Carnival Liberty Med Cruise, 9/4/06 Review

[Frangipani]

Wow. I was on the Sept.28th sailing and hardly experienced anything you did.

Our service in the dining room was absolutly fantastic.Our "waitress" was so attentive, friendly and patient with a group of 10 that we had. Never charged us for corkage. Knew our names, our likes and dislikes. If our steak was overdone, which once it was, she whipped out another one as if to know or anticipate someone may not be satisfied.She knew how each ofus it liked it!! The Maitre' D's name was Paul, very friendly man who even had our group of 10 be seated at the Capatains table that was being unused for the duration( he had it changed by the second night) otherwise we could not have been seated together. He even sent a bottle of champagne over because we were friendlly and very appreciative toward him..Harry's Super Club ( not Henry's)is decorated beautiful, the food for a charge of only $30pp was superb.I enjoyed my table looking out toward the sea as opposed to watching people dance since our table was neither near the bar or dance floor.

I had no problem reading or seeing anything due to the ever interesting light fixtures changing colors. Such a gradual,subtle change.

Never went to shows other than the comedy one night, I must say, the comedian was not good.

John Heald can be a bit of an annoynance but i have learned to tune C.D's out a long time ago. Trust me, this one did not come on the loud speaker nearly as much as they did when i went on the Elation a few years ago.

I hate the smell of smoke and was pleasantly surprised after being on the Elation how much it did not smell like smoke. Of course in the Casino and the Cigar Bar and yes to get to the Internet Cafe was not the wisest choice by having to walk through this area for people who cant stand the smell of smoke.I'll give you that.

General layout of the ship was not designed to be user friendly,and it was a bit confusing but you get used to it and quickly figure it out.I guess you dont have a choice but this certainly had no bearing on the quality of my cruise.I did like the decor as it was FUN and vibrant.

Not a big deal about too many fliers advertising services for spa tratments or tours. For some, it can be an interesting read or quite possible interesting to go to a motivational or informative seminar on board for people struggling to loose weight or whatever else they were offering.I just dont get the original posters gripe about "getting away from this on vacation".Maby for you, but for others they may want that "two for one massage special" that was advertised in that flier.

Of course the ship is going to try to "sell,sell,sell'.They are a business trying to make money like every other business in the world. It's up to you to pick and choose what and when you will do things.

The jewelry,gift,makeup and perfume shop held no more than "10 people".This is a bit of exageration. It did get crowded on out to sea days,but i just went in when it was not so crowded. Came home with a beautiful watch at a great price. Inches of gold or silver was displayed on a table outside of the shop. I dont feel there is anymore need for gift shops on the ship as there is enough shopping to do in port!!!

TV, well we did watch a few movies when we retired for the night, otherwise i am not on vacation to sit around in my room all day wondering what the quality or quantities of movies are on or how many.

I think for some, Carnival is simply just not for them and thats OK. For me, the ports and the price ( with my balcony) did it for me . If i wanted a 5 star cruise with a 5 star price tag then i may do that someday but for now Carnival puts out a pretty decent package for what you get:)

I'm with lv2cruz on this one, having been onboard the Liberty from 10/10 to 10/22. I had a WONDERFUL time. It didn't take long to figure out how to get "about" plus I *did* ask the pursers for the Deck Plan/Ship Directory pamphlet and being just forward of the Atrium/Garden probably helped, esp with elevators being close by, granted. It IS a big ship.

Our maitre'd was Lloyd, extremely kind and paid attention to all that was going on. Nanka, our server, was terrific and actually became my favorite. Only *one* meal wasn't "up to par" and she immediately replaced it. Also, I am a vegetarian and was quite pleased with most of the meals, having learned years ago to "work around" others meals. Carnival knew beforehand (as did Delta) of my food preferences and did very well with this. Nanka was always very considerate about *my* issues. Harry's Supper Club was a nice experience although I, too, would have liked to have been able to *see* the entertainers, the classical trio, when they played that last night. I can honestly say *every* crew member seemed to be so diligent about doing their job...every one of them. The cabin was always nicely kept, even if I only stepped away for a short while. The bed being turned down and the chocolates, the Capers and the cute towel animals...check my avatar...ALF! :)

As for the Capers' flyers, they were there to let people know of services onboard that we might not have known about otherwise. The Port Guides listed vendors that Carnival had contracted with for two reasons I came up with...so that people would have an idea of where to purchase some things and so as not to maybe feel "ripped off" , thus the 30-day guarantees. Brochures for purchasing Carnival items, such as the bedding, admittedly struck me as funny at first but I then became aware of what wonderful sleep I was getting so might even consider *that* later.

