2005 Med. Cruise

Which cruise lines would "experienced" cruisers recommend for 2005 Med. Cruise? What is best time of year to go? Any secruity concerns for particular ports?

We've only done one Med cruise and that was in Sept. 2002. We sailed a 12 night, Celebrity Millineum from Barcelona, Nice, Livorno, Rome, Naples, Malta, Sicily, Malaga and back to Barcelona.

We chose that one because we did not want to get into the Eastern Med countries (Greece, Turkey) because of security concerns and the one we chose was the only sailing we could find that stayed in the western Med and fit our timetable. It was a fabulous trip. We were a bit concerned about the security problems, but we signed up for lots of shore excursions. I never got the feeling that we were unwelcome or disliked by any of the people that we came in contact with. I don't know that the situation is still the same or not, but i suspect that it is.

If you do shore excursions, most of the people you encounter will be ones that depend on your dollars (Euros) for their living. They will be on their best behavior. Just don't behave like the world should bow down to you because you are an American and you should be fine.

For a mass market line, Celebrity wins hands down. For a luxury experience, Crystal is the best. Cruising in the Med has gotten expensive because the US dollar is very weak against the Euro so you will find cruising the Med at any time of the year to be expensive. As of yesterday, when I changed money for my dad who's going back to the "old country" for a visit, you only got .81 Euros per US dollar. That's pretty bad.

May or September is the best time for the Med. I've done 4 of my 5 Med cruises in July and it was horribly hot and crowded at all the tourist sites. May was by far the most comfortable temperature wise and tourists were less.

For security, I would avoid going to Turkey, but some others will feel differently. I just think Turkey with all their problems and with the recent bombings, is just dangerous. You also don't want to wear clothing that screams "I'm American", so that means any clothing with American flags isn't the best idea.

Here is a suggestion check out Costa, most of their ships are in the Med. They have lots of cruises and seem to have specials for them on the website.

Thanks to all of you for your input. I will check on "Costa", but have read some reviews that many of the staff do not speak English, making it very uncomfortable trying to communicate.