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Carnival Dream 2014 7-Day Bahamas Cruise Review
Day 4           June 18, 2014               Freeport, Bahamas                      Arrival:  8:00AM        Departure:  5:00PM
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Overview:   Today was the second port of the cruise - Freeport, Bahamas. The weather was much nicer today compared to yesterday in Key West. In this port of call we paid to do a shore excursion that would give us a tour around the island. I will give more details about the shore excursion later.  This is a longer review because I combined parts one and two into one page.  Today's review will include photos from all three meals, our Freeport shore excursion, and photos taken around the pier & shops in Freeport.  Today was my favorite port of call during the cruise and I hope you will enjoy today's review.

Carnival Dream Breakfast Pastries
Breakfast Pastries
Carnival Dream Omelet
Omelet Cooking
Omelet
Omelet on Plate
Hash Browns and BaconHash Browns and Bacon
Breakfast:
       Today the continental breakfast buffet lines opened at 6:00am and the regular breakfast buffet lines opened at 7:00am.  Breakfast was also being served in the Scarlet Restaurant from 7:00am until 9:00am.  
        I ate breakfast in The Gathering again. The buffet was crowded with people trying to eat before the ship docks. I had an omelet, bacon, hash browns, and pastries.  All of the breakfast food pictures that you see on today's review are of my food.  I learned that the omelet station where the Mongolian Wok is located almost always has a shorter line.  I was able to get my omelet in less than 5 minutes because I only had two people in front of me.  The other omelet station line had at least 7 or 8 people that would have been in front of me.

Arrival in Freeport, Bahamas:
         While I was eating breakfast the ship was arriving in Freeport.  When I finished my breakfast I went outside to try to get some pictures and take a look at the island.  There were many seagulls and birds around the ship.  The ship turned around before docking and was docked earlier than the scheduled time (8:00am).  Here are some pictures I took as we arrived into Freeport:
Ships in Freeport Harbor
Ships in Freeport Harbor
Freeport Blue Water and Island
Blue Water and Part of An Island
Carnival Dream Lanai
Looking Down At the Lanai and Birds By The Ship
Arriving in Freeport
Looking Back At The Area Where The Ship Just Was
Back of the CArnival Dream
View From The Back As The Ship Turned Around
Cargo Ship Area In the Distance
Cargo Ship Area
Freeport Bahamas and the Side of the Carnival Dream
Side of the Ship & The Dock
Freeport Industrial Area
Industrial Area of Freeport In the Distance
The Dock in Freeport
Looking At the Dock in Freeport
Freeport, Bahamas
View of the Grand Bahama Shipyard From tHe ship
View Of the Grand Bahama Shipyard
Painting of the Carnival Funnel on the Pier
Painting of the Carnival Funnel on the Pier
Carnival Dream Docking in Freeport
Dream Docking in Freeport
Senior Frogs in Freeport
Looking Down at Senior Frogs
Looking Down At Del Sol and Cariloha
Looking Down At Del Sol & Cariloha
Looking Down At a Welcome to Freeport Sign
Looking Down At a Welcome To Freeport Sign
Thing in Water to Help the Ship Dock
Thing In Water That Helped The Ship When Docking
Ship Has Docked in Freeport
The Ship Has Docked in Freeport
Getting Off The Ship & Going Ashore To Freeport:
            Getting off the ship was a quick and easy process.  There was a line to get off today, but it moved quickly. The front and middle of the ship had gangways set up so passengers could choose which of the two they wanted to use to get off.  I got off at the front gangway.  Security scanned each person's Sail & Sign card before he or she could get off and the ship's crew handed out shopping maps to passengers. 
