***LIVE*** From the Carnival Freedom

[Valp41]

There is a mini bar refrigerator in our balcony room. If you ask you steward to leave it open he will. I use it to put my diet cokes in it everyday.:)

 

There was a refigerator in our Oceanview Cabin on the Riviera Deck, and that is as low as you can get so there would most probably be a 'fridge in every cabin if I am not mistaken.

[micro yaya 13]

we usually just ask our steward to give us a shelf and he takes everything our for us, the frig thing is never a problem.my problem is the euros.when to get where to get . any ideas would be appreciated;)

[K&B-07]

my problem is the euros.when to get where to get . any ideas would be appreciated;)

 

Hi Yaya: friends of ours went on a similar trip last year, and their advice was to take lots of euro's! They found that a lot of places wouldn't accept plastic. Everyone wanted cash. We're ordering ours thru the bank, probably 1/2 cash and 1/2 traveller's cheques. I believe the ATM's in port are available too. And I read somewhere that the casino is American money..or did someone answer that already? :) I'm wondering about Turkey now...do they accept euro's?

[Maryutah]

Hi Yaya: friends of ours went on a similar trip last year, and their advice was to take lots of euro's! They found that a lot of places wouldn't accept plastic. Everyone wanted cash. We're ordering ours thru the bank, probably 1/2 cash and 1/2 traveller's cheques. I believe the ATM's in port are available too. And I read somewhere that the casino is American money..or did someone answer that already? :) I'm wondering about Turkey now...do they accept euro's?

 

 

Turkey has the Turkish Lira, not the Euro

[Maryutah]

Does the Freedom have a refridge in the room? My hubby is a diabetic and his meds have to be refrigerated. Thank you

 

Linda & Tom

 

 

Linda and Tom - the Freedom does have fridges. Carnival reps called my mom to ensure she has all she needs. They will give us a sharps container for her old pens (she uses pens not needles). Also, she has a small concentrator (makes oxygen for her to sleep at night), and they cleared that ok.

 

My mom's insulin doesn't have to be constantly refrigerated, but we'll keep it in there, it's easy to find that way :)

[Moo_Cruiser]

I'm wondering about Turkey now...do they accept euro's?

 

My tour guide provided this info to me re currency in Turkey. This is posted on the 13 May roll call:

 

In Istanbul, I see no reason why you should need local currency or spend valuable time in front of ATMs to cash out local money.

 

We will be spending all our time in the old part of the city and local people in this area are all used to dealing with Euros or Usd. Restaurants all accept Usd/Euros or credit card payments. Shops in Grand Bazaar die for Usd or Euros. For more serious shopping (such as jewelry), they do accept

credit card payments. However, we recommend our guests not to use their credit cards in Grand Bazaar. You know... things

happened in the past (double charging, etc).

 

Same thing should apply to Izmir.

 

Cheers

 

Amanda

[terri910]

There was a refigerator in our Oceanview Cabin on the Riviera Deck, and that is as low as you can get so there would most probably be a 'fridge in every cabin if I am not mistaken.

Could beckah have missed it????

 

I guess anything's possible, but that seems weird....

 

How did you like your Oceanview? Hubby and I have booked an Ocean View guarantee room....so we don't know, yet, exactly what room or location it will be......It is a specific level, so we DO know that we will at least have a picture window instead of portholes...but that's all we know right now.

[terri910]

Hi Yaya: friends of ours went on a similar trip last year, and their advice was to take lots of euro's! They found that a lot of places wouldn't accept plastic. Everyone wanted cash. We're ordering ours thru the bank, probably 1/2 cash and 1/2 traveller's cheques. I believe the ATM's in port are available too. And I read somewhere that the casino is American money..or did someone answer that already? :) I'm wondering about Turkey now...do they accept euro's?

This has been something we've been trying to figure out, too.

 

Do we get lots of Euros in cash or some traveller's cheques, too. Some people say that traveller's cheques are particularly old-fashioned. Well, I don't care about that, what I care about is: will people take them?

 

I did note in a post somewhere by someone on the Freedom, that at some places in Turkey they wouldn't take Euros (I want to say they specifically mentioned the Virgin Mary's House....but I can't rely on my memory 100% *L*....I'm blonde, remember!)....So I figure we'll need to get some Turkish Lira -- but how much???

 

We really only carry American Express (having cut up all our other true credit cards years ago) and I know it is not as widely accepted as MC or Visa. We do have our ATM card...so that's an option.

[terri910]

bekah: this question was asked in our specific Roll Call thread, so I'm passing it along.

 

Can you see the Amalfi Coast from the ship as it heads toward port in Naples??

[K&B-07]

My tour guide provided this info to me re currency in Turkey. This is posted on the 13 May roll call:

 

Same thing should apply to Izmir.

