We booked our cruise and travel plus hotel stay in Rome through Carnival. We flew into Rome two days before the cruise so we could sightsee in Rome. We greeted at airport by Carnival representatives and they helped us to the bus waiting outside to take us to the hotel. We had a rather long wait in a hot bus until we were on our way into Rome. We stayed at the Hotel Ciccerone. It was a fairly decent hotel. Surprised that only the front desk spoke english. We had e-mailed the Vatican through Vatican.va for an appointment time to tour the Vatican with a tour guide. Received a confirmation several days before we left. This was great and we didn't have to wait on any long lines to get in. Saw the major sights of Rome. Carnival reps were in the lobby while we were at the hotel. They seemed anxious to sell tours and weren't too friendly in answering questions that we had.

We left Rome on May 25th around 10:30 a.m. and were brought to the pier in Civitavecchia. The ride took a little over an hour. We had filled out our fun pass and so embarkation was a breeze. Went aboard in no time and started looking around the ship. Ship is very lovely and similar to other Conquest size ships of this fleet. (we had sailed on the Glory in the past and were familiar with layout). Went up to Lido deck for some lunch. I would say the food on the lido deck was just okay. There is a large variety but taste wise - nothing special. Waited for our friends from New York to arrive and showed them around the ship.

Our cabin was on the empress deck with a balcony view. It was almost in the center of the ship and quite convenient to elevators and laundry room. We had more than enough space for our clothes and personal items. Our cabin steward Ovie was very accommodating in every way. Whatever we asked for, he was right there. Read more