European Cruise....

ndHubby and I starting to plan a cruise for our 30th anniversary and we're thinking of a cruise to Italy/Greece. Just beginning planning and wanted opinions on which cruise lines were favorites as well as ports of call. Looking at August 2013 and probably 7 day so we can have some time before to explore a little. Thanks in advance for your help! Planning process seems enourmous! :)

You have sailed on RCI and Carnival, I would start with them, although Carnival has a small presence in Europe. RCI has a good sized presence.

Only a few - but there are some- cruise lines do 7 day routes, 10-12 days is much more common. If you can do 10 or 12 days, the selection grows considerably.

As to favorites, ask 50 people, and you will get 50 answers for 50 diffferent reasons. We loved our Eastern Med 10 day on Holland America's Noordam.

CruiserBruce has given you good advice.

If you can, take a 12 day cruise because you will really appreciate more time to see a greater number of ports. And try to arrive two to three days before your cruise. That way you get over the jet lag, are rested when you board, have time to tour the city that you are staying for your pre cruise and if the flight is delayed or cancelled you won't miss the ship and if your luggage is lost there is more time to find it.

Also, look closely where the cruise begins and ends and look at flights to get a feel as to how easy or difficult it is to get between the pre and post cruise airports and your home city.

There are many cruise lines to choose from. I would first let the itinerary be your guide. For some nice itineraries I would take a look at not only RCI but also Princess for starters.

Keith

Some tips (we did a 12 day out of Barcelona in June):

Many itineraries are not round trip. Some leave from one port and end in another. FYI- Airfare can cost alot more this way.

As others said, plan on arriving a few days before you sail. We spent two full days in Barcelona and were rested and relaxed by the time we boarded.

We loved our itinerary and that's why we picked that cruise (Barcelona, Cannes, Florence, Rome, Athens, Ephesus/Kusadasi, Santorini, Naples). It combined wanting to see more of Italy with our desire to see Santorini and Athens.

We absolutely loved Greece. It was the biggest surprise of the trip (we had heard some negative things about it, here on CC). Florence, Naples, and Barcelona were also breathtaking. It was our 2nd trip to Rome (and where we got engaged, Trevi Fountain) so it will always be a special city for us.

Figure out what you want to see and what's important to you.

You cannot over-plan for this trip. Once you decide where to go thoroughly research each port and figure out what you want to do. Part of our fun was planning it for almost a year!

In general, it was a whirlwind trip with so much to see. We were exhausted even with 4 sea days! Have fun!

If you want more info/help planning, one of our friends that we met is currently doing a review of her cruise. It's on the RCI boards- title is " Middle Aged Drama Queen etc." Her review is excellent and jam packed with info. It may give you some ideas.

Europe is all about the ports. The ship is secondary, unless it is dictated by price. Europe, particularly the Med., is so port intensive that you won't spend much time enjoying fancy amenities/features. Choose ports that you want to visit, then find a ship going there at the time you want to go. Visit http://www.cruisetimetables.com, choose ports to visit from the second list, choose your month, then see what is available. EM

Hey, we also celebrate our 30th in August 2013. We are cruising to Europe as well, Russia this time.

We loved our Med cruise last year with RCI. Amazing ports, wonderful weather, memories for a lifetime. I would also go for the longest itinerary possible/affordable, and try to spend a few days pre-or post-cruise in your (dis)embarkation city. We did Barcelona 4 days post-cruise last year and it was phenomenal!

Have fun planning. :)

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We LOVED Azamara for our Med. cruise. It depends what kind of experience you want. We like port intensive cruises, no kids, upscale and some pampering, and a smaller ship.Thus ...Azamara! Carnival and the like would be out for me. Azamara might be a bit more than Carnival...but you get what you pay for.

Since you say that you want to see Italy and Greece I would recomend the Princess cruise that goes from Venice to Rome. We have done it twice although I belive they no longer stop at Rhodes. You can spend a few extra days in both Venice and Rome. You can read my trip reports in my signiture. It would be the Grand Princess 05/08 and the Star Princess 10/11.

I can't stress this enough--there is no way I'd cruise Europe in a large ship. I remember watching a large ship trying to tender passengers into Fira as we were leaving Santorini, the lines to use the gondola must have been over an hour long and the tenders were still coming in full of people.

We sailed on a small ship that went to less traveled ports and our itinerary was planned so we were never in port with larger ships, we were usually with the L'Austral and the Silver Spirit--between us we didn't hold as many as a medium sized cruise ship in the Med.

Favorite ports were Dubrovnik, Kotor, Hvar, and Split.