 

Cheers

 

Amanda

 

Thanks Amanda! I guess I missed it on our roll call. Now just have to check out the currency converter and see what works best! Don't know if my little old bank here could come up with lira!! LOL

 

Bekah: did you have any problems? What did you use?

[K&B-07]

This has been something we've been trying to figure out, too.

 

Do we get lots of Euros in cash or some traveller's cheques, too. ...will people take them?

 

.. some places in Turkey they wouldn't take Euros ..So I figure we'll need to get some Turkish Lira -- but how much???

 

 

We must have read the same thread....somewhere:confused: . I can't remember either...memory??? what memory?? Again, I read..somewhere, that cashing travellers cheques was hard, don't want to waste time trying to find a bank that does... so I'm back to square 1. Hopefully Bekah will be able to shed some light! Canadian, American, British Pound, Euro's, and Lira!! :eek: Yikes!

[LRene]

There is no refrigerator in our balcony room, there may be in the suites, but I don’t know.

 

Bekah - is there a locked cabinet in your cabin? If so, that's your refrigerator but the cabin steward has to unlock it. The front looks just like the other drawers and cabinets. Every balcony cabin on Conquest class ships I've been on have one.

[Belleisle Gal]

I checked with the Bank of Nova Scotia re euros and they require

3 days notice to order the euros. I am going to get travellers

cheques and some cash because Carnival will cash the cheques

for you at no charge. It is easier than carrying too much cash

and I will also have my ATM if necessary.

[terri910]

I checked with the Bank of Nova Scotia re euros and they require

3 days notice to order the euros. I am going to get travellers

cheques and some cash because Carnival will cash the cheques

for you at no charge. It is easier than carrying too much cash

and I will also have my ATM if necessary.

From what I've read, though, doesn't Carnival only cash in US Dollars?? (I could be wrong in this, but that was my understanding)

[Gusti]

When I went home to Germany 2 years ago, I had traveler Checks and a hard time getting them cashed.

Stores would not even take them, went to the bank and she ask me if I had a acount there, told her, if I did would not need traveler checks. I finally had to go to the train station and get them cashed at Western Union and paid a big fee.

So for me No more traveler checks. Maybe the ship will cash them for you.

You can get Euros from the ATM in Rome with your Debit Card lots easier. That is what I do.

the pictures we saw from the ports had a small sign by Mary's House that did say only turkish not Euros accepted. that is probably what you saw also

[queenslander]

Thank you for taking the time to pass on all the information Bekah -it's really appreciated!

I think whichever side of the ship you are on will be okay. We were on the starboard side on the Liberty but this time we have chosen the port side so that we can see different things. Coming into Venice is beautiful but if you're on the port side you can go up on deck to watch everything so it won't be a problem.

 

We were able to change our euro travel cheques on board with no charge so it makes it very easy. We also got some cash from ATM's when we ran out of euros. Sometimes we used our credit card but not a lot.

 

Joyce

[Maryutah]

Sounds like lot of us are in same boat - sort to speak :D

How much Euros and Lira to take. We are going to sit down and come up with a plan on what we think we'll spend and get enough to cover (such as meals and entry fees in Rome to the sites for the 1 1/2 days prior to cruise, then the ports, etc.,

 

It sounds like ATM's at ports have decent exchange rates, so if needed, can utilize those - i'm sure whatever we get, won't be enough, so it's a good alternative :D

[Moo_Cruiser]

the pictures we saw from the ports had a small sign by Mary's House that did say only turkish not Euros accepted. that is probably what you saw also

 

Hi All

 

I found these posts on the boards (from different people):

 

When we were in Turkey last summer, we used US dollars everywhere. We had arranged private guides, who told us that most merchants prefer that you pay in $ or Euros, rather than Turkish Lira. The only exception was in Ephesus, inside the ruins site, the only way to get into the Terrace Houses was with Turkish Lira, and we didn't have any. On the other hand, the Leather shop we went to in Kusadasi gave us a discount (as part of the negotiation) because we paid in US dollars

There was a Citibank ATM across the boulevard from the pier where our cruise ship docked. Just be forewarned not to withdraw too many NTL, because outside of Turkey, nobody will take them and if they do, it'll be at highly unfavorable exchange rates. It would have been better for us to spend them on overpriced fezzes and Turkish slippers at the airport!!!

 

So it sounds like we may need New Turkish Lira for Izmir, but can get it from the ATM near the ship. Might be the way to go as Lira is hard to get outside of Turkey; we can't get it here in Australia.

 

Would be great if someone on the ship now could confirm this is the way to go, thanks.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

Amanda

[terri910]

We were able to change our euro travel cheques on board with no charge so it makes it very easy. We also got some cash from ATM's when we ran out of euros. Sometimes we used our credit card but not a lot.

