Calling all European Cruisers...

[Appgrad]

I am looking for anyone who has done a Mediterranean cruise. I want to go in June-July of 2004. I have several questions:

1. Which cities were your favorites? What tours/attractions/historical places are must sees in that city?

2. Which cruise line were you on? How did you like the cruise?

 

I am going to post this on a couple of different boards to maximize my responses! Any feedback is appreciated!!

[Brandis]

We did a Med cruise on RCLs Brilliance of the Seas 2 years ago. We embarked in Barcelona and the ports of call were Villefranche (Monte Carlo), (Florence/Pisa), Civitavecchia (Rome), Mykonos, Piraeus (Athens), Santorini, Malta (replacing Kusadasi) and Naples.

 

I liked it very much and enjoyed most ports. I didn't care for Malta. In most places it was very easy to do tours on our own. Villefranche was a quaint little town I liked. Florence and Rome were interesting for the cultural stuff and in Naples we visited Vesuvius and Pompeij. Mykonos was also very charming.

 

The cruise was very port intensive and we would get up quite early every morning to make the most of the time in port. In the evening, we went usually right to bed after the show (it seemed most passengers did, the ship was usually very quiet in the evening...)

 

If you like, have a look at the pictures I took on that cruise. They are on my website http://www.brandis.org. (Click on "Vacation Photos", the gallery for Brilliance of the Seas is on page 2 of the album)

 

When we disembarked in Barcelona again, we had some time before our flight, so we went to see the Sagrada Familia church and the Ramblas pedestrian area.

 

Marc

[TedC]

The Med is one of our favorite cruising grounds and also a favorite land destination.

 

You can't see all the wonderful places in just one cruise, so plan on returning and returning!

 

Trying to pick favorites is like trying to pick your favorite child.

 

 

But if we were forced to choose we might be able to narrow it down to Venice, Provence, Greek Isles, Barcelona, Croatia, Tunisia ... and the list goes on and on.

 

If possible, go in May-June or Sept.-Oct., when it's somewhat less crowded and the weather usually is pleasant without being oppressively hot.

 

(I'm afraid you're too late for the 2004 season, however.)

[Appgrad]

Thanks for the responses and the link! I'm printing everything I get and trying to compile the answers and make a decision.

[dakrewser]

Our favorite ports are Barcelona, Mahon, Gibraltar, Taormina (via Messina) and Rhodes (also here and here). Click the city name for pics. Not that there was anything wrong with the other ports, just that these were our 5 faves!

[jhannah]

We sailed the Prinsendam for 13 days last fall out of Lisbon. Enjoyed every port. Of course, Rome and Athens (where we ended the cruise) were spectacular. But Gibraltar, Mahon, Santorini, Rhodes, Kusadasi, and the others were full of history and beauty. It's hard to go wrong in the Med.

[Tatka]

Barcelona - Marseilles - VilleFranche (Cannes/Monaco/Nice) - Livorno(Florence) - Civitavecchia(Rome) - Naples(Naples/Capri/Sorrento/Pompeii)

 

Most interesting from historical point of view probably Florence and Rome..and to some extent Naples(Pompeii).

 

However I loved French Rivere (Marseilles and VilleFranche area) more than Italian. I am even thinking about this cruise http://www.easycruise.com/. While it's not traditional cruise it will give me whole week in that beautiful area for reasonable money.;)

 

Naples area is very pretty... Capri, Amalfi drive and Naples itself.

 

Loved Barcelona too(all Gaudi's magical buildings!!!).

[cactuslady]

We were on the same Prinsendam cruise as 'Vegas Jim last fall. The itinerary stretched from Lisbon to Kusadasi, Turkey, and back to Athens. My favorite ports for sightseeing were Rome, Rhodes and Gibraltar, although there was amazing history everywhere.

 

Rome has been the center of the world for millenia, and it isn't possible to list all the "must-sees." It would take years to see it all. Get a good guide book -- I like the Eyewitness travel series.

 

Rhodes not only had the Colossus (gone now), but was the home of the Knights of Malta in the time of the crusades and the scene of some spectacular battles. The old medieval town and castle--with huge moat you can stroll in--still exist. Walking through the town felt like going to Disneyland, only better. It's clean and beautiful and the shopping is upscale.

