Canceling Caribbean cruise for Mediterranean cruise?

[luisc25]

On 1/5/2020 at 12:20 PM, Thisguylikestocruise said:

It’s $2,700  vs.  $5,000 for the cruise.  $200 to drive to FL vs. $2,000 to fly to Europe.

I said you book it, the Cruise to the Mediterranean will likely go down.

 

Also you flight from Miami sound like you are close you can find deals on flights. 
specially if you wait until the 14 months mark. 

 

[papaflamingo]

I agree with most comments, the Med or Greek Isles, actually both, should be on everyone's bucket list.  We did both.  But my advice is to look for a smaller ship.  As one poster stated, the smaller ships can get into smaller ports.  But some of the ports are tender ports.  Odyssey will have 4500 passengers trying to tender to Santorini (I assume it goes there as it was mentioned).  PLUS to get to the town you need to take the Funicular up the hill or ride a donkey.  So the wait will be enormous.  

Since Med and Greek Isle cruises are all about the ports, there is no need for a "bells and whistles" ship.  If you're like us, you'll be exhausted and simply want to relax each night.  So I would most highly recommend the cruise, but would suggest you look at alternatives for a smaller ship.  If none present themselves, then by all means, Odyssey will be beautiful. 

[Tapi]

1 hour ago, papaflamingo said:

  But my advice is to look for a smaller ship.  As one poster stated, the smaller ships can get into smaller ports.  But some of the ports are tender ports.  

I 100% agree that going on a smaller ship will be the better option to reach certain ports that simply can’t be reached by a larger ship. But we did sail on a massive ship to do the Western Mediterranean from Civitavecchia (aboard the MSC Meraviglia) and I don’t believe that it influenced the experience negatively, in fact I think that it enhanced the experience. It was wonderful to return to such a ship after a long day of exploring, specially since we were traveling with children and there were tons of things for them to do, while mom and dad relaxed. Had we been sailing without kids, sailing on a ship with lots of bells and whistles probably would’ve not been as important, but for our specific needs, it was the right call. 

[Esilef]

On 1/6/2020 at 10:16 AM, rimmit said:

Just out of curiosity where were you flying from that room you 30 hours to get to BCN?  Were you coming from down under?  

 

 

We live in Melbourne Australia. The 30 hours came from the overall journey. We went Melbourne to Singapore and then were in transit for a couple of hours, then Singapore to Dubai and again in transit for another couple of hours, then Dubai to Barcelona. 

 

We are river cruising europe this year but have followed advice about Qantas Frequent Flyer rewards which means we can go business class on China eastern airlines from Melbourne to Amsterdam stopping in Shanghai. Think it works out to be about a day of flights.

 

there are plenty of websites that advise as to how you can get airline miles via other means. 

[rimmit]

1 hour ago, Esilef said:

 

We live in Melbourne Australia. The 30 hours came from the overall journey. We went Melbourne to Singapore and then were in transit for a couple of hours, then Singapore to Dubai and again in transit for another couple of hours, then Dubai to Barcelona. 

 

We are river cruising europe this year but have followed advice about Qantas Frequent Flyer rewards which means we can go business class on China eastern airlines from Melbourne to Amsterdam stopping in Shanghai. Think it works out to be about a day of flights.

 

there are plenty of websites that advise as to how you can get airline miles via other means. 

Figured it had to be from Australia as BCN is pretty easy for most people in the US to get too.  I truly feel your pain on those long hauls and 3-4 connections.
 

We play the points game as well, and have over a a TON of Capital One miles as our main and miles spread around other programs.  Helps that they now transfer to 13 different airlines, Qantas being one of them.  Our biggest issue is that we fly four people, me, DW, and our 4 year old and 9 year old.  Redemptions are tough when you need four tickets.  We needed a one way from our local airport (local being 2.5 hour’s drive away) and I felt good about redeeming 150,000 miles for a one way to Amsterdam for four people in coach.  Would normally cost us 3200 for the equivalent flights.  Transferring our miles to Flying Blue let’s us book Delta here in the US and that gets us to AMS.   Redeeming business for four people is brutal on the mileage account and ai just have a hard time justifying it for our kids who are just as happy in coach.

 

I debated moving to Chase Sapphire Reserved, but ultimately after doing the math we do just as well with Capital One, although some redemptions I have seen with CSR make me jealous.  What is your main points/miles card?

