Liberty in the Med Review

Review of Liberty Med Cruise 5/19/2006

Better late than never…We returned to the end of the school year and post-vacation real life and I’m just getting around to writing this. We enjoyed all the reviews last summer while we were planning our trip and got a lot of information from other CC’ers that helped to make our trip extra special. This is our way of paying all those people back and paying it forward for the future.

I’m going to start with some general Carnival Liberty info and then do a brief summary of each of our port days. If anyone has questions, I’ll do my best to answer them.

SHIP - The Liberty is beautiful, everything is still new and fresh. Didn’t see anything that looked broken or run down. The public rooms are all bright and cheerful, the décor overall is fun. The bathrooms were always clean and stocked.

We were able to find a chair without a problem the times we went to the pool. The big screen was used for movies and concerts in the evenings. I think they did news or a cruise director talk show in the mornings. I’m not sure because I was never out there during that time. During the day there were national geographic sealife things on a couple of times. It was pretty unobtrusive. If you weren’t actually watching it, you would have no problem forgetting it was even there. Frankly, I didn’t even notice it most of the time.

CREW – The crew was great, everyone was friendly and always had a smile. Our dining room waitstaff was great. They knew our names and preferences by the second night. Our waiter would suggest wines that he thought we would like. Our assistant waiter knew who wanted coffee, who wanted tea, and exactly how everybody wanted it.

Our cabin steward was like a stealth cleaning machine. I met him the first night and we talked for a few minutes. Whenever I would see him in the hall, he’d always have something fun to say. I swear we could leave our room for 5 minutes and when we’d come back it would be straightened up and the ice bucket full, it was like he was hiding under the bed. We didn’t really have to ask for anything special, it was like he anticipated our needs. The first night we used the wooden doorstop to keep the balcony door open. The next morning when he cleaned, he left a second doorstop…..we didn’t even get a chance to ask him for one.

Literally everyone we came into contact with was fabulous. We went to the purser’s desk with a special request and they were more than happy to accommodate us. The Casino staff was great. The bartenders and bar runners (I think we met most of them) were all great. The karaoke host was sweet and very encouraging to timid singers.

FOOD – The food was incredible. We ate in the dining room all but three nights; one of those nights we were in Venice and the other two we ate at Harry’s. The food was fresh and well prepared. The lobster was probably the best I’ve ever had, and we eat lobster fairly often. There was no problem ordering more than one of anything. I had two appetizers several times, but usually skipped the salad. People at our table ordered multiple entrees and desserts almost nightly. I had breakfast and lunch there once and the choices were great and the food was the same quality as dinner.

I ordered breakfast from room service all of the port days. I just fill out my card and leave in on the door when I go to bed. With the exception of the last morning it arrived within the requested time frame every time. The order was always complete and correct. I love sitting out on the balcony eating breakfast as we pull into port.

The buffet food was typical CCL buffet food. I had breakfast there a couple of times. The made to order omelets are good and there is a good selection of fresh fruit. The Chinese food was good. The deli has wonderful sandwiches, don’t miss the Reuben. I wasn’t overly impressed by the Fish & Chips restaurant, but I tend to eat grilled fish rather than fried so that might have been part of the problem. The buffet area was always clean and it was easy to find a seat. I never saw dirty dishes piled up or spilled food on the ground.

HARRY’S - We ate at Harry’s twice and unfortunately had two very different experiences. The first night we had a capable and attentive waitstaff. The timing of the courses was well-paced. We felt welcome and pampered. It was the perfect romantic evening for us, we wouldn’t have changed a thing.

The second night we went with some CC friends. The service was horrible. Long waits to get our drinks, place our order, get our food, etc. It took so long to get dinner that the chef literally came out to apologize. The place was actually empty by the time we finished eating.

The food was incredible both nights, and I’d go again in a heartbeat.

SPA – We both got hour long massages on first sea day and they were wonderful. DH got a neck and shoulder massage one day that was on special in the capers and I got a foot and leg massage. It was near the end of the cruise and I really needed it. Watch the capers for specials, especially on port days. We just told them right up front that we weren’t interested in purchasing any products and they didn’t even bring it up.

The sauna and steam room were both nice. I usually ran on the outdoor track but I did use the treadmill at gym one day when I needed to run 10 miles and couldn’t stand the thought of running around the little track 100 times. They seemed to have a nice selection of machines and there was no waiting.

CABIN – We were in cabin 6339. It was a balcony cabin midship. It was close to the stairs and elevators. We were over the promenade area outside the casino. We never heard a sound from the deck below us. We slept with our door open and occasionally heard the bands and music from the late night deck parties. It wasn’t loud and if it had bothered us, we would have closed our balcony door.

