***LIVE*** From the Carnival Freedom

[wrk2cruz]

We don't sail till Oct. but are trying to decide on train or Carnival's Florence on your own.

 

We were very silly and rented a car however other people that we were visiting took the train. There was a ship shuttle that got them close to the train station. Think it was one euro. There are lots of people that do the train you wont be alone.

 

What a great tip!!! If there is a shuttle into Livorno then we will take the train..DH called the accedemia(sp) and we have reservations for 11:30...

July 12th is just around the corner!!!!

[JanfrWA]

After reading this and being envious of those onboard ~ it is our turn!!

 

We just finished meeting many of the Cruise Critic gang at the Endless Pool and it was great to put faces to the names!

 

It is a wonderful sunny day ~ much better than the off and on rain the past few days in Rome.

 

Hopefully we will have great info to share as we . . . .

 

sail on the Carnival Freedom !!!!

 

now . . . where is that Chocolate Melting Cake ???? :D

 

Janet

[bekah]

Taking the train in Livorno is very easy! Here's how:

 

The shuttle from port takes you to Pza. Grande and begins running at 8am (at least on my sailing it did although it may change!). The cost is 1EU pp each way. From Pza. Grande get on the #1 bus (tickets for this are also 1EU and valid all day so keep it for your return!) which takes you to the train station. Train tickets from Livorno to Florence are 12.20EU pp roundtrip. You can also hop on/off in Pisa if you wish. The train ride to/from Livorno to Florence is about an hour each way.

[linda8892]

I just confirmed a Pompeii/Amalfi tour with Drive Amalfi. Salvatore asked me to post to let others know he has limited availability for tours in Naples during our cruise.

 

sweetp0618

Patti

 

I used Salvatore on my 3/14 sailing of the Carnival Freedom...he is great...nice new clean Mercedes limovan with leather seats...he was highly recommended to me...he was there waiting for us as soon as we disembarked....have a great time...

[LCos]

We have booked tickets via the website www.rome-museum.com but as our booking is not until late July we will not get our voucher and tickets until 1 month perior to the booking.

 

Unfortunately their tours are 8:15am and 9:15am so no help to you however the website does mention the other way is to

take part to a guided tour with a Professional Guide

 

might be worth getting back to stefano and see if he can get your tickets by going straight to the front of the line because he is a professional guide.

 

David

 

 

I'm confused about the tickets that you can get from rome-museum.com. It didn't think the Vatican Museums were open yet at 8:15am. Does this mean that you are getting your tickets and getting in before the huge crowds?? And, once you are inside, are you on your own to walk around or is this a tour? For some reason I'm having a hard time figuring out visiting the Vatican and I'd prefer not to wait in a huge line for hours at a time.

[Valp41]

I just confirmed a Pompeii/Amalfi tour with Drive Amalfi. Salvatore asked me to post to let others know he has limited availability for tours in Naples during our cruise.

 

sweetp0618

Patti

Have a super trip. We went with Salvatore:) on our 3/5 sailing of the Carnival Freedom. He was an amazing guide and would thoroughly recommend him. We also did the tour of Pompeii with Victorio during this tour and he was great. :)

[DavidandPaula]

I'm confused about the tickets that you can get from rome-museum.com. It didn't think the Vatican Museums were open yet at 8:15am. Does this mean that you are getting your tickets and getting in before the huge crowds?? And, once you are inside, are you on your own to walk around or is this a tour? For some reason I'm having a hard time figuring out visiting the Vatican and I'd prefer not to wait in a huge line for hours at a time.

 

I am also going on faith as we have not done this yet but I cannot stand for long periods of time so we have been investigating how to avoid queues in all our excursions.

 

According to the web site you are sent a voucher by email which you print off. About 15 minutes or so earlier than your appointment (8:15 for 8:30 entry) you meet the rep on the steps near the entry to the Vatican museums and they give you your tickets. ( For Gallerie Borghese and Gallerie Academia we pick up our tickets at the ticket desk. I have the vouchers from them but we are waiting on the Vatican voucher which we expect on the 25th June as our booking is for the 25th July )

 

From what I can find out the long queue starts entering after the 8:30 group and then it is held at 9:30 for the 9:30 group. I think the pre booked tickets are limited in number.

 

It also would appear the Assistant just strolls along at the front and does not give any commentary. I also do not know if you get the time to hire or acquire the headsets so I am looking for a podcast of the tour just like the one you can download for the Tower of Pisa so I can set my iPod up for the tours. Otherwise I have some travel books with a short guide to the Vatican museums highlights. We are on the July 12th cruise on Freedom but have been researching and booking things since last December for London, Rome, Istanbul etc.

 

David

 

The web site has this info

 

TICKETS JOINING A COORDINATED GROUP

IMPORTANT NOTICE: pre-booked tickets allow to enter the museum without waiting on the line. Admission times 8.15 am or 9.30 am only.

Visitors who have booked these tickets can enter the Vatican Museums without waiting on the line. Entrance must be strictly at the admission time written on the voucher, which can be either 8.30 am or 9.00 am. Visitors who do not arrive on time, will have to wait on the line. It is suggested to arrive 15 minutes before the admission time written on the voucher.

This reservation allows you to avoid the long time queue to buy the standard tickets for the entrance to the Vatican Museums, that starts at 10:00 a.m. Even if our ticket grants you a privilege not to stay on line, it may happen that you should have to wait some minutes more compared to the time written on the voucher due to the enormous number of visitors that the Vatican Museums daily receive. TuscanyAll will not be responsible for some possible delays due to unexpected problems of the Vatican ticket offices.

 

PLEASE NOTE: an Assistant of our Agency (Tuscanyall.com Srl), will be waiting all visitors in front of the Vatican Museums. Our assistant will have a large sign with Rome Museum Logo to be recognized. Visitors have to give the assistant their voucher, once the group is complete, he will lead all visitors inside the Museums. This ticket does not include any guided tour once visitors enter the Museums, but a full assistance during the vis

[lindasuej]

I have never been on a Carnival ship but the Freedom is booked for next year. Hooray! Are you able to check your account from the tv in your room? I know we have done this on Celebrity and it really helps you keep track of your shipboard charges. Just wondering.

 

Thanks,

Linda

[richcrow]

I have never been on a Carnival ship but the Freedom is booked for next year. Hooray! Are you able to check your account from the tv in your room? I know we have done this on Celebrity and it really helps you keep track of your shipboard charges. Just wondering.

 

Thanks,

Linda

 

We were on the May 1st Freedom cruise and yes you can check your account from the TV in your stateroom.

 

Richard

[luv2shoppe]

Dave

We booked a private tour of Istanbul and the price of the tour was either a dollar less or more than the Carnival tour included the Blue mosque Hagia sophia, hippodrome, topkapi palace and grand bazaar. There was 4 of us in a minibus with a tour guide. The entrance fees were included, to everything, we had no waiting time, loads of information. the guide bought us all coffee at the hagia sophia mosque and took us to a carpet shop for our education, not to buy!!!. Meander Travel. on the internet it was a marvellous tour and we could have finished when we had enough. I recommend this company they were great. They also offered tours of Ephesus and would arrange a tour in Athens, but Athens was too expensive for the four of us.

 

What is the website for this company?

 

Thanks

[Peanut Patricia]

Hello past cruisers on the Freedom, and thanks again for all of your very valuable info!

 

Does anyone know if the t-shirts in the shops onboard are the same price as the ones on the website? Did they have sales? Are there any different styles in the apparel on the ship?

[richcrow]

Hello past cruisers on the Freedom, and thanks again for all of your very valuable info!

 

Does anyone know if the t-shirts in the shops onboard are the same price as the ones on the website? Did they have sales? Are there any different styles in the apparel on the ship?

 

I'm not sure about t-shirt prices. I tried to look up the price that we paid onboard, but the charge account statement only gives the total amount that you charge at a given time and doesn't break it down per item. I think that they were about the same. The did have sales. In our case the clothing sales (t-shirts, hats, jackets, etc.) started two days before the end of our cruise. They had many different styles of shirts. I'm not sure that they even had the styles that you see on the web site.

 

Richard

[Peanut Patricia]

I'm not sure about t-shirt prices. I tried to look up the price that we paid onboard, but the charge account statement only gives the total amount that you charge at a given time and doesn't break it down per item. I think that they were about the same. The did have sales. In our case the clothing sales (t-shirts, hats, jackets, etc.) started two days before the end of our cruise. They had many different styles of shirts. I'm not sure that they even had the styles that you see on the web site.

 

Richard

 

Thanks so much, Rich--exactly the info I was looking for!

[DavidandPaula]

Dave

We booked a private tour of Istanbul and the price of the tour was either a dollar less or more than the Carnival tour included the Blue mosque Hagia sophia, hippodrome, topkapi palace and grand bazaar. There was 4 of us in a minibus with a tour guide. The entrance fees were included, to everything, we had no waiting time, loads of information. the guide bought us all coffee at the hagia sophia mosque and took us to a carpet shop for our education, not to buy!!!. Meander Travel. on the internet it was a marvellous tour and we could have finished when we had enough. I recommend this company they were great. They also offered tours of Ephesus and would arrange a tour in Athens, but Athens was too expensive for the four of us.

