Best cruise line for Mediterranean cruise?

[Sigyn]

We're looking at several option for a Mediterranean cruise for July 2024. It's nearly impossible to decide which cruise line and itinerary to go with. We've done one Med cruise before, but that was six years ago and on Carnival, so it doesn't count. 🙂 So I'm trying to start with the cruise line. Would like to know the favorites of folks on CC. We're looking at Celebrity, Norwegian, Seabourn, Holland America, Virgin, Viking and Oceania. There's even one from Silversea that would work for us. 

I know it's a mix of luxury and non-luxury cruise lines, but they each have their pluses and minuses and the cost of each cruise is acceptable. I'm mostly curious whether the age threshold is higher on Viking, Oceania and Silversea, and if the entertainment would be to our liking, although we don't really do cruises for the entertainment. But if we do go to a show, I'd like for us to enjoy it. We're pretty low-key, we like to see a port, do an excursion, have a great dinner and wine afterward, and good conversation with our fellow passengers and relax on the deck or in a lounge on the ship afterward. We enjoy listening to music at night, that's our favorite kind of on-board entertainment. Particularly guitarists, as my husband plays guitar. I'm 55 and my husband is 51, so I want the age mix of passengers to be compatible for us. Perhaps that's Celebrity? We have previously  cruised on Norwegian and we're doing our first Celebrity cruise this summer.  

 

Any insight would be welcomed. Thanks in advance. 

Edited February 17, 2023 by njsmom

[Lois R]

Good morning, sounds like you already know the cruise lines you mentioned are all in different categories.  You must also know the size of the ships vary as well. Seabourn and Silversea would be in the same genre.....Viking ocean and Oceania would be considered in one.........NCL and Celebrity in another.  Do you enjoy the "mega ships"? 

 

I sail with Silversea, their largest ship holds 600. As for age? I am 64 and have met many guests older than me as well as younger. For many many years I sailed with Celebrity. I started sailing with SS in 2017 and LOVE it. I would say their entertainment is nothing like the "big ships"....but for me? I really don't care about that...sometimes I go to the shows and sometimes I don't. They  normally have a guitarist and/or pianist as well. But most folks would tell you entertainment is not a "high priority" with  SS.  They do offer some excellent itineraries though!

I love the smaller vessels and will be heading to Greece in April🙂. You certainly have a lot of options, that is for sure. Maybe after you sail Celebrity this summer you can see if they appeal to you for another cruise. Or not......

Good luck with your research and hope you find whatever cruise fits you best🙂

 

 

[LHT28]

Oceania  is low key   so the entertainment  is not like the main stream lines

Smaller ships  approx  680 or 1200 pax

yes older pax but usually a mix in ages

 

Try  the ones you might like    then decide what suits you best

 Go for the itinerary

 Everyone has  their favourite line   that works best for their needs wants

[ontheweb]

If they all fit your budget, I would look at how long they are in the ports that are most important to you. Also remember some ports are actually not ports, but far away. Rome, Florence, and Athens are examples of destinations that are not the actual port.

[CruiserBruce]

There is no one favorite or "best" for everyone on Cruise Critic! Not sure how there could be.

 

Frequently mentioned around this topic is that Med cruises are typically very port intensive, with a lot of 8 hour tour days. The ship becomes secondary for many people.

[George C]

We enjoyed our rccl in a smaller ship Brillance , I believe all of the rccl ships have a pub with a guitar player, we normally spend lots of time there . With Europe I believe ports should be top priority ship second . 

[Markanddonna]

Choose your Med cruise mostly for the itinerary and then prioritize. We had two wonderful NCL Med cruises, but the itinerary was very port intensive and important to us. We didn't have time to do much on the ship. If you are on a Med cruise in the summer, that is a different story. Keep in mind, the Med can be stifling in the summer.

[Aquahound]

4 hours ago, njsmom said:

We're looking at several option for a Mediterranean cruise for July 2024. It's nearly impossible to decide which cruise line and itinerary to go with. We've done one Med cruise before, but that was six years ago and on Carnival, so it doesn't count. 🙂 So I'm trying to start with the cruise line. Would like to know the favorites of folks on CC. We're looking at Celebrity, Norwegian, Seabourn, Holland America, Virgin, Viking and Oceania. There's even one from Silversea that would work for us. 

