Mediterranean in Late March

[miami mama]

We are looking at taking the Mediterranean cruise during the "Quiet Season" of late March or April next year. Wondering who has taken this trip in the past and if they could recommend any of the paid excursions. Also, I'm guessing the label of "Quiet Season" really refers to less tourists during that time. However, I am curious what the seas are like during that time. Rough, calm, some combination?????

[Dauntless]

4 hours ago, miami mama said:

We are looking at taking the Mediterranean cruise during the "Quiet Season" of late March or April next year. Wondering who has taken this trip in the past and if they could recommend any of the paid excursions. Also, I'm guessing the label of "Quiet Season" really refers to less tourists during that time. However, I am curious what the seas are like during that time. Rough, calm, some combination?????

 

Which cruise exactly?  Yes 'quiet' means lees crowds and also in some ports that have  things fr the 'season', you won't be able to access.  We went late April to early May and the sea was great that time last year but you know how weather sometimes forgets what is suppose to be going on.

[Vineyard View]

Interested in feedback on this. 

We also have been in this area multiple times during late April/early May and love traveling during this time. We are looking at an itinerary that is only showing one sailing at this point - departing March 11, and the date has me hesitating.  

[cocopico]

We did the Eastern Med cruise from Athens to Venice in late March of 2017 and are currently aboard the Jupiter doing the Holy Land Cruise (late March/early April 2019). The weather on the first cruise was truly spectacular and it was nice not dealing with the crowds at most ports. The current cruise has been a little cooler in some ports and we had some rain in Israel, but overall it has been great.  With the exception of Rome and Naples, I think we’ve been the only cruise ship in all the other ports we visited (including Haifa, where we stayed for thee nights instead of two because of high winds in the port of Ashdod).  Maybe we’ve just been lucky going in late March each time, but I would not be deterred by the weather.  We had an amazing sea day today with nothing but sunshine and the pool roof was open all day — great cruise!

[Heidi13]

Been in the Meddy many times during that time frame and while weather is never guaranteed, the seas are normally moderate or better.

[miami mama]

I realize the only thing you can count on about the weather, is that you can't really count on it. However, I feel a little better about the possibilities of traveling in late March. Thanks all.

Any recommendations on excursions in port? We usually try to schedule things privately but open to options. 

 

[Dauntless]

7 minutes ago, miami mama said:

Any recommendations on excursions in port? We usually try to schedule things privately but open to options. 

 

 

Do you know the name of the cruise?  Many ports on the Mediterranean.

[K9pal]

We just returned from the Med Odyssey, 3/14-3/26, Barcelona to Venice.  Weather was just beautiful, gorgeous blue skies and in the upper 50's to mid/high 60's.  We did have gusty winds on the night we sailed out of Barcelona, which made things a bit rough during the night.  There was a storm another night, and some high winds for a couple of hours.  Otherwise very smooth sailing.  I would highly recommend going during this time as the tourist season is just starting, so the crowds are much lower.  Rome was still quite crowded, but school was out for a holiday on the day we were there.

[lackcreativity]

I am also considering an eastern Mediterranean  cruise with a start date of March 25. I love the idea of smaller crowds, I understand about the uncertainty of the weather, but I have another question. Here in the Mid-Atlantic region of the US, at that time things still look so dreary. Still no leaves on the trees, no flowers, grass isn't really green yet, and we are just starting with the barest hints of spring. Are the countries around the Mediterranean usually a little ahead of us in that regard? I don't want to sound too demanding, but I'm just wondering.

[K9pal]

5 hours ago, lackcreativity said:

I am also considering an eastern Mediterranean  cruise with a start date of March 25. I love the idea of smaller crowds, I understand about the uncertainty of the weather, but I have another question. Here in the Mid-Atlantic region of the US, at that time things still look so dreary. Still no leaves on the trees, no flowers, grass isn't really green yet, and we are just starting with the barest hints of spring. Are the countries around the Mediterranean usually a little ahead of us in that regard? I don't want to sound too demanding, but I'm just wondering.

 

We saw gorgeous blue skies almost every day, lots of green everywhere.  And of course, palm trees!  

[lackcreativity]

1 hour ago, K9pal said:

 

We saw gorgeous blue skies almost every day, lots of green everywhere.  And of course, palm trees!  

