Learning from past experience, if you are coming from North America, and because of the time difference, in order to get acclimatized and overcome the jetlag, it is best to try and be in Europe a day or two before the Med cruise as it is a very hectic, port intensive trip.
We actually spent a week in Italy and boarded the Carnival Liberty by noon on Sunday, Sept 18. The nice thing about Sunday is there was very little traffic and so we were in Civitavecchia earlier than we thought. It was very easy and fast to board, as we had printed our Fun Pass in advance. The first thing we did was check our dining time to ensure that we had our 8:00 dining time. There were people we spoke to who did not get their requested dinner time. We also asked for a table of 8. Then we booked the speciality dining room Harry's, for one evening which is $30.00 extra per person.
I will basically talk about the ship, as we saw it.