Carnival Liberty Mediterranean Cruise May 2006 
By Tim Larison Travel Agent and CLIA Certified Master Cruise Counselor
(MCC) With Contributions by: Travel Agent Anne Larison, and our
sons Andrew and Joshua (12 year old twins)
I have sailed on many cruises in recent years (14 different itineraries
since 2000) but in May 2006 I was to take my family on our
greatest adventure yet – a 12 night Carnival Liberty Mediterranean
sailing! In this report I will tell you about different 
aspects
of this trip. Anne will weigh in with “Anne’s Take” throughout
the report, and Andrew and Josh will contribute, too. This
was to be a special trip for me – a 50th birthday celebration
(I turned 50 on May 19th, the day we got off the cruise and
stayed in Rome). With many fabulous and new experiences this
was a trip we will all long remember.
We especially liked this itinerary because of the focus on Italy.
In addition to four days at Italian ports, starting and ending the
cruise in Civitavecchia allowed us to add two days of Rome sight
seeing at the end of the trip. We most wanted to see Italy and this
itinerary allowed us to spend more time in this beautiful country
compared to other Mediterranean itineraries we considered.
The Ports
If you have read my past cruise reviews you will discover that
I like to set up private shore excursions with independent, local
operators rather than book cruise line tours. Generally I have found
the private tours less crowded, more personal, and less in cost
than comparable tours from the cruise lines. This cruise was no
exception. I setup private tours at some of our stops (Venice, Barcelona,
Rome) and joined tours others had setup at most of our remaining
ports (Naples, Sicily, Cannes, Livorno).
The only cruise line tour we booked was at Dubrovnik, Croatia which
I will describe below. The private tours we took were truly the
highlight of this trip! We met some wonderful tour guides, all with
a passion for sharing their homelands, and made some good friends
among our fellow passengers who we had only communicated with on
the internet before the trip.
Naples and the Amalfi Coast
At our first port of call, Naples, we took a wonderful 7 hour driving
tour in a van of 8 people along with our driver. This tour was booked
through Drive Amalfi. Our driver Roberto first took us to the ancient
city of Pompeii. Pompeii, as you may know, was buried in a volcanic
eruption of nearby Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The eruption took the
town by surprise and gives visitors today a snapshot of what life
was like in this 1st century metropolis. Before the trip Drive Amalfi
offered to setup a private tour guide for us at Pompeii, an offer
we readily accepted. The guide was 100 euros for 2 hours – with
our van of 8 people and two other vans the cost per person was nominal.
Our guide was dressed in a tie and sports coat with dark sunglasses.
I mentioned to Anne he reminded me of Cary Grant from a 50’s movie!
In our two hours at Pompeii our guide led us through the different
parts of Pompeii, from houses, to public buildings, to baths, and
even showed us a few bodies that were caked in mud and preserved
in time from the time of the eruption. We found the ruins fascinating
– a history buff (like me) would love this place.
Drive Amalfi did two wise things in setting up this tour for us:
We visited first thing in the morning before the heat of the mid-day
and afternoon. At the start of the tour there were few people and
we freely moved around the ruins. Towards the end of the tour the
crowds and the heat had arrived. You could spend hours here studying
the different ruins on the self guided tour. Having a knowledgeable
guide for our 2 hour stay allowed us to get the most from our visit
here. The guide led us to areas and pointed out different aspects
of Pompeii that we may have missed on our own.
Two suggestions if you plan a visit to Pompeii: The site requires
a good deal of walking on uneven streets and a bit of a climb up
a hill. If you have trouble walking think twice about going here.
The ruins have some erotic images. This was not a problem for our
kids – we didn’t focus on this part of the tour and they hardly
noticed – but it is something to be aware of if you don’t want your
kids exposed to this. There are many parts of the ruins that can
be enjoyed by families without visiting the erotic sections.
After Pompeii we took a scenic drive featuring the towns of Sorrento,
Amalfi, Possentino, and Ravello in addition to the famous Amalfi
coast. We were so glad to have a private driver and guide for this
part of the tour. The winding mountain roads were a challenge to
navigate, and parking was sparse at the towns we stopped at. Our
driver Roberto did a wonderful job explaining the countryside and
stopping at strategic points for photos and shopping. We especially
liked the glimpse of everyday Italian life we saw in the small towns.
In Possentino we saw a wedding party marching towards the cathedral
in the center of town for the ceremony. The streets were too narrow
and there was no parking in the town center so the entire wedding
party had to walk from the outskirts of town. The bride said “Grazie”
to onlookers wishing the bride and groom well. In these towns we
saw wonderful open town squares, anchored by the town’s cathedral
and surrounding by open cafes and shops. This was the center of
life in these small towns. There was a great sense of community–
it seemed everyone knew each other and socialized frequently in
the town centers.
For lunch our guide took us to an off the beaten path restaurant
in the small town of Ravello. Here we feasted on home made pizzas
as we overlooked the countryside. Roberto translated our menu wishes
to the Italian waiters. After lunch we did more scenic touring.
Roberto showed us a hotel where part of the movie “Under the Tuscan
Sky” was filmed and a beach from a scene in that movie. Anne and
I saw this movie a few months ago and we want to rent it again when
we get back home to once again see the places we visited today.
Roberto had us back to our ship in Naples in plenty of time before
we set sail at 7 pm
Overall tour grade: A- Drive Amalfi did an excellent job
in planning this tour for us. The only complaints I heard was that
it was difficult for the passengers in the back of the van to hear
the commentary of our driver Roberto. Roberto said the company was
planning on putting in a microphone and speaker system to address
this in the future.
Anne’s Take: Definitely bring
water on your shore excursions. One of the ways to deal with the
effects of jet lag is to re-hydrate your body. You can usually buy
water from the cruise line on the ship. We bought a bottle of cold
water at a stand outside Pompeii for one Euro. The other type of
stand I was to see this first morning was the first of many fruit
stands. In the Amalfi region of Italy, especially Sorrento, one
of their most famous and prolific types of produce is the Amalfi
lemon! One type of these famous lemons is the size of grapefruits
and larger. There are many shops and stalls in the region which
sell lemon liqueurs. We were able to sample some after our lunch
courtesy of our guide who brought a bottle over to our table. Delicious!
Many went back for a second (or third) shot.
Dubrovnik, Croatia Our next stop was one of only two completely
walled cities in Europe, according to Carnival. We originally were
going to tour this city on our own, but then we decided to book
Carnival’s “Walk the Ramparts” tour the day before. This was the
only tour where the boys stayed back on the ship in the kids club
while Anne and I did the tour. Unlike our other private tours, for
this one we were in a large bus (about 50 passengers) as we drove
from the dock to the ancient walled city of Dubrovnik. Along the
way we had some great views and our guide told us of the violent
history of Dubrovnik (especially of the damage the city and residents
suffered in the early 90’s civil war). We learned that Croatia and
Dubrovnik were once part of Yugoslavia and during the civil war
gained their independence. You would not know from this scenic coastline
location that the city had such a violent past. The walled city
itself was very interesting, and we had some great views from atop
the wall. The city was very clean and very different from all the
other towns we visited on the rest of our cruise – can you imagine
living inside of walls in a completely stone city? Our guide was
explaining different parts of the city to us when suddenly a thunderstorm
came. We were high on the city walls with no easy way to get down
except for finishing the walk, and with lightning striking all around
us. This was a little scary, so we quickly finished the last part
of the tour to get off the wall.
Overall tour grade: B We really enjoyed the history and
unique setting of Dubrovnik. If our tour was not cut short by the
thunderstorm we probably would have given this an even higher grade.
