Best Europe Cruise

[cruisemom42]

This is MSC's June 2, 2017 cruise - port times are NOT short at all AND there are no days at sea on this cruise - certainly a huge benefit if you want to see as much as possible:

Fri Jun 2 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy 6:00pm

Sat Jun 3 La Spezia, Italy 9:00am

Sun Jun 4 La Spezia, Italy 1:00am

Sun Jun 4 Genoa, Italy 8:00am 6:00pm

Mon Jun 5 Cannes, France 8:00am 4:00pm

Tue Jun 6 Palma de Mallorca, Spain 2:00pm

Wed Jun 7 Palma de Mallorca, Spain 12:30am

Wed Jun 7 Barcelona, Spain 9:30am 6:00pm

Thu Jun 8 Ajaccio, Corsica, France Noon 7:00pm

Fri Jun 9 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy 8:00am

 

The food on MSC is Neapolitan, which at least is European.

 

 

Note I said often, not always. :cool:

 

To each his own, but I really wouldn't consider Genoa, Palma or Ajaccio as must-see ports on what sounds like a first European cruise....

[ronandannette]

I have sailed the Epic from Civitavecchia (port near Rome) a few times and really enjoyed it.

 

Here is the itinerary for June 2017:

 

 

7-Day Western Mediterranean Round-trip from Civitavecchia

View All Ports Print Itinerary

Day Cruise Ports

Arrive

Depart

Wed Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy (EMBARK) --- 7:00 pm

Thu Florence/Pisa (Livorno), Italy 7:00 am 7:00 pm

Fri Cannes, France 8:00 am 6:00 pm

Sat Provence (Marseille), France 7:00 am 4:00 pm

Sun Barcelona, Spain 5:00 am 6:00 pm

Mon At Sea --- ---

Tue Naples, Italy 7:00 am 7:00 pm

Wed Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy (DISEMBARK) 6:00 am

 

 

The great part of this cruise is you can choose to embark in Rome, Barcelona or Marseille. So you can spend a few days prior to the cruise exploring that city. I embarked in Civitavecchia each time and spent time in Rome.

 

The ports give you an opportunity to visit:

Livormo - Florence, Cinque Terre and more

Naples - Naples, Pompeii, Capri, Amalfi Coast

Barcelona - La Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, etc

 

 

The Epic is a great ship for all ages - fantastic evening entertainment and beautiful ship. Freestyle cruising so you can dress up or not.

 

 

On the NCL website - right now I noticed the June 7-14 and 14-21st itineraries are 3rd and 4th guest free. There might be dates also in May that include that promo but I did not check.

 

Regardless of what you pick - hope all of you have a fantastic European adventure!!!!

 

OP - I've done a TON of research on Western Med cruises and given your circumstances - this Epic itinerary really merits some attention. Not only are the prices very reasonable, the port stops are arguably the must-see spots on an introduction to the region. And since this is, after all, going to be a cruise too, not just a trip to Europe, the Epic is an excellent ship with offerings that will appeal to your young graduates.

Edited June 21, 2016 by ronandannette

[buggins0402]

Note I said often, not always. :cool:

 

To each his own, but I really wouldn't consider Genoa, Palma or Ajaccio as must-see ports on what sounds like a first European cruise....

 

I have to take the other side on that itinerary. From Genoa, one can take a quick train to Santa Margherita and combo that with Portofino with a quick ferry ride. It starts in Rome, allowing time to visit that city properly. Palma is charming and the itinerary allows time to visit the town in the early evening when people tend to stroll. Cannes allows visits to multiple towns on the French Riviera. The itinerary also allows enough time to visit Cinque Terre from La Spezia...again giving some early evening time when most of the day trippers have left.

 

If someone likes "ambience" towns, it would work well. And, with enough vacation time Florence could be added as a land portion...which is the proper way to do that city. But, then I tend to like to have little bite size cruise ports and save the biggies for before or after on land.

[hun]

We loved our Royal Caribbean Med cruise last fall! (On Vision)

Started in Barcelona, Villefranche (for Nice/Monte Carlo) Livorno (for Florence), Rome, Salerno (for Sorrento, Positano, Pompeii), overnight in Venice and Kotor. We were so happy we had opted for the more expensive option, when we were looking, that included the Venice overnight!

I used to live in Italy, but my husband had never been and we just loved that itinerary [emoji5]

[zoncom]

Remember something not really addressed here;the Kids, 3 under 20. Its for them. If I had a college kid I would go with the newest, biggest mid price range ship that has something for everyone.Probably Royal Caribbean. They have better food than NCL- the other line with big ships. Avoid the older, smaller ships of any line.

Edited June 22, 2016 by zoncom