Cruises to Italy/Mediterranean

Hi, I, as a teen busy with school and stuff, my family and I haven't been able to cruise in over 2 years, so I am not all caught up to date with all the updates/new features ect. for Carnival and this board in general.

So, my grandparents, my cousin and I are planning on doing a joint graduation trip for either Summer 2015 or Summer 2016. We are defiantly sure we want to go to Italy/The surrounding Mediterranean areas, since my grandparents/ancestors are from there and we would love to explore their old heritage.

Problem is, we are not sure whether to do a inland trip of Italy, or do a cruise to Italy.

But like I mentioned before, I have not been that big of a "cruise junkie" these past couple of years, so I do not know how well a Carnival Cruise (or any other cruise line) would allow us to explore the "real" part of Italy. For example, I am not totally sure on how long the ship stays in port, what ports it visits ect.

Someone also even mentioned doing a inland trip + a cruise. However, length and money could possibly be a factor here.

That being said, I know other cruise lines may be better for cruising to Italy. I know this is a CCL forum and NOT a vacation forum, so I apologize if this post is not aloud. If it is, please have one the moderators remove this for me.

But anyways, I would appreciate any input from yall. Thanks.

Hi, I, as a teen busy with school and stuff, my family and I haven't been able to cruise in over 2 years, so I am not all caught up to date with all the updates/new features ect. for Carnival and this board in general.

 

So, my grandparents, my cousin and I are planning on doing a joint graduation trip for either Summer 2015 or Summer 2016. We are defiantly sure we want to go to Italy/The surrounding Mediterranean areas, since my grandparents/ancestors are from there and we would love to explore their old heritage.

 

Problem is, we are not sure whether to do a inland trip of Italy, or do a cruise to Italy.

 

But like I mentioned before, I have not been that big of a "cruise junkie" these past couple of years, so I do not know how well a Carnival Cruise (or any other cruise line) would allow us to explore the "real" part of Italy. For example, I am not totally sure on how long the ship stays in port, what ports it visits ect.

 

Someone also even mentioned doing a inland trip + a cruise. However, length and money could possibly be a factor here.

 

That being said, I know other cruise lines may be better for cruising to Italy. I know this is a CCL forum and NOT a vacation forum, so I apologize if this post is not aloud. If it is, please have one the moderators remove this for me.

 

But anyways, I would appreciate any input from yall. Thanks.

My suggestion would be to look up the Med Cruises on other lines and check out the Itineraries and the Port times and weigh it out against a land based trip.

We did the Med on the Breeze and went to Rome, Florence, Naples, Sicily, Venice. Majority of the Cruise Lines have similar Itineraries. We loved Italy and saw the major sights in each Port.

The nice thing with the cruise it does gives you an opportunity to see all the different areas of Italy. Then when you return again (and you will want to as it is such a beautiful Country) you can focus on new things to see. When we were in Rome we saw the Vatican, Coliseum, ect. and it was a long day of sightseeing. If you cruise, look into private tours as you will get to see so much more than the Ship excursions. You can look in the Ports of Call section here on CC and also Trip Advisor for recommended tour companies.

We are going back to Rome in November to spend a few days before doing a Transatlantic to FLL. Since we saw all the major highlights while there on the Breeze this trip will give us an opportunity to see other areas surrounding Rome.

No matter what you choose...land or sea or what cruise line you choose you can't go wrong and will love Italy! :)

My suggestion would be to look up the Med Cruises on other lines and check out the Itineraries and the Port times and weigh it out against a land based trip.

 

We did the Med on the Breeze and went to Rome, Florence, Naples, Sicily, Venice. Majority of the Cruise Lines have similar Itineraries. We loved Italy and saw the major sights in each Port.

 

The nice thing with the cruise it does gives you an opportunity to see all the different areas of Italy. Then when you return again (and you will want to as it is such a beautiful Country) you can focus on new things to see. When we were in Rome we saw the Vatican, Coliseum, ect. and it was a long day of sightseeing. If you cruise, look into private tours as you will get to see so much more than the Ship excursions. You can look in the Ports of Call section here on CC and also Trip Advisor for recommended tour companies.

 

We are going back to Rome in November to spend a few days before doing a Transatlantic to FLL. Since we saw all the major highlights while there on the Breeze this trip will give us an opportunity to see other areas surrounding Rome.

 

No matter what you choose...land or sea or what cruise line you choose you can't go wrong and will love Italy! :)

Hi Eileen, I never know where you are going to pop up. That Breeze itinerary sounds perfect and I wish Carnival would do something like that again. I read a new ship will come out in 2016 so maybe they will do another Med. cruise. The people we travel with would like to do a land tour to Italy and we would prefer a cruise. I see that you were able to see all the major sights in each port. I agree with your point about the cruise giving an opportunity to see many different areas. So would you agree that a cruise is the way to go for a first time visit to Italy?

Well the Legend trip is right around the corner and I'll be seeing you then.:)

Barbara

Hi Eileen, I never know where you are going to pop up. That Breeze itinerary sounds perfect and I wish Carnival would do something like that again. I read a new ship will come out in 2016 so maybe they will do another Med. cruise. The people we travel with would like to do a land tour to Italy and we would prefer a cruise. I see that you were able to see all the major sights in each port. I agree with your point about the cruise giving an opportunity to see many different areas. So would you agree that a cruise is the way to go for a first time visit to Italy?

