Greece and Italy

[saturn3]

I have two questions, first I was wondering if any other cruise line does the Medallion method or something similar to what Princess does. Seems this system works very well. Second which cruise line does the best Mediterranean cruise with the ports of call being Greece,  Spain and Italy

Thank you in advance 

 

[alserrod]

12 hours ago, saturn3 said:

I have two questions, first I was wondering if any other cruise line does the Medallion method or something similar to what Princess does. Seems this system works very well. Second which cruise line does the best Mediterranean cruise with the ports of call being Greece,  Spain and Italy

Thank you in advance 

 

 

Hello.

 

From my point of view, all cruises in Mediterranean are fine. It doesn't matter which ports of call you will have.

 

 

Almost all of them will do something like

Barcelona - Marseille - Genova - Civitavecchia - XXX - at sea - Palma - Barcelona

 

With these possible changes

Tarragona or Valencia for Barcelona

Cannes or Nice for Marseille

Savona for Genova 
Napoli /Naples for Civitavecchia

 

and they could have an additional port of call instead of At Sea

 

 

If I were you I would not wonder about ports of call but just to find some airport with the best flight possible, best vessel and.... best price too.

 

Take in mind that in companies like Costa or MSC you will be able to embark in several ports, not only the first one (it is a seven day cruise.... and it doesn't matter if you travel monday to monday or Friday to Friday). Some ports of call are chosen just because it is very easy to move there by plane, like Barcelona or Civitavecchia (Rome). Nevertheless, an "alternative" (like Naples or Valencia) is quite fine.

 

 

 

Edited March 11 by alserrod

[alserrod]

I have checked Costa and MSC. Both have three itineraries (so six options in Western Mediterranean). They are the most used companies in Europe

all of them have very similar itineraries. 

Among the six ones
- Valencia instead of Barcelona once
- Cannes instead of Marseille once
- Savona instead of Genoa once (50 km away)
- Ibiza instead of Palma once
- at Sea instead of Palma, once

in the six cruises, one day at sea

 

Other ports of call (for MSC and Costa)
- La Spezia
- Palermo
- Messina
- Olbia
- Valletta

Now.... it is your turn to choose.... just focus that we are saying something like a cruise in the Caribe and.... San Juan or Ponce for Puerto Rico???, or something like that

 

[John Bull]

Spain & Greece are at opposite ends of the Med., so it means a cruise of about 14 days or two back-to-backs (western & eastern Med. cruises) with a switch somewhere like Rome (Italy will figure in most Med. cruises)

 

Best bet would likely be Barcelona to Rome, then Rome to Venice (or Ravenna or Trieste for Venice) or vice-versa. Several cruise lines offer these one-way cruises. That will give you the opportunity to spend a few days in Barcelona and/or Rome and/or Venice.

You can book open-jaw (aka multi-city) flights from home to one of those places and back home from another at a fare midway between the return fares, provided that you book them both in the same booking and with the same airline or air alliance.

 

JB 🙂

[alserrod]

I am sorry.... I understood Spain, Italy and France (instead of "and Greece").

 

For a Barcelona - Athens (or maybe Barcelona - Estambul) there are many options but they are quite similar.

 

Remember that most of European cruises are multi embarking ports. This is there will be people who will embark in Barcelona, later in Marseille, later in....

 

There aren't bad cities to call.

For sure in all itineraries you will find some ports to skip (not to be avoided, just to skip) and some "must" ports missing.....

It is impossible to have all at the same time

 

[marazul]

16 hours ago, saturn3 said:

I have two questions, first I was wondering if any other cruise line does the Medallion method or something similar to what Princess does. Seems this system works very well. Second which cruise line does the best Mediterranean cruise with the ports of call being Greece,  Spain and Italy

Thank you in advance 

 

When you compare itineraries make sure you check how many hours are spent in each port. MSC is notorious for short stops, for example 4 hours in a port instead of 8 or 10.  That really shortchanges your ability to do any meaningful sightseeing in that port.  

