Questions about airfare promos and everything about Mediterranean cruises

[RIvacationgirl]

My husband and our best friends are just beginning to plan for a Mediterranean cruise for next summer. We have only cruised from U.S. ports, and have no knowledge about the differences cruising from Europe. We also do not know how the promotion works with airfare included. Do you get to pick where you fly from?

Any tips you can share would be helpful about these two topics.

Thank you!

[MeHeartCruising]

56 minutes ago, RIvacationgirl said:

My husband and our best friends are just beginning to plan for a Mediterranean cruise for next summer. We have only cruised from U.S. ports, and have no knowledge about the differences cruising from Europe. We also do not know how the promotion works with airfare included. Do you get to pick where you fly from?

Any tips you can share would be helpful about these two topics.

Thank you!

Yes.  You pick your starting airport.  You can see how much the airfare will cost by doing a test booking.  One of the questions asked is which home airport. 

 

Advice:  THOROUGHLY read the MANY posts on this forum about using the airfare promotion.  There are a lot of gotchas and a lot of people get disgruntled when things surprise them related to it. 

[cwtravel]

1 hour ago, RIvacationgirl said:

My husband and our best friends are just beginning to plan for a Mediterranean cruise for next summer. We have only cruised from U.S. ports, and have no knowledge about the differences cruising from Europe. We also do not know how the promotion works with airfare included. Do you get to pick where you fly from?

Any tips you can share would be helpful about these two topics.

Thank you!

I am fortunate to have taken six European cruises with the most recent one being in May on the Norwegian Jade from Athens to Greece/Turkey and Israel. My advice:

- Read and understand the terms and conditions for the BOGO air promo to determine if it works for you/your group. If you must fly together with another couple or are looking for business class or premium do not use the BOGO. Living in RI if you open to fly from Boston Logan (where more non-stop flights to Europe depart from) vs. TF Greene (where you will probably be routed through NY/Newark) put Logan as your departure airport. In my opinion the BOGO is a great deal for flight to Europe if you want to save money but are willing to make a connection or fly on an airline that you might not typically fly such as Icelandair. The BOGO air amount was $500 per person round trip from the DC area for the guests in my group that used it while published rates were over $1200 per person round trip to Athens. One thing to remember, buying the air on your own does not mean there will not be problems. I did not use the BOGO air and had all kinds of issues with Air France with cancelled and changed flights. I also would avoid Paris Charles de Gaulle airport at all costs!

 

- Go to Europe at least one day early though two is better. With the BOGO you can fly in up to two days early. The vast majority of the flights from the US to Europe are overnight so if your cruise departs on a Saturday you would want to depart the US on a Wednesday to arrive in Europe on Thursday (2 days early).

 

- Book your own hotel, do not do the cruise hotel package. The cruise generally charges about double the amount of the room. You should also arrange your own transfers to/from the ship.

 

- Use Viator and Tripadvisor to research and book private/small group tours.

 

- Make sure your passport is good for 6 months after you return from your trip

 

Hope this helps & good luck!

[RIvacationgirl]

Thank you very much for the information. We are a bit overwhelmed thinking about everything!

Any helpful tips on traveling the Mediterranean are appreciated.

[MeHeartCruising]

5 hours ago, RIvacationgirl said:

Thank you very much for the information. We are a bit overwhelmed thinking about everything!

Any helpful tips on traveling the Mediterranean are appreciated.

Research your ports by reading Rick Steves travel guides for those destinations.  He also has a Mediterranean Cruise book.  They are an excellent start on planning your days in ports. 

[RIvacationgirl]

Thank you, I will definitely order it

[TheCruisingBrewers]

The way I did it was I researched first, using Rick Steves's book and travel sites. I picked out the best cruise for seeing the maximal amount of my first round ( oh cause that list just grows!). I picked a great little cruise in 2016 called the Grand Med and saw Barcelona, Aux,  France, Livorno (though we chose to do Cinque Terre) , Rome, Naples, Athens, Mykonos, Istanbul, Ephesus, and Venice. We stayed in Venice 3 days, then we flew back to London and stayed there and flew home. It was aboard the Norwegian Spirit and we had a terrific time. The sail into Venice is sublime and I am glad we did it when we did. 

 

The hardest part of any cruise is balancing the ports and the ship really is an end to t means. Long as it has beds and decent food and you are safe, that is fine. You will not spend the same amount of time onboard relaxing and partying. You get up catch your tour and are gone all day, return to eat. Maybe see a show, and sleep to repeat the next day. 

 

Make your wish list and go... it is worth it. Then you have to start finding tours, that is the fun and sometimes expensive part! 

 

What you do not get a on cruise is the inland parts of Europe. So we usually book a land, and then a cruise-type trip, alternating between the inland and sea. Some people are smitten with just one type, but we prefer a bit of variety. We usually plan the base adventure of 14 days and cap the beginning and end in city stays. 

 

What we have done is very little compared to so people here and many here plan 1 to 3-month trips We sadly cannot be away that long...What I have learned is not to put a large city stay at the end of the busy cruise or land trip. Stay early before and fly home. I prefer smaller towns also so mix it up a bit!

