Mediterranean cruise-need a lot of info

[Robert Lee]

My wife and I would like to take a cruise through Greece and we are thinking of going in Sept. or Oct. 2010. There are a lot of cruises availalbe and as a first-timers, we would like some "real' reviews and suggestions. We only have 7 days to spend in Greece, and from I have read, this is not enough time to see a lot of the islands. I understand that it is a whole different experience taking a cruise as opposed to staying at a hotel and Island hopping. Please help us to make some decisions based on your own experience.

Thanks,
R.L.

[Ljberkow]

Originally Posted by Robert Lee

My wife and I would like to take a cruise through Greece and we are thinking of going in Sept. or Oct. 2010. There are a lot of cruises availalbe and as a first-timers, we would like some "real' reviews and suggestions. We only have 7 days to spend in Greece, and from I have read, this is not enough time to see a lot of the islands. I understand that it is a whole different experience taking a cruise as opposed to staying at a hotel and Island hopping. Please help us to make some decisions based on your own experience.

Thanks,
R.L.

If you only have seven days, you may want to look at the Royal Caribbean Eastern Med cruises as I think many of their cruises are seven days. NCL may have some too. You should check out Member Reviews on Cruise Critic for the ships on those two lines that do 7-day Med cruises.

[cruisemom42]

It might be helpful if you could list the lines you are considering. Not all lines do 7-day itineraries in the Med, as many people feel when you travel that far, it's better to take a longer cruise and see more. Also, to be truthful, the ship is less important than the itinerary in the Med, so the itinerary should be your first priority.

I know Costa does 7-day cruises from Italy (some eastern Med, some western Med), but Costa wouldn't be my first choice of cruiseline...

NCL has some 7-day itineraries. Again, I wouldn't choose them but many people have been very happy with them in Europe.

When you are comparing itineraries, make sure you look at the amount of time spent in ports. Some of the 7-day cruises "cheat" you with short port days in order to make more ports. I'd say it's better to do one fewer port and spend longer days in the others.

[jocap]

We're on NCL's Gem next year, from Venice, touching Split, Corfu, Mykonos, Santorini and Crete. It's doing BtoB of 7 days. We've enjoyed our 2 previous NCL cruises enormously, and of our 2 cruise a year, testing other lines, one is always with them.- jocap.

[John Bull]

Cruise ship is the most convenient way to see the Greek islands, though the places you visit will be the bigger & busier islands - not the way to travel if you want to get away from it all.

Hotels & island-hopping by ferry just has to be a lot of grief for a first-timer.

Genuine get-away-from-it-all Greek island cruises would be by gulet - small shared chartered boats. Google the word.

Cruisemom doesnt put Costa at the top of her list. It goes bottom of mine, just below oil tanker

John Bull

[chipmaster]

Originally Posted by Robert Lee

My wife and I would like to take a cruise through Greece and we are thinking of going in Sept. or Oct. 2010. There are a lot of cruises availalbe and as a first-timers, we would like some "real' reviews and suggestions. We only have 7 days to spend in Greece, and from I have read, this is not enough time to see a lot of the islands. I understand that it is a whole different experience taking a cruise as opposed to staying at a hotel and Island hopping. Please help us to make some decisions based on your own experience.

Thanks,
R.L.

In my research last year I saw many cruise with a Greece focus, I think visiting 3 if not 4 ports plus a couple in Italy and/or Turkey. I on the other thand was looking for somethign that spanned all of the Med.

I would say its all about the ports. Find the cruise sailing that hits the ports you want. Sure there is a difference between Crystal and Carnival but I'd wager what will make your memories will be the port days. I'd skimp if I had to on cruise line, cabin so I could do what I wanted in every port.

This is one site I used to research the ports and attractions; http://www.europeportreviews.com/ Then I did use one of the heavily advertised sites here to find the sailings that hit the ports I wanted. Then it was the hard one. Do I want port x on cruise line 1 or port y on cruise line b.

Your planning should consider do I fly in a couple days early to enjoy the embarkation/dismebarkation port a little more as well.

In the end I think it would have mattered less if I was on Carnival, Princess or RCL, yes they are different but all our fondest memories and snapshots are of the ports



Happy planning.