I would have preferred John, the Cruise Director's annoucements to not have been quite so loud, but I also understood that he was advising people of things we again might not have known about. He came across as a decent "chap" and advised of things we *needed* to know about such as the man in an inflatable, just off the coast of Albania that the Captain had called the Italian Police/Coast Guard to come out to assist so we knew why we weren't moving. (The security banner across the stern of the ship reminded me of issues about not knowing what that man could actually be doing "out there".) John shared some interesting / fun things such as Stromboli getting ready to "blow". My balcony was on that side of the ship so I was able to just sit out there and wait. Also got a pic from inside of a darling little bird that sat on a balcony chair for about two hours between Dubrovnik and Messina...yes, I am an animal nut! :) John also kept things flowing quite well when we were disembarking back in Civitavecchia. He has quite a bit of responsibility in seeing that things "flow", in my opinion. Only encountered *one* rude/unkind woman during disembarkation who was trying to force her way onto an already crowded elevator, rudely shoving against a man in a wheelchair, no less. :(

As for some areas/lounges/bars not being as busy as perhaps on "regular" cruises - like many other people, I too was quite tired from all the touring and walking, albeit healthy for us to do. I think many of us just wanted to shower for dinner then rest a while or retire early to prepare for the next day's adventures so people weren't using those areas as much. Because of so much to see in each port and the outlying areas, I *would* prefer to have more time in those lovely ports. I did appreciate sea days, though, to sleep 'til 0800, handle laundry issues and/or play "catch up".

Really enjoyed the entertainment, especially the tribute to Frank and Sammy and the jazz trio in The Cabinet/Cigar Bar but wondered why smoking was even allowed in there (smokers could go out on deck) so I left early due to the smoke being too much as well as folks walking through to the stairs at the back or to get to the Internet area. WiFi *is* available throughout the entire ship but being wary of what last minute rules TSA or Rome airport officials might come up with, I chose to leave my laptop at home.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Liberty, the lovely ports and the lovely people I met. I'm now in love with the Mediterranean, big time! Maybe this was a case like so many things in life - of just being in the right place at the right time, I don't know. All in all, it was absolutely delightful! :)

[caflygrl]

Sun, Sept 3: Rome

We were up and at breakfast again by 7:30. We grabbed another taxi and headed to the Colosseum. We noticed when we got in the taxi that the fare was already at 3,36e instead of the normal 2,50e (approximately). We asked the driver why and it turns out that off peak hours and Sundays, the starting fare is more. Just to note, we had no problems with taxi drivers ripping us off or being rude (only one small thing in Barcelona). It was a very convenient way to get around in all the countries. We decided not to take buses/trains since with 4 of us, it was just cheaper and more convenient to take the taxi.

Our ride to the Colosseum was less than 10 min and cost us 6e plus 1e tip. We arrived at 9am, just as the Colosseum was opening. There were no lines so we just walked right in and decided to sign up for the English guided tour at 9:45. The admittance was 9e each plus 3,50e each for the tour - total of 50e (no credit cards). If this line is really crowded, Rick Steves (I'll just call him RS from now on) lists 2 other entrances where you can buy your ticket. The closest one is on Via di Greggorio on the other side of the Arch of Constantine. We were there later in the day and the line didn't seem long.

We walked in to the very empty Colosseum and took all the pictures we could before the crowds came. There are some great views that look out to the Roman Forum. This was one of my favorite sites in Rome. It is massive in size and there is so much to it! I highly recommend the tour because it makes it that much more interesting. Our tour had probably 30 people and they handed out walkie talkies. The guide would talk in to hers and you could listen on your own. This is a great concept because the guide doesn't have to yell and you can hear everything she says even if you wander from the group. Our tour lasted 45 min and we roamed around for about 15 more. By this time (10:30) the Colosseum was packed with tour groups. We decided to use the bathroom before we left which had 4 stalls and did not smell nice at all. Yuck! But a bathroom is a bathroom and it was somewhat clean so we went.

