Martin Howard
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Recently, my family and I went on another Carnival cruise. This time we set sail on the Carnival Freedom.
Our cruise last year was aboard the Carnival Liberty for our daughter’s 18th birthday, and it was delightful. This one was for our son’s 15th. Needless to say, we were excited with anticipation.
Unfortunately, our experience was not the same this go-round. Not even close. There were some positives, of course. We enjoyed the food, the sun, and the one port we got to visit (on our 5-day cruise). More about that later.
However, there was more bad than good on this cruise. Much more. And these are the 6 reasons why I would not recommend the Carnival Freedom cruise to others.
These items might seem petty to some. But when I’m paying thousands of dollars for a trip, these things matter.
1. No birthday decorations in the cabin.
As I mentioned, this cruise was taken for our son’s 15th birthday. I prepaid for a room decoration special. We had done the same for our daughter’s birthday last year.
For hers when we arrived at the room, they had decorations hanging from the ceiling, a personalized dry-erase board on the wall, and a pillow encased in a “Happy Birthday from Carnival” pillowcase. Along with a package of cookies for her.
Knowing what we’d received before, we were hoping for the same or similar this time.
It’s also important to understand that the day before departure, I received a phone call from Carnival offering to upgrade us from an interior room to a balcony for an extra $200.
Remembering how much more the balconies usually cost, I agreed to pay the difference.
Before getting on the ship, but after getting through security, I asked one of the port customer service personnel if the updated room would be decorated. She looked in her system and said she couldn’t see either way. But she reassured us that she’s never known of a time when they didn’t get decorated.
When we got to the room and saw that it wasn’t decorated, even though the customer service lady reassured us that our rooms had been changed, I thought they must’ve decorated the other room instead.
I went down to the ship’s customer service to get this corrected. A lot of other people had problems as well. The line was snaked around the corner.
After waiting for over 30 minutes, I found out that no one who purchased the birthday decorations received them. The home office didn’t send the supplies. The ship knew about the purchases because in our room there was a package of cookies that said Happy Birthday on it.
We were upset, but there was nothing that we could do about it now. So, we decided that we were going to make the best of it.
And yes, we did get refunded for it (to our bank account – you’ll understand what I mean by that later).
2. Ship’s security personnel.
When we arrived at the port, two gentlemen porters (those who take your bags to get them to your cabin) insisted that they take our bags for us. I told them that we’d just take them up ourselves. They once again insisted and reassured us that they’d get our bags to our rooms quickly and safely.
For our last cruise, we took our bags onboard ourselves. Which meant we went through Carnival’s port security rather than the ship’s security. We’d planned to do the same this time as well. Because we had a lot of stuff, I reluctantly agreed. Big mistake.
Getting through Carnival’s port security was a breeze. They were well organized. It was 10 times better than the TSA security at pretty much any airport in the U.S.
By the time we got through port security and to our room, my wife’s and kids’ bags were outside the door. But mine was nowhere to be found. And I had a feeling I knew why.
According to Carnival’s website, guests are allowed to take one 750 ml bottle of wine per 21-year-old guest per cabin. My wife and I are both over 21, so I brought two.
Tip #1 – If you’re going to take wine or champagne, make sure it’s not in the bag you hand over to the porters.
I tracked down one of the Carnival employees bringing up the bags and inquired about mine. She said that they were still bringing them up and asked that I remain patient.
That’s when I decided to go down to customer service the first time (as described above).
An hour later, my bag still hadn’t arrived. I tracked down another individual. He told me that they were still bringing bags up and he too asked me to remain patient.
About thirty minutes later, someone knocked on the door. When I opened it, another man was standing there. In his hand, he held a piece of paper.
He told me that security had my bag and that I needed to go to customer service to retrieve it. I went to customer service and was waiting in line when I read the piece of paper that said to go to deck 0. Customer service is on deck 3.
Instead of waiting in that line, as I was told, I went to deck 0. And that’s where I found my bag and a whole lot of others.
The paper I held in my hand said that I had to go down to deck 0 because my suitcase had a lock on it.
I was directed around the corner to where they were actively putting bags through an x-ray machine. While standing there, I watched two men open bags, remove items, mark something on a piece of paper, put that piece of paper in the luggage, and then close it up again.
Tip #2 – Put a lock on your bags, if you plan to allow them to take your bags to your cabin (and through security). Unless you’re okay with them going through your stuff without you being present.
Handing the piece of paper to one of the security personnel, they read it and then asked which one was my bag. I pointed to it.