 

We originally intended a do-it-yourself tour based on advice from some friends of ours that grew up in Turkey and will be there just before we are.

Unfortunately The Topkapi Palace is closed on the 17th July and the only way to get in is on the Carnival organised tour. You will hear my yell all across the Med if it is cancelled at the last minute as our friends have highly recommended lunch at the palace. Mind you I have seen a post that indicated the lunch on the carnival tour was pretty terrible.

Just bought a tour book about Istanbul and am reading avidly (along with trying to learn Italian plus reading the books on Rome, Italy, Greece and London).

Combined a 10km hilly walk plus new walking shoes and long long shorts on Wednesday just practicing for Istanbul. The preparation for holidays is so hard and then it is over and you are back at your desk planning the next one. Trying for a week on a canal boat in the English midlands followed by a 3 or 4 day walking tour in France or Switzerland in 2009 but that all depends on Paula and her braces she is getting the week after we get back from the cruise.

 

David

[maxwell1100]

I am booked on the October 4, 2007 sailing. I wanted to book a private tour in Cannes with Dream-Tours.com, based on the great views but they are booked. Does anyone have any other recommendations? They gave me the name of 3 other people to contact, but I have not seen anything about these people on the boards. Any help is appreciated.

[luv2shoppe]

We originally intended a do-it-yourself tour based on advice from some friends of ours that grew up in Turkey and will be there just before we are.

Unfortunately The Topkapi Palace is closed on the 17th July and the only way to get in is on the Carnival organised tour. You will hear my yell all across the Med if it is cancelled at the last minute as our friends have highly recommended lunch at the palace. Mind you I have seen a post that indicated the lunch on the carnival tour was pretty terrible.

Just bought a tour book about Istanbul and am reading avidly (along with trying to learn Italian plus reading the books on Rome, Italy, Greece and London).

Combined a 10km hilly walk plus new walking shoes and long long shorts on Wednesday just practicing for Istanbul. The preparation for holidays is so hard and then it is over and you are back at your desk planning the next one. Trying for a week on a canal boat in the English midlands followed by a 3 or 4 day walking tour in France or Switzerland in 2009 but that all depends on Paula and her braces she is getting the week after we get back from the cruise.

 

David

 

Hi David!

 

Topkapi is a "must see" and the lunch is delightful. You have a great view of the Bosphorous River as you watch the boats and you can also see Asia from the terrace as you enjoy your lunch. Don't miss it.:rolleyes:

[Copper49]

I am booked on the October 4, 2007 sailing. I wanted to book a private tour in Cannes with Dream-Tours.com, based on the great views but they are booked. Does anyone have any other recommendations? They gave me the name of 3 other people to contact, but I have not seen anything about these people on the boards. Any help is appreciated.

 

We went with www.travelswithfriends.com for a tour in Cannes. We had an english speaking driver and he was great!! He was waiting for us when we got off the tender boat. I highly recommend them.

 

Theresa

[hyacinth1]

The website is as follows: http://www.meandertravel.com

Hope this is helpful, as I say they were very accomodating.

[Disney4Ever]

Everyone,

As promised here is the lengthy review. I hope it helps those of you with upcoming cruises on the Freedom. Say hello to Aliksiander and lubomir from us on the May 1st cruise (who sat across the 70's lounge). I just posted this to the main site, and our respective May 1st Roll Call.

Thanks

Gabe

 

Before I begin- I would like to state that we are a couple in our early 30's who have cruised multiple times and actually met on a Carnival cruise ship back in 1998. We like to be thorough in our review in hopes that others will find some good nuggets of information for their upcoming cruise. This is our first official cruise review to be posted on cruisecritic.com. Here goes....

PRE-CRUISE ROME:

We arrived in Rome on April 28. Marco from Rome Cabs picked us up in a Mercedes 4 door sedan and drove to the Best B&B Pantheon. Along the way Marco pointed out some of the city's historical sites. Speed limit signs and white lines on the road are mere suggestions for people to follow if they wish.

The Best B&B Pantheon was awesome and centrally located on Corso Vittorio Emmanuelle II. We were up about a block from the Pantheon, caddy corner from Area Sacra Dell' Argentina (the historic archaeological site where Julius Caesar was murdered) and close to many yummy cafes and fun shopping. The Best B&B has only 4 rooms, one of which is larger and contains a Jacuzzi. Ramona greeted us and although our room wasn't ready right away, hurried to prepare it for us and we only had to wait 20 minutes or so. The Best B&B Pantheon is on the second or third level of the building and the entrance is very subtle. You'll miss it if you're not looking for it, as there is no sign on the outside. But we felt very safe there. After Ramona cleaned the room, we talked to the owner via phone to arrange a time for him to come by and go through the keys, the alarms, and payment for the stay.

We were pleasantly surprised to have free wi-fi internet access for my wife's Macbook and to check back with friends and family back home, as well as to do research for places to visit. There is also a desktop computer In the hallway for guests, along with books about Rome and various DVDs to borrow. Best B&B Pantheon was very clean, and our room contained a 42 inch plasma display, iron, ironing board and DVD player. Every night, we set our breakfast order card on the door, which indicated what we wanted for breakfast and when we wanted it delivered (between 8am and 10am). Breakfast arrived on a three-tiered cart every morning with yummy pastries, jams, eggs, orange juice, toast, cereals, coffee, etc.

Our room faced the street, but it wasn't loud at all when we closed the large doors. It was great to watch people, as there were many people walking along there either enroute to the Gesu, the Pantheon, the Forum, etc. In addition, the Best B&B Pantheon offered a discount to dine at the cafe across the street. There was a pharmacy across the street and ATMs were easy to find. Our stay at the Best B&B Pantheon was for 3 nights and I look forward to staying there in the future. I would recommend this place to anyone visiting Rome.

As we were still on Orlando (East Coast) time, we slept for a few hours before deciding to venture out for dinner and the afternoon. We walked to Piazza Navona and saw all the performers and beautiful buildings surrounding the area. We had dinner at one of the cafes in the Piazza. The food was alright, but I'm sure we paid for the view of the Piazza. After dinner, we walked east from Piazza Navona through Via Giustiniani- a small, very narrow street, the eventually opened up to Piazza Della Rotunda, where the Pantheon is located. It was lit up with a spotlight, making it breathtaking to see such a structure nestled in an area with many buildings. We sat down by the fountain with a full moon shining down on us while enjoying gelato. There is no shortage of gelato in Rome, and thank God for it. I enjoyed Stracciatella-flavored gelato. Yum!

Links:

www.romecabs.com

www.bestbb.it/

On Sunday, April 29, we went on a walking tour with IconTours.com. We met our tour guide, Morgan (who is a native of California), at 5pm at the Victor Emmanuelle Monument. You can't miss this place as it's called "The Wedding Cake" by locals. They hate the structure for its pompousness. Morgan took us on the walking tour "Passeggiata" which took us to famous fountains and piazzas. She was great and offered great insight into the history of the area. We went through several places and ended the tour at the Piazza Santa Di Santa Maria in Trastevere. After the tour, a small group of us walked back across the Ponte Garibaldi bridge and down Via Arenula to Corso Vittorio Emmanuelle II street. We then headed west up Corso Vittorio Emmanuelle II a couple blocks to get some very yummy pizza at Monte Carlo Pizza. It was great! The place was happening and had many people waiting to get in. It's a local favorite and the pizza was to die for. Don't be offended if they ask you to leave right away after you finish your food. They asked us this, as they had 200 people waiting to get in after we finished our meal.

Links:

www.icontours.com

On Monday, April 30, we did a full-day Rome tour with Rome Cabs. We were pleasantly surprised to find out Stefano would be our tour guide for the day. He owns RomeCabs and although he has several people who work with him, he is the man, the legend...THE Stefano. Stefano was well worth the cost of the tour. We had two other couples join us as we visited many wonderful sites including the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, the Circus Maximus, the Caracalla Baths, Spanish Steps, a drive down Via Condutti, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, and many more. In addition, we were able to cut through several lines, including the 3-hour line at The Vatican. This is where the cost of the private tour really paid off. Rafaela was our guide at The Vatican, for which we paid a little extra, but it was worth it, as she pointed out highlights of the museum and St. Peter's, including the Sistine Chapel, etc. After the visit to the Vatican, Stefano also took us up Gianicolo (Janiculum) Hill near the Vatican that overlooked Trastevere and the rest of Rome. This was a great photo opportunity. I also asked Stefano if he could take us out to Appian Way. I had read on cruisecritic.com about some folks who had asked to go visit this road, and it proved to be a good choice, as we got to get away from the tourists and step outside the city walls.

By combining the evening walking tour with the full-day tour, we actually saw a few sites twice, but it provided even more insight on all the history wrapped up in this rich area. For example, we found out that a majority of the graffiti in Rome is not gang-related, it's all about soccer. Yep - the two rival Rome-area Soccer (futbol) team fan bases are so rabid that they deface property with their team's names and stuff. I don't know that I'm that die-hard of a Buckeye fan that I'd have to deface property.

