We chose this cruise specifically because we wanted to go on a Bahamas Itinerary and needed a ship that cruised from close to our home in Oklahoma. We basically have two options for ports: Galveston and NOLA. We have sailed out of NOLA once and will never do that again, so we decided to try out Galveston and it was AMAZING. The embarkation process was SO EASY and not stressful at all. We parked with Lighthouse Cruise parking and everything was very simple, never felt rushed or that I was being forgotten. We chose our check-in time between 1:30 and 2 pm on sail day. We parked at Lighthouse around 1 and were on the ship getting a drink by 1:45, which was a nice change of pace after previously sailing out of NOLA (AWFUL). Now, obviously, the Freedom décor is HIDEOUS. There is really no nice way to put it except that it looks like the late 60's-70's threw up all over that ship. The décor did not keep us from having a blast! We had a Spa deck cabin with a balcony, what a great room! No one above us and the only noise we heard was from an ill-conceived late night party on the serenity deck one night. There is nothing serene about dance music blasting until 2 am. However, this late night noise did not ruin our cruise, it was smooth sailing all week long. We had 6 pm assigned seating in the Posh Dining room and it was lovely, our waitstaff was great and the food was perfect every night! For the most part, our entertainment on the ship consisted of Trivia competitions- we wound up brining home 10 ship-on-a-sticks from various trivia games and they were super fun and challenging. We called on Key West, Freeport, & Nassau. I don't understand why people dislike the Bahamas ports so much, we had excellent experiences at each. We did a bike tour with Key Lime Bike tours in Key West and it was very hot, but fun. We did a snorkeling excursion with Blue Hole Watersports in Nassau and It was WONDERFUL, would definitely go back. We did a beach day at Deadman's Reef in Freeport and it was AMAZING, we would love to go back and spend a week at Deadman's Reef.

We traveled with a party of 8 between 3 cabins. 3 Kids ages 4, 11, & 15- All had a good time, although, there wasn't a lot to do for the 11 & 15 year olds. They enjoyed doing trivia with us, but were not too keen on venturing out on their own. Overall, we had a wonderful time and the folks at the Port of Galveston KILLED IT compared to the Port of NOLA. We pulled into Galveston and we were off the ship and driving out of Galveston by 10 am, this was a miracle since we didn't get off the ship until almost 11:30 in NOLA.

It was not ALL roses and sunshine, but overall it was a great trip and Carnival did nothing wrong. Our bed wasn't the greatest, it could stand to be updated (just like the décor of the ship), but it was livable and no reason to complain. Everything was clean, the drinks were strong, and the food was great!