Just back from Freedom of the Seas Mediterranean Cruise

[GoGiantsfan11]

Back yesterday from the July 2nd sailing. Only my family of 6 2nd cruise but my parents who were with us cruised 50+ times.

Itinerary was great.. We had private tours at each stop but La Spezia were we just trained to Cinque Terre and Naples were we just hired a taxi to Pompeii , The tour companies we used were all excellent and really made the trip enjoyable. Loved all the stops.. although would not recommend doing just Naples at that stop. Weather was fantastic not a cloud in the sky for the week and not has hot as it could have been. Exhausting but well worth it.

My opinion on Freedom.. Nice size ship. Staff was very friendly. Although I think the ship could just a freshen up.. stained carpet, ripped curtains.. but nothing that takes away from the trip. We had 4 balcony rooms and opening the sliders between then worked out great.

We got some regular internet packages and 1 voom. Just used it for facebook, emails texting, twitter.. which was fine.. to scan the internet not so much.

Got 1 soda package and many many times machines were not working or out of diet coke which I drink. They should also have more machines around the ship..

I thought people would be more dressed up. Shorts including athletic shorts and flip flops were 100 percent allowed in the dinning room. I was shocked at how many people wore shorts and the amount of people that did not dress up even for formal night.

Any questions about the Mediterranean cruise let me know.

[holidayqueen47]

Thanks for review. We are going on Sunday and very excited

[Dremac373]

Thank you for the review, any helpful tips on "must see' and "maybe avoid" as we will be sailing Symphony next Oct during her Med stint... Thanks again

[Hoopster95]

We are going on Sunday

 

FYI re Vesuvius

https://www.rt.com/news/396046-vesuvius-on-fire-smoke-engulfs-volcano/

[Miryam1234]

Back yesterday from the July 2nd sailing. Only my family of 6 2nd cruise but my parents who were with us cruised 50+ times.

Itinerary was great.. We had private tours at each stop but La Spezia were we just trained to Cinque Terre and Naples were we just hired a taxi to Pompeii , The tour companies we used were all excellent and really made the trip enjoyable.

Any questions about the Mediterranean cruise let me know.

 

Please tell more about your trip to Pompeii; how much was the taxi, was there long line for tickets, how long did you spend there? Did you have a guide or just on your own?

 

Thanks for any info!

[mcatmcat]

Thank you for the review, I have a few question?

 

-did you see lobster at the MDR?

-this is my cruise leaving from Europe, I was told people can board the ship on day 1 while others passengers are disembarking?

- do people tip the porters who take your luggage?

-do you have to carry your passport to board back the ship in Italy or France?

-what's the demographic of the passengers, more Americans, European or asians?

-did you like the cruise director ?

 

Thank you and sorry for so many questions,

 

 

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[easyboy]

Thanks for the feedback!

[sport2131]

What tour company did you use? We are going in 2 weeks

[GoGiantsfan11]

Hi,

Will be happy to answer any questions..

In Barcelona we stayed at the Wilson hotel.. great location and would recommend. Love Barcelona.. did the hop on and off bus and enjoyed the two days we had prior to the cruise.

 

I tried to hire a car service to take all 8 of us from airport to hotel ..to cruise port and back to airport.. The company I used could not pick us up at the airport (booked already). I was told it was no problem getting taxis.. That was a mistake.. Taxi could not fit 4 people and luggage in each car .. we had to wait for like 20 minutes for two taxi that could fit 4 and 4 plus luggage. We use Barcelona airport transfers by Bohigas for the rest of the trip.. They had a van that could take 8 of us and all our luggage .. They were excellent to deal with.. cost was 66 Euros from hotel to cruise port and 77 Euros from cruise back to airport so worth it and cheaper then two taxis. Prepaid with pay pal before the trip.

 

Stop 1 - Marseille - Booked with Provence connection... Frank our driver was great.. We did Aix- Cassie and Marseille .. In hindsight I would have choose Cassie along with a boat tour of calanques and Marsellie and would have skipped Aix. But an excellent day.

 

Stop 2 - Villefranche - We use Blu Riviera a small company and Walter was our Driver again can't say enough great things about him also. We did Nice, Monto Carlo and Eze. Again in hindsight would have just picked Nice and Monto Carlo and spent more time in each.

 

Stop 3 - La Spezia - We did Cinque Terre on our own. Going we took the bus to the train station .. bought the Treno card had it validated and spent the day visiting the towns. On the way back we decided to just pay for a taxi back to the boat.. much easier and worth the $15 Euros they charged.

 

Sorry, just realized the time.. I will answer the rest of the question when I get back..

[judeniece]

Thank you for the review, I have a few question?

 

-did you see lobster at the MDR?

-this is my cruise leaving from Europe, I was told people can board the ship on day 1 while others passengers are disembarking?

- do people tip the porters who take your luggage?

-do you have to carry your passport to board back the ship in Italy or France?

-what's the demographic of the passengers, more Americans, European or asians?

-did you like the cruise director ?

 

Thank you and sorry for so many questions,

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

 

No lobster in MDR

We boarded ship at half 11 AM

No we did not tip luggage porters but that was because we took luggage to the port ourselves from the airport.

Yes at La Spezia We were told we needed to take our passports.

Over 1000 Americans, 500 English , 500 Spanish and then I guess mixed all other nationalities this was what the captain informed us. We were Irish and a lot of us too.

 

Hope this helps, I also sailed on 2 July loved every minute of it was just fantastic.

We only done one port La Spezia we went to Pisa and Florence.

Enjoy every minute [emoji41][emoji41]

 

 

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[mcatmcat]

Thank you

 

 

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[DISFANS3]

Thanks for info..

[2ndcruiser-destiny]

How many formal nights on this itinerary?

[mcatmcat]

I believe it's 2 formal nights

 

 

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[gatour]

We did the Freedom Med cruise in May.

 

We booked a combination Amalfi Coast/Pompeii tour through the cruse line. It was the highlight tour of the cruise. We had a great tour guide.

 

Having said that, I would definitely recommend you have a tour guide as you walk through Pompeii that can explain the various buildings etc. Ours greatly enhanced our experience.

 

 

 

Please tell more about your trip to Pompeii; how much was the taxi, was there long line for tickets, how long did you spend there? Did you have a guide or just on your own?

 

Thanks for any info!

[GoGiantsfan11]

Never realized I did not finish my review.. Just to quickly add.. we use Miles & Miles tour in Rome.. Excellent. We did the ancient rome walking tour also with a private guide they provide.. She was the best and made the whole day and kids said by the far their best day.

In Naples we were supposed to have another tour of Pompeii and amalfi coast but cancelled last minute as a couple of my kids were not up for it. So the rest of us just took a taxi up to Pompeii and hired a guide for 2 hours in there.. He was excellent and a must there. There was a line to get tickets but he by passed the line. I thought Naples as for as the city went was terrible..