 

Gibraltar has "The Rock," which is larger than I ever imagined and provides an aerial tramway, Barbary apes, and tours of a fabulous cave and impressive hand-carved tunnels (take the ship's tour or you will be stuck in traffic on The Rock). Fascinating history, as this isolated little chunk of Britain has played heroic roles in several wars. Plus, you can gaze across at Africa from the top.

 

The ship also spent some spectacular time "scenic cruising" Stromboli volcano, which rises straight out of the sea.

 

Unfortunately, I haven't seen anything close to this itinerary in the HAL brochures we have received lately. One of the best parts for me was that it stretched from one end of the Mediterranean to the other.

 

The Prinsendam provided a very fine cruise experience. I enjoyed the food and activities. They included a lecturer on board who narrated during several stretches of scenic cruising and provided much historical information. We liked the smaller size of the ship (800 passengers), and I suspect the smaller size allowed us to get into several ports that larger ships would have to pass by.

[ekerr19]

One of our favorite cruises! Favorite cities Rome, Barcelona, Monaco - but I don't think you can go wrong with any of them. We'd like to try an itinerary that includes Dubrovnik next time.

 

Since we've only been there once, we can't wait to return and expand a bit - next time we plan to spend more time in Rome, I loved the time we were there and it simply wasn't enough. DH felt the same way about Barcelona.

[Appgrad]

WOW! This is great!! I appreciate all the responses.

 

I am really looking forward to this trip!

[ger_77]

We were on the Prinsendam at the beginning of June last year for a two week Mediterranean cruise and it was wonderful! We particularly enjoyed Istanbul and Kusadasi, Turkey, and were pleasantly surprised with Bulgaria. My husband is a history major, so a trip to see the fabulous Greek ruins, as well as being able to sit at the table where the Yalta Conference was held was a dream come true for him.

 

We were blessed with beautiful weather, met some amazing people, and enjoyed it so much that we've booked another Mediterranean cruise for October/06, this time on the Rotterdam.

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

[Suite 16]

We agree with what others have said about the Med ports - mostly fabulous. One exception - our group of ten friends loved Malta, which happened to be a new port for all of us. However, that might be because we were very fortunate to connect with Joan Sheridan, the best guide any of us ever had anywhere - a lovely young Maltese woman, with an amazing knowledge of the history, architecture and customs of Malta. The highlight of our day with Joan was seeing the Coravaggio painting of the Beheading of John the Baptist - she called it the Pearl of Malta, and she was right. She and her husband have their own business, and she can be reached at csheridan@onvol.net. Because of Joan, we saw much more of Malta than our fellow passengers.

[TedC]

We've been to Malta twice and think it's a beautiful and interesting port that shouldn't be missed. Among the many interesting attractions are ruins that are older than the Pyramids.

[Travelbug 2]

We did a Med' cruise with Holland America in Oct' last year.

Loved all the ports except Malta, we got off to a very bad start with an extreemly rude and pushy cab driver!!

Weather was perfect, crowds minimal, seas calm. We would definately go again in early Oct.

 

Have a great cruise.

[Brandis]

We found Malta to be much more dirty (and smelly) than all the other ports we visited on that Med cruise. However, we also had only about 5 hours in that port, probably because it was a last minute replacement for Kusadasi. So we only walked up to the top of the city wall and visited a market and then went back to the ship were we enjoyed calmness while most passengers were still ashore.

 

Marc

[Travelbug 2]

Barcelona - Marseilles - VilleFranche (Cannes/Monaco/Nice) - Livorno(Florence) - Civitavecchia(Rome) - Naples(Naples/Capri/Sorrento/Pompeii)

 

Most interesting from historical point of view probably Florence and Rome..and to some extent Naples(Pompeii).

 

However I loved French Rivere (Marseilles and VilleFranche area) more than Italian. I am even thinking about this cruise http://www.easycruise.com/. While it's not traditional cruise it will give me whole week in that beautiful area for reasonable money.;)

 

Naples area is very pretty... Capri, Amalfi drive and Naples itself.

 

Loved Barcelona too(all Gaudi's magical buildings!!!).

 

 

I checked the link out of curiosity----wow, what an eye opener, I could not imagine sailing on a ship like this. I will stick with Holland America and traditional cruising.

Must admit the ports are interesting though.

[C 2 C]

We cruised in November 97? on the Norwegian Dream.... loved everything... Naples/Vesuvius, Crete, Cyprus, Israel, Rhodes, Kusadasi... would do the ports again in an instant.... We went last May on the Galaxy... loved Malta, Naples, Santorini.... would love to go again and again...