***LIVE*** From the Carnival Freedom

[alinehu]

Janet: I read your comment in Johns blog about Bella. I agree with you but I dint want to put more heat in the flame. Didnt saw what she saw or I wasnt looking ? I should have seen it being from PR ? I didnt!! Love my cruise and all of the people that I meet.

[jflipscomb]

Tania,

 

You can tell Jay that Jim and Jane give him an "A" for his journal. It brought back many good memories. Can you get Italian gelato in Australia? There is supposed to be a place in Denver where they have it, but we haven't tried it yet. It is on the other side of town and we are afraid we will be disappointed. Until we try it there is hope!

 

Jim

[JanfrWA]

Janet: I read your comment in Johns blog about Bella. I agree with you but I dint want to put more heat in the flame. Didnt saw what she saw or I wasnt looking ? I should have seen it being from PR ? I didnt!! Love my cruise and all of the people that I meet.

 

Yep, I really hesitated to say anything however after waiting the 24+ hours "cooling off" time, I was still perturbed, so after discussing the response with my DH, decided to do it. I did use some humor at the end to try to lighten it up.

 

John is usually fairly politically correct, however he does also speak his mind and often refers to things that truly surprise me on his blog!!

 

It is probably best left alone; some people are so narrow minded that even if they are 100% wrong, they will never see it or admit it. Bella may have seen some isolated incidents, however I would be shocked if the extent was as she indicated. And ~ I am assuming Bella is a she. I know... ass+u+me;).

 

Janet

[kaperino]

Jayden did a great job! Just a great sense of humor like his Mum and Dad! I bet he helped a lot of people. Miss you Jay and Micah!!!

[maylee]

Thanks Janet, Nanette, Jim and Kathy for the comments. When he gets home I will let him read them. As I was reading through it I kept thinking how much others might benefit from it. So many people ask questions about doing this kind of trip with children, and how we can make it enjoyable for them as well as ourselves, so that it can be a wonderful experience and education for everyone. Reading the trip through the eyes of my children showed me what they liked and didn't like, sometimes they didn't tell us at the time, but I learnt so much from reading it later. Obviously the daily gelato was very important :D.

 

Jim, I have never seen Italian Gelato in Australia. It is probably a good thing, cos I know we would be searching it out regularly. Wasn't it just soooooo good.

[Alberta_Cruisers]

How covered do I need to be at the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, etc? Are capris and a t-shirt acceptable?

[7toEleven]

How covered do I need to be at the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, etc? Are capris and a t-shirt acceptable?

 

Yes, capris are quite acceptable. And t-shirt's are find too (if the shoulders are covered)

[VA breeze]

New question.....Has anyone bought wine on the way to the port to take on board? If so where? Carnival is providing our transport from airport so I guess we'll have to go back into Civit if there's time? Help, anyone?!!!

[Cruising Retired Army SGM]

New question.....Has anyone bought wine on the way to the port to take on board? If so where? Carnival is providing our transport from airport so I guess we'll have to go back into Civit if there's time? Help, anyone?!!!

 

Yes, you will not have any problems on bringing wine on board with you. There is a free shuttle bus that will take you up to the port entrance and you just walk across the street and you should be able to find a store that sells wine.

[VA breeze]

JJAMESS

Thanks for your quick reply! That sounds easy enough! We'll be shopping for that wine in just 3 days!

[travelady]

Hi all,

Wanted to know if buying drink coupons prior to sailing is a smart move. I was told today that the drink coupons are valid on drinks up to $5.25.

If anyone has any advise on how to save money with the bar tab, let me know - thanks

Deborah

[Bob and Sharon]

I was wondering where the Freedom docks while it is in Venice? Did you get there at the posted time, 2pm? How long did it take to get to the heart of Venice (St. Mark's Sq.) after docking? What mode of transportation did you use to get into Venice? Thanks for any info you can give me.

Sharon

[maylee]

Hi Sharon, We arrived on time, and it took about 1 hr to get into Venice, the Vaparetto's are not very fast. Here is a google earth photo of Venice, there are 3 markers, 1. Where the freedom docks 2. Piazzale Roma(nearest Vaperetto Stop) and 3. St. Marks

[bunnyette]

Can anyone tell me if they took a private tour to Ephesus from Izmir and how long the drive was? As well as how much time they had to sightsee.

 

Rumour has it that the traffic is quite bad and the cruise sponsored shore excursions are returning late.:eek:

[Cruising Retired Army SGM]

Can anyone tell me if they took a private tour to Ephesus from Izmir and how long the drive was? As well as how much time they had to sightsee.

 

Rumour has it that the traffic is quite bad and the cruise sponsored shore excursions are returning late.:eek:

 

Just did it about two weeks ago and we had a private tour with Levent and enjoyed it very much. The drive takes about one hour and the road was much better then some that I had seen here in the States. No traffic at all and we had no problems. The bus driver will drop you off at the back entrance and you walk down hill to the front entrance where the bus will pick you up again. When we pulled away I counted 18 busses from the Carnival Freedom parked one right after the other. I have seen more complaints on these message boards about people going to the Purser's Desk after this shore excursion where they were not happy with the ship shore excursion. By all means try to get a private shore excursion for this port.