 

What we have done is as follows. :

• A 14-day trip through the UK, staying in London, Cotswold's, Bath, Cardiff, Conwy, and Keswick UK, and Edinburgh. It was our first and we stayed in some great B&B s and drove in the UK which is an experience in itself. 
• The Grand Med Cruise I mentioned above. 
• Rick Steves GAS tour - We flew into Frankfurt, learned German train systems, then stayed in Bacharach, Trier, Baden-Baden, and Munich Germany. Murren Switzerland, which is heaven on earth. Hallstatt, Salzburg, and Vienna. We then flew back to Paris and stayed there for 3 days. 
• Upcoming for us is an NCL cruise to France, Spain, and Portugal.

We also have been on several stateside cruises in that span of years since 2016  including 2 Alaskan, and two Caribbean cruises. 

 

Hope this helps. The joy of planning is rewarded in travel and new experiences.... Good Luck!

[RIvacationgirl]

Yes, the joy is in the planning. Thank you so much- very helpful and happy sailing!

[sherrihall128]

19 minutes ago, RIvacationgirl said:

Yes, the joy is in the planning. Thank you so much- very helpful and happy sailing!

 

My 2 cents after taking our first and only (but not last!) Mediterranean cruise in November 2022. We did use the BOGO flight offer, which saved a ton of money. For the flights, you and your friends are not guaranteed to be on the same flights. If you're ok with that, then you can proceed. Also, know that you may not get your flights until 30 days prior to departure. If you're ok with that, you can proceed. Lastly, know that once the flights are assigned, you can't make changes to time or days. IF you have tight layovers, NCL says "sucks for you--hope you make it". We had great experiences with our flights, even though we only had a ~90 minute layover in Paris (it gave me so much anxiety--I studied the CDG airport maps to optimize our time and make our flight to Venice). It saved us a lot of money, and I'd do it again if only 2 people were traveling (aka not with my kids). However, you can definitely read a lot of other people's bad experiences as well. If a flight is cancelled, NCL will not book it for you, and then you may have to rely on travel insurance or the flight company itself to fix things.

 

I also highly recommend Rick Steves's book! Prior to reading the book, I thought I had to stay with the cruise line excursions. After I read it, I got a lot of confidence on how to navigate in various ports, what to see, etc.. So I cancelled the cruise line tours and booked my own or did our own thing. There's also a website that is super helpful, as is this cruise forum. https://www.whatsinport.com/

 

One more thing: if you have the time and budget, arrive 2 days before the cruise. It'll give you some time to acclimate to the new time zone and give sightseeing time. We also stayed 2 additional days after.

 

Hope you have a great time! We absolutely had a blast.

Edited June 20, 2023 by sherrihall128

[TRAVELBUGCRUISER]

@sherrihall128 What ports did you do for your first Med Cruise? What time of month in November did you go? My Husband and I are debating this type of cruise for this year and wonder if mid-November is too late and too cold/rainy for France Italy etc.

[sherrihall128]

Just now, TRAVELBUGCRUISER said:

@sherrihall128 What ports did you do for your first Med Cruise? What time of month in November did you go? My Husband and I are debating this type of cruise for this year and wonder if mid-November is too late and too cold/rainy for France Italy etc.

 

I am a monster when it comes to it being too hot outside, and I am not patient with long lines, so the beginning of November was literally perfect weather-wise with less crowds. I also didn't care about going to the beach, so it was a good time to go. Plus, the price could not be beat for a fall cruise! It was sunny and 60s-70s most days. Florence was 60s and cloudy, so a little more chilly. Venice was mid 60s and sunny. We did these stops: Trieste (Venice), Dubrovnik, Corfu (Greece), Malta, Messina (Sicily), Naples, Livorno (Florence), Civitavecchia (Rome). I also looked at average weather at the various places on this website: https://www.holiday-weather.com/

[TRAVELBUGCRUISER]

@sherrihall128 Thanks so much for your reply regarding the weather and time of year. I strongly dislike being in too much heat for too long too!! Sounds like November could be the perfect time to go 🙂 Thanks!

[sherrihall128]

Just now, TRAVELBUGCRUISER said:

@sherrihall128 Thanks so much for your reply regarding the weather and time of year. I strongly dislike being in too much heat for too long too!! Sounds like November could be the perfect time to go 🙂 Thanks!

 

Same! We had such a good time in November that we booked another Mediterranean cruise for October 2024. Hope you catch a good deal too. 🙂

[gbntmom]

As everyone has said thus far regarding BOGO airfare I can agree with. My husband & I went on a 15 day Med cruise April/May 2023. A few other helpful hints not yet mentioned: 

Make sure when you book your cruise that your name on the booking is exactly as it is on your passport. Some people have had issues with airlines or at airport screening. (We did not and our reservation did not have our middle name while our passports do)

Understand when looking at posts about airfare (especially about upgrading seats/paying for seats/luggage) that when booked on non-familiar airlines (Azores Air for us) or non commonly used airlines from the US (ITA for us) that these things vary. ITA had 1 free checked bag per person, but we had to pay for a seat assignment and could not upgrade classes. On Azores Air, we had to pay for seat assignment AND a checked bag. Even with these fees, we still saved money with the BOGO fares.