We walked past the Arch of Constantine and up to Palatine Hill (same ticket as for the Colosseum). You really have to go all the way up the stairs because the stuff to see is all at the back side of the hill. We remembered our RS book today so we used that as our guide. We walked through the ruins to the Palatine Museum (bathroom located here also) and saw the Circus Maximus (just a long dusty field, use your imagination!). In total we spent about 2 hrs which included a couple breaks to sit down and rest. Not much shade at the top of the hill! As we walked back down the hill, we ended up by the Via di Greggorio entrance which had a short line. There was a bathroom here and though only one stall, the bathroom itself was air conditioned so no smells here!

We headed back towards the Roman Forum. It was hot so we would typically walk, find a shady place, and I would read from the RS book about what we were looking at. We finished up in about an hour. At the end of the Roman Forum you can either walk up a long staircase or take a ramp. We chose the ramp which had some great views of the Forum and was less crowded. We walked between some buildings and ended up at the top of Capitoline Hill near the back corner of Piazza del Campidoglio. There was a museum here, Capitoline Museum, but we decided not to go in. Instead we asked if they had a cafeteria and were directed around the side of the building (standing at the top of the stairs to the Piazza and looking down, go left on the small street). We went inside (more bathrooms) and ate lunch. To sit inside is the self serve and you pay for your food first and then you take the receipt to the counter and tell them what you want. It was so nice to sit and relax after all the walking! There is an open area where you can walk outside and see all the domes of the city. There were also seats outside but that was for if you wanted table service.

Before we left we stopped in the gift shop where they had an overlay book of different Rome sites. I had read about this book on CC and lots of people had recommended getting it. We had hoped to get it cheaper at the street vendors but they would only take off 1e (10e instead of 11e). Finally we broke down and bought it in the gift shop. It has pictures of what the sights looked like back in their time and then you lift a plastic overlay and it shows what it looks like now. I wish we had bought this before we went in to the Colosseum because it would have really helped to visualize what the sites looked like in their glory days!

By then it was 3pm and we walked down the stairs of the Piazza del Campidoglio towards the Victor Emmanuel Monument. We took a couple of pictures then used our map to find the way to Calata Anguillara (Isola Tiberina). We decided we would take the boat ride from the flyer we had picked up at the TI booth the day before. (Website: http://www.battellidiroma.it/) We arrived at 4 and boarded the boat (3e each Fri afternoon thru Sun, otherwise only 1e). The ticket was for one way but we saw people stay on so I guess they don't enforce it. We sat back and went down the Tiber River. This ride had no commentary but there are some nicer boats that depart from Ponte S. Angelo for 12e that do. The ride was relaxing but there was not much to see. Way back when the Tiber River flooded and the people got so mad, they built these huge walls around it and now just ignore it. So mostly we saw a lot of wall and the tops of buildings. What a stark difference from the boat ride we took down the Danube River last year!

We rode for an hour and got off at the last stop, Ponte Duca d'Aosta (Stadio Flaminio). We should've known better considering this spot was way off our map. We had obviously ended up in the outskirts of town. We walked up to the street level where we saw what appeared to be an old Olympic Stadium though now with my research, I see it is really Stadio Flaminio where they hold soccer matches. There seemed to be a few tourists around so I figured there must be something around there. We went in search of a taxi stand or a hotel. This was when we realized you can't just hail a taxi off the street. We would try to flag them down and they would just wave back at us. Finally we saw a taxi parked on the side of the road and we asked the man standing by if it was his taxi. He said yes and let us get in. Thank goodness! We showed him the business card we had taken from the hotel with the address (good to have!) and he took us on a fast and winding ride through Rome and back to our hotel. The ride back cost13e including tip. Obviously my recommendation is don't take the boat ride, save it for Venice!

We stopped in our hotel for a bit then walked the short distance to the Piazza della Repubblica. There is another McD's here (with table clothed outdoor seating!) and a fancy hotel. We picked our spot for dinner just off the Piazza, La Cucina ****onale located at 3 Via ****onale. We ordered a dish of a cannelloni, pasta w/seafood, grilled calamari, an antipasti plate, and a bottle of water. The antipasti was good with mostly meats (salami, pepperoni, prosciutto). The pasta was good though the seafood was lacking and the shrimp was not fresh so I'd just stick with plain pasta. The calamari and the cannelloni were fine. Total cost was 45,50e. I recommend New Mary Meeting over this restaurant but it was still ok.

