Mediterranean Circumnavigation Cruise

[Trebborjay]

Just joined cruisecritic to see if anyone can help me find a cruise.  I've gone to several cruise websites but find their search engines woefully lacking.  My wife and I are both retired, in our 60s, and are looking at our next cruise.  We've done only 2 ocean cruises so far, a 21 day Baltic/Northern British Isles cruise and a 35 day Australian/Indonesian cruise.  We like the longer cruises as we have the time now to spend as long as we wish.  We're looking at a cruise that would take in the western Mediterranean and the eastern Mediterranean.  That may require 2 cruises and if so, back to back would be best.  We want to visit Spain, south of France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, etc.  No interest in going up the Red Sea/Suez Canal at this time.  What's also important to us is to have a couple of days in the more important ports so that there's time to do sight-seeing, not just ship-led excursions.  We would prefer spring and fall travel times but that's not critical.  The length of the cruise(s) should be more than several weeks so that we can enjoy the destinations.  Price is important but not a deal breaker as we're finding that often more expensive cruises can be reasonable compared to less expensive cruises in which you pay extra for everything.  Has anyone done a similar cruise or know of one?  Thank you for your help.  Bob

[fabnfortysomething]

8 hours ago, Trebborjay said:

Just joined cruisecritic to see if anyone can help me find a cruise.  I've gone to several cruise websites but find their search engines woefully lacking.  My wife and I are both retired, in our 60s, and are looking at our next cruise.  We've done only 2 ocean cruises so far, a 21 day Baltic/Northern British Isles cruise and a 35 day Australian/Indonesian cruise.  We like the longer cruises as we have the time now to spend as long as we wish.  We're looking at a cruise that would take in the western Mediterranean and the eastern Mediterranean.  That may require 2 cruises and if so, back to back would be best.  We want to visit Spain, south of France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, etc.  No interest in going up the Red Sea/Suez Canal at this time.  What's also important to us is to have a couple of days in the more important ports so that there's time to do sight-seeing, not just ship-led excursions.  We would prefer spring and fall travel times but that's not critical.  The length of the cruise(s) should be more than several weeks so that we can enjoy the destinations.  Price is important but not a deal breaker as we're finding that often more expensive cruises can be reasonable compared to less expensive cruises in which you pay extra for everything.  Has anyone done a similar cruise or know of one?  Thank you for your help.  Bob

you wont find many[if any] itinerares posted as more than 14 days-you wil need to build up your own as back to back as most cruisers will be taking 7 or 14 days-this means unlikely to see exactly same people if you are on board for at least 21

 

most cruiselines will do 7 or 14 days-which line is up to your preferences

 

7 day round trips out of Barcelona will cover key  Western ports

7 days out of Venice will cover Greek Isles or 14 days will cover Turkey/Egypt

a one way 14 day from Barcelona to Venice[or vice versa] will take in most Wester ports and then you can do a back to back with option of at least an overnight in either of those ports

 

good luck planning 

[Trebborjay]

Thanks for the input, fabnfortysomething.  Much appreciated.  Too bad that the major cruises are so short.  It only allows for a brief stop at most points of call, but that is something common to cruising.  You can always go back to visit the places you like.

I'll start looking for western Med and eastern Med cruises that cover the bases.

[fabnfortysomething]

5 minutes ago, Trebborjay said:

Thanks for the input, fabnfortysomething.  Much appreciated.  Too bad that the major cruises are so short.  It only allows for a brief stop at most points of call, but that is something common to cruising.  You can always go back to visit the places you like.

I'll start looking for western Med and eastern Med cruises that cover the bases.

someone may prove me wrong by identifying a longer cruise but you will give yourself more flexibility if you build your own ideal cruise length by adding together shorter ones-you could also use more than one cruise line to do so

[wheezedr]

Not sure if they still follow this pattern but when we did the Med on Princess they had a rotation of Saturday port stops with Athens, Rome and Barcelona.  We elected to start and end in Athens as we had never been and had previously done the other two on land.  Over 21 day we had 17 port days and the only one which duplicated was Naples.  We went as far west as Gibraltar and as Far East as Istanbul and Ephesus in Turkey.  Nothing to North Africa however. Days were very busy but included lots of Ruins, some beaches, and interesting cities. As was noted above your fellow cruisers came and went but it was an opportunity to meet lots of new folks.  You are right that you do not get depth in seeing places but it was a great way for us to get both Athens, we stayed extra, and Istanbul, which was on my bucket list but visiting was +/- with my DW.

[Trebborjay]

Thanks wheezedr.  Do you have a link to that Princess cruise?  Can't seem to find it using their search engine.  Certainly sounds along the lines that we're looking for.  Seems that destinations in Turkey, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, etc. are in limited supply probably due to the unrest in that part of the world.

[wheezedr]

17 hours ago, Trebborjay said:

Thanks wheezedr.  Do you have a link to that Princess cruise?  Can't seem to find it using their search engine.  Certainly sounds along the lines that we're looking for.  Seems that destinations in Turkey, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, etc. are in limited supply probably due to the unrest in that part of the world.

If you go to the Princess site, under their plan a cruise engine you are allowed to define terms.  Use Europe for your destination.  If you want a more extended trip use either 9-15 days or >16 days as your length.   You can also book a series of 1 week btb’s but it takes a little more work.  When I went out it appears that Turkey is still out of the mix.

It is sad but true that many interesting ports in the Eastern Med and N Africa are currently off the cruise line radar.  There was a bombing in Turkey midway on our cruise, not near either Istanbul or Kusadesi so we made both stops.  Subsequently there was a second bombing and Princess as well as other cruise lines altered their itineraries.  We were the last princess ship to port there.  It is sad because the people were wonderful and the sites phenomenal to visit.

If you book it you will enjoy this cruise.  Very busy, lots to see and lots to read about and plan for.

[Ski Mom 2]

Last September we put 3 cruises together on Wind Surf leaning from Lisbon to Barcelona, Barcelona to Rome, Rome around Sicily and back to Rome for a total of 25 glorious days. I’m pretty sure the next cruise was Rome to Venice. Windstar has some new cruises that are going to include more Greece I believe. Have you checked out Windstar? We love the port intensive itineraries, the fabulous crew and likeminded folks that cruise on the line.  

[Trebborjay]

For some reason, Windstar wasn't on my radar.  Thanks for the suggestion.  I'll have a look at their itineraries.

So far I've found lots of cruises in the Mediterranean but none have peaked my interest completely.  Too many stops at places that are the same as so many others.  And too short times in port, but then that just seems to be the way things are on cruises unless you own your own ship:).

[Ski Mom 2]

Windstar ships are small (300 or less passengers) and are known for out of the way ports. They do offer a few late night ports and now occasionally an overnight in some ports. We prefer to be in a different port each day rather than many days at sea which has been our experience on the cruises we have sailed with them. 

[Highpeaklad]

Celebrity do Venice to Barcelona then Barcelona to Venice. Outward via Dubrovnik/Sicily/Malta, inward via Soithrn France/Rome/Naples. About 9 days each way. This could work for you. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

Another cruise line that is very port-intensive and does straight-line cruises (that can be linked together) is Azamara.