I know it's a mix of luxury and non-luxury cruise lines, but they each have their pluses and minuses and the cost of each cruise is acceptable. I'm mostly curious whether the age threshold is higher on Viking, Oceania and Silversea, and if the entertainment would be to our liking, although we don't really do cruises for the entertainment. But if we do go to a show, I'd like for us to enjoy it. We're pretty low-key, we like to see a port, do an excursion, have a great dinner and wine afterward, and good conversation with our fellow passengers and relax on the deck or in a lounge on the ship afterward. We enjoy listening to music at night, that's our favorite kind of on-board entertainment. Particularly guitarists, as my husband plays guitar. I'm 55 and my husband is 51, so I want the age mix of passengers to be compatible for us. Perhaps that's Celebrity? We have previously  cruised on Norwegian and we're doing our first Celebrity cruise this summer.  

 

Any insight would be welcomed. Thanks in advance. 

 

That's a tough one because you're all over the place with your options.  I totally agree with the others in that itinerary is the number one priority.  Choose what part of the Med you want to cruise and narrow it down to your most desired itineraries.  It'll be easier to suggest a good line if you do that.  

 

I do disagree with anyone who downplays the importance of the ship though.  I still think you want to be on the right line for you because port intensive or not, you're still enjoying the ships offerings every night and during sea days.  

 

Regarding entertainment and your preference for an evening guitarist, avoid HAL.  They have eliminated that kind of entertainment.  In my experience Royal Caribbean and Celebrity have been the best in that regard.  As far as shows, IMO, Royal Caribbean is tops.  

[Markanddonna]

How about starting with "do you love ancient or medieval  history" or are you more of a "I love the beach" sort of cruiser? Do you have an idea of which ports excite you more than others? For example, people swoon over Santorini, but it is problematic when there are more than one or two ships there since you have to tender. There could be two-hour lines to take the cable car. On the other hand, a stop in Rhodes, Greece is so easy- you just walk off the ship from the dock, and it is uber charming with lots of history, castles, etc. 

 

I love ancient and biblical history, so that is where mind goes. 

 

People can rave about certain entertainers that performed in the summer of 2022, but it is likely there will be an entirely different group in 2023. Also, any reviews before or even during the later part of the pandemic are often no longer helpful. Cruising is changing so much because of the companies needing to make up lost revenue. My 2022 RCL Ta and NCL Mediterranean were wonderful but my most recent MSC Caribbean was close to a nightmare, and I had happily been on that ship twice before.

 

It looks like all those companies would work for you. Best of luck!

[Sigyn]

5 hours ago, Lois R said:

Good morning, sounds like you already know the cruise lines you mentioned are all in different categories.  You must also know the size of the ships vary as well. Seabourn and Silversea would be in the same genre.....Viking ocean and Oceania would be considered in one.........NCL and Celebrity in another.  Do you enjoy the "mega ships"? 

 

I sail with Silversea, their largest ship holds 600. As for age? I am 64 and have met many guests older than me as well as younger. For many many years I sailed with Celebrity. I started sailing with SS in 2017 and LOVE it. I would say their entertainment is nothing like the "big ships"....but for me? I really don't care about that...sometimes I go to the shows and sometimes I don't. They  normally have a guitarist and/or pianist as well. But most folks would tell you entertainment is not a "high priority" with  SS.  They do offer some excellent itineraries though!

I love the smaller vessels and will be heading to Greece in April🙂. You certainly have a lot of options, that is for sure. Maybe after you sail Celebrity this summer you can see if they appeal to you for another cruise. Or not......

Good luck with your research and hope you find whatever cruise fits you best🙂

 

 

I don't enjoy mega ships, smaller and mid-size ships are more my style. Even our holiday sailing six weeks ago was on NCL's new ship, the Prima, which holds 3,000 people. Big, but not the same as a mega ship with 6,000 or 7,000 by any means. I will keep looking at each itinerary and figure out what appeals most.

 

2 hours ago, ontheweb said:

If they all fit your budget, I would look at how long they are in the ports that are most important to you. Also remember some ports are actually not ports, but far away. Rome, Florence, and Athens are examples of destinations that are not the actual port.

Yes, Rome and Florence are very far from the port. I remember that from before. I won't go into Florence this time, there are other towns closer to Livorno worth seeing. But Rome, must go in to see Rome every time. It's Rome. I didn't know that about Athens. Thanks for the info!