[Hlitner]

Along with the issue of "time in port" which Marzul already mentioned, we also advise folks to pay attention to the days of the week vs the ports.  It can really matter.  For example, many first-time visitors to Rome want to visit the Vatican Museums (which includes the Sistine Chapel) but that is closed on most Sundays.  Many European museums close one day a week (often Monday or Tuesday).   One also should try to avoid the major European holidays which can cause transportation nightmares and some closures.

 

We think when it comes to port intensive Med cruises, the itinerary is king and the cruise line/ship is somewhat less important.  Consider that you will likely be off the ship, most days, and likely exhausted on many evenings from running around in the various ports.  

 

I will echo Marazul's comment about MSC.  We love cruising MSC (in their Yacht Club) for a short Caribbean cruise, but avoid the line in Europe because of their short port times and the "ferry boat" atmosphere (they embark/debark passengers at most ports).  In the past we have also noticed the many NCL itineraries offer relatively short port times or strange arrival times (such as from 1pm to 8 pm, etc).  When booking a European cruise you ideally want the longest possible port days since there are many ports where your actual destination may be more then an hour distant from the port (i.e. Civitavecchia-Rome, Livorno-Florence, Le Havre - Paris, etc).

 

Hank

 

 

[alserrod]

Hi

 

I partially agree...

 

I haven't seen short stages in ports of call in Europe. At least I have checked Costa and MSC. I haven't seen it.

 

Ships try to use ports schedule the most. For instance, I assume Civitavecchia will close by 19:30 because several ships take off by 19:00 exactly.

In addition, Palma offers long stage for ships. There are someones that can leave Palma after midnight.

 

 

On the other hand, some issues you pointed, must be considered

- multi embarking. MSC and Costa accept embarking in several ports in each cruise (up to 5 ports). Disadvantage... you will hear notice for security (for those who embarked that day) almost everyday and so on.  Advantage.... no more than 25-30% passengers in each embarkment. It is very fast

 

- Ports are destination indeed. You will have some stops that deserve a visit. Maybe you will focus with THAT port specially and the rest ones.

This is.... you will not call at ports where to snorkel or to go to beach (there are corners and corners where to snorkel). You will call at ports that are besides top destinations in the world

Just to make a fast destination, let's consider a cruise departing Boston to the Caribe and back to Boston. First call in New York. For anyone coming from anywhere.... New York is a must and that excursion will be special.  Change New York for a lot of European ports

 

- But.... use a map, Barcelona, Marseille, Cannes, Valencia, Palma, Genova, Naples, etc... are besides the port.

Otherwise, Florence is not besides the port, nor Rome (but at least moving from the port is fast), nor...

just use a map and compare

 

 

[edinburgher]

21 hours ago, alserrod said:

There are someones that can leave Palma after midnight.

This is likely because some cruiselines use Palma as a turnaround port and new passengers are often flown in on chartered flights (eg Tui)  which can arrive day or evening.

[saturn3]

So in relooking at my geography, Spain and Greece are pretty far away or at each end. What I am trying to do is visit Italy and Greek Isles and one other destination either by all cruise, land/sea tour, or straight land tour for our 25th Anniversary coming in 2026. Really would like to spend the time in Greek Isles and Italy, We enjoy cruising we are in our mid 60’s so long days do sometimes take a lot out of us. Trying to find the best option.

any suggestions appreciated 

 

[John Bull]

3 minutes ago, saturn3 said:

So in relooking at my geography, Spain and Greece are pretty far away or at each end. What I am trying to do is visit Italy and Greek Isles and one other destination either by all cruise, land/sea tour, or straight land tour for our 25th Anniversary coming in 2026. Really would like to spend the time in Greek Isles and Italy, We enjoy cruising we are in our mid 60’s so long days do sometimes take a lot out of us. Trying to find the best option.

any suggestions appreciated 

 

 

Several cruise lines eg RCI, Celebrity, Princess offer one-way cruises Rome to Ravenna or Trieste (for Venice), or vice-versa. Around 11 days. This gives you the opportunity to extend your stay at either or both ends of the cruise. They also typically include Naples, a couple of Greek Islands, and ports in Croatia and/or Slovenia and/or Montenegro and/or Albania.