[Esilef]

I read for points you are best sticking with the one airline partnership. I choose qantas and Australia has a lot of offers for credit cards which give you points through the main banks. 

[mchin]

On 1/5/2020 at 2:20 PM, kruzerci said:

We do Mediterranean sailings occasionally to switch things up and explore European cities which we haven’t been to on land based trips. 
 

If it is a special occasion and you can afford it, I would 100% do it. It is a completely different experience (and substantially more expensive) than the Caribbean since you will be doing a lot of touring and all day excursions. It is a jam packed but amazing experience. We most recently did the 7 night Western Med itinerary last summer with five days added in Barcelona. We went to almost no shows and ate few meals on the ship- so we essentially used it as a hotel, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. 

I just booked the western Med for June 2021 on Harmony sailing out of Barcelona.  We are also planning to spend some time on the backside in Barcelona.  Any tips for hotels or locations in Barcelona?  Did you use taxis or uber to get around?  Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[luisc25]

35 minutes ago, mchin said:

I just booked the western Med for June 2021 on Harmony sailing out of Barcelona.  We are also planning to spend some time on the backside in Barcelona.  Any tips for hotels or locations in Barcelona?  Did you use taxis or uber to get around?  Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

I will be going there in May we booked for  Hotel Le Meridean with some points from Bonvoy Marriot; but I was going to book The Reinnaisence Hotel because it’s close to main attractions. 
 

I will let you know more, hopefully someone can give you and me some good tips!! 

[kruzerci]

1 hour ago, mchin said:

I just booked the western Med for June 2021 on Harmony sailing out of Barcelona.  We are also planning to spend some time on the backside in Barcelona.  Any tips for hotels or locations in Barcelona?  Did you use taxis or uber to get around?  Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

We stayed at two Hilton properties (Hilton Barcelona and Diagonal Mar) using points, but we actually used the hop-on-hop-off bus tour as a taxi. It is fairly cheap for a multi-day pass, goes different routes all around the city, and gives you a decent idea of where everything is. Other than that, we walked virtually everywhere, so we were talking tens of miles per day. 

 

Barcelona is great and would be a fantastic way to end the port intensive itinerary. Enjoy!

[alfaeric]

3 hours ago, mchin said:

I just booked the western Med for June 2021 on Harmony sailing out of Barcelona.  We are also planning to spend some time on the backside in Barcelona.  Any tips for hotels or locations in Barcelona?  Did you use taxis or uber to get around?  Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

In our past trip, we stayed in the historic area of Barcelona- and just walked or used the metro.  Lots of hotels, close sights to see, and great places to eat.

[mkam2821]

4 hours ago, mchin said:

I just booked the western Med for June 2021 on Harmony sailing out of Barcelona.  We are also planning to spend some time on the backside in Barcelona.  Any tips for hotels or locations in Barcelona?  Did you use taxis or uber to get around?  Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

We flew into Barcelona  a couple of days early.  Upon landing we took a 1/2 day tour with another couple and the guide/driver then brought us to our hotel. We stayed at the Petit Palace Boqueria, which is right off Las Ramblas and not far from the port.

From there we walked or took tours (the Montserrat and Freschet winery tour was great, not that any were bad). The hotel is also near one of the few decent Flamenco/dinner shows in Barcelona.  Post cruise we stayed overnight at a hotel at the airport as we were fearful that we could miss our outgoing flight but it really wasn't necessary as the ship wound up docking at 5:30 am.  But we came back into the city and spent the day at the Picasso Museum which is terrific (the one in Paris isn't worth the effort) I believe we took a bus (but it could have been a shuttle from the hotel, I can't remember).

[mcatmcat]

I think in all depends on who you are 

 

In my case I am a Millennial diamond at royal. Most of my cruises are from south florida we have so many options down here that it makes no sense to fly but I did a Mediterranean cruise sailing from Barcelona, my fiancee loved I was more than ok but near ok. Mediterranean cruises are nice buy you need to fly a day or two before , you need to book a hotel ,you need to add food and taxis to it that it seem to us not worth it. Also the itinerary are port intensive we work out and we are fit and I never felt so tired in a cruise in my life. Wake up was 6am and we needed to be ready at 7 or 8am for the excursions, we never attended a show or participated in any activities onboard we were tired and we always attend every single show at night. 

