datonesanchez

We have narrowed our Caribbean cruise choices down to 3, having a hard time choosing one so I was hoping I can get some pros and cons from your experiences if you have sailed these itineraries before!

I did not expect such a big response. Thanks to all of you who responded and especially those who provided so much information regarding multiple ports; it is greatly appreciated. I will take these into consideration as I continue to research more into each port. For those who asked if I had joined my roll-call yet, no I have not due to the fact that we may be cancelling for a family-friend's wedding that has yet to be determined.

I will be sailing on this itinerary http://www.princess.com/find/displayItineraryPopup.do?voyageCode=E538A&tourCode= and plan on purchasing excursions on many of the popular ports such as (Florence, Barcelona, Sicily, etc.)

I came here seeking advice from cruisers who have visited any of these ports before to give an opinion on whether or not I can do without an excursion on certain ports. I plan on purchasing excursions on any ports with UNESCO heritage "must-see" sites but are there any ports from this itinerary where I would not regret just simply walking around near the port? For example, it seems like Valencia will be a port where I can skip excursions and just wandering will suffice. I understand that it is all personal preference but your personal opinion will help my research, thank you :)

After doing some research it seems like cruise discounts given by agents are because they buy rooms in bulk and rebook/sell them at a discount to their clients. Would they still give a discount when there is a great deal like the "3 For Free Sale" going on right now on princess' main page? Debating if I should visit a travel agent, it looks like I need to book immediately on the main page to catch this deal.

I apologize please ignore this post, I meant to make my own thread but replied here instead.

Just wanted to update everyone. We have reserved our itinerary and this is the itinerary we chose:

HOWEVER... Since our agent informed us about our right to cancel (within the certain amount of days) we are still very on the edge of choosing this:

The only downside is that we have only one day in Barcelona and no Venice. So our decision is not yet over unfortunately :(

Hi everyone,

How far in advance does Disney post their itineraries? I was searching Western Mediterranean itineraries in 2015 and only found 7 night cruises. What are the possibilities of Disney sailing 12+ nights in that region?

I would ditch the two that are eastbound trans-Atlantics because you'll lose an hour sleep for five nights in a row, and then you'll have the most port-intensive part of the cruise at the end.

 

Personally, I think the last itinerary you list, the Rome - Ft. Lauderdale, is head-and-shoulders the best. True, no Venice, but you have to leave something to go back to Europe for! I loved Sicily, I'd love to visit Tunis, Madeira is breathtaking, plus it's the longest cruise, which is always a plus. And westbound, you gain an hour's sleep on five nights. And the weather should still be excellent.

 

I just did the Med in December and I have to tell you that I would not have enjoyed Rome or Pompeii nearly as much in the hot, crowded summer. More for the crowds than the heat. So, I'd rule out the itineraries in August and in June, which is high season. You'll have a better time if you aren't elbow-to-elbow with other travelers in every port, in my opinion.

 

Please don't forget to tell us what you end up choosing!

Hi rdsqrl, Rome - Ft Lauderdale is still in our final list and your insight has definitely bumped it up a few notches. As far as the months are concerned, I will be listening to everyone's advice from both here and website posts to avoid high season and the early summer months BUT it seems like many of the itineraries are sailing during that time and for some odd reason they are cheaper; in fact one of the itineraries in June is cheaper than the rest of the summer. I am trying to figure out why because I thought high season is usually more expensive due to demand. Or maybe because everyone wants to avoid high season that demand is dwindling?

Anyways, I am trying to figure out which is better of these two itineraries as one of them is missing Kusadasi, Turkey. The hours spent docked are similar which is odd. Also the itinerary including Kusadasi is cheaper. It seems like the itinerary missing Kusadasi will be spending that time in Mykonos instead, correct me if I'm wrong:P.s ignore the sail dates

I would delete the one that is in August, because, well, it's August! Ports will be more crowded and it will be much hotter in the Med than the times for the other itineraries.

My August Med cruise was much cooler than my July one.

 

The August one also includes some great beach swimming opportunities in Barcelona, Mykonos, and Naples (swimming in the colorful grottos in Capri was an amazing experience for us).

 

YMMV

Thanks for the weather information guys I will keep that in mind when deciding on the final itinerary.

I would like to thank you all for your recent replies. I was going to multi-quote them but noticed that it would clutter and further confuse anyone trying to follow this thread. Your different opinions about certain points have definitely helped us out. We have been reading up on Mediterranean ports for some time now and wanted your personal opinions which is why we started this thread so thank you for letting us know how you feel about the various itineraries we posted. We have narrowed down our choices and will be finalizing which itinerary soon. Thank you all for the help so far and I will keep checking back on this thread just in case anyone else wants to chime in.

Thank you all for the responses so far they have definitely helped in narrowing down some itineraries. We have decided to eliminate the itinerary from South Hampton and the last itinerary that includes Dubvronik because Venice is definitely one of our must-haves of the three. After reading your posts we are going to rough out the May weather to avoid docking in La Spezia but we really hope it does not get switched later on.

Our family now has to narrow down these choices. The ones that include Venice seem to be better than the original one I posted. (There are some much longer itineraries included but after airfare calculation, instead of spending the money on a plane back to the states we would be spending it into more time on the cruise/sea days) :

I am so sorry about how messy this looks. I tried to organize it the best that I can for everyone's visibility/cross-checking. The clutter represents my mind trying to figure out which to choose :p

You'll see that the important bit of your post is corrupted.

Just a guess, but probably it includes the name of a travel agent - which is a no-no on Cruise Critic.

 

Post the ports on each itinerary, plus number of nights, ship or cruise line name, time of year, approx. prices for comparable cabins, & anything else that might help.

 

Do it here, or start another thread.

 

Can I suggest before you hit "submit" you hit "preview" to check it reads OK.

 

JB :)

Hi JB,

The website just didn't accept my previous links for the "insert image" option. I switched to photobucket and the pictures are up now. Thanks for the advice though :)

Hey Cruisers,

First time cruising to the Mediterranean and having a hard time deciding on an itinerary. They are all similar but with 1/2+ different ports in each. Hoping that you guys can give me some personal opinions on why one itinerary would be better than another (ports).