While the ship tour was good as ship tours go, we still prefer the
smaller groups that we had on the rest of the trip with private
tours. It was difficult to hear the guide at times when walking
the wall since there were so many in our group.
Anne’s Take: Dubrovnik was
the one city we visited which does not use the Euro as its currency.
Our tour guide informed us that there were places around the city
where the currency exchange could occur to obtain Kuna, the currency
of Croatia. Since we were in the city for such a short time we decided
not to exchange any of our money. We heard from several other people
who did visit restaurants in the city that the seafood and meat
was outstanding.
Venice, Italy
One feature I really liked of the Carnival Liberty itinerary was
an overnight stay in Venice – allowing two days of touring in this
interesting area. Our first day in Venice was one of the best days
I’ve ever had on a cruise. It started with a wonderful “sail in”
to the Venice harbor around 2 pm in the afternoon. Our huge Carnival
Liberty cruise ship dwarfed the buildings we saw (our cruise director
said we were the tallest building in Venice this day). The views
from the ship of the city were amazing! We had a beautiful day and
we could see many historical sites and the famous canals from high
on our ship.
Later in the day, as many of our shipmates were being herded onto
the cruise line tours with big boats/buses, we boarded a private
boat that I had arranged for 9 people through “A Guide In Venice”
(website www.aguideinvenice.com
). We were to take a private 4 hour tour of 3 islands surrounding
Venice this day. This tour was fantastic! We first went to Torcello,
visited a church built in 500 AD, and climbed a 1,000 year old bell
tour. The views from the tower were great – we could see the lagoon
system of Venice and the lush countryside. In the church we saw
beautiful gold mosaics that dated back hundreds of years. Our guide
Fernando did an excellent job explaining the history of the area
and answering our questions. Next we walked through the shopping
areas of two other islands (Berano and Murano). Murano is known
for its glass blowing. Both islands were very beautiful and we got
another taste of everyday Italian life as we walked by many houses.
Fernando designed the tour so that we would avoid the high tourist
areas. We enjoyed the relaxed pace of the tour and a glimpse of
everyday Venetian life in these small islands and towns. Finally
we toured Venice’ Grand Canal in our small motorboat – seeing gondolas
and waving to people eating in the restaurants along the canal.
I had seen so many pictures of the canal over the years – it was
a thrill to actually be sailing in it! We were very glad we had
decided to do this outer island tour in Venice in addition to the
more famous sites we would see on day two. This outer island tour
was one of my favorites on the whole trip.
Our ship remained docked in the Venice harbor overnight as we were
treated to another day in Venice before setting sail at 5 pm on
day 2.
After visiting three of the small sedate islands surrounding Venice
the previous day, this day we toured the busy main part of the city.
Again we had our private tour guide Fernando, and again we were
thankful to have him as an escort. We took a private boat from our
Carnival ship to the most famous part of Venice – St Mark’s square.
St Mark’s Basilica was huge and impressive (built in the 11th century).
There was a long line of people waiting to get into the Basilica
– it looked like at least a 1 hour wait. But thanks to Fernando
we bypassed the line completely and were led into the church. This
alone made the cost of the tour worth it. Inside the Basilica we
saw the tomb of Mark (the bones of the gospel writer were brought
here from Turkey in 828 AD, making this one of the most recognized
churches in Europe). We saw colorful mosaics and gold everywhere.
Fernando explained the story of the mosaics and provided a running
commentary as we toured the Basilica. This is still a working church
– Anne saw a priest in a confessional with two parishioners. The
sheer size of the church with huge mosaics in the ceilings was very
impressive. We then toured the rest of the “San Marcos” square.
The boys enjoyed playing with the multitude of pigeons on the square
(Andrew and Josh were surrounded by the birds as they threw out
bits of crackers). One pigeon stayed perched on Josh’s head and
baseball cap for a few minutes.
Next we visited a nearby open air market. The city was bustling
with activity as we passed fresh vegetable and fish stands. We bought
Italian Ice as a snack (yum!).
We said goodbye to our guide Fernando and made our way back to
the ship by public transportation (taking a water bus to a shuttle
bus waiting a few minutes from the ship). We had great seats on
the water bus as we sailed down Venice’s Grand Canal once more.
Just as I felt the day before it was impressive to see all the boats
and gondolas on the canal.
Overall tour grade: A+
Our two “Guide In Venice” tours were among my favorites for our
whole trip. We liked how Fernando led us away from the popular tourist
areas to see some of the hidden gems of this area. And when we did
visit the more popular sights Fernando was able to get us around
to avoid the crowds. Fernando was a very knowledgeable guide with
extensive experience with the art and history of Venice. Though
this tour again appealed to history buffs, there was enough to keep
the kids interested (private boat rides, pigeons in St Mark’s square,
a tasty treat of Italian ice, etc)
Anne’s Take: We decided not
to take a gondola ride this trip. It can be very expensive -- €62
(62 Euros) for 50 minutes, the cost can be even higher in the evening.
The other alternative is the vaporetti (water taxi), which is much
more reasonable in cost. The third option ACTV water bus, which
we took back to the port area, has zones for which you buy tickets.
Our €5 per person cost for the ride was money well spent as we enjoyed
the ride back to the ship. It was slow enough to enjoy the sites
as the water bus stopped at several zones on the way to our stop.
We did have seats near the front of the water bus, but there are
a very limited number of seats. There is a large area in the middle
where people are crowded into a large group standing for the entire
trip. It would have been a different story had we been stuck in
the middle of the standing area!
Messina, Sicily
For our day at Messina we booked a private shore excursion with
Sicily Life (www.sicilylife.com) Our driver Antonio started the
day by driving us to the volcano Mount Etna. The drive was very
scenic, reminding us of the Amalfi coast we saw a few days earlier,
with great views from a mountain road overlooking the sea. This
area was lush with fruit trees (we saw cherry, lemon, and plum trees)
along with colorful flowers and shrubs. Once we arrived at Mt Etna
we were able to climb to see two craters of the volcano. Andrew
especially got into the climb and eventually had to be reeled in
by Anne before he went much higher. I have seen volcanoes before
in Hawaii and at Mt St Helens, but this visit was the closest I
have been to the crater of the volcano. I found this to be a unique
experience. After a morning at the volcano we were driven to the
Sicilian town Taormina. There we had delicious pizza lunch at a
local restaurant, and then spent a couple of hours shopping. Josh
bought an Italian puppet as his souvenir of the trip here. Many
stores were open here on Sunday and the small town had lots of tourists
– we felt the town was safe and we enjoyed browsing in the various
shops. We sailed away from Messina at 5 pm.
At 7 pm we got a special treat – we sailed by the active volcano
Mount Stromboli. The captain positioned the ship so we could see
fire coming out of the top of the mountain, with rocks splashing
into the ocean. It was quite a sight!
Sicily Life tour grade: B
We found our tour of Mt Etna and the nearby town of Taormina interesting
but not quite of the same quality of our other tours on the trip.
Our driver Antonio did not offer running commentary as he drove
us through the area, but he was more than willing to answer our
questions. Like our Amalfi tour a few days before, one negative
was that our 8 person van did not have a microphone, so only the
people in the front seat could hear Antonio’s answers to questions.