             My shore excursion was not until 9:30am. I had about an hour before the excursion would start.  I decided to walk around and take a look at the shops & buildings around the area where the ship was docked.  Here are some pictures:
Carnival Dream Front of the Ship
Front of the Ship - View From the Pier
Freeport Shops
View of Some Shops
Shops in Freeport
Open Space & Shops in Background
Carnival Dream in the Background
Information Center in Freeport
Information Center By The Ship
Payphones and the Front of the Carnival Dream
Payphones and View of the front of the Ship
Tour Buses For Shore Excursions
Tour Buses For Shore Excursions in the Distance
Looking Around Freeport
Looking Around the Area Near Where The Ship Docks
Welcome to Freeport Harbour Sign
Welcome to Freeport Harbour Sign
Carnival Dream Funnel and Lettering
Carnival Dream Lettering and Funnel
Fat Tuesday Prop
Fat Tuesday Sign
Area in the Center of the Shops
Big Open Area in the Center of All of the Shops
Shore Excursion -  "Freeport Island Tour":
            Unlike Key West, we decided to do a shore excursion in Freeport and Nassau. Today's shore excursion was "Freeport Island Tour" and we choose the 8:45am time.  The shore excursion guide for this cruise advertised this shore excursion as:
"Take this opportunity to explore the island of Freeport in the heart of the Bahamas. Travel through  both residential and industrial streets of Freeport at your leisure. Transportation is provided, however if you choose to stay downtown longer, your return transportation will be at your own expense. Note: A shuttle will bring guests back to the pier every 30 minutes. Exact departure of the last shuttle may vary depending on ship's itinerary, please check with the Shore Excursions Desk for your ship's time." 
              Around 8:45am a lady with a sign for our tour started checking tickets and we were directed to a tour bus.  The driver was given clearance to pull out shortly after 8:45am to start the tour.  The tour guide was very friendly and gave very good information about the sights & island. There was a little bit of rain outside, but it was not bad at all. 

PLEASE READ!  There were some things that I got to see on this tour that were not a part of the published excursion itinerary.  My tour guide went above and beyond to let us see more of the island than we paid for.  We stopped at the beach which was not advertised as a part of this excursion.  If you plan on doing this tour please be advised that you might not get to see some of the same things that I am highlighting here.  
View From Tour Bus As Pier
View From Tour Bus As We Depart
Looking at the Shops From the Tour Bus
View Of Some of the Shops From the Tour Bus
Street
Freeport's Industrial Area
Driving Through Freeport's Industrial Area
Industrial Tankls
Industrial Tanks
Industrial Tanks and Sign
Industrial Tanks and Welcome Sign
The tour was going great until...
The tour bus driver received a call from the shore excursions management on the pier to turn around.  About 8 people were late for the excursion and we had to turn around to get them. The driver remained upbeat even though we were about 10 minutes into the tour and away from the pier.   Here are some pictures I took on our way back to the ship:
View of the Carnival Dream at the Pier
View of the Carnival Dream As We Came Back
Side View of the Carnival Dream
Side View of the Carnival Dream and Road
Shuttles Leaving the Cruise Pier
Shuttles Leaving the Cruise Pier As We Turned Around
We Went Back To Get The People And Then...
The tour bus driver got another call to turn around for one guest that was late. By this time that person was close to 30 minutes late.  The driver mumbled something and apologized to everyone on the bus. The driver cut off his phone and then went back to the pier to pick the person up.  Here are some pictures I took on our third time to return back to the pier to pick up late people:
View of the Carnival Dream
View of the Ship We Came Back For the 2nd Time
Carnival Dream
Back of the Carnival Dream - From the Shuttle
Freeport Industrial Area
Going Through the Industrial Area Again
          The tour continued once again. Since the driver's phone was off, he couldn't get any more calls to return to the pier. 
Freeport Shipping Yards in the Distance
Freeport Industrial Shipping Area in the Distance
Freeport Forest
Forest That Was Damaged Partly By A Fire
Freeport Post Office
Freeport Post Office
A Burger King in Freeport
A Burger King In Freeport
Shopping Center in Freeport
Shopping Center in Freeport
Excursion Stop #1 At A Straw Market (Was Not on the Excursion's Itinerary):
           Our first stop on the excursion was at a straw market.  There were many different small shops that had high priced goods that seemed cheaply made. This was not on the tour itinerary, but it was nice to walk around.  The people were very pushy to try to get you to buy their stuff.  We stopped here for about 20 minutes. 
