Carnival Freedom cruise director July 2008

[lizboyle]

Hi, Can anyone tell me who will be CD on Freedom in Europe in July 2008? We are sailing 20th July in the Med and would love to know if John Heald will be the CD. I feel the CD really makes the cruise and hope to have a good one.

[DGP1111]

John will be on Carnival Splendor in July, so your CD should be Todd.

[lizboyle]

As we have never sailed with carnival before can you give me any info on Todd? Is he any good?

[JXR]

I did the last sailing that the Freedom did in the Caribbean, and Todd Whitmer was the CD then. He told us that the staff that was doing the Transatlantic would be staying for the duration of the European voyage, as it's very expensive for Carnival to fly staff from Europe back to their countries. That week 400 staff members were disembarking, and 400 new staff were embarking. I'm pretty sure that Todd was staying on. I thought that he was really good. Kept the announcements to a minimum.

 

Joanne

[pe4all]

Todd is definitely the CD. We were also on the last sailing before the transatlantic. We went to a q and a session Todd had, and he was very excited about doing the TA and Europe. (and nervous about the responsibility of planning for "long" voyages, and the older age of many of the cruisers who do the Europe itinerary) He was a very good CD, and we enjoyed him very much.

[lizboyle]

Thanks for the replies. I am concerned about you saying the "older age" of passengers in Europe. We are 55 and 49 sailing with a 14 yr old son. I do hope it's not all fuddy duddies. Last year we sailed with Celebrity to Scandinavia and the Baltics and the ship was dead by 10pm as all the Americans were in bed. This is why we choose Carnival as I thought it would appeal to a younger age group. Hope someone can allay my fears.

[Crusin6]

Hi, Can anyone tell me who will be CD on Freedom in Europe in July 2008? We are sailing 20th July in the Med and would love to know if John Heald will be the CD. I feel the CD really makes the cruise and hope to have a good one.

Please check your dates, while it is probably just a typo, you will be sailing on July 21 as I will be sailing into Livorno on the Freedom on July 20. Hope this helps in case it wasn't a typo:)

[lizboyle]

My apologies........I am sailing on 21st July! My head is mince!!!!

[Crusin6]

Thanks for the replies. I am concerned about you saying the "older age" of passengers in Europe. We are 55 and 49 sailing with a 14 yr old son. I do hope it's not all fuddy duddies. Last year we sailed with Celebrity to Scandinavia and the Baltics and the ship was dead by 10pm as all the Americans were in bed. This is why we choose Carnival as I thought it would appeal to a younger age group. Hope someone can allay my fears.

We are on the previous cruise with DH, myself and 4dd's. We love to travel and the kids are good at it, but the point of this cruise for us is to see Europe, enjoy the sea days, restaurants and the EARLY show on board. We make a very serious effort to get to bed by 10pm in order to enjoy the next port of call!:) The carib it ain't but then again we don't want it to be!!!! Enjoy your cruise and from what I have read here, there will be plenty of families and teens on it!;)

[Crusin6]

My apologies........I am sailing on 21st July! My head is mince!!!!

Mine too! Things are happening so fast and the cruise will be here so soon that it is mindboggling! So many arrangements to make, clothes, schedules, cell phones, cameras, baggage issues etc etc etc.:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

[Wennfred]

You are in good hands with Todd Wittmer, he is one of the best. Not sure how many days your cruise is but any cruise with 10 days or longer the age group starts to pick up big time as there will be more retired folks onboard. On my Princess 14 day cruise way back there were only 5 youngsters around my age back then and the ship shut down after dinner.

 

 

Fred

[hubofhockey]

You are in good hands with Todd Wittmer, he is one of the best. Not sure how many days your cruise is but any cruise with 10 days or longer the age group starts to pick up big time as there will be more retired folks onboard. On my Princess 14 day cruise way back there were only 5 youngsters around my age back then and the ship shut down after dinner.

 

 

Fred

Todd was the CD on the Liberty on our cruise last year. II enjoyed his easygoing and informative style. I've said before that he's like Ryan Seacrest on the ocean. We were on the same ship a week ago and it was a change for the worse with Todd's annoying replacement.

[ItaliaAmerCruzLady]

I cant speak for your particular sailing, but on ours June 27th, we are loaded with kids and teens, (and I dont consider ourselves fuddy duddys) we are 4 adults 50-66, (ok, maybe my hubby is the fuddy duddy, but I keep him young!);)

[lizboyle]

Thanks for all your replies. I am looking forward to meeting Todd and hopefully the shows will be good. I know this trip will be port intensive but still hope for some action to be going on at night. There's another two couples going with us so we can always make our own entertainment if need be.

[pe4all]

When I was talking about "older folks" on board, it was more due to that particular transatlantic sailing that was occuring 4/26 as we got off. Not to worry - you are going during the summer, and all the kids are off. If my teens didn't have summer committments, I would be sailing right along with you!:)

[ItaliaAmerCruzLady]

Because I work in a school, I can only travel during school breaks, hence I am always traveling during prime kid travel times. Oh well, as long as they dont get crazy, we can take it.:p

[DMaugle]

LizB- FWIW we cruised your itinerary on Liberty two summers ago and had a great time. That said I concur with addictedtraveler, there was absolutely nothing happening after 11. You'll have lots of families, we did not see many older folks as they can afford to cruise spring/fall when the kids are all in school. We were whipped by the end of the trip and loved every second of it! Regards, DMaugle

[Michelle M]

We also have teens and they do a lot of socializing on most cruises with other teens. When we did Europe, first of all we were soooo tired from doing tours at every port, we didn't do much after the shows, secondly, the kids didn't have time to socialize onboard as the Liberty only had 2 sea days of the 12 day Med. cruise. It was a great cruise for all of us, just not one that the kids get to mingle with eachother so much. Enjoy!:)

[lizboyle]

Oh well, I guess us Scots will just have to sit in the bar ourselves then! More interested that my DS will meet pals to hang out with - he's 14 and doesn't like hanging out with mum and dad!

[mpecruiser]

Hi Liz ,will also be on same cruise with our 13 year old daughter Eve .She certainly doesnt intend in hanging out with her parents and for her the best bit is life on board !!

[lizboyle]

Maybe we could pair Eve up with Calum then! Then again, maybe not, as he's at the stage that he's not really too into girls - well, at least that's what he tells me!!

[mek]

I've done four European cruises all on different lines and all were deadsville after 11pm - even the one that had a high number of Europeans. Everyone is simply worn out after the port days. Not to worry, everything is open late - just nobody is there, so make your own fun!

[Dave85]

We did a similar itinerary on RCI a couple of years ago and it was definitely more quiet at night than usual. It certainly wasn't dead, there were plenty of people out after dinner, but the truly late night activities (like the disco, etc.) were very very quiet compared to other cruises. The people who were out though were the younger set... teens, early 20s, etc.

[dlbutler5]

Read some of John Heald's early blogs. He talks a lot about the demigraphics during the European season. As far as Todd, I hope he has greatly improved since he did the TA last October. Med cruises are a totally different experience than the Caribbean and he needed to do a lot of adjusting. Also, his asst CD Nadjia(?) really sucked.