Mount Stromboli sailby grade: A
This was an unexpected treat – to see an active volcano spewing
out rock and fire from the vantage point of an upper deck on our
cruise ship. The experience reminded me of watching glaciers from
a ship in Alaska – there were views we had here that were only possible
from our ship. Anne’s Take: Our kids enjoyed Mount Etna. There were
very few excursions on this trip where they were free to run and
climb and be outdoors. One word of caution, the road to Mt. Etna
takes many twists and turns. Josh tends to be more sensitive to
this and the winding road did make him a little car sick. We did
enjoy the pizza at the local restaurant; it had a patio setting
where we could enjoy the sunshine and breeze. We did learn that
many restaurants charge a service fee. Our restaurant charged €2,00
per person (€8,00 total for our family). We noticed as we walked
around town that other restaurants charged similar service fees,
usually between €1,50 and €3,00. We checked with one of our tour
guides in another city about whether this was meant to be in addition
to a tip or in place of a tip. It was explained that the service
fee goes to the restaurant, not the waiter, so a tip is still expected.
Barcelona, Spain
We had a wonderful private shore excursion for our day in Barcelona
by Patrick of www.barcelonatourguides.com For our group of nine
we had a private bus that seated 20 – we had plenty of space to
spread out in the bus. Our bus had a separate driver while Patrick
provided running commentary on a microphone for all on the bus to
hear. For some other tours we booked on this trip it was difficult
to hear the guide in the back seats – this was not true on our Barcelona
tour guide minibus. We were first driven to the magnificent Sagrada
Familia (Church of the Holy Family). This uncompleted cathedral
had four huge spires that reached into the sky and impressive sculptures
outside. The church will not be completed until 2026. Patrick told
us how the architect, Antoni Gaudi, donated 43 years of his life
in designing parts of the church. This was one of the most impressive
cathedrals I have ever seen, even in its unfinished state. Next
we were taken to Guell Park for a wonderful view of the city. The
park itself displayed more of Gaudi’s work – we had a pleasant half
hour stroll here. Then we were taken to the 1992 Olympic Facilities.
The 1992 Barcelona Olympics I will always remember for the opening
ceremonies. In that opening ceremony we saw an archer shoot an arrow
on fire to light the Olympic torch. I have seen that lighting ceremony
many times on tv (it is often repeated whenever there is an Olympics
games telecast). It was a thrill to actually see the stadium where
that lighting took place and the Olympic Cauldron still standing
as a silent sentinel over the stadium. Also we saw the arena where
the US “dream team” basketball team dominated the 1992 competition.
Finally we were driven to the Old Town section (Gothic District
and Ramblas). We had a quick lunch at a European sandwich shop.
Fortunately our guide Patrick was along to help us order! (the staff
had a hard time understanding us Americans!). After lunch we walked
along the Ramblas – an outdoor mall bustling with activity (open
air shops, street performers, restaurants, etc)
Overall Tour Grade: A+
Patrick and Barcelona Tour Guides were the perfect hosts for this
tour. The tour bus was the best one we had on the whole trip (comfortable
and easy to hear Patrick’s running commentary). Patrick was very
knowledgeable and was great in answering our questions and bridging
the language barrier at some of our stops.
Anne’s Take: I thought Barcelona
was an interesting port of call. We saw many beautiful sights. It
is definitely a town for lovers of architecture. As our guide explained,
Barcelona is famous for the beauty in the details of the centuries
old buildings, churches, fountains and art. Our guide recommended
that we only view the Sagrada Familia from outside and not pay the
€8 per person to enter the grounds. Everything of interest at this
point in time is basically visible from outside and the inside of
the church is mostly covered by scaffolding. I had heard from other
visitors that they didn’t think they got their money’s worth by
paying the entrance fee. I especially enjoyed walking down Ramblas.
There was so much activity. It was very crowded but the ideal place
for people watchers. I saw many people from the ship, crew and passengers,
enjoying a drink and tapas in the many restaurants and café’s along
the 5 block stretch. Tapas are small portions, three or four chunks
of fish, meat or vegetables, or a dollop of salad. We saw many living
statues and street performers both along Ramblas and even around
the Sagrada Familia. The boys did enjoy watching these performers
as well as debating whether the ‘living’ statues were actually alive!
Cannes, France
The day we visited Cannes we were in for a special treat – this
was the opening day of the famous Cannes film festival! The city
was bustling with excitement for the festival, and especially the
grand premiere of the DaVinci Code movie. We found it interesting
to see the film festival grounds. I saw director James Cameron (titanic)
walking by us in the streets of Cannes, and we also thought we saw
the actor Johnny Depp. For our day at Cannes and nearby sights we
had another excellent private tour guide – Ghislaine from Dream
Tours (website www.dream-tours.com
). Ghislaine, a French guide, spoke excellent English and provided
a running commentary as we drove through Cannes, Monaco, Monte Carlo,
Eze, and the art community of St Paul.
The highlight of the tour for me was the visit to the small country
of Monaco, the 2nd smallest country on earth. At Monaco we visited
the palace and saw the changing of the guard, we saw the famous
Monte Carlo casino, and we drove part of the course of the well
known Monaco Grand Prix. The race was only 10 days away and we could
see the grandstands and the race course clearly marked. I’ll be
sure to watch the Monaco Grand Prix with interest this year! Ghislaine
first took us to an overlook of Monaco, and then drove us down a
winding mountain road to the heart of the town of Monte Carlo. As
we finished the mountain drive Ghislaine said, “that was the road
where Grace Kelly had her fatal accident” (referring to the former
actress and princess of this small country). After our visit to
Monaco we had lunch at a sandwich shop in Eze. We shopped in Eze,
drove through Nice (with a scenic harbor), and the art community
of St Paul De Vence. Cannes was the only port where we had to take
a tender boat to the shore. We allowed plenty of time in the morning
and in the late afternoon to get to/from the ship.
Overall Tour Grade: A-
Our driver Ghislaine provided excellent commentary as she showed
us the sights of the French countryside and Monaco. Ghislaine was
also very good at answering all of our questions. The drive on the
winding mountain roads was a difficult one, with very little parking
in the towns we stopped in. We were sure glad we had a professional
guide to show us the way instead of trying to drive this area on
our own. Like many of the other small van tours we had on this trip,
there was no microphone for the driver so it was a little difficult
for those in the back to hear Ghislaine’s commentary. This tour
also was of less interest to the kids compared to some of our other
tours.
Anne’s Take: There were yachts
up and down the coast of Canne; yachts of all sizes. As we traveled
both ways, ship to shore, and back again we kept our eyes on the
yachts in case there were any celebrity sightings. The changing
of the guard in Monaco was interesting but very, very crowded and
if you did not get a place along the chain path at least 20 minutes
prior, you could see very little of the procession. Monaco is one
of the wealthiest countries in the world and yet like most other
places we visited this trip you had to make a donation in order
to use the public washroom.
Livorno, Italy (including Florence)
We received bad news a few days before our stop in Livorno, Italy.
There was to be a big bike race at Pisa the day we were at this
port, so instead of seeing Pisa (and the famous leaning tower) plus
Florence we were to see only Florence. This turned out OK because
Florence had more than enough to occupy us for our 5 hour visit.
The port of Livorno is very industrial and there is not much to
see in the town itself. Instead we took an hour and a half drive
to Florence with Thierry of http://www.florencetour.com We enjoyed
the scenic countryside as we got closer to Florence. Our first stop
at our destination was Michelangelo Square, where we got a great
view of the city and some of the attractions we would visit later
in the day. Next we visited the Acadamia to see Michelangelo’s famous
statue of David. David was even more impressive in person than the
many photos I had seen of it – the attention to detail in the statue
was amazing (you could see the veins in David’s arm in stone). The
statue was also larger in person (15 feet tall, 10 tons) than I
expected. The Acadamia also had other paintings and partially completed
sculptures by Michelangelo, but the David statue was by far the
most impressive. After viewing David we toured the magnificent St
Maria Del Fiore cathedral – the third largest cathedral in the world.