 

Open-Jaw (aka multi-city) return air tickets from home to Rome and from Venice to home (or vice-versa) cost the half-way point between return tickets to either, but you need to book both ways in a single booking and with the same airline or air alliance. 

 

JB  🙂

[cruisemom42]

Since you already are familiar with Princess...

 

For many years now Princess has offered some very well put together "sampler" itineraries in the Med. I used to recommend them to a lot of first time Med travelers as a way to get a broad taste of the region. 

 

I don't know when you're planning to go, but in 2024 Princess has their newest (and largest) ship, Sun Princess, in the Med and offers some good 14-day itineraries that cover a lot of ground. For example, this one would provide you with stops in Spain, Italy, a couple of Greek islands (Santorini and Mykonos) and even Istanbul, Turkey.

 

It starts in Barcelona and ends in Athens, giving you a chance to extend your trip by a day or two on either end and see these two places as well. (Fair warning, without an extra day or two, you will have VERY little chance to see anything of them....)

 

 

 

The biggest weaknesses of this particular itinerary to me are that you only get one day in Rome (which really deserves thee at a minimum), and you don't get to see Venice. But Venice is a bit of a hassle these days by cruise ship, as the ships are not allowed to dock anywhere near the city. (The options for larger ships are all about 2+ hours away from Venice itself.)

 

This other itinerary (also Sun Princess, 14 days) is also a good option. You get to start and end in Athens and Rome, which I like better. Still get Barcelona, and you can see a lot there in a day. You lose Istanbul, but gain Kotor (which includes a scenic cruise through Kotor Bay), another lovely Greek Isle (Corfu) and a stop in Sicily.

 

 

These are just a couple of ideas. Many other lines offer similar cruises but I've always thought Princess does a nice job of picking some of the highlights. Anything less than 14 days probably won't get you from one side of the Med to the other.

 

Good luck, whatever you decide!

 

Edited March 15 by cruisemom42

[alserrod]

11 hours ago, saturn3 said:

So in relooking at my geography, Spain and Greece are pretty far away or at each end. What I am trying to do is visit Italy and Greek Isles and one other destination either by all cruise, land/sea tour, or straight land tour for our 25th Anniversary coming in 2026. Really would like to spend the time in Greek Isles and Italy, We enjoy cruising we are in our mid 60’s so long days do sometimes take a lot out of us. Trying to find the best option.

any suggestions appreciated 

 

 

 

Hello.... I am going to share you some itineraries I would or wouldn't take according to your comments.

 

They are taken from MSC cruises... but surely other companies will have similar ones.

I just do it for geographically reasons.

 

Among all these cruises, no port of call lasts less than 8 hours. I have checked it.

 

 

 

 

1- It fits. 7 days

 

 

Departing Rome. Arrive several days before and visit the most Imperial city in the world

Two days at sea

one day in Naples (it is a city that deserves 3 days. A lot of things to do)

Two islands in Greece (Santorini and Mykonos)

A Turkish city in the Mediterranean too

 

 

 

 

2- Have a look. 9 days

 

 

 

Arrive several days ago to visit the well known Venice. Be awarded cruise will depart 120 km away in Trieste

Tough there's only one island: Corfu (in the border between Albania and Greece), other ports deserve a visit.

Athens, the historical city.

Katakolon is just 15 km away from the Olympic stadium (I mean the stadium in Olympia 2700 years ago). I have visited it from a cruise

You will arrive to Istanbul too.

 

This is... more cities and heritage, less islands. I do not know if it fits to you.

 

 

 

3- More Greek islands

 

 

 

Departing from Bari, call at Athens and three calls in Eastern Mediterranean.

 

Despite position, Kos and Rhodes are part of Greece (thus European Union at all). Bodrum is part of Turkey. Look at in a map. They are very close one to others

 

They aren't so known as Santorini and Mykonos but enough fine to have relax and enjoy.

 

 

 

 

And western Mediterranean let me suggest another one

 

 

 

You will find a lot of loops like

 

1- Barcelona / Valencia

2- Marseille / Cannes / Nice

3- Genova / Savona

4- Rome / Naples

5- another one

6- at sea

7- Palma/Ibiza

 

This one is different. It calls in Menorca island, the most peaceful in Mediterranean (nothing compared with Ibiza or Mallorca). It calls at northern Sardegna, another island.