Links:

www.romecabs.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gianicolo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appian_Way

On Tuesday, May 1 we checked out of the hotel by 10am and ventured out around the Piazza Navona area. We were getting picked up at 12:00 p.m. by Diana with Rome Cabs for our transfer to Civitavecchia, where Carnival Freedom was docked.

The drive to Civitavecchia was a fast one and we got there in no time. When we arrived at the cruise terminal, we dropped off our luggage and signed our docs to board. It's a cute little terminal and embarkation here was much easier than it's ever been through Miami. I was pleasantly surprised to be on the ship within 10 minutes of arrival.

THE CRUISE SHIP:

We were happy to be on a brand new ship. The color patterns and design were in true Carnival fashion. For example the Chic dining room has a snakeskin pattern design on the ceilings and walls. And I'll be the first to say that the fact that this cruise was half the price of Royal Caribbean for roughly the same itinerary, and that this was a new 110,000 ton ship, helped me to choose Carnival for this particular Itinerary. We had previously traveled on Carnival Triumph in the Caribbean and enjoyed that ship.

The cabins were clean and large and we had a nice verandah on the empress deck 7. I also realized that I had been spoiled on my last cruise ship: Royal Caribbean's, Navigator of the Seas. Gone was the large internal atrium area, Johnny Rockets, and the wonderful designs I had been accustomed to. But I knew this going into this cruise as I had traveled with Carnival before.

This cruise ship did have a mini golf and basketball court up on top and an arcade with air hockey (which my wife loves) that we unfortunately didn't have much time to try at all, which was nice to see.

There were many trivia's held on this ship, and that was a good thing as Jenny and I were out to get some plastic ship trophies. There may have been more trivia's due to the days of this cruise.

The Lido deck has a giant jumbotron tv! It was great, although we never got a chance to go watch a movie on there, except for us playing famous places trivia on It, which was really cool.

A note of warning: some of our friends had cabins below the Lido deck in cabin 8316. Each morning, they awoke early to the sound of dragging chairs above them. Other friends in cabin 9222 heard a constant leaking water noise coming through the wall throughout their stay. Perhaps this was caused by the spa Jacuzzis one floor above.

At the time of cruising, the licenses for the cable channels had not yet been worked out with Carnival, therefore there were no sports channels being played at the "Players" sports bar on the ship. There were a couple NBA dvds being played and one channel with music videos and then BBC World. A couple times we were In there playing trivia, some people had come In looking for some golf updates and also NBA Finals updates only to see music videos and an old NBA video looping.

This ship had a complimentary Sushi bar on the promenade (adjacent to the 70s lounge)- WOOHOO!!, but wait- Of the 12 days we were on this, I think I only saw the Sushi bar opened 3 times selling Sushi. - What a shame. It was good sushi and I got to pick some up one night. Yum!!

Technical commentary: I hope that with their newer ships, Carnival's naval architects revisit a new design rather than just inserting another deck forward above the bridge. Because sooner or later the ships are going to look top heavy. It might be due to some limitations at Fincantieri (Carnival's Italian ship builder). I think what Aker Finnyards, formerly known as Kvaerner Masa (Royal Caribbean's finnish ship builder) puts out for Royal Caribbean just goes more above and beyond in design and layout.

Overall - she's a good ship. She's new, she's clean. She just wasn't our type. We miss those Royal Caribbean full-size indoor atriums and the wonderful eagle's nest seating at the Viking Crown Lounges, where one truly feels like master and commander of the seas.

THE STAFF:

Look for Aliksiander and Lubomir over near the '70s Lounge in the evenings. Tell them Gabe and Jenny and all the other guys from the May 1st cruise say Hello and have them get you a Grolsch or a Boddington. They were great bar servers and always put a smile on our faces. They quickly picked up on what our favorite drinks were and knew our cabin numbers so that towards the end of the cruise we didn't have to show them our sign and sail cards, just sign. Carnival needs more people like Aliksiander and Lubomir. Our cabin steward, Fery, was awesome. He always greeted us by name with a smile. Gary is the fun British trivia guy.

Unfortunately, I can't say the same for Shawn or Ron the Piano Man. Shawn has spiked blonde hair and is part of the entertainment staff. You can see Ron in the Scot's Lounge. We had issues with both of them. We asked Ron to sing "Happy Birthday" and even gave a large tip in advance. He ignored us and continued singing his songs, then said something along the likes of, “Some people keep interrupting me so that they can hear what THEY want to hear”, which we thought was the whole point of a request piano bar, so we took our money, left the bar, and sang on our own. Our group was approached by Shawn and told we were rude and obnoxious. Later in the week, we amicably asked Shawn about the rumored crew party and attempted to joke with him about where the fun party was for Carnival guests. Shawn got very snooty and said, "We fund our own crew parties." We corrected him and said we meant "FUN" as in the "Fun Ships of Carnival," and he said we had a "masquerade" party on deck when we left Venice and there was another party that night for guests. The midnight party for guests was a joke. NO ONE was there, meanwhile; we could hear great music thumping from the Lido Aft deck, behind locked doors where the crew had an amazing time. We all agreed that the crew deserved a great party, but don't paying guests as well? The Venice deck party was embarrassing, the ship blared Caribbean music on the Lido deck as we passed by Piazza San Marco. They could have done something a little more tasteful and in line with the setting.

John Heald was the cruise director on the Carnival Triumph, and, since we had sailed with him before, we preferred to skip most of the shows this time. However, we did catch some of the shows on the TV replays and noticed something, the "improv" acts that John Heald did were the same ones he did on Carnival Triumph. It was like deja vu. I remember the “Yabba Dabba Do” skit from Carnival Triumph. Also, his "impromptu" audience participation show (in which he has someone say, "I'm going to kill you with venom") is actually NOT impromptu, but the same exact show he does with planted audience members...we heard the same jokes and gags six years ago on Triumph. In addition, we found him to be incorrect on several things. At various ports, he told us the bus driver for the shuttle would only accept U.S. dollars. Therefore, we should take out money from the Bank Atlantic ATM on the ship and get charged $6 for the withdrawal. But we found out when we got to the bus that they took euros. We were told that the old town of Dubrovnik only accepted kunas (their local currency). The merchants there gladly took euros or U.S. dollars. Lastly, he had incorrect information on the cost of the vaporetto passes...someone in our cruise critic group corrected him but he wouldn't hear it. He did make an effort to show up for our second meet and greet we held for our cruise critic group and thanked us for posting on cruise critic and stated that he and the industry monitors the postings closely. Therefore I'm making a concerted effort to let others know about our trip so that they have this information. But it's almost like Carnival wanted to discourage people from doing things on their own by scaring them with various stories and higher costs for things.

The SPA: Jenny treated herself to a massage as a birthday gift, and the ship was nice enough to provide a coupon. She booked one of the advertised specials on a day at a sea…the wrap and massage were amazing, but she didn’t appreciate the way the spa peddles their products. As soon as the masseuse rang the bell and brought her a glass of water, she launched into a speech about hydration and detoxification. The products they wanted here to buy cost four times what the massage cost. Then she charged her the wrong price, claiming the special was not good for days at sea. When Jenny left, she picked up the flyer and went the manager, explaining that the flyer mentioned nothing about when the special could and could not be used. The manager said the special was for a 90-minute treatment, whereas hers had been two hours. Jenny specifically asked for the special when she called for the appointment so the manager had no choice but to refund her money…so she actually got more massage than she paid for. Don’t let the spa staff bully you into products or services you don’t want or didn’t request!

THE DINING ROOM (CHIC)We had an issue with the Chic Dining Room maitre'd in that a group of us from cruisecritic, had specifically provided Carnival with our booking numbers (thanks Nick and Chick- it was great dining with you guys and the others), so that we could be seating together at the same table where were initially confirmed for 6:15 p.m. dining. However, upon arrival, we were placed at the 5:45 seating, which we thought was a bit early. Dino said the only way to accommodate our group was to have us stay in Chic, but we could arrive at 6:15 (even though dinner in that room started at 5:45), if we liked. So we always felt rushed during dinner and would have our main course interrupted by the same cheesy dances they do on all the other cruise ships (I thought for some reason that a Med cruise would be a bit more sophisticated). Later in the cruise, I spoke with a lady who had said this was their family reunion of some 20 or more people. She said they had planned it all out and had worked tediously with their travel agent and Carnival to get a set of dining tables for her family to sit together. On the day of arrival, Carnival changed everyone's seating and caused her group to be all broken up across various tables and not sitting together. She told me she went crying to the maitre'd about getting this corrected and that they said they unfortunately couldn't accommodate that. It was unfortunate that this had to happen to her group.

