fountain44

I think based off everything so far we would like eastern and due ease and cost flying to Rome then athens as a second choice is probably our best bet. Otherwise Barcelona looks easy enough if we go western. Right now RC and Celeb really just dont offer a lot. Things can change in 9-12 months and we will be out of the winter season, but our other concern is playing the covid games. Got the wonder elixir vaccines, but I see the standard is a neg covid test 2 days prior which if we leave 2-3 days prior, going to have to figure that one out in another country.

Thanks for the info. I have done RC, Carnival, and princess, and half dozen one half the other, kind of my thing. Not really concerned with a major cruise line being garbage.

Frankly they have the most options and the cost is good. Viking and small boats dont interest me even if cost wasnt an issue. Look not paying 2-4k per person. I have not discounted RC as there are some listed there and there is one princess out there.

Yeah ok I was thinking the same thing then with Rome or Athens in terms of (de)embarkation. Next April I can get to Rome for 550 bucks from NYC which is a 4 hour drive for us or our local airport is like 800. Either way not bad Id pay 400 just getting to florida.

Thank you. I think due to the limited nature of time on cruises we probably dont want something that means a long jaunt(more than 45mins to an hour) to get somewhere from the port that wastes time. We also tend to not just get off the ship and stay right there, and also prefer or own adventures vs paid trips. Some of the eastern stuff includes Israel which looks great but tbh been in the middle with the military and with periodic unrest just an area of the world that doesnt interest me. If we had to pick ports based off initial research, we like mykonos, santarini, split, dubrovnik, we like the idea of rome but if its no near the port that might cancel that . MSC actually had really good times from what we have seen most were close to 12 hours, one had an over night stay in mykonos which we have never had an overnight stay, might be cool for night life.

Ship is not entirely important. Some of those ships are new that were listed. I have been on cruises going back to late 90s early 2000s and those ships I never had a problem with and was on one Princess super ship 6-7 years ago. We have never searched for a cruise by ship, were more interested in the stops and dont hang out on the ship unless its a day at sea I think we want a mix of greece, italy, maybe croatia. really want to avoid all stops being in italy or one country, Your last paragraph, are you talking flying to london for example then flying to the port city?

Looking at few cruises now and these are some that we like. Lots of different combos basically the same thing but these are kind of the general jist JULY 23 MSC-Rome/Civitavecchia, Siracusa, Taranto, Thira/Santorini, Mykonos, Rome/Civitavecchia MSC-Siracusa, Taranto, Thira/Santorini, Mykonos, Rome/Civitavecchia, Siracusa MSC-Brindisi, Mykonos, Athens/Piraeus, Split, Venice/Italy, Brindisi RC-Venice (Ravenna), Koper, Messina, Rome/Civitavecchia, Livorno, Cannes, Barcelona RC-Venice (Ravenna), Koper, Messina, Rome/Civitavecchia, Livorno, Cannes, Barcelona April 23 MSC-Venice/Italy, Argostolion, Thira/Santorini, Heraklion, Bari, Venice/Italy MSC-Athens/Piraeus, Zadar, Venice/Italy, Brindisi, Mykonos, Athens/Piraeus MSC-Ancona, Dubrovnik, Bari, Corfu, Kotor, Trieste, Ancon MSC- Valencia, Marseille, Genoa, Rome/Civitavecchia, Palermo, Ibiza, Valencia RC-Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Marseille, La Spezia, Rome/Civitavecchia, Naples, Barcelona

Good points. We are 9-12 months so hard to guess the flight situation right now but we are planning for it. Good news on a lot of the ships they dont leave till late afternoon unlike the stuff in the states, so that builds in time. Looking at Rome and Athens flight scenarios (which open to others just havent really looked yet) We would most likely get in the morning two days prior so thats day one, the next day nothing, then the cruise. We are younger and a day should get us back on our feet. Like I said before its a 7 day cruise with 2-3 days on top of that so 10 days total is what on the doable list. So trying to make the most of it.

I agree that why we are a year out and asking now. It's all about matching flights to ports, or what you want to do given budget and timeframe. When we travel somewhere new I like to figure out some of the ins and outs. But with said every trip has a budget and a timeline, you can keep adding days or dollars you do 10 days you should have done 12 or spent 5k you should have spent 7k to do this, kind of can keep going forever with that mentality. With the construct of a day cruise and days prior and maybe a day after we have about a 10 day window and getting some great info here to maximize our experience. FYI on St thomas, we did a trip there this winter and stayed for a week, we were nervous because we had stopped there 2-3 times on cruises and after the first time it was kind of mehh. But staying there was a totally different experience, one of our best trips ever and highly recommend it.

We plan on two days before. Thinking Rome or athens will probably provide the best deals. I know ports are subjective. Just wondering if there is any that are a waste. Much like the carribbean, first trip and a cruise hard to complain, but for me I would still steer people away from bahamas, san juan, and a few others

Ok folks getting good info once again. Now from what I am hearing is maybe July is better, due to weather. If we do go in April it might not be over easter, but might be close or the week following But in order to get specific advice below is the potential ports of embarkations and the stops. What it might come down to is flights in terms of times and cost as well. Eastern trip in July, and really July looks to have more eastern then Western stuff and a lot of MSC branded trips Embarkation ports- Rome, Venice, Siracusa, Bari, Triste, Athens. Ports of Call no order just looking for any thumbs up or down keep in mind first trip to these- Split, Korfu, Masina, Rome, Venice, Mykonos, Satorini, athens, ancona, dubronvik,, Siracusa Western Trip- Embarkation ports- Barcelona, Genoa, Palermo, Athens, Marseille, Ports of call- some of the above plus naples, genoa, Marseille, Palermo, La Goulette, Cannes, Taranto Lots of MSC cruises seem to be the best deal. Not going to get into groupings just wondering what places might be a complete waste of time and which ones are good. Some trips seems to have like all stops in italy or all in croatia, think we are going to lean towards the ones that stop in multiple places

Yeah wife hasnt experienced it but I have with the military with an 8 hour time change, really never recover from it in a week, but usually a day or so makes a big difference. Think we plan on arriving two days early to combat that.

Thanks for the info thus far and will check in some of the advice given. But in order to stay on track and not keep offering alternate advice, we can only go in July or April, nothing else but sounds like April gets everybodys vote. Due to life its a 7 day cruise with a possible extra day on each end in port. The beach was merely an item on the list and by far isnt number one. TBH to see europe properly a cruise ship really isnt it, based off the time in port and the fact out of 7-10 days half the time is on a boat in the ocean , but for us due to cost, vacation, work, kids its the best scenario. Down the road as mentioned we plan on taking a real trip 2-3 weeks to Europe. So mainly looking to get the best bang for our buck and with these cruises costing the same as Caribbean cruises with only a few more bucks on flights, its a no brainer Looks like we got some of the basic admin info out of the way, and kind more interested in what stops are just mehh and which ones you have to do considering its a 7 day cruise on a larger big box brand ship. For example we can leave from rome or is it better to leave from venice and see rome. Things like that. Also guess there is a lot of Euros on the these trips, are pools topless, the boss likes to indulge when she can.

Thanks. As stated its July, with a possible April. FEB is to late in the planning cycle and we worry about mediocre weather at that point

I think it just snowballs into its a big joke and people stop because its a joke, and bring their friends into the joke. Brilliant model to whoever created and owns that place.