It calls at Cadiz and Lisbon (Portugal) in the Atlantic, so you will cross the Strait between Europe and Africa (they are 14 km away, you will see both continents at the same time)

 

the cruise can be started in Malaga. If so.... some days in advance and go to Granada for an unforgettable day visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[alserrod]

as said.... there are many many itineraires. I have chosen four of them just to help you to know which tips are important.

 

If you have chosen several itineraries (or a cruise company) we can give you our opinion

[rhiannon84]

If you’re flexible on types of holiday, have you thought about a cruise/small yacht holiday for Greece, and then a land tour for Italy, maybe ending in Spain? 
 

You could fly into Athens, do a week cruising around Greek islands with someone like Azamara who do Greek-intensive cruises.

 

Fly Athens to Rome, and hire a car to drive around Italy for a week seeing all the inland sights that are hard to reach from a cruise ship. Finally, if you have time and energy, take the ferry over from Italy to e.g. Barcelona and use the trains for a couple of the big cities before flying home!

[rhiannon84]

Or the other way round, using the cruise to recuperate!!

[edinburgher]

On 3/15/2024 at 12:37 AM, saturn3 said:

 long days do sometimes take a lot out of us.

In that case,( and so far you have not named any city which would be a "must see" for you) it might suit you better to avoid the "headline" cities which cruiselines love to advertise without making it known that some are between 1 and 3 hours distant from the actual port. Paris is one which immediately springs to mind, but Rome, Seville  and a few others are 1-2 hours distant.  Round trip travel will therefore add several hours to your day, some of which may be walking, and a shorex such as this could be anywhere between 7 and 10 hours long, and it can extremely hot in southern Europe during the summer months and that too is tiring, so choose your travel month wisely.

 

Although we never sailed MSC,I do know from others that, yes, folks will get on and off at ports along the way, and as  they are catering to international passengers, the same announcements will be repeated in several languages, ditto shorex where a language choice is offered. My understanding (perhaps wrong, I do not know) is that on occasion a shorex will be offered in two languages meaning everything said by the guide will be repeated. I have no knowledge of onboard international languages relating to entertainment or dining.

If seriously interested in MSC, you could ask questions on the MSC board or browse their board, also read MSC reviews to help you decide.

 

Every cruiseline sails the Med and there are many to choose from. It might be helpful to you to first narrow down your choices to cities/towns/regions which would appeal to you, rather than only give the names of countries as a whole, and from that point, finding itineraries and ships to suit your interests would be easier.Is there anywhere "in the S.Med/Europe" that you would be particularly interested in visiting  to celebrate this special anniversary?

Edited March 16 by edinburgher

[edinburgher]

On 3/15/2024 at 12:37 AM, saturn3 said:

so long days do sometimes take a lot out of us.

An afterthought.  Another "headline" port the cruiselines love to promote in their adverts is Venice, nowadays sadly an approx 2 hours each way usually from ports in  Trieste or Ravenna.

[saturn3]

Places of interest would be Greek Islands, Rome, Florence and Pisa or Venice.

[edinburgher]

18 hours ago, saturn3 said:

Places of interest would be Greek Islands, Rome, Florence and Pisa or Venice.

Pisa is the closest town/city to a port, usually Livorno, but sometimes la Spezia, further than Livorno.

 

With Rome and Venice on your wish list , you could look for itineraries which begin or end there, (the port for Rome is Civitavecchia)  and if time allows, could therefore plan a stay of a few days in one or both pre or post cruise which would be much better than only a few short hours and long drives. And flights routings, duration and cost could be of importance to you so these should  also be researched once you narrow down your itinerary choices.

 

Suggesting you go to cruisetimetables, where you can input your preferred month, ports of call etc and results will show ships and itineraries for you to consider.

 

If this will be your first trip to Europe, most folks can expect to be challenged with some jetlag for a couple of days on arrival and this could impact your sightseeing plans.

 

Edited March 17 by edinburgher

[alserrod]

On 3/16/2024 at 5:30 PM, saturn3 said:

Places of interest would be Greek Islands, Rome, Florence and Pisa or Venice.