LAUNDRY – There are laundry rooms on all the passenger decks. They have 4 washers and dryers in each one. I believe it was $4.00 to wash and dry a load. There was soap and fabric softener available from a machine in the laundry room. I brought powdered laundry soap in a baggie along with some quarters just in case I wanted to do laundry. I ended up doing two loads our last day just so we wouldn’t have to carry dirty clothes all over Rome post-cruise.

There was a laundry special where you could fill a bag with dirty clothes and they would wash, fold and return them to your cabin. We took advantage of that both days it was offered and it was well worth it. Who wants to do laundry on vacation? On our cruise the laundry special was offered the day we pulled into Venice and the sea day before Barcelona.

DON’T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT – A battery operated alarm clock with a lighted display and a plug strip.

Coming soon…..port reviews.

Thanks for the great review. I'm getting ready for the August 11th cruise and can't wait. We're five altogether in 2 cabins. I'll be inerested to hear about debarkation and transfer to the airport. Can't wait for the next installment.

Yes, that was a great review. Thanks!

Thanks for your review. Looking forward to reading more! We leave on August 11. Can't wait!!!

Should probably have mentioned this in the first part of the review, but here’s a little background on who we are. My husband and I are both in our 40’s, open to new experiences and love to travel. He had been to several of the ports of call before this cruise but this was my first trip to Europe. I am a librarian and love to research so I was the trip planner for our cruise. We’re “go with the flow” people about a lot of things, but like to have a plan for the big stuff.

Day 1 – Civitavecchia, Italy

We flew Delta from San Diego to Atlanta and then non-stop Atlanta to Rome. We arrived in Rome at 9:00am (wow those are long flights). Since we were getting in so early and knew we probably wouldn’t be able to board the ship until afternoon we had decided to take the Carnival Rome at a Glance tour/transfer from the airport to the ship. Our thought was that it would provide the needed transportation from the airport to the ship, keep us awake for awhile, and provide a quick look at Rome so we’d feel like we were on vacation. We were planning to spend three days in Rome after the tour, so we really weren’t looking for anything with too much depth.

Once we found our luggage we were able to turn it over to CCL reps. right in the baggage claim area. They loaded all the bags into large trucks and it magically appeared in our cabin shortly after we boarded.

We then proceeded to the tour check-in area. It was fairly chaotic but several planes had arrived with minutes of each other. It didn’t matter whether you had pre-reserved your tour or not, everyone had to wait in line. After you filled out the necessary paperwork you were directed to an area where you could wait for your specific tour. We met several people from our roll call while we were waiting and before long we were off to the bus. I think we were on the bus pulling away from the airport less than 90 minutes after our plane landed. In that time we cleared customs, found our bags, checked them with the CCL rep, did our tour paperwork and waited for a busload of people to gather for our tour.

The tour took us to St. Paul’s church where we had time to get out and look around. Then we drove past most of the major sites in Rome (that would be the at a glance portion of the tour). It was fun to see the places that we would be coming back to explore in more detail after the cruise. When we left Rome and headed toward the port the bus made an additional stop at what I would call a traveler’s center. It had bathrooms, a little market and several food counters selling pizza, sandwiches, etc. We were starving and the pizza was good.

The bus got to the ship about 2:00 and there were several busses waiting in front of us. The controlled the line somewhat by keeping people on the busses until your bus reached the front of the line. We were completely through the boarding process and in our cabin by 2:45. All in all, it went smoothly.

We met up with some new friends from our roll call at 4:00 so people could meet their tour buddies for Naples. Then came the lifeboat drill, an exploration of the ship, dinner and then bed. We were exhausted and had no trouble falling asleep.

Day 2 – Naples

We joined a family of four from our roll call for a tour with Salvatore from Drive Amalfi (*****) . What a great day! He was waiting for us at the dock and we headed for Pompeii. We arrived just as it was opening. We agreed as a group to spend just 2 hours there so we could spend more time at other places during the day. Pompeii is the kind of place that you could spend the entire day, but 2 hours was plenty and we had so many other things we wanted to see and do. The drive along the Amalfi Coast was beautiful. We stopped in several small towns as well as Amalfi. I would recommend Salvatore to anyone looking for a guide in Naples.

Since none of us had a restaurant in mind for lunch we had Salvatore suggest one for us. What a treat! He took us to a little restaurant at the top of a winding street. They had an ala carte menu and a sampler type menu that was served family style. Two of the people in our group got pizza and rest of us decided to have the sampler menu. I have never seen so much food in my life and it was all delicious. They brought us pitchers of wine and then lemoncello with dessert.