Lastly, I'm not much of a wine drinker, but we had a couple in our group who liked a particular type of wine. In the first few days, our dining room ran out of Riesling. We later found out that Posh and Chic have separate wine cellars, but our dining room staff did not make the effort to look on the other side of the ship. And the Chic dining room never restocked their wine supply, even though we stopped in numerous ports. We also have friends who had an issue with a bartender…the drink the wife ordered was a little too strong. When her husband asked the bartender to remake it less strong, the bartender asked, “What do you expect me to do with the first drink?" as if to say, you're going to have to pay for two drinks, in that case. The right response would have been, “Let me take care of that for you as you are on vacation and I want you to enjoy it."

Some of you may find these to be small things, but as I've found out small things can eventually add up to make it a big problem. When people are on vacation, the last thing they need to worry about is going back and forth with staff on the ship. Granted, this is a new ship and the crew was probably assembled from various ships, but the message needs to be clear that the small inconsistencies only help to further erode a customer's loyalty to the brand or product.

CARNIVAL EXCURSIONS:

I don't have anything to say about the Carnival Excursions, as we did none of them. We were smart and planned these privately thanks to research and cruisecritic. We winged it in Dubrovnik and Venice. Keep in mind that Carnival gives priority to guests taking their overpriced tours, especially in ports like Cannes, where tenders are used. (And this might be the case with other cruise lines as well, as it's their product being purchased, so they want to give their customer's top priority in disembarking, which still should be no excuse.) We found out the morning we arrived in Cannes that guests NOT taking Carnival tours had to wait 1-2 hours to debark the ship, at which point we were herded like cattle and branded with a number as to when we could leave the ship. The crew was very short with guests...again, Carnival is really lacking in the customer service department, especially when compared to cruise lines like Royal Caribbean.

PORTS AND PRIVATE EXCURSIONS:

Naples (Napoli), Italy:

We arrived early Tuesday morning into Naples. I believe it might be Italy's third busiest port. Debbie, one of our cruise critic friends, booked a private tour with Drive Amalfi Tours. The company is owned by Salvatore Lucibello, a Senior Driver & Guide. Our driver and tour guide was Adriano and he met us promptly at 8:00 a.m. with his minivan. There were 8 of us. The tour had a general description of where we'd go, but also offered us flexibility on what we'd like to do.

The minivan was clean, spacious and had great air conditioning. Adriano put on his little microphone and began telling us about the history of the region as soon as he put the van in drive. We drove on down to Pompeii from the port. They were expecting some minor showers in the morning and these quickly cleared up on our way to Pompeii.

As soon as we arrived in Pompeii, Adriano introduced us to Roberta, our authorized archaeological Pompeii Guide. We paid extra to have her guide us around but it was worth it, as one can easily spend a day in Pompeii alone. Roberta took us on a two and a half hour tour of the highlights of Pompeii and it was a very moving place. While we were there, we did see the larger tour groups with headsets, but it was much nicer to have our small group with Roberta as she could get us in and out in a jiffy and we could go off into a corner while she provided insights; meanwhile, the larger tour groups had to corral their way in and out.

After Pompeii, Roberta took us to back to Adriano just outside the main entrance. From there we rode up the coast through Sorrento, Positano, Praiano and Amalfi. It was a fun ride and we made several stops along the way for photos and to visit roadside vendors selling those giant lemons. When we got to Amalfi, Adriano offered to stop and allow us to shop; however, we saw MANY motorcoach buses and crowds, so we passed. We wanted to get away from the tourist traps and Adriano was happy to oblige. He drove further up the mountain behind Amalfi on a small road the motorcoach buses are not able to access, to a hillside village near Ravello. There we enjoyed lunch at a small traditional restaurant overlooking the coastline, lemon trees and hills. It was beautiful. It was great that Adriano called in the order ahead of time, and we were able to sample a lot of different things…appetizers, pasta, desserts and wines, plus various limoncellos. We ate and drank well. There was no one besides our group of eight in the restaurant, except for a writer from Philadelphia who is a regular and we found that to be very refreshing. It was awesome.

After lunch, we boarded the minivan once more and went up to Ravello, where Adriano let us explore the town there for about half and hour. Ravello was very cute, and although It has tourists there, It wasn't as bad as Amalfi at all. It offered great views of the coast and the villages down below, and the village Itself was almost medieval In nature with some cute little shops.

After Ravello, we headed back across the mountains toward Naples, enjoying some very panoramic views. Some of took a nice siesta as Adriano sang – yes, sang – Italian songs to us on his little microphone and talked some more about the region, its history, his family, etc. It was very educational, fun, and stress free.

We'd recommend Adriano from Drive Amalfi Tours any day of the week and will use him next time we visit the Amalfi Coast. Thanks to Debbie from our cruisecritic group for organizing this excursion. It was a very memorable one.

Links:

Drive Amalfi Tours: ***** or *****

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naples

Venice (Venezia), Italy:

As I had worked on planning tours and excursions at various ports of call, I gave my wife this port as one we wouldn't plan. I know she appreciates my planning efforts and knows it pays off, but for once, she really did want to get lost in a port and in Venice we got both lost and soaked. The one thing I did plan was the one thing that helped us get around all of this: the vaporetto 24-hour passes.

I read about the vaporettos on our cruisecritic roll call discussion thread. I believe it may have been Joyce or someone else in our group that brought up the discussion. Boy was that a lifesaver. I believe we figured out that it would be about 15 euros for a 24-hour pass. We told other couples with us and they too decided to get their passes as well.

We arrived in Venice on a rainy Friday afternoon at about 1pm. It didn't take away from the beauty. I had my doubts, but was pleasantly surprised at this marvel. As we came into Venice, the city was on our starboard side. It was cool to see Piazza San Marco and the Campanile. The ship moved up the Canale della Guidecca and pulled into our dock at the Bacino della Stazione Marittima, just west of the city center. We were the only ship docked there on Friday.

Carnival said there would be a shuttle we could use from our pier to the Piazzale Roma. From there we could take water taxis, walk, or do whatever. To our surprise we saw only one shuttle bus and a long line of Carnival passengers waiting (under a covered waiting area) in a long line. Despite the rain, we decided to walk, rather than stand in line. We were at Piazzale Roma within about 15 to 20 minutes. Once there, we all purchased our Vaporetto passes. I asked the attendee if our passes included access to Murano, Burano, Lido, and Torcello. She said yes and I was very happy with this. I thought I let the rest of our group know this. We boarded the vaporetto and most of us got off at the rialto stop. Within minutes our group of 6 to 8 couples was separated. We knew this might happen so we said our goodbyes and went off on our own.

The vaporettos were sooo much fun to ride. You could take them all the way down the Grand Canal and then out to the other islands like Murano and Burano. It's important to note that you just need to validate the passes in the machine at the dock prior to boarding the first time. Also it's imperative to pay attention to the route on the vessel approaching and where it's coming from, as the vaporettos run in both directions. One good way to find out is to simply look at the electronic sign posted on the vessel. It should list the terminating station and the direction it is heading. Otherwise just ask them if your stop is on their route.

After we split up, we continued exploring and getting lost. We ended up next to this great tie store, Andrew's Ties, at which I couldn't resist the urge to get some brightly colored Italian ties. We went into many little shops off the many narrow streets we explored. We finally ended up at Piazza San Marco. The rain changed from light to heavy to light again. We explored all of Venice with our little DK Eyewitness book and stumbled across a cheap pizza place where we chowed down on some yummy pizza that was extremely cheap: for 7 Euros, you got a giant slice of pizza, a drink, and a gelato. This fast food place was called "Pizza and Ice Cream" and it was located on the San Giovanni Crisostomo, just north of the San Giovanni Crisostomo church, but south of the Rio dei Santi Apostoli. It was like an Italian version of Sbarro.

It was fun to get lost In Venice, although some of our friends got lost and did not have fun as they ended up on the other side of town. Couple this with the rain and wind, and you can imagine how trying of a day it was for those of us exploring. By 6 pm we were ready to come back to the ship. We were getting cold from the rain, had done a little shopping, took a ton of photos, and really got to see some cool things in Venice, albeit on a cloudy and rainy day. So we hopped back on the vaporetto and took it to Piazzale Roma station. There we walked over to see if we might be able to get on one of those shuttles back to the pier. We saw the crowd building there for the carnival shuttle and it was a mad house. People were all over the place and the shuttles weren't moving fast enough. We knew the line was long again, so we decided to go ahead and walk back to the pier. This was a big mistake, as the downpour came as soon as we headed back. The umbrella bent a couple of times and we were officially drenched. All the time, the same shuttle we had seen pull up to load people still had not passed and we were 3/4 of the way to the ship. One of our cruise critic friends told us a merchant said it had been the worst rain they had received in four months. We finally made it back to the pier's security area where people were filing in from the shuttles, walking on their own or private water taxis or excursions. It was also chaos as multiple lines were formed in the downpour.

After we got back to our cabin, we had a view of the city from our balcony. The sun even came out a bit before sunset. I believe this is what caused half of our ship to get sick. We didn’t pick it up until our flight home.

