Our Review of August 25, 2005 Sailing of Carnival's Liberty

[CrusinLiberty2006]

Anyyne of the original gang signed up for Liberty 2009 ?

[lovetodream]

I've been cruising the Europe thread for weeks now, having booked a FIRST CRUISE EVER for DH & I. We're sailing Carnival Freedom, Grand Mediterranean Cruise, out of Civitavecchia, 10.01.08!

We're slated to do your exact itinerary! THANK YOU THANK YOU for the wonderful review! I feel calmer and so informed :)

I have your review book-marked 'cause I'm going to be re-reading it a lot!

Have fun on your upcoming Northern European cruise!

[JHUNTGOLF]

[quote name='lovetodream']I've been cruising the Europe thread for weeks now, having booked a FIRST CRUISE EVER for DH & I. We're sailing Carnival Freedom, Grand Mediterranean Cruise, out of Civitavecchia, 10.01.08!

We're slated to do your exact itinerary! THANK YOU THANK YOU for the wonderful review! I feel calmer and so informed :)

I have your review book-marked 'cause I'm going to be re-reading it a lot!

Have fun on your upcoming Northern European cruise![/quote]


Toni,

Thanks so much for your kind comments. I know you'll have a great time in the Med. The Northern Europe cruise is coming together. Most in my group have booked airfare and a London hotel for either pre-or-post cruise. I kept hoping that the air would get lower after January 1, but it hasn't. I just bit the bullet and got non-stop Delta flights out of Atlanta and London's Gatwick airport for $1,156 per person. That's around the same air price we paid for the Med cruise in August 2005. The only difference is we were able to use Delta frequent flyer miles then instead of cash!!!!! Take care.

John

[lovetodream]

[quote name='JHUNTGOLF']Toni,

Thanks so much for your kind comments. I know you'll have a great time in the Med. The Northern Europe cruise is coming together. I just bit the bullet and got non-stop Delta flights out of Atlanta and London's Gatwick airport for $1,156 per person. That's around the same air price we paid for the Med cruise in August 2005. Take care.

John[/quote]

Just got your kind words, John! Thanks again for being so thoughtful! I really appreciate it when a person responds to my posts...I know folks can't do it with EVERYONE, 'cause there are so many posts, but...it's nice to see the occasional response to a post and I appreciate it when someone does respond!

Yes...the airfares...YIKES! DH & I had a bit of a battle :eek: yesterday about airfares, etc. The Carnival Grand Med cruise is fast approaching BIG $$$$ for us, minus airfare! I guess I didn't think it would add up to so much! We haven't yet figured in shore excursions, transportation to and fro the airport, lunches and extra little shore "treats" (cicchetti, vino, cappucino in Venice) ;) etc, etc.

I'd like to fly Alitalia starting in Detroit (with a partner carrier), switching in Atlanta, flying directly to Rome (the flight that you did in '05), returning via JFK to New York, etc. The last 3 times DH & I went to Italy, we were living in Manhattan, so flying direct from JFK was a breeze (and inexpensive). GOSH, I miss those days (we've been in Michigan about 2 yrs). Anyhow, the Alitalia tickets are something like $1250.00/pp!!!

I'm finding discounted airfare with Northwest and KLM (flew them once to Aruba, which was nightmare, but...) for about $780.00/pp. DH doesn't want to snag them 'cause the return flight is a overnight layover-next morning departure out of Amsterdam (which is fine with me). DH feels it's wasting money & time, but the alternatives???

If we are saving about $1000 in airfare with an Amsterdam layover, are we gonna put that out on an Amsterdam hotel X 1 night?? I think not!

Anyhow...I'm working on him...he also doesn' t want to blow another day off from work due to a silly overnight layover.

Well, take care and ENJOY YOUR TRIP!!! PLEASE post all about it! You seem like a kind and sweet man!

[JHUNTGOLF]

[quote name='lovetodream']Just got your kind words, John! Thanks again for being so thoughtful! I really appreciate it when a person responds to my posts...I know folks can't do it with EVERYONE, 'cause there are so many posts, but...it's nice to see the occasional response to a post and I appreciate it when someone does respond!

Yes...the airfares...YIKES! DH & I had a bit of a battle :eek: yesterday about airfares, etc. The Carnival Grand Med cruise is fast approaching BIG $$$$ for us, minus airfare! I guess I didn't think it would add up to so much! We haven't yet figured in shore excursions, transportation to and fro the airport, lunches and extra little shore "treats" (cicchetti, vino, cappucino in Venice) ;) etc, etc.

I'd like to fly Alitalia starting in Detroit (with a partner carrier), switching in Atlanta, flying directly to Rome (the flight that you did in '05), returning via JFK to New York, etc. The last 3 times DH & I went to Italy, we were living in Manhattan, so flying direct from JFK was a breeze (and inexpensive). GOSH, I miss those days (we've been in Michigan about 2 yrs). Anyhow, the Alitalia tickets are something like $1250.00/pp!!!

I'm finding discounted airfare with Northwest and KLM (flew them once to Aruba, which was nightmare, but...) for about $780.00/pp. DH doesn't want to snag them 'cause the return flight is a overnight layover-next morning departure out of Amsterdam (which is fine with me). DH feels it's wasting money & time, but the alternatives???