As with the wine, the website states that guests are allowed to bring extension cords and power strips onboard. As long as they don’t have a surge protector in them. I made sure that anything I brought followed those guidelines and was in perfect working order.
He grabbed the bag and put it up on the conveyor belt. They could see the two bottles of wine and the extension cords.
Moving the bag through, they asked me to open it. While opening it, I explained that I’m over 21 and my wife is over 21, and therefore, according to Carnival’s website, we’re allowed 2 bottles of wine. Two security men told me point blank, “No you’re not.” Then proceeded to rummage through my things to confiscate my wine and my extension cords.
I told them that I was allowed to bring extension cords as well. I cited the website stating that power strips are allowed provided they don’t have surge protectors. And extension cords are allowed. Again, no surge protector. They told me, “No they’re not.” By their accents alone, I could tell that English was not their first language.
One might say that I was a bit frustrated and even upset.
They put my wine into a black plastic bag and my extension cords into another black plastic bag. Then, one of the men handed me a piece of paper stating what they had removed. After handing it to me, he asked if I wanted my bag to be delivered to my room or if I wanted to take it.
“Please have it taken up,” I told him. “I asked them to do that when I handed them over at the port.” Then, I proceeded back to the customer service desk again.
On our Carnival cruise last year, we didn’t have this problem. I brought two bottles of wine, an extension cord, and a power strip on board. And we had no issues getting through security.
The difference was that last time we carried our bags ourselves and went through port security and not the ship’s security. Both sets of security were Carnival employees.
Had it been an issue last time, I wouldn’t have brought the items. But it wasn’t a problem last time.
After waiting another 20 minutes, I talked to the same customer service person again. She told me that the wine was taken because it wasn’t in my “carry-on bag.” I told her that the porters insisted on taking my bags at the port, otherwise I would’ve brought them up myself.
She said she’d send a note and request my wine be brought to me due to the misunderstanding. However, she said that I couldn’t get my extension cords unless the ship’s electrical engineer agreed to it.
Because I have sleep apnea and use a CPAP machine nightly, I told her that I needed an extension cord for it. She sent a note to have maintenance bring up an extension cord later that night.
I didn’t receive my wine until just before evening of the next day. And that was after I continued to hound the housekeeping guy assigned to our cabin. My extension cord and power strip had to wait until we returned to port. At least I had one for my machine.
If you don’t know, most cabins only have 1-2 U.S.-style outlets in the entire room. And they’re located by the desk and behind the TV. We found multiple European outlets throughout the cabin.
Tip #3 – Buying a converter will provide additional outlets for your cabin.
3. No contingency plans for bad weather.
On the 4th day of the cruise, we were supposed to stop at the Grand Turks. We’d stopped at Arbor Cove, Dominican Republic on the 3rd day but there was no beach to go to. Unless you were willing to take a taxi. We didn’t feel the risk was worth it.
Plus, it rained half the time we were there.
Several Carnival employees told us that if we wanted to get into the water we should wait until the Grand Turks anyway. We kept hearing about the beautiful white sandy beaches and crystal clear water.
The sea had been pretty rough on day 3 and was rough during the morning of day 4 as well. It was nauseating.
Todd, the cruise director, made an announcement over the speaker system letting everyone know to wait until we were given the all-clear, before heading down to exit the ship.
About 10 minutes later, the captain announced that the winds were too high, and we wouldn’t be docking at Grand Turks. Our two stops had been reduced to one. And they had no contingency plan.
The captain repositioned the ship and we headed home. No other stops were in the cards for us. Even though we were no longer going ashore, nothing was changed on the schedule. The only thing that changed was the calendar header. Instead of saying “Grand Turks” it was changed to “Fun day at sea.”
Carnival decided to refund us the port fees of $16 per person they charged for the Grand Turks. It wasn’t much of a refund because it was given to us as an onboard credit.
During dinner at the restaurant the following night, we found out from our assistant waiter that the last cruise didn’t stop at either Arbor Cove or the Grand Turks. They spent the entire cruise at sea.
On the fifth day of the cruise, my wife and I went to the on-board gym. At the end of our workout, Todd (the cruise director) was walking through, and we stopped him to say hi.
My wife spoke well of him and said it takes a special person to do what he does. He said that meant a lot and asked for our cabin number. He typed something in his phone and said he would have “something special” delivered to us.
I told him that it must be hard when something like skipping a port happens. He said, “It ain’t our first rodeo.”