Saturday morning we awoke bright and early to beautiful sunshine, which was very exciting…how different the city looked with blue skies! We boarded the Carnival shuttle (for 5 euros round trip), then the Vaporetto from Piazzale Roma to Murano. It was a fun trip and we arrived before the shops even opened. We walked around and watched the vendors set up their little vegetable and fruit stands in the early morning. All very pleasant. At the end of Murano, near the "Faro" vaporetto stop, we paused to enjoy Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas coming into port. We could see her from a distance, and even at 90,000 tons, she dwarfed the Campanile and the Venice skyline.

From Murano, we took the vaporetto to Burano. It was a little longer ride as these islands are a little bit away from Venice, but well worth exploring. It was a cute little town and we enjoyed the bright houses very much. We debated heading to Torcello, which was within distance, but we felt that time wouldn't permit, as I was trying to get us back in time for our 2 p.m. departure. In addition, because Burano was not as busy a stop as something along the Grand Canal, the vaporettos only come by once every hour, so we had to wait a bit, but it was nice people-watch and explore. We took the "LN" line vaporetto to get us over to St. Marks, by way of Lido. This was a pleasant leg of the vaporetto as it circled the eastern side of the lagoon and took us past some cute islands. Our vaporetto boat became crowded when we picked up a group of French students on tour in Lido. As we got closer to St. Marks, we began to notice all the crowds. The gondoliers were busy too – some were even on their cell phones – and the canals looked like a lunch-hour traffic jam. We even had some friends tell us they could tell their gondolier was making fun of them, while they were riding with him. I just didn’t feel this kind of experience was worth 120 euros. We continued to ride the Vaporetto, which proved to be more fun and romantic in its own way. The shuttle buses were a bit more in control on this day and we got back the ship quickly.

We later found out from some other friends on the ship, that Carnival had an excursion that charged people to take the tour of the Murano Glass factory, when apparently you can take the tour for free If you are visiting Murano or something like that. In addition we had some friends on board who forgot Murano and Burano were included in the 24 hour passes they purchased with us a day earlier and were wishing they would have just went on their own versus paying for the carnival excursion.

We arrived back on the ship, no bubbles no troubles. As we left the pier, we noticed something strange…we noticed Vaporettos coming directly to Brilliance of the Seas. All the time we had been there, there was not once that we had seen this happen. We only had seen private water taxis, and also private excursion boats docking alongside Carnival Freedom. I'd almost like to know if Royal Caribbean paid a little extra to have vaporettos make an additional stop at the Brilliance of the Seas for a particular route. It would have been nice to have had this feature with Carnival in addition to the shuttles.

Again, even with the rain, Venice was a very nice place. It was pleasant, fun, and, yes, you could get lost easily. I had no problems with our wing-it plan and the vaporettos helped tremendously to connect us from one point to the next as well as provide great views of all the great buildings. I would come back to Venice, which was a pleasant surprise to my wife, who didn't think I would want to see it again.

Links:

http://www.actv.it/english/navigazione.php?pagina=tariffe_vaporetto

Dubrovnik, Croatia:

We had not read much about Dubrovnik except that the old city was the place to visit. So we took the Carnival shuttle to the old city. You can choose to get their on your own, but it would be a difficult walk. The Carnival Shuttle was 10 euros per person round trip (even though Carnival told us the shuttle would only except US dollars) dropped us off at the entrance to the gates of the walled city. Upon entering the fortified walls, on your immediate left is a staircase up onto the wall (for a small fee – maybe 3 euros?). It’s well worth it to pay the fee and go on this 2.5-mile hike, which provides great views of the city below and the islands in the distance. Before heading back to the ship, we explored the many shops and enjoyed yummy gelato, where they accepted U.S. dollars or euros.

Links:

http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=95

Messina, Sicily, Italy:

One of our cruisecritic friend from our roll call reserved a bus from Bluestone Tourism to take 50-some of us cruisecritic folks to Taormina. Even though our private chartered bus was parked next to the Carnival excursion buses, we were forced to exit through a special terminal building instead of proceeding onward to the bus right off of the gangway, as other guests who had tours booked with carnival were able to do. This wasn't really a problem with us, but it was an inconvenience and another instance where the ship treated guests not using their tours like second-class citizens.

The bus driver didn't speak English but knew where to take us and provided a smooth drive to Taormina. Luckily one of our cruise critic friends, Stanley was from Malta and spoke fluent Italian with the driver to confirm a pick up time. The bus dropped us off just below the entrance to Taormina. We each paid 10 euros for the round trip ride (I heard carnival had been charging as high as $75 dollars per person to get to Taormina, but I can't confirm or deny that as I didn't do their tour.). We were able to get to Taormina before many of the other Carnival buses arrived. Jenny and I made a dash to the other side of town and the old Greek ampitheater, which is a must see. The only large group in front of us was a school group with their teachers. We paid a small entrance fee and were afforded some marvelous views of Mt. Etna and the coast. It was beautiful. As we were leaving the amphitheater, we saw the bigger tour groups arrive with their little stickers. We walked back down through the main street to check out the shops. We sampled canolis, granitas (at a little bar called BAM Bar), and purchased some brightly colored canvas paintings done by a street artist. Taormina was beautiful, but touristy. It’s hard to feel like you are getting away to a “medieval” town when you bump into the other 3498 passengers on your ship. But we had a good time, and even stopped at an internet café, where we were able to check email for half an hour for only 1 euro.

Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taormina

http://www.bluestonesicily.com/

Barcelona, Spain:

We arrived early into Barcelona on Thursday morning. It was by far the busiest port we saw on this cruise. We were adjacent to Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas, Navigator of the Seas (Gabe and Jenny’s wedding cruise ship), a couple AIDA cruise ships (from Germany), a couple unknown cruise ships and also the Queen Mary 2. This totaled about 16,000 or so cruisers in port on this one day, by some estimates.

Debarkation from the ship was easy and very quick. Carnival Freedom had a shuttle for I think it was 5 Euros that would take you from the port to a stop near the world trade center, just south of the Columbus Monument at the foot of La Rambla. The shuttle from the ship to the stop was easy and quick. It could be walked but it would be a little hike as you have to walk across a bridge. With such little time in port, it’s worth it to just take the shuttle to the drop off point.

Upon drop off, we were at Las Rambla very quickly in time to make it up the street to the Boqueria Market. That was really cool as it’s a large fruit, fish, meat, flower, you name it market. It was cool to see all the vendor stalls and to see everything so fresh. We then continued walking up La Rambla to Plaza Catalunya. Some people call this the Heart of Barcelona. It’s a large plaza, and underneath it is a metro stop I believe and the office of tourism for Barcelona.

We had read on cruisecritic about the Hop-On, Hop-Off Tourist Bus. One price gets you access for a full day to all three tourist bus routes. Because we didn’t want to hassle with looking for where to buy these and save a couple Euros, we bought the tickets for the tourist bus on viator.com . Unfortunately, Viator gives you a voucher, which you can redeem at only three of the 42+ tourist bus stops, into an actual ticket to let you ride all day long. But we didn’t find this a problem, as we planned to walk up La Rambla to Plaza Catalunya.

We picked up the tickets, which came with a little brochure in english with really good information about the area and neighborhood surrounding the various stops, a map plus a coupon voucher with discounts at various attractions along the route. So if you have the time, this bus pass truly pays for itself.

We didn’t hop on the bus right away, as we were on a mission to find the TopShop store around the corner from one of the stops on the red tourist bus lines. After we did some shopping, we boarded the tourist bus's North line. It took about 2 hours to go the whole circuit and it was great. We got to see La Sagrada Familia, the Barcelona soccer team stadium, and many other sites along the line. We really wanted to ride the South line as well, but didn’t have time. By the time the North line bus returned us to the Plaza Catalunya, it was lunch time, but we first hit up the Zara and H&M stores, as Barcelona provides some great shopping.

A word of advice: some of the stops for the busses are really busy when many tourists are in port, so you may want to view the map and board the stop prior to the busy stops of places like Plaza Catalunya and Sagrada Familia. Doing this, will allow you to get a seat on the top level of the double decker bus that will allow you to get some sun and get some great photos. For example, There were many people boarding the North line bus at the Plaza Catalunya stop to get a ride to the Sagrada Familia (the line was insane), so what we did, is simply board that very same bus at the stop just before it, (literally one block away from the Plaza Catalunya) and we got to sit at the top and enjoy some great views.

Also- the tourist buses do have the right to bypass a stop in the event of protests or parades or anything like that so be prepared. There was a protest at the Plaza Catalunya on our day in Barcelona on our return of the North line, so we stopped at one stop past it, up the street. But this put us closer to the better shopping, so I don’t know if this was good or bad.

After riding the bus, we walked back from Plaza Catalunya on La Rambla and picked up some Tapas and Sangria. We may have paid for the fact that we were on La Rambla. But it was yummy and we proceeded to make our way back to the pick-up point for the Carnival shuttle at the world trade center area. We figured we’d get back to the area at 3:30pm as the last shuttle to the ship would be at 4:15. When we returned to the pick-up point, we were in shock to see a VERY long line. We figured it was for the Queen Mary 2 or one of the other ships in port. Unfortunately this was for our ship. There were buses parked for the other ships but these had o lines. Only Carnival guests had to wait over an hour in line. Not only were people in line frustrated, but the Carnival employee in charge did not even speak Spanish, so she was unable to communicate with any of the buses. It was a complete mess. Carnival clearly had issues here. They should revisit their procedures in place for this stop, and while the ship is new, I thought that Carnival Liberty has called on Barcelona before, so they should be familiar with the shuttle bus companies and should not have had this issue. Like I said, all the other cruise ships had their respective shuttle buses there always and no lines.

