*** Carnival Freedom Review 3/5 ***

[zentravler]

My husband and I are scheduled to sail on the same date and ship as you. We will be in that age group of 55 to 60 but I don't see that as a problem since we don't think of ourselves as old yet! We will arrive in Rome 5 days before departure. We will be spending 28 days traveling in Italy, France, Switerzland, and Germany before returning to Rome again. I would very much like to met you!

[RoanokeHoo]

Thoroughly enjoyed your review. We are from Virginia too and will be sailing in mid-July. We decided to let Carnival plan transportation and a hotel in Rome for a couple of days after the cruise. There are four of us and we are all a little anxious about the air and hotel. But we decided to take a chance and see what happens. We figure we won't spend much time at the hotel anyway. Why did you get your plane tickets so close to departure? We are hoping to have everything at least a few weeks before we leave. And, when did you find out the name of your hotel? Finally, Carnival offers a private visit to the Vatican on the last day we are on the ship. It is pricey - $300 per person. Do you know if anyone did this tour? Is it worth the money? Thanks!!

[silentbob007]

Thanks for your review ... I'm trying to plan for a Med cruise next summer .... :)

[shaystagrape@aol.com]

CKTHOMAS:

Hey, thanks so much for giving us all such a detailed review. I'm taking the mediterranean and greek isles cruise in mid may. Hope you don't mind answering a couple questions...

 

You mentioned that some people rented mopeds in Kataklon. I was wondering if you knew anything else about this, like price, length of rental, where you can rent them or how to go about it? I really know nothing about mopeds or how to ride them or if you need a license?? (I hope these aren't dumb questions) I'm a college student and think I could probably handle it :p

Before you mentioned this I hadn't really even considered not booking with Carnival bc I was worried I would have no idea what to do on my own (with a couple friends, at least), not speak the language and then it would be too late to book with Carnival and I'd miss out. I've tried to research other options but with little luck.

 

One other questions: are there any passengers around or even near college age? Not that we can't have fun on our own, but you got me worried we'll be the only passengers under 50 :eek: Well, no biggy;) Thanks so much!

[iluvdoxies]

Most of the "help" on cruises are wonderful. On one cruise, we had poor dining room help and said we would never go on that ship again

 

 

 

 

"Help" ? my my they are wait staff, bartenders, crew NOT servants.

[Snoopsmom]

We had poor service in a dining room on one cruise. Friends said that the staff on the same ship had improved. Two years later we took a cruise on the same ship and had wonderful service. I am sure on each cruise there is going to be one table that will have rude, inefficient help. I learned not to judge a whole ship by that one incident. Even the "best" cruise lines can have faulty personnel. It is good, however, to let the cruise lines know of your unhappy experiences. Cruising is too much fun to let the one experience spoil all your dreams.

[zentravler]

Hello, my name is Barbara and I will be on the ship on June 6th also. Thanks for all the info. I have been reading. Would like to know more about the excursions.

[Jolimont]

Wonderful review! Thanks for taking the time to share with us!

[Lafexpress]

What was the policy regarding bringing wine, etc. and Olive oil back on board the ship?

 

Lafexpress April 1, 2007 "FREEDOM"

[ckthomas00]

Hi All - sorry it took me so long to respond.

 

Islandtr: I didn't notice any motion being up that high - everyone on the high decks liked it while I heard some people on the 1st and 2nd deck complaining of vibrating and noise. There were 2 nights when the boat was really rocking back and forth because of rough seas. One night it was so bad you couldn't stand up straight - however, my husband also gets motion sickness and he never felt sick.

 

Roanokehoo: Glad to hear from a fellow Virginian. As for your question, we actually didn't recieve our e-tickets, hotel or transportation package from Carnival until 2 days before we left. As you can imagine, I was freaking out and calling every day. They just said that Carnival was slow to print the tickets and they ended up overnighting them to us. We didn't find out the name of our hotel until the Carnival information package came - although I bet you could find out more from your travel agent. Carnival also booked people at the Airport Hilton and Marriott - however, these are far away from central Rome, so I would recommend the Cicerone for location purposes alone.

 

I didn't hear of anyone taking the Vatican tours - but it does seem awful pricey. There are private tour guides in the piazza in front of the Vatican who will do it for a franction of the price - we paid $50 euro to our tour guide and $26 euro for tickets. We did not have to wait in line and entered through the back entrance. The entire time we thought it was a scam, but our tour ended up being really good.

[ckthomas00]

Shay: There was a rental shop within walking distance of the port - right at the start of town. The folks who rented them were from Cali and had drivers licenses. In Europe, I'm sure they are pretty slack about the rules - and I remember the group saying they were really cheap. You would probably be just fine renting them. The only downside to not having a Carnival tour is that you have to figure out what the ruins are from just reading the signs... which was fine by us because our tour guide was too long-winded. So I think its personal preference.

 

As for college-age students, I didn't see very many on the ship. My hubby and I would go out every night and end up seeing the same people out (the young ones) so we became friends with them. The good thing is that its an easy environment to meet new people and since there aren't that many young people, it makes it even easier!

 

Since you're going in May, perhaps more college-age kids will be on the ship because school is out, etc. March was a weird time to go....

 

Lafexpress - I'm sure there was a policy, but I wasn't aware of it. We brought back 3 bottles of wine, 2 bottles of olive oil, a bottle of Lemonchello, etc. We went right through security and no one thought anything of it. I know they do charge you a fee if you bring the wine to dinner and the waiter serves you - I think it is a $10 un-corking fee.