Day 3 – Fun day at Sea

Just so you know, on this cruise they aren’t fun days …..they are rest days. This is a very port intensive cruise and you need those days just to catch up. Most people spent today trying to kick the jetlag and napping. There were the typical sea day type of activities, nothing really extra special.

This was the first formal night.

Day 4- Dubrovnik, Croatia

We (ok I) really wanted to get out into the Croatian countryside and see what it was like. We also wanted to have time to walk the wall and explore the old city of Dubrovnik. CCL offered a Best of Dubrovnik tour that seemed to be the easiest way to accomplish everything we wanted to do. We were on the bus pulling away from the ship at 8:00am. We drove out into the Konavle countryside and went to a traditional family restaurant. We were given traditional food and wine and had time to sit by the river and eat and walk along the river. We then went to the seaside village of Cavtat. It was a beautiful little village and we had time on our own to explore.

The bus then took us to the walled city of Dubrovnik. That was the end of the organized tour. Our guide gave everyone a shuttle ticket for a return trip to the ship to be used when we were ready to go back. Our guide was great and gave us a lot of history and background about the area. She was a college professor and very well educated.

We ate a traditional seafood lunch, complete with the fish heads. Then we found the Pile Gate which is one of the points you can purchase admission to walk the walls. The cost was around 5 euros per person and well worth it. The view is incredible. After that we explored some of the churches, wandered the alley ways, checked out the shops and found a great bar for people watching. It is near one of the squares and they have these big comfie chairs with thick pads and ottomans. You can sit in the shade, have a drink and just watch all the people walk by.

In the late afternoon we hopped on the shuttle and headed back to the ship. There was a line, but the wait was only about 10 minutes. It was a great day and a good blend of structured and unstructured time. We learned a lot of things from the guide that we would have never found out on our own.

Day 5 – Venice

What an incredible day, what an incredible city! We pulled into Venice to the sounds of a Pavarotti concert playing on the big screen. The ship sailed down the grand canal to get to our dock. Everyone was out on deck watching and taking photos, it was breathtaking.

We purchased the shuttle bus tickets to get to the Plaza Roma vaparetto station. They were 5 euros for a round trip. We purchased a 24 hour vaparetto ticket and we were on our way. We had decided to attempt a walking tour route in one of our guide books that would take us from the Rialto Bridge to St. Mark’s Square. They say the best way to see Venice is to walk around and get lost, no problem there for us. The route was sketchy at best but we had a blast. We wandered, had wine at a sidewalk café, watched some boys place soccer in a piazza, visited some beautiful churches, ate gelato, went in some shops, and eventually found ourselves at St. Marks’s Square.

After a look around we decided to get some dinner. We ate at a charming little restaurant along side one of the canals. The food was great and we were treated to serenades from the gondolas going past during our dinner. After we ate we took a gondola ride (80 euros for an hour). The city is beautiful at night. We had planned to go back to St. Mark’s Square for drinks after the gondola ride but it was raining and since it was already very late we decided to just head back to the ship.

Day 6 – Venice

This was the day we had planned as our sightseeing day. We had reservations for the Secret Itinerary Tour at Doge’s Palace (phone number from the US is 011 39 041 520 9070). This was a great tour but make sure to allow yourself time before or after your tour to view the public areas of the Palace as they are not covered on the tour.

We also had a time certain admission to St. Mark’s Basilica.. I highly recommend you make an advance reservation to visit the Basilica. The line was several hours long when we were there and we talked to several people on our ship who were not able to visit. We simply took our reservation e-mail to the guard at the group line and he opened the chain and let us walk right in. The best part of all is that it’s FREE! (http://www.alata.it/eng/BOOKING/sanmarco.asp)

Since we were in full-on tourist mode we also went to the top of the Campanile and got some wonderful photos. We could even see the ship from up there and got a great shot of the Liberty amid the rooftops of Venice. We followed this up with Bellini’s at Harry’s Bar. Just a note if you’re planning to go there, they do not allow shorts (men or women) in the bar.

At this point we jumped on the vaparetto and headed back to the Rialto Bridge. I had fallen in love with a necklace the previous day but didn’t buy it because we were sure they would have some like it near St. Mark’s Square. WRONG! Fortunately I remembered where I had seen it and led my DH right to it. We even had time for some more gelato before we hopped on the vaparetto and headed back to the ship.

Day 7 – Fun Day at Sea

Nothing special to report, just the typical shipboard activities.

I’ll finish up tomorrow….I have to get up early and run in the morning.

Your review is wonderful! I can't wait to read the rest of it:)

My husband and I are celebrating our 20th anniversary next August

and are looking for a Med cruise itinerary. I'm almost sold on this one!