The cathedral was quite impressive from the outside. The inside
was more simple (not as ornate as St Mark’s that we had seen in
Venice) though the inside of the dome was an amazing piece of artwork.
Our guide Paola for this section of the tour did a great job explaining
the history of the cathedral and the artwork inside. Once we finished
touring St Maria Del Fiore we broke off from our tour group to have
lunch and explore Florence on our own for three hours. To start
we had a delicious pizza lunch at a pizzeria near the cathedral
(“best pizza of the trip” said Andrew). Then we decided to go back
to St Maria Del Fiore and make the long climb to the impressive
dome. The climb was over 450 steps! Refreshed from lunch we were
up for the challenge. This was a much harder climb than what we
had in Venice, but once we reached the top the views were well worth
it. Seeing the colorful artwork on the dome close up, and viewing
Florence from the top of the cathedral was the highlight of our
visit to the city. After our climb we bought a gelato from a nearby
open air café (yum!) and later met our tour bus for the 1 ½ hour
drive back to the ship.
Overall Tour Grade: B
We were disappointed we missed Pisa but we really enjoyed our few
hours in Florence. The transportation provided for us was very good.
Just like some of our other tours, this one also had a van without
a microphone which made hearing the driver’s commentary difficult
for those in the back seat. Our driver Thierry was excellent, though,
in his local knowledge and commentary along the drive. We spent
less time with our guides on this tour and did more on our own.
We thought our guide that Florence tours setup for us at the Academia
was not good. Also at 1 pm there was no lunch break planned so we
left the tour, had lunch, and did our own touring for the remaining
3 hours. This turned out to be great for us as we found a good lunch
place and we all enjoyed the climb to the top of the cathedral.
While there were good parts to Florence tours service, we didn’t
think they added as much value as some of our other tour guides
at other ports.
Anne’s Take: Seeing the statue
of David was amazing. The boys seemed to even get over their shyness
at his state of undress and start appreciating the art. I do recommend
climbing to the top of the ‘Duomo of Florence’ if you are in good
shape and not concerned with tight, enclosed spaces. As we ascended
and descended the Duomo, we encountered narrow winding staircases
and during parts you were faced with other sightseers going in the
opposite direction but the passage was really only wide enough for
one person.
Rome
We were to experience what I would rate as our best tours of the
whole trip in Rome. Here I hired Stefano of Rome Tours as our private
guide – 4 hours on the first day and 7 hours on the second. We had
limited time to explore this great city, and Stefano truly made
our visit memorable.
Our tour on Day one started at 1 pm. Stefano drove us to the Vatican
where he had setup for us a private tour guide – an American named
Scott. Scott was dressed in blue jeans and had a great sense of
humor (in addition to being very knowledgeable about the Vatican).
Scott led us to see the highlights of the Vatican in our quick 2
hour visit. The art treasures stored here were amazing, you could
easily visit every day of the year and still notice new things.
What stood out for me were the beautiful and reverent Sistine Chapel,
and the impressive size of St Peters Basilica. We saw the balcony
where the Pope addresses the crowds on major holy days (and where
the new Pope made his first public appearance). I had seen St Peters
square many times on TV before and it was a thrill to actually see
this historic setting in person. Andrew and Josh voted our Vatican
guide Scott their favorite for the whole trip. He had a unique ability
to explain the history and art of the Vatican to the adults yet
still keep the kids entertained. After our visit to the Vatican,
we were back with our Rome Guide Stefano and saw the Trevi fountain,
Pantheon, and other impressive sights. Stefano was amazing in navigating
the difficult traffic of the Rome streets while providing us a running
commentary of what we were seeing. He recommended a small local
restaurant in the town of Fiumicino where we had a huge pasta meal
to celebrate my 50th birthday.
On day two of our Rome tours, Stefano picked us up early (8:30
am) for a full day of touring Rome’s historic sights. We saw the
Coliseum – here Stefano got us around a huge line to the entrance
(still don’t know how he did that!) and we had virtually no wait
to get into this ancient stadium. I am a big sports fan and I marveled
how the Romans could construct such a stadium in only 8 years starting
in the year 79 AD – I could see how stadiums throughout history
were modeled after this one. Also impressive to visit this day were
the site of Circus Maximus (where chariot races were held), the
Roman emperor’s palace overlooking Circus Maximus, the Roman Forum
where the remains of government buildings were to be found, and
the Catacombs outside the city. For lunch Stefano took us to one
of his favorite “quick meal” places, a cafeteria style Italian restaurant
near the Vatican, where we had another huge and delicious pasta
meal!
Overall Tour Grade: A+
After our long 12 night cruise we all were ready to go home, but
I was SO GLAD we decided to add a couple of post cruise days as
part of the trip planning to tour Rome. Stefano’s tour was very
personalized, taking us to the sights we wanted to see, and he was
great in his knowledge of history, his driving skill, restaurant
recommendations, and the independent tours he set up for us (Scott
for the Vatican, Catacombs, etc). Yes it costs some more to hire
a tour guide for a visit to Rome, but it was money well spent. I
can’t imagine we would have seen near as much or learned as much
about ancient Rome had we done it on our own.
Anne’s Take: Although you
could not see everything you would want to see in Rome in several
weeks time, we only had 2 days. For the short period we did have
we hit all the highlights. The tour of the Vatican was hardest on
the boys. It was a very warm day and most of the Vatican is not
air conditioned. The boys walked through rooms where they had very
little interest and were tired and hot, but they stuck it out. Especially
with the fact that our guide, Scott, included them in the tour,
talking to them at their level and including sites he thought might
interest them. Everything we saw on day 2 was fascinating. We truly
got a brief but thorough overview of ancient Rome.
The Ship
Carnival Liberty While we saw many amazing sights on our trip,
the cruise itself was impressive in its own right. Below I describe
features of our Carnival Liberty cruise ship.
Dining
Main Dining Room (Golden and Silver Palace) We were pleasantly
surprised with the quality and variety of the main dining room food.
We had good meat dishes here throughout our cruise, and the salads,
soups, and desserts were very good also. Our servers were attentive
to our needs. On the first night of the cruise I had “hot chocolate”
instead of coffee as an after dinner drink. Thereafter each night
we ate in the dining room our assistant server brought me a hot
chocolate. The worst meal I had in the main dining room during our
cruise was the lobster one night – it was dry and not very good.
The lobster I had in the specialty restaurant (see below) was much
better. After experiencing “anytime dining” a few months early on
Princess, we were glad to be back on a fixed dining time (the early
dining) with the same waiters each night. There were a few nights
where we missed our dining because of a late shore excursion, but
on those nights we found the buffet to be an adequate replacement.
Main Dining Grade: B+
While we liked the quality and variety of the main dining room
food, we found they were not as open to off the menu requests as
other cruise lines. For example, our son Andrew likes iceberg lettuce.
On other cruise lines (Princess, HAL, Disney, etc) we had no problem
getting iceberg lettuce for Andrew. On this cruise no special requests
like this were allowed – only the salads on the menu were available.
Once we adjusted to the lack of special requests we did enjoy the
dining room food and the service. We also found the main dining
room an excellent place to eat breakfast. The buffet was often crowded
for breakfast and we found we could eat breakfast quicker many mornings
in the Silver Palace dining room. The quality of the breakfast food
in the main dining room was also superior to the buffet.