I would echo the 1 or 2 day variation if you can. You don't want to miss the ship with a delayed or missed flight.  And remember, the last port (when you disembark) does not allow for time to tour that city, so if no deviation, you would be heading directly to the airport!

 

Most of all - enjoy the planning! I had lots of luck with googling "What to do in [fill in the blank] for a day" - There are lots of blogs out there that are great resources!

[RIvacationgirl]

I am sharing all of this information with the other couple coming with us. There has already been a lot of considerations we did not realize. Do most of you use a travel agent? This all sounds like it is getting more complicated than we thought.

[fabnfortysomething]

go to the europe section of cruise critic where there is a lot of information from previous cruisers about their trips

[ontheweb]

9 minutes ago, fabnfortysomething said:

go to the europe section of cruise critic where there is a lot of information from previous cruisers about their trips

Europe Cruises Q&A: Find Tips & Recommendations - Cruise Critic Message Board Forums

 

And that forum is broken down into different parts including Mediterranean and different subforums for different countries.

[bruce85]

We fly from Charlotte last year, got great flights. We flew in day early and booked hotel with NCL. Booking the hotel via NCL gave up a pick up at airport to hotel, and another pickup morning of the cruise from hotel to ship.

[insidecabin]

There are quite a few open Jaw itinerary to give good variety and to do pre/post cruise addons in different places.

 

As well as enhancing the trip overall you build in travel contingency a must do.

 

Med region can be unpredictable, too hot for us in the summer to do sights, we have had Oct cruise that rained every day(never got off), a Nov cruise that had a big storm for a week, another Nov that was cold and wet some days, a Dec that was better(cold/dry) than the Nov that year..... 

 

we have had some good ones as well, late Sept on it gets about right for us.

Spring is another option

 

Only done NCL air once that was UK, we picked our flights, ditched the included transfers as the city transport was more convenient. 

 

[old nutter]

I don't know how good or bad the NCL Air is these days, but we stopped using included air with NCL over 10 years ago after a really difficult time when they lost our booking and we ended up on a real hair-raising flight with a very small and new cheap airline who only had one flight a day to where we were meeting the ship.  From then on, we have always booked the flights ourselves.  If all goes well, there is no reason not to use cheap linked air, but the minute anything goes wrong, you have problems.  A linked flight will be on a group booking between the cruise-line and the airline.  Your details are all held by someone who has no real skin in the game and it is virtually impossible to sort things out to your satisfaction.  Doing the flight booking yourself may be more expensive, particularly if it is a late booking, but doing it yourself, you have a flight locator code that gives you a direct link to the airline and you can use that to negotiate direct to sort your problem out.

 

As far a ports go, I suggest you make a big list with the possible ports you want to visit.  Work out what you want from them, eg great landscapes or history, then rate them.  It probably helps if you have high, medium and low rating tables of the ports and then you can fit a cruise that pitches you into the ideal list.  It also helps if you decided if you are going on a one-off cruise or are likely to go again.  For instance, if you go to Naples, it is probable that you would want to go to Pompeii on a first visit, but if you go there  second time, you might choose Herculaneum or Campi Flegrei instead or even Sorrento or Ischia.

 

Enjoy the planning

[insidecabin]

There is a key point is this a one off across the pond or going to be more regular

 

For a one off you might want to optimise looking for something special if more regular you can access more itinerary and dates using the regular round trip options.

 

Some start with Western med to get in the big cities(Barcelona Naples, Rome Florence...)  then look at eastern/Adriatic to get Venice and maybe some Greek isles and Athens.

Many places have enough stuff for multiple visits so less is more where you pick key things to do properly, leaving some for the next time.

 

it can get tempting first trip to spend all your time on the HOHO buses and see everything for . 

[RIvacationgirl]

Thank you for your information. I bought the Rick Steves book, and the few pages I have read have already been so informative.

I thank you all for the ongoing posts.

[RIvacationgirl]

Just booked a 10 day Barcelona Round trip along with our best friend traveling couple!

My PCC was wonderful and it was an easy process. Decided to do the NCL Air and Hotel booking.

Looking forward to a lot of research on excursions!

[cruiseny4life]

On 7/3/2023 at 2:47 PM, RIvacationgirl said:

Just booked a 10 day Barcelona Round trip along with our best friend traveling couple!

My PCC was wonderful and it was an easy process. Decided to do the NCL Air and Hotel booking.

Looking forward to a lot of research on excursions!

Just a suggestion:

 

EDIT: Just noticed you said "and hotel..." so I bet you did a deviation already and I'm just dumb.

 

Look into a one or two day deviation, so you arrive in Barcelona a day or two prior to your cruise. This will allow you to explore the city and not stress over your flights if there are delays or cancellations. 

 

You will need to call NCL to request a deviation and must do so prior to 75 days before your cruise. 

 

Have a stunning time! 

Edited July 6, 2023 by cruiseny4life