Luvtorun,

Question for you: What timeslots did you book in Venice to do both the Doges tour and St Marks. I see Doges first english tour is 9:55. When should I attempt to schedule St Marks?

Thanks for the play by play. We are going in Sept of 2007 so I am taking notes

Thanks so much for the great review! Looking forward to the rest of it!

Asking for a co-worker...who was the cruise director when you sailed? Thanks.

Great review - thanks so much for taking your time to post it.

We are going on the new Freedom ship on a slightly different itinerary that you saw, but there are some similiarities, so it's great to hear about ports etc.,

Glad you had an amazing cruise!

Day 8 – Messina, Sicily

This was the day that put our “go with the flow” personalities to the test. I’ll admit that DH was a little better at it than I was. After reading numerous positive reviews both on CC and tripadvisor we booked a tour with Sicily Life. The contact person from the company was wonderful to work with pre-cruise and suggested several itineraries for our day. After consulting with our tour buddies (the family from Naples and another CC friend and her daughter) we selected an itinerary that included Mt. Etna, a traditional Sicilian lunch, Taormina, and a visit to a historic winery.

The day of the excursion the driver showed up 45 minutes late, that was our first clue that there was trouble ahead. There were 2 other groups waiting for Sicily Life tours and none of the drivers were there on time. We actually called the company and were told they were running late and would be there in about 5 minutes. They arrived 30 minutes later. The driver then asked us, “What do you want to do?” We exchanged puzzled looks and I handed him a printout listing the itinerary of the tour we had selected. As he read it he just kept saying, “No, no, no”.

He said he didn’t know anything about the lunch that was supposed to have been arranged ahead of time. He said we couldn’t go to the winery because it would be too far and he “didn’t like it”. DH decided we should just head to Mt. Etna and he would try to talk with him and see what was going on once we got there. On the way he gave us very little information on what we were passing and just ignored our questions if he didn’t want to answer them. By this point we were just looking at each other and laughing, it was so bizarre. At Mt. Etna we turned DH loose on him but he didn’t get very far. At this point we decided to salvage the rest of the day and just go with it. We were all looking forward to Taormina and told him to just head there when we left Mt. Etna.

We thought we were the “unlucky van” but we heard that the other groups from our roll call had gotten pretty much the same treatment. We e-mailed company several times, but never got a response. We had friends who had booked with Sicily Tours (because Sicily Life was booked up) and they had a great day. If you’re looking for a tour, I would suggest you check with them.

Mt. Etna was the biggest letdown of our trip. I guess maybe we were expecting something more. Basically it was a mountain and next to it were a couple of craters from the last big eruptions and some little souvenir shops. You can look at the pictures, it really wasn’t that exciting and we didn’t think it was worth the couple hour drive up the twisty road to see it. Of course that’s one of those things you don’t know until you actually do it and find out. There is an optional tram ride and hike to the top of the mountain where you can apparently see some steam and hotspots but it was an additional 3-4 hours and about 50 euros per person and none of wanted to spend that much time there.

On the way to Taormina the driver stopped at the overlook in a seaside town called Naxos which was the first Greek settlement in Italy. It was very pretty and you can see the ruins of a Greek temple below the surface of the harbor.

Taormina was beautiful and was definitely saved the day for all of us. It is a wonderful little town full of shops and restaurants and is also the home of the historic Greek Theatre. The driver dropped us off in the center of town and we arranged to meet up with him several hours later.

DH and I headed to the Greek Theatre while the others headed out to find lunch. The theatre was interesting and the views were incredible. After that we wandered around looking in the shops for a while and finally settled at a sidewalk café where we could get a quick bite (pizza and the best sandwich I’ve ever tasted) and enjoy some liquid refreshment. After lunch DH decided another Italian beer and people watching was just what he needed. I headed off for a little more shopping and a walk to the far end (not really that far) of town. The main street is probably less than half a mile long from gate to gate. When I got back several other people from our group had joined him for liquid refreshments and people watching. Once we were all together we found the driver and headed back to the ship.

Just a note about Taormina. It is one of those towns where a lot of the shops still close up for several hours in the middle of the afternoon. I would say at least half of the shops were closed between noon and 2:00 or even 3:00 in some cases. If you want to shop while you are there take that into consideration when planning your day.

Stromboli Volcano – As we left Messina the captain cruised by the Stromboli Volcano. Stromboli is an active island volcano and it was incredible. People actually live in two small villages at the base of it. We saw several large puffs of steam. We didn’t get to see any actual lava but we did see an “eruption” of hot rocks. They flew out of the volcano and bounced down the face of the volcano and into the sea. You can actually see the rocks and the steam when they hit in water in some of our pictures. Stromboli was much better than Mt. Etna and we didn’t have to drive hours to get there.