 

If I were celebrating an anniversary but this is just me I rather be sailing in a new ship its going to be a unique experience it wont happen again unless you book a new ship again the Mediterranean will always be there 

[trivia addict]

If you have more than one day in Barcelona, then the HOHO bus is the way to do your transportation. We did it and saw everything that we wanted to see in our two extra days in Barcelona. If you are there for only one day, then I would look for a private tour of the city. Finding a local tour can sometimes be as cost effective as cost and time wasted with cabs, etc. We have often teamed up with people on our roll call boards to do this.

[Norwich Cruiser]

A few recommendations 

Hotel Jazz

Ho Ho bus

Definitely pre book any entrance tickets ..Cathedral and Park Guell 

[Alter Ego]

I did this switch myself - was scheduled to be on the 2018 President’s cruise (at the time, I would have been Emerald) and switched it to Greek Islands out of Venice.  Would do it again even though I went from a balcony to an outside and from one of the largest and newest to smallest and oldest. However, my cruise ran into bad weather and our three islands became one, with a changed overnight in Athens and add on to Split Croatia.  I was disappointed but I’m kind of easy going and figured I could always go back, but it bears repeating that one should never cruise if missing a particular stop would ruin the trip for them.

 

wish I could remember the poster - something like singalot (?) She has a couple of great trip reports from her two Mediterranean cruises!

[lovemylab]

On 1/8/2020 at 11:30 AM, mchin said:

I just booked the western Med for June 2021 on Harmony sailing out of Barcelona.  We are also planning to spend some time on the backside in Barcelona.  Any tips for hotels or locations in Barcelona?  Did you use taxis or uber to get around?  Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

We stayed in Barcelona pre-cruise near Placa de Catalunya, which is a great location within walking distance to many sites and restaurants.   The only time we used a taxi was to get from the hotel to the cruise port and then from the cruise port to the airport (both times we shared with another couple from our roll call).

 

We took the aerobus from the airport to the city centre (it dropped us off less than a 5 minute walk from our hotel).  It was quite a bit cheaper than a taxi and still got us there in 35 minutes.   We then either walked or used the metro to get around (we bought a card that could be shared and was good for around 10 journeys).  Total amount we spent on Metro fares was around 10 Euro for the two of us.  

 

The public transportation options in Barcelona are wonderful and are a great way to save you some money.  

Edited January 11, 2020 by lovemylab

[grapau27]

On 1/11/2020 at 5:50 AM, Norwich Cruiser said:

A few recommendations 

Hotel Jazz

Ho Ho bus

Definitely pre book any entrance tickets ..Cathedral and Park Guell 

I took your advice and booked hotel jazz for a couple of nights pre cruise.

Great reviews.

Thanks Graham.

[cruisequeen4ever]

As much as I love the Caribbean, I’d pick the Med in a heartbeat; it’s so magical and romantic! We did a 17 day Med cruise for our 10 year anniversary, and it is still my favorite cruise ever! 

[Norwich Cruiser]

2 hours ago, grapau27 said:

I took your advice and booked hotel jazz for a couple of nights pre cruise.

Great reviews.

Thanks Graham.

I’m sure you won’t be disappointed excellently positioned nice rooms and breakfast with very good staff.

About a fifteen minute at the most taxi ride to the port via Las Ramblas.

Should you decide to wander down Las Ramblas it’s about a ten minutes slow walk.

If a taxi isn’t outside just go out of the exit doors turn left walk for 20 yards and there’s a rank opposite.

Also on the roof top a swimming pool sun deck bar and bistro.

There are also a number of bars restaurants and supermarkets all within a short walk away.

Hope you have a great time.

[grapau27]

34 minutes ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

I’m sure you won’t be disappointed excellently positioned nice rooms and breakfast with very good staff.

About a fifteen minute at the most taxi ride to the port via Las Ramblas.

Should you decide to wander down Las Ramblas it’s about a ten minutes slow walk.

If a taxi isn’t outside just go out of the exit doors turn left walk for 20 yards and there’s a rank opposite.

Also on the roof top a swimming pool sun deck bar and bistro.

There are also a number of bars restaurants and supermarkets all within a short walk away.

Hope you have a great time.

Thank you.

[shofer]

On 1/5/2020 at 1:20 PM, Thisguylikestocruise said:

It’s $2,700  vs.  $5,000 for the cruise.  $200 to drive to FL vs. $2,000 to fly to Europe.

Try booking the airfare through the cruise line for maybe a better deal.  We loved our Med and Baltic both on Vision for 12 days.  Felt we had plenty of time to enjoy the ship, maybe more for the Baltic than the Med but both were port-intensive.