Liberty Review - Mediterranean 5/7/2006

[Felice]

If you reserve a tour with dream-tours, ask for Frederic. He is wonderful! And when you reserve, please tell them I referred you. We were chatting and Frederic told me that they rely on referrals, which is as it should be, and I promised that I would write up our experiences.

 

How often do we get to say terrific things? When we can, we should. So I am.

 

Enjoy.

Felice.:)

[sbwmail]

I cantacted Dream-Tours and they gave me estimates for 2 to eight people for the excursion that Felice described. If anyone reading this is sailing on the Liberty, July 30th, we are looking to add a few people to the tour, for Cannes, Nice, Monaco, Monte Carlo, Eze and

St. Paul De Vence...Please see the Roll Call for the Liberty for July 30 and respond to SBWmail's posts!

[jspirit]

Reading this thread, it sounds like the Rome airport can get pretty hectic.

Would you suggest being there 3 hours before the flight? Too early or too late?

Also, how long did it take from the Trevi Fountain area to get to the airport by taxi, at 8:30 am?

Thanks for any help!

[mjbelen]

Hi Felice,

 

We are also from South Florida and we are on the next sailing of the Liberty on 5/31. We have booked all the same tours with the same tour operators, so I am glad to hear you really enjoyed your tours.

 

We were to fly home from Rome in the afternoon, but our flight was changed to 10:30 am. Do you know how early we can get off the ship, and if we are going to have a problem making such an early flight.

 

Did your group tip the tour guides and if so, how much? Are there any unexpected expenses you had that we may also encounter?

 

Thanks for your help. I'm glad you had such a wonderful time.

 

Joan

[Felice]

Hi Joan,

 

Please write and let me know how your cruise turns out. I hope you have as terrific a time as we did.

 

The ship docks at 4:30AM and if Carnival is aware of your early flight home they will have you in the early disembarkation which is around 6:30AM.

 

Did you book your return through Carnival? If so, they'll do the early disembarkation automatically. If not, contact the purser and tell someone that you want to leave early. (It's also a question on the Fun Pass information you fill out.) As long as you get to the airport by 9AM, you should be OK. The trip from the dock to the airport is about an hour. If you can, find some fellow travelers, hire a limo or van and you'll have no problems. A van should cost about 150 euors - divided by 6 or 8 people, it's reasonable. The deciding factor for whether to have 6 or 8 is the amount of luggage. It's all got to fit.

 

Anyhow, have a wonderful time. The only additional expenses were the entrance fees to museums, etc., and food.

 

Felice.:D

[iceburg1]

Felice and rcarrosq, thanks for a great review. We will be on the July 30 Liberty sailing and I was wondering if you know or heard whether the Carnival excursion to Pompeii, Sorrento & Capri (from Naples) was a good tour and worthwhile.

rcarrosq, what tours did you do? Also, was it motion sickness that you meant when you said people got sick? Were the seas that rough?

A few more questions:

1. Did they have the sushi bar open every day and at what times?

2. Do they have tables for 4 people at dinner or only larger group tables? Felice, was it easy to switch your dinner seating time midway thru the cruise? We are signed up for the first of the 2 late seatings and think this may be too late for some of the ports if the times are pushed back by an hour or so, like you said.

 

Thanks.

Harry

[Felice]

Harry,

 

If you have the early late seating, you're perfect. They'll push the time back for port days, but you'll be fine. The late late seating was the difficult one to deal with. At one port, they had us scheduled for dinner at 9:15 so we switched to late early.

 

About Capri, I heard that people enjoyed tours there but I didn't hear about the Carnival tours specifically.

 

We had seas that were like sheets of glass. No rough seas. No motion sickness at all. My fiancee wound up with a stomach virus that lasted 28 hours, but he was 100% after that. I will not blame the ship for his virus. This Noro virus occurs everywhere and is not restricted to ships. Matter of fact, I hear that it is prevalent all over the states. We found the hygiene on the ship to be unbelievable. They even have packets of tissue on the insides of the public area restrooms so that once you wash your hands, you don't have to touch the doorknob.

 

The sushi bar is open from 3:30 to 5:30, I think. I personally did not care for it, but everyone's different. I love sushi and unfortunately I wasn't impressed. More impressive was the Fish & Chips restaurant on the 10th Deck, open for lunch and until aaround mid-afternoon. The bouillabaise was extraordinary and they routinely have ahi tuna on a piece of watermelon. Yummy. I also loved their fried oysters. Geez, I miss the Liberty...

 

Have a wonderful time.

Felice.

[tampadee]

Hi Felice,

We had a wonderful cruise also. Just a question though. I found that my credit union Visa debit card I used at ATM's had two charges. $1.00 from the credit union and then a 1 percent Visa charge. Are you saying that you only had one charge with your bank and not two??

[Felice]

Yep, that's what I'm saying. I only got charged $1.50 per transaction. No percent charges from anyone. I guess I've got to get lucky somewhere.

 

I really wish we'd gotten to spend more time together. We are neighbors, after all.

 

Felice.

[LHP]

I too hope to do this cruise one day. Glad to know it was such a great success!

[mjbelen]

Felice and Mark,

 

Thanks for the replies. I was wondering what day (s) you feel would be best for booking dinner at Harry's.

 

Thanks!

 

Joan

[Felice]

Hi,

 

We went to Harry's after the first day at port in Naples. My personal choice would be the last at sea day - or the day before, after your day in Barcelona. Don't go to Harry's on a night when the dining room has lobster (first at sea night after Naples, I think) or when they have Chateaubriand (the last night before returning ot Civitavecchia).

 

Enjoy it whenever you go. BTW, menus are available on your TV in the morning. You can also ask the maitre D' what's on tap for the following day.

 

Felice.

[JPH814]

Hi,

 

We went to Harry's after the first day at port in Naples. My personal choice would be the last at sea day - or the day before, after your day in Barcelona. Don't go to Harry's on a night when the dining room has lobster (first at sea night after Naples, I think) or when they have Chateaubriand (the last night before returning ot Civitavecchia).

 

 

OK...you confused me...the last sea day is the day before Barcellona, right? The day before would be the day in Messina. We were considering the sea day between Venice and Messina since I thought the first and third sea days were formal nights. Am I wrong?

 

Thanks for all of your great postings.

[ptmom]

Felice,

What a wonderurful review. We were on the Liberty Eurpoe last Sept and agree with so much you have said. Would recommend it to anyone.

 

Surprised to hear that John Heald is still on... he was there last year too. He is a lot of fun.

 

AS to Venice, only 2 of the cruises last year docked near St. MArks... only when the outer docks were full. I wonder what they will do this year if those docks get full. (we were lucky enough to be on one of the 2, and it really was neat) BUt I also agree it was great to just board the vaparettos and explore... and walk and walk as well. We loved Burano, the lesser known of the two outer islands.

 

Anyway, glad you had sucha great time.

 

Amy

[sbwmail]

PTmom: I'm glad you mentioned Burano...we are planning on taking a Vapparatto to the Island. I hear it's very photogenic?!?! How long does it take to get there and do you think that the morning of the second day would be a good time leaving enough time to get back to the Liberty by 5pm?

[Felice]

You're right. I get a little confused. All that reliving does it, you know? Just went through the capers and you are 100% correct. Shoot for the 2nd at sea day, thn for Harry's. Or the night you're in Barcelona.

Whevever you go, you'll love it. We closed the place!
Felice.