LIVE BLOG WITH PICS: Freedom OTS - Western Med - 21 May 2017

[Sparkle 123]

Really enjoying your live Blog, certainly helps pass the time til it's our turn on June 4th!

How fabulous that the head waiter made the gin cocktails especially for you. Maybe I should start a Twitter account about champagne:D.

Mind you, we are quite partial to gin too, in fact we are treating ourselves to a gin themed afternoon tea in London this weekend.

Quick question if you don't mind, as it's a cruise out of Barcelona are they adding Spanish vat to on board purchases?

[TheGinBoy]

please report back after your cruise, this is my first time sailing from Europe and I am trying to get info from everywhere ,:)

 

 

Hey McatMcat,

 

The age range is fairly varied. As with allllll cruises there are more mature cruisers than the rest of us. But there's a good gang of 20/30 somethings.

 

Very much Spanish skewed but plenty of British, Irish and Americans hanging out together :)

 

 

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[Gavinrussell115]

You seem to be having an amazing time Tom. Keep blogging, enjoying and drinking that Gin lol

[leeselee]

Hello there!

I've taken quite a few cruises - but in June I'm going away with my best friend, who has never cruised before - on nearly the exact same cruise on Freedom

I'm really enjoying your posts - Thanks!!!

Enjoy the rest of your cruise and keep posting photos.

[Gracie'sMom]

Thanks for posting whilst on holiday. Your journal is definitely making me even more excited about taking this cruise in the fall.

 

Have you noticed if they have been offering any drink specials for those who don't buy the drinks package? On my last cruise they offered 10 drink tickets for a fixed price, about halfway through the cruise. I'm not sure if they are doing anything similar in Europe.

 

Someone on another thread posted a few Compasses. I think it was the day at sea where I saw that offer in the Compass.

[dpostman]

This evening has been an evening of Royal Wows!

 

At the dinner table the head waiter came over with a gin trolley, a bar tender, and a waitresses. "You're Tom, from twitter right? You like gin..."

 

They then proceeded to mix me and my table mates a cocktail each - which was AMAZING. A really nice touch. Really moved me.

 

 

 

 

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mMMMMmmm. That was really nice. My DW and I both love Gin... And would really like to know what THAT drink is. Looks like crushed chili peppers in the rimmer.

 

 

Loving your review. Waiting for Mediterranean itineraries to open up for summer of 2019. That is our plan for our 25 Anniversary.

 

dp

[TheGinBoy]

mMMMMmmm. That was really nice. My DW and I both love Gin... And would really like to know what THAT drink is. Looks like crushed chili peppers in the rim.

 

 

It was 1 measure gin, 1 measure Malibu, 1 measure elderflower liqueur, and some passion fruit and mango purée. With a salt and chilli rim. Was incredible.

 

 

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[TheGinBoy]

We're a little late leaving port today. They're taking longer than expected to install new scrubbers on the smoke stack.

 

 

 

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[TheGinBoy]

So today was ROME, the main reason people booked this itinerary apparently.

 

Rather than show you photos of landmarks that you've seen many times before and will see yourself I'll share how we did it without an excursion.

 

When you get off the ship in Civitavecchia you walk through the the terminal building and immediately on the other side are the FREE shuttle buses "royalbus.it".

 

The bus drives you 10 minutes to the town of civitavecchia. From here you walk through town, took us 15 mins (but we're young and walk fast - so add 5/10 mins for slow walkers, kids etc).

 

When you walk up the slope to the train station you'll be tempted to go into a little shop on the left selling train tickets. Do not go in there. Another 20ft further on is the *actual* ticket hall - "biglietteria".

 

The ticket machines are super easy to use and if you press the UK flag symbol speak & display perfect English.

 

 

You want to buy tickets to Roma Termini station.

 

You have two options. An express intercity option which takes approx 45 mins and costs €16 each way (€32 return) or a slower local service which takes 65 minutes and costs €5.50 each way (€11 return).

 

You choose your outgoing journey first, and add number of passengers, then add your return journey after that.

 

The machine vends a ticket per person per leg of the journey. You need to validate your ticket for that part of the journey before you use it in the green pod shaped machines.

 

We took the intercity to Rome...

 

 

And the local train back...

 

 

Announcements on the train and stations are both in English and Italian.

 

Once you get to Roma Termini you'll be confused as it's more like an airport or a shopping mall than the small station you left. But don't be intimated. Just walk all the way forward and you'll eventually find the front exit of the station.

 

Everything in Rome, with the exception of the Vatican, is within walking distance of each other. We saw so many landmarks over the whole day and only walked about 10k.

 

In summary, if you don't mind a 15/20 min walk to/from the station in Civitavecchia you could do Rome as cheaply as €11

 

 

 

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[CruiseHague2017]

Thanks so much for your review! Really enjoying it :)

Will be on the FOS June 4th and cannot wait! May I ask if the 23 euro's for the bus to the old port in Marseille is per person or for the two of you? Thanks in advance! Enjoy the rest of your trip! :)

[TheGinBoy]

When in Rome eat like a Roman. I wanted some proper Italian pizza, but we couldn't do just a pizzeria as my travel companion Alan is allergic to a few cheeses. Argh.

 

However where there's a will there's a way.

