Location. Italy. Or Venice and Greek isles

[anneduck]

Trying to decide on next trip. Want to do something in Europe. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated:hearteyes:

[George C]

Our favorite ports are Barcelona, Florence , Naples , Venice , kotor and Athens

[cruisemom42]

What kind of vacation are you looking for? Sunny isles and beaches with a bit of history tossed in? If so, go with the Greek isles.

 

If you're more into history than beaches, then I'd go with Italy.

 

Such generalizations are tough without an actual itinerary so we can give feedback on specific ports. For example, Santorini is wonderful but it can also get horribly overcrowded with cruise ship passengers in the peak of the Med season.

 

Just a word of warning, since the previous poster listed Florence as a favorite. Florence is not actually a port and in fact it is at least 90 minutes away by bus or train from Livorno, where cruise ships dock. Similarly, Rome is an hour from the port at Civitavecchia.

 

These are all things to think about. I'd encourage you to visit the Ports of Call boards here on Cruise Critic for Greece and Italy and do some reading. (As well as some guidebooks or good online sites.)

[George C]

I do prefer cities that you can dock at like Naples, but we did a great private tour in Livorno, first Pisa, then Florence with a visit to museum with David , time to shop and have lunch then a wine tasting in a organic vineyard and back to the ship in under 10 hours, it took us less than 90 mins for Florence and more than a hour for Rome.

[SteveH2508]

Venice is a unique city. The sail away is one of the best in the world - however it may not be the same experience in a few years time, so it is worth doing it now if you can. The Eastern Med has some lovely ports of call. I would look at something starting in Venice and ending in Rome. OP could then look at adding a couple of days on at each end, to do these wonderful cities justice.

 

Alternatively OP could look at Round Britain cruises (we are still geographically part of Europe notwithstanding Brexit) or the Norwegian fiords or the Baltic.

 

A bit more detail on OP's likes and dislikes would help.

[Velvetwater]

If you are thinking Med then like a lot of posters above I would recommend the Eastern side (maybe with a bit of West) as you get a big bag of different cultures for your money.

 

Ideally sail out of Venice as its stunning as a port to sail in and out of then try and get ports in Greece as well as Kotor (Montenegro), Dubrovnik and Split (Croatia) and Valetta in Malta as well as I feel these less famous ports are as stunning (if not more) than their famous Italian and French neighbours.

 

If you want something completely different I also recommend a Baltic cruise.

[jocap]

I'm with Velvetwater on this one- Venice, plus other ports in the Adriatic, and possibly Greece.

[Got2Cruise]

I think everyone has their priorities. The Barcelona round trip is a great Mediterranean cruise for the novice. A trip to Rome to see the Sistine Chapel was always on my bucket list my entire life. Seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa was also something I always wanted to do. We also visited the gorgeous Isle of Capri, and Monte Carlo. The icing on the cake was spending additional days in amazing Barcelona. A very Big Bang for your buck. If you’re not able to return that way, and trust me, you most likely will want to, you get to see a lot.

[George C]

I think everyone has their priorities. The Barcelona round trip is a great Mediterranean cruise for the novice. A trip to Rome to see the Sistine Chapel was always on my bucket list my entire life. Seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa was also something I always wanted to do. We also visited the gorgeous Isle of Capri, and Monte Carlo. The icing on the cake was spending additional days in amazing Barcelona. A very Big Bang for your buck. If you’re not able to return that way, and trust me, you most likely will want to, you get to see a lot.

 

I was very surprised at cost of everything in Barcelona we ordered a couple of Amstel beers in a little tapas place by our hotel expecting bill to be well over ten euros and total was 3, wish we could get prices like that in nyc.