Overall, this was a beautiful port and we loved riding the tourist bus. We just felt we didn’t have enough time. Carnival could easily make this an overnight port. In addition, the terminal facilities at this port are top notch. Their terminal is much nicer than Miami’s and it looks like Barcelona is continuing to invest in the development and upgrade of their facilities to continue to make it a major player as a departure point for Mediterranean cruises in the near future.

Links:

http://www.boqueria.info/Eng/index.php

http://www.viator.com/tours/Barcelona/Barcelona-Hop-On-Hop-Off-Bus-Turistic/d562-2512BBUS

Cannes, France:

We arrived to Cannes on Friday morning earlier than scheduled, but were not permitted off the ship until 10:00 a.m. because we did not book a Carnival tour. We met up with an old friend who lives in Provence. She picked us up right at the dock took us on a tour of the coastline, including the beaches, over to Nice, where we enjoyed the market and a nice lunch, then went up into the mountains to St. Paul de Vence. This was the gem of this stop. Our local guides recommended St. Paul over Eze, as Eze appears to have more tourist traffic. St. Paul was very medieval and fascinating. Today it has many little shops and art galleries. From there you can get some great views of the region below.

After our visit to St. Paul de Vence, we came back down some nice streets and our friends got us right to the pier in no time at all. There we were able to get a tender back to the ship. Many people had said that one most try the cuisine in Nice, and I have to say, we enjoyed it very much. We had a three course menu, and the fish was very fresh and delicious.

We did encounter a merchant helper (like a stock boy with a hand truck)in the Nice market, who did make an anti-tourist remark as we may have blocked his way as we were walking through the market, but luckily our friend, who is a local, was able to engage in a colorful flurry of words about how us tourists provide him with his income. It was one small occurrence in the entire 12-day trip.

Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nice

http://www.saint-pauldevence.com/tourism_uk.html 


Livorno, Italy:

We began in Italy and we end in Italy. Livorno is an industrial port used as a way to get people into Florence. We booked a private tour with Tuscany Tours with Paola and Guiseppie, recommended to us by other cruisecritic members. Paola was our licensed guide and driver for our group of 8. She greeted us promptly at the pier, than drove us to Pisa for about 30 minutes. Along the way, Paola pointed out the old Roman road and took us through downtown Pisa, which the bigger tour buses don’t often see. She dropped us off right in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa before any other tours had arrived, so it was nice and quiet. Our drive to Florence was pleasant. We first visited the Accademia, where Paola got us to the front of the line, and where we saw the real David (not the fake version in front of the Uffizi). We saw the Signoria Square and its 14th-century town hall, Ponte Vecchio, Dante’s House, Il Duomo, and Santa Croce where Michelangelo, Galileo and Dante are buried. In addition, Paola took us to a little shop with craftsmen hand carving colored stones to make these intricate and very valuable portraits that were selling for like 100,000 Euros each.

After lunch, we had a couple hours to shop in the central area. Once again we visited Andrew’s Ties. Jenny, my dear wife, bought four or five handbags at Carpisa. We regrouped at the minivan and Paola’s father, Marcello, took us up to a great viewpoint of the city of Florence. Finally, Marcello drove us back to Livorno. Boarding the ship was no problem at all. We would definitely recommend Tuscany Tours by Paola to anyone heading to Livorno.

Links:

http://www.florencetour.com/

info@florencetour.com

http://www.andrewsties.com/home.asp?lan=UK

http://www.carpisa.it/

SUMMARY

So this wraps up the long review of Rome and the Med Cruise.

I can’t thank our cruisecritic cruisemates enough for all their insight and recommendations on the private tours we arranged and the things we did. It made the cruise so stress-free.

One last note regarding the private tours: We had to pay cash (in euros) for all of the tours. Rick Steves said it best on his website: "I use my credit card for booking hotel reservations by phone, making major purchases (such as car rentals and plane tickets), and paying for things near the end of my trip to avoid another visit to the ATM. But a dependence on plastic reshapes the Europe you experience. Going through the back door requires hard local cash."

I'd recommend this cruise for the ports and the price. It's port intensive so bring your walking shoes.The customer service and resolving of a couple of the issues mentioned above would have been the icing on the cake, but we won't let that tarnish our memorable cruise experience. We found many gems, we will likely go back and visit, and made many new friends we look forward to cruising with in the future.

Now.. time to plan another cruise, but this time on Royal Caribbean...

-Gabe and Jenny

FloridaBuckeye, as someone else who lives in Orlando a question about your flight(s) to Rome. How were they? What airline did you fly on? My sister, mother and I are on the July 24 cruise. Any help would be great!!

[summerdays]

Dear all,

My mum and I have just returned from 25 May 07 sailing for 12N Grand Med. We have benefited much from the generous sharing from past cruisers, and hope we can pass it on to future people sailing, too. So please pardon this fairly lengthy review.

Overall, the trip had been fantastic And we want to thank God for His provision, protection, favor and good health to enjoy the trip! There were only some minor hiccups which I’d highlight later.

For those who feel too young or old to cruise, wait no more! My dearest mum (in her early 70s) has ‘conquered’ the climbing of stairs and walking on cobbled stoned paths from Eze, Positano to the walls of Dubrovik and enjoyed them greatly.

Flight

We flew from Singapore to Rome via KLM-Dutch, with a transit in Amsterdam, a total travel time of 17 hrs. The longest part of the flight time was 12 hrs from Spore to Amsterdam, but thankfully, KLM had an excellent personal entertainment system onboard. We could choose from a very wide range of movies, TV, music, etc. I was able to watch 2 movies, and catch 5-6 hrs of sleep as well.

The flights were punctual both ways, and the crew were friendly and service oriented. There was no issue with our luggage reaching their destination.

Pre-Cruise : 3N in Rome

We stayed 3N at Villa Finzi, a lovely B&B located in the Palestrina countryside in Lazio, in the outskirts of Rome. (http://www.bedandbreakfastineurope.com/villafinzi/en.htm)

Villa Finzi was recommended by Anne from Anne’s Place, as her B&B was fully booked. We had intentionally chose a B&B away from the city centre, as we wished to relax in a peaceful and quiet surroundings after a day of sight-seeing. Interestingly, it was Anne who picked us up from the airport (E70), as the owners were busy that morning. It was E$ 75 per night.

The owners, Marcello & Francesca, a very friendly and nice H&B team, have made us felt very welcome throughout our stay. Both of them speak English well, especially Francesca. Their villa is located in 4 hectares of private gated estate, with rows of olives trees and some cherry and orange trees. Francsca makes some mean orange jam, with oranges from her garden. There were another 3 other families from Australia and S. Africa who were staying at their place when we arrived.

The owners give all guests complimentary rides to and fro the nearest Zagoloro Station. Rome is a scenic and comfortable 30-40 mins ride away by train. The Rome countryside is very beautiful with rolling hills, rows of olive trees, vineyards, very much like Tuscany, and we have enjoyed the views during the train ride.

Rome & Palestrina : Sight-seeing

We bought a “Open Tour Rome” 24hr hop-on hop-off bus pass from (www.viator.com) for E$ 18 per person. It was upgraded to 48hr as they had a promotion in May.

It started outside the Roman Termini Station (outside the Pharmacy across the street) and had 9 stops along the way. It was clean, frequent (we never had to wait more than 5-10mins) and very easy to use. There are other similar providers like Bus 110, Christian Rome, etc, and they all start outside the Termini Station.

We visited the usual attractions like Colosseum, Spanish Steps, the St Peter’s Basilica, Trevi Fountain, etc during those 2 days. This was my second time in Rome, and I thought the city was slightly cleaner than my first visit in 1997.

However, personally, the highlight of the 3 days in Rome was not in the Rome city, but in the beautiful Palestrina countryside. Marcello gave us a private guided tour of the Museo ****onale Archeologico Prenestino in the town of Palestrina, and then drove us to Mentorella. It was E$ 60 for 3 hrs (to and fro).

Mentorello has a very beautiful monastry perched on a cliff-top, like those you see on TV (never thought I could see this in Italy?!). One of the past Popes used to stay there for prayers and contemplation. And I really loved the drive along the mountain roads with beautiful blooming wild flowers, trees, greenery, hill-tops houses, and you could see horses and cows along the way.

To The Ship

We arranged for Italy Limousine (http://www.italylimousine.it) to pick us up from Villa Finzi to the Citavecchia Port. We have found Italy Limousine in a yahoo search. They have more than 40 Mercedes sedans and vans across Italy (one of the largest), are reputable, offer very reasonable rates, and provide prompt replies to all our emails. We booked their chauffeured Mercedes sedan service to and from the seaport, in Naples and Livorno.