Back we went to our supermarket, Despar, where we bought soda to bring on the ship. We stopped next door to Despar which was an eatery but also had gelato. I think it was the best gelato of my trip! Their portions were generous and prices were good: 2e for a small and 2,50e for a medium (2 scoops).

Tomorrow we go to the ship!

[caflygrl]

Mon, Sept 4: Day 4

All this and we haven't even gotten on the ship yet! We had our breakfast and packed, then went in search of stamps for our postcards. The hotel had listed that it had post services so we went to the front desk and asked. The lady (same lady every time) looked us weird and said no. She directed us to the "bar" around the corner but alas, they ran out! We were directed to the post office which was located on Via Firenze about a block away. I got to the window and asked for stamps for postcards to the US. The woman obviously did not understand me and motioned to see one of the postcards so I gave it to her. She looked at it and realized what I wanted but wasn't really sure what stamps to give me. She talked with the guy next to her and finally just put the card on her scale and typed something in to the computer. Hm, I wasn't so sure about this! Postcards should be cheaper than the regular rate! Her computer spit out a pre-printed stamp and she affixed it to the postcard. The "stamp" was huge, like a 1/4 of the postcard! She was covering up all my writing! Not only that but it's nice to have different looking stamps and these where just big white labels with a price on them. I wasn't sure what to do. We were getting on the ship soon and I didn't know how to ask for the non-printed stamps. She kept doing the labels till all 6 of our postcards were covered. So we just paid. It was 0,85e each (funny those Vatican ones were only 0,80).

We walked back to the Piazza della Repubblica to the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli. Last night I had been reading the RS book and discovered this church actually used to be the Baths of Diocletian, the grandest of the public baths. And it was free! We went in to the church which had gorgeous stained glass inside the dome. Off to the left side through a door was an exhibit about the baths and we could tell they were really quite something! We walked back through the Church to try and find the entrance to the baths but sadly, it appeared to be under renovation and was closed. Even from the outside it was apparent how large these baths were.

We decided to do some window shopping and walked down Via ****onale. After we killed some time, we decided to grab some euros and head back to the hotel for our shuttle to the port. We went to the ATM (I think it was Banco di Roma) right across the street from Despar. We put in one card, went through the motions, but it didn't work! It said something like, your card is not accepting transactions. We put in a different card, same thing! We put in a THIRD card. Same thing! We looked at our cards and the symbols on the ATM. They matched, what was wrong? We had brought 2 cards from the credit union - one debit, one credit - and then a Citibank card. We were a bit panicked now. M went in to the bank to try and ask what the problem was. As in most of Italy, the service was slow and here, they were very rude to her. Apparently the man said he did not speak Japanese, only English, Italian, etc. Well one, we are not Japanese, and two, M was speaking in ENGLISH! All we could gather is that if we wanted money from the inside of the bank, we'd have to get our passports. So we rushed back to the hotel where M had a list of phone numbers for the credit cards. They had indicated to call collect but they appeared to be US numbers so we had a heck of a time trying to call. The lady at the desk tried to help but she was all alone and it was suddenly quite busy. We tried many times to call but with no luck. I think what we needed to do was call the operator in the US and have THEM place the collect call. I consulted the RS book and it said that sometimes there are ATM daily limits so D and I went back to the ATM to take out a smaller amount, 200e, but still it didn't work. Eventually the lady at the desk brought out the phone book and gave us an address of a Citibank close by.

M and D decided to try another bank before our ride came so they went and were told that even though there was a MasterCard logo on the ATM, it only took Visa.

While waiting for our ride to the port, I went to the pharmacy next door to the hotel (228 Via ****onale). There were a lot of pharmacies in all the ports we visited. You can spot them by the flashing green plus sign outside.

Stefano (from RomeCabs) picked us up at 1pm in a large van. We drove to another hotel to pick up two more CC members and then Stefano drove us to the Citibank office nearby (Via Abruzzi). M and D ran inside and found out that Citibank cards can only be used at Citibank ATMs. Too bad that was the one and only Citibank we found in each port.

