Chanmc

40 minutes ago, FLCruiser97 said:

Question.....if you are on a Med cruise and, say you go in a few days earlier, how do you get your covid test done 2 days before sailing. Do you have to go to a covid test site there?

Totally a point I hadn't thought about as we were planning to spend several nights in Barcelona first so we'd have to test before leaving US and test again in Barcelona.  Plan B might be getting more realistic, UG.

Thank you in advance for any advice and comments - keep in mind have only taken a couple of cruises previously and none on celebrity.  We booked this a year ago hoping COVID would be a thing of the past and to celebrate daughters high school graduation before leaving for college.  Now trying to decide if we should opt for "Plan B".  We are booked on Constellation for 9 night western med cruise Barcelona to Venice in Sky Suite 6118.  We wanted a nice room because her graduation trip and she has never been to Europe.  Husband and I have been twice, once to Italy and once Silverseas in Baltic for work reward trip.  

Any feedback on the ship or this type of room?

Does anyone know if Europe cruise will require masks for vaccinated guests?  It seems like Caribbean trips are not although can't really find details on off ship.  Do not want to spend this kind of money if we have to spend entire time off ship wearing masks and worried if excursions will be difficult due to COVID.  I know I'm asking some crystal ball questions, just curious as to others thoughts on what to expect.

We are trying to make decision between keeping this cruise or waiting until summer of 2023 to do it and doing either St. John or Maui for a "smaller" graduation trip.

15 hours ago, SelectSys said:

One of the first things you need to do is decide which part of the Mediterranean holds the most interest - East vs West.  How about ships that go into the Adriatic sea?  7 to 10 days is simply not enough time to cover the Mediterranean properly.  My recommendation is always to go for as long as you can given the travel time involved.

 

I personally like to look at a site that posts cruise timetables (easy to find with your favorite search engine) for all ships and lines.  I plugged in June 2022 and saw a 9 day cruise on Celebrity that starts in Barcelona and ends in Venice.  This gives opportunities for extra activities on both ends. Another is a 14 day cruise on Princess starts in Barcelona and ends in Athens.  Lot's of opportunities to look at. 

 

My recommendation would be to look at all the major departure ports - Barcelona, Rome, Athens, Venice.., - to see what cruise looks best based on what you view as the best journey/ports that works within your budget and time constraints.

 

Good luck!  I have done a few Mediterranean cruises with my kids and we always had a great time!

 

One more thing - go as early in the month as you can to both beat the heat and at least some of the peak summer crowds.

 

 

 

Thanks so much - I spent several hours yesterday researching (in between zoom work calls, lol) and might have seen the same trips.  I watched a video on ports also so starting to figure out which I think will interest us the most.  My daughter is super easy going so she'll enjoy no matter what we decide and will enjoy the adventure of going to so many places.  Total we are considering 2 weeks so hopefully that will be enough to spark her interest to go back, etc.

25 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Have you considered Viking ?

I'm not seeing having 3 people in stateroom on Viking.  I like the 10 day Venice to Athens but that excludes a lot of Italy and no Spain so we need to decide on ports first.

23 minutes ago, Pudgesmom said:

If correct, your only experience in many years is on Silverseas? That experience would be very different from a cruise on one of the much larger, more affordable lines. 
 

Our children love Windstar, they started sailing with us in high school, and now in their 30’s and married, all enjoy the atmosphere. They are not in the luxury market, more like premium plus, food and service is better and there is no waiting in line for anything. (This is my pet peeve, ymmv.) The cabins on the  motor yachts are very spacious and might work well for your family of three. Although we adore the sailing ships, the cabins would be tight with a third.  Quick on and off at every port and can get into places others can’t due to size. (300 pax)

Thanks, I'll look at Windstar motor - we are not much for sailing, beautiful, but not our ideal.  We definitely liked being on a smaller ship and got to go to different ports than larger ships in Baltic.  

Thank you all so much for thoughts - very helpful.  I will actually look into the book.  Our daughter is a super easy traveler, she likes adventure and going to places we have never been.  Not super history/art buff but has studied world history so we will definitely spend a little time in Rome and if possible Florence (as that was favorite of mine and husbands).  She has been to Hawaii, Jamaica, Barbados and multiple small islands in Bahamas.  We live in Florida and she is a competitive swimmer, although she does not want to swim in college.  We felt like a cruise would provide the opportunity to see more and explore.  We will likely do some food tours and if possible some boat tours at waterside towns/islands.  Husband and I spent time in Rome and set up private tours for the areas we wanted to see so I will likely do similar.

For ships, she doesn't drink but husband and I would like her to begin to experience wine at dinner, etc (she will be going off to college:)  

Hi, I am beginning to plan a graduation trip for our daughter in June 2022. We are looking at possibly a Med cruise but are not frequent cruisers. We did Baltic cruise on Silverseas (work trip for me so we weren't paying) and small Caribbean cruise when daughter was young. Husband and I have been to Italy but daughter has not been to Europe at all. She is avid traveler and explorer though.

Ideally we'd like to go into one city (Spend a few days before cruise) and out of another (same) so I have begun looking at cruises like embarking in Rome, disbarking in Barcelona, etc. but not 100% necessary. We'd like to do somewhere between 7-10 days depending on ports. I very much want to be able to plan our own excursions as I don't want to have to be in large groups. (I know right now bc of COVID, this is limited if allowed at all but hopeful by 2022, that may change). I planned all of our own excursions on Baltic trip including arranging our time in Russia which isn't easy to do.

We'd like a nice cabin as this will be graduation trip but trying to understand sleeping for 3 in a room, do sofa's typically fold out? I have begun to look at Celebrity, MSC and Oceania (although it doesn't seem as appealing for 18 y/o). I just don't know much about the cruise lines in Europe.

Any feedback and thoughts would be great - I love doing research on TA and appreciate comments from experts.