 

2 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

There is no one favorite or "best" for everyone on Cruise Critic! Not sure how there could be.

 

Frequently mentioned around this topic is that Med cruises are typically very port intensive, with a lot of 8 hour tour days. The ship becomes secondary for many people.

Yes, very port intensive. I know that from our previous cruise. I still want delicious food and a beautiful environment to soothe me once I'm back on board, however. 

 

2 hours ago, George C said:

We enjoyed our rccl in a smaller ship Brillance , I believe all of the rccl ships have a pub with a guitar player, we normally spend lots of time there . With Europe I believe ports should be top priority ship second . 

Interesting, thank you.

 

1 hour ago, Markanddonna said:

Choose your Med cruise mostly for the itinerary and then prioritize. We had two wonderful NCL Med cruises, but the itinerary was very port intensive and important to us. We didn't have time to do much on the ship. If you are on a Med cruise in the summer, that is a different story. Keep in mind, the Med can be stifling in the summer.

Yes, definitely super hot, I remember that from both summers we've spent in the Mediterranean. Not my ideal time to go, but have to plan it around when our teenage son is at camp. He's not going with us, but he has three weeks at camp when we're free to vacation without him. Still balancing things around school schedules and that means summers are for vacations.

 

1 hour ago, Aquahound said:

 

That's a tough one because you're all over the place with your options.  I totally agree with the others in that itinerary is the number one priority.  Choose what part of the Med you want to cruise and narrow it down to your most desired itineraries.  It'll be easier to suggest a good line if you do that.  

 

I do disagree with anyone who downplays the importance of the ship though.  I still think you want to be on the right line for you because port intensive or not, you're still enjoying the ships offerings every night and during sea days.  

 

Regarding entertainment and your preference for an evening guitarist, avoid HAL.  They have eliminated that kind of entertainment.  In my experience Royal Caribbean and Celebrity have been the best in that regard.  As far as shows, IMO, Royal Caribbean is tops.  

I know, definitely all over the place. I agree that while the itinerary is number one, the ship does matter. We weren't on the ship much during our one Med cruise, but we did care about the quality of the food when we were on it, so that mattered quite a bit. And needless to say, the food on Carnival was awful. So many people had swollen ankles mid-way through from the salt and preservatives in the food. It was horrible. It was so important to us to have good, healthy food because all we wanted to do was relax with nice wine and a nice environment because we were exhausted from long days in port in Italy, Spain and France. The ship was pretty, even tho it was Carnival, because it was brand new, three months out from its inaugural cruise. But the food quality was dreadful.

 

29 minutes ago, Markanddonna said:

How about starting with "do you love ancient or medieval  history" or are you more of a "I love the beach" sort of cruiser? Do you have an idea of which ports excite you more than others? For example, people swoon over Santorini, but it is problematic when there are more than one or two ships there since you have to tender. There could be two-hour lines to take the cable car. On the other hand, a stop in Rhodes, Greece is so easy- you just walk off the ship from the dock, and it is uber charming with lots of history, castles, etc. 

 

I love ancient and biblical history, so that is where mind goes. 

 

People can rave about certain entertainers that performed in the summer of 2022, but it is likely there will be an entirely different group in 2023. Also, any reviews before or even during the later part of the pandemic are often no longer helpful. Cruising is changing so much because of the companies needing to make up lost revenue. My 2022 RCL Ta and NCL Mediterranean were wonderful but my most recent MSC Caribbean was close to a nightmare, and I had happily been on that ship twice before.

 

It looks like all those companies would work for you. Best of luck!

This is an interesting and useful way to look at it, thank you!

Edited February 17, 2023 by njsmom

[ontheweb]

10 minutes ago, njsmom said:

I don't enjoy mega ships, smaller and mid-size ships are more my style. Even our holiday sailing six weeks ago was on NCL's new ship, the Prima, which holds 3,000 people. Big, but not the same as a mega ship with 6,000 or 7,000 by any means. I will keep looking at each itinerary and figure out what appeals most.

 

Yes, Rome and Florence are very far from the port. I remember that from before. I won't go into Florence this time, there are other towns closer to Livorno worth seeing. But Rome, must go in to see Rome every time. It's Rome. I didn't know that about Athens. Thanks for the info!

 

Yes, very port intensive. I know that from our previous cruise. I still want delicious food and a beautiful environment to soothe me once I'm back on board, however. 