If we are saving about $1000 in airfare with an Amsterdam layover, are we gonna put that out on an Amsterdam hotel X 1 night?? I think not!

Anyhow...I'm working on him...he also doesn' t want to blow another day off from work due to a silly overnight layover.

Well, take care and ENJOY YOUR TRIP!!! PLEASE post all about it! You seem like a kind and sweet man![/quote]

Toni,

I hate to take sides, but I have to agree with your husband about wanting to avoid an extra night layover. When we finished with our Med cruise, we didn't think we could make the direct flight back to Atlanta the same day the cruise arrived so we spent an extra night at the Marriott near the airport. The wives didn't like this. After the three days in Rome pre-cruise and the 12-day cruise itself, they were really ready to return home. With that in mind, we are taking a chance on the Northern Europe cruise. We booked the 11am direct flight out of Gatwick airport the same day the Splendour arrives back in Dover. Carnival has said that we shouldn't book any Gatwick flight before 12 noon. I've got a private transfer service that willl pick us up as soon as we clear customs and hopefully get us to the airport in time!!!! We'll know for sure on August 6, 2008.

John

[cheelsonrm15]

Toni,

 

I hate to take sides, but I have to agree with your husband about wanting to avoid an extra night layover. When we finished with our Med cruise, we didn't think we could make the direct flight back to Atlanta the same day the cruise arrived so we spent an extra night at the Marriott near the airport. The wives didn't like this. After the three days in Rome pre-cruise and the 12-day cruise itself, they were really ready to return home. With that in mind, we are taking a chance on the Northern Europe cruise. We booked the 11am direct flight out of Gatwick airport the same day the Splendour arrives back in Dover. Carnival has said that we shouldn't book any Gatwick flight before 12 noon. I've got a private transfer service that willl pick us up as soon as we clear customs and hopefully get us to the airport in time!!!! We'll know for sure on August 6, 2008.

 

John

 

Hi John,

 

Be prepared for the lines at Gatwick Airport due to enhanced security checks in the UK which my son says were horrendous over the Christmas period.

[JHUNTGOLF]

Hi John,

 

Be prepared for the lines at Gatwick Airport due to enhanced security checks in the UK which my son says were horrendous over the Christmas period.

 

Thanks for the warning. I'm hoping by the summer period it'll be better. Time will tell.

 

John

[Mike Andrews]

Allow at least two hours to clear security at London Gatwick Airport and be aware that the no liquids rule in hand baggage rule is strictly enforced.

[JHUNTGOLF]

Mike, thanks for the heads up about Gatwick security. I'm hoping that we can get off the ship quickly and arrive at Gatwick in time for our flight. I checked and the morning of August 6, Carnival Splendor is the first ship due to arrive in Dover. Another ship arrives 2 hours after the Splendor.

 

John

[CrusinLiberty2006]

I was surprised to see this thread still going! I haven't been on this board in two years! I just want to say HI to anyone who is reading this thread and was on the 8/25/05 Liberty cruise. We were there also and got great info from everyone else who was originally posting. We took an NCL cruise in Hawaii last summer but we are going back to the Med this year on 8/18/07 on the RCL Splendour. I don't know if the original Liberty gang remembers but we were on the Liberty when Hurricane Katrina hit and there were some on board from New Orleans who found out that they had lost everything. I hope those families have recovered.

 

The 8/25/05 cruise was the best cruise we have ever taken (out of about 20 now) and I remember everything--If you have more questions just ask and I'll try to help. We are going back to Dubrovnik this time. We want to do something else besides the old city because we spent the whole day there last time (loved it!). If anyone has tips for Corfu or Kudasi, Turkey I would love to hear. Thanks and hello to all!

 

Hi to all original Liberty gang members,hope your planning is going well

[freedommom1]

Been reading about the chaos at T5 at London Heathrow,hope London Gatwick is slightly more organised

[freedommom1]

Looks like Carnival have scuppered our plans to do the med again on the Freedom in 2009 as they ave cancelled all the Med sailings and repositioned the Freedom to the caribbean

[nelsonrdso]

Looks like Carnival have scuppered our plans to do the med again on the Freedom in 2009 as they ave cancelled all the Med sailings and repositioned the Freedom to the caribbean

 

Will the Freedom be returning to the Med in 2010 ?

[JHUNTGOLF]

Mike, thanks for the heads up about Gatwick security. I'm hoping that we can get off the ship quickly and arrive at Gatwick in time for our flight. I checked and the morning of August 6, Carnival Splendor is the first ship due to arrive in Dover. Another ship arrives 2 hours after the Splendor.

 

John

 

 

Mike, I was going through some old postings and saw your message again warning about Gatwick security. I just wanted to let you know that we got very lucky and everything worked out for us when we disembarked from the Splendor cruise. We were able to get off the ship by 6:30am and be on the road with our private driver less than 10 minutes later. Despite some car problems, we made it to Gatwick in time for our 11am flight (which turned out to be delayed). I wrote a daily diary of what we did in London pre-cruise and what we did on the 12-day Splendor cruise. I posted it at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=825781

 

John

[freedommom1]

British Airways have now transferred all of their flights to T5 at London Heathrow and they seem to have come through all the teething problems