 

 

Not all of them at the same time. You can get a cruise departing Rome or departing Venice. Even going from Venice to Rome, but without Greek islands

 

Florence and Pisa must be in a Western Mediterranean cruise

 

But take in mind 

Florence to Livorno is 1h45m by bus (and 1h45m return). 

Rome to Civitavecchia is 1h30m by bus

 

And I thought you were worried with time

 

[Over from NZ]

On 3/16/2024 at 12:42 AM, cruisemom42 said:

Since you already are familiar with Princess...

 

For many years now Princess has offered some very well put together "sampler" itineraries in the Med. I used to recommend them to a lot of first time Med travelers as a way to get a broad taste of the region. 

 

I don't know when you're planning to go, but in 2024 Princess has their newest (and largest) ship, Sun Princess, in the Med and offers some good 14-day itineraries that cover a lot of ground. For example, this one would provide you with stops in Spain, Italy, a couple of Greek islands (Santorini and Mykonos) and even Istanbul, Turkey.

 

It starts in Barcelona and ends in Athens, giving you a chance to extend your trip by a day or two on either end and see these two places as well. (Fair warning, without an extra day or two, you will have VERY little chance to see anything of them....)

 

 

 

The biggest weaknesses of this particular itinerary to me are that you only get one day in Rome (which really deserves thee at a minimum), and you don't get to see Venice. But Venice is a bit of a hassle these days by cruise ship, as the ships are not allowed to dock anywhere near the city. (The options for larger ships are all about 2+ hours away from Venice itself.)

 

This other itinerary (also Sun Princess, 14 days) is also a good option. You get to start and end in Athens and Rome, which I like better. Still get Barcelona, and you can see a lot there in a day. You lose Istanbul, but gain Kotor (which includes a scenic cruise through Kotor Bay), another lovely Greek Isle (Corfu) and a stop in Sicily.

 

 

These are just a couple of ideas. Many other lines offer similar cruises but I've always thought Princess does a nice job of picking some of the highlights. Anything less than 14 days probably won't get you from one side of the Med to the other.

 

Good luck, whatever you decide!

 

Easy solution. 

 

That particular itinerary can start and finish in Rome. Fly into Venice.. spend a few nights there and train to Rome. Then do the 21 night round-trip, Rome-Rome. 

[saturn3]

Cruisemom 42

Thank you for your response and your in depth research of travel ideas. I appreciate everyone’s response. We would like to visit the Western Mediterranean in 2026 for our 25th wedding anniversary, seems like it will be here before we know it. I have looked at the locations that we would be able to visit on regular guided tours vs. Cruises.  On regular guided tours, the activity level on most is high, we are in our mid 60’s and even though we get around pretty good it might take a lot out of us. Regular guided tours offer only limited meals, few dinners, most breakfasts and some lunches. Cruises offer, as we all know, plenty of whatever you want and onboard entertainment. In addition, we feel that the Cruise option is more cost effective.  Of the places in the Western Med, we would like to visit Italy, Greece and Spain. I understand because of distance and time visiting all three places in one trip may not be geographically possible. So if I were to choose, we would prefer to visit Italy and Greece. We have taken 4 Princess cruises and 7 cruises on either Carnival or Norwegian, so we are very familiar with them. We may want to look into another cruise line like Royal Caribbean. All in all, we are excited about this new adventure and eager to learn as much as possible to make our trip as enjoyable as possible.  Do you think Italy/Greece is a better choice of destinations rather than Spain/Italy for a 14-day cruise?  We’d like to get the most out of the 14 days.  We don’t think we could cruise for a longer length of time.  Thank you again!

Saturn

[alserrod]

Hi, 

 

with 14 days you can do a Western Mediterranean and an Eastern Mediterranean cruise, and even in two different companies.

 

Choose Civitavecchia to start both of them. Look for cruises from there and book tickets to Rome. Reserve some days before and after to visit that part of Italy and later, enjoy your holidays!!!!

[saturn3]

Well I am sure about Italy we are thinking what we would like to dedicate more time to Spain or Greek Islands