Day 9- Fun Day at Sea

This was also the second formal night.

Day 10 – Barcelona

We got off the ship as soon as it was cleared, unfortunately the shuttle busses don’t start running that early. We hopped in a cab and headed straight for La Segrada Familia. The church is beautiful. There is a self-guided tour that includes the church, a museum and Gaudi’s tomb. We arrived about 30 minutes before it opened which was great because it gave us time to walk all the way around the outside and take pictures without having a lot of people in the way. There are also several coffee shops near by if you wanted to have something while you wait.

We were among the first people inside and decided to head toward the lift that takes you up to the top of one of the towers, thank goodness we did. We had to wait for the elevator to return to the lower level and then we got on and headed up. We walked around and climbed the stairs to go a little higher. When we returned to the ground floor (about 25 minutes later) the wait for the lift was about an hour long. We were told that later in the day it can be 2-3 hours. While I’m in good shape and would have no problem climbing the stairs to the top, it was VERY tight in the curved stairways and if someone was going the opposite direction you literally had to press against them to pass. Definitely not my idea of fun.

We wanted to go see the Casa Batllo and some of the other buildings in that area so we decided to see if we could take the subway to that area. There is an information booth across the street from the church and a very sweet girl told as exactly which train to take to get there (this was a main station and several lines went through) and which stop we should get off at. We had no problems at all and were there in less than 10 minutes. We walked a few blocks looking at the buildings and then grabbed a cab and headed for the Gothic Quarter.

We had heard there would be people performing traditional folk dances in the square of the Cathedral at noon and we wanted to be there to see it. There were a few people, but not as many as we’d been led to believe. It turned out to be fine because a religious festival/parade passed by the cathedral and headed up the street. It was basically a decorated cart being pulled by two huge oxen and a lot of people in traditional Spanish dress. We decided to follow it and see where it went. It stopped in front of a building with several decorated balconies and the people on the balconies began to throw rose petals down. Then all the people in the costumes began to dance right on the street, even pulling in members of the crowd to join them. After about 15 minutes, the cart and people went through the underground parking entrance to the building and that was the end. We were told it was the celebration of Red Sunday, but I couldn’t find out much more about it. It was a fun surprise and made a great story to share at dinner.

After that we visited the Cathedral and the cloisters. We even got to attend a short mass. This is one of the places that is VERY strict about people having their knees and shoulders covered. There was a guard who was literally pulling people out of the line waiting to enter. He would just say “NO” and point to the offending area, nobody even tried to argue with him, he looked pretty serious. There were people selling scarves and even paper pants in the square. My personal favorite was the man who made a skirt out of his map to cover his legs.

After the Cathedral we walked through the Gothic area to Las Ramblas. We walked around for awhile and had lunch at a little café. I wanted to try the Arroz Negro which is a specialty in Barcelona. It looked a little scary, but it tasted great! It is basically rice with lots of different kinds of seafood mixed it. The thing that makes it so interesting it that it is mixed with squid ink, so the whole thing is a dark black color. They have very good sangria at the cafes along Las Ramblas, we taste tested several just to be sure.

We had planned to take the shuttle back to the ship and had been told that the shuttle stop was near the Columbus statue and that we wouldn’t be able to miss it because there would be a long line. Eventually we made our way to down Las Ramblas to the statue. We didn’t see a line or anything that looked like a shuttle stop or even a bus. It was getting late so we decided not to bother with it and just take a cab back to the ship. This turned out to be a quick solution and a bargain to boot. The shuttle was 5 euro per person and the cab was only 6 euros total, so we saved money and didn’t have to wait in line, which apparently was inside of a building somewhere near the statue.

If you are in Barcelona on Sunday do not plan to do any shopping. I would say about 90% of the stores were closed. The ones that were open were very touristy souvenir type shops. Didn’t really matter to us, but some people were very upset.

Day 11 – Cannes

This was my absolute favorite day of the entire cruise. We joined six other people from CC for a tour that included Monaco, Nice, Eze and St. Paul de Vence. We used Dream Tours (www.dream-tours.com) and our driver was Jean Marc. He was incredible and he made our day. We discussed it as a group and decided to forgo a traditional (translate 1-2 hour long) lunch for food on the go so that we could have more time at each of our stops.

We headed straight to Monaco because we all wanted to see the changing of the guards at the Prince’s Palace. Jean Marc gave us a lot of information about Monaco and told us when and where he would meet us, then dropped us off right at the palace. After the changing of the guard we split into little groups and went our separate ways. We had time to explore, visit the shops and go into the church were Princess Grace is buried. There are a lot of little cafes and everyone found something to their liking for lunch.

