First Mediterranean Cruise - any suggestions

[-Lew-]

 

The amazing thing about the Grand Med itinerary is that it also includes Istanbul and Kusadasi in addition to Athens, a Greek Island, and the whole other part of the cruise, the Western Med (Rome, Florence, Naples, Venice, Monaco, and Barcelona).

That's why it's such a wonderful itinerary for a first-time Med cruiser.

 

Lew

[livinforcruisin]

Grand Med on the Ruby. Incredible itinerary (best of both worlds) and great ship.

 

Absoloutely, it is FABULOUS

[livinforcruisin]

My advice:

 

1. Choose a cruise that either begins or ends in Venice.

2. Join the roll call for your cruise and plan private tours with others on your sailing.

3. Don't try to see everything and end up enjoying nothing. Quality wins over quantity every time.

 

we have sailed both out of and into Venice and it is simply the best cruising port to enter or leave from, simply breathtaking and one we plan to be doing again in summer 2010. Enjoy, Kusadasi and Ephysus are also not to be missed. Just so much on the med cruises to take in and re-visit time and time again.

[monakayk]

We went on the Crown for the 12 day "Mediterranean & Greek Isles" cruise in May of '09. We chose it because it began in Rome and ended in Venice. This was our first trip to Europe and those two cities were on our "must see" list. We spent two nights pre-cruise in Rome and one night post-cruise in Venice. We visited Monte Carlo, Florence, Naples, Athens, Santorini, Mykonos, Katakalon (for Olympia), Kusadasi (for Ephesus), and Corfu. The highlights for us were in Rome (would recommend 3 days there), Venice, Monte Carlo, Florence, and Santorini. We also saw wonderful things in the other ports. Two years later and we still talk about this trip almost daily!

 

My DH and I are also thinking of doing a Med cruise within the next year or so.

 

:confused: Madame B...your itinerary is just what we would want in ports of calls. We will take longer than 12 days when we do go over to Europe because we want to include our own land tour of France, Germany, Switzerland before heading down to Italy to catch our ship for the cruise. More like going over for a total of 3 weeks in all. Do you think we could see the high spots of Rome in 2 days before the cruise? 3 days would be a stretch since we want to go to other countries before getting to Rome. Did you tour the ports on your own or with tours? Have any suggestions of tours?:confused:

[monakayk]

We usede Italy car service dot com & they were wonderful. Much less expensive than the ships excursions. Just email them & they will set it all up for you & you can decide if this is what you want to do or not. Our trip was Barcelona to Venice.

 

Jan

 

Jan,

 

:confused: Can you elaborate more on the tours you did with car service dot com, please?

[Madame B]

My DH and I are also thinking of doing a Med cruise within the next year or so.

 

:confused: Madame B...your itinerary is just what we would want in ports of calls. We will take longer than 12 days when we do go over to Europe because we want to include our own land tour of France, Germany, Switzerland before heading down to Italy to catch our ship for the cruise. More like going over for a total of 3 weeks in all. Do you think we could see the high spots of Rome in 2 days before the cruise? 3 days would be a stretch since we want to go to other countries before getting to Rome. Did you tour the ports on your own or with tours? Have any suggestions of tours?:confused:

We had 48 hours in Rome. This was tough, especially with jet lag. This is how we broke it up: 1/2 day to see the Coliseum area (afternoon of arrival), 1/2 day (morning) to tour St. Peter's and the Vatican's museums (arrived when St. Peter's opened then had a 10:30 tour of the museums), 1/2 day to see Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Pantheon, then 1/2 day to see Santa Maria Maggiore church and a few other churches. Our regrets were that we did not have time to tour the inside of the Coliseum, Borghese Gallery and the catacombs. We did all of this easily on our own via the subway and bus system. We stayed at the Best Western Hotel Canada which was one subway stop from the main subway and bus terminal (Termini). This is a boutique hotel was a WONDERFUL breakfast at an economical price.

We toured all ports on our own except for Florence and Kusadasi (Ephesus). Florence is almost a 2 hour ride from the port and Ephesus is about a 30 minute ride from Kusadasi, so we took ship excursions at these ports.

If you want more detailed notes, email me directly at annsuire@bellsouth.net. Below are the highlights:

Monte Carlo - public bus to Eze (a highlight of the trip!), then walked around Monte Carlo

Florence - ship excursion for an on your own tour, missed seeing the Duomo here because of long lines

Naples - subway/train to Pompeii

Athens - subway/train to Acropolis

Corfu - walked to the town

Katakalon - train to Olympia

Kusadasi - ship excursion to Mary's final resting place and Ephesus

Santorini - public bus to Oia (another highlight of the trip!)