We paid E$ 390 for private transfer to and fro the ship in Mercedes E-class sedan, including a 2hr stopover at Bracciano on the last day.

Angelo picked us up in a black Mercedes sedan, helped us with our luggage, and was very polite and helpful. The drive was 1.5 hr, and we reached the port at 11.30a.m. The driver drove us direct to the luggage tent and the Carnival staff promptly helped to offload the luggage in 2 mins. Then, the driver drove us right to the entrance of another tent for us to check in. There were many counters, and we didn’t have to wait at all to be served. We were on the ship in less than 20mins after arriving at the port.

Carnival Freedom : The Ship

This is my first time cruising, so I can’t say how it compares. My mum has cruised several times with Star Cruises in Asia. However, I found the overall design was not as loud as expected. It was quite nice overall, though I would prefer a more classic design.

Cabin

Our balcony cabin 7419 was beautiful, and located on the starboard aft side of the ship. The room was tastefully done up and practically designed. It was fairly spacious with ample storage space. We had greatly enjoyed viewing the ocean, ports of calls, sunsets and sunrises many a times from our balcony.

Crew Service

The service by the crew in general was excellent. Most of the staff were every attentive and polite, and always greeted us with smiles and said ‘hello’ or asked “how are you” whenever we walked pass them.

We would also like to specially mention our cabin steward Fery, and his assistant Alan, for keeping our cabin clean and comfortable 2-3 times a day.

And our table head waiter, Andrej, and his assistant, Enver made dining at the Chic Room such a pleasure every evening.

Food

We had early seating at the Chic Dining Room. Though we had the 5.45p.m seating (some days 6.00p.m at different ports of call), we usually arrive 15 mins later, and finished our dinner by 7.30p.m, even at a leisurely pace. The food quality and presentation was above average. Some of the fellow cruisers commented that the food was much better than Princess and other cruises they had taken.

My mum and I found some of the dishes too salty, too sweet, or some of the meat overcooked. And especially after we’ve tried the Sun King Supper Club, we found the prime rib, escargots and fish tasted to be much less flavorful and succulent in the main dining room. However, I’d still give Chic Room 8 out of 10 points.

I’d strongly recommend at least one night at the Sun King Supper Club. The food was excellent in presentation and taste, and with excellent service by the staff, a perfect 10 out of 10. The chef gave an additional complimentary starter and dessert to all the guests, so we ended up with 2 starters and 2 desserts each. The main courses of veal cutlet (mum) and prime rib (mine) were very fresh, with tender and succulent meat, and each bite bursting with rich flavors.

Amenities

I have used the gym and sauna twice during the cruise. The gym is well equipped, but due to the design, the upper half of the sea view is always blocked. The sauna is simple but with beautiful views. I have found it such a delight to look at the ocean through the floor to ceiling window, immersed in warmth and scent of the natural pinewood fragrance.

The laundry room is available on every level. There are 3 washers and 6 dryers in each room. We have done our laundry twice (once at 2nd Sea Day, and 2nd after Silicy). If you catch the right timing, you do not have to wait in turn, and the washers and dryers are Meyers commercial type, which are fast and they clean and dry well.

Entertainment

There were shows for most of the nights, which could be singing with dancing, classical and orchestra music or comedy with acrobatics.

We enjoyed “The Ticket to Ride” most, which was an excellent play of lighting, laser and video effects to create a night with ‘The Beatles’. Frankly, “The Beatles" sounded like very ancient to a late Gen-Xer like myself, and I’ve never heard most of their songs. However, we still enjoyed the show every much

There was also ‘Carnival Legends’ on the last evening , where shortlisted guests (there were multiple auditions) took turns to do their own renditions of Frank Sinata, Elvis Presley, Ricky Martin, Britney Spears, etc.

Ports of Call

Naples

We used Italy Limousine’s service again to visit Sorrento, Positano and Ravello. It was E$ 350 for 8 hours. (http://www.italylimousine.it)

The driver, Raffelo was waiting for us with a clear sign of my name when we reached the port. Due to some miscommunication, they thought there were 3 of us, and came with a 8 seater Mercedes van instead of sedan. Hence, my mum and I had the van to ourselves.

Sorrento is famous for its lemons (some as big as melons), and has many interesting shops at the old town. We had fun looking at the shop displays, and bought many bottles of lemoncello and other souvenirs.

Positano is a cliff-side town, which the main shopping road winding vertically instead of horizontally. However, the slopes are not too steep, and they are not very tiring to walk on. There are many shops selling laced blouses, art, ceramics, cafes, etc.

Ravello has 2 villas with beautiful gardens, Villa Ruffulo and Villa Cimbrone. Both requires an entry fee of E$ 5 per person. Villa Ruffulo is near the entrance to the town of Ravello. It will require a 15 mins upwards winding walk to reach Villa Cimbrone. I went to both Villas and felt that although the views from both gardens were good (overlooking the beautiful Mediterranean Sea), they were not as well maintained as expected.

Venice

Venice is the most stunning port to arrive and leave by a cruise ship. You pass through the Grand Canal, go past St Mark’s Square, the Rialto Bridge area and see the beautiful Venetian buildings on both sides.

We did Venice on our own. As we read from Cruisecritic roll calls about walking 15-20 mins to reach Piazza De Roma, where you could get the 24hr pass for the ACTV vaporette for E$15, we decided to give it a try. You could also choose a shuttle bus for E$5 return from cruise terminal to Piazza De Roma.

It was a big mistake to walk. It was more like 30 mins walking under the hot sun, rather than 15-20 mins. And the vaporettes were old, always very crowded (especially from the Rialto bridge area), and people were packed like sardines inside. Also, the vaporettes, which were like public buses, made many stops along the way, and did not give clear indication of which direction they were going towards.

Worst still, it started to rain fairly heavily in the late afternoon on the first day in Venice. When we got back to Piazza De Roma, and wanted to catch the shuttle bus back, we were shocked to witness something like a “stampede” of fellow cruisers rushing, pushing and jostling to get onto the shuttle bus. Everyone was very cold, all soaked wet.. Many were thinly dressed, and some of the folks were shivering

When my mum and I finally got on one bus after 10 mins of being pushed right behind by the others (who were mostly of bigger build), the bus driver told 6 of us who were standing to get off, and he stubbornly refused to drive due to ‘safety reasons’. And 4 of the group were elderly ladies in their 60s- 70s.

Hence, we had no choice but to get off, got back into the cold and rain, and boarded onto a second bus. Thankfully, this second bus driver was more humane, and drove all of us back, although there were also like 5-6 people also standing.

The second day at Venice, we decided to take the smarter way, and we would strongly recommend this to all cruisers. There is a privately run Anguilla Vaporette service (yellow and white) less than 5 mins walk from the ship. The tickets are E $6 one way, or E $11 return, which brings you non-stop in 20 mins from the cruise terminal to St Mark’s Square. Every passengers sits down for this Anguilla service, and the vaporettes are newer and cleaner.

If you think about it, you save more time, money and hassle on the Anguilla Service than either the Shuttle + ACTV Vaporette, or Walk + ACTV Vaporette options.

Also, the town Venice is easily accessed by foot, and you can walk around easily to explore its narrow streets and many shops once you reach St Mark’s Square.

There are fruits, vegetables and fish markets at Rialto Bridge every morning Tuesday through Saturday, where you can also find many, many interesting shops selling masks, T-shirts, leather goods, cafes, etc. We had great fun the second day visiting this stretch of markets, where the Venetians themselves have shopped at for over 100 years.

Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik is my favorite port of call. It is surprisingly very beautiful, with its ancient city walls, a rugged coastline, many palm and orange trees, and clean streets.

There was a return shuttle bus for US $10 who brought us from the seaport to the old town. We then paid E $6 per person to go onto the old city walls. This is a must do! A leisurely walk around the walk takes around 1 hr, and the views of the sea, old town and buildings from the wall are really amazing!

It drizzled slightly on and off that day, but we were prepared with proper clothing this time. We had lunch at a Pizzaria Domenica, a café along one of its narrow streets, and the ‘frutti de mare” (seafood) pizza we ate was the best we had eaten. And the waitresses were all very friendly and helpful. It is only E $12 for a big pizza and 2 glasses of beer.

After lunch, we continued to take a walk in the old town, but it was nothing great. Many of the shops sell the same type of souvenirs, and there was not much to see after a while.

We then took a walk outside of the old town, and came upon the beautiful Hilton Hotel, located on a small hill-top. You must go there and have a tea or coffee at its main lounge, which is very tastefully done up in shades of red, orange and yellow. The soft canvas sofas are so comfortable, from which you can enjoy beautiful views of the city walls. And the prices was only around E $2 for a cup?! And the waiter served them on a tray with cookies, milk and sugar in a tray . . English style.

Sicily

The main draw of Sicily is the hill-top town of Taormina, with its many quaint shops and a Greek Theatre which overlooks Mt Etna.

For transportation, I would strongly recommend that fellow cruisers group together and book a chartered bus. The 1 May sailing was the first group to do it, and we were the second. It was a very time and costs saving arrangement, and hassle free.

