trying to plan my 2008 Med cruise need input

[gsocruisers]

As soon as the 2008 Med season opens up I want to book a cruise. I've been throughout Italy. What I'd like to hear from other cc'ers are some of the other locations I think I would be interested in.

 

Who can tell me about:

 

Barcelona, Spain

 

Greece

 

Turkey

 

Dubrovnik

 

Alexandria I talked to my nephew since he has been to Egypt 3 times & he said that Alexandria doesn't have the large pyramids.:( Has another stopped in Alexandria & been able to take an excursion to the pyramids?

 

Portugal

 

Any info would be greatly appreicated:)

[savva0122]

I can help you a little bit. Barcelona is a wonderful city and well worth a few days; overnight cruises or cruises that start/finish there are perhaps a good idea. I would also recommend Venice and some cruises on Legend (or Splendour?) next year (and a wider selection on Celebrity) start at one and finish at another so might be worth considering a stay-cruise-stay option.

 

Only been to Corfu when very young but enjoyed it and very green island, would also like to do more of the Greece side of it.

 

Just been to Lisbon on our Legend cruise and it was marvellous would love to go back there again.

 

I think Alexandria is too far for the pyramides but RCI might to a fly to type excusion for +++ $$$$

[cruzincanuck]

Like savva0122, I can help you a little bit.

 

My european cruise on the Splendour started in Barcelona in September 2005. What a beautiful, clean and tourist friendly city. The places to see are very easy to see with their hop on hop off bus. There are 3 routes and these buses (double decker buses) bring you to all the interesting places to see: Park Guell, Sagrada Familia, past several Gaudi buildings.. and more. Two routes left from the Catalunya Placa(although you can catach anywhere along the route are various stops) at the end of Las Ramblas which by the way is a great pedestrian street lined with street performers and ouside cafés. We spent 2 days prior to the cruise and loved every minute of it. (stayed at the Apsis Splendid which was a 10 minute walk to Las Ramblas)

 

Enjoy your cruise and go to the ports of call message board under Europe and I am sure you will find valuable info there as well.

[kathanderik]

We did the med oct 05. We loved greece and want to go back to the greek Islands. barcelona is a lot of fun and I would spend a few days there. Florence is a long way from the port and we would love to go back, but not via cruise ship.

[navybaby]

Barcelona, Spain

 

Greece

 

Turkey

 

Dubrovnik

 

Alexandria I talked to my nephew since he has been to Egypt 3 times & he said that Alexandria doesn't have the large pyramids.:( Has another stopped in Alexandria & been able to take an excursion to the pyramids?

 

Portugal

 

Barcelona is fabulous! Some areas can be a bit 'slummy' but the overall feel is just amazing. I found the locals friendly and very 'casual-chic'. Must, must, must try the paella and cava!!

 

Greece is...well...Greece! I've been to Athens, Mykonos, Delos and Crete and thoroughly enjoyed each location.

 

Turkey is another amazing destination. I've been the Istanbul, Marmaris, and Ephesus (Kusadasi). Marmaris is known as the Turkish Riviera and lives up to that name. Superb shopping, amazing meals and just a fun, festive environment. Istanbul is ENORMOUS!! It's well worth taking the most comprehensive tour you can afford. This was one port I wish I had taken more tours. It's just so large and impossible to see on your own in one day. MUST catch the sunset over the Bosphorus - all the Mosque silouettes are backlight with a brilliant red/orange sunset.

 

Dubrovnic is a true gem. Just beautiful!!! I've been to Dubrovnic, Split and Corfu and loved each one!

 

My only other words of advice would be to avoid the month of October. It was too chilly and/or windy & rainy to really enjoy anything. You may pay more to cruise earlier in the season, but it will be well worth it.

 

Good luck and enjoy!

[gsocruisers]

Thanks everyone reading everything is just making me wish the schedule for 2008 would hurry up & come out:D

[CRUISENAV8R]

Although I have not seen the shore excursions for my cruise next Jun, I have to believe RCCL will follow the lead of other cruise lines, and offer a Sphinx, pyramids excursion. It will be a LONG day, I understand it is a 3 hour drive each way.:eek:

Good luck!

[gsocruisers]

Thanks for the input. Although I know the schedules won't come out until next year, I still check their site daily.

 

I guess wishful thinking, huh?!

 

Oh I really do hope they offer something like you mentioned CRUISENAV8R.

That would be awesome

 

Thanks

[missbear]

Loved Istanbul, I really want to go to Ephesus (Kusadasi), my entire family has been but I haven't.

 

Dubrovnik is really really pretty.

 

Alexandria has a new giant library, and it's still Egypt, pyramids or not. Very cool!