Next we went to Monte Carlo to see the casino. Make sure to bring your passport if you want to go inside since you are not permitted to enter without it. Since not everyone in our group had their passport we decided to move on. The Monaco Grand Prix had been run the day before we got there. The stands and course were still set up. Our driver was able to take us on a spin around the course, which made the men in our group very happy.

Next we went to Eze. Eze is a darling little medieval walled village on the edge of a cliff. You will swear you have wandered onto a movie set. We sat out on the terrace of the Hotel Eze and had the “Eze Cocktail” a refreshing little champagne cocktail for a mere 17 euros.:eek: Oh well, when in Eze….. I made DH promise we could come back and stay for a few days for our 5th anniversary.

Then it was on to St. Paul de Vence. This is another medieval walled village but with more of an artsy feel. Matisse, Renoir and Chagall all spent time there and Chagall is even buried there. There are lots of galleries and shops selling art in all price ranges, from reasonable to the downright absurd. We will definitely come back to St. Paul de Vence while we are in Eze next time.

On our way back to the ship we passed through Nice and Jean Marc stopped at an overlook so we could take some pictures. We had decided to avoid Cannes since the film festival was wrapping up and it was a zoo. The best part of having a driver for the day was that he could take us right up to all the cities and villages we visited. The busses had to stop a great distance for the villages and it was a pretty steep uphill walk to reach them.

This was the only tender port so take that into consideration when making plans. People with CCL tours get to leave the ship first. We all went as a group as showed them our tour reservation and they gave us special stickers that allowed us to join a tender with CCL tour people but they only allowed a fee people if there was space. We were actually on the second tender off the ship, but we went down really early and we were pretty persistent.

Day 12 – Livorno AKA Our Bonus Sea Day

We had arranged a driver through Tuscany by Taxi (www.tuscanybytaxi.it) pre-purchased tickets to climb the Leaning Tower (www.opapisa.it/boxoffice) and our driver had made reservations for our group to visit the Accademia Gallery to see the David statue. Alas this was not to be. The weather was rough with high winds and huge swells and the Livorno port captain closed the port because he felt it would be unsafe for us (and the other two cruise ships we saw) to attempt to dock.

The captain sailed the ship out of the rough weather and since we were unable to go anywhere else we got a bonus sea day. They did contact the port of Civitavecchia to see if we could come in a day early but all of the docks were full until that evening with the ships that had scheduled port calls. Most people used the time to do laundry, pack and just relax. The staff did a great job of pulling together a schedule of activities and delivered a special edition of the capers to everyone’s cabin as soon as possible, the mean time they made announcements about activities.

Day 13 – Debarkation

Since we were arriving on Wednesday which is the day of the Papal Audience we had arranged for tickets (www.goporta.com) that we could pick up at St. Peter’s Square. The handling fee was only 3 euros and well worth it since we couldn’t pick them up Tuesday night when we were at sea. We had also arranged for a driver (c.tabarni@tiscali.it) to pick us and our CC friends up at the ship, take us to our hotel to drop off our luggage, and then drop us off at the Vatican. The driver was going to pick us up at the ship at 6:30am.

I went to the purser’s desk a couple days into the cruise and showed them our ticket reservation form and the e-mail from our driver. I asked if there was anyway we could be given luggage tags that would allow us to be among one of the earlier groups to disembark. She took our cabin numbers and said she would see what she could do and would contact me if there was a problem. We were very pleased to receive the luggage tags that would let us off in the group after all the early CCL transfer people. We met our friends in the lobby at 6:00 hoping that we would be off the ship by 6:20 so we could find our luggage and be ready when the driver arrived at 6:30.

DH saw a crew member and asked if he knew what time they would start calling groups and explained that we had a driver arranged and tickets to see the Pope. The next thing we knew he was walking us off the ship himself. Just another example of the great customer service we received the entire cruise. We literally had everything loaded in the van and were pulling away at 6:15. It was the quickest and easiest debarkation ever. One thing that helps is that you don’t have to deal with customs when you’re getting off the ship like you do here.

Rome

We spent three days in Rome following the cruise so I’ll just lump that all together here.

Hotel - We stayed at the Hotel Mozart (www.hotelmozart.com) which in the shopping area near the bottom of the Spanish Steps. It was a great location for us and we would definitely stay there again. We had a room that over looked the center courtyard and it was spacious and quiet. The hotel has a 5th floor rooftop bar with great views and they also server pizzas and little things like that. There is a wine bar next door that has incredible Eggplant Parm. The room included breakfast and there were different meats and cheeses, rolls, cereal, boiled eggs, fruits, coffee, tea and juices.