Anne’s Take: One thing I liked
about the menu was the consistency. With Carnival the menu usually
offers a pattern with each meal – two cold appetizers, one hot;
2 hot soups one cold; one basic salad which is on the menu everyday
and one new salad; a pasta dish; and a red meat dish every day in
addition to a few unique choices. One thing I didn’t like is that
on many other cruise lines they had an ‘always available’ menu in
addition to the daily choices (such as sirloin steak, chicken breast,
and other more basic food). Carnival has a special arrangement with
French chef Georges Blanc with to offer signature selections. The
times I ordered one of these special selections I was very pleased.
Buffet
At first we were disappointed in the buffet of the Carnival Liberty.
After boarding the ship we expected a wide variety of buffet choices
like we had seen on other cruise lines, but instead the main buffet
line had limited offerings (a salad bar, 4 or 5 entrees, and dessert).
The quality of the food, we thought, was just OK. The main buffet
was not open for as many hours as what we have seen on other cruises
(Princess and Holland America’s buffets have longer operating hours)
As the cruise progressed, though, we discovered other parts of the
buffet that we really enjoyed. I loved the oriental section that
we missed the first day – I had oriental food for lunch almost every
day (fried rice, Chinese selections such as sesame chicken, spring
rolls, etc). There were also a separate sections for made to order
sandwiches, Mongolian barbeque, and for fish and chips. Perhaps
what Carnival is the best at in the buffet area is their 24 hour
pizza station, grille, and ice cream located just outside the main
buffet. The made to order pizza was excellent (this was Josh’s favorite).
At meal times hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, and other
items were available at the grill. I especially liked the 24 hour
soft serve ice cream and yogurt machines available outside the buffet.
The quality of the soft serve was excellent – very creamy – much
better than the cheap ice cream we had on Holland America last year.
Most cruise lines offer ice cream these days (some for an extra
cost) but Carnival was the first one we saw that offered 24 hour
ice cream. This was especially good for a late night or early morning
snack. The buffet was also a good option at breakfast and lunch,
though we found the lines to be long at these dining times. At breakfast
there was a made to order omelet station that was very good if you
arrived early to avoid the crowds.
Buffet grade: B+
Mediocre main buffet line food, but Carnival makes up for it with
very good “specialty areas” such as the oriental food station, 24
hour ice cream station, grill, etc.
Anne’s Take: We do not purchase
soft drink cards when we cruise and choose to drink the available
options. We were very pleased with Carnival’s drink options. We
had a variety of juice available in the morning and for the other
meals they offer lemonade and fruit punch in addition to ice tea
and the usual coffee and hot and cold water. This was a big improvement
over our Caribbean Princess cruise in February, when all that was
offered for cold drink was water and iced tea.
Josh says: “The food on this
cruise was really, really good! The dining room had steak and pasta
every night, so I never had anything that I didn’t like. On the
last night, I had turkey and it was the best meal of the whole cruise.
The buffet was good too because they had almost the exact same thing
as the dining room, except you can get how much you want. Overall,
I think I would give the dining an A on this cruise.”
Harry’s Supper Club
The growing trend in cruising these days is to have one or more
“specialty” restaurants onboard in addition to the regular dining
room fare. The Carnival Liberty was no exception as they offered
Harry’s Supper Club as an upscale dining alternative. Anne and I
were pleasantly surprised with Harry’s. While Andrew and Josh dined
with their friends from the kids club in the buffet, we enjoyed
a first class meal at Harry’s in a romantic atmosphere. The restaurant
was located high on the ship (deck 12) which reminded me of Disney’s
Palo. The food here was excellent. Anne had Filet Mignon while I
had lobster. The lobster tail portion was huge and was of much better
quality than what I had eaten in the ship’s main dining room a few
days before. Anne had equally high praise for her steak. The appetizers,
side dishes, and desserts were also very good. As an added bonus,
the restaurant had pleasant background music with a two lounge singers.
Dancing was also available on a small dance floor.
Specialty restaurant grade: A-
The $30 per person cover charge to eat at Harry’s was a bit steep
(by comparison Disney’s Palo only charges a $10 cover fee for example)
but otherwise everything at Harry’s was superb. I still rate Disney’s
Palo and Princess’ Sabatinni’s as my favorite cruise line specialty
restaurants (perhaps my love for Italian food influences those choices!)
but Harry’s matches or exceeds the other cruise line specialty restaurants
we have dined at. I would say Harry’s is comparable to Holland America’s
excellent Pinnacle Grill - I liked Harry’s even better because there
were more choices available to a non-steak eater like me. We also
thought Harry’s was superior to the specialty restaurants we have
experienced on NCL, Celebrity, and Royal Caribbean.
Stateroom
Our stateroom was a category K inside room – one of the least
expensive rooms you could book for a family of four. This was one
of the smallest staterooms we have had on a cruise, and we also
thought the storage was not as efficient as we have seen on other
ships. We did find our stateroom attendants prompt with good service
throughout the cruise. The stateroom also had upgraded bedding (
a Carnival “Comfort” bed) – our bed was more comfortable than many
other beds we’ve had in other cruise line staterooms
Stateroom Grade: B-
The Carnival Liberty gets negative ratings for the size and storage
capabilities of the inside stateroom, but the stateroom service
and bedding was good. Having a self serve laundry on the same deck
was also a plus, as we used the laundry a few times to get through
our 12 night cruise. We did hear from other cruisers who had booked
balcony staterooms that they were pleased with the size of their
rooms. Our strategy instead was to spend a minimum on the accommodations,
and use the money saved to spend more on touring. This worked well
for us as we didn’t spend that much time in our stateroom. If we
were sailing by a scenic spot (such as the arrival into Venice or
cruising past Mount Stromboli) we found the public decks fine to
enjoy the scenery.
Anne’s Take: I was pleased
that there was plenty of room under the bed in the stateroom to
store suitcases. This has not always been the case with other cruise
lines. Our limited space was even more limited since the 2 bunk
beds were down from the first time we entered the stateroom through
the entire cruise. This limits the headroom of course but also there
are 2 ladders leading up to the beds. If the boys weren’t in the
room, we could put the ladders up on their beds but when the 4 of
us were in the room it was a challenge
Entertainment
The Carnival Liberty had a good sized main theatre (The Venetian
Palace) with three big production shows during our 12 night cruise.
We thought the singing and dancing in these shows were very good,
complemented by a “high tech” stage with some interesting special
effects. Andrew and Josh even got to participate in one of the shows
as part of their kids club group – that was a thrill for them. On
other nights in the main theatre Carnival offered singers, a comedian,
a magic show, and a few audience participation shows. The Liberty
had a good number of different themed bars around the ship – a piano
bar, various lounges, etc. We didn’t see as many choices in nighttime
entertainment as we had on our Caribbean Princess cruise earlier
this year Like the Caribbean Princess, the Liberty also had a large
outdoor movie screen and showed “movies under the stars” at night.
We liked this feature, but we thought Princess offered more and
better movies compared to what the Liberty had during our cruise.
We did watch “March of the Penguins” one night on the big outdoor
screen and we enjoyed that. The nighttime temperatures on our cruise
were much cooler than our Caribbean cruise in February, which made
sitting out on an open deck and watching a movie less comfortable
than what we had experienced on the Caribbean Princess a few months
earlier. The Liberty was somewhat lacking as far as educational
lectures onboard. On other cruise lines, such as our Celebrity Alaska
cruise last September, there were a number of experts in different
fields giving talks for guests on various subjects. With the rich
history of the European ports it seemed like this would be a great
opportunity to have a number of educational talks onboard, but the
Liberty did not offer any. Instead our cruise director John did
a yeoman’s job in playing the social host and providing commentary
on different ports and sights we saw along the way. John was funny
and quite good at his job, but it seemed Carnival could have supplemented
John with a few special interest speakers like we have seen on other
cruise lines. Anne and I love to play trivia on cruises and the
Liberty had a good number of trivia contests (2 or 3 on most days).