 

Interesting, thank you.

 

Yes, definitely super hot, I remember that from both summers we've spent in the Mediterranean. Not my ideal time to go, but have to plan it around when our teenage son is at camp. He's not going with us, but he has three weeks at camp when we're free to vacation without him. Still balancing things around school schedules and that means summers are for vacations.

 

I know, definitely all over the place. I agree that while the itinerary is number one, the ship does matter. We weren't on the ship much during our one Med cruise, but we did care about the quality of the food when we were on it, so that mattered quite a bit. And needless to say, the food on Carnival was awful. So many people had swollen ankles mid-way through from the salt and preservatives in the food. It was horrible. It was so important to us to have good, healthy food because all we wanted to do was relax with nice wine and a nice environment because we were exhausted from long days in port in Italy, Spain and France. The ship was pretty, even tho it was Carnival, because it was brand new, three months out from its inaugural cruise. But the food quality was dreadful.

 

This is an interesting and useful way to look at it, thank you!

I also do not like mega ships. We are booked on the Prima this summer as we fell in love with the itinerary for London (Southampton) to Reykjavik. Please tell me it does not feel like a mega ship. 

 

And Athens like Rome and Florences is not a port. The port for Athens is Piraeus, a train ride away.

[Sigyn]

4 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

I also do not like mega ships. We are booked on the Prima this summer as we fell in love with the itinerary for London (Southampton) to Reykjavik. Please tell me it does not feel like a mega ship. 

 

And Athens like Rome and Florences is not a port. The port for Athens is Piraeus, a train ride away.

Prima did not feel like a mega ship. It was lovely. We were on it far more than off because for our holiday cruise the weather was particularly bad and we missed three of the four ports. We did stop in Cozumel on Christmas Day, but it was raining so hard it was coming down sideways with wind gusts of 20-25 mph, so we stayed on the ship, like most of the other passengers. The captain couldn't stop in Grand Cayman or Great Stirrup Cay because those were tender ports and the seas were too rough. However, that meant we were on the ship a lot, and we still had a good time. We hung out indoors in The Local and outdoors at the Soleil Bar, both on deck 8, and really liked them. We never felt like it was crowded, despite a completely full ship for a holiday cruise. I've seen other people complain about the small areas, but I liked them because it kept you in smaller, more intimate areas and not with big crowds of people. There was always enough space to get a seat in the theater for a show, in the comedy club, etc. 

Edited February 17, 2023 by njsmom

[Hlitner]

The Med is a fabulous place to cruise and we suggest that the itinerary should be the primary factor.  This is more than just ports as you need to look at the times in each port (long days are the best) and, in some cases, the day of the week.  So, for example, a cruise that goes to Civitavecchia (Rome) on a Sunday will likely find the Vatican Museums (including Sistine Chapel) closed.  Or, if you are in Istanbul on a Tuesday, Topkapi would be closed on a Sunday the Covered (Grand) Bazaar is closed.  Also beware of really large mega ships that go to tender ports (such as Santorini or Cannes).

 

In other words, you should do some real homework before making your selection.  

 

Hank

[ontheweb]

4 hours ago, njsmom said:

Prima did not feel like a mega ship. It was lovely. We were on it far more than off because for our holiday cruise the weather was particularly bad and we missed three of the four ports. We did stop in Cozumel on Christmas Day, but it was raining so hard it was coming down sideways with wind gusts of 20-25 mph, so we stayed on the ship, like most of the other passengers. The captain couldn't stop in Grand Cayman or Great Stirrup Cay because those were tender ports and the seas were too rough. However, that meant we were on the ship a lot, and we still had a good time. We hung out indoors in The Local and outdoors at the Soleil Bar, both on deck 8, and really liked them. We never felt like it was crowded, despite a completely full ship for a holiday cruise. I've seen other people complain about the small areas, but I liked them because it kept you in smaller, more intimate areas and not with big crowds of people. There was always enough space to get a seat in the theater for a show, in the comedy club, etc. 

Thanks, for a good feeling for the ship from your response. 😊

[cruisemom42]

I would not put the port for Athens (Piraeus) into the same category as those for Rome and Florence.

 

Piraeus has actually served as the port for Athens since ancient times and Piraeus is just a suburb of Athens; only about a 20 minute drive from the port to the historic center of the city/Acropolis.  Hardly the same as the hour-plus drives to the other two.