 

Joyce

So you can get Euros on the ship? I don't know why I thought it was strictly US dollars.....

 

 

 

While I have used ATM's in Europe before (in the UK), I have also had one (recent) bad experience while in Mexico, when our bank blocked our ATM/bank card there. It was an experience I do no want to repeat. (Used every peso we had to pay our hotel bill, which we normally pay with the bank card....it was nerve-wracking knowing we had NO money and NO way to get money, if needed, in a foreign country....In Mexico practically no one takes American Express) They said it was because there were charges in a foreign country, and we hadn't told them we were going to a foreign country....but we've been going to Mexico every 4 to 6 weeks for the last 10 years and this was the first time they'd ever blocked it. Believe me, I will be calling at least three times to MAKE SURE they have notated that we will be travelling to several different countries in Europe. I'll be calling American Express to let them know, as well. We already know that they monitor unusual usage carefully.

[Belleisle Gal]

For those of you who were actually onboard or had access to the

ports, is Coke, Pepsi, 7up, etc accessible onshore for a reasonable

rate or would it be better to buy a soda card (fountain card???).

 

How much is a soda card these days??

 

Also, there were a few questions re wine being brought onboard.

When we cruised with Princess this past January, we were given

a book of most asked questions re cruising and wine was one of

them. Their policy is that you can bring on wine for use in your

own room or if you want to take it the dining room, there is a

corkage (sp) fee of $ l0-l5 /bottle. We had absolutely no

problem bringing on soda or water. Personally, I crave potato

chips, cheezies, etc. so when I saw that a large can or Pringles

was $4.50 onboard the ship, I learned to diet real quick.

 

Nancy

[sharonsorlie]

Did anyone go on this tour? Does anyone have any suggestions? Is it worth seeing? Any advise would be great. Just to let the new "Mellow Yellows" - May 13 cruisers know - Ken, Brenda, Chris and myself still have room in the Amalfi Coast private tour let me know if there is any interest. sharon_sorlie@hotmail.com

[Maryutah]

 

How much is a soda card these days??

 

 

Nancy

 

$5.50/per day per person, plus 15% gratuity, comes to, for our 12 day cruise about $75. The drinks are 1.75 per drink, plus 15% gratuity, so if you drink more than 2 1/2 drinks per day, the card is worth it. I think it's nice and convenient, and I like diet coke morning, noon and night :)

[Valp41]

Could beckah have missed it????

 

I guess anything's possible, but that seems weird....

 

How did you like your Oceanview? Hubby and I have booked an Ocean View guarantee room....so we don't know, yet, exactly what room or location it will be......It is a specific level, so we DO know that we will at least have a picture window instead of portholes...but that's all we know right now.

 

We had booked a 5A guarantee cabin and only got the oceanview cabin on the Riviera Deck. We enjoyed it. On our last three cruises we have had a balcony. I cannot say that we missed it this time. Our cruise was so port intensive that we would never found the time to stay outside and of course it was the beginning of March and a little cooler than we are used to in the Caribbean. You will love the cruise believe me it is so worthwhile.

[terri910]

We had booked a 5A guarantee cabin and only got the oceanview cabin on the Riviera Deck. We enjoyed it. On our last three cruises we have had a balcony. I cannot say that we missed it this time. Our cruise was so port intensive that we would never found the time to stay outside and of course it was the beginning of March and a little cooler than we are used to in the Caribbean. You will love the cruise believe me it is so worthwhile.

So you were assigned a 5A cabin? Or did you get one of the 6A's? Of couse, we're just wondering if upgrades on guarantees will be fairly common or not. How far in advance of sailing did you book? We booked 7 months out...don't know if that makes any difference as far as chance of being upgraded.

 

Most of our cruises have been in inside cabins, but our last cruise we splurged on a balcony. I absolutely loved it, and although hubby enjoyed it, too, he would still be just as happy with an inside room. However, on this cruise, we thought there might be much more to see, so we went with the OV guarantee. Our room will be a surprise for us!

[Valp41]

So you were assigned a 5A cabin? Or did you get one of the 6A's? Of couse, we're just wondering if upgrades on guarantees will be fairly common or not. How far in advance of sailing did you book? We booked 7 months out...don't know if that makes any difference as far as chance of being upgraded.

 

Most of our cruises have been in inside cabins, but our last cruise we splurged on a balcony. I absolutely loved it, and although hubby enjoyed it, too, he would still be just as happy with an inside room. However, on this cruise, we thought there might be much more to see, so we went with the OV guarantee. Our room will be a surprise for us!

 

We booked a 5Aguarantee which is cabin with portholes and got 1297 Oceanview. It was a nice room and everything is so new. We have never had an inside room I do like to see what the weather is like in the morning.

You will love it.