The drive to Civitavecchia took about 1.5 hrs and Stefano kept us occupied with commentary. He brought along books with pictures and before you know it, there was our ship! It was about 2:45 when we arrived and it was pretty empty. There were people to help with the luggage and check in took less than 10 minutes. We had filled out our Fun Passes online before we left which helped speed things up. There were a lot of people sitting down filling theirs in.

The ship! Finally! We put away our stuff, got our ship map, and went to make reservations at Harry's. You can go directly to Harry's or they had a cart on the 3rd level. We made our reservations then went to the dining room to check out our table. There was man with a layout of the dining room and he showed us approximately where our table would be. It was a table for 6 people and appeared to be next to a window! This was to our liking so we didn't bother asking to change.

We quickly found our way to Emile's, the buffet, on the Lido deck and chowed down. They had Mongolian stir fry where you could pick all your ingredients and sauce, and they would cook it up for you. Yum! They had some fish that was good when it first came out and delicious roasted veggies.

We explored the ship until it was time for dinner. Tonight's dress code was Elegant Casual. Seems like an oxymoron to me. We had the first seating in the Silver Olympian so our seating was either 6:15 or 6:30 if we were in port that day. We arrived at 6:15 but the doors had not been opened yet. So there we all stood, hungry people crowding the room and in to the stairwells waiting for the doors to be opened. I have never encountered the doors being closed when it's time to eat! If dinner is 6:15, the doors should be open and they should be ready at 6. Finally they opened and we went to our table. We discovered that our table, though against the wall, was not at a window. Where the window would have been was covered up. We were told if we wanted to change, we'd have to wait till the next day. We asked after dinner and decided not to change since no more window tables were available (unless we wanted a table of 8 to share) and those who had a window seemed to be closing the blinds anyway because of the sun.

We finished our dinner and went back the Purser's Desk to get stamps. We waited for quite awhile as there were many people in the line whose luggage did not make it (the horror!). It was getting close to muster time and they had another lady coming through the lane to try and speed things up. We told her we wanted stamps and she said to just stay there. At one point in the line, they told people to come back after the muster drill, but that was behind us so we kept waiting. Finally we got up and asked for 6 stamps. “We don't have it,” the purser says, “and we don't take euros, only American dollars.” Turns out they only had 5 stamps left and since it was obvious we had only brought euros and it was so very close to muster time, she told us to come back. I asked if they would be getting more stamps and she said tomorrow so we left and headed to the muster.

After the muster we went to throw in a load of laundry. It wasn't too busy so we were able to throw our stuff in then head up to the Piano Bar for our CC meeting! Finally after months of chatting on the forum we came face to face with all our new friends! We stayed for awhile chatting.

What a long day. I went to take a shower but the shower floor was quickly filling up with water and coming over the edge. I turned off the shower and it drained ever so slowly. It must've taken 5-10 minutes for the 3 inches of water to go down. I pulled out the drain to see if there was a hair clump or something but there was not. I got dressed again and went to the hallway where I found our steward Kurt (nice guy!). I told him our problem and he said he would call maintenance but that I would have to stay in the room because they were getting off work soon (they get off at 9:30pm). I went back to the room where M had called the Purser's who said they'd call the plumber but he might not come till morning. Kurt had told me to dial 8000 so we called that number in case it was different than the one M had already called. We waited and I tried to see if I could get the water to drain. We weren't sure how long they would be or if they were coming at all. Finally I just jumped in and tried to take a quick shower using towels to soak up the excess water. D said he had read of other people who just took showers this way until finally the steward asked why they were using so many towels and they fixed the drain. Just as I finished up, a knock on the door! The plumber! Not only did he come but he came faster than I had expected (maybe 30 min from the initial report). He brought a plunger and pumped the drain. All I can say is that it was gross. It wasn't hair clogging the drain but something like mildew and mold. He pumped and pumped and pumped some more. Then he left and the shower was much better!

The purser must have called at least 5 times in the following days to ask if our drain was fixed and the steward asked me about 3 times. It was nice to know they were concerned but I think after 2 calls I would have given up. If there was still a problem, they would have known!

Then it was off to bed to prepare for our first port!