Carnival Freedom was disappointing. We were very excited to be on one of this ship's first voyages. We assumed that Carnival would put its "best foot forward" in launching her new ship. I'm saddened to say that if this is her best foot, then I think we may never sail on Carnival again. This is why.

Pre-cruising experience: I booked online and got a great price. Good experience. When doing my research and booking this cruise I found that Turkey is requiring a Visa. Carnival new nothing about a Turkish Visa requirement. When I spoke with their representatives on the phone and asked if they had special arrangements or if I needed to get my own Visa myself, they had no answer. When I called the Turkish consulate I was told that, unless you have a valid Visa, you may not get off the ship at their ports. Carnival still had no plans. So, I assumed that they would figure it out on their maiden voyage. After all, who wants 3,000 passengers having a mutiny? So I continued to research and my excursion reservations on line. This was handy, as some of the on-line excursions weren't offered on the ship.

My flight went from Los Angeles to Rome, via Zurich on Swiss Air. We got a decent fair and the service was nice. Each seat had a TV system with a few movies. It was satisfactory. We were traveling with our three children. They were loaded up with entertainment media but used the airline TV about 50% of the flight. There were also several snacks as it was a very long flight. TIP* When taking long flights, Make sure the airline is equipped with an entertainment system. We had arranged for a van to pick us up at the airport and take us to the hotel for an overnight stay before the sailing. This was necessary as the flight we wanted was completely booked (6 months ahead). Many people did not book a hotel and planned on arriving on time that day, since the ship was scheduled to set sail at 7 PM. But they missed the ship!! There was a freak snowstorm and they got delayed. The ship set sail without them. Read more