Roundtrip cruise

[saturn3]

Does anyone know if there are roundtrip cruises from anywhere in Florida or the east coast that ports of call included Italy and Greece. 

Thanks for any information 

[CruiserBruce]

Holland America has occasionally done a FLL to the Med cruise, round trip. About 70 days, I think.

[Hlitner]

20 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Holland America has occasionally done a FLL to the Med cruise, round trip. About 70 days, I think.

LOL Bruce,  It was called the "Grand Mediterranean Cruise" and we did it twice on the Prinsendam (62 and 60 days).  The snide remark about that cruise was that they emptied-out the south Florida nursing homes, backed up the ambulances to the ship to off-load their patients, and were waiting on the pier for their return :).  It was not quite like that, but we were only in our 60s on those voyages and felt like we were among the youngest on the ship.  In fact, the first time we took the Grand Med, the youngest passenger was a 22 year old lady (hi Jennifer) who was traveling with her grandmother.  

 

One of my favorite lines was said by a comedian at the Welcome Aboard Show, "welcome aboard to all the seniors and their parents."

 

Hank

[cruisemom42]

21 hours ago, saturn3 said:

Does anyone know if there are roundtrip cruises from anywhere in Florida or the east coast that ports of call included Italy and Greece. 

Thanks for any information 

 

This is not going to be a regularly-offered itinerary on any cruise line but VERY occasionally a line may offer it as a one-off.

 

Holland America is offering one cruise this fall (Nov 2024) that is round-trip from Fort Lauderdale. It is 42 days. Remember that a good 14 of those days are needed just to get to/from Europe.

 

The itinerary includes 4 ports in Italy (Livorno, Civitavecchia, Naples, and Catania) but only one, Athens, in Greece. As of now it is also scheduled to visit ports in Egypt, Malta, Tunisia, and Morocco.

 

Edited to add: I'm reminded by Hank's post above to add that the cruise is offered on one of HAL's oldest and smallest ships, Volendam.

 

Edited March 24 by cruisemom42

[saturn3]

We have been on about a dozen cruises. We really like them, I have been trying to do a comparison to do a regular guided tour to Greece and Greek Islands as opposed to a cruise. A guided tour you spend 2 or 3 days at each destination which is good. All tour companies seem to offer only a few meals and a few days on your own, or you can book excursions yourself, same as a cruise. A lot of guided tour companies include airfare which is a plus. However with the guided tour to get to the islands, it’s either another flight or a 3-5 hour ferry. I really wanted to try a guided tour to spend a little more time at each destination than a cruise gives you, But unless you spend your whole vacation at one island it seems like a hassle to get from one place to another. Has anyone else had the same indecisive predicament?

saturn