Well the Legend trip is right around the corner and I'll be seeing you then.:)

Barbara

Hi Barbara, Yeah, I'm all over the place...lol! The Vista will probably do the Med! Looking forward to the Itineraries they come out with!

I guess it depends on how much time you can spend over there doing a land-based. We saw a lot with the 12 Nite Itinerary and we didn't have many Sea Days. We also saw Dubrovnik, Croatia which was one of my favorite Ports (missed Monaco due to winds).

If you decide on a cruise, you can pick an Itinerary based, too, on where it originates and do a pre-cruise stay there, etc. Some originate in Venice or end in Venice which would be nice for a few day pre or post cruise! We originated in Barcelona which was also great to see!

Look forward to seeing you at the M&G in a couple of weeks! :)

Eileen

I have been to Italy/Med twice. Once was by land. The other was on the NCL Jewel. I much preferred the one by ship. They stop at all the good places and was much more restful.

It depends on what kind of trip you want to do.

A cruise gives you a taste of a place. On a land tour you can really get to know a place, especially if you stay several days in the same place.

Does Carnival offer cruises for the Med/Europe area? I don't see anything listed on their website.

We did a Mediterranean cruise last May (see review below) and had an INCREDIBLE TIME and shall be repeating another one when Vista launches. Having said that, I would also have liked to have spent 2-3 days in most of the Italian ports and may in fact do a land-based visit (someday).

We did a Mediterranean cruise last May (see review below) and had an INCREDIBLE TIME and shall be repeating another one when Vista launches. Having said that, I would also have liked to have spent 2-3 days in most of the Italian ports and may in fact do a land-based visit (someday).

Thank you, I just skimmed through the first page of the review and it looks good. When I get a chance, I will read yours and other reviews of the Mediterranean Cruises here on CC :)

we are not sure whether to do a inland trip of Italy, or do a cruise to Italy.

We did a cruise of Italy last year of the Carnival Sunshine and enjoyed it immensely. It was 12 days long with two sea days, which were appreciated. We visited Venice, Dubrovnik, Messina Sicily, Naples, Rome, Monaco,

You bet, we just booked another cruise this time including the Greek Islands and Turkey. This time we plan to spend a couple of days extra in Venice, traveling to Florence and back to Rome for the trip home. Don't be afraid to go for it and make sure you have a year in which to get all of your plans together. We made great use of the Roll Call on CC, met some wonderful people and had great excursions. The most fun is planning everything and seeing it come to fruition. :D

We had more than enough time in each port to get a flavor for each area visited. With advance planning of shore excursions you will see an awful lot of sites.

Thank you. Do you remember how much time you were in port? On our last cruises to the Bahamas we only spent under 8 hours in port.

At least ten hours and in Venice overnight. Venice is a wonderful city this we need to explore more. An example of sites visited while in Rome were the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Roman Forum, Trevi Fountain, a wonderful lunch and the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica. It was a full day with guides for the Vatican which saved so much time. On our next cruise most ports will be eleven hours and another overnight in Venice. Hope you find a great cruise and you will enjoy yourselves

We have been to Italy twice by land travel and once on a cruise. Which way to go really depends on what you want to do. If you really want to get to know a certain area you really need to spend a few days there which necessitates land travel. Do you want to go to specific areas to reconnect with family history? You would want to land travel

If you want to see lots of the best things quickly then a cruise works. Also,if you are uncomfortable traveling on your own, you should select a cruise It really depends on what you want out of the experience.

Whatever way you decide, it will be wonderful. Italy is a magical country.

if you speak Italian choose a land based adventure, if not its the ship.

Thank you, I just skimmed through the first page of the review and it looks good. When I get a chance, I will read yours and other reviews of the Mediterranean Cruises here on CC :)

Thanks! Not only is it a kind of virtual cruise for anyone to experience I also included quite a number of touring suggestions and a countless number of photos too.

We did a Med cruise last summer on a different line. Started in Barcelona where we spent 3 days. At the end of the cruise each and every one of us said we would go back to Barcelona in a heartbeat. It is an AMAZING city with something for everyone.

We sailed to Naples (went to Pompeii, Positano and Sorrento), missed Florence due to high winds, on to Rome, Marseille and finally Palma de Mallorca. Post cruise we spent 1 day in Lisbon.

I look at cruising like a sampler platter - you get a chance to try all different places and a sense of where you would like to spend more time. For my family it was definitely Barcelona, we want to go back to Italy and spend more time there, and possible Portugal.

We've been to Europe on several land trips but my favorite was 3 years ago when we did a 7 nt RCCL Med cruise out of Civvitavecchia (port for Rome) and combined it with 6 additional days in Rome at the start. The cruise was wonderful to Athens, Sicily, Kusadasi and Crete.

We want to do another one in a couple of years out of Venice that goes to Istanbul. Likely it will be either RCCL or maybe MSC.

We especially loved the cruise since it gave us a short stay at places and you didn't have to pack and unpack.