A Freeport Flea Market
Shops in a Flea Market That We Stopped At
Tour Bus
Our Tour Bus
Fruit Stand At the Flea Market
One of Many Fruit Stands at the Flea Market
Stop At A Beach (Was Not On the Excursion's Itinerary):
           The tour bus driver promised a stop at the beach at the start of the tour if we made good time, but to make up for the turning around he told us he would definitely take us to the beach.  He told us that this was not supposed to be a part of the excursion, but he tries to take people here as part of the tour.  The weather was great during our beach stop and were given about 20 minutes here also. 
Bar Area at the Beach
Bar At the Beach With The Beach in the Background
Tree an the Beach
The Beach
Beach Shoreline
Walking Along The Shoreline
Looking Down the Beach
Looking Down the Beach
Looking At The Water
Looking at the Water and Beach
Big Grassy Open Area
I Have No Clue What This Was...Sorry
Stop At Port Lucaya:
          Port Lucaya was a destination that was on the published description of the tour. Port Lucaya has a bunch of shops and you can find inexpensive soft drinks in some of the stores.  Most of the canned soft drinks in the Bahamas are made with real sugar, unlike many of the US sodas.  We were given between 30 - 40 minutes here and the driver told us that he would have to leave us if we were late. 
Shops at Port Lucaya in Freeport
Shops at Port Lucaya
Port Lucaya Sign
Port Lucaya Sign
Entrance to Port Lucaya
Entrance to Port Lucaya
Telephone Booth in Port Lucaya
Telephone Booth at Port Lucaya
Port Lucaya shopping area
Port Lucaya Shopping Area
Port Lucaya Shopping Area
Port Lucaya Shopping Area
Pay Telephones at Port Lucaya
Pay Telephones - Don't See Many of These At Home
Port Lucaya Shopping Area
Port Lucaya Shopping Area
Shops at Port Lucaya
Shops at Port Lucaya
Back To The Ship & End of the Shore Excursion:
           The shore excursion ended about 3 hrs. after it started. We got to see everything we were promised & then some. This shore excursion was enjoyable and worth the price.   There were a few sprinkles coming down from the sky, but the weather was not bad.  We got back on-board the ship for lunch and had plans to get back off to walk around the pier by the ship. 
Welcome to Freeport Sign
Welcome to Freeport Sign
View of the Ship
View of The Ship After Exiting the Tour Bus
Carnival Dream View of the Side and Back
View of the Side & Back of the Ship
             Once on-board the ship all passengers had to get their Sail & Sign cards scanned and go through metal detectors.  There was a short line that moved very quickly.
Carnival Dream Gangway
This gangway was closed.
