Not being of the literary type I will attempt a brief trip report of the Big Nude Boat. This cruise was organized by a travel agency specializing in such cruises. They have several scheduled at any given time and this one was the largest ever. I believe the Carnival Freedom holds around 2974 passengers and the cruise was very near sold out or perhaps did sell out. Hard to give an exact number as some passengers missed the boat due to the blizzard in the NE just prior to sailing. Of those, some met the ship in Cozumel, our first port of call. The established rules of the cruise where that nudity was allowed except when in port, or directed by the captain. The only place on ship where nudity was not allowed was in the main dining rooms.

Of the 2500 plus passengers, most if not all, were nude at some point. The pools and surrounding areas were very crowded with naked people. Deck chairs were hard to come by as people got out very early to stake their spot. Most people were nude in the casino, theaters, bars and other clubs. As one might expect some found the interior areas too cold for their comfort. Clothing that was worn ranged from sheer cover ups to regular street clothing. While titled as the “Big Nude Boat”, it was always marketed as “clothing optional”. The vast majorities of the people were nudist and thus exercised that option.

The ports of call were Cozumel Mexico, Puerto Limon Costa Rica and Colon Panama. Lots of debate about those but all knew what they were prior to booking. From a personal viewpoint we had never been to any of these places so that was fine. In doing my personal research I expected Cozumel to be a fun, touristy stop and that it was. We opted for a kayak and snorkel at Chankanaab Park that we really enjoyed. In Limon we choose to stay on ship except for brief foray into flea market type area next to pier. Limon is not a tourist friendly type place. Others in our group did excursions ranging from whitewater rafting, (class 3) to chocolate production. No problems that I know of and good reviews of those excursions were given. The final port of call was Colon Panama. At this stop we took part in a tour of the Gatun locks and an eco-tour of Gatun Lake. Our timing was perfect as we were at the locks as two ships were transiting the canal heading west. To see a piece of history in action was perhaps the high point for us. Others in the group took longer excursions that went to the Pacific side and actually went thru some of the locks. Reports I had read prior to cruise indicated that Colon was not particularly safe. The downtown that I saw from the safety of the bus was of a dirty, dilapidated city. I would not feel safe on a personal walking tour. Others would feel different I am sure.

This was our first cruise of any type so I cannot compare food, service or any of those type things to other cruises. I can say the food did not meet our expectations, but perhaps our expectations were wrong. As a guideline we are not “white table cloth” type diners, nor would we ever be considered foodies. We are more of the local Texmex, bar-b-que, Chinese buffet type eaters. If that gives you a frame of reference, then good. The food was plentiful at the buffets, just seemed bland to us. The food in main dining was not much better, in my opinion. Taking a minimum of an hour and a half to eat dinner was way too slow for me. Staring into space and waiting between courses was frustrating to us. Others have reported good service, but we used different waiters and dining rooms with same result.

This was an adult only cruise so the lack of children was nice. Having said that, it was NOT a swinger cruise in any way. Were some lifestylers on board? I am sure they were but no overt sexual activity was tolerated. Even the mere mention of something along those lines on the cruise bulletin board was removed quickly. We would do the cruise again and plan to make one of their future cruises.