After a few near misses we finally won a “ship on a stick” prize
in a general trivia contest a few nights before the end of our cruise.
Entertainment Grade: B+
The production shows were excellent in a first rate theatre. While
John the cruise director was fun (as was the rest of the entertainment
staff). Carnival relied on audience participation a bit too much
to supplement their main shows.
Pools
There were 3 pools on the Liberty. In the aft (outside the buffet)
there was an adults only pool with 2 hot tubs. This pool offered
a sliding covering, so the pool could be used regardless of the
weather. The other two pools on the 9th deck were in the center
of the ship. In addition to the pools was a 2 story, circular slide.
The slide was not attached to the pool, but ended in a tub-like
rectangle full of water. The boys very much enjoyed using the slide.
Anne even tried it once. The water in the pools and the slide is
very cold. It appeared that the cruise line replaced the water daily
with fresh sea water. So in addition to the cool temperature, the
water is very salty. There are 3 hot tubs surrounding the 2 main
pools. The boys tried out all 3 and reported that only one of the
hot-tubs was actually hot, the other two were very warm but not
what one would expect for a hot tub. There was a small wading pool
on the 12th deck, outside Camp Carnival, for small swimmers.
Kids Club
I will let Andrew and Josh rate the kids club.
Andrew says: “On the Carnival
Liberty, on deck 12 forward, ( I remembered) is the best place on
the face of the earth! Camp Carnival!! This place is so cool, I
can’t tell you how cool it is, it’s so cool! I mean when you walk
in it’s a little weird because they have this baby fence type thing
but after you get in the fence it’s so awesome! A huge room with
a bunch of toys is waiting for you, but that’s not the best part.
There is another huge room with a giant T.V. and a bunch of other
T.V.S around it. Here they play movies or play DVD movie games.
The best part is they have 4 beanbags and a three curvy chairs around
the T.V. On the other side they have another awesome room. Here’s
the list of what they have (Get Ready): Foosball, PS2, Snowcone
maker, More PS2’s, hula hoops, jump ropes, basketballs, soccer balls,
More PS2’s, volleyballs, air hockey, and Candy art. Um.. Did I mention
that there were PS2’s? Ok, other than PS2’s the counselors were
great. They let everyone have fun, but be safe at the same time.
There was one kid who would not stop attacking the other kids, and
he was 3. The counselors took care of him, yeah! On the cruise we
were on, there weren’t many kids so you got a lot of attention.
So that pretty much does it for Camp Carnival. Thank You and tune
in next time for another special episode of Andrew’s Kids’ Club
Reviews!”
Josh says: “I liked the kids
club on Carnival a lot. The best part was that there were like 30
Playstation 2s in one room and a lot of games. There was also a
huge TV and a bunch of beanbags to sit in. The staff was great too.
They were nice and played really fun games. We even got to go on
scavenger hunts and go in the arcade for free one time. Overall,
the kids club on carnival was awesome!” Needless to say, Andrew
and Josh loved the kids club and went there often during our free
time on the ship.
Computer Access
The Carnival Liberty had prepaid internet minute packages available
– the largest package was 250 minutes for $100. With my work as
a travel agent and frequently checking email from clients, I opted
for the 250 minute package. Even this was not enough for the 12
night cruise so I found myself buying two packages for the length
of the cruise. The internet café on the Liberty was small and located
off of a “smoking” lounge (The Cabinet) – you could not get to the
café except for walking through this lounge. This was a negative,
especially in the evening where smoke filled the lounge. However
a big PLUS for the internet service was wireless access throughout
the ship, including in our stateroom. I found the wireless service
to be very good. I frequently just accessed the internet from my
laptop from the comfort of my stateroom or from a lounge onboard
instead of going to the internet café. The wireless capabilities
of the ship were MUCH better than my two previous cruises (on Disney’s
Wonder and on the Caribbean Princess).
Computer Access Grade: B+
I give a strong positive rating for the wireless capabilities
- in fact this was the best wireless setup I have experienced on
a cruise. The Internet café room could be bigger and located in
a better place free from a smoking lounge. Internet access generally
was speedy and good throughout the cruise, with only a few glitches.
The early morning was definitely the best time to access the internet
– I found the connection speeds fastest at that time. An unlimited
minutes plan would have been nice to have (like Disney’s) but most
non-Disney cruise lines have a similar setup to the Liberty (where
a large bunch of minutes can be bought at a reduced price).
Embarkation/Disembarkation
Upon our arrival in Rome Carnival was very organized in getting
us to the port of Civitavecchia (about an hour’s drive away). In
the baggage claim area there were 4 or 5 Carnival representatives
easily identified – these Carnival reps directed us to our bus once
we had claimed our luggage. Carnival took our luggage and the next
time we saw it was on the ship. The bus ride from Rome to Citivechhia
was shorter than I expected – I had heard it was an hour and a half
drive but we were there in less than an hour. Once at the port Carnival
had a good number of personnel to help with the checkin process,
and we were on the ship in no time. Our cabin was also ready for
us by the time we got on the ship at around 12:30 pm. At the end
of the cruise checkout was also efficient. We waited until our group
was called to disembark. After claiming our luggage we were escorted
to a large bus and listened to running commentary on the area from
a Carnival guide as we were driven to our hotel in Rome.
Overall Grade: B
Very efficient and easy on arrival, and it was nice our stateroom
was ready early as we boarded the ship. The disembarkation process
wasn’t quite as good (it was a zoo to claim our luggage and get
it to the truck where it was transported to our hotel), but the
bus transportation was good both ways.
Post Cruise Hotel
We opted to book two nights at a hotel through a Carnival package-
the Rome Airport Hilton. While the airport is located about a 30
to 40 minute drive from the city we liked the location and the modern
amenities of this hotel. We wanted to see ancient ruins, not stay
in them, so this fairly new hotel was perfect for us. We were upgraded
at no extra charge to the Business Level of the hotel (2 rooms).
We enjoyed the unlimited free drinks (soft drinks and juices) in
the Club Lounge, and the breakfasts and evening snacks served in
the lounge. Anne, Andrew, and Josh also appreciated the big pool
the hotel offered, and had a relaxing swim here after our rigorous
two days of Rome touring.
Overall Hotel grade: A-
We were pleasantly surprised at the Airport Hilton hotel. With
our Rome tour guide Stefano picking us up from the hotel it was
not a problem being located a distance from the city center. We
thought the checkin process at the hotel could have been smoother
(we had a wait of 30 to 45 minutes with a limited number of front
desk staff) but otherwise we enjoyed our stay here.
Our Flights
We bought our airfare through Carnival this trip as they had a
great deal on the 3rd/4th passenger rates ($399 per person roundtrip
from Denver to Rome for Andrew and Josh). While we usually buy airfare
separate from the cruise line, for an International flight flying
in the same day as the cruise departure we also felt more safe booking
the air through Carnival. If there were any air delays Carnival
would see to it that we made it to the ship one way or another.
Upon departure, we had a 2 ½ hour flight from Denver to Cincinnati,
and then a 9 ½ hour flight from Cincinnati to Rome on Delta. Our
overseas flight (767 airplane) did come with dinner and breakfast
service. Carnival booked us on American Airlines coming home – Rome
to Chicago and Chicago to Denver. We liked the service on the return
flight even better – we had more leg room on our American Airlines
flight and the food was better when compared to Delta.