43 of us from Cruise Critic shared a comfortable air-conditioned 55-seater coach from the seaport to Taormina and back. It costs E $480 to book the chauffeured bus, including parking and fuel costs. It was a 45mins drive away.

The bus was booked through BlueStone Tourism Service (www.bluestonesicily.com). The manager, Antonio was very helpful and replied our emails promptly. He even met us when the bus reached the multi-storey carpark in Taormina and directed us to take the lift to Level 7, which was the main street level. The fellow cruisers then agreed to meet back at the bus at 2.30p.m.

My mum and I then went to the Greek Theatre, which had an entry fee of E $6 per person. It has an interesting architecture and overlooks the sea and Mt Etna. . . definitely a must see at Taormina. We then had seafood lunch at a trattoria named Mama Rosa, tried the canolas, tiramisu, and shopped along the main shopping street.

Barcelona

Barcelona is a beautiful and clean city, with rows of maple trees lining its streets.

We took the independently operated shuttle bus (E$ 5 per person) from the cruise terminal to nearby the World Trade Centre. As it was only 8.20a.m, we decided to stroll towards the Las Ramblas, and then to the Catalyna Square, which was the starting point of Bus Turistic.

Bus Turistic is the main hop-on hop-off bus service of the city. At E$19 per person for a 24-hr pass, there are 3 routes to choose from, and is a easy, fun and comfortable way to visit the key attractions. We stopped at Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, and then had a delicious lunch of kebabs and pitas at the Pita Inn.

However, we were disappointed that most of the shops (including the big shopping centres) were closed as it was a Sunday. I had been planning to visit the Loewe store in Barcelona and buy some of their beautiful wallets and bags, but it was closed, too.

The shuttle bus driver had told us the pick up spot to be same as the drop-off point. 11 of us fellow cruisers waited 1 hr from 2.30p.m – 3.30p.m, and there was none in sight. Later, we realised that the pick-up spot was actually another place 5 mins walk away?! Thankfully, we still managed to get onto the ship before time.

Cannes

Cannes is the only port of call that requires tender. From our balcony on the starboard side, we could see people boarding the tender boats from as early as around 7.00a.m. There was no announcement by John till around 9.00a.m.

We had originally wanted to book a private your with Dream Tours to visit Monaco, Eze, Nice and St Paul De Vance, basde on good reviews from past cruisers. However, they were fully booked.

After a yahoo search, we found Ming Tour Service (http://www.mingtourservice.com), which provided a 8-hr private tour for only

E $300. They had a choice of English, French, Thai and Mandarin speaking guides. It turned out to be a most excellent choice, as the service was superb, and the 8-seater Volkawagon van was very clean (like brand new) and very comfortable!

We opted for the tour to be conducted in Mandarin, and Mr Lin picked us from the port at 10a.m. He was a very experienced and professional tour guide (cum driver), and explained clearly the names and significance of various places along the way. Mr Lin also stopped at several spots, without our asking, where we could take stunning views of MonetCarlo, VilleFranche and Nice.

We stopped by the Monte Carlo casino for 20 mins for a photo and toilet stop. We then drove to the palace to watch the changing of guards at 11.55a.m. It was very crowded and frankly, you could not see much.

We then walked around the old town for 1 hour, and bought some T-shirts and sandwiches to eat in the van. From there, we drove to Eze, about 30mins away.

Eze is a hill-top village overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. It is upwardly slopping with many quaint shops (built from caves along the walls) selling interesting artifacts. The whole village is simply stunning! There is also a beautiful church (with a well-maintained ancient hand crafted and painted interior) halfway up the village. Eze is my favorite village throughout this whole trip, and you must see and experience it for yourself!

St Paul De Vence is an artistic ‘hang-out’ place, and the village had Dubrovnik like walls surrounding it, from its military days. There are some similarities between the up-slopping cobbled stoned paths of Exe and St Paul. However, Eze’s shops are more rugged and quaint, while the overall feel of St Paul is too commercialized for my liking.

Livorno

Livorno is the worst and most messy port among all the ports of call. It looks like an giant industrial estate, with containers, cranes, wires, lorries and cars scattered all over the place. If Venice is the most stunning visually, Livorno is the direct opposite.

Thankfully, Gino from Italy Limousine was waiting for us, and whizzed us away from all the mess in double quick time. (http://www.italylimousine.it)

We had requested to visit The Mall, a discount designer brand outlet south of Florence for some shopping. We had read from the internet that you could buy Gucci, Fendi, TOD’s, Ferragamo, Armani, YSL, Burberry, etc fashion at 40-70% discount, compared to prices at the city stores. It was a 2hr drive from Livorno, and opened from 10a.m.

Address : Via Europa, 8 50066, Leccio Reggello.

It was as good as we had read! We had originally planned to spend 2.5 hrs, and ended up spending almost 4 hrs, and only had time to visit Gucci, Fendi, Ferragamo and TOD’s. After some serious shopping af 4 leather wallets, 2 bags, 2 pairs of shoes, a sunglass and 2 belts mostly at 50% off their original prices, it was a great feeling to have your private driver waiting for you.

We originally wanted to continue to Greve in Chianti, but Gino said it might be too hectic in the schedule. Gino suggested to drive us to a nearby winery cum bed and breakfast, Fattoria Torre Del Castellano, to taste their homemade wine.

It is a beautiful estate surrounded by 40 hectares of vineyard and olive trees. The owners gave us an impromptu wine-tasting session and did brief tour of their historic house. They had just adopted a 5-day old fawn (baby deer), which was found abandoned, and we had fun touring their house. (www.fattoriatorredelcastellano.it/index.htm)

We then drove to a photo stop of Florence (where a pseudo statue of David was located). It happened there was an open air pop concert going on, and we were met by groups of screaming young fans, which added to the festivity of the place.

After that, it was back to the ship.

Debarkation

We told the Pursers’ Desk that we desired a later debarkation time at 9.00a.m, and were assigned Blue 30 for our luggage tags. Guests who wish to have Carnival handle their luggage have to place it outside their rooms by 11p.m the night before. Blue 11 was the earliest, and Blue 37 or 38 the latest.

As mentioned by past cruisers, John started announcing on the PA at 6.00a.m. We went for a leisurely breakfast, and were called to get off the ship at 7.45a.m. We waited until the final call at 8.15a.m before leaving the ship.

Angelo from Italy Limousine picked us up at 8.45a.m, and drove us to Bracciano to visit its beautiful lake and Castel Odescalchi (where Tom Cruise held his wedding last year). It was 30mins from the seaport and along the way to the airport.

The lake was beautiful, with many wild geese and Mandarin ducks swimming in the waters. There was an old lady feeding the birds with bread on the beach, and we could take many pictures of the geese and Mandarin ducks up close.

After that, we went to Castel Odescalchi, which provides hourly guided tours at E$6 per person. Our English speaking tour was at 10.30a.m, and we followed the guides into the North wing of the castle. Frankly, I thought the castle looked better on the outside than inside. Besides learning about the history of the different rooms, we were told the castle was a popular place for wedding photos shots and holding both private and corporate events.

After that, it was a 45mins drive to the airport, where we had to say “Ciao Ciao” to the beautiful Mediterranean area as we made our way home!

[richcrow]

Fiona,

 

Great review. I really enjoyed reading it and reliving our time at each port. I want to thank you again for all the work that you did in starting the booking of the bus to Taromina for the May 1st CC group. It was the only way to go there in my opinion.

 

I'm just so glad that you and your Mum were able to have a good cruise after you had to miss going with us on May 1st.

 

Take care,

 

Richard & Judie

[summerdays]

Hi, Richard

 

Thank you! ;) It's a pleasure to write the review, and it helps to crystallize the beautiful memories from the trip, doesn't it?

 

I've read you review, too. It is very well done, clear and easy to read . I've actually learnt the format layout from yours. And I am very glad to see that many of you from 1 May have enjoyed your cruise, as well. : )

 

Keep in touch & God bless!

 

Regards

Fiona

[JanfrWA]

SUN in VENICE !!

 

Altho we also found getting around to be a chore at times ~ we fared better than others in our group. Most places were also quite expensive to eat and drink. We hit a couple of stand up bars, others paid 11 euro each to sit and have one beer!

 

I will write more when not online from the ship, however a quick suggestion would be if using the vaporettos, do buy a 24 hour pass ~ it is good for both days. We also got off at the Rialto stop and then walked across to St. Marks, which was less than 10 minutes.

 

As mentioned before (or on our June 6th thread), we used a compass which worked great for navigating the wacky streets.

 

More later, however life is good!! but the feet are tired;).

 

Janet

[Snoopsmom]

Yes, the pass is good for 24 hours. We used it from 3 p.m. one day thru the next day until we departed Venice, which was just under 23 hours.

[HapiFeet]

We went with www.travelswithfriends.com for a tour in Cannes. We had an english speaking driver and he was great!! He was waiting for us when we got off the tender boat. I highly recommend them.

 

Theresa

 

Hi Theresa -

 

Did you have to wait in Cannes for all the Carnival tours to debark first?