Mykonos - rented a moped and rode around the island

Venice - had 24 hours post cruise here, walked around, rode the public boat/bus to hotel, arrived at the church early, regret that we were too tired to go to Murano to see the glass, water taxi to the airport

Another highlight of this trip was eating local food along the water at the local restaurants.

We had two sea days for this trip. We walked so much that we didn't gain any weight!

Let me know if you need more details!

[chipmaster]

+1 this line of ports can't be beat. Any shorter cruise misses some and any longer would be nice but who has more than 2 weeks/17 days. The 12 days is perfect with an additional couple days added on in Venice and Barcelona.

 

The amazing thing about the Grand Med itinerary is that it also includes Istanbul and Kusadasi in addition to Athens, a Greek Island, and the whole other part of the cruise, the Western Med (Rome, Florence, Naples, Venice, Monaco, and Barcelona). This is a best of both worlds cruise itinerary on a truly great ship. I have seen other cruiselines refer to itineraries as "grand med". But nothing touches this one, especially for a first timer.

[sns1]

Check the Princess site...........2012 is now listed.

[Nymue]

Our plan is to spend 5 days in Rome prior to the cruise, one just to recover from the flight, and than 4 days in Venice after. The cruise we are looking at starts in Rome, ends in Venice.

 

Anne

 

IMHO if you really want to see and learn about a European city or culture it is better to tale a land trip. On a cruise you have just a day or if you are lucky an over night in a port city. Hardly enough time to really know a city. But on the other hand you want a vacation with a ship ride with lots of good food and entertainment and the like, with no unpacking everyday and not dealing with the hassles of finding good hotels and restaurants .. Then cruising is for you. I like them both.

 

I found we had the best time in places I never heard of. Example in Corisca we spent the afternoon eating pizza and drinking wine and listening to local musicians at a restaurant by the sea. Cobh and Cartagena other small ports that I really enjoyed. If you plan to go on your own in the bigger ports buy your tickets on line before you go. I saved a two hour line at the Vatican Museum that way

[canadiansnowbird]

Check the Princess site...........2012 is now listed.

 

We have been to the Med twice before and each time we go it's so port intensive we always say "We have to go back again to see what we missed".

So we have just booked the 31 day Barcelona to FLL for September 2012 on the Ruby!!!

It doesn't matter that we go to Barcelona, Florence, Naples, Rome & Venice twice on this cruise, love all these cities and now will get a chance to see them at a more leisurely pace on our own, no tours. Also will get a chance to see the turkish and greek areas as will.

 

This is a great cruise......

Snowbird

 

I knew there was a reason to save those Euros. :D

[monakayk]

We had 48 hours in Rome. This was tough, especially with jet lag. This is how we broke it up: 1/2 day to see the Coliseum area (afternoon of arrival), 1/2 day (morning) to tour St. Peter's and the Vatican's museums (arrived when St. Peter's opened then had a 10:30 tour of the museums), 1/2 day to see Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Pantheon, then 1/2 day to see Santa Maria Maggiore church and a few other churches. Our regrets were that we did not have time to tour the inside of the Coliseum, Borghese Gallery and the catacombs. We did all of this easily on our own via the subway and bus system. We stayed at the Best Western Hotel Canada which was one subway stop from the main subway and bus terminal (Termini). This is a boutique hotel was a WONDERFUL breakfast at an economical price.

We toured all ports on our own except for Florence and Kusadasi (Ephesus). Florence is almost a 2 hour ride from the port and Ephesus is about a 30 minute ride from Kusadasi, so we took ship excursions at these ports.

If you want more detailed notes, email me directly at annsuire@bellsouth.net. Below are the highlights:

Monte Carlo - public bus to Eze (a highlight of the trip!), then walked around Monte Carlo

Florence - ship excursion for an on your own tour, missed seeing the Duomo here because of long lines

Naples - subway/train to Pompeii

Athens - subway/train to Acropolis

Corfu - walked to the town

Katakalon - train to Olympia

Kusadasi - ship excursion to Mary's final resting place and Ephesus

Santorini - public bus to Oia (another highlight of the trip!)

Mykonos - rented a moped and rode around the island

Venice - had 24 hours post cruise here, walked around, rode the public boat/bus to hotel, arrived at the church early, regret that we were too tired to go to Murano to see the glass, water taxi to the airport

Another highlight of this trip was eating local food along the water at the local restaurants.

We had two sea days for this trip. We walked so much that we didn't gain any weight!

Let me know if you need more details!

