The World’s Longest Freedom Review: Part 12 + 13featured

Hello hello from New York (well, technically New Jersey, but I’m staring at the NYC skyline right now so it counts, right?)! We’ve been having the most wonderful four days in NYC and we’re getting onboard the Miracle tomorrow morning! So excited! But as promised, this review has to finish before I can begin the next one (any title suggestions? Stephanie tells me that The Third World’s Longest Miracle Review is redundant and boring). If anyone wants to see some pics of NYC, I’ve put a few up on my Tumblr (which you can follow at http://sunglassesandumbrelladrinks.tumblr.com, if you’re a Tumblr user) and I’ll probably put a lot more up on the drive home after the cruise 🙂

So we woke up around 9:00 am on our last day at sea. A quick glance out our window showed promise for a day of sunny skies and warm weather, something I planned to relish in knowing that I’d probably be facing a wall of snow when I got home.

I was excited for some unadulterated hours of sunbathing when we walked to the Lido deck for breakfast (which was abysmal, again. Not sure we’ll be trying the Lido breakfast this week on the Miracle, which has generally been good in our experiences, or if we’ll just head straight to the MDR since we enjoyed it so much on the Freedom) and we noticed that the aft pool had been completely shut down and blocked off. Like…you can’t even see out there blocked off.

Around 11:00am, the area was reopened and there was plenty of speculation as to why it had been shut down and there was caution tape in a bunch of places (someone fell and got hurt, an investigation, etc), but all we knew is that there was a “medical emergency.” The pool was evacuated and the area cleared out again within an hour of us taking up in the pool and we quickly learned why.

Apparently, there was an older woman who had to be medivaced off the ship. At that point, that was all we knew. And since I guess the Freedom has no helipad, they had to do a hover rescue, where they basically load the patient into a basket and lift her up into the hovering helicopter. The aft pool is that designated hover spot. I don’t know why this took hours and many will they/won’t they moments, but around noon, they finally did the evac (with basically the entire boat watching). We were up by Fish and Chips and we could see that it was an older woman, she was unconscious and her family was VERY distraught. The loaded the woman into a basket of sorts and lifted her up into the helicopter and then lifted a ship nurse or doctor. None of her family could go with her (I assume they took her to Miami and the family met her there). Mom was really upset because I guess the woman reminded her of grandma and Mom saw her unconscious and it shook her. A lot of people were taking pictures. I wouldn’t. I think that’s disrespectful and it’s not the kind of karma I want (or the kind of memories I want to capture and remember).

Here’s where it got dicey: the area where they were prepping the woman for transport was shut down. Only family, emergency personnel, the coast guard and the cruise director were allowed there…and the CD’s girlfriend. This girl had NO business being there. I get it. He’s her boyfriend. But you know what? He’s working and there’s an emergency at hand. Stephanie was REALLY pissed because she thought it was just highly inappropriate that they couldn’t tear themselves away from each other long enough for Felipe to, you know, actually do his job and she was just standing around watching like this was a spectator sport. The area was restricted and I have no idea how it’s okay that she was there. We found our assistant room steward there, too (who might have been the sweetest man we met onboard). He’d later tell us that he’s a member of the emergency crew (I guess when there’s a medical emergency, there’s a group of crew that’s designated to handle these kinds of emergencies and medivacs. He told us that the woman had internal bleeding, she was being taken to Miami, I believe, and that he wanted to cry because it all made him so sad).

Anyways. After the medevac drama, we headed towards the chocolate buffet, which was much more scaled back than usual with many less options (I don’t know if this is just the way the things are on the Freedom or if it was a cutback, but I’ll see this week). Didn’t matter- I didn’t really want much of anything. I grabbed a bunch of things and picked at them, but none were really good (probably because I didn’t have a taste for chocolate) and I didn’t want anything else from the other stations.

Ultimately, Stephanie and I decided to skip lunch (and tea time) to go swimming since we didn’t get to do much of that during the week. The pool and area were always too crowded or the weather was bad and we LOVE to swim and we just almost never had the time or right circumstances to do it this week.

