Cruising with Lynnie - Amber Cove & Grand Turk

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Cruising with Lynnie

Port Canaveral - EMBARKATION DAY!! We live local to Port Canaveral so we like to do the earliest check in time, of course that means it's busy. Terminal 6 was under construction (at least their parking garage was) and we were rerouted to Terminal 5. A little confusion finding where to park (Port Canaveral could use more signage during construction, cough cough) but we rolled down the window and asked a nice gentleman directing traffic who pointed us in the right direction. When we arrived around 10:30am the line was already loooong. From the time we got out of the car and actually stepped on the ship was about 40-50 minutes. Carnival is a well oiled machine, very organized.

Once we got on the ship we went straight to our muster station for a quick and easy safety briefing. They will scan your boarding pass showing that you completed your muster drill then you are free to go about your day. Everyone MUST complete the muster drill. I have read that If you do not complete your muster drill your account will shut down after your second drink. It only takes a couple minutes so it's better to get it done first thing so you can go and start "CHOOSING FUN" (Carnival pun intended). After our muster drill we headed straight for Guys Burgers (IYKYK). It was raining during our Sail Away Party so it put a damper on the party so we wandered the ship and waited for the casino to open.

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ROOM 8407 - Our room was perfect! I was worried because it was right under the Lido Deck Buffet Restaurant and i read horror stories about how noisy it could be because of staff moving tables and chairs throughout the night. Not the case at all with this room. We were one level from the restaurant and usually just used the stairs. It was so convenient and perfectly quiet. Our large suitcases stowed away under our beds and our Steward, Geraldine, was very sweet and filled our ice bucket for us daily.

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Amber Cove - We are more wanderers than excursionists so when we got to Amber Cove we walked around the shopping area at the port then headed to the pool and bar. This port is very well organized and has a lot of signs pointing you in the right direction, including zone signs for excursion meeting areas. Once you get off the pier and filtered through the DUFRY store you can either go left for shopping or right for the pool area. The pool area is very nice. There is a pool, lazy river and a swim up bar with music. There is also a kid slide splash play area and a zipline that goes over the pool (for a fee). It was crowded becuase there was another ship docked that got there before us but there are plenty of chairs available and we found a spot near the pool and next to a very nice couple who shared their rented umbrella with us and we traded off watching each others belongings while we went in the pool. I heard a lot of recommendations about the waterfall excursion so i think we may try that the next time we visit Amber Cove.

Grand Turk - Grand Turks port is very similar to Amber Cove. Once off the pier you are filtered through the DUFRY store into a shopping area. We skipped walking the shopping this time because it seemed like a lot of the same stores we saw at Amber Cover. We headed straight for the beach which is right next to the pier. Immediately upon touching the sand we are approached non stop by locals renting beach chairs and umbrellas (some even mentioned wifi). It was a little overwhelming for us so we headed to the Margaritaville pool area that is also free. On the way to the pool we noticed there are free beach chairs up close to Margaritaville but we continued on to the pool. I loved this pool. It also has a swim up bar , music and plenty of chairs. We didn't have a problem at all finding a chair right next to the pool and you could see the ship from the pool! We returned to the ship early to eat lunch and enjoy the ship casino with less of a crowd. Oh, did i mention the ship casino stays open in Grand Turk!?I loved Grand Turk. I don't think i'll ever do an excursion here. Next time i'll just remember my snorkel and swim shoes (it's a little rocky in the shallow ocean here) and we'll head straight for the free beach chairs.

Sea Days - Sea Days are not my favorite because it can feel crowded on the ship. We spend time in the casino, eating too much, drinking and our favorite thing to do is meeting other cruisers in the hot tub on the Serenity deck. I woke up early one sea day and watched the sunrise and had my coffee while the ship was still quiet. I wandered the ship and took some of the most beautiful pictures of the sun coming up over the ocean while most other cruisers slept. It was wonderful. We went to the Love & Marriage show on the last night which was very funny and entertaining and i would highly recommend it to anyone. My husband usually gets terrible motion sickness and we did not need our motion sickness meds at all on this cruise, but we did take some Dramamine on the first night as a precaution. On our last sea day we had a medical helicopter come and take a guest off the ship while a coast guard plane circled the ship for what seemed like a hundred times. It took a while and was quite a sight to see.

Debarkation - Debarkation could not have been easier. Because we live local, we typically choose the latest debarkation time so that travelers needing to get to their flights and whatnot can get off the ship first. We get breakfast and just take our time. We carry our own luggage off the ship and leave it in our cabin until we are done with breakfast. They will make an announcement about what time you have to be out of your room. Our debark time was 9:20 and we found ourselves done with breakfast and sitting around waiting by about 8:30 but at 9:00 our cruise director Todd came by and told everybody we could all debark now. Seriously Carnival is a well oiled machine. We never stood in a line, we walked straight to the garage with a quick stop at the passport facial recognition machine. Easy Peasy!

My final thoughts on Carnival Freedom and what i would do different. The Carnival staff is always helpful and friendly and seemingly happy and the Carnival Freedom staff was no different. The ship is very clean. Getting a drink while playing in the casino is sometimes impossible, especially during busy hours. Carnival should really add more serving staff to their casinos. When you finally get the attention of a server...TIP THEM WELL AND THEY WILL COME BACK TO YOU! The food is generally very good with a few misses. The Crawfish Linguini and the Chicken Cordon Bleu in the MDR were my favorites and my husband had a Coffee Glazed Duck that he said was surprisingly good. Our Cruise Director Todd (T-O-DOUBLE D) was energetic and entertaining. Embarkation and Debarkation has always been easy, we do have passports so i'm not sure how it is if you're using birth certificates instead. The only thing i'd do different is Grand Turk! The beach there was so beautiful and we spent all day at the pool, which was also nice. Next time i'd bring a snorkle and our swim shoes and grab a free beach chair up by Margaritaville and experience more of the beautiful ocean.

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