns her own small Travel Agency. Two other husband / wife couples and then two sisters from California.  A bit of an oddity here that we were not too happy with is that our server at dinner has very little, if any, help.  On most cruises there are three people serving each table. The head waiter, the assistant, and the bar steward. Three’ (his nickname) works it alone, as do all the waiters.  It is slow, no way around it, but he is working hard and doing a good job.  No time to interact and get to know him though – we kind of miss that.

After dinner we went to the Welcome Aboard Show in the Theatre, and then outside to finish the night at the Seaside Theatre (aka Movies Under the Stars on Princess, or just a humongous poolside outside movie screen). We watched “ The Experiment” with Drew Barrymore, a movie about saving whales in Barrow, Alaska – very good!  Then I tackled a little homework before calling it a night. It had been a long day.

Day Two – Sunday: A little sun and Spa.

Headed to Grand Cayman, it is getting WARM (very welcome after the nasty cold weather we left in Atlanta). We had Sunday Brunch in the Dining Room – the usual omelet for me and eggs, bacon and toast for Dennis (and no Bacon police, Dan – Dennis had a whole bowl full of bacon). After brunch, we went to the Serenity Deck and read for a while and relaxed in sun loungers until lunch time.  Not much going on today – just relaxing and looking around the ship.  A little before 4:00 I headed to the Spa and Gym.  I worked out for about 20 minutes, swam in the Spa pool, took a shower and then dried off in the Eucalyptus Sauna – very nice. Wow, it’s only 4:30, I thought I had been here longer than that – but it’s just me, so maybe time is passing slowly. I went by the gift shop on my way back to the room to pick up a couple of things then get ready for Formal night. 

I walked into the room and Dennis was standing by the door with this startled look on this face, asking “Do you know what time it is? ”.   “Sure, it’s about 5:00 p.m.” I said.   “ Try, 5:45 p.m !” “What?”  the clock in the spa had been wrong, or wasn’t working.  I had to jump into turbo mode, but I did – quickly, and we made it to dinner right on time – 6:00 p.m.   It helps that the Dining room is just a couple of floors beneath us – Aft, and our room is all the way Aft.   Formal night Dinner is always good, Lobster! We hurried from dinner, skipping dessert ( If I don’t stay for it, I won’t eat it – good plan, right?)  We had split a milkshake earlier in the day, so that was my indulgence for the day.  We went to the 7:30 p.m. comedy show and it was very good.  We love Carnival’s Family Comedy shows.   After the comedy show, we were waiting for the elevator to walk all the way FORWARD to the Theatre to catch the 8:30 live show of “The Big Easy”.  

While we were waiting in a very crowded room waiting on the elevators, carefully watching both sides to see which door would open, Dennis called my name from across the room, and pointed – it took me a minute to realize he wasn’t pointing at a door, but to friends we hadn’t seen since the late 80’s; preacher friend of ours, Terry and Gail Elsner.  Wow, we are in the Caribbean in an odd time of year for a vacation and we run into old friends – too cool!  We hugged, and chatted briefly, swapped stateroom numbers and have a plan to get together on Wednesday (Our last full sea day).

Monday December 1– Grand Cayman

We had originally planned to go to the Turtle Farm, but after discussing, neither of us really were into turtles and decided to just go to one of the world famous beaches on Seven Mile Beach. We took a Taxi bus straight from the pier – easy and a good deal. Not as exciting as the Nassau Jitney Bus we rode in September, but it did the trick.  It was early, but HOT in Grand Cayman today. We arrived at Calico Jack’s at Sea-Grape Beach and grabbed a couple of chairs pulled under a Grape Leaf Tree; good shade.   The beach was pretty white sand, until you got into the ocean, and then it became very rocky and a pretty steep drop off – not great for just playing the shallow ocean.  I ventured out some, but it hurt my feet, and was hard to climb back up the steep embankment so we just layed out for a while. I walked up the beach for a while and back. Pulled my chair into the water and sat and people watched for a while.  A nice young man, traveling by himself, rented the chair beside us, and after a brief chat, asked us to watch his backpack while he snorkeled. After about three hours (that’s a long time at the beach for Dennis, for any of you who do not know) we headed back to the ship for lunch, more serenity deck hot tub time, and a trip down the big Twister slide for me (are you proud of me, grandchildren?????).  It was fun, and if the pavement hadn’t been so hot upon exiting, I would have given it another go.   A little time in the hammock to dry off and then it was reading and nap time (yeah, Uncle Si isn’t the only one that likes naps) in the room.

We decided to splurge tonight and to the Upscale Steak house for dinner. Dennis had been watching a cooking show the other day while I was at the Spa, and this was the result J  WOW – just about sums it up.  It really is worth the Hype for a steak out.  Dennis’ at home are  as good (as long as the meat is top grade), but nothing at our local Texas Roadhouse, Logans, or Longhorn’s comes close.   Dennis had the large Filet Mignon, Crabcake and Caesar Salad with fresh fruit and sherbet for dessert.  I had the small Filet Mignon and Lobster Tail (Surf and Turf), Crab Cake and French Onion Soup, with Caramelized Apples and Ice Cream for dessert. Let me just say once again – YUM, elegant, superb service…. Top Notch, Carnival.

I talked to Gail again this afternoon and we are making plans to meet on Wednesday for a while. We went to the show after dinner tonight in the theatre,  Carnival dancers and singers – the 40’s era and WWII.  Wasn’t bad, wasn’t all that great – or maybe I’m just a little tired tonight.  We are in the room resting right now (except I am blogging, so I don’t know how much rest I am getting) and then going out by the pool at 11:00 to watch the movie, Lincoln.   Looking forward to that – I have heard it was great!

Tuesday – December 2,  Cozumel