After a few hours in the sun, we headed back to the room to pack since Mom made us promise we’d get our bags out before dinner. I think we watched Shark Tank (love that show!) while we tried to cram our clothes back into our suitcases. I didn’t even wear a fraction of what I packed, but I don’t think I’ll ever not overpack. I have a crazy fear of forgetting something, so I pack something for every possible occasion or outcome.

We put our bags out and headed to the Farewell party before dinner. Let me say this- I enjoyed the Farewell party far more than I ever enjoyed the Captains Cocktail party. Firstly, I don’t care for the hors doerves, so not having those? No big miss. Secondly, MUCH less crowded. And mostly, it was just a more fun environment. I guess Stephanie had made friends with one of the bartenders (Haresh) during the week and he spotted us and made sure we were always *well* taken care of. In fact, at one point, he came to our table and unloaded his entire tray of drinks for us. Actually, I think he did this twice LOL. Thanks, buddy.

We took grandma back to the room after the party and then headed to dinner. Dinner tonight was bittersweet. The food was good, but it was sad to say goodbye to Bawa and Raphael. They were just SO fantastic this week…probably amongst the best team we’ve ever had…and beyond that, they were genuinely nice people and we enjoyed getting to know them over the course of the week.

Stephanie started with the American Navy Bean soup (simmered with root vegetables) and said it was delicious. She loves navy bean soup and this was one of her favorites. She and I both had the Chilled Supreme of Fresh Fruit (finished with peach schnapps) and we both thought that while the fruit was fresh and yummy, neither of us could detect the schnapps at all (which was disappointing since I *love* peach schnapps).

American Navy Bean Soup

Chilled Supreme of Fresh Fruit

Along with the fruit, I also had the Grilled Portobello Mushroom and Fresh Handpicked Mesclun Lettuce (marinated with balsamic, fresh basil and virgin olive oil) and I *loved* it. If you aren’t a mushroom fan, this definitely isn’t for you, but I love mushrooms and this is one of my favorite starters. It’s heavy on the balsamic, which makes it more than slightly salty, but it’s light and savory and I really enjoyed it.

Grilled Portobello Mushroom and Fresh Handpicked Mesclun Lettuce

Mom started with her usual caesar salad and she also ordered the New England Crab Cake (served with apple relish, roasted bell pepper and rosemary remoulade), which was one huge crabcake. She enjoyed it, but it wasn’t the best she’s ever had.

Caesar salad

New England Crab Cake

For our entrees, Stephanie and I both ordered the Tender Roasted Prime Rib of American Beef au Jus, and I thought it was really good and that both times I had it this week were the best it’d ever been onboard, but Stephanie wished there was a better non-beef dish that night because the only reason she ordered it was that she didn’t care for anything else.

Tender Roasted Prime Rib of American Beef au Jus

Mom did her own little version of surf and turf with the Panko Crusted Jumbo Shrimp (artichokes, sun-ripened tomatoes and kernel corn medley) and the Barbecued St. Louis Style Pork Spare Ribs (served with creamy coleslaw, grilled spring onion and fries) since it was only available the first and last nights and Mom missed it the first night. She thought the shrimp were a bit oily and heavy but the ribs were fall-off-the-bone tender and very good.

Panko Crusted Jumbo Shrimp

Barbecued St. Louis Style Pork Spare Ribs

Stephanie and Mom both had the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake for dessert while I opted for the Grand Marnier Souffle (served with orange vanilla sauce) and a cheese plate. Both were very good, but I thought the souffle was more egg-y tasting than Grand Marnier tasting.

Warm Chocolate Melting Cake

Grand Marnier Souffle

Cheese Plate

We stayed for a rousing rendition of Leaving on a Funship and bid adieu to Raphael and Bawa. Mom gave them a little something extra for being such fantastic servers through the week and Stephanie and I are really hoping the dining team we meet tomorrow can fill the rather large shoes left behind of Bawa and Raphael.