Thanks, that's good to know. We have traveled in the Mediterranean in  late April before, but never as early as we are considering for this possible cruise.

[miami mama]

The cruise looks to be the one K9Pal took (Med Odyssey) and during just about the same time. Sounds like it will be just fine. What kind of excursions did you take? The cruise heads in the Barcelona to Venice direction. We've been to Barcelona and the cities in Italy and know what we would like to do in those cities. However, Monte Carlo, Marseille, Corfu, and the two cities in Croatia are new to us. If you enjoyed any particular excursions either from Viking or privately we would be most interested. Thanks. 

[Dauntless]

1 hour ago, miami mama said:

The cruise looks to be the one K9Pal took (Med Odyssey) and during just about the same time. Sounds like it will be just fine. What kind of excursions did you take? The cruise heads in the Barcelona to Venice direction. We've been to Barcelona and the cities in Italy and know what we would like to do in those cities. However, Monte Carlo, Marseille, Corfu, and the two cities in Croatia are new to us. If you enjoyed any particular excursions either from Viking or privately we would be most interested. Thanks. 

 

I did this cruise last  April/May but I have it outlined on what our experience was on K9Pal roll call for the March 14 Roll Call.  He seems to have good reports on the weather and he was there the time you are looking at.

[K9pal]

19 hours ago, miami mama said:

The cruise looks to be the one K9Pal took (Med Odyssey) and during just about the same time. Sounds like it will be just fine. What kind of excursions did you take? The cruise heads in the Barcelona to Venice direction. We've been to Barcelona and the cities in Italy and know what we would like to do in those cities. However, Monte Carlo, Marseille, Corfu, and the two cities in Croatia are new to us. If you enjoyed any particular excursions either from Viking or privately we would be most interested. Thanks. 

 

We took the cruise because Italy was on our bucket list.  Marseille - I'd skip it if I had to do over.  We just weren't all that impressed with what we saw, and we didn't have a great guide.   However, we were quite impressed with Monte Carlo.  Corfu and Croatia weren't even on our radar, but they were all stunningly beautiful!  We just did the included tours, but we are booked on another Med cruise in 2021 that also includes Dubrovnik and Split, and we are anxious to visit again and do something different.  Would have loved to walk the walls in Dubrovnik, but we were tired and it was about $30usd each - money we didn't want to spend to ruin our knees for the rest of the cruise 😉.   We talked to some others who did the Krka waterfall excursion and said it was gorgeous.

[lackcreativity]

5 minutes ago, K9pal said:

 

We took the cruise because Italy was on our bucket list.  Marseille - I'd skip it if I had to do over.  We just weren't all that impressed with what we saw, and we didn't have a great guide.   However, we were quite impressed with Monte Carlo.  Corfu and Croatia weren't even on our radar, but they were all stunningly beautiful!  We just did the included tours, but we are booked on another Med cruise in 2021 that also includes Dubrovnik and Split, and we are anxious to visit again and do something different.  Would have loved to walk the walls in Dubrovnik, but we were tired and it was about $30usd each - money we didn't want to spend to ruin our knees for the rest of the cruise 😉.   We talked to some others who did the Krka waterfall excursion and said it was gorgeous.

We loved Dubrovnik. We did the included tour, then stayed after the tour to walk the walls on our own. 

After the walk, we had a nice lunch in the Old Town, and used Viking's free shuttle to return to the ship. Walking the walls is indeed strenuous, with very many stone steps. There are two gates, so it is possible to walk half way and then come back down. The view is fabulous, it's jam packed during the travel season, and I would worry that the steps could be slick in the rain. However, it was one of my favorite travel memories.

[Ready to Sail!]

We are on the Star right now, Empires of the Med.  We did the Athens Classic Extention arriving last Sunday, March 31. Weather was coolish but sunny so perfect for touring.  Left Athens last night for Santorini.  The seas became very rough over night with high winds and really bad conditions by the time we arrived this morning so had to sail right by and turn back towards the west for a day at sea.  Next couple of days look unsettled also but at least not tender ports. Our cabin attendant told us same itinerary last week had great weather the whole trip.   We spent mid March to mid April in Italy a few years ago and it was hot the whole time with no rain.  We’ve been to Europe in May and had a real mix of wet/cold to hot. So bottom line, like many parts of the world, spring can be unpredictable but I would still pick it over summer with unbearable heat and crowds.