 

Madame B,

THANKS sooooooooo much for this detail info about your Med. trip/cruise. I am going to send you an e-mail so you can send me more details. Sounds like you had a wonderful time!

[Crusin6]

IMHO..The Med is the only place to ever take a cruise!!:D I have done several going back as far as my college days in the 70's......but now as a parent cruising with my DH and our kids......all I can advise is to definitely take this cruise...(we are doing the Ruby in 2012)...definitely plan your days well....do lots of research...do pre and post stays...and....expect to spend much more money than you expect to......airfare is ridiculous and port excursions wether thru the ship or on your own are very expensive....

[Crusin6]

For some people that might be true. For us, it most emphatically is not. I was simply stating my own opinion.

 

We don't cruise much - I really prefer land vacations at this point in my life. However- we find cruises a nice way to get an overview of an area to decide where we might want to spend more time on a land vacation in the future. That's why we're so excited about our upcoming Black Sea cruise with its interesting and different itinerary....

I have been comparing the NCL Spirit and the Ruby as they have the same itin for 2012 and there is a price differential of about $3000 for our family...but the Spirt is like 13 years old and has many fewer bells and whistles than the Ruby.....even DH noticed it and isn't sure the 2 to 3 thousand dollar differential is worth it...neither do I...and I always look for a great deal...and usually get one...but I don't know here. What I do know is that regardless of the cruise price...once you add everything else in..it costs $5000 per person even in a lesser type cabin. Not complaining about the price...just want to make the right decision.

 

 

Leaning toward the Ruby

[Brett in MN]

Hi all. My wife and I are not cruising this year, but just returned from a land trip to Italy. We found a great private tour company, A&R Tours at www.tourroma.com. We found them on Tripadvisor and used them in Rome, Naples and Pompeii. We are in our late 50's and had a great time with Adrienne and Renato. They tailored the tours to what we wanted to see, took us to great and reasonably priced restaurants and were fun to be with. We would have used them on our Med cruise last year if we had known. They also do Tuscany, Amalfi Coast and other tours. Check them out and have a great cruise!

[hubofhockey]

I have been comparing the NCL Spirit and the Ruby as they have the same itin for 2012 and there is a price differential of about $3000 for our family...but the Spirt is like 13 years old and has many fewer bells and whistles than the Ruby.....even DH noticed it and isn't sure the 2 to 3 thousand dollar differential is worth it...neither do I...and I always look for a great deal...and usually get one...but I don't know here. What I do know is that regardless of the cruise price...once you add everything else in..it costs $5000 per person even in a lesser type cabin. Not complaining about the price...just want to make the right decision.

 

 

Leaning toward the Ruby

 

$3K is a lot of money. It's a great itinerary. For my wife and I, the Ruby was $6K for cruise only in a BD balcony. I looked at the NCL Spirit pricing for a similar lower priced balcony cabin and it was $5.8K. So, pricing seems similar. Wouldn't make a difference for me. But Princess doesn't discount for 3rd and 4th passengers as much as other lines do. It's one reason that we're doing a family cruise in Western Med on the Carnival Magic. The other reason is that my kids love Carnival and all of the waterslides, kids clubs, etc.

[Crusin6]

[quote name='Ljberkow']$3K is a lot of money. It's a great itinerary. For my wife and I, the Ruby was $6K for cruise only in a BD balcony. I looked at the NCL Spirit pricing for a similar lower priced balcony cabin and it was $5.8K. So, pricing seems similar. Wouldn't make a difference for me. But Princess doesn't discount for 3rd and 4th passengers as much as other lines do. It's one reason that we're doing a family cruise in Western Med on the Carnival Magic. The other reason is that my kids love Carnival and all of the waterslides, kids clubs, etc.[/quote]
we did the CCL Freedom in the Med in 2008 and since it is such a beautiful ship that is what is making me lean toward another new beautiful ship...the Ruby. I too looked at the Magic itins and dates and they don't work for us...the itins especially as we don't want to spend this kind of money and miss out on Greece and Turkey...I have been there so I know I don't want the kids to miss out.

The 3m isn't the real issue anyway as DH wants the nicer ship and so do I and we unfortunately are all too aware of what this trip will eventually cost in total including airfares, pre and post stays etc.......and just because we are painfully aware it doesn't mean that we won't do it or regret spending it....as we know the benefits are massive....it is just that we are mulling it over right now because one thing for certain is that a Med cruise takes a heck of a lot for thought and planning than a carib one does....and IMHO...1000 times more interesting!!!

[northcreek]

Thanks! I think we will try for the 12 night grand med, we always book a balcony but if you spend so much time in the ports is it worth it?

