East or West Cruise???

Looking to go to the mediterranean in 2020. My wife and I are big history buffs and love ancient sites and museums.

We are looking to cruise out of Rome. What would be best to head to? East or West?

If you're in it for the ancient sites and museums, you want to head East:

Naples: Pompeii, Herculaneum, National Archaeological Museum (to be fair, you can get this port on both Eastern and Western itineraries)

Athens: Acropolis and National Archaeological Museum

Katakolon: Ancient Olympia (and nice small, modern museum)

Mykonos: take a ferry to ancient Delos; a bit less than an hour, wonderful Hellenistic and Roman remains cover this small island.

Heraklion Crete: Knossos and wonderful Archaeological museum on Minoan civilization

Malta: Several outstanding neolithic sites including the Tarxien temples and the Hal Saflieni hypogeum (reserve in advance)

Kusadasi (Turkey, if you are lucky enough to go): Ancient ruins of Ephesus

...and many more.

Unfortunately, many other places I've visited in the Eastern Med are now "off the map" so to speak, or rarely visited by ships: Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Istanbul, Syria (yes, went there by cruise ship as recently as 2010!).

Perfect response from cruisemom42.

Looking to go to the mediterranean in 2020. My wife and I are big history buffs and love ancient sites and museums.

 

We are looking to cruise out of Rome. What would be best to head to? East or West?

I'd keep it simple

Do several days precruise in Rome (plenty of stuff there to see)

Then take a cruise that called at minimum in Naples for Pompeii and Athens but that's if you are tight on time and truly want to keep it simple

Anything else such as a Greek island or Croatia is a bonus

Too bad about Istanbul but maybe by 2020 it will be back

Our last Med cruise we were able to see

Rome

Naples

Venice

Mykonos

Athens

Istanbul

Kusadasi

Florence

Monaco

Barcelona

Pre and post days in Italy and Spain too

We saw all the ancient ruins we wanted plus renaissance Florence(port) and Venice(pre cruise) sites and of course sagrada familia and Monserrat and more during the Barcelona post cruise

Of course each port was previously visited so we knew where to go and what to see but a combo of both east and west plus pre and post stays will give you more than you ever expected to see

IMHO go for as many days possible and see as many cities as possible.

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Don't overlook the historical ports of the Adriatic which is also East. Venice, Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro all are historical treasures and quite beautiful.

Also, don't forget about Sicily. Plenty of ancient history in Palermo, Syracuse, and there's always the fantastic Greek Theater in Taormina.

Don't overlook the historical ports of the Adriatic which is also East. Venice, Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro all are historical treasures and quite beautiful.

Certainly historical, but the OP specifically mentioned "ancient". :) Although I grant you that Diocletian's palace (Split, Croatia) qualifies.

Perfect response from cruisemom42.

I disagree with her about Israel being "off the map" for cruises. Many itineraries include it and it's safe.

Also, I agree with TeeRick above. You can get an Adriatic itinerary out of Venice that will get you Malta and Sicily as well and ours even ended with Naples followed by Civitavecchia. We were Venice to Dubrovnik (two days) to Montenegro, to Malta (two days), to Sicily (Catania), Naples, and Civitavecchia.

I disagree with her about Israel being "off the map" for cruises. Many itineraries include it and it's safe.

 

What I meant is that few cruises go there. While I agree it is generally safe, there are dust-ups from time to time that have caused cancellations (and much chagrin to cruise passengers) and because of that only a few itineraries per season generally call on ports in Israel for any given line.

Don't overlook the historical ports of the Adriatic which is also East. Venice, Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro all are historical treasures and quite beautiful.

Thanks very much to everyone!!! Sorry I did not reply earlier, work got in the way. :(

My last son will graduate in 2019. Looking to make that once in a lifetime trip to Europe.

We are going to see if we can cruise the entire mediteranean if possible. Not really a big cruiser,as I have only been on one so far. Going on another short one in November.

Just though it would be a good way to see a lot of places and not have to worry about accommodations and food for the most part. I like that the cruises seem to be at a different port almost each day. You can cover a lot of ground with very little effort.

I would like to work in 3 days before cruising in Rome and maybe 3 days after in Switzerland to round out the trip. Thinking of Rome to Venice on the cruise about 7-9 days. Looking at itineraries now.

If you're in it for the ancient sites and museums, you want to head East:

 

Naples: Pompeii, Herculaneum, National Archaeological Museum (to be fair, you can get this port on both Eastern and Western itineraries)

 

Athens: Acropolis and National Archaeological Museum

 

Katakolon: Ancient Olympia (and nice small, modern museum)

 

Mykonos: take a ferry to ancient Delos; a bit less than an hour, wonderful Hellenistic and Roman remains cover this small island.

 

Heraklion Crete: Knossos and wonderful Archaeological museum on Minoan civilization

 

Malta: Several outstanding neolithic sites including the Tarxien temples and the Hal Saflieni hypogeum (reserve in advance)

 

Kusadasi (Turkey, if you are lucky enough to go): Ancient ruins of Ephesus

 

...and many more.

 

Unfortunately, many other places I've visited in the Eastern Med are now "off the map" so to speak, or rarely visited by ships: Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Istanbul, Syria (yes, went there by cruise ship as recently as 2010!).

Cruise mom thanks so much. Going to look into all these!!