By the way, nothing was ever delivered. We had multiple conversations with him after that. He never brought it up and neither did we.
4. Artwork with nudity on display for children.
On Carnival ships, they sell artwork and even have an art gallery. As people purchase the pieces of art, new ones are put in their place. The majority are displayed in the main hallways. Many of them are on deck 9 since that’s where the buffet, fast food restaurants, and pools are all located. There’s a lot of foot traffic on that deck.
On the 4th day, the day originally designed to be at the Grand Turks, a new painting/picture was put up. It was a depiction of two women. One was standing while the other was sitting. It was the one who was sitting that caught my attention. Not because of the umbrella she had in her hand. But because she was bare-chested with her right breast fully exposed. With nipple showing.
There were a lot of kids on the ship. With the majority of them being much younger than ours.
I tried to find out who I could talk to about having it removed from this high-traffic area. Unfortunately, no one seemed to know. And it remained there until we departed the ship on day 6.
On the Carnival Freedom Facebook page for our cruise, I was chastised by some for even bringing it up. Saying they didn’t have a problem with it. Enough said.
5. No clothing code enforcement.
Carnival is known as a somewhat party cruise line. A fact that I have nothing wrong with. There are even cruise lines that are specifically for adults only. I think that’s great. If you want to wear whatever you want without kids, then don’t go on a cruise line that allows them.
That being said, there were a lot of women wearing attire that was overtly sexual and revealing. My family and I live in Florida, so women walking around in thong bikinis is not new. But some women were walking around in see-through clothing without wearing a bra or bikini top.
Again, there were many kids on the ship.
People were showing up to the restaurant (and being seated) in swimsuits on “formal night.” Both the site and the app say that’s a no-no. That’s why cruise ships have buffets (aka Lido Restaurant) and fast-food joints on board. For those who don’t want to “follow the rules.”
6. Poor entertainment/shows.
Cruises typically have some shows that have cast members who are employees. They also have special guests (comedians, musicians, etc.) who will join the ship to provide entertainment for that week.
Beyond the shows, some of the cast members might also be part of the “fun squad” and will do things with the guests. The special guests typically aren’t seen anywhere else.
On the Carnival Freedom, they had a few shows by the cast members and two comedians. We went to see two cast shows and two comedy shows. Half of what we saw was good.
The first comedian we saw was during one of the PG shows. He was quite funny and clean. We were right up front, so we had great seats to enjoy his routine.
And the first show we saw was the 80s hit show. It was a compilation of a bunch of 80s songs. We were singing along and having a grand time. The cast members were lively and full of sweat by the time the performance was done. We really enjoyed it.
The second comedy show was the final show which had both comedians. And it was the 18 and over show. We had nearly front-row seats to this show as well. My 18-year-old daughter and I showed up 30 minutes before making sure of it.
Unlike the first show, this one wasn’t funny. The first comedian, whom we hadn’t seen before, essentially cursed the entire time. He was obese and told fat and weed jokes amongst his cursing. And that was about it.
The second comedian, whom we had seen before, also cursed a lot (which he hadn’t done during the PG show, obviously) and talked about sex with black women (he was white).
We didn’t find either comedian funny.
Tip #4 – The 18+ comedy shows = raunchy and cursing almost non-stop.
Finally, the second cast show we watched was also their final performance of the cruise. It was titled “The World Works Here.”
The performance started with the youth being on stage to participate. They didn’t sing, only the cast members did, but they had their roles. I’m sure their parents were proud.
After that, the rest of the songs were dedicated to “love.” Based on their song selection, there was an obvious LGB+ agenda behind it. Their first song, once the kids left the stage, was “Seasons of Love.” It’s the main song from the Broadway musical “Rent.” If you don’t know, Rent is about homosexuals in New York City at the height of the AIDS crisis (Rent). And the songs that followed didn’t get any better.
We walked out of the auditorium/theatre extremely disappointed we’d spent the last 40 minutes (after waiting 30 minutes) to watch that. I was even more so because I missed out on a drawing to win a new watch.
Then again, perhaps that show was more of a Carnival than a Freedom thing. This was not our first Carnival cruise. Each one we’ve been on had LGB+ mixers at 8:30 pm each night at the Alchemy bar.
Needless to say, as for me and my family, we will not be going on the Carnival Freedom again. And I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else either.
Our next cruise will be on Royal Caribbean and it’s already scheduled.
If you found value in this post, consider reading Parenting Tip – Teaching your kids the proper way to get your attention.