After dinner, I went with Mom to take grandma to dinner and Stephanie went to the Victoriana to grab seats for Ticket to Ride and then we all met up. It was odd seeing an actual production show on the last night of the cruise and I have no idea why they do it this way. Ticket to Ride was disappointing because it was more low-key and there were cut backs (having seen this so many times, I could tell exactly what was cut and changed, including the entirety of Help, which is one of my favorite parts). The dancing was disjointed, the sets looked cheaper and I had spent the entire week talking up this show to my fellow passengers and I hope it lived up to the hype for them.

I can tell you nothing was going on around the ship after the show. Know why? Because the entertainment staff hung around after the show and fraternized. Sweet lord. This was, by far, the worst staff we’d ever had. I hope someone at Carnival reads this and retrains the entire entertainment staff from the 2/13/10 Freedom cruise (except for maybe Little John and Levi) because they were just horrible. They weren’t friendly. They weren’t visible. They didn’t host activities or encourage participation. And the CD? He couldn’t be torn away from his girlfriend. Ever. Not even during medivacs.

We headed back to the rooms after the show and got our stuff together, ordered room service and watched TV until we went to sleep.

Today’s Lido lunch menus

Today’s Lido dinner menu

The next morning, we were up bright and early. Naturally, my sixth sense for my iPhone kicked in and I woke up around 4:00am to find my internet restored. Hallelujah! I spent about an hour catching up and went back to sleep for a few hours. Mom woke us up after she and grandma had already had breakfast, so Stephanie and I headed to the Lido for a quick bite. Neither of us were feeling well (I’d spend the entire ride home curled up in a ball with awful stomach cramps. I have prescription meds for stomach aches and if I didn’t have those, I’d probably have cried my eyes out in pain the entire time. It was about a week before I felt normal again. We called Carnival to ask them if they knew what I had since I’d read that over half the boat had some sort of GI illness, but they feigned innocence, saying nothing was wrong and nothing was reported. Not cool, Carnival. Not cool).

Disembarkation was a mess. Special assistance debark was mixed in with everyone else in the Victoriana, which was filled to the brim. There was no real rhyme, reason or order. I was just kind of glad to be off the boat and over it (which is never really a good feeling to disembark with). We quickly grabbed our luggage, made our way through customs and made our way to the parking garage. The porters won’t bring your luggage to the car, so I stood and waited with the luggage while Mom, Stephanie and grandma went to the car.

The ride to Atlanta was quiet and relatively uneventful. We made it to the peach farm 10 minutes or so before it closed and grabbed some honeybells and snacks before getting back on the road. We didn’t make it into Buckhead until late.

We were staying at the Intercontinental again and they were super nice, put us in a great room and we settled in quickly. Mom and grandma went straight to bed. Stephanie and I ended up at a Ruby Tuesday’s for a quick dinner. I still wasn’t feeling well, but I’d pumped myself full with a bunch of GI meds that my doctor told me to take when I don’t feel good (I had some stressful times in college that led to an array of GI problems, all of which were exacerbated by whatever bug I picked up on the boat) so I was able to sit through dinner, but I had trouble sleeping because my stomach just ached and cramped constantly.

The next morning, we headed out super early because we wanted to get home as soon as we could. We got our first glimpse of snow in Tennessee (where we skipped the Pelham Stucky’s for the first time ever…by no choice of mine) and we grabbed a quick meal at the Bowling Green Cracker Barrel (I think we all had kids grilled cheese sandwiches with various sides. I had macaroni and cheese), which probably wasn’t the most time efficient idea,

In Indiana, I bought every gas station we stopped at out of hot nuts (only to find out the next week that they carry them at my local Walgreens) and when we hit downtown Chicago, the snow started coming down pretty heavily. Nothing says Welcome Home!!!! like the bright lights of Chicago and some moderate snowfall. Oh, and a few feet of snow on your driveway LOL. But we were glad to be home. There’s no feeling quite like stepping into your house after a long trip or that first sleep back in your own bed.

And that concludes the Worlds Longest Freedom Review (that probably took the longest time to finish LOL). If anyone has any further questions, I’ll be happy to answer them when I get off the Miracle next week!