Vatican – We made it to the Papal Audience with plenty of time to spare. It is like a giant pep rally while you are waiting for it to start. Groups of school children were chanting the Pope’s name, it was really fun and the time passed quickly. The day we were there the audience was outside in St. Peter’s Square. If you had a ticket you got a seat, if not you stood squashed in the back until they stopped letting people in. The Pope came out in an open car and they drove him along the aisles through the crowd before he took his seat. Be aware that this lasts about 3 hours, because they repeat everything in seven or eight languages. We thought it would last about an hour, so we were caught off guard.

We had faxed a reservation for a museum tour through the Vatican (http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/z-Info/MV_Info_Servizi_Visite.html) but did not hear back before we left. I checked with a guard at the door and he said we should just return at the time we had requested and they were check and see if we were on the list. We ate lunch at a sidewalk café and returned at the time he had indicated. I thought he would have the list but he said we should just go to the counter and they would check. I should mention that at this point the line to get into the museums was incredibly long. We went to the counter and were sad to find out that we were not on the list. The person at the window said we could wait a few minutes incase someone didn’t show up or go through the metal detectors and purchase tickets to enter the museum and do a self-guided tour. Needless to say we thanked him and went right in. I found that a smile and a little effort with the Italian language went a long way on this trip.

We decided to pass on buy the audio tour and just wander at our pace. We wandered in the direction of the two things we really wanted to see, the Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel is amazing but it is so much smaller than I thought it would be.

Next we went into St. Peter’s Basilica, it was incredible. It is enormous and so beautiful. Everywhere you turn there is something to see. People were just walking around with their mouths hanging open. I have really never seen anything like it.

I wanted to climb to the top of the Coppola but DH wasn’t finished in the Basilica so we split up and agreed to meet up in the square later. It’s 551 steps to the top and then 551 steps back down again. There is also an elevator that goes to the roof if you can’t (or don’t want to) climb stairs. The view from the roof is good and from there it’s only 323 steps to the top. The stairs are actually part of the fun. There are places where you are climbing at a slant and feel like you’ll just slide down any minute. There are also places where the spiral staircase is so tight that there is no railing just a fat rope hanging down from the ceiling that you have to hold on to while you climb. It’s a tough climb but the view is worth it.

After we left the Vatican we walked to Castel Sant’Angelo and then started making our way back to our hotel. If you’re in fairly good shape you can pretty much walk anywhere you want to go in Rome. We got settled into our room and decided to walk to the Spanish Steps, Piazza del Popola and then have dinner.

Our second day in Rome we shared an all day tour with four other people from our roll call. Our driver/guide was Stefano who is the owner of Rome Cabs (Stefano@romecabs). He was incredible and we have already recommended him to some of our friends. He was a wealth of information but didn’t overload you with details unless you asked for them. DH was asking him some questions about Roman History and he pulled all these books and charts out from under the front seat and started showing him what it would have been like in ancient times.

Since we had all been to the Vatican the day before we were able to go to some places that are a little off the beaten track. Our day included San Callisto Catacombs, a drive on the Appian Way, Circus Maximum, Palatine Hill, Arch of Constantine, the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Mouth of Truth, St. Paul’s, Vittorio Emanuel Monument, Sacred Stairway, Pantheon, Piazza Novona, Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. I know that’s not all, those are just the places I can remember right now.

If you are going to the catacombs try to arrive early in the morning as there are not many English speaking tour guides and the wait can get quite long. Stefano timed it so we were there when it opened. We purchased our tickets and since there were no other English speaking people there we got our own private guide for our little group. Since there were just six of us he took us into parts of the catacombs where they can’t take the larger groups. When we returned to the entrance about an hour later we could not believe how many people were waiting for tours. He also pre-purchased our tickets to the Colosseum so we were able to bypass the long line and just go right in.

The tour finished up at the Spanish Steps so we decided to stay there since it was only a couple blocks to our hotel. DH headed back to check e-mail and visit the rooftop bar and we girls decided to shop our way back to the hotel. We had dinner that night with our CC friends because they were going home the next morning.

Our last day in Rome was actually a National holiday, Festa della Repubblica. It was a good thing we went shopping after the tour because the stores were all closed. Restaurants and cafes were open and a couple of little touristy type shops but that was it. We heard that there would be a military parade so we decided to go check it out. It was fun, there were lots of military vehicles and soldiers marching and there were flyovers by some jets. We just spent the day wandering around and enjoying Rome.