Other notes to be aware of
Currency
Most of our independent shore excursions required payment in Euros
at the end of the tour, so we needed a good amount of European money
on our trip. I chose to get a share of our Euros before leaving
home, and then purchased more Euros through ATM’s in the various
ports we visited. I was glad we had Euros with us to start, as ATM’s
were not as readily available as I expected early in the trip. However
as the trip wore on we were able to easily find ATM’s for extra
cash. Be sure to tell your bank back home that you will be traveling
abroad (so that they don’t put a hold on your debit card for unexpected
foreign charges). Our Washington Mutual Debit Card worked great
in the few ports where we did get cash. The exchange rate at the
foreign ATM’s was better than what we were able to get back in the
U.S. We also took precautions against pick pockets, which we had
heard were very common in Europe. Our cruise mates had plenty of
stories of friends or acquaintances losing their wallets or purses
to thieves in Rome and other European cities. We opted to get money
pouches secured around our waists and stored our cash in there while
on shore excursions. This worked fine and gave us peace of mind
in some of the crowds we were in.
Pay toilets
Public toilets in many ports required a 50 cent payment – at first
we were not prepared for this! The Euros we brought with us came
in 5 Euro denominations at the smallest, and similarly from ATMs
we could not get change. After a few purchases we did have some
small coins for the bathroom fees. Don’t try to use a public toilet
without paying, otherwise you may learn some new Italian curse words
that you hadn’t heard before! (we saw one bathroom attendant yelling
at an American who had not paid)
Calling home
Before the trip I bought a global cell phone from www.mobalrental.com
– this worked very well. We did not plan to call home except for
emergencies and for an occasional checkin. The Mobal phone was perfect
for this as you can buy a phone from them for $50 or $100, there
are no contracts to sign, and if you use your phone you are charged
by the minute (from $1 to $2 a minute). That may seem expensive,
but it is less than the $7/minute the ship charges and you don’t
have to bother with foreign calling cards/locating a pay phone.
I used our Mobal phone once from Venice to call home and it worked
fine. Since I purchased the phone I will now have it to use on future
trips abroad.
Time change
We adjusted surprisingly well to the time change – for most of
our trip we were 8 hours ahead of our time back home in Colorado.
What helped here I think was not doing any “pre-cruise” touring
but instead saving our hotel stay for after the cruise. This way
on our long first day of travel we took transfers to the port and
once on the ship we were able to relax and go to bed early. It would
have been more difficult if we had a tour planned right away that
first day.
Summary: Overall Cruise Grade: A
This was truly a once in a lifetime trip for us that we will remember
for the rest of our lives. The diversity of the ports was great
and the best I have experienced on any cruise – at each port we
had a different adventure waiting for us. For someone looking for
a port intensive cruise with lots of interesting places to see,
this is the cruise for you! In addition to my 50th birthday celebration
on the trip, this cruise also allowed me to reconnect with my Italian
heritage. My grandparents on both sides came from Italy (my dad
changed his name from “Lasaracino” to Larison in his 20’s – I am
Italian). It was a thrill to see the area where one of my grandmothers
was from (a city north of Naples) and see many other small Italian
towns. I got a sense of what life may have been like for my grandparents
in observing everyday life in these communities. Also we thought
our Carnival Liberty ship offered a good cruise experience.
While there was some plusses and minuses compared to other ships,
overall we enjoyed this new ship and thought it was comparable to
the newer ships we have sailed on with other lines. I’d rate the
Carnival Liberty a step below what we have experienced on Princess
ships, but still more than acceptable.
The one problem with this cruise – I have now caught the European
travel bug!! There are many interesting places to visit in Europe,
and we sampled just a few on this cruise. Europe is so rich in history
and sights to see - I look forward to visiting again in future years!
Anne’s Take: We did pack a
lot into our 14 days of travel. Since it was the first time to Europe
for our family it was the perfect opportunity to sample Europe.
We now have wonderful memories of all the beautiful places we were
able to visit and should we return to Europe we can spend more time
in the places that appealed to us. There were many times we were
in a beautiful town square with an outdoor café surrounded by the
sights, sounds and smells of the local ambiance. I wanted nothing
more than to sit down at a table, get a drink and enjoy the local
atmosphere. With our busy tour schedule we didn’t do a lot of soaking
up the local culture at a leisurely pace. I hope to do more of that
on future trips to Europe. However, I wouldn’t trade a moment of
this trip. The itinerary was perfect for us and we were able to
experience things we will cherish as a family for the rest of our
lives.
Opinions of the trip from 12 year old boys
Here are Andrew and Josh’s thoughts on the ports we visited and
the trip overall.
Andrew says: “We had a great
time on the cruise and I enjoyed every second of it. During the
cruise we went to some cool ports around Italy. These are the ports
that we visited and what was so awesome about each one of them.
Naples: Naples was a great way to start out our trip in
Italy. Here we went to the ancient town of Pompeii and saw Mt. Vesuvius.
The streets in the town went on forever and seemed like you were
looking at two things, wrecked bricks and pillars (yawn). Then we
saw the bodies of the people who tried to hide from the eruption.
You could even see their perfect teeth! (They had great dentists
back in the day..) There were also some disturbing images on the
walls and some on the ground. (I avoided them) Once we were out
of the city we took a rest from our long and tiring trek. Once on
the road again we drove for a long time until we reached the Almalfi
Coast. It’s a town that is on the side of a cliff, near the ocean!
(One wrong move and they’re toast!). Our driver took us to a market
were there lemons almost the size of a football! Now that’s a big
lemon. For lunch he brought us to a little restaurant were no spoke
English! Luckily the guide translated. We got 2 pizzas to split
and ordered a few Cokes. Before our meal arrived, they brought out
a special appetizer. Pizza without sauce or cheese, oh boy that
sounds good eh?. It had spices so it tasted really good. When the
pizza came I only ate one slice, but I ate the entire giant appetizer!
After a filling lunch we hopped back into the van and went back
to the ship. What a long and exciting day in Naples!
Venice: We had a great time in the port city of Venice.
From our ship you could see all of the huge monuments and historical
buildings. Once we got off the ship we waited on the dock below
for our guide. He showed up in a little boat ( It was no yacht,
trust me.) It wasn’t actually that bad once we got inside. (It still
wasn’t a yacht.) We cruised around the outskirts of Venice and saw
more historical buildings. Once in the city I was surprised to see
no roads! It was just one huge waterway. They had waterbuses and
water taxis to! That made me laugh. On the docks, some pigeons liked
to hang out around there and some teens on a field trip were throwing
stuff at them, like shoes. (Oh no the poor shoes!) In the late afternoon
we climbed a huge bell tower that had tons of stairs. “It even had
ramps” Quote my Mom. “For us old folks!” (Just kidding) The view
was amazing from the top of the tower; I was disappointed because
the bells went off a few minutes after we left. (That would be loud!)
We drove around the waterways some more until we stopped for a break
to shop and stuff. What a long and exciting day in Venice! (Sound
familiar?)
Venice: Day 2: To start of the morning we met our guide
at the dock again to go into the city for a walking tour. He guided
us through city into churches, squares and towers. The best part
was Saint Marco Square were there were thousands of crawling drooling
and pooping pigeons. The whole square was covered with those little
freaky birds! There was a lady who was selling pigeon feed and every
time you threw some to them they started to fly at you and land
on your body. This one girl threw it all and almost one hundred
started to attack her. What’s even more amazing is that one walked
two inches next to me. (Gasp). After the fun with the birds the
guide drove us around more until he let us off for a shopping time.
