Best cruise for Italy??

[mgscruiser]

I know this is an _extremely_ subjective question, but I figured the more I know, the better choice I can make!

 

The hubby and I want to take a cruise in Italy/Europe for our belated honeymoon. Originally we wanted to take the transatlantic cruise on Princess (NY to Venice) which is a 16-day one, but are now looking at other choices available...

 

We definitely want to hit Venice and Rome in Italy, if we can hit Barcelona that would be a bonus. We want to go in April/May of next year.

 

I have always cruised on RCCL, but have heard good things on Celebrity and Princess.

 

Any opinions, thoughts, etc. you would like to share would be wonderful - we're researching land based trips as well at this point, but like I said, I'd much rather cruise!!

[tom_uk]

Have a look at Costa: they're the european arm of Carnival. They do some cruises from Venice around Italy to Savonna (north east italy port near Genoa) and back, I believe. Or alternatively MSC, although I don't think they do Venice to Genoa. They do however do 7 night west med cruises from Genoa that call at a couple of other italian ports, plus Barcelona (and other ports...).

 

These would be very 'italian' cruises, there's probably not many english-speakers among the passengers. All announcements are in english, however, as well as four other languages! But it's fun. We did a 7 night cruise on MSC Sinfonia last May - my review is here:

http://www.cruiseserver.net/travelpage/yourfav/yfc_md_sinfonia.asp

[KathiB]

This June we are doing the 12 day Brilliance of the Seas Med/Venice cruise. We had originally wanted to do a land trip to Italy but like this cruise because it provides 5 days in Italy. We have an overnight in Venice so we have almost 2 full days there. Also days in Rome, Naples, Livorno (Florence). We depart from Barcelona so we are arriving 3 days early to enjoy that great city.

 

Based on what you are looking for you might want to check out the Brilliance for next year.

 

KathiB

[vetralla]

Italian friends often use these cruises for their honeymoons, and other special occasions, so there are more Italian speakers onboard than your US departure cruises.

Its almost like being in Italy!

[Andee]

Remember that neither Rome nor lForence are on the coast, although cruise lines often list them as ports. It takes a considerable amount of time to get from the actual ports to those cities.

[Hlitner]

I know this is a "cruise" board and we do love to cruise. In fact, we will be soon taking a cruise from Galveston to Italy. However, having been to Italy on about 10 cruises, and having spent weeks touring Italy with a rental car, I recommend the latter if you really want to see Italy. Med cruises are a lot of fun if you want to see very little of a lot of places, but to truly see Italy one should go there, rent a car, and see the country. The problem is that the cruise ports are just too far from a lot of the best places in Italy. The best of all worlds is to take a cruise and than spend additional time on land before or after your cruise (or both). As to the cruise line of choice, assuming your cruise it very port intensive I am not sure it matters. On Med cruises the ship becomes a ferry between ports and we have generally found that the passengers are so exhausted from the long port days that the cruises are pretty dead after dinner.

 

Hank

 

Hank

[Mark_in_Colorado]

I suggest looking at the Celebrity Millennium. Although the 2007 itineraries have not been issued yet, the Millennium has been sailing a route from Barcelona to Venice (or reverse, Venice to Barcelona) that includes the French Riviera (Villefranche/Nice), Florence (Livorno), Rome (Civitavecchia), Naples, Santorini, Athens, and Dubrovnik. We took the Millie in 2005, and had a wonderful time.

[Keith1010]

I have cruised on a couple of different cruse lines to various ports in Italy and other places in the Mediterranean. There are a number of good cruise lines who offer these itineraries. I did find Italy to be especially nice and would highly recommend that you find a cruise that is at least 12 days in length as there is so much to see. Keep in mind that med cruises tend to be very port intensive with very few sea days.

 

So, here's a few thoughts.

 

First look for cruise lines that have cruises 12 days or greater to the med.

 

Second, look for itineraries that include several ports in Italy.

 

Third, look at embarkation and disembarkation points for ease of flying and also to see if one of them interests you to spend a few days in. For example, one thought is to find a cruise that begins in the port near Rome if you would like to spend a few days in Rome prior to the cruise. We did that on our last cruise which was great.

 

Anyway, by looking at this in the manner I described it will allow you to narrow down your choices.

 

Of the three lines that you have mentioned, I have cruised on two of them; Princess (including the med on Princess) and Celebrity. I am more partial to Celebrity over Princess but that is just based on my own views. My most recent cruise was on Crystal which is a luxury cruise line and one that offers a number of mediterranean cruises. It will likely cost more than say Celebrity or Princess but might be worth looking at as you narrow your list down.

 

Keith

[mountainmare]

I second Mark's suggestion of the Millennium 12 itinerary. This is our first cruise in Europe (we've done land before) and our first trip to Italy. We wanted a little taste of everything so that we can return type of cruise.

When we were researching we looked at all the mass market lines. We usually cruise HAL but we picked itinerary first to go with Celebrity.

Be sure to notice the amount of time in each port. This is why we picked Celebrity over a similar Princess cruise.

[doctrd]

Agree with above on looking at ports that intrest you, and where you may want to spend a few extra days on each end.

I wanted to stay in Venice a few nights, so choose a cruise that started there. The other port that seemed ineresting enough to spend a few days was Barcelona.

 

Reading reviews on 'popular' ports, I noted that Turkey was listed as a favorite port of many cruisers. I don't know of any other cruise line that stopped in Turkey, and so many places in Italy.

 

So my pick was Grand Princess doing the Grand Med itenerary.

Venice, Athens, Ephesus, Isanbul, Mykonos, Naples, Rome, Florence, Marseille and Barcelona. Never have been to Europe, so this will take me to a good variety.

[mdeane]

We chose RCCL Brilliance of the Seas for the 14 night Med. cruise beginning in Istanbul, Turkey and ending in Barcelona. We have an overnight in Venice. The ininerary is Istanbul, Santorini,Greece, Kusadasi, Turkey, Mykonos, Greece, Dubrovnik,Croatia, Venice, Naples, Rome,, Villefranche, Livomo,Italy and Barcelona. We have 3 sea days. This is Oct. 24, 2006. We are staying 4 days pre-cruise in Istanbul and 2 days in Barcelona post cruise.

[nparmelee]

I agree with finding beginning and ending ports that you want to spend a little extra time in. We chose a Rome to Istanbul cruise on Oceania just because we could spend a few days in Rome pre-cruise and a few in Istanbul post-cruise. For us, Oceania also works since they have any-time dining and no formal nights and with this port intensive a cruise, we can just eat whenever we're ready and don't have to worry about lugging the formal wear with us.

[Sheepdog]

I'm going to 3rd or 4th a vote for the Millennium !! We were on it last October..everything was wonderful.We flew into Rome for 3 days and then took the train to Venice and had 2 nights there.If you were to arrive in Venice early,I would try and have your hotel arrange to pick you up.One of the people with us had done Venice before and knew how to get to the hotel...not always easy with water and bridges !! But...well worth it !!

Enjoy,

Sharon

[gipper691]

We are doing the Carnival Liberty from Rome. The Itininary is good for Italy if that is what you want. Rome, Naples, Venice (26 hours in port), Dubrovnik, Messina, Barcelona, Cannes, Livorno (Pisa, Florence, Tuscany) then back to Rome for several days post cruise.

We chose this cruise because it spends more time in Italy than the others. We want to do the Greece, Turkey etc. thing another time.