Carnival Tents
Tents With Water Cups & Chairs Underneath
View of the Ship From The Gangway
Looking Towards The Back From the Gangway
Lunch in The Gathering:
             The buffet had very few people because most people were off the ship enjoying Freeport. Most of today's lunch buffet lines opened around 12:00pm, except for the deli and pizzeria. Today's Taste of the Nations buffet line was serving French. My philosophy is get back onboard and eat the already paid for lunch, but everyone can do what they want with their own money. Here are some pictures I took at lunch:
Carnival Dream Pastrami on Rye Sandwich
Pastrami on Rye Sandwich
Carnival Dream Burrito Bar Burrito & Chips
Burrito Bar - Burrito & Chips
Carnival Dream Grill
From the Grill - Hotdog & Chips
Carnival Dream Deli Turkey Wrap
From the Deli - Turkey Wrap (Cold Selection)
Carnival Dream Pizzeria
From the Pizzeria - Pepperoni Pizza
Carnival Dream Burrito
Burrito
Carnival Dream Desserts
Assorted Desserts From the Dessert Station
Dessert Station Selections
Assorted Desserts From the Dessert Station
Carnival dream Burrito Bar Chips and Salsa
From the Burrito Bar - Chips & Salsa
Carnival Dream Burrito Bar Toppings
Carnival Dream Burrito Bar Toppings
Carnival Dream Plate of Dessert
Plate of Desserts
Ice Cream and Cookies
Ice Cream and Cookies
Going Back to Freeport For the Afternoon:
         After lunch, we got back off the ship.  We walked around and looked in some of the shops.  We didn't buy anything, but I got a free bamboo lei from Cariloha.  Here are some pictures I took during the time we spent walking around:
Carnival Dream
On the Pier - Looking Towards the Back of the Ship
Carnival Dream Gangway
Gangway
Covered area Near the Ship in Freeport
Covered Area Where Most Shore Excursions Met
Fat Tuesday in Freeport
Fat Tuesday in Freeport
Senior Frogs in Freeport
Senior Frogs in Freeport
Carnival Dream
Looking Up At the Carnival Dream
Carnival Dream Funnel
Carnival Dream's Funnel
Back of the Carnival Dream
Back of the Carnival Dream
Senior Frogs Statue of A Frog
Senior Frogs - Statue of a Frog
Open Area Between Shops
Open Around in the Middle of all of the shops
Pond
Pond
Harley Store in Freeport
Harley Store in Freeport
Getting Back Onboard:
          We got back onboard the ship in the middle of the afternoon.  There was a line to get back onboard that took about 15 minutes to get through. After getting back onboard the ship I walked around on the outside decks to look at Freeport.  Here are some pictures that I took:
Looking Down At Freeport From the Ship
Looking Down At Freeport From the Ship
Freeport Dark Clouds
Dark Clouds in the Distance
Freeport Cruise Port
Freeport Cruise Port
Carnival Dream Front
At The Front of the Ship
Cargo Ship Area
Cargo Ship Area
Freeport Dry-Dock Facility
Looking At the Freeport Dry-Dock Facilities
Freeport Shops
Looking Down at the Shops Below
Carnival Dream Lido Pool Area
Lido Pool Area
Deck Chairs and Freeport in the Distance
Deck Chairs and Freeport In the Distance
Looking Down
Looking Down From Deck 12
Carnival Dream Lido Buffet
Lido Buffet
Carnival Dream The Gathering
Lido Buffet
Dinner in the Crimson Dining Room:
            Once again, the line for dinner was long.  I noticed that the same people always were waiting for dinner at the same time as us.  At 5:45pm the dining room opened and we were able to request the same wait staff as the other nights.  We were seated at the same table and dinner began.  Here are some pictures from tonight's dinner:
Click For Day 4 Dinner Menu
Click For Day 4 Dessert Menu
Click For Everyday Menu
Carnival Dream Bread Basket
Dinner - Bread Basket
Shrimp Cocktail
Appetizer - Shrimp Cocktail
Mushroom Soup
Appetizer - Mushroom Soup
Chicken Tenders Marinated in Thai Spices
Appetizer: Chicken Tenders Marinated in Thai Spices
Beefsteak Tomatoes & Buffalo Mozzarela
Appetizer - Beefsteak Tomatoes & Buffalo Mozzarella
Caesar Salad
Appetizer - Caesar Salad
Hamburger and French Fries
Main Course - Gourmet Burger
Chicken Breast
Main Course - Chicken Breast
Shrimp & Fries
Main Course - Shrimp & Fries
Unidentified Food
Main Course - Salmon
Apple Pie
Dessert - Apple Pie
Warm Chocolate Melting Cake
Dessert - Warm Chocolate Melting Cake
Towel Animal
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Continue to Day 5 Part 1 - Nassau, Bahamas:
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