 

Greece really depends on the port, Santorini is suspected as the former location of Atlantis and there are excavations you can visit.

 

Barcelona has great food, art, and amazing buildings.

 

Have fun.

[ama22]

I think one of the things you have to decide is if you want to see the Eastern Med (Turkey, Greece, Greek Islands) or the Western Med (Barcelona, Villefrance, Rome, Egypt). We are doing a Sea Dream cruise next Sept which goes to Istanbul, Ephesus, Santorini, Athens, Delphi, Sciily, Amalfi and Capri. Also I believe some of the cruise lines do have their 2008 scedules out already. Do a quick look at all the cruise lines.

 

Mary Lou

[froufrou]

I haven't cruised yet but I can tell you about Portugal! :) I went there this past May.

 

So if the cruise stops at Lisbon I can tell you about it. We actually met two American guys who were there for the day on a cruise, that's why i am assuming the cruise must go to Lisbon. There is a very cool monastery there called Monasterio de los Jeronimos, it is huge and awesome to walk around in, and has very intricate lace-like architecture. right next to it is also a tower you can go up that is also very neat architecturally. There's also a very nice square facing the water and the boats. The whole thing lies on the shoreline so you can take the bus all along the shore. You can also take the trolly up the hill to their castle and that is just ruins but very pretty. Finally, there is a very cool Elevator there which is like this black metal structure that is coming out of this alley and its very tall and you go up there and there is a small cafe with a great view. I think it is called elevator of Santa Justa. It is also right near the shore, walking distance. It was built by Eiffel, the same guy who built the Eiffel tower, in 1900 for the world's fair. If you venture further into town you can see an interesting looking bullring. But I wouldn't venture there, it is not that great.

 

If for whatever reason you have more time than just Lisbon, the small towns near Lisbon are amazing and I preferred them to lisbon. There is Sintra, which was my very favorite. It is built in such a way that a midieval castle is on one hill and a newer castle is on the other hill, and down below is the old town with another castle. We took this driving tour of that area as recommended by Eyewitness Guide and it was perfect.

[sammyjo882]

Our cruise will be in June & one of the stops is Alexandria. We have already booked a private tour with DeCastro Tours to go to Cairo to see the Pyramids, Sphinx & Valley Temple. We are in port from 7am to 10pm. They pick us up (a/c van) as soon as the ship clears & make the 3 hour drive as part of a caravan. Also included is the museum, lunch, a camel ride & an escort to the bazaar. They will have us back to the ship at 8pm. Our group is only 3 and we are paying $80pp. It might be less if your group is bigger - but I find it very reasonable in comparison to other port tours.

 

Hope this helps - we're looking forward to this port more than any other right now!

 

Sherryl

 

Hope this helps

[gsocruisers]

Gosh I am so tempted to just book this for 2007 but I'm afraid I'm probably too late.

 

I'll have to exercise patience & just plan something else for late 2007 to hold me over:D

[MercedMike]

We loved our Mediterranean cruise!

 

In Athens, the MUST DO is the Acropolis! The ship does good tours, or you can book privately. We had a great guide from Greece Ala Carte

 

In Ephesus I would suggest the ship's tours. The ruins of Ephesus are supposed to be interesting, but we enjoyed the excursion that went to the museum and then to a small Turkish village.

 

In Istanbul I would not touch anything except the ship's tours. The city is a madhouse and I would never take a chance with an independent.

 

It is possible to get to the Great Pyramids and Sphinx from Alexandria. If the ship does not offer it, independents will. Travel is by caravan with government Tourist Police guards, and it is a three hour trip each way. So a twelve hour time frame gives you only six hours in Cairo. Allowing three hours to see the pyramids and sphinx in a minimal way, that leaves three hours for the Egyptian museum or some other attraction. There are very few things in the world that I would travel that far under those conditions to see -- but the pyramids would be!! It is stunning to actually stand there and see them.

 

We only had time in Barcelona for a quick city tour. It was pretty interesting. Architecture is a major thing in Barcelona and you will see some amazing buildings!

 

Check out our trip reports on our cruising page in my sig.

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[Glama]

We just booked an added on sailing for the new Carnival Freedom, March 5th, 2007. The inaugural was supposed to be March 14th, but the ship will be ready early, so they tacked on a 9 nighter beginning on the 5th at an amazing price (almost 1/2 off the 12 night price, incredible.) We will be visiting Venice, Athens, Rhodes, Izmir, Dubrovnik, Rome, Naples, and Katakolon (I'm sure I misspelled that!). Am I right in understanding that this is a special itinerary that is mixing East/West Med, and it's unusual to find a cruise with these combined ports? I'm so happy we booked this, it's our first time to the Med, and there is SO much research to do!

