TravelinGert

Thank you will do! 🙂

That does sound great right about now. So difficult to compare.

I was trying to be polite about his spare tire, essentially. Like a lot of us he's put on a few pounds over the years. Mostly because I'm not exactly as trim as I once was, either. 😉

Oh my stars and little fishes this did give me a chuckle! Husband was not as amused. Some people just don't have a sense of humor. 😁

Hopefully CoolBlueGreenSeas won't mind me tagging onto their post here. Please elaborate on size a bit. My husband is six foot six and dad-bod, so he takes up a certain amount of space just by necessity. I found videos of a six foot six fellow not quite so dad-bod who demonstrated he fits in the showers even in the Ocean View cabins on several different Oceania ships. This is going to be a big anniversary cruise for us so I really think at least a concierge veranda room, but that nice space in the bathroom in the PH cabins really looks nice.

I haven't even peeked at what Viking is offering yet. I'll take a look. Do you have a favorite Viking ship, Don?

I did see the cabins aren't as large on Windstar, but I love some of their cruise options. If it were just myself size would not matter. My husband is a 6'6" dad-bod sort, so he at least needs a bit of extra space in the shower and bathroom areas. As much as I love those Windstar options, I may have to opt for something with at least better bathroom options for my husband's sake. I've been looking at some of the 20-26 day cruises on Oceania and I really think we'd love the 22 day Istanbul to Barcelona on Marina although there is a 20 day on Sirena which also looks really nice over the period of our actual anniversary. They are a bit more than we had thought we would like to spend, but I think we could swing a concierge veranda on either cruise. I want to love Azamara but the bathrooms are a concern. We could step up to the suites with larger bathrooms, but if we instead pick Oceania I found a video of a fellow my husband's size demonstrating he fits in even the Ocean View showers. My mother-in-law has now suggested we look at Regents Seven Seas. They do look very nice, but the pricing is a bit higher.

Thank you for the reply. I have not yet looked at Silversea. I do have a TA I can talk to, but I don't really have good talking points yet regarding what I'm looking for. Hard to express looking for that certain je ne sais quoi and expect someone to just magically discern what is meant I think. I look forward to hearing how you like your Silversea cruise. Friends just did a Celebrity cruise they really enjoyed and felt was a step up from their previous Royal cruises, so I had been looking at them. We did some river cruises in the US recently and I really loved the smaller boat experience. Then I saw a video on a Windstar Med cruise where the Tips for Travelers fellow talked about how the focus for people on those cruises definitely seemed toward time on shore with the ship being completely emptied early and everyone out all day doing. Having more and longer port days was something we both loved about our smaller river boat experiences. However, I have concerns about the size of the ship at that time of year in the Med, though I am in the process of researching how justified that is. Tips for Travelers mentioned experiencing the rolling of the ocean more on that ship verse recent Azamara or Oceania cruises which are slightly larger ships. I've been looking at those two as well, and they do seem to have some interesting itineraries offered in that time frame.

We are celebrating a very special anniversary in October of 2025. I'm hopeful someone can help with recommendations. My parameters: Mediterranean Cruise - Ports in Greece, Turkey, Croatia, Montenegro, Sicily, France, and Spain of especial interest Cruise Start Date between September and November 2025 Room must be reasonably large with decent bathroom size, prefer at least 250 square feet, can be smaller if bathroom is generous Ideally include at least some drinks, wifi, thermal spa, and special restaurant if on a larger ship At least 8 day cruise, prefer 10 or more Prefer a cruise heavy with port days Would like to keep the price around $14,000-$17,000 just for the cruise specifically I've been looking at a Magic Carpet Sky Suite on Celebrity Ascent, a Concierge Level Veranda on Oceania Marina, a Club Spa Suite on Azamara Onward, and several options on Windstar ships. I haven't been on any of these before so I'm uncertain how to choose. Hopeful some of you will weigh in with suggestions and helpful comparisons.