I will start from the beginning just to give everyone a good idea of the experience that I had on Carnivals Liberty. I traveled with my husband, my sister and brother in law, my father, and 7 other friends. We are from California, and we flew from LAX, on British Airways.
I booked a tour on every port and will let you know my opinions on the tours we booked. The things I would do differently etc.
Our cruise dates were May 19 2006 though May 31, 2006. Our flight got into Rome Airport on May 18th at around 6:00pm. We stayed at the Hilton Rome Airport, which is also available through Carnival; I booked the room on my own. I would defiantly recommend staying at this hotel, It is connected the airport, so it was very convenient, especially after a long flight. We booked the Holy Rome tour with Carnival, which included the transfers to the ship. You can only book the tour by sending the form via fax. I was a little nervous about this, because I wanted to make sure that we were signed up for the tour and transfer. No need to worry, they sign you up right there at the airport.