I bought ice cream for one euro (Great Deal) with the little money
I had. Everyone else bought some too. Oh yeah and I almost forgot
my little buddy his name is Spencer and he went along with us during
most of the ports I’m talking about. He was funny and entertained
us during the trips. What a long and exciting day in Venice, again!
Sicily: Today we had a great day exploring the coastal island
of Sicily. To start off the day we went up the long hills and mountains
to get to Mt. Etna, a volcano. (Don’t worry it didn’t explode) Once
there we found two hills one giant volcano and one not even big.
I climbed the huge one all the way to the very top. About a 16th
of the way Josh chickened out and ran and said in his annoying voice
“You might fall”. I keep telling him, but I never fell a single
time. Well at the end when I was coming down to the very bottom,
I tripped over this pebble (Funny story about that actually). Anyways
the view from the top of the mountain was completely amazing and
the crater was huge! Then, my mom suggested climbing the small,
tiny, microscopic mountain. Josh was happy because it wasn’t as
big. When we went up the very unsteep path to the front of it. There
was amazing view of mountains and hills and guess what Josh says?
What does he say? I’m gonna fall! After the long mountain hikes
we went to the city where the guide let us shop and eat lunch. We
went to a local pizzeria for lunch. Josh and I ordered a big mozzarella
cheese pizza, no sauce! It was very good. After some more views
and driving we went back to the ship. What a long and exciting day
in Sicily!
Barcelona: Today in Barcelona, Spain we did many things.
To start out the day we met our guide who had a huge luxury minibus
with him. (It was huge!) We drove around town to historic places
(History and more History, it never ends!) and we finally ended
up at a giant church. It had four spires, but I forget the name
of the church. Anyway, the guide said they had worked on it for
hundreds of years and they haven’t finished it. (Did they have blueprints
back then?) What’s on the church is a whole different story. On
one side they had the design they made hundreds of years ago. It
was very detailed, the other side I can’t say so much about. All
the people are huge and blocky and they have little detail. Our
guide pointed out one of the people looked like Darth Vader from
Star Wars. That side was funny. In front of the church there were
a bunch of street performers dressed in costumes. Some acted like
statues and moved when you went by. One of them was a Devil (Scary!)
who kept looking at me (Scarier!) and then he pointed to his lap!
(Scariest!) Or he could of pointed to his money can, I don’t know.
(Laugh) Then we went to a local park where people were throwing
metal balls at a red ball. It looked like horseshoes to me. Josh
was so attracted to the shiny balls he almost got hit with one.
(Gasp, Just kidding) We went around the city some more and stopped
at parks historical buildings and much, much more. For lunch we
stopped by a sub restaurant that had subs (Duh). They were ok. What
a long and exciting day in Barcelona!
Cannes: Today was a very short day in Cannes. We met our
guide early in the morning and she took us up through the mountains
to see amazing views. Then we went to Monaco the second smallest
country in the world. There we saw the guards walk around with guns
and beating drums. (I bet they love their job) After that we were
let off at a town on the side of a mountain! There I bought some
candy, but I only got like 13 gummy bears for 2 euros! That stunk
a lot. What a short and boring day in Cannes!
Florence: Florence was great today, and I had a great time.
Our guide showed us through all of the parks and buildings that
had amazing views and incredible construction. The best part was
we got to go to a museum (Forgot the name..) And we saw famous paintings,
well I think they are famous. We also saw the 12-foot guy who’s
naked and is holding a slingshot. Yeah, It’s David from David and
Goliath. And yeah he was really naked, it was nasty yet cool at
the same time. That Micheal person did a good job, that must of
took forever! And it was made out of a block of marble! Pretty Cool.
Anyway we had a weird museum guide who talked quietly. He asked
me when I saw David, “How does this make you feel?” I had a good
laugh out of that. For lunch we dropped out of the group to be on
our own for a few hours. We had awesome pizza at a local place.
Our guide had showed us a church earlier and we decided to climb
the dome church’s 431 stairs! It was a long climb but the view was
great from the top of it! What long and exciting day in Florence.
Rome: These were one of the best two days of the trip.
We went to the Coliseum, which was really cool. You could even see
the part underground where they kept the animals and stuff. It was
much bigger than I had expected. We also went to a chariot track,
the Pantheon, the underground graves and much, much more. That pretty
much does it for our great trip to Italy. I had a great time, and
if you ever go there check out everything I said, it’s amazing!
Thanks for Reading!”
Josh says: “Naples:
First, we got in a van and drove to Pompeii. It was really cool
because there were a lot of ancient buildings and people covered
with ash. After, we went to three other cities and saw great views
of the cities and the ocean. We stopped at each city and looked
around at the scenery. At the last city, we stopped at a restaurant
and had great pizza
Florence: When we got off the ship, a driver picked us
up and we drove to Florence. Our first stop was an old museum. We
walked through this long hall looking at art and at the end of the
hall, was a huge sculpture. Its name was David. It was really amazing,
but gross at the same time because it was naked. After that, we
went to a huge church with a big dome and walked around it for a
while. We got out of the church and had lunch at a really good pizza
place and went back in the church again to climb the dome. There
was a long line, but it went by fast. We climbed up almost 450 stairs
to the top and saw a great view. After taking a lot of pictures,
we went back down all 450 steps and made it to the bottom. I still
can’t believe I climbed 900 stairs! When the climb was over we got
driven back to the ship.
Venice: The first day in Venice, we visited some islands
around the city. We climbed a huge bell tower and saw a lot of old
stuff. On the second day, we first went to a huge square where there
was a bunch of pigeons! After stopping there, we looked around the
city, went in a church, and even got ice cream! At the end, we fed
the pigeons in the square and one landed on my head! When we were
finished, we took a waterbus to the ship
Sicily: The excursion started out with a long drive all
the way up to Mt. Etna, a volcano. I got a little carsick on the
way but I was fine when we got there. We climbed up a huge hill
of ash and rocks and my shoes got all dirty. At the top, there was
a great view. The hardest part was getting down. It was really easy
to slip because all of the rocks moved when you took a step. After
the volcano, we went in a city and had really good pizza. It was
really cheesy! Then after lunch we looked around the city and went
back to the ship.
Barcelona: We got on a big bus and drove around the city,
seeing historic fountains and stuff. After that, we stopped at a
HUGE church that isn’t built all the way yet. We looked at it for
a while and took pictures. At lunchtime we ate at a European fast
food restaurant and had good sandwiches
Cannes: When we got into the city, we saw a bunch of posters
and signs for the Da Vinci Code because it was the film festival
that day in Cannes. We started off going to Monaco and seeing the
guards of the prince’s palace change. Then we drove around where
the Grand Prix was and then went to a tiny village on a hill. We
walked around for a while and then had lunch at a sandwich place.
Rome: On the first day we started off going to the Vatican.
We only had two hours, but we saw a lot of cool stuff. There were
a lot of statues and paintings in hallways. Then we went to this
big church and outside was a huge area with a big pole in the middle.
After the Vatican, we went to famous places like the Trevi fountain
and the Spanish Steps. On the second day, we went to a long tunnel
underground with a lot of people buried there. When we got out,
we went to the Coliseum and took a lot of pictures. It was really
cool to be standing right next to it. After we looked at the outside,
we went inside and saw the gigantic arena. Next, we went to a park
and saw a great view of the whole city. After that, the trip was
finally over and we headed back to the hotel to get ready to go
home. This was definitely one of the best cruises I’ve been on.
There were great pools and a fun waterslide outside, and lots of
fun things to do inside. The kids club was great and the dining
was awesome. The ports were also really good. Even though it was
12 nights, I still didn’t get bored. I’m glad I went on this cruise,
and I hope I go on another one like this again!”
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