- This was the Carnival Liberty's fourth sailing. Our experience was that the service area still has some growing pains. For example, our room steward just couldn't quite remember to leave us wine glasses each day even though we had unopened wine bottles sitting out. Similarly, the assistant waiter had problems remembering to give us coffee or tea and to offer us refills after dinner. He got better towards the end of the cruise and our group recognized this improvement by giving him an extra tip. On a highly positive note, our waiter was outstanding. Her English was exceptional. She always made every attempt to meet our desires if there was something unusual that we wanted. For example, I had a delicious banana split for dessert one evening when it wasn't on the menu. We thoroughly enjoyed our dinners with her. Our final disappointment with the service involved the Maitre'de. During the entire 12-day cruise, he never stopped by our table to ask how we were doing. This was the first time we can ever recall this happening. Given the length of this cruise, I would have expected him to have dropped by our table on at least two occasions. I don't want to sound too negative. Overall, we had a great time on the Liberty and the service, other than the things I mentioned, was very good. We attribute the service problems we encountered to the learning curve for a new ship. I'm sure it'll be better for future cruisers.
- There are ATM machines everywhere in Europe. Just make sure you have a 4 digit pin and notify your bank about the time period that you'll be traveling in Europe. If you don't, they could cancel your card because it has had some very unusual overseas activity on it.
- We found that because we had arranged for many private tours and transfers that we went to ATMs many times. Also, the ATM machines varied greatly in terms of the maximum amount of euros that would be dispensed. For example, we could get 500 euros from the airport ATM, but not from others. We tried 300 euros from several machines but weren't allowed to get that much. When we changed the amount requested to 240 euros, the euros were dispensed. I used the ATM machines for nearly 1,400 euros. When I got home and checked to see what I was actually charged per euro, it worked out to about a 1.241 exchange rate. I thought that was pretty good.
- You can save a great deal of money by booking private transfers and tours prior to your trip. The Internet and e-mail makes this easy. Make sure you do your research and find operators that have been highly recommended by others. Also, any reputable operator will not require any deposit whatsoever to confirm your reservation. Our private tour operator-Drive Amalfi-with Salvatore Lucibello as my principal contact, had great recommendations and was a real pleasure to deal with. We ultimately booked the transfers to and from the ship and the four private tours that totaled nearly 4,400 euros, or about $5,500 at a 1.25 exchange rate. Everything was all confirmed with Salvatore before Thanksgiving. Salvatore promptly responded to all of my e-mails and didn't have any problems making changes to accommodate changes in my group's plans. Salvatore was never our specific tour guide. Other than my numerous e-mail contacts, I only met Salvatore once in a restaurant during our Amalfi Coast tour. He had another tour group in the same restaurant. He came over to our table to introduce himself. He is the classic good looking Italian male. All of the women in my group wanted to pack Salvatore in their suitcases and take him back to the U.S. In the end, however, they were stuck with their old American husbands!
- My wife had to use the ship's doctor during this cruise. It was the first time for either of us. She was pleasantly surprised that there was no price gouging by Carnival. It cost $60 to see the doctor and then there was $38.40 charge for the prescription (had my wife not opted for the higher price prescription, the total cost would have been less). To get out of there for less than $100-we didn't think this was bad at all.
- One of the couples in our group had a pretty good idea about how to remember all of the places we visited. As opposed to just having photos, they decided to buy pieces of art (showing the places they had visited) from street vendors at every port of call. This art included oil paintings on canvas, water colors, and etchings. They were always able to negotiate a reasonable price, especially if they decided to buy two from the same artist. I can't wait to see this art displayed in their Tennessee home. I'm sure they'll put it in the "European Wing" of the house.
My wife and I greatly enjoyed this trip. We relied on a great deal of information from previous cruisers in planning this trip. I hope that in some small way my review not only captures the things we did on this fantastic cruise, but also helps others as they plan future cruises.
John and Pat Hunt