[corkpopr]

You will be soooooooo glad you didn't wait the extra year! we did 10 days on celebrity out of rome may 04 and western med transatlantic frm rome on princess nov. 05. we are going western med transatlantic in dec. this year on princess out of rome. we are thinking of going on the freedom 12 days in may 07. don't like carnival but pricing fantastic.

go to rome at least 3 days early. consider the train from rome to civiteveccia on the day you sail. it will be the trip of a lifetime.

[NancyIL]

We just booked an added on sailing for the new Carnival Freedom, March 5th, 2007. The inaugural was supposed to be March 14th, but the ship will be ready early, so they tacked on a 9 nighter beginning on the 5th at an amazing price (almost 1/2 off the 12 night price, incredible.) We will be visiting Venice, Athens, Rhodes, Izmir, Dubrovnik, Rome, Naples, and Katakolon (I'm sure I misspelled that!). Am I right in understanding that this is a special itinerary that is mixing East/West Med, and it's unusual to find a cruise with these combined ports? I'm so happy we booked this, it's our first time to the Med, and there is SO much research to do!

 

I have seen quite a few Mediterranean cruises that combine Italy, Greece, and Turkey. Yours is primarily an eastern Mediterranean cruise, because it doesn't include ports in Spain, France, or northern Italy (Livorno).

 

I hope all goes well with the inaugural cruise, and that the weather in early March will be nice.

[CAT GIRL]

I was interested in the tour you set up with DeCastro Tours. I went

to their website and I didn't see anything like that. Is this a custom

tour designed for you? Any help and comments would be

appreciated. Thanks.

[sammyjo882]

I hadn't found anything on their website either, so I sent them an email describing what we wanted to do (decastrotours@link.net) and received a reply from Soliman the next day. His return email called it the "King Tut Trip" and gave all the details for our customized trip for 3 people! Try that & let us know if you get the same type response ...

 

Sherryl

[CAT GIRL]

Thanks for the info. When is your cruise? I'll be going next

Sept. on the Legend of the Seas. There are no ship tours for Alexandria

on the Royal Caribbean website yet as it is a new port for them.

So, I'm just in the process now of investigating things and I'm not

sure if I have the guts to go out on my own at this particular port

of call. I'll email them and see what happens. Please report on

your tour when you get back.

[sammyjo882]

We're going in June - also of Legend of the Seas. It's still too early for the ship to post excursions for our sailing - but we figured the price was good, the the tour company had good recommendations on this board & I really like the idea of not travelling with 45+ people on the bus. Have you selected anything for Kusdasi yet? How is the rest of your planning going?

[EASYTRAVEL777]

We will be onboard Celebrity’s Galaxy Nov 10, 2007. Our ports are Rome, Naples, Santorini, Rhodes, Cyprus, Alexandria, Kusadasi (Ephesus) 2 days, Istanbul 2 days and Athens.

We have a large group now and I needed a website to keep it organized.

Go to my website at www.easytravel777.com

Use the right hand side to navigate to the various ports. The prices you see have transportation, private guides, all entrance fees and lunch included. If you have any questions email me.

By the way, I think there are some group rate cabins starting at $750 still left. Why wait until 2008!!!!

Jerry

[mstravel]

GSOCRUISER, what cruise line are you waiting to book with once the 2008 schedule is released? We are from Texas also ( Dallas ) and we are waiting for RCCL to release the 2008 cruise route, then we are booking. We are looking at September as our travel month ( anniversary ) but will choose an earlier month, if the price is right.

[maria12345]

We took the cruise offered by Celebrity's Galaxy in August -Sept 06 and visited the following ports: Rome, Naples, Santorini, Mykonos, Sicily, Cannes, and Florence. The Galaxy was rather comfortable and I think anyone would have a great time. We had a wonderful time. The best ports were Naples (we went to the island of Capri) and Santorini,Greece. The views in both of these places were incredible. I'm glad we did this cruise as it provided a flavor of each one of these cities. I know now that I would return to Greece for a more in depth look.

[NAS-KARR]

We did the Med. in June 06....2 continents,5 countries and 10

cities.We liked it soooo much we're going back again in 08 only on a shallow draft ship so the 12 ports of call will not be the large cities but the smaller ones we want to see from all our research...

One thing I'd like to stress is how much we loved spending several days each in our pre and post-cruise cities of Barcelona and of course Venice.I suggest that highly.The details you asked for are toooo many for me to list and furthermore so many CC'ers have already.You'got alot of time yet to do your own, that's half the fun.

Good luck and happy cruising....e CIAO,