Return home

Our flights home were uneventful, but even longer than the flights there. I guess it has something to do with the wind. Make sure to allow yourself several hours at the Rome airport, it’s pretty crazy. You have to deal with passport control and then customs and then your airline. They were pulling people out of line like crazy for baggage inspections when we were there. Some friends of ours where in line at the airline check in counter and they closed check in for their flight and they got to spend an additional unplanned day in Rome.

The airport has several nice shops were you can spend any “extra” euros you might have. There is a nice café area where we bought yummy sandwiches for the plane and it’s also a great place to get that one last gelato before you board the plane.

I had no idea this would be so long when I started typing. This was truly the vacation of a lifetime. I would get back on a plane and do it all over again tomorrow. If you read to the end….Thank you! If you have any questions, ask away and I’ll try to answer them.

Luvtorun,

Question for you: What timeslots did you book in Venice to do both the Doges tour and St Marks. I see Doges first english tour is 9:55. When should I attempt to schedule St Marks?

We took the 9:55 Doge's Palace tour. We scheduled St. Mark's for around noon. We checked in for our tour and walked around the Palace before the tour. Some friends who were on the same tour went to the basilica and the campanile before the tour and then walked around the Palace after the tour. It really just depends on how you want to structure your day. They are literally less than 5 minutes apart.

Asking for a co-worker...who was the cruise director when you sailed? Thanks.

It was John but I think he's on vacation now. He was getting off the ship in Rome, but I don't know for how long. He told us he would be on the Freedom when it begins sailing.

Thanks again! I really, really enjoyed your review. The photos are amazing. We'll be visiting some of the same ports in '07, and it is so wonderful to live vicariously through the Liberty cruisers this summer! It was so wonderful of you to take so much time to share so many details with us all!

Reading reviews like yours is the only thing getting me through til October '07!! Thanks!

Weird question - what time was your muster drill?

Loved your review and photos. Would you be willing to share with me via personal e-mail addy your planning advice? We'd love to do a Medit. cruise and were looking at 2007 but it sure looks like its around $10k with flights and all.

We live in Florida and cruise Carnival regularly and this would be a trip of a lifetime.

Hope to hear from you and looking forward to sharing additional info.:)

Susan

hogladyrider@hotmail.com.

WOW! Awesome review! Thanks for all the little details--and for including websites of tour operators and Vatican info. We plan on going on a Med cruise in two years--and I have DEFINITELY printed your review out for future reference.

CeleBrat

Weird question - what time was your muster drill?

I think it was around 5:30. I do remember that there were people on two of the longer CCL tours (Holy Rome & Italian Countryside) and on a late flight that missed the muster drill. They all had to attend a separate muster drill the next day. There were several announcements about it and some of our friends were on the late tour.

Great review. Did you see any of the shows and if so were they good?

Thanks.

HI Luv2run,

Another question- How did you plan wardrobe for formal night. I have no problems with Formal night in theory, but on a trip this long, I am looking for a practical way to save on the packing. I know I could go the rental route, but did you have any observations in hindsight as to what is a practical way to approach. My wife was thinking cocktail dress instead of long dress. It is quite hot too, correct? Or are the dining rooms ACed to a cold "need a sweater temp"?

We just returned from 6/24 cruise and our drill was at 8PM. We were late sailing due to late arrivals. It did interfere with dinner. People did have to leave dining room for drill. It also lasted longer than any other drill we ever had. About 45 min and it was so hot and stuffy. We had late dinner seating and it was delayed about 15min.

Linda

Great review. Did you see any of the shows and if so were they good?

Thanks.

We saw two of the production type shows and they were about what I remember from other CCL cruises. Not really bad but not really good either.....Just kind of middle of the road.

We went to the Carnival Legends show, which was fun. A friend's daughter was in the show. We also went to the guest talent show which was fun and the location of the infamous Bedtime Story.

HI Luv2run,

Another question- How did you plan wardrobe for formal night. I have no problems with Formal night in theory, but on a trip this long, I am looking for a practical way to save on the packing. I know I could go the rental route, but did you have any observations in hindsight as to what is a practical way to approach. My wife was thinking cocktail dress instead of long dress. It is quite hot too, correct? Or are the dining rooms ACed to a cold "need a sweater temp"?

I brought two black dresses, so I would only need one pair of heels. There were lots of cocktail dresses as well as formal dresses, either one would be fine. DH rented a tux through the ship and it was so easy. He just picked it up and dropped it off at the formalities shop.

Our cruise was the end of May so we really only had a couple of hot days. I was prepared to be chilly in the dining room and theatre, because I'm always the first one to be cold, but I never wore the wrap I brought.