[rdsqrl]

[quote name='northcreek']Thanks! I think we will try for the 12 night grand med, we always book a balcony but if you spend so much time in the ports is it worth it?[/quote]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][COLOR=indigo]Well, I don't always book a balcony, although I've had them, but to me, no, definitely not worth it. I'm quite happy with an oceanview cabin. Since the ports are the star of the show in the Med, I think the money is better spent on land -- I'd treasure the memories of X dollars [whatever the price difference is] worth of experiences ashore in Italy and Greece and Istanbul far more than I would X dollars worth of balcony memories. [/COLOR][/FONT]

[Morgsmom]

On whether a balcony is worth it, you'll get a million different responses. When we went to the Med it was Thanksgiving week so the days were already shorter. We were in ports from 7 or 8am to 5pm each day and by the time we returned to shower, eat, etc it was dark. (Plus it was chilly!) No need for a balcony.

If you are traveling in the summer when the days are so long and lovely and you have 2 sea days it might be worth it, but the differential between a balcony and an oceanview can be quite a lot. If money is an issue that difference can buy a lot of wonderful shore excursions so that's where I would lean.

[mrspaper]

We did the Med twice. I loved the Grand Med -Barcelona to Venice. Those are two of my favorite cities. This itinerary also includes Istanbul, which i loved.

Make sure you pick a cruise that goes in or out of Venice in the daytime. Seeing the skyline by day makea a differenc.

Our second Med cruise was Rome to Venice. We arrived in Venice at night.
This cruise includes Santorini, which is another great one. Getting to the ship from Rome, we rented a bus for about 38 people. It worked out fine.

[pris993]

We did our first Mediterranean cruise way back in l989 or so, we enjoyed it so much we have a 1/2 dozen over the years on Princess, HAL, Celebrity and Crystal cruiselines.

My best advise is to pace your self. Going to Europe, the Mediterranean or the MIddle East can be overwhelming. On our first couple of cruises we got off the ship exhausted between the time change and being on the go so much. We have learned to not try to do it all, to spend about 1/2 day in port and then come back to the ship and relax.

The ports that are easiest to get on and off the ship at are Barcelona and Athens. We refer these ports to begin and ends cruises less costly to get to and from the port to the airport and easier for us to get direct flights. So recommend you consider what you air options are before booking a cruise. We always check out air options before booking and we book our own air.

Read the boards on the ports of call for information. This will give you a lot of information on what you can do on your own. We usually do our own port tours.

[financialgrl]

Another that did the Grand Med on the Ruby. We sailed the very end of May 2010 and did the Barcelona to Venice leg. Here's my two cents FWIW:

1) once in a lifetime, fantastic cruise without a doubt.

2) in addition to doing your homework on ports, whatever you do, get in shape beforehand. Begin walking well ahead of time to condition yourself. I'm mid 50s, out of shape and was able to do it but on 3 of our tours we had older folks who just could not continue on with a tour due to the stamina required. I had my 19 y/o niece with me who is in great shape (is a runner) who was just home from college where she walked all over campus and this trip exhausted her too.

3) our trip was the end of May and the weather was absolutely perfect most of the time. Greece and Turkey stops were in early June and a few of those were hot but otherwise it was great.

4) as for balcony - two ways to look at it - a) your gone most days all day so not a lot of time to use it, b) as exhausting as the cruise was, maybe you want to come back from dinner and relax on it because we were so exhausted we never took much time to check out the ship. We'd come back from dinner and read or watch TV because the next day was another full day. We had an oceanview which suited us fine.

5) find and wear the most comfortable shoes you can. You will be walking on many different types of terrain. Some cobblestone areas and the ruins have a lot of uneven areas sometimes rubbed smooth from all the traffic and broken marble in many areas.

Lastly, go and have a great time!

[Bob++]

Just some thoughts on shore excursions:

I have spent a great deal of time researching for our forthcoming cruise to the Eastern Med. Most of the ports are connected to an area of archaeological, historical or biblical (or all 3) site. Some will be easy to access and explore on our own (Santorini and Sorrento) and some more complicated or distant (Ashdod and Haifa).

In the past I have tried guide books, earphones and personal guides, and I find that a the personal touch is unbeatable for enhancing the enjoyment and information one can get from a place, and this option often seems to be cheaper than the Cruise line's offering, especially if there is a small group.

Research on this site and others has proved enjoyable and invaluable and I would strongly suggest that anyone intending to visit the Med should learn as much as they can in advance - if only to decide what's a 'must see' and what can be left for a future visit. It is impossible to see everything and each individual will have their own priorities.

Bon Voyage.