 

I used the trust TripAdvisor app, and looked for local restaurants that served pizza AND pasta.

 

We found Trattoria Pizzeria Vecchia Roma. Rated 184th in Rome, which might not sound great but that's out of ALL of their 19,000 restaurants - so it's in the top 1%!

 

 

It's not easy to find. Tucked away on a little side street a few blocks from the train station. But it's worth it. Almost entirely serving local Italians, it was noisy but fun. Proper Italian food, surrounded by Italians.

 

 

I had the Pizza Capricosa with mushrooms, mozzarella, artichoke, garlic, and ham.

 

 

Alan had a tomato and bacon pasta bucatini (a really thick spaghetti).

 

Those two main courses, with soft drinks and bread came to approx €25 combined. Not bad at all!

 

Now we're back onboard, waiting to leave once the scrubbers have been installed and the crane withdraws.

 

Just in case you didn't think I was having enough alcohol I'm happy to reassure you I'm having a cosmopolitan back onboard in the Viking Crown Oliver or Twist.

 

 

 

 

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[TheGinBoy]

Have you noticed if they have been offering any drink specials for those who don't buy the drinks package?

 

 

Hey DawnGecko! [emoji112]

 

So yesterday was Day 4 of our cruise, La Spezia for Florence/Pisa. They started promoting 10 drinks for $75 plus tax in the bars last night, and via the cruise compass and over the PA system today - Day 5.

 

 

 

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[dpostman]

It was 1 measure gin, 1 measure Malibu, 1 measure elderflower liqueur, and some passion fruit and mango purée. With a salt and chilli rim. Was incredible.

 

 

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Thank you so much. I'm going to add this to my "Little Book of Cocktails" and try one. Did they have a name for it? Just so I don't have to rack my brain and make one up ;)

 

Thanks Again for taking the time out of your vacation to write your experience.

 

dp

[TheGinBoy]

It was called Co Co Ba Ba

 

 

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[TheGinBoy]

Tonight's menu was ****ake, which to my amusement the guests, of varied nationalities, were pronouncing "**** ache".

 

I had the seafood ceviche, which was chunks of crab, prawn and scallop in a lemon jus. Very refreshing.

 

I also had the beef carpaccio. This came with rocket and Parmesan cheese.

 

 

For my mains I had rack of lamb, served with mashed parsnip and veg. The lamb was offered medium rare or medium well, being a proper carnivore I asked for the rarer of the two.

 

 

After dinner I headed to R-bar for the LGBTQ 🏳️*[emoji304] meet up. We had a few cocktails and made some friends from Ireland. Then we decided to head to the hot tubs in the solarium before bed.

 

 

We stayed for like 30 minutes before all heading to bed, but a lovely way to finish an evening.

 

I'll chat to you all in the morning!

 

 

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[TheGinBoy]

I am amused that CruiseCritic are sensoring '****ake', the name of a mushroom and a Royal Caribbean menu.

 

If you're still stumped. Replace **** with a S, H, I and T

 

*massive eye roll at Cruise Critic*

 

 

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[hapster85]

I am amused that CruiseCritic are sensoring '****ake', the name of a mushroom and a Royal Caribbean menu.

 

If you're still stumped. Replace **** with a S, H, I and T

 

*massive eye roll at Cruise Critic*

 

 

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Lol yes. A very simplistic word censor is being employed. I've seen the same behavior on other boards.

[Clarea]

I am amused that CruiseCritic are sensoring '****ake', the name of a mushroom and a Royal Caribbean menu.

 

If you're still stumped. Replace **** with a S, H, I and T

 

*massive eye roll at Cruise Critic*

An easy way to avoid the censoring is to use "shiitake".

[dpostman]

An easy way to avoid the censoring is to use "shiitake".

 

Another great tip from Boob

;p

dp

[EllaDuChien]

Just out of curiosity...what time did you finally leave Rome? Hopefully not late enough to disrupt arrival in Naples? Also...again, thank you so much for this!

[TheGinBoy]

We left Rome at 20:10 instead of 18:30, but they're very close together so no issue getting there in time.

 

 

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[jaadance30]

Question for you ... are they offering Voom and Surf? (Not stream) I recall this is less per day and is perfect for messaging and social media. Doesn't seem to be offered in the cruise planner. Was wondering if it's available onboard. Thanks!

 

 

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[Thoie]

We had a few cocktails and made some friends from Ireland.

You have other friends? You have other Irish friends?!?!? *flounces off in a huff*

 

 

Glad you're having fun!

[OceansOfTravels]

I am enjoying your review of your trip. Just a quick personal preference question: being from the UK, do you prefer primarily-American cruise lines or does it not realy matter? Have you ever tried P&O, Fred Olsen, Saga, Thomson, etc? I have just always wondered if there is any real advantage or disadvantage to some of the package deals that Thomson has, or if P&O is liked by many Brits. Can't wait to read the rest of your review :)

[Miryam1234]

Question for you ... are they offering Voom and Surf? (Not stream) I recall this is less per day and is perfect for messaging and social media. Doesn't seem to be offered in the cruise planner. Was wondering if it's available onboard. Thanks!

 

 

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It was offered during the transatlantic cruise for something like 12,95 usd per day.

 

 

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