[bunnyette]

Just did it about two weeks ago and we had a private tour with Levent and enjoyed it very much. The drive takes about one hour and the road was much better then some that I had seen here in the States. No traffic at all and we had no problems. The bus driver will drop you off at the back entrance and you walk down hill to the front entrance where the bus will pick you up again. When we pulled away I counted 18 busses from the Carnival Freedom parked one right after the other. I have seen more complaints on these message boards about people going to the Purser's Desk after this shore excursion where they were not happy with the ship shore excursion. By all means try to get a private shore excursion for this port.

 

Thank you James, there are 11 of us headed off on a private tour for Ephesus and some of us were concerned after reading that article that was posted about the Freedom on the Cruisecritic home page. This is very reassuring.

[JanfrWA]

I was wondering where the Freedom docks while it is in Venice? Did you get there at the posted time, 2pm? How long did it take to get to the heart of Venice (St. Mark's Sq.) after docking? What mode of transportation did you use to get into Venice? Thanks for any info you can give me.

Sharon

 

Hi Sharon,

 

We found that taking the 82, getting off at the Rialto stop and then walking 5-10 minutes across town to St Marks square was much faster than riding the vaporetto around (which takes another 30-45 minutes).

 

We had one of the smaller Venice day by day type guides that had a good map in it. The "roads" are quite crooked ~ we used the map and a compass (my favorite thing to pack for Europe).

 

Janet

[7toEleven]

I was wondering where the Freedom docks while it is in Venice? Did you get there at the posted time, 2pm? How long did it take to get to the heart of Venice (St. Mark's Sq.) after docking? What mode of transportation did you use to get into Venice? Thanks for any info you can give me.

Sharon

 

Sharon;

 

On our May 25th, Carnival had private Vaperetto's available just for the passengers. One of our CC members used this (cost was a bit more but can't remember the price). She said they were newer, and certainly not as crowded as the public Vaperetto's. They used the same route (up the Grand Canal, so you are able to see everything) and you are dropped off at St. Mark's Square. Oh, how I wish we had done that! We took John Heald's advise and took the "easy, beautiful, walk to Piazza Roma" NOT! Sorry John but nothing was easy and beautiful and it wasn't 15 minutes. Of course, I should have been paying more attention about the private Vaperetto's. If doing again, this is what we would choose.

Enjoy your vacation, it is awesome!

[finiansbay]

New question.....Has anyone bought wine on the way to the port to take on board? If so where? Carnival is providing our transport from airport so I guess we'll have to go back into Civit if there's time? Help, anyone?!!!

to VA breeze --You are probably onboard the ship now--- but to anyone else wondering about bringing wine on board the ship.

We were on the Freedom May 1 sailing.

We bought wine in several ports and took it back onto the ship without any questions asked. Our dining room steward served the wine at dinner and did not charge us a corkage fee. (he got a nice tip at the end) This was a great savings and gave us the opportunity to sample local wines.

[luv2shoppe]

Just did it about two weeks ago and we had a private tour with Levent and enjoyed it very much. The drive takes about one hour and the road was much better then some that I had seen here in the States. No traffic at all and we had no problems. The bus driver will drop you off at the back entrance and you walk down hill to the front entrance where the bus will pick you up again. When we pulled away I counted 18 busses from the Carnival Freedom parked one right after the other. I have seen more complaints on these message boards about people going to the Purser's Desk after this shore excursion where they were not happy with the ship shore excursion. By all means try to get a private shore excursion for this port.

 

 

Do you have Levent's e-mail address or his website?

[Bob and Sharon]

Thank you for the information. We have been to Venice before but we stayed pre-cruise and on the second day at port we took an excursion out of Venice to Padua. I just needed to kind of plan our afternoon. Our traveling friends haven't been to Venice before. I was checking to see what time to get passes to St. Marks. Thanks again. Sharon

[DebNJoe]

Do you have Levent's e-mail address or his website?

 

We will be using Levent in late September for both days in Turkey. His website is http://info@leventsolmaz.com/. He has 2 email addresses: info@leventsolmaz.com or primy@tnn.net.

[1ABLRN]

Just curious - have any past cruisers noticed all the garbage piling up in Naples? Does it affect access to trains, museums, etc,. at all? We are going on August 5th and sun baked trash is NOT appealing!

Amy

[Disney4Ever]

For those former Freedom or Liberty cruisers--How many formal nights are there on the itinerary? I have heard 2 nights and I have heard 3 nights. Would like to know so I can save some room in the suitcase for all the goodies I bring home!! On the July 24 cruise--12 days to go!!

[mamawg]

For those former Freedom or Liberty cruisers--How many formal nights are there on the itinerary? I have heard 2 nights and I have heard 3 nights. Would like to know so I can save some room in the suitcase for all the goodies I bring home!! On the July 24 cruise--12 days to go!!

 

There are two formal nights. The first day at sea is the Captain's Dinner and the last day at sea is the other one.