Seeking port and general itinerary advice

Inquiring about Mediterranean info. Specifically ports and/or itinerary. Other general advice. Historically go Caribbean during the summer. Looking towards Italy emphasis. Any other good European routes? About two weeks total from NYC. Looking forward to replies

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Um, that's a rather open-ended request. If you have a favorite cruise line why not go to their site and see what they offer for Med cruises? That should help you narrow down.

Regarding Italy, there are many lines that hit a couple or three ports in Italy as part of a one week western Med circuit that usually includes a stop or two in France, as well as one or two in Spain.

There are also eastern Med cruises (the Adriatic arm of the Med) that include Venice and maybe one or two other eastern ports in Italy along with the Dalmation coast, or Greece.

We have done a round trip from Rome that went to Naples, Athens, Mykonos, Santorini, Istanbul (overnight) Epheses and back to Rome. It was all great. We also did one that started in Amsterdam and came down to Zeebrugges, Lisbon, Cartagena (Spain), Gibralter, Mallorca, and a port in the north of Spain for the Basque country and ended in Rome. In two weeks we are headed to Venice for a cruise that starts there, does some stops in the Adriatic (Croatia, Kotor, Ravenna Italy) and then around to Catanya and the Spanish islands of Ibezia, Valencia and Mallorca before ending in Barcelona. It would be hard to pick one as the best but no one is going to Istanbul now so look at these ports, look at the ships going, we did Celebrity ships, and see what appeals to you. One note on our upcoming cruise, cruises out of Venice are popular and sell out quickly. Ours has been sold out, other than some suites, for many months.. No matter when you go, it is all beautiful and fun.

Is there an Italian (or other city such as Barcelona) that you would really like to explore? Then choose your cruise based on where it starts or ends so that you can spend several nights in that city. Ideally you might even find a cruise that starts in say Rome for example and ends in Venice perhaps or maybe Athens or Barcelona.

We just did Genoa, Civitavecchia, Palermo, Sardinia, Mallorca, Valencia. I have to say I fell in love with Mallorca. It is clean, well kept, cosmopolitan yet laid back Mediterranean. It is now on my bucket list to go back and spend some time there.

We also did a really fun street food tour in Palermo.

There is no shortcut. You need to do your own research and decide which itinerary/ports best support your interests.

There are a few books specific to Med cruises ..... Rick Steves' 'Mediterranean Ports' and Ann Vipond's 'Med by Cruiseship'. The books provide info on cruiselines, itineraries, ports, sights, activities, excursions, DIY options, etc. Buy the books or borrow from your library. I found them very helpful as I worked thru the process.

Is there an Italian (or other city such as Barcelona) that you would really like to explore? Then choose your cruise based on where it starts or ends so that you can spend several nights in that city. Ideally you might even find a cruise that starts in say Rome for example and ends in Venice perhaps or maybe Athens or Barcelona.

That'd be my suggestion.

I think RCI, Princess, and Celebrity offer that option, I think 10 or 11 days cruises which means you can give Rome the several days that it warrants. Perhaps Venice too, though a lot of ships overnite there, so you'll get a very full day or day-and-a-half in Venice and you can make a pretty good fist of Venice in that timescale.

Ports of call on those itineraries vary a bit, so you can for instance choose one which includes ancient sites such as Katakolon (for Olympia) or Piraeas (for Athens) or Split (Croatia) or one which gives you more scenic and relaxing Greek islands. Include Naples if you can - I don't like the city itself but there's a wealth of places nearby like Pompeii or Herculaneum or the Isle of Capri or the Amalfi coast.

Just MHO as always

JB :)