GRAND MEDITERRANEAN CRUISE

[Cruiz'nBaers]

Quite a few years ago, maybe 10 or more, I followed along via a blog that was a cruise that went round trip to the Mediterranean and back via Port Everglades in Florida.  I believe that it was in the 60 day range.  We were both working then, so a cruise of that length was not possible.  We have now been retired for 8 years and (of course) I have never seen a similar cruise.  We love cruises that are round trip out of the US, hate traveling to Europe via air.  What are the odds that a cruise like this may be on the horizon?  I’m sure that we are not the only travelers that would be interested in such an itinerary.  

[Cruiz'nBaers]

No one besides me interested in this itinerary?

[Cruising-along]

We would definitely be interested, the Med is our favorite sailing destination.

But I've never seen a Grand Voyage to the Med 😞  If the last one was 10 or more years ago, we were still working too and weren't looking then.  

[mame42]

ME!!!  I have been agitating for another Grand Med for years.

[bennybear]

I think you could easily combine some back to backs with a transatlantic.  I too love the med but would prefer to go to some lesser visited places.

[RBB]

27 minutes ago, Cruising-along said:

We would definitely be interested, the Med is our favorite sailing destination.

But I've never seen a Grand Voyage to the Med 😞  If the last one was 10 or more years ago, we were still working too and weren't looking then.  

     We sailed on the Grand Med in 2013 and I think there might have been one more after that which did not actually return to Ft Lauderdale.  The Grand Med was about 3 months long and went all the way to Istanbul, Israel & Egypt in the eastern part of the Med.  It was a fabulous trip and we would love to do that again.  It is a little exhausting, though, because the ports come up fast and furious with few multi-day sea portions other than the crossings of the Atlantic, and pretty much all of the ports are A-list so you don't want to skip going ashore at any of them.  We have been hoping it might come back with the change in HAL leadership and the advent of a new Grand Voyage itinerary to Australia next year.  Here is our 2013 itinerary:

 

 

Rick

Edited February 16, 2023 by RBB

[RBB]

     Just as an additional aside:  if you are interested in a Grand Mediterranean cruise you should pick up a copy of Mark Twain's "Innocents Abroad"  (free ebook download available from Gutenberg).  The first pleasure cruise to the Mediterranean round trip from the US was in 1867 and Mark Twain was on it (paid for by a few newspapers in exchange for dispatches).  It was billed as a trip to the Holy Land and sailed round trip from New York on a sailing ship and took, if memory serves, about 6 months.  It was something of a sensation in the US and many people followed its progress in the press.  When it was over Twain adapted his dispatches into this full length book which was his first best seller.  It is both fascinating and hilarious; sometimes it is hard to tell what was real and what was fictional embellishment, but it is great preparation for setting out on a similar voyage.

[Cruiz'nBaers]

3 hours ago, RBB said:

     We sailed on the Grand Med in 2013 and I think there might have been one more after that which did not actually return to Ft Lauderdale.  The Grand Med was about 3 months long and went all the way to Istanbul, Israel & Egypt in the eastern part of the Med.  It was a fabulous trip and we would love to do that again.  It is a little exhausting, though, because the ports come up fast and furious with few multi-day sea portions other than the crossings of the Atlantic, and pretty much all of the ports are A-list so you don't want to skip going ashore at any of them.  We have been hoping it might come back with the change in HAL leadership and the advent of a new Grand Voyage itinerary to Australia next year.  Here is our 2013 itinerary:

 

 

Rick

I think this is the exact cruise I was referring to.  The lady whose blog I followed described it so perfectly and had great pictures with it.  We would absolutely book it.  Thanks for posting.

[WriterOnDeck]

9 hours ago, bennybear said:

I think you could easily combine some back to backs with a transatlantic.  I too love the med but would prefer to go to some lesser visited places.

The challenge here is the transAtlantics only go east in the spring and west in the fall, with the exception perhaps of the Voyage of the Vikings. Cunard has regular TAs, so perhaps you could do one leg on it.

 

I did a 45-day FLL to the Med and back in 2011, I believe, on the Maasdam. Wonderful trip. Fortunately I had a consulting job that only required an hour or two a day every few days.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Maybe it will come back. 

[mame42]

4 hours ago, WriterOnDeck said:

The challenge here is the transAtlantics only go east in the spring and west in the fall, with the exception perhaps of the Voyage of the Vikings. Cunard has regular TAs, so perhaps you could do one leg on it.

 

I did a 45-day FLL to the Med and back in 2011, I believe, on the Maasdam. Wonderful trip. Fortunately I had a consulting job that only required an hour or two a day every few days.

It was called the Atlantic Adventurer, a truly wonderful sailing, my second HAL cruise.  I was hooked for life, and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

[puppycanducruise]

Sounds great.

[alibabacruisers]

I like the idea too!

[St Pete Cruiser]

The Prinsendam did the Grand Med and the Maasdam and Veendam did the Atlantic Adventurer.  Smaller ships, which could enter smaller ports and were easier to sell out than larger ships.  The Zaandam and Volendam would be the better ships still in the fleet resume these itineraries.  

[xjust4fun]

10 hours ago, mame42 said:

It was called the Atlantic Adventurer, a truly wonderful sailing, my second HAL cruise.  I was hooked for life, and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

We did the 48 days Atlantic Adventurer that left Boston on Oct. 22/16 on the old Rotterdam, we sailed down to Fort Lauderdale and picked up the rest of the passengers.  It was truly  a memorable trip with amazing people some of which have become great friends whom we still cruised with after and are still in touch with many.

 

I would do that itinerary in a heartbeat also, we talked about it many times.

 

Diane.

[janmcn]

Keep waiting, but our cruising days are running out…(78,80